Justice minister Jake Richards on Times Radio this morning, asked about Matthew Doyle’s peerage:
“It’s right this process is being scrutinised. We to need have a proper investigation into how the process worked, exactly what was said to whom, how the vetting process failed.”
He also blamed the House of Lords for being “archaic“:
“I wasn’t aware of this letter patent process coming several weeks after the announcement. It is archaic and it is odd and it doesn’t fit modern times. And that’s why the PM and Darren Jones announced on Monday that we are going to look into this.”
Starmer was aware of the Times story revealing Doyle’s links to the sex offender and still proceeded with the peerage anyway twelve days later. Despite the Lords authorities saying he could have blocked it…
New figures from the Office for National Statistics show GDP increased by 0.1% in December. This follows a 0.2% rise in November and a 0.1% contraction in October…
That is lower than the expected 0.2% growth. In the last quarter of 2025 services showed zero growth, production grew +1.2% and construction contracted by 2.1%. Sclerotic…
That brings total growth in 2025 to 1.3%. Lower than the 1.5% predicted by the OBR…
The Cabinet Office has finally admitted that they have spent more than £365,000 on social media influencers. The department has consistently refused to answer FOIs and written questions on the matter…
In a written response to Tory MP Mike Wood, Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds said:
“Spend on influencer costs (exclusive of agency fees) since July 2024 to the date of this PQ is £365,331. This figure is reflective of currency conversion rates at the time of the request.”
That is the total spend since July 2024 via advertising and communications firms OmniGov and Pablo Unlimited. No doubt that figure will only continue to go up. Nick helpfully adds that “some data has been withheld due to commercial and wider sensitivities”. Meanwhile Starmer’s ‘New Media Unit’ has an eye-watering £13.2 million budget to propagandise the activity of the government. Might take a little more than a few TikToks to save Starmer…
Green councillor Anne Cross, for Heathfield and Mayfield on East Sussex County Council, boasted at a recent meeting:
“My grandchildren and I painted some cards – Valentine’s Cards – at the weekend which we are going to be presenting to the men in the camp in Crowborough as a welcome.”
So continues the tragicomic farce of the Green Party (led locally by deputy party leader Rachel Millward) attempting to deal with intense local anger at the installation of hundreds of male asylum seekers at a local training camp site. The satire books will have to be rewritten – if you own a satire book take it out and throw it in the bin…
Mauritius has a troubled history when it comes to the annals of global corruption. It’s always been odd that former DPP Keir Starmer, ‘Mr Rules’, has prioritised doing a deal with the current government there…
Now the Mauritius Financial Crimes Commission has announced multiple arrests in a wide-ranging “citizenship fraud and money laundering investigation” that threatens to engulf the Mauritian elite. The case is relevant to the UK as the alleged victims are British. The Mauritius Prime Minister’s Office and Financial Crimes Commission have been decisive with their previous enforcement efforts. The authorities in Mauritius are now investigating – it is unclear what the UK Government response will be…
Two families have dominated Mauritius politics since the country’s independence: the Jugnauths and the Ramgoolams. As the Times of India noted: “The country has long been accused of facilitating tax evasion, but has made efforts to tackle money-laundering and terrorism-financing, earning its removal from the EU’s ‘grey list’ of high-risk countries in 2022.” The fear in Port Louis has always been the risk of going back onto the grey list…
Recent scandals in the country include a wire-tapping case in which the calls of senior officials and politicians were leaked online. Last year, ex-PM Jugnauth was arrested in a money-laundering investigation. He denied the charges through his lawyer and was bailed. Jugnauth was the key figure who oversaw the relations with Starmer on Chagos, and signed the bilateral deal with the UK…
Meanwhile, the British government continues to maintain that there is ‘nothing to see here’ and has repeatedly defended Mauritius in Parliament and in the media. Poised to unravel…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”