Starmer to face legal action on Chinese embassy approval January 20, 2026 China’s new “mega” embassy near the City will face a legal challenge from campaigners and local residents despite receiving approval from Keir Starmer’s government after months of diplomatic wrangling and protests highlighting security concerns. Residents of the Royal Mint Court site, the location where China is planning to build its embassy, have confirmed they will [...]
FTSE 100 and Wall St sink as EU and Trump war of words heats up January 20, 2026 The war of words between the Trump administration and Europe ramped up on Tuesday as world leaders headed for a showdown in Davos whilst global markets sunk into the red. Ursula Von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the tariffs imposed on European nations due to their staunch defence of Greenland’s sovereignty [...]
Peter Kyle: Tariff tension could delay UK-US trade talks January 20, 2026 Donald Trump’s threat to unleash another round of tariffs on UK goods could delay work on the UK-US trade deal’s final stages, according to business secretary Peter Kyle, who branded the latest tensions “lose-lose” for Britain and America’s economies. The minister for business and trade warned the White House’s move to charge a 10 per [...]
Trump blasts Starmer on Chagos deal in shock change of tune January 20, 2026 President Trump has attacked Keir Starmer for the UK’s giveaway of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, even though he gave his blessing to the deal last year. In a new Truth Social post scolding the Prime Minister over the Chagos deal, which includes a shared US military base at Diego Garcia that will be leased [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks fall as Trump ramps up pressure; Unemployment at four-year high January 20, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Thousands more Brits exited the jobs market in November as the estimated number of payrolled employees fell by 33,000. New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the UK unemployment rate for people aged 16 years and hit 5.1 per cent in September [...]
Starmer is right to play it cool with Trump January 20, 2026 There was a time, really not that long ago, when Davos concerned itself mostly with feel-good sessions on sustainability, inclusive growth, the promise of net zero and various other progressive causes. Who can forget Bono chatting away on stage with Rwanda’s president on the importance of transparency and good governance? Or 2020’s inspiring theme of [...]
Farage to ‘have some words’ with Trump over ‘hurtful’ UK trade threats January 19, 2026 Nigel Farage has attacked President Trump for his tariff threats against the UK, adding that he would be “having some words” with US administration officials during meetings in Davos on Wednesday. In a statement the Reform UK leader said threats against the UK were “not the kind of thing we would expect”. It is the [...]
U-turn on ID cards reveals a deeper flaw in Starmer’s Labour January 19, 2026 With his latest U-turn, Keir Starmer has taken a controversial policy which nonetheless had a substantial support base and made it deeply unpopular. It’s of a piece with his whole approach to government, says Eliot Wilson Last week the government announced – or perhaps admitted? – that the digital ID unveiled last year will not [...]
US tariffs war could ‘trigger UK recession’ January 19, 2026 President Trump’s latest tariff package could plunge the UK economy into a recession, top economists have warned, upping the stakes for Keir Starmer as he responds to threats against Greenland. The US president warned leading European nations, including the UK, he would slap additional 10 per cent tariffs on goods imports if a deal for [...]
Rachel Reeves is acting like the mayor in Jaws – and small businesses are suffering January 19, 2026 The FTSE may be at an all-time high, but Reeves should not pretend all is calm when the waters are extremely choppy for small businesses, says Andrew Griffith Embattled ministers love good news to boast about on social media or in a TV studio, and this government’s most embattled minister, Rachel Reeves, is no exception. [...]