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Former Conservative Health Secretary Matt Hancock used his personal email account to help secure a multi-million pound Covid contract for a 'VIP' supplier, which was awarded by officials on the very same day, correspondence released to Byline Times reveal.

Hancock's private referral for the biotech firm Excalibur Healthcare, which was revealed via a Freedom of Information request by Byline Times, came despite repeated denials by the last Government that personal emails were ever used by ministers for official business.

Excalibur, which provided the NHS with tens of millions of pounds worth of unusable equipment during the pandemic, later folded, owing over £22 million to DHSC.

The newly-released correspondence reveals that Hancock had received an email from Excalibur's boss, Sir Christopher Evans, on 8 April 2020 offering to sell the UK Government millions of face masks. In his email, Evans pleads with Hancock to help seal the contract.

"Feel these are important. Make the public aware yourself you invested in them and start handing them out tonight Mat!!", Evans wrote.

Within two hours of receiving the email, Matt Hancock forwarded the offer onto Jonathan Marron, the Director General at the Department for Health and Social Care, stating "Do we want to act on this? I will leave it with you". The email from Hancock was sent using his personal email account and Excalibur were subsequently placed into the VIP lane.

DHSC officials have confirmed that Hancock was the "source of referral" for Excalibur onto the VIP lane - a system that fast tracked offers from politically-connected companies, many of whom had never previously supplied PPE to the NHS.

Excalibur's lobbying appears to have been effective, and remarkably on the same day of the email exchange, the company received a £25 million PPE contract to supply facemasks - a deal that was awarded without any formal competitive tendering process.

During the pandemic No.10 repeatedly denied that ministers including Hancock were using personal email accounts for government business. They claimed ministers "understand the rules around personal email usage and only ever conducted government business through their departmental email addresses". We now know this wasn't true.

The Government's dealings with the company were hugely costly for the taxpayer. An investigation by Spotlight on Corruption in 2023, revealed that Excalibur had provided 4.4 million items of unusable PPE to the Government, valued at over £20 million.

Excalibur's face mask contract wasn't the only one involving the Hancock-led DHSC. A Good Law Project Investigation previously revealed that Excalibur also secured a £135 million contract to supply 2,700 ventilators in April 2020. .

Remarkably none of the 2,7000 ventilators were used and eventually the Government decided to auction the machines off on the cheap.

Excalibur's ventilators were passed on for quickfire sales to British Medical Auctions, and dozens were listed on the company's site. Units which originally cost the taxpayer circa £50,000 each - appeared with bids starting at £100 - generating an eye-watering loss.

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Matt Hancock confirmed in his witness statement to the Co...

Some good news for once, and a word of thanks for all of you who have supported Byline Times over the six years since our launch on 31 March 2019.

By coincidence, the day after our sixth birth, the Government announced that it was putting Russia as the second country (after Iran) on its new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS). As Foreign Secretary David Lammy explained, this will expose Putin's "shady attempts at interference to sunlight - helping us to detect & disrupt threats to the UK".

"Now more than ever," Lammy said"we must hold them to account for their increasingly hostile policies against the UK."

According to the Home Office minister, Dan Jarvis, the scheme, which will go live on 1 July, will register and publicise "arrangements to carry out political influence activities in the UK at the direction of any foreign power".

An enhanced tier, which will include Russia, has been "specifically designed to shed light on activities directed by those foreign powers or entities whose activities pose a threat to the safety and interests of the UK".

Better Late than Never

This is an issue Byline Times has been passionate about since its inception.

Russian influence in both the EU Referendum and the first Trump presidential election in 2016 was a key theme of our original crowdfunding site Byline.com. We joined Carole Cadwalladr and various other media organisations like openDemocracy and Channel 4 News in exposing Russia's influence operations in our elections.

Explosive Report Exposes the Molten Core of the Brexit, Trump, Russia Scandal

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee's final report on disinformation and fake news reveals new evidence and calls for new investigations into dark data, dark money and Russian influence in British elections.

Peter Jukes

Then Deputy Leader Tom Watson spoke up at the Byline Festival in 2018, calling for a criminal investigation into Russian interference in Brexit.

In 2019, in one of my first articles for Byline Times, David Lammy, then an opposition Labour MP, told me that "the scale and depth of malicious disinformation and foreign interference this report uncovers demands an urgent response from the Prime Minister on behalf of the British Government.

"It is now blindingly obvious that we need a criminal investigation", he added, "equivalent to the US' Mueller inquiry - to investigate any possible links between the 2016 Leave campaign, Donald Trump's campaign team and Russia."

The DCMS report concluded by calling for an "independent investigation into past elections" - including the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, the Brexit vote and the 2017 General Election - "to explore what actually happened with regard to foreign influence, disinformation, funding, voter manipulation, and the sharing of data, so that appropriate changes to the law can be made and lessons can be learnt for future elections and referenda".

Byline Times has been pushing for a UK equivalent of the US FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) ever since. We published a whole book, Digital Gangers, on the subject, written by a former DCMS committee member, Ian Lucas.

Nigel Farage and an 'Extraordinary Lack of Curiosity' from UK Government and Intelligence Services Over Possible Russian Interference in Brexit

"It did strike me as ridiculous that, given the overt nationalism of the Leave.EU campaign, it was involved in discussions with representatives of the Russian Government"

Ian Lucas

Six years on, some limited criminal inquiries have taken place. However, further investigations by me and Carole Cadwalladr with the whistleblower Sergei Cristo in our podcast series Sergei and the Westminster Spy Ring reveal an even more stunning lack of action or accountability by the security services over Russian Interference.

So we remain in the dark in too many ways, and a public inquiry is still needed to learn from the past and find ways to fight back against information warfare and foreign influence.

However, Dav...

Byline Times is an independent, reader-funded investigative newspaper, outside of the system of the established press, reporting on 'what the papers don't say' - without fear or favour.

To support its work, subscribe to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis.

Help us build the better media Britain deserves

How should Britain respond if President Trump imposes high tariffs on UK products this week? Pressure is growing on the Prime Minister to hit back with retaliatory tariffs of our own. But the PM isn't the only one who controls the fightback.

What can be done, if our PM is reluctant to copy Canada and hit back as hard as we get? We may see the British public responding to Trump's far-right administration with more force.

There is an emerging movement to boycott American products in the UK, inspired by Canada's 'Elbows Up' campaign - a hockey term for the action taken by players getting ready for the puck drop - which has led to a collapse of 70% in Canadians travelling to the US, while many Canadian stores have removed American alcohol from shelves.

Brits are now sharing lists of major US consumer brands that might be avoided to hit the US where it hurts: in the wallet.

Major US consumer brands in the UK include Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald's, Burger King, clothing companies like Nike, Converse and Levi's; and tech giants like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Netflix - some of which are harder to avoid than others.

Some well-known US brands operating here actively funded Trump's campaign or his Presidential Inaugural Committee, including PayPal, Uber, ExxonMobil, Amazon and Meta.

For this reason and others, some Byline Times readers already seem to be boycotting American goods and seeking alternatives from the UK, EU, Canada, and other non-US sources.

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Canadian artist Margaret J Rolfe urged Brits to get involved, writing on Threads that the anti-Trump movement in Canada was "grassroots": "You don't need to wait for the Government to start a boycott. Elbows up, my UK friends!"

Another Canadian, Sandra Norman, added in a post that after Trump's first round of tariffs on Canada, "we developed apps to help us figure out where a product came from." One such app is called 'Is This Canadian' and it gives alternative non-US products consumers can buy. "[It was] very effective. Good luck from Canada."

Pam Mercier from Norfolk replied: "Lots of British people already are boycotting US made goods, but as is usual they are doing it quietly." Another, Jayne Dyson, added: "We really need to stand up for Britain. It's time we hit America hard."

And Wales-based clothes designer Virginia Stockley said: "Absolutely. Instead of 'don't buy from x' we should be saying 'buy British' - something positive to get behind."

Some pointed out challenges in boycotting certain US products, especially tech (Apple/Microsoft). But alternative European tech services do exist, including search engines Mojeek and Ecosia to help users ditch Google.

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Another Canadian added examples of renegade pro-Canadian consumer action: "Be sneaky like us Canadians. When you look at a product and it's American, put it back upside down. Then flip more upside down so other shoppers know it's American & been put back on the shelves. We say sorry a lot but if you screw with us you'll be sorry!"

The conversation is also drawing attention to brands previously thought of as British. For example, high street pharmacy Boots is owned by US-firm Walgreens, while ...

Byline Times is an independent, reader-funded investigative newspaper, outside of the system of the established press, reporting on 'what the papers don't say' - without fear or favour.

To support its work, subscribe to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis.

Help us build the better media Britain deserves

Five days after Elon Musk's infamous Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration ceremony, Dr Jeremy Stone, a software engineering consultant, launched a petition to "remove loopholes that allow wealthy foreign individuals to make donations into UK political parties (e.g. by funnelling through UK registered companies), cap all donations to a reasonable amount and review limits on the fines that can be levied for breaking the rules". Stone posted the petition on X (formerly Twitter) below an AI generated image of Elon Musk performing the salute over a ballot box with dollars stuffed inside. "Is this what we want?" Stone wrote in his posts about the petition. The answer, at least for the 142, 076 people who signed, was no.

The petition quickly cleared the 100,000 signature threshold needed to force a parliamentary debate as Elon Musk threatened to intervene in UK politics with the promise (as yet unrealised) of a $100,000,000 donation to Reform UK. The debate took place in parliament on Tuesday between MPs for Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the DUP.

Here's what we learnt from the debate.

Keir Starmer's Government plans to tighten rules on foreign donors

Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali told MPs "although it is clear that foreign donations to political parties and other campaigners are illegal, the Government recognise the continued risk posed by actors who seek to interfere in our democratic process. The current rules no longer match the sophistication and perseverance of those who wish to undermine our laws, and that threat must be addressed through stronger safeguards".

She added that, "We are considering a series of new measures that would achieve that, such as enhanced checks by recipients of donations and tighter controls on donors, including more restrictions around company donations".

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But they will leave British big money donors alone

Some MPs raised concerns in the debate about the influence of big money donors generally, whether they are foreign or not. Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill said: "We all know the saying, "Money is power," and I would hope that none of us are naive enough to think that this does not apply to the UK.

"If we want to create a democratic system where everyone's vote has equal value, we need strong protections in place to prevent the very richest individuals in our society from warping our democracy".

Ribeiro-Addy also described a proposal from the IPPR thinktank to cap individual and corporate donations to political parties at £100,000 a year as a "modest starting point".

Ali told MPs that there would be no action taken to cap donations from British citizens or corporations.

She said, "The Government do not plan to introduce such restrictions, as we are rightly focused on safeguards that protect against the threat of foreign interference"

She added, "I mentioned at the start that we must protect what is hard won. It is vital that those who play a crucial role in our democracy can fundraise effectively and communicate their ideas with the electorate. Those who choose to participate in electoral campaigns must follow the strict accounting and transparency rules th...

Byline Times is an independent, reader-funded investigative newspaper, outside of the system of the established press, reporting on 'what the papers don't say' - without fear or favour.

To support its work, subscribe to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis.

Help us build the better media Britain deserves

MPs today condemn Whitehall for failing to recover over £400 million in loans given mainly to sports clubs to survive the shutdown during the Covid pandemic five years ago.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport lent £474 million to 120 sporting and cultural bodies between 2020 and 2024, but so far only £41 million has been paid back. On top of this, nine organisations went bust, leaving £46 million irrecoverable, and some 60 organisations have still to pay any money back.

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee say there have been severe weaknesses from the start in the Department's arrangements for managing its loan book. The Department did not draw enough on expertise across government when setting up its loan schemes.

It has subsequently improved its governance, procedures and capabilities for managing these loans, but there are still too many parties involved in managing them- the Department itself, Sport England and Arts Council England as its loan agents, and accountancy firm PwC as its managed service provider. As a result, the cost of managing the loans has already run to £17m.

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Conflict of Interest

The report highlights the huge sum - £124 million or 57 per cent of all sports loans - given to help professional rugby clubs.

It has been unable to question Susannah Storey, the permanent secretary of the department since 2023, about this because of her declared conflict of interest over her husband playing a major role in financing professional rugby union clubs. She had recused herself from all discussions on the loans to rugby clubs after she was appointed.

She declares he is a managing partner and shareholder of CVC Capital Partners - a private equity firm registered in Luxembourg - which has invested £200 million in the Premiership Rugby League in 2019 to keep them going and holds directorships with Premier Rugby, Six Nations Rugby and the United Rugby Championship.

During this period, three Premiership league rugby clubs, London Irish loaned £11.8 million, Wasps loaned £14.1 million, and Worcester Warriors loaned £15.7 million, had become insolvent, accounting for over £41 million of the irrecoverable money. Another seven clubs are being financed by their owners but are technically in the red, according to evidence given to MPs.

Damning Report Suggests Government is Soft on COVID Fraud

A committee of MPs has found that HMRC is failing to deal with an 'avalanche' of fraud by businesses during the pandemic, reports David Hencke

David Hencke

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Tory Chair of the Committee, said:

"Cultural and sporting events came to an abrupt and shocking halt during lockdown, by law. In such circumstances, it is of course right that Government came forward with necessary support to ensure the long-term future of foundational elements of our national life.

"But such support was contingent on the unprecedented nature of a global crisis, not to provide a lifetime guarantee to institutions like rugby union, which may be experiencing financial difficulties five years later.

"DCMS is inherently conflicted in the management of its COVID loan-book. As a lender, its priority will be to secure best value for the taxpayer from these loans. As a Department, its priority is to do everything in its power to support a sector which has become its debtor.

"This is before one even considers the direct c...

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Help us build the better media Britain deserves

The UK Government is being taken to court by climate campaigners over its controversial Jet Zero Strategy (JZS), arguing that the policy encourages aviation expansion at the expense of legally binding climate commitments.

Climate charity Possible and the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport and their legal teams at law firm Leigh Day have filed judicial reviews against the Department for Transport (DfT), challenging the JZS for "failing to present a viable plan to reduce aviation emissions in line with the UK's Net Zero targets."

They are concerned that the far-off promise of 'Jet Zero' - the long-distant hope of emissions-neutral air travel - is being used as an excuse to expand airports today, complete with a major increase in carbon emissions here and now.

The strategy was launched by the last Conservative Government, which claimed it would allow travellers to fly "guilt free".

The strategy has continued post-election, with the Chancellor Rachel Reeves announcing in January that the Government will support the construction of a third runway at Heathrow. Ministers have delayed a final decision on Gatwick airport expansion to October this year to assess the climate impact - but suggest they are "minded to approve" expanding the London hub.

In its announcement on Heathrow, the Government said they would "engage [with] the Climate Change Committee on how aviation expansion can be made consistent with our net zero framework." And defending Gatwick expansion, a transport minister, Mike Kane, used Jet Zero efforts to bolster his claims: "We continue to work together with industry to consider the best ways to support the aviation industry to de-carbonise, including through the jet zero taskforce."

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He added: "Airspace modernisation can help us to reach our target by reducing delays and allowing aircraft to fly in more direct routes. That should result in far less fuel burn, and therefore reduce our carbon omissions and potentially the noise impact of flights."

But the International Energy Association says decarbonisation efforts for aviation are "not on track," adding: "In 2023, aviation accounted for 2.5% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, having grown faster between 2000 and 2019 than rail, road or shipping."

The legal challenge on Jet Zero begins today (April 1) at the Royal Courts of Justice, with both challenges being heard alongside each other, and is expected to last for four days.

Both legal cases argue that the JZS relies on speculative technological solutions while ignoring the need for demand management measures, despite clear recommendations from the Government's own statutory advisors, the Climate Change Committee (CCC).

Challenging airport expansion earlier in Parliament earlier this year, Green Party MP Sian Berry said: "The Government's arguments that I have seen appear to rest on the idea that there are new technologies ready to go that will cut carbon emissions and allow large airport expansions. In reality, does the Minister accept that such innovations, many of which are still not ready for commercial use, cannot be relied upon?"

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"In April 2011, the newly ennobled Maurice Glasman suggested that immigration 'undermined solidarity, it undermines relationships, and in the scale that it's been going on in England, it can undermine the possibility of politics entirely'. A week later, he suggested talking to the English Defence League, and on 18 July, he told the Daily Telegraph that 'Britain is not an outpost of the UN. We have to put the people in this country first'. Asked if that meant a stop to immigration, Glasman answered 'yes'".

Extract from Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar: The Little Black Book of the Populist Right

The anti-immigration, pro-faith-flag-and-family Labour peer Maurice Glasman is back in the limelight. The originator of Blue Labour - economically interventionist, socially conservative - was the only British parliamentarian to receive an official invitation to President Trump's inauguration ceremony in Washington.

By way of recompense for this honour, Glasman sang the praises of Trump, the MAGA project in general and several of its key ideologues in particular, notably former Trump staffer Steve Bannon and Vice-President JD Vance. Yet this Ed Miliband appointee claims he is still on the left, and Blue Labour appears to be wielding increased influence on the Labour government. How and why?

Boosted by Bannon

Glasman's invitation - signed by Vance himself - was no accident. Key MAGA operatives saw the potential to use the Presidential inauguration not only to consolidate their domestic cross-class coalition by staging a monarchical-style investiture in Washington but also to invite key figures from across the world, eager to salute and hail, in Glasman's words, the new "emperor of the republic".

Trump strategists want to create a new nationalist International, above all in Europe, where they seek the break-up of the European Union. Hence the stream of inauguration invitations for anti-European political figures able to promote the national populist cause: a clutch of AfD politicians from Germany; the leader of Spain's Vox; the French MEP Sarah Knafu, representing Eric Zemmour's extreme right party Reconquest; and Glasman.

He didn't disappoint. In a series of news stories and profile pieces, Glasman extolled the virtues of the MAGA project and berated "progressives" as "a sickness" and "the enemy". In an hour-long soft interview with Freddy Sayers for the national populist Unherd podcast (6 March 2025) Glasman said that the Trump victory heralded "the end of globalisation" and "Labour should be dancing in the streets".

According to Glasman, there are two sides to "the MAGA square" and while all owe fealty to Caesar, he sides with Bannon and Vance on the left side against the tech bros and oligarchs on the right. The leftness of the Bannon/Vance faction consists of support for re-industrialisation, tariffs and the working-class and its trade unions as well as fully endorsing MAGA's overall anti-immigration, anti-progressive and anti-woke agenda. In other words, Glasman supported the full-fat national populist position promoted - if not always stuck to - by Viktor Orban, Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders and Donald Trump.

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So here was a senior Labour figure clearly revelling in the new Washington, receiving gifts (a set of cowboy boots) and being feted as a "hero" by Steve Bannon. Like an awe-struck teenager suddenly cast in the spotlight, Glasman describes the experience to Sayers as "far-out, man."

Emerging after the 2008 crash, Glasman's Labour communitarianism could be seen benign if not appealing: a necessary corrective to New Labour's infatuation with global neo-liberalism, and its disdain for its traditional industrial base.

Following his ill-judged call for a stop to immigration and dialogue with the English Defence League, Glasman ...

Byline Times is an independent, reader-funded investigative newspaper, outside of the system of the established press, reporting on 'what the papers don't say' - without fear or favour.

To support its work, subscribe to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis.

Help us build the better media Britain deserves

Senior figures in British fossil fuel and water companies are having to deal with a form of workplace stress unfamiliar to most British workers - the possibility of being placed under citizen's arrest.

The Citizens Arrest Network (CAN) is targeting various executives at UK water and oil and gas companies, serving them with legal documents and attempting to place them under citizen's arrest as part of a campaign to "hold those making the decisions driving the worst environmental pollution to account". The group has attempted citizen's arrests on eight people from five firms including Thames Water since 18 March.

A videographer who followed the activists in the course of their citizen's arrests shows Gilles d'Argouges, Chief Financial Officer for Perenco, an Anglo-French oil and gas firm, phoning his colleagues during the encounter.

"I need some help, I'm outside the office and I have been put under… citizens' arrest. So I'm just looking to reach out to someone from Legal to get some counsel" he can be heard saying.

The video also shows Dr Kathy Fallon, a retired GP turned climate activist present d'Argouges with what she claims is "a dossier of evidence" of "indictable criminal offences" that the network accuses d'Argouges of having committed through his work at Perenco.

d'Argouges reacted calmly to the arrest, and spoke to the activists. Amjad Bseisu, CEO of Enquest, by contrast, ran from the woman trying to citizen's arrest him who shouted: "If you're innocent Amjad, why are you leaving?".

Gail Lynch, a spokesperson for the Citizen's Arrest Network told Byline Times that previous attempts to use the law to hold fossil fuel firms and polluters accountable "became part of business as usual."

"They would go to court, or settle out of court and then go back to doing exactly what they were doing. These fines and costs simply become part of the business model and so there needed to be a shift towards individuals so they face consequences they don't want to face."

David Whyte, a professor of Climate Justice at Queen Mary University of London told Byline Times that "normally directors, senior managers, CEOs are able to hide behind the 'corporate veil'."

"When you are a director or a senior manager there is an almost de facto corporate veil because in most instances of wrongdoing, it will be the company that's sued, it will be the company that is held liable for a regulatory offence, not an individual.

"Effectively what the CAN is doing is attempting to pierce the corporate veil. They are trying to overcome the problem that directors, senior managers and CEOs can use the company to mask decisions that they make as individuals. I think it's quite an important approach to thinking about legal accountability," he said.

Whyte added that the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1982 enshrines the right of citizens' arrest to prevent a person "causing physical injury to himself or any other person…or causing loss of or damage to property."

Because climate breakdown causes wildfires and extreme weather, displacing people and damaging property, he argued that fossil fuel executives continuing to expand production are "intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance."

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One of the group's targets was Alistair Cochrane, who was the Chief Financial Officer of Thames Water when he was placed under citizen's arrest for multiple counts of Public Nuisance. Activist...

Byline Times is an independent, reader-funded investigative newspaper, outside of the system of the established press, reporting on 'what the papers don't say' - without fear or favour.

To support its work, subscribe to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis.

Help us build the better media Britain deserves

The county of Essex has long-established links with the United States of America.

Christopher Martin, governor of the Mayflower which sailed west with the 'Pilgrim Fathers' in 1620 haled from Great Burstead, George Washington's great-great grandfather was the vicar of All Saints Church at Purleigh and William Penn, who founded the state of Pennsylvania spent much of his youth on his family's country estate in Wanstead.

During WWII and well into the 1990s, the county was home to over a dozen USAAF air bases and thousands of US service personnel.

While touring the North side of the Thames estuary in 1971, President Richard Nixon gave a famous speech at Basildon Town Hall in which he declared that since Essex was:

"To all intents and purposes, the easternmost bulwark in our fight against communism, I don't see why we shouldn't just plant a flag and make it the 51st State!"

And now, it would seem, that the Trump administration is taking Nixon's idea seriously. For White House insiders, quoted in Washington based political journal, The Quatsch, have revealed that the president's team are in advanced talks with UK diplomats and Reform UK go-betweens regarding the prospect of taking out a 300-year lease on the Essex seaboard in return for a favourable trade deal with Keir Starmer's Labour government.

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"The Essex coastline between Harwich and Jaywick sits in a prime geopolitical and strategic hotspot known as the 'candyfloss rim'," one aide told The Quatsch, "and since the time of Henry VIII, it's been said that 'they who control Walton-on-the-Naze, control the North Sea'. So, it makes strategic as well as economic sense for America to take out a lease on the region."

The area is rich in London clay deposits - which contain pyrites, smectite and selenite - a vital ingredient used in the manufacture of EV vehicles, suggesting that Elon Musk, too might have one eye on the county.

Byline Times can now reveal that Nigel Farage's eight (at time of writing) visits to the USA since he was elected MP for Clacton in August 2024 had an actual purpose and that he has been at the forefront of the proposed deal.

"Nigel has repeatedly said that he is representing Clacton on the world stage!" A Reform Party source tells us, "And in the next few weeks, people are going to see that he's as good as his word. He and Trump's team have been working on this for the last three months, and Starmer is willing to listen - if it gets him that much-needed trade agreement."

Farage allegedly has high hopes of becoming the Senator for the State of North Essex as it enters an exciting new phase in its history.

The proposals include the development of a gigantic freeport on the current site of Clacton's famous pier, built in 1871, which will be dismantled and sold for scrap.

"Donald suffers from chronic gephyrophobia - an irrational fear of old bridges, tunnels and seaside promenades," the Reform source tells us, "So everyone has agreed that the pier has to go as a first step before we can even show him photos."

Under the terms of the US lease, the Tendring peninsula will be transformed into 'the Singapore of East Anglia' and the hope is that nearby Frinton, with its famously lively nightlife and nearby mini golf course, will become the Mar-a-Lago of Eastern England.

Locals have mixed views on the development, and restaurant manager Ivor Maditup, at La Fir Polo on Marin...

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A Labour MP has condemned his party's "failure of imagination" after the Government rejected his calls to overhaul the ownership of the scandal-plagued water sector in England.

Government-aligned MPs lined up on Friday to oppose his proposals for a citizens' assembly, for the public to determine how to fix England's water crisis amid decades of privatisation and as the biggest supplier, Thames Water, teeters on the brink of collapse.

Left-winger Clive Lewis MP has proposed a Water Bill, which, if passed, would launch a representative citizens' assembly to determine the future of the sector, following years of large dividends and bonuses being taken out of the system by England's privatised water firms.

Treasury select committee chair Dame Meg Hillier told the Commons: "We are elected to make hard decisions and defend difficult issues. We cannot make the world like the land of milk and honey - certainly not after the inheritance we received from the last Government after 14 years of mismanagement.

"We have very big challenges and we need to tackle them. It would put heavy pressure on citizens' juries to do that." She and other Starmer-aligned MPs also said some citizens would find it hard to attend an assembly.

Gateshead Labour MP Mark Ferguson said even if a citizens' assembly was held, as suggested as an option, in Birmingham, it would be "[even] more difficult than London to get to from my constituency."

"I do not believe [the problem] is about the specific geographic place; it is about how we get people together from all corners of the country, to make sure we have a regional spread."

Lewis gave the arguments against a citizens' assembly on water short shrift: "We put men on the moon. The British state can figure it out."

Government figures point to the party's recent Water Special Measures Act, which gives regulators new powers to take "tougher and faster" action against water companies that damage the environment or fail customers.

The Environment Agency now has increased powers to bring forward criminal charges against water executives who break the law, with tougher penalties, including possible imprisonment, for water executives who obstruct investigations.

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Regulator Ofwat now has the power to ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet environmental, customer or company standards.

Dame Hillier told colleagues: "There has been endless discussion about how to resolve this situation, and stasis in the Government. We now have a Government [which] has begun to tackle some of these huge challenges."

Labour and Conservative MPs rejected nationalisation, typically on the basis that it would hit UK pension funds and other investors, and cost a large amount of money for the public purse. Lewis rejected the claims: "If [they'd] done their research, they'd know that British pension companies have abandoned England's privatised water sector.

"The vast majority are either sovereign wealth funds, private equity, or vulture capital. They're not UK pension companies, who make up just a very small fraction, less than 10%."

He said Labour needed a stronger vision for the scale of change needed - and that failure to overhaul the system's structure was "negligent" and a sign of his party being "intransigent."

In an interview with Byline Times after the debate, Lewis said: "The water debate is a small part of the story about something s...