British construction output fell at its fastest pace in six years in May, according to new statistics. Spades far from the ground…
The headline S&P PMI dropped to 38.2 from 39.7 in April, the seventeenth straight month below the neutral 50 mark, indicating shrinkage. Outside the pandemic, this is the steepest contraction since March 2009. Residential activity was the worst-performing segment – firms blamed unfavourable market conditions and elevated borrowing costs…
New orders also fell at the fastest rate in six year. Some firms explicitly cited domestic political uncertainty as hitting demand – thanks Andy…
Reform wins the donations run for the first quarter of 2026, pulling in £9.4 million from 31 donations. Crypto investors Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne gave the party £4 and £3 million respectively…
The Tories came second with £6 million followed by Labour and the LibDems. The Greens trail behind…
| Party | Total Donations | Donations |
|---|---|---|
| Reform UK | £9,360,764 | 31 |
| Conservative | £6,070,961 | 174 |
| Labour | £4,102,856 | 119 |
| Liberal Democrats | £2,956,054 | 318 |
| Co-operative Party | £439,300 | 3 |
| Green Party | £261,784 | 14 |
| SNP | £217,758 | 10 |
| SDLP | £79,536 | 6 |
| Alliance | £61,871 | 4 |
| Plaid Cymru | £59,467 | 7 |
| Ulster Unionist Party | £40,303 | 3 |
| Advance UK | £28,000 | 4 |
| The Reclaim Party | £20,000 | 1 |
| Social Democratic Party | £15,000 | 1 |
| Scottish Green Party | £12,590 | 3 |
Source: Electoral Commission, Q1 2026 donations.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby said messages from Darren Jones to Peter Mandelson praising the ambassador on the day he was sacked for his relationship with Epstein made her feel “not great.” The messages between the pair – missing from the Mandelson Files but sourced elsewhere – were published by the Spectator’s Tim Shipman:
Rigby said on Sky News: “you ask me how I feel about that. Not great is the is the honest answer. But look, I think Darren has been clear, including in the chamber how he feels about this entire episode, how he feels in particular about Jeffrey Epstein’s uh victims. And I think he’s asked himself, he’s been clear about this, some quite serious questions in the way that you would, want he and and all of us, frankly, to to ask about, about what’s happened.” Not his thoughts in private though were they…
After Reform demanded a public apology from the BBC for Matt Chorley’s misquoting Farage on Newsnight last night the corporation has acquiesced. Matt Chorley said Farage called for “white cold rage” instead of “pure cold rage.” He was forced to apologise this morning – it wasn’t enough…
The BBC itself has apologised to Farage, removed the Newsnight episode from iPlayer and Sounds for now and will also air an apology tonight. Safe to say the BBC wants Robert Kenyon to appear on the Question Time panel tomorrow night…
Lord Khan in the Telegraph: “I hope, and I say this in a non-pompous way, that the public service I do will bring rewards in this world and the hereafter,” he says. “I’m hoping the work I do is earning me Brownie points.”