Friday, February 06, 2026
How long can Starmer last after Mandelson revelations?
The paper says that Starmer's dramatic U-turn followed intense pressure, led by former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, just hours after he admitted that he knew about Lord Mandelson’s continued friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – but appointed him as US ambassador anyway:
Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership has been plunged into turmoil after furious Labour MPs forced him into a humiliating climbdown over the release of full vetting documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador in the US.
The prime minister’s dramatic U-turn followed intense pressure, led by former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, just hours after he admitted that he knew about Lord Mandelson’s continued friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – but appointed him as US ambassador anyway.
Despite the revelation, which led many to question Sir Keir’s integrity and judgement, he insisted he was repeatedly lied to by the disgraced peer, who he said had “betrayed our country” over the alleged leak of sensitive government documents to the disgraced financier.
On Wednesday night, ministers and other senior figures in Labour gave the prime minister an ultimatum that he must sack his controversial chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who pushed for Lord Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador and brought him back into the heart of the government.
One minister told The Independent: “Morgan has to go – and should have gone months ago.”
The prime minister had attempted to restrict the publication of the vetting documents, arguing that some details would need to be redacted on national security grounds. That prompted accusations from Labour MPs that he was engaging in a “cover-up”.
After three hours into a Commons humble address debate on Wednesday, Sir Keir relented after Ms Rayner intervened to make it clear she would be supporting the Tory proposal for the independent Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) to decide which documents could be published.
It is unclear when the documents will be released to the committee and made public, but there is speculation that they could be available as early as Thursday.
Seizing on the U-turn, a Conservative spokesperson said: "Kemi [Badenoch] forced Starmer to admit he'd known Mandelson was still hanging out with Epstein after the child sex conviction, and No 10 went ahead and appointed Mandelson anyway.
“You could feel in the Commons that was the moment Labour MPs stopped backing the prime minister. The government have now had to cave to Kemi's demand for all documents to go to the ISC. Starmer is no longer in control; Kemi is calling the shots.”
The prime minister had earlier claimed that the police investigations into Lord Mandelson and diplomatic relations needed to be protected.
In a desperate bid to draw a line under the scandal at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Sir Keir went on the attack over his former ambassador, who was sacked in September, after further revelations of his relationship with Epstein came to light.
With his hands visibly shaking under the pressure, he told MPs: “Mandelson betrayed our country, our parliament and my party.
"He lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador. I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government."
And with his future on the line, it is understood that Sir Keir is planning yet another reset with a major speech on Thursday, to position himself as the champion of “decency and respect”.
Despite the apparent mea culpa, MPs were left unconvinced by the prime minister’s anger and promises over transparency. During a debate over more than six hours, the fury on both sides of the House was fully on display.
At present the ire of Labour MPs seem to be focussed on the PM's Chief of Staff, Morgan Sweeney, whose position is surely untenable, but it could get worse for the Prime Minister. A few days ago the perceived wisdom was that Keir Starmer would be ousted after the May elections, now it is looking likely that he may not even last that long.
Thursday, February 05, 2026
Another blow to the cost of living in Wales
It comes after Senedd members backed Welsh government proposals to increase the MUP.
Welsh ministers said this "landmark policy to help reduce deaths and harm from excess alcohol" brings the country into line with the rate in Scotland.
But the Conservatives said minimum pricing had "only served to hit hard-pressed Welsh consumers that don't have a drink problem in their pockets".
Independent research commissioned by the Welsh government suggests the policy could prevent more than 900 alcohol-related deaths over 20 years and reduce the number of "harmful drinkers" by nearly 5,000.
The policy was introduced in Wales in 2020 and the price increase follows a public consultation.
Public Health Wales figures show between 2019 and 2023 there was a rise of more than 50% in alcohol-related deaths.
Alcohol abuse charities have previously supported raising the minimum unit price for alcohol to 65p but also raised concerns that the most deprived areas could be adversely affected.
For once Darren Millar is right when he says that the minimum price legislation has only served to hit hard-pressed Welsh consumers that don't have a drink problem in their pockets, and resulted in problem drinkers consuming stronger booze and going without food or heating.
There is a lot of speculative research but where is the actual evaluation of this policy that demonstrates that it does what ministers claim for it.
From what I can see, those who already have an alcohol problem will always find a way to get their fix. The people this policy really hits are those on low incomes who like the occasional pint after work. It just adds to the cost of living pressure for people in Wales.
Wednesday, February 04, 2026
Farage pitches welfare of 450,000 children against the future of pubs
The paper says that the Reform UK leader has announced a £3 billion support package for pubs, funded by restoring the two-child benefit cap:
The plans would see VAT reduced to 10% for the hospitality sector, the employer national insurance increase for hospitality businesses scrapped, beer duty cut by 10%, new staggered business rate abolition for pubs and fresh regulation to support landlords.
It is estimated that lifting the two-child limit, which was introduced by the Tories in 2017, will lift 450,000 children out of poverty by 2029. Responding to the announcement, Stephen Timms MP, Labour’s Social Security Minister, said: “Politics is about choices. Nigel Farage’s choice is to join with the Tories and plunge half a million children back into poverty.
There is no doubt that something needs to be done to help businesses and charities by reducing the employer national insurance rate, but to penalise children to achieve that is inhumane. It tells us everything we need to know about Reform.
Tuesday, February 03, 2026
Full investigation needed into Mandelson
It has been revealed that the former cabinet minister was apparently disclosing highly sensitive government information to Epstein over a significant period of time.
The Guardian says that Mandelson was business secretary during Brown’s premiership, when he appears to have leaked an economic briefing to Epstein, who was serving a jail sentence at the time for soliciting prostitution from a minor:
The latest tranche of documents released by authorities in the US show Epstein was sent internal discussions from the top of the UK government in the aftermath of the financial crash.
In the June 2009 email, which had been sent to Jeremy Heywood, the then No 10 chief of staff, and the business minister Shriti Vadera, Butler said: “A number of business leaders who understand financial engineering have asked in different ways why we are borrowing so much and tolerating such high debt charges when we have saleable assets in hand which are not strategic – i.e. there is no good political or economic reason why they are in the public sector.
“I know Jeremy [Heywood] has done some work on this.
“The point which the Tories appear to have missed in focusing the argument on cuts v spending is that asset sales of even £ 20bn would relieve the debt burden, reduce borrowing costs, and provide some funds for new investment.”
Another document released on Friday shows that an analysis of business lending drawn up by Vadera in August 2009 was also sent to Epstein. The sender of the email has been redacted, but Mandelson also appears to have been involved in the discussions.
Mandelson also appeared to tell Epstein he would lobby ministers over a tax on bankers’ bonuses in 2009, and to confirm an imminent bailout package for the euro the day before it was announced in 2010.
Downing Street said Starmer had asked Wormald to conduct “an urgent review” looking at “all available information regarding Mandelson’s contacts with Epstein during his period as a government minister”.
Brown’s special adviser Nick Butler, who drafted the memo, has indicated that he is considering reporting the matter to the police, while his former boss says he has asked the cabinet secretary to investigate the disclosure of confidential and market sensitive information from the then business department during the global financial crisis.
The Prime Minister meanwhile, has suggested that Mandelson should resign from the House of Lords and that the upper chamber should urgently modernise its disciplinary procedures to strip him of his peerage. In many ways this is another cop-out because of all those involved, Starmer has the power to introduce the necessary legislation to achieve this end.
Whatever happens next, there is no escaping the impression that it is all too little too late, and that successive Labour governments must accept responsibility for this mess.
Monday, February 02, 2026
Has Starmer given China too much rope?
The writer suggests that the west is failing in its use of media as a soft power device to resist China’s success in spreading its critical narratives about the West across Africa, the fastest-growing continent where one in four of the world’s population will live by 2050.
He says that this is a story of British and American retreat cleverly exploited by China to win the battle for African eyes and ears, through correspondents in almost every African capital grabbing broadcasting opportunities left behind, of journalists trained to deliver pro-Beijing messages:
One way to explain this is that, in many parts of Africa, there’s growing anti-American and anti-Western sentiment. Part of it is stoked by domestic media. But foreign media also play a role.
Now, just when the BBC World Service must expand to confront this challenge, its presence could shrivel further – because it relies on funding from the UK’s international development budget, which is being cut by billions of pounds.
While the World Service waits to hear its funding fate, the country Starmer is visiting is marching ahead in this information war to reinforce its position as the biggest media player in Africa by some distance.
Its weapons are not only the English language channel of the state-run China Global Television Network (CGTN), the state news agency Xinhua, and the Communist Party-owned newspaper China Daily, but a network of partnerships with local organisations.
Many African countries are transitioning from analogue to digital TV – as we did 20 years ago – and the Chinese have secured many of those tenders. It means its company StarTimes, privately owned, operates the infrastructure through which most African countries get their TV.
CGTN sets aside programmes for “non-professional journalists”, who are given resources to tell their stories. Hey presto, those stories tend to be aligned with Beijing.
While many news organisations are prevented from reporting freely on sensitive topics in China, such as Beijing’s repressive policies in Xinjiang, “news influencers” on YouTube and TikTok are given “free” access to show a picture-perfect image of China, free of anything remotely uncomfortable.
Up to 70 per cent of young people in Kenya and Nigeria get their news from YouTube, now an incredibly important source of information. CGTN is high up among international broadcasters for YouTube users.
The China Index, a civil society project studying China’s growing global grip, including over media, identified 76 countries where outlets deliver Chinese state-funded content – including 14 in Africa.
Policymakers in European capitals may hope disinformation can be debunked through factchecking or media literacy campaigns, but those tactics will not succeed where anti-West narratives are allowed to feed on deep-seated mistrust.
It does not have to be like this. The BBC remains very popular. In a 2024 survey, 60 per cnt of Zambians and over 40 per cent of South Africans said they get their news from the BBC. The corporation is seen as a symbol of media freedom in many parts of the world. But its status will wither unless it broadcasts its values, unless it stays in this fight.
Lesotho is a telling example of the path we are on. The national station switches off for several hours a day and the BBC used to be called to step in. Now it has to compete with China’s CGTN for airtime.
And money talks. When TRT, Turkey’s state channel, opened a Hausa language service for the Nigerian market, most of its staff walked out of the BBC’s office to sign up – because TRT pays better than the BBC.
Many people may not realise that a shrinking aid budget is an own goal weakening Britain’s standing and influence abroad, to the glee of authoritarian rivals. But the prime minister might like to consider the consequences while in China this week.
While Starmer is in China drumming up trade, his government, and those of other western powers like the USA are allowing the Chinese to win influence in key strategic areas of the world.
Sunday, February 01, 2026
The damning WhatsApp chat that led to a Parliamentary by-election
The paper says that fallout from the comments made in a group called “Trigger Me Timbers” last February saw Andrew Gwynne suspended from the Labour Party, after it emerged he wrote that he hoped a 72-year-old female constituent “croaks” before the next general election, after she dared to ask about her bins:
Now, an independent report for Tameside Council by investigator Linda Comstive has concluded that six councillors in the WhatsApp group had shown “complete disregard” for standards in public life, including one judged to have made “several remarks that a reasonable person would find racist”.
The findings will be a blow for Labour and come less than four weeks before the Gorton and Denton by-election expected on 26 February, to replace Mr Gwynne, who stepped down last week.
The contest has torn Labour apart after Sir Keir Starmer blocked Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from standing as a candidate, prompting claims of a “stitch-up” to prevent the prime minister from facing a leadership challenge if his rival were to return to Westminster.
The investigation into the WhatsApps conversations came after a formal complaint about Mr Gwynne and other Labour figures making “disgusting, racist, sexist, homophobic and vile comments”.
In total, 11 Labour councillors were suspended by the party over the revelations in February last year, but the investigation looked into six of them – Mr Gwynne’s wife, councillor Alison Gwynne, along with councillors Brenda Warrington, George Newton, Claire Reid, Jack Naylor and George Jones.
Among the report’s findings was that Mr Naylor made an antisemitic joke by changing the lyrics of an Elton John song to “And I guess that’s why she hates all the Jews” in one set of exchanges about an unnamed person.
In a statement, Mr Naylor offered a full apology, writing: “There is no justification for my involvement, irrespective of any inexperience – I take full responsibility for my actions; and for any offence caused, regardless of my intent, I am truly sorry.”
Meanwhile, Mr Newton was found to have “persistently abused and denigrated” individuals by using remarks that “a reasonable person would find racist”.
While Mr Newton said he regretted his “childish” language, he told the investigation that the remarks were meant as “private jokes on a private messaging platform”.
The WhatsApp chat also saw Mr Gwynne refer to someone as “too Jewish” while there were derogatory remarks about former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and former Labour MP Dianne Abbott.
A charity worker told Ms Comstive that one elderly Labour supporter, who is neurodivergent, was left “distraught” over being called a “terrible name” in the WhatsApp group. It was claimed that teenagers had since hounded him in the street with the insult.
They said: “People in the community feel that there is no one they can turn to, as there is no local Labour councillor representing them and no Labour MP; they are too scared of having their coffee morning resources taken away or bins not emptied. They have been told if you do not vote for us (ie Labour), you will be dead.”
This is not a good look for the Labour party to say the least, and may well come back to bite them in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Saturday, January 31, 2026
The Abbey that never was
In summary, Marino (the house that would become Singleton Abbey) was a house built for Edward King in the latter half of the 1700s:
In the early 1800s it was purchased by John Henry Vivian and transformed into the building known as Singleton Abbey (though never actual an Abbey or even a church). Through the 100 years of Vivian family ownership the building played host to Royal Visits and much spectacle, before finally being bought by the then Swansea Corporation, fore runners of the Swansea Borough Council.
A more detailed history is available here by working your way down the links under Singleton Abbey. The building lies within the City's Singleton Park, a large chunk of which has been developed for the University campus and for one of Swansea's two hospitals. The website tells us that the history of Singleton goes back further than some people think:
Oliver Cromwell’s Survey of Gower in 1650 identifies a property known as Singleton made up of 32 acres and valued at a high rate of £7, 4s, 0d per annum and described as a mansion house, barn and certain parcels of arable pasture and rough ground lying all together about the house called by the name of Singletons which is held by David Jones and late of Ellis Price, gent. To the east of this lay the farm of Tir Powell.
The farm Tir Powell (with its 15 ½ acres), once belonging to the old Manor of East and West Millwood, and was owned by Silvanus Bevan and occupied by William Padley (1762–1801), (both Quakers and Swansea merchants) in the 1770s. The LTAs of 1773 identify Singletown as owned by the Duke of Beaufort and held by David Lewis and Sarah Hugh.
In 1781 occupancy passed to Jane Matthew until 1784 when it was acquired by Edward King Esq (1750-1819). Following his arrival to Swansea, King successfully procured the title of Deputy Comptroller of Customs for the Port of Swansea (appointed in 1786) and Collector of Customs between 1810-1815. Subsequently, thereafter King demolished the original farm and constructed a fine new octagonal villa in 1786, which he named Marino.
King hired the Swansea regency architect William Jernegan to build a house for him that would be unique in the country. This house would be known as Marino in the first instance and later as Singleton, Singleton House and Singleton Abbey depending on the author/source.
Shooting ahead through the 140 years of construction and reconstruction, the website recalls that on 17th July 1919, Singleton was sold to the Swansea Corporation. They paid £ 90,000 for it [nearly £5 million, in 2021].
Swansea University’s foundation stone was laid by King George V on 19 July 1920 and 89 students (including eight female students) enrolled that same year. By September 1939, there were 65 staff and 485 students:
In 1947 there were just two permanent buildings on campus: Singleton Abbey and the library. The Principal, J S Fulton, recognised the need to expand the estate and had a vision of a self-contained community, with residential, social and academic facilities on a single site. His vision was to become the first university campus in the UK.
By 1960 a large-scale development programme was underway that would see the construction of new halls of residence, the Maths and Science Tower, and College House (later renamed Fulton House).
Today, Swansea University has around 20,000 to 21,000 students, with recent figures from 2023/24 showing 21,225 students, comprising about 15,690 undergraduates and 5,540 postgraduates on two separate campuses.
A more detailed history is available here by working your way down the links under Singleton Abbey. The building lies within the City's Singleton Park, a large chunk of which has been developed for the University campus and for one of Swansea's two hospitals. The website tells us that the history of Singleton goes back further than some people think:
Oliver Cromwell’s Survey of Gower in 1650 identifies a property known as Singleton made up of 32 acres and valued at a high rate of £7, 4s, 0d per annum and described as a mansion house, barn and certain parcels of arable pasture and rough ground lying all together about the house called by the name of Singletons which is held by David Jones and late of Ellis Price, gent. To the east of this lay the farm of Tir Powell.
The farm Tir Powell (with its 15 ½ acres), once belonging to the old Manor of East and West Millwood, and was owned by Silvanus Bevan and occupied by William Padley (1762–1801), (both Quakers and Swansea merchants) in the 1770s. The LTAs of 1773 identify Singletown as owned by the Duke of Beaufort and held by David Lewis and Sarah Hugh.
In 1781 occupancy passed to Jane Matthew until 1784 when it was acquired by Edward King Esq (1750-1819). Following his arrival to Swansea, King successfully procured the title of Deputy Comptroller of Customs for the Port of Swansea (appointed in 1786) and Collector of Customs between 1810-1815. Subsequently, thereafter King demolished the original farm and constructed a fine new octagonal villa in 1786, which he named Marino.
King hired the Swansea regency architect William Jernegan to build a house for him that would be unique in the country. This house would be known as Marino in the first instance and later as Singleton, Singleton House and Singleton Abbey depending on the author/source.
Shooting ahead through the 140 years of construction and reconstruction, the website recalls that on 17th July 1919, Singleton was sold to the Swansea Corporation. They paid £ 90,000 for it [nearly £5 million, in 2021].
Swansea University’s foundation stone was laid by King George V on 19 July 1920 and 89 students (including eight female students) enrolled that same year. By September 1939, there were 65 staff and 485 students:
In 1947 there were just two permanent buildings on campus: Singleton Abbey and the library. The Principal, J S Fulton, recognised the need to expand the estate and had a vision of a self-contained community, with residential, social and academic facilities on a single site. His vision was to become the first university campus in the UK.
By 1960 a large-scale development programme was underway that would see the construction of new halls of residence, the Maths and Science Tower, and College House (later renamed Fulton House).
Today, Swansea University has around 20,000 to 21,000 students, with recent figures from 2023/24 showing 21,225 students, comprising about 15,690 undergraduates and 5,540 postgraduates on two separate campuses.
Friday, January 30, 2026
Is Badenoch driving moderate Tories towards the Lib Dems?
With Keir Starmer away in China, this was a week off for her from prime minister’s questions. A slot she would delegate to the even more useless Andrew Griffith. Clearly Badenoch does not welcome any competition so Griffith might get the deputy leader job for good.
But Kemi wanted, no, needed attention. Couldn’t let a day go by without some me time on TV. So she couldn’t resist the opportunity to give a speech on the future prospects of the Conservative party. The good news would be that it was understandably short.
Her basic message was that there was no future. No hope. Weirdly the 40 or so Tory MPs in the room – they would, wouldn’t they? – and the 150 or so party activists loved being told they were effectively irrelevant. They could just have been the last Tories in the country. Certainly the last of Kemi’s Tories. Better to die now than face a thousand deaths.
This was a rejection of the one nation, centre-right Tories. They were toast. They could all sod off. Pinko lefties. The only people who were welcome in the party were people who were as hostile to immigration as Kemi. It was, by any standards, insane. It might have made some sense if Kemi were polling well. Then you could make a case for expelling all moderates. But she isn’t. She has taken the Tories from the high 20s to the mid-teens. Kemi won’t be happy until she has completely destroyed her party’s credibility.
We need an end to the psychodrama. PSYCHODRAMA had been spelled out in capitals in the advance briefing. Clearly, one that had been written by a keen student of Donald Trump’s media team. Enough was enough. Starmer was in his own leadership crisis, Reform were just doing stunts to distract from the brilliance of the Tories.
Only Kemi was showing the country a way forward. Except she really wasn’t. The Tories are implicated in the psychodrama of British politics every bit as much as the others. She claimed many MPs were only interested in their egos. Desperate for attention. Kemi is not blessed with much personal insight. Half the Tories are on defection watch to Reform. And after today, the other half will be on defection watch to the Lib Dems. It was hard to take anything she said seriously.
The Tories were on a relentless march to the right, Kemi insisted. Anyone who didn’t like the direction of travel could fuck off now. It was her way or the highway. She alone dictated policy. Shadow ministers such as Chris Philp and Mel Stride were just her useful idiots. She got that bit right, I suppose.
In the trail, it had been promised Kemi would say that every day she had been leader of the opposition, the Tories had lurched further to the right. She had meant that as a promise. Dreams can come true. No matter that most people would take this as a threat. If she keeps this up, who knows where the Tories might end up in two or three months. How much further right can they go? At what point does Kemi get a call from Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump saying she has really gone too far this time?
My only beef with this line is that I can't really think of many Tories I would want with me in the Liberal Democrats.
Thursday, January 29, 2026
Starmer doubles down on abolishing jury trials
The paper says that the prime minister, who is on a visit to China, said tackling a backlog that was forcing victims of violence against women and girls to lose faith and leave the justice system was a personal “fundamental argument of principle”, and suggested he would resist intense pressure from legal experts, rival MPs and members of his own ranks to row back on plans to limit jury trials:
Campaigners – including dozens of Labour MPs and peers from across the upper chamber – insist the reforms undermine a fundamental principle of the justice system and will not work. A report from the Institute for Government (IFG) last week said plans to introduce judge-only criminal trials in England and Wales would save less than 2% of time in crown courts.
...
While some sources have suggested the plans – proposed by Brian Leveson – could be watered down after a backlash, David Lammy, the justice secretary, is understood to be pushing ahead with them in their current form.
The plans include proposals for a new criminal court where judges will hear cases on their own, magistrates-only hearings for offences that carry a maximum sentence of two years or less, and judge-only trials for complex fraud cases. Leveson’s review recommended a single judge sitting with two people in a new “bench division” of the crown court, but Lammy scrapped the lay element.
The government said it had done its own impact assessment of the changes but would not publish it until the bill containing the proposals was ready. Starmer stressed that 90% of criminal cases were already heard in the magistrates court without a jury, and of the 10% that went to crown court, 7% pleaded guilty.
Starmer's intransigience on this underlines the anti-democratic nature of his government. There clearly is a problem with processing cases involving violence against women and girls through the system, but that should be tackled with increased investment not removing fundamental rights.
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Reform by-election candidate shows true colours
The paper says that Matthew Goodwin, a hard-right activist, has been criticised for claiming recently that people from black, Asian or other immigrant backgrounds were not always British, saying: “It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’”:
Speaking at an event in Denton, the GB News presenter twice declined to answer when asked by the Guardian whether he stood by those views – described by the Liberal Democrats as “racist” and “abhorrent”.
Nearly half of the Gorton and Denton population – 44% – identifies as coming from a minority ethnic background, while 79% of the constituency identifies as British, according to the latest census.
Goodwin refused to answer the Guardian’s questions as he posed for photographs alongside the Reform MP Lee Anderson at a bar in Denton.
Anderson, the Reform chief whip, described Goodwin as a “fearless” activist who would “debate anybody at any time”.
Lucy Powell, Labour’s deputy leader, said Goodwin’s politics sought to “drive a wedge between communities in Manchester” and that Reform offered “division, animosity and hatred – not the unity and pride which our city stands for”.
The Green party leader, Zack Polanski, alleged that Goodwin had “a track record of anti-Muslim bigotry” and that his candidacy was an insult to constituents.
The paper adds that Goodwin’s selection as the Reform candidate has surprised some commentators, given his outspoken views on British nationality and Islam:
Only three weeks ago, he wrote that Britain’s “ruling class” was “silencing” debate about Islam in “one of the most serious assaults on free speech and free expression Britain has ever seen”. More than one in four voters in Gorton and Denton identify as Muslim.
Goodwin's candidacy is a warning as to what Reform is really about. They are not just concerned with asylum seekers, they are targeting minority communities, they are divisive, disruptive, and a real threat to community cohesion.
