Starmer’s government increasing spending on foreign trips, figures show
Keir Starmer’s government is spending an increasing amount on foreign trips, with almost 40 visits abroad adding up to more than £4m since he took office, the latest transparency figures have showed,The prime minister had his most costly quarter for foreign travel in the last three months of 2025, with eight trips adding up to £1,2m,The most expensive was his three-day visit to the Cop climate conference in Brazil, along with 29 officials, costing £413,000,The trade trip to India with 45 staff on a commercial flight cost £341,000, while the G20 in Johannesburg along with 30 staff on an RAF plane came in at £367,000.
Starmer’s 39 trips abroad have earned him criticism from the Tories, who have called him “never here Keir”, while some of the prime minister’s own aides having tried to get him to spend more time in the UK and less on international diplomacy and attending summits.However, Tony Blair, David Cameron and Theresa May made as many, if not more, trips abroad in their first two years in office.Blair’s annual travel spending was about £2m for 22 overseas visits in 2006.Rishi Sunak, who was less keen on foreign visits, made only about 22 trips and delegated much of his diplomacy to Cameron, who was appointed as his foreign secretary, while Boris Johnson’s premiership was marked by the international travel bans of the Covid era.Sunak’s trips appear to have been less costly than Starmer’s, with the G20 summit to Indonesia coming in at £204,925, the Cop conference in Egypt costing £112,000 and another in Dubai costing £119,000.
Downing Street sources said Starmer’s travel was vital and he was “banging the drum” for the UK and its business interests.A government spokesperson said: “All PM travel is done with consideration to security requirements and value for taxpayers, and is central to rebuilding Britain’s global influence and keeping people safe through stronger alliances.“These trips have helped secure billions in investment for the UK and tens of thousands of jobs, while strengthening our security, protecting British interests overseas and delivering real benefits for people at home.”The figures emerged in the latest transparency publication released by the government.This showed hospitality given to ministers and their aides, with the culture team taking free tickets to the Brits, Baftas and Winter Olympics – all of which are linked to their brief.
Starmer declared only a Munich Security Conference dinner and a reception at the North East Chamber of Commerce,The transparency release also revealed the salaries of senior civil servants, with some of the highest earners including the chief executive of HS2 getting £660,000 a year, two Network Rail executives earning more than £550,000 and the chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority earning £445,000,
Royal Mail owner pushes back against criticisms that service has declined
Daniel Křetínský, the Czech billionaire who bought Royal Mail’s parent company for £3.6bn last year, has insisted that service has not declined under his ownership, despite heavy criticism of late deliveries and price rises.In a defensive and sometimes impassioned performance in front of MPs on the business select committee, Křetínský said he was “deeply sorry” for any letters that arrive late.Since his takeover, Royal Mail has battled trade unions over working conditions, raised first-class stamp prices from £1.70 to £1
Crispin Odey: I can’t remember telling female employee ‘I could attack you now’
Facing a litany of questions over sexual harassment allegations that have left his career in tatters, the hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey has told a court he does not remember cornering a female employee after a boozy lunch and saying to her “I could attack you now”.The 67-year-old made the comments during his first day in the witness box as part of a three-week court case that Odey hopes will overturn the City regulator’s decision to ban him from the UK’s financial services industry.Odey, who appeared in the London courtroom wearing a pink tie and braces, said that while he remembered the employee as an “attractive girl”, he did not recall the alleged incident, which lawyers for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said had been recorded in the employee’s diary.The entry referring to Odey, dated 24 January 2020, said: “Comes back from boozy lunch and corners me in the corridor. Him: I could attack you now
Baltimore sues Elon Musk’s AI company over Grok’s fake nude images
The mayor and city council of Baltimore, Maryland, filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI company on Tuesday, alleging that its Grok chatbot violated consumer protections by generating nonconsensual sexualized images.Baltimore’s lawsuit argues that xAI deceptively marketed Grok as a general-purpose AI assistant and X as a mainstream social media site, failing to disclose the risks, limitations and exposure to harm that come with using the platform and chatbot. The suit, filed in the circuit court for Baltimore city, argues that the court has jurisdiction over xAI given that the company advertises and operates in Baltimore.“Grok has flooded the feeds of Baltimore’s X users with NCII (non-consensual intimate imagery) and CSAM (child sexual abuse material),” the city’s complaint states. “Grok further exposed Baltimore residents to the risk that any photograph they uploaded – of themselves or of their children – could be ingested by Grok and transformed into sexually degrading deepfakes without their knowledge or consent”
Protect men and boys from manosphere influencers, Labour MPs tell Ofcom
Men and boys need as much protection as women and girls from harmful influencers and “the worst parts of the internet”, a group of MPs have told Ofcom as they called for the regulator to give specific guidance to online platforms.More than 60 Labour MPs have written to the Ofcom chief executive, Melanie Dawes, urging her to protect men and boys from “manosphere” influencers who may expose them to gambling, sextortion and violent pornography.The Online Safety Act forced Ofcom to give tech platforms guidance on how to tackle “harmful content and activity that disproportionately affects women and girls”, but MPs argued that men and boys are also targeted in specific ways.According to the Gambling Commission, 53% of 11- to 17-year-old boys see gambling adverts online each week, compared with 31% of their female peers, while 91% of sextortion victims are male, according to the Internet Watch Foundation.Alistair Strathern, the MP for Hitchin and a co-chair of the Labour group for men and boys, said the Louis Theroux documentary Inside the Manosphere was “another reminder of a particular way some of the worst of the internet can prey on young men and boys”
World Cup-winning captain Johnson urges England to think about summer break for players
England’s legendary World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson says the current management should consider resting key players this summer to boost the chances of history being repeated in Australia next year. Johnson was among several senior squad members who did not tour Argentina in the buildup to their 2003 global triumph and suggests a similar policy could assist England’s 2027 campaign.In 2002 England beat the Pumas 26‑18 in Buenos Aires with only eight of their subsequent World Cup-winning squad involved. Johnson is fully aware that post-game recovery and conditioning techniques have moved on significantly but believes the current captain, Maro Itoje, and others require careful handling if they are to prosper in 2027.“If it’s the right thing for a guy who’s just had a big Lions tour to have a summer off and not go on the trip, that’s just managing your player with the World Cup in mind,” said Johnson, who also led a British & Irish Lions squad to Australia in 2001
Ben Duckett pulls out of £200,000 IPL deal in bid to save England Test spot
Ben Duckett has pulled out of the upcoming Indian Premier League and now faces a three-year ban from the tournament after deciding he needs county cricket to shore up his place in England’s Test team.The opener was signed by Delhi Capitals at the IPL auction in December in a deal worth £200,000 and, with the competition starting on Saturday, he was due to miss the first two months of the English season.But a combination of a poor Ashes series – playing all five Tests in the 4-1 defeat for a highest score of 42 – and heavy travel after reserve duties at the recent T20 World Cup has convinced Duckett to turn out for the county champions Nottinghamshire instead.“It was a very difficult decision, and I want to apologise to everyone at Delhi that I won’t be coming,” Duckett told the Telegraph.“I’ve spent a lot of time away from home in different places, and it felt like the best thing for me to do to be ready to play for England is to be here right now, at home, refreshing my mind and body
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