This may well win the Guido Gold Medal for Peak Guardian Journalism:
“The world’s most vulnerable people will be put at risk by Andy Burnham’s decision to use the aid budget to pay for cheaper bus fares in England, charities have said… experts say it will also leave people in the poorest parts of the world more vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis.”
Burnham’s policy is to reduce the cap from £3 to £2, as it was under the Tories for several years. On reflection, this deserves the Gold. Congratulations to the Guardian for their achievement…
George Cottrell has written to the NCA:
“Dear Mr Biggar,
I am concerned that there may have been an unauthorised disclosure of information derived from Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), or other confidential financial intelligence held by the National Crime Agency or shared within the UK anti-money laundering regime.
As a long-standing member of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), and as the author of a bestselling book on financial crime and money laundering, I have long recognised the importance of the SAR regime in combating serious and organised crime. I have consistently supported the effective use of financial intelligence and the need to preserve the confidentiality upon which the regime depends.
Recent reporting by The Guardian and The Sunday Times contains detailed information concerning my banking activity. The nature and specificity of the information reported appear to resemble material that would ordinarily be expected to remain confidential within the UK’s financial intelligence framework.
While I am not in a position to know the source of this information, its publication gives rise to legitimate concerns that confidential information may have been disclosed without authorisation.
If there has been any compromise of SAR information or related intelligence, the implications extend beyond the individuals concerned. Such a breach could undermine confidence in the integrity of the UK’s anti-money laundering framework, damage trust among domestic reporting entities and international partners, and potentially weaken the UK’s reputation as a secure custodian of sensitive financial intelligence.
The use of confidential financial information in the public domain to target a private individual would also raise significant concerns regarding public confidence in the institutions responsible for safeguarding such information.
In light of these concerns, I respectfully request that the National Crime Agency undertake an urgent assessment of whether there has been any unauthorised disclosure of SAR-related information or associated confidential intelligence connected to these matters. If appropriate, I would be grateful if a formal investigation could be commenced into how such information may have entered the public domain.
I would appreciate an acknowledgement of this letter and, insofar as you are able, an indication of the steps the Agency intends to take in response.
Yours Sincerely,
George Cottrell”
Louise Haigh, now the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said in 2019 that she campaigns in Westminster “every week” for “the people of Palestine and for the people of Kashmir“. She is now effectively the most powerful person in government after Burnham…
Haigh was dispatched by Corbyn to campaign for Labour candidate Lisa Forbes in the Peterborough by-election. It was held in June. She told the Muslim constituents in attendance:
“So, we need your help coming up to a week on Thursday to spread the word, to encourage your neighbours and your friends and your family to get out the vote, to make sure that we support Lisa so that she can come to Westminster and she can campaign alongside Naz, for the people of Palestine and for the people of Kashmir as we do week in week out in in Parliament.”
Andy Burnham has apologised for the Starmer government’s positioning on Israel and Gaza. How much further will he go?
Haigh – who has a fraud conviction – is set to have control of the new Office for the PM and Cabinet and has direct oversight of propriety, ethics, and national security in government as a whole. Whoopee for the people of Palestine and Kashmir…
Burnham attempted to rebuke claims from the Tories this afternoon that the the bus fare cap was their national policy, and not Burnham’s:
“It was actually my policy originally as Mayor of Greater Manchester, but I worked with Boris to take it uh national and it was hugely popular because it’s simple, but it saves people money every day. So I think it will really help people with the cost of living pressures they’re facing. It’s there for the whole of 2027.”
Guido Verify examined the claims. Andrew Gilligan, who is an expert because he helped design and implement the national policy in 2022 as a SpAd, said:
“I was transport adviser to Boris Johnson. We publicly announced the £2 bus fare cap before Burnham started his, though it began after. It is simply not true for the PM to say that he ‘worked with Boris to take it national.’
Andy Burnham says the £2 bus fare cap was his idea. It was not. We were working on it from spring 2022, and told Burnham’s team. He decided to pre-empt us by introducing it in September 2022, four months before we did. I’m pretty sure we paid for it, though!”
Burnham announced his scheme after his team heard about the Tories’ plans a few months after the Tories began formulating them in March 2022. The national Tory announcement came on 3rd September 2022 and it was implemented in January. Smart politics. The subsequent spin, not so much…
Andy Burnham has reprimanded Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood for their remarks in the video Guido published last night. He was asked if the comments were acceptable:
“No, it’s not, and certainly that’s been acknowledged, and apologies have been made.”
Week one going as expected…
Andy Burnham’s flagship VAT cut on household energy bills is already leaving him with a sizeable hole to plug at the Budget. Around £850 million…
Burnham is banking on a 0.1% inflation reduction from the VAT cut to ease pressure on cost of living (inflation fell more than expected this morning, but economists expect it to significantly worsen in the second half of the year). If bringing down inflation is a key government priority, there’s another tax cut sitting under his nose that comes without the eye-watering bill…
From 1 October, the Treasury is set to press ahead with another tobacco duty hike. Its own figures show the one-off £2.20 increase per 100 cigarettes and 50g of rolling tobacco is expected to raise just £80 million in 2026-27. Analysis seen by Guido suggests ditching this tobacco tax could reduce inflation by around 0.07%. A cheaper and better way to cool inflation, without burning a hole in the Treasury’s coffers…
Instead, Burnham has gone for the headline-grabbing announcement and the hefty price tag. Another costly pledge piling up in Burnham’s Budget black hole…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”
