Reform is predicted to seize 120 seats at the next general election, leaving Labour with 278 MPs, according to an MRP mega-poll by Stonehaven for The i. The survey points towards immigration driving voters away from Labour and toward Reform, with 55% of Labour-to-Reform switchers ranking immigration and border control as their top issue. Labour’s red wall continuing to crumble…
It’s happy reading for Farage, with the poll putting Labour at 23%, the Tories an even thinner 20% (157 seats), with Reform polling at 17%, translating to a whopping 120 seats for the UK’s newest party. An unhappy start to the New Year for Labour…
As Westminster cranks back into gear one minister is on precarious ground. Guido revealed late last month that City Minister and Economic Secretary to the Treasury Tulip Siddiq was under investigation by the Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission…
In the days before Christmas “sources close to” Siddiq told the Sunday Times that the allegation she co-ordinated meetings with Bangladeshi and Russian officials are “trumped-up charges” and “completely politically motivated” as the paper provided details of her meeting with the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Ethics team. This included an explanation that Siddiq was pictured at the signing of a £10 billion nuclear power plant deal with Vladimir Putin becase “she visited Moscow… to see her aunt because it was easier to fly to Russia than Bangladesh.” That is where the British press has left it…
Last week the Bangladeshi ACC involved several other government departments in its investigation, contacting the Chief Adviser’s Office, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), Election Commission, and the Department of Immigration and Passports to seek information on Hasina and her family. The BFIU has been asked for “all documents related to local and international transactions” of Siddiq. Bangladeshi investigative paper the Daily Star adds:
“An ACC official said the investigations team has sought personal information about these individuals from the EC and the passport department.“
Labour has been careful not to comment too widely on the matter while Siddiq herself has only penned a small article on her low-profile local activities over Christmas. Starmer is in an awkward position – will Tulip be allowed tocontinue in her brief as corruption minister while being officially investigated by the Bangladeshi government for corruption?
Peter Mandelson is starting on the back foot as he heads over the pond to shmooze with the new administration. Might not have been a good idea to call Trump a “danger to the world”…
As it turns out one of the Prince of Darkness’ predecessors already made his verdict on Mandelson’s likely success. In former British Ambassador to the US Christopher Meyer’s 2005 account of his career in the Foreign Office, DC Confidential, he compared the diplomatic abilities of then-Northern Ireland Secretary Mandy with his predecessor Mo Mowlam:
“Mo could ‘speak’ American. Europeans divide into those who can ‘speak’ American and those who cannot. This is not a narrow linguistic point. It means having the ability to slip naturally into the American idiom. Peter Mandelson, Mo’s successor as Northern Ireland Secretary, could never do it, for all his intellectual brilliance. He managed profoundly to irritate the Irish-Americans of Capitol Hill, who are ultra-sensitive to any hint of being patronized by snooty Brits. The feeling was mutual. Handling the rough and tumble of debate with Irish-Americans was not among Peter’s armoury of formidable political skills.”
Meyer, who died in 2022, points out that Mandelson was unable to counter the “natural tilt of the White House and Congress towards Irish nationalism” using careful diplomatic nous during a fraught period. Trump’s White House won’t be any more receptive to “snooty Brits” in 2025…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”