In the week where Nigel Farage cosplayed as the farmer's friend, Starmer met President Xi and the conflict in Ukraine was further escalated. Here is your weekend wire…

Pull the other one Nigel

Dressed like a man about to hunt foxes, Reform UK leader and professional grifter Nigel Farage performed yet another ‘man of the people’ act this week. Farage, probably surprised not to be appointed to Trump’s administration, was uninvited to the event after organisers worried that his appearance might prove divisive and overshadow the event.

Thousands of farmers took to the streets of London to protest against the changes in agricultural inheritance tax laws announced in Rachel Reeves recent budget. The change means that from April 2026, inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1m, which were previously exempt, will be liable to the tax at 20% - half the usual inheritance tax rate. There has been much controversy regarding how many farmers will be liable to paying the tax, with the Government saying that just 500 estates will be affected whilst the NFU (National Farming Union) have argued the number is more like 70,000

Also at the event was petrol head turned farming Godfather Jeremy Clarkson who bemoaned the apparent ‘Classic BBC’ approach to the issue, whilst admitting he bought his farm  to avoid inheritance tax…those bloody left-wing journos asking about his tax avoidance.

A titan of British politics

The news of John Prescott’s passing was felt deeply across the country. Prescott acted as an invaluable bridge between the unions and the party remade in the image of Tony Blair.

Serving as Deputy PM for a decade, and MP for Kingston upon Hull East for forty years, Prescott will be remembered as a fierce voice for social and economic justice as well as a key figure for global climate action, being a key voice within the Kyoto Agreement.

Escalation in Eastern Europe

Sadly there is very little good news this week, Ukraine has fired its first U.S. (and UK) supplied missiles into Russia, targeting an arms depot 110 km inside the country. The move comes after months of speculation as to whether Joe Biden and Keir Starmer  would allow Ukrainian forces to utilise UK and US long range missiles  to strike into Russia.The move led Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador to the UK, has argued that Britain is now ‘directly involved’ in the Ukraine war. 

This week has seen a marked escalation of rhetoric with Vladimir Putin saying “We believe we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities of the countries that allow the use of their weapons against our facilities”. Putin also announced that he believed that the conflict had ‘gone global’, admitting that Moscow had tested a new medium-range hypersonic non-nucleur ballistic missile on the city of Dnipro. Putin also signed a law lowering the threshold for nuclear attacks this week.

British artists are being massively disadvantaged following Brexit, The Independent has reported that the number of artists who say that Brexit has damaged their income has risen from 82% to 87%.  The increased bureaucracy and costs of visas has reduced artists' flexibility and is costing them opportunities.. 

All the more reason for the Government to agree on a visa waiver agreement with the EU for touring artists, one of Best for Britain's key policy recommendations.

The leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice, Jim Allister, has criticised Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trade arrangements as having not produced the levels of foreign investment that had been promised. Another way of saying Brexit hasn’t delivered the investment in Northern Ireland something that is true across the UK. Investment has been markedly disincentivised following Brexit and the increased barriers to trade with our largest trade partner. Read more about the Cost of Brexit here…

Nice to Xi you

Keir Starmer attended his first G20 summit in Rio this week and had his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Starmer became the first PM since Theresa May to meet President Xi, marking a symbolic shift in the relationship between the UK and China. In recent years the relationship between the two countries has been strained with Britain rightly criticising the Chinese Government’s  treatment of pro democracy protesters in Hong Kong and human rights violations to Uyghur Muslims. The Prime Minister once again brought up the Hong Kong dispute on Monday. 

Starmer raised the plight of pro-Democracy activist Jimmy Lai who has been detained since 2020, whilst also highlighting the importance of UK-China trade. Starmer proposed a full UK-China meeting for next year either in Beijing or London in a clear sign that this Government wishes to normalise relationships with the CCP. 

Elsewhere at the G20 there was widespread condemnation of the conflicts raging around the world from Gaza to Ukraine and a debate surrounding a proposed 2% global tax on billionaires proposed by Brazilian President Lula.

Gaetz to go

Across the pond, Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination, arguing that he had become a distraction. A man accused of serious sexual misconduct and a deeply unpopular member within Congress, it is positive news that Gaetz has jumped before potentially being pushed by the Senate.

In other news and the latest mad underqualified candidate to be appointed to the Trump’s administration is Linda McMahon for Education Secretary. Aside from making her billions by founding World Wrestling Entertainment, Mrs McMahon has previously been accused in a recent lawsuit of ‘knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employee as early as the 1980s’. 

It is a tragic twist of irony that Trump who was elected on a platform of removing the fictional shady cabal of billionaires controlling U.S. politics has now appointed an actual shady cabal of billionaires to control U.S. politics.

And finally Best for Britain goes musical…

Regular readers might remember this article by our work experience student Eli Crossley this summer. We were delighted to see that today his band released their debut single and you can have a listen here:

https://open.spotify.com/track/6CELh2Xqc3FtKM4ahEAEy4?si=8261851f3c674624

Today marks Miley Cyrus’ birthday, an apt reminder of the need for a wrecking ball for Brexit regulations…

Have a wonderful weekend, I will catch up with you again soon…

Joshua Edwicker
Best for Britain