Starmer’s first few months have been more than a little bumpy on the home front. After it emerged that his wife, Lady Vic, had received thousands of pounds worth of clothes from Labour’s human ATM, Lord Alli, she doubled down – making a bold debut at London fashion week on 16 September. On 24th September she wore a £1,105 designed dress by Edeline Lee at Labour conference in Liverpool – flanked by her husband. Just days earlier, on 14th September, she had been spotted with Starmer at Doncaster racecourse. It looked like high profile days out in designer clobber would be Lady Vic’s vibe in Downing Street…
But where has she been since? Multiple Labour insiders are raising the question – with regular visitors to Downing Street noting her absence. She’s absent from the wires – which were becoming dominated by snaps of Lady Vic. Downing Street snappers haven’t seen her moving around the area. And Number 10’s own social media channels show no trace. As one bemused Labour wag, almost certainly joking, puts it: “she hasn’t left him, has she!”…
Another day, another defeat for Jolyon Maugham. This time, it’s his ill-fated attempt to oust Lord Walney, the government’s adviser on political violence and disruption. Earlier this month, the Good Law Project launched a campaign titled “Protest adviser must be removed for conflicts of interest,” writing to the Lords Commissioners for Standard alleging Walney had violated the House of Lords’ code of conduct. A strong accusation from the fox-beater…
Now, a solid 14 days later, the House of Lords Standards Commissioner has dismissed the complaint. Lord Walney posted on X he was “very pleased” with the swift result. It’s a defeat in record time, even for Jolyon…
Contracts and pay for SpAds are set to be finally signed off next week. Guido hears the Cabinet Office is pushing to get everything wrapped up, pencilling in next Thursday as the date. Though, as always in Whitehall, there’s a chance political wrangling could push things further down the line…
Also on the agenda is the publication of SpAd registered interests. Expect some eyebrow-raising revelations…
Under Sue Gray, SpAds found themselves on unusual four-month probationary contracts – a mark that ironically Gray didn’t quite make herself. Now it’s Morgan McIavelli’s turn to whip the team into shape and stamp out any murmurs of unionisation over pay and conditions. Preliminary commiserations for those SpAds who don’t make it onto permanent contracts…
Farage’s rallying call to Tory councillors is already paying dividends. This morning, a Tory defector made waves by joining Reform, and now two more Scottish Tory councillors have followed suit: former Aberdeenshire Council Leader Mark Findlater and Laurie Carnie, who secured a seat as a Tory councillor in 2022. Reform’s first two councillors in Scotland…
Despite having minimal infrastructure in Scotland, Reform is enjoying impressive polling numbers in various selections. A spokesperson for Reform UK said:
“In less than 24 hours we have seen three Councillors join Reform, both leaving the Tory party. The latest two today just go to show that the Tory brand is broken not just in England but across the United Kingdom. Scotland has been failed by Labour and the SNP for decades and the Scottish Tories have been utterly dismal in their opposition. This is just the start for Reform, we plan to campaign hard in the run up to the Holyrood election in 2026 and win seats right across Scotland.”
Expect more defectors to follow…
Rachel Reeves has, now that she’s arrived in Washington, confirmed she’s rewriting the calculation of UK debt to borrow more money. This will be done by including government assets in the debt measurement. Reeves is giving herself space to borrow something like £50 billion and still claim that debt is falling in five years…
Meanwhile companies are liquidating themselves at a high rate and 10-year gilt yields have hit their highest level since Labour came to power. Maybe that’s because Reeves last year specifically ruled out changing the Tory government’s latest debt metric:
“I’m not going to try to fiddle the figures or make something different to get better results. We will use the same models the government uses.”
The “Iron Chancellor” strikes again. All eyes on the markets now…
Businesses continue to vote with their feet and shut up shop, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down, even before the budget is unveiled. So far this month, over 1,600 members’ voluntary liquidations have been recorded, according to filings with The Gazette. More than double the level for the whole of October last year. Business owners are heading for the hills, taking UK job prospects with them…
The uptick in liquidations has been blamed on Reeves’ looming capital gains tax hike and expected cuts to business asset disposal relief. Keeping capital and business in Labour’s Britain is far from attractive – and this is before any tax hikes have been formally announced. Imagine the exodus after Halloween…
Red Wall Labour backbencher Jonathan Brash told GB News that Starmer should resign:
“I’m completely fed up about it, and I think it’s got to the point now where I genuinely think that, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned, it’s not a case of if, it’s when.”
