Labour go on about Liz Truss but are repeating all Rishi Sunak’s mistakes July 8, 2025 Too many in Labour congratulate themselves for rescuing the country from Liz Truss, forgetting that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt did most of the work. No wonder backbenchers are angry about a policy platform that’s barely distinct form their Tory predecessors, says Will Cooling There’s no shortage of things that have gone wrong with the [...]
John Caudwell: Bezos gives billionaires a bad name July 8, 2025 If you ever want to feel like you don’t quite do enough with your time, speak to John Caudwell. We are approaching the culmination of a wide-ranging interview, and the billionaire founder of Phones 4u – and a man hoping to build London’s most expensive housing development ever – runs through his terrifyingly busy schedule [...]
A wealth tax would be a disaster – and an admission of total failure July 8, 2025 Why wouldn’t Downing Street rule out a wealth tax? It isn’t difficult, you just say “we will not introduce a wealth tax” and the show moves on. Instead, when asked about the growing clamour in Labour circles for new tax aimed squarely at the well-off, Downing Street’s spokesperson simply talked about the need for “the [...]
A day with London’s exclusive Auto Vivendi supercar club July 7, 2025 We crawl through Cricklewood, battle through Brent Cross, then cruise sedately up the A1 (M). Finally, we take the exit, the traffic ebbs away and the road opens up ahead: a ribbon of empty tarmac between open fields. My overwhelming urge is to click the left paddle down a couple of gears, flatten my right [...]
Downing Street flirts with wealth tax despite exodus fears July 7, 2025 The UK’s unprecedented exodus of wealthy people could be set to accelerate after the government opened the door to introducing a wealth tax, following calls for such a move by former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock and a host of union leaders. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has all but conceded that taxes will have to rise [...]
Rolls-Royce Spectre Black Badge: Bright sparks, dark dreams July 7, 2025 The typical Rolls-Royce buyer – if such a person exists – is now 42 years old. For the Spectre, the average age drops to just 35. Given that I recently celebrated my 46th birthday and drive a 19-year-old Golf, those feel like sobering statistics. Clearly, I should have worked harder at school. Rolls-Royce’s shifting demographic [...]
Starmer and Macron hope for ‘progress’ on defence and migration at summit July 5, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have said they hope to make “good progress” on issues including migration and defence when they meet next week, Number 10 has said. The two leaders will hold a summit when the French President travels to the UK for a state visit next week, with the two leaders speaking [...]
Starmer’s had a bad year – here’s what he must do next July 4, 2025 Following a chaotic and deeply damaging row over welfare cuts, Keir Starmer can’t afford any more cock-ups, says Douglas Beattie A year ago the general election campaign was closing and the country was about to vote for the first Labour government in 14 years. A year on, many at the top of the party accept [...]
Why did Santander buy TSB? July 3, 2025 Santander might have hoped its takeover of TSB would make waves across the banking industry, but analysts have dubbed it a more modest splash. The deal, which is set to be worth £2.9bn when closed in 2026, will add TSB’s five million customers, £34bn in mortgages and £35bn in deposits to Santander’s portfolio as well [...]
Watch: Labour’s ‘total clusterf**k’ July 3, 2025 It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Exactly a year ago the Labour government swept into office promising stability, competence and economic growth. So why, on the one year anniversary of their victory, does it feel like their dying days? This has been a pretty extraordinary week in British politics and it’s a week that [...]