Will Nigel Farage's ‘Doge' project achieve anything useful?
Why are they doing this?
Well, it was an election pledge, and ostensibly it could save some money that would otherwise be wasted, and make some services more efficient. Nothing wrong with that.
Who is on the crack team?
It's fair to say that some are quite successful businesspeople, and some, apparently, are IT experts; but, unlike the US Doge brigade, the British team actually includes the new leader and deputy leader of the council, Linden Kemkaran and Brian Collins.
It is also fair to say that none of the Reform UK Doge team are able to rival the expertise, let alone vast wealth, of Elon Musk (or, perhaps, the skills of the small group that the world's richest man brought to DC).
Nor does the slightly pretentious letter signed by Kemkaran, Nigel Farage and Reform chair Zia Yusuf possess the gravitas of an executive order signed by the president of the United States of America. It contains a good deal of Trumpian menace, but the fact is that Kemkaran is in no stronger a position than anyone would be in a comparable role in local government. So a lot of the Reform/Doge activity, including the 'We mean business' pics, is 'performative', as they say.
The full list is:
Nathaniel Fried, 'open-source intelligence' guru (head of Doge)
Arron Banks, businessman and Reform politician (adviser to Doge)
Zia Yusuf, chair of Reform UK
Linden Kemkaran, leader of Kent County Council
Brian Collins, deputy leader of Kent County Council
We shall see how high-powered they are, and also how easily bored.
So it is a stunt?
Yes, to the extent that any council leader can task their officers with finding efficiency savings, and/or hire consultants to do the same. Plus councils are regularly and independently audited in any case, by law. It's pretty unnecessary, and American Doge was, arguably, an embarrassing flop.
Will there be waste, fraud and abuse?
It's difficult to believe there won't be any at all, but then again it all depends on what's meant by 'waste'. Was almost the entire USAID budget consumed by waste, fraud and abuse, or did the vast majority of it save lives and serve US foreign policy? In the smaller context of a local authority area, will a flower bed enlivening the town hall, however economical its maintenance, count as essential or a frippery? What about a mother-and-toddler group? Or the green waste collections? Or, in somewhere like Lincolnshire, flood defences?
These are, in reality, just routine political choices, and the whole panoply of a British Doge is unnecessary for them to be made.
It's also not too cheesy to suggest that waste, fraud and abuse are simple facts of human life; that they exist, sadly, in private enterprise; and that even Musk and Trump have blown a few dollars here and there rather unwisely.
What about gold-plated pensions?
Most former refuse collectors, ex-leisure-centre staff and retired planners didn't earn enough for anyone to be that envious of their pension, but in any case, they are protected and their payments are contractual. The Doge team could certainly chop future pension entitlements not yet earned by staff, but that wouldn't yield much in the way of immediate savings.
They could also freeze or reduce council salaries, and change future pension rules, but with the risk of industrial action and/or not being able to recruit people. The six-figure salaries of senior professionals could also be reduced, but that carries the danger of not being able to find capable replacements, and amateurs are legally only allowed to do so much.
What could go wrong?
Lots. As anyone with any exposure to local government knows, most of its expenditure is mandated under law – on housing, adult and child social care, and special educational needs. So this is where the major savings could be made.
One way would be for contracts with, say, a care home provider to be renegotiated, with no loss of amenity for the residents in terms of their supervision, timely referrals for medical attention, cleanliness, recreation or standard of meals. Or, more crudely, a Doge-style functionary could just chop the value of the contract in half, without much interest in the horrific consequences for those in the homes, or for the children needing special help with their development.
Like the Militant-run Liverpool City Council in the 1980s, political posturing and playing with people's jobs and lives could cause real suffering for purely political mischief. In extremis, a local council run by Reform UK that breaches its statutory obligations under the Local Government Act 1972 and other legislation could find itself subject to legal action brought by the secretary of state, Angela Rayner (which they'd no doubt welcome for theatrical purposes).
What will Reform Doge achieve?
Misery and mayhem, most likely. Yes, they will surely find some minor extravagance, misrepresent valuable programmes, and hype up whatever money they save, playing down any diminution in the services provided. Very much like the real Musk Doge show, in fact.
If they do save more substantial sums – enough, say, to cut residents' council tax – then it will probably be at the expense of some highly vulnerable people, and their obligations under the law. The same goes for any attempts to ignore the strictures of the Equality Act 2010, or unlawful action against asylum-seekers, or interference in operational matters in the police force. It could get very messy.
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The Guardian
37 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Friday briefing: The court case trying to stop Palestine Action being designated a terrorist group
Good morning. On Wednesday, MPs including home secretary Yvette Cooper wore sashes to celebrate the legacy of the Suffragettes, whose methods included arson attacks, non-lethal bombings, and disabling railway lines. Then many of them voted to make wearing a Palestine Action t-shirt punishable by up to six months in prison, and membership of the group liable for a sentence of up to 14 years. The legislation is the result of Cooper's decision to proscribe Palestine Action. Today, the high court will hear a case brought by co-founder Huda Ammori asking for a temporary block on the order. If it fails, a group which pursues disruptive direct action aimed at buildings, equipment, and institutions rather than violence will be designated a terrorist entity for the first time. Cooper says that Palestine Action must be banned because it attacks the UK's defence industry, which is 'vital to the nation's national security'. For today's newsletter, I spoke to Martha Spurrier, a human rights barrister and former director of Liberty, about a new frontier in the UK's view of the line between disruptive protest and menacing force. This is my last newsletter for a while – I'm going on paternity leave, ahead of the imminent arrival of our, er, second edition. Aamna will be with you from Monday, and I'll be back in the autumn. Here are the headlines. UK politics | The MP Zarah Sultana, who was suspended from Labour last year, has said she will 'co-lead the founding of a new party' with Jeremy Corbyn. But Corbyn, who has not yet publicly committed to establishing a formal party, is understood to be frustrated at Sultana's unilateral announcement and reluctant to take on the title of leader. Diogo Jota | Jürgen Klopp and Cristiano Ronaldo led the tributes from across the football world to Diogo Jota after the 28-year-old Liverpool and Portugal forward was killed in a car accident in Spain. Jota's brother, André, also died in the crash in the province of Zamora. Middle East | Israel has escalated its offensive in Gaza before imminent talks about a ceasefire, with warships and artillery launching one of the deadliest and most intense bombardments in the devastated Palestinian territory for many months. In all, about 300 people may have been killed this week and thousands more injured, officials said. US politics | The US House of Representatives narrowly passed Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill on Thursday. The 'big beautiful bill' makes sweeping cuts to safety net programs but adds trillions to the national debt through major tax cuts and spending increases on immigration enforcement and the military. UK politics | Rachel Reeves said she is 'cracking on with the job' of chancellor after her she was seen visibly distressed in the Commons on Wednesday. Speaking after a public show of unity alongside Keir Starmer at the launch of the NHS 10-year plan, she said she had been upset over a 'personal issue'. Yvette Cooper announced the decision to proscribe Palestine Action a few days after activists from the group broke into RAF Brize Norton and spray painted two military planes red. The home secretary called that incident 'disgraceful', and said it was part of a 'long history' of criminal damage that has 'increased in frequency and severity'. She said that the attacks had done millions of pounds worth of damage and sparked panic among bystanders, who had been 'subjected to violence'. But she did not suggest that Palestine Action is a group devoted to violence as the mechanism for securing its political aims, because it isn't. The proscription order was voted through parliament this week – but doesn't come into force until Saturday. Here's what you need to know. What's at stake in today's hearing? At the high court today, Huda Ammori will seek an interim order from the judge on the case, Martin Chamberlain, preventing Cooper's decision from taking effect until a court makes a decision on a judicial review. It is not a full examination of the substantive issues raised by the case, Martha Spurrier said. 'It will probably be focused on questions of process: does the complainant understand why the order was made? Has she been given the underlying evidence and the reasons? Has the process been fair, and have the right people been consulted? 'Part of it will be about creating the legal mood music for the judge,' she added. 'This has all happened very fast, and the level of the debate has not really been proportionate to the seriousness and novelty of the change, and so they will hope that the judge will find it more attractive to press pause and ventilate the issues thoroughly in court in a few weeks time.' The government, for its part, is likely to argue that the threat posed by Palestine Action is so serious and immediate that the UK's national security requires an instant response. If they succeed, the order will take effect on Saturday and place Palestine Action alongside the likes of Islamic State, al-Qaida, and the neo-Nazi group National Action. Here are some of the consequences. (For more detail, see Netpol's useful breakdown.) Membership or encouraging others to support the group will become a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Informal expressions of support, including through clothes and banners, will become a criminal offence that could attract a six-month prison sentence. (None of this would apply retrospectively, and challenging or protesting the ban itself would still be allowed.) Organising or attending meetings of as few as three people would be banned along with fundraising or providing logistical support. Payment platforms would face investigation if they facilitated donations. Intelligence services and police would not be granted new powers of surveillance and infiltration directly, but proscription would likely increase resources flowing to monitoring suspected members of the group and might strengthen the case for warrants. Can the proscripton order still be overturned if the government wins today? If the government prevails, that is not the end of the story – but the route to overturning the ban becomes significantly harder. 'The minute the order is effective it is strengthened by being the status quo,' Spurrier said. 'The deference shown to the government on national security issues is enormous.' Should the case enter the appeals process, the first route is to the home secretary, whose view seems fairly predictable. After that it enters the legal system – but rather than being heard in open court, the case might end up in closed hearings, where Palestine Action would be represented by special advocates under severe limits on what they can share with their clients. For that to happen, the government would have to demonstrate that it has evidence which presents a national security risk to share publicly. If they succeed, the challenge for Palestine Action becomes incredibly steep, because they will only hear the parts of the case against them that have been agreed by the court not to present a national security risk. 'You can't answer the specific allegations, whether by saying I wasn't there on that date, or if you think our modus operandi is X or Y I can prove that it's not,' Spurrier said. 'It's the special advocate's job to make the strongest case they can in the absence of their client being able to give them instructions – but fundamentally they are working with both hands tied behind their back.' Is this a new frontier in the definition of terrorism? In the 1990s, Greenpeace was involved in a number of radical direct actions, like occupying the Brent Spar oil platform so it couldn't be disposed of in the sea, and destroying a field of genetically-modified maize. When the terrorism bill under which the Palestine Action decision has been made was going through parliament in 1999, Jack Straw, the home secretary at the time, dealt with the question of whether Greenpeace could be caught in the definition. 'I make it clear that the new definition will not catch the vast majority of so-called domestic activist groups,' Straw said. 'To respond to a recent example, I know of no evidence whatever that Greenpeace is involved in any activity that would fall remotely under the scope of this measure.' 'I don't think there's any evidence that parliament's intention was that groups like this would be caught by the definition of the terrorism act,' Spurrier said. 'This is the first time where the primary accusation is of property damage and not harm to people.' That obviously opens the way to wider applications in an era where direct action – often over the climate crisis – has become a major political issue, she added. 'It's really unclear to me what the principled distinction would be if Just Stop Oil began another wave of damage to property. There would surely be at the very least a political conversation about whether they should be proscribed.' Crucially, there are already plenty of laws in place for which members of groups like Palestine Action can be prosecuted for criminal damage – and which do not involve imposing the draconian restrictions of proscription. That is part of a wider political shift in the definition of acceptable protest, Spurrier said. 'I remember giving evidence to MPs about this a few years ago – and it was so noticeable that the fault line, which had always been peaceful or not peaceful, had moved – and suddenly it was disruptive or not disruptive. I had MPs saying to me that if it got in the way of the school run surely it should be banned. So there has been a paradigm shift.' What will it mean in practice? If the ban goes ahead, 'I don't expect you'll see white grannies being carted away for carrying a Palestine Action sign,' Spurrier said. 'They will be astute in who they arrest and who they prosecute. But you will see communities of colour bearing the brunt of it in the way they always do. And there will be a chilling effect – people who can't afford to be arrested because they will lose their job or they are just frightened by the prospect, simply won't show up.' There are reasons to worry about the broader consequences, including how the ban might interact with a bill going through parliament seeking to criminalise face coverings at protests and expanding the use of facial recognition. It might also lead to children being referred to the authorities under the Prevent scheme if they tell a teacher that their parents support the group, Spurrier said. 'There are so many pieces of architecture that can sweep people up for things that aren't criminal acts but speak to some kind of intention – and then you're in the dragnet.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion With all that in mind, it may seem extraordinary that the legislation passed the House of Commons this week by 385 votes to 26. 'I was really disappointed,' Spurrier said. 'But, whether you're talking about protest or asylum or criminal justice, the prevailing view is that a hardened anti-rights, anti-rule of law stance is almost a centrist position. So I was surprised that the numbers were quite so low. But I was never under the illusion that it would meet with serious resistance.' Holloman Lake, a 1965 wastewater pond in New Mexico, was a wildlife oasis until researchers tested strange shoreline foam and uncovered the devastating impact of forever chemicals on the ecosystem. Aamna A year after winning the election, Labour is at a low ebb, Polly Toynbee writes. 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Aamna Football | 'It is impossible not to feel a deep sense of pain, sadness and shared heartbreak at news of the sudden death of Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva,' Barney Ronay writes. He was 'the kind of footballer who barely seems to leave a dent in the grass, who, for all the tactical match-smarts seems still to be playing the same endless teenage game.' Tennis | The British No 1 Jack Draper was taught a grand slam lesson by the veteran Marin Cilic, losing 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 4-6 in the second round at Wimbledon. Iga Świątek went about her business almost unnoticed as she defeated Caty McNally 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 to reach the third round. Football | It took under 90 seconds for Esther González to score the first goal for Spain against Portugal in the Women's Euros, and then they came quickly, finishing up at 5-0. Italy defeated Belgium 1-0 with Arianna Caruso's stunning, curling first-half goal. The Guardian splashes on 'Hundreds killed as Israel steps up Gaza strikes despite ceasefire hope.' The Times leads with 'NHS app to give patients a 'doctor in your pocket',' while the Mail has 'The doctor in your pocket will see you now.' The FT leads on 'Big asset managers piled in to gilts as markets dipped during Reeves crisis,' the i Paper has 'Pensions face tax hike to pay for Labour welfare U-turn,' and the Telegraph goes with 'Corbyn's hard-left challenge to Starmer.' Pictures of Diogo Jota, who died in a car crash in Spain, feature on many front pages. The Mirror splashes on 'Liverpool star tragedy: Devastating,' for the Sun, it's 'Football has lost a champion,' and the Express leads with ''Our hearts are broken' …fans in shock over death of Kop star.' Our critics' roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now TVGaza: Doctors Under Attack | ★★★★★ Several powerful documentaries have emerged on Palestine this year, but this is the most unflinching. 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Telegraph
38 minutes ago
- Telegraph
This high street giant is leading the fight against foreign raiders
Britain has long been crying out for a corporate chief with the courage to fly the flag for independence when an opportunistic foreign raider swoops in. The overwhelming tendency of the vast majority of PLC boards is to wave a white flag the minute a takeover attempt lands. Hiding behind feeble claims that they have a 'fiduciary duty' to recommend any offer pitched at a mild premium, these handsomely paid custodians of Britain's brightest and best companies nearly always take the money and run. Presented with a rare opportunity to cash in shares and stock options – often running into the many millions of pounds – that might take years to vest, pure greed all too often quickly takes over. The hollowing out of the stock market is undoubtedly a bona fide national crisis, and the reasons for it are many. But if the UK wasn't possessed with a bizarre predilection for allowing overseas predators and private equity barons to pick off the jewels of British business at will, not to mention nearly always on the cheap, the problem wouldn't be nearly so pronounced. It is the elephant in the room that nobody in power seems remotely prepared to even acknowledge, never mind tackle, for fear of being branded anti-foreign investment. Yet the idea that this long-standing habit is even remotely in the national interest really is one of the great lies of our time. Three cheers then for Alex Baldock, boss of electricals chain Currys, for demonstrating that there is a genuine alternative to all those lily-livered surrender monkeys out there, which is, of course, to have faith in your standalone prospects and to send the vultures packing. In fact, Baldock has done it with such aplomb that it should really pave the way for a bold new era in which corporate Britain is prepared to stand up and fight for its future. After spurning not one but two takeover attempts from activist investor Elliott just last year, Currys is riding high. Share prices often crash when suitors walk away, but not at this high street giant. Having slumped to an all-time low of just 43p in late 2023, its shares are currently trading at a three and half-year high of 126p. What's more, that's more than double the 67p-a-share that Elliott was dangling in front of the Currys board as a final offer. This is money in the pockets of shareholders, many of them pension funds managing the retirement savings of people up and down the country, not to mention staff whose hard work behind the tills and in the aisles has helped to drive its impressive revival. More than 30,000 Currys employees have been awarded stock through the company's 'colleague shareholder scheme' since it was introduced in 2019. It's a stark reminder of what can be achieved in a relatively short period of time by managers who are prepared to take risks. Annual profits are up 37pc to £162m, beating expectations again, despite raising targets three times this year. The chain is also sitting on a hefty cash pile of nearly £200m – a sharp turnaround for an outfit that not too long ago looked to be carrying too much debt. 'The balance sheet has not been this strong in a decade,' analysts at Panmure Liberum said.
Telegraph
38 minutes ago
- Telegraph
High street stores to ban serial shoplifters
Prolific shoplifters are to be barred from stores and prosecuted under plans for the first national database of repeat offenders. Stores including M&S, Morrisons, Boots, Tesco, Primark, and Greggs are submitting CCTV, photos and personal data on all their repeat shoplifters to the database, which is shared with police. Meanwhile, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has announced that extra officers will be deployed on the streets of 500 towns in a summer blitz to crack down on shoplifting and anti-social behaviour by 'thugs and thieves'. Just 5 per cent of shoplifting is reported to police, meaning thousands of prolific thieves are currently dropping below the radar and escaping prosecution amid record levels of store theft. Investigators believe that targeting the top 10 per cent of shoplifters could cut store thefts by as much as 70 per cent – the amount of offences for which they are responsible. The shared data enables all the stores and police to 'join the dots' to identify prolific offenders, gather evidence for prosecutions and provide security staff on the shop doors with photo watchlists to bar entry. The intelligence-sharing system, known as Auror, was pioneered in New Zealand under Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister. Now deployed by 98 per cent of New Zealand stores, the system is credited with slashing rates of shoplifting and saving so much police investigation time that they could employ the equivalent of an extra 450 officers. One senior UK supermarket executive described it as a potential 'game-changer'. More than 500 towns across England and Wales have signed up to the Home Office's Safer Streets summer initiative, which will run to Sept 30, with more visible policing and stronger enforcement to 'restore confidence in policing'. Ms Cooper, who was briefed on the Auror shoplifting system by Boots on Thursday, said: 'We want more retailers, more organisations, working together on schemes like this so that we can have that partnership, so that you're tackling the crime but also getting the neighbourhood police and the reassurance in local communities. 'This hasn't happened for too long, too often. People have just been working separately, in silos, and also this sort of crime has been treated as low-level. It's not. It has a huge impact on local economies and on that sense of safety at the heart of communities.' Paul Fagg, Auror's director of law enforcement, said the crime intelligence platform enabled retailers to record everything that happens in their stores to tackle the 'huge under-reporting issue.' 'Police have access to Auror so that incidents they did not see before are now visible for them,' he said, adding that this enabled police and retailers to identify prolific offenders with CCTV and photographic evidence. He cited one recent case in which a repeat offender who had targeted 18 stores, all of them operated by different retailers, was caught as a result. He was jailed for a year and handed a criminal behaviour order that banned him from stores across the UK, with a potential jail term of five years for any breach. Ben McDonald, the head of the Morrisons corporate protection team, said Auror was a 'game-changer' as security staff could now identify prolific offenders and turn them away. Bans will avoid confrontation with thieves 'If you can stop them before they come into the store, they will leave but once they steal something, they think it is theirs and it becomes confrontational,' said the former police officer. Stores use face recognition technology to cross reference faces with thefts and at least one supermarket is considering live facial recognition cameras which could identify offenders from the database automatically and instantly. Ms Cooper urged police to make greater use of facial recognition technology, saying: 'It is a really important tool for policing to be able to use, and particularly on trying to identify criminals, looking at the CCTV. 'We do think there is more scope for using facial recognition more widely, and we're going to set out more ways in which that can be done as part of a proper framework.' A record 516,971 shoplifting offences were logged by forces last year – up 20 per cent from 429,873 in 2023. Stores logged 20 million faces of suspects in the same period.
