Reeves says of Angela Rayner’s ‘expert tax advice‘: “I haven’t asked to see the details and I haven’t asked to see the tax returns or the, tax advice, legal advice of any of my colleagues. This has got to be on a basis of trust.” Nick Ferrari couldn’t help but ask the shadow chancellor whether her 5,000 new HMRC inspectors would be able to ensure “everybody pays their fair share of tax”. Seeing as all you have to do to satisfy the Labour leadership is say that everything is above board according to secret advice…

“What if I’m able to say I’ve got private advice and I did nothing wrong and I’ve paid the right amount of tax, as is the case with one of your senior colleagues?“

Reeves said it was “almost 10 years ago now when she was married to her ex-husband before she was a Member of Parliament“. Rayner was still married to her husband at the time. She also would have had to submit her self-assessment return by January 2016, in respect of the year when she sold her property. In other words, when she was an MP…

At least Reeves has got the date right – this occurred 10 years ago as opposed to 15 as Rayner repeatedly claimed to Newsnight. Rayner gets Reeves’ “trust” and we get 5,000 extra tax inspectors to fill Labour’s imaginary “tax gap”…

New Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR) figures for Q4 2023, now released, make for interesting reading. GB Radio is up 32,000 listeners to 430,000. TalkRadio is also up as BBC listening figures stagnate and the BBC’s local radio stations see a whopping 10% decline from Q3 to Q4. GB News’ combined TV and radio output still comfortably beats TalkTV’s…

Over at LBC Nick Ferrari has overtaken James O’Brien’s listening figures and to take the throne at the station, gaining 45,000 listeners in the last quarter. That’s 35,000 ahead of O’Brien, who is steadily losing listeners…

More fantastic clarity over Labour’s £28 billion spending pledge this morning as Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury Tulip Siddiq argues with Nick Ferrari about whether the pledge is a commitment or an ambition. Ferrari likened the fiasco to “saying to your partner: I’ll marry you if you win the lottery. Life doesn’t work like that“. Guido’s not sure what the analogy Tulip was reaching for here means:

“It is a commitment depending on the fact it abides by our fiscal rules… everything has to depend on external circumstances… it’s like saying to your partner ‘I will marry you’ but if I suddenly find out you murdered a two year old last year, you might not want to… I think that’s what we are saying. If there’s a global financial crisis we need to review our commitments that that time“.

Sorry?

Sir Keir is once again attempting to be “very clear” about an issue he’s given conflicting answers over within the space of a week. Now he’s insisting he did not say Israel has the right to block power or aid to Gaza, and “the right” he was referring to is Israel’s right to defend itself. Last week on LBC, Nick Ferrari asked him a straightforward, ‘yes or no’ question: “A siege is appropriate? Cutting off power, cutting off water, Sir Keir?”. He could have said no, if that’s what he really believes…

The BBC have been blasted for failing to label Hamas as terrorists. Despite Hamas being a legally proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, the US and other countries, the BBC’s style guide for Palestinian and Israeli conflict states that “terrorism is a difficult and emotive subject… we should not use the term ‘terrorist’ without attribution.” This hasn’t stopped the BBC using the “T” word in other cases at home…

Several MPs have hit out against them, with Grant Shapps this morning saying on LBC: “It’s verging on disgraceful…I think that it’s time to get the moral compass out at the BBC”. James Cleverly confronted the BBC on their own Breakfast Show, “I just want to make sure that you recognise that in your reporting, they are not militants, they are terrorists.”  Awkward.

Keir Starmer joined the campaign this morning, telling LBC, “I think the BBC needs to explain why it isn’t. I said ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’, and to me that’s obviously what we are witnessing.” Yesterday Hamas beheaded babies in front of their own families. This isn’t difficult…

Speaking on an LBC phone-in this morning, Ed was able to come up with a clear answer to the vintage Nick Ferrari question. It was, unfortunately, the wrong answer.

Ed claimed that a woman could “quite clearly” have a penis. Guido’s just not sure it will go down well with voters in the Blue Wall…