This is a brief follow-up to yesterday’s post about Rishi Sunak.

‘Luxury beliefs’

On Thursday, August 3, 2023, GB News’s Patrick Christys spoke with Toby Young, who founded and heads Free Speech Union, which goes to bat for people who have been cancelled, so to speak:

A column from The Telegraph‘s veteran columnist Allister Heath had appeared that day saying that the elites quash majority opinion in the UK.

Young said that a Cambridge professor recently labelled elite perspectives as ‘luxury beliefs’, because when you are at the top of the totem pole or leading a comfortable life, the average man or woman’s experience is so far away from yours that you freely embrace notional received wisdom from the mainstream media. I know a few of these people. They are the ones who got every coronavirus booster shot, believe in Net Zero and find Brexit laughable. They think that people who don’t follow the MSM lead are unenlightened conspiracy theorists. I’ve had enough conversations with them to know.

That conversation between Christys and Young sets the tone for the rest of this post.

Government spending on SpAds

At the top of the totem pole in Downing Street and Whitehall are special advisers, or SpAds.

On July 27, Guido Fawkes told us how much the taxpayer is spending on SpAds.

Before looking into their salaries, I mentioned yesterday in the section about Mel Stride, the Secretary for Work and Pensions, that Secretaries of State get paid extra over their normal salary as an MP.

There is also severance pay when a Prime Minister, Secretary of State or one of their ministers resigns his/her post. Fair enough. It’s not that much, although it did rankle when Michelle Donelan was Secretary of State for Education, which she described as her dream job, only to resign 24 hours later as a protest to get Boris Johnson to stand down as PM last summer. She got a healthy five-figure sum which she later donated to charity. She never should have accepted the post. She knew Boris was on his way out. She is now the Culture Secretary.

However, look at the severance pay for senior civil servants, among them Tom Scholar, whom Kwasi Kwarteng sacked when he was Chancellor in the 3rd quarter of 2022. Compare and contrast (purple emphases mine):

… severance pay stats for Tom Scholar (£355,000), Chris Pincher (£7,920), Kwasi Kwarteng (£16,867) and Boris Johnson and Liz Truss (both £18,660) …

The mind boggles. These are men and women most of the British public has never heard of.

The rest of Guido’s post reads (red emphases his):

Yesterday was ‘take out the trash day’ – or the last parliamentary sitting day before recess – meaning the government had the perfect opportunity to bury bad news. Amongst the buried releases was a delay to the government’s trans guidance … and of course… SpAd salaries. Included in the Annual Report on Special Advisers was the revelation that severance to Liz and Boris’s SpAds set the taxpayer back by £3,000,000. The government is currently spending £9,000,000 per year on Special Adviser salaries.

Rishi has a number of SpAds.

Rishi’s highest earning SpAds are:

• • Liam Booth-Smith: £140,000-144,999
  • Amber de Botton: £140,000-144,999
  • Eleanor Shawcross: £140,000-144,999
  • Will Tanner: £125,000-£129,999
  • Rupert Yorke: £125,000-£129,999
  • Nerissa Chesterfield: £110,000-£114,999
  • Aidan Corley: £110,000-£114,999
  • Cass Horowitz: £110,000-£114,999

Nice work, if you can get it…

Shocking.

On October 29, 2022, The Mail reported on Amber de Botton’s appointment. For those wondering, she does not appear to be related to philosopher Alain de Botton.

Let’s look at the connections here. Rishi Sunak’s best man was James Forsyth, former Political editor at The Spectator who went to work at No. 10. James Forsyth is married to Allegra Stratton, who worked for Boris Johnson in Downing Street and had formerly worked at ITV. ITV’s political editor is Robert Peston, whose late father was a Labour peer. He has high praise for both Allegra Stratton and Amber de Botton.

The Mail says:

Rishi Sunak has hired ITV news chief Amber de Botton as his director of communications, Downing Street confirmed today, in a move likely to anger his arch rival Boris Johnson. 

It comes just months after her team won an award for their explosive series of Partygate stories that arguably helped bring about the demise of Mr Johnson’s premiership. 

The ousted PM’s team also saw ITV as the main outlet for ex-special adviser Dominic Cummings’ extremely damaging leaks, and considered Ms De Botton’s colleagues, particularly political editor Robert Peston, as among his harshest critics. 

Mr Peston revealed Ms De Botton’s new job on Twitter on Saturday, saying the mother-of-two was a ‘brilliant news editor and journalist’ who will leave a ‘huge hole at ITV News.’ 

Remember that one of the 2020 partygate photos showing Boris relaxing on a socially-distanced patio behind No. 10 came from an office with which Rishi Sunak would have been familiar. Hmm.

The article continues:

Mr Sunak appointed the broadcaster’s former national editor Allegra Stratton as his director of strategic communications in 2020 when he was chancellor, before she was poached a few months later to become Mr Johnson’s spokeswoman for televised briefings during the early days of the Covid pandemic.

Ms De Botton was one of the top names reportedly being considered for the role after an advert was published in July 2020. 

The successful applicant was to be an ‘experienced broadcaster’ expected to field questions from political reporters on behalf of the government – for which they would earn a lucrative six-figure salary. 

Ms De Botton did not publicly express an interest in the position before it was given to Ms Stratton.  

It would later be her colleagues at ITV who obtained a video of Ms Stratton joking about a ‘fictional party’ at a mock press conference days after an allegedly rule-breaching Christmas party at No 10. She resigned a day later.

They then ran a series of hugely damaging Partygate exposes, proving a thorn in the side of Team Boris. 

Amber de Botton also worked at Sky News, hardly a conservative media outlet:

Ms De Botton, a Durham University graduate, also received high praise today from Beth Rigby, political editor at Sky News, where she previously worked as Deputy Head of Politics. 

Ms Rigby wrote: ‘She’s a seriously talented news editor & political operator, now heading to No 10 to direct PM’s communications strategy. They mean business.’

On her Instagram page, Ms de Botton lists ‘TV news, antics and kids’ on her bio. Mr Johnson’s wife, Carrie, is also one of her 600 followers. 

Unlike an impartial civil servant, as a special adviser Ms De Botton will be able to give political advice to ministers, defend the Government’s actions and criticise opposition parties. 

In principle, yes. In reality, no.

Greenpeace trespass: arrests and bail

My post from yesterday led with Greenpeace’s trespass at the Sunak manor in North Yorkshire. It is private property, but police were slow to move in. One wonders why.

Yesterday afternoon, Guido updated his readers on the incident:

The four Greenpeace protesters who scaled the Sunaks’ empty home in Richmond this morning have finally been arrested. They were seen being bundled into the back of a police van this afternoon, having sat on the property’s roof all morning after covering an entire face of the building with black fabric. Which should raise a few questions over the house’s security…

Indeed.

Guido quotes Greenpeace over their displeasure with the announcement of 100 new oil and gas licences off the coast of the North Sea:

Our action today was entirely peaceful and we were diligent in ensuring that no one was home and that no damage would be done to the property. We have cooperated fully with the police and the activists have been taken into custody. We felt it was important to take this message directly to the prime minister’s doorstep today, since it is Sunak himself that has signed off on the decision to grant these licences and it is Sunak who holds the power to reverse this decision.

The Telegraph also had a brief report:

Three men and two women who were arrested following a Greenpeace protest at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s home in North Yorkshire have been released on bail.

North Yorkshire Police arrested the group on Thursday, after protesters climbed on the grade II-listed manor house in Kirby Sigston and draped oil-black fabric over the property while Mr Sunak and his family are on holiday.

A statement from North Yorkshire Police said: “All five suspects who were arrested following the protest in Kirby Sigston on August 3, have been released on conditional police bail to allow for further inquiries to be carried out. The investigation remains ongoing.”

Someone on Dan Wootton’s show said last night that the Sunaks are currently in Santa Monica. Keep that in mind for the next few years. I doubt the Sunaks will be staying in the UK long-term.

GB News’s Ben Leo went to Greenpeace’s offices to have a bit of a wander around. All being well, you see the two co-directors, a woman and a man in a white T-shirt:

The woman told Ben Leo that he had not been invited. He laughed, saying that was an ironic comment considering Greenpeace hadn’t been invited to the PM’s manor. Leo pottered around in the group’s offices, making himself a mug of tea and attempting to converse with other activists who said nothing in reply. A good few minutes of journalistic entertainment.

Rishi’s ratings among Conservatives

Conservative Home released its latest Cabinet minister ratings this morning.

This is the full table. Those voting must be Conservative Party members:

Of that list of MPs, I can count the number I like on one hand: Ben Wallace (outgoing Defence Secretary), James Cleverly (Foreign Secretary), Alister Jack (Scottish Secretary) and Suella Braverman (Home Office Secretary).

Guido gives his analysis, with Rishi emerging as a winner:

Speaking of the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, two commenters said that Rishi stayed away until the new MP, ex-postie and current councillor Steve Tuckwell, won:

The Uxbridge win was down to the local candidate Mr Tuckwell and ULEZ, to the point where Mr Sunak was invisible locally, he did not visit nor did his image appear on campaign literature.

Till Steve Tuckwell won and Sunak turned up, but Steve didn’t look too happy.

I cannot blame him.

I am certain Steve Tuckwell will do a great job in serving his constituency, one he knows well.

More on Rishi’s suits

I wrote about Rishi’s ill-fitting suits yesterday, citing a California blogger. Perhaps they could meet up while he is on holiday there.

The Telegraph‘s Stephen Doig then chipped in with ‘Why Rishi Sunak’s shrunken suits need an overhaul’:

Sunak’s wardrobe has become the story over the years, not his standing as a statesman.

I can see his clothes becoming the subject of political cartoons come the next general election.

Doig includes one photo showing Rishi in a properly-fitted suit. He should get that one back out of the wardrobe. It looks great.

One recommendation of Doig’s with which I disagree is that Rishi should go double-breasted. No. Sorry. That isn’t going to work. You either like double-breasted suits from the time you are a teenager, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, or you stay single-breasted.

The flood trousers are Rishi’s biggest issue. Please, Prime Minister, get your Savile Row tailor to help you. You’re going to need it.

Bank of England raises rates yet again

On Thursday, the Bank of England raised interest rates yet again.

One year ago, the rate was 2.2%. It is now 5.25%.

Guido says:

The hike is smaller than last month’s 0.5% increase, following better than expected inflation figures. However it still leaves interest rates at their highest level since 2008. It’s the fourteenth consecutive rates rise…

GB News’s economics editor and Telegraph columnist Liam Halligan is critical of these constant rate rises. He repeatedly says that it takes time for each rate rise to bed in, sometimes as long as 18 months. He would make a great governor of the Bank of England, but, even though he used to work at Channel 4 News, he’s not establishment enough.

Banking update

Just a short banking update today, including the latest on Nigel Farage.

Earlier this week, I forgot to include a Telegraph article from Tuesday, August 1, which has been making GB News rounds, ‘Staff at Monzo which refused Jeremy Hunt an account called Conservatives “evil”‘.

I’d not heard of Monzo until the Chancellor said they’d refused him an account. Why would someone want to bank at an institution with such a peculiar name.

The article says that some Monzo staff have been critical of everyone who hasn’t adopted the latest narrative. Sounds as if they’re in the grip of the aforementioned luxury beliefs:

Employees at Monzo, the challenger bank with more than seven million customers, also said Sir Jacob Rees Mogg, the Tory grandee, “could do the human race a favour” by leaving politics and called Harry Potter author JK Rowling “vile”.

Amid a backlash over the “debanking scandal”, Jeremy Hunt revealed last month he had his application for an account with the lender rejected before he was appointed Chancellor. 

Monzo was also criticised last week after it emerged that it had told Gina Miller, the anti-Brexit campaigner, that it would close her political party’s account …

The [NatWest/Coutts] debanking scandal has spread to other banks and a whistleblower has now revealed how staff at Monzo openly mocked those with views they disagreed with on workplace forums.

In a message on a Slack forum in October last year, one staff member wrote: “Maybe JRM could do the human race a favour and stay out of politics forever. Doubt you could replace him with anyone who is more of an archetypal Tory”.

The following day the same member described the Conservatives as “evil” and “ugly”.

A dossier also reveals that staff celebrated the Conservative local election losses in May with one responding to a meme by saying “What’s great about this gif is that the Tories have lost Maidenhead” [Council in Theresa May’s constituency] and another writing: “Tory losses in the local elections – we love to see ittttt”.

A third staff member, a financial crime investigator, added: “I’m just gutted that my own local council didn’t have an election”.

In March, an engineer wrote that the Spring budget had distracted the public from “the general state of the country”, while in January another said: “I hope I’m wrong though and we manage to topple the Tories for good. I’m not sure anyone can survive under the Tories for much longer” …

The Telegraph revealed earlier this year that the digital bank was reprimanded by the data watchdog after staff called a gender-critical man a “horrible Terf”.

Employees had mocked and condemned the man’s opinions on an internal company forum after he publicly criticised their transgender policy.

The Information Commissioner’s Office issued a rebuke, confirming it has written to the bank to “ask them to review and strengthen their own internal procedures and staff training in relation to this matter”.

MPs said that the internal discussions at Monzo raised fresh questions about the culture within banks.

“Banks should not behave like political activists,” Gareth Johnson, the Conservative MP for Dartford, said. “It is time the Treasury took action against those banks who increasingly seem to have a Left-wing agenda. Is it too much to ask banks to just get on with banking and to stop their political activism?”

Mr Farage said it was not surprising bank staff were criticising the Tories and it was part of the wider culture within the sector …

Monzo downplayed the comments:

A spokeswoman for Monzo said: “Our ambition is to make money work for everyone, which means that we’re politically neutral and personal views play no part in our policies or decision making, including eligibility for a Monzo account. Any suggestion otherwise is categorically untrue.

“These cherry-picked comments are personal views of a handful of employees in informal conversations and it is wrong to portray them as the views of Monzo or our thousands of other employees.”

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage has now applied for a subject access request (SAR) from NatWest, the parent company of Coutts, his former bank.

He said on Thursday that he had not yet received a reply. As he has encouraged NatWest customers to file subject access requests themselves, it is no wonder. It can take between 30 and 90 days for banks to reply to SARs:

A discussion took place afterwards, which you can find around the 11:00 minute mark:

Farage said that he will escalate legal moves. Liam Halligan discussed the matter, saying that Jeremy Hunt told him in an interview that free speech is fundamental and so are bank accounts. To discriminate against customers’ personal beliefs, within reason, is against banking regulations and the law. In an unheard of move, Hunt has written to the regulator — the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) — about closed bank accounts. Liam Halligan said it was very unusual for the second most powerful man in government to ask for an FCA investigation into an individual case. Halligan said that drag hunting groups have also been banned. He said that this issue is uniting left and right. Former Lib Dem MP Sir Vince Cable, who was partly responsible in coalition years ago by taking away Post Office bank accounts, denied there was ever a bank account right with the Post Office. He said he wanted the Post Office to grant more powers re bank accounts. Oddly, Farage did not counter Cable’s claims. I would have.

Here’s another discussion from the show on whether the FCA should investigate. The former Nationwide (building society) deputy CEO says there should be an investigation:

There is much more to this story than we can imagine. We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.

That’s all for this week on the British political scene. More to come, no doubt.