Yvette Cooper: What you need to know about the potential future home secretary

Published

11 months ago

June 4, 2024

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After rising to Labour stardom under New Labour, Yvette Cooper was sidelined under Jeremy Corbyn. But she’s now seen a rapid return to the frontbenches.

Yvette Cooper was first elected in the 1997 Labour landslide; the previous incumbent was prised from a safe seat to afford her easy entry to the Commons.

Since then, she has been the first female chief secretary to the Treasury, where she was an advocate for a “feminist approach to economics”.

But she has also faced a turbulent time in opposition – after being relegated to the backbenches under Jeremy Corbyn; perhaps as a consequence of her public criticisms of him.

Most recently, in her role as shadow home secretary under Sir Keir Starmer, she has promised to run a “hands-on Home Office” with a focus on cutting crime rates.

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Many people may also know her from her marriage to Ed Balls, Gordon Brown’s former top adviser and confidante. Ms Cooper and Mr Balls married in 1998, and soon became the ultimate power couple. Their marriage made them the first couple to sit in the government cabinet together. They have three children.

A family with an impeccable Labour pedigree

Ms Cooper was born in Inverness in Scotland in 1969 but raised in the South East of England in leafy Hampshire.

She was born into a Labour family – her father was a union leader, and her mother was a maths teacher who initially came from a mining community.

Ms Cooper has previously spoken of how her father’s unionist values – whom she joined on marches in the early 1980s – have stayed with her throughout her political career.

First taste of politics… ‘I organised a prefect’s strike’

Ms Cooper attended state comprehensive schools as a child, but has admitted she got the political bug while there – over the issue of “white socks”.

She recalls feeling a sense of burning “injustice” when one of the male prefects came to school wearing white socks.

She made the decision to take away his prefect badge and send him “to the headmaster with our demands”.

The perfect career politician’s CV

Ms Cooper later attended Oxford University and read PPE – coming away with a first-class degree.

She was then awarded a Kennedy Scholarship in 1991 to study at Harvard University.

She finished her studies with a MSc in economics at the London School of Economics.

A varied early career

Ms Cooper’s first job was on a farm picking strawberries and driving a tractor.

She later embarked on a journalism career as lead writer of an economic column for The Independent.

‘I did not think I would end up as an MP’

It was 1992 in Arkansas where Ms Cooper made her first impact on the political scene, working on Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign.

At the same time, she was also working in the office of the then Labour leader John Smith, as an economic researcher.

Ms Cooper was then chosen for the seat of Pontefract and Castleford in 1997 which she won with a majority of 25,725 votes, aged 28.

It’s remained a safe Yorkshire seat – although it was renamed Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford in 2010. In the 2019 general election, her majority was reduced to just 1,276 votes.

Time in the House of Commons

Ms Cooper quickly found herself working her way up the ranks in the Labour Party and was allocated her first position as parliamentary under-secretary in the Department for Health in 1999.

Ms Cooper then held multiple junior government roles under Tony Blair.

In 2001, she became the first minister to have a period of maternity leave – though some criticism was levelled at her for this, including being called “the Minister for Maternity Leave”.

In 2008, she was the first woman to be appointed as chief secretary to the Treasury, where she spent time highlighting the impact of the recession on women.

After the 2010 election defeat, she got the most votes of any Labour MP in the elected shadow cabinet and took on the role of shadow home secretary.

A tumultuous time in opposition

Ms Cooper faced a tumultuous time in opposition after she was relegated to the backbenches under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

In 2015, she ran against Mr Corbyn in the campaign for the Labour leadership, sparked by the resignation of Ed Miliband.

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She accused Mr Corbyn, the only leftwinger on the ballot, of “bad economics” and policies which “[weren’t] credible”.

She came third with 17% of the vote.

Sir Keir Starmer makes her a frontline star again

After Sir Keir was elected leader of the Labour Party, Ms Cooper soon saw the dynamic change within the party and was brought back to the frontbenches.

Ms Cooper was tasked with the role of shadow secretary of state for the Home Department – a position she has held since 2021.

In this role, she has set out a “five-point plan” for her department:

Crackdown on criminal smuggler gangs, through new cross-border police unit
Clear the backlog and end hotel use
Reform legal routes for refugees to stop people being exploited by gangs
New agreement with France and other countries on returns and family reunion
Tackle humanitarian crises at source helping refugees in their region

Ms Cooper has also claimed she would run a “hands-on Home Office” if she takes the reins after the election and would focus on cutting crime.

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.

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Politics

US Senator calls for Trump impeachment, cites memecoin dinner

Published

8 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

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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.