Newslinks for Sunday 20th July 2025

Inquiry after SAS identities leaked in new breach

“The army has launched an investigation after the names of SAS personnel drawn from one of its most senior regiments were published despite repeated warnings. General Sir Roly Walker, head of the army, ordered the inquiry after it emerged details of Special Forces soldiers recruited from the Grenadier Guards had been publicly available online for a decade. John Healey, the defence secretary, is said to be “furious”. Walker said: “The security of our people is of the utmost importance and we take any breach extremely seriously.” He said he had “directed an immediate review” into the “data sharing arrangements” that led to the incident.” – Sunday Times

• Shapps defends Afghan super injunction – FT

Comment

Border Force chief ‘suggested game of Naked Attraction’ with colleagues

“A Home Office investigation has found one of its most senior officials harassed and behaved inappropriately towards a female colleague, before being able to leave the civil service with an unblemished record after a “shambolic” disciplinary process. The case has caused such alarm in the department that the new permanent secretary, Antonia Romeo, has ordered an immediate review of complaints, conduct and disciplinary procedures to “ensure confidence in the integrity of the system”. Steve Dann, the former chief operating officer (COO) of Border Force, was effectively banned from visiting the organisation’s offices in Paris in 2023 after he suggested to female officers that regional directors could play a game of Naked Attraction”. – Observer

Tories demand inquiry into Starmer’s national security chief

“One of Sir Keir Starmer’s most powerful advisers was last night accused of running secret diplomatic back channels to ‘terrorists’ using his own taxpayer-funded team of ‘outsourced spies and spooks’. Jonathan Powell, the Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser, founded the shadowy organisation after he left Tony Blair’s Downing Street, where he was chief of staff when the infamous ‘dodgy dossier’ helped to propel Britain into war with Iraq. The outfit, Inter Mediate, receives funding from the Foreign Office for making contact with ‘non-state armed groups’, and is understood to have brokered the UK’s deal with Syria which led to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations earlier this month.” – Mail on Sunday

• Starmer needs his authority back. Can a Blairite veteran help? – Sunday Times

Chancellor eyes £5bn Bitcoin sale to help plug black hole

“Rachel Reeves could be on the brink of a Bitcoin windfall worth billions as she battles to fill her budget black hole. The Home Office is working with police forces to sell off a hoard of seized cryptocurrency estimated to be worth at least £5bn in a move that could ease pressure on the beleaguered Chancellor. It plans to develop an official crypto storage system that would handle sales of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. The potential sell-off comes amid growing concerns about a black hole in the public finances, following Sir Keir Starmer’s about-turns on welfare and the winter fuel allowance.” – Sunday Telegraph
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/19/britain-sitting-billions-bitcoin-can-rescue-reeves/
Supermarket bosses attack Reeves’s plan for fresh tax raid – Sunday Telegraph

• Business rates hike would drive up food prices, Chancellor told – Sunday Times
• Pensions review aims to get the young saving – Sunday Times

Comment

Hannan: Starmer and the EU are still trying to punish Britain for Brexit

“We are reaching the scorched earth stage. Labour senses that it will lose the next election. The EU senses it, too. So both sides have decided to lock the UK into its subordinate status, to sign “Farage-proof” agreements that future governments will struggle to unpick. The Telegraph has seen the texts on agriculture and energy policy that Sir Keir Starmer agreed in May. No wonder the PM was reluctant to get into specifics. Britain has accepted permanent and unilateral EU control of its food and energy regulations. Worse, it is agreeing to pay for the privilege of being slapped about. The ins and outs of the deals, unlike Starmer’s soft-soap salesmanship at the time, are brutal. We are to become the EU’s helots.” – Sunday Telegraph

Inside Reform’s unofficial plan to bag a Tory big beast

“At last year’s GB News Christmas party, Suella Braverman was the centre of attention. The former home secretary is popular in right wing media circles, but it wasn’t her straight-talking brand of conservatism that was topic of the evening, rather it was the growing whispers about what some thought was her imminent defection to Reform UK. The chatter had been given fresh impetus by the fact that Braverman’s husband, Rael, had joined Nigel Farage’s party. Officially, Reform UK insists there is no concerted mission to attract Tory defectors, with no joiner too grand to not be directed to an online “defection portal” which has been set up to vet new members. In reality, insiders say, there has been a scattergun campaign to bring senior Tories onboard”. – Observer

Labour pledges to halve sewage in rivers by 2030

“Labour has pledged to halve the amount of raw sewage being pumped into rivers, lakes and seas by the end of the decade. Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, said that delivering his vow would make Britain’s waterways “the cleanest since records began”. The announcement is a victory for The Telegraph’s long-running Clean Rivers Campaign, which has called for a crackdown on polluting water companies. It comes after the dire state of Britain’s polluted waterways played a significant role in ousting the Tories from many rural seats at last summer’s election.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Water regulator Ofwat faces being scrapped – FT
• Miliband’s deputy sent secret WhatsApp messages to Labour rebels – Sun on Sunday
• How do we pull Britain’s water industry out of a ‘doom loop’? – Sunday Times

Comment

Government faces legal action for not evacuating critically ill children from Gaza

“The UK government is facing a legal challenge over its decision not to medically evacuate critically ill children from Gaza in the way they have done for young people caught up in other conflicts. The legal action, being taken against the Foreign Office and Home Office on behalf of three critically ill children in Gaza, argues that UK ministers have failed to take into account the lack of treatment options for children in the territory before denying medical evacuations. It also says the position not to medically evacuate children from Gaza stands in stark contrast to Britain’s historical record in such circumstances, which has evacuated children during the conflict in Bosnia and, most recently, Ukraine.” – Observer

• Record number of arrests at Palestine Action protests across UK – Sunday Times
• At least 32 Palestinians killed in Gaza as IDF fires on crowds seeking food – Observer

Other political news

• Tory opponents of Rayner’s strikers charter will celebrate ‘Norman Tebbit Day’ – Mail on Sunday
• UK asylum seekers caught entering Ireland for double benefits – Sunday Times
• Ministers urged to guarantee NHS jobs for new midwives amid understaffing – Observer
• Clashes continue in Syria despite president’s ceasefire declaration – Observer

News in Brief