Tories taken over by ‘crackpots and conspiracy theorists’, says Labour’s Wes Streeting
The Tories have been taken over by “crackpots and conspiracy theorists”, Wes Streeting said as he defended Labour’s appeal to voters.
Appearing on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme, the shadow health secretary rejected criticism that his party under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership is “a bit wet”.
He said he was “proud” Labour is “appealing to the country rather than repelling people” when “the cranks, the crackpots and the conspiracy theorists” have taken over the Conservative Party.
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Pointing to comments made by Transport Secretary Mark Harper – who last week claimed local councils want to “decide how often you go the shops” – Mr Streeting added: “When you’ve got cabinet ministers, notionally serious cabinet ministers like Mark Harper on your programme this morning, peddling conspiracy theories as if he’s been doom-scrolling TikTok trying to find the most bonkers things to say from the conference platform – what are these people doing?
“And how on earth does this address the biggest crises in our country?”
Mr Streeting was responding to criticism from the head of Labour’s biggest donor, who last night warned the party against being “too timid” and “limping into Number 10”.
Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said she wanted the party to resemble the reforming Labour government of 1945 led by Clement Attlee in the aftermath of the Second World War, when the NHS was founded.
Mr Streeting made the point that Labour’s new plan to spend £1.1bn providing another two million NHS appointments during evenings and weekends is an example of its ambition.
The measure forms part of Labour’s NHS proposals – including extra scanners and dental reforms – worth around £1.6bn, but it relies on NHS staff volunteering for extra shifts despite the lure of lucrative private work.
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Labour peer Peter Mandelson said he agreed with Ms Graham that “we need more than policy tweaks and we need more than small twists of the policy dial”.
However, he said Sir Keir needs to continue doing what he’s doing “taking the party from being ‘weird’ to ‘normal’.”
RMT boss Mick Lynch also called on Labour to be bolder, telling Sky News: “There’s no point in being timid or hiding your light under a bushel. People need something to vote for, not just something to vote against.”
It comes as Labour members gather in Liverpool for what could be the final Labour conference before the expected general election next year.
Word cloud about Keir Starmer. Pic: BBC
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After its dire performance at the last election, the party has been buoyed by consistent double-digit poll leads over the Tories and the recent Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election triumph over the SNP.
Speaking to the BBC, Sir Keir said he wanted to use the conference to change people’s minds about those who aren’t convinced by him.
Confronted with a word cloud that suggested the public thought “nothing” about him, he said: “I’ve had a lot worse thrown at me in my life… that is why this week is so important for us.
“We come here to this, the last conference before a general election, to set out our positive case.”
In other developments as the conference started on Sunday:
- Sir Keir said his plan to grow the economy would raise money to invest in public services – but would not say what would happen if the economy doesn’t grow
- The Labour leader restated a commitment to build 1.5 million homes over a five-year term, and said he would scrap the Rwanda deportation plan even if it’s approved by the courts and brings down Channel crossings
- Deputy leader Angela Rayner gave a speech which was interrupted by a heckler talking about the NHS
- The speech addressed rental reforms, housing and workers’ rights but did not contain new policy
Taiwanese lawmaker Ko Ju-Chun has called on the government to consider adding Bitcoin to its national reserves, suggesting it could serve as a hedge against global economic uncertainty.
Ko, a legislator at-large in Taiwan’s legislative body, the Legislative Yuan, took to X on Friday to report that he had advocated Bitcoin (BTC) investment by the Taiwanese government at the National Conference on May 9.
In his remarks, Ko cited Bitcoin’s potential to become a hedge amid global economic risks and urged Taiwan to recognize the cryptocurrency alongside gold and foreign exchange reserves to boost its financial resilience.
Ko’s announcement came shortly after the legislator held talks with Samson Mow, who advocates for Bitcoin adoption by states like El Salvador at his BTC tech firm Jan3.
Taiwan is an export-oriented economy
Ko highlighted that Taiwan is an export-driven economy that has experienced significant fluctuations in its national currency, the New Taiwan dollar, amid global inflation and intensifying geopolitical risks.
“We currently have a gold reserve of 423 metric tons, and our foreign exchange reserves amount to $577 billion, including investments in US Treasury bonds,” the lawmaker stated.
In a scenario of more intense currency volatility or potential regional conflicts, Taiwan may “very likely be unable to ensure the security and liquidity,” Ko continued, adding that Bitcoin could be a great addition to Taiwan’s reserves for several reasons.
“Bitcoin has been operating for over 15 years. It has a fixed total supply, is decentralized, and is resistant to censorship. Many countries are focusing on its hedging attributes. At the same time, in intense situations, it may not face the risk of embargo,” he said.
Bitcoin is not the only solution
Referring to many global initiatives considering Bitcoin adoption as a reserve asset, Ko stressed that he’s not advocating for Bitcoin as the “only solution” to rising economic challenges.
Instead, the legislator suggested adding a “small proportion of Bitcoin” into the diversified assets as tools for sovereign asset allocation and risk hedging, and backup capacity of Taiwan’s financial system.
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He previously suggested that Taiwan could allocate a maximum of 5% of its $50 billion reserve to Bitcoin in an X post on May 6.
“When exchange rate risk and regional uncertainty increase, it is time to introduce new tools to construct a more flexible financial strategy framework,” Ko said, adding:
“As former Dean Chen Chong said, Bitcoin is the gun of the digital era. It may also be the gold of the digital era, the silver of the digital era. Or it could be gunpowder. A wise nation will not let weapons be in others’ hands.”
The news comes as Taiwan is emerging as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction, with the Financial Supervisory Commission pushing institutional trials of crypto custody services in late 2024.
Mainland China continues to maintain its hostile stance on cryptocurrency after imposing a ban on multiple crypto activities, including mining, in 2021.
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German law enforcement seized 34 million euros ($38 million) in cryptocurrency from eXch, a cryptocurrency platform allegedly used to launder funds stolen after Bybit’s record-breaking $1.4 billion hack.
The seizure, announced on May 9 by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Frankfurt’s main prosecutor’s office, involved multiple crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Dash (DASH). The move marks the third-largest crypto confiscation in the BKA’s history.
The authorities also seized eXch’s German server infrastructure with over eight terabytes of data and shut down the platform, the announcement added.
eXch exchanged crypto without AML
In the statement, the BKA described eXch as a “swapping” service that allowed users to exchange various crypto assets without implementing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures.
The platform had operated since 2014 and reportedly facilitated about $1.9 billion in crypto transfers, some of which were believed to be of “criminal origin,” including assets laundered during the Bybit hack.
“Among other things, a portion of the $1.5 billion stolen from the Bybit crypto exchange, which was hacked on Feb. 21, 2025, is said to have been exchanged via eXch,” the authorities wrote.
Multisig, FixedFloat among laundering cases
According to a post by crypto sleuth ZachXBT, eXch was also involved in laundering millions of funds from other crypto thefts and exploits, including Multisig, FixedFloat and the $243 million Genesis creditor theft.
Those were in addition to “countless phishing drainer services over the past few years with refusal to block addresses and freeze orders,” ZachXBT said.
ZachXBT was among the first security analysts to report on eXch’s links to laundering $35 million of crypto assets stolen from Bybit soon after the hack was confirmed.
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“Lazarus Group transferred 5K ETH from the Bybit Hack to a new address and began laundering funds via eXch (a centralized mixer) and bridging funds to Bitcoin via Chainflip,” ZachXBT wrote in a Telegram post on Feb. 22.
eXch announced termination of services by May 1
After initially denying involvement in laundering funds from the Bybit hack, eXch eventually announced it would cease operations by May 1 in a Bitcoin Talk post published in mid-April.
“Even though we have been able to operate despite some failed attempts to shut down our infrastructure […], we don’t see any point in operating in a hostile environment where we are the target of SIGINT [Signals Intelligence] simply because some people misinterpret our goals,” it wrote.
Addressing the seizure, senior public prosecutor Benjamin Krause stressed the importance of action against “quick and anonymous opportunities for money laundering for any amount.”
“Crypto swapping is an essential component of the underground economy, used to conceal incriminated funds from illegal activities such as hacking or trading in stolen payment card data, thus making them available to perpetrators,” he said.
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