Number 10’s spokesman today, asked if Starmer supports Wes Streeting’s call to slash welfare spending to fund defence:
“The best way to get the welfare bill down in the long term is to support more people into work and I’ve set out a number of ways in which we’re doing that… we are committed to reforming the welfare system… we make no apologies for lifting children out of poverty, but in terms of the overall welfare system we are committed to making it fairer for the taxpayer.”
Asked what ‘fairer’ for the taxpayer actually means, the spokesman said:
“It means reforming the system and supporting more people into work… it’s not a zero sum game when it comes to defence and welfare.”
Back in your box, Wes. 63,000 more people signed up to universal credit in a single month, according to the latest figures. Is anyone in Number 10 concerned about this? Or is placating useless backbenchers more important?
Guido’s FOI Unit has obtained the full set of purchases Starmer made for his flat of residence on Downing Street. Totalling over £15,000…
Downing Street says the “Government is legally required to maintain the Downing Street buildings to the high standards appropriate to its Grade 1 and 2 listed status in consultation with Historic England. The listed status, as well as security and other relevant factors, significantly add to the cost of maintenance and repairs, compared to normal properties.” Limbering up…
£14,319.20 was spent on refurbishment alone. Prime Ministers have an annual allowance of “up to £30,000 a year from the public purse to contribute towards the costs associated with maintaining and furnishing of the residency within the Downing Street estate.” Nice. For. Some.
For Starmer the Cabinet Office “offers to furnish the Prime Minister’s residence upon entering office, which was empty, on a modest basis in which case the items are permanently retained by Government. The total figure spent is proactively published in the Cabinet Office’s annual reports and accounts… The items came under budget and do not belong to the Prime Minister.” A £750 armchair, a £1,395 TV and a £363 ottoman walk into a bar…
Here’s the taxpayer’s receipt:
Representatives of prominent AI firm Anthropic have held meetings in No10 this morning. Along with other AI specialists…
Anthropic’s latest AI model Mythos can identify critical vulnerabilities in a vast array of security systems (including national ones). It can do so with software that is more than 30 years old. Anthropic is keeping the model private for now while it arranges a consortium of firms and partners to shore up security systems before any wider release – this is called Project Glasswing. So far the Russians and Chinese are still behind – No10 should get into those meetings ASAP…
The British government is also attempting to court Anthropic amid its clash with the Pentagon in the US, exploring options for expansion and even a dual-listing in London. Separate AI firm and key Anthropic rival OpenAI has paused a major UK infrastructure project today citing energy costs and regulation. Labour at risk of shooting itself in the foot here…
Danny Kruger has written to the government urging them to get ahead of the Mythos risks by engaging with Anthropic. To fend off “catastrophic cybersecurity risks to the UK”…
Downing Street is out hiring for communications staff. There is still no Director of Communications following the departure of Tim Allan…
Two job ads have appeared overnight for two roles:
There have been recent departures at the mid-ranking level from the communications team in Downing Street. Some title inflation going on…
Any applicants need to demonstrate “confidence and expertise to brief the Prime Minister and their senior advisers.” For a salary of £68,558 could you bear speaking to Starmer every day (apart from Friday evenings and most of the weekend)?
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:
Robert Jenrick on the Today programme:
“Can you now give a guarantee to your listeners this morning that no BBC presenter in the future will be exposed as a paedophile, as a number have been in the recent past? No, of course you can’t…”