Peter Geoghegan

Peter Geoghegan is an Irish writer, investigative journalist, and broadcaster. His investigations into dark money, foreign interference, and the quiet erosion of democratic accountability is what sets him apart. Twice nominated for the British Journalism Award and twice for the Paul Foot Award, he is a reporter whose work moves the needle.

Geoghegan’s 2020 book Democracy for Sale is a Sunday Times bestseller. It remains the defining account of how vested interests and opaque funding networks are corroding democratic institutions across the UK and beyond. The book travels from Westminster to Washington, following money that its donors would very much prefer stayed in the shadows. Along the way, it exposes partisan think tanks, regulatory loopholes, and Silicon Valley’s quiet role in undermining electoral integrity. For audiences grappling with questions of governance and institutional trust, it is essential reading. Geoghegan’s previous book, The People’s Referendum, was nominated for the Saltire First Book Award. It established him as a sharp chronicler of political identity and democratic change — long before those themes entered the mainstream.

In 2023, Peter Geoghegan founded the Democracy for Sale newsletter. It has since become one of the most-read independent investigative outlets in Britain. Among its most explosive pieces was an undercover Westminster “cash for access” sting, broadcast on ITV News. A reporter posed as an adviser to a wealthy Chinese family office seeking political access. That single story generated 79,000 views on YouTube. In an era when legacy media is contracting, Geoghegan has built something genuinely rare. A financially sustainable, editorially independent outlet doing serious investigative work, without a paywall, on the firm conviction that public interest journalism should be free for all.

Peter Geoghegan’s career spans every dimension of modern British journalism. He co-founded the Scottish investigative cooperative The Ferret in 2015 and later served as editor-in-chief and CEO of openDemocracy. He has also made documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and investigative programmes for Channel 4.