A note from our editor-in-chief: I am delighted to welcome veteran reporter and author Peter Oborne to Zeteo UK as a regular monthly columnist. He will bring his original reporting, deep understanding and searing commentary to both domestic and international affairs. His pieces for Zeteo UK will sit behind a paywall – so please do support independent journalism and become a paid subscriber to Zeteo UK today. - Mehdi

Shortly before the last election the then-Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner hatched a plan for an outright ban on the foreign money that is poisoning British politics.
Sir Keir Starmer agreed. Former Labour leader Gordon Brown agreed to come down from Scotland to join the press conference where the plan would be announced.
Prestigious foreign policy hub Chatham House was booked to host the event. Gordon Brown had even arranged where to stay the night.
At the last moment, Starmer called it off.
According to journalists Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire in Get In, a revelatory study of the Starmer project, the Labour leader allowed his fundraiser Lord Alli to veto the idea.
This was a catastrophic moment for Britain. Starmer’s eleventh-hour change of mind gave offshore billionaires a chance to purchase British politics.
They seized it with both hands.


