Dear Patchers — Edgbaston MP Preet Gill has apologised to The Dispatch after threatening to report us to the police over a recent story.
On Monday last week, we received an email from Gill, who was unhappy with our reporting on the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Smethwick, which she attends. As well as accusing us of “seeking to bully [her]”, “Mysogny [sic]” and reporting “inaccurate information”, she said she was planning to report us to the “local police and [the] standards commissioner”.
Moreover, Gill seemed to allege we had received some kind of underhand payment to run the piece. “Can you confirm who paid you to write this article,” she wrote. Gill has since withdrawn the accusation that we were paid to write the article, saying that she “[apologises] for having included that at the end of [her] message.”
That’s the topic of today’s Big Story. While we appreciate Gill’s apology, we were disturbed by the fact a sitting MP seemed to be using her platform to intimidate an independent publication by making baseless accusations: effectively chilling free speech and necessary journalistic scrutiny. Needless to say, The Dispatch has never received any payment of this kind to write an article. We are reader-funded, making us accountable to you. If you’d like to support local journalism that stands up to politicians, and institutions, across the West Midlands please consider joining us today.
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Catch up: For those of you who have missed any of our recent work, here’s your opportunity to make amends — two fine Dispatch stories from last week and one from our new sister publication, which launched this morning in London.
- Read last Friday’s paywalled story (“Another great article by the Birmingham Dispatch,” in the words of one reader) where we attempt to answer the question: ‘Is Deritend still Birmingham’s Irish Quarter?’
- Catch up on Saturday’s long read into the powerful Wolverhampton political family who appear to be being less-than-truthful about their address. “More brilliant work by the Dispatch. Thank you for being there and doing this,” one reader wrote.
- Our new sister paper, The Londoner launches with a barnstorming piece today on Labour MP Jas Athwal’s portfolio of properties including a failing children’s home. The Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, was asked about it today by The Guardian. Do you have any information on landlord MPs in the West Midlands? Get in touch.
Cloudbusting
🌥️Tuesday: Misty with sunny patches. Max 16°C.
🍃Wednesday: More mist and a light wind. Max 15°C.
🌥️Thursday: Cloudy with sunny intervals. Max 15°C.
☁️Friday: Cloudy and windy. Max 13°C.
☀️Weekend: The sun returns! The wind remains. Max 11°C.
We get our weather from the Met Office.
The big story: MP apologises for trying to silence The Dispatch
Top line: At 7.08 pm last Monday, just as we were wrapping things up at Dispatch HQ, an email dropped into our inbox with the subject line: ‘Notice of Concern’. The sender was unhappy with an article we had published. The email made some very serious allegations about our publication, accusing us of “bully[ing],” threatening to report us to the police and seemingly alleging that we had received some kind of payment for the piece (“Can you confirm who paid you to write this article?” it read). The email was sent by the Labour MP for Edgbaston and Parliamentary Private Secretary, Preet Gill.
Context: On October 19th, The Dispatch published an article about the pro-Khalistan Guru Nanak Gurdwara (GNG) in Smethwick. The article explored links between former shadow minister Preet Gill MP, new Labour MP Gurinder Josan, Sandwell councillors and the international Khalistan movement.
As well as exploring the persecution many Khalistan activists face from the Indian government and Hindu nationalists, The Dispatch wrote about Gill’s connections to the movement, the pro-Khalistan Sikh Federation and the GNG: including the fact that her father was, for many years, president of the gurdwara. We also reported that Gill was pictured with then-Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in front of a wall in GNG, Smethwick depicting members of UK-proscribed organisations (such as Babbar Khalsa).
Both pro and anti-Khalistan voices within Sikh communities were included in the reporting.
Who is Preet Gill? Gill was the first female Sikh elected to the House of Commons in 2017 for the constituency of Edgbaston. She has held high positions within the Labour Party and opposition, including the post of Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development. Gill was demoted in a September 2023 shadow cabinet reshuffle.
As of March 6th, 2024, she was the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Sikhs: the pro-Khalistan Sikh Federation has, historically, been the APPG’s secretariat. Gill entered into a conflict with the peer and director of the anti-Khalistan Network of Sikh Organisation’s Lord Singh over the issue of an ethnic tick box for Sikhs in the 2021 census. Gill accused Lord Singh of bullying and harassment, of which he was cleared by the House of Lords Standards Commissioner in a 13th of January, 2021 report. The document described Lord Singh’s behaviour towards Gill as “discourteous” but not “bullying.”
The first email: After the publication of our article on Khalistan, Gill sent us an email questioning The Dispatch’s reporting and accusing us of “bullying”. She then claimed that Lord Singh was using The Dispatch to “further bully, intimidate and harass” her.
The Dispatch has had, and maintains, no connection with the Network of Sikh Organisations beyond including Lord Singh as one source, among many, in our story. Gill seemed, surprisingly, unaware of the fact that Lord Singh had been cleared by the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards in 2021 and that the report had explicitly mentioned the conflict over the census, writing to us: “Can you please provide evidence that he was cleared? That the bullying was related to the census?”
Gill also claims that we reported “inaccurate information,” but has provided no concrete examples of said inaccuracies. She then claimed she would: “[raise the] article with the local police.” We approached the Police and Crime Comissioner’s office about Gill’s threat to take police action, who said: “Unfortunately, at this time, our Office is unable to offer any comments on the below.”
A second email: We responded to Gill’s concerns and questioned whether threatening to report a local media company to the police might represent an abuse of power. Yesterday, she wrote back saying: “I have sadly received several death threats in recent times…I was therefore very concerned after reading your piece given these concerns about my safety.” (In 2023, Gill relayed to the media threats she has received, including an email telling her to ‘watch your back,’ and being ‘shouted at in the street.’) She then wrote that she wanted to withdraw “the question on the matter of why you wrote and published this article”. She added that she “[apologised] for having included that at the end of my message.”
Bottom Line: While we appreciate Gill’s apology and withdrawal, and the sensitivity and risk that surrounds the Khalistan issue and threats issued against her, we are concerned about her reaction to The Dispatch’s basic journalistic scrutiny. Issuing baseless threats of police action will only chill free speech and narrow the parameters of investigative local journalism. Indeed, a Birmingham MP attempting to use her status to intimidate an independent publication into withdrawing an article under the threat of police action, is, in itself, newsworthy.
Photo of the week
A rainy day in Birmingham town centre near the Bullring’s Selfridges Building designed by architectural firm Future Systems in 2003. Helpful though it may be, does the bridge strike fear into anyone else when they cross it? Photo by Marcin Sz (marcin_sz_photographer on Instagram).
Brum in brief
💂 The Westminister circus (or at least part of it) comes to Birmingham today as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer gives a speech at the Rep theatre ahead of Wednesday’s Budget. Starmer laid out the reasoning for the budget in boldly political terms, declaring Labour’s commitment to “embrace the harsh light of fiscal reality.” Crowds of lanyard-wearing SpAds (special advisors) in ill-fitting suits, manically tweeting political correspondents and television crews were seen entering the Rep around 10:30 am surrounded by tight security. Starmer then told the assembled Birmingham crowd that he was leading the country out of a: “pay more, get less, doom loop.” However, this isn’t a “1997” moment, he said, when “the economy was decent but public services were on their knees.”
During the Birmingham Q&A, the Prime Minister was asked about our brand new sister paper The Londoner’s exclusive on Labour MP Jas Athwal’s property portfolio: which includes a failing children’s home. Starmer responded that: “I [don’t know] the full details of this, although I've seen the story…I would expect anyone, in a situation like that, to take their responsibilities seriously.”
💸 Some of the most deprived areas of the West Midlands fear they could lose millions in levelling-up money promised by the previous Conservative government. Six local councils — Dudley, Sandwell, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Nuneaton and Bedworth — were due to receive £120m in total for long-term regeneration plans. However, since Labour’s election, they have dropped the phrase ‘levelling up’ from the title of a government department and accused the Conservatives of leaving a £22bn "black hole" in the public finances.
🧯 The Conservative MP for Aldridge-Brownhills, Wendy Morton, has called for an inquiry into the “deep-rooted and troubling problems” at the West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS). Her intervention comes after now-departed interim CEO Oliver Lee publicly called the authority “ungovernable” and criticised its chair, Wolverhampton Labour Councillor Greg Brackenridge. Brackenridge has since stepped down as chair following allegations he exaggerated his career in the Royal Marines. Morton told the House of Commons there were “too many unanswered questions” about the service.
💬 A 22-year-old Brummie who uses text-to-speech software to communicate is celebrating a “dream come true,” after being given his regional accent. Christian Wilson, from Bromsgrove, has verbal dyspraxia, he previously used a system he complained made him sound too “robotic.” Wanting to instead sound like his dad, two voice donors (Stephen Robotham, from Warwickshire, and Martin Brennan, of Birmingham) had their speech combined to create Christian’s new voice. He told the BBC, “when I first heard my new voice I cried for five minutes thinking about all the things I could do.”
Home of the week
You’ll have beams for days with this three-bedroom, 18th-century cottage in Curdworth, Sutton Coldfield. It’s on the market for £400,000.
Media picks
📰 Sandwell District, aka techno DJs Regis (Karl O’Connor), Female (Peter Sutton) and Function (Dave Sumner) are set to play the sun-soaked Barcelona and Porto music festival Primavera Sound next summer. In preparation, revisit their 2010 release Feed Forward — which had a surprising reissue last year, a decade after the group shut up shop — with this Quietus article by Kiran Sande. It’s all the more poignant following the death of the collective’s fourth member, Silent Servant (Juan Mendez), in LA earlier this year. “Feed Forward was the making of Sandwell District, then, but also the catalyst of its undoing,” writes Sande.
📻 This BBC Radio 4 sitcom Rudy’s Rare Records stars Brummie legend Lenny Henry and centres around a tiny, family-owned reggae record shop in Birmingham. A real hidden gem written by Danny Robins — with four series — this is well worth a listen.
Things to do
Tuesday
🎵 ‘Tabla Jedi’ Dalbir Singh Rattan takes to the Town Hall stage to play the traditional Indian hand drums. This free, lunchtime performance starts at 1 pm and no booking is required.
🤖 Another daytime option for people looking after children this half-term holiday is the Lego creature-building workshop at the ThinkTank Science Museum. Tickets admit one child and an adult and cost from £13.50. There is a family ticket options and a number of timeslots available.
Wednesday
🎤 Watch six cutting-edge comics battle it out in the BBC New Comedy Awards grand final at the Alexandra Theatre. The competition kicks off at 7.30 pm and tickets are absolutely free.
🥽 Try this free, full-body VR experience for gentle relaxation and creative stimulation at the MAC. Drop-in sessions are every 10 minutes from 2-6 pm.
Thursday
📽️ “Here’s Johnny!” Make Halloween last that little bit longer with a screening of the extended version of The Shining at The Mockingbird Cinema at 8 pm. Tickets are £8.95.
🎻 Classical music give you the spooks? Well, it should. Catch the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s Halloween performance at the Hockley Social Club — performances of Herrmann and Saint-Saën conducted by Kazuki Yamada. Tickets start at £10. Doors at 6 pm.
📷 The prestigious, 60-year-old Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award exhibition is at the BMAG. See world-renowned images on loan from London’s Natural History Museum. The entrance costs £11 (or £6 for concessions). Children aged up to 15 can get in for free.
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