James O'Brien Meets The Man Sacked For Believing In Democracy
12 November 2018, 14:25
This is James O'Brien's remarkable interview with Shahmir Sanni, the man who the Taxpayers' Alliance conceded they fired because he believes in the sanctity of British democracy.
The Taxpayers Alliance admitted they sacked Mr Sanni after he blew the whistle over the illegality of the Vote Leave campaign - and they conceded on all of his claims.
His story went right to the top as well - he was outed to the press by 10 Downing Street at a time when even his family didn't know he was gay.
Why did the Taxpayers' Alliance admit to all aspects of the claim? One thought is that if they went to court, they would have to reveal where their funding comes from.
Speaking to James, Mr Sanni said: "I'm vindicated. For me, it has been imperative that the public is informed of how deep-rooted and bad the British political system is.
"To have every single claim conceded on... my first thought was why. It's true that they fired me because I whistleblew and the particularly fired me because I had a fundamental belief in the sanctity of British democracy. That was the reason for firing me.
"They did it because they wanted to protect who their funders were.
"One of their claims was that they had lost a donor and if they had actually fought this in court, they would have had to reveal who their funders were. And so they said, 'It's ok to put our entire reputation at risk rather than reveal who funds them.'"
LBC asked for a comment from the Taxpayers' Alliance, but had not received a response at the time of writing.
