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After pubs, here are the next climbdowns for the Chancellor

Rachel Reeves must make more policy reversals before they crush entrepreneurs and small businesses Daily Telegraph 10/01/26 Far from an “iron Chancellor”, Rachel Reeves should probably now be called the “marshmallow Chancellor”. She has proven once again that as soon as it becomes painfully clear how much pointless damage one of her idiotic policies is doing to the economy, she will be as pliable as the sugary snack and perform a screeching about-turn. Over the next few days, a support package for pubs will be unveiled after she imposed punishing increases in business rates in her Budget three months ago. It follows reversals on the winter fuel allowance and on inheritance tax on farmers. Yet there are at least four more major reversals that Reeves needs to make before they crush entrepreneurs and small businesses – and the sooner she changes her mind, the better. It remains to be seen whether the rescue plan for pubs actually works. It is extraordinary that Reeves could not wor...

The end of Iran’s brutal reign of terror will benefit the entire world

We have not stressed the ‘revolutionary’ aspect of the Islamic Revolution enough Daily Telegraph 11/01/26 What do these countries have in common? Argentina, Australia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States. The answer is that all have been on the receiving end of Iranian terrorism, either directly or through a Tehran-backed proxy, such as Hezbollah. Think about that list. What possible interest could the ayatollahs have had in, say, Buenos Aires, which lies 8,500 miles from Tehran? In 1994, a militant drove an explosives-laden van into a Jewish community centre, killing 85 people and injuring more than 300. Argentine prosecutors followed the trail back to Iranian state officials. Why, for Heaven’s sake? Why Argentina? Maybe just to show that they could. Maybe the mullahs were flaunting their reach, demonstrating that they could strike where they wanted. That charred horror was what “globalise the ...

Defect to Reform or shadow chancellor: What next on Jenrick’s long march Rightwards?

Fellow Tories fear the ambitious Newark MP, once liberal on immigration and an ardent Remainer, is on a path that ends with Farage’s party Daily Telegraph 09/01/26 Laila Cunningham’s assertion that Robert Jenrick would not be welcome in Reform UK will have landed awkwardly with Nigel Farage, who has spent months attempting to keep the Newark MP within his orbit. Reform’s newly unveiled London mayoral candidate said she would not want to see Jenrick defect because he “allowed migrant hotels to flourish” while serving as immigration minister under Rishi Sunak. It was a pointed intervention and one that cuts directly across Farage’s subtle courtship of the former Conservative leadership contender. Jenrick, who has hardened his rhetoric in recent years, is keen to remind anyone listening that he resigned from government over what he described as the failure to control Britain’s borders. That version of events sits uneasily with his past. Critics are quick to dredge up his insistence ...

Labour popularity plunges to new low despite Starmer reset

YouGov poll shows more people than ever disapprove of the Government as net approval rating hits -59 Daily Telegraph 07/01/26 The Labour Government’s popularity has plunged to a new low despite attempts by Sir Keir Starmer to reset his premiership. A YouGov tracker monitoring the popularity of the current administration shows the Government’s net approval rating is now -59, its lowest since Sir Keir took power. Seventy per cent of voters now disapprove of the Government, according to polling carried out on Jan 5 – an increase on the previous peak of 69 per cent. Rishi Sunak’s government had a record net approval score of -63 in October 2022, weeks into taking office. Baroness May’s low point was -61 in May 2019, while Liz Truss’s government recorded a nadir of -68, also in October 2022. The amount of people who approve of Labour’s performance in office has also fallen, reaching a joint record low of 11 per cent. The last time so few voters approved of Sir Keir’s administration...

Farage unveils London mayoral candidate to take on Khan

Farage unveils London mayoral candidate to take on Khan Daily Telegraph 07 January 2026 12:14pm GMT Reform UK has vowed to oust Sir Sadiq Khan by promising an “all-out war” on crime in London. Nigel Farage unveiled Laila Cunningham, a former public prosecutor, as the party’s candidate for the next London mayoral elections in 2028. She told a press conference on Wednesday morning that safety for Londoners was the first duty of the mayor, and that if elected she would bring in more visible policing and zero tolerance for criminal behaviour. “There’ll be a new sheriff in town and I’ll be launching an all-out war on crime,” she declared. Mrs Cunningham, a Reform UK councillor and mother of seven, defected to the party from the Tories last year, warning of an epidemic of knife crime in the capital. She also vowed to scrap London’s controversial Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez) and automate Tube trains to stop its drivers going on strike. And she called on Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropo...

‘No point in working harder’: the rise of part-time Britain

Millions are taking action to avoid being punished for working harder Daily Telegraph 02/01/26 During his 30-year career as a cardiac surgeon, Money reader Alan Edwards** never considered working part-time. The job was stimulating, the pay was good, and reducing your hours “wasn’t the done thing”. “I enjoyed it enormously but it was physically extremely demanding,” he says. “You’d go to bed, then get a phone call at 1am, head back to the operating theatre, get back home at 6am, then be back to work at 7:30am or so to do a heart transplant. I don’t know how I did it.” Edwards’ adult children – who are both doctors themselves and now have children of their own – have chosen a different approach. The combination of childcare pressures and high income taxes persuaded them to reduce their hours. One works four days a week, the other just three days. Edwards can see the wisdom of doing so. Decades of well-paid work mean he has accrued a pension pot worth more than £600,000. But the...