The Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov* has restated the conditions under which Russia is ready to stop hostilities. “They were told that all this could stop at one moment,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Reuters. These include Ukraine ceasing military action, changing its constitution to enshrine neutrality, acknowledging Crimea as Russian territory and recognising the rebel-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent territories.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that Kyiv will not “give up its own”, expressing confidence that control over the Donbas and Crimea would return to Ukraine “exclusively through diplomacy.” Slava Ukraini!

*Peskov’s daughter Elizaveta, on the other hand, posts “No to War” on Instagram.

Boris is holding firm on the UK’s current Ukrainian refugee programme, ruling out the possibility of removing border checks altogether for security purposes. Speaking in a pooled clip today, Boris said:

“We have two very, very generous routes already [but] as the situation in the Ukraine deteriorates people are going to want to see this country open our arms […] What we will do is have a very, very generous and open approach but what we won’t do is simply abandon controls altogether.”

This appears to contradict the “humanitarian route” revealed by Priti Patel last night, which would supposedly allow “anyone without ties to the UK fleeing the conflict in Ukraine will have a right to come to this nation“. Patel’s plan was reportedly a third route, yet now the PM and his spokesperson are saying they’ve “set out the two routes” already in place. Boris was also quick to dispute the reports that only 50 UK visas had been approved so far – although he couldn’t give a more accurate figure when prompted. Right…

Despite inching ahead in recent polls and retaining their seat in Erdington on Friday, Labour’s top brass are still seemingly more concerned with holding the seats they already have than actually winning new ones. In a new email sent to Labour MPs, the party introduced its new “Labour Hold Training Programme”, which aims to give MPs and their teams “the skills they need” to hold their seats at the next election, whenever it’s called. Which would suggest they don’t think MPs have those skills already… 

In an email sent out on Friday, the training programme for MPs set out the offer:

“We wanted to get in touch to introduce you to our new training programme as we prepare for the next election — the Labour Hold Training Programme.
This new programme is aimed at giving you, your teams and your campaigners the skills they need to help you hold your seat at the next election, whenever it is called.
Labour Hold will include sessions run by experienced members of Labour Party staff and cover topics that will help your campaigns locally, from giving you the skills and resources to help you fundraise through to understanding how to mobilise your local members and activists.”

Holding is obviously not advancing. Some might think it signals that Labour strategists think the party’s narrowing lead might not be as solid as some think… 

Has Lord Barker really resigned from the sanctioned oligarch’s $4 million-a-year employ? The Sunday Times reported that under a restructuring plan, he aims to carve out from the London and Moscow listed EN+, the subsidary Rusal’s other operations, in Europe, Australia and Africa, into a separate company, which would have no Russian owners, control or management. This would supposedly circumvent sanctions by de-Russifying the firm.

Lord Barker took a leave of absence from the Lords in 2015 when he went into Deripaska’s employ. Before he embraced Russian oligarchs, Barker’s first claim to fame was that he went with David Cameron to hug a husky back in 2006..

Nigel Farage is revving back into campaign mode once again for another referendum, this time to take on “the life-changing Net Zero plans forced upon us by Westminster politicians“. Taking back control of our borders energy policies and prices…

Running under the banner of “Vote Power, Not Poverty“, Nige is raising cash for a “cross party, grassroots campaign” alongside Reform Party protégé Richard Tice to force a referendum on the government’s plan to reach Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050. They’ll be holding rallies across the country throughout the next year, with the campaign’s social media channels and website already up and running. Familiar scenes to the 2019 Brexit Party heyday…

The campaign is laser-focused on energy independence, particularly the UK’s untapped shale gas reserves. According to Vote Power’s site:

“We have huge energy resources here in the U.K. that we can use for much cheaper energy bills! Right now, about half of our energy supply is being imported from abroad, including from Russia and the Middle East […] The good news is that we have a real treasure under our feet, called Shale Gas! There is an estimated 50 years worth of shale gas, estimated to be worth over £1 trillion, right under our feet. What’s more important is that we, the people, own this Treasure. So let’s use it!”

Energy bills are skyrocketing, a Net Zero Scrutiny Group led by Steve Baker and Craig Mackinlay is forming within the Tories, and we’re only in the early stages of a cost-of-living crisis. Never bet against Nigel…