Rishi Sunak and senior Tories have sparked the first major row of the election campaign by accusing “spineless” Sir Keir Starmer of “chickening out” of weekly TV debates.
The prime minister has challenged the Labour leader to take part in six TV clashes during the campaign debating issues like tax, the cost of living and security.
But Labour’s high command has hit back, claiming Sir Keir‘s priority is spending time on the road talking to voters, and revealed that he will take part in two TV debates with the PM.
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Realistically, TV schedules in June and early July are packed with the group stages and knock-out matches in the Euro 2024 football tournament – with England the favourites – meaning six election debates are highly unlikely.
But undaunted by a football and politics clash, Mr Sunak threw down his challenge to the Labour leader in an article from The Daily Telegraph in which he declared: “There are big issues at stake in this election.
“Do we continue cutting taxes or raise taxes on working households as Labour would do?
“Do we prioritise energy security and your family’s finances in our approach to net zero or put environmental dogma first as Sir Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband would?
“And, above all, how do we give this country the secure future it deserves?”
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Mr Sunak added: “I want to debate these issues with Sir Keir Starmer. But he doesn’t want to because he doesn’t have a plan and doesn’t have the courage to say what he wants to do.”
Using tougher language, Tory chairman Richard Holden turned up the heat on Sir Keir, telling the Daily Express: “It’s no surprise spineless Sir Keir Starmer is chickening out of debates that he publicly promised to do just months ago.
“It’s time for Sir Keir to grow a backbone. The public deserves to hear and scrutinise what the man who wants to be our prime minister has to say before he changes his mind, again.”
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Back in January, Sir Keir said on TV election debates: “I have been saying bring it on for a very, very long time. I’m happy to debate at any time.”
And rejecting the Tory claims of a U-turn, Labour sources told Sky News Sir Keir will speak to voters and take questions from media throughout the election campaign.
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“Labour believes spending time on the road talking to voters across the country is the priority and so Keir Starmer is planning to take part in the two debates with the largest audience: BBC and ITV,” said a senior party source.
“We won’t be tearing up the format established in previous elections just to suit this week’s whims of the Tory party.”
Sky News election debate in 2010
TV election debates took off in the UK in the 2010 general election when Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg took part in three debates, on ITV, Sky News and the BBC.
It was claimed they were responsible for the “Cleggmania” that eventually led to Mr Clegg becoming deputy prime minister in Mr Cameron’s coalition government.
During the debates, the phrase “I agree with Nick”, used frequently by Mr Cameron and Mr Brown, became a catchphrase successfully deployed by the Liberal Democrats during the election campaign.
At the last general election, in 2019, there were two debates between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn and it seems likely there will be two again in this campaign.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
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The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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