Keir Starmer bats away hecklers as he gets personal during Labour Party conference speech

Published

4 years ago

September 29, 2021

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Sir Keir Starmer batted away hecklers during a mammoth speech in which he used his personal experiences to show off his human side as he announced a key climate change policy.

Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, introduced Sir Keir before his conference speech by thanking the Labour leader for helping prosecute his murderers when he was a barrister.

During the 90 minute speech, which was his first in-person conference address since he became leader, he hit out at the government, referenced his parents throughout and announced a plan to retrofit millions of homes.

Following five days of ups and downs in Brighton, including successfully getting a new way of voting for a leader through, he put Labour forward as the next party to lead the country.

But he was also heckled by those who may be bigger fans of his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, who has criticised Sir Keir at fringe events this week.

However, he brushed them away by saying “shouting slogans or changing lives, conference?” – to which he got cheers from the audience.

He spoke of not being from a privileged background, of his father being a tool maker in a factory and his mum being a nurse in the NHS and her getting a rare arthritic disease for which he could “hardly convey to you the emotion of seeing your mum in that condition”.

For a leader who has often been accused of failing to show off his personality and any emotion, it appeared important for Sir Keir to connect on an emotional level with Labour members, who listened intently.

He also spoke of being a lawyer and chief prosecutor and how that has helped his approach to politics.

John and Penny Clough, the parents of murdered nurse Jane Clough, were in the front row of the audience and Sir Keir told of them coming to him to get justice for her and how they changed the law – and how crime “will always be a Labour issue”.

Sir Keir said Labour would fast-track rape and serious sexual assault cases and toughen sentences for rapists, stalkers and domestic abusers.

Recognising he came into politics “late in life”, the Labour leader said he was not a career politician and said he was nothing like Boris Johnson, who he said was waging war on traffic cones while he was prosecuting Stephen Lawrence’s murderers.

He also said in 2010 he was helping put terrorists behind bars while Mr Johnson was defending the right not to wear a cycle helmet.

“It’s easy to comfort yourself that your opponents are bad people, but I don’t think Boris Johnson is a bad man, I think he is a trivial man,” he said.

“I think he’s a showman with nothing left to show, I think he’s a trickster who has performed his one trick.”

He promised Labour will “always fund the NHS properly” and would shift the priority of the NHS away from emergency care to prevention, including funding mental health as much as physical health.

“Labour will guarantee that support will be available in less than a month,” he said.

That would include recruiting 8,500 more mental health professionals and ensuring every school has specialist support and communities have mental health hubs.

Another of the Labour leaders key promises is on education and Sir Keir used a famous Tony Blair slogan (“education, education, education”) as he said: “Education is so important I am tempted to say it three times.”

He said Labour will launch the most ambitious school improvement plan, including ensuring children leave school with good qualifications and who are ready to work.

Theatre, drama and music will not be allowed to collapse, he said as he mentioned he had music lessons with Fat Boy Slim at school.

On the economy, Sir Keir said Labour would support small businesses and invest a minimum of 3% of GDP in science and research and development.

He said the finances inherited from the Conservatives “will need serious repair work” but the approach to taxation will be governed by taxpayers getting the best value for money.

Sir Keir’s shadow cabinet ministers have announced a raft of new policies this week and he added to that by saying climate change – which got a big clap – would be tackled by retrofitting 19 million homes over a decade to save families more than £400 a year on energy bills, with a £6bn a year investment.

And he hit out at Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, saying the SNP and the Tories “exploit the constitutional divide” so he was worried about the future of Wales within the Union.

After his speech, the Labour leader was joined by his wife, Victoria, on stage and they left the conference hall to the Fat Boy Slim song “Right here, right now” – plus a standing ovation.

Politics

Robert Jenrick vows to ‘bring coalition together’ to end Tory-Reform fight

Published

2 hours ago

April 23, 2025

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Robert Jenrick vows to 'bring coalition together' to end Tory-Reform fight

Robert Jenrick has vowed to “bring this coalition together” to ensure that Conservatives and Reform UK are no longer fighting each other for votes by the time of the next election, according to a leaked recording obtained by Sky News.

The shadow justice secretary told an event with students last month he would try “one way or another” to make sure Reform UK and the Tories do not compete at another general election and hand a second term in office to Keir Starmer in the process.

In the exclusive audio, Mr Jenrick can be heard telling the students he is still working hard to put Reform UK out of business – the position of the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

However, more controversially, the comments also suggest he can envisage a time when that position may no longer be viable and has to change. He denies any suggestion this means he is advocating a Tory-Reform UK pact.

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The shadow justice secretary came second to Mrs Badenoch in the last leadership contest and is the bookies’ favourite to replace her as the next Conservative leader.

Speaking to the UCL Conservative association dinner in late March, he can be heard saying: “[Reform UK] continues to do well in the polls. And my worry is that they become a kind of permanent or semi-permanent fixture on the British political scene. And if that is the case, and I say, I am trying to do everything I can to stop that being the case, then life becomes a lot harder for us, because the right is not united.

“And then you head towards the general election, where the nightmare scenario is that Keir Starmer sails in through the middle as a result of the two parties being disunited. I don’t know about you, but I’m not prepared for that to happen.

“I want the fight to be united. And so, one way or another, I’m determined to do that and to bring this coalition together and make sure we unite as a nation as well.”

This is the furthest a member of the shadow cabinet has gone in suggesting that they think the approach to Reform UK may evolve before the next general election.

Last night, Mr Jenrick denied this meant he was advocating a pact with Reform UK.

A source close to Mr Jenrick said: “Rob’s comments are about voters and not parties. He’s clear we have to put Reform out of business and make the Conservatives the natural home for all those on the right, rebuilding the coalition of voters we had in 2019 and can have again. But he’s under no illusions how difficult that is – we have to prove over time we’ve changed and can be trusted again.”

Mrs Badenoch has said in interviews that she cannot see any circumstances that the Tories under her leadership would do a deal with Reform UK.

In next week’s local elections, Reform UK will compete directly against the Tories in a series of contests from Kent to Lincolnshire. At last year’s general election, in more than 170 of the 251 constituencies lost by the Conservatives the Reform vote was greater than the margin of the Tories’ defeat.

Today’s YouGov/Sky voting intention figures put Reform UK in front on 25%, Labour on 23% and the Conservatives on 20%, with the Lib Dems on 16% and Greens on 10%.

Politics

SEC says it won’t re-file fraud case against Hex’s Richard Heart

Published

3 hours ago

April 23, 2025

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SEC says it won’t re-file fraud case against Hex’s Richard Heart

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has said it doesn’t intend to refile its securities fraud complaint against Hex founder Richard Schueler, who goes by Richard Heart.

“Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission provides this notice that it does not intend to file an amended complaint in this matter,” the regulator’s lawyer, Matthew Gulde, stated in an April 21 letter to New York District Court Judge Carol Bagley Amon.

The court had previously dismissed the SEC’s original complaint on Feb. 28 as Judge Amon said the regulator failed to establish that it had jurisdiction over Heart’s activities, which she said were not specifically targeted at US investors.

She granted leave for the SEC to file an amended complaint by March 20, later extending the deadline to April 21.

Heart posted to X on April 22 that “Richard Heart, PulseChain, PulseX, and HEX have defeated the SEC completely and have achieved regulatory clarity that nearly no other coins have.”

Heart added that the SEC walked away from some of its other cryptocurrency cases voluntarily, but claimed his was the only case where “the SEC lost and crypto won across the board, with a dismissal in court of every single claim the SEC brought.”

Heart said it was a victory for open-source software, cryptocurrency and free speech because the SEC “actually sued software code itself in this case.”

SEC hunted Heart in Finland

The SEC sued Heart in July 2023 for alleged unregistered securities offerings of three tokens, HEX, PulseChain (PLS), and PulseX (PSLX), claiming he made more than $1 billion by touting the tokens as a “pathway to grandiose wealth for investors.”

In April 2024, Heart tried to have the suit tossed, claiming the regulator “has no sway over him,” because he didn’t reside in the United States.

The SEC opposed this in August, claiming he touted the tokens at a Las Vegas event. In December 2024, Interpol issued a Red Notice for Heart, seeking his arrest in Finland, where he was also suspected of tax evasion.

The PulseChain native token (HEX) hit an all-time high of $0.031 in December 2024 but has since tanked 76% as most altcoins have failed to follow Bitcoin’s momentum this year.

The SEC has dropped or suspended several cases against crypto firms so far this year under the Trump administration.

Magazine: Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra’s plan to win trust: Hodler’s Digest

Politics

Australia’s top court sides with Block Earner, dismisses financial regulator’s suit

Published

5 hours ago

April 23, 2025

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<div>Australia’s top court sides with Block Earner, dismisses financial regulator's suit</div>

The Federal Court of Australia has sided with fintech firm Block Earner in an appeal against a ruling that found it was required to hold a financial services license for its now-discontinued crypto-related products.

Block Earner’s crypto-linked fixed-yield earning product is not a financial product, or a managed investment scheme, and is not a derivative under the Corporations Act, Justices David O’Callaghan, Wendy Abraham and Catherine Button said in an April 22 judgment.

The trio said Block Earner’s yield product couldn’t be classed as an investment or financial product because users loaned crypto under fixed terms for interest payments and didn’t pool contributions to generate further benefits. The terms and conditions framed it as a loan, and users had no exposure to the firm’s business outside of the agreed interest rate, they added.

Law, Australia, ASIC, Court — *A court has dismissed the legal proceedings against Block Earner and ordered Australia’s financial regulator to pay costs. Source:* *ASIC*

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), which first brought the case, has been ordered by the court to pay costs for the proceedings, including appeals. The regulator said in an April 22 press release that it is currently “considering this decision.”

Block Earner’s chief commercial officer, James Coombes, told Cointelegraph the court decision brings clarity that crypto assets shouldn’t be treated differently from other asset classes when applying existing laws.

“Our product was simply defined as one where customers would lend their assets to us for a fixed return, there was no share in the upside of the pool of assets and as such no Managed Investment Scheme existed,” he said.

“The fact that it included crypto assets should not alter that simple definition, and I believe this case forms a bedrock for ambitious brands around Australia to build from.”

An ASIC spokesperson declined further comment.

Earner product won’t make a return

Despite the win in court, Block Earner will not be reviving its Earner product after axing it when legal proceedings began, but Coombes said that “crypto-backed loans products remain the core focus of the company.”

“Regulation going forward is not an easy task, and we empathise with the regulators on this point,” Coombes added. “We hope a collaborative process can bring about positive change.”

ASIC launched civil legal proceedings in November 2022, arguing that Block Earner needed an Australian Financial Services License to offer its three crypto-linked fixed-yield earning products.

In February 2024, an Australian court initially found the fintech firm would need a financial services license to operate its crypto yield-bearing products.

Another June 2024 ruling released Block Earner from any financial penalties because it had “acted honestly” and pursued its legal opinions before launching the products, which ASIC appealed.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered