Latest news with #JacobReesMogg
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Bishop who criticised Tories to lead Orgreave inquiry
Labour has appointed a bishop who has been critical of the Tories to lead a public inquiry into the 'Battle of Orgreave'. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, confirmed that the inquiry would look at events surrounding the clashes between police and miners at the Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire in June 1984, when Margaret Thatcher was in power. She announced it would be chaired by Dr Pete Wilcox, the Bishop of Sheffield. Five years ago, Dr Wilcox criticised Boris Johnson on social media after his adviser Dominic Cummings was accused of breaking Covid rules with a trip to Barnard Castle. He also put his name to an open letter urging against a no-deal Brexit in 2019. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, said: 'A hand-picked selection of Lefties will inevitably produce a biased report. Taxpayers' money will be used for the propaganda purposes of the Labour movement. 'This is a bung to the Left, which will no doubt attack the police who bravely did their job and stood up against mob violence.' In his Twitter post in May 2020, Dr Wilcox wrote: I don't usually tweet politics, and I have carefully steered clear during the pandemic. But tonight I must say: the PM & his cabinet are undermining the trust of the electorate and the risks to life are real. — Pete Wilcox (@PeteWilcox1564) May 24, 2020 The no-deal Brexit letter said: 'Seeing the evidence of division in every part of England, we are deeply concerned about political polarisation and language that appears to sanction hate crime. The reframing of the language of political discourse is urgent, especially given the abuse and threats levelled at MPs doing their job.' The inquiry, expected to launch in the autumn, will investigate the events surrounding Orgreave clashes, which resulted in 120 injuries. A total of 95 picketers were arrested and initially charged with rioting and violent disorder, but all charges were later dropped after police evidence was discredited. The inquiry will be statutory, with the appropriate powers to compel people to provide information where necessary. Dr Wilcox said: 'I am extremely grateful to the Home Secretary for the opportunity to chair this inquiry and for the support I shall be given in doing so. I do not underestimate the weight of expectation or the significance of the task. 'I look forward to engaging with stakeholders in the coming weeks over the draft terms of reference, and to working with the government to identify experts to support me on the independent panel. 'I expect the panel to begin its work in the autumn, and we will endeavour to deliver an inquiry which is thorough and fair, and which will uncover what happened at Orgreave as swiftly as possible.'
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Daily T: ‘Grant Shapps has questions to answer': Jacob Rees-Mogg on the Afghan MoD data breach
Was this the most expensive – and possibly most disastrous – email in history? It has been revealed that the details of up to 25,000 Afghans – soldiers who worked alongside the British and their families – were mistakenly leaked by a Marine in 2022. The Government at the time secured a superinjunction to prevent the breach being reported, meaning the £7bn earmarked to address it faced no scrutiny. Jacob Rees-Mogg was a senior MP back then and tells Camilla what he did and didn't know at the time, who should take the blame, and if this was a cover-up at the highest level. Plus, Chancellor Rachel Reeves just can't catch a break! Not long after her big speech to finance movers and shakers, new figures put inflation at its highest level in 18 months.
Telegraph
10-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Ofcom costs hit £4.6m after losing GB News legal battle
Ofcom's spending on external advisers surged to £4.6m last year after the watchdog lost a high-profile court battle against GB News. On Thursday, new accounts from the media watchdog showed advisory fees rose by £1.1m in the year ending March 2025. Bosses blamed the 31pc rise on 'higher external counsel and litigation costs' and said the overall sum included a provision made for a unnamed legal case. It comes after a High Court judge in February ruled that Ofcom was wrong to accuse former Tory minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg of breaking broadcasting regulations on his show. The judgment marked a major victory for GB News and the first time Ofcom has lost a legal challenge against one of its decisions on broadcasting standards. In addition to paying its own costs, the regulator was also ordered to pay GB News's legal fees. While GB News hailed the verdict as a victory for free speech, the channel has since become embroiled in a fresh row with Ofcom over its use of politicians as presenters. Following the court ruling, the watchdog set out plans to tighten rules further by blocking politicians from presenting news segments, though they would still be allowed to helm current affairs shows. GB News has hit back against the plans, branding them 'irrational' and an 'unjustified interference with freedom of expression'. However, Ofcom is now facing calls to ban politicians from presenting any programme dealing with political issues. Any such move could lead to presents such as Nigel Farage, Reform UK leader, being taken off air. Further strain to Ofcom's finances The rise in legal costs, which is understood to relate to several legal cases, added to the strain on Ofcom's finances as the watchdog spent more after taking on sweeping new powers in its role regulating tech giants. Ofcom's staff costs rose by more than £11m to £138.5m as employee numbers jumped from 1,424 to 1,557, according to its latest annual report. Temporary staff and recruitment costs also rose by £500,000 due to greater use of contract workers to cover short-term work regulating online material. Ofcom has begun to police technology companies under new laws aimed at protecting children online. A series of child safety rules, designed to block the most harmful material such as suicide, self-harm, eating disorders and pornography, will come into effect later this month. The new laws give Ofcom the power to hand down hefty fines for breaches or even take down services that repeatedly fail to comply. Despite its growing responsibilities, the regulator has come under scrutiny for its executive pay packets after the Telegraph revealed that 20 of its staff members are paid more than the Prime Minister. Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom's chief executive, saw her total pay increase by 5pc to £455k last year – boosted by a £10k annual bonus. Ofcom, which reports to Parliament but derives its funding from companies and organisations in the sectors it regulates, said its pay policy was designed to 'attract and retain the high-calibre people necessary' to carry out its responsibilities. While Ofcom's costs are on the rise, its budget also increased by £26m to £213.5m last year as it took on new online harms duties. The watchdog's budget and spending cap for pre-existing duties remained unchanged – forcing it to cut costs to offset inflationary increases. Overall, Ofcom recorded a £1.6m surplus after tax, compared to a £1.1m deficit the previous year. An Ofcom spokesman said: 'Ofcom regulates some of the most critical areas of the UK economy, and our industry funding allows us to do that job. 'We've taken on duties to create a safer life online, with new funding to do the job, but otherwise our budgets have remained flat for almost a decade.'
Times
04-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Story of banknotes is full of funny money
If you hold strong views about the design of Britain's banknotes, your moment has come at last. The Bank of England intends to relaunch the £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes, and in a predictable nod to our populist age, it has appealed to the public for suggestions. Very little, it seems, will be off limits, since the Bank's statement suggests that great historical characters could give way to images of 'food, film, television or sport'. So out will go Winston Churchill, Jane Austen and JMW Turner, and in might come, say, Luke Littler, chicken tikka masala and Adolescence. And to think people doubt the idea of progress in history. • Churchill may be dropped from banknotes for diverse designs As Bank officials are surely aware, though, no conceivable combination will please everybody. Indeed, no less a figure than Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has already condemned the 'Bank of Wokeness' for its 'supine kowtowing to the gods of political correctness'.(this, remember, before a single image has been chosen). Yet even though this story seems like a gift to the permanently outraged community, no venerable tradition is in danger of being sullied, since pictures on banknotes are a modish innovation. Until the late Queen Elizabeth made her debut on March 17, 1960, no British shopper had ever seen a face on a pound note, unless you count the image of Britannia. Indeed, if Sir Jacob wants to take a properly conservative position, he might argue that banknotes themselves are a dangerous innovation. There are suggestions that the ancient Carthaginians issued promissory notes on scraps of leather or parchment, but most historians agree that the first proper paper money originated, inevitably, in China. This was a note called a jiaozi, issued by private merchants in the city of Chengdu some time around the year 1000. Printed in black ink on an early version of paper, jiaozi often showed images of merchants. Each had a different value, depending on the buyer's needs. Over time they became standardised, and eventually the imperial government took over production, stamping notes with seals to prevent counterfeiting. But the problem with paper money, as the Chinese emperors soon discovered, is that it is very tempting to keep printing it. Inflation inevitably followed; then came the first of innumerable currency reforms. Paper money, however, never went away. 'All these pieces of paper,' marvelled the Venetian traveller Marco Polo at the end of the 13th century, 'are issued with as much solemnity and authority as if they were of pure gold or silver … [and] wherever a person may go throughout the Great Khan's dominions he shall find these pieces of paper in use, and shall be able to transact all sales and purchases of goods by means of them just as well as if they were coins of pure gold.' By contrast, most European countries were slow to embrace the paper revolution. Although late medieval bankers in Florence and Flanders, such as the Medici, issued promissory notes, it wasn't until 1661 that a central bank, Sweden's entertainingly named Stockholms Banco, issued notes known as kreditivsedlar. Alas, when ordinary Swedes tried to cash in their notes, the bank ran out of money, and after just ten years the whole thing collapsed. There was a lesson there in overpromising and overprinting, though we can all think of finance ministers who never learnt it. What, though, of Britain? The new central banks of England and Scotland issued their first notes in the mid-1690s as part of William III's financial mobilisation to fight the French. Neither had a monopoly, though. English private banks had the right to print their own notes well into the Victorian period, and the very last private banknotes were issued as late as 1921 by the little Somerset bank of Fox, Fowler and Company. As for Scottish banknotes, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank still print their own notes to this day. (But are they legal tender in England? The short answer is no. I look forward to Scottish readers' letters.) Back, though, to the wider story of paper money. Given the Swedish debacle, many people were deeply suspicious of this flimsy substitute for the real thing. And during the early 1790s they gazed in horror at the economic chaos in France, where revolutionary printers were churning out colossal quantities of notes known as assignats. Within just two years of the fall of the Bastille, almost 2.5 billion assignats were in circulation, and all the time the value was plummeting. As food prices rocketed, Jacobin radicals blamed the royal family, aristocratic exiles and British politicians — all implicated, they claimed, in a nefarious conspiracy to debauch France's currency. The chief printer was arrested and executed, while the finance minister, Étienne Clavière, took his own life before he could be dragged to the guillotine. Yet although the assignats were economically disastrous, they did at least look good, with illustrations interweaving eagles, Roman iconography and revolutionary bonnets. By contrast, British banknotes were remarkably plain until the 20th century. Clearly the Bank of England felt no need to show off, preferring to project an image of sobriety, simplicity and solidity. As a result, it was not until 1960 that Bank of England notes displayed the monarch's face, while the first commoner, William Shakespeare, didn't appear until 1970. He was followed by the Duke of Wellington, Florence Nightingale, Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Christopher Wren … and so the faces have changed over the years, leaving us with Churchill, Turner, Austen and Alan Turing today. But who comes next? Most readers will surely agree that the sane choices would be Harold Godwinson, Horatio Nelson, General Gordon and Agatha Christie. Alas, we live in strange times, so who knows whom the Bank will choose? Even the prospect of a John Lennon banknote, which would mark the lowest moment in our history, can't be ruled out. But if the Bank does make such a terrible choice, there is one consolation. Since cash payments now account for barely a tenth of all transactions, most of us will only rarely have to gaze upon the consequences. And if the alternative is to hand over a little portrait of the man who wrote Imagine, the ding of a contactless payment will sound sweeter than ever.
Telegraph
03-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Avoid David Attenborough (and other ways to ensure our new banknotes won't cause offence)
You might have thought the Bank of England has enough to get on with this week. The pound has been in freefall. Gilts are tumbling. The Chancellor's in tears. And yet over on Threadneedle Street, the keepers of the purse have decided to focus on radically redesigning British banknotes. So farewell, Winston, Jane, JMW and Alan Turing. It's time for a revolution. The King will stay (which is fair enough, he's only just got on there after a long wait), but the Bank of England has identified six potential themes for the reverse: notable historical figures; nature; architecture and landmarks; arts, culture and sport; noteworthy milestones; innovation. And fatally, they want the public to help. Victoria Cleland, the bank's 'chief cashier', or Cashier Number One, please, says she is 'really keen to hear what themes the public would like to see represented'. This is obviously foolhardy. Cleland surely knows that when the public is asked for its opinion in this country, it only ends one of two ways: in nobody taking it remotely seriously, or all-out civil war. To put it another way, Boaty McBoatface or Brexit. Democracy's not always the best worst option. This being 2025, the word 'diversity' was uttered by Cleland in her statement about how they might refresh things – and instantly sets the Bank of England up to fail. Within hours, Jacob Rees-Mogg was triggered. The bank's plans, he said, 'show a lack of confidence in the nation and a supine kowtowing to the gods of political correctness'. In these febrile times, the D-word is fraught. Could any design possibly be met with universal approval? Is any figure, natural feature, building, cultural pastime or invention impervious to criticism? Another image of King Charles, but gurning He's already on one side, why not give him the other? Except this time, make it… cheeky. 'And now let's do a fun one, shall we?' is the primary move from the photographer playbook, and we might consider it for our banknotes. So there's the usual Charles, all solemn and sovereign, with a look that says, 'spend me wisely'. Flip him over and what do we have here? Charles, but winking. Charles, but doing the Dr Evil finger? Charles, but gurning in a horse collar. Charles, but seductively biting his lip. Why it couldn't possibly be this: Well, republicans might take issue at not being able to escape the monarchy. As might the Palace, if said expression was unflattering or deemed too seductive. Still, it's worth sounding them out. The same image of Churchill, but with a twist We know that, these days, lots of people take issue with Sir Winston Churchill because of complicated aspects of his legacy. We also know that removing any depiction of Churchill – statue, bust, painting, nodding dog – is treated as a capital crime. The solution? Have the great man issue a blanket, posthumous apology with a speech bubble reading: 'Sorry about all the bad stuff.' All bases covered. Why it couldn't possibly be this: I sense this might cause ructions among those who take a less negative view of Churchill's legacy. An AI-generated bucolic scene The Bank of England is calling for suggestions relating to nature, architecture and landmarks, but there's no way you'll please everyone with a picture of an oak tree, or the Bristol Suspension Bridge, or Gloucester services, or a cow. Few countries are pettier in their regional rivalries than Britain; few industries are bitchier than architecture; hardly any activists are louder than animal-rights ones; and, trust me, nothing causes greater arguments in the pub than ranking motorway service stations. The safest bet is to use AI to create an entirely fake bucolic scene, then just never tell anybody it's not a real place and let the internet go insane trying to work out where it is. Why it couldn't possibly be this: If it leaked, the Stop Killer Robots coalition, or We Need To Pause AI, or Stop AI Stealing the Show, all of which campaign against artificial intelligence, would never let this get off the ground. The song You to Me Are Everything by The Real Thing Culture and arts, you say? Here's the idea: we find a song that is versatile, beloved, or at least universally tolerated, and then, using the technology employed in singing birthday cards, have it play from the £20 every time it's exposed to air. (Not just play all the time, that'd be mental). After a long and exhaustive search, the best – no, only – song to fit the bill is the 1976 soul hit You to Me Are Everything by the Liverpudlian group The Real Thing. Why it couldn't possibly be this: Royalty payments could prove dear. Also, The Real Thing once played in apartheid-era South Africa. Memories are long; Google is deep. But mainly it's the royalties thing. Just a blank space Go on, who could ever take issue with that? Why it couldn't possibly be this: Backlash from kenophobics, people who suffer from an anxiety disorder characterised 'by an intense and irrational fear of voids or empty spaces, such as empty rooms, vast landscapes, or even the concept of nothingness' could be very loud. Bradley Walsh As a society, we have come to accept and make peace with the fact that Bradley Walsh's face simply appears on everything: daytime TV, evening TV, adverts, our nightmares, occasionally out in the real world if he's ever not recording a game show. This sense of national ennui could be harnessed by the Bank of England. It would not be a case of, 'Wait, is that Bradley Walsh from The Chase on that £20 you just used?' We would instead see Walsh's face and simply think nothing, our brains subconsciously registering, 'There's Bradley Walsh, of course'. Why it couldn't possibly be this: Romesh Ranganathan, Claudia Winkleman and Paddy McGuinness's agents might feel put out. Yvonne We raffle it. We keep the economy afloat by turning the Bank of England into an Omaze-style lottery, with the prize being the chance to appear on a note. So the winner could, for instance, be Yvonne, a heroically plain woman who works as a travel agent in Bridgnorth. You don't know her, and that is the point. Why it couldn't possibly be this: Yvonne posted some incredibly questionable tweets in 2012. A scratch and sniff of a fresh, early summer's day Another one for the designers, especially if they crack the musical note thing. Every note could contain the aroma of a late spring, early summer morning, when the wildflowers are yawning into life, the dawn chorus is reaching its crescendo and the day feels full of opportunity. Scratch, huff, spend. Lovely. Why it couldn't possibly be this: Hayfever sufferers would be triggered every time they buy a pint of milk. Just a grainy drawing of a custard cream We're into the innovation category now, and have the opportunity to celebrate an icon. Nobody has ever turned down the offer of a custard cream and nor should they, because it's the people's biscuit – cheap, cheerful, no airs and graces, and interesting enough to look like Rich Tea and Digestive's effete uncle. What an invention. Why it couldn't possibly be this: In the age of Ozempic? Chance in a million. And believe it or not, there are custard cream haters out there. 'Your custard cream could be calamitous: It's one of the nation's guiltiest pleasures… but the dangers that may lurk beneath take the biscuit,' wrote the Daily Mail five years ago. Those dangers? According to Mindlab International, a research group, the custard cream is Britain's most hazardous biscuit, judging by the number of accidents it's involved in. Dunking, choking, scalding. They're weapons. Sir David Attenborough The man YouGov declared the most popular person in Britain? The man voted the greatest British TV presenter of all time? Who was named, along with James Bond and Queen Elizabeth II, the greatest UK icon? If he can't get on our money, who can? Why it couldn't possibly be this: Just wait until the victim support group for those iguana hatchlings left to be slain by racer snakes on Planet Earth II hears about this. A tiny, tiny mirror This may just be it – the only way to guarantee everyone in the country is pleased when they look at their banknote. Society reflected back at itself. Got a problem? You need to take a good look at yourself, mate. Quite how this is possible, structurally, is one for the Mint.
