Starmer’s business adviser is ‘frontrunner’ to be US ambassador October 15, 2025 Keir Starmer’s business adviser is a frontrunner to replace Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US, according to reports. Varun Chandra, a former venture capital executive who has had to curry favour with business leaders and investors in a difficult year for the UK economy, is being considered for the important diplomatic role [...]
Rachel Reeves: We are looking at tax hikes October 15, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has revealed the government is considering making tax hikes at this year’s Budget, the first time she has made the admission in public. In an interview with Sky News, Reeves admitted that the government was considering raising tax and cutting spending to fill a fiscal hole. The Chancellor said she would “always [...]
US-China tensions heat up as Trump threatens to block cooking oil imports October 15, 2025 Donald Trump has threatened to cut off all imports of cooking oil from China, in another escalation of the war of words over trade between the world’s two largest economies. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that the latest trade tussle with China over soybeans represents “an Economically Hostile Act”. He [...]
Self-inflicted damage makes mockery of government growth pledge October 15, 2025 Back in June, before Donald Trump orchestrated a tentative peace in the Middle East, he reacted with fury to Israel and Iran’s escalating exchange of missile and drone attacks, telling reporters “they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing.” Sometimes undiplomatic language has its place, even in high-stakes diplomacy. I was reminded of this approach [...]
Employers set to pay more to hire migrants as immigration rules tightened October 14, 2025 Employers will have to pay higher fees to hire skilled migrant workers as part of home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s moves to strengthen immigration rules. Under new rules set to be introduced in parliament on Tuesday, migrant workers will have to pass A-level English language standard tests in order to live in the UK while employers [...]
Trump’s treasury secretary Scott Bessent lashes out at ‘weak’ China October 14, 2025 Markets have wobbled amid attacks by Scott Bessent on China’s trade policy, after Beijing unveiled sweeping controls on rare earth materials and critical minerals. The US treasury secretary told the Financial Times: “This is a sign of how weak their economy is, and they want to pull everybody else down with them.” He said: “Maybe [...]
IMF downgrades UK growth and warns inflation will be highest in G7 October 14, 2025 Inflation in the UK is set to surge above all G7 countries in the next two years while growth per capita will lag behind the average across advanced economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted. In its World Economic Outlook report, the IMF has said that inflation in the UK will remain higher than [...]
Public sector pay outpaces private amid Budget pressures October 14, 2025 Public sector pay has outstripped private sector pay on an annual basis, according to new official data, with the added pressures on public finances set to force Chancellor Rachel Reeves to hike taxes at the Budget. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said annual average regular earnings growth was 4.4 per cent for the private [...]
Gabon president drops out of FT Africa Summit after City AM story October 13, 2025 Last week The Capitalist reported on the controversial opening speaker at the FT’s upcoming Africa Summit: the Gabonese President Brice Oligui Nguema, who stands accused of kidnapping and torturing the family of his predecessor. The FT press office brushed off our suggestion that hosting Nguema on 22 October might not align with the newspaper’s brand [...]
Labour dismisses ‘smears’ over Chinese spy case as top Tory calls defence ‘absurd’ October 13, 2025 A senior minister has dismissed accusations that the Labour government deliberately collapsed the Chinese spy case as being a “whole series of baseless smears.” Security minister Dan Jarvis told parliament that the previous Conservative government’s failure to clarify definitions in the Official Secrets Act of 1920 led to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropping a [...]