Farage warned his ‘establishment hit job' jibe about unregistered gift allegations could lead to harsher punishment
Good morning. Two weeks from today (barring any unexpected developments) Keir Starmer will formally resign as prime minister, and the king will appoint Andy Burnham as his successor. Starmer’s departure is partly due to the rise of Nigel Farage; Labour MPs might have tolerated poor local election results, but not when those results suggested a new insurgent party with a far-right agenda could win in 2029, potentially undermining liberal democratic norms valued by Labour MPs and many others.
Ironically, Starmer is leaving office just as the electoral threat from Farage, while not gone, is somewhat receding.
Over the weekend, Rowena Mason, Ben Quinn, and Peter Walker published an extensive analysis examining reasons why some believe the Farage era may be drawing to a close.
The Sunday Times also published an investigation revealing potentially damaging new allegations about Farage.
Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary standards commissioner, is already investigating claims that Farage violated Commons rules by failing to disclose a £5 million donation from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne. Greenberg is now being urged to examine the latest allegations as well.
Last night, speaking to the Daily Express, Farage described himself as the victim of an “establishment hit job.” He stated:
"I have done no wrongdoing, followed the rules and I am now considering legal action against The Sunday Times. It’s now clear the establishment will stop at nothing to hurt Reform – we want to smash their cosy consensus."
Historically, Farage’s threats to sue newspapers over negative coverage have typically been unfulfilled.
On the Today programme this morning, Harriet Harman, Labour peer and former chair of the Commons standards committee, said Farage’s response to the allegations was a mistake. She explained that while the parliamentary commissioner and standards committee are often lenient when MPs make honest mistakes, attacking the system could be viewed as an aggravating factor, potentially leading to harsher penalties.
"By Nigel Farage saying this is an establishment hit job – what he should be saying is ‘These rules are important, they keep our parliament clean, I’m going to at all times comply with them, I have complied with them. I’ll cooperate with the investigation, and I’m confident I’ll be found not to have broken the rules.’
But he’s not doing that. He’s attacking and trying to delegitimise the system.
And if it comes to a finding by the commissioner that he has been in breach of the rules, the way he’s conducted himself whilst he’s been under investigation will be taken as an aggravating fact when it comes to the penalty.
There is no precedent for an MP wrongly failing to declare a donation worth as much as £5m and, if the commissioner does find against Farage, it is possible that the committee could decide to suspend him from parliament for more than 10 days – which would allow the voters in Clacton to trigger a recall by-election."
Agenda for the day
- 10am: Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, hosts a phone-in on LBC, where she is one of several politicians covering for James O’Brien this week.
- 11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
- 2.30pm: Dan Jarvis, the defence secretary, answers questions in the Commons.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I cannot read all below-the-line messages, but if you include “Andrew” in your message, I am more likely to see it as I search for posts containing that word.
For urgent matters, social media is best. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. has a presence on Bluesky, but individual journalists are there too. I still maintain my account and will respond if necessary to messages at @AndrewSparrow.
I appreciate when readers point out errors, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. Your questions are also very interesting. I cannot promise to reply to all but will try to respond to as many as possible, either below the line or sometimes in the blog.
As Andy Burnham develops his government plans (though not much publicly), Arguably, the Substack for progressive debate, has published 20 ideas proposed by 20 policy experts that he should consider. It is a comprehensive roundup, and some ideas are likely to reach Burnham’s desk.
Here is an extract from Ruth Curtice, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation thinktank:
"[Burnham] should start by helping the one million young people currently not in employment, education or training (NEET). The politics of ending the triple lock can be made easier if this is used to significantly boost the government’s support package for NEETs. The extra funding could help to quadruple the number of places available via the youth jobs grant to 80,000 and widen the jobs guarantee to those on health-related benefits and universal credit for 12 months rather than 18.
He can also tackle an immediate housing crisis – low-income families’ struggle to pay rising private rents. Pegging housing support to local rents would help a million families and can be funded by increasing the taper rate on universal credit.
Finally, he can reduce the cost of a key essential – energy bills – by removing £2.3bn of levies from households’ energy bills. This can be covered by closing loopholes in the capital gains tax regime – a straight transfer from the very wealthy to the everyday economy."
Burnham has committed to maintaining the triple lock for the remainder of this parliament, as Labour promised in its manifesto. However, he has not indicated Labour’s position on the triple lock for the next manifesto.
On her LBC show this morning, Angela Rayner said the controversy over Nigel Farage’s unregistered gifts will continue as a news story. She stated:
"[These are] eye-watering amounts of money. The obvious question to that is, [what are] his donors getting in return? And why has he tried to cover them up and to avoid legitimate questions?
I don’t think that Nigel can shrug this scandal off and hope that it goes away. I think this one’s got lots of legs and it’s gonna carry on running."
Trump's Fifa intervention to overturn Balogun's red card ban 'goes against spirit of game', says Rayner
Angela Rayner, former deputy prime minister, guest-hosted LBC’s morning show today. Discussing Donald Trump’s intervention to persuade Fifa to overturn the ban on US striker Folarin Balogun playing in tonight’s US-Belgium World Cup match, Rayner said it was "not fair" and "not the way we should do it." She said:
"The red card was given. To reverse it because someone powerful says, ‘You need to reverse it’ - I think that goes against fairness and it goes against the spirit of the game."
At 3.30pm in the Commons, there will be an urgent question on calls to change the law to allow deportation of Shabir Ahmed, leader of the Rochdale grooming gang, recently released from jail.
Following that, from around 4.15pm, there will be three ministerial statements: Samantha Dixon, communities minister, on the government’s response to the Rycroft review on foreign interference in UK politics; Sarah Jones, policing minister, on policing; and Nick Thomas-Symonds, Cabinet Office minister, on civil service pensions.
Two councils still have no party in charge after May local elections
Two English councils remain without a leader or ruling party two months after May’s local elections, highlighting Britain’s fragmented political landscape, according to the Press Association.
PA reports:
"The elections on 7 May left 64 local authorities – almost half the number that held contests this year – without a single party holding a majority of seats, leaving them in what is known as ‘no overall control.’
Deals between local parties have seen administrations formed in almost all of those councils, with many being run by one or more groups on a minority basis.
But in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and Kirklees, West Yorkshire, repeated attempts to elect a new leader have failed.
Labour had run Oldham since 2011 but May’s elections left them as the largest party with 18 seats, well short of the 31 needed for a majority. Attempts to elect a leader failed on 20 May, 15 June, and most recently on 1 July.
At Kirklees, the elections left Reform the largest party with 29 seats, ahead of Independents on 14, Greens on 12, Tories on nine, and Lib Dems on five. No party has the 35 seats needed for a majority, and attempts to elect a leader failed on 20 May and 28 May.
Both Oldham and Kirklees are scheduled to meet again on 15 July for another vote."
No 10 implicitly criticises Trump for intervening to get Fifa to lift World Cup ban for US striker
Downing Street has implicitly criticised Donald Trump for intervening to persuade Fifa to overturn a ban that would have prevented US striker Folarin Balogun from playing in tonight’s World Cup match against Belgium.
As reported by Matt Hughes, Paul MacInnes, and Alexander Abnos, Trump called Fifa three times before it made the unusual decision to overturn the one-match ban imposed on Balogun, improving the US team’s prospects.
At the No 10 lobby briefing, the prime minister’s spokesperson said disciplinary decisions should remain within Fifa’s remit.
Asked if Trump’s actions were acceptable, the spokesperson said:
"Those decisions are a matter for the football world governing body and should stay that way, and we are clear in that position."
Asked whether Fifa’s integrity had been undermined, the spokesperson replied, "That is a matter for Fifa to respond to."
The spokesperson also mentioned that Starmer was "a touch sleep-deprived" after staying up with his son at Downing Street to watch England’s 3-2 victory over Mexico early Monday morning.
"The prime minister watched the match last night and stayed up to do so. He watched it upstairs in the Downing Street flat with his son and he’s a touch sleep-deprived this morning, but incredibly proud of the team, and incredibly proud to be English after that performance.
He’s seen England play over many years but this morning’s victory in the heat of the Azteca Stadium, and at altitude and against a host nation, was up there for him as being one of England’s best-ever performances.
He’s very much looking forward to the quarter-final on Saturday.
In the coming days, the St George’s Cross will hang high and proudly over No 10, and Downing Street will look glorious in St George’s Day bunting in the July sun."
'Most' women in jail in England and Wales shouldn't be there, says prisons minister Lord Timpson
Lord Timpson, prisons minister, has stated that “most” women in prison in England and Wales should not be incarcerated.
In an interview for the Lord Speaker’s Corner podcast, Timpson said many women sentenced to jail are also victims and suggested the system should find alternative ways to deal with them.
He also criticised the high turnover of government ministers, noting that if he lasts three years, he will be the longest-serving prisons minister in 25 years.
Timpson was a surprise appointment when Starmer formed his government two years ago. Granted a peerage to join government, he had no Labour political background but was CEO of the Timpson Group, known for employing ex-offenders.
Confirming his liberal stance on penal justice, Timpson told Lord Speaker Michael Forsyth:
"If you take women in prison, so we’ve got roughly 4,000 women in prison in England and Wales. I believe most of them should not be there.
There are so many addicted women in prison. Most of them are victims; probably all of them are victims.
But the reason why there are so many people in prison is because the system has not worked for far too long.
People are in the criminal justice system because of addiction. We haven’t dealt with addiction. We haven’t dealt with the mental health. We haven’t done this cycle of just re-offending, re-offending.
That was why the Probation Service had such an important role to play in rehabilitation."
Timpson called it “absolutely bonkers” that between 2010 and 2022 prison ministers were replaced at a rate of one per year. He hopes to be seen as the most radical prisons minister.
UK imposes sanctions on Russian scientists involved in producing novichok for 2018 Salisbury attack
The UK is sanctioning seven Russian scientists and officials, along with two organisations, involved in producing the novichok nerve agent used in the 2018 Salisbury assassination, the Foreign Office announced.
The sanctions also target those involved in producing epibatidine, used to poison Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said:
"Russia’s repeated use of chemical weapons is a sickening violation of international law and a direct threat to global security.
From the use of novichok nerve agents in Salisbury to epibatidine in Siberia, poisoning Dawn Sturgess and Alexei Navalny, Russia continues to use barbaric tools to inflict death and suffering on innocent civilians, including in Ukraine.
We will continue to call out Russia’s violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, hold those responsible to account, and work with allies to deter further use of these dangerous weapons."
Regarding Andy Burnham, the Financial Times reports that access talks his team is holding with senior civil servants to prepare Whitehall departments for his policy agenda are hindered by his delay in naming top cabinet posts.
Lucy Fisher, George Parker, and Anna Gross write:
"Talks have not yet formally started with the Treasury and Burnham’s refusal to nominate a chancellor has complicated transition planning.
One Labour figure complained Burnham’s operation was ‘skeletal’, adding: ‘Access talks require a shadow cabinet. Burnham needs to nominate key people in advance or he cannot have meaningful talks’ ….
Several other Labour officials warned that Burnham declining to confirm his cabinet picks now would make it more difficult for the eventual appointees to hit the ground running, because those new to their roles would not have had the benefit of being ‘read in’ on all the issues facing their departments in advance via ‘access talks.’"
Alan Milburn says he's confident Burnham committed to genuine welfare reform
Alan Milburn expressed confidence that Andy Burnham, as probable next prime minister, is committed to genuine welfare reform.
Milburn believes Burnham accepts that changing the benefits system is “absolutely necessary,” but emphasizes the focus should be on increasing youth employment, not just cutting costs.
Milburn, who served in Tony Blair’s cabinet, recently published the first report from his government review on youth unemployment. He plans to publish recommendations in autumn and has stressed the need for a fundamental rethink to make welfare a pathway back to work, especially for young people with mental health issues.
Speaking at a Centre for Social Justice event this morning, Milburn said:
"Yes. And look – I’m not going to go into what we discussed privately, but everything I’ve seen from Andy publicly suggests that he knows that welfare reform is absolutely necessary … [because] it’s fundamentally about the life chances of a whole generation of young people.
And if we think the best option and best opportunity that we can gift as a country to a generation of young people is a life on benefits – are we serious?
My sense is that the appetite, both within the parliamentary Labour party and the new administration, will be absolutely up for doing this."
In an LBC interview last week, Burnham said he would not support “crude cuts to benefit levels.” Instead, he outlined two measures to reduce overall benefits spending.
"One of those is how we support young people. I will not defend an education system that is overly focused on the university route and does not lay out paths to technical qualifications for our young people. Too many young people get to year 10 at school, and they can’t see where school is taking them, because the system isn’t focusing on those young people.
And then, at 16, I believe we need the guarantee of a work placement for 16 to 18-year-olds, apprenticeships for every 16 to 18-year-old who wants one, and what I’ve done in Greater Manchester is something that might be looked at more broadly, free bus travel for 16 to 18-year-olds, so that they can access those opportunities."
Burnham also wants more in-work mental health support for young people, which he suggests would reduce benefit spending, and believes building more council homes would lower housing benefits costs.
Rape case review scheme to be expanded across England and Wales
Victims of rape and sexual assault across England and Wales who face having their cases dropped will gain the right to request a review before a final decision is made, the Press Association reports.
PA states:
"The early victims’ right to review (VRR) is being expanded across the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after successful pilot schemes, giving a ‘second chance at justice’ where a case might otherwise be dropped.
The rollout means victims of sexual offences will be able to challenge proposals to halt a prosecution before an irreversible decision to offer no evidence is made."
Solicitor General Ellie Reeves said in a news release:
"Rape and sexual assault cause devastating, long-lasting harm, and every brave victim who comes forward deserves to know their case will be treated with dignity. Violence against women and girls is my top priority, and the early victims’ right to review rollout is a landmark moment. For the first time, victims of rape and serious sexual offences across all of England and Wales will have the opportunity to have their case reviewed, where eligible, giving them a second chance at justice and real control at the most critical point in their case."
The scheme was first trialled a year ago in the West Midlands and then expanded into three more CPS areas – the North West, Yorkshire and Humberside, and Cymru-Wales.
...
