Labour faces questions over Starmer aide who holds shares in lobbying firm
No 10 is facing calls for an investigation into whether Keir Starmer’s communications chief should be allowed to hold shares in a lobbying firm and discuss politics with one of its consultants.Tim Allan, who is one of Starmer’s most senior aides, has a minority stake in Strand Partners, which critics claim could give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.Allan does not gain any financial benefit from Strand while he is in No 10 but he has not sold his shares in the firm, whose clients include the British Horseracing Authority, the energy companies Ovo Energy and Cadent Gas, and Netflix.He is also friends with Tom Baldwin, a journalist, biographer of Starmer and former Labour adviser, who is a senior consultant for Strand Partners.The relationship was first reported by Sky News, which said multiple sources had told the news organisation that Allan and Baldwin have discussed politics since the communications chief joined No 10.
Labour said the idea that Allan had done anything to benefit Strand while in his government job was “categorically false”.Baldwin is primarily a journalist and does not do lobbying or public affairs for Strand Partners, with his role limited to speaking at events for its corporate clients.Sources said Baldwin and Allan do not discuss Strand Partners business and that Allan has undertaken to not receive dividends or get involved in the running of the company while he is in government.Allan resigned as chair on his appointment to No 10 at the start of September.However, the links between Strand Partners and Downing Street have led to cross-party calls for an investigation.
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, told Sky News: “I think it’s extraordinary that someone still has shares who’s at the heart of Downing Street … I think there’s lots of questions still to be asked.I think it’s important to know what these supposed appropriate mitigations are, what exactly are those and do they pass the public sniff test?”Lisa Smart, a Liberal Democrat frontbencher, said: “I’ve written to the cabinet secretary today because this appears to be a clear conflict of interest right at the heart of government.“It cannot be the case that the executive director of communications for the government has shareholdings in a lobbying firm and is continuing to have conversations with senior consultants at that firm.”Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative party chair, said: “[There] should be a full Cabinet Office investigation.I think the public need to see there are no conflicts of interest and no perceived conflicts of interests, and that’s not where we are right now.
”A Labour spokesperson said: “The allegation that Tim Allan has done anything to benefit Strand whilst in No 10 is categorically false.“Tom Baldwin is an established journalist, author and commentator, who regularly appears on Sky News.Any interactions with him are in his capacity as a journalist and have not related to Strand, its business or its clients.”A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “There is a rigorous process to capture any potential conflicts of interest and ensure appropriate mitigations are in place to reflect specific circumstances.Ahead of his appointment, Tim Allan fully complied with this process.
“This is set out in the special advisers’ code of conduct and lists of special adviser interests are published annually.”A Strand Partners spokesperson said: “Tom Baldwin is a journalist and the biographer of the prime minister.He does not engage in government relations for Strand and this is not part of his terms of engagement with us.“Tim Allan sought advice on his interests from the Cabinet Office and followed every element of the advice received.He receives no financial benefit from Strand and is not involved in our operations.
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Waymo announces that its robotaxis will drive freeways for the first time
Alphabet’s Waymo said on Wednesday that it would begin offering robotaxi rides that use freeways across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, a first for the Google subsidiary as it steps up expansion amid global and domestic competition in the self-driving industry.Freeway rides will initially be available to early-access users, Waymo said. “When a freeway route is meaningfully faster, they can be matched with a freeway trip, providing quicker, smoother, and more efficient rides,” it said.Waymo, which already operates in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, is also extending operations to San Jose, including Mineta San Jose international airport, the second airport in its service area after Phoenix Sky Harbor.The move comes as Tesla expands its robotaxi service with safety monitors and drivers, and Zoox – backed by Amazon – offers free robotaxi rides on and around the Las Vegas Strip
A tax roadmap for electric cars | Letters
Rachel Reeves’s proposal to introduce a pay-per-mile tax levy on electric vehicles is idiotic, especially suggesting that hybrid vehicles will have a reduced rate and still pay the usual road tax (Rachel Reeves considering pay-per-mile tax for electric vehicles in budget, 6 November). Furthermore, requiring drivers to predict their yearly mileage in advance and then pay or reclaim the difference for actual mileage depending on whether they have underestimated or overestimated it is too cumbersome. If the DVLA is to oversee the collection/repayment system, it will undoubtedly need to recruit more staff or outsource the arrangement, with all the attendant pitfalls that would entail.The fairest way for the taxation of all motorists is to abolish the road tax and introduce a road toll system, as used on the Dartford crossing and the M6 toll road. Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) would need to be an essential feature
Tech companies and UK child safety agencies to test AI tools’ ability to create abuse images
Tech companies and child protection agencies will be given the power to test whether artificial intelligence tools can produce child abuse images under a new UK law.The announcement was made as a safety watchdog revealed that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material [CSAM] have more than doubled in the past year from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.Under the change, the government will give designated AI companies and child safety organisations permission to examine AI models – the underlying technology for chatbots such as ChatGPT and image generators such as Google’s Veo 3 – and ensure they have safeguards to prevent them from creating images of child sexual abuse.Kanishka Narayan, the minister for AI and online safety, said the move was “ultimately about stopping abuse before it happens”, adding: “Experts, under strict conditions, can now spot the risk in AI models early.”The changes have been introduced because it is illegal to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI developers and others cannot create such images as part of a testing regime
Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine sign voice deal with AI company
Oscar-winning actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have both signed a deal with the AI audio company ElevenLabs.The New York-based company can now create AI-generated versions of their voices as part of a bid to solve a “key ethical challenge” in the artificial intelligence industry’s alliance with Hollywood.McConaughey, who has also invested in the company and collaborated with it since 2022, will now allow ElevenLabs to translate his newsletter, Lyrics of Livin’, into a Spanish-language audio version using his voice.In a statement, the Dallas Buyers Club actor said he was “impressed” by ElevenLabs and wanted the partnership to help him “reach and connect with even more people”.ElevenLabs is also launching the Iconic Voices Marketplace, which will allow brands to partner with the company and use officially licensed celebrity voices for AI-generated usage
John Tymukas obituary
My brother-in-law John Tymukas, who has died aged 73, was a structural engineer on many of London’s infrastructure projects from the 1990s onwards, including Canning Town station, Heathrow Terminal 5, Glaxo Smithkline HQ and Crossrail Bond Street.Born in Adelaide, South Australia, John was the son of Kostas, a Lithuanian refugee and engineer, and Kathleen (nee Donohoe), the daughter of Irish emigrants and a former clerk. He was the eldest of six siblings. John completed his education in Brisbane at Downlands school and the Queensland Institute of Technology, where he took a four-year engineering degree course and worked in Australia before heading in 1990 to London to work on contracts with engineering companies such as SKB and WSP.An avid traveller, he covered Europe extensively, making contact with Lithuanian and Irish family members and discovering family history unknown in Australia until he made the links
ChatGPT violated copyright law by ‘learning’ from song lyrics, German court rules
A court in Munich has ruled that OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by using hits from top-selling musicians to train its language models in what creative industry advocates described as a landmark European ruling.The Munich regional court sided in favour of Germany’s music rights society GEMA, which said ChatGPT had harvested protected lyrics by popular artists to “learn” from them.The collecting society GEMA, which manages the rights of composers, lyricists and music publishers and has approximately 100,000 members, filed the case against OpenAI in November 2024.The lawsuit was seen as a key European test case in a campaign to stop AI scraping of creative output. OpenAI can appeal against the decision
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