Testifying before the US House Judiciary Committee on free speech, Nigel Farage pointed to the arrest of comedian Graham Linehan. He warned:
“This could happen to any American. You will be doing us a favour if you said to the UK Government, ‘you simply got this wrong, at what point did you become North Korea.”
Jitters in Downing Street…
Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey has offered his insights on the gilt yield crisis – ignore it. After Starmer surrounded himself with high-tax fanatics Torsten Bell and Minouche Shafik, 30-year gilt yields soared to 5.7%. The highest in 27 years…
Bailey told the Treasury Select Committee this afternoon:
“It’s important not to focus too much on the 30-year-bond rate. It’s a number that gets quoted a lot. It is quite a high number but it is not what is being used for funding at all at the moment actually. There is a lot of dramatic commentary on this but I wouldn’t exaggerate the 30-year bond rate.”
Not sure the markets will be reassured by that…
Nigel Farage is appearing before the US House Judiciary Committee to speak about Europe’s threat to free speech in America. He’ll talk about the Online ‘Safety’ Act. He’ll also bring up comedian Graham Linehan’s arrest…
Farage will call on the US to sanction countries that restrict freedom of speech. He says Britain has “lost her way”…
The government is repeatedly blocking minutes of a meeting held last year between Attorney General Richard Hermer and Mauritius’ chief legal adviser on the Chagos Surrender Philippe Sands. The Attorney General’s Office has been in regular communication with Philippe Sands with regard to its determination to withhold the details…
The minutes of the meeting in November last year – at which the UK’s candidate for the ICJ Dapo Akande was also present – were originally blocked under S36 of the FOI Act which claims the release of the information would “prejudice — the maintenance of the convention of the collective responsibility of Ministers of the Crown… or would be likely to, inhibit the free and frank provision of advice.” Guido can reveal the Attorney General’s Office gave Starmer’s close friend Philippe Sands advance warning of this with a private offer to him to “raise any factors or considerations” for the blockage of information by the Solicitor General. A total of seven emails were exchanged in relation to the meeting as well as a phone call…
After the FOI was blocked Richard Hermer’s SpAd reached out to Sands by telephone to discuss “a related query from a journalist.” Sands reassured the AGO: “As you will be aware, I do not comment on such matters, and will not comment if asked about the meeting.“ Curious…
Dapo Akande previously sided with Mauritius in its claim to the Chagos Islands – Akande supported the International Court of Justice’s 2019 ruling that the UK should hand the islands back “as swiftly as possible,” even calling the case a “decolonisation” project. To work so extensively to block the minutes of a meeting on 13 November between the three to “discuss international law and the International Court of Justice” is not typical. Unless Chagos was discussed – was it?
Kemi Badenoch has been widely criticised after failing to devote enough of her PMQs questions to Rayner’s bombshell statement admitting she underpaid stamp duty. Not the first time Kemi’s PMQs nous has become the story…
Badenoch asked Starmer about Rayner and bond markets in the same question, allowing the PM to give Rayner his support and move on. The Tory leader then said Starmer should sack Rayner and moved on herself. Hardly a drill-down…
Some Tories are in disbelief. Party grandee David Frost has been retweeting criticism of Badenoch’s performance in the Chamber as “totally unacceptable.” Goal missed there considering the Tories’ close involvement in the story as it developed…
Yesterday Sadiq Khan demanded Britain’s biggest arms fair DSEI be cancelled as it offends asylum seekers and that London shouldn’t be a“marketplace for those who wish to trade in weapons”. He added it was ’“inappropriate” considering the Gaza conflict. Despite the fact that the event generates a huge amount of cash for London’s economy…
Unsurprisingly this caused backlash from the defence industry. Though Khan’s colleagues are also less enthused about his intervention. Last night at a Labour Tech event, Labour MP and former RAF Wing Commander Calvin Bailey blasted Khan, saying:
“Sadiq Khan can’t visit Africa to promote trade, and not expect them to come to London to buy our leading defence technologies to help defend against extremists.”
Co-conspirators will remember that Khan managed take a whopping 11 officials – mainly press – with him to tour around Africa in July. Khan’t defend that…
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.”
