Young Brexit activist made viral videos – and passed on £675,000

Darren Grimes was a 22-yearold fashion student at the time of the EU referendum.

A swift political journey took him from being a Liberal Democrat supporter just a year earlier churning out probrexit viral videos and social media posts. On his own, Mr Grimes had raised a grand total of £21.51 for his Beleave campaign group.

He ended up being responsible for £675,000 worth of spending, almost all of it with the same data company used by Vote Leave to target online adverts, Aggregate IQ. As a result, he is one of only two 0 Vote Leave directed donors to Beleave

people being referred for police investigation in connection with Vote Leave’s breaches of electoral law.

According to the Electoral Commission, the money only ever went through Mr Grimes’ hands on paper – he was sent offers of cash by e-mail from donors prompted by the Vote Leave campaign chief Dominic Cummings. They were instructed to pass donations directly to Aggregate IQ.

“His Beleave campaign website was set up by Vote Leave, its content was created by Vote Leave,heconsultedvoteleave on campaigning and Vote Leave actively sought funding for his work,” the Electoral Commission report states.

The only spending declared by Beleave that didn’t go to the data firm was £461 for a steak dinner on the eve of the referendum. Yesterday Mr Grimes insisted he had “done nothing wrong”.