Financial Times Political Correspondent. Formerly FT Investigations and Energy Editor. Still dabbles in what makes the world go round.
London
Joined September 2009
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FT Investigation: A Scottish-Lebanese dynasty. A sheikh scorned. A German arms deal. A £50mn penthouse. The former King of Spain. One of London’s hottest tech investors.
Intrigued? Hope you enjoy
What led to the fall of the house of El Husseiny on.ft.com/4ixRCnM via @ft
David Sheppard retweeted
The Budget is a major test for Burnham’s administration, but it also poses dilemmas for the Conservatives and Reform.
Badenoch and Farage are sharpening their attack lines, but will the PM’s decision to push the Milburn/Timms reviews til later in the autumn blunt the two right-wing parties’ planned hits on welfare spending?
@FT read from me and @OilSheppard, exploring the Tories and Reform’s rival tactics and economic offers
ft.com/content/a505e99f-b49f…
David Sheppard retweeted
A look at Burnham's 100 days with help of an FT focus group in Sheffield, hosted by @Scarlett__Mag who joins us on the pod. Plus @PickardJE and @OilSheppard taking you through the week and the Budget ahead
100 days of Burnham ft.trib.al/pB8JzwF
Reassuring
🚨Sneaked out by OFGEM this morning, a warning for the first time EVER they cannot guarantee that demand will be met on a peak day in winter.
Let’s be clear what that means. They cannot guarantee that homes will be warm, lights come on or industry function on a peak day this winter.
And why? Because of an accelerated decline in domestic gas supply from the North Sea.
So what is the solution? For British bill payers to pay more, to IMPORT more from Europe (specifically Belgium) to keep the lights on in Britain.
Britain. A country with vast supplies of gas, untapped, deliberately due to Labour policy now going cap in hand to Europe and paying vast sums to import foreign gas.
It is utterly outrageous. You couldn’t make it up.
ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/f…
I'm filling in for Stephen Bush on 'Inside Politics' again today, so what else to write about from Westminster than the new jibe at Reform doing the rounds.
Nigel Farage has a 'Coke Zero' problem:
ft.com/content/5772046b-556c… via @FTusa284
Not-so-subtle signalling from the Lib Dem press office ahead of Daisy Cooper’s speech this morning.
Gail’s comfortably winning with the feral lobby hacks, though Gregg’s handicapped in the pastry-off by a lack of sausage rolls
David Sheppard retweeted
No, Sally Rooney’s books are not ‘banned’ from the UK: "The next time you’re having a cry-read of Intermezzo in the bath, the odds of Home Office officials showing up at your door remain, as before, zero." as.ft.com/r/4ea59fbd-8a20-49… via @financialtimes @OilSheppard
Filling in for Stephen Bush today on ‘Inside Politics’.
Chose an uncontroversial topic to ease me in
Sally Rooney’s books are not ‘banned’ from the UK ft.com/content/42eb2851-ddc2… via @ft
It's difficult to see how Reform can outflank Restore on the right
(Lowe has tweeted this while Farage is giving a speech detailing how a Reform government would suspend the asylum system for five years)
David Sheppard retweeted
Asking in the group chat to see who is free to make it to a Tuesday night Nations League game at Hampden in October.
The group chat:
David Sheppard retweeted
Quite right. Edinburgh is the second city of the UK, Glasgow of the empire.
Edinburgh?? What is the second city @KemiBadenoch - clue: you are there this weekend for your party conference! @ITVCentral
All figures 2021-26:
Triple-lock state pension up 34.4%
CPI Inflation up 24.3%
Average wages exc. bonuses up 29%
Double-lock state pension (if it had been in place) up 27.3%
Going to be hugely disappointed if the answer isn’t “don’t announce it until it’s a bit icy outside”.
Pensions minister Torsten Bell not letting his beef with Jim Ratcliffe go, telling a fringe event at Labour’s conference:
“I'll tell you what if I was if I was running Manchester United, I wouldn't be talking about anybody else being on the slide.”
The US supplies about a third of the UK’s diesel exports.
Despite this, the PM did not raise the issue of a potential diesel export ban with Trump when they had their first meeting in NYC on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter.
ft.com/content/68173e02-88e8… via @ft
Reform UK says it would halve size of civil service in radical overhaul ft.com/content/199de3fd-2a7a… via @ft
Tackling centuries of “western bias” by proposing this as the new world map
theguardian.com/science/ng-i…
