Saturday, February 22, 2025
Labour Minister under investigation
The paper says that the Solicitors Regulation Authority said on Friday it would look into allegations that Reynolds had incorrectly claimed to have worked as a solicitor even though he did not finish his legal training:
The confirmation comes after the website Guido Fawkes revealed Reynolds had not qualified, despite his LinkedIn profile listing one of his previous jobs as “solicitor”.
The SRA wrote to Reynolds in January after becoming aware of the error on his LinkedIn profile but decided not to take further action after it was corrected.
On Friday, however, a spokesperson for the regulator said: “We looked at that issue at the time we became aware of it and contacted Mr Reynolds about the profiles. The materials were corrected, and we closed the matter with no further action based on all the evidence we had at the time.
“However, we’ve now become aware of further information, so we will look at this.”
The spokesperson would not say why the regulator had changed its position since Wednesday.
The decision came after Robert Jenrick wrote to the SRA demanding a new inquiry. The shadow justice secretary earlier this week accused Reynolds of “criminal conduct” and called on the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to sack him.
Reynolds is the second Minister to be accused of having incorrect information on his Linkedin profile. Chancellor, Rachel Reeves has also had to correct her profile after it said she had been an economist at the bank HBOS when she actually worked in retail banking. It isnt a good look.
Friday, February 21, 2025
Orgies, fights and ‘KGB agents’ in brothels
The paper says that the book covers orgies, Matt Hancock’s abrupt departure to the I’m a Celebrity... jungle, a Tory MP becoming stuck in a brothel, and the various misconduct scandals that engulfed members of Rishi Sunak’s government:
Hart recalls that, just one month into the job, an MP elected in 2019 called him at 2.45am to report that he was in a brothel with a woman he suspected was a Russian agent.
Hart recounts the MP telling him: “I met a woman as I left the Carlton Club who offered me a drink, but I now think she is a KGB agent. She wants £500 and has left me in a room with 12 naked women and a CCTV.”
After discussing the issue with a special adviser, Hart sent the MP a taxi to return him to his hotel, before receiving a second call at 4.10am in which he was told that the taxi driver was an “Afghan agent” who had asked for £3,000 for a sex act.
In his diaries, Hart says Rishi Sunak appointed a minister to his cabinet during a reshuffle despite saying: “Let’s all agree about one thing. She is f***ing useless but we can’t get rid of her.”
He also criticises the minister for failing to appreciate her new role, writing: “[She] is less grateful than her promotion deserves and more entitled than professionals should be when selected by the PM for high office.”
Hart does not disclose the name of the minister, but only three women were promoted to the cabinet or given enhanced briefs during the February reshuffle.
Kemi Badenoch, now the Tory leader, was handed business brief on top of her role as international trade secretary, while Michelle Donelan was promoted to become science and technology secretary.
Lucy Frazer was promoted to culture secretary, having previously been housing minister.
Hart recounts being told that in February 2023, while at dinner at the Hurlingham Club, a senior married MP got “a bit fruity” with a journalist and suggested that her “dress would look better discarded on my bedroom floor”.
When Hart informed Boris Johnson that Harriet Harman was to publish her privileges committee report, which would recommend he be subject to a 20-day suspension, the former PM asked if there was a way to “kill off the report or at least vote it down”, the book claims.
“In any normal circumstances, a former PM asking for special treatment would be a big deal, but this being Boris, it doesn’t surprise me at all,” writes Hart. “Worryingly, it doesn’t even annoy me that much either.”
Upon being reminded that it was he himself who had set up this process and accepted Harman as its chair, Johnson replied: “But I was in India and I wasn’t concentrating. I left it all to the whips.”
Hart reports that, on Halloween 2023, a special adviser went to an orgy and another employee dressed up as prolific paedophile Jimmy Savile.
“Among today’s HR joys is the report that a departmental Spad went to an orgy over the weekend and ended up taking a crap on another person’s head,” he writes.
“To make matters worse, in a separate incident a House employee went to a party dressed as Jimmy Savile and ended up having sex with a blow-up doll, for which he has been subsequently dismissed. Just another day at the office, I guess.”
The Welsh Assembly was a tea party in comparison to that lot.
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Senior Tory scores own goal
The paper says that, in what appears to have been an attempt to dig up information on Labour’s record, the shadow paymaster general used a written parliamentary question to ask how many new prison places were built under the previous Labour administration, between May 1997 and May 2010, and the previous Tory administration, between May 2010 and July 2024.
Unfortunately for him, the response from justice minister Sir Nicholas Dakin revealed that the Tories increased the capacity of the prison estate by just 455 spaces in their fourteen years in power - fewer spaces than the current government has created in its seven months in office:
The previous Labour government boosted space by 27,830 new prison places, the data shows.
A further written question asked by Mr Holden also revealed that between 2010 and 2024, the Tories closed the doors of more than 7,500 prison cells.
However, when he pressed for further information from the House of Commons library, separate data showed that between 1997 and 2010 - under the previous Labour government - the number of prisoners in double bunked cells had increased by more than 9,000. And between 1999 and 2010, those placed in overcrowded accommodation increased by around 7,000.
Oops!
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Rising bills highlight Labour's first major misstep
The paper says that Whitehall sources have indicated that they expect bills in most UK regions to increase by around £9 a month over next three months, hitting Labour’s pledge to curb the cost of living:
Forecasts of exactly how much rates will rise again in April vary, but most key analysts agree they will be increasing. Large energy firms such as British Gas, E.On and EDF predict the price cap will increase by between five and seven per cent.
Experts say increased volatility in the global gas market is a key source of the rises. The transit deal that allowed gas to flow to Europe from Russia via Ukraine recently ended, adding more uncertainty.
Meanwhile, the lack of gas storage in Britain and Europe is also adding to the issue at a time when cold weather has greatly increased demand in recent months.
Mr Miliband, the energy secretary, has now written an urgent letter to Ofgem, asking the regulator to move faster to protect consumers against coming price rises. Writing to chief executive Jonathan Brearley, he said there are steps Ofgem could take to combat the “rollercoaster” of global gas markets.
“In recent months we have seen once again the dangers for our country of being exposed to fossil fuel markets controlled by petrostates and dictators,” he wrote, adding that the UK is “highly exposed to these global gas markets.”
“Once again, the British people and British businesses will face the consequences of fossil fuel markets we do not control,” he said.
Labour's problem though goes deeper than worries about the country's lack of gas storage and dependence on fossil fuels. Another price increase will serve to rmeind voters once again about their misjudgement in abolishing the winter fuel allowance for most pensioners.
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Labour under friendly fire over migration and asylum policy
The paper says that the group, in a joint statement, singled out the Home Office’s decision, revealed last week, to refuse citizenship to anyone who arrives in the UK via “a dangerous journey” such as a small boat over the Channel:
The statement also criticised ministers for highlighting the number of people being deported from the UK, with a Home Office publicity blitz last week using footage and images showing people being removed on planes.
The statement, coordinated by the Labour Campaign for Free Movement and the left-leaning Labour group Momentum, has been signed by seven MPs – Nadia Whittome, Diane Abbott, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Clive Lewis, Jon Trickett, Brian Leishman and Steve Witherden – as well as four ex-Labour MPs who now sit as independents, and four of the party’s peers.
It read: “Last week the government has published videos of deportations, restated its intention to criminalise people arriving irregularly, and banned them from ever becoming British citizens.
“These measures mimic the performative cruelty of the failed Tory governments rejected by voters last July. They also breach Britain’s international obligations to respect the right to claim asylum and guarantee safe routes.
“Far from being a drain on this country, migrants from all over the world enrich our society in every sense. Anti-migrant politics will not build a single house, staff a single hospital or raise anyone’s wages. Instead, by echoing its rhetoric, the government is simply fuelling the rise of Reform UK.
“We urge Labour’s leaders to recognise that Labour’s only route to victory is to deliver for the vast majority of people. We need to reverse austerity, address the climate crisis, take on the water and energy companies ripping us off, and foster a politics of working-class solidarity.”
Ministers have faced previous warnings from within the party and its backers that attempts to try to limit the threat from Reform by talking and acting toughly on migration could backfire.
This month Labour launched a series of adverts with Reform-style branding and messaging about how many people the government had deported, including a series from a group called UK Migration Updates.
On Sunday, Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, and nine Church of England bishops were among 148 signatories of a letter saying that the plan to deprive almost all asylum seekers of citizenship would “breed division and distrust” and could fuel attacks on migrant hotels.
The letter asked Cooper to “urgently reconsider the decision to effectively ban tens of thousands of refugees from ever becoming British citizens”.
The brothers and sisters are starting to get restless.
Monday, February 17, 2025
The doubting Tories
The paper says that some MPs are complaining that their fledgling leader is raising the wrong topics and picking unconvincing lines of attack against the prime minister at PMQs, which is her most prominent opportunity to make the political weather, while others have been concerned about the level of support for her from colleagues during the exchanges:
While most MPs are sympathetic to Badenoch, who is less than four months into the job, some MPs and frontbenchers want to see her bolster her advisory team with Tory figures seasoned in the difficult task of landing political blows.
One former cabinet minister said there had been complaints among MPs that Badenoch kept avoiding obvious attacks on Starmer’s handling of the economy, instead opting for “Westminster village-orientated” topics that she persevered with for too long. “People are putting on a brave face at the moment, but the comment I’ve heard more often than any other is that she keeps picking the wrong subjects,” they said. “There are some big things going on that could really resonate – like the economy.”
An MP who shared the concerns said: “We have people who have been involved in PMQs prep for a long time and I hope she’s got some continuity there, because it’s important we get it right. It doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be perfect, but she needs experience behind her. You need wise heads who know what they’re doing.”
The discontent surfaced after this week’s outing, in which Badenoch confronted Starmer over an attempt by a family from Gaza to use a Ukrainian resettlement scheme to come to the UK, as well as the appointment of a new borders inspector who lives in Finland.
However, Starmer responded by stating that the government was already reviewing the findings of the case of the Gazan family, while the borders inspector had been appointed by the last government – and had now been instructed to work from the UK.
Sympathetic Tory MPs said that the complaints over Badenoch’s approach were simply evidence of how hard it was to make an impression as opposition leader and pleaded for colleagues to give her time. “No one’s going to be a rock star immediately,” said one frontbencher. “It’s going to be incredibly difficult and she’s got to grow into the job. If it does seem clunky, she’s got four years to get this right. Having said that, Starmer is unbelievably crap.”
The paper adds that Tory figures are concerned about what could happen should the Conservatives suffer a poor set of local elections in May, as expected, with MPs saying that any discussion about replacing another leader would make them look absurd and must be avoided.
All in all. it's a right mess they've got themselves into.
Sunday, February 16, 2025
The prince is no pauper
They says that Labour peer George Foulkes has had the first of what he intends to be a number of questions about Andrew accepted, after “helpful” discussions last week with the deputy speaker in the House of Lords, John Gardiner.
The paper adds that these talks came after Lord Foulkes said recently that he had been refused permission to table a question proposing a public register of royal interests. He has called for greater scrutiny of the royals, including in parliament:
Parliament’s standing orders and Erskine May, the “bible” of procedure, prevent scrutiny at Westminster of the conduct of members of the royal family. Erskine May states: “No question can be put which brings the name of the sovereign or the influence of the crown directly before parliament, or which casts reflections upon the sovereign or the royal family.”
George Foulkes plans to ask further questions about the use of taxpayers’ money by the monarchy. Photograph: Patrick Seeger/EPA Foulkes, 83, has argued that there should be changes to the rules to allow parliament to go beyond the current limit of questions, mainly about the cost to the taxpayer of royal residences and events attended by the royals, particularly in the light of continuing concerns over the conduct of Andrew. Lord Gardiner does not appear to have gone that far but has helped Foulkes navigate the restrictions, which also include the requirement that parliamentary questions should relate to matters of government responsibility.
Foulkes has asked ministers to publish details of any briefings provided to the Duke of York by the Ministry of Defence after he left the Royal Navy and during his tenure as the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment from 2001 until 2011. Foulkes has asked for details on the nature of the briefings, when they ceased and the reasons for their continuation post-service.
“There are some suggestions he may have had sensitive briefings and then used the information while talking to other people,” Foulkes said.
He has also tabled a question asking the government to publish annual figures for the cost of royal security and plans further questions about the use of taxpayers’ money by the royal family.
Foulkes, who is awaiting written replies from ministers, said there has been less scrutiny and debate in parliament about the cost of the royals since the civil list was replaced in 2012 by the sovereign grant, which is automatically benchmarked to the equivalent of 12% of the profits of the crown estate, an independent business that hands all its profits to the Treasury.
In the Commons, there has been no opportunity for MPs to discuss concerns about the duke’s activities. MPs have proved unable or unwilling to circumvent Erskine May, and the Commons public accounts committee chaired by the Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has not made investigating the duke’s taxpayer-funded activities a priority.
This is a welcome development, but it doesnt go far enough. The medieval rules about not being able to scrutinise the way the royal family spends the £86m a year of public money it receives or how it uses its influence to affect legislation and policy are not fit for purpose in twenty first century Britain.
It is time that the rules were swept aside so that MPs can scrutinise the royal family in the same way as they scrutinise other aspects of government.
Saturday, February 15, 2025
Labour are failing business
The paper says that in the wake of Rachel Reeves’ national insurance hike on employers, the inheritance tax raid on farmers and other reforms, Campbell said that of 300 business people at a recent event, the overwhelming majority told him Labour was performing “worse than expected”, and he warned that one of the major reasons was “disappointment on the much vaunted “reset” with Europe”:
In his lecture to Labour Movement for Europe he also hit out at Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, saying facts were the way to take on the Brexiteers’ arguments, as he extolled the Independent’s recent front page setting out the true cost of Brexit.
In his speech, he said: “That Labour needs to win over the business community, or perhaps that should be “re-win over”, is not in doubt.
“I did an event last week, 300 business people, and asked them, on a show of hands, whether the Labour government was A) performing as expected; B) better than expected, or C) worse than expected … my exercise had zero hands raised for “better than expected”, around 20 per cent “as expected” but an overwhelming majority “worse than expected.”
He also warned Labour that it has to “stop debating Brexit on your opponents’ terms”.
The party should “stop being so defensive about spelling out the facts, the scale of the disaster that the Brexit deal inflicted on us,” he said.
Labour politicians also had to “stop treating Nigel Farage like some exotic celebrity who manages to play the media like a fiddle… treat him like a politician, take apart his arguments, expose his record, show that beneath the bonhomie and the bluster is an agenda that would take this country in a dark and dangerous direction.”
He also urged the group to “memorise (and) never tire of using” the facts of Brexit set out by The Independent on the fifth anniversary of Brexit.
He told them that these included “the £30bn divorce settlement; the 15 per cent long term hit on trade, as assessed by the Office for Budget Responsibility; the £27bn drop in exports attributed to new Brexit trade barriers; the 118,000 tonnes fall in seafood exports since 2019; the 16,400 businesses, some of whom may well have bought the idea Brexit would mean less not more red tape, which have just given up on exporting to the EU because of the bureaucracy… and – remember “take back control” – the 2.3million net migration into the UK since EU free movement ended.”
The Brexit deal to leave the EU was now something that “only (Boris) Johnson and (ex-Brexit secretary Lord) Frost are left defending”, he said.
If Rachel Reeves doesn't have business on board and if the government don't sort out our relations with Europe then her ambitions for growth may well turn out to be just another pipedream.
Friday, February 14, 2025
Reeves under pressure
The paper says that the BBC has alleged that before entering parliament, the chancellor was one of three employees investigated by Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) for using her expenses to "fund a lifestyle" with inappropriate spending on dinners, events, taxis and gifts.
The broadcaster uncovered documents it said showed Ms Reeves was accused of spending hundreds of pounds on the items, including one gift for her boss. Concerns were reportedly raised about her spending on taxis and on a Christmas party, with one whistleblower believing it to be excessive, the BBC said.
A former colleague told the BBC Ms Reeves was among senior managers who had “a very cavalier attitude regarding the budget in the department,” and cited a leaving meal for a colleague costing more than £400 for which Ms Reeves used a company spending card.
The BBC investigation also found Ms Reeves stopped working for the Bank of England nine months earlier than it stated on her LinkedIn profile.
The reports are a major embarrassment and are likely to lead to more questions over whether she can continue as chancellor, as the economy struggles under the impact of her Budget.
But Reeves’ spokesman said she did not recall being investigated by HBOS or facing questions over her expenses.
Sir Keir Starmer backed Ms Reeves, and his official spokesman said the prime minister he has no concerns about her conduct.
But Labour grandee Siobhain McDonagh, said there are “questions to be asked” even as she described the chancellor as “one of the most hardworking, honest politicians that I have ever met”.
She said: “We’ve got to be sure about what happened with the expenses scandal. As far as I’m aware she absolutely denies that she was approached by anybody about the expenses scandal. So I think there’s still questions to be asked about what is going on and we’ll see what happens.”
Labour are discovering how difficult it is to stick to their agenda when stories like tis emerge.
Thursday, February 13, 2025
The nasty party?
The Guardian reports that the Home Office has been accused of quietly blocking thousands of refugees from applying for citizenship if they arrived in the UK by small boats or hidden in vehicles.
The paper says that guidance for staff assessing people who have applied for naturalisation says that, since Monday, applicants who have “made a dangerous journey will normally be refused citizenship”:
The Refugee Council said that the move will potentially bar 71,000 people who have successfully applied for asylum from claiming UK citizenship. A leading immigration barrister has claimed that it is a breach of international law.
The development will be seen as the latest evidence that Keir Starmer’s government has adopted a hardline “hostile environment” stance on asylum to fight off a poll surge by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Senior Tories claim that the government’s new border security bill, which passed its second reading on Monday, will repeal parts of the Illegal Migration Act, which would stop irregular arrivals from becoming British citizens.
One Labour MP has joined charities in calling for the government to reverse the guidance with immediate effect.
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, wrote on X: “This should be changed asap. If we give someone refugee status, it can’t be right to then refuse them [a] route to become a British citizen.”
The changes, first disclosed by the Free Movement blog, were introduced to guidance for visa and immigration staff on Monday.
Described as a “clarification” to case worker guidance when assessing if a claimant is of “good character’, it says: “Any person applying for citizenship from 10 February 2025, who previously entered the UK illegally will normally be refused, regardless of the time that has passed since the illegal entry took place.”
In another new entry to the same guidance, it says: “A person who applies for citizenship from 10 February 2025 who has previously arrived without a required valid entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation, having made a dangerous journey will normally be refused citizenship.
“A dangerous journey includes, but is not limited to, travelling by small boat or concealed in a vehicle or other conveyance.”
Most people who enter the UK on small boats are eventually granted refugee status. A majority of those granted refugee status eventually claim British citizenship. Seeking UK citizenship costs £1,630 an application, and there is no right of appeal against a refusal.
Colin Yeo, an immigration barrister and editor of the blog, wrote on Bluesky: “This is bad, full stop. It creates a class of person who are forever excluded from civic life no matter how long they live here. It’s also a clear breach of the refugee convention.”
Article 31 of the UN refugee convention says: “The contracting states shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees.”
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the move “flies in the face of reason. The British public want refugees who have been given safety in our country to integrate into and contribute to their new communities.
“So many refugees over many generations have become proud hard-working British citizens as doctors, entrepreneurs and other professionals. Becoming a British citizen has helped them give back to their communities and this should be celebrated, not prevented.”
These changes go even further than the conservatives ever did, and leave the Labour Party open to charges that they are the new nasty party.
As this article in the Independent says even one of Nigel Farage’s long-term and loyal allies, Gawain Towler, has expressed shock at the way Labour are managing immigration and has suggested that Keir Starmer’s party is being “nasty” by publishing videos of migrant raids.
The paper says that Towler is not alone in calling out the nastiness, adding that even before this new wave of anti-migrant policies was properly unleashed in November Labour peer Ann Mallalieu was warning Starmer that he was turning them into the “nasty party”:
Labour MPs are publicly and privately pleased that some of the more egregious Tory policies, like Rwanda deportations and detention of children, have been dropped by this government.
But that is as far as it goes.
Privately a number of them are complaining that the government under Starmer is “deeply unlikable” and “behaving too much like Reform-lite”.
One new MP even said: “We look like the nasty party now.”
This is playing badly in the polls and in core areas like Scotland and Wales.
Diane Abbott, writing over the weekend for The Independent, is one of the few to publicly say Labour is becoming Reform-lite, but others are privately pondering whether there may need to be a change of leader sometime.
Whether these tactics will impact on Reform's support has to be seen, but it appears that Labour has decided that selling its soul is part of the solution to its current problems with the polls.
The paper says that Towler is not alone in calling out the nastiness, adding that even before this new wave of anti-migrant policies was properly unleashed in November Labour peer Ann Mallalieu was warning Starmer that he was turning them into the “nasty party”:
Labour MPs are publicly and privately pleased that some of the more egregious Tory policies, like Rwanda deportations and detention of children, have been dropped by this government.
But that is as far as it goes.
Privately a number of them are complaining that the government under Starmer is “deeply unlikable” and “behaving too much like Reform-lite”.
One new MP even said: “We look like the nasty party now.”
This is playing badly in the polls and in core areas like Scotland and Wales.
Diane Abbott, writing over the weekend for The Independent, is one of the few to publicly say Labour is becoming Reform-lite, but others are privately pondering whether there may need to be a change of leader sometime.
Whether these tactics will impact on Reform's support has to be seen, but it appears that Labour has decided that selling its soul is part of the solution to its current problems with the polls.
