Electoral Dysfunction: Lee Anderson’s defection and the Diane Abbott race row show politics is toxic

Published

1 year ago

March 16, 2024

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There are some weeks in politics where what Westminster needs is a monsoon to wash away the toxicity enveloping this place and clean up the atmosphere – and this week is one of them.

Be it the Number 10 agenda this week on better defining extremism, an unruly MP in the shape of Lee Anderson, or a Conservative party donor – seemingly unrelated stories all have something in common – an undercurrent of toxicity in our politics driven by a combination of culture wars and tensions over the drawn-out war in the Middle East, set against the backdrop of an election campaign that is already in full flight despite there being no poll in sight.

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It’s not really that surprising. I remember Sir Keir Starmer telling me in an interview at the beginning of the year he was going to “fight fire with fire” against Conservative attacks, setting up the long and bruising campaign we are now living through.

For all the talk about finding consensus, particularly in the battle against the threat of far-right and Islamist extremism that has intensified in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, what our politicians are looking for are dividing lines.

In Electoral Dysfunction this week, Ruth Davidson, Jess Phillips and I talk about those divisions – and find between us some common ground.

When it comes to the racism row over the Conservative party donor Frank Hester who reportedly said Diane Abbott “should be shot” and made him “want to hate all black women”, Ruth says it was “frankly nonsense” for Number 10 not to call the remarks out from the outset as racist.

It took a tweet from Kemi Badenoch calling it out for the prime minister to follow suit – and showed that Rishi Sunak “is following not leading”.

Ms Phillips tells me she thinks Ms Abbott should have the whip restored as both politicians discuss the “hierarchy of racism”, with Ruth calling out the Conservatives for being more robust over the Hester remarks than Lee Anderson’s claims that Sadiq Khan was under the control of Islamists – whom the former Tory MP described as the London mayor’s “mates”: “[The Conservative Party] still haven’t said that was racist,” Ruth says.

Which brings me to another ill-tempered event this week – the media conference to mark the defection of Mr Anderson to the Reform party.

Mr Anderson used the platform to say again he wouldn’t apologise for his remarks, as he launched a broadside against his former party for stifling “free speech” and said it was “unpalatable” that he had been disciplined for “speaking my mind” as Richard Tice of Reform welcomed Mr Anderson into his political party with open arms.

It was a pretty ill-tempered news conference, with Mr Anderson clearly finding questions from journalists around his decision – and disloyalty to the Conservative party and leadership – irritating.

When I asked him a question about what he’d say to those who thought him to be attention-seeking and disloyal, he gave me short shrift: “Country, constituency, party. Next question.”

Some people, watching back the press conference, also think that as well as giving me a curt answer, Mr Anderson also gave me the middle finger when I was asking the question.

I’ll leave you to decide, but what we can perhaps agree on is the undercurrent of ill-temper, heavy-on adversarial politics and culture wars that defined that defection.

Neither Ruth nor Jess think that jumping party will save Mr Anderson’s seat, but Ruth talks about why she thinks Mr Sunak gave Mr Anderson a platform by making him a deputy party chair – and why that decision lacked political courage (and is now biting back).

As for the prime minister, the government’s decision to create a new, official definition of extremism to ban those with a “violent or intolerant” ideology has, for a change, united quite a lot of people across the political divide.

Civil liberty groups came out to warn against democratic protest becoming infringed; some on the right of the Conservative Party are concerned it could curtail free speech, and three former Conservative home secretaries made the point that “no political party uses the issue to seek short term tactical advantage”.

In the end, talk that the government would use the list of extremists to embarrass Labour by pointing out links between Labour figures and those on the names of the government-determined lists, came to nothing.

One “culture war” this week, then, which wasn’t stoked – but the air hangs heavy in Westminster, with the prime minister seemingly unable to grasp his party and get on with leading and unwilling to call an election to let the country decide.

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Politics

Solana’s Loopscale pauses lending after $5.8M hack

Published

5 hours ago

April 26, 2025

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<div>Solana's Loopscale pauses lending after .8M hack</div>

Solana decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Loopscale has temporarily halted its lending markets after suffering an approximately $5.8 million exploit.

On April 26, a hacker siphoned approximately 5.7 million USDC (USDC) and 1200 Solana (SOL) from the lending protocol after taking out a “series of undercollateralized loans”, Loopscale co-founder Mary Gooneratne said in an X post.

The exploit only impacted Loopscale’s USDC and SOL vaults and the losses represent around 12% of Loopscale’s total value locked (TVL), Gooneratne added.

Loopscale is “working to resume repayment functionality as soon as possible to mitigate unforeseen liquidations,” its said in an X post.

“Our team is fully mobilized to investigate, recover funds, and ensure users are protected,” Gooneratne said.

Solana's Loopscale pauses lending after $5.8M hack — *Loopscale’s ‘Genesis’ lending vaults. Source: Loopscale*

In the first quarter of 2025, hackers stole more than $1.6 billion worth of crypto from exchanges and on-chain smart contracts, blockchain security firm PeckShield said in an April report.

More than 90% of those losses are attributable to a $1.5 billion attack on ByBit, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange, by North Korean hacking outfit Lazarus Group.

Unique DeFi lending model

Launched on April 10 after a six-month closed beta, Loopscale is a DeFi lending protocol designed to enhance capital efficiency by directly matching lenders and borrowers.

It also supports specialized lending markets, such as “structured credit, receivables financing, and undercollateralized lending,” Loopscale said in an April announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

Loopscale’s order book model distinguishes it from DeFi lending peers such as Aave that aggregate cryptocurrency deposits into liquidity pools.

Loopscale’s main USDC and SOL vaults yield APRs exceeding 5% and 10%, respectively. It also supports lending markets for tokens such as JitoSOL and BONK (BONK) and looping strategies for upwards of 40 different token pairs.

The DeFi protocol has approximately $40 million in TVL and has attracted upwards of 7,000 lenders, according to researcher OurNetwork.

Magazine: Ripple says SEC lawsuit ‘over,’ Trump at DAS, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 16 – 22

Politics

US Senator calls for Trump impeachment, cites memecoin dinner

Published

9 hours ago

April 26, 2025

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US Senator calls for Trump impeachment, cites memecoin dinner

United States Senator Jon Ossoff expressed support for impeaching President Donald Trump during an April 25 town hall, citing the President’s plan to host a private dinner for top Official Trump memecoin holders.

“I mean, I saw just 48 hours ago, he is granting audiences to people who buy his meme coin,” said Ossoff, a Democrat, according to a report by NBC News.

“When the sitting president of the United States is selling access for what are effectively payments directly to him. There is no question that that rises to the level of an impeachable offense.”

Senator Ossoff said he “strongly” supports impeachment proceedings during a town hall in the state of Georgia, where he is running for reelection to the Senate.

The Senator added that an impeachment is unlikely unless the Democratic Party gains control of Congress during the US midterm elections in 2026. Trump’s own Republican Party currently has a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Conflicts of interest

On April 23, the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin’s website announced plans for Trump to host an exclusive dinner at his Washington, DC golf club with the top 220 TRUMP holders.

The website subsequently posted a leaderboard tracking top TRUMP wallets and a link to register for the event. The TRUMP token’s price has gained more than 50% since the announcement, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

The specific guest list is unclear, but the memecoin’s website states that applicants must pass a background check, “can not be from a [Know Your Customer] watchlist country,” and cannot bring any additional guests.

On April 25, the team behind TRUMP denied social media rumors that TRUMP holders need at least $300,000 to participate in an upcoming dinner with the president.

“People have been incorrectly quoting #220 on the block explorer as the cutoff. That’s wrong because it includes things like locked tokens, exchanges, market makers, and those who are not participating. Instead, you should only be going off the leaderboard,” they wrote.

Law, Politics, Senate, Donald Trump, trumpcoin, Memecoin — *The TRUMP token jumped on news of the private dinner plans. Source:* *CoinMarketCap*

Legal experts told Cointelegraph that Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures, including the TRUMP memecoin and Trump-affiliated decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol World Liberty Financial, raise significant concerns about potential conflicts of interest.

“Within just a couple of days of him taking office, he’s signed a number of executive orders that are significantly going to affect the way that our crypto and digital assets industry works,” Charlyn Ho of law firm Rikka told Cointelegraph in February.

“So if he has a personal pecuniary benefit arising from his own policies, that’s a conflict of interest.”

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

Politics

Crypto sentiment recovers, but weekend liquidity risks remain

Published

11 hours ago

April 26, 2025

admin

Crypto sentiment recovers, but weekend liquidity risks remain

Crypto investor sentiment has seen a significant recovery from global tariff concerns, but analysts warn that the market’s structural weaknesses may still result in downside momentum during periods of weekend illiquidity.

Risk appetite appeared to return among crypto investors this week after US President Donald Trump adopted a softer tone, saying that import tariffs on Chinese goods may “come down substantially.”

However, the improved investor sentiment “does not guarantee that Bitcoin will avoid volatility over the weekend,” analysts from Bitfinex exchange told Cointelegraph:

“Sentiment improvements reduce fragility, but they do not eliminate structural risks like thin weekend liquidity.”

“Historically, weekends remain vulnerable to sharp moves — especially when open interest is high and market depth is low,” the analysts said, adding that unexpected macroeconomic news can still increase volatility during low liquidity periods.

Bitcoin (BTC) staged a near 11% recovery during the past week, but its rally has previously been limited by Sunday liquidity dynamics.

Bitcoin fell below $75,000 on Sunday, April 6, despite initially decoupling from the US stock market’s $3.5 trillion drop on April 4 after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned that Trump’s tariffs may affect the economy and raise inflation.

The correction was exacerbated by the lack of weekend liquidity and the fact that Bitcoin was the only large liquid asset available for de-risking, industry watchers told Cointelegraph.

“While improved sentiment creates a more stable foundation, cryptocurrency markets are still susceptible to rapid movements during periods of reduced trading volume,” according to Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder and chief operating officer of RedStone blockchain oracle firm.

“The sentiment recovery provides some cushioning, but traders should remain cautious as weekend liquidity constraints can still amplify price movements regardless of the current market mood,” he told Cointelegraph.

Crypto investors may have “maxed out on tariff-related fears”

Cryptocurrency markets may have priced in the full extent of tariff-related concerns, according to Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at crypto intelligence platform Nansen.

“It feels like we’ve maxed out on tariff-related fear,” she told Cointelegraph, adding:

“While many remain uncertain about where things are headed over the next month or so, it also seems like markets were just waiting for the slightest signal that we’re back in the game.”

“Whether the rally is sustainable depends on whether we can break through previous resistance levels, at least in isolation. It could have legs, as markets now seem to believe there’s a ‘Trump put’ under equities, the US dollar and US Treasurys,” Barthere added, warning of more potential volatility amid the upcoming negotiations.

Nansen previously predicted a 70% chance that crypto markets will bottom and start a recovery by June, but highlighted that the timing will depend on the outcome of tariff negotiations.

The tariff negotiations may only be “posturing” for the US to reach a trade agreement with China, which may be the “big prize” for Trump’s administration, according to Raoul Pal, founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor.