Miatta Fahnbulleh has deleted an X post campaigning for a £45 million accessibility edit to Peckham Rye station after a backlash. Do you want to bring some of the bills down, or?
The energy secretary’s campaign – she is also MP for Peckham – would involve the mandated use of “handheld tools” to build lifts up from the ground floor to Peckham Rye platform level. The accessibility brigade cannot be stopped…
Everyone pointed out the absurdity of the cost and the ridiculousness of the energy secretary campaigning publicly for government funding here. The campaign disappears in a cloud of smoke…
DCMS ministers have admitted following a parliamentary question from Shadow Cabinet Office minister Charlie Dewhirst that the department “recognised” the following diversity and inclusion events in 2025:
About three of those are justifiable and even they don’t need special attention from the Civil Service, which should be focused on dishing out grants to theatres and so on. Scrap the whole thing…
New research has revealed that the net worth to depart Britain in the last two years totals more than £200 billion. Good luck to HMRC!
The Tax Reform Council has produced research showing that, while there is no official measure of wealth taken abroad by leavers, estimates range up to £250 billion. Figures have ranged from £100-£150 billion so far…
27,300 liquid millionaires are estimated to have left already since Labour came to power – adjusting for property, private businesses and other non-liquid assets produces a total of between £200 and £250 billion gone. Around £110 billion is identifiable from public exits, for example:
A spokesman for the Tax Reform Council said:
“The sheer scale of wealth transfer out of Britain in just two years is truly astounding. Unfortunately this is a trend that is not only likely to continue but may well accelerate.
Moreover, the wealth that has departed will be growing elsewhere, just not in Britain. Those who would otherwise have stayed to build their businesses will be doing that in other countries and fewer will arrive to build wealth here. In the long run this is probably the most significant factor.”
A tragedy…
There’s a bit of a glum mood among Labour kremlinologists at the moment after the party’s attack operation on Tory Conference has failed to land. Oh well, never mind…
Labour’s big attack into conference was a tortured ‘dossier‘ in which the party pretended to be the Tory vetting team, writing to Kemi, criticising her Shadow Cabinet for various past wrongdoings and slip-ups. It didn’t help that it’s formatted such that it’s a pain to read…
Party attack teams have a dual role at conferences which is to land an attacking stunt as well as pick up good stories on the ground from spies who record fringes and so on. So far the latter consists of a Tory MP complaining about the effects of mass migration on Luton. Compare that to stories about black labradors and far-right fantasies which landed at Labour Conference…
As far as stunts go Guido hears the Birmingham Tapestry was the invention of Tory attack chief Marcus Natale, who was shrewdly advised by ex-top CCHQ spinner Alex Wild to include those journalists who would tweet themselves approvingly. The stunt has gone down very well, the Conservative Research Department is chipper coming out of this conference season..
Reform is ramping up its recruitment drive for its own online TV channel – officially ‘Reform TV’, not Farage TV – and newsroom at its Millbank Tower HQ. Twelve positions have opened up so far…
Aaron Lobo, until now the party’s Director of Operations and previously Farage’s executive producer at GB News, is leading the operation. It will include a studio, a digital newsroom, a central social media desk and a data team. In other words, a huge operation…
One job ad describes the big money mission:
“A central priority will be the development of Reform TV and Reform UK’s wider broadcast and video output: creating distinctive programmes and formats, commissioning original content, maximising the Westminster studio and building the production capability required to deliver ambitious live and recorded output at speed… [a] high-output media operation capable of delivering at national scale in the build-up to the next general election and beyond.”
A big team stuffed with presenters, directors, and producers does not come cheap…
Labour has finally removed the whip from one of its councillors who was arrested and charged with fraud in Hounslow. Did the Party’s reluctance have anything to do with the fact that it had a majority of one on the council?
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said two days ago:
“Gurbachan Singh Athwal, 75, of Southall, was charged with fraud by abuse of position following an investigation by detectives from the Metropolitan Police. He was charged via postal requisition on Friday, 25 September following a voluntary interview in October 2025. He will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 27 October. The charges relate to a role he held as treasurer of a community organisation from 2014 to 2022.”
Labour did not immediately suspend the whip from Athwal. Guido contacted the party for comment yesterday evening and Athwal is now listed as an independent on the borough council website…
Labour had a majority of one on the council and it is now hung. It will lose the right to a majority on council committees and votes will have to be supported by the mayor. Will Athwal turn up to prop up votes…
Kemi Badenoch at the 1922-ConHome bash last night:
“I did praise [Burnham] for his stamina, it was amazing. All I had to do was sit back and lie there. I didn’t have to do anything at all…”