Labour ministers have long-since settled into their business class seats and are in the global jet-set, and now Guido can reveal they are regularly joined by bureaucrats over at Ofgem. Yes, the domestic energy regulator is paying for its staff to fly around the world at your expense…
According to an FOI from the TaxPayers’ Alliance seen by Guido, Ofgem staff managed to rack up a staggering 2,509 flights between April 2022 and March 2025 – that’s more than one flight a day. Not bad for a bunch of pen-pushers whose only remit is in the UK…
Destinations include such exotic regulatory hotspots as Qatar, Sweden, Denmark and Norway – despite there being no plausible reason that Ofgem officials ever need to go abroad in person. Even more absurd, many of the flights were within the UK – jaunts between London and Glasgow, Manchester, the Shetlands, and even Bristol. Ever heard of a train?
UPDATE: An Ofgem spokesperson said:
“We always seek to keep expenditure as low as possible to deliver the best value for money and we regularly review our Business Travel and Expenses Policy in order to minimise the number of flights Ofgem staff take. Our policy is that air travel should only be used where necessary and meets a business need and when travel is required, we follow the government’s procurement rules.”
A landmark investigation by BBC Eye Investigations and BBC Bangla published today says:
“A deadly crackdown on student-led protests in Bangladesh last year was authorised by then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, according to audio of one of her phone calls verified by BBC Eye. In the audio, which was leaked online in March, Hasina says she authorised her security forces to ‘use lethal weapons’ against protesters and that ‘wherever they find [them], they will shoot.’ Prosecutors in Bangladesh plan to use the recording as crucial evidence against Hasina, who is being tried in absentia at a special tribunal for crimes against humanity. Up to 1,400 people died in last summer’s unrest, according to UN investigators.”
A UN report into the protests alleged that state actors were responsible for killing children, widespread use of unlawful detention, and a concerted effort to cover up serious human rights violations. The BBC’s investigation sought to verify audio of a phone call between Hasina and an unnamed official authorising lethal weapons against protesters. Gruesome…
Guido asked Tulip Siddiq today if she would provide a statement on the investigation or her aunt’s regime. Silence came in return…
Allegations against Siddiq and her family – which the MP and her lawyers continue to deny – led to a diplomatic incident last month when Starmer refused to meet the interim leader of Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus. Siddiq has claimed that charges against her in Bangladesh are a “smear campaign” and that she wants to get on with the job of being a “London MP.” That job seemingly does not involve opposing violent authoritarian dictators…
Starmer again failed to rule out a wealth tax at PMQs. Countries – mostly European – have tried broad wealth taxation. The vast majority have repealed them:
Wealth taxes where introduced resulted in the collection of almost no revenue and caused massive capital flight. Sweden’s wealth tax lasted almost 100 years before it was eliminated. In the year before revenue amounted to just 0.16% of GDP and its abolition had “virtually no effect” on government finances. Millionaires and billionaires stayed away, though…
Three European countries now levy a wealth tax:
Former Labour Chancellor Dennis Healey said: “We had committed ourselves to a wealth tax; but in five years I found it impossible to draft one which would yield enough revenue to be worth the administrative cost and the political hassle.” Good luck to Reeves and Starmer…
The ugly new security fence around Parliament – at the House of Lords end – has caused a public outcry. Parliamentarians fencing themselves off while Britain’s borders are wide open, and it’s not clear how much of your money it cost…
Now Guido can reveal, according to multiple sources in the industry, that the planning process around the fence has been “highly irregular.” An expert describes the planning documents as “unusually heavily redacted” – some redactions are normal due to security concerns. Though in this case the documents are almost completely blank, so very few details are available to the public…
Permission for the fence to be up was only granted for the next ten years – meaning the structure is theoretically temporary. Though with the snail’s pace of decisions on Parliament’s refurbishment programme, it’s surely likely to become permanent by default. Parliament is a UNESCO World Heritage site, but there is no evidence of UNESCO having been consulted. Maybe the UK can leave the UN?
Now multiple questions have been tabled about it in parliament, after the farce of the Lords’ £9.6 million broken door – first revealed by Guido. Historic England said: “[Our advice to] Westminster City Council was that the current solution would be harmful, and that temporary consent should only be given to allow an appropriate permanent solution to be developed. In giving this advice, we were mindful that the safe working of Parliament is key to the continued use of this Grade I listed building, a use that is in itself part of the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage Site.” Build bridges not fences…
Guido hears Labour’s much-hyped “business champions” were quietly sacked in a low-key meeting at No10 earlier this month. At the start of this year, Starmer’s team rolled out around 40 MPs as “champions” for various sectors with great fanfare, tasked with schmoozing the business world. They’ve been noticeably quiet…
These MPs were unceremoniously told by Starmer’s deputy chief of staff Vidhya Alakeson that their roles were no longer required, saying they’d “done their job” and that business confidence in the government had now been “restored”. They were also told to drop their titles quietly…
One bemused MP told Guido: “It was basically a secret sacking. No announcement, no thank you – just a polite ’please stop mentioning it.’” A Labour Party spokesman insisted: “This was sector-specific business engagement via MPs alongside the government’s work on the industrial strategy. Business groups welcomed this as a “significant step forward”. That engagement will continue as the government delivers on the strategy.” Note that the statement says the ‘engagement’ with business will continue, not the use of the MPs…
The layoff is probably a relief for some now-former ‘champions’ given Reeves’ upcoming business-bashing budget in Autumn. Safe to say Downing Street has less faith in Labour backbenchers than it did in February…
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.”