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What we are witnessing in real time this week and will go on witnessing in the months to come, is the British Labour Party playing out it's particular historic and cultural part in the global decline of social democracy.

Social democracy is a creed born of the industrial revolution and the growth of the organised working class. Its purpose is to represents the interests of the trade unions in Parliament, In particular through legislation that ensures a better deal for the proletariat, aided and abetted by the liberal middle class. Understandably given the decline in class consciousness it has been in crisis for decades. A politics that combines the social with the democratic is more important than ever, but as we are now finding out, it cannot be built on foundations that have lost their cultural domination.

Kier Starmer is merely the latest and perhaps the least prepared captain of a slowly but steadily sinking ship, that can bob back up for a bit if a charismatic figure like Tony Blair comes along, or when the utterly abject failure of a Conservative government becomes so apparent it hands temporary victory to whoever happens to be in second place. But then political gravity inevitably and in execrably takes its toll, and the descent to oblivion continues.

Speaking to Labour MPs and members of the lobby this this week, there is a mood that suggests this is the start of the end game for Starmer. There is no sight of discernible growth and there could well be financial crash this Autumn. Even if they relent and raise taxes in the Budget, there has been no preparation of the electoral and political ground for such a necessary but hazardous move. The polls look bleak and there is no dry land on the horizon. The reshuffle did nothing to change the direction of the Government other than embed the drift to the right. There are now no shots left in Starmer's locker.

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All attention now turns to the faux competition for a new Deputy Leader of the party. And understandably at one level the cry goes up 'it must be and northern woman'. Of course, diversity, gender and geography matter enormously. Along with race. And all other things being reasonably equal we should take positive action to ensure diversity.

But and this is a very big but, the first requirement is not gender, not geography but whether candidates understand the global crisis of social democracy and whether they have a political and class analysis.

If not, then the contest is merely displacement therapy. If not, then this really is about, and I'm sorry for the cliche but it is so apt, rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as the good ship Labour sales into the iceberg of Reform. A voyage to the tip of one Nigel Farage concealing a far more ferocious and frightening mass of authoritarian populism in the dark waters below the surface.

This is in party why a unique alliance has been forged within Labour this week called Mainstream. For full disclosure, the organisation I'm the Director of Compass and another organisation Open Labour made this happen. It's launch statement combines demand for a much more equal and democratic society, and collected an unprecedented alliance of Labour MPs, Peers, former advisers and activists to address this crisis. It's an attempt at the eleventh hour to save Labour, from this historic decline and from itself.

Some reading this will say why bother, it's too late. Instead put your energies into a revived Green Party under Zack Polanski, or the fledgling Your Party of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. Of course, peop...

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Trade unions are grappling with how to deal with the rise in support of Reform UK among their own members and workers as a whole.

The rise of the far-right - including Nigel Farage's party - came up in almost every fringe event and discussion on motions at the Trades Union Congress in Brighton this week.

In an interview with Byline Times at the annual gathering, the General Secretary of the Usdaw union of shopworkers, Joanne Thomas, said: "We have to take the threat of Reform and the rise of the far right incredibly seriously, because we've seen some of the ramifications with regards to hate speech, stirring up communities by driving that agenda of division."

At a Hope Not Hate panel event on Monday on tackling the challenge, Bakers Union (BFAWU) leader Sarah Woolley said: "There are several things we can do to get into communities and challenge what Reform is putting out there…What we're doing - certainly in West Yorkshire - is doing picnics, as well as counter-[demonstrations] - bringing everyone together, making it almost a party rather than just an anti-racist demo.

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"We're showing that we're the normal people. They're the angry people screaming and shouting and threatening - they're the weirdos." And she said the union was promoting "music against racism" among other initiatives.

"[We're] getting back into communities, making being anti-racist fun, not just dealing with misogynistic, horrible, generally white, older men shouting at us."

But she joined others in agreeing that "calling Reform racist doesn't work - people already think we use it too much. [But] we are calling them far-right as a movement."

Liz Snape, an assistant general secretary at Unison - the UK's biggest union - added that the 'easiest option' is to "stand in a row, shout "far-right fascists," then we all go home, and we haven't convinced one single person to think about it or change."

"In my union, we want to change people's views. We want to move people, bring people back to where we think they should be. Language is so important, and if you want to engage with somebody, you don't start with an insult. You start with a gentler message, listen, take people along, talk, then engage."

She referred to a recent internal Unison survey showing that thirty percent of members are either "Reform supporters or Reform-curious."

"If we brand them racist and far-right, we'd never talk to them again. I'd like to think as a union that we can engage with every single one of that thirty percent. We'll never change all of them, but even if we bring that down to twenty percent, we'll be doing something," they added.

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The senior Unison official added: "If we even suggested to this group they were racist, they'd be distraught.

"We need to find out why people are voting this way, why people are thinking of voting this way, and talk to them initially in a very respectful way. That's how you win people over, and that's how we tackle Reform. It's so important we're careful about our language."

Usdaw's Joanne Thomas told this outlet that unions would be increasingly pointing to Reform's "anti-jobs agenda."

"They're against the Employment Rights Bill, which will give one of the most significant uplifts to workers that we've seen in our lifetime. So to say that they are friends of working people and working class people is incorrect," Thomas said.

...

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The Liberal Democrats have launched a new campaign that aims to 'Balance the BBC', as they accuse the public service broadcaster of providing months of 'wall-to-wall' coverage of Nigel Farage's Reform UK.

The Lib Dems accuse the BBC of "following Farage around like a lost puppy" and that its extensive Reform coverage - for a party of four MPs - is "fanning the flames of a dangerous populism parroted by Farage and borrowed from Donald Trump."

The petition cites the broadcaster's 'substantive efforts' to carry Reform voices on their most prominent news programmes. Ofcom was contacted for comment.

A party spokesperson said: "The BBC carried footage of Farage reacting to the Government's migrant deal with France from GB News on their flagship 6 O'Clock programme [10th July] - clipping from a rival broadcaster in order to carry Reform's commentary.

"Farage's recent press conference [26th August], where he announced his immigration policy, ran all day on the BBC's home and politics pages - a favour rarely afforded to other political leaders."

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It comes as new analysis from 'Be Broadcast's Mission Control' (BBMC) and political comms experts Cast From Clay shows how broadcast airtime is skewed across the parties.

While Labour dominates coverage beyond its current polling strength, Reform punches "far above its parliamentary weight" the analysts found.

The findings revealed how "momentum and personalities matter more than MPs or votes when it comes to broadcast visibility."

BBMC and Cast from Clay examined more than 1.5 million broadcast mentions between 1 January and 3 September 2025. By comparing airtime with MPs returned, 2024 vote share and current polling, the analysis shows which parties are getting heard, which are under-represented, and how broadcasters are "increasingly following polling momentum over the make-up of Parliament."

They found: "Reform have just 5 [now 4] MPs but clocked up 353,660 mentions, which means 70,732 mentions per MP, the highest of any party. Against their 14.3% vote share in 2024, they stand at 24,731 per point - again inflated. Measured against today's 28% polling, they record 12,631 per point, which looks closer to proportional."

"Reform win on broadcast impact per MP and per historic vote share but look more balanced when compared to current voter support."

However, the Lib Dems returned 72 MPs with 12.2% of the vote in 2024. "With 46,468 mentions, their coverage works out at only 645 per MP and 3,808 per point of 2024 vote share. On current polling of around 15-16%, they manage just 2,998 per point," less than a quarter of Reform's media exposure.

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"The Lib Dems lose out across every measure, with broadcast presence that does not reflect their electoral support," the researchers found. Meanwhile, the Greens win on their coverage per-MP, but lose when compared to the size of their voter base today (around 10%).

A separate new study from Cardiff University's School of Journalism, analysing the major politics shows including BBC Question Time and Sunday with Laura Kuennsberg, found that broadcasters "[give] more weight to selecting politicians from parties based on the number of seats won at the last general election than to other factors, such as vote share, the latest electoral performance at a local and regional level, or recent trends in public opinion data."

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Although the Reform UK conference was an undeniably British affair replete with union flag suits, Farage football shirts and at times a strange Christmas panto vibe, there was an unmistakable undercurrent of American, or more accurately MAGA, influence at the Birmingham conference. Turquoise Make Britain Great Again hats were available from the merch stand, multiple attendees sported a GOP elephant lapel pin and another a baseball cap with an eagle and the slogan Guns, God and Trump on the front. But beyond the whacky aesthetics it was clear from the policy discussions on the fringes, as well as the invitees on the main stage, that Trump's MAGA movement has become a growing source of influence over, and inspiration for Reform UK.

While some of the obvious influences from MAGA were confined to events on the conference fringe, Aseem Malhotra, a prominent anti-vaxxer and advisor to Robert F. Kennedy Junior, Trump's Secretary of State for Health and Human Services spoke on the main stage in a speech titled "Make Britain Healthy Again", a reference to RFK Jr's campaign slogan.

Malhotra, a British cardiologist turned conspiracy theorist, used the speech to claim that it was "highly likely that the Covid vaccines have been a significant factor in the cancers in the royal family." In the same speech Malhotra claimed that MRNA vaccines can alter genes and that "the Covid MRNA jabs have likely killed or seriously harmed millions of people across the world". His views have been condemned by several experts including Brian Ferguson, professor of viral immunology at the University of Cambridge who accused Malholtra of indulging an "outlandish conspiracy theory [which] only serves to undermine the credibility of those spreading it". He was also condemned by Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

In several nods to American political culture during the speech, Malhotra shared screenshots of other anti-vaxxers speaking on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast and the Joe Rogan Experience. While anti-vaccine views have historically been relatively marginal in British politics, they are on the rise among the British public with 30% of respondents to a YouGov poll stating that it was "definitely true" that harmful vaccine side effects were being kept from the public, up from 19% in 2019. Anti-vaccine politics is more common in America. A recent Gallup News poll found that just 40% of Americans saying it is extremely important for parents to have their children vaccinated, down from 58% in 2019. As health secretary RFK JR, who Malhotra advises, has repeatedly sowed distrust in vaccines, including in a recent incident in which he and his department claimed that the MMR vaccine contains "aborted foetus debris".

Malhotra claimed that Farage was in support of his agenda, the crowd gave him several applause breaks and seemed broadly receptive, however the party distanced themselves from him following backlash to the speech. A party spokesperson told BBC News: "Dr Aseem Malhotra is a guest speaker with his own opinions who has an advisory role in the US Government. Reform UK does not endorse what he said but does believe in free speech."

As well as health policy, the influence of the MAGA right was also apparent in the discussions around Net Zero at the conference. At a fringe event hosted by the American climate change denial thinktank the Heartland Institute, the UK and European head of the institute, Lois Perry claimed she is an advisor to the party stating: "I've been very fortunate to be able to consult and influence the Reform Party at the highest level and my organisation the Heartland Institute has been credited, by our dear leader, with actually being the people that have moulded the policy on net zero".

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The phrase "useful idiots" is often attributed to Lenin, though the provenance is uncertain. In the Cold War, it described Westerners who, knowingly or not, advanced Soviet interests while imagining themselves independent actors. The insult implied being duped: thinking one was clever while in reality serving another's design.

A century on, the phrase may apply less to credulous intellectuals than to British politicians and air marshals. For in Gaza's skies, the United Kingdom is flying missions that, whatever their stated purpose, risk serving Israel's campaign. In so doing, Britain has placed itself in danger of becoming Israel's "useful idiot".

This idiocy has been hard to prove. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has refused to give details of its actions. Yet open source flight data shows that, since December 2023, the Royal Air Force has conducted more than 600 surveillance missions. These sorties, flown largely from Britain's base at Akrotiri in Cyprus, use the RAF's Shadow R1 reconnaissance aircraft and, more recently, planes contracted from an American firm, Straight Flight Nevada.

In the little it does say, the MoD insists the missions are unarmed and designed solely to assist in the rescue of hostages. This claim has been repeated by ministers under both Conservative and Labour Governments. Each has assured the public that Britain does not help Israel prosecute its war.

Yet such assurances seem to ring hollow. After all, the flights often coincide with Israeli operations that kill civilians, such as the 8 June 2024 raid on Nuseirat refugee camp, which killed more than 270 Palestinians. In the fortnight before the raid, the RAF flew 24 missions.

Some suggest this means British officers are marking targets.

That is almost certainly not the case.

The reality seems to be subtler. Intelligence gathered and shared may be used by the IDF not only to locate hostages but also to rule out their presence in certain areas. Such "negative intelligence" would be of immense value to Israeli commanders.

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If a site can be certified as free of Israelis, it becomes a safer bet for bombardment.

In other words, Britain may not be handing over coordinates, but it may be providing Israel with reassurance that civilian areas can be destroyed without risk to its own prisoner citizens. This is the essence of being a useful idiot: believing you are acting for one cause while enabling another.

Ministers lean heavily on the line that flights are "solely for hostage rescue". The phrasing suggests a humanitarian purpose. Yet intelligence, once shared, is beyond Britain's control.

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner has refused to say whether oversight exists. Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee has long warned that data can be repurposed. In Gaza, such repurposing may be measured in funerals.

On 12 December 2024, Israel bombed Nuseirat again, killing more than 30 civilians. The day before, a contractor-flown Beechcraft surveillance plane, hired by the RAF, had circled the camp.

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The MoD insists the mission was for hostage recovery. But when bombs fall on the very places British-linked aircraft have watched, coincidence is hard to sustain.

Article 16 of the International Law Commission's Draft Articles on State Responsibility makes c...

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Russia launched a record aerial assault on Ukraine in the early hours of Sunday. 805 large strike drones and 13 missiles were launched. Ukrainian air defences intercepted 747 of the incoming projectiles. At least 11 people were killed and 75 injured across Ukraine, but rescue operations are still ongoing, and those numbers could change.

Strikes hit at least eight regions across the country and targeted multiple cities.

For the first time since February 2022, a Government building was hit in Kyiv. In the capital, five people were killed, among them a 32-year-old mother and her three-month-old son. A local resident described what happened when the missile tore through their high-rise: "A woman and a child flew out from the 6th floor, apparently through the 5th, together with the stove."

Twenty more were injured in Kyiv. A pregnant woman wounded in the attack was forced into premature labour, giving birth to a son. Both remain in serious condition.

In Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, Dnipro, civilians were killed and injured, said President Zelensky in his evening address. In Kremenchuk, a railroad bridge was destroyed. He called on allies to impose stronger sanctions and urged partners to cut Russia's oil and gas revenues, which he said continue to finance Moscow's "war machine."

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga described the attacks as a "serious escalation," stating, "Russia is intensifying its terror against Ukraine, and this requires a tough response from our allies. For the first time, over 800 drones and missiles in one night…

"The greatest cynicism is that these brutal attacks are occurring at a time when President Trump is making every effort to achieve peace. But instead of responding to these efforts and agreeing to a leaders' meeting, Putin is rejecting diplomacy and increasing terror. Only pressure on Moscow can stop the escalation of terror. The Russian war machine is sustained by revenues from oil and gas. We call on our allies to cut off this funding in order to end the war."

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International Leaders Condemn the Attacks

President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the need for stronger defensive measures, stating, "Together with France, we are preparing new measures to strengthen our defences." French President Emmanuel Macron stated, "Russia, meanwhile, is locking itself ever deeper into the logic of war and terror."

Other European leaders also swiftly condemned the attacks. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen remarked that once again, the Kremlin was mocking diplomacy, trampling international law and killing indiscriminately.

The head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, tweeted: "To talk about peace while bombing residential buildings shows what 'peace' means for Putin."

Lithuania's President Gitanas Nausėda called the strikes a "blatant violation of international law." Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson urged the EU's next sanctions package to more deeply target Russia's military economy.

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attacks as "cowardly," stating that they showed Putin "is not serious about peace."

In Washington, US President Donald Trump expressed readiness to impose new sanctions, stating he was "not thrilled" with Moscow's actions and would speak to Putin "very soon." US envoy Keith Kellogg wrote that Russia has no intention of ending the war diplomatically. The US Treasury said it is working with European allies on new sanctions, including measures targeting countries that continue to buy Russian oil.

Contin...

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Zack Polanski's landslide election as leader of the Green Party of England & Wales secured a rare raft of headlines for the party. But less noticed was the election of two deputies - both of whom support Polanski's vision for a more hard-hitting, left-wing approach from the Greens.

Members elected two local councillors as co-deputy leaders. Cllrs Mothin Ali and Rachel Millward will serve alongside new leader Polanski.

Millward is co-leader of Wealden District Council in Sussex, while Ali is the first Green councillor to represent the diverse, working-class Gipton and Harehills ward in Leeds.

He made ensuring the Greens become a more "working class" party - and shedding its middle-class image - central to his leadership bid. We caught up with him shortly after his election.

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Josiah Mortimer: Congratulations Mothin. How are you feeling?

Mothin Ali: Very excited. It's really positive…There's hope there.

Josiah Mortimer: You stood on a left-wing, working class platform. You must be encouraged by the fact that Polanski was elected - particularly over his perhaps more moderate opponents?

Mothin Ali: Adrian [Ramsay] and Ellie [Cowns] and Zack bring individual qualities. They've got different approaches. Zack is very similar to me in our messaging, so there's a natural connection there. It's exciting.

Josiah Mortimer: How do you envisage working together? What do you see changing in the Green Party over the next year or so?

Mothin Ali: We're going to be a lot more assertive in our approach. Greens are genuinely really nice people, and one of the things about being really nice people is we often avoid confrontation. What we haven't done in the past is take the fight to Labour, take the fight to Reform, and I think that's what we're gearing up for. We've got people who are assertive, but also people who can put their message across in a coherent way and in a language that resonates with ordinary people.

Josiah Mortimer: Do you think Greens have been too 'nice' traditionally?

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Mothin Ali: I'm not going to say that. Greens originate in the Quaker movement and the Quaker movement is always about - we can talk until we find a solution. I like that approach. I've used that personally with people who I disagree with, especially on the right, when I've been out door-knocking or campaigning. We might not agree on everything, but let's get talking, at least we understand each other, and even when we disagree, we can disagree with respect.

Josiah Mortimer: A key part of your platform was boosting the Greens among working class people. What are your plans there, and why does it matter to you?

Mothin Ali: The Greens have always traditionally been quite southern-focused and quite middle class. Working class communities, whether they're ethnic minority communities or white working class communities, have been taken for granted by, traditionally, the Labour Party. A lot of industrial towns have just been forgotten about. That's not mainly down to Labour - that goes all the way back to Thatcherism, closing down coal mines and not replacing those jobs. We've got generations of worklessness, people who have been forgotten.

We've got people who've always voted Labour, always supported Labour, but have been taken for granted. What we really need is real political hope, and we need people who won't be manipulated by charlatan...

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One cannot help but feel a measure of sympathy for Angela Rayner. I know her well enough to say that she came into politics for the best of reasons: a desire to serve, a determination to improve the lives of people whose struggles she understood from her own experience.

But the further up the ladder one climbs in politics, the more insistent the temptations become. This is not simply about individual weakness or personal failing. It is structural.

Over the past 40 years, Britain has built a society in which consumption, status, and proximity to wealth have become defining features of the political class. The gravitational pull of money is now so great that even those who arrive in Westminster with the clearest sense of purpose find their heads turned.

Angela's story is not unique. She came from humble beginnings, but the wealth that circles political life today is more concentrated, more brazen, and more intrusive than in the past.

The old checks and balances, party rootedness in mass membership, trade union accountability, and a press less entangled with oligarchic interests have all weakened.

Where once honour, public service, even a sense of historical duty could command respect, today those values are dimmed in comparison to the pursuit of material position.

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The mechanism is subtle but relentless. It is not corruption in the brown-envelope-under-the-table sense. It is the slow, almost invisible turning of heads.

You are introduced to those who walked this path before you, former ministers who now sit comfortably in boardrooms or on the payroll of consultancies with six and seven-figure salaries. You are invited to corporate boxes at sporting events, to private dinners, to concerts and premiers. Lavish clothes or spectacles can be "within the rules," provided they are declared. But by then the damage has been done.

The message is implicit but unmistakable: play the game, listen to us, and you too can enjoy more of this. The logic creeps into your personal life. You stretch to buy the house that can host the right gatherings. You measure your worth by the standards of a world that equates success with possessions and proximity to privilege. And once you are on that path, it is hard to step off.

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This is, of course, a simplification of a complex socio-economic and political process. But as someone who came from a council estate myself, I see it all around me in Westminster. And it is not going to be changed by media witch-hunts, the tutting of ethics advisers, or even the occasional burst of public outrage.

As Gladstone once warned, "Nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right." But in our current system, what is morally questionable is too often normalised, excused, and rebranded as "just the way things are".

Real change will only come from a collective decision to choose a different path: to stop outsourcing our state to private interests, to end the revolving door between Government and corporate boardrooms, to challenge the idea that the role of politics is to serve vast concentrations of wealth.

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Whose money a political party takes can tell you a lot about which interests they are likely to serve. In the case of Reform UK's Birmingham conference that includes crypto firms, right-wing think tanks and the kind of sponsors that other political parties would run a mile from. Here are just some of the corporate interests bankrolling Reform UK's conference.

Big Tobacco

Nigel Farage has never hidden his love of smoking. A self-described "chain smoker" he once branded smokers the "heroes of the nation" for how much tax is paid on cigarettes. His support of smoking appears to have been rewarded at the conference with sponsorships of fringe events. One panel titled "Revitalising the Great British High Street - how to reverse decades of decline" is being sponsored by the right wing think tank The Adam Smith Institute and ironically given the preponderance of vape shops on Britain's high streets, Japan Tobacco, one of the three largest tobacco firms in the world which also owns shares in various vape companies. Japan has been branded as a "tobacco state" by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, because of the closeness between big tobacco - particularly Japan Tobacco - and government.

Another firm at the conference is Forest Online, hosting a panel called "The Politics of Prohibition: The Fight for Choice. Forest describes itself as "voice and friend of the smoker" and lobbies against regulation of smoking. According to the Bath University-run site Tobacco Tactics, Forest has received money from several major Tobacco firms including Phillip Morris and Japan Tobacco International. Speakers on the panel include Simon Clarke, the director of Forest and Christopher Snowden of the Institute for Economic Affairs thinktank (which has received Big Tobacco funding for decades according to Tobacco Tactics).

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Right Wing Think Tanks

Reform UK conference has attracted right wing think tanks like moths to a flame. The traditionally Conservative-aligned think tanks with an office on Tufton Street like the Institute for Economic Affairs, the Adam Smith Institute, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Taxpayers Alliance are all sponsoring panels or hosting stands at the conference, as is The Centre for Social Justice - the think tank established by former Conservative leader and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Ian Duncan Smith.

Also sponsoring the conference are two think tanks more associated with the radical or populist right. The Heartland Institute, a climate-change denying think tank with links to the Trump administration, which famously once paid for a billboard comparing people who believe in climate change to the Unabomber, is sponsoring an event titled "Is Climate Realism Inevitable". The speakers on the panel include the US head of the institute James Taylor and the UK head and former UKIP leader Lois Perry, as well as Lord Monckton, another former UKIP leader and figures from the IEA and Taxpayer's Alliance. Farage was a guest of honour at the UK launch of Heartland in January of this year.

Additionally, the Prosperity Institute - formerly the Legatum Institute - the think tank funded by the investment firm Legatum, is sponsoring two events, one on reversing the "Boris wave" (a right wing meme referring to the post-Brexit spike in immigration) and another titled "Drill Baby Drill: Abandoning Net Zero and restoring Energy Abundance". At the first talk, another right wing think tanker Alp Mehmet, from the Centre for Migration control, spoke from the audience advocating an end to international student visas and at the second, one ...

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Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice co-owns a second home purchased for £4 million in 2013, Byline Times can reveal - despite attacking Angela Rayner for supposedly owning a "property mountain".

Open source imagery and Land Registry data unearthed by author Guy Shrubsole and this outlet reveal the Buckinghamshire mansion - and 12,800m2 of land around it - is a lavish property, complete with a tennis court, lake, a long driveway, and outbuildings.

The property is nearly 100 miles from Tice's seat in Skegness. Tice is also listed as owning a leasehold flat in Belgravia, London, now believed to be worth around £1.6m, Byline Times has found. The findings came as Reform's largest ever conference kicked off in Birmingham.

Tice's real estate portfolio contrasts with the party's recent attacks on Rayner's so-called "property mountain", for buying an £800k flat in Hove, which the Deputy Prime Minister is now being investigated over for not paying £40,000 in stamp duty.

Rayner added the property to her three-bedroom grace-and-favour flat at Admiralty House, in central London, and a £650,000 constituency home near Manchester.

But Reform MP Tice also holds substantial stakes in - and remains a director of - at least four property companies, according to his register of interests and Companies House records: Quidnet Capital Partners LLP, Enjoyouretirement Ltd, Tisun Investments Ltd, Quidnet REIT Ltd. Tice is a Non Executive Director at Quidnet REIT, for which he earns £10,270 for 25 hours work a month.

According to their website and Tice's LinkedIn, he remains CEO of Quidnet Capital Partners, which boasts that it specialises in "corporate/public-to-private transactions", property "asset management" and "sourcing and executing [real estate] acquisitions".

Speaking about Quidnet REIT in March to The Times, Tice said: "I control most of the business. Actually, I'd like more backbenchers to have second jobs."

Tice's house in a leafy area of Buckinghamshire also contrasts with Reform's attempts to court working-class communities, which had led to accusations of hypocrisy over his attacks on Rayner. The Deputy Prime Minister has now resigned amid the allegations she avoided paying enough stamp duty on her south coast property.

A Best for Britain spokesperson told Byline Times: "[Reform] try to present themselves as men of the people (and they are all men) - but the truth, Reform's leadership is a collection of former bankers being promoted by billionaires with Tice increasingly looking like the Monopoly man."

The property is not declared in his register of interests as an MP. Tice lists nothing under 'land and property' in his declarations, but the rules allow this to exclude property lived in only by the MP or a family member. Electoral roll records suggest a relative of his lives at the property, so there is no suggestion that rules have been broken.

Tice and his ex-wife separated in 2019 and have since divorced, and he is now in a relationship with Telegraph writer Isabel Oakshott, who lives in Dubai, which he visits.

The revelations come after a mysterious offshore entity connected to Tice was folded months after legal campaigners at Good Law Project exposed its existence.

Financial records for the Jersey-based entity, 'Gellymill Ltd' did not have Tice's name on them, and instead made reference to corporate directors and secretaries linked to an offshore trust services provider.

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