Democracy for Sale 1, Dominic Cummings 0
We fought to expose the £800m research agency that Cummings built to escape scrutiny - and we won.
Dominic Cummings has long been accused of leaking secrets. From Boris Johnson’s expletive-laden text messages to dropping stories about his own manoeuverings —like a recent “secret dinner” with Nigel Farage—he’s rarely stayed quiet.
But there was one thing that Cummings badly did want to keep under wraps during his time in Downing Street: the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria.)
Today, after a lengthy legal battle, Democracy for Sale can finally shed some light on this £800 million taxpayer-funded project that was dreamed up by Cummings and purpose built to be shrouded in secrecy.
Aria is charged with funding ‘high-risk, high-reward’ scientific projects, from artificial intelligence to engineering plants to feed the world. Its chair, Matt Clifford, is Keir Starmer’s AI advisor (and a Democracy for Sale regular).
But the ‘moonshot agency’ is very much a product of Dominic Cummings, and his time in Downing Street.
Cummings had long dreamed of setting up a rival to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), the US institute that played a key role in the early development of the internet. Before agreeing to become Johnson’s chief of staff, he wrote a 47-page paper on how to fund “crazy” ideas.
Johnson gave Cummings his wish. From the off, the former Vote Leave chief insisted that Aria needed to have “extreme freedom” - which meant minimal oversight from the public.
Conservative ministers acquiesced, taking the unprecedented step of exempting Aria from Freedom of Information legislation - even though its budget is far greater than many other institutions covered by FOI and its chief executive, American scientist Ilan Gur, is paid nearly three times as much as Keir Starmer.
Since Aria was formally established, in January 2023, the public has been barred from asking for information. The agency’s aim, of unlocking scientific and technological breakthroughs, is laudable but why all the secrecy? Even Cummings’s beloved Darpa is subject to US FOI laws.
So we decided to do what Democracy for Sale does best: fight against government secrecy.
The way Aria was excluded from FOI laws was crude. Normally when a new public body is created it is added to the schedule of the FOI Act. Conservative ministers simply neglected to add Aria to the schedule (despite warnings from the Campaign for FOI and others.)
But FOI is not the only way to access public information. There is another set of laws, Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs), which, as the name suggests, cover environmental information. EIRs, which run in parallel to FOI, did not explicitly exclude Aria from their purview.
So we sent an EIR to Aria. We wanted to know about who had been funded under Aria’s “Scoping Our Planet” theme, which seeks to provide funding in order “to fill the gaps in Earth system measurement to respond confidently to the climate crisis.”
Somewhat to our surprise, Aria responded to our request. But what Aria said was even more remarkable: information about a project called ‘Scoping Our Planet’ was not environmental. So they didn’t have to release anything. How very Dominic Cummings.
But we didn’t stop there. Working with Jon Baines and Adam Rose, who run law firm Mishcon de Reya’s FOI practice, we complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
During the ICO investigation, Aria disclosed much of the information that we asked for, which showed how around £5 million in funding had been allocated to a mix of start ups and universities. (Full details attached at the bottom of this newsletter.)
Last month, the ICO published a formal decision notice which upheld our complaint. This establishes, for the first time, that Aria is subject to the EIR, and that it breached the law when responding to our request.
Jon Baines summed it up: "I think Parliament got it wrong by excluding ARIA from the scope of FOIA, but it's always been clear that they must still be subject to the EIR. It's good that the ICO agrees, and that Lucas has managed to get this mark down in the sand".
Despite this win, much remains unknown about how Aria operates or spends public funds. Just this week, The Guardian reported that Aria is backing a £50 million geoengineering programme—an experimental and controversial climate intervention that many scientists warn could distract from emissions reductions.
Thanks to Aria’s annual accounts we do know that CEO Gur was paid around £450,000 in the year to March 2024.
Aria’s chair, Matt Clifford, was appointed in 2022 after Cummings’s departure. As we previously revealed, Starmer’s AI advisor has nearly 500 outside interests in the tech-sector and also failed to publicly declare his advisory role at Hakluyt Capital—an AI investment firm linked to the Labour Party.
Surely, it’s time the government brought Aria under the Freedom of Information Act. All it would take is the stroke of a pen.
Until then, Democracy for Sale will keep challenging this government secrecy. If you don’t already, please support us so we can keep up this essential work.
This investigation into ARIA is yet another reason that Matt Clifford should NOT be an advisor the the PM. He has his fingers in over 500 pies including AI! The guy is obviously working for himself and not for the country. Why these politicians, who are supposed to be wise the the worlds shenannigans don't get it! Unless of course they aren't competent to run a government. After all the most powerful country on the planet is run by a complete dumb-ass. You all know who I mean.
The two things I'm most concerned about in the UK are the spreading contamination of populism - (like the sewage in our water systems) and Labour seemingly believing it can resist the silver tongues of lobbyists representing billionaires. I feel utterly perplexed that they can't read the writing on the wall - particularly relating to your investigations. That's why I place such a desperate hope in your work and am so keen to support you. Labour should employ you to help rid politics of corruption!