Arron Banks laughs off the thought he's an "evil genius with a white cat controlling the whole of western democracy"
Arron Banks has informed MPs investigating "fake news" his Brexit marketing campaign "led people up the garden path".
But he mentioned politicians have been additionally responsible of spin and claimed Parliament was the "biggest source of fake news".
The insurance coverage tycoon, who put greater than £6m into Leave.EU, mentioned he had been the victim of "absurd" tales and "myths".
But media committee chairman Damian Collins mentioned it was "difficult to know" whether or not to take his proofand that of colleague Andy Wigmorecritically.
Leave.EU, which was backed by then UKIP chief Nigel Farage, misplaced out to Vote Leave in the battle to grow to be the official Leave marketing campaign in the 2016 EU referendum.
It ran a "disruptive" marketing campaign as an alternative, Mr Banks informed the committee, including: "We were not above using alternative methods to punch home our message or lead people up the garden path if we had to."
Mr Wigmore, Leave.EU's director of communications, mentioned "the piece of advice that we got, right from the beginning, was remember referendums are not about facts, it's about emotion and you have got to tap into that emotion".
He mentioned the marketing campaign had aimed to "make fun" of journalists and his position in it had been that of an "agent provocateur".
Asked what the distinction was between provocation and lies, he mentioned: "If you are trying to sell something or put a good case over to somebody you will tell the best story. If that's provocationor a lie, if you want to call it that, yeah."
- Bristol-based insurance coverage tycoon who was a Lloyd's underwriter earlier than beginning his personal corporations
- One of the largest political donors in UK historical past, thought to have given up to £9.6m to Leave.EU and UKIP
- Born in Cheshire, the twice married father-of-5 was a shut pal and supporter of Nigel Farage
- A Conservative supporter till 2014 when he defected to UKIP, giving them £1m
- His Leave.EU marketing campaign focused its message at working class voters offended about EU immigration
Mr Banks used his look earlier than the Commons media choose committee to hit again at claims he was concerned in a conspiracy with Russian officers, saying there was "not one shred of evidence" for it.
He was "not an evil genius with a white cat controlling... western democracy", he informed the committee, accusing its members of being "Remainers" with a "vested interested in trying to discredit the Leave campaign".
He then went on to assault the credibility of Brittany Kaiser and Chris Wylie, whistleblowers who had beforehand given proof to the committee about controversial information agency Cambridge Analytica.
He dismissed Cambridge Analytica as an "advertising agency" that "did a little bit of politics on the side".
"We had two or three meetings with them and it became clear to me thatas is true in a lot of politicsthere is a lot of sizzle and sometimes not a lot of substance," he mentioned.
He additionally addressed revelations at the weekend that he had had two extra conferences with the Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko than he had beforehand disclosed in his guide on the referendum battle, The Bad Boys of Brexit.
The final of those was in November 2016, three days after Mr Banks, Mr Wigmore and the former UKIP chief Nigel Farage met Mr Trump in New York following his presidential election victory.
As acknowledged by particulars of emails reported by the Sunday Times and the Observer, Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore additionally mentioned potential enterprise alternatives in Russia together with a proposal involving six gold mines.
Mr Banks tried to snigger off solutions of a conspiracy over his conferences with Mr Yakovenko, telling MPs: "I was hoping for a good lunch and that is what I did gain from it."
He added: "The only thing we gave in the second meeting was the telephone number of the (Trump) transition team because the Russians wanted to get hold of the transition team."
He mentioned Leave.EU had "briefed the American security services on everything that transpired".
Mr Banks denied he was in Moscow in February 2016, as claimed by the Sunday Times, and produced passports containing Russian visas which he mentioned proved he had been in Moscow twice in recent times, in March 2015 and October 2014.
Mr Wigmore mentioned he had first sought a assembly with Russian officers at a UKIP convention in his position as a then diplomat for Belize, a small central American nation and former British colony.
"His (Mr Banks') wife is also Russian. We thought it would be nice," he informed MPs.
Mr Wigmore mentioned he had spoken to the ambassador about potential Russian investments in a baa farm in Belize and a port, owned by a bank belonging to former Conservative deputy-chairman and donor Lord Ashcroft.
Mr Wigmore mentioned the assembly with Mr Trump had not been deliberate and solely happened as a result of the United States President's adviser Kellyanne Conway had requested in the event that they "wanted to go and see the boss" once they have been in Trump Tower, in New York.
He claimed he gave the Trump transition workforce the cellphone variety of Number 10 Downing Street, as a result of the workforce had "no relationship" with the British authorities.
Mr Bankswho was grilled by MPs for practically three hoursrefused to reply a last set of questions from Labour MP Ian Austin, saying the session had overrun and he had a lunch appointment to go to.
Mr Wigmore had kicked off the session by calling on Mr Collins to face apart as chairman as a result of he accepted hospitality from "Putin's number one man in the United Kingdom" and could be "conflicted".
Mr Collins recorded a journey to Chelsea Football Club, owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, on his register of member's pursuits.
He referred to as the suggestion a "nice try" including "you might have better intelligence than me... I didn't know that Roman Abramovich was Putin's number one man in London".
In a assertion after the listening to, Mr Collins mentioned: "Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore themselves placed on the file that they regularly lie, exaggerate, misspeak and misunderstand.
"So it is difficult for the Committee to know if we should take all of their answers seriously when it comes to data sharing and misuse, campaign spending, and their meetings with high ranking Russian officials."
He mentioned his inquiry can be writing to the pair to observe up a few of the factors that they had made, including: "Our inquiry is about getting to the truth of these matters."