Newslinks for Wednesday 24th September 2025

Tories release the McSweeney Files and call for inquiry

“A top Labour lawyer advised Keir Starmer’s chief of staff to describe £740,000 in ‘hidden’ donations as an ‘admin error’, a leaked email reveals. The crisis engulfing Morgan McSweeney deepened after the bombshell email shed new light on a notorious episode in which his think-tank was fined in 2021 for 20 breaches of electoral law involving undeclared donations. The email from the lawyer advised Mr McSweeney to drop his unsubstantiated claim that he had been told donations totalling £739,492 to Labour Together did not have to be declared. It warned him that unless he could back up the claim with evidence, it risked antagonising the Electoral Commission, which was investigating the scandal. It told him instead to try to pass the episode off as a simple ‘admin error’. The email, seen by the Daily Mail, was published in full on Tuesday night by the Conservatives, who stepped up calls for the police to investigate the affair. Tory Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘The evidence is clear – Morgan McSweeney has been caught red-handed hiding hundreds of thousands of pounds which helped install Keir Starmer as Labour leader. This latest scandal at the very heart of government is incredibly serious – and potentially criminal – yet Keir Starmer has expressed his full confidence in his chief of staff, once again demonstrating his poor judgment and raising serious questions about his integrity and honesty. Nothing-to-see-here Keir may think he can ride this one out as he tried to over the Mandelson-Epstein scandal, or perhaps he is too weak to fire a chief of staff who tells him what to think, but the Conservatives will not stop fighting until we get to the truth. That is why we are calling on the Electoral Commission and the police to urgently investigate.’ Mr McSweeney was the mastermind of Labour’s election landslide and is Sir Keir’s right-hand man, but he is facing growing unrest from Labour MPs over the party’s dire poll ratings. And he has come under fire in recent weeks for his disastrous advice to Sir Keir to appoint Lord Mandelson as US ambassador, despite knowing he had stood by paedophile Jeffrey Epstein after his conviction for child sex offences. The new revelations threaten to reopen a controversy that Labour has tried to bury.” – Daily Mail

• Tories call for inquiry into Labour Together support for Starmer – BBC News
• Labour lawyer advised £700k of donations be called ‘admin error’ – The Times
• McFadden defends ‘talented’ No 10 chief of staff McSweeney from Tory attack – The Standard
• Anti-Reform tactical voting could cost Farage 60 seats in parliament – The Times

Comment:

• This is damning proof Starmer’s most senior adviser tried to pull the wool over the eyes of electoral officials. The net is closing – Dan Hodges, Daily Mail

UK set for highest inflation in G7

“Britain will suffer the highest level of ­inflation of any major economy this year, piling more pressure on household budgets, influential analysis warns. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said that alongside slowing growth the UK would face an annual rate of inflation of 3.5 per cent by the end of the year, up from 2.5 per cent last year and far above the Bank of England’s target. Rachel Reeves is now facing questions about how she will avoid worsening inflation in the budget, after last year’s national insurance rises were blamed for pushing up wages and food costs. The chancellor needs to find up to £30 billion to hit her fiscal rules as interest costs from rising debt combine with a retreat on attempts to cut welfare and winter fuel payments. However, the Treasury is said to be frustrated that about £20 billion of the gap in the public finances is likely to come from a decision by the Office for Budget Responsibility to downgrade productivity estimates that have increasingly appeared optimistic. The UK’s stubborn inflation this year has made it an outlier among European economies, where average rates have fallen to 2 per cent. The Bank expects headline inflation to peak at 4 per cent in September — double its target rate — and financial markets expect no more interest rate cuts this year. The OECD lifted its projection for the UK’s core inflation, which strips out elements such as food and energy, by 0.6 per cent to 3.7 per cent. The headline and core inflation rates are expected to be the highest in the G7 group of developed nations for this year. It means households will face a ­significant rise in the cost of living amid rising prices in shops and increasing energy bills.” – The Times

• Britain’s inflation crisis getting worse, warns OECD – Daily Telegraph
• ​​Taxes and tariffs to damage UK economy – CityAM
• Is Britain on the verge of stagflation? What the OECD warning over high inflation and low growth means – ThisMoney
• High inflation, soaring food prices and dwindling growth: How Britain’s economy ranks compared to other nations – The Independent

Comment:

• Starmer is too weak to rescue Britain from economic oblivion – Kemi Badenoch, Daily Telegraph
• Even the OECD can’t ignore Labour’s economic car crash – Matthew Lynn, Daily Telegraph
• The Budget will hammer pensioners, landlords and small businesses – and tax life’s little pleasures. We will all be poorer for it – Andrew Neil, Daily Mail
• Welcome to pocket money Britain, where the state robs your wages and hands you an allowance – Annabel Denham, Daily Telegraph
• Rachel Reeves sees older generations as a golden goose to be plucked – this is why – Tim Newark, Daily Express

> Today: Jeremy Hunt: How high taxes are killing the ‘animal spirits’ Britain needs

Trump attacks Khan and claims London ‘wants to go to sharia law’ in UN speech

“Donald Trump told the United Nations (UN) that European countries were “going to hell” because of unchecked immigration. In a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York, the US president attacked Europe several times over its immigration and green energy policies. He said: “You’re destroying your countries. They’re being destroyed. Europe is in serious trouble. “They’ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody’s ever seen before. Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe.” He said: “It’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders,” adding: “Your countries are going to hell.” It was Mr Trump’s fifth address to the UN, and his first since being re-elected… Mr Trump added: “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with, your country is going to fail. I’m the president of the United States, but I worry about Europe. I love Europe. I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.” The 79-year-old continued: “You’re doing it because you want to be nice, you want to be politically correct. You’re destroying your heritage. They must take control strongly and immediately of the unmitigated immigration disaster and the fake energy catastrophe before it’s too late.”… He reserved particular scorn for Sir Sadiq Khan, making the false claim that the Mayor of London wanted to impose sharia law. “I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, terrible terrible mayor, and it’s been so changed, so changed. Now they want to go to sharia law, but you’re in a different country,” he claimed. Mr Trump said the result would be “the death of Western Europe”.” – Daily Telegraph

• Trump attacks Britain just days after state visit – ITV News
• Donald Trump condemns UK and Europe ‘to hell’ in bitter UN rant – The Independent
• Trump says relationship with Putin ‘meant nothing’ at UN — as it happened – The Times
• Secret Service to investigate whether Trump was sabotaged by UN staff – The Times

Comment:

• No one is laughing at Trump now – Rob Crilly, Daily Telegraph
• Six years ago Trump’s UN audience laughed, this year they were silent – James Lansdale, BBC News

> Yesterday: Lord Ashcroft: Why two very different but equally clever men may hold the key to war-torn Ukraine’s future

News in brief:

• Brexit broke Britain’s old class politics – Harry Phibbs, CapX
• To H-1B or not to H-1B? – Matthew Kirtley, The Critic
• ​​Labour has no plan for UK’s looming inflation crisis – Andrew O’Brien, Unherd
• The decline of the UN – Edmund Fitton-Brown, The Spectator