Rishi Sunak’s once close friend, Robert Jenrick, is leading the 64-strong Tory rebellion.
Boris Johnson was out of the traps this morning to throw his support behind the rebels.
Loyal MPs are spitting that two deputy party chairmen – Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith – have put their names to rebel amendments and not yet been sacked.
Welcome to another day in the Conservative Party psychodrama.
Politics live:
Boris Johnson moves against PM on Rwanda
Mr Jenrick, who abstained on the second reading of the Rwanda bill, went further than I thought he would on Tuesday in an interview with me, telling Sky News he was prepared to vote down the bill if the prime minister didn’t make robust changes to the proposed legislation.
His argument is consistent – he doesn’t believe the bill as it stands will work, and he – like Mr Sunak – is prepared to “do whatever it takes”.
“The government has a choice,” he added. “It can accept the amendments… or it can bring back a new and improved bill, and it can do that in a matter of days.”
When I point to concessions the government is offering – such as more judges and further streamlining the judicial process – Mr Jenrick is unmoved.
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Rwanda bill ‘a bucket full of holes’
Neither is he being swayed by another argument the government is hammering home to rebels – that Rwanda won’t take any deportees if it deems the UK has broken any international law over this legislation.
“It is quite an implausible suggestion from the government, which was raised at the 11 hour,” he said. “I think it is a highly convenient argument…I don’t think it’s going to wash with colleagues.”
For his part, the prime minister argues he has gone as far as he can legally while staying on the right side of the law, while Mr Jenrick says he has not.
When I asked the former immigration minister whether he has legal advice showing that there is a respectable argument for these amendments that he’s privately shared with the government, he tells me he has the legal opinion but says it’s “not common practice” to share legal advice.
“The PM has said that his test is [for there to be] respectable legal arguments in favour of any amendments,” he told me.
“I have legal opinion from a highly respected lawyer, John Larkin Casey, the former attorney general of Northern Ireland, who attests to that fact.”
So, it appears the rebels and the government are at a standoff.
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Number 10 does not seem minded to budge, believing that it will, as with the second reading of this bill, be able to pick off rebels and get it passed.
Meanwhile, Mr Jenrick – alongside former home secretary Suella Braverman – is upping the ante by declaring they will, if necessary, vote down the legislation.
When I put it to the former immigration minister that it would, in effect, be a confidence issue in the prime minister and leave him in crisis should he lose the vote, he disagreed, arguing that what was at stake was getting the policy right.
But this argument won’t be lost on other rebels, worried that torpedoing the Rwanda legislation entirely will only make it worse at the ballot box, leaving the government with absolutely no chance of tackling the problem, while leaving an already diminished leader defenestrated.
For now, the consensus around Westminster is that the legislation will pass – although perhaps with a smaller majority than the 44 the prime minister secured at the second reading.
But it looks like it’s going to be messy and damaging.
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PM asked if he will discipline frontbenchers who oppose Rwanda plan
If Mr Jenrick’s rebel amendment around individual claims is called today, the government will be caught up in the spectacle of whipping its MPs to vote down 60-plus rebels.
That’s perhaps the biggest rebellion – please correct me if I am wrong out there – since 91 Tory MPs defied a three-line whip on House of Lords reform in the coalition years.
A victory this week will be banked as a win and will allow Mr Sunak to kick the matter of small boats into the long grass (at least for a bit) and reset his focus to an issue a little more fertile for him – the economy.
But what happens, as Mr Jenrick asks, if, come August there are still thousands of people coming across in small boats?
There is a chunk of his party, particularly in those Boris Johnson-backing Red Wall seats, who believe success or failure at the ballot box rests on this single issue, which is why they are unbiddable.
That’s why winning the vote won’t bring peace for the prime minister and his party.
Despite the ongoing market meltdown on US trade tariffs, executives at major cryptocurrency firms Messari and Sygnum are bullish on institutional Bitcoin adoption later in 2025.
Speaking on a panel at Paris Blockchain Week on April 8, Messari CEO Eric Turner and Sygnum Bank co-founder Thomas Eichenberger said they expect a significant shift in the banking sector’s involvement with crypto in the second half of the year.
According to the executives, the global banking push into Bitcoin (BTC) services has great potential to happen in the second half of 2025 as regulators embrace crypto, including stablecoins and crypto services by banks.
“I think we’re probably looking at a muted Q2, but I’m really excited for Q3 and Q4,” Messari’s Turner said during the panel discussion moderated by Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, forecasting “really interesting” things coming to the crypto market in 2025.
Crypto adoption is not just about Trump
While some investors focus on the pro-crypto stance of US President Donald Trump, Turner emphasized that broader regulatory momentum is what matters most.
“When you look at the potential of having market structure regulation in the US, stablecoin regulation, and just the fact that across the board, not just President Trump himself, but the SEC and all these regulatory industries are really embracing crypto,” Turner said.
Paris Blockchain Week’s panel with Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, Bancor co-founder Eyal Hertzog, Sygnum co-founder Thomas Eichenberger, Messari CEO Eric Turner, AWS fintech leader Alex Matsuo and Near chief operating officer Chris Donovan. Source: Cointelegraph
Sygnum co-founder Thomas Eichenberger said international banks with US branches are also poised to enter the market once the legal landscape becomes clearer:
“I think it’s a matter of fact that US banks are preparing to be able to offer crypto custody and at least crypto spot trading services anytime soon.”
“I think by then I would agree with you, Eric,” he continued, projecting a continued phase of market uncertainty until the US establishes a clear regulatory framework.
Related: Ripple acquires crypto-friendly prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25B
Banks are no longer afraid of Bitcoin regulators
With the establishment of clear crypto rules for banks in the US, there will be a rush for crypto services by large international banks that are incorporated outside of the US but have a US-based presence, Eichenberger said.
“Some of them may have had their strategic plans in their cupboard to offer crypto-related services, but have been afraid that at some point they will be gone after by any of the US regulatory authorities,” he said, adding:
“Now I think there’s no one to be afraid of anymore in terms of regulatory authorities worldwide. So I think many of the large international banks will launch this year.”
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Global trade tensions triggered by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff measures may come to an end with a potential deal with China as investors remain concerned about escalation from both sides.
Trump’s April 2 announcement of reciprocal import tariffs sent shockwaves through global equity and crypto markets. The measures include a 10% baseline tariff on all imported goods, effective April 5, with higher levies — such as a 34% tariff on Chinese imports — set to begin on April 9.
However, the tariff negotiations may only be “posturing” for the US to reach an agreement with China, according to Raoul Pal, founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor.
“In the end, almost all the other tariff negotiations and rhetoric are all about getting China to agree a deal,” Pal wrote in an April 8 X post, adding:
“That is the big prize and both China and the US understand it and need it. Everything else is negotiation posturing. China needs a weaker $ and the US needs tariffs.”
Source: Raoul Pal
“Also, the US is trying to shut down China tariff arbitrage using other channels such as Mexico or Vietnam,” Pal said.
Related: Bitcoin price can hit $250K in 2025 if Fed shifts to QE: Arthur Hayes
China retaliates with new tariffs
Considering China’s latest retaliatory measures, a resolution remains unlikely in the short term.
In response to US tariffs, China imposed a 34% tariff on all US imports effective April 10, media outlet Xinhua News reported on April 4. China’s foreign ministry also vowed to “fight till the end” against Trump’s tariffs, which it called “bullying” by the world’s largest economy.
China overtakes the US in global trade. Source: Econovis
China overtook the US in 2012 to become the world’s largest trading nation by the total value of exports and imports, surpassing $4 trillion in goods trade that year, according to The Guardian.
Crypto markets watch trade outcome closely
As the trade dispute continues to evolve, analysts say a potential agreement between the two global superpowers could serve as a key catalyst for recovery in digital asset markets.
Crypto markets have a 70% chance to bottom by June 2025 before recovering, Nansen analysts predicted.
Related: Crypto market bottom likely by June despite tariff fears: Finance Redefined
Investor appetite for risk assets such as Bitcoin will depend on the global tariff responses from other countries, according to Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at Nansen.
“We have reached somewhat of a local bottom in regard to tariffs and the impact on prices,” the analyst said during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction live show on X, adding:
“Trump came out guns blazing, and we’ve mostly seen the worst from the US side, so we’ll see if other countries are willing to drop some of the tariffs because it’s very likely the US will do the same.”
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A Nigerian court has reportedly delayed the country’s tax evasion case against Binance until April 30 to give time for Nigeria’s tax authority to respond to a request from the crypto exchange.
Reuters reported on April 7 that a lawyer for Binance, Chukwuka Ikwuazom, asked a court the same day to invalidate an order allowing for court documents to be served to the company via email.
Binance doesn’t have an office in Nigeria and Ikwuazom claimed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) didn’t get court permission to serve court documents to Binance outside the country.
“On the whole the order for the substituted service as granted by the court on February 11, 2025 on Binance who is … registered under the laws of Cayman Islands and resident in Cayman Islands is improper and should be set aside,” he said.
FIRS sued Binance in February, claiming the exchange owed $2 billion in back taxes and should be made to pay $79.5 billion for damages to the local economy as its its operations allegedly destabilized the country’s currency, the naira, which Binance denies.
It also reportedly alleged that Binance is liable to pay corporate income tax in Nigeria, as it has a “significant economic presence” there, with FIRS requesting a court order for the exchange to pay income taxes for 2022 and 2023, plus a 10% annual penalty on unpaid amounts along with a nearly a 27% interest rate on the unpaid taxes.
Nigeria’s legal history with Binance
In February 2024, Nigeria arrested and detained Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla on tax fraud and money laundering charges. The country dropped the tax charges against both in June and the remaining charge against Gambaryan in October.
Tigran Gambaryan (right) was seen in a September video struggling to walk into a courtroom in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Source: X
Anjarwalla managed to slip his guards and escape Nigerian custody to Kenya in March last year and is apparently still at large.
Related: Binance exec shares details about release from Nigerian detention
Gambaryan, a US citizen, returned home in October after reports suggested his health had deteriorated during his detainment with reported cases of pneumonia, malaria and a herniated spinal disc that may need surgery.
Binance stopped its naira currency deposits and withdrawals in March 2024, effectively leaving the Nigerian market.
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