• Civ7 is already available! Happy playing :).

UK Politics VI - Will Britain Steir to Karmer Waters?

I have to say, having had some contact with FoI requests this is not as ridiculous as it first appears. The general rule is you work out what you legally have to provide and provide nothing else.
 
That is so pointless that if you said that was from an Onion article, I'd believe you.
The guys at The Onion officially announced they were giving up when Donald Trump became president of the USA, y'know.
 
Starmers anti-corruption minister at the treasury involved in Russia / Bangladesh corruption

Keir Starmer has given his full support to Tulip Siddiq, the Treasury minister, after Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission accused her and family members of embezzling billions as part of a deal for a nuclear power plant.

Siddiq, whose role as economic secretary to the Treasury includes responsibility for tackling financial corruption. She has denied any involvement in the claims.

Siddiq is the niece of Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh who ruled the country for 15 years before being toppled in a revolution in August.

The submission to the anti-corruption commission has alleged that Siddiq was “instrumental in managing the affairs and co-ordinating meetings with Russian government officials” to orchestrate the deal and that Hasina and family members received “30% of the embezzled funds in exchange for their mediation”.

The deal was signed in the Kremlin in 2013, with photos showing that Siddiq was present standing alongside Hasina and Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president. Siddiq had previously denied any wrongdoing and said she was present at the signing as part of a “family occasion”.

3136.jpg


Grundiad
 
Trump campaign adviser calls incoming UK ambassador to US a 'moron'

A top campaign adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump has called the incoming UK ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, "an absolute moron".
In a post on social media, Chris LaCivita said Lord Mandelson "should stay home".
Peter Mandelson is an interesting choice for new UK to USA ambassador. A political operator who should be able to counter the schmoozing from the likes of Farage.

Practically the article doesn't reference what I feel is Mandelson's most relevant experience - UK President of the Board of Trade and EU Commissioner for Trade - very relevant when Trump is threatening tariffs and trade war.

Edit: For anyone suffering from Guinness rationing - there is no shortage here - supplies on this island are not restricted.
 
Last edited:
I suppose it is better having him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.

I dare say I can manage on Mann's brown ale.
 

Truss legal threat to PM over claim she crashed economy​

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has sent a legal "cease and desist" letter to Sir Keir Starmer demanding he stop saying she "crashed the economy".

Her lawyers argue the claim made repeatedly by Sir Keir is "false and defamatory", and harmed her politically in the run-up to losing her South West Norfolk seat in the general election.

Truss was the UK's shortest-serving PM, forced to resign after just 49 days in office when borrowing costs soared in the aftermath of her government's mini-budget.

The prime minister's spokesman suggested Truss should also write to "millions of people up and down the country" who, he said, had seen their mortgage bills pushed up by her economic policies.

Sir Keir "absolutely stands by" his language about the previous government's record, the spokesman told reporters.

Responding on X, Truss said: "I know Keir Starmer won't repeat his allegations that I crashed the economy because he knows it's a lie."

Earlier, Commons leader Lucy Powell told MPs "we won't cease and desist from telling the truth that they [the Conservatives] crashed the economy".

Also speaking in the Commons, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said the previous Conservative government had "ruined the lives of people across this country" through their "hubris" and "recklessness".

It comes as the pound fell to its lowest level in over a year and government borrowing costs have surged to their highest level in 16 years.

Economists have warned these rising costs could force further tax rises or cuts in spending as the government tries to meet its self-imposed rule not to borrow to fund day-to-day spending.

Responding to an urgent question in the Commons, Jones insisted there was "no need for an emergency intervention" in financial markets.

Movements in borrowing costs were being driven by "a wide range of international and domestic factors," he said.

Tory shadow chancellor Mel Stride said Labour's tax rises would be "swallowed up by the higher borrowing costs at no benefit to the British people".

A "cease and desist" letter usually represents a warning that the recipient will face legal action if they continue the allegedly unlawful activity.

In the letter sent to Sir Keir on Thursday, Truss's lawyers say his statements about their client are "false and misleading".

"Their publication is not only extremely damaging but also grossly defamatory and indefensible... It would be hard to avoid a conclusion that they were made maliciously," the letter adds.

Truss's lawyers say they are seeking "an amicable basis on which you will agree to cease repetition of what is clearly a factually incorrect and defamatory statement about our client.

"This request is made in the context of the basic levels of civility which is due between senior politicians, and we trust that you will respond accordingly."

The letter argues that the movements in financial markets during Truss's tenure in No 10 should not be classified as an economic crash.

The weeks following the mini-budget delivered by Truss's chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in September 2022, which included wide-ranging tax cuts, saw sharply adverse market reaction, and mortgage costs soared.

But in a video posted on X after Downing Street's comments, Truss said Labour, the Bank of England and "the media establishment smeared my budget and forced a reversal".

"Now, they've plunged the country into economic crisis," she added.

During the Conservative Party conference last October, the former prime minister said it would be "economic illiteracy" to suggest that tax rises from Labour - at that point anticipated in Rachel Reeves' upcoming first Budget - were a result of her economic inheritance.

Last July, shortly after Labour took office, civil servants changed documents describing the mini-budget as "disastrous" after she complained they showed "flagrant" political bias.

Briefing notes on the King's Speech, which sets out the government's programme of new laws - published earlier on the government website - said the former PM's approach had damaged the UK's financial credibility.

The Cabinet Office said the documents had been "corrected and updated".
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn7r7pjy8j1o
 
I was under the impression that MPs can say (nearly) anything they like in the House of Commons, assuming that they're not rebuked by the Speaker, and it's in pursuit of their legislative duties.

I don't see how Truss whimpering that Starmer is mean to her is any different.
 
Paper never refused ink.
A letter is pretty meaningless, other than to try and scare someone. I doubt Starmer is bothered.

Broadly for something to be defamation it has to damage your reputation, make people view you negatively and be untrueShe'd have to go into court to and tell what people thought of her and why that's Starmer's fault.
The very quick defence is very straightforward. Why did she reverse some of the actions and fire her Chansellor? Why did the BoE have to intervene. Did others criticise her? Who thought less of her? And ultimately, why did she resign? Her reputation was hardly good after all that.

She is showing really poor judgement.
 
Starmer has said he will continue to accuse Truss of ‘crashing the economy’.

You would think he would cease and desist of his own accord, considering Labour are doing a mighty good job of ‘crashing the economy’ themselves.

In the first half of 2024 the economy was ‘going gangbuster’ but since Labour got in it has flatlined and we might even be heading for a recession caused by Labour’s Tax, Spend and Borrow stupidity.

Rachel from Accounts is way, way out of her depths as Chancellor.
And Starmer seems barely to have a political bone in his body. He is nothing more than a lefty lawyer promoted way above his station … and clearly hates politics. I understand he has spent as much as 20% of his time since becoming PM gallivanting round the world. Anything to get away from Westminster.

I see a new poll has both Labour and Reform on 25% with the Tories on 20%. That’s how much this useless government has fallen in record time.

From ‘snouts in trough’ of Starmer and others (aka freebeegate) to stupid things like promising not to raise NI and then doing so, to the so called ‘Tractor tax’ and, of course, the taking away of the winter fuel allowance from poor pensioners.
Last night up here it was –6c. I wonder how many OAPs died as a direct result of Labours cruel, nasty, viscous attack on them.

It has been nothing more than Student politics gone mad. The 5th form has taken over the running of the school.

And then there is Labour’s Nut Zero policies that are doing massive damage to the country. How stupid it was to put scary, stary eyed Ed Milliband in charge of net zero as he turns it into nut zero.
Apparently last night we came very close to having power cuts – saved by a Danish power station coming back on line just in time.
I see this morning we are generating just 8% (6GW) of our power from wind and are having to import a similar 6GW of power, mostly from France and Norway.


From the Telegraph:

Miserable Starmer will soon wish he’d never been elected Prime Minister
Labour has finally realised its politics don’t work in the real world


Telegraph said:
Life cannot be fun for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves at the moment – in fact it must be excruciating.

And rightly so. Their reign has been both ineffectual and spiteful – and dogged by relentless, but entirely justified, criticism.

The result is that we are doomed to be poorer in 2025 thanks to Labour. The pound has plunged, borrowing costs have soared, businesses are folding, jobs are being lost, pay is shrinking and mortgages cost more than they should do.

The Government has achieved nothing but inflicting financial pain on its people. Those responsible ought to feel terrible about that.

As the Prime Minister falls further in the polls, he must consider where it all went wrong. The answer is, of course, Wednesday, October 30, when Reeves proudly unveiled her first Budget.

Labour’s strategy was to go for growth, but they’ve gone about it in entirely the wrong way. They tediously mocked Liz Truss for the market’s reaction to her tax-slashing mini-Budget, claiming she “crashed” the economy.

Yet the truth is, it was the lack of Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) oversight alongside that Budget that spooked the markets.
Ironically, with Labour’s Budget, it was the OBR’s considered scrutiny that condemned Reeves, instantly warning that her plan would not spark growth – quite the opposite.

By Labour’s own definition, it has already “crashed” the economy. Reeves has achieved what Truss did, but with tax rises rather than cuts. This alone should persuade her that boldly slashing back taxes is the only way to achieve economic growth.

However, Reeves’s recession will be much more damaging than what happened in 2022. Truss’s Budget was unfairly labelled the catalyst for an increase in interest rates that in reality has played out across the globe.

Reeves promised to protect “working people” from tax rises but ended up costing them their jobs instead.

Labour has now cast Britain into a doom loop, with no hope on the horizon. The only hint that things could get better is the Chancellor’s decision not to extend the Tory deep freeze on income tax thresholds beyond 2028. Although, we cannot trust her not to rein back on this half-promise.
Labour’s vision of a socialist utopia is already unravelling as they slowly realise their politics don’t work in the real world. From its private school tax raid to meddling with pensions, there’s not one policy that has been greeted with enthusiasm.

As it stands, only the public sector stands to feel better off under the Government. Ordinary taxpayers are increasingly getting less for paying in more.

By chomping away at our wealth through ideological and illogical tax raids, Labour is proving it is fit only to be in opposition and surely faces wipeout at the next general election.

Labour has got an awful lot of work to do to restore its reputation, but I suspect the public’s growing resentment will soon spread and infect the party.

Unless he makes some radical changes, we face at least four more years of being poorer, and Sir Keir will soon wish he’d never been elected Prime Minister.


 
Starmer has said he will continue to accuse Truss of ‘crashing the economy’.

You would think he would cease and desist of his own accord, considering Labour are doing a mighty good job of ‘crashing the economy’ themselves.

In the first half of 2024 the economy was ‘going gangbuster’ but since Labour got in it has flatlined and we might even be heading for a recession caused by Labour’s Tax, Spend and Borrow stupidity.

Rachel from Accounts is way, way out of her depths as Chancellor.
And Starmer seems barely to have a political bone in his body. He is nothing more than a lefty lawyer promoted way above his station … and clearly hates politics. I understand he has spent as much as 20% of his time since becoming PM gallivanting round the world. Anything to get away from Westminster.

I see a new poll has both Labour and Reform on 25% with the Tories on 20%. That’s how much this useless government has fallen in record time.

From ‘snouts in trough’ of Starmer and others (aka freebeegate) to stupid things like promising not to raise NI and then doing so, to the so called ‘Tractor tax’ and, of course, the taking away of the winter fuel allowance from poor pensioners.
Last night up here it was –6c. I wonder how many OAPs died as a direct result of Labours cruel, nasty, viscous attack on them.

It has been nothing more than Student politics gone mad. The 5th form has taken over the running of the school.

And then there is Labour’s Nut Zero policies that are doing massive damage to the country. How stupid it was to put scary, stary eyed Ed Milliband in charge of net zero as he turns it into nut zero.
Apparently last night we came very close to having power cuts – saved by a Danish power station coming back on line just in time.
I see this morning we are generating just 8% (6GW) of our power from wind and are having to import a similar 6GW of power, mostly from France and Norway.


From the Telegraph:

Miserable Starmer will soon wish he’d never been elected Prime Minister
Labour has finally realised its politics don’t work in the real world






A good parody of a certain genre of facebook post.
 
The Telegraph is totally worthless these days, competing with the Express and the Fail to see who can write the most hysterically out-of-touch or downright offensive article that day.
 
Talking of Nut Zero, this also in today’s Telegraph sums up the stupidity of going for net zero too quickly.


Ed Miliband was trumpeting Britain’s energy system earlier this week.

“Wind power has overtaken gas as Britain’s biggest source of electricity,” the Energy Secretary proudly tweeted on Tuesday. “This is a huge moment in our journey away from energy insecurity and towards clean, home-grown power.”

But 24 hours later, the winds were dying and Britain was heading for the energy doldrums. The slump in renewable generation prompted officials to order emergency back-up generators to be stood up – landing a jackpot for the owners of our gas-fired power stations.

At one stage, as officials scrambled to keep the lights on, grid operators were having to pay £5,500 per megawatt hour – around 50 times the normal cost of electricity – for one gas plant to keep generating.

Two power stations were paid more than £17m for providing back-up power, according to calculations by Octopus Energy.

“What happened yesterday is another example of our malfunctioning energy system,” says Greg Jackson, the energy supplier’s chief executive. “Millions of pounds were added to bills in just a few hours to pay a handful of gas power plants for a modest amount of electricity.”
It underlines that, when the wind drops and temperatures plummet, the UK remains critically dependent on gas. On Thursday, around half the UK’s electricity was being generated this way. December’s cold, windless dunkelflaute spells sometimes meant up to 70pc of generation came from gas.

For consumers, this means rollercoaster prices that will eventually make their way into bills. For the operators of some gas-fired power stations, on the other hand, it is a chance to bet on the weather and – if they get it right – boost profits many times over. Industry analysts describe the system as a “gasino”.

 
According to the Telegraph:

Gas reserves plunge to ‘concerning’ low with only a week of supply left
UK storage sites only half full as Britain braces for low wind speeds and freezing temperatures


It’s a good job we’ve got the North Sea on our doorstep then.
Not for much longer according to our Nut Zeroists.

Make sure your power packs are fully charged.

 
One wonders why storage sites are allowed to be only half full in the middle of winter. Didn't Ofgem warn about this very situation before the Tories let companies sell off their reserves?
 
Talking of Nut Zero, this also in today’s Telegraph sums up the stupidity of going for net zero too quickly.
You definitely understand what you're talking about as well as the Telegraph piece does. Bravo.
 
The UK's biggest single storage facility was closed under the May administration. It was brought back online with a fraction of it's original capacity two years ago in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Don't know why the link and other options are greyed out for me:
Quotes from 2017:

The closure of Britain’s largest storage site for natural gas gets rid of a vital supply buffer which allowed us to reduce reliance on gas imports,” said Mike Foster, the alliance’s chief executive. “This almost certainly means greater volatility for gas prices this winter.”

For transparency Ireland has 0 gas storage, only generates a fraction of our needs locally and is dependent on imports. We never had any significant storage.
 
Last edited:
From Bloomberg:

Reeves 'Could Trigger A Liz Truss Moment' By Changing UK Fiscal Rules​


UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves came into government promising a growth miracle, economic security and stability in the public finances. Six months in and her project is close to being in tatters. Reeves is struggling to maintain the confidence of financial markets as the UK becomes the focus of a global bond selloff. Despite her and premier Keir Starmer making "fiscal responsibility" a watchword of last year's election campaign that helped deliver the first Labour government in 14 years, they've been hit with an investor revolt that's pushing up borrowing costs and risking a doom loop for the public finances. Martin Weale, a former member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, who's now professor of economics at King's College London says if Rachel Reeves opts to change the UK's fiscal rules there may be 'tears tomorrow'. He joined Lizzy Burden and Stephen Carroll on Bloomberg Radio. (Source: Bloomberg)


 
Last week Rachel from Accounts dodged urgent parliamentary questions on the perilous state of the financial markets, leaving it up to some understudy of hers to try his best. She then flew off to China to take the knee, begging bowl in hand.
No doubt she will be back this week saying what Jim Callaghan didn’t quite say in the 1970s – “Crisis? What crisis?”.

But we have similar ingredients to the 1970s:

An out of control tax, spend and borrow Labour government.

An energy crisis – back then it came from the middle east but today it is self inflicted Nut Zero policies (we have the most expensive electricity costs in the developed world – 50% more than France and Germany for example)

A spooked market causing the pound to fall as the cost of Government borrowing soars to a 27-year high.

Finances in disarray – we have an extra £50 billion bill for higher debt interest payments (over 5 years) after the bond market rout sent Government borrowing costs soaring. I’d call it a £50bn black hole but I am sure you are sick of that term.

Back then Labour had to go cap in hand to the IMF for a bale out. I don’t think it will quite come to that but they are certainly trying their best to reach that stage.

I expect there will be cuts, cuts and more cuts.

They can start by not paying the many billions that Mauritius is demanding for the Chagos islands. Paying that would be the height of irresponsibility.
 
An energy crisis – back then it came from the middle east but today it is self inflicted Nut Zero policies (we have the most expensive electricity costs in the developed world – 50% more than France and Germany for example)
You're absolutely right. We should take inspiration from what the French did when their government initially refused to cap brazen profit extraction from the private sector.
 
Top Bottom