Tories want to create dividing lines with Labour – but small boats week shows that can backfire
To sanitise a quote from fictional government spin doctor Malcolm Tucker, “no one talks about dodgy donors okay? Because it makes everybody look bad.”
The real-life Downing Street operation may be learning a similar lesson to this during their summer campaign to try and create dividing lines with Labour on key election issues.
Put plainly: is it wise to throw the spotlight onto policy areas like housing, migration and health when the Conservative’s own record is patchy at best?
Take the so-called “small boats week”.
The aim was to demonstrate tangible progress and restate Tory commitment to hard-line measures to discourage channel crossings.
In reality, we ended the week with 39 migrants being taken off a barge in Dorset because of a Legionella alert; an uptick in channel crossings and the total number of people recorded making the journey passing the 100,000 mark; and six people losing their lives in the Channel after their boat began to sink off the French coast.
A rescue operation this weekend after a migrant boat capsized
The Bibby Stockholm affair is arguably the biggest backfire.
It’s important to remember that – despite the endless media attention – the vessel was never much of an answer to the vexed question of what to do with the 50,000 or so asylum seekers housed in hotels.
Even at full capacity, the Bibby would only take 1% of that number.
No, the aim of the barge was for it to be a symbol of the government’s no holds barred approach to irregular migration.
It’s now warped into something quite different.
Tory MPs and voters may be forgiven for wondering what chance there is of hundreds of asylum seekers being permanently settled in Rwanda if the government can’t even keep a few dozen on a barge in Dorset for more than a week.
Or to put it another way, this is about competency.
And that’s what makes it dangerous for Rishi Sunak, because he has staked his premiership on his broader ability to fix problems and get things done.
But that’s not to say there aren’t some questions for Labour as well.
Part of the political strategy behind the Bibby Stockholm was to force Labour to take a position on this divisive election issue.
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Campaigners: ‘More people will die’ in Channel
The party appeared to do that this week with the shadow immigration minister calling the measure a “mess” but also suggesting they would initially keep the barge if in government.
The partial implosion of the policy now shows the potential dangers of this flavour of political triangulation and will likely fuel calls from the left of the party for the leadership to be bolder in speaking out on divisive so-called “wedge” issues.
So what next?
We’re told to expect a focus on the NHS in the coming days with the Health Secretary Steve Barclay provocatively writing to the Labour and SNP-run governments in Wales and Scotland to offer help with waiting lists.
But again, how wise is this given the health service in England starts the week with junior doctors on strike and with NHS leaders warning it may not be possible to meet the prime minister’s promise of cutting waiting lists?
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Of course, the reason these strategies look risky is because of the unstable domestic backdrop the government is presiding over.
The hope in Downing Street is that by the time of the next election, progress on the economy, healthcare and migration will give ministers a firmer footing to launch attacks from.
The calculation for this current campaign may simply be “why not?” – given Labour’s huge poll lead and the fact that public attention is largely elsewhere during the summer break.
Or to put it another way: such is the state of the glass house Rishi Sunak is currently sat in, there’s probably little harm in throwing a few stones.
GD Culture Group (GDC), a Nasdaq-listed holding company focused on livestreaming, e-commerce and artificial intelligence-powered digital human technology, plans to raise up to $300 million for a cryptocurrency treasury reserve.
In a May 12 statement, GDC and its subsidiary, AI Catalysis, announced entering into a common stock purchase agreement with a British Virgin Islands limited liability company to sell up to $300 million of its common stock.
The proceeds from the stock sale will be used to fund the firm’s crypto treasury, which will include purchases of Bitcoin (BTC) and the Official Trump (TRUMP) token.
“Under this initiative, and subject to certain limitations, GDC intends to allocate a significant portion of the proceeds from any share sales under the facility to the acquisition, long-term holding, and integration of crypto assets into its core treasury operations,” the company said in the announcement.
GDC described the strategy as a move to align with the broader “decentralization transformation.”
Founded in 2016, GDC is a micro-cap company with a current $34 million market capitalization, according to Nasdaq data.
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GDC’s chairman and CEO, Xiaojian Wang, said the initiative builds on the company’s strengths in digital technologies and positions it for a blockchain-powered industrial shift.
“GDC’s adoption of crypto assets as treasury reserve holdings is a deliberate strategy that reflects both current industry trends and our unique strengths in digital technologies and the livestreaming e-commerce ecosystem,” Wang said.
The stock offering was announced over a month after the firm received a noncompliance warning from Nasdaq related to its stockholders’ equity. The notice indicated that the firm reported stockholders’ equity of only $2,643, well below the minimum requirement of $2.5 million.
The firm was given until May 4 to submit a plan to comply with the listing requirements. If accepted by Nasdaq, the compliance plan will allow up to 180 days from the notification period to comply with the requirements.
The Nevada-based company joins a small but growing group of public firms that are allocating part of their balance sheets to crypto assets.
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Trump token dinner planned for top holders
GDC’s announcement coincides with an upcoming high-profile event tied to the Trump token project. The 25 largest holders of TRUMP tokens are set to attend a private dinner at the White House on May 22.
However, the TRUMP memecoin project said in a May 12 X post that it has stopped considering additional purchases for the dinner and that the attendees had been notified to apply for background checks.
According to data provided on the project’s leaderboard, the top 220 wallets held more than 13.7 million tokens as of May 12, worth about $174 million at the time of publication.
Some US lawmakers have criticized the dinner. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis reportedly said that the idea of the US president offering exclusive access for people willing to pay “gives [her] pause.”
Crypto regulation experts also fear that the Trump family’s crypto endeavors may trigger more regulatory scrutiny by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as politically affiliated memecoins introduce a new challenge for crypto legislation.
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A 21-year-old man has been arrested over a series of arson attacks, police have said, after a fire at a house owned by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The suspect was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, according to the Metropolitan Police.
He remains in custody.
Emergency services were called to fires at the doors of two homes in north London within 24 hours of each other – one just after 1.35am on Monday in Kentish Town and the other on Sunday in Islington. Both properties are linked to Sir Keir.
Police are investigating links to several fires, which they are treating as suspicious. Pic: LNP
Detectives were also checking a vehicle fire last Thursday on the same street as the Kentish Town property to see whether it is connected.
Part of the area was cordoned off as police and London Fire Brigade (LFB) investigators examined the scene.
Neighbours described hearing a loud bang and said police officers were looking for a projectile.
Emergency services were deployed to the scene in Kentish Town, north London, on Monday. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
The prime minister is understood to still own the home, which was damaged by fire on Monday, but nobody was hurt. Pictures showed scorching at the entrance to the property.
Sir Keir used to live there before he and his family moved into 10 Downing Street after Labour won last year’s general election. It is believed the property is being rented out.
In the early hours of Sunday, firefighters dealt with a small fire at the front door of a house converted into flats in nearby Islington, which is also linked to the prime minister.
Counter-terror police are leading the investigation. Pic: LNP
In a statement, police said: “As a precaution and due to the property having previous connections with a high-profile public figure, officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are leading the investigation into this fire.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish what caused it. All three fires are being treated as suspicious at this time, and enquiries remain ongoing.”
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The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I can only say that the prime minister thanks the emergency services for their work and it is subject to a live investigation. So I can’t comment any further.”
Kemi Badenoch has condemned the suspected arson attacks.
Writing on X, the Conservative leader said: “This is a shocking incident. My thoughts are with the prime minister and his family. No one should face these sorts of threats, let alone people in public service.
“It’s an attack on our democracy and must never be tolerated.”
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News on Tuesday: “It’s important that the prime minister and anyone in public life has their family, their homes, protected.
“It is absolutely wrong, disgraceful, for any individual to take the kind of action that we saw against the prime minister’s home.”
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed two key cryptocurrency-related bills that aimed to expand the state’s involvement in digital assets while signing a strict regulatory measure targeting Bitcoin ATMs.
On May 12, Hobbs rejected Senate Bill 1373, which sought to establish a Digital Assets Strategic Reserve Fund. The fund would have allowed Arizona to hold crypto assets obtained through seizures or legislative allocations.
“Current volatility in cryptocurrency markets does not make a prudent fit for general fund dollars,” she stated in her veto letter. “I have already signed legislation this session which allows the state to utilize cryptocurrency without placing general fund dollars at risk,” she added.
That decision followed her veto of Senate Bill 1025 — the more ambitious “Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act” — on May 3. It would have authorized up to 10% of the state’s treasury and retirement funds to be invested in Bitcoin and other digital assets.
According to data from bitcoinlaws.io, 26 US states have introduced strategic crypto reserve bills, with 18 of them currently active.
Hobbs also vetoed Senate Bill 1024, which would have permitted state agencies to accept cryptocurrency payments for taxes, fines and fees via approved service providers.
Although the proposal attempted to shield the state from direct exposure to price volatility, Hobbs said it still introduced “too much risk.”
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Hobbs approves Bitcoin ATM bill
On May 12, Hobbs approved House Bill 2387, which introduces new consumer protection rules for cryptocurrency kiosk (ATM) operators, aiming to reduce fraud and improve transparency.
The bill mandates that kiosks display clear, multilingual warnings about common crypto scams and require users to acknowledge these risks before completing transactions. Operators must also provide detailed receipts that include transaction data, contact information, fees and refund policies.
Furthermore, the bill caps transactions at $2,000 per day for new customers and $10,500 per day for returning users after 10 days. Kiosk providers must also offer 24/7 toll-free customer service and post the number visibly on each machine.
Under the bill, if a new user is tricked into sending crypto under false pretenses and reports it with proof within 30 days, they are entitled to a full refund, including fees.
According to CoinATMRadar, there are currently 20 active Bitcoin ATMs in Arizona.
Notably, Hobbs has not entirely closed the door on digital assets. On Wednesday, she signed House Bill 2749, which updates Arizona’s unclaimed property laws to include digital assets.
The legislation allows the state to retain unclaimed cryptocurrencies in their original form rather than liquidating them into fiat currency.
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