Dan Wootton SUSPENDED By Daily Mail – But ‘History of Lies’ by The Byline Times Emerges

GB News presenter and columnist Dan Wootton has been suspended by the Daily Mail while they carry out an investigation into numerous allegations made against him, including by former colleagues and an ex-partner. 

Dan Wootton, who has staunchly denied the so-far unsubstantiated allegations, is accused of targeting current and former Sun employees with offers of money in return for explicit images. He is also accused of obtaining at least one sexual video illegally, without the consent of one of the participants, of blackmailing individuals into doing his bidding, of bullying former colleagues – and has also been accused of rape.

Confusion still surrounds the developing scandal, mainly due to Wootton’s failure to deny he used an email account with the pseudonym ‘Martin Branning’ to carry out some of the acts he is accused of – but also because The Byline Times, the outlet that has predominantly published the claims, has so far not released credible evidence to support their claims, and has a history of being sued for printing libel and false allegations.

A full breakdown of the allegations, including an in-depth analysis covering ‘both sides’ of the scandal, can be read by clicking here.

GB News has still not issued any form of statement. On the contrary, it has allowed Wootton to use his show to address the allegations with clear bias and without anyone else present to challenge him onscreen. During a 6-minute monologue, he claimed that the allegations were part of a ‘left-wing plot’ to bring down GB News – despite some of the allegations being made before GB News even existed.

He is currently crowdfunding to take the Byline Times to court.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for News UK, Rupert Murdoch’s company that owns The Sun, said last week: “We are looking into the allegations made in recent days. We are not able to make any further comment at this stage.”

Dan Wootton’s twice-weekly column has not appeared on MailOnline since the allegations were made. Initially a spokesperson from the Mail’s parent company, DMG Media, issued a brief statement last week simply confirming: “We are aware of the allegations and are looking into them.”

Today, however, a spokesperson from DMG Media confirmed that Wootton would not be working for them for the foreseeable future: “We are continuing to consider a series of allegations which Dan Wootton – who has written columns for MailOnline since 2021 as one of several outside freelance contributors – has strenuously denied.

“The allegations are obviously serious but also complex and historic and there is an independent investigation under way at the media group which employed him during the relevant period. In the meantime, his freelance column with MailOnline has been paused.”

A spokesman for the Met Police said it had been contacted in June “with regards to allegations” of offences committed by a man.

“Officers are assessing information to establish whether any criminal offence has taken place,” they said. “There is no police investigation at this time.”

VoteWatch contacted the Metropolitan police again early last week and they confirmed that they have still not opened an investigation. Meanwhile there are growing calls for The Byline Times to prove its claims by releasing the evidence it alleges to possess showing that Wootton was behind the ‘Martin Branning’ email account. Instead, the outlet has drip-fed articles and has used those articles to promote their donation links.

Today, the left-wing blog site released its sixth article about the scandal, this time claiming that they were revealing the evidence proving Wootton was behind the the Martin Branning email account. However, despite naming sites like The Wayback Machine, the article once again failed to provide any links or screenshots to support its claims.

It has also been noted that the Byline Times has previously misled donors by making false claims to raise tens of thousands of pounds to launch lawsuits that have subsequently never materialised – and has also failed to issue any refunds to donors or reveal to them where their money went.

“If they’re telling the truth, why wouldn’t they [The Byline Times] just publish the proof?” one frustrated Twitter user wrote on Tuesday.

“They’re saying it like it’s a fact, but haven’t shown any credible evidence except the words of accusers,” another tweeted.

A breakdown of some of the allegations against the Byline Times, including demonstrable libel, can be read here.

Likewise, Wootton is facing growing calls to clearly confirm or deny that he was behind the ‘Martin Branning’ email account, after he denied committing any illegal act but admitted he had previously made ‘errors of judgement’ – but failed to elaborate.

VoteWatch will provide an update in due course.