Guido pointed out this morning that the UK government has been strangely quiet on a mooted meeting with Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus. Yunus is in the UK this week: 9 – 13 June and Bangladeshi officials said a face-to-face with the PM would take place. Guido hears Starmer will not in fact meet him…
Yunus is meeting King Charles – whom he knows well – to receive the prestigious “Harmony Award 2025” at St James’s Palace on Thursday. It is extremely irregular for a meeting with our PM to be swerved on the UK side…
When Yunus entered power as interim leader last year this is what the UK government said:
“UK government warmly welcomes the appointment of H.E Professor Yunus and the interim government. The interim government has the UK’s full support as it works to restore peace and order, ensure accountability and promote national reconciliation.”
Starmer said as much in a letter to Yunus. Why then are they not meeting?
Recent internal political chatter has been focussed on intense nervousness with regard to any meeting mentioning Tulip Siddiq. Yunus has previously discussed a possible extradition of Siddiq, who is facing charges in Bangladesh…
Siddiq herself denies all wrongdoing. The Awami League party of Tulip’s aunt the ousted dictator Sheikh Hasina has written to Downing Street to express their displeasure at reports a meeting was on the cards. Starmer met with senior Awami League figures just months ago. This ongoing scandal raises extremely serious implications for the UK’s ability to conduct international diplomacy effectively…
Matters are coming to a head this week as Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus visits London to receive an award and – according to Bangladeshi officials – speak with Keir Starmer. The UK side has been strangely quiet about the upcoming meeting sought by Yunus, suggesting there is nervousness in Downing Street about what might be brought up…
Last week Yunus said he would raise Bangladesh’s efforts to recover funds allegedly embezzled by Awami League figures in Sheikh Hasina’s regime and stored in assets abroad. Former anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq has also put herself on the agenda this weekend…
In a letter to Yunus which was briefed to The Guardian Siddiq requests a meeting with Bangladesh’s leader in order to “help clear up the misunderstanding perpetuated by the anti-corruption committee in Dhaka that I have questions to answer in relation to my mother’s sister, the former prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina.” Siddiq promoted her enthusiasm to clear matters on an X post with the comments turned off…
Tulip and her lawyers have always denied all wrongdoing and she adds in the letter: “I have no property nor any business interests whatsoever in Bangladesh. The country is dear to my heart but it is not the country where I was born, live in or have built my career in.” Meanwhile over the weekend the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh said it had seized 87 pages of tax returns filed in the country by Siddiq which “cover the assessment years 2006–07 to 2018–19″…
The Awami League party of Tulip’s aunt Sheikh Hasina is protesting the visit, telling Downing Street “that any formal meeting lends legitimacy to an unelected and unconstitutional administration.” As revealed on these pixels Starmer has hobnobbed with senior Awami League staff – including Hasina – for years and was seen doing so as recently as December…
Yunus’ office for its part says it never received that letter from Tulip and therefore “we cannot comment on something we have not seen.” If Starmer actually meets with Yunus the pair has the opportunity to discuss the case in detail…
Despite Starmer saying “we want to ensure that as we go forward more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments” there are zero details on the winter fuel U-turn. Downing Street spin delivered to Lobby journalists after PMQs is that the “economy is starting to improve thanks to decisions the government has made” which allows for the decision. But will still only say it will happen if it is “affordable”…
There is zero clarity from the government on when the U-turn may come in. All hacks have managed to eke out is that the decision will be taken at a “future fiscal event” which means the budget later in the year. It is currently entirely unclear whether the threshold will be raised by the winter…
Downing Street also couldn’t say when Starmer changed his mind on winter fuel despite repeating numerous times this month that no U-turn of any kind was on the cards. Lobby hacks starting to lose their patience now…
Labour’s blame game for its abysmal local elections performance (down 187 councillors, with Reform nabbing what should have been easy Labour wins at this point in the parliament) remains all about winter fuel. Reeves’ abolition of the Winter Fuel Allowance in July last year (worth about £1.5 billion) is widely seen as a primary cause for the government’s unpopularity, with Labour backbench anxiety at record levels. Labour MPs have privately lobbied No 10 for a u-turn in “significant” numbers, according to comradely sources…
Now Guido hears from government insiders that Reeves’ team is furious at briefings which emerged over the past week suggesting that there could indeed be a u-turn on the cut. The Guardian breathlessly reported last week: “Downing Street is rethinking its controversial winter fuel payment cut amid growing anxiety at the top of government that the policy could wreak serious electoral damage.” Rachel and the accounts department are said to blame No 10 for directly briefing this story, which was also covered by the BBC. Another Labour insider mused that Reeves would not withstand such a u-turn. Could a u-turn solve an electoral problem for Starmer and give him an excuse to whack his extremely unpopular Chancellor? At least she’s got her CV at the ready…
After the Élysée directly addressed mad X theories that Starmer, Scholz, Macron, and Zelensky were pictured with cocaine on a train Downing Street has weighed in as well. Pass the (sick) bag?
When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs.
This fake news is being spread by France’s enemies, both abroad and at home. We must remain vigilant against manipulation. pic.twitter.com/xyXhGm9Dsr
— Élysée (@Elysee) May 11, 2025
Starmer’s spokesman told Lobby journalists this afternoon: “We don’t know who’s behind that particular misinformation but we’ve obviously seen attempts like this in the past, particularly emanating from the Russian state as it particularly becomes more desperate in relation to the war in Ukraine.” Hint: There’s a fellow living at No 1 Red Square Terraces with form on this sort of thing…
Louise Haigh – convicted fraudster and former transport secretary – popped up on Newsnight last night to complain about the “misogynistic” and “sexist” culture in Downing Street, lamenting that “male advisers” are targeting her “female colleagues” with negative briefings. She moaned to presenter Victoria Derbyshire:
“I’m really fed up of opening the papers and reading briefing against my female former colleagues and I was really angry at the weekend to see the response to the electoral defeat that we had suffered at the hands of Reform to be that we should sack two female northern cabinet ministers… I only ever seem to read briefing against my female former colleagues.”
When Derbyshire pointed out that Ed Miliband – a man – receives his fair share of briefings, Haigh retorted that he doesn’t get it “anywhere near as badly as my female colleagues do.” Guido suspects the briefings against Haigh had a little more to do with her fraud conviction rather than her gender…
Kemi Badenoch at the 1922-ConHome bash last night:
“I did praise [Burnham] for his stamina, it was amazing. All I had to do was sit back and lie there. I didn’t have to do anything at all…”