After years of criticising Davos, Nigel Farage heads to Davos
For years he has derided the annual gathering at Davos as a smug and conspiratorial meeting of enemies of the nation state.But this week, Nigel Farage will himself be rubbing shoulders with the “globalists” he has so reviled.Farage’s itinerary at the Swiss ski resort remains unclear, although his Reform UK deputy, Richard Tice, said on Sunday he hoped Farage would get a chance to speak to Donald Trump, who is also attending the event run by the World Economic Forum (WEF).In many ways it makes sense for a politician whose party is tipped to form the next UK government to go to Davos, given the wealth of networking opportunities at an event frequented by world leaders – Rachel Reeves among them this year – bankers, financiers and others.Tice told the BBC that the intention was for Farage, who presents Trump as being his friend, to use the event as a chance to tell the president about his worries over the US threatening tariffs against the UK and other European nations as part of efforts to annex Greenland.
“Let’s hope they have an opportunity to have some words; both will have very busy schedules for sure, but in a sense that’s where real friendship can come in, to say: ‘Look, we understand what you’re trying to achieve; this is the wrong way to go about it,’” Tice said.It is nonetheless an unlikely stage for Farage, who has across his career singled out the WEF and its glitzy annual gala as epitomising what he sees as the elite capture of politics by a class intent on obliterating nation states in the name of “globalism”.Farage’s rhetoric on such subjects has in the past prompted criticism from groups including the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who said his discussion of supposed plots by bankers to create a global government at times veered into territory associated with antisemitic conspiracy theories.Farage rejects any such intent, but has even very recently been scathing about Davos attenders.In 2023 he called Keir Starmer a “full-on globalist, hanging out with his mates at the WEF”.
Three years earlier in a video about Davos, Farage described it as a place where decisions are made that “bow down to the European Union”, calling the attenders “people deciding our futures in Swiss ski resorts”.“All the arguments for globalism have been there at Davos for the last 50 years or more,” he said, adding that there was “no space for the little man, no space for the nation state”.There is an exception to Farage’s ire about Davos attenders: the US president.“Trump superb at Davos.If only we had a leader that could inspire confidence,” he wrote in 2018, during Trump’s first term, after the president addressed the WEF with a speech packed with braggadocio and media-bashing.
Only one other attender has seemingly brought praise from the Reform leader for attending Davos, based on a January 2012 tweet: “Congratulations to Prince Andrew for his comments at the reception he hosted in Davos.Supporting Britain!”
China expected to get London embassy go-ahead this week after years of wrangling
A decision on China’s proposed mega embassy in London is expected on Monday or Tuesday, with Chinese officials and British diplomats in Beijing holding their breath in anticipation of the planning application finally being approved.The saga, which has been running since 2018, is widely expected to end with the British government giving the green light for construction. If it does, one group likely to be grateful is those who work in the British embassy’s dilapidated building in Beijing. The UK’s plans to redevelop its outpost in China’s capital have been blocked for years by the Chinese government because of the London embassy row.The wrangling has “enabled Beijing to raise the embassy controversy to block whatever requests London has made that Beijing is not comfortable about,” said Steve Tsang, the director of the Soas China Institute
Romford MP Andrew Rosindell becomes latest Tory to defect to Reform
Andrew Rosindell, the Conservative MP for Romford since 2001, has announced his defection to Reform UK, the second such departure to Nigel Farage’s party in four days.Rosindell, who was a shadow Foreign Office minister under Kemi Badenoch, announced in a statement on X that he was joining Reform, giving as the main reason his opposition to the UK’s handover of sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.While Badenoch opposes the Chagos plan finalised by Keir Starmer, talks about the fate of the British-controlled islands began under the Conservatives, and Rosindell said he felt the party had not properly sought to oppose the plan.After the defection on Thursday of Robert Jenrick, who was Badenoch’s shadow justice secretary, Rosindell’s move puts Reform on seven MPs. While Rosindell is notably lower profile than Jenrick, the departure of another sitting MP is a blow to the Tories
After years of criticising Davos, Nigel Farage heads to Davos
For years he has derided the annual gathering at Davos as a smug and conspiratorial meeting of enemies of the nation state. But this week, Nigel Farage will himself be rubbing shoulders with the “globalists” he has so reviled.Farage’s itinerary at the Swiss ski resort remains unclear, although his Reform UK deputy, Richard Tice, said on Sunday he hoped Farage would get a chance to speak to Donald Trump, who is also attending the event run by the World Economic Forum (WEF).In many ways it makes sense for a politician whose party is tipped to form the next UK government to go to Davos, given the wealth of networking opportunities at an event frequented by world leaders – Rachel Reeves among them this year – bankers, financiers and others.Tice told the BBC that the intention was for Farage, who presents Trump as being his friend, to use the event as a chance to tell the president about his worries over the US threatening tariffs against the UK and other European nations as part of efforts to annex Greenland
UK to create new ‘school of government’ to train senior civil servants
Ministers will bring in a new “school of government” for senior civil servants to train them in AI and other skills – more than a decade after David Cameron axed the previous college for Whitehall.Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, will announce the new body in a speech on Tuesday setting out the government’s plans to “rewire” the civil service for modern times.Cameron’s decision to close the previous national school of government at Sunningdale has been widely considered a mistake, with growing fees for external providers.Ahead of the speech, Jones said he was determined to “work with the civil service to change the system, promote innovation and build in-house state capacity to get things done”.Aimed at improving the training of senior civil servants, its programme will include knowledge on economics, finance, policy, leadership and management, commercial, AI, data and digital, programme and project management and delivery
The playground politicking around Robert Jenrick’s jump | Letters
It was striking to read about Kemi Badenoch’s dismissal of Robert Jenrick from the Conservative party, which included quotes attributed to Westminster insiders (‘Not so clever after all’: how Robert Jenrick was ejected before he defected, 15 January).“We knew we had to act immediately. If we challenged him first, there was a risk of him going straight out and doing it anyway”; “Badenoch left it to her chief whip, Rebecca Harris, to phone Jenrick, a move which one ally described as ‘delicious’”; “Jenrick’s clever-dick people, they’re not so clever after all”; “She’s blown him up with his own grenade, very decisive, no pissing about, fair play to her”.This language is revealing of where the priorities of the Westminster workforce appear to lie – I do not notice such textured enthusiasm when discussing Northern Powerhouse Rail or fouling of our waterways. To this voter, it suggests there is ample time and eagerness for playground politicking and gossip, but less for debating legislation or addressing constituents’ problems
UK politics ‘constantly suffering’ from online disinformation, says Labour MP
Online disinformation campaigns, including Iranian bot farms promoting Scottish nationalism and biased algorithms depicting London as “an overwhelmingly dangerous” city, are seeking to undermine British democracy, a senior Labour MP has warned.Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said online disinformation about the UK was being promoted by Donald Trump and other US and UK politicians, and Britain was “constantly suffering from disinformation campaigns from both state and non-state actors”.Thornberry said it was time to challenge tech companies over “the threats that social media pose to our society”. The committee has written to X, Meta and TikTok calling on them to give evidence on the threat posed by foreign disinformation targeting the UK.“We must start a proper dialogue with social media companies about the ways their platforms are being used to spread lies from abroad and undermine our democracy
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