A 60-year old man and a 42-year old woman have been arrested under the National Security Act on suspicion of spying for Iran. They have been released on bail until late October…
The Met says the investigation was not linked to the upcoming Jewish holy days. Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London Helen Flanagan said:
“We know that news of these arrests will come as a concern to some members of the public, but I want to stress that we do not believe there to be any imminent threat to the wider public in connection with this matter.
“We’ve seen a marked increase in the tempo of our work linked to national security and state threats over the past year and this investigation is a continuation of that. As we’ve shown here, if we suspect any activity could threaten the safety of the UK or the public, then we will not hesitate to take action.”
Not the first time this has happened this year…
Lindy Cameron, Britain’s high commissioner to India, has been appointed the new Permanent Secretary of the FCDO. Filling the vacancy left by Olly Robbins in the wake of the Starmer-Mandelson debacle…
According to the FT, she beat two other shortlisted candidates: Dame Karen Pierce, Britain’s former UK ambassador to the US, and Dame Barbara Woodward, the deputy national security adviser. Ed Miliband is pleased:
“Lindy brings enormous experience across the fields of diplomacy, development and national security, and a reputation for dynamic leadership in postings across the world, most recently as high commissioner in India.”
She has previously been hawkish on China, warning of their “hostile activity in cyberspace” back in 2021. Will that last under a Labour government intent on a ‘reset’ with Beijing?
10-year gilts hit 5.295% earlier today, the highest since August 2007. Just before the financial crash…
At the time of going to pixel, yields are still at 5.263%. Under Liz Truss, Labour’s favourite piñata, they reached around 5.12%. And as Guido reported, Britain paid its highest borrowing rate on record earlier this week…
Alex Burghart asks why it is so hard for Labour ministers to rule this out. Obviously knowing the answer is ‘because we don’t want to’…
The Tories’ former director of campaigning Anthony Lee and his wife Laura Saunders have both pleaded guilty to cheating at gambling over the date of the 2024 General Election.
Lee admitted passing confidential information over the election timing to Saunders – then head of international at CCHQ and the Tory candidate for Bristol North West – so they could have a punt. Lee admitted two charges, Saunders admitted one…
They follow Craig Williams, Rishi Sunak’s former PPS, and Amy Hind, wife of the party’s deputy digital director, who have already admitted to the same offence. Lee, Saunders and Hind are up for sentencing on 23rd October…
Tulip Siddiq’s mother faces another corruption case in Dhaka, with a court setting 29th October for investigators to report. Sheikh Rehana is accused alongside her sister, deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and former Exim Bank chairman Mohammad Nazrul Islam Mazumder…
The Anti-Corruption Commission alleges 276.34 crore taka, roughly £19 million, was funnelled from the corporate social responsibility budgets of 41 banks into a trust named after Hasina’s father, without approval from the Department of Social Services or the NGO Affairs Bureau. The alleged offences run from 2017 to 2024…
Siddiq, who resigned as anti-corruption minister last year, is not named in this case. Although as Guido has long reported, she has her own problems…
In February a Dhaka court jailed Hasina for ten years and sentenced Siddiq in absentia for four over the Purbachal plot scam, with her mother Rehana getting seven. To this day Siddiq calls it a politically motivated smear…
Former Treasury minister and adviser to Burnham in the Makerfield campaign Lord Jim O’Neill, who has turned down a role in his government, said Burnham’s first statement Commons was:
“The last thing investors wanted to hear… gilt yields have risen by a 0.25% in one day, which is a lot. We’ve not had that since Liz Truss days… If your country is under the focus of ‘can they come up with a sensible fiscal strategy’ on a day when the markets think ‘well no, you’re not showing any sign of it’ you’re going to have a tough day…if it stays like this your mortgage rate is going up.”