UnHerd is reporting that the Foreign Secretary has acted in response to concerns raised by the Business Secretary, Kemi Badenoch, highlighting a Foreign Office-funded NGO – the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) – manipulating legitimate counter-disinformation efforts to provide cover for the undermining of right-of-centre online publications by blacklisting them with advertisers.

Cameron confirmed in writing that “the FCDO has not funded GDI since 2023, and there are no current plans to do so.” UnHerd reports that Dave then underlined that section by hand, and added, a handwritten “thanks for pointing this out.”

Dave wrote that while countering disinformation from adversaries was important, “protecting free speech is a priority for the department”, going on to say that taxpayers funds should be used to “uphold our values”.

Separately, the Chair of the Select Committee on Communications and Digital in the Lords, Baroness Stowell has written to ministers in the Foreign Office and other departments with responsibility for Media and Creative Industries as well as Tech and the Digital Economy, looking for clarification in regard to GDI funding and influence. Looks like the days of the taxpayer funding efforts to defund non-woke media are over.