Spies Like Us: The Rise of London’s Private Intelligence Industry
The now-infamous dossier on Donald Trump by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele shone rare light on the meteoric rise of London’s shadowy and largely unregulated private intelligence industry, one staffed largely by former spies and investigative journalists. Who are these people, and how do they work? Is their influence entirely malign, or can their product be useful to investigative reporters? And what happens when they’re paid to investigate journalists?
Vadim Nikitin
Vadim is a freelance journalist and blogger whose articles have appeared in the New York Times/International Herald Tribune, The Nation, Dissent Magazine, The Moscow Times, The Abu Dhabi National, the South African Mail and Guardian and Sunday Tribune, and the Harvard Political Review.
Gabriel Pogrund
Gabriel Pogrund is editor of Insight, The Sunday Times investigations team. He was named political journalist of the year and news journalist of the year at the 2025 Press Awards. For his investigative reporting on the government, the BBC, MI5 and MI6, he won journalist of the year at the 2023 British Journalism Awards.
Igor Ostrovskiy
Igor Ostrovskiy is an experienced professional investigator who started in undercover investigations in 2007. Igor blew the whistle on Harvey Weinstein’s surveillance of journalists in 2016. He cares deeply about press freedom and is passionate about supporting at-risk journalists and individuals.
- 30 October 2026 14.00–15.00