Angela Rayner accepted £20,000 from a company that would be barred from donating under Labour’s incoming crackdown on foreign money in politics, The i Paper has learned.
The Housing Secretary accepted the money from a UK firm that is controlled by an American parent company, to pay for staff in her office in July this year.
The £20,000 donation was made by Signum Global Advisors, a policy and political research firm that markets its ability to connect clients with “high-level policymakers”.
The donation was properly declared and legal under current rules but would be barred under a looming clampdown on foreign money in politics that Rayner is currently steering through Parliament.
Australian MP’s legs amputated after ‘politically-motivated attack’
Doctors have amputated both of Australian MP Helen Haines’s legs after she was repeatedly hit by a car in an apparent act of political violence, her husband said.
What happened?
Haines remains in critical condition. The 65-year-old independent politician is receiving treatment in a Melbourne hospital where she was flown by helicopter.
Haines’s husband said her left leg was amputated on Monday and her right leg was amputated on Wednesday after doctors abandoned hope of saving it.
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What her husband said
The good news in all this is that Helen is alive and she’s stable. That is the most iortant thing for our family… We are grateful and thankful that at this stage, both her heart and her mind are in good shape.
Phil Haines
The alleged attacker
Brendan Nugent, a 43-year-old man from nearby Tarrawingee, has been charged with intentionally causing serious injury, dangerous driving causing serious injury and causing harm to a federal official.
- Police have yet to determine a motive.
- Witnesses say the driver rammed his victim, pinning her against her own car before reversing and ramming her a second time.
- Nugent’s lawyer Chirag Patel said he was suffering from potential mental health issues but had never been diagnosed with any mental health problem.
- Patel said Nugent suffered from a concussion and a neurological condition, idiopathic transverse myelitis, which disrupts nerve signals between the brain and body, leading to rapid muscle weakness and sensory loss.
Nigeria confirms Ebola case
Nigeria reported its first Ebola case in more than a decade on Tuesday, becoming the fourth African country to be affected by the outbreak.
Where has Ebola been detected?
- Ebola disease from the fast-moving outbreak in Congo has now spread to four other countries.
- This is including two where it’s active.
- It was first declared in eastern Congo in mid-May.
- Nigeria confirmed an Ebola infection in its capital, Abuja.
- This was in a woman who arrived from Uganda about two weeks ago.
- Uganda has reported 20 cases but none are active.
A closer look at confirmed cases so far
- Kenya announced its first Ebola case on 6 October, involving a man who traveled from Congo via Uganda before arriving in the capital, Nairobi, on 3 October.
- France confirmed a positive case of Ebola in June in a doctor travelling back from Congo.
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Should Britons be worried?
The World Health Organization has said it is the fastest-growing outbreak of Ebola in history. However, France is still the only country outside Africa to have recorded a case in this outbreak. The UK Health Security Agency says the current outbreak “poses a low risk to the UK population”.
Imported cases are extremely rare, only four confirmed cases have been reported in the UK since 1976, and there have been no UK deaths from the disease.
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UK approves drilling in Jackdaw gas field
Gas from the Jackdaw field will start flowing within weeks after the Government approved the project in an effort to improve domestic energy security and grow the economy.
Why has it been approved?
The Government says the approval of Jackdaw will increase domestic gas production by around 6 per cent at its peak, protect hundreds of jobs and provide an estimated £2.9bn economic boost.
- Tax revenues from North Sea oil and gas will also go into a new energy wealth fund, backed with an initial £2bn, which will invest in renewable and low carbon projects.
- Ministers argue that while UK households and businesses are still using gas, it makes more economic and environmental sense to increase domestic production rather than rely on imports shipped from other countries.
Why is the project controversial?
The approval of Jackdaw has been criticised by environmental campaigners who want to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels. Both Jackdaw and the Rosebank field were approved for drilling licences in June 2022, but these were overturned by the Scottish courts after a challenge from campaigners.
New public consultations on the proposals took place this year and closed in August. The Government has not yet greenlit Rosebank.
What does this mean for your energy bills?
The approval of Jackdaw will not bring down soaring bills because gas prices are set by global markets, and energy minister Michael Shanks acknowledged “we will not stop being a net importer of fossil fuels because of this decision”.
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Actor Noel Clarke in court over sexual offence allegations
Actor Noel Clarke is expected to appear in court today charged with sexual offences against five women.
What has he been accused of?
Clarke, who has appeared in and is accused of two counts of sexual assault, three of voyeurism and one of exposure between 2007 and 2016.
The offences are alleged to have taken place in London and Dorset. Clarke has previously denied any allegations of inappropriate behaviour or sexual misconduct.
What do police say?
Bethan David, deputy chief Crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring this case to court and that it is in the public interest to do so.”
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Drinking tea may be good for your heart
Tea drinking is good for your heart, and drinking it regularly reduces the risk of vascular disease by 11 per cent, research has found.
What did the study find?
A study in China published in the Journal of Internal Medicine looked at the risk of vascular disease in 485,934 people.
- Those who drank about six to eight cups per day were found to be at the lowest risk of vascular disease among weekly tea drinkers.
- Vascular disease can include heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, pulmonary heart disease and peripheral artery disease.
- Tea consumption combined with not smoking and exercising was associated with the lowest risk.
The expert view
This doesn’t prove that a daily cuppa protects your heart. This was an observational study and other differences in people’s diets and lifestyles could help explain the findings… We need further evidence before assuming the findings apply in the same way to people in the UK.
Dell Stanford, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation
Judi Dench: Cats film was a waste of talent
Actor Dame Judi Dench has described the 2019 film , the adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, as a “waste” of “goodwill and talent”.
She starred as the wise moggy Old Deuteronomy and has so far declined to watch the movie.
What she said
Oh God, I can’t bear it, and [Lloyd Webber] had waited so long for it to be made. What a waste of all that goodwill and talent. I understand the critics were rather hostile to the film. I never saw the final cut so I can’t judge. All I’ll say is nobody sets out to give a poor performance or make a bad film. You do your best… and hope that people will get on board and join the party.
Details revealed in new memoir
In her forthcoming memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, Dench said she felt “ill at ease from the beginning – I just didn’t feel right in the role”, reports.
She said young dancers were ignored at the end of each take. However, she said she enjoyed meeting co-star Taylor Swift and receiving 50 everlasting roses, spraypainted gold, from Jason Derulo, another co-star.
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Why was the film panned?
The director, Tom Hooper, has been criticised for how he adapted the musical, including error-prone use of CGI. He has not made a film since.
Lloyd Webber has said “the whole thing was ridiculous”, “off-the-scale wrong” and that it caused him to become a dog owner.
The Labour Government is bringing in new restrictions after Reform received a record-breaking £72m in donations from two crypto billionaires who have spent time living abroad.
While the donation to Rayner was significantly smaller, it is likely to raise eyebrows given her stinging criticism of Reform’s crypto-backers, and leading role in bringing forward the new legislation.
According to guidance from Rayner’s Government department, the Representation of the People Bill will require any company that makes a political donation to be majority-owned or controlled by UK voters or British citizens living here.
Signum’s British arm is controlled by its American parent company, and the department’s guide says a firm majority owned by another company from abroad would not qualify.
The advisory firm provides analysis and forecasts on policies that affect investments and financial markets. It was founded by its chairman Charles Myers, a former investment banker and adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Signum has previously provided advice to oil companies, which is also seemingly at odds with Rayner’s vocal support for Labour’s drive towards clean power.
In September, Rayner fronted the Government’s response after Reform received £36m each from two crypto billionaires, Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, the joint largest donations ever made to a British party.
Both businessman are British-born but have spent significant periods living abroad – Delo in Hong Kong, and Harborne in Thailand where he holds citizenship.
Rayner said the new bill would stop foreign interference and billionaires buying British democracy.
In a speech at the Trades Union Congress last month, she delivered a stinging rebuke to Farage, saying: “You can’t pay your way out of accountability to the people of this country.”
Under the Representation of the People Bill, companies will only be allowed to donate if they pass three tests. They must be headquartered in the UK; have made enough profit to cover the donation; and be majority-owned or controlled by UK voters or British citizens living here.
The rules cover cash and any gift in kind worth more than £2,230, and ministers have confirmed they will apply to MPs as well as parties.
Crackdown on foreign money
The guide from Rayner’s department spells out how the ownership test would work. It says a donating company’s controllers must be UK voters or citizens, and a company majority-owned by another company based abroad “will not pass this requirement”.
Companies House records name a single controlling party for Signum’s British arm: Signum Global Advisors LLC, a company registered in the US with an address in New York.
It is listed as holding at least 75 per cent of the shares and voting rights, with the power to appoint and remove directors, and has been since the UK company was set up in 2019.
Both of the British company’s directors are Americans living in the US.
Signum disputes that it is American-owned. It said it was “100% owned by the partners”, including several UK citizens based in London, all with equity and voting rights. It said the donation to Rayner was made solely by the British company from money earned in the UK, in full compliance with British law.
Signum did not say whether UK citizens make up a majority of its owners. It declined to comment after a follow-up asking whether it disputed that it would fail the new test.
However, according to the departmental guide, the make-up of the partnership would make no difference, because the British company that made the donation is majority-owned by another based in the US.
Rayner was also paid £10,000 by Signum for a speaking engagement in March, which she asked to be given to charity.
Since returning to Cabinet in the summer she has taken charge of the Representation of the People Bill, tabling amendments to tighten the rules further. It cleared the Commons by 411 votes to 102 on 2 September and is now in the Lords.
A spokesperson for Rayner said: “All these donations complied with the law. The same rules will apply to all politicians and political parties in the same way once the bill is passed, including Angela.”