Last month Guido revealed that Hacked Off was being funded by billionaire Russian oligarchs the Lebedevs, via Simon Kellner’s ill-fated Journalism Foundation vanity project. This morning the Times confirms what Guido’s readers already knew. They report Hacked Off’s billionaire is ready to funnel more cash:

“Evgeny Lebedev, who is a personal friend of Hugh Grant, the actor and Hacked Off director, has decided that money pledged almost a year ago to a foundation he set up and then shut down should now go to the campaign… Mr Lebedev held a “gala evening” in May last year to raise money for the Journalism Foundation. The event was attended by, among others, several celebrity supporters of Hacked Off, including Grant and his former girlfriend Jemima Khan… A spokesman for Mr Lebedev said that a guest at the gala evening had pledged a donation specifically for work on strengthening public interest defences in law for journalism. A foundation source said that the donor was a male celebrity who asked for anonymity when pledging about £20,000 that he wanted to go to Hacked Off.”

Lebedev spent £600,000 on the now defunct Journalism Foundation vanity project, meaning there should be a sizeable chunk left over for Hacked Off…