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Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY Reform UK in Kent looks set to drastically cut the number of committees scrutinising its work, Byline Times can reveal, amid claims it can't raise the numbers to do the work, following a wave of suspensions of its own own councillors. Reform plans to bring a motion to the council in December - which opposition councillors say would cut back on scrutiny - to cut the number of committees holding it to account, following a wave of suspensions that means the administration is struggling to fill vacancies on important council bodies. Nine Reform councillors have been sacked by the party since being elected in May, severely weakening the party's majority. One option is, Byline Times understands, to abolish cabinet committees entirely - which sense-check decisions of the Reform cabinet - and most scrutiny committees which are not legally-required. Kent County Council operates a hybrid model with cabinet committees and overview/scrutiny committees which scrutinise decisions after they're made, as well as committees to look at big decisions before they're made. While they have to have an audit committee by law, cabinet committees aren't mandatory and could be in line for the chop. The change would leave the council with (legally-required) bodies scrutinising governance and audit, standards, and regulatory and planning issues - while potentially abolishing committees for social care, environment and transport, children, young people and education, and growth, the economy, and communities. A motion pushing for the changes will be put forward in December, the council confirmed to Byline Times. Labour group leader on Kent County Council Cllr Alister Brady argues this will reduce transparency, and shows Reform "are not fit to do the job - they want to reduce checks and balances." ENJOYING THIS ARTICLE? HELP US TO PRODUCE MORE Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account. PAY ANNUALLY - £39.50 A YEAR PAY MONTHLY - £3.75 A MONTH MORE OPTIONS We're not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe. The party's recent suspensions have left a series of key posts unfilled. Councillor Isabella Kemp, who was elected as a Reform councillor, was previously chair of the housing committee - but can't sit on it anymore since being sacked by her party last week amid internal infighting. She was also vice-chair of the fire authority, which has been thrown into chaos by the latest raft of suspensions by Reform on the council, under leader Linden Kemkaran. Labour Cllr Brady told this outlet: "Reform are either afraid of hard work, or don't have the time to do the job properly. As a result, they're trying to change the system so they don't have to work as hard. With only 48 Reform councillors now, they're finding it hard to find chairs for committees." "The proposed changes will make it harder for Kent residents to find out what they are doing - it will be a return to the 1980's where decisions were being made behind closed doors in smoke filled rooms." Don't miss a story SIGN UP TO EMAIL UPDATES Cllr Mark Hood, the leader of the Green group at Kent County Council, said Reform will "carry out a review of the number of committees, the number of people who serve on committees, and the frequency that committee meetings are held at the county council." "Committees [are] there to oversee the behaviour of the administration, and they are the tools that ordinary Kent residents rely on to ensure adequate scrutiny and transparency about the way Reform UK are running the council." "Reform UK are telling us they've got an overwhelming mandate to do as they please…The reality is they only won 37...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY Keir Starmer's much-vaunted post-Brexit "reset" with the European Union has so far resulted in few concrete improvements to the UK's relations with its EU partners, according to a new parliamentary report. The report, Unfinished Business, by the House of Lords European Affairs Committee, welcomes the first UK EU summit last May, the defence agreement with the EU and separate deals with France and Germany, as steps in the right direction. But detailed examination of the promises made at the summit have so far seen little or no progress in implementing these changes. At the time Sir Keir Starmer said the new deal would mean "more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union. It will be good for our jobs, good for our bills and good for our borders." EXCLUSIVE 'BBC Bias' Memo Was Authored by Lobbyist Tied to Pro-Trump Tech Giants The leaked memo that fuelled Trump's attack on the BBC was written by a lobbyist at a firm paid by US tech giants tied to the President Nafeez Ahmed Crossbench peer, Lord Ricketts, chair of the Lords European Affairs Committee, said: "The Government has made a strong start in resetting the UK's relationship with the EU. But there is still much to be done to turn aspirations into workable agreements of benefit to Britain's security and economic growth. "The May 2025 UK-EU summit was the first major milestone setting out an ambitious direction of travel. We welcome the Security and Defence Partnership at a time of growing threats to European security. It will now be crucial that the negotiations under way on UK participation in the EU's defence investment programme (SAFE) provide clear strategic benefits for the UK's defence industry. "The May summit also set the objective of a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement, to reduce checks on trade in animal and plant products, and a link between the UK and EU Emissions Trading Schemes. But there is a lack of clarity on how these schemes will work, when they will be achieved and the arrangements for parliamentary scrutiny of their impact on the UK economy." Some areas such as moves to increase co-operation in law enforcement between the UK and the EU, proposals to make it easier for musicians and artists to tour the EU, and a new agreement to recognise mutual professional qualifications, appear to have stalled altogether. Peers who met the European Commission and Parliament in Brussels could not confirm whether blockages on these measures were coming from the EU or the UK due to teh sparse information made available by ministers about what is happening. Negotiations are continuing on a new limited Youth Experience programme, encouraging young people from both the UK and the EU to live, work and study in each other's countries, and on bringing the UK back into the Erasmus programme, which would allow UK students to study in EU universities. This stopped after Brexit but little is known about the progress. ENJOYING THIS ARTICLE? HELP US TO PRODUCE MORE Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account. PAY ANNUALLY - £39.50 A YEAR PAY MONTHLY - £3.75 A MONTH MORE OPTIONS We're not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe. Peers are critical of the failure of the Government to enable Parliamentary scrutiny of progress in negotiations. They say the Government should have produced a White Paper outlining the objectives at the time of the summit as "this would have facilitated our task of holding the Government to account." They were also highly critical of the one concrete change already agreed with the EU following the summit - the 1...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY Michael Prescott's memo, accusing the BBC of systemic bias, has been incorrectly described by The Telegraph as an "internal" memo. However, this is inaccurate. The document was never commissioned by the BBC, but was authored by Prescott unsolicited and sent to the BBC after Prescott finished his stint as an advisor to the media company. Among the outside organisations he cited for proof of bias within the BBC, presented as independent expert bodies, were History Reclaimed and UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). Yet both organisations are deeply embedded in the political culture wars that have defined the Anglo-American populist right. History Reclaimed and Lawyers for Israel History Reclaimed describes itself as "an independent group of scholars" defending history from "political manipulation." Its founders include Cambridge historian Robert Tombs, who served on Boris Johnson's Heritage Advisory Board, and historian David Abulafia, chair of Historians for Britain, both long-standing advocates of Brexit and advisers to Conservative causes. Among its senior advisers are Nigel Biggar, now a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, and Zewditu Gebreyohanes, a Johnson-appointed trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum and former director of Restore Trust, a campaign targeting the National Trust's work on colonialism and slavery. Several of History Reclaimed's contributors are openly aligned with the American and European 'new right'. Portland State academic Bruce Gilley, whose article "The Case for Colonialism" defended Western imperialism, has publicly endorsed Donald Trump and published essays celebrating "MAGA imperialism." Fellow adviser Niall Ferguson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, has argued that Trump "is not a threat to democracy." EXCLUSIVE 'BBC Bias' Memo Was Authored by Lobbyist Tied to Pro-Trump Tech Giants The leaked memo that fuelled Trump's attack on the BBC was written by a lobbyist at a firm paid by US tech giants tied to the President Nafeez Ahmed That constellation places History Reclaimed within the same ideological universe as GB News and its US counterparts: a populist movement that recasts culture and scholarship as political battlegrounds. Prescott's decision to treat its work as objective evidence of BBC bias reveals more about his sympathies than about the broadcaster's journalism. Another contributor is James Orr - senior advisor to Nigel Farage, and the "British Sherpa" of Trump's Vice President JD Vance. If History Reclaimed embodies the culture-war flank of the campaign against the BBC, UK Lawyers for Israel provides its legal one. The group makes no pretence of neutrality, describing itself as "an association of lawyers who support Israel using their legal skills", and vehemently criticising the International Criminal Court's investigations of alleged war crimes in Gaza, and fundamentally opposing the International Court of Justice genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel. Its directors include Jonathan D. C. Turner and Caroline Turner, who have threatened hospitals and arts venues with legal action over displays deemed sympathetic to Palestinians. Among its patrons are former Conservative leader Lord Howard of Lympne KC and crossbench peers Lord Pannick and Lord Carlile, though the latter resigned after UKLFI sought to challenge the Government over arms-licence suspensions. UK regulators are now examining UKLFI's conduct: the Solicitors Regulation Authority has opened an inquiry following complaints of intimidatory tactics. The fact that Prescott presents these as evidence against BBC impartiality reveals the political bias at the root of his memo. What the BBC Got Right About Trump and 6 January For all the outrage generated by the leaked memo, the core question is simple: did the BBC misrepresent Donald Trump's r...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY The author of the leaked 'BBC bias' memo, seized on by President Donald Trump to threaten a billion-dollar lawsuit against the broadcaster, is a right-wing lobbyist whose firm is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by US tech and media giants with close ties to Trump, to whom they have donated millions. One of them, Oracle, is owned by a Republican Party mega-donor who in November 2020 spoke with Trump aides about delegitimising the US elections - and who is actively seeking to reshape the US media landscape to benefit the President. The lobbyist, Michael Prescott, was reportedly appointed to the BBC advisory position under the influence of BBC Board member Sir Robbie Gibb, a co-founder and early fundraiser of the pro-Trump TV news station GB News co-owned by hedge fund multimillionaire Paul Marshall. Earlier this year, Marshall called for the BBC to be dismantled. The revelations raise questions about whether a network of Trump-aligned interests helped engineer the BBC's worst governance crisis in a decade. Crisis or Coup? When President Donald Trump threatened to sue the BBC for a billion dollars over its recent Panorama documentary, he accused the corporation of "malicious defamation" for editing parts of his address on 6 January 2021, the day his supporters stormed the US Capitol. The row was triggered by The Telegraph's publication of a 39-page leaked 'memo', alleging that the Panorama edit exemplified "progressive bias" across the BBC's output. Under intensifying political pressure, BBC chair Samir Shah apologised for what he called an "error of judgment," shortly after director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief Deborah Turness resigned in the ensuing crisis. But the man behind the memo is far from a neutral auditor. Michael Prescott is a right-wing lobbyist working as a managing director for nearly a decade at Hanover Communications, a firm with longstanding Conservative Party ties. Byline Times can reveal that Hanover Communications has been paid at least half a million dollars by four American media and technology corporations whose founders and executives are closely tied to Donald Trump. According to official EU and UK lobbying disclosures seen by Byline Times, Prescott's firm represents Oracle, Apple, Meta and Paramount - a roster that spans the core of Big Tech, US entertainment and news media. The latest filings show payments in the six-figure range for the last financial year, covering both regulatory lobbying in Brussels and political communications in Westminster. The new evidence suggests that Prescott's memo lends weight to the concerns of BBC insiders that its use was choreographed as part of a wider attack on the corporation by forces aligned with the US President. EXCLUSIVE The Pro-Trump Bias of the 'Neutral' Sources in the Leaked BBC 'Prescott Dossier' Byline Times' analysis of key sources in the memo about the BBC's alleged 'progressive bias' shows it relied on highly partisan right-wing, Trump-aligned organisations Nafeez Ahmed Oracle and the Emerging Pro-Trump Media Empire Michael Prescott, author of the BBC memo, has been managing director of Hanover Communications, a major British lobbying firm, since 2017. Leading the list of American tech giants for which Hanover is lobbying is Oracle, whose billionaire founder Larry Ellison - a major Trump ally and Republican Party megadonor - is spearheading a conservative-leaning US media empire, including being in pole position for the purchase of the US version of TikTok. On 14 November 2020, the Washington Post reported, Ellison joined a strategy call with Trump aides aimed at overturning the legitimate result of the 2020 US national elections. This was less than a week after Trump experienced stunning defeats in Republican strongholds Arizona and Georgia. Oracle's EU filings disclose $1...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY We've been tracking culture war attitudes in the UK in a major series of studies with Ipsos since 2020 - and our latest survey shows a frightening increase in the sense of national division and decline in the UK. Two-thirds of those surveyed think the UK is now divided by culture wars, up from just 46% five years ago. Half now say that we're changing too fast and would like the country to be the way it used to be, both up from around a third in 2020. This comes together in 84% of Brits thinking the country is divided, the highest level we've ever measured. These are big shifts in a short time, and they have accelerated markedly in the last couple of years. In our previous studies, perhaps the most surprising, and heartening, element was that we weren't seeing increased tension, despite increasingly divisive politics, media and social media. That's now changed - but why? First, the fact this is a recent change points to it not being only about the economic situation. We haven't had great economic or living standards news for years, so it won't account for the shift. Of course, economic realities and our own finances are definitely vitally important factors - where if people felt better off, there would be less cause for resentment and sense that it's a zero-sum game, where others are taking your share. But too much focus on these drivers echoes the Brexit debate, where the Remain side emphasised the economic case, which talked past a large proportion of the public who were more concerned about how the country was changing, with immigration levels at its heart. The BBC's Attempts to Appease the 'Right-Wing Coup' Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov Adam Bienkov The net migration figures did spike to extremely high levels in 2022 and 2023, so there has been a real change that coincides with increased concern: our study shows the highest sense of tension between immigrants and people born in the UK that we've measured. But this does raise the question of whether this increasing sense of division is a bottom-up expression of genuine concern from the public, or whether it's created or encouraged top-down, through increasingly extreme rhetoric in the media, social media and politics. This echoes a long debate among US academics on whether their culture wars were started and cemented from the bottom or the top - and the end conclusion is that it's a bit of both. So, rhetoric does seem to matter - and it's very clear that it has become more extreme. Views that would have been moderated and taken down from social media platforms a year or two ago no longer are. There is increasingly solid academic evidence for what we can all see in our own experience of platforms and politics - that our information environment has become more extreme and divisive. And there is very solid evidence that exposure to those extreme views does shift individual attitudes and moves the social norm. Within this overall increased sense of division, we're also now seeing incredibly different perspectives across party lines and age groups. Three-quarters of Reform supporters say there is a "great deal" of tension between immigrants and people born in the UK, twice the level of Labour, Lib Dem and Green supporters. Six in ten young women say that transgender rights have gone as far as they should or have not gone far enough, while six in 10 older men say transgender rights have gone too far. We now have a political structure that gives a clear home to views that were less clearly defined previously, with the rise of Reform a particularly vital shift. Again, the impact of Reform is not unlike our experience of the EU referendum, where the Brexi...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY We surely all have our own thoughts and feelings about the BBC during its current hour of need. However, here in the UK there are very few who would agree with Donald Trump's spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, that the BBC is "100% fake news" and a "propaganda machine." Indeed when last surveyed by pollsters IPSOS, 57% of respondents said they would turn to the BBC as the one news outlet they trust the most, albeit this figure appears to be on the slide. And yet Leavitt and her boss have clearly now played a significant part in bringing about the removal of the Corporation's Director General Tim Davie and its News CEO Deborah Turness. Davie had no real feel for news and current affairs but was irritated and eventually worn out by it. The ex-Procter & Gamble, plus Pepsi, brand guy would have been instrumental in creating a brand statement which proclaims: "The BBC is a bridge between us. A common ground. A reflection of who we are. It belongs to every one of us." Now that may sometimes work with programmes like The Archers, Celebrity Traitors or the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. But BBC News and Current Affairs is necessarily not about cuddly togetherness and consensus. It can never be a televised speaker's corner, however many phone-ins or episodes of Any Answers it airs. The audience cannot control the message, even when they don't like hearing it. The BBC's Attempts to Appease the 'Right-Wing Coup' Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov Adam Bienkov Nowadays, hundreds of pressure groups with their own individual axes to grind believe they are justified in relentless shelling of the BBC. It's the softest of targets and loves agonised navel-gazing. Has any media organisation ever spent so many thousands of hours in masochistic self-analysis? It lacks the will and the mentality to fight back. Has it ever tried to sue anyone? A rare exception to this is the extraordinary writ for libel taken out against the journalist Owen Jones by its Middle East Online editor Raffi Berg. In my small way, I found myself on the receiving end of this a number of years ago when presenting the BBC Radio 4 show In Business as a freelance journalist. I made the schoolboy error of tangling with Conserative to UKIP defector MP Douglas Carswell over Brexit on Twitter. Quick as a flash, he made a formal complaint and I was hauled up in front of my producer, told my opinion had no place and given the door-stopper Editorial Guidelines to read for my homework. Carswell, incidentally, who currently resides in Mississippi, in September of this year posted "let's make England Abdul-free" as his response to the migration debate. It's been forced over recent years to offer an impartial, "unbiased" line on everything. This can sometimes reach ludicrous levels, to the point where if someone appears on air and declares the world is round, you half expect the presenter of the programme to chip in with "of course there are many who believe the world is flat." Whether it's the genocide in Gaza, or Climate Change, this approach has led to some absurd journalistic gymnastics. It is the job of the journalist to cut through influence-peddling and disinformation and present truths. However, we now live in a world where no longer do we hold truths to be self-evident; we hold all truths to be self-evident. Even the ones that aren't. The producers of The Panorama programme may have made an error by splicing together Trump's January 6th speech, but the fact remains that he was indicted for incitement. And he's been guilty of far worse things since. It's also worth noting that Trump's ratings, while low in the US, plumb the depths here in Britain ...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY When Boris Johnson was Prime Minister one of his senior advisers confided to me that one of the only things in politics his boss actually cared about was "killing off the BBC". Five years on, and it is a campaign that appears to be finally coming to fruition. Just last week, as the corporation came under sustained attack by the combined forces of Donald Trump's White House and the Conservative-supporting press in the UK, over its clumsy editing of a speech by the President, the former Prime Minister appeared to smell blood. Taking to X, Johnson tweeted that "Until BBC boss Tim Davie either comes clean on how Panorama doctored Trump's speech - or resigns - I won't be paying my licence fee." He wouldn't have long to wait. Within days of Johnson's ultimatum, the BBC's Director General Tim Davie and its CEO of News Deborah Turness had announced their resignations. EXCLUSIVE BBC Bosses Draw Up Plans to Win Over Reform Voters by Changing News and Drama Output The Director General Tim Davie and other executives discussed altering BBC "story selection" in order to secure the "trust" of supporters of Nigel Farage's party Adam Bienkov For some insiders at the BBC, their departure was a direct result of the "coup" set in trail by Johnson in Government. "It was a coup, and worse than that, it was an inside job," former Sun Editor David Yelland told Radio 4's Today Programme, on Monday, reflecting the view of many inside the corporation. "There were people inside the BBC, very close to the board … on the board, who have systematically undermined Tim Davie and his senior team over a period of [time] and this has been going on for a long time. What happened yesterday didn't just happen in isolation" he told the programme. One of the key figures in this internal "coup" was the former Conservative Communications Director and GB News executive, Robbie Gibb, who was appointed by Johnson to the BBC board in 2021, shortly after describing the corporation as having been "culturally captured by… woke-dominated group think". Although not formally in an executive role, journalists at the corporation report that Gibb became hugely involved in scrutinising those he perceived as being "biased" against the Conservative party and Brexit, leading to what some insiders described as a "culture of fear" within the corporation. "There was a period which coincided with the aftermath of the 2019 General Election and the Covid pandemic when BBC bosses were absolutely terrified of Downing Street," one former BBC political journalist told Byline Times last year. "It got into the heads of a lot of bosses up to and including the Director-General himself - that we were all basically 'metropolitan liberals' who weren't representative of anyone and that we needed to be bloody careful because, if we stepped out of line, then we knew what was going to happen." Other figures shoehorned into the corporation during this period included its former chair Richard Sharp, who was later forced to resign, after being exposed for facilitating a large secret loan for Johnson, while also funding third party lobby groups set up to undermine the BBC. Another key figure in this story is the public relations executive Michael Prescott, who was reportedly appointed as an external advisor to the BBC following lobbying by Gibb, before penning the memo accusing the corporation of being anti-Trump, pro-Hamas and biased in favour of pro-Trans voices, which was then leaked to the Telegraph and found its ways into Trump's feed last week. A Policy of Appeasement Of course at any point throughout this period, the BBC could have chosen to stand up against those forces trying to undermine them both from within and without. Instead, under Davie, the corporation has become increasingly timid, second guessing every right-wing attack against the...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY Reform UK's leader Nigel Farage has repeatedly attacked what he calls "globalist" figures getting involved in British politics. However, it now emerges that one of the principal funders of Farage's anti-migrant, anti-EU, anti-human-rights, anti-drugs and anti-globalist party, is a Nigerian-Lebanese billionaire with Irish citizenship who once advised both Amnesty International and the World Economic Forum, and whose overseas fortune stems partly from a cannabis enterprise in South Africa. Bassim Haidar, a telecoms and fintech magnate whose wealth spans Africa, the Gulf and Europe, is now one of Reform UK's biggest donors. Between January and April 2025, Electoral Commission filings record four cash donations from him totalling £225,000. These are the first tranches of a £1 million pledge trumpeted from Haidar by the party earlier this year. His gifts have made him central to Reform's finances but also emblematic of its contradictions. Haidar's public life seems to be a series of sizeable pivots. In November 2024 he told The Telegraph that he had "left" Britain, lamenting that Labour's abolition of the non-dom tax regime had made the country "no longer interesting" for wealthy investors. "I leave with a very heavy heart," he said. "It is home in many ways." The paper described him selling off his £80 million London property portfolio and relocating to Greece and Dubai. If he had have left, this would be a concern under Electoral Commission rules given his subsequent payments to Reform UK. Foreign political donations are banned in the UK. There is no suggestion that his donations breach electoral law, however. The Electoral Commission told Byline Times that an individual remains a permissible donor while on the UK electoral register, and Haidar remains so listed. It seems that either Haidar or The Telegraph had trumpeted his imminent departure prematurely. Nigel Farage Says Minimum Wage Should Be Cut for Young People The Reform leader said cutting the minimum wage for young people would boost business, as he attacked plans to raise taxes on the wealthy Adam Bienkov Asked for further clarification on some of these points, Haidar responded that "any inaccuracies published about me will be referred to my legal counsel." Yet the inconsistencies Byline Times sought to resolve originated not in this paper's reporting but in The Telegraph's own interview, in which Haidar reportedly claimed to have "left" Britain. The Telegraph also did not respond to this paper's request for comment. What we do know is that, almost a year later, Haidar is still listed at his One Hyde Park flat address and so can legally fund Reform UK. Haidar told Byline Times that he remained a UK resident, that his donations were "100 per cent legal and comply with electoral law," and that he merely "plans to leave sometime in the future, not determined yet." In other words, the exile had not quite departed. He has, however, reportedly cancelled plans to list his billion-dollar fintech company, Optasia, on the London Stock Exchange, opting instead for South Africa. These discrepancies between his public statements prompts questions. Companies House lists his nationality as Irish, yet he was born in Nigeria to Lebanese parents. When Byline Times asked how and when he acquired Irish citizenship (by descent, naturalisation or investment) he declined to comment. Haidar's ideological route maps his business trajectory: global in practice, nationalist in political donation. Once a Conservative donor under Rishi Sunak, he later declared that the Conservatives had "lost their way" and shifted allegiance to Farage's insurgent right, hailing him as the man to restore Britain's "glory." Reform UK has built its identity rejecting the kind of world Haidar represents. It rails against "globalist elites," calls for the wit...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY When it comes to housing, I appreciate that I have the basics: a roof over my head and heating (although, these days, that is not a given due to the extortionate rise in costs). These things should never be considered a privilege for any human being - but the most basic of rights. Yet, in the dark labyrinth of this hypocritical capitalist world in which we are all trapped, there is no equity or equality in housing. And it hasn't been this bad in a very long time. It was in my late teens that I knew I did not want to stay at home with my mum forever. I loved her and everything she had done for me, which included reinforcing my defiance, but I knew I had to get out. It was not merely a rejection of the old, tired 'triumph over tragedy' model that is imposed on disabled people - it was more simple and more human. I wanted freedom, something I was told I could never have as a wheelchair user - at least not something near that which non-disabled people take for granted. In 1981, I started with small efforts to determine what was out there. I sent hand-typed letters by post - as this was before the internet, mobile phones, Independent Living. Before housing for disabled people was a reality. There were a few specialist housing associations - John Grooms Housing Association (of he who invented the 'Crippleage') and the more progressive Habinteg - but there was a lack of appropriate buildings. I will never forget the shock I felt when the main option put forward for living outside of my family home was to go into a care facility. So I took on the long challenge to ensure this would not be the direction of my life, aided along the way by writing a letter to Ken Livingstone. Oedipus and the 'Other' Within Us All In our theatre of social media, the modern chorus has become a cacophony of competing rights and opposing certainties where the contemporary curse is that of othering, writes Jake Arnott Jake Arnott I now live in a beautiful social housing flat, adapted from a large Victorian property built in the 1870s. The repurposing is clunky and I'm doubtful that any disabled person was involved in the redesign. There is mould in my bedroom, there have been leaks through the ceiling, and there is poor insulation. The ramp to my property is not appropriate and seen as a fire risk. I have no other exit, apart from a narrow hallway in which my wheelchair cannot turn. Sometimes issues are resolved within a reasonable timescale, but often not. The space is tiny, so this flat is all about ceiling height - not much use when you're a wheelchair user. I moved here in a house swap from London - a gargantuan effort of constant communication and the familiar pattern of having to prove who you are and why you qualify for such a 'right'. While it is hard for humble tenants to prove anything, I believe the home swapping system is deeply flawed and suspect - another get-out clause to fob off tenants stuck in dreadful and inappropriate properties. In such situations of desperation, people may lie and complications will occur. While housing associations need to give you permission to go on home swap sites, there is very little checking, which leads to more confusion and disappointment for many. At my age, I know the system and what we're up against. Naturally, it's usually about money. Yet again we are merely numbers on spreadsheets, seen as costing too much with little opportunity for profit. I marvel at the sheer audacity of housing associations (as with many older charities), with their big fundraising junkets, expense accounts, team-building weekends in nice little hotels - while another ageing disabled tenant is stuck on the third floor because steps are no longer viable for them and the lift keeps failing. No nice little hotel for her - while others use her as a statistic in another posh pres...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY On Wednesday David Lammy said at Prime Minister's Questions that the Scottish National Party was a threat to the UK's national security, in what amounts to a drastic escalation of Labour's anti-independence rhetoric. To be clear he - and in fact, two other cabinet ministers before him - didn't just say that SNP policies risked national security, which would have been a normal part of the cut and thrust of political debate. He said that the SNP Government in Scotland - a Government elected in 2021 by Scottish voters - was, itself, a threat. This all started on Monday, when the Scottish Conservative MP John Lamont asked at Defence questions if the Defence Secretary, John Healy agreed "that Scottish independence would be a gift to Britain's enemies and would put at risk the hard work of our armed forces in keeping us safe at home?" Healy didn't only agree, but went further, declaring that "the continuation of the Scottish Nationalist Government in Scotland is a threat to our security". Later, he refused to use the same language about the Chinese Government. On Wednesday morning, the Secretary of State for Scotland, Douglas Alexander, was asked at Scottish Questions if he agreed with this assessment. He said that he did, giving an additional reason, alongside its support for independence. "Scottish businesses," he said, meaning global arms manufacturers with factories in Scotland, were "deeply perplexed by the [first minister's] statement in relation to the Middle East and Gaza". The statement he was referring to was the Scottish Government's decision to stop subsidising companies selling weapons to Israel. Adding in the SNP's opposition to nuclear weapons, he said "I find myself as usual in agreement with the Defence Secretary." EXCLUSIVE Conservative Councillor Accused of 'Old-Fashioned Racism' After Saying 'Young Black Males' Are 'Flooding' the UK EXCLUSIVE: Pauline Giles defended her comments to Byline Times, saying that "we cannot sustain the volume of young black males" that "jeopardises the security of our country" Josiah Mortimer At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday afternoon, the SNP MP Pete Wishart asked the Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy (who was filling in while Starmer is away) whether he agreed. Lammy - bizarrely - responded by saying that a DNA test had told him he is 5% Scot, and that "the people of Scotland are not a threat to national security, it's the SNP, and their desire to get rid of the nuclear deterrent, that's the threat to national security". So, across three days, three Labour cabinet ministers agreed that Scotland's SNP Government is a threat to national security, giving between them three reasons: its desire for Scottish independence (implicitly, when Healy agreed with Lamont's original question); its eventual decision to stop subsidising arms companies producing weapons for Israel for use in the genocide in Gaza, and its opposition to nuclear weapons. This posturing is politically telling. 1.3 million people in Scotland voted for the SNP Government in 2021. If Labour thought it could reach out to sway any of those people in May's Holyrood election, then it wouldn't be using a line which these voters see as preposterous. If Labour had an expansive strategy in Scotland, then Douglas Alexander - who will be in charge of overseeing the campaign - would be picking messages to reach out to the roughly half of Scots who support independence. Instead, this messaging appears to be an attempt to shore-up the hardline unionist vote in Scotland, which is currently haemorrhaging to Reform. And, of course, this doesn't just cover Scotland. Labour just took a drubbing from Plaid Cymru in the Caerphilly by-election in Wales, with the pro-Welsh independence, anti-nuclear party in poll position to come first in the Welsh elections next year. The Nor...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY A Conservative councillor and the party's former Chair in Cornwall has been accused of "old-fashioned racism" after suggesting that Britain cannot sustain the "volume of young black males" she claimed was "flooding" the country and "jeopardising" safety. Cornwall Conservative Councillor Pauline Giles backed a petition for "mass deportations" on Wednesday by expelled Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe. Cllr Giles is also a previous chair of Cornwall Council. In her Facebook post endorsing his petition, she wrote: "If you want mass deportation of illegals in dinghies sign this petition! We cannot sustain the volume of young black males flooding our country. It jeopardises the security of our country and is slowly bankrupting us!" Asked why their skin colour mattered, Cllr Giles stood by the comments and told Byline Times: "Because they are [black], aren't they? I mean, they are coming over in boats, and I've seen the boats. I'm not making a big thing of this. I'm not prejudiced because I have friends of many colours. You see what's coming across on the boats, and that's what I am sort of registering." However, shortly after Byline Times called, the Facebook post was deleted. She went on: "I have helped a lot of people in my past. When there was the Ukrainian war [sic], I was one of the ones that spearheaded helping them and everything else. This is not about being prejudiced. This is about my concern for what is happening. And I really worry about young girls. If you have a look, it looks like these girls are being attacked by people from these boats." Don't miss a story SIGN UP TO EMAIL UPDATES Asked if there were any 'small boats' coming into Cornwall or if it was an issue in her ward of St Blazey, she said: "No, it's not a problem for Cornwall at the moment. But the thing is, they're coming in at such a rate that at some point they're going to get put here somewhere, aren't they?" And asked if she'd commented on recent cases of sexual assault and rape by white people in Cornwall itself, she replied: "No." Presented with several such cases of assaults by white people in Cornwall itself, she said: "Anybody that gets assaulted is bad, and I'm not going to make a big issue with this [post]. The fact remains, they are coming over in masses and in totals, and that is my main concern - that we don't have any background checks on these people. They're just appearing and they're not adhering to our laws or systems or beliefs." She added that the post was from her "personal" page, though it is public. "What I put on there is my belief and nothing to do with any other members of the Conservative group in Cornwall," Cllr Giles said. But she also said that her Facebook feed was full of stories of assaults by black people, as was the news. "Whilst you say that, you know, there are white people and yellow people and everybody else [doing crimes], on Facebook and on social media, it is pushed all the time in front of us, isn't it?" ENJOYING THIS ARTICLE? HELP US TO PRODUCE MORE Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account. PAY ANNUALLY - £39.50 A YEAR PAY MONTHLY - £3.75 A MONTH MORE OPTIONS We're not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe. "A lot of the newspapers are the ones that are putting these stories up. And foolishly, I believe them, because they are a national institution in our country and they should be reporting the truth," she said. The Conservative politician added that she had not seen the reported cases of assaults in Cornwall by white people Noah Law, the local Labour MP for St Austell and Newquay, told Byline Times: "In the 1960s a young black male ca...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY Reform UK's candidate for Mayor in Doncaster this May has been accused of making "openly racist comments" following the train stabbings over the weekend. In posts on Sunday, responding to Saturday's mass stabbing attack on the Doncaster to London King's Cross train, Reform councillor Alexander Jones explicitly attributed the crime to "individuals" who were "not English" and instead "Black and of Caribbean descent" - despite the alleged killer being British. When a commenter noted that fact, Cllr Jones replied that being "English" is tied to racial "lineage" and "Anglo-Saxon heritage", appearing to imply that people of colour born in Britain cannot be English: The remarks came in now-deleted Facebook posts from Cllr Jones, who represents Edenthorpe and Kirk Sandall in the Yorkshire borough. He was the candidate feted by Reform leader Nigel Farage MP as the city's next mayor, and who just missed out on the top job to Labour earlier this year. Introducing Cllr Jones as Reform's Doncaster mayoral candidate in March, Farage said: "Alexander understands the challenges faced by local people having lived here all his life. He is young, energetic and exactly what's needed to get Doncaster back on track," adding in a separate interview that Reform would bring "entrepreneurial flair and spirit" to the Yorkshire city. While Jones lost out on the mayoralty, he was elected as a councillor and Reform went on to win control of the city council. ENJOYING THIS ARTICLE? HELP US TO PRODUCE MORE Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account. PAY ANNUALLY - £39.50 A YEAR PAY MONTHLY - £3.75 A MONTH MORE OPTIONS We're not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe. A Doncaster Labour spokesperson told Byline Times: "In a moment of national shock following the horrific attack, former Doncaster Mayoral candidate for Reform UK chose to spread misinformation in an attempt to stoke racial hatred and division. "Sadly, this is the behaviour that we are coming to expect from Reform UK." The "deeply offensive and discriminatory" remarks in the words of one resident "use the tragedy to promote racist generalisations about immigration and so-called 'third world cultures' a local told Byline Times. One resident told this outlet the rhetoric was "outrageous, inflammatory, and wholly incompatible with public office." "It promotes racial division, undermines community cohesion, and perpetuates harmful stereotypes. It is vital that such racism from elected representatives is called out and held to account." A Doncaster resident, Andy, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said: "I find these comments deeply unacceptable because they stoke division and undermine the sense of unity in our City. Statements like this make valued members of our community - many of whom were born here and are proud British citizens - feel targeted and unwelcome. That's not what Doncaster stands for." Don't miss a story SIGN UP TO EMAIL UPDATES Shortly after Byline Times contacted Reform HQ with the story, Jones posted on Facebook saying that his Sunday post was "open to interpretations" and that he "apologise[d] for any offence caused." But the Doncaster African Caribbean Support Group wrote that his comments suggested "racism is normalised in the City of Doncaster." "[There's an] urgent need to address systemic racism…"Othering" is distasteful and is undermining community cohesion," adding that Doncaster was: "One people, one city, one love." Reform UK and Alexander Jones were contacted for comment but did not respond directly. Nigel Farage has himself been accused of racism. In 2014, Farage ...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY Sadiq Khan wants New Yorkers to "see through the politics of hatred and fear" and back the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York, while rejecting those seeking to "weaponise" his Muslim faith against him. A source close to the London Mayor told Byline Times that Khan wants New Yorkers to reject the "divisive and desperate" tactics of Mamdani's political opponents and embrace Mamdani's "positive vision" for the city. Highlighting the "uncanny" similarities between the failed attempts by the UK Conservatives to target Khan's religion during his first bid for London mayor and the current campaigns being run being run against Mamdani, the source said the London Mayor hoped New Yorkers would "see through" such tactics. ENJOYING THIS ARTICLE? HELP US TO PRODUCE MORE Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account. PAY ANNUALLY - £39.50 A YEAR PAY MONTHLY - £3.75 A MONTH MORE OPTIONS We're not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe. "The similarities between the attacks Mamdani has faced and what Sadiq has faced in elections, particularly in 2016 are uncanny. "Weaponising Mamdani's faith and linking him to terrorism and extremism is an old campaigning tactic, and one we're all too familiar with here in London." Khan's first campaign for London mayor was met by repeated attempts by the then Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith and his supporters to smear Khan as a "radical" associated with Islamic extremists, with then Cabinet minister Michael Gove even suggesting that Khan would implement Sharia law if elected Mayor. An article written by Goldsmith for the Mail on Sunday on the eve of the election was accompanied by a large photo of a blown-up London bus, with a headline suggesting that a vote for Khan would put the city into the hands of a party that "thinks terrorists are its friends". Mamdani's opponents have also sought to smear him as being supportive of terrorists. His main rival Andrew Cuomo suggested last month that his main rival would "be cheering" if the 9/11 attacks happened again. Responding to the comments Mamdani described them as "disgusting." "This is Andrew Cuomo's final moments in public life and he's choosing to spend them making racist attacks on the person who would be the first Muslim to lead this city," he said. The source close to Khan accused Mamdani's opponents of a "desperate" attempt to use his faith to prevent him from winning Tuesday's election. "The closer we get to the election, and the more his positive vision has connected with voters in New York City, the more divisive and desperate Mamdani's opponents have become. "The Mayor hopes that like in London, New Yorkers see through the politics of hatred and fear, and embrace Mamdani's hopeful and optimistic vision for the future." FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM & INCREDIBLE VALUE Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and support quality, investigative reporting. SUBSCRIBE TO BYLINE TIMES FOR AS LITTLE AS £3.75 A MONTH

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY A left-wing challenger to lead the UK's largest trade union is pledging to ramp up industrial action and overhaul its relationship with Labour if she wins. Andrea Egan, a socialist social worker from Bolton, is challenging the re-standing General Secretary of Unison for the leadership, and is convinced she will win. Andrea Egan is standing for Unison General Secretary after 37 years working in the public sector. She joined the union movement just as the 'closed shop' guaranteeing high trade union membership was being dismantled by Margaret Thatcher's Government. But Unison still has significant power and potential, representing hundreds of thousands of care workers, NHS staff, local Government employees and more. Former care worker and registered children's social worker Egan believes the 1.3 million strong union is punching well below its weight - both in the workplace and in Government. Unison is affiliated to the Labour Party and is currently a key institutional ally of Keir Starmer. Egan wants to transform that relationship. She wants her organisation to be far more "activist" focused, and her call for a radical revamp of the union has seen her pick up 207 branch nominations around the UK - effectively neck and neck with incumbent Christina McAnea. ENJOYING THIS ARTICLE? HELP US TO PRODUCE MORE Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account. PAY ANNUALLY - £39.50 A YEAR PAY MONTHLY - £3.75 A MONTH MORE OPTIONS We're not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe. Socialist groups believe the election is a chance to "defeat Starmer's most important union backer" and secure a senior ally to the likes of the RMT's Eddy Dempsey, the PCS union's Fran Heathcote or Bakers' Union leader Sarah Woolley. Speaking to Byline Times, Egan is incredibly confident, claiming she's "going to win" the election. The race is an unprecedented straight choice between her and incumbent McAnea, seen as a 'moderate' in union circles. Egan claims McAnea "hasn't delivered for the members" after five years as General Secretary, and is "too worried about upsetting the Labour Party". McAnea, however, this weekend condemned "own goals" by Labour since coming to power last July, and called for a "reset". The UK's largest union has around £200 million income a year but is "not exerting the power" it should, Egan claims. In short, it means Egan wants to ramp up industrial action in the majority-female, public-sector workforce. The approach strongly echoes Sharon Graham's approach at the Unite union, which has distanced itself from Labour and instead pumped millions into strike pay and escalating workplace disputes. Egan led the first-ever Unison branch strike alongside teacher unions against schools' conversions to academies under the last Labour Government, in 2008. Don't miss a story SIGN UP TO EMAIL UPDATES But she has accused the union Unison of being - until recently - only focused on recruitment for revenue - growing the membership numbers but not the "power" of Unison. In 2022, the then-left led NEC majority, backed by Egan, implemented an "Organising to Win", to shift from a union "servicing" members to one which is more focused on industrial organising. The union subsequently increased strike pay from £25 from day four of industrial action, to £50 from day one. Egan, currently the secretary of Unison's Bolton Local Government Branch, also claims discrimination in the workplace has reached a "crisis point" for black members - but that the union's current legal support is "too risk-averse" on bringing forward race discrimination cases. She has pledged to "stamp out" racism in...

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY In the lead-up to what promises to be a consequential budget, the money spent on supporting disabled people is constantly questioned, often in the most simplistic terms. Thus, to the glee of right-wing politicians and journalists, the National Audit Office has recently reported that local authorities spend £2 billion every year on transporting disabled children to school. Meanwhile, the reform of the SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) system is endlessly postponed, no doubt because of the political challenge involved in cutting services. And all the time, welfare benefits are eyed greedily, and recipients are challenged to prove that they are 'disabled enough' to deserve them. As so often in times of economic crisis, the weakest get hit the hardest. Those of us who champion the rights and dignities of disabled people, especially those with learning disabilities, tend to avoid talking about money. We know from bitter experience that learning disabled people are all too often presented as imposing an unsupportable 'burden' on society. We remember that the Nazis showed us where such rhetoric leads, and answer that our loved ones have all kinds of value which cannot be measured in monetary terms. But, while our silence is understandable, we should, I believe, insist that the financial calculations are more complex. Maybe, just maybe, it is time to follow the money. The stubborn fact is that the education, healthcare, and social support of people with learning disabilities is relatively expensive. Young people like my 29-year-old son Joey need a level of one-to-one support that few his age require. The problem is that the conversation is always conducted in such simplistic terms: it is as if learning disabled people represent an absolute financial loss, to be contrasted with their non-disabled peers, who cost the taxpayer nothing at all. We need to offer a more nuanced perspective. We Are Utterly Reliant on Immigrant Workers - But Who Cares About Reality? Penny Pepper shares her experiences of recruiting migrant care workers, who can find themselves enduring exploitation and abuse for their efforts Penny Pepper Thus, every time we hear mutterings about the bill for children with special education needs, we should insist on subtracting the amount spent (around £8,000 per year) on educating a non-disabled child. Whenever we read about the money spent by the NHS on people with chronic disabilities, we should subtract the costs of the healthcare of their non-disabled brothers and sisters. Each time we are warned of the rising bill for the social care of disabled people, let us balance that with the cost of other benefits that most people draw on at some time in their lives. Yes, supporting people with learning disabilities costs money - but we should be more precise about what we are measuring that against. We should also factor in the costs of those activities incurred by non-disabled people which tend not to be needed by learning disabled ones: driving on roads and motorways, using public transport, attending college and university, accessing subsidised arts and leisure facilities, even working in the public sector. The truth is that the simpler, more modest, lives generally led by learning disabled people impose simpler, more modest costs. Behind all of this lurks a grim but significant statistic: the median life expectancy for a (white) man with learning disabilities is 63, compared with 81 for the general population. There are many reasons for this unwarranted 'social murder', as Sara Ryan calls it in her terrific new book Critical Health and Learning Disabilities: An Exploration of Erasure and Social Murder. But the dreadful consequence is that the vast majority of people with learning disabilities will never draw a state pension, receive winter fuel allo...