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Dominic Midgley

Dominic Midgley, Executive Features Editor

As the author of Abramovich, The Billionaire From Nowhere, a biography of the former owner of Chelsea FC, Dominic has cornered the market in oligarch-watching since Russia's billionaires were thrown into the spotlight by the onset of the war in Ukraine. He also writes on a wide range of other topics, from the legal battle over Britain's biggest private house to the world's priciest wine heist. Since starting his journalistic career on the Daily American in Rome, his journalistic output has appeared in virtually every national newspaper in the UK and he has written extensively for magazines from The Spectator and ES magazine to BA Business Life and Harpers Wine and Spirit.

Coverage: UK News Russia Russia-Ukraine

MOST RECENT ARTICLES FROM DOMINIC MIDGLEY

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Inside Vladimir Putin's secret harem: The ex-cleaner now worth £78million. The nubile Olympic gymnast whose ex-boyfriend 'fell' to his death... A new book delves into Putin's richly rewarded bedfellows

17/10/25 10:09

It was dawn on a summer's day in 2021 when Russia's secret policemen swooped on one of the country's leading opposition journalists. Roman Badanin woke at 6am on June 29 to the insistent ringing of the doorbell of his apartment in the central Moscow district of Chertanovo....read

How Manchester became 'Dubai of the North': There's money everywhere, property's booming and OnlyFans stars and influencers are fleeing London for it. Now DOMINIC MIDGLEY reveals its secret... and if you should cash in too
21/08/25 11:07
I can still remember May 21, 1982, as if it were yesterday. It was the launch date of The Hacienda, the Manchester dance club created by Factory Records.
- 694 comments
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Why IS Trump putty in Putin's hands? Rumours of Russian kompromat have been dismissed as 'fake news' by US president so what is the real reason he's cosying up to Putin?
20/02/25 08:16
In 2013 Miss Universe, American Olivia Culpo , travelled to Moscow to film a music video with a Russian pop star who was the son of a billionaire real estate mogul with ties to President Vladimir Putin.
As the Italian supercar giant prepares to clamp down on garish paint jobs… Meet the world's most blingtastic Ferraris
07/02/25 02:23
Henry Ford used to say that his Model T was available in 'any colour the customer wants, as long as it's black'. In the same way, all Ferraris were once painted in rosso corso, or racing red.
- 71 comments
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Is £12billion boss of the encrypted messaging app hated by dictators languishing in a French cell because his girlfriend gave away their location on Instagram?
28/08/24 12:58
Pavel Durov was home alone when the heavies came calling in 2011. He had refused to remove opposition politicians' accounts from his site VKontakte and the Kremlin had lost patience.
- 125 comments
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Lethal rapids, foot rot... and a close encounter with machete-wielding 'river pirates'. The incredible story of how a middle-aged British IT worker became the first man to kayak down the Amazon - just so he could impress his grandchildren
01/07/24 04:14
Sheer cliffs, hundreds of feet high, lined the banks of the river and there were terrifying rapids as far as the eye could see. From a kayaker's point of view, it was a nightmare scenario.
- 44 comments
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Fight to own Britain's biggest mega-mansion: An oligarch whose daughter-in-law is 'too pretty to work' is trying to see off an ex-colleague who says a verbal agreement entitles him to £300m pad in London. DOMINIC MIDGLEY explains the very ugly court battle
05/05/24 04:54
When Britain's biggest private house, a mega-mansion called Witanhurst on Highgate Hill in north London , went on the market in 2008, it was close to a ruin.
- 127 comments
- 47 shares
How thieves walked away with £1.3m of fine wines from top Paris restaurant that hosts the world's biggest celebrities, has a metal-lined cellar - and even repelled the Nazis
04/02/24 05:56
The wine cellar of La Tour d'Argent, the oldest restaurant in Paris, is so venerated that only customers who order the most expensive vintages are granted a guided tour.
- 46 comments
- 42 shares
Anarchy at the Athenaeum! The 200-year-old Pall Mall club has been hit by an unlikely culture war. On one side, traditionalists who accuse modernisers of 'clamorous priggery'. On the other, the right-on committee accusing opponents of bigotry
14/12/23 10:26
The villain of the piece, in Richard Davenport-Hines' eyes, is not so much the club chairman, the admittedly right-on Dame Ann Limb, but her colleagues on the ruling committee.
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Call me Dave, too! DOMINIC MIDGLEY'S uncanny resemblance to David Cameron has seen him frequently stopped in the street - and even asked by a celebrity photographer to recreate the infamous 'Pig-gate' scandal
15/11/23 09:03
The moment I heard the news that David Cameron was to return to frontline politics as Foreign Secretary, I had a sinking feeling.
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Meet the Russian oligarchs (and their wives) making a mockery of Western sanctions despite Putin's war in Ukraine
31/05/23 11:39
As the people of Mariupol mourned the death of 600 of their fellow citizens, Svetlana Maniovich, 50, (left) was driven to one of the grandest squares in Paris.
- 147 comments
- 41 shares
How have the hellraisers of Fleetwood Mac survived so long? As Christine McVie dies at 79, DOMINIC MIDGLEY looks back on the life of a '70s icon
01/12/22 10:05
DOMINIC MIDGLEY: They and their entourage would be ferried to the swankiest hotel in town where each band member would repair to a suite repainted in the colour of their choice.
Eat, drink and make merry in delicious San Sebastian, which is awash with Michelin stars and has great beaches to boot!
22/07/22 09:03
With Villa Soro hotel as his base, Dominic Midgley walks along San Sebastian's La Concha beach, samples Basque cider, and finds that the city 'offers a feast of art'.
- 37 comments
- 28 shares
It's Scilly Isles season! Now's the time to visit sunny Tresco, says DOMINIC MIDGLEY, a 'parallel universe where people don't lock their doors and children play unsupervised'
23/04/22 09:13
'The Scillies are a throwback to the Cornwall of the 1950s,' writes Dominic Midgley, 'but with all the conveniences of the modern world... and Tresco is one of the most charming islands.'
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Raise a glass of chateau-bottled Schadenfreude! As Roman Abramovich is locked out of his fabulous Riviera pile, DOMINIC MIDGLEY takes a look at the former home to four kings which the Russian oligarch spent £125m doing up
18/04/22 09:40
When Roman Abramovich first laid eyes on Chateau de la Croe it bore little resemblance to the palatial mansion it is today. But he had the vision - and cash - to see how it could be returned to its former glory.
- 206 comments
- 4105 shares
Roman Abramovich is struggling to pay his £570k-a-week staff bill. Another tycoon has no chauffeur and can't drive (while his wife takes every penny she can from London ATMs): Cue the world's smallest violin for oligarchs begging friends for spare change
08/04/22 11:31
When you've been living this sort of cartoonishly opulent lifestyle for more than two decades, it must come as quite a blow to have the silver spoon snatched away.
Can we really trust Roman the peace maker? It may be that giving Abramovich a toxic shock was the Kremlin's way of warning him not to go off reservation, writes the oligarch's biographer DOMINIC MIDGLEY
29/03/22 09:47
DOMINIC MIDGLEY: The Russian tycoon appears to be revelling in his role as an 'unofficial mediator' in peace talks, despite reports he had been poisoned in earlier round of talks.
- 339 comments
- 12 shares
Roman on the run... portrait of a global pariah: As he flees Israel for Moscow, harried Chelsea FC billionaire Abramovich scrambles to save the remnants of his empire as sanctions bite
15/03/22 10:13
The Roman Abramovich (pictured) spotted in the departure lounge of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport this week was a very different creature from the billionaire, 55, of yore.
Why Russia is still a poor country when compared to Australia despite its huge population and vast oil and gas reserves - with workers making a FRACTION of what Aussies take home
11/03/22 01:22
Russia's economy is barely bigger than Australia's despite having a population more than five times the size. The concentration of wealth in the hands of oligarchs is one major factor.
- 39 comments
- 82 shares
The ocean-going oligarch who makes Roman Abramovich look like a pauper: Alisher Usmanov - who served six years in a Soviet penal colony after being convicted of fraud and corruption - has always been a little rough around the edges, writes DOMINIC MIDGLEY
03/03/22 10:29
Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, 68, is believed to be worth around £14.2billion, with UK assets including a London mansion and country estate with a combined value of some £210million.
- 186 comments
- 19 shares
The mother of all fire sales: Why Roman Abramovich is selling his many UK assets - including Chelsea - despite not yet being sanctioned by the UK government in its backlash against the oligarchs, writes the oligarch's biographer DOMINIC MIDGLEY
02/03/22 10:14
The Government imposed sanctions on 15 oligarchs, freezing their assets in this country, but one man who has so far escaped the clampdown is 55-year-old Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea FC.
Now that's skydiving! As the UK's first pool in the sky opens, would you take the plunge in these high-rise lidos that could make your head swim?
06/06/21 09:15
As Britain enjoyed its warmest day of the year last week, a handful of intrepid swimmers were spotted taking a dip in the UK's first Sky Pool. From Texas to Singapore, sky pools are all the rage.
Walk away your worries: The Easter weekend is the perfect time to start planning a holy hike - and any of these enlightened trails might just change your life
03/04/21 11:23
The Daily Mail's Dominic Midgley picks the world's best soul-searching strolls, from Spain's famous Camino de Santiago to Italy's St Francis' Way and Israel's Jesus Trail.
- 23 comments
- 172 shares
Inside one of Spain's most beautiful villages (officially) - and how the hard work of a Scottish expat helped to put it on the map
15/02/21 04:30
The Daily Mail's Dominic Midgley visited the southern Spanish hill town of Vejer de la Frontera. He stayed at a luxury hotel owned by the Scotsman who has helped the town gain a global reputation.
- 34 comments
- 765 shares
A recce in Lecce! Lavish architecture, irresistible food and wine - this city is Italy at its classical best
04/09/20 08:44
The Puglian city of Lecce is dubbed the 'Florence of the south' thanks to its magnificent architecture, stunning churches and beautiful bell towers. Dominic Midgley paid a visit and was impressed.
- 4 comments
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Britain's bonniest isles: Who needs the sweltering Caribbean or faraway Fiji? Nothing compares to the sheer majesty of our own Scottish islands - and here are ten of the best...
06/03/20 10:01
There are no fewer than 790 islands off Scotland and they come in all shapes and sizes, from large archipelagos to tiny outcrops. Here Dominic Midgley rounds up 10 of the best to visit.
Where to give your wallet a holiday: Sterling's taken a bashing since the Brexit vote, but there are still plenty of glorious hotspots where your pound will go further than ever
27/09/19 09:01
The pound has been in trouble since the Brexit vote in 2016, with places that once seemed a bargain looking expensive. But don't despair - here are the destinations where sterling will go farthest.
There's a feast of lesser-known European cities with superb foodie scenes, so tuck into our guide for... destination delicious
24/08/19 10:15
Here's how to seek out Europe's up-and-coming foodie destinations. From the Belgian city of Bruges to the Albanian town of Lezhe, there are a host of gems off the beaten track waiting to be discovered.
- 8 comments
- 101 shares

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