No surprises among the Tory law and order policy community this morning as former national top counter-terror cop Neil Basu endorsed Keir Starmer in a simpering video at the party’s pledge card launch event. Basu said: “There’s no evidence that the Rwanda scheme will stop the gangs… so I’m heartened to see Keir Starmer’s plans for a new Border Security Command… this won’t be easy work.” With cops like these…
Suspicions had been harboured by generations of Tory Home Office operators that Basu had left-leaning sympathies. In 2022 Basu dropped out of contention to become head of the National Crime Agency after a reported No10 intervention – opposition to him becoming Met Commissioner was also made clear. He presided over the notorious Operations Weeting, Elveden and Tuleta, which criminalised journalists, and publicly attacked a no deal Brexit. He also launched a failed investigation to prosecute journalists who published former UK Ambassador to Washington Kim Darroch’s cables about Donald Trump. He quit policing late last year – just in time to launch an overt career in politics rather than an undercover one. How long before he pops up as a Labour candidate, or in the Lords…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”