Newslinks for Monday 16th September 2024

Starmer 1) The Prime Minister to meet Meloni for ‘advice on tackling small-boat migration’

“Sir Keir Starmer will on Monday hold talks with Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni to learn from her tough stance on irregular migration, as he named a senior police officer as the UK’s border security chief. Martin Hewitt will head the new Border Security Command, which Starmer claims will have the legal and coordinating clout to tackle the criminal networks smuggling migrants…Eight people died trying to make the crossing on Sunday. The appointment is intended to signal Starmer’s robust approach to migration, with Downing Street saying he wants to learn how Meloni cut irregular sea crossings to Italy by migrants by 60 per cent in a year. Just 44,675 irregular migrants have arrived in Italy by boat so far this year, down sharply from 125,800 in the same period last year…” – The Financial Times

• The Prime Minister ‘seeks lessons from Italy’ as eight more Channel migrants die – The Times
• He sets sights on ‘Italy-style migration deal’ to stop small boat crossings – The I
• Undercover tactics to ‘smash’ people-smuggling gangs – The Daily Telegraph
• Starmer ‘under pressure’ to distance UK from Italy’s ‘hard-right immigration plans’ – The Guardian
• Is the EU pushing its own mass migration problem in our direction? – Tony Smith, The Daily Telegraph

Starmer 2) He says ‘most rumours about Gray are wrong’

“Most stories about No 10 chief of staff Sue Gray are “wildly wrong”, Sir Keir Starmer has said. Ms Gray, the former senior civil servant who wrote the report into Downing Street parties during Boris Johnson’s premiership, caused huge controversy when she jumped ship to join Labour last year. She was appointed Sir Keir’s Downing Street chief of staff when Labour won the election, and is said to have “extraordinary” control over access to the Prime Minister… Ms Gray has also been accused of promoting plans for a £310 million bailout of a derelict stadium in Belfast. On Friday night it emerged that Sir Keir had abandoned the proposals. Ms Gray was present at the table when Sir Keir held talks with President Joe Biden in the White House last week.” – The Daily Telegraph

• Why Gray is becoming an ‘unsustainable’ bad-news headache for Number 10 – Katy Balls, The I

Starmer 3) His wife has £5,000 of clothes paid for by a donor

“A Labour donor has bought more than £5,000 worth of high-end clothes for Sir Keir Starmer’s wife, Victoria, over the past four months in an arrangement that breaches parliamentary rules. Starmer faces an investigation after failing to disclose that Lord Alli, a ­Labour peer worth more than £200 million, covered the cost of a ­personal ­shopper and clothes for his wife. Alli, a former chairman of the online fashion retailer Asos, has also given the Labour leader £18,685 worth of work clothes and several pairs of glasses. He spent £20,000 on accommodation for Starmer and a similar sum on “private office” costs. While these donations were declared, Starmer did not disclose the donations to his wife Lady Starmer until last Tuesday when staff realised that it could be viewed as a potential conflict…” – The Times

• Lammy: ‘Starmer took donor’s gifts because there is no taxpayer funding for clothes’ – The Daily Telegraph
• Labour denies ‘transparency’ issue – The Financial Times
• Why Starmer may avoid investigation even if wife’s donated clothes broke rules – The I
• However you dress Wardrobegate up, this is sleaze – Editorial, The Daily Mail
• Starmer’s lost credibility will be hard to restore – Editorial, The Daily Telegraph
• Frocky Horror Picture Show exposes Starmer as a hypocrite – Amanda Platell, The Daily Mail
• Starmer was so pious over Johnson’s wallpaper – he should be very careful – Harry Cole, The Sun

Nick Timothy: Disasters don’t strike suddenly – they invariably gestate over many decades

“Our society, media and political system are geared towards the immediate and not the long term, and we struggle to notice deeper trends than headline events. But even when we do notice, we tend not to focus on them. The election cycle may be too short, our institutions too corrupted by ideology and frivolity, our society too divided and distrustful, our economy too dependent on the kindness of strangers, for us to think long to the future. Too often, the slowness of change and distance of danger is a convenient and irresistible excuse for inaction. A country needs leadership, and leadership requires the bravery to confront the inevitable. From the economy to demographic change, from our legal system to national security, fatalism must give way to courage.” – The Daily Telegraph

• Starmer: I won’t tell people to have more children, even as birth rate falls – The Daily Telegraph

Ignore ‘fascist’ Putin’s nuclear threat over Storm Shadow deployment, says Lammy…

“David Lammy has called Vladimir Putin a “fascist” and said that the West must ignore his threats to use nuclear weapons. The Foreign Secretary said the West should not be bullied by Putin’s threat of all-out war with Nato if Ukraine was given permission to use Western weapons to strike inside Russia. The comments are likely to put further pressure on the US, which is understood to be holding up a change in policy to allow long-range missiles into Russian territory. Joe Biden, the US president, has signalled there would be no decision on allowing Ukraine to fire Western-made missiles into Russia until he met with Volodymyr Zelensky…at the end of the month… Ukraine and Britain have been urging the US president to give the green light for the weapons to be used…” – The Daily Telegraph

• Britain ‘won’t go it alone’ over long-range missiles for Ukraine – The Times
• Starmer urged to ‘break away’ from US as pressure mounts over Russia threats – The I
• Biden bottles it in Starmer talks as Putin yet again bullies the West – Stuart Crawford, Daily Express

>Yesterday:

…as he defends early release scheme after alleged sexual assault…

“David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has defended releasing prisoners from jail early to ease the prison overcrowding crisis after a former inmate allegedly sexually assaulted a woman within hours of being freed. Amari Ward, 31, was released on Tuesday as part of a scheme that allows offenders to be freed after serving 40 per cent of their sentence, but was back at Croydon magistrates’ court on Thursday charged with sexual assault. He allegedly “intentionally touched” a woman who did not consent in Sittingbourne, Kent, on the day he was freed. Lammy said that Labour had been forced to act by record numbers in the prison population… James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, said a Conservative government would not have allowed the prisoners to leave early.” – The Times

>Today:

…as he is to appoint the UK’s first ‘special envoy for nature’

“The UK government is planning to appoint a special envoy for nature for the first time, as the foreign secretary, David Lammy, seeks to put the UK at the centre of global efforts to tackle the world’s ecological crises, the Guardian has learned. Labour will also appoint a new climate envoy, after the Tories abolished the post over a year ago, a move that dismayed foreign governments and climate campaigners. Lammy…will make a major intervention on the topic early this week… Citing recent extreme weather in the Amazon, Syria and Africa, and the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean, Lammy will say that global political leaders must take responsibility, before climate breakdown can further exacerbate conflict and migration.” – The Guardian

Spending cuts would damage ‘foundations of the economy’, Reeves told

“Cutting public investment in the UK would damage the “foundations of the economy,” a group of leading economists has warned Rachel Reeves, advising the chancellor instead to overhaul Britain’s fiscal rules to help bolster spending. In a letter…the group of eight senior economists warns that the fiscal plans inherited by…Labour…to reduce investment spending as a share of GDP would repeat earlier mistakes and backfire and undermine growth. Signatories include Lord Gus O’Donnell, a former cabinet secretary; Lord Jim O’Neill, a former Treasury minister under David Cameron; and Mariana Mazzucato, an economics professor at University College London. The UK government’s current debt rules are responsible for an “inbuilt bias” against investment, they said.” – The Financial Times

Rayner ‘at odds with the Business Secretary’ over workers’ rights reforms

“Angela Rayner is facing opposition from the Business Secretary over plans to hand workers full employment rights from day one in a job, amid a growing backlash from bosses. Whitehall sources said Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds were in disagreement over how far reforms should go, amid concerns that far-reaching changes could put companies off hiring and damage growth. The disagreement is understood to centre around how probation periods will work under the new system. Ms Rayner is understood to be pushing to hand staff full-employment rights from day one following a short probation period, including the right to take companies to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.” – The Daily Telegraph

• The Deputy Prime Minister is said to be at odds with Reynolds over giving workers full employment rights from their first day in a new job – The Times
• Employers ‘could sidestep’ upgrade of workers’ rights, government warned – The Financial Times

UK steelmakers face dumping risk over EU carbon tax timing, industry warns

“The UK government must synchronise the introduction of a new carbon border tax with Brussels or risk causing “considerable harm” to the British steel industry as a result of cheap imports flooding the country, the industry’s main lobby group has said. The warning to Sir Keir Starmer’s government is part of growing concerns about the impact of a UK decision to introduce a carbon border tax in 2027 — a full year later than the equivalent EU tax designed to incentivise low-carbon manufacturing. Gareth Stace, director-general of UK Steel, said the delay in introducing the tax would lead to the dumping of high-emission steel in Britain as producers in Asia and the Middle East looked to avoid the EU’s “carbon border adjustment mechanism”, or CBAM.” – The Financial Times

Labour ‘could copy Democrats’ by ‘giving influencers top billing’

“It is usually the haunt of politicos, journalists and lobbyists, sipping warm white wine and engaging in the occasional slice of bitter factional infighting. But this year the grey conference rooms of the Labour Party conference may instead feature ring lights, selfies and TikTok dances, as the party plans on inviting influencers to drum up interest with younger voters. The party is looking to build on the digital campaigning success it found during the election by borrowing the method from the Kamala Harris campaign in America, which invited 200 social media influencers to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month. And while it is unlikely that Labour’s efforts would be on the same scale…influencers would be among those about to hit Liverpool…” – The Times

Labour mayors ‘call for merger’ with crime commissioners

“Merging police and crime commissioners with mayors could make police forces more efficient and accountable, a panel of Labour mayors has said. Giving evidence to The Times Crime and Justice Commission, Andy Burnham, the metropolitan mayor of Manchester, said that “holding the whole police force to account” was “too difficult a challenge” for a single police and crime commissioner (PCC). Combining mayors with PCCs across the UK would allow “wider advice” from a “team” of people. Reiterating Labour’s manifesto promise to expand devolution across the country, Burnham said that a combined system that was responsible for the police force would be the “preferred model” of the government.” – The Times

Starmer had made ‘big mistakes’ already, says Davey

“Sir Keir Starmer has already made “big mistakes” in government, Sir Ed Davey said as he promised to hold Labour to account. The Liberal Democrat leader criticised Sir Keir for stripping the winter fuel allowance from around 10 million pensioners and for saying the NHS will receive no new cash unless it reforms. Sir Ed was speaking on day two of the annual Lib Dem conference in Brighton, where the party is celebrating its best-ever general election result with 72 MPs. Asked about his pledge to lead a “constructive opposition”, Sir Ed told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that he was “absolutely” going to challenge Labour. “We’re going to be a better opposition than the Conservatives because they are so divided and going off to the Right,” he said.” – The Daily Telegraph

• He says the Lib Dems aim to replace the Tories as the Opposition – The Times
• Call for Davey ‘to take the Liberal Democrats back to their free market roots’ in bid to ‘attract moderate Tories’ should Jenrick or Badenoch win Tory leadership election – The Daily Mail
• Israel blamed for October 7^th attacks at Lib Dem conference – The Daily Telegraph
• Gender row ‘threatens to stall’ conference – The Daily Mail
• How the Lib Dems plan to pile pressure on Labour and hold on to hard-won seats – The I
• Barely democratic, cosy to the point of corruption with votes discreetly fixed – what party conferences are really like – Quentin Letts, The Daily Mail
• If Lib Dems are smart, they’ll watch and wait – Matthew Parris, The Times
• As the ball boinged off his head, Davey fell to the sand like Wisdom – Quentin Letts, The Daily Mail

>Yesterday:

News in Brief:

• What doesn’t kill Trump makes him stronger – Freddy Gray, The Spectator 
• Is the West finally seeing sense on long-range missiles to Ukraine? – Anatol Lieven, UnHerd 
• The election is still Trump’s to lose – David Smith, The Critic 
• Without good managers, no reform will save the NHS – Tim Knox, CapX 
• Is Putin bluffing? – Katy Stallard, The New Statesman