Farage given free team of US PR advisers by former Bannon aide’s firm
Nigel Farage has used a team of three US advisers to help him with “perception management” and public relations in America, as well as with settling a $3,500 hotel bill this summer, new documents show.The official filings, made in the US, reveal that the leader of Reform UK and MP for Clacton has been assisted at least 15 times by CapitalHQ, a firm led by Alexandra Preate, who is a former press spokesperson for the controversial former Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon.Its work for Farage has become public because CapitalHQ had to register with the government under “foreign agent” laws in the US.Preate and two of her employees have declared they were paid salaries by CapitalHQ while carrying out activities on behalf of a “foreign principal” after Farage became an MP in July.According to the documents, CapitalHQ was hired to take on activities for Farage including “promotion, perception management, public relations, speeches, appearances, communications, travel, accommodation and logistics and other political activities in furtherance of political interests of the foreign principal”.
It describes his address as the House of Commons in London.CapitalHQ has taken on the work without payment, and its services have been given to Farage free.However, Farage does not register CapitalHQ’s services on the MPs’ register of interests as a benefit in kind – nor the fact that CapitalHQ settled a $3,531.10 hotel bill for him at the Hilton Garden Inn Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention, which ran from 14 to 19 July.He did register £32,000 of costs associated with the US trip paid for by a British cryptocurrency investor, Christopher Harborne.
MPs are required to register any benefits that relate to their membership of the Commons or parliamentary or political activities if provided by a source outside the UK, whether they be provided free or at concessionary rates.Asked whether he had sought advice about registering the free PR services from Preate’s firm and whether he should have done so, a spokesperson for Farage told the Guardian: “Nigel Farage is a politician, not an accountant.” Preate has been approached for comment.The barrister Jolyon Maugham, the director of the Good Law Project, said Farage should say why the activities had not been registered.He said: “The registration documents raise serious questions around the rightwing forces powering Farage and why he seems not to have declared the support he received to parliament.
”Preate is a longtime associate of Bannon, and was interviewed by the January 6 committee about events in the lead-up to the storming of the Capitol building in Washington.In her testimony, given in April 2022, she said Bannon was a client and that she had been present with Trump at a meeting in the former president’s hotel the day before the riots took place.She described being “horrified and depressed” by the events of January 6 in her evidence.Bannon is in prison, serving four months for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the January 6 committee, and is due to be released this month.The strategist, a former editor of the hard-right news outlet Breitbart, was convicted of contempt charges at trial in July 2022.
He was accused of refusing to appear for a deposition and of refusing to provide documents to the committee in response to a subpoena,He served as Trump’s chief strategist for the first seven months of his presidency,
Lando Norris welcomes FIA clampdown on Red Bull’s use of ‘tea tray’ device
Lando Norris has welcomed the FIA clamping down on a potentially illegal device on his world championship rival Max Verstappen’s Red Bull after the governing body deemed it could be used against the regulations to improve performance.The McLaren driver was speaking before this weekend’s US Grand Prix as he prepares to go into a decisive showdown with Verstappen for the title over the remaining six races. Norris is 52 points behind with 180 still available across the next six meetings.Before running began on Friday the FIA issued a clarification that the device, believed to be used to adjust the car’s ride height between qualifying and races, when such adjustments are not permitted, could not be employed. Red Bull have come to an agreement with the FIA regarding their use of the system, which is believed to alter the ride height of the “tea tray” section which sits at the front of the car’s floor
First Nations Championship rugby finals to be hosted in London then Qatar
Rugby union’s powerbrokers have reached a staging agreement for the Nations Championship that will mean the first set of finals are held in London, before moving to Qatar and then possibly the United States, in a major global expansion of the sport.Under radical plans expected to be signed off later this month, Twickenham would stage the first Nations Championship final in 2026, before the biennial six-match series moves to Qatar two years later, with a further option to go to America in 2030.Qatar had hoped to stage the first four Nations Championship finals and were granted exclusive negotiating rights by the 12 biggest unions this summer after offering guaranteed returns of £800m, but their bid was blocked by the Irish and French unions due to uncertainty over attendances and concerns over the country’s human rights record.The new blueprint disclosed is seen as a compromise, with staging the first final at Twickenham regarded as a crucial concession to those worried the sport is being sold to the highest bidder. The Six Nations and southern hemisphere unions are understood to be close to signing a heads-of-terms agreement on an initial four-year contract that will confirm the 2026 and 2028 hosts as London and Qatar respectively
Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 draw: champions New Zealand to face Ireland
The defending Women’s Rugby World Cup champions, New Zealand, will go up against Ireland in next year’s tournament, which is being held in England, after being drawn in the same pool.England’s pool opponents include Australia, while Wales and Scotland have been drawn together.Ireland, who did not qualify for the last World Cup, have the best win ratio against New Zealand of any team in the world. The two teams have played each other only three times but Ireland have come out on top twice, most recently in last month’s WXV 1 match. Ireland also beat New Zealand in the 2014 World Cup pool stage
Australia stunned by South Africa: Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final – as it happened
A few days back I had a bit of a moan that this had been a slightly underwhelming tournament, with a lack of surprises and/or close finishes. Well we still could do with a close finish but we’ve had a couple of big shocks, courtesy of turbo-charged displays from West Indies on Tuesday and now South Africa tonight. The serial champions and holders Australia are heading home, and this tournament is now tantalisingly hard to call. South Africa did everything right today, and another showing like that in the final could finally land them a trophy. Thanks for following
Oisin Murphy turns to counselling amid demands as champion jockey
Oisin Murphy has turned the race for the 2024 Flat riders’ title into a procession and will be crowned as the UK’s champion jockey for the fourth time at Ascot on Saturday, but the Irishman seemed to suggest on Thursday that the demands of securing the title in possibly “the most competitive weighing room in the world” could rule out a challenge for a fifth championship next year.Murphy has taken 744 rides during the current campaign, at least 100 more than any other UK rider, while a 22% strike-rate – the highest of any jockey in the top 20 in the table – had taken him to 162 winners before racing on Thursday, 54 in front of the second-placed rider, Rossa Ryan.His stats are phenomenal, and it has been, on the face of it, a comfortable, almost freewheeling success. Murphy’s latest championship, though, is also his first since receiving a 14-month suspension in December 2021, having twice failed a pre-racing breath test for alcohol and also misled the British Horseracing Authority over a trip abroad which breached Covid restrictions in 2020.Murphy is an intensely thoughtful and analytical rider, who assesses his own performances and the form of top-level and day-to-day racing in granular detail
Ben Ainslie and Ineos Britannia crew plot dramatic America’s Cup comeback
Twenty-four hours can be a long time on the water. When the sea state off Barcelona changed on Tuesday, the balance of the 37th America’s Cup shifted with it. All of a sudden, Ineos Britannia, who were trailing Emirates Team New Zealand 4-0 in the best-of-13 series, were swept back into contention. The America’s Cup is a competition for sailboat builders as well as sailors, and the subtle design differences between the two AC75 yachts gave the British team an advantage in the heavier weather. Soon enough, they had pulled the score back to 4-2
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Pakistan beat England by 152 runs to level series: second cricket Test, day four – live
Pakistan spinners humble England for first win in seven Tests to level series