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The Times (finally) calls Farage to account
Times Editorial 15th May 2026
The Times has finally called Farage to account on his financial affairs and the question of anti-semitism.
Of course it could not resist a pop at Zack Polanski, the only UK Party leader who is Jewish. It continues to be ‘unaware’ that Waltham Forest Council have posted that they are not sure if he owes any Council Tax for a house boat moored at Springfield Marina in Clapton.
Even so Murdoch calling Farage out is a moment of note in ruling class politics…
Nigel Farage’s houses. Property Empire update #2
One of Farage’s houses in Lydd-on-Sea
A politician who owns lots of houses in one form or another is Nigel Farage
Joint research by the Mirror and the Good Law Project in 2024 and early 2025 revealed that the Reform UK owner has four houses in the South of England as well as the one in Clacton he eventually acquired being the local MP (which is owned by his partner, no doubt for prudent financial reasons).
Farage owns the house he shared with his ex-wife, two properties near Dungeness, one of which is reported to be rented out and another rental property in Surrey. The Dungeness houses are in fact officially owned by Farage’s Thorn in the Side company.
It appears at that after a £5m donation from Thai based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne he has now bought a further property and is renovating another. However it is unclear whether this money funded the latest property activities or if the £1.5m Farage got from I’m a Celebrity was involved. Or perhaps both or another source. Transparency is not a feature here, except that as an MP Farage is currently a public figure.
Of course it is far from unique for both Tory and Labour MPs to be involved in property but Farage styles himself as a man of the people rather than a millionaire property owner. Farage said in 2024 that Britain has a housing crisis and given how busy he clearly is managing properties being an MP must be a struggle
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/inside-nigel-farages-3m-four-33575119
The Guardian (15th May 2026) has the latest update on Farage’s Property Empire
The Guardian (18th May 2026) has the latest, latest update
Mr Farage changes stories. £5m was reward for Brexit not security
Its often the cover up not the original issue that causes the issue.
Farage is under Parliamentary investigation over whether he should have declared a £5m donation from Thai based crypt billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Farage originally said the money was for his personal security. Now he claims it was in fact a ‘reward’ for his years of Brexit campaigning. He appears to have spent at least some of the money on buying and renovating property in Kent where he already several houses.
Why Farage pushed the original story and then changed it is unclear.
Whether there is any relation to the house in Clacton, Farage maintains was bought by and is owned by his partner, remains a matter of speculation.
Of all the political stories of 14th May this is the one that arguably has the most substance but it is not of course the one that is receiving the most coverage
The Labour leadership & the Bond Markets, a warning from recent history
With the possibility of a new Labour leader and Prime Minister the Financial Times has checked what the Bond Markets think.
We do of course live in a market economy but in recent times this has become more of a market society, where not elections and Parliament decide what happens but a small group of unelected and unaccountable market traders.
Of course the Liz Truss Premiership, where an attempt was made to restructure capitalism without the social basis for it failed in short order.
When it comes to potential contenders for the Labour leadership the concern seems to be with Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner. Yet both are moderate social democrats who would do no more than tweak things here and there, hopefully for the modest benefit of the many not the few. That may be optimistic.
According to the FT (14th May 2026) even that is too much
‘Andy Burnham represents the biggest threat to the gilt market among the frontrunners to replace (Starmer) with Wes Streeting the least risky option’
‘the market worries quite a lot about Burnham’ said one leading gilt investor pointing to his comments last year that the country should not be ‘in hock’ to the bond market’
Nine out of ten picked Streeting as the most market friendly option.
The FT Editorial (15th May 2026) returned to the theme
“At a time when politicians are failing to cut spending and deliver credible growth strategies – while stoking instability with political infighting and a blasé attitude towards fiscal discipline – the bond market is acting as the rare adult in the room. Potential challengers seeking to defy it would do so at Britain’s peril.”
There should be trouble ahead but only if grassroots unions and communities demand a different agenda to that the Bond Markets want
The return of Bass. A victory for rank & file drinkers
Drinking Bass
I drank Bass in the Railway Tavern in Crouch End at the end of the 1970s. It was sold in what were then the numerous Charrington’s pubs in London, but actually only some of them. Mostly Charrington IPA, then brewed in Birmingham from memory was the cask on offer.
I’m not sure I was a huge fan but I did enjoy drinking Bass in the mid to late 1970s in the Sun Inn in Stockton where the pints were banked. That is sold with a very un-beard friendly large foamy head.
After that certainly in North London little or nothing was seen of Bass for a very long time. In the 1980s and 1990s the most reliable purveyor of cask beer was Wetherspoons and they did not and still do not sell Bass. Charrington’s pubs disappeared when M&B moved out of brewing.
Now however Bass is back. In something that could only be Big Beer its owned and actually promoted by ABInBev but brewed by Carlsberg in Burton. Brewing on the Burton Union system which was the cause of what was known as Bass Bum, has long gone.
The demand for Bass was created not by Big Beer but by rank and file drinkers publicising it via a Facebook site. It details where in the UK Bass can be found either as a permanent beer or a guest.
It is I think quite easily available in the Midlands but in London demand is currently exceeding supply. This is rather a rare thing for cask beer in 2026.
I eventually tracked it down at the independent Coach and Horses on Stoke Newington High St. The pub has a Bass mirror and beermats so its likely to be on more often than not (£5.40 a pint). I tried a couple of pints. My initial view- not bad. I’ll sample more when I find it.
In the meantime it’s a rare tribute to campaigning by ordinary beer drinkers making an impact that Big Beer ultimately could not ignore.
And yes its still 4.4% in draught.
Ron Pattinson’s blog
The Greening of North-East London on May 7th
This graphic was posted by @diamondgeezer on Twitter.
It provides a good visual representation of the Green Party advance in North-East London on May 7th.
The Greens took control of Hackney and Waltham Forest and were just short of a majority in Haringey where they won 27 seats.
The purple on the bottom right-hand side represents Newham Independents who again performed strongly in an area that contains Wes Streeting’s Parliamentary seat, at the moment.
The reason why the Greens did so well in North East London is perhaps something for discussion in pubs and coffee shops. Meanwhile there remains a crisis of local services and the cost of living and the urgent requirement to oppose the hate spread by Reform and others on the far right.
Wes Streeting to challenge Starmer? A reminder of his links with New Labour & Mandelson
Streeting campaigning with Mandelson at the 2015 General Election
It is reported that Wes Streeting is preparing to challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership. I’m as much a fan of Starmer as I am of his football team (Arsenal) but a Streeting Premiership would take us back to the New Labour years. That would no doubt find favour with a few.
Streeting has long term links with Mandelson (that doesn’t mean he knew about Epstein, but he does know now) and was promoted by McSweeney as the longer term successor to Starmer in 2020 (see Maguire and Pogrund, Get In)
Peter Mandelson was the star speaker at an event to mark 25 years of New Labour in 2022 and remained, until his resignation from the Labour Party on 1st February 2026, central to the New New Labour project as well. A catalogue of errors (and some achievements after 1997 and before the Iraq debacle).
The below appeared on the Politico site (2nd May 2022) and while I’m doubtful about using single source references it is anyway entertaining even if perhaps not entirely accurate (it may not report all who were there for example).
It was held on a Sunday in a Wetherspoons in Chancery Lane, which is normally closed at weekends (the area is very quiet at that time). There was an irony in one of Tim Martin’s pubs hosting such an event but at least David Miliband who apparently picked up the bar bill won’t have been much out of pocket.
A pub is an odd place to hold an inclusive event in the 2020s (not that most pubs don’t welcome all but some have religious, cultural and personal reasons for swerving places that sell alcohol) but it was marking an event in 1997 when things were perhaps seen differently.
I’m not an expert on the factions of New Labour but it does appear to be the Blairite core (as opposed to Brownites) and some of its more recent successors and enforcers. There are a couple of people who were at one point in some way associated with the left- Byers and Milburn- before they became New Labourised. Wes Streeting was one of the few current Labour MPs to attend, indicating it might be suggested where his politics were and are.
Anyway one hopes that at least some of them are at work on their memoirs so future historians can ponder what it was they thought they were doing and what the actual results were.
SPOTTED: At Labour’s 25 Years since 1997 celebrations at the Knight Templar Pub on Chancery Lane last night … Speeches by Peter Mandelson … Cherie Blair and Nicky Blair … Nicky read Tony’s message “we knew how to have fun” … Mandy hailed “the best team that ever came together for politics” and chanted: “Viva New Labour” … Pat and Marianna McFadden were first on the dance floor to “Things Can Only Get Better” … Closely followed by Roy and Alicia Kennedy … Stella Creasy and Dan Fox … David Evans and Aline Delawa … Stephen Byers … Alan Milburn … Hilary Armstrong … Organizers Jo Gibbons, Julie McAndrew, Adrian McMenamin … Sam White from LOTO … Ex-Labour advisers: Steve Bates, Razi Rahman, Faz Hakim, John Lehal, Iain McNichol, Andy Bagnall, Jo Milligan, Martin Angus, John Watts … David Miliband paid for the drinks … Wes Streeting and Peter Kyle from the Shadow Cabinet … plus Keir Starmer comms chief Matt Doyle fresh from the Blair PPB.
Elections & Alphabetism
I would have thought that anyone who stands for election to anything that requires a ballot paper will know that Alphabetism, while not a golden rule is a tendency. Perhaps not…
That is those with a surname beginning with A will do better than someone whose name begins with Z even if standing on the same ticket.
The Guardian has now reported the outcome of some research into the May 7th local elections in England.
One quite frequently used answer is to list names randomly but that still doesnt always stop voting for those at the top of the list!
Fear of Flying. Farage & Helicopters
The Guardian has a story about whether Nigel Farage should have declared the cost of numerous helicopter journeys he has made in recent months. Farage says he did not need to. This has been questioned.
The Guardian story misses another aspect to the story about the number of helicopter trips Farage made during the local election campaign. This has been reported on social media, the point being that for many trips Farage disembarked just outside his chosen location and then arrived by car. Man of the people…
Meanwhile as the media obsessed over what turned out to be the non story about Zach Polanski and Council Tax for a boat moored at the Springfield Marina on the River Lea in Hackney/Waltham Forest, at least the Guardian covered the helicopter story. The BBC of course did not.
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