Reform has said that its barristers have reported Joshua Bonehill-Paine, the prospective council candidate in the Crewkerne South by-election, to the Electoral Commission. They want the quango to intervene…
Reform says: “The party has queried whether AI videos published by him on the ‘Crewkerne Man’ and ‘Crewkerne Gazette’ accounts has been commissioned on behalf of the Conservative Party rather than in his capacity as an ordinary member of the public, and therefore should carry a digital imprint.“ Stirring the pot…
Bonehill-Paine was jailed for more than three years after antisemitic material online and he was found guilty in 2016 of racially aggravated harassment of Baroness Luciana Berger. He now does counter-extremist work…
The President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which was offered a meeting with Bonehill-Paine by the Tories, has instead said Kemi Badenoch must remove him as a Tory council candidate: “I don’t think any political party should want tie themselves to these behaviours.” Kemi defended him this morning…
UPDATE: Candidate withdraws. Says he will become an adviser to the Tory Culture and Integration Commission focussing on radicalisation instead.
The chief executive of the US’ third largest bank has said UK bank tax rates are worrying. And that’s before Burnham gets his hands on them…
Jane Fraser is CEO of Citi and Scottish herself. She said in London today that UK taxation of banks was harsher than New York, Paris, Frankfurt, and Dublin, and pointed out that “money votes with its feet.” She added that US perception of the UK in this sector was “a bit diminished from what it used to be.” She said:
““But money speaks with its feet. [Such a tax] makes it an easier decision not to invest in London… This is an important country – huge talent, great infrastructure, a strong history of capabilities and reliability. I think the intent from most of the business community vis-à-vis the UK is we want the UK to succeed…
We want to see some of the things that have held the country back getting taken down by the government and the country fulfilling its potential. That is the overwhelming sentiment from the business community.”
Unions are calling for a “windfall tax” – raising the bank surcharge from 3% to anywhere up to 35% to raise billions. Angela Rayner has called for the same thing privately while last in government. The surcharge is on top of the usual 25% corporation tax rate…
Fraser’s warning follows Jamie Dimon – JPMorgan chief – suggesting that the firm would backtrack on its £3 billion London office plans if there was another rate hike. A windfall tax would be a sniper bullet to the sector – the surcharge should be scrapped altogether…
Ed Miliband – who is now heading to DC to meet with Rubio – found time yesterday to record a video showering a former Corbyn adviser who opposed the UK’s claim to the Chagos Islands with praise. Welcome to Ed’s Foreign Office…
Dapo Akande was put forward for election to the International Court of Justice as Britain’s representative by Starmer and Richard Hermer. Miliband has stressed his support with this praise:
“You know, we as a government are deeply committed to international law. When we look around the world, it is under threat in in so many different places and frankly, you are an ideal candidate because you bring experience as an academic and a practitioner…
You have knowledge of diverse legal traditions across the world. You’ve worked across the world. So I look forward to the election in November and and I know that if you are elected to the court, you will be a profound asset not just for Britain but for the world.”
Acting for Zambia in Mauritius’ 2019 case at the ICJ, Akande supported the motion calling for the UK to give away the Chagos Islands “as rapidly as possible.“ He argued the case was “about the international law obligations regarding decolonisation” and that it should not be seen as a “purely bilateral dispute”…
Akande, a legal scholar at Oxford, also advised the Corbyn Labour opposition in 2018 that the UK’s bombing of Syria did not comply with international law following the notorious Douma chemical attack.
He co-authored an article arguing that triggering the Trident deterrent “would not be acting lawfully” and would be “neither necessary nor proportional for either repelling an on-going attack or for stopping an imminent one.“ Oh, and he praised the “brilliant” work of Julian Assange’s lawyers to the Kremlin mouthpiece Sputnik. He’s Miliband’s man…
The Cambridge sociology professor at the centre of an almighty plagiarism row once stood as a council candidate for the Labour Party. That final piece of the puzzle…
Yesterday Guido revealed that Arday’s position as a “visiting professor” at Ohio State University was denied by the institution. Where does this end?
Last year Arday used Carter-Ruck, the anti-defamation specialist firm, to spike a Times Higher Education story about the claims. The police also launched an investigation into the journalist from THE who asked Arday questions following a complaint…
In 2018 Arday stood in a council election in Croydon for the Labour Party, securing 953 votes as the top Labour candidate in the Purley and Woodcote ward. The ward elected only Tories…
A version of Arday’s CV says under the “awards and recognition” section that he was “Selected as a Labour Candidate for the Counsellor position of Purley and Woodcote in the 2018 Local Elections.” No marks for spelling…
Jolyon’s Good Law Project is still trying to mount a defence of Arday by attacking “rightwing newspapers” who “are trying to smear him with fake accusations of plagiarism”. Now fellow left-winger Jolyon’s on his side, this can only go one way…
The Community Security Trust, which provides security for Jewish people, recorded 1,926 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2026. Up 21% year on year…
That is the second highest first-half total since CST records began in 1984. School incidents are up 59%, from 112 to 178, the highest first-half figure ever recorded. 41% of incidents referenced the Middle East conflict, Israel, Palestine, or Hamas…
Levels of violence remain above the pre-7 October 2023 baseline. The government is still pointing to Starmer’s additional £250 million of funding to boost policing. What will Burnham do?
Burnham confirms he spoke to Trump last night about drilling in the North Sea:
“I indicated in the phone call that we had a week last Monday that I would take a pragmatic approach when it comes to the North Sea, and that is my intention as we go forward from here. There is a resource there. When people are struggling, we can’t ignore that. Hence, me indicating that to the president…”