Badenoch says US is acting in its national interest – and UK must do the same

Published

10 months ago

February 25, 2025

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Kemi Badenoch has said the US is acting in its national interest and the UK also needs to, ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump.

The Conservative leader, giving a foreign policy speech in London on Tuesday, told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby the US is “not an authoritarian regime” and shares the same Western values as the UK, including free trade, free enterprise and free speech.

On Monday, the US sided with Russia on two UN resolutions when they declined to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine, and backed a resolution for the conflict’s end that avoided labelling Russia as the aggressor or acknowledging Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Politics latest: UK defence spending to rise to 2.5% of GDP

Ms Badenoch said the second resolution showed the US “acting in its national interests”.

“It is being realistic and we need to be so too,” she said.

“Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to agree on everything. We disagree with them on that resolution, for example.

“But that is why I want the prime minister to be successful in his talks and find out what the thinking was behind that.”

‘Absolutely critical’ Starmer succeeds in DC

Ms Badenoch also said it is “absolutely critical” that Sir Keir succeeds in his talks on ending the war in Ukraine with Mr Trump on Thursday.

However, she did not provide details of exactly what he should succeed in.

Sir Keir is expected to discuss the importance of Ukraine’s independence, European involvement in peace talks and US security guarantees with Mr Trump.

Mr Trump, since becoming president just over a month ago, has called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator and suggested Kyiv started the war.

He has also sent US officials to negotiate with Russia in Saudi Arabia – but did not invite Ukraine or any European leaders.

Call for Starmer to cut development aid and welfare budget

Ms Badenoch urged Sir Keir to “repurpose” development aid in the short term and look to make welfare savings to fund increased defence spending.

She said 2.5% of GDP on defence is “now no longer sufficient” because any country that “spends more on debt interest than it does on defence, as the UK does today, is destined for weakness”.

“I will back the prime minister in taking these difficult decisions,” she added.

Her call came ahead of the prime minister’s unexpected statement on Tuesday lunchtime, in which he said UK defence spending will rise to 2.5% by 2027, and 3% in the next parliament.

The world has changed and the UK is not ready

Ms Badenoch said the UK must “accept reality” that the world has changed and “we can no longer hide behind vapid statements that were at best ambitious 20 years ago and are now today outright irrelevant”.

“It is time to speak the truth. The world has changed and the UK is not ready, so we must change too,” she said.

She accused the West of not doing enough to support Ukraine as “we were too ineffective, too indecisive and too often behind the curve”.

Because of that, she said: “Putin gained what he needed most, time. We now see the consequences.

“An end to the war is being negotiated while a fifth of Ukrainian territory is under enemy occupation.”

However, she said she was proud of the support her government gave Ukraine in the run-up to Vladimir Putin’s invasion and “in those first crucial weeks and months of the war”.

Politics

SEC lawsuit puts Shima Capital’s future in question as wind-down message surfaces

Published

39 mins ago

December 17, 2025

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SEC lawsuit puts Shima Capital’s future in question as wind-down message surfaces

Screenshots of an internal email outlining plans to wind down Shima Capital have surfaced online, days after the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued the crypto venture firm and its founder over allegations of investor fraud.

On Nov. 25, the SEC charged Shima Capital Management LLC and its founder, Yida Gao, with making false and misleading statements while raising almost $170 million from investors, the agency announced on Dec. 3.

The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleged that Gao inflated his investment track record in marketing materials used to raise capital for Shima Capital Fund I between 2021 and 2023.

According to the SEC, Gao claimed one prior investment had delivered a 90x return, when the actual return was closer to 2.8x. The regulator also alleged that when discrepancies in the pitch deck were about to be reported publicly, Gao told investors the issues were the result of clerical errors.

SEC alleges $1.9 million undisclosed gain

Separately, the SEC claimed that Gao raised about $11.9 million through a special purpose vehicle tied to BitClout tokens, telling investors that they would be protected by discounted token purchases. While Gao did acquire tokens at a discount, the SEC said he sold them to the SPV at a higher price without disclosing that he personally retained about $1.9 million in profits.

In a Wednesday post on X, crypto journalist Kate Irwin shared screenshots of an email allegedly sent by Gao to portfolio founders. In the screenshots, Gao purportedly said he would step down as managing director of Shima Capital and that the fund would undergo an “orderly wind-down.”

*Gao’s alleged email to portfolio companies. Source:* *Kate Irwin*

The screenshots purportedly show Gao stating that the SEC and Department of Justice actions are related to his personal conduct, not that of Shima Capital’s portfolio companies, and claiming that no fines have been imposed on the company.

The screenshots also show that independent advisers from FTI Consulting and FTI Capital Management would oversee the wind-down process and monetization of investments, while Shima’s finance team would remain in place. Gao allegedly said he would remain involved with portfolio support “as permitted,” but without management control.

Cointelegraph could not independently verify the email. We reached out to Shima Capital and some of the fund’s portfolio companies for confirmation, but had not received responses at the time of publication.

Shima Capital launched with $200 million debut fund

In 2022, Shima Capital announced the launch of its first venture fund, Shima Capital Fund I, raising $200 million to back early-stage blockchain startups. Founded in 2021 by Gao, the firm said the fund received backing from a range of prominent investors, including Dragonfly Capital, Animoca Brands, OKX Blockdream Capital, Republic and Andrew Yang.