How bad is the Conservative brand?
Bad enough for dozens of its own candidates to avoid using it, according to research from Sky’s Online Campaign Team and Who Targets Me.
We looked at the adverts published on Facebook and Instagram by 521 Labour and Conservative candidates from 1 May until 12 June.
Of these, 376 adverts contained official branding (logos and colours), 104 had some form of partial branding, and 41 had no branding at all.
And the vast majority of those with no branding – 38 – were Conservative.
Of the 80 Conservative candidates who had partial branding, 59 (73%) only mentioned the party in the funding disclosure – where they were legally obliged to do so. They did not mention the party anywhere else in the text of the advert, or on the visuals if the advert was an image (no videos were watched).
Of the 19 Labour candidates, all mentioned the party in the written text above the advert, as well as in the funding declaration.
Most Labour candidates’ adverts are plastered in party branding.
But for a number of Conservatives, it’s hard to tell at a glance that they’re Conservatives.
That includes several prominent figures, including veterans’ ministers Johnny Mercer, defence secretary Grant Shapps, and former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith.
The online adverts are the quantifiable aspect of a trend that, anecdotally, appears to be the case on the ground too.
Johnny Mercer completely avoids Conservative branding in his election leaflets. The reverse page mentions the party in small text and in brackets as part of the funding disclosure, where candidates are, again, legally obliged to.
A leaflet from Johnny Mercer
And Andrea Jenkyns, first elected as a Conservative MP in 2015 and a former minister, does at least paint her leaflet in true blue.
But the first picture is of her posing with the leader of another party entirely – Nigel Farage.
It’s an unconventional strategy.
Speaking on Friday morning, Treasury minister Bim Afolami refused to be drawn on it.
“All candidates are fighting their own seats,” he told Sky News. “I am not going to comment on Andrea or anyone else, it’s up to her how she wants to appeal to her electorate.”
A leaflet from Andrea Jenkyns, featuring Nigel Farage
It is, however, worth stressing that the majority of Conservative candidates are using party branding.
But a significant number think they’re better off without it.
Or better off with Nigel Farage.
Note: Sky’s Online Campaign Team examined the branding on all political adverts from the main parties. Of the top advertising spenders, only 16 of them were either Lib Dem, Green, Reform or Sinn Fein. All were fully branded, except for one advert by Michelle O’Neill, vice president of Sinn Fein, which was partly branded.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
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.”
Magazine: Bitcoin ATH sooner than expected? XRP may drop 40%, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 23 – 29
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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Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app
It’s the final episode before recess so Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy wonder, given the turbulent times, who’ll be the first to call for Parliament to be recalled?
And talking of the Lib Dems, there’s some new polling which might put a spring into the step of Ed Davey – is his party’s position on Trump and trade doing them some favours?
Of course, there’s plenty of time to talk about the onslaught of US tariffs and implications for the UK – watch out for if the PM is asked about fiscal headroom when he appears before the Liaison Committee of senior MPs later.
Sam and Anne also ponder the PM’s response to Sam at a Q&A yesterday.
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