MPs learn Wagatha lessons from Coleen Rooney
MPs take inspiration from anyone: Margaret Thatcher, Nelson Mandela and, it seems, Coleen Rooney. A group of LGBT MPs have followed the example of the footballer's wife as they sought to eliminate colleagues from a WhatsApp group that leaked to The Mail on Sunday. The leak, which took place after the Supreme Court's trans decision, caused embarrassment to ministers Angela Eagle and Chris Bryant, but the group's admins haven't taken it lying down. They have set up a new group, methodically leaving out suspects, and now believe the culprits have been excluded. This echoes Rooney's method for finding the person who leaked stories about her to the tabloids but, unlike when she identified Rebekah Vardy, with no naming and shaming. This is a classier operation: less Wagatha Christie, more MPD James.
If leaks come from the government, they may be unintentional. A PPS has been repeatedly heard loudly dictating voice notes on his phone, thereby sharing sensitive details. Journalists are among those in earshot and they know this MP's voice well. He is so ambitious that he's usually loudly asking them if they know when the reshuffle is.
A worrying sign for Sir Keir Starmer ahead of a big backbench revolt. At lunch yesterday, diners in parliament discovered a shortage of knives. Rare in Westminster for the demand for backstabbing to exceed supply.
One of Westminster's most quietly influential groups celebrated its half-century on Tuesday night. The Debating Group has helped to launch the careers of future PMs and chancellors, including the young Tony Blair, Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt. 'Speaking at one of these debates is a surefire route to Downing Street,' said one of those attending the birthday party in Westminster. The group even helped the careers of those who failed to speak for it. In 1998, one future PM missed the debate on 'Modern politics is more concerned with image than reality' but did come to eat the dinner afterwards. That was Boris Johnson, never missing a chance to have his cake and eat it too.
The New York Democrats' election of a socialist as their candidate for mayor alarmed chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, an avowed critic of Vladimir Putin and former citizen of the USSR. After the result from his sometime home in the US, he wrote: 'Socialism is like polio. It comes back when people forget about the horrible damage it did last time.'
After Donald Trump swapped real bombs for the f-bomb, it should be noted that other presidents turned the air blue (albeit in private). Nixon taped himself doing it, while LBJ was notoriously coarse, but Andrew Jackson's vulgarity was revealed in unorthodox style. A witness to his funeral in 1845 said it was interrupted by someone 'swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people'. The profane mourner 'had to be carried from the house'. The culprit was Poll, the deceased president's parrot.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Baroness Cash warns Employment Bill could 'bring the country to its knees'
Angela Rayner is on record as saying she wants to repeal all the union laws since the seventies, to take us back to the seventies' On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player below, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson discuss Labour's Employment Rights Bill, currently being discussed in the House of Lords. They are joined by Conservative peer Baroness Cash, who has raised concerns it could have severe consequences for small and medium-sized businesses. A key issue is the proposed removal of the threshold for strike ballots. 'You could have two people voting for a strike… we could be bringing businesses and the country to its knees with tiny minorities of people,' she said. Baroness Cash also criticised the lack of exemptions for small firms. '60% of our workforce is employed by micro and small businesses… You could have a handful of people bringing the whole thing to a standstill.' On the issue of day one rights for unfair dismissal, she said: 'At the moment… legally you can't bring a claim for unfair dismissal before two years… the idea that from day one, you walk into a workplace and you have day one rights for unfair dismissal… is just an extraordinary retro thing to do.'
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Reform capital markets to boost British AI
T he UK's ambition to become a global leader in artificial intelligence is clear — £1 billion in public funding isn't small change. But ambition without infrastructure is just rhetoric — and currently the country's capital markets are not fit for purpose. Outdated listing rules, heavy regulatory burdens, and a lack of access to retail and pension capital are steadily pushing Britain's brightest technology businesses into the arms of foreign private capital or overseas exchanges. This is not just about AI. The UK is the world's third-largest technology ecosystem after the US and China. We lead in life sciences, advanced materials, and, increasingly, defence and security technologies — all areas that are buoyed by renewed EU and Nato spending. Britain is increasingly becoming a leader in defence and security technologies OLI SCARFF/AFP These fields require scale, patience and flexibility; precisely what public markets should offer. Instead, AIM and the main market at the London Stock Exchange are shedding listings at an alarming rate. Rather than building global champions in London, top-tier companies are taking Silicon Valley capital or floating on the Nasdaq to gain access to deeper liquidity and higher valuations. This matters because public markets offer scale, credibility and access to patient capital — and something private capital often does not offer: independence. Companies can raise substantial funds without ceding board control or investor consent rights, loading up on debt, or being pressured into an early exit. This is especially vital in biotech and defence, where long-term research and development needs room to breathe. Public equity enables bold innovation, not just the path to acquisition. Yet our system is holding businesses back. Advisory fees remain high, disclosures are excessive, and digital tools are underused. Prospectus production, investor roadshows and compliance remain stubbornly analogue, adding needless cost and delay. At the same time, domestic capital is missing in action. UK pension funds and retail investors are sitting on deep pools of money, but they are largely absent from growth-stage equity. Allocations to UK equities have fallen below 5 per cent, down from more than 50 per cent in the 1990s. This is not just an investment gap, it's a strategic failure. We're training technology experts here, only to fund their growth and success abroad. Reform is urgent. First, digitise the listing process: templated prospectuses, AI-enabled drafting, online roadshows. Second, strip out non-material disclosures and cap advisory fees. Third, unlock domestic capital: require small pension fund allocations to UK growth, expand Isa incentives, and scrap stamp duty to boost liquidity. And crucially, make public markets central to our national technology strategy, not a nostalgic footnote. If we want to build and keep the next wave of innovators, we need markets that work for them. David Ramm is a partner at the London office of the US law firm Crowell & Moring
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
John Swinney hints at major U-turn on SNP munitions ban
The SNP may drop its ban on using taxpayers' cash to support munitions projects due to threats posed by nations like Russia, John Swinney has said. The first minister told a recording of the podcast Holyrood Sources that his party's long-standing position 'can be reconsidered' in a notable shift which seemed to be paving the way for a U-turn. The Scottish government has come under significant pressure and been accused of playing 'student politics' over a policy that means taxpayer support cannot be granted to support the 'manufacture of munitions'. The Times revealed last month that Scottish Enterprise, the economic development agency, had refused to support plans for a new specialist welding centre due to fears it could be used to support the building of Royal Navy attack submarines.
