Keir Starmer accuses PM of ‘squatting in No 10’ after Rishi Sunak’s general election hint

Published

1 year ago

January 4, 2024

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Rishi Sunak has given the clearest hint yet about when he will call a general election, saying his “working assumption” is that it will happen in the second half of this year.

Speculation has been rife for months about when the prime minister will choose to go to the polls.

Politics latest: One date thought to be frontrunner for election this year

Technically, he can wait until December before calling an election, meaning voters would then cast their ballots in January 2025.

But Mr Sunak has narrowed down the timeframe for an election the polls suggest the Tories will lose, which would bring to an end 14 years in power under five prime ministers.

Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to a youth centre in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, he said: “So, my working assumption is we’ll have a general election in the second half of this year and in the meantime I’ve got lots that I want to get on with.”

The Conservative leader declined to rule out a May election categorically – but repeated his intentions to call one later in the year.

“I want to keep going, managing the economy well and cutting people’s taxes,” Mr Sunak said.

“But I also want to keep tackling illegal migration. So I’ve got lots to get on with and I’m determined to keep delivering for the British people.”

Both the Conservatives’ and Labour’s long election campaigns were well under way on Thursday, as both party leaders visited battleground areas.

Labour has claimed a spring vote is the “worst kept secret in parliament”, with party leader Sir Keir Starmer earlier saying in his own speech to voters in Bristol that he is “ready” for a general election whenever it is called.

Responding to Mr Sunak’s remarks which hinted at an autumn vote, Sir Keir accused the prime minister of “delaying” the inevitable.

He told Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby: “People are crying out for change. And I say to the prime minister, what’s he hiding? If he’s not going to set a date, what’s he hiding from the public?

“This has serious implications for the country because he’s basically saying he’s going to be squatting for months and months in Downing Street, dithering and delaying.

“So if he’s not being clear, and I don’t think he’s setting a date, what’s he hiding?”

Asked whether he would prefer a vote in the first half of the year, Sir Keir said: “I would like to see an election as soon as possible.

“I think the vast majority of the public want to see an election as soon as possible, and the reason is that the choice now is to turn our back on 14 years of decline and usher in a decade of national renewal with hope and change.”

He added: “People can’t afford for the prime minister to be squatting for months on end this year.”

The Liberal Democrats have also been calling for Mr Sunak to hold the vote in May rather than trying to “cling on” to power for the rest of the year.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey accused Mr Sunak of “running scared” of a May election.

He said: “Squatter Sunak is holed up in Downing Street, desperately clinging on to power rather than facing the verdict of the British people.

“We need an election in spring, so that voters can finally get rid of this appalling and out-of-touch Conservative government.”

Analysis: PM will be hoping ‘squatting’ charge over election timing won’t stick

Amanda Akass

Political correspondent

@amandaakass

The prime minister has thoroughly stolen the thunder and headlines from Sir Keir Starmer’s new year speech with the revelation that his “working assumption” is that a general election will be held in the second half of the year.

Speculation in Westminster had been growing that the Tories were preparing to go to the polls in May – particularly after confirming over Christmas the spring budget would be delivered in March.

Many believed the strategy was for the chancellor to offer a generous series of tax cuts as a sweetening springboard into an early trip to the ballot box.

Pundits pointed out that this would avoid the embarrassing fallout from another drubbing at the local elections and a summer of small boat arrivals – and activists, it’s thought, would be more enthusiastic about pounding the pavements and knocking on doors in milder weather, particularly if they were doing so anyway on behalf of local council candidates.

But with Labour riding so consistently high in the polls and only one of his five pledges met (halving inflation), Rishi Sunak is clearly unconvinced by these arguments.

With the path to a Tory victory at any time of year so incredibly narrow, others believe the PM just wants to maximise his time in office. Indeed, speaking to reporters today he argues he’s still got plenty more to do in terms of “managing the economy well and cutting people’s taxes” as well as “tackling illegal migration”.

Delivering on illegal migration means successfully forcing his emergency Rwanda legislation through both houses of parliament, and past future legal challenges.

It’s the key challenge for Mr Sunak and his team at present; many advisors believe finally getting deportation flights off the ground, combined with a dramatic economic recovery, is perhaps his only real hope of clinging on to power at the next election.

Needless to say the opposition parties aren’t happy.

The Liberal Democrats yesterday called for a return to the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, to take away the PM’s power to call elections as the most opportune political moment. They’ve accused Mr Sunak of “bottling” the opportunity to call an election – with echoes of Gordon Brown’s perceived dithering in the autumn of 2007.

Both Sir Ed Davey and Sir Keir say Mr Sunak is “squatting” in Downing Street – with Sir Keir arguing that both he and the country want to see an election as soon as possible.

The PM will be hoping he’s set out his timetable early enough to avoid that charge sticking; but don’t expect the calls for an immediate national vote to calm down any time soon.

Reform UK has ruled out entering into any electoral pacts with the Tories.

Mr Sunak warned against voting for Reform UK amid fears the right-wing party could steal votes from the Conservatives.

He said: “A vote for anybody who’s not a Conservative candidate, a Conservative MP, is a vote for Keir Starmer in power.

“There’s only going to be two options for prime minister after the next election, it’s either going to be me or Keir Starmer. A vote for anyone who is not a Conservative is a vote for Keir Starmer in power.”

He added: “What’s the issue that has motivated a lot of these conversations? It’s illegal migration. So, what’s my track record? Well, I’m the first person to actually cut the numbers, and cut them not just by a little, but cut them by over a third in my first year in power.

“We’re going to pass our Rwanda Bill through parliament, get that scheme up and running, and that will provide the further deterrent we need to grip this once and for all.”

Politics

Justin Sun to attend Trump’s dinner with memecoin backers

Published

2 hours ago

May 20, 2025

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<div>Justin Sun to attend Trump's dinner with memecoin backers</div>

After weeks of speculation among crypto enthusiasts and news outlets, Tron founder Justin Sun has claimed he owns the wallet that purchased the largest amount of Donald Trump’s memecoin, allowing him to qualify for a dinner and reception with the US president.

In a May 19 X post, Sun said he had received an invitation to attend Trump’s dinner at his golf club outside Washington, DC, as part of a reward for the top 220 memecoin holders. The Tron founder claimed he controlled the top wallet on the TRUMP token leaderboard under the username “Sun,” which held roughly $19 million worth of the memecoin at a price of $13.20.

According to Sun, he plans to network at the May 22 memecoin dinner, “talk crypto,” and “discuss the future” of the industry. It’s unclear why the Tron founder chose to announce his planned presence at the event now, when the leaderboard was finalized on May 12.

Cointelegraph reached out to a spokesperson for Sun for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Politics, Donald Trump, Corruption, Justin Sun, Memecoin — *Source:* *Justin Sun*

Though not a surprise to many who speculated that Sun was the individual behind the memecoin purchases, his attendance at the dinner only deepens his ties to the Trump administration and the president’s family. In addition to the dinner for the 220 tokenholders, Trump said he would hold a reception and “VIP tour” for the top 25 wallets on the leaderboard.

Sun spent $75 million on tokens through World Liberty Financial, the crypto platform backed by Trump’s three sons, including a $30 million investment a few weeks after the 2024 election. The Tron founder is also an adviser to the company.

Before Trump won the November election, Sun had been facing a lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed in 2023 over the alleged “orchestration of the unregistered offer and sale, manipulative trading, and unlawful touting of crypto asset securities.” In February, roughly a month after Trump took office and appointed Commissioner Mark Uyeda as acting chair of the SEC, the regulator and Sun jointly filed a motion for a federal judge to stay the case, which was granted.

Memecoin’s potential conflicts of interest are affecting Congress

Sun’s and others’ involvement in Trump’s crypto ventures has prompted calls for investigations and oversight among many Democratic lawmakers, who argued that some individuals could use digital assets to essentially purchase influence with the president. The concerns initially slowed progress on a bill to regulate stablecoins in the Senate, the GENIUS Act, complicated by World Liberty Financial’s own stablecoin, USD1. The chamber voted to move forward on the bill on May 19, a few hours before Sun’s announcement.

“How convenient: the day after the Senate advances the GENIUS Act, Justin Sun — a major investor in the Trump family crypto venture — announces he’s getting a private dinner as the president’s top crypto buyer,” said Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, according to Bloomberg. “It’s critical that everyone understands the GENIUS Act doesn’t stop this type of corruption — it greenlights it.”

At a May 20 oversight hearing, Maryland Representative Glenn Ivey questioned SEC Chair Paul Atkins on Sun’s case being stayed, as well as his investments in World Liberty Financial and Trump’s memecoin. Though the case was stayed before Atkins was sworn in as chair, Ivey expressed concern about the timeline between Sun’s investments and the SEC not pursuing its own enforcement action.

The memecoin dinner applicants are likely still subject to background checks before meeting Trump in person. As of May 20, those planning to attend included Kronos Research chief investment officer Vincent Liu, Hyperithm co-CEO Oh Sangrok, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick, a consultant named Vincent Deriu, crypto user Morten Christensen, a World Liberty Financial adviser going by the pseudonym “Ogle,” and a representative from the startup MemeCore.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

Politics

Shouts of ‘genocide’ in Commons as David Lammy denounces Israel’s ‘intolerable’ actions in Gaza

Published

5 hours ago

May 20, 2025

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Shouts of 'genocide' in Commons as David Lammy denounces Israel's 'intolerable' actions in Gaza

The foreign secretary has denounced Israel’s actions in Gaza as “intolerable” but stopped short of saying it had committed genocide.

MPs could be heard shouting “genocide” in the Commons chamber as David Lammy announced the government was suspending its trade negotiations with Israel and summoning Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, to the Foreign Office.

The UK has also sanctioned a number of individuals and groups in the West Bank which it says have been linked with acts of violence against Palestinians – including Daniella Weiss, a leading settler activist who was the subject of Louis Theroux’s recent documentary The Settlers.

Politics latest: Starmer says sorry for being ‘overly rude’ at PMQs

Israel immediately criticised the UK government actions as “regrettable” and said the free trade agreement talks, which ministers have now backed out of, were “not being advanced at all by the UK government”.

Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for the Israeli foreign affairs ministry, said: “If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy – that is its own prerogative.”

Mr Lammy’s intervention came in response to Israel ramping up its latest military offensive in Gaza and its decision to limit the amount of aid into the enclave.

Tom Fletcher, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, accused Israel of “deliberately and unashamedly” imposing inhumane conditions on Palestinians by blocking aid from entering Gaza more than 10 weeks ago.

He also told the UN’s security council last week that it must “act now” to “prevent genocide” – a claim that Israel has vehemently denied.

Speaking in the Commons, the foreign secretary said the threat of starvation was “hanging over hundreds of thousands of civilians” and that the 11-week blockade stopping humanitarian aid reaching Gaza was “indefensible and cruel”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to allow a limited amount of aid into the besieged enclave in response to global concern at reports of famine.

Mr Lammy said Mr Netanyahu’s govenrment was “isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the state of Israel in the eyes of the world”.

“We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict,” Mr Lammy added.

“Netanyahu’s government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”

Referring to one of the far-right ministers in Mr Netanyahu’s government, he said Bezalel Smotrich “even spoke of Israeli forces cleansing Gaza, destroying what’s left of residents, Palestinians being relocated, he said, to third countries”.

MPs from across the house shouted “genocide” as Mr Lammy said: “We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

In the Commons, a number of Labour MPs urged the government to go further against Israel.

Yasmin Qureshi, the Labour MP for Bolton South and Walkden, said there needed to be a “full arms embargo” and said: “Can I ask the foreign secretary what additional steps he’s going to be taking in order to stave off this genocide?”

Another Labour MP told Sky News that while the statement was “better than previously…without a concrete timeline and a sanctioning of responsible ministers, it’s hard to know what tangible difference it will make.”

Israeli officials have said its plans to seize all of Gaza and hold it indefinitely. – which would move the civilian population southward – will help it achieve its aim of defeating Hamas.

Israel also believes the offensive will prevent Hamas from looting and distributing humanitarian aid, which it says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu has defended Israel’s actions in Gaza and reacted angrily to a joint statement penned by the leaders of the UK, France and Canada, in which they urged Israel to end its military offensive in Gaza and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid allowed into the enclave.

The Israeli prime minister said: “By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities.

“No nation can be expected to accept anything less and Israel certainly won’t. This is a war of civilisation over barbarism. Israel will continue to defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved.”

Politics

SEC crypto task force to release first report ‘in the next few months’

Published

6 hours ago

May 20, 2025

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<div>SEC crypto task force to release first report 'in the next few months'</div>

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Paul Atkins appeared before lawmakers in one of his first hearings since becoming chair of the financial regulator, addressing questions about his plans for the cryptocurrency industry.

In a May 20 hearing discussing oversight of the SEC, Atkins reiterated his pledge to make regulating digital assets a “key priority” while chair. In response to questions from North Carolina Representative Chuck Edwards, the SEC chair did not directly answer how much of the regulator’s funds were used to support the crypto task force headed by Commissioner Hester Peirce, and said its findings were “still under development.”

“We should be having something here in the next few months with proposed steps forward,” said Atkins in response to the task force’s first report.

Cryptocurrencies, Government, SEC, United States — *Paul Atkins at a May 20 SEC oversight hearing. Source:* *House Appropriations Committee*

The SEC chair’s appearance at the oversight hearing was one of his first since being sworn into office in April. Nominated by Donald Trump, Atkins, also a former commissioner, was seen by many lawmakers and those in the digital asset industry as someone who could radically change the SEC’s approach to crypto.

Looking to Congress for help with regulatory clarity

Atkins’ remarks came less than 24 hours after US Senators voted to move forward on consideration of a bill to regulate stablecoins, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act. The bill is one of many related to aspects of digital assets that could affect how the SEC regulates the industry alongside agencies like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“Whatever happens in Congress […] that will help undergird what we do,” said Atkins.

Since being sworn into office in April, the SEC chair has given opening remarks and overseen the commission’s roundtable events on digital assets. The next event, scheduled for June 9, will have SEC commissioners and industry leaders discuss issues related to decentralized finance.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered