An EU-funded think tank is now pushing for a global minimum wealth tax of 2% as the “logical next step” after Sunak’s favourite global minimum corporation tax. The EU Tax Observatory gets €1.2 million annually directly from the EU and is run by high-tax ultra Gabriel Zucman who is obsessed with tax havens. It wants governments to initiate talks at the G20 summit in Brazil in November 2024. Wealth taxes were previously standard across Europe but were all scrapped because they failed…
Jacob Rees-Mogg led the charge against the minimum corporation tax this year and tells Guido “taxation is a national not a multi-national responsibility. The EU is always looking for ways to extend its powers and this is another example“. The difference between death and taxes is death doesn’t get worse every time the bureaucrats get together…
The ASI’s Duncan Simpson says that wealthy people obviously “don’t have piles of cash just sitting around” and would have to sell tied-down assets to pay the tax. Instead of doing that they “will simply leave, taking their money with them and ultimately reducing tax receipts“. Sunak will probably be interested…
A packed house in the Trafford Suite at Tory Conference this afternoon, as Liz Truss made her one and only fringe appearance to beat the drum for tax cuts and sweeping planning reforms. Flanked by Ranil Jayawardena, Priti Patel, and Jacob Rees-Mogg… and with Nigel Farage sat front row in his first Tory conference appearance since the 80’s.
Truss opened by calling on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (whom she appointed) to bring corporation tax back down to 19%, just an hour before he delivers his main stage address. She also got a big round of applause for demanding massive deregulation to build 500,000 new homes every year. Cutting corporation tax would be nice, although she was Prime Minister when Hunt announced he’d hike it last year. At the time, she claimed it was justified because it would “raise £18 billion a year”, despite previously campaigning against it. Now she appears to have changed her mind again. At least she was right the first time…
Ranil, Mogg, and Priti gave similar rallying calls. Liam Halligan, hosting, won the biggest cheer of the lot when he introduced himself as a GB News host. Rees-Mogg and Farage beamed from the front row…
Jacob Rees-Mogg took a break hosting the mail-in section from his daily show at the end of last week, handing over to his son, Alfred, for the night. The younger Rees-Mogg certainly didn’t hold back…
Alfred bought up some home truths with his father, asking bluntly “Are you enjoying “working from home?”” – Guido is pleased to see a budding co-conspirator in the Rees-Mogg household. Jacob responded that he was enjoying the break from office life, before his son then confronted him with a correction from Rachel Boycott. A long list of broadcasters could learn Alfred’s hard-hitting interview style.
Guido has long covered the scourge of slacking civil servants working from home and one man, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has so far led the charge against Whitehall’s work-shy blobsters. As the Minister for Government Efficiency, Jacob orchestrated a campaign against remote working. He left notes on the desks of those not in the office, introduced routine office occupancy data publication and slammed the “second best” practice of remote working for failing to deliver satisfactory service. He told GB News he was “very concerned that public services are not being delivered properly because people aren’t at work.”
Such a staunch advocate of in-person working would surely stop at nothing to make it into the office. Well, not quite. Over the past few days, Jacob has been making the most of a quiet recess to ditch his regular GB News studio. Instead, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s State of the Nation is being broadcast live from… his Somerset mansion.
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has launched four more impartiality investigations into GB News, with three of those complaints focused on shows fronted by Tory MPs. The four new complaints relate to:
- Two episodes of Friday Morning with Esther and Phil (Esther McVey and Philip Davies)
- An episode State of the Nation (Jacob Rees-Mogg)
- An episode of the Laurence Fox show (guest presented by Martin Daubney)
McVey, Davies and Rees-Mogg are being investigated for potential breaches of Broadcasting Code Rule 5.3, which “prevents politicians from acting as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified.” McVey and Davies are under the microscope for a programme which aired in May, during which they discussed the story of a teen sentenced for terrorism offences, along with their cosy interview with Jeremy Hunt. Rees-Mogg’s show is being probed for discussing a stabbing attack in Nottingham. The programme is already under investigation after its star presenter read out a breaking news line about Donald Trump on 9th May. Ofcom rules demand a ‘clear distinction’ between newsreaders and opinion presenters…
Martin Daubney has upset the regulators by potentially failing to uphold due impartiality while discussing immigration with Reform Party leader Richard Tice. Daubney was deputising for Laurence Fox. The channel is also facing an ongoing investigation into its Don’t Kill Cash campaign which, as Guido has already reported, is also receiving lots of complaints from politically motivated people with an axe to grind…
Hat-tip: Press Gazette
Last night’s BARB viewing figures for GB News and TalkTV are listed below. Clearly, GB News is still miles ahead, with all its prime time stars thrashing the competition over in the Baby Shard. Farage’s anti-woke banking crusade pulled in nearly 200,000 viewers at its peak. No wonder GB News told Murdoch they’re not for sale…
Peak audience:
GB News
Dewbs & Co 94,900
Nigel Farage 197,600
Jacob Rees-Mogg 111,300
Dan Wootton 125,900TalkTV
Vanessa Feltz 14,900
Jeremy Kyle 10,600
Piers Morgan 42,900
The Talk 43,700
First Edition 9,900
Jacob Rees-Mogg is now regularly pulling in two to three times as many viewers as Piers Morgan, with the latter settling at around 40,000 viewers every night. First Edition, the show which was supposed to be fronted by Tom Newton Dunn, is now touching the 10,000 viewer milestone since he went on his long, long holiday…
