![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Treasury Budget Leaks Hit Savings of Reeves’ Former Colleagues
Aug. 29th, 2025 04:22 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
guidofawkes_feedReeves’ former colleagues still in banking will not be thanking her today. Bank shares fell overnight after an IPPR report calling for a fresh tax on the interest banks get from the Bank of England coincided with an FT story on the sector expecting to be targeted by the Chancellor.[…] Read the rest
Struggling ONS’ Staff Spaff £23,000 on Meals, Travel and Hotels in One Year
Aug. 29th, 2025 03:21 pmguidofawkes_feedThe ONS has been under fire recently over management failings, inaccurate data and what one review called two months ago, “deep-seated” problems. Staff don’t appear too concerned, however…
An FOI from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, seen by Guido, shows that in 2024/25 ONS staff spent £10,475.01 on meals, £2,154.05 on hotels and £10,948.29 on travel.[…] Read the rest
EXC: Starmer’s New Personal Economic Adviser Led Landmark Report Calling for Huge Tax Rises
Aug. 29th, 2025 02:10 pmguidofawkes_feedThe PM’s new economic head honcho led a landmark project calling for a series of massive tax rises. You’ll never guess who she was working with…
Starmer has brought former BoE Deputy Governor Baroness Minouche Shafik in as his new personal senior economic adviser in Number 10.[…] Read the rest
Judge Who Ruled in Favour of Home Office was Treasurer at Society of Labour Lawyers
Aug. 29th, 2025 01:52 pmguidofawkes_feedToday three judges ruled in favour of the Home Office and overturned the temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed in an Epping hotel. One of the judges, Lord Justice David Bean, has a history of Labour links…
Bean was a former Treasurer for the Society of Labour Lawyers.[…] Read the rest
Home Office Wins Appeal to Lift Epping Migrant Hotel Injunction
Aug. 29th, 2025 01:23 pmguidofawkes_feedThe temporary injunction preventing migrants from being housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping has been overturned in the Court of Appeal. Asylum seekers will be allowed to remain in the hotel…
Lord Justice Bean said:
[…] Read the rest“Ad hoc interim injunction applications seeking closure of particular sites may each have some individual merits but the judge’s approach ignores the obvious consequence.”
EXC: Downing Street Spends Thousands on New Furniture Ahead of Personnel Reshuffle
Aug. 29th, 2025 12:50 pmguidofawkes_feedDowning Street has been spending a hefty amount on furniture prior to its personnel reshuffle. Minouche Shafik – former deputy BoE governor under Mark Carney – will be Starmer’s new personal economics adviser…
Guido’s FoI unit has established that since mid-April No10 has spent £1,919 on chairs, £305 on desks, and £174 on lighting.[…] Read the rest
Trump Revokes Kamala Harris’ Extended Secret Service Protection
Aug. 29th, 2025 12:26 pmguidofawkes_feedDonald Trump has revoked former vice president Kamala Harris’ extended secret service detail. According to CNN, Harris’ protection will now end on 1st September, having been quietly extended by Joe Biden in the last days of his presidency. Under federal law, former vice presidents are entitled to six months of secret service protection upon leaving office.[…] Read the rest
Caption Contest (For Whom the Bell Tolls Edition)
Aug. 29th, 2025 11:30 amguidofawkes_feed
Entries in the comments…[…] Read the rest
Policy Exchange’s Offices Smashed Up By Pro-Palestine Group
Aug. 29th, 2025 10:47 amguidofawkes_feedThink tank Policy Exchange’s offices were attacked by the pro-Palestine faction of a group called ‘Shut the System’ last night. The vandals sprayed the building with red paint and smashed windows…
David Spencer, Head of Crime and Justice for Policy Exchange said:
[…] Read the rest“We have seen that Shut the System are prepared to use violence to undermine parliamentary democracy with outrageous attacks such as this.
REVEALED: Budget Architect Torsten Bell’s Personal Support for Stealth Tax Hikes
Aug. 29th, 2025 10:29 amguidofawkes_feedTorsten Bell personally raved about the revenue benefits of dragging millions of taxpayers into ever-higher rates. This is the man writing the budget…
Bell mused in a long essay some years ago in 2017 about the possibility of the Tories freezing income tax thresholds – something they eventually did:
[…] Read the rest“Raising money by ending the recent big increases in the Personal Tax Allowance is the right thing to do… indeed freezing thresholds for more than one year could raise very significant sums – a further 2023 freeze would save £5.5 billion a year.”
LISTEN: Starmer’s Friend Philippe Sands Says Calls to Quit ECHR Takes Us ‘Back to 1930s’
Aug. 29th, 2025 09:33 amguidofawkes_feedStarmer’s close friend Philippe Sands has said that calls the quit the ECHR takes us back to the 1930s. Debating with former Tory Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind – who said he’d changed his mind on and argues to ‘suspend recognition’ of the ECHR – Sands said on the Today Programme:
[…] Read the rest“I think it’s pretty clear what’s happening, Nick.
WATCH: Farage Mocks Essex Council for Offering “Support” to Staff “Unsettled” by National Flags
Aug. 29th, 2025 09:20 amguidofawkes_feedNigel Farage had some fun with Guido’s story about Essex County Council on GB News last night. Labour’s Lord Glasman called it “the lanyard class in action“. Guido’s inclined to agree. Who’d have thought offering council staff a therapy session for spotting a few flags would cause so much trouble?[…] Read the rest
LISTEN: Labour Manifesto Author Says Reeves Has ‘Many Options’ to Raise Tax
Aug. 29th, 2025 08:47 amguidofawkes_feedDowning Street’s recently-departed special economics adviser says that Labour will have to find a way to raise taxes now. So says every Downing Street official who has since left…
Ravinder Athwal, who left government in July and also wrote Labour’s manifesto, said it has been “steady progress” so far in government but the party has faced “a lot of challenges to grasp, the objective has been to sort of stabilise.[…] Read the rest
Benefits Bill to Cost Every Taxpayer £3,000 a Year by 2030 Under Labour
Aug. 29th, 2025 07:32 amguidofawkes_feedThe welfare bill is set to cost every taxpayer £3,000 a year each by 2030, according to a report by Tory think tank Onward. Starmer’s cave-in to the rebels on reform has left the taps running…
That’s a fifth higher than today’s £2,650.[…] Read the rest
Hundreds of MoD Civil Servants Taking Free Aerobics Classes at the Office
Aug. 28th, 2025 04:02 pmguidofawkes_feedCivil servants at the Ministry of Defence have been ramping up their use of free aerobics classes into the summer. Nice for some…
At the MoD’s Main Building headquarters on Whitehall staff are given access to a “Gymnasium,” “Fitness Studio where aerobics classes take place,” and “Stretching space.[…] Read the rest
guidofawkes_feedEssex County Council is offering support to its staff and encouraging them to “reach out” if the St George’s or Union Jack flags that have been put up in recent days upset them. Alternatively they could resign and hide indoors with the blinds shut…
The council’s “Children & Families Senior Leadership Team” sent an email to staff yesterday saying it was “aware of the increasing visibility of St George’s and Union Jack flags displayed on road signs, bridges, and trees in parts of Essex.”[…] Read the rest
Tax-Loving Labour Left Launching New Campaign Group to Pressure Starmer
Aug. 28th, 2025 02:27 pmguidofawkes_feedThe ‘soft left’ of the Labour Party is launching a new faction. Not another one…
Guido hears the Compass group and Open Labour, which regularly work together calling for wealth taxes and higher spending, will launch a new group called “Mainstream” on 3 September.[…] Read the rest
Infamously Bad NHS Trust Hiring £75,000 ‘Head of Inclusion’
Aug. 28th, 2025 01:35 pmguidofawkes_feedAn NHS mental health trust once named the worst performing in the country and placed in special measures for seven years is hiring a costly diversity officer. This comes just two weeks after a Care Quality Commission report found the trust “requires improvement”.[…] Read the rest