Bibby Stockholm: Rishi Sunak still has ‘confidence’ in Home Secretary Suella Braverman despite Legionella discovery

Published

2 years ago

August 14, 2023

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Rishi Sunak still has confidence in the home secretary and her department despite the ongoing controversy around the Bibby Stockholm, Downing Street has said.

The prime minister’s official spokesman defended the Home Office’s response to the discovery of Legionella on the barge last week, but said lessons would be learned following the incident.

Asylum seekers were removed from the barge on Friday after Legionella bacteria was found in the vessel’s water system.

Legionella bacteria can cause a potentially deadly lung infection known as Legionnaires’ disease. It is contracted by people breathing in droplets of water containing the bacteria.

None of the migrants on the barge have shown any symptoms of the disease, according to the Home Office.

The discovery has prompted a blame game between Dorset Council, contractors at the barge and the Home Office about who was notified and when.

Dorset Council has said Home Office contractors were notified about the results last Monday – four days before people were moved off the barge.

The council went on to claim a Home Office staff member was informed about the bacteria on Tuesday.

However, a government source previously told Sky News there is no record of this conversation, and claimed the Home Office only received a written notification about the Legionella on Wednesday evening.

Downing Street repeatedly said the government had acted quickly after being informed about the traces of Legionella bacteria.

Asked if ministers would be looking into the role of the contractors, he said: “I think we will be communicating with all relevant groups to see if there are any lessons that can be learned, as you would expect in any public health situation.

“We remain confident that we have acted quickly once informed.”

However, Number 10 said the Home Office was still “clarifying” when officials were made aware of issues on the Bibby Stockholm barge.

“Ministers were made aware on Thursday evening about the results of the test,” the spokesman said.

Asked who made the decision to put migrants on the boat before the test results for Legionella bacteria came back, he said it was a “decision taken by the Home Office in conjunction, having all the relevant tests being done and making sure that the checks are in place”.

The spokesman added: “These are routine precautionary tests for Legionella which is why people were able to embark.”

This morning Health Secretary Steve Barclay said he still believed migrants should be moved back on to the barge in spite of the row, saying it was an important tool in reducing the £6m-a-day cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels.

Number 10 declined to say when people might be returned to the Bibby Stockholm barge, telling reporters: “We’re not putting a timeline on that. We do expect them to be back on the boat as soon as possible.

“The Home Office is awaiting the results of further tests.

“Once those have been completed, obviously the intention is to return people.”

Politics

Rupert Lowe says Reform leader Nigel Farage ‘must never be PM’ in latest attack amid leaks of claimed WhatsApp messages

Published

22 mins ago

March 20, 2025

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Rupert Lowe says Reform leader Nigel Farage 'must never be PM' in latest attack amid leaks of claimed WhatsApp messages

Ousted Reform MP Rupert Lowe has said Nigel Farage must “never be prime minister” after leaked messages came to light reigniting the party’s internal row.

Mr Lowe, now the independent MP for Great Yarmouth, launched his latest attack on Reform’s “rotten and deceitful” leadership after a private WhatsApp conversation between Mr Farage and a party activist was leaked to the BBC.

In the messages, Mr Farage is alleged to have called Mr Lowe “disgusting” and “contemptible” after he gave an interview to the Daily Mail that was critical of his leadership.

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He also allegedly claimed that Mr Lowe’s motivation for the interview was “damaging the party just before elections – disgusting”.

In a post on social media, Mr Lowe said the alleged leaked messages “prove that he [Mr Farage] kicked me out of the party and launched this malicious witch hunt because I dared to ask reasonable questions of Reform”.

“His visceral hatred of me is evident, particularly following the Daily Mail interview,” Mr Lowe continued.

“Farage has admitted himself, in writing, that the motivation behind my removal was the Daily Mail interview, in
which I raised reasonable and constructive questions of Reform structure, policy and communication – following
months of pushing for change behind the scenes.

“That interview is why they designed and launched their horrific smear campaign against my name. It is evil behaviour.

“Nigel Farage must never be prime minister. All I have done is tell the truth, and I will continue to do so.”

The row erupted after Mr Lowe’s interview with the Daily Mail, in which Mr Lowe said it was “too early to know” if Mr Farage will become prime minister and warned Reform remains a “protest party led by the Messiah” under the Clacton MP.

He also claimed that he was “barely six months into being an MP” himself and “in the betting to be the next prime minister”.

Reform UK then announced that it had referred the Great Yarmouth MP to police and suspended him, alleging he made “verbal threats” against chairman Zia Yousaf.

The Met has launched an investigation into these claims, which Mr Lowe has vehemently denied.

Reform has also claimed it has received complaints from two female employees about serious bullying in Mr Lowe’s constituency office – which the MP has also strenuously denied, saying they do not relate to him and were made by staff who themselves faced disciplinary action.

On the allegations against the employees in his constituency office, Mr Lowe said he would “not be engaging” with the Reform “investigation”, arguing they were “blatantly vexatious complaints” made by former employees who themselves “admitted serious offences” and were subject to disciplinary processes.

“There is no credible evidence of any ‘bullying’ by anybody, because there was none,” he wrote in his social media post. “This has been weaponised in a desperate attempt to smear my name.”

He added: “If am contacted by the independent parliamentary authorities, I will fully cooperate with them. I have heard nothing from any relevant parliamentary body, nor have my team”.

Last week Sky News reported that Mr Lowe is consulting lawyers about taking possible libel action against Reform UK, for making “untrue and false allegations” about him.

Mr Lowe, the former chair of Southampton Football Club, has not ruled out joining the Conservatives or another political party.

Mr Farage has said there is “no way back” for the suspended MP and has accused him of being “out to cause maximum damage” to Reform UK.

Sky News has approached Mr Farage for comment.

Politics

SEC says proof-of-work mining does not constitute securities dealing

Published

2 hours ago

March 20, 2025

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SEC says proof-of-work mining does not constitute securities dealing

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance has clarified its views on proof-of-work mining, arguing that such activities do not constitute “the offer and sale of securities” as outlined in the Securities Act of 1933, so long as they meet certain criteria.

In a March 20 statement, the SEC division addressed the “mining of crypto assets that are intrinsically linked to the programmatic functioning of a public, permissionless network” and determined that decentralized PoW networks should not be treated as securities.

Although the SEC’s statement did not name any specific blockchain, its views on certain PoW activities apply to permissionless networks where mining is used to participate in the consensus mechanism. The statement applies to solo miners and mining pools participating in such networks.

Security, SEC, Proof-of-Work — *The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance gives its view on PoW “protocol mining activities.” Source:* *SEC*

Although Bitcoin (BTC) is by far the largest and most significant PoW chain, there are several others, including Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC) and Monero (XMR). US regulators have long considered Bitcoin to be a commodity and not a security — a view that also extends to Litecoin and Dogecoin, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

A pro-crypto policy tailwind

Digital asset markets, including PoW chains, are set to flourish under US President Donald Trump, who has vowed to make America the world’s blockchain and crypto capital.

In addition to appointing a pro-crypto replacement to Gary Gensler at the SEC, the president has established the Council of Advisers on Digital Assets to advance common-sense regulations for the industry.

On March 19, the council’s executive director, Bo Hines, revealed that a comprehensive stablecoin bill could land on the president’s desk in a matter of months.

The same day, the Blockchain Association, an industry advocacy group, said a cryptocurrency market structure bill is expected by the summer.

“I think we’re close to being able to get those done for August […] They’re doing a lot of work on that behind the scenes right now,” said Kristin Smith, the Blockchain Association’s CEO.

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Politics

ZachXBT says he unmasked mysterious 50x Hyperliquid whale

Published

3 hours ago

March 20, 2025

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ZachXBT says he unmasked mysterious 50x Hyperliquid whale

Onchain sleuth ZachXBT said he had identified the mysterious whale who profited $20 million from highly leveraged trades on Hyperliquid and GMX as a British hacker going by the name William Parker.

According to ZachXBT’s March 20 X post, Parker — who was previously known as Alistair Packover before changing his name — was arrested last year for allegedly stealing around $1 million from two casinos in 2023.

Parker also made headlines a decade ago for allegations of hacking and gambling, ZachXBT said.

“It is abundantly clear WP/AP has not learned his lesson over the years after serving time for fraud and will likely continue gambling,” ZachXBT said.

ZachXBT said his findings are based on a phone number provided by a person who allegedly received a payment from the whale trader’s wallet address.

He also said that public wallet addresses associated with the whale trader received proceeds from past onchain phishing schemes.

Cointelegraph has not independently verified ZachXBT’s claims.

Massive leveraged bets

The mysterious whale rose to prominence after profiting approximately $20 million from highly leveraged trades — in some cases with up to 50x leverage — on decentralized perpetuals exchanges Hyperliquid and GMX.

On March 12, the trader intentionally liquidated an approximately $200 million Ether (ETH) long, causing Hyperliquid’s liquidity pool to lose $4 million.

Meanwhile, the whale earned profits of some $1.8 million.

Hyperliquid said the liquidation was not an exploit but rather a predictable consequence of how the trading platform operates under extreme conditions. The DEX later revised its collateral rules for traders with open positions to guard against such occurrences in the future.

On March 14, the whale took another multimillion-long position, this time on Chainlink (LINK).

Perpetual futures, or “perps,” are leveraged futures contracts with no expiry date. Traders deposit margin collateral — typically USDC (USDC) for Hyperliquid — to secure open positions.

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