Penitent Tice tussles with The Unbearable Lightness of His Being | John Crace

Call it a Christmas miracle. For this was the day when Richard Tice sent in his application to become a fully paid-up member of Woke. The day the Reform deputy leader tried to break free from his role as the perennial sidekick. An insignificant blot on the Nigel Farage landscape. When he tried to show he was able to think his own thoughts

How far must UK go to fend off threat of foreign interference in its elections?

Russia has been attempting to meddle with western democracy for years, but successive governments led by Boris Johnson and others have insisted that the UK’s electoral system can withstand its influence.That argument was recently blown apart by the conviction of former Reform politician Nathan Gill, jailed for 10 years for accepting bribes to advance Russian arguments.And now Steve Reed, the cabinet minister responsible for elections, has admitted there are worries that the UK’s “firewall” against foreign interference may not be strong enough as he ordered an independent review.The decision is clearly partly motivated by the chance to score political points against Reform UK over its links to the Russian bribe case. And yet there is no doubting the reality of the threat, even if it has until recently been ignored

Richard Tice refuses to condemn Reform mayoral candidate’s comments about David Lammy

Reform UK’s deputy leader has refused to condemn a mayoral candidate for the party who said David Lammy should “go home to the Caribbean”.Richard Tice said it was the role of the party to “challenge” the justice secretary. Answering questions after a press conference, he also refused to say whether he still thought the 25-plus former school contemporaries of Nigel Farage who have accused the Reform leader of racism and other offensive behaviour were making up their claims, calling it “old news”.Reform has repeatedly declined to condemn comments on X by Chris Parry, a retired naval rear admiral who has been picked to contest the now-postponed Hampshire and the Solent mayoral election for the party.In a post in February, referring to a news story about the UK government supposedly considering talks about reparations for slavery – which ministers have in fact rejected – Parry is said to have written: “Lammy must go home to the Caribbean where his loyalty lies

Starmer’s communications chief to address cabinet on media strategy overhaul

Keir Starmer’s Whitehall communications chief will address the cabinet on overhauling the government’s media strategy on Tuesday as ministers increasingly try to combat far-right rhetoric online.David Dinsmore, a former editor of the Sun who was appointed permanent secretary for government communications in November, will speak to ministers about modernising the way they reach voters.The government is concerned about the proliferation of false and inflammatory far-right content on social media and is stepping up efforts to communicate on those platforms.A New Media Unit (NMU) was set up inside the Cabinet Office by Starmer’s aides soon after Labour came to power to coordinate those efforts.The work is led on the ministerial side by Darren Jones, who was tasked by Starmer on his appointment as chief secretary to the prime minister in September to develop and modernise the government’s communications

US puts £31bn tech ‘prosperity deal’ with Britain on ice

The US has paused its promised multi-billion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements, marking a serious setback in US-UK relations.The £31bn “tech prosperity deal”, hailed by Keir Starmer as “a generational stepchange in our relationship with the US” when it was announced during Donald Trump’s state visit, has been put on ice by Washington.As part of the deal, US tech companies pledged to spend billions in the UK, including a £22bn investment from Microsoft and £5bn from Google. But Washington has paused the implementation of the agreement, citing a lack of progress from the UK in lowering trade barriers in other areas.British officials sought to downplay the development, which was first reported by the New York Times

With Starmer’s enemies short on options, Labour MPs have to make do with gossip

In the corner of one of Westminster’s endless Christmas receptions, a Conservative veteran of the Brexit years admits they are somewhat baffled by the frenzied leadership speculation among the new Labour ranks.It was easy to forget, they said, given how many Tory leaders the party cycled through – but prime ministers were not that easy to dislodge.Theresa May’s predicament is a useful point of comparison. She lost a majority, lost multiple Commons votes on her flagship policy, lost dozens of ministers and cabinet ministers, had members of her own party selling “chuck Chequers” badges at her party conference, and narrowly survived a confidence vote before she was finally ousted. Yes, the Labour leader is polling at historic lows – but things can get a lot worse