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Miliband’s North Sea crackdown seems more senseless than ever

Iran war leaves Energy Secretary increasingly isolated on his ‘holy’ crusade against oil and gas Daily Telegraph 22/03/26 Ed Miliband and Donald Trump have never been political bedfellows. But on the North Sea, it is no longer just the American president who is at odds with the Energy Secretary. As the war in the Middle East convulses global oil and gas markets, Labour’s crackdown on home-grown production is facing mounting opposition from all sides – including from people once sympathetic to Miliband’s net zero cause. The Government’s ban on new drilling licences and its swingeing windfall tax have been blamed for crippling the UK’s domestic industry while also reducing tax revenues and pushing up carbon emissions. It’s a self-inflicted blow that is now prompting opposition from surprising directions – leaving Miliband looking increasingly isolated. Among those advocating a “drill, baby, drill” approach are not just Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, and Nigel Farage, the...

Why a major crisis is about to hit the UK

Aside from watching my new book Suicide of a Nation rocket to Number 2 in the Amazon bestseller list - making it the second biggest selling book in Britain behind a children’s Easter book about a fluffy chick - I also spent this weekend watching something else. Matt Godwin newletter 30/03/26 Mounting evidence that Britain is about to be plunged into a major financial and political crisis, which could clear the way for an early general election. I remember Nigel Farage telling me six months ago that he thought the next general election could arrive much sooner than 2029, potentially as early as next year. I was sceptical. But now, amidst the ongoing War in Iran and an intensifying energy crisis, I not only think Farage was right but am also coming to the view it could arrive even sooner. Just look, for example, at the clearest warning sign of all: government debt. Britain is currently spending somewhere around £140 billion a year just servicing our national debt - just paying o...

The war won't save Starmer - Labour's holiday from reality is already ending

While the war in Iran has diverted public attention away from the Labour Party’s continued failures, it won’t last long. Interest in the Government’s continuing scandals and broken promises will soon pick up and Starmer will pay the price. Despite the Prime Minister siding with public opinion over the war, this strategy will not boost his popularity, or Labour’s, in the long run. The war against Iran is good news for Sir Keir Starmer in only one meaningful respect: it has reduced public attention on Labour’s domestic pathologies, infighting and betrayals. Front pages, TV bulletins and social media that were chock-a-block with tales of leadership challenges and failed policies have rightly focused more on the war against Iran in recent weeks, the greatest, most significant development in global geopolitics since Russia invaded Ukraine. Given that almost all domestic news is bad news for Labour, this has granted the Prime Minister a breather. One scandal that has yet to fully capture...

Keir knows an electoral bloodbath is comin

Keir Starmer has no response to the Morgan McSweeney phone shambles, no timeline for publishing the defence investment plan, and no strategy to shield businesses from rising energy costs. However, the Prime Minister has received one piece of good news today. After the elections, the Commons will not be sitting until the King reopens parliament on May 13, making it that much harder for would-be plotters to depose him. Once again, there is a will, but not a way. Annabel Denham, Senior Political Commentator. Daily Telegraph 27/03/26 As Britain contemplates a 1970s-style energy crisis, our Prime Minister is in Helsinki attending a summit of the Joint Expeditionary Force. Never-here will be eager to present himself as a statesman of consequence, a bridge, a broker of alliances, particularly after his very public falling out with the Man in the Baseball Cap, which may have very marginally increased his cred with the Left. Yet it is hard for Keir Starmer to sustain an image of Churchill...

NHS doctor charged with inviting support for Hamas

Dr Rahmeh Aladwan arrested at her home in Gloucestershire for breaching police bail conditions Daily Telegraph 26/03/26 An NHS doctor has been charged with “multiple counts” of inviting support for Hamas. Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, 31, of Pilning, Gloucestershire, was arrested at her home on Thursday morning for breaching police bail conditions imposed following previous arrests. The Metropolitan Police said she had been charged under the Terrorism Act 2000 for allegedly inviting support for a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas, on four separate dates from July to December last year. Dr Aladwan was also charged with using “words that were threatening, abusive or insulting intending thereby to stir up racial hatred or having regard to all the circumstances was reckless as to whether racial hatred would be stirred up” under section 18 of the Public Order Act in King Charles Street, London, on July 21 last year. She was further charged with publishing or distributing written material t...

The Prime Minister must not hide behind legalese

Sir Keir is so in thrall to the judicial process that he cannot see where the national interest lies Daily Telegraph 25/03/26 Sir Keir Starmer is a human rights lawyer who has failed to recognise that he is now a politician running the government of the country. He is so in thrall to the judicial process that he cannot see where the national interest lies, as seen with his bizarre and ill-starred decision to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. This fixation with procedure was on full display during Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons, the last before the Easter recess. He was asked by Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, to remove the moratorium on drilling new wells in the North Sea for oil and gas. The urgency of this decision could hardly be greater. The war in the Gulf has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz through which 40 per cent of the world’s oil and gas supplies are transported. We face huge price rises and potential shortages. The i...