Sir Simon Clarke’s attack on Rishi Sunak is more kamikaze than mutiny… for now

Published

2 years ago

January 24, 2024

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It’s “lunacy”, “facile and divisive self-indulgence”, “ludicrous” and a “circular firing squad”. Just some of the attacks on Sir Simon Clarke after his “Rishi must go” outburst.

His incendiary attack is either a one-man kamikaze mission or the start of a new mutiny by right-wing Tory MPs. So far, however, it’s looking more kamikaze than mutiny.

True, the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP – one of Liz Truss’s leading lieutenants – was one of the 11 rebels in the third reading of the Rwanda bill last week.

But he doesn’t have a reputation as being one of the craziest of the right-wingers and his blistering onslaught against the prime minister in The Daily Telegraph has stunned MPs of all parties.

Politics latest: Reaction to Clarke’s call for PM to go

It’s also true that he was one of the Conservative MPs who submitted a vote of no confidence in Theresa May’s leadership in 2018. So he’s got form as a political assassin.

But even some of Mr Sunak’s harshest critics will regard some of his language in his Telegraph article as grossly over the top and view his act of treachery as total madness.

Where his arguments appear deeply flawed are where he quotes at length the Telegraph’s YouGov MRP poll last week predicting a Tory wipeout on the scale of the Tony Blair landslide in 1997.

That poll, however, has been strongly criticised – not least by the pollsters YouGov, who claimed the Telegraph had distorted its findings – and the Tories’ election guru Isaac Levido told Conservative MPs last week to ignore it.

And some of Sir Simon’s claims, surely, are wide of the mark. Tories out of power for a decade? Really? Extinction if Nigel Farage comes back? Apocalyptic, to say the least.

Rishi Sunak – uninspiring and the main obstacle to recovery, gone from asset to anchor? And then this wounding blast: “He does not get what Britain needs. And he is not listening to what the British people want.”

Those are the sort of criticisms the prime minister gets from the Labour Party. No wonder the furious reaction of senior colleagues is that Sir Simon – knighted in Liz Truss’s resignation honours – is doing Labour’s work for them.

A change of leader and the Tories would recover strongly this year, he claims. That surely has got to be one of his more preposterous claims. He even acknowledges that many MPs will claim the party would look ridiculous.

But “meekly sleepwalking towards an avoidable annihilation” would be more ridiculous, he writes. Changing leader would give the party a fighting chance, he claims.

Well, the only fighting that’s going on is between Conservative MPs. No wonder sensible senior figures like Damian Green, Sir Liam Fox, Dame Priti Patel and Sir David Davis have denounced and disowned him.

Is Sir Simon proposing to stand as a stalking horse in a leadership contest, like Sir Anthony Meyer against Margaret Thatcher in 1989, in what was the beginning of the end for her premiership?

Would he attract much support? Unlikely. So far, there doesn’t appear to be the appetite among Tory MPs for a mutiny. Which – so far – leaves Sir Simon exposed as a one-man kamikaze squad.

Politics

COVID schemes’ fraud and error cost taxpayers £11bn

Published

3 hours ago

December 9, 2025

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COVID schemes' fraud and error cost taxpayers £11bn

COVID-19 fraud and error cost the taxpayer nearly £11bn, a government watchdog has found.

Pandemic support programmes such as furlough, bounce-back loans, support grants and Eat Out to Help Out led to £10.9bn in fraud and error, COVID Counter-Fraud Commissioner Tom Hayhoe’s final report has concluded.

Lack of government data to target economic support made it “easy” for fraudsters to claim under more than one scheme and secure dual funding, the report said.

Weak accountability, bad quality data and poor contracting were identified as the primary causes of the loss.

The government has said the sum is enough to fund daily free school meals for the UK’s 2.7 million eligible children for eight years.

An earlier report from Mr Hayhoe for the Treasury in June found that failed personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts during the pandemic cost the British taxpayer £1.4 billion, with £762 million spent on unused protective equipment unlikely ever to be recovered.

Factors behind the lost money had included government over-ordering of PPE, and delays in checking it.

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Politics

Circle gets Abu Dhabi greenlight amid UAE stablecoin and crypto push

Published

6 hours ago

December 9, 2025

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Circle gets Abu Dhabi greenlight amid UAE stablecoin and crypto push

Stablecoin issuer Circle has secured regulatory approval to operate as a financial service provider in the Abu Dhabi International Financial Center, deepening its push into the United Arab Emirates.

In an announcement Tuesday, Circle Internet Group said it received a Financial Services Permission license from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the International Financial Centre of Abu Dhabi. This allows the stablecoin issuer to operate as a Money Services Provider in the IFC.

The USDC (USDC) issuer also appointed Saeeda Jaffar as its managing director for Circle Middle East and Africa. The new executive also serves as a senior vice president and group country manager for the Gulf Operation Council at Visa and will be tasked with developing the stablecoin issuer’s regional strategy and partnerships.

Circle co-founder, chairman and CEO Jeremy Allaire said that the relevant regulatory framework “sets a high bar for transparency, risk management, and consumer protection,” adding that those standards are needed if “trusted stablecoins” are going to support payments and finance at scale.

UAE, Circle, Stablecoin — *Source:* *Circle*

Abu Dhabi awards a wave of licenses

The ADGM has recently awarded licenses for financial operations to a wave of crypto companies. Earlier this week, Tether’s USDt (USDT) — the largest stablecoin by circulation and Circle’s top competitor — secured a regulatory milestone in Abu Dhabi’s international financial center, as did Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin Ripple USD at the end of November.

On Monday, crypto exchange Binance was granted three separate licenses from Abu Dhabi’s financial regulator, allowing it to operate its exchange, clearing house and broker-dealer services. This followed its competitor Bybit receiving regulatory approval in the UAE in early October.

UAE bets on crypto

The Central Bank of the UAE has been actively reviewing its cryptocurrency regulations. In November, it introduced rules for decentralized finance (DeFi) and the broader Web3 industry.

The newly introduced Federal Decree Law No. 6 of 2025 brings DeFi platforms, related services and infrastructure providers under the scope of regulations if they enable payments, exchange, lending, custody, or investment services, with licenses now required. Local crypto lawyer Irina Heaver said that “DeFi projects can no longer avoid regulation by claiming they are just code.”

Heaver told Cointelegraph at the end of 2024 that during that year the country cemented its status as a global crypto hub.

In October 2024, the UAE exempted cryptocurrency transfers and conversions from value-added tax, just a month after Dubai’s digital asset regulator announced stricter rules on crypto marketing. Around the same time, local free economic zone Ras Al Khaimah Digital Assets Oasis was also working to introduce a legal framework for decentralized autonomous organizations.

Local regulators were not shy about enforcing the rules, with Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority cracking down on seven unlicensed crypto businesses, issuing fines and cease-and-desist orders.

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