Elon Musk claims he has ‘formed’ his own political party

Elon Musk says he has formed a new political party amid his ongoing feud with President Donald Trump.

Musk asked his 221.7 million X followers to vote in a poll deciding whether he should form the new “America Party” on Friday. The tech mogul first threatened to form a party earlier this week if Congress passed Trump’s sweeping tax and spending legislation, which he calls the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”

The billionaire has argued that the legislation, which the president signed into law on Friday, will increase the deficit by trillions.

After 65 percent of respondents voted “yes” on his poll, Musk says he’s following through.

“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it,” Musk wrote Saturday afternoon. “When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.”

“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,” he added.

Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” passed in the Senate with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday. The House passed the bill on Thursday, and Trump signed it into law during a Military Family Picnic celebration for Independence Day.

The bill provides sweeping tax cuts — particularly to wealthy Americans — while curbing access to Medicaid and food assistance programs for millions of people. The legislation also provides billions more for defense and immigration enforcement.

Musk, once known as Trump’s “First Buddy,” sparked a public feud with the president last month over the bill, arguing it will increase the budget deficit by $2.5 trillion.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote of Trump’s bill on June 3. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.”

Musk spent several months this year leading the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to slash government spending. Under his leadership, DOGE laid off hundreds of thousands of federal employees, hollowed out several agencies and terminated thousands of government contracts and grants.

Musk doubled down on June 5, calling the legislation the “Big Ugly Bill.” The billionaire also flirted with the idea of forming a new political party, but didn’t offer specifics.

Musk wrote: “Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?”

Trump hit back on Truth Social, accusing Musk of going “crazy” because he “took away his [electric vehicle] mandate.” Less than an hour later, Musk escalated the feud and alleged that Trump appears in the unreleased Epstein Files.

“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files,” Musk wrote. “That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

The pair exchanged a few more jabs until June 6, when tensions seemed to ease. Musk expressed “regret” on June 11 for the posts he made about the president, while Trump revealed he had “no hard feelings” toward Musk.

The peace didn’t last long, though. This week, Musk pledged to fund primary challengers running against Republicans who supported the bill.

“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” the billionaire wrote on Monday.

“And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” he added.

Nearly every Republican in Congress voted to pass the bill, with just three senators and two representatives joining Democrats in voting against it.

Trump responded by threatening to cut of the billions of dollars in federal subsidies Musk’s companies receive. The president also threatened to “take a look at” deporting Elon Musk to South Africa, where he was born and raised for several years.

The point that ignited Djokovic’s ominous Wimbledon challenge

It was a point to take your breath away. Novak Djokovic grabbed it with a backhand down the line. But that failed to illustrate the Serbian’s artistry after a series of audacious strokes to break down his compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic.

If Jannik Sinner had earlier surged into the fourth round, the latest step in a dominant run to the semi-finals, then Djokovic in this form may well await. Djokovic grappled with his game a little more here, even though he was admittedly met with more force in Kecmanovic than Sinner’s opponent Pedro Martinez.

This was a clinic, eventually, but the fuse to light the torch was in the eighth game of the first set. The point of the Championships, surely. Fourteen strokes and Djokovic showcased all of his toys for the gleeful crowd. With the roof open and the sun peaking behind the clouds, Djokovic, instead, lit up Centre Court on his way to his 100th win at SW19.

He chopped a few drop shots with enough unlikely spin to cruelly die over the net. But Kecmanovic was up to the challenge. Then, the less flashy, yet no less infuriating lob shot to the back of the court. And, finally, that backhand to earn the first of two break points, which proved enough inspiration to eventually snatch the first set 6-3, with the next two earned by 6-0 and 6-4.

Kecmanovic had one ball in his pocket after losing the point and he decided to playfully tap it at his Davis Cup teammate, who was sprawled on the pristine grass, legs spread wide and exhausted after his effort.

It proved the inspiration behind a more menacing run of tennis to follow in the next two sets. A second-set bagel, in fact: Kecmanovic may look at the first eight games of that first set with admiration at his own game. In time, he might look back at that second set and realise he had the best seat in the house at what was a more vintage version of Djokovic, perhaps the greatest male player to ever pick up a racket.

If the eighth game of the first set produced a spectacular Djokovic point, then the third game of the second set was the sort that we have grown accustomed to en route to 24 grand slam titles.

Pushed and pulled across the width of the baseline by his opponent, Djokovic’s balance remained impeccable, legs positioned like a pyramid and still able to move like a veteran clay-court champion to slide right into the corners.

This kind of pressure has usually seen his opponents crack at their inability to put him away. And Djokovic’s crisp backhand down the line, one of 57 winners on the day, earned a double-break and probably broke the remaining resistance in his opponent.

“I try not to take tennis for granted,” Djokovic said. “I’m still competing, doing some slides and splits on the court! Wimbledon is a favourite tournament of mine, growing up, most of the kids dream of playing here. So any history in my favourite tournament, I’m blessed.”

The third set followed a similar pattern, Djokovic able to thrive in target practice from the baseline. But then show that versatility on the grass. An impeccable drop shot at 15-0 in the sixth game saw the ball spin back so much that it remained in the serving quadrant.

Kecmanovic salvaged a little more respect by fending off Djokovic, down 1-5, and even prolonged the contest by earning a break as the 38-year-old served for the match. Brushing off two double faults in the final game with a pair of aces, the job was complete in an hour and 47 minutes. Aussie Alex De Minaur is next, which will be a much sterner test.

But a colossal encounter in the final four with Sinner is edging closer, though the world No 1 has barely worked up a sweat. No sets dropped, though he is not the only Italian to do so, with the unlikely run of Flavio Cobolli worth noting.

Indeed, Sinner has not just been perfect in terms of sets, he has dropped just 17 games through three rounds, a record, surpassing the 19 conceded by Roger Federer in 2004.

“I just try to watch more my side of the net, trying to keep my level as high as I can,” Sinner remarked after his 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Martinez. “Never taking things for granted in any case. If I don’t serve well there, things can go complicated.

“I’m very happy. Of course [I study potential opponents’ strengths and weaknesses for later in the draw]. I know everything that’s happening. I know how players play. This is also part of my job because I also have to check these kind of things. I know mostly I look on my side, what I have to do.”

Two more rounds separate Djokovic and Sinner. The evidence suggests it could be a historic match.

UK re-establishes diplomatic relations with Syria as Lammy visits

David Lammy has said that a “stable Syria is in the UK’s interests” as the UK re-established diplomatic relations with the Middle Eastern nation.

The Foreign Secretary has visited Damascus, the first visit to the country by a UK minister for 14 years, and met with President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani.

The Assad regime collapsed in December last year after rebels led by proscribed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) stormed the capital Damascus, forcing the then-president to flee after 24 years in charge.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has also announced £94.5 million for humanitarian aid for Syrians.

Mr Lammy said: “As the first UK Minister to visit Syria since the fall of Assad’s brutal regime, I’ve seen first-hand the remarkable progress Syrians have made in rebuilding their lives and their country.

“After over a decade of conflict, there is renewed hope for the Syrian people.

“The UK is re-establishing diplomatic relations because it is in our interests to support the new government to deliver their commitment to build a stable, more secure and prosperous future for all Syrians.

“A stable Syria is in the UK’s interests, reducing the risk of irregular migration, ensuring the destruction of chemical weapons, tackling the threat of terrorism and delivering the Government’s plan for change.”

In April, the UK lifted a raft of sanctions against Syria that had been imposed under the Assad regime, including those on the interior and defence ministries.

The Syrian president’s office said on Saturday said that the president and Mr Lammy discussed co-operation, as well as the latest developments in the Middle East.

The big risk to Trump from his big beautiful bill won’t come from Musk

With the bang of a wooden gavel, the House of Representatives gave Donald Trump the stunning victory he wanted after intimidating the hell out of any Republican congressmen or women who flirted with the idea of defying the president’s wishes. You can only imagine that 3,000 miles east of Washington a man in Downing Street looked on with helpless envy, because this week has really been a tale of two cities.

In London, Keir Starmer has had to suffer the ignominy of his backbenchers shredding his authority by sticking two fingers up at him repeatedly as though he were some hapless supply teacher brought into an inner London comprehensive for the day. The MPs forced concession after concession over a welfare bill that has been so gutted that an extra £5bn will need to be found to stop the ballooning of our deficit.

While in Washington DC, the president’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” – the OBBB – will add a staggering, eye-popping, head-spinning, jaw-dropping, nausea-inducing three trillion dollars to the US deficit and yet lawmakers decided – without too many qualms – that keeping on Trump’s right side was more important than any considerations about the massive economic risks this legislation represents.

There was, it should be noted, a strong countervailing force in all this, and that was Elon Musk. The OBBB is what led to his and Trump’s nuclear-tipped spat, with the tech tycoon railing against its economic incontinence. Not only that, Musk threatened any Republican lawmaker who voted for it. And has threatened to set up a new political party to – in effect – destroy the Republicans.

With the passage of the bill we have at least one question resolved. In the battle of “who do you fear the most” – the richest man in the world, or the most powerful man in the world – Trump has come out on top. The wee, timorous beasties of the GOP caucus would rather incur the ire of Musk than the wrath of Trump. It remains to be seen whether the Tesla boss will make good on his promise to run candidates against those who backed the president’s bill – assuming he gets the chance, after Trump said this week he’d be looking at deporting Musk.

So what is this piece of legislation that will now get signed with much fanfare? Well, for a start it is what in the US they call a compendium bill, or omnibus bill. It is not a law just dealing with one thing. It is sprawling. This is a mega piece of legislation. It will bring tax cuts to America’s wealthiest; it contains provisions to funnel money towards border security and the Pentagon. And it will take away health provision and free school meals from America’s poorest. Think of it as the Robin Hood principle in reverse – it steals from the poor and gives to the rich.

Let’s go through some of the measures. It will strip healthcare away from 17 million Americans through cuts to Medicaid, the federal government programme that gives coverage to the poorest in America. It will raise healthcare premiums for older adults who benefit from “Obamacare”. It will take food assistance away from three million Americans and will eliminate school meal access to more than 18 million youngsters. All this to fund tax cuts where the beneficiaries will be the very wealthiest in US society.

There are Maga voices who’ve broken ranks. The uber-Trump supporting senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley, has spoken out passionately against the cuts to Medicaid, and how it will hit people in his state hard. So what did he do when it came to actually voting on the measure? Can you guess? Do you need another clue?

Or what about the “moderate” Republican from Alaska, Lisa Murkowski? She couldn’t have been more eloquent. This was a bill, she pronounced, that would not serve Americans’ best interests, that it was deeply flawed and was being rushed through to meet a totally arbitrary deadline set by the president of the Fourth of July. It was not fit to be passed in its present form. And, yes, you’ve guessed it – she voted for it too, just like Senator Hawley.

In her bizarre self-justifying statement after voting for the measure, Senator Murkowski said: “My sincere hope is that this is not the final product. This bill needs more work across chambers and is not ready for the president’s desk. We need to work together to get this right.” But, of course, by voting for it, she has ensured that the bill has gone straight to the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office for signature.

Though kudos to North Carolina senator Thom Tillis, who not only lambasted the bill but has announced he won’t run again for office, such is his disgust. And a couple of other Republican senators also split from the president.

Nevertheless, this is a massive legislative win for Trump, and a lovely win for all the billionaires who backed him and donated to his campaign and who will now enjoy even lower tax bills.

But isn’t that to confuse two things? The financial firepower of wealthy donors may have helped Trump get elected. But it was the votes of millions of ordinary Americans – blue-collar workers in record numbers – who elected him and put him in the White House. How are they going to feel about this? An effective Democratic Party (a phrase that feels slightly oxymoronic) would be –should be – making hay.

There is one other thing, though, about timing. The tax cuts will come into effect immediately and, yes, while the wealthiest will gain most, a lot of middle-class Americans will gain too. But the politically perilous cuts to Medicaid and the like are being deferred until the beginning of 2027. In other words, just after the November midterms, where Trump’s control of both Houses would be at stake. This White House is not stupid.

Over 20 arrested at Palestine Action protest after group banned

A total of 29 people have been arrested on suspicion of terror offences at a Palestine Action protest, hours after the group were officially proscribed by the government.

A mass of Metropolitan Police officers circled dozens of protesters standing silently beneath the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square. Labour MP Clive Lewis pointed to the location of the arrests and the fact that those arrested included “a priest, a professor, medics”. “This is not about terrorism. It’s about silencing dissent – and it’s leading us down an ever-darkening path,” Mr Lewis wrote on X (Twitter).

The protesters were holding placards that said: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

Occasional chants of “Free Palestine” broke out from the surrounding onlookers, and some criticised the police presence.

It came hours after Palestine Action lost a late-night Court of Appeal challenge on Friday, which sought to stop the protest group from being banned.

The move was confirmed less than two hours before the new legislation came into force at midnight.

The designation as a terror group means that membership of or support for Palestine Action is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

The protest started at about 1.10pm and officers were seen taking people away shortly after 1.30pm.

An elderly woman in a dog collar, who was sitting in a camp chair with one of the placards at her feet, appeared to be taken away by officers.

A woman seen lying on the floor in handcuffs was carried away in the air by officers and put in a police van.

While suspended and flanked by a large group of police, she said calmly: “Free Palestine, stop the genocide, I oppose genocide, I support the rights of the Palestinian people, I support freedom of speech, I support freedom of assembly.”

A mass of people crowded around to film the scene.

Officers placed her in the vehicle parked on the road behind the square before returning to the Mahatma Gandhi statue, where almost no protesters remained.

Chants of “shame” broke out, directed at the police, and officers moved behind the Gandhi statue.

One supporter, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “These brave people are prepared to keep the spirit of support for Palestine alive, and they’ve stepped up to defend our civil liberties.

“It’s making me feel powerless. I think so carefully about what I can say.

“I can’t be true to my life, to my feelings and beliefs.

“I’ve never felt like that before. It’s a frightening feeling. It’s chilling.

“I was a Labour Party support member for years, and I’m shocked that the Labour government is doing this: Yvette Cooper is doing this, and she’s had heavy pressure from the Zionist regime, this government, from the board of deputies.

“They’ve all been lobbying her to get heavy on Palestine Action.”

Latifa Abouchakra, 35, originally from Nazareth, the largest Palestinian Arab city in Israel, was at the protest in London and said: “We are protesting and resisting this because there’s an unjust law that deserves resistance.

“Yesterday, Palestine Action wrote an open letter to the press, and in it they stated their strategy, and that they will be doing this more and more, because in this way, they are demonstrating to the government that we will not stop. It is an unjust law.

“We will continue to resist an unjust law. We’re starting with 26 [protesters] today. I do believe that within a very short amount of time, there will be 260.

“The decision demonstrated the British government’s friendship, alliance with a genocidal state, and it demonstrated its reluctance to do anything about it.

“I’m a Palestinian activist, I’m a Palestinian teacher, I came to the UK in my childhood, and I am supposed to feel grateful to this country for the liberties and the freedoms that it allows me supposedly – to wear my scarf and to protest.”

In a statement on X, the Metropolitan said: “Officers have arrested more than 20 people on suspicion of offences under the Terrorism Act 2000.

“They have been taken into custody. Palestine Action is a proscribed group and officers will act where criminal offences are committed.”

Most of the police dispersed at around 2.10pm.

Palestine Action lost their late-night Court of Appeal challenge on Friday evening.

In a letter to the home secretary, protesters said: “We do not wish to go to prison or to be branded with a terrorism conviction. But we refuse to be cowed into silence by your order.”

A Home Office spokesperson said about the ban on Saturday: “We welcome the court’s decision and Palestine Action are now a proscribed group.

“The government will always take the strongest possible action to protect our national security, and our priority remains maintaining the safety and security of our citizens.”

It comes after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on 20 June, an incident claimed by Palestine Action.

Police said it caused around £7m of damage.

Home secretary Ms Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action on 23 June, stating that the vandalism of the two planes was “disgraceful” and that the group had a “long history of unacceptable criminal damage”.

MPs in the Commons voted 385 to 26, majority 359, in favour of proscribing the group on Wednesday, before the House of Lords backed the move without a vote on Thursday.

Four people – Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, Jony Cink, 24, Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 36, and Lewis Chiaramello, 22 – have all been charged in connection with the incident at Brize Norton.

They appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after being charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom, and conspiracy to commit criminal damage, under the Criminal Law Act 1977.

How to host a Macmillan Coffee Morning like you’ve never seen before

What comes to mind when you think of a fundraising coffee morning? Soggy digestives, weak tea and sitting in a school hall having forced fun? Think again.

Macmillan Cancer Support are celebrating 35 years of the iconic Coffee Morning fundraiser, and we’re here to help you give your next Coffee Morning a glow-up. Behind the fun, Coffee Mornings help raise vital funds for people facing one of the toughest challenges of their lives.

Almost one in two people in the UK will get cancer in their lifetime, and no two experiences are the same. Where you live, who you are, or whether you have another health condition can all affect the care you receive – and that’s not fair. Macmillan is working to change that, doing whatever it takes to make sure everyone gets the best possible care, whoever and wherever they are.

So while tasty treats and fundraising fun of course get to stay, we’re leveling up the atmosphere with fresh ideas to keep everyone entertained.

Want to be a Coffee Morning Host?

Best of all, these new ways of raising vital funds don’t have to be expensive. In fact, they might even save you a bit of time, wardrobe space and money. Here’s how to host a Macmillan Coffee Morning like you’ve never seen before…

Organise a ‘style swap shop’

Clear out your wardrobe, raise money and bring your community together all at the same time by organising a ‘style swap shop’ – with all your finest, unworn or unwanted clothes and accessories.

Pack up the majestic hats you bought for a wedding but only wore once, the satin gloves that make you feel like Audrey Hepburn but don’t go with anything you own, or maybe that lace vintage dress your aunty wore to Glastonbury in the 70s, which now lives in an unexplored drawer in your bedroom.

Fill up a bag with your best cast-offs and get your friends, family and neighbours to do the same. Everyone pays £5 entry to the ‘style swap shop’ and then you all get to browse through each other’s preloved treasures – grabbing what takes your fancy.

One person’s hand-me-down is another person’s new look – so elbows at the ready! Want to raise extra cash? Add a £1-£2 price tag on each item that’s been donated.

Strut your stuff at a cake walk

We know that staying healthy and being physically active can reduce the risk of cancer, so why not combine the classic Coffee Morning with a walk around the block? Creative costumes, silly hats and streamers at the ready as we leave behind the school hall and instead take our cakes and cookies for a little jaunt to stretch our legs.

Up the fun, and the stakes, by upgrading from a cake walk to a cake race – the bigger and messier the dessert, the better!  And get the kids involved in the baking and racing too.

Or if you want to keep it indoors, turn your catwalk into a cake walk and give your best strut with your favourite pudding in hand. It’s giving egg and spoon race, jelly wobbling on a plate and doubling over with laughter as you sashay along clutching a platter filled with your finest roulade.

Dance away the morning at a sober rave

Why sit or stand when you can dance? Sober raves are all the rage – and ideal for a morning of fun with friends, family and neighbours. There’s no hangover, no late night and the kids can join in too – so, no need for a babysitter.

Grab your glow sticks for a Coffee Morning like no other, and you can still eat cake and have a brew or a cold drink. It’s a club night where nobody has to worry about the morning-after-the-night-before! You can host it in any hall, all you need is music and a disco ball.

You might feel silly at first, but soon you’ll be grinning with joy as dancing is proven to release endorphins (natural painkillers and mood boosters) as well as reducing stress and keeping you fit. Now, who does a good Big fish, little fish, cardboard box?

Run an Is it cake? competition

If you haven’t seen the Netflix hit Is it cake? – an American game show-style cooking competition, you’re missing a treat. Contestants compete to both identify and recreate their best version of everyday items – in cake form.

That could be fire hoses made from vanilla sponge and icing, kitchen utensils that cut open to reveal red velvet cake, replica designer handbags that are actually edible, and even other food items such as burgers, which are of course, cake.

Up the baking ante by running your own cake lookalike competition inspired by the show. The best thing about it is that even if your cake looks like a pair of stinky old sports shoes, it’ll still taste great!

Whether you’re swapping styles, raving sober or sculpting a sponge handbag, every slice of fun helps Macmillan Cancer Support do whatever it takes to help everyone living with cancer.

Signing up to host your own Macmillan Coffee Morning this year couldn’t be easier! Find out more today on the Macmillan website

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

Is London’s stock market in crisis?

I will be accused of “clickbait” for posing that question. But look at the figures.

There were just five new listings – or Initial Public Offerings – in the first half of the year, raising £160m from investors. And, well, that is a miserable number.

According to data company Dealogic, it is the lowest in 30 years and a fall of 98 per cent when compared with the start of 2021 (when the UK was still suffering from the effects of the pandemic). It is even lower than the level recorded in the first part of 2009, when large parts of the City were still dealing with the after-effects of the financial crisis.

Once a global giant – that would get interest from any international company looking to list – the London Stock Exchange is shrinking, and fast. Statista shows it hosted more than 2,400 companies at the beginning of 2015. Now, the number is less than 1,700 and that number is falling. It’s now big news today if a feisty young British growth company chooses to stay home rather than head off to Wall Street.

Predators from overseas – whether other companies or private equity – see London as the perfect place to go shopping for bargains. KKR, a US private equity firm, has just had a £4.7bn offer for Spectris, a UK-based maker of testing equipment, high-tech instruments and software, accepted. That offer is at a 98 per cent premium to where the company’s shares were trading before the takeover interest became known.

Private equity companies are all about maths. They have strict targets for the returns from their assets and will only act where they feel those can be met. That KKR thinks it can still hit them while paying a 98 per cent premium speaks volumes about the low valuation this company had prior to the former’s emergence as a suitor.

Even more concerning are the rumours that the giants at the top of the market are also considering booking first-class transatlantic flights. Shell was rumoured to be looking at this last year. More recent speculation has swirled around AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical giant. Its loss would be a brutal blow to both the City and the government – life sciences are a core part of its industrial strategy.

All this should worry ministers who say they are committed to a dynamic, modern, and crucially growing economy. The City provides an awful lot of high-paying jobs, and pays an awful lot of tax. The decline of the IPO market will inevitably result in redundancies and a reduction in revenues.

What to do? London’s strict listing rules have already been eased, to no great effect. The door has opened to controversial practices, such as allowing tech companies to offer dual-class shares, which concentrate power in the hands of their founders. Again, the results have proved to be singularly unimpressive.

The real problem is those valuations. London was once lauded for its deep pool of investment capital, which helped to keep them healthy. Trouble is, it has dried up. Regulation has resulted in big investment institutions such as pension funds and insurance companies dropping shares in favour of lower-risk assets, such as bonds. Brexit also catalysed the flight of billions of pounds of foreign capital. Retail investors have, meanwhile, shunned equities in favour of cash ISAs – even though they often fail to beat inflation.

The British government has, in recent years, expended a great deal of effort and energy on encouraging start-ups. Some of these have borne fruit – especially in tech, and financial tech – for which London has become a hub.

It needs to pay more attention to the next phase of their development, otherwise, as ungrateful as it may seem, they’ll join the transatlantic procession. They have a fiduciary duty to their investors, and as things stand, that duty will be easy to fulfil in the welcoming arms of New York. Headquarters will inevitably follow.

Regulatory reform must go further and faster, along with more radical action – call it a second big bang. Reeves must face down her critics – including the likes of Martin Lewis – and reduce cash ISA limits. Personally, I’d scrap the product. Harsh? Yes. But necessary to encourage saving through equities. Investors will ultimately thank her when they see how they are rewarded.

The UK also currently charges a 0.5 per cent tax on share trades above £1,000. This might not seem like much, but it soon adds up and acts as a disincentive to traders. It is much higher than the charges levied by rival financial centres.

Offering the City a £3.3bn tax break is bound to prove controversial in certain quarters – especially when the government is badly strapped for cash and the beneficiaries would likely be very wealthy – but it would be worth it, in my view.

But here’s the thing: the revenues produced by this levy are in decline, just as London’s place as a financial centre is on the wane. If scrapping it helped catalyse a revival, it would pay for itself, potentially many times over.

Broker Peel Hunt says that higher valuations would translate into higher capital gains and inheritance tax receipts. This is not a new argument. I remember the frustration expressed to me by a lobbyist about scepticism when they made the case to a Tory minister back in the 1990s. It’s time for a Labour minister to be bold and show the way.

It isn’t yet too late to pull London out of its despairing spiral. If Reeves were to unveil an aggressive package of measures, it would serve as a statement of intent that could very quickly change the narrative, persuading the potential leavers to stay put and encouraging new entrants to test the newly welcoming waters. Improving tax revenues and growth would swiftly follow.

Putin may be mocking Trump – but US president won’t act

European leaders have redoubled their efforts to prise Donald Trump away from Russia by warning that the US president is being “mocked” by Vladimir Putin, alleging that Moscow is using chemical weapons in Ukraine and demanding that the US restore weapons supplies to Kyiv.

The move came after Ukraine said it had endured the biggest overnight air attack of the entire war, with swarms of 500 drones and missiles intended to overwhelm already stretched air defences.

Radek Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, called for the US to end its suspension of air defence missiles and other weapons – most of which are on standby for delivery to Poland –and derided Trump’s fruitless efforts to secure a ceasefire. “Mr Trump, Putin is mocking your peace efforts,” said the Oxford-educated Sikorski.

In addition, the Dutch and German governments said their intelligence services had evidence of widespread use of chemical choking agents (teargas) against Ukrainian trenches by Russian troops. These have been used to force soldiers into the open where they could be shot by Putin’s forces.

“This intensification is concerning because it is part of a trend we have been observing for several years now, where Russia’s use of chemical weapons in this war is becoming more normalised, standardised, and widespread,” said the Dutch defence minister Ruben Brekelmans.

With the recent US focus on its attacks on Iran in support of Israel, Russia has been gradually stepping up efforts against Kyiv. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has been warning for weeks that his country faces a critical shortage of defensive weapons, so the announcement that the US is suspending promised weapons such Patriot air defence missiles will inevitably entrench the already strong belief that Trump has taken Putin’s side after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and that the US is no longer a real ally in the defence of Europe.

Pentagon officials suggested the suspension was a “pause” in delivery of Patriots, precision artillery and Hellfire missiles mounted on Ukrainian F-16 aircraft as part of a review of US supplies worldwide.

But the US has not declared a pause in supply to any other nation. Israel is the largest recipient of US military aid by far and has recently enjoyed an uptick in supplies of bombs and missiles even as it stands accused by the United Nations of “ethnic cleansing” and its prime minister has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

Trump has been trying to secure a ceasefire in the Ukraine war for months. Despite Kyiv offering a 30-day pause in fighting, Putin has repeatedly made it clear that Russia is not interested while it pursues a summer offensive to carve out the east of Ukraine.

Trump has suggested he is frustrated by Putin but has threatened the Russian president with no definitive sanctions. Kyiv, however, has endured having its intelligence feed from the US blinded during the Russian counterattacks to retake Kursk, seen military aid suspended, been offered no new promises of support, and forced into a mineral deal that trades future US weapons for mining profits.

In March, Trump said he was very angry and “pissed off” after the Russian president continued to swerve his attempts to get Moscow to agree a ceasefire. The pair spoke again at length on Thursday in what turned out to be, from the Oval Office perspective, another unsatisfactory call.

When asked if he had any success with Putin on Ukraine, Trump was clear: “No, I didn’t make any progress with him today at all… I’m not happy about that. I’m not happy about that.” But again there was still no sign that the US was going to lift its suspension of military aid to Ukraine, let alone increase it to try to force Russia to negotiate a workable ceasefire.

So Russia continues its grinding offensive, claiming this week to have captured all of Luhansk province, which it has already illegally annexed. As a precondition to any ceasefire, Putin has demanded he keep at least Luhansk, Crimea, Kherson, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia provinces.

The US has largely accepted this position as a “given” and further insisted that in any long-term peace deal Ukraine is prevented from joining Nato and will not get security guarantees from the US to defend its future borders.

So Nato’s European and Canadian members are now planning, training and producing weapons to fill an American void that is widening. Kyiv has held on in spite of the massive air attacks and “meat grinder” Russian land assaults, largely because of its superiority in drone technology. But Moscow has now forged ahead with the development of long-range wire-guided first-person view (FPV) drones and is developing AI weapons. For the last year or so Russian drone pilots have been using civilians in Kherson as target practice on training operations, with FPV drones killing several people most weeks.

“It won’t be long before we see people being hunted through the streets of Kyiv by AI drones in swarms. We need to defeat Russia before that happens,” said a senior officer in Ukraine’s drone warfare operations.

That will be difficult while Trump holds back critical arms when Ukraine needs them most.