I regret to inform you that we will be publishing a detailed analysis this week of the £5m payment to Nigel Farage, and whether it's taxable. It is likely to annoy *everybody*. (except tax advisers, which is all that matters)

Are there issues here under the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, as well as the Lords Register of Interests?

He was with former Garda whistleblower John Wilson

Streeting has a few good lines. "Today, Tommy Robinson and his followers are marching through the streets of our capital city. The last time he did, ministers were sent out by No 10 with a media script to explain the march rather than condemn it." www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live...

Today has made clear that the idea of a Burnham coronation, via a deal with Streeting, if AB wins Makerfield is off. Streeting is confident he has the 81 noms (including existing ministers) to run. (He expects a PM decision, not a challenge from Burnham or Streeting). Would be v civil opponent to AB

"We need a proper contest with all of the candidates on the pitch & I will be standing" Says Burnham needed time to run. The Streeting speech suggests that a contest, rather than a coronation, could move the agenda to the centre-left, because of the centre-right candidate pitching to the left.

Crikey, this is significant. All about Orban's regime showering money on populism abroad including the UK. David Frost mentioned as an alleged recipient, plus Unherd and The Spectator. So much for pushing back against foreign interference. H/t @guystall.bsky.social

If there is a Labour leadership contest, it's important Streeting is part of it - if only to flush out the other candidates' views. This speech today sounds like a significant one.

Many Labour MPs, maybe even the PM, will tell us today that the far right rally doesn’t represent the British people. Meanwhile, the policies they support help normalise, at times deliver directly, what the far right want. This is not how we are better; it is not how opposing the far right works.

Looong week so only just got round to this @christabelcoops.bsky.social analysis of who Labour’s lost & where to pitch to get them back (economically left, socially liberal). Clarity across labour now that chasing Reform isn’t the answer but …https://thinklabour.co.uk/thinking/who-is-labour-for

Thanks to @nickpaulharris.bsky.social for this! now up at the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

Reform are targeting individual journalists now it seems

One of the biggest mistakes by the government was to tolerate and pander to this group. Far right extremist thugs posing as patriots, who should have been clamped down on from day one www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

The odd thing about the Odyssey meltdown in the other place is that desecrating Homer basically is western culture. Virgil, Chaucer, etc all at it with the anachronisms.

Prime Minister public message ahead of the Unite the Kingdom rally in London today, organised by Tommy Robinson and others.

On the question of "how could the UK's first soft left Government for half a century govern effectively?" there is a working model. That is the Sanchez administration in Spain- an open economy, infrastructure investment, energy transition. There are some symbolic wealth taxes. It works.

Found some cool, incontrovertible, declassified evidence of NSA spying on the European Community in the early 1960s. We were reading their mail from the jump.

13 men killed by US military boat strikes identified: ‘These were flesh-and-blood people’ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Face it, you've run out of things to say about the Labour leadership So here's my latest substack on the govt's plans to end the SEND crisis - and what it means to take parents' legal rights away Oh, and how it ties into the Labour leadership battle chamindajayanetti.substack.com/p/send-refor...

Sounds like an opening position.

“I really used to enjoy reading. But now, in school, I can’t read without having this fear of being in trouble for not tracking every line with a bookmark,” pupils, parents, pols complain about behaviour management policies at Athena Academy Trust. (At 3.55 here: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... )

"It’s easy for politicians to blame the voters for choosing irresponsibly and letting this or that party in. But the reality is, people are tired of being treated as predictable voting blocs. They want a system that reflects the complexity of their views." MVM in @left-foot-forward.bsky.social 👇

I hope this isn’t true. There are times when it’s more important to put country before party. This is one of them. Burnham’s longstanding commitment to a fairer voting system could transform our democracy & counter the dire threat of a Reform UK government elected on a minority of the vote

Absolutely correct from Starmer here. Sharp contrast to the equivocal response to the last Robinson/Musk rally - a very welcome change.

If Burnham becomes PM it will be the first time in half a century the UK has had a "soft left" Government. Social democratic, pluralistic, internationalist, socially liberal, but still coded in the labour tradition - a sensibility and value set rather than ideology. That will feel different.

💯from @robertshrimsley.bsky.social. Relatedly, if you think the UK changes PMs too often, which of the last 5 departures were mistakes? Cameron shd have stayed after losing the referendum? May after deadlock with her deal? Johnson after Partygate? Truss after meltdown? And Sunak lost an election.

“We’re in a fight for the soul of this country, and the Unite the Kingdom march this weekend is a stark reminder of exactly what we are up against." Some robust Keir Starmer words ahead of the far right march in London.

Robert Jenrick is facing renewed scrutiny over whether he knew about illicit US donations to his Tory leadership campaign, after revelations that his wife worked as a lawyer for the British donor who allegedly arranged the money. www.ft.com/content/53e6...

Enjoyed speaking to @bylinetimes.bsky.social to discuss ten years of championing the most open, diverse and successful city in the world. As the rise in disinformation shows - London’s enemies resent us because of our enduring success ⬇️ bylinetimes.com/2026/05/12/s...

It is astonishing* that Angela Rayner's tax affairs - in which the Standards Commissioner found her to have acted "in good faith", in an attempt to protect her disabled son - is STILL a bigger story than Farage trousering £5 million in secret or Tice's taxes. *It's not astonishing, but should be.

This is basically the size of a nuclear power station. And it will be completed and up and running faster than the nuclear power stations that were approved over a decade ago.

Art imitates art. www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4...

Given Burnham's involvement with Compass and Polanski's comments today I wonder if some kind of understanding re. Makerfield is at least possible.

Sorry for the plug but I feel obliged to reshare this. Farage told a podcast before running for election: “There’s no money in politics, there’s no money if you’re straight [i.e. not corrupt]." Around the time he got £5 million from a crypto billionaire before going on to back crypto deregulation.

Maybe the government should do something about corrupt foreign influence in British politics?

When Democracy for Sale started publishing stories about how Labour Together under then minister Josh Simons hired a lobby firm to investigate journalists I *really* couldn’t have foreseen this…

EXCLUSIVE Sir Keir Starmer will not seek to block Andy Burnham from becoming the Labour candidate in Makerfield, the BBC understands. An ally of Keir Starmer said: “Keir is focused on bringing the party together so it can tackle the issues facing working families.”

Lots of people fairly saying that Makerfield will be a tough seat for Burnham, but the upside is that if he beats Reform he’ll hammer home the point to MPs that he can defeat Farage. May have a significant impact on any leadership contest

Makerfield looks tricky for any Labour candidate right now, even Burnham, based on the local election results

President Obama: “We pulled it off without firing a missile. We got 97% of their enriched uranium out. There’s no dispute that it worked and we didn’t have to kill a whole bunch of people or shut down the Strait of Hormuz.”

Robert Jenrick's wife was warned that his campaign had accepted an unlawful donation of almost £40,000 from a convicted American fraudster, according to the Times. Police are investigating allegations that Jenrick's campaign illegally funneled the money to his campaign via a UK-based company

So I guess the outcome of the broad battle of ideas that Streeting is calling for is going to depend on who extracted what promise from Burnham when.

There's lesson there for Irish politics. Just because a right turn feels like "Common Sense" doesn't mean it's the clever move.

Sky News debate talking about the perception of Labour as the party of liberal London. That seems to have been overcome quite effectively in London!

So beginning to look like the Labour right might swing behind Burnham for the same reason it swung behind Starmer, the most acceptable candidate who can win.

This letter from Wes Streeting reads awfully like the beginnings of an Andy Burnham deal... "a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism. It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope that you will facilitate this."

BREAKING: Wes Streeting has resigned and called on Keir Starmer to stand down as Prime Minister

crucial context: Peter Mandelson was sacked from the first New Labour government for having a £373,000 *loan* (not a gift) from a Labour colleague (Geoffrey Robinson) to buy a house

BREAKING: Reform UK leader Nigel Farage bought a £1.4 million property in cash shortly after receiving a £5m personal gift from billionaire donor Christopher Harborne, according to property records seen by Sky News.