A useless government council which was skived off by Cabinet ministers cost £10,000 every time it met, new figures reveal. Cheap by Civil Service standards…
The ‘Soft Power Council’ launched under the last Starmer government to co-ordinate between the Foreign Office and DCMS on projecting British influence. It was skived off by Lisa Nandy and successive Foreign Secretaries for half of all its meetings. And it only had four…
Documents uncovered by Guido’s FOI Unit show that every meeting of the widely disparaged Soft Power Council were allocated £10,000 in taxpayer cash. In addition, between ten and 14 staff manned a Joint Soft Power Hub to support its work. Hard cash for soft power? Write your own jokes…
After Guido revealed the new Chagos minister campaigned for the islands to be used as a back door for illegal immigration to the UK the Burnham government is signalling it wants to move forward with the surrender deal. Continuity Starmerism…
This week Tory peer Baroness Finn asked the government what the status is of the “updates being made to the Exchange of Notes between the UK and USA to facilitate the UK’s primary legislation on the Agreement concerning the Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia.” Such an update to the years-old Exchange of Notes would be necessary to implement the Chagos surrender…
Answering for Burnham’s government defence minister Lord Coaker said:
“The UK continues to engage closely with the United States and Mauritius on the way forward for the UK-Mauritius Agreement. The existing Exchange of Notes between the UK and the USA remains in force and there has been no change to the day-to-day operation of the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.”
That is curious language that implies there is an effort to update the Exchange of Notes and push through the Chagos surrender. Don’t say Guido didn’t warn you…
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel told Guido:
“The leader may have changed, but this is the same old Labour Party, bending to the demands of lefty lawyers and activists. This appalling deal hands over sovereign territory to an ally of China, undermines our national security and that of our allies, and costs hard-pressed British taxpayers £35 billion. It belongs on the ash heap of history.”
Further to Guido’s reporting earlier today on Louise Haigh, it is only fair to mention that she is not the only sitting government minister who voted against renewing Britain’s nuclear defences in 2016. All while Burnham reheats a previous announcement to prove how serious he is about this…
Angela Rayner, Lisa Nandy, Ian Murray and Vicky Foxcroft (both junior DCMS ministers) also voted against Trident’s renewal. That’s three Cabinet ministers who are in favour of nuclear disarmament. Certainly both Haigh and Rayner still hold considerable influence over the Cabinet and the wider PLP. Before the 2024 election, Rayner admitted she “hadn’t changed her mind“, and then gave some waffle designed to stop the ming vase breaking:
“I haven’t changed my mind. The vote that we had some years ago mentioned nothing about multilateral disarmament and what I feel is really important for the long term is that globally we should be looking at disarmament of nuclear weapons, but that has to be done in combination with other countries.”
When they tell you what they really think, believe them…
Sadiq – sorry, Lord Khan is spending tens of thousands in taxpayer cash to hire “experienced and diverse individuals” to instruct the Met on EDI reforms while police officer numbers are falling due to cuts. All in a day’s work for the mayor…
Khan is seeking three new members of the London Policing Board to “help shape the future, accountability, and reform within the Metropolitan Police Service.” The LPB’s thirteen members serve three-year tenures and meet at least ten times per year…
The job opening, which closes on 16 August 2026, advertises members will “help drive lasting cultural change” in a “high-profile opportunity to influence the future of policing in one of the world’s most diverse cities and ensure services better reflect and serve all Londoners.” Really emphasising the diversity thing – it doesn’t stop there…
Of three, the top desirable “senior-level experience and expertise” area is diversity:
“Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion – We are looking for someone who has implemented EDI with proven positive outcomes into an organisation with a low maturity level regarding positive culture.”
Three new members will cost the taxpayer £45,000 at £15,000 a year each. That means the board as a whole costs £195,000 annually. Hire about five full-time Met officers for that…
Continued cuts to police officer funding mean that the Met is more stretched than it has been in 50 years with 333 officers per 100,000 members of the public. Interviews for Khan’s “diverse individuals” take place in September and October…
Burnham’s right-hand woman and the Cabinet minister in with responsibility for national security has repeatedly opposed Trident and backed full unilateral nuclear disarmament. While Burnham re-announces a £8.4 billion investment in the UK’s nuclear deterrent…
Oversight of national security policy coordination belongs to Louise Haigh, who will be running the new Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It’s the all-powerful Cabinet Office with the useless HR functions taken out…
Burnham is in Barrow-in-Furness today to do a repeat announcement of investment in the UK’s nuclear arsenal. His minister in charge of national security happens to think it should be dismantled…
In 2015 Haigh was reported to say of Trident: “investment in nuclear is immoral in and of itself.” Before Corbyn’s first Party Conference in 2015 the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament – run by communists who argued for unilateral Western disarmament in the Cold War – cited Haigh as a supporter.
Speaking at a Campaign Against Climate Change conference in Sheffield in 2015, Haigh said the following:
“There are issues on the table that have not been debated in the Labour Party since before I was born, Trident, membership of NATO and a real alternative to austerity. It’s a very, very exciting time and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of it.”
Writing in the Guardian in support of Owen Smith in the 2016 challenge to Corbyn’s leadership, Haigh said of the Labour leader:
“Jeremy and I share the same politics. We have voted in the same lobby in parliament on every vote since I was elected – on welfare cuts, Syria, refugees, Trident and workers’ rights. These beliefs are shared by thousands of members, trade unionists, councillors and MPs.”
In the House of Commons in 2016 she asked of a fellow anti-Trident Labour MP: “Does my honourable friend not share my concern that this latest round of renewal makes it difficult to ignore the fact that we are moving against our international duty into an era of permanent armament?”
Opposing the renewal of Trident is one thing. Haigh has gone further and campaigned for total nuclear disarmament. In 2019 she signed the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s ‘Parliamentary Pledge’ which committed them “to working within parliament to promote the UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” This UN Treaty, which the UK has not signed, would make all of Britain’s nuclear arsenal immediately illegal…
In 2023 the Mail reported that Haigh pledged to “work for the ratification of the TPNW” and vowed to “eliminate these inhumane and abhorrent weapons” because their abolition is “an essential step to promote the security and well-being of all peoples.”
Someone call MI5, MI6 – in fact, do a round robin…
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England has voted to hold interest rates at 3.75% for the fifth time. It voted by a majority of 6–3 (hawkish) to maintain the rate against a hike. Inflation fell by more than expected. Read the full remarks here…
Burnham confirms he spoke to Trump last night about drilling in the North Sea:
“I indicated in the phone call that we had a week last Monday that I would take a pragmatic approach when it comes to the North Sea, and that is my intention as we go forward from here. There is a resource there. When people are struggling, we can’t ignore that. Hence, me indicating that to the president…”