A key organiser of the Black Lives Matter protest that led to the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue has confessed to committing fraud, as £30,000 in donations from supporters mysteriously disappeared. Xahra Saleem pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of power, as the money she raised on her GoFundMe page, which was supposed to go to youth charity Changing Your Mindset Ltd went straight into her pocket instead. The charity has since closed down…

The first charge blasts Saleem for her position in which she was supposed “to safeguard or not act against the financial interests of ABL Bristol”. Instead, she “dishonestly abused that position intending to make a gain, namely used the funds raised for [herself].” Saleem also allegedly swiped money from a second fundraiser page intended to cover the legal expenses of individuals facing charges following the protest. She’s pictured here outside the court…

The government can’t seem to figure out its line on the England squad’s decision to take the knee during the Euros. On the one hand, Number 10 claims that Boris “fully respects” the team’s move (despite previously opposing it), though notably stopping short of criticising fans’ booing. Pro cake, pro-eating it…

Then last night on Question Time, Skills Minister Gillian Keegan lit a fuse under the whole thing by insisting that kneeling was actually ‘divisive‘, and that it’s “symbolism more than action“. Even going so far as to defend the booing fans, claiming “I’m pretty sure most of them would like to end racism as well”…

Clearly on full damage control duty, vaccine chief Nadhim Zahawi then appeared on the Today Programme this morning to insist that the government does support taking the knee, and that Zahawi “absolutely backs” it personally:

“The elegant way, quite passionate way, that the England manager, Gareth Southgate, put this is exactly where the Prime Minister is, where this government is […] I think he articulated the emotions of young men beautifully and I think it’s only right that we back our team.”

Guido is told that within government circles there is a debate about the whole culture war approach – touched on this morning by Fraser Nelson in his Telegraph column. Old school Tories find it all a bit infra dig, whereas the 2019 intake Tories are keen for the fight. It looks to Guido like the government would rather just stay away from this whole debate…

UPDATE: PM’s spokesman tells the lobby, “The Prime Minister would like to see everybody get behind the team to cheer them on, not boo.”

It looks like Theresa May isn’t the only MP to earn some extra pocket money for their oratory skills: the Commons register of interests shows how David Lammy also raked in the corporate dough last year, earning £18,162 for delivering speeches on Black Lives Matter, diversity and inclusion, and for the ‘Blackstone Diversity Network’ at a bargain rate of just under £500 an hour. Great value for money when you consider Theresa took in £160,370 for three hours’ work… 

In fact, with a clientele list including Google, Lloyds of London, and the Royal Bank of Canada, Guido suggests Lammy should consider renegotiating. After all, given how Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors recently splurged over $1.4 million on her new Los Angeles home (her third), Lammy is getting short-changed for his good work. For once, it is a case of go woke, don’t go broke… 

If readers thought Labour’s position on today’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021 was already nonsensical, prepare for even more confusion: Labour is deriding the proposed legislation as “a mess, which could lead to harsher penalties for damaging a statue than for attacking a woman.” Guess who was fronting the calling for new statue-protection laws last year? The Shadow Home Secretary…

Speaking in the wake of last year’s Black Lives Matter Protests, Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky News in June:

“I would support the government in creating a specific offence of protecting war memorials and I would be willing to work with the government on that.” 

Not only does today’s Bill do just that, it includes measures to specifically combat incidents like daubing war memorials with antisemitic graffiti, focusing on memorials with high sentimental value, rather than just monetary worth; not on “statues” as Labour suggest. Labour’s broader attack line is nonsense as well: the starting point for criminal damage is a fine, the starting point for rape is five years jail…

New FoI data shows Sadiq Khan has ploughed £100,000 of taxpayers money into a group that laid siege to a police station during last year’s Black Lives Matter protests. The 4Front Project, based in Barnet, was set up in 2012 to tackle “serious youth violence”, however the arrest of a 14-year-old carrying 13 bags of suspected cannabis led to a major protest led by the group, during which young men “obstructed a police vehicle from leaving the scene”. Numerous officers were injured in skirmishes led by 30-40 protestors…

According to FoI data, the Mayor’s “Violence Reduction Unit Community Seed Fund” dished out £50,000 to 4Front in 2019/20, and £46,042 in 2018/19 in the hope of delivering ” a youth-led intervention project for 100 young people involved in and affected by serious youth violence” on a local estate.

During the blockade, 4Front director Temi Mwale used a megaphone to berate officers:

“We tried to de-escalate the situation, I actually think it was going well,” she said. “But at some point, someone… decided it would be appropriate to send four, five huge vans full of hundreds of you, to start dragging community workers across the floor.”

Sadiq’s now hiring a man who yelled at the Queen to judicate on statues, and giving money to an organisation behind an anti-police demonstration to reduce youth violence…