Foreign Office job cuts ‘send wrong signals’ on Iran crisis Shrunken department less able to respond to conflicts, critics warn our Whitehall editor Catherine Neilan https://bit.ly/4tvKkWt

London’s viral video crisis: “London has fallen” content has become so pervasive globally that Sadiq Khan held a meeting with the foreign office and British ambassadors to discuss how to convince foreign investors/tourists to ignore it and come to London. www.londoncentric.media/p/sadiq-khan...

Farage ‘playing with fire’ over family voting claims @robfordmancs.bsky.social told @theobserveruk.bsky.social: "It is troubling that they do this when the sun is shining on them electorally. What does this imply if they underperform in a general election?” observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Crypto moratorium only bans the digital currency at the point of declaration, creating a loophole that has already been used by Reform observer.co.uk/news/politic...

And also in today's Observer observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

More on this story on The Naked Week (from ~14:15) www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

This is obviously a huge amount of money for anyone to pay. But the landlord gave residents two weeks to either agree to pay, or be on their way. Obviously, residents pushed back. Now, those who pushed back the hardest have received no-fault eviction notices – which will be illegal from May 1st.

I've spent the past three weeks speaking to residents on a housing estate in Richmond. In February they were told that because the Renters' Rights Act is coming in, their landlord was going to have to raise the rent. The smallest increase I've seen is about £500. The largest is £800.

So, who is their landlord? It's The Poppy Factory – the charity that makes poppies and wreaths for the Royal British Legion. Of course what they're doing is completely legal. It will also make a lot of people homeless. Here's what MHCLG told @catneilan.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/catn...

Further details of the investigation by @beckypinnington.bsky.social and myself for The Naked Week/Observer this week 👇 observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Greater Manchester Police statement: "We’ve concluded our investigation into alleged ‘family voting’ at last month’s Gorton and Denton by-election, finding no evidence of any intent to influence or refrain any person from voting."

This is a really important point and it will likely depend on the language used by the government in its amendment to ban crypto donations, ie if it includes a neat solution to cover both third payment providers and amounts under £500.

Was given this by protesters just outside Parliament today - singling out the most senior Muslim woman in the government for having taken money from "the bank of Zionism"

Met Police have just released a log of Morgan McSweeney's call after his phone was stolen in October, in which he doesn't mention that he works in Downing St or for the PM undermines the idea that police were "too busy" to properly investigate the theft McSweeney failed to explain why it mattered

📺 Catch up now 📺 📆 Yesterday, we were joined online by @sarahobolt.bsky.social, James Tilley, @catneilan.bsky.social and @anandmenon.bsky.social To hear their analysis of how Brexit dividing lines still influence British politics, you can watch back the event here 👇 ukandeu.ac.uk/events/ukice...

London local election news that will appeal to the demographics of Bluesky: the writer of Ebeneezer Goode is trying to stand for the Greens in Camden. open.substack.com/pub/newjourn...

🚨 TOMORROW 🚨 🇬🇧 Join our expert panel as they discuss how Brexit dividing lines influence British politics With @anandmenon.bsky.social, @sarahobolt.bsky.social, James Tilley and @catneilan.bsky.social 📆 Tues 24 March, 1pm GMT 💻 Online 🔗 ukandeu.ac.uk/events/ukice...

Finally it is about witches! @catneilan.bsky.social @andrewhunterm.bsky.social

The last high street bank in Whitby closed in early 2025. Now a 24-hour adult gaming centre is taking the space It is one of dozens of centres approved despite local opposition and concerns over the impact of gambling By @jonungoedthomas.bsky.social and myself 👇 observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Speaking to LBC about this article in a few minutes

This is exactly why so many transparency campaigners are calling for crypto donations to be banned

Take it from me as a former financial crime compliance officer, you don’t act in this way unless you’ve got something to hide. We urgently need to improve the safeguards in our politics from foreign interference and manipulation 👇🏻

I know people are sceptical about journalism right now but this is the kind of story that takes weeks to get to the bottom of. I hope people see the value in what we do

For several months, people have been wondering why Reform hasn't declared any crypto donations, despite Nigel Farage saying they'd received some Now @theobserveruk.bsky.social can reveal why...

✍️ Sign up now ✍️ 🇬🇧 Join our expert panel as they discuss how Brexit dividing lines still affect British politics With @anandmenon.bsky.social, @sarahobolt.bsky.social, James Tilley and @catneilan.bsky.social 📆 Tues 24 March, 1pm GMT 💻 Online 🔗 ukandeu.ac.uk/events/ukice...

exclusive: Nigel Farage has recorded Cameo videos in which he endorsed a neo-Nazi event, repeated extremist slogans and supported a man convicted over his involvement in a far-right riot. w/ @michaelgoodier.bsky.social

We didn't just find his videos - we also found Farage's outtakes, which show when his money-making sideline is interrupted by a text message or phone call, requiring him to re-record the video, he appears quick to anger.

Good way to shut it down and definitely not amplify the story further

Companies House is saying the bug which allowed people to access other businesses' accounts was likely introduced in October 2025... It was reported by @danneidle.bsky.social last Friday www.gov.uk/government/n...

Page 6 of today’s Metro has Reform advertising for the 1,800 candidates standing in London on 7 May

New research shows 48 per cent of white working class children are not ready for school - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the crisis in the early years observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

The UK has 130,000 #modernslavery victims and a £60bn annual cost. From April, the government is closing the national unit that coordinates police investigations into it. The reason, per insiders: immigration wins more votes. That is a policy decision with a body count observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

EXCLUSIVE: At least three women have been investigated for illegally ending their pregnancies since MPs voted to decriminalise abortion last June. One woman was arrested in the bereavement room of a labour ward after a miscarriage when she was 17 weeks pregnant. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Excl: Efforts to tackle modern slavery will be undermined and victims left to suffer if govt plans to remove funding for a dedicated team are not reversed. From April, support is being pulled for the long-running Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Another problem is that as soon as you have political picks, when you change a minister they will want their own pick as well. In the last 10 yrs we have had whole football teams of secretaries of state. If you changed the permanent secretary every time it would be a massive churn, & very disruptive

So much to change in the civil service. It needs - a centre of govt that works - far better performance management - confidence & curiosity to lean in - less churn and more reward for sticking around and achieving things - many more reforms (see all our @instituteforgovernment.org.uk work)

One of the many many problems with this is all your directors and deputy directors would start leaving and looking for other jobs and there'd be no one to implement policies.

The merits of this policy aside (one can argue about whether political appointees in the bureaucracy are desirable and it's not a slam dunk either way), I think there's a real risk to Danny Kruger continuing to refer to this publicly as 'Trump 2.0' inspired. I just can't see how that ages well...

Excl: Reform UK is planning a purge of Whitehall’s most senior civil servants if it wins the next general election Nigel Farage’s party is proposing to sack virtually all the permanent secretaries and directors general, @theobserveruk.bsky.social has learned 👇 observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Companies House is really having a bad week. First they accidentally exposed millions of business owners to having possible ID theft (etc), and now their media email account appears to have been hacked by a swan

Simply producing an 18-24 vote graph from 1997 to 2024 would show v clearly that young people shifted more to the "right" for David Cameron in 2010 but overall sharply "left" after 2016

Had missed this. Seems my investigation on Democracy for Sale about Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm working for the Qataris came up in Mandy’s due diligence! (Am pretty sure I warned about this at the time of his US ambassador appointment…)

After taking leave from the House of Lords, he was rather ironically under no obligation to regularly publish his financial interests during his term as Ambassador.

Sorry to be a nerd, but the government should really also publish Peter Mandelson's filled-in conflict of interest submission, when he was appointed Ambassador. Hopefully that's coming with the next tranche of released documents...

NEW - Mandelson was offered a "higher tiers" briefing on January 6, before his developed vetting was confirmed on January 29, emails appear to show. This mean he was offered highly classified briefing from the FCDO as US ambassador before he finished the formal vetting process

Nin Pandit asked for Mandelson's appointment as ambassador to take place "at pace" so it could be concluded before Trump's inauguration in Jan 2025 Confirms @kitty-donaldson.bsky.social's reporting that officials were put under pressure to fast track the process

Office of the Canadian PM has confirmed my story from the weekend... After visiting Norway, Carney will travel to London "where he will meet with PM Sir Keir Starmer to discuss a range of issues, including collective defence, global economic shifts, and the ongoing situation in the Middle East."

Starmer’s Love Actually moment was deliberate because he believes in the rules-based world order - he was not bullied into it by Ed Miliband. My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the rupture in the special relationship observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Exc: Mark Carney to visit Keir Starmer as he looks to lobby the PM about a 'World Bank for defence' Last week a Canadian delegation came to p'ment to press the case for the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank Understand invitations to join charter negotiations observer.co.uk/news/interna...

“There’s lots of anger,” said one minister. “Definitely feels like Shabana has lost the room, which she needs to retain to get her legislation through." My latest piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the immigration row and real life impact of Mahmood's reforms observer.co.uk/news/nationa...