‘We had conversation’ with P&O Ferries owner, says minister, after criticism ‘put £1bn investment under review’

Published

1 year ago

October 13, 2024

admin

The government had to “have a conversation” in order to secure the landmark DP World investment announcement that was reportedly derailed by comments from the transport secretary.

Appearing on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds was asked how close the government came to losing the £1bn commitment in the London Gateway port.

Mr Reynolds said: “Look, we’ve had to have a conversation following some of the press reports.”

Politics latest: Minister quizzed on why Musk isn’t invited to investment summit

The £1bn pledge by the Dubai-based firm DP World – which owns P&O Ferries – was thrown into jeopardy after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh branded the shipping company a “rogue operator” and said consumers should boycott it.

In March 2022, P&O Ferries caused huge controversy by sacking 800 British seafarers and replacing them with cheaper, largely foreign workers, a move it said was required to prevent the company from collapsing.

Sky News revealed on Friday that the £1bn investment announcement was under review – before it was revealed yesterday that it would go ahead as planned.

Asked if the announcement – set to be the landmark pledge of the coming week’s investment summit – was almost pulled, Mr Reynolds would only say that it is now “going ahead”.

The minister was also questioned about why Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk was not going to be present at the government’s investment summit.

Pushed repeatedly about the reason for the world’s richest man’s non-attendance, Mr Reynolds said he would not comment on a “specific person”, but said the gathering was about “who can bring the kind of investments that will make the biggest difference” – before adding that “not everyone can come”.

Asked about the decision on the London Gateway port on Saturday, a DP World spokesperson told Sky News: “Following constructive and positive discussions with the government, we have been given the clarity we need. We look forward to participating in Monday’s International Investment Summit.”

The investment summit was announced in August, although it’s timing has been questioned due to it taking place before the budget on 30 October.

While in opposition, Labour pledged to hold the event within the first 100 days of government – forcing their hand on the sequence of events after that deadline fell on Saturday.

When the summit was confirmed, the government claimed “up to 300 industry leaders” would be involved to “catalyse investment in the UK”.

👉 Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈

Reports over the summer suggested that Musk was not invited due to his controversial social media posts.

During the riots in the UK in the wake of the Southport stabbings, Musk regularly criticised Sir Keir Starmer on the billionaire’s social media platform X.

Politics

Prediction markets bet on Coinbase-linked Hassett as top Fed pick

Published

5 hours ago

December 1, 2025

admin

Prediction markets bet on Coinbase-linked Hassett as top Fed pick

Prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi view Kevin Hassett, US President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council director, as the favorite to replace Jerome Powell as the next Federal Reserve chair.

The odds of Hassett filling the seat have spiked to 66% on Polymarket and 74% on Kalshi at the time of writing. Hassett is widely viewed as crypto‑friendly thanks to his past role on Coinbase’s advisory council, a disclosed seven‑figure stake in the exchange and his leadership of the White House digital asset working group.

Founder and CEO of Wyoming-based Custodia Bank, and a prominent advocate for crypto-friendly regulations, Caitlin Long, commented on X:

“If this comes true & Hassett does become Fed chairman, anti-#crypto people at the Fed who still hold positions of power will finally be out (well, most of them anyway). BIG changes will be coming to the Fed.”

Kevin Hassett’s crypto credentials

Hassett is a long-time Republican policy economist who returned to Washington as Trump’s top economic adviser and has now emerged as the market-implied frontrunner to lead the Fed.

His financial disclosure reveals at least a seven‑figure Coinbase stake and compensation for serving on the exchange’s Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council, placing him unusually close to the crypto industry for a potential Fed chair.

Still, crypto has been burned before by reading too much into “crypto‑literate” resumes. Gary Gensler arrived at the Securities and Exchange Commission with MIT blockchain courses under his belt, but went on to preside over a wave of high‑profile enforcement actions, some of which critics branded as “Operation Chokepoint 2.0.”

A Hassett-led Fed might be more open to experimentation and less reflexively hostile to bank‑crypto activity. Still, the institution’s mandate on financial stability means markets should not assume a one‑way bet on deregulation.

Supervision pushback inside the Fed

The Hassett odds have jumped just as the Fed’s own approach to bank supervision has received pushback from veterans like Fed Governor Michael Barr, who earned his reputation as one of Operation Chokepoint 2.0’s key architects.

According to Caitlin Long, while he Barr “was Vice Chairman of Supervision & Regulation he did Warren’s bidding,” and he “has made it clear he will oppose changes made by Trump & his appointees.”

On Nov. 18, the Fed released new Supervisory Operating Principles that shift examiners toward a “risk‑first” framework, directing staff to focus on material safety‑and‑soundness risks rather than procedural or documentation issues.

In a speech the same day, Barr warned that narrowing oversight, weakening ratings frameworks and making it harder to issue enforcement actions or matters requiring attention could leave supervisors slower to act on emerging risks, arguing that gutting those tools may repeat pre‑crisis mistakes.

Days later, in Consumer Affairs Letter 25‑1, the Fed clarified that the new Supervisory Operating Principles do not apply to its Consumer Affairs supervision program (an area under Barr’s committee as a governor).

If prediction markets are right and a crypto‑friendly Hassett inherits this landscape, his Fed would not be writing on a blank slate but stepping into an institution already mid‑pivot on how hard (and where) it leans on banks.