Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer‘s Economic Secretary and Anti-Corruption Minister, Tulip Siddiq, has resigned from the British government after being named in a corruption investigation in Bangladesh. Siddiq, born in London to Bangladeshi migrants, is the niece of Bangladesh’s ousted premier, Sheikh Hasina, and the granddaughter of its first president.
The new regime in Bangladesh accuses Siddiq’s family of embezzling billions of dollars from a nuclear power project. Siddiq allegedly helped organize meetings with the Kremlin, which financed much of the scheme. Siddiq lives in a multi-million pound home in London owned by a businessman said to be linked to her aunt’s party. She also owns a London apartment said to have been gifted to her by one of her aunt’s allies. Bangladesh’s new leader, Muhammad Yunus, wants Starmer to transfer the properties to the Bangladeshi government if it is proven they are the spoils of “plain robbery.”
Starmer resisted calls to sack Siddiq, and she claims an “independent review” has found “there is no evidence to suggest that I have acted improperly.” Nevertheless, she has tendered her resignation to avoid becoming a “distraction” for the government.
She remains a Member of Parliament (MP) for the governing Labour Party, with the executive and legislature being blended in the British constitutional system.
An independent review has confirmed that I have not breached the Ministerial Code and there is no evidence to suggest I have acted improperly.
Nonetheless, to avoid distraction for the Government, I have resigned as City Minister.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's Economic Secretary and Anti-Corruption Minister, Tulip Siddiq, has resigned from the British government after being named in a corruption investigation in Bangladesh. Siddiq, born in London to Bangladeshi migrants, is the niece of Bangladesh's ousted premier, Sheikh Hasina, and the granddaughter of its first president.
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Nigel Farage’s Reform Party is just one point behind the governing Labour Party, according to YouGov polling, with the formerly governing Conservatives behind them. Labour, which won a substantial parliamentary majority on a historically low vote share due to a collapse in Conservative support in July 2024, is down to just 54 percent of its support in the election.
Polling shows the Conservatives, who squandered their largest parliamentary majority since the 1980s under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak from 2019 onwards, have lost a further 15 percent of their supporters to Reform under their latest leader, Olukemi “Kemi” Badenoch, who was raised in Nigeria.
YouGov also found Farage has the highest public approval rating of any party leader in Britain, at 30 percent. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is second, at 27 percent, and the Liberal Democrats’ Sir Ed Davey is third, at 26 percent. Badenoch is a distant fourth, at just 20 percent.
Farage’s party is now the most popular right-leaning party among 18—24-year-olds at 19 percent support—far ahead of the Conservatives, on just five percent. Reform is also ahead of the Conservatives among 25—49-year-olds and 50—64-year-olds, and is gaining among the establishment party among the over-65s demographic, with 30 percent support to their 35 percent support.
Reform is the most popular party among men overall, with 30 percent support, ahead of Labour at 27 percent and the Conservatives at 20 percent.
Only 54% of 2024 Labour voters still say they would back the party, with their vote scattering in all directions
Nigel Farage's Reform Party is just one point behind the governing Labour Party, according to YouGov polling, with the formerly governing Conservatives behind them. Labour, which won a substantial parliamentary majority on a historically low vote share due to a collapse in Conservative support in July 2024, is down to just 54 percent of its support in the election.
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New survey data reveals that tech billionaire Elon Musk‘s attempts to influence the United Kingdom’s politics are being met with disapproval among the British public. Musk, who recently blundered into public tiffs over Reform Party leader Nigel Farage, anti-grooming gang activist Tommy Robinson, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, is viewed with skepticism by much of the public, who question the billionaire’s motives.
The poll, conducted by More in Common, suggests just 16 percent of Britons believe Musk’s comments on Britain’s grooming gangsscandal stem from a genuine desire for justice. Conversely, 44 percent suspect his actions are driven by a need for attention, with another 17 percent suggesting a motive of engaging in public disputes with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Substantive allegations that Pakistani men were and are involved in groups that groom and sexually assault young British girls have been known in Britain for decades. However, Musk has recently waded into the issue, drawing mixed reactions.
The National Pulse previously reported that a child victim of the grooming gangs, Gaia Cooper—who was raped and exploited by a grooming gang at just 14 years old—says Musk’s posts on his X (formerly Twitter) social media platform “weren’t helpful.”
Despite skepticism about Musk’s impact, the poll showed significant awareness of his remarks, with nearly two-thirds of respondents acknowledging familiarity with his comments on British politics. Furthermore, the survey reveals broader concerns regarding the United Kingdom’s handling of child sexual exploitation.
A notable 57 percent expressed distrust in the justice system’s ability to address allegations seriously, while 41 percent suspect a deliberate cover-up of gang activities. Thirty-six percent attribute investigative shortcomings to either incompetence or insufficient resources.
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New survey data reveals that tech billionaire Elon Musk's attempts to influence the United Kingdom's politics are being met with disapproval among the British public. Musk, who recently blundered into public tiffs over Reform Party leader Nigel Farage, anti-grooming gang activist Tommy Robinson, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, is viewed with skepticism by much of the public, who question the billionaire's motives.
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Over 50 members of the leftist Labour Party, which currently controls the British government, have been arrested for child abuse crimes, from child pornography offenses to rape. On Saturday, January 11, former Labour Member of Parliament (MP) and government minister Ivor Caplin became the latest to be arrested by police for allegedly engaging in sexual communications with a child online.
Caplin was arrested in Brighton, England, following a sting by online pedophile hunters, who filmed their encounter with the former MP. Caplin served in parliament from 1997 to 2005 and held the position of deputy Defence Minister from 2003 to 2005. He was also obsessed with LGBT issues, often posting lewd messages on social media.
However, Caplin is just one of at least 52 Labour members and elected officials who have been arrested in recent years for child sex offenses.
SORDID HISTORY.
In one case, former Lambeth councilor Toren Smith was arrested for possessing over 94,000 images and videos of abused children and was even looking at pornography when police raided his home. However, in 2011, he avoided prison, receiving only a two-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to 24 counts of possessing and making indecent images of children.
Others, like former Welsh community councilor Iestyn Tudor Davis, were sentenced for raping children. Davis was found guilty in 2001 of raping a nine-year-old girl.
In 2002, a former Labour councilor in North Yorkshire, Raymond Coates, was also arrested for sexually assaulting young girls and was even accused of sexually abusing his own son.
Labour’s sordid history of child sex abuse among its members comes as the party refuses to launch a fresh inquiry into the grooming gangs who prey on children in Britain. The largely Muslim and Pakistani-heritage rape gangs have operated in the United Kingdom for decades, with substantive allegations that Labour politicians, council officials, and police were regularly covering up the extent of the abuse to avoid accusations of “racism” and preserve “community relations.”
Over 50 members of the leftist Labour Party, which currently controls the British government, have been arrested for child abuse crimes, from child pornography offenses to rape. On Saturday, January 11, former Labour Member of Parliament (MP) and government minister Ivor Caplin became the latest to be arrested by police for allegedly engaging in sexual communications with a child online.
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New survey data from the United Kingdom has revealed that Nigel Farage’s instinct that his Reform Party should not embrace anti-grooming gangs activist and political prisoner Tommy Robinson is correct. Only 12 percent of those polled believe Farage’s approach is the “wrong decision,” vindicating those who stood by the Reform UK party leader during billionaire Elon Musk’s recent X intervention on the matter.
Sixty-five percent of Conservative Party supporters, 57 percent of Labour Party supporters, 65 percent of Liberal Democrats, 57 percent of Reform supporters, and 50 percent of Green Party supporters believe Farage made the “right decision,” indicating the Brexit leader still has his finger on the pulse of the nation.
Robinson’s support is most substantial among Reform supporters, but even there, it stands at only 21 percent. It is lowest among supporters of the Conservatives—a source of many defections for Reform in recent months—at just eight percent.
Robinson’s electoral pulling power was last tested in 2019, when Farage’s successor as UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader, Gerard Batten, ran him as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament. Robinson received only 2.2 percent of the vote in his region, with UKIP reduced to zero seats. Meanwhile, Farage’s new Brexit Party—now Reform—won the election, with a greater share of seats and votes cast than any other party by a considerable margin.
Just 12% of Brits think Nigel Farage made the “wrong decision” by saying Tommy Robinson will not be allowed to join Reform pic.twitter.com/Xusqrl7Yg3
New survey data from the United Kingdom has revealed that Nigel Farage's instinct that his Reform Party should not embrace anti-grooming gangs activist and political prisoner Tommy Robinson is correct. Only 12 percent of those polled believe Farage's approach is the "wrong decision," vindicating those who stood by the Reform UK party leader during billionaire Elon Musk's recent X intervention on the matter.
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Editor’s Notes
Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.
This data proves what I said to Nigel on the phone just moments after that Elon tweet last week, wherein the South African billionaire insisted Farage should be replaced as leader for refusing to parrot his half-baked political prognostications
This data proves what I said to Nigel on the phone just moments after that Elon tweet last week, wherein the South African billionaire insisted Farage should be replaced as leader for refusing to parrot his half-baked political prognostications show more
In a fresh attempt to undermine the soaring popularity of Reform UK Party leader Nigel Farage, one of the nation’s leading corporate broadcasters, ITV News, has claimed in a headline that the Brexit leader “says government should consider allowing Shamima Begum back home.”
Begum, 25, is a hugely controversial figure in the United Kingdom, having left Britain to join the Islamic State at the age of just 15 in 2015. She was quickly married off and had three children, all of whom died. Begum began to change her tune in 2019, claiming she believed in “some British values” and claiming the Islamic State was too oppressive.
“I fled the caliphate. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain,” she told reporters. Begum was stripped of her British citizenship in the same year. She continues to challenge the decision and is currently living in a detention camp in Syria.
FARAGE.
Farage, who has been staunchly against returning Begum to the UK, was asked about the issue at Reform UK’s South East of England conference.
“I’ve never wanted to. I’ve instinctively never wanted to,” Farage said when asked about those who defected to ISIS returning to the UK.
“I’m now thoughtful, I’m thoughtful,” he added, claiming the 25-year-old shouldn’t be classified as “an all-out ISIS killer,” like many others who went to Syria and elsewhere to cause harm and destruction in the name of political Islam.
“So she’s sort of less… She is a lesser part of the equation,” he added.
GORKA.
The conversation appears to have been sparked by the comments of the incoming Trump administration’s counter-terrorism chief, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, who told The Times newspaper, “Any nation which wishes to be seen as a serious ally and friend of the most powerful nation in the world should act in a fashion that reflects that serious commitment… That is doubly so for the UK, which has a very special place in President Trump’s heart, and we would all wish to see the ‘special relationship’ fully re-established.”
Gorka’s perspective is that returning ISIS members to their countries of recent origin allows authorities to monitor them more effectively, a statement endorsed by Jonathan Hall KC, Britain’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.
Hall said on the matter: “Officials may not welcome this, but the numbers are not so great that — at least in the case of women, and children, for whom special considerations ought to apply on humanitarian grounds — the UK’s well-regarded counter-terrorism system could not absorb the risk. The burden of monitoring could be tempered, in high-risk cases, by phased return. At the very least, there should be a presumption of return.”
FARAGE AGAIN.
“It’s very difficult for us to think we should take back people, Shamima Begum and others, and instinctively, instinctively, it’s not something I want to do,” Farage responded, in direct contravention to what ITV claims he said in their misleading headline.
“Gorka argues that if we and other European countries don’t take back these people and put them in prison here, they will get out of prison under the new Syrian regime, leading to a problem that, in the end, we may all have to fight,” the Reform leader explained.
“I think what Gorka has done is started a debate, not one that I wanted to have and not one the British government wanted to have. But now we’re going to have to,” he remarked, as U.S. pressure ramps up towards a second deconstruction of Islamic State operations and assets under an incoming Trump administration.
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In a fresh attempt to undermine the soaring popularity of Reform UK Party leader Nigel Farage, one of the nation's leading corporate broadcasters, ITV News, has claimed in a headline that the Brexit leader "says government should consider allowing Shamima Begum back home."
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A victim of child grooming gangs in the United Kingdom has labeled tech billionaire Elon Musk “narcissistic” over his recent comments on grooming gangs but acknowledged there were positives for him highlighting the issue. Gaia Cooper, who was raped and exploited by a grooming gang at just 14 years old, spoke to the Telegraph newspaper and stated that Musk’s comments “weren’t helpful.”
She added that Musk was engaging in “trolling culture” by calling Labour Member of Parliament (MP) and Minister for Safeguarding Jess Phillips a “child rape genocide sympathizer.”
Musk labeled Phillips, who once compared mass sex attacks by migrants in Cologne, Germany, to “heckling” in her home city, a “rape genocide apologist” on his X platform. This came after Phillips had refused to support a new inquiry into grooming gangs in the town of Oldham.
According to Cooper, Musk is “fighting fire with fire,” which is not useful to victims. “If you’re asking somebody to stand up and listen and fight for children using language like that, it’s not helpful,” she said.
“I don’t think they lose a wink of sleep over a survivor. It’s quite narcissistic to make it about them that they’re the heroes,” Cooper said, but added that it “can only be a good thing to highlight.”
While Cooper stated that she supports a new inquiry into grooming gangs, the governing Labour Party voted down a proposal for legislation to establish one in Parliament earlier this week.
The Labour government has also commented on Musk highlighting grooming gangs, threatening to cut security ties with the United States if President-elect Donald J. Trump does not distance himself from Musk.
Musk is expected to participate in the incoming Trump administration as part of the Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE).
A victim of child grooming gangs in the United Kingdom has labeled tech billionaire Elon Musk "narcissistic" over his recent comments on grooming gangs but acknowledged there were positives for him highlighting the issue. Gaia Cooper, who was raped and exploited by a grooming gang at just 14 years old, spoke to the Telegraph newspaper and stated that Musk's comments "weren't helpful."
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The British Parliament has shut down efforts to launch an inquiry into predominantly PakistaniMuslimgrooming gangs preying on predominantly white working-class girls after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party voted against them. The Conservative Party’s reasoned amendment to Labour’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill calling for an inquiry was decisively rejected, 364 votes to 111, with only Conservative and Reform Party lawmakers voting in favor.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch argued for the inquiry during Prime Minister’s Questions, warning of potential perceptions of a “cover-up” and accusing the government of avoiding scrutiny of Labour figures potentially involved. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer responded, misleadingly, that multiple inquiries into grooming gangs had already taken place—however, none of these were national in scope, and none have resulted in public officials who enabled or turned a blind eye to the abuse facing criminal sanctions.
The reasoned amendment would have stopped the progress of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, urging the Labour government to instead “develop new legislative proposals for children’s wellbeing at the same time as establishing a national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs.”
Following reports that Labour’s Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips, had refused to approve a local inquiry into grooming gang abuse in Oldham, England, tech billionaire Elon Musk began pressing the issue on his X platform, causing Britain’s right-leaning press and politicians to take up the issue.
Labour threatened to cut security ties with the United States this week unless President-elect Donald J. Trump distances himself from Musk’s views, given he is set to join the administration as a co-leader of the Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The British Parliament has shut down efforts to launch an inquiry into predominantly PakistaniMuslimgrooming gangs preying on predominantly white working-class girls after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party voted against them. The Conservative Party's reasoned amendment to Labour's Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill calling for an inquiry was decisively rejected, 364 votes to 111, with only Conservative and Reform Party lawmakers voting in favor.
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Britain’s far-left Labour government is threatening to abandon its intelligence and national security relationships with the United States unless President-elect Donald J. Trump ends the influence of tech mogul Elon Musk in his incoming White House. According to the BBC, the demand comes from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer himself in response to Musk’s recent comments regarding Muslim grooming gangs in the country.
“There is absolute horror at the highest levels of the government at the incendiary language we have seen from Elon Musk,” BBC Newsnight reporter Nick Watt claims, adding: “And there’s going to be, as I understand it, a hard-headed assessment. Is this just the view of Elon Musk, or is it the view of the wider administration and the incoming President Donald Trump?”
Watt continues, suggesting if Musk’s view of Britain’s handling of the rape gangs is held more broadly, the Labour government could isolate from America’s broad and powerful security network. “[T]here may well be some very, very serious questions about the nature of our ongoing security partnership with the United States,” the BBC reporter said.
Musk’s recent comments regarding groomer rapists in Britain are not his first. The South African-American billionaire and space exploration innovator posed the question of whether groups of Muslim men were still preying on British girls in August on his X (formerly Twitter) social media platform. At least one victim of the gangs responded in the affirmative.
Meanwhile, in 2023—after purchasing X—Musk reinstated anti-grooming gang activist Tommy Robinson, who had been suspended by the social media platform’s prior owners.
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Britain's far-left Labour government is threatening to abandon its intelligence and national security relationships with the United States unless President-elect Donald J. Trump ends the influence of tech mogul Elon Musk in his incoming White House. According to the BBC, the demand comes from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer himself in response to Musk's recent comments regarding Muslim grooming gangs in the country.
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Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, believes European populists such as Nigel Farage should be wary of accepting money from Elon Musk and other “tech bros” who may seek to alter their agenda. Speaking to Puck’s Tara Palmeri on the Somebody’s Gotta Win podcast, Kassam also predicted tech sector leaders entering D.C. politics as President-elect Donald J. Trump reclaims the White House may have a rude awakening when things do not go their way.
Kassam told Palmeri that Musk, possibly the world’s richest man, seeks power and influence rather than more money. This explains his political activities not only in the United States and the United Kingdom but also in countries where he has relatively weak personal ties, such as Italy.
HE WHO PAYS THE PIPER.
The former senior adviser to Nigel Farage—leader of Britain’s Reform Party—recommended that the Brexit leader not accept the donations the Tesla owner has been considering offering to Reform. This is not only because Farage could not run a U.S.-style political campaign with the money due to British campaign laws but also because Musk—who recently said he wishes to replace Farage as party leader—could negatively influence the party’s direction.
“I think they should refuse it, and I do think I’ve changed my mind on it, having seen how he’s behaved,” referencing incidents such as Musk pushing Trump to embrace legalized mass migration through H-1B visas.
“I always give Soros as the example,” he said, explaining how, before the Hungarian-born plutocrat and other corporate donors came along, the Democratic Party “still classed itself as a pro-American worker party; a pro-union party… an anti-war party, and then suddenly all these corporate donors… come along and fundamentally change [the party].”
He recalled how the same transformation overtook the Tea Party movement, which was “completely bought and sold” by the neoliberal Koch brothers.
THE TECH BROS GO TO WASHINGTON.
Kassam predicted the “socially awkward” tech bros who have injected themselves into the America First movement may struggle to adapt to Washington politics, not least since they include “lots of people who aren’t used to being told ‘no.'”
“[M]y biggest worry is that a lot those tech bros have subscribed to a political philosophy where they truly believe that democracy, American democracy, representative democracy, is passé,” Kassam said.
“[P]eople are right to be extremely, extremely skeptical of those people,” he added. However, he stressed that the fact that he and other established figures in the conservative movement are alive to the danger, as demonstrated by the pushback to H-1B migrants, means there is hope the newcomers’ worst tendencies can be kept at bay.
LISTEN:
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Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, believes European populists such as Nigel Farage should be wary of accepting money from Elon Musk and other "tech bros" who may seek to alter their agenda. Speaking to Puck's Tara Palmeri on the Somebody's Gotta Win podcast, Kassam also predicted tech sector leaders entering D.C. politics as President-elect Donald J. Trump reclaims the White House may have a rude awakening when things do not go their way.show more
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