Rishi Sunak swerves questions on Nigel Farage joining Tories as Keir Starmer says PM has ‘lost control’ of his party
Rishi Sunak has refused to reveal whether he would allow Nigel Farage to join his party after Sir Keir Starmer accused the Conservatives of “dancing to the tune” set by the former UKIP leader.
Sir Keir Starmer challenged the prime minister on whether Mr Farage had a place in the Conservative Party after his predecessor, Liz Truss, suggested she would be willing to work with him to “turn our country around”.
During Prime Minister’s Questions the Labour leader said Mr Sunak’s party was “no longer the Tories your parents voted for” and had become the “political wing of The Flat Earth Society” as he referenced recent comments made by Ms Truss on a controversial trip to the US.
Mr Sunak hit back – saying his opposite number was just “sniping from the sidelines” as he drew attention to Labour’s recent trouble in the Rochdale by-election, where it was forced to abandon support for its candidate after it emerged he made antisemitic remarks.
“We expel antisemites, he makes them Labour candidates,” he said.
Politics latest: Starmer mocks Sunak over Truss’s Farage comments
The Conservatives are dancing to a tune set by Nigel Farage, Sir Keir Starmer suggested. Pic: Reuters
The Labour leader also questioned why Mr Sunak was allowing former prime minister Ms Truss to remain a Conservative MP and stand in the next election, telling the Commons: “They made her prime minister, now they can’t bear talking about her. In search of fame and wealth, she’s taken to slagging off Britain at every opportunity.
“She claimed that as prime minister she was sabotaged by the deep state. She also remained silent as Tommy Robinson, that right-wing thug, was described as a hero. Why is he allowing her to stand as a Tory MP at the next election?”
Mr Sunak said “I don’t believe a single member of this House supports Tommy Robinson”.
“But if he wants to talk about former leaders and predecessors, the whole country knows his record because he sat there while antisemitism ran rife in his party and not once but twice backed a man who called Hamas friends.”
In an interview with Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former strategist during the the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the US last week, Ms Truss was asked whether she would work with Mr Farage – now an honorary president at the Reform party – to “restructure” the Conservative Party.
“I would like him to become a member of the Conservative Party and help turn our country around,” she replied.
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Tories ‘facing possible extinction’
Sir Keir pressed Mr Sunak to reveal whether Mr Farage would be joining the Conservative party, after Ms Truss described him as the “man to restore the Tory party”.
The Labour leader continued his attack on the prime minister by arguing he had “lost control of his party to the hordes of malcontents”.
“When will he ever stand up to them, and end the pathetic spectacle of a Tory party that used to try and beat Nigel Farage now giving up and dancing to his tune instead?”
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Mr Sunak replied: “In our party we have a proud tradition of diversity and accepting everyone from every background, it is a proud record that puts Labour to shame.
“This is the party that delivered the first Jewish prime minister, the first female prime minister, the first black chancellor, the first Muslim home secretary and is now led by the first British-Asian prime minister.
“While it seems he can only champion men from north London, it’s the Conservatives who represent modern Britain.”
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’
The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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