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Labour's Foreign Policy begins to fray

Good afternoon. As Donald Trump lets his feelings about the Chagos “deal” be known, what role might Nigel Farage have played in this bolt-from-the-blue intervention? And as the Chinese embassy – similarly unpopular with the US president – is given the go-ahead, for how much longer can Keir Starmer walk the diplomatic tightrope? Annabel Denham, Senior Political Commentator. Daily Telegraph Donald Trump has just made a blow-your-socks-off intervention on Chagos. His Truth Social post, dripping with sarcasm about “brilliant” Britain, was a rebuke – some would say long overdue – to Keir Starmer’s decision to surrender the archipelago. Foreign policy is drifting into turbulent waters, and Starmer is not going to be able to chart a course with “calm discussion” alone. The Prime Minister had justified the deal on the grounds our allies supported it. Now the US president has described it as an act of “GREAT STUPIDITY”. If America is the rock, the hard place is the Starmeresque worldview ...
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Starmer has acted in haste

Daily Telegraph Newsletter 19/01/26 So much for “every minute we focus on anything other than cost of living is a wasted minute”. Once again, Sir Keir Starmer began the week intending to turn our attention to the economy; once again, the Orange One has torpedoed those plans. Donald Trump’s latest threat – a blanket 10 per cent tariff on imports – is not just dominating headlines but would worsen living standards here in Britain. The US is our single largest export market at country level, and economists warn that tariffs on such a scale could tip us into recession. As opposed to the 1 per cent growth we've been enjoying over the past 10 to 15 years – itself largely the effect of higher immigration rather than productivity (the only sustainable basis for rising living standards). Britain has no buffer; external shocks land harder here than they would in a healthier or more productive economy – notwithstanding Rachel Reeves’s implausible insistence, citing the IMF's latest ou...
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Ignore the Tory talking points: Jenrick’s defection is Kemi’s biggest blunder yet

Nigel Farage stands to benefit from having a talented politician with cabinet experience Daily Telegraph 18/02/26 It’s hard to know which Tory claim of the last week is more ridiculous. The one suggesting Kemi Badenoch handled Robert Jenrick’s defection to Reform well. Or the one suggesting the Tories are better off without him. We’ve heard both absurdities in the last week, when the reality is Nigel Farage has been handed yet another nail to hammer into the Tory coffin. Let’s take the first one first: that Badenoch did a great job in firing him. It’s true that taking fast and decisive action – with a rapid briefing on her own terms – was a technical success. But too many people are missing a more fundamental point: Jenrick partly left because she consistently treated him badly after her leadership win. Jenrick ran a decent, energetic leadership campaign and had extensive experience in Government, not least as a cabinet minister. Even though Tory ranks were hugely depleted after...
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Britain’s entrepreneurs are starting to miss the 1970s

Even power cuts and the three-day week seem preferable to today’s circumstances for businesses Daily Telegraph 13/01/26 While the voice of big business is seldom absent from public debate with its professional lobbying and media operations, family businesses receive less of a hearing, which is surprising because they comprise 85 per cent of all British businesses and provide more than half of the UK’s private-sector employment. To get a sense of what the people who run the businesses, that make up the backbone of our economy, think about the current economic and political climate, the Jobs Foundation commissioned a poll of more than 1,100 family business leaders. The verdict is in, and it’s not pretty. It is important to say from the outset that their deep sense of disillusionment is not confined to the current government. Just one in five say that they trust the Conservatives the most to help their business thrive – a poor result for a party which has historically received stron...
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Jenrick: Tories broke Britain

Former frontbencher launches savage attack on Conservatives as he defects to Reform Daily Telegraph 15 January 2026 10:20pm GMT Robert Jenrick declared that the Conservative Party “broke Britain” in a highly personal attack on former colleagues as he defected to Reform UK. Speaking at a press conference alongside Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, on Thursday, Mr Jenrick called his former party “rotten”, “dishonest” and “no longer fit for purpose”. Arguing that the Tories lacked the “backbone” to solve the country’s problems, the former shadow justice secretary criticised Sir Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, for overseeing an “explosion of the welfare bill” and Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, for enabling “five million migrants to come” to Britain. Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Jenrick also singled out Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, saying her team was not “willing to change”. His shock departure will raise fears in Tory circles of more defectio...
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Four million denied a vote in attack on democracy

Tories and Reform accuse Prime Minister of ‘running scared’ of the electorate as at least 27 council elections are expected to be cancelled Daily Telegraph 13/01/26 Four million people are to be denied the vote in May’s local elections in a “disgraceful attack on democracy” by Labour. The Government is expected to cancel at least 27 council elections, meaning hundreds of councillors will avoid the risk of being voted out. The Tories and Reform accused Sir Keir Starmer of “running scared” of the electorate at a time when polls show a collapse in support for Labour. Nigel Farage’s party will on Thursday launch a judicial review in an attempt to make the elections go ahead. The Prime Minister is relying on an obscure clause in the 2000 Local Government Act which gives his ministers the power to delay votes. The Telegraph on Thursday launches a Campaign for Democracy calling for this rule to be scrapped, forcing ministers to seek a full vote in Parliament for any delay to votes. ...
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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...
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