A press note issued in Port Louis confirms:
Starmer’s deal is wrecking diplomatic relations in the Indo-Pacific. The journey from “paused” to “scrapped” just became shorter..
Some less scrupulous Tory frontbenchers are scrolling back up their written records to see what they can dig up on Reform’s Shadow Chancellor Robert Jenrick. No love lost between old brothers…
The Times ran a story midweek detailing that Jenrick, six months before his defection, asked “a senior Conservative figure” for information on Yusuf after the Reform’s then head of DOGE liked a choice post on X:
“Hi. Do we have any information on Zia? Did he apply to be a candidate? Do we have his candidate application form? We should destroy him. Rob.
…I think gloves are off now. It’s dog eat dog with him!”
Guido can reveal the messages were leaked from Nigel Huddleston, who serves as Shadow DCMS Secretary. Nigel used to be Co-Chairman of the Tory Party until Badenoch moved him along in the 2025 reshuffle…
Huddleston is no stranger to strident views on the party leadership. Guido is told he was overheard after Tory Conference telling colleagues that the party “shouldn’t be afraid to replace the leader” and complaining that Badenoch was “not cutting through” sufficiently. Still a common view among some in the party – though maybe landing this Jenrick attack will score Nigel some more favour from LOTO…
UPDATE: Nigel did not want to speak, a senior Tory said:
“Jenrick and his team were completely obsessed by Zia and how they could destroy him. Jenrick was incandescent about Zia labelling him as a traitor to Britain and ridiculing his record on immigration. Rob only ever referred to him as Zia Useless, and he and his team were doing a lot of research into Zia’s dodgy background. Zia should watch his back, he’ll be first out the door when Rob takes over from Nigel.”
Latest figures released by HMRC on tobacco and alcohol duty show that the Exchequer is facing an increasing black hole in its sin tax revenue and nanny state policies are inflating a huge black market. As Guido has been warning for some time now…
Tobacco duty revenue is down from £10.4 billion to £7.9 billion. Receipts have fallen by £414 million, or 10%, in the last 6 months. From cigarettes that receipts are down around 30% over the last decade. That means the black market is growing at a startling rate – one in 10 cigarettes consumed in Britain is illegal…
Visualised by the IEA’s Chris Snowdon:
The Laffer Curve picture is the same for alcohol duty, with revenue from spirits down 4%, wine 2%, and beer 3%. Some revenue-focussed think tanks suggest more realistic ways of taxing these products…
The Foreign Office has said this afternoon:
“Due to the ongoing security situation, we have taken the precautionary measure to temporarily withdraw UK staff from Iran. Our embassy continues to operate remotely.”
Tensions ramping up…
Entries in the comments…
Asked about warnings of a civil war in an interview with The House, Reform MP Danny Kruger said:
“Yeah. The only chance of unity for our country is Reform. If we don’t win, or if we win and then make a mess of it, I do fear for our country.”
