Robert Peston Profile picture
Jul 18, 2019 3 tweets 1 min read Read on X
In case anyone still expecting @PhilipHammondUK to resign as chancellor today, he won’t. I am reliably told it is on his “to do list” for early next week. But Hammond is so opposed to any attempt to deprive parliament of a chance to block no-deal Brexit, he will today...
not oppose the Lords amendment that endeavours to make a prorogation of parliament in October impossible. So will @theresa_may sack him. Seems very unlikely
I imagine from the result quite a few in the government abstained

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More from @Peston

Sep 19
Quadrature Capital Ltd made a £4m donation to Labour on 28 May 2024. It was reported to the Electoral Commission on 30 July 2024. It has only just been revealed by Open Democracy. I have just looked up Quadrature’s UK accounts. The firm says it’s receives remuneration for “investment management services” and that profits are driven by “the performance and assets of the funds under management”. According to its most recent filings (see attached) it paid tax of a paltry £5.3m in 2022/3 on profits of £231m and just £35m of tax on profits made in the previous year of £560m. In other words it has been paying a fraction of what was the UK corporation tax rate of 19% - which at the time was low by UK standards. There will be Labour members and supporters who will be surprised and disappointed that the party is funded by a business that pays considerably less in tax than the official rateImage
Attached is Quadrature’s more detailed explanation of the seemingly low tax it reported Image
This attached page explains why Quadrature’s tax charge is so low. It shows that most of the profit is “non taxable revaluations of investments”. That suggests Quadrature will at some juncture - when the investments are sold - have to pay huge amounts in corporation tax, theoretically at least £100m for gains made in 2021-3. That’s a treat for Rachel Reeves to look forward toImage
Read 7 tweets
Jun 11, 2023
Downing St has taken the highly unusual step of declassifying the list of Boris Johnson’s proposed peers that was approved by the House of Lords Appointments Commission (attached). They did this to “prove” that the PM had not lied to Johnson when telling him he would approve… Image
the ex PM’s list, when they met earlier this month - and to reinforce Downing St’s claim that Sunak had not interfered to prevent Alok Sharma, Nadine Dorries or Nigel Adams receiving peerages. But it does not add up. The important points are 1) that this list was sent to the PM…
in February and 2) HOLAC was not prepared to create a precedent of approving peerages unless the recipients would undertake to stand down as MPs and join the Lords within six months of announcement. And here is the point. My understanding is…
Read 8 tweets
Jun 9, 2023
Johnson’s peerages for ultra loyalists. Not clear whether Dorries and Sharmer asked that they be removed from list. If so it seems unlikely Dorries will get now get a deferred one given she today triggered by-election Sunak needs like hole in head. Downing St says list… Image
is nothing to do with them. PM’s press secretary: “As is convention, the Prime Minister forwarded the former Prime Minister’s peerage list to HOLAC unaltered. HOLAC then passed back their approved list. The Prime Minister then accepted HOLAC's approved list and forwarded…
“it unamended to the Sovereign for their approval. He had no involvement or input into the approved list. It is a point of fact that it is made public by the Commission if a Prime Minister overrules the Commission’s advice." In case you don’t know, HOLAC is the House of…
Read 5 tweets
Jun 7, 2023
The seizure of Telegraph and Spectator by Lloyds is a humiliating close to the Barclay family's control of two trophy media assets. Aidan and Howard Barclay have been removed from the businesses, because debts running to hundreds of million pounds haven't been serviced...
The legal transfer of control to Lloyds happened in last couple of hours. The debt was originally provided by and still sits in Lloyds' Bank of Scotland subsidiary. It's like watching the slowest motion car crash in history, because the debt or leverage all stems from...
the reckless banking boom of 15 years ago. Lloyds is expected to organise an auction of the newspaper and the magazine - and their associated digital operations - which are said to be decent performers in operating terms. A disposal could raise £600m (perhaps)...
Read 7 tweets
May 23, 2023
Too much of government is arguably
aimed at clearing up supposed problems of their own making. An example is today's announcement by Braverman to abolish the right of overseas students on undergraduate and non-research courses to bring spouses and children to the UK. 🧵 1/18
Here is the important background.
In their 2019 general election manifesto, Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party pledged to reduce net migration to the UK to less than the 212,000 per annum prevailing when they wrote that manifesto. 2/18
That target will be spectacularly
missed in the lifetime of this parliament. Under this government, new all-time records are being set for migration to the UK - with migration numbers far exceeding the flows from the EU that were seen by Brexiters as out of control. 3/18
Read 18 tweets
May 2, 2023
Sue Gray suspended co-operation with the Cabinet Office investigation into the circumstances of her departure because she found out the investigation was already using info - on dates of her meetings with Starmer etc - that she had supplied to ACOBA via the Cabinet Office. She…
viewed this, understandably, as a breach of process and confidentiality. This hijack of her ACOBA disclosure also undermined the impartiality of ACOBA, the advisory body on how long government and Whitehall defectors should stay in the wilderness. Gray’s…
views were, I understand, relayed to the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, who agreed with her. Which is why it was impossible for the deputy PM Oliver Dowden to publish a report today on whether she breached the civil service code, in spite of weekend briefings that…
Read 4 tweets

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