Essex online prankster Simon Harris kept £367k from council contracts

Simon Harris said he organised a range of different campaigns, including climate action work.

An internet prankster kept about £367,000 in public funds paid to him to run Facebook groups and carry out other work during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has emerged.

Essex County Council said the money was given to Simon Harris for "expediency" as it sought to reach out to residents.

Mr Harris insisted the money covered more than updating social media content.

Opposition politicians on the council have called for an urgent inquiry.

Mike Mackrory, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition at the council, said he wanted an extraordinary meeting arranged "to debate all the circumstances in which Essex County Council engaged Mr Simon Harris in contracts and payments".

Labour opposition councillor Aidan McGurran said: "The sheer amount that was spent on social media amplification around the pandemic seems alarming and needs further scrutiny."

This week, the council provided a list of detailed answers on its website about payments made to Mr Harris between March 2020 and April 2023, in response to questions from the BBC and others.

It disclosed how Mr Harris passed on at least £163,190 to sub-contractors involved in a Facebook support campaign during the pandemic.

He confirmed that he kept the remainder of the £530,000 as payment for his services.

There was "no legal obligation on Mr Harris to tell us about who he was using or why or how much he was paying", the council said.

Carole Baskin, from Netflix series The Tiger King, was paid to provide a video message for Essex residents

Almost £1m was paid by the council to "social media suppliers" between April 2017 and March 2024, according to the answers provided.

It further admitted there was "not full compliance with the declaration of interest process" over the payments, but said it was "not aware of any aspect of spending which could, under the rules, be considered to have been illegal or unlawful".

But it also stated it could not find evidence of spend approval in relation to almost £40,000 in payments, including more than £6,000 to Mr Harris.

The council's former head of strengthening communities, Kirsty O'Callaghan, approved most of the payments to Mr Harris, though a number of other council officers also signed off on them.

Ms O'Callaghan could not be contacted for comment despite extensive efforts to reach her.

Mr Harris said the Essex Coronavirus Action Facebook page - later renamed Essex is United - generated between three and five million views per month.

Through this work, about 5,000 volunteers were recruited to support shielding during the pandemic and vaccination efforts, he added.

Mr Harris said: "The funding, the majority of which was clustered during the most serious stages of the pandemic, was not only for my services."

Essex County Council said it was not aware of any aspect of spending which could be considered to have been illegal

He pointed out that he organised a range of different campaigns, including climate action work.

"[The work included] content creation from a number of different individuals, from social media influencers right up to very famous individuals who provided their own spin on Covid-19 guidance from central government," he told the BBC.

These well-known figures included Carole Baskin, the animal rights activist from Florida who appeared in the Netflix series, The Tiger King. She provided a video message to Essex residents.

Mr Harris, who is based near Southend-on-Sea, also runs a parenting blog and gained an online following by targeting Conservative politicians and policies in a series of internet stunts.

When asked why its own communications team was not involved in the social media campaigns, an Essex County Council spokesperson said this activity was being brought back in house from March.

"Before the pandemic, we commissioned work to develop a network of online digital communities via social media, building relationships and connections with existing groups to support public health messaging and behaviour change," the spokesperson said.

"This work was vital in getting to the heart of communities in Essex and was particularly important during an exceptional period of national emergency."

Much of the spending came from central government grants, the spokesperson said.