Craig Dillon, a former YouTuber[9] and Sky News digital producer,[8][4] who studied TV production at the University of Westminster,[10] founded the company as Westminster Analytics in November 2017.[1] The company was renamed Westminster Digital in May 2019 and Thomas Dixon was appointed managing director in August of that year.[1] In November 2020 Dixon was registered as having ownership of around one-third of the company's shares, with the remainder under ownership of the founder and CEO, Dillon.[1]
Westminster Digital's collection of up to £165,000 (according to one estimate)[11] of government funds for the creation of Facebook videos and other social media content for MPs was controversial.[12][13] Despite the MPs claiming the expenses legally as payments from their office costs budget and justifying them as cheaper than employing a full-time communications staff,[11] critics have called them a waste of taxpayers' money.[12][13] Although no complete public list of MPs who have claimed for services from Westminster Digital exists,[11] their clients are known to have included Michael Gove, Matt Hancock, Sajid Javid, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.[6]
The company's managing director and minority shareholder Thomas Dixon resigned[1] and their work on the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election campaign for Penny Mordaunt was concluded[14] in July 2022. This followed accusations of astroturfing[14] and a viral appearance by CEO Craig Dillon (under the pseudonym Thomas Corbett-Dillon) on Tucker Carlson Tonight,[15][16] which was described as a “distraction”.[14] In September of that year, Dixon's minority share in the company passed to Thomas Borwick's College Green Group.[1]
