Thread 53 Starmer: Insania Aestiva

[DuncinToffee]

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https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5545924-starmer-an-myghtern-yw-marow-re-vewo-an-myghtern-an-north?page=40&reply=153248397

Obviously a prosaic reaction from the lurkers. Who cares 😄

Tice has bankrolled a lot of Reform (out of the goodness of his heart) so he'll want a say on the next leader, or to be the next leader. Yusuf similarly will want in.

Regarding Farage and the recent in depth articles about him, it's clear that it was known about for years and the gunpowder was kept until now. Excellent reporting. Thanks for the share token @BIossomtoes

I wonder if Lowe is the leaker? Has he just been biding his time?

Guess with Musk’s bankrolling and eye for media this stuff can be organised.

Is it a good time to fold Reform - with AB coming in perhaps - build Restore as the de facto opposition- god help us! Though I don’t think Restore could take over Reform personally- hopefully I’m not wrong.

Can't see anything at all on mumsnet

But elsewhere the story is spreading far and wide - it's the second 'Most Read' on the BBC website and on the front page of several other newspaper websites

Thank you @BIossomtoes for the link to the ST article - fascinating stuff

No one has leaked anything. It's clear as day.

The bots of social media really do pick and choose which stories to push, don't they?

You have your crypto billionaires like Harbonne and posh boys like Cotrell supporting Farage and pumping massive amounts of money in to making him successful. Unfortunately for them, they are small fry compared to the trillionaires who have their own political ambitions. So as a consequence they just wind up getting outbid in the game called "who can destabilise democracies the fastest". We need really serious legislation preventing foreign money affecting UK politics and limiting what domestic donors can do. With really serious consequences for breaches. The legislation Labour brought in/is bringing in is a start. But I hope Burnham goes further.
I don't know how they deal with interference via social media or media media without risking being accused of censorship (and opening the door to censorship in the future). But at the very least it should be possible to make what Farage's gang got up to a very serious criminal offence if anyone does it in the future.

Curious the total and utter lack of any discussion (or even recognition) of Mumsnet taking centre stage (albeit briefly) for "Strong Message Here"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002ybkl

MNs relation to the real world is not 1:1 It is very much a self selecting subset.

Alternatively, Jenrick is being hung out to dry busy supporting Farage right up to the moment Farage quits.

I did see a suggestion that the cr*pto exchanges may not be quite the anonymous haven they have been sold as[1], and that is the source of these revelations. And that the media is being allowed to take Farage down as an exercise by the real villains to see where they need to beef up their defences.

[1]As ever with a lot of cr*pto, the maths is sound. But the implementation can be shonky. Especially if you don't like paying for your dinner.

Labour's Stella Creasy has launched an amendment to introduce a £100,000 cap on political donations. Now the Q is whether Andy Burnham will back it

Olly Buston of Clean Up Westminster: “If your MP doesn’t back Stella’s amendment then they are basically saying they think politics should be for sale"

Clean Up Westminster: “Private political donations have more than tripled in a year, reaching £20.7 million in the first three months of 2026 alone. Britain has created an arms race for bigger and bigger donations, where a tiny number of mega-rich individuals can wield extraordinary influence."
https://bsky.app/profile/josiahmortimer.bsky.social/post/3mpvpc2v2p22p

Also, only donations from UK citizens to be accepted (or maybe a much lower cap on donations from non citizens).

Reform and Restore already support that as part of their "Keep Britain British" drive, so it should be a slam dunk.

Hasn’t Harborne just moved back to the UK? Or did I dream it?

I think that was the other crapto billionaire, Delo.

A newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch supporting Labour? Yes, he was definitely desperate with that accusation. 🤣

Eventually the whiny paranoia gains less support.

It's mildly warming to imagine how smug Kemi must feel watching Jenrick squirm.

To use a Sherlockian allusion, are Restore the dog that didn't bark in the night ?

They will have to take on extra staff just to keep up with all the Farage investigations!

''The Liberal Democrats have now written to the parliamentary standards commissioner, who is already investigating the Harborne money, asking him to look into the gifts provided by Cottrell too''

"Where does Cottrell's money come from"?

Yes, that's a question. Seems likely to be the middle man between benefactors/sponsors and the product (Farage).
How did Cottrell finance the purchase of Nick Candy (Reform's treasurer) £8.5 million pound flat?
Seems like an awfully big Stamp Duty wheeze as well as murky as to where the funds originate.

nevermind I'm sure the Daily Mail and Telegraph will be all over it.

Just out of interest, how is the investigation into the Russian hacking of Farages phone going ?

E2A: and the offence of failing to declare it to the ICO ?

Hacking a phone of an elected member of parliament is serious. Except Farage wasn't a an elected member then and had absolutely no intention/interest in becoming an MP. Although history tells us otherwise.

The storyline was the phone was hacked May 2026. Nearly 2 years after Farage became an MP.

Indeed but it seems to have slipped back a few years. And those living in a goldfish bowl seem to have short memories because Starmer and Burnham made them forget.

The payment from Harborne was made in 2024.

The supposed hacking was supposed to have happened this year.