UK

Tory Minister Admits Party Could Accept More Cash From Tory Donor In Diane Abbott Race Row


Kevin Schofield
Sun, 17 March 2024 


#TrevorPhillips: As a matter of principle would you be comfortable receiving more donations from Frank Hester?

Mark Harper: You're asking me about hypothetical things...

TP: So you personally wouldn't be embarrassed if the Tories got another £5m from Hester?#bbclaurakpic.twitter.com/vI3NE3IF0s

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) March 17, 2024

A Tory minister has refused to rule out taking millions of pounds more from the donor embroiled in a race row over comments he allegedly made about Diane Abbott.

Frank Hester has not denied saying the MP made him “want to hate all black women” and “should be shot”.

The health tech executive donated £10 million to the Conservatives last year and has reportedly given another £5m so far in 2024.

Labour and the Lib Dems have called on the Tories to return the cash.

But on Sky News this morning, transport secretary Mark Harper repeatedly dodged the question when asked to confirm the Tories have taken more of Hester’s money.

And he also raised the possibility of the party accepting more donations from him, despite Rishi Sunak admitting his comments about Abbott were “racist and wrong”.

Sky presenter Trevor Phillips asked Harper: “Can you confirm the party’s received another £5 million from him and if so, when?”

The minister replied: “No. Any donations that we receive from anybody are declared in the usual way and that’s why you know that Mr Hester made those donations in the past and if there are any donations in the future, and that’s hypothetical, the party will declare them in the usual way.”

Phillips then asked: “There must be an answer to this. They must have told you, or at they just hiding it from you whether or not they’ve got another £5 million, as is being widely reported?”

Harper said: “We’ve declared in the proper way any donations that we’ve received, and if in the future there are any donations, those donations will be declared in the usual way.”

Trying again, the increasingly-frustrated presenter said: “You’re a man of principle, if there are future donations, as a matter of principle, would you be comfortable to receive them?”

Harper again side-stepped the question by saying: “You’re asking me about hypothetical things that might or might not happen in the future.

“We have a proper process for donations and about assessing whether we should accept them and if we accept them we then publish the results and declare them as we’re required to do in an open and transparent way.”

Phillips then asked Harper if he would be “embarrassed if the process ended up with another £5m in the Conservative Party’s locker”.

But Harper replied: “What you’re really doing is you’re asking me the question in a different way. You’re asking me about hypothetical things that might or might not happen in the future.”
Related...

The Tories Have Accepted Another £5 Million From Donor Who Said Diane Abbott 'Should Be Shot'


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Frank Hester racism row: how key figures reacted to remarks about Diane Abbott

Daniel Boffey 

Chief reporter

The Guardian
Fri, 15 March 2024 

Clockwise from left: Frank Hester, Diane Abbott, Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch.

Photograph: Getty Images/AP/ Christopher Pledger/Daily Telegraph

It has been four days since the Guardian reported on the extraordinary remarks by the Tory donor Frank Hester about Diane Abbott. They elicited widespread condemnation for being racist and misogynistic. Here are some of the key voices – and what they have said:

Diane Abbott MP
“Reading his remarks, I was upset but not surprised. This is partly because I am hardened to racist abuse. I receive hundreds of abusive emails, phone calls and letters monthly, and the numbers shoot up whenever I am in the media. Most of this correspondence targets my appearance, questions my intelligence and features classic racist lines such as: ‘go back to where you come from’. Recently, the abuse has taken an even darker turn, with accusations of child abuse. For instance: ‘If you and your child want to fuck children, go back to one of your sick third-world shitholes and bury yourself, sicko.’”

Rishi Sunak, prime minister
“The comments were wrong and they were racist. He [Hester] has rightly apologised for them and that remorse should be accepted. There is no place for racism in Britain, and the government that I lead is living proof of that.”


Keir Starmer, Labour leader
“Those comments about Diane Abbott are just abhorrent. Diane has been a trailblazer, she has paved the way for others. She has probably faced more abuse than any other politician over the years on a sustained basis.”

Kemi Badenoch, business secretary
“Hester’s 2019 comments, as reported, were racist. I welcome his apology. Abbott and I disagree on a lot. But the idea of linking criticism of her to being a black woman is appalling. It’s never acceptable to conflate someone’s views with the colour of their skin. MPs have a difficult job balancing multiple interests – often under threats of intimidation, as we saw recently in parliament. Some people make flippant comments without thinking of this context. This is why there needs to be space for forgiveness where there is contrition.”

Samuel Kasumu, former adviser to Boris Johnson on civil society and communities
“As a black Brit, Diane Abbott is someone who is very historically significant. So it’s very important to note that that every time Diane is attacked we do feel it. We feel a sense of hurt because of her historical significance. She ran so that people like me could walk.”

Dr Alan Stout and Dr Andrew Buist, co-chairs of the BMA general practitioners committee
“There is no room for racism or sexism in the NHS, and the committee believes he [Hester] should resign his position with immediate effect.”

Dr Steve Taylor, spokesperson for the general practice committee of the Doctors’ Association UK
“The Doctors’ Association UK GP committee have significant concerns over the recent comments reportedly made by Frank Hester, owner of TPP, one of the major suppliers of GP IT systems. The GP workforce is a diverse community of people and these comments are deeply upsetting. We agree with other GP bodies that it calls into question the leadership of TPP.”

Jacqueline McKenzie, human rights lawyer
“This has hit [Diane Abbott] to the core and that is what it is meant to do. It is meant to diminish her, it is meant to diminish me, it is meant to diminish all black women.”

George Osborne, former Conservative chancellor
“[It] falls into the definition of the extremism rules. That is the paradox. The Tories are saying we are not going to give money to extremists whilst taking money from someone who appears by their own definition to be an extremist.”

Andy Street, Conservative mayor of the West Midlands
“I would think about the company I kept and I would give that money back. I have to give you my view rather than what the party should do, but I have thought about how I would handle that situation.”

Chris Patten, Tory peer and former cabinet minister
“If he’s made remarks which are racist, how can you in a reasonable way take 10 million smackers of his money? It seems to me that it’s pretty open and shut, as people like Andy Street and others have said. So I think the sooner this is brought to an end the better.”

Sayeeda Warsi, Conservative peer and former party chair
“Elections fought on the money of donors who make racist and offensive statements make for dangerous election campaigns.”

A spokesperson for Frank Hester
“Frank Hester accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin. The Guardian is right when it quotes Frank saying he abhors racism, not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s. He rang Diane Abbott twice today to try to apologise directly for the hurt he has caused her and is deeply sorry for his remarks. He wishes to make it clear that he regards racism as a poison which has no place in public life.”

Metropolitan police
“On Monday, 11 March officers from the parliamentary liaison and investigation team were contacted in relation to a report about an MP that appeared in the Guardian. We are assessing the matter and are liaising with West Yorkshire police as the alleged incident is believed to have taken place in Leeds. Officers from the parliamentary liaison and investigation team remain in contact with the MP.”

Rishi Sunak ‘visited Frank Hester’s office on helicopter trip paid for by donor’

Sophie Wingate, 

PA Deputy Political Editor
Sat, 16 March 2024 

Rishi Sunak reportedly visited Frank Hester’s office on a £16,000 helicopter trip to Leeds paid for by the businessman last year, raising questions about whether the Tory backer’s £10 million donations have bought him access to the Prime Minister.

Mr Sunak is facing calls to reveal the extent of his relationship with Mr Hester following the emergence of comments the donor allegedly made about MP Diane Abbott – that she made him want to “hate all black women” and “should be shot”.

The Prime Minister has this week come under fire for his handling of the fallout from the remarks. He eventually described them as “racist” but only after Cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch broke ranks with No 10 to condemn them as such.

Frank Hester reportedly paid for Rishi Sunak’s helicopter ride to Leeds, where the PM visited the businessman’s company (CHOGM Rwanda 2022/YouTube/PA)


The Guardian, which broke the story on Mr Hester’s comments, on Saturday reported that he paid for Mr Sunak’s travel costs to Leeds, where the Prime Minister got a private tour of his company.

The newspaper said the visit came around three weeks after Mr Hester’s software firm, the Phoenix Partnership (TPP), gave a second £5 million tranche to Mr Sunak’s party last November.

He had already individually donated £5 million in May while another £5 million is reportedly on the table.

Mr Sunak was pictured meeting small business owners at a jewellery studio in Farsley, West Yorkshire, on November 23.

He visited TPP’s offices in Leeds for around an hour later that day, the Guardian reported, citing unnamed sources.

No 10 declined to comment on the Prime Minister’s “private meetings”.

Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: “Everyone can see that Frank Hester’s disgusting remarks were clearly racist and misogynistic. Rishi Sunak keeping these millions is inexcusable.

“There are serious questions to answer on Rishi Sunak’s close relationship with Frank Hester.

“The Prime Minister must urgently confirm what was discussed, and whether Frank Hester’s contract running over 60% of confidential UK health data or Government AI policy came up.

“And Rishi Sunak needs to grow a backbone, pay this money back, cut ties and deal with the extreme views that appear to be tolerated in his party.”

A No 10 source said: “Donations such as for flights are all publicly available in his declarations of interest. Wouldn’t get into his private meetings.”

Diane Abbott was the target of Frank Hester’s alleged racist remarks in 2019

 (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Mr Hester has posted on LinkedIn about attending Mr Sunak’s discussion on artificial intelligence with tech billionaire Elon Musk last year and told the Telegraph: “I’ve had some quite long conversations with Rishi about AI.”

Mr Hester has apologised for making “rude” comments about Ms Abbott, the first black woman elected to Parliament, but claimed they had “nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.

The Prime Minister has insisted the donor’s “remorse should be accepted” as he resisted calls to hand back his £10 million donations amid the row.

Ms Abbott on Friday said “no Conservative has apologised” to her after the emergence of Mr Hester’s 2019 verbal attack.

The veteran MP told Channel 4 News: “They keep saying that the Hester guy, he’s apologised. He’s not apologised. He’s apologised for being rude, whereas in fact he was racist, and he’s not apologised for that.

“In fact, he was inciting violence. He’s not apologised for that.”

GPs call for health tech boss Frank Hester to resign after Abbott remarks


Matthew Weaver and Phillip Inman
Fri, 15 March 2024 

Frank Hester’s firm TPP runs the electronic patient records of 

almost half the GP practices in the UK.

Photograph: George Cracknell Wright

GPs are calling on the Tory donor Frank Hester to resign from his health tech company after his remarks about Diane Abbott, which have been widely condemned as racist and misogynist.

Hester’s company TPP runs the electronic patient records of almost half the medical practices in the UK, making them his main UK clients. On Thursday the BMA’s general practice committee (GPC), which represent all UK GPs, voted in favour of an emergency motion urging Hester to stand down from the company with immediate effect.

The Guardian revealed on Monday that at a meeting in 2019, Hester said seeing Abbott on TV made “you want to hate all black women” and that the long-serving MP “should be shot”. Hester has apologised for the remarks but denied they were motivated by race or gender.

The GPC urged family doctors to consider Hester’s comments about Abbott before agreeing to sign any more contracts with TPP.

The motion said: “This meeting is disgusted by the reported violent, openly racist and misogynistic comments, made by Frank Hester, director of The Phoenix Partnership (TPP), and directed at the Rt Hon Ms Diane Abbott MP.”

The GPC also noted that Hester’s comments “contravened NHS England’s fit and proper person test framework introduced in response to the 2019 Kark review recommendations”.

The motion “calls upon UK health boards to apply their own processes vigilantly when contracting external stakeholders whose views and values may not align with the wider professional NHS workforce”.

After the meeting, Dr Alan Stout and Dr Andrew Buist, co-chairs of the GPC, said: “This emergency motion makes clear how appalled GPs are. There is no room for racism or sexism in the NHS, and the committee believes he should resign his position with immediate effect.”

TPP has received more than £400m in contracts from the NHS and other government bodies since 2016.

Hester has given £10m to the Conservatives, making him the party’s largest donor. He is also reported to have donated a further £5m earlier this year. Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure to return the money after the disclosure of Hester’s remarks.

When the £5m donation was announced this month, Hester rejected the idea that he was giving money to secure more government contracts, saying many came from hospitals and GPs. “GPs decide which software they’re using, not Rishi Sunak,” he said.

Dr Steve Taylor, a spokesperson for the general practice committee of the Doctors’ Association UK, backed the GPC motion.

He said: “Doctors’ Association UK GP committee have significant concerns over the recent comments reportedly made by Frank Hester, owner of TPP, one of the major suppliers of GP IT systems. The GP workforce is a diverse community of people and these comments are deeply upsetting. We agree with other GP bodies that it calls into question the leadership of TPP.”

TPP has been contacted for comment.

Meanwhile, the leaders of 10 prominent anti-racism groups have written to Sunak raising concerns about Hester’s remarks and calling on the prime minister to “unequivocally commit to fighting racism”.

They said “an increasingly normalised culture of racism that has been allowed to fester under the current administration” meant Hester “felt emboldened to express vile sentiments”.

The letter signed by David Weaver, the chair of Operation Black Vote; Shabna Begum, the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust; Timi Okuwa, of the Black Equity Organisation; Jeremy Crook, of Action for Race Equality; and Zara Mohammed, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, urged Sunak to take “immediate and tangible steps to address this situation”.

They said: “We would invite you to take this opportunity to champion the cause of anti-racism and to lead by example, demonstrating that the UK government is unequivocally committed to fighting racism and fostering a society where equality, respect, and inclusivity are paramount.”

Lee Jasper, a signatory and chair of the Alliance of Police Accountability, said Abbott’s case had brought together a broad coalition of leaders from the most influential UK African, Asian and Caribbean anti-racist groups “in a remarkable show of unity”.

He said the case raised questions about political fundraising ethics and “casts a spotlight on the ongoing challenges of racism and sexism in UK politics”.

He said: “It serves as a stark reminder of the importance of consistent and principled stands against race discrimination and the need for all political parties to reflect deeply on their policies, practices and responses to racism within their ranks.”

Health workers’ unions call for Frank Hester to lose NHS contracts

Daniel Boffey, Matthew Weaver, Rowena Mason and Henry Dyer
Fri, 15 March 2024 

Rishi Sunak has been urged to return the money given to his party by Frank Hester

Photograph: No Credit

Unions representing GPs and health workers have called on the Conservative donor Frank Hester to stand down from running NHS contracts, saying his “racist and misogynistic comments” breach its fit and proper person test.

Hester’s company TPP runs the electronic patient records of almost half the medical practices in the UK. His remarks about Diane Abbott have prompted calls for him to step aside amid a growing political row.

Downing Street refused to say how many times the prime minister has met the Conservative donor since he gave the party £10m.

The pair are believed to have met in the afternoon on the day after the autumn statement in November when Hester paid about £16,000 in travel costs for Sunak to fly to Leeds by helicopter for a political visit. Downing Street declined to “get into the details” of whether they met.


The Guardian can also reveal the pair were photographed together at a party fundraiser in June last year.

It is understood the health tech entrepreneur attended at least two party events in London: the Conservatives’ main summer party in central London last June, where they were photographed, and another just two weeks ago.

Hester, who has worked on artificial intelligence as part of his IT business, has previously said he has had “some quite long conversations with Rishi about AI”.

He also tweeted about witnessing a “brilliant AI discussion between Rishi Sunak and Elon Musk” in November last year.

Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s chair, said Sunak must be clear about their relationship.

“Rishi Sunak has shown he is just too weak to pay back his millions and cut ties completely. Rishi Sunak needs to come clean about the relationship he has with Frank Hester, including how many times he has met with him since becoming prime minister.”

The NHS’s fit and proper person test applies to the leadership of trusts but accompanying notes suggest that other bodies “may also want to follow this guidance as a matter of good practice”. Among the minimum expectations is the avoidance of discrimination as set out in the Equality Act 2010.

The Guardian revealed on Monday that at a meeting in 2019, Hester said seeing Abbott on TV made “you want to hate all black women” and that the long-serving MP “should be shot”. He has apologised for the remarks but denied they were motivated by race or gender.

On Thursday the British Medical Association’s general practitioners’ committee (GPC), which represent all UK GPs, voted in favour of an emergency motion that said Hester’s comments “contravened NHS England’s fit and proper person test framework introduced in response to the 2019 Kark review recommendations”.

The motion called on “UK health boards to apply their own processes vigilantly when contracting external stakeholders whose views and values may not align with the wider professional NHS workforce”. It said he should resign from his company with immediate effect.

After the meeting, Dr Alan Stout and Dr Andrew Buist, co-chairs of the GPC, said: “This emergency motion makes clear how appalled GPs are. There is no room for racism or sexism in the NHS, and the committee believes he should resign his position with immediate effect.”

TPP did not respond to a request for comment.

Dr Steve Taylor, a spokesperson for the GP committee of the Doctors’ Association UK, also backed the GPC motion.

He said: “Doctors’ Association UK GP committee have significant concerns over the recent comments reportedly made by Frank Hester, owner of TPP, one of the major suppliers of GP IT systems. The GP workforce is a diverse community of people and these comments are deeply upsetting. We agree with other GP bodies that it calls into question the leadership of TPP.”

TPP has received more than £400m in contracts from the NHS and other government bodies since 2016.

Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, which represents half a million NHS workers, echoed the views of the doctors’ body.

She said: “The abusive comments levelled at Diane Abbott were appalling. People rightly expect that companies providing public services aren’t headed by individuals with racist views.”

Hester has given at least £10m to the Conservatives, making him the party’s largest donor. He is also reported to have donated a further £5m earlier this year.

Sunak is under increasing pressure to return the money after the disclosure of Hester’s remarks, amid wider unrest about his leadership. On Friday night it was reported that MPs on the right of the the Conservative party had held talks with moderates about uniting behind Penny Mordaunt to replace him.

“The mood has shifted a long way this week,’ a source told the Daily Mail. “There is a feeling that we cannot go on as we are and that even Penny would be better.”

Rachel Harrison, the national secretary of the GMB, whose members include nurses and ambulance drivers, said there should be a pause on granting any further contracts to Hester’s company.

She said: “The Hester affair is just another example of a rotten Conservative government failing the country at every turn.

“The public should expect the highest standards from public sector suppliers, and it’s time to call a halt on the money-go-round from public contracts straight into the Tory party’s coffers. There should be a moratorium on new NHS contracts while he is negotiating a new £5m donation to the Conservatives – it’s a clear conflict of interest.”

When the £5m donation was announced this month, Hester rejected the idea that he was giving money to secure more government contracts, saying many came from hospitals and GPs. “GPs decide which software they’re using, not Rishi Sunak,” he said.

A petition calling for Hester to be stripped of the OBE he was awarded in 2015 for services to healthcare has 89,000 signatures.

Among those supporting the demand is Dorothy Price, a professor of history of art at the University of Bristol, where she was a founder member and the inaugural director of the centre for black humanities.

Price tweeted: “Frank Hester has made vile comments about Diane Abbott. He doesn’t deserve to be honoured, but holds an OBE. Agree? Sign the petition demanding his OBE be stripped from him now!”

The leaders of 10 prominent anti-racism groups have written to Sunak about Hester’s remarks, calling on the prime minister to “unequivocally commit to fighting racism”.

They said “an increasingly normalised culture of racism that has been allowed to fester under the current administration” meant Hester “felt emboldened to express vile sentiments”.

The letter – signed by David Weaver, the chair of Operation Black Vote; Shabna Begum, the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust; Timi Okuwa of the Black Equity Organisation; Jeremy Crook of Action for Race Equality; and Zara Mohammed, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain – urged Sunak to take “immediate and tangible steps to address this situation”.

They said: “We would invite you to take this opportunity to champion the cause of anti-racism and to lead by example, demonstrating that the UK government is unequivocally committed to fighting racism and fostering a society where equality, respect and inclusivity are paramount.”

THE PERIL OF PRIVATIZATION

‘Don’t make panicked cuts’: proposed Royal Mail shake-up worries businesses

BUILD THE POPULAR FRONT!

Alex Lawson
Sat, 16 March 2024 

Royal Mail argues that the sharp fall in letter volumes over the past two decades makes its business model unsustainable.

Photograph: Bjorn Birkhahn/Alamy

David Falkner may spend his days selling pop-up cards of Star Wars stormtrooper helmets and Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, but he’s intent on ensuring his industry is taken seriously. “We punch well above our weight,” said the co-founder of Cardology, of the £1.5bn greetings card industry.

Falkner and a cluster of fellow card retailers gathered in London this week to voice concerns over proposals to cut back Britain’s postal service.

In late January, the communications regulator, Ofcom, set out a series of options for the future of the service, namely creating a slower, more reliable service or cutting the number of days on which Royal Mail delivers letters, from six days a week to five or even three. A costly next-day service would be retained.

The consultation is expected to ultimately lead to a reform of the universal service obligation (USO) – the company’s mandate to deliver to every address in the UK at a fixed price, six days a week.

Royal Mail argues that the sharp fall in letter volumes over the past two decades makes its current business model unsustainable. As part of the process, Ofcom is hosting a series of events for interested parties – from small businesses to direct mail companies – to chew over the potential impact.

“This feels to me a bit like a Beeching cut, it feels panicked,” said Falkner, sitting on stage at Ofcom’s offices overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral. He was referring to the 1963 Beeching report, which led to huge cuts to rail lines and stations nationwide, and has long been lamented as an overzealous cost-cutting exercise that damaged the railways in the long term. Businesses fear the postal cuts could have the same effect.

Much of the focus after Ofcom’s announcement has been on the impact on consumers – including elderly and vulnerable people – but businesses are also worried.

“Of course letters have declined with email, but greetings cards are still very much a paper-based business, it’s a really strong economy,” said Heidi Early, the owner of Early Bird Designs, a greetings card and gift shop in Stoke Newington, north-east London. “It’s growing, my business is thriving and it relies on a reliable and affordable postal service.

“My customers are still sending cards but I’m getting comments every day about how unreliable the postal service is and how expensive it’s become in relation to the cost of a greetings card.”

Woodmansterne Publications makes and sells 40m cards a year, from a site in Hertfordshire once owned by John Dickinson, a pioneer of both cardboard and the gummed envelope, who died in 1869.

The managing director of the business, Seth Woodmansterne, expressed concern over Royal Mail’s delivery problems, and the time it may take to reform the USO – in part because an election may delay parliamentary intervention if it is needed. “Royal Mail is failing on a daily basis currently, every day that it does not deliver is eroding public confidence,” he said. “I would like to see something happen urgently.”

Away from cards, the Professional Publishers Association – representing everything from Farmers Weekly to the Radio Times – argued the magazines’ time-sensitive information will be delivered late. The organisation’s Eilidh Wilson said readers have unsubscribed because of an unreliable service “and that business gets lost”. She said that moving production lines to allow for changes to posting schedules is not practical.

The majority of letters sent are not covered by the USO, instead handled by a combination of bulk mail handlers – including UKMail and Citipost – and Royal Mail. However, the network is the same and another row with the Communication Workers Union could be brewing.

“If the unions cannot be brought on side, then we run a danger that we accept a specification that is lower but still get a worse service, people are disappointed, the volume declines and the costs go up,” said Jon Wilkins, a director of UKMail.

Ofcom’s analysis suggests savings of £100m to £200m for Royal Mail if it reduces to a five-day service, and £400m to £650m to cut to three. The company has yet to publish its own analysis, and its director of corporate affairs, Jenny Hall, said the latter figure was “a bit toppy”.

However, recent history suggests signifiant job cuts would cause a union standoff and, potentially, further strikes. “This is not about a big change to job cuts exercise,” Hall added. “When you’re a fundamentally loss-making business, your ability to invest in some of those things that are ultimately better for customers is quite limited, so this for us is also about a platform for growth and a platform to sustain as many jobs.”

With responses to Ofcom’s consultation due next month, lots of questions remain over how Britain’s future postal service will eventually compare with the rest of Europe, and whether Rishi Sunak will hold his line in opposing any cuts to delivery days. Answers on a (delayed) postcard.

Trans women included in push for more female chief executives in FTSE 100

TWO WORDS: CAITLAN JENNER

Lucy Burton
Sat, 16 March 2024 

Skyscrapers in the City of London square mile

Trans women are included in a push to get more female chief executives into the FTSE 100 by next year, the head of the campaign has said.

The 25x25 initiative, which is backed by major companies including Unilever, NatWest and BP, was created in 2021 with the target of getting 25 female chief executives running bluechip companies by 2025. There are currently only ten.

Tara Cemlyn-Jones, chief executive of the non-profit organisation, confirmed that people self-identifying as women count towards that target.

Ms Cemlyn-Jones said “anyone who identifies as a woman, is a woman”, though she stressed that 25x25 were “not an authority on this subject” and would always defer to partners on “language, aims and ambitions” in this area.


She said: “Our focus is on succession and talent planning using gender broadly as an indicator. To suggest anything else would be very misleading.”

25x25’s decision to include trans women within its goal comes amid a debate into how men who self-identify as women should be included in diversity targets.

Critics argue that including trans women alongside biological women in data and targets could skew figures on things like the representation of women on boards and average salaries.

Tory MPs last month accused the financial services watchdog of putting women’s rights at risk by urging banks to collect staff data based on self-identified gender rather than biological sex.

Some 40 MPs and peers wrote to the Chancellor to argue that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was taking an “activist approach” to its diversity policies.

The FCA’s new plans to boost diversity in financial services is currently out for consultation, amid growing concerns that progress on gender diversity at a senior level is stalling.

Last month the Treasury committee said it had found a “shocking” prevalence of sexual harassment and bullying in the City, adding that progress on stamping out sexism has moved at a “snail’s pace” since a previous review into the issue in 2018.

Ms Cemlyn-Jones said she was concerned that the investors and analysts who hold big listed companies to account are “not contributing to change”.

She said: “If you listen to any woman at any analyst meeting and you look at the calibre of questions that are directed to women versus men, it’s significantly different.

“These are men from a very particular background who get comfortable with CEOs they can relate to.”

VULTURE CAPITALI$M

Saudi Arabia and Gucci owner circle Selfridges

Luke Barr
Sat, 16 March 2024 

Selfridges was bought by Signa and Central in a £4bn deal in 2021 

- OGULCAN AKSOY/OGULCAN AKSOY

Saudi Arabia and Gucci-owner Kering are said to be circling Selfridges as the insolvency of the department store’s co-owner triggers a battle for the business.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and luxury goods giant Kering, which is owned by French billionaire Francois Pinault, are both thought to be interested in a stake in Selfridges, according to City sources.

Interest has been triggered by the collapse of Signa, the Austrian company run by businessman Rene Benko that owns half of Selfridges’ property company.

The insolvency has led to its stake in the retailer becoming available. City sources have said Selfridges is in play but the sale process is complicated by proceedings in Austria.

Collapse of Austrian tycoon Rene Benko's company Signa could trigger a bidding war for Selfridges - GEORG HOCHMUTH/AFP

It is understood that Selfridges’ other co-owner, Thailand’s Central Group, is seeking a new partner as the future of fellow shareholder Signa looks increasingly uncertain.


Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is one of the parties understood to be interested in Signa’s stake, which covers Selfridges’ retail brand and its lucrative real estate on Oxford Street.

It comes after The Telegraph revealed last year that the kingdom was a private financial backer in the sale of Selfridges two years ago, which was conducted following an auction by the Weston family.

Saudi’s involvement stemmed from it providing the finance for Signa’s investment. It therefore could be in pole position should a bidding war for Selfridges emerge.

The Gulf kingdom has been on a dealmaking spree in recent years that has seen it invest heavily abroad, including in Britain where it has bought Newcastle United FC among others.

However, PIF could face competition from luxury goods giant Kering, City sources say.

Paris-listed Kering is worth €52bn and owns a suite of luxury brands including Gucci, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen.

The company has recently been buying up luxury retail space. In January, it bought the 115,000 square foot Fifth Avenue building home to its New York Gucci store for $963m.

A banker familiar with the matter described Central Group as the “king-maker” in the sale process, which is still in its early stages as Signa unravels.

Interested parties are believed to be waiting for a full outcome from Signa’s collapse before they formally declare an interest in the stake, which would be worth around £2bn.

“What Central are doing is watching their partner’s problems play out,” the source said. “Sitting, watching to see how it breaks. Of course, they are naturally interested to see what happens because they are going to have a new partner.

“It’s between retailing dynasties and sovereign wealth funds.”

Selfridges was bought by Signa and Central in a £4bn deal in 2021, with the business split between an operating company and a property company.

Both had been jointly owned by Signa and Central.

However, Central moved to seize control of the operating business during the turmoil at Signa late last year, converting a €364m (£317m) loan into a majority stake in the business.

Despite this, Signa still owns 50pc of the property company and holds around 35pc in the operating company.

Signa’s downfall led to Mr Benko filing for personal insolvency earlier this month, four months after his company crumbled under the weight of high interest rates and dwindling valuations.

Amid questions around its ownership, Selfridges has maintained that it trades independently of any support from its shareholders.

However, the situation has cast a shadow over the retailer, which has also been racing to cut costs in a major efficiency drive.

Last August, it unveiled plans to slash roles in its head office.

Andrew Keith, Selfridges managing director, told workers at the time that the company needed to be “fit for the future, aligned and working in the most efficient way”.

He said: “Regrettably this is likely to mean some of our head office teams, including some small teams in retail who support our stores, will be resized and reshaped.”

The move followed a year in which Selfridges lost almost £40m after it recorded a jump in costs.

Accounts for Selfridges Retail, which covers the business’s four UK stores, its website and its mobile app, revealed the company was struck by higher debt interest costs during the year to January 2023.

Its interest expense on lease liabilities was close to £100m, around 20pc higher than the prior year.

Signa and Central loaded Selfridges up with more than £1.7bn of debt in autumn 2022 by booking loans through a number of new trading and property entities.

Central Group and Selfridges declined to comment.

Kering declined to comment. PIF was contacted for comment.

Controversial Everton bidder 777 Partners sees owning football club as way to snap up sportstech bargains


Daniel O'Boyle
Fri, 15 March 2024 

The controversial investment firm sees owning football clubs as a way to identify underpriced buyout targets in the sports tech sector, the Standard can reveal (Getty Images)

777 Partners, the controversial London and Miami investment firm that awaits approval for its deal to buy Everton, sees owning football clubs as a way to identify underpriced buyout targets in the sports tech sector, the Standard can reveal.

The companies in question could be a ‘salesforce for football’ or a statistical data provider, 777 head of Europe John Jeffery suggested.

777 - which runs its European operations from Mayfair and already owns clubs in five other countries, as well as basketball’s London Lions - agreed to buy the Premier League stalwarts in September, but final approval from the league has taken much longer than the average deal.

Jeffery told the Standard that the once-obscure firm, which mostly dealt in life insurance and annuities for lawsuit winners, saw four main benefits to being in football.

Three of those benefits are about owning multiple teams: lower revenue volatility, the ability to move players between clubs and a chance to attract directors best suited to a certain budget.

But with the fourth, Jeffery offered a reason why 777 decided to get into buying clubs in the first place. He said 777 could buy out a potential sportstech unicorn at a bargain price, because it would have a better view of the top products on the market.

The firm has already used this business model - buying the "strategic fulcrum" of a sector, and then the adjacent companies it sees as undervalued - in other sectors like insurance.

He said: “We feel like we have a better understanding of the market as a customer ourselves. We can say ‘forget all the Gartner [market research] reports, forget everything. We know what the best software in the market is for this particular problem because we have this problem and we use all the software... So we're going to go about buying it’.”

He insists the model is more effective than researching the sector without playing an active part in the sport, enough to justify the large costs involved in buying top teams and keeping them running.

The firm may also work on building its own products to fill spaces where there wasn’t an existing company to buy. It has already done that in the insurance space, making a product to hedge life insurance payouts using equity release deals, so that a surge in deaths would not mean a big hit to the firm’s profits.

But he added that - for every club the firm owns - 777 would have to work on shoring up the finances in the short-term before it can think about a buying spree. He also noted it would be “insulting” to fans to focus entirely on selling some recently acquired software at the expense of results.

777 has spent months awaiting Premier League approval for its deal to buy Everton, as football owners face greater scrutiny and the firm has been the subject of lawsuits, some from creditors that say they’re owed money. The unusually lengthy process has already led to a point deduction for the club, with a six-point penalty (reduced from 10) moving them from mid-table to a potential relegation fight.

According to reports today, the Premier League is likely to make a decision on the club next week. If the deal is not approved, the future of the debt-heavy club is unclear.

American newsletter Semafor last year raised questions over the source of 777’s funding for the deal, claiming that the company used money from insurance premiums - usually put into secure assets like high-rated bonds - to finance its sporting investments.

Jeffery admitted that those funds were used to invest in clubs, but added that the insurance investments are handled by an “independently run operating company with an independent board that is regulated”, Jeffery said.

He said that leadership does pitch investment opportunities to that board, but that “they can say no and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

But in the case of the football investments, he said “they took it away, they did their due diligence, and they made the decision that they wanted to invest.”

In the capital, the London Lions basketball team has faced its own difficulties since the acquisition. The club’s 2022 accounts are currently overdue. But Jeffery says that its troubles lie with those managing the club on a day-to-day basis.

He said: “It’s run day-to-day, there’s no input.

“We’re often as surprised as everyone else when there’s a negative headline. We know when you know.”

UK

Lib Dems call for Biden-style tax on share buybacks at spring conference

Sophie Wingate, 

PA Deputy Political Editor
Sat, 16 March 2024 

The Liberal Democrats have called for a new tax on share buybacks by large companies as the party holds its spring conference in York.

Sarah Olney, the Lib Dem Treasury spokeswoman, used her speech on Saturday to set out the plan to follow Joe Biden’s example and impose a 4% levy on the share buybacks by FTSE 100 firms.

The measure could raise around £2 billion annually for public services and investment in green industries, the party said.

Critics say buybacks – when a company purchases its own shares – are used to inflate share prices and come at the expense of spending on investment.

The US president introduced a 1% tax on share buybacks of US-listed companies in 2022 and has now proposed to raise it to 4%.

Party leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Large corporations from fossil fuel giants to banks are making huge profits off the back of families facing soaring energy bills, mortgage payments and food prices. It is only fair that we ask these companies to pay more in tax.

“This new levy would not just raise much-needed money for public services, it would encourage investment, help create jobs and boost growth including in the green industries of the future.”

The £2 billion the policy could raise is close to what the Labour Party said its plan to tax non-doms could have brought in, before Chancellor Jeremy Hunt deprived Sir Keir Starmer’s party of that funding by adopting the measure in his Budget.

In her speech, Ms Olney said: “Some of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world are listed on the London Stock Exchange. And every year, these same companies spend tens of billions of pounds doing nothing more than buying back their own shares.

“Every pound spent inflating share prices is a pound that could have been spent productively. And at a time when the UK is near the bottom of the table for business investment amongst major economies, that’s a problem.

“And it’s an even bigger problem for our fight against climate change. If we’re going to achieve net zero, we need big corporations to channel serious investment in energy efficiency, green technologies and clean energy. But too many put their share price above the good of our planet.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is expecting to make gains across the so-called Tory ‘blue wall’ (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

She pointed to oil giant BP, which she said spent less than £1 billion of its £11 billion profit last year investing in low carbon energy and more than £5 billion buying back its own shares.

“In the last two years, share buyback programmes from the hundred biggest firms on the Stock Exchange reached record highs, exceeding £50 billion a year. Just think what our economy could have achieved if this money was spent on productive investment — think of the progress we could have made on the green transition.

“Let’s put a 4% tax on share buybacks to incentivise proper business investment, spur economic growth and raise funds fairly for our public services to the tune of £2 billion a year. Let’s take bold action to supercharge green investment and break the cycle of Conservative stagnation and recession.”

Ms Olney also attacked Mr Hunt’s Budget, saying that “even after his changes to national insurance, he is raising taxes to their highest level in the post-war era”.

She added: “And it’s not just that he’s putting up taxes during a cost-of-living crisis. It’s that he’s doing it in the most unfair way possible with a stealth tax that keeps income tax thresholds frozen, dragging millions of people on low pay into income tax for the first time.”

Layla Moran, the only MP of Palestinian heritage, addressed the Israel-Hamas war in her spring conference speech 

(James Manning/PA)

Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran, who is of British-Palestinian descent, said in her speech that the Israeli government’s assault on Gaza has “gone beyond the pale”.

She called for sanctions on violent Israeli settlers to be extended to “anyone who enables the insidious settler movement, the lawyers, the accountants, the businesses”.

She said: “If they support illegal activity, they shouldn’t be allowed in the UK and if their money is flowing through our economy, we should go after it. No longer can acting with impunity go without consequence.”

Ms Moran also accused the Tories of fanning “flames of antisemitism and Islamophobia” in the UK, saying the Lib Dems reject their “false dichotomy” of standing either with the hostages and against Hamas, or with the Palestinians and against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Elsewhere, the Lib Dems passed a new policy calling for key sporting events such as Premier League matches, Six Nations Rugby, Ryder Cup and the Ashes to be legally shown on free-to-air TV channels.

(PA Graphics)

The party is using the gathering to prepare for a further push into “blue wall” seats — traditional Conservative strongholds — ahead of the general election.

The party won 11 seats at the 2019 general election but have since gained formerly Conservative constituencies across southern England in a series of by-elections.

These have included Chesham and Amersham in Buckinghamshire, Frome in Somerset, Tiverton and Honiton in Devon, and North Shropshire.

But some polls suggest the far-right Reform UK party has overtaken the Lib Dems in popularity across the UK.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week ruled out holding an election on May 2 to coincide with local elections, having previously indicated he will send the country to the polls in the latter half of 2024.

Shell just showed why Big Oil is reluctant to give up on fossil fuels

WE CAN'T GET IT DONE TILL 2150

"We cannot replace overnight an energy system that took 150 years to build"

Ines Ferré
·Senior Business Reporter
Sat, March 16, 2024 

Big Oil's appetite for fossil fuels isn't showing any signs of receding.

This week Shell (SHELL) dialed back its target for carbon emissions. The decision comes amid an energy transition that is decades away from full implementation as countries and industries around the world aim to reach net zero by 2050.

On Thursday the British energy giant said it aims to reduce customer emissions from the use of its oil products by 15% to 20% by 2030, versus a prior target of 20%.

The company also dropped its 2035 target of a 45% reduction in net carbon intensity citing "uncertainty in the pace of change" in the energy transition. Net carbon intensity measures emissions associated with each unit of energy sold.

The revised initiatives come on the heels of rapid-fire consolidation among the oil majors looking to expand acreage and insistence from shareholders that companies keep record profits flowing and stick to their core business. In November, the International Energy Agency, which advocates for green technologies, noted the oil and gas industry invested around $20 billion in clean energy in 2022, just 2.5% of its total capital spending.

That may be too much for investors. Earlier this year, BP (BP) received a letter from an activist hedge fund demanding that the British oil and gas producer scale back its "irrational" green energy strategy, arguing it has "quite understandably, depressed the value of BP’s share price."

BP dialed back its own carbon emissions targets about a year ago.

The pressure from shareholders comes at a time when renewable energy technologies have struggled to accelerate amid high interest rates. Last month, Shell sold off partial ownership of two US-based green energy projects.

The problem for oil companies is renewable projects that exceed return-on-investment hurdles "have been hard to find," Stewart Glickman, energy equity analyst at CFRA Research, told Yahoo Finance last month.

The Shell logo is displayed outside a petrol station in Radstock on Feb. 17, 2024, in Somerset, England. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images) (Matt Cardy via Getty Images)

As ESG initiatives and investing styles fall out of favor, energy companies have also become more emboldened to challenge some green measures.

Last month, two impact-oriented funds dropped a climate proposal intended to go to an ExxonMobil (XOM) shareholder vote after the Houston-based oil giant filed a lawsuit to remove the measure from its proxy ballot.


In the complaint, the oil producer said the activist investors Arjuna Capital and Follow This were driven by an "extreme agenda" with the goal of "diminishing the company's existing business."

Mark Kramer, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business who wrote a case study on ExxonMobil, says green advocates are losing the battle in their efforts to pressure the oil industry towards more aggressive energy transition initiatives.

"It's quite clear — it's not working," he told Yahoo Finance in February. "The profitability of oil and gas right now is so strong that it’s extremely hard for a company to walk away from that, or even to talk [of] walking away from it."

If anything, oil companies are betting that natural gas, seen as a cleaner fossil fuel, will be needed in order for the energy transition to happen.

"We believe natural gas and LNG [liquified natural gas] will play an important role in replacing coal in high-temperature heavy industry applications. They can help address both local air emissions and wider climate considerations," reads Shell's Energy Transition Strategy.

Oil executives argue that fossil fuels meet about 80% of global energy demand, with developing countries overwhelmingly reliant on them. Reducing those energy sources would set back those regions.

"We cannot replace overnight an energy system that took 150 years to build," said ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco in November.

"The problem is not oil and gas. It’s emissions," he added. ExxonMobil says it has cut operated methane emissions in half since 2016, and among its measures, is targeting a 20-30% reduction in corporate-wide greenhouse gas intensity by 2030.

"The solutions to climate change have been too focused on reducing supply. That’s a recipe for human hardship and a poorer world," added Woods.

Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre.

Shell wants to stay in the fossil fuel game as long as possible

Rhodri Morgan
Sat, 16 March 2024 

Shell altered or dropped several green commitments in an energy transition update last week

The energy transition is proving both a win-win and can’t win situation for Shell.

On the one hand, the £164bn company has such a broad remit across all imaginable facets of the world’s energy mix that it is almost uniquely positioned to succeed in any permutation of the energy transition.

But despite that, it seemingly won’t quit the fossil fuel game or the profits that come with it, no matter the volume of social justice campaigning.

The disconnect between Shell and its many detractors is that for the oil giant, it’s ‘can’t’, but the rest say it ‘won’t’.

“While the world still relies on oil, we will supply it – but – with lower emissions,” said Shell chief Wael Sawan this past week as the firm published its energy transition update, prompting a minor share price gain.

The company has chosen to focus on altering the “carbon intensity”, i.e. the emissions produced by each unit of energy that Shell sells, by 15 to 20 per cent by 2030 compared to 2016 levels – previously, it had committed to a 20 per cent reduction.

Theoretically, this means it could produce more gas at a lower emissions intensity but still raise its total emissions if production is increased.

It also dropped a plan to reduce net carbon intensity by 45 per cent by 2035 due to “uncertainty in the pace of change in the energy transition.”

And therein lies the company line on why it’s not slowing down on oil and gas.

It said that current renewable investment is around £1-2 trillion behind where it needs to be to reach net zero by 2050 and that “significant investment will be required to keep supplying oil and gas while low-carbon alternatives are developed and made commercially available.”

“This continued investment is needed because demand for oil and gas is expected to drop at a slower rate than the natural decline of the world’s oil and gas fields, which is at 4 per cent to 5 per cent a year,” the company added.

While the recent strategy update includes a new target to reduce the scope three emissions from its oil business by between 15-20 per cent by 2030, compared with 2021 levels, it has not set a similar target for its gas business, which is expected to grow by 50 per cent by 2040.

The group added the equivalent of 200,000 barrels of oil and gas production, and it plans to start enough new fossil fuel projects to add half a million barrels a day to its oil and gas production by 2025.

These commitments to gas growth and diluting of emissions targets provoked criticism from environmental campaigners last week.

“With this backtrack, Shell bets on the failure of the Paris climate agreement, which requires almost halving emissions this decade,” Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, an activist shareholder group, said.

“This backtracking removes any doubt about Shell’s intentions. The company wants to stay in fossil fuels as long as possible.”

Jonathan Noronha-Gant, a senior campaigner for non-profit organisation Global Witness, concurred, saying that Sawan’s pay packet was a “cynical distraction” from the watering down of the targets.

“Shell cannot be trusted on targets – it will put profit first every time,” he said.

Global Witness analysed data from energy research specialist Rystad Energy and claimed that in 2030, Shell’s oil and gas projects are projected to emit 487m tonnes of carbon, more than the UK and the Netherlands – the company’s two corporate hubs – together produce in a year.

Customer emissions from the use of Shell’s oil products were 517m tonnes equivalent of CO2 in 2023 and 569m tonnes in 2021, so though still high, 487m tonnes in 2030 would represent exponential reductions.

When Shell reports results, the easy criticism to make is that it should spend more of its massive purse on renewable energy projects.

However, earnings from the firm’s Renewable and Energy Solutions division fell drastically over 2023 compared to 2022 levels, with adjusted earnings falling 60 per cent and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) dropping 43 per cent.

In November of last year, Sawan said the firm would be returns-focused and more litigious on renewable investments, given the volatility of the sector’s current infrastructure in regards to its ability to return for shareholders.

Viktor Katona, the lead crude analyst for trade intelligence firm Kpler, told City A.M. that the “lambasting” of the firm’s latest green commitment alteration is unfounded and unfair, and investors should be thankful for Sawan’s approach.

“Shell being brave enough to admit that some offshore wind projects might not be worth it, some solar projects need a higher market maturity for an oil major to enter, that is all a reflection of a new kind of constructive behaviour on behalf of Shell,” he said.

“Sawan isn’t cutting the company’s ambition per se. He’s dovetailing it with the idea that Shell should still be generating enough cash to be an attractive investment,” he added.

Such is the fraught nature of current geopolitics that investors don’t see a cut in oil production or a move to renewables as a wise move, and it’s likely to stay that way while the stock remains strong.

It’s still possible that Shell will end up showing a green thumb in allyship to the green energy sector in the future.

But for now, and in the foreseeable future, it’s not quitting what’s working for investors.

Dogs and cats behind more than 6,000 insurance claims

Vicky Shaw, PA Personal Finance Correspondent
Sat, 16 March 2024 


Dogs and cats have been behind more than 6,000 insurance claims by their owners over the past five years, according to an insurance giant.

Windows, carpets, sofas and electrical gadgets such as laptops, tablets and phones, have all been damaged due to pets, Aviva said.

Claims include a dog who headbutted and smashed a window after seeing another dog walk past, and a pair of cats knocking over and smashing a TV.

Another customer put in a claim after their dog jumped on a coffee table, knocking off their laptop, resulting in a smashed screen.

And another claimant was helped after discovering their rings had been eaten by a dog.


Customers have also regularly complained of tripping over their cats and dogs, resulting in the accidental damage of their homes and belongings, Aviva said.

The insurer has also dealt with claims from customers who have lost items while out walking the dog, with items such as earrings, bracelets, watches and mobile phones topping the list.

Hazel Johnson, director of home and motor claims for Aviva, said: “While most home insurance policies exclude damage caused by chewing, scratching, tearing or fouling by domestic animals, accidental damage cover for other incidents can be a valuable addition to standard home contents policies.”

The figures were taken from analysis of Aviva home insurance UK claims data between the start of 2019 and the end of 2023, referencing dog and cat claims classified as accidental damage.

Alien or art? I trekked to the mysterious Welsh monolith to find out


Gwyneth Rees
Sat, 16 March 2024 

Gwyneth Rees braved the wind and the rain to see the monolith that has appeared on top of Hay Bluff - Andrew Fox

On a sunny day, there would be many good reasons to don my walking boots and hike up Hay Bluff to its summit.

Not only is it set in the beautiful border territory of Wales and England, with sweeping views down onto the Wye Valley, it’s also just four miles south of the historic market town of Hay-on-Wye, packed with delightful book shops.

Then there’s the fact that it’s a convenient walk – 1.7 miles there and back – and part of the Offa’s Dyke national trail, with a satisfying trig point on the top.


But today, in the lashing rain, with minimal visibility and the mossy ground treacherous underfoot, there can be only one reason to make this journey – to see for myself the monolith that has mysteriously emerged on this mountain top and become the talk of the town, if not the world.

The 10ft non-magnetic structure, made from metal sheets forged into a triangular prism, appeared on the hilltop last weekend, prompting claims a UFO had landed.

The 10ft structure is made from metal sheets forged into a triangular prism - Andrew Fox

Speculation as to its origin – particularly on TikTok – was feverish. Had it been dropped by a helicopter? You certainly couldn’t drive it to the hilltop. Had it been carried up by local artists? Was this paying homage to the monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, to which it bears a striking resemblance?

The strange feature was spotted by local builder Craig Muir, who said he was “taken aback” as it looked like “some sort of UFO”.

“It seemed like a very fine metallic [material]. It looked perfectly levelled and steady, despite the weather being windy.”

Craig Muir said he assumed the monolith was 'some sort of UFO' - PA

Since its discovery, locals tell me the car park has been full, and that tourists are heading to the town just to see it.

But on the day of my visit with The Telegraph photographer, because of the lashing rain, we are relatively alone.

The only people we meet are two walkers, both teachers from Clevedon High School, who have just dropped a pile of sixth formers to undertake a hike for their Duke of Edinburgh award.

'We have no idea how it got there': local teachers Mark Davies and Tony Battista had come to see the monolith for themselves - Andrew Fox

Tony Battista, 50, says: “It’s bizarre, really extraordinary. Well worth seeing. Maybe it’s done by a rural Banksy?”

His colleague, Mark Davies, 49, adds: “It is fascinating and quite eerie. No doubt the kids will see it later and be full of conspiracy theories. But we have no idea how it got there.”

As we continue our walk, the monolith mystery is none the clearer to me or the photographer, who is cursing the rain and worrying about his camera.

The main ascent up Hay Bluff is almost vertical, the sort of track that makes you wish you were a goat. A winding path does snake off the side, omitting the worst of the ascent, but even that is full of twists and precipitous drops, with large steps carved in to supposedly ease the journey.

Gwyneth makes her way up Hay Bluff in the lashing rain, with minimal visibility - Andrew Fox

Given that February was one of the wettest on record, everything is precarious. Could people have carried such a structure up here? Only if they were mad.

But it seems the only viable option.

It would be unlikely that the structure was made up there, given you would need equipment, and would still have to carry the metal sheets.

But a helicopter expert, who did not wish to be named, dismissed the idea of a helicopter being involved.

He said the only way to fit a 10ft monolith inside a helicopter would be in a military one, but a helicopter with lifting tackle could potentially dangle it underneath for a short distance.

The expert also advised a helicopter would not fly to the top of a mountain at night as it would be deemed too dangerous.

When we make it to the top, it would be nice to describe the views, but we can’t see anything. A surveying trig point stamped with the red Welsh dragon reveals a height of 677 metres. I’m so pleased to have made it, and so drenched, I almost forget why we are here.

“There it is,” cries the photographer, pointing off to the right. “Oh yes,” I say. And what a strange sight.

Set a hundred metres or so from the trig point, and in among tussocks of boggy heather, it’s there.

We inch closer, dodging the pools of stagnant water and moss. It’s real, at least. Hollow, but seemingly held up by an interior pillar.

To inspect it, I take off my shades, which have been keeping the rain from my eyes. There’s more metal in the ground, which has clearly been exposed by those keen to check its foundations. These appear to keep it weighted and upright, but even then it is blowing about in the wind.

Nestled among tussocks of boggy heather, the monolith fits the scene well – but there's no real function to it - Andrew Fox

It does fit the scene quite well, given that it’s misty. But it’s not very Bauhaus, as in there’s no real function to it. You can’t even check your make-up in the reflection. We have no idea why anyone would set it here. Unless they are making a point against health and safety?

“What do you think?” I ask the photographer.

“It’s just to get people talking,” he says.

“And walking?” I add.

“Yep. That too.”

If it is to get people talking, it has done the job. Not least because it is not a one-off but part of a global collective.

The first monolith was spotted in Utah, Arizona, in 2020 by scientists during a helicopter survey of wild bighorn sheep. Satellite imagery later revealed it had been there since 2016.

Two weeks after it was discovered and removed, another monolith appeared, this time 13ft tall and in Romania.

Since then, dozens more have been spotted across the world, including in South America and Europe.

There are monoliths in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Turkey.

In the UK, they have been planted on a beach in the Isle of Wight, at the top of Glastonbury Tor, in the middle of Merry Maidens stone circle in Cornwall and on the fields at Dartmoor National Park. That one had the words “Not Banksy” carved into it.

But despite their proliferation, no one is really clear why they are there or who might be behind them.

The Most Famous Artist – an artist collective group in Tucumcari, New Mexico, which specialises in low-cost high-impact art projects – has suggested it may have created the initial Utah monolith.

“I’m here to say: I didn’t do the monolith, but I didn’t not do the monolith,” the collective’s founder, artist Matty Mo, helpfully said in a 2020 Instagram post.

But no one has claimed responsibility for the ones in Europe. And indeed, Banksy’s representative has denied he is involved.

It is hardly the first time, however, that mysterious art has appeared on our shores.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, the arrival of crop circles, with their intricate patterns, baffled farmers and sparked calls of alien activity and a connection to ancient hill forts and burial mounds.

The arrival of crop circles, like this one in London's Kew Gardens, have sparked calls of alien activity - Reuters

But in 1991, two farmers, Dave Chorley, and his friend Doug Bower, from Winchester in Hampshire, admitted they had been making them since 1976.

At the time, Dave told local news: “We wanted the UFO society to think a UFO had landed. After a few years they didn’t know whether to believe it or not.”

The tricksters revealed they travelled the countryside at night using a plank and a piece of rope to make the curious shapes, which appeared throughout Wiltshire and Hampshire.

Later, Dave’s son, Jim Chorley, told the BBC: “They were out on a Friday night and come back at 4 or 5 in the morning, and would put a little piece of corn on the kitchen table.

“They saw it as kind of a folk art form; it was the biggest canvas they could possibly ever use.

“They weren’t prepared for some of the backlash [when they came out]. I can understand why people still need to believe in the magic of it.”

Inevitably, there may be some who believe the appearance of these puzzling monoliths may be the work of external forces.

Daniel Jolley, social psychologist at the University of Nottingham, who specialises in conspiracy theories, says: “To me, this is entertaining. We don’t know why it’s been done.

“But to some who believe in conspiracy theories, this is even more exciting. It draws them in, like a movie.”

He says people who believe in conspiracy theories – for example, that these monoliths are from outer space but covered up by governments – are generally more anxious people who need answers to our complex world.

He adds: “People try to make sense of events, they seek answers. They struggle with uncertainty and have a distrust of authorities. They look for patterns and motives so they feel a little bit of control.

“Other people can just accept that these monoliths are there and we don’t know why.”

One mystery monolith appeared in Utah, 2020

To contemporary art curator and critic Ellen Stone, however, they are an accessible and entertaining form of art.

She says the monoliths resemble huge pieces of metalwork made by American artist Richard Serra. Currently, magnificent pieces of his are spread across a kilometre of desert on Qatar’s Zekreet Peninsula.

She says: “For me, art is about three things – the creator, the context and the community of people who view it.

“But when these monoliths are unclaimed, you have the death of the author, so it is up to the viewer to decide what they mean.”

She says the fact the monoliths have popped up around the world is probably because they are relatively easy to make.

“Any artist with basic metal work skills can make one. And just like with the crop circles, it enables people to be part of something larger.”

She adds that where they are placed is “incredibly important”.

“The landscape is so important,” she explains. “The monoliths hark back to druid structures and single stones across our rural landscape.

“Plus it’s looking at 2001: A Space Odyssey in referential form. The monolith there was a stand-in for God and knowledge.

“It is a mysterious object and open for debate and meaning, just like these monoliths.”

Either way, back in Hay, locals seem delighted with the new addition.

James Walton, owner of The Old Black Lion Inn, says: “It’s certainly strange. But it’s nice that it’s been done in Hay.

“Locals are talking about it and are very intrigued as to how it got there.

“This is a special town, and it has definitely added to the mystique.”

He wishes to encourage people to come and see the monolith, and perhaps drop in for a pint on the way.

But as my photographer and I had to slide down the treacherous Hay Bluff on our backsides, narrowly avoiding ending up in A&E with sprained ankles, I can only suggest coming on a sunny day.

"Shame must change sides": a Belgian model warns about deepnudes

Amandine Hess
Sat, 16 March 2024


"I'd already heard about deepfakes and deepnudes (...) but I wasn't really aware of it until it happened to me. It was a slightly anecdotal event that happened in other people's lives, but it wouldn't happen in mine", thought Julia, a 21-year-old Belgian marketing student and semi-professional model.

At the end of September 2023, she received an email from an anonymous author. Subject: "Realistic? "We wonder which photo would best resemble you", she reads.

Attached were five photos of her.

In the original content, posted on her social networks, Julia poses dressed. In front of her eyes are the same photos. Only this time, Julia is completely naked.

Julia has never posed naked. She never took these photos. The Belgian model realises that she has been the victim of a deepfake.
Deepfakes

Deepfakes, or hypertrucages, are false photo, video or audio content created or modified using artificial intelligence, often hyper-realistic.

The individual used an artificial intelligence application to remove her clothes.

The first message I received was, "Hello Julia. We wonder which photo would look like you the most".

Julia threatened to file a complaint. The person she was speaking to tried to dissuade her, claiming that he wanted to "make her aware of the dangers of artificial intelligence". "Everyone does it", he trivialised.

The next day, the young woman filed a complaint at the police station "out of duty".

"I really wanted to do it for statistical purposes and because I didn't want to let myself be taken advantage of", she explains.

She was warned that the "public prosecutor's office was overwhelmed" and that there was "very little chance" that her complaint would succeed, the student recalls.

My only fear would be that he used them to put them on sites to make money and at the same time harm my public image.

She confided in her mother and close friends, gave her testimony on her social networks and received a great deal of support from her followers. "Some people wanted to help me, others just sent a quick note", explains the student, who says she is "very well supported".

Julia also receives testimonials from other victims. In their case, "it was more in the context of revenge porn", she explains. It's something that's much more common than people think", warns the model, who is concerned about this trivialisation.

After taking a month's break from modelling - "I didn't feel like shooting any more" - the model has resumed her projects.

European directive

"The platforms are clearly not doing enough", the student laments.

"The law itself is there, it's been created, but it's not being applied", she says.

A European directive on violence against women adopted stricter measures against cyber-violence at the beginning of February.

"It's all very well, but it's too late. This should have been done before these applications were authorised on European territory," regrets Julia. I'm upset because these are things that could have been avoided if they had been done properly and in order".

The young woman, who has been received by Belgian Secretary of State for Gender Equality Marie-Colline Leroy, expects the public authorities to provide "effective support and resources" to identify the authors of deepfakes and force platforms to moderate their content.

According to a study by the University of Antwerp, 7% of Belgians aged between 15 and 25 have already created deepnudes.

It also encourages other victims of deepnude to speak out.

A growing phenomenon

The start-up Home Security Heroes reports that a total of 95,820 videos generated using artificial intelligence will be online in 2023. This represents an increase of 550% compared with 2019.

Pornographic deepfakes account for 98% of deepfakes on the web, according to its State of deepfakes report, published in 2023. 99% of those targeted are women.

No need to be an expert. Creating a free pornographic deepfake video takes less than 25 minutes and requires only one clear image of any individual, according to the same study.

For her part, American analyst Genevieve Oh estimates that there will be more than 275,000 pornographic deepfake videos on the web by the third quarter of 2023.