Chuka Umunna: Why Labour’s former star politician wants a City seat for the Lib Dems October 14, 2019 Not so long ago, Chuka Umunna looked like a Labour leader in waiting. The Lambeth-born smooth-talking solicitor-turned-politician, who counts rapper Tinie Tempah as one of his friends, was the cool one in Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet. After the shock election result in 2015 prompted a Labour leadership campaign, the Streatham MP surprised no one by throwing his [...]
How Boris Johnson became the heir to Blair December 17, 2019 Politics is the art of winning and keeping power. New Labour understood this. They were the greatest election-winning machine of modern times. But to the Corbynistas (Old Bennite Labour revived), New Labour are the enemy of true socialism. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour want nothing to do with New Labour’s people, policies, or campaigning techniques. Unfortunately for [...]
Sports Direct shares soar on profit jump December 16, 2019 Sports Direct’s shares soared this morning as the retailer posted a jump in profit and revealed that it was beginning to see the “green shoots of recovery” at House of Fraser. The figures The company’s share price surged more than 30 per cent to 470p after the high street store said reported profit before tax [...]
Sadiq Khan interview: The London mayor talks tech tax, Brexit, Labour and Uber January 30, 2020 There can be no doubt that last year’s General Election redrew Britain’s political landscape. But for an example of just how different things have become, consider that next week a Labour mayor of London will warn a Tory chancellor against imposing new taxes on multinational tech giants. Sadiq Khan tells me he enjoys a good [...]
Tory party CEO Mick Davis resigns as lobbyist David Frost becomes Johnson’s EU adviser July 24, 2019 The Tories’ chief executive and treasurer Mick Davis has resigned from his party roles, citing the need for a new team under Boris Johnson. Davis’s decision to quit came as the chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce, David Frost, resigned from his post to take up the role as EU adviser to the [...]
Food, fuel and drug shortages: Leaked paper reveals no-deal Brexit fears August 18, 2019 Britain faces shortages of food, medicine and fuel as well as civil unrest on the Irish border if it leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October, a leaked Whitehall document has revealed. The document, codenamed Operation Yellowhammer, says the UK also faces months of disruption at ports, EU airports and at St Pancras, [...]
Sadiq Khan urges London MPs to do ‘whatever it takes’ to block no-deal Brexit September 2, 2019 Sadiq Khan has urged London MPs to do “whatever it takes” to stop a no-deal Brexit as parliament gears up for a showdown with Boris Johnson this week. The mayor of London, who has campaigned for a second referendum or people’s vote, has written to all 73 MPs in the capital to consider all options [...]
Labour plays down BT renationalisation rumour July 2, 2019 Labour played down rumours yesterday it was looking to renationalise BT in a move that would cost around £30 billion. It was reported that advisers to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were considering a plan drawn up by the Communications Workers’ Union to bring the company back into public ownership. Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell poured [...]
John McDonnell dismisses report of civil war at top of Labour July 7, 2019 Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell has denied a report of a civil war at the top of his party over the power of leader Jeremy Corbyn’s advisers. Read more: Poll: Labour party support hits record low McDonnell and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott confronted Corbyn and demanded he stop listening to his two top aides [...]
Britain’s car industry could weather a storm of tariffs better than you’d think September 18, 2019 The latest American Economic Review contains a timely paper. Keith Head and Thierry Mayer, at the University of British Columbia and the Banque de France respectively, estimate the consequences of changes in tariff and non-tariff barriers to the car industry. They look at both US-led protectionism and Brexit, and calculate how these might change the [...]