Farage was given £5m by the Thai-based billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before announcing he would stand in the 2024 general electionExclusive: Farage was given undisclosed £5m by crypto billionaire in 2024Here is the running order for PMQs.Nigel Farage was given £5m by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before announcing he would stand in the 2024 British general election, Anna Isaac reports. Continue reading...
Nigel Farage was given £5m by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before announcing he would stand in the 2024 British general election, Anna Isaac reports.
MPs rejected a Conservative party proposal for the prime minister to face a parliamentary inquiry into his appointment of Peter MandelsonQ: Was there pressure on you to approve Mandelson’s vetting?This is a reference to the claim that Keir Starmer misled MPs last week when he talked about no pressure being placed on the Foreign Office.One is during my tenure. I was not aware of any pressure on the substance of the Mandelson DV case.Question two was there pressure? Absolutely. And I’ve described
MPs rejected a Conservative party proposal for the prime minister to face a parliamentary inquiry into his appointment of Peter Mandelson
Q: Was there pressure on you to approve Mandelson’s vetting?
This is a reference to the claim that Keir Starmer misled MPs last week when he talked about no pressure being placed on the Foreign Office.
One is during my tenure. I was not aware of any pressure on the substance of the Mandelson DV case.
Question two was there pressure? Absolutely. And I’ve described it. And I also have seen what the Foreign Office said to you last night. [See 8.50am.]
I didn’t receive any direct calls from the chief of staff during my time as permanent undersecretary. So there was no call at all. My interactions were always when others were present in a general meeting, there weren’t very many of those either …
I’ve really racked my brains and I cannot recall Morgan McSweeney swearing in a meeting at me, or indeed just in general. So I don’t see any substance in that part of it and I think it’s important I say that this morning, given how many people have come to think that might be true.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle earlier confirmed that MPs will decide whether to let inquiry into Keir Starmer’s statements over Peter Mandelson proceedDowning Street has said that the UK is “in a good position” to handle the global supply problems caused by the Iran war not being resolved.Speaking at the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson said:We remain focused on a long-term, permanent solution to the crisis. As a result of the forward-planning, the government undertook over the past few
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle earlier confirmed that MPs will decide whether to let inquiry into Keir Starmer’s statements over Peter Mandelson proceed
Downing Street has said that the UK is “in a good position” to handle the global supply problems caused by the Iran war not being resolved.
Speaking at the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson said:
We remain focused on a long-term, permanent solution to the crisis. As a result of the forward-planning, the government undertook over the past few months, the UK is in a good position.
We’re ramping up planning for all different potential impacts on the UK economy and consumers, and that means focusing on a live monitoring of stock levels and what plans are in place for addressing supply chain disruption.
Even Boris Johnson didn’t block his MPs voting for scrutiny. Labour MPs must be given a free vote on any motion to refer Starmer to the privileges committee, not forced into being accomplices to a cover-up.
If Keir Starmer has misled the House and the public, he must be held to the same standard that we should expect of any prime minister.
Exclusive: Investigation into campaigning materials for local polls in May challenges tactical voting claims Election leaflets are providing “grotesque” information about how to vote tactically in the May elections, using national polling data, “dodgy” bar charts and doorstep surveys to support claims about parties’ chances of winning.Leaflets distributed by local politicians across England are claiming that only their party can win, or that another party “can’t win here”, when there is no good
Exclusive: Investigation into campaigning materials for local polls in May challenges tactical voting claims
Election leaflets are providing “grotesque” information about how to vote tactically in the May elections, using national polling data, “dodgy” bar charts and doorstep surveys to support claims about parties’ chances of winning.
Leaflets distributed by local politicians across England are claiming that only their party can win, or that another party “can’t win here”, when there is no good evidence to show this is true, a Full Fact investigation for the Guardian has revealed.
All signs point to a record-low performance for Labour in May in what will be a moment of high jeopardy for Keir StarmerLabour is on track for its worst local election performance, data analysed by the Guardian shows, in a blow that will pile further pressure on Keir Starmer’s leadership.Barring a drastic change in fortunes, Labour’s vote-share could fall to historic lows across elections for councils in England and devolved parliaments in Wales and Scotland on 7 May, with big gains for Reform,
All signs point to a record-low performance for Labour in May in what will be a moment of high jeopardy for Keir Starmer
Labour is on track for its worst local election performance, data analysed by the Guardian shows, in a blow that will pile further pressure on Keir Starmer’s leadership.
Barring a drastic change in fortunes, Labour’s vote-share could fall to historic lows across elections for councils in England and devolved parliaments in Wales and Scotland on 7 May, with big gains for Reform, the Greens and nationalist parties, according to recent polling.
Jonathan Brash says ‘own goals’ are distracting from Labour’s achievementsUK inflation accelerated to 3.3% in March after the Iran war triggered the biggest jump in fuel prices for more than three years, Richard Partington reports.Today the Liberal Democrats staged a photocall to publicise their line about this being “Trumpflation”. Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson, said:People across our country have been struggling for years with a devastating cost-of-living cr
Jonathan Brash says ‘own goals’ are distracting from Labour’s achievements
UK inflation accelerated to 3.3% in March after the Iran war triggered the biggest jump in fuel prices for more than three years, Richard Partington reports.
Today the Liberal Democrats staged a photocall to publicise their line about this being “Trumpflation”. Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson, said:
People across our country have been struggling for years with a devastating cost-of-living crisis and Donald Trump’s idiotic war in Iran has added to it. The cost of fuel is soaring, mortgage rates are rising and fixed energy deals are already going up by hundreds of pounds.
But what is utterly inexcusable is that there are politicians in this country - Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch - who are happy to cheerlead Donald Trump as he hikes people’s bills. All the while this Labour government promised to fix the country but instead we’ve got political Groundhog Day: yet more sleaze and scandal.
Earlier, ousted Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins told MPs he had faced ‘constant pressure’ from No 10 to get Mandelson in postRobbins v Starmer: the key Mandelson points they disagree onThe hearing has started.Emily Thornberry, the chair, started by saying that Robbins did not tell the whole truth about this process when he gave evidence to it in November. Continue reading...
Government amendment to children’s wellbeing and schools bill to replace existing guidance with statutory banA ban on mobile phones in schools in England is to be introduced by the government to ensure that “critical safeguarding legislation” is passed.The government will table an amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill in the House of Lords after the bill was held up by peers on opposition benches. Continue reading...
Government amendment to children’s wellbeing and schools bill to replace existing guidance with statutory ban
A ban on mobile phones in schools in England is to be introduced by the government to ensure that “critical safeguarding legislation” is passed.
The government will table an amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill in the House of Lords after the bill was held up by peers on opposition benches.
MPs jeer as PM says it is ‘incredible’ he was not told full story and says he was wrong to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador At his press conference Nigel Farage was asked about reports saying that Keir Starmer knew about the security concerns about Peter Mandelson that led to him failing his security vetting interview. That was a reference to the Telegraph splash, which says:Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the UKSV [UK Security Vetting] findings largely restated security risks
MPs jeer as PM says it is ‘incredible’ he was not told full story and says he was wrong to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador
At his press conference Nigel Farage was asked about reports saying that Keir Starmer knew about the security concerns about Peter Mandelson that led to him failing his security vetting interview. That was a reference to the Telegraph splash, which says:
Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the UKSV [UK Security Vetting] findings largely restated security risks that had already been drawn to Sir Keir’s attention.
One senior source with knowledge of the process said: “The reality is that Starmer had already been warned about the major risks and he had waved them away.”
Sources have told The Independent that MI6 failed to clear the Labour peer largely because of concerns over his business links to China.
However, there were also worries that his past links to the disgraced financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “would compromise him”.
It’s impossible for the prime minister to say the warning lights weren’t flashing.
And if you were prime minister and there were news reports last September that your ambassadorial choice had failed vetting, you would have thought perhaps he might have had some curiosity to try to find out whether this had really happened or not. I just find the whole thing totally incredible. Incredible. There is no way the prime minister couldn’t have known.
The Labour backbenchers are not yet of a mood to get rid of their prime minister, although after 7 May they just might be.
This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereOn Friday the Cabinet Office released a template page from the summary document produced by UKSV after Mandelson’s vetting. The document would be used by a vetting officer to summarise their findings.It lists three rankings for possible “overall concern”: low, medium and high. In the next box, there is a space for a vetting officer to list the outcome of the assessment with their “overall decision or recommendation”. Again, there are t
This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here
On Friday the Cabinet Office released a template page from the summary document produced by UKSV after Mandelson’s vetting. The document would be used by a vetting officer to summarise their findings.
It lists three rankings for possible “overall concern”: low, medium and high. In the next box, there is a space for a vetting officer to list the outcome of the assessment with their “overall decision or recommendation”. Again, there are three options: clearance approved, clearance approved “with risk management” or clearance denied.
If it [the vetting process] did amount to failure then that fact, that ultimate conclusion would have to be conveyed to the political level, but the fact that it was not indicates to me that the fact was rather more complicated than No 10 would wish to present.
Tory leader criticises Farage for saying that holding another independence vote ‘probably quite reasonable’Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative party, has accused Nigel Farage of being an opportunist who does not believe in unionism after he urged Scottish nationalists to back Reform.Farage said earlier this week he believed “genuine nationalists” would not support the Scottish National party’s bid to rejoin the EU, and urged them to vote Reform in the Holyrood election on 7 May. Contin
Tory leader criticises Farage for saying that holding another independence vote ‘probably quite reasonable’
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative party, has accused Nigel Farage of being an opportunist who does not believe in unionism after he urged Scottish nationalists to back Reform.
Farage said earlier this week he believed “genuine nationalists” would not support the Scottish National party’s bid to rejoin the EU, and urged them to vote Reform in the Holyrood election on 7 May.
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