Donald Trump has made his strongest comments yet against NATO just as Starmer prepares to give an address from Downing Street. The President has spoken to the Telegraph in another round of interviews before he addresses the nation at 2 a.m. BST…
Asked if the US’ membership of NATO would be reconsidered, he said: “Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration… I was never swayed by Nato. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
Trump said he is aggrieved by allied refusal to enter the Strait of Hormuz: “We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us.”
He attacked Starmer personally: “You don’t even have a navy. You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work… I’m not going to tell [Starmer] what to do. He can do whatever he wants. It doesn’t matter. All Starmer wants is costly windmills that are driving your energy prices through the roof.”
Trump says the US will exit in between two and three weeks’ time. European allies’ decision to adopt a crouched trembling position has resulted in the President’s substantial anger…
Starmer gave a dumbed down self-promotional speech to TikTok stars and other influencers last month in a bid to capture some favourable attention on new media platforms. Guido would say trading access for kind words will only work for so long but then look at the Lobby…
Guido has obtained the PM’s remarks from the event held at No9 Downing Street on 24 February. Starmer went on about how much the cost of living mattered to him in pretty simple terms and pretended to give assembled influencers a scoop: “I can confirm to you that tomorrow Ofgem will announce the new price cap.” He also bragged about having assembled “more than 5.5 million followers” between the creators who were in attendance…
There was lots of effusive praise and Starmer indicated more influencer-only events are on the way. Cue gnashing of teeth from Lobby editors…
“So, thank you again for being here today. Thanks for being in this room. For the first of these events with creators. This has never been done by any government. Before. I think it is a signal of how things are changing. And, you will be able to say, you were in the room for the very first one of these, as we took a big step, towards how we communicate, and who we communicate with.”
The government’s official line is that it is “engaging with content creators as well as journalists to reach new audiences, to ensure we are held to account in a changing media landscape and keep the public better informed about Government policies.” Its influencer comms strategy is multi-pronged. Politico reported this month that the government “has tapped up digital communications agency 411 to reach out to influencers, with the comms shop asking them to be part of a campaign ‘sharing the steps that this Labour Government is taking to ease the cost of living.'” This is not the full picture: 411 is made up almost entirely of ex-Labour Party staff and has been working to engage influencers for years now with limited success. Labour will hope that its staff can do better once they get creators in a gilded Downing Street hallway…
Read the full speech below as transcripted by Downing Street staff:
A side note to the emerging story today that Starmer is set to make failing Mayor of London Sadiq Khan a peer to buy his silence after the expected Labour implosion at this summer’s local elections. Starmer has form when it comes to peerage appointments…
For all the hand-wringing about Tory proposals over the years, Starmer has already appointed more peers than any of the previous four prime ministers – and he’s barely two years into his premiership. That means Starmer has already made more new peers than Sunak, Truss, Johnson and May put together. The stats are eyebrow-raising…
Starmer is ramming the Chamber with dozens of key allies and former advisers – despite his previous complaints about Tory moves. He just appointed 25 Labour Peers in December. Along with reforms such as the removal of hereditary peers, the net effect is a political attempt by Labour to take control of the upper chamber…
Starmer needs the votes because his legislative agenda is getting shredded in the Lords, with big time failures on Chagos, workers rights, education and other issues. Labour claims it wants Lords reform but is pouring its own people into the House quicker than any recent government…
Steve Yemm has told GB News’s Christopher Hope that up to 40 of his fellow Labour MPs have written privately to senior Cabinet ministers demanding a rethink of Miliband’s plan to end sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Nearly one in ten of the PLP…
Speaking on Chopper’s Political Podcast, Yemm said:
“Some of us are really concerned because we meet with workers, we meet with management and we hear the same thing. There’s real unanimity around this question. Some of us are very concerned about jobs in our constituencies. And so, we are making our views known to government… We’re in a position where we’re being heard now, but it’s really important, of course, that we keep having that conversation and move it forward.”
Guido members will know plenty of Labour MPs were passing around Henry Tufnell’s Sun column earlier this week, which let rip over Miliband’s zealotry. Labour MPs who know this crusade is putting their own seats in jeopardy are getting braver in criticising it. If all the profiles on Miliband this week are anything to go by, the ‘real Prime Minister’ still isn’t interested…
According to the FT (which admittedly has its own issues at the moment), Starmer plans to buy off Sadiq Khan’s loyalty with a peerage after the local elections. The same local elections in which Labour expects a walloping…
Starmer has already appointed more peers than his last four predecessors. There is even talk of giving Khan a Cabinet role to keep him happy. Of course, if Khan accepts it he’ll be out of play for any leadership vacancy. No offer to Andy Burnham yet, unless he turned it down…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”