Ed Miliband says he and Lammy feared Mandelson appointment could ‘blow up’
Ed Miliband and David Lammy discussed concerns that the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington could “blow up”, the energy secretary has revealed,Miliband said he spoke to Lammy, who was foreign secretary at the time Mandelson was given the Washington post, and both expressed reservations,Mandelson was sacked after nine months in the job after new disclosures about his relationship with the late financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,The Guardian revealed last week that Mandelson had failed his initial security vetting, which had then been overruled by the Foreign Office, leading to the sacking of the department’s permanent secretary, Oliver Robbins,Robbins will give evidence to a select committee of MPs on Tuesday morning.
He is expected to argue he was following procedures by not disclosing details of the vetting process to ministers and by ensuring Mandelson could be appointed, which was then the express desire of No 10,Miliband told Sky News on Tuesday that he and Lammy had been worried the appointment was risky and said Mandelson should never have been appointed, because of his links with Epstein and his lobbying firm’s business ties with Chinese and Russian companies,“You’re saying he should never have been appointed and I agree with you,” Miliband told Sky News,“I steered well clear of Peter Mandelson when I became Labour leader in 2010,”Asked what he had thought about Mandelson’s initial appointment, he said: “That it could blow up, that it could go wrong … I had a conversation with David Lammy about it before the appointment, and I said I was worried about it … I think he was worried about it too.
”Miliband said he was not asked directly what his views were of the appointment.“Maybe I wasn’t the person that people would necessarily ask.I think people knew my view on Peter Mandelson,” he said.He said he did not think it was a resigning matter for the prime minister.“No, I don’t think he should.
Because I think if every time a prime minister made a mistake they resigned, we would shuttle through prime ministers like nobody’s business,” he said.“Prime ministers make mistakes.I think on big judgments for this country, the biggest judgment of all, whether to join the war against Iran, Keir Starmer made a big and fundamental correct judgment.”Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the Labour MP Sarah Champion said a leadership challenge was “absolutely the last thing that we want right now” but said Starmer was deeply unpopular.She said: “I’ll be honest with you, people don’t like Keir on the door but it’s not over this Mandelson thing.
They don’t like him personally,There’s been a fantastic campaign by opposition parties to undermine him,”She said people were more concerned by events in Iran and rising energy costs,“I think that so much attention being given to the minutiae of this just confirms the Westminster bubble in their mind and they don’t like it,” she said,
UK jobs market was in a fragile state – even before Iran war threatened recovery
Despite a surprise fall in the unemployment rate, the latest jobs data show the labour market in a fragile state, even before the Iran war threatened to derail the UK’s nascent economic recovery.At 4.9% in the three months to February, the unemployment rate was down from 5.2% in the previous three months, according to the Office for National Statistics.That may suggest the labour market has improved, alongside the uptick in economic growth in February
UK unemployment shows surprise fall to 4.9% as pay growth drops to lowest in five years
Unemployment in the UK unexpectedly fell in the three months to February, according to official figures – but the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East is expected to cause a rise in job cuts.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the rate of unemployment was 4.9% in the three months to February, the lowest level since last summer. This compares with 5.2% in the three months to January, a rate that economists had expected to also see in February
Tequila overtakes gin as the UK’s favourite warm-weather spirit
A crisp gin and tonic has for many British people been just the ticket as the weather gets warmer, but new consumer data shows tequila is overtaking gin for the first time as a summer tipple of choice.Spicy margaritas, which are a piquant twist on the classic tequila, lime and triple sec cocktail, have taken the UK by a storm in recent years and now the country is firmly hooked on tequila, with many ordering a tequila and tonic instead of a G&T.The Marks & Spencer summer trends report found that tequila is the retailer’s hottest spirit. It reads: “Tequila is having a major glow-up, with sales soaring 50% year on year and margarita sales jumping a huge 75%, making it one of the hottest spirits of the summer.”It is the 40th anniversary of the high street canned cocktail; M&S launched its “gin in a tin” in 1986
Electricity generators threatened with higher windfall taxes in bid to ensure stable prices
Electricity generators will face higher windfall taxes unless they sign up to long-term fixed-price contracts under government plans to protect bill payers from future gas market price shocks, as the Iran war pushes up energy prices.The Treasury will increase a windfall tax on excess profits made by electricity generators in Great Britain from 45% to 55% when gas prices spike. The funds raised will help the government to support households during an energy crisis.The owners of “legacy” renewable energy projects, such as older wind and solar farms, that earn subsidies on top of the market price will face the higher tax rate until they sign up to contracts that pay a set price for electricity as part of the government’s plan to “delink the price of electricity from the price of gas”.The plans, first revealed by the Guardian, mark the government’s most radical attempt to weaken the impact of soaring wholesale gas prices on the UK’s electricity costs, which are some of the highest in any developed economy
Oil prices rise and markets fall after US seizure of ship hits Iran peace deal hopes
Oil prices rose sharply and European stock markets fell on Monday after the US seizure of an Iranian vessel dented hopes for a peace deal.Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose by 5% to about $95 a barrel.European stock markets dropped, with the UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index down 0.6%. The French Cac 40 and the German Dax fell by about 1%
Polymarket in fundraising talks that could value the prediction platform at $15bn
Polymarket, the online prediction platform that hosts bets on events such as the Iran war, is in talks to raise $400m (£296m) at a valuation of up to $15bn.The company has gained notoriety in recent months over wagers placed on the Middle East conflict, including on the timing of US-Israel strikes against Iran, and on a US-Iran ceasefire, some of which appeared to bear signs of insider trading.During this time the US company has experienced a massive increase in volume, with more than $1bn a week now traded on its platform. Polymarket takes a commission on some of these trades, with a varying fee structure depending on the kind of bet. It states that geopolitical and world events markets are “fee-free”
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