New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that UK retail sales rebounded by less than expected in June, coming in at 0.9% compared to economists’ expectations of 1.2%. For the warmest June on record that is poor…
This follows a 2.8% contraction in May. Industry commentators at Premier Miton Investors say the shortfall is thanks to the fact “consumers are still more cautious about the future given all the noise around tax increases coming up in the autumn.” Inflation is sitting at an 18-month high and a new GfK consumer confidence report shows yet another decline to -19 for this month. Downward spiral…
Science Secretary Peter Kyle was grilled on LBC this morning about Labour’s plan to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers following the Epping protests. Asked if he could provide any examples of temporary accommodation for migrants, like Starmer earlier this week, he couldn’t:
“Well, there are housing opportunities around the country. We have to we have to make sure that they are prioritised. Now, of course, we have local authorities that do have the power to prioritise housing allocation. So, those people in the greatest need locally will always come top of the list.”
Meanwhile, one man was arrested last night following another protest in Epping. Epping Forest District Council voted unanimously last night to demand the government shuts The Bell hotel – which houses asylum seekers – down. Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst has also written to Yvette Cooper calling for all migrants to be removed from the site. Powder keg…
Guido has long-tracked the insights in Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s Substack blog. Unfortunately he’s completely abandoned it…
Lammy launched the blog in September and produced two pieces in quick succession. One of which caused a diplomatic incident…
Perhaps with civil servants breathing down his neck Lammy’s next post was not until January when he simply copy and pasted a speech he had given. Now, over six months later, there is no more content on the Substack. Lammy had promised “an in-depth look at my approach to the UK’s foreign policy, and how it is shaped by the principle of progressive realism.” Unless, there is no approach…
As the Lords rises for recess today to wind down parliament for the summer the Downing Street operation has a big task ahead to repair and reform itself. It’s a dirty job but someone will have to do it…
A Downing Street source tells Guido fatigue has set in and is “starting to show.” Unforced errors and mistakes have left Starmer exposed and he will now have to “resolve the problems with the policy unit” which has been beset with problems, is often blamed for failures due to chaotic management. Hence Bloomberg reporting this week that Starmer is asking to hear about policy earlier in the pipeline…
Without a wide shake-up to the private office that smoothes procedures an insider source tells Guido Starmer will need “a heavyweight official in No10 who can sort things for him in the way the private office can’t at the moment... they need to work well with Morgan, Powell and the Cabinet Secretary.” No10 dysfunction is usually treated with these kinds of workarounds and they don’t usually work…
Alistair Campbell confidant the former Blairite No10 director of communications Tim Allan has been mooted for that role as a new “permanent secretary for communications.” A Downing Street source tells Guido if Allan is appointed strategic communications boss James Lyons “will be pissed off.” Loggerheads on the way – not a quiet recess for some…
New ministerial transparency figures released overnight show that Ed Miliband and his ministers have racked up a whopping £98,297 on flights in Labour’s first nine months in office. From July 2024 to March 2025, DESNZ ministers clocked 18 return trips to India, China, Germany, Poland, Brazil, the USA, Austria, France, Norway, Azerbaijan, and Denmark. Courtesy of the taxpayer…
Guido crunched the numbers: 155,900 km flown – enough to circle the globe four times. The carbon footprint from these climate crusaders totals 51.19 tonnes of CO₂. Eco-friendly Zoom meeting, anyone?
The Observer has recycled an old Tortoise Media podcast as its lead story amid ructions at the James Harding-owned newspaper over how to make money. Fears are starting to be confirmed that the Observer is now just ‘Tortoise 2’…
Co-conspirators familiar with Tortoise’s podcast offering may remember one on the Unite Birmingham scandal from 2022 – whose content has been repurposed by the same author in a written story which led the Observer website for the last day. Guido hears from a newsroom insider there is “panic as we can’t get enough real stories for the weekly cycle.” Better dig into the Tortoise archives…
Meanwhile Guido hears an early focus from the paper on audio has died down in favour of “sensational investigations.” That follows the viral Saltpath story from a few weeks ago and the Neil Gaiman content from before that. Insiders say the Gaiman audio content made cash through advertisements while the Saltpath exposé drove traffic to the Observer which it is still unable to monetise. Tough for some…
An app is unbelievably still under construction at what media sources say is a “huge cost… running late and over budget.” A dodgy cartoon isn’t the worst of the Observer’s woes by far…
Starmer loyalist and Housing Secretary Steve Reed told Sky News that Starmer should not be replaced:
“We saw what the Tories did. They were in power for 14 years, and after 2016, I think we had nine education secretaries, seven chancellors, and five Prime Ministers. Doomscrolling through Prime Ministers doesn’t resolve the problem.”