Rishi Sunak was ‘persuaded not to quit by Murdoch executives after lockdown fine’
Rishi Sunak was persuaded not to quit as chancellor over his COVID lockdown fine after discussions with executives working for media mogul Rupert Murdoch, it has been claimed.
Mr Sunak is reported to have shared a draft resignation statement with allies after both he and Boris Johnson were fined for attending the then prime minister’s birthday celebration in Downing Street in June 2020.
Among those he reportedly spoke to were former Conservative leader and Times columnist Lord William Hague, and Lord Daniel Finkelstein, a former executive editor and current columnist at the newspaper – owned by Mr Murdoch’s News Corp.
Mr Sunak also had a conversation about his potential resignation with Mas Siddiqui – an old friend, former Goldman Sachs colleague and News Corp director – according to The Daily Telegraph.
Allies of Mr Johnson have told people that Mr Murdoch intervened to persuade Mr Sunak not to quit, according to the paper, reporting on claims in a new book by its political editor Ben Riley-Smith.
However, a Number 10 source said Mr Sunak did not speak directly to Mr Murdoch at any time about his potential resignation.
It is unknown whether a message was passed directly from Mr Murdoch to Mr Sunak.
It’s the latest report to suggest that Mr Sunak was on the verge of resigning after he was fined by police for breaching COVID lockdown rules.
A Downing Street source said Mr Sunak did not speak directly to Mr Murdoch. Pic: AP
The PM reportedly spoke to Lord Hague as he considered his future
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Mr Sunak came under pressure to resign as chancellor after the fixed-penalty notice was issued in April 2022.
After spending hours reportedly agonising over the decision, he ultimately decided to stay in Downing Street along with Mr Johnson.
Mr Sunak did later resign as chancellor, heaping pressure on Boris Johnson
However, he quit in July, shortly after the resignation of then health secretary, Sajid Javid.
His resignation helped spark a mass ministerial walkout, which eventually forced Mr Johnson to step down as prime minister.
A spokeswoman for News UK declined to comment, while a spokesman for Mr Johnson said that he does not recognise the account.
The shutdown could stall progress on the crypto market structure bill, but lawmakers continue to insist that the legislation is on track.
The STREAMLINE Act would update anti–money laundering rules by lifting decades-old thresholds for transaction reporting, cutting red tape for banks and crypto companies.
Politics
Starmer failed to take decisive step to smash the gangs at leaders summit – as small boat crossings exceed 2024
There were some wins for the UK at the Western Balkans Summit at Lancaster House in central London today.
The UK unveiled a fresh list of sanctions – and believes it has made some headway convincing the EU to follow suit by placing restrictions on the likes of Kosovo passport forgers.
British participants also claimed to be pleased that Serbia and Montenegro were added to a joint migration taskforce and said UK and EU law enforcement would work even more closely.
But was it a moment where Sir Keir Starmer could convincingly claim to have taken a decisive step towards smashing the gangs, which was one of the goals he claimed he had for the summit this afternoon? Absolutely not.
While presented domestically as a means to tackle illegal immigration, in fact, the Western Balkans Summit was not primarily about migration, and I understood the talks focused on many other areas, including growth opportunities and EU enlargement.
Indeed, I was told that return hubs were not even on the prime minister’s agenda.
The leaders posed for a ‘family photo’. Pic: PA
Perhaps unsurprisingly, western Balkan leaders did not want to talk about that and the summit was not designed in the first place to focus on that agenda, regardless of how it was presented to the domestic media.
The backdrop for the summit couldn’t have been more tricky. The number of immigrants who crossed the Channel exceeded the number in 2024 on Wednesday.
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Meanwhile, the first of the 46 migrants returned to France made their way back over the Channel, claiming France is an unsafe country.
There was finger pointing from British officials about why the French police had not done more to detain and deter this man from returning.
And the truth is, migrants who leave the UK are returning – because in many cases we are giving them the cash to do so.
That aside, there is also a nervousness that the French one-in, one-out deal may collapse entirely in a matter of weeks.
Only 42 individuals have been removed from the UK to date but the EU has to authorise this plan for the long-term and it is far from clear that it will survive.
To have secured the long term future of that deal at an international summit would be a big success. Today’s were on a much smaller scale.
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