Guido hears Defence Secretary Healey is up against a formal protest from hacks in the Defence Correspondents Association (DCA) for refusing to take them on trips. He’s been prioritising the Lobby cabal instead…
One defence correspondent says Healey’s team is deliberately “avoiding scrutiny” by taking Lobby hacks on trips – the traditional approach is to take specialist defence reporters. A source in the DCA tells Guido Healey is avoiding scrutiny by taking only Lobby journalists with a poorer grasp of defence matters when compared to specialists. The Defence Secretary has had to deploy some heavy spin in recent months. Like reannouncing a Rolls-Royce submarine contract that ‘streamlined’ pre-existing ones…
Labour’s defence commitments are in the spotlight right now as the party’s pledge to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence is set to be delayed until after the next election. Healey should not be allowed to dodge proper scrutiny by journalists specialising in defence…
Laura Kuenssberg’s X account put out an eyebrow-raising tweet this morning:
Sure enough half an hour later Laura’s account tweeted a link to a new ‘BBC coin’ on platform Solana. A hack…
The founder of the coin sold most of their supply straight away in a memecoin strategy known as a “pump and dump.” Inflate the price, sell your majority supply, run away…
Luke Nolan, research associate at digital asset group CoinShares, explains that the “deployer” held about 80% of the token supply and started selling immediately:
“It’s fairly typical to see this playbook: An X account gets hacked, a link to a new “memecoin” gets posted and unsuspecting users buy in, only to have their hopes crushed by these malicious actors.”
The predators made only a small amount of money (a few grand) and the coin is now rapidly approaching zero value. No doubt some regular punters lost cash. Kuenssberg’s tweet has now also been deleted. Brave new world and that…
The FCDO is scrambling to defend its commitment to AUKUS after conspicuously leaving out any reference to it in the readout following David Lammy’s first call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last night. While the US readout clearly referenced AUKUS and their joint initiatives to promote a “free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable,” the FCDO ditched any mention of AUKUS at all….
The FCDO is now rushing to point to Lammy’s speech from earlier this month, where he championed AUKUS and the “strengthening of our friendship with both sides of the aisle,” while also suggesting that readouts aren’t exhaustive. Meanwhile, the government’s defence review is ongoing, with growing outrage over Starmer delaying defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in 2030. Defence top brass as well as Labour MPs are warning this will damage ties with the US, while the government uses its go-to excuse about inheriting a Tory “black hole”. Is Labour quietly leaving the door open to scaling back its commitment to the vital security partnership?
Guido hears there was drama in Cabinet this morning over the Chancellor’s landmark growth speech in Oxford tomorrow. Starmer and Reeves were blatant in their well-publicised breakfast with business chiefs this morning. “Should we do X? If it’s good for growth, good for wealth creation, the answer is ‘yes’, if it’s not then the answer is ‘no’”…
Chris Wormald will have to implement the “growth test” across departments and push ministers to ditch policies that fail it. Surely the Budget should be the first to go in that case…
According to sources the contents of Reeves’ growth plan briefing document was changed at the last minute prior to her 9.30 a.m. Cabinet sign-off meeting. The new briefing was not circulated in the normal way and readable documents were stored on secure devices which were not allowed to leave the room. Blindsiding opponents and watering up…
The primary change from tomorrow is to process – with a concerted push on as many growth projects at the same time. Guido is told there are few untrailed headline-grabbing growth projects apart from on flights – Reeves is said to have upgraded her support for airport expansion. Some in SW1 expected the government’s support to be limited…
Reeves’ Cabinet enemies (led by Miliband) are on the back foot. Co-conspirators should not underestimate their ability to weaponise Whitehall against growth…
The Office for National Statistics projects that the UK population will surge to 72.5 million by mid-2032, up from 67.6 million in 2022—an increase of 4.9 million, or 7.3%. Driven almost entirely by net migration…
Meanwhile, over 150,000 migrants have crossed the Channel since 2018, with more than 1,000 arrivals this year alone. Yet, migration isn’t even one of Starmer’s “six milestones” for change. Yvette Cooper dismissed it last month as not a “practical milestone,” offering zero commitment to reducing numbers. A population boom means more pressure on housing, schools, hospitals, and public services. Not exactly the sort of “growth” voters were promised…
In the wake of the Southport riots in August Yvette Cooper commissioned a “rapid analytical sprint” review into extremism policy, whose contents have now been leaked to think tank Policy Exchange. In the view of the Home Office:
- “Claims of ‘two-tier’ policing” are a “Right-wing extremist narrative” which is “leaking into mainstream debates.“
- Previous Tory policy ordering police to record non-crime hate incidents only if there was a serious risk of harm should be reversed.
- Non-crime hate incident recording should be expanded to Islamophobia and antisemitism.
- Grooming gangs are an “alleged” problem “frequently exploit[ed]” by the far-right “to promote anti-Muslim sentiment as well as anti-government and anti-‘political correctness’ narratives.” ‘Alleged’…
- Extremism policy should switch focus from “ideologies of concern” to “behaviours and activity” which includes participation in “online subcultures called the manosphere.”
- The definition of extremism should be expanded to include extreme misogyny, pro-Khalistan extremism, Hindu nationalist extremism, environmental extremism, left wing, anarchist and single-issue extremism (LASI), violence fascination and conspiracy theories.
- There should be a new offence – making “harmful communications” likely to cause “psychological harm.” A rude text…
Policy Exchange warns counter-terror forces’ attention would be diluted by the recommendations, which also threaten free speech and to tar “swathes of the public” as far-right for no reason. Labour claims it has rejected the widened definition of extremism and has yet to sign off on the report. The Home Office says it is “considering a wide range of potential next steps arising” from the document. Nonetheless, the above is the internal view of the Home Office. And Whitehall usually gets its way…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
