All posts tagged: adviser

Starmer adviser Peter Hyman won’t join Downing Street team

Starmer adviser Peter Hyman won’t join Downing Street team

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School founder and former Blair speechwriter had played key role in drawing up PM’s core ‘missions’ School founder and former Blair speechwriter had played key role in drawing up PM’s core ‘missions’ More from this theme Recent articles Former school leader Peter Hyman will not join Sir Keir Starmer’s team in Downing Street, despite advising the prime minister during his time in opposition, Schools Week has learned. Hyman, who co-founded School 21 and set up its parent trust Big Education with Liz Robinson, is understood to have decided not to return to government, having previously worked as a speechwriter and adviser to Tony Blair. Starmer appointed Hyman to his innermost council of advisers in 2022. The former headteacher played a key role in drawing up Labour’s core “missions” and writing its manifesto. It is not clear what Hyman will do next, although he remains a trustee of Voice 21, a sister charity of the school he founded which promotes oracy. The charity recently announced that Baroness Estelle Morris, a former education secretary, will be its …

Billionaire non-dom quit UK on day Hunt scrapped tax breaks, says adviser | The super-rich

Billionaire non-dom quit UK on day Hunt scrapped tax breaks, says adviser | The super-rich

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A London-based billionaire non-dom left the UK for good on the day that the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced the scrapping of the 225-year-old tax scheme in the spring budget, his tax adviser has revealed. “We did have one billionaire client who literally on the day of the budget, 6 March, got on his private jet with his wife, with his children, with the private tutor, and flew to one of his other 17 houses in the world – and said ‘I’m not coming back’,” said John Barnett, a partner at the law firm Burges Salmon, which specialises in advising the super-rich on how to legally reduce their tax bills. Barnett and other tax advisers to the very wealthy, say dozens of their non-domicile clients have already left the country to avoid being subjected to UK taxes on their overseas income, after Hunt announced the abolition of the regime from April 2025. They expect hundreds more to leave for other countries such as Italy, Spain, France and Malta that have special tax incentives designed to attract …

Keegan’s special adviser to run academy trust

Keegan’s special adviser to run academy trust

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Former free school head returns to the sector after government adviser stint Former free school head returns to the sector after government adviser stint More from this theme Recent articles Gillian Keegan’s special adviser Mark Lehain will leave the role to head up a two-school academy trust in September. Lehain will join the Wootton Academy Trust, in Bedfordshire, as executive headteacher in September. It marks a return to Wootton Upper School, which forms part of the trust he will lead, where Lehain worked for seven years before setting up Bedford Free School. He then moved into politics, standing as the Conservative candidate for Newcastle North in the 2019 election. The former maths teacher has since served both Nadhim Zahawi and then Keegan as a special adviser. Lehain will continue in the role until the autumn, he told Schools Week. In a tweet, Lehain added: “Breaking my Twitter silence to say how chuffed I am to join Wootton Trust in the autumn. “It’s long had a place in my heart: I started teaching there in 2003 …

Hillary Clinton Mocks Trump Adviser Over Persistent Trolling

Hillary Clinton Mocks Trump Adviser Over Persistent Trolling

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Hillary Clinton has long been a favourite target of conservatives despite not being in the political spotlight since 2016. But that minor detail hasn’t stopped Jason Miller, a longtime adviser to Donald Trump and part of his 2024 presidential campaign, from trying to promote a false story that she is planning to run for president this year. Since 2019, Miller has been making social media posts that claim the former first lady is planning to run for president again, according to Meidas Touch. There is no real evidence that Clinton intends to run again; instead, she’s become a surrogate for US President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, having hosted a fundraiser for him in November last year. Miller probably intended for his posts to raise havoc among low-information voters and pearl-clutching conservatives. However, considering how much Clinton hate has energised the Republican Party for the last three decades, the message he’s sending seems to be more like Jake Gyllenhaal’s line to Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain: “I wish I knew how to quit you.” As for …

Why Prince Edward could become Prince William’s closest adviser

Why Prince Edward could become Prince William’s closest adviser

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Prince Edward and Prince William already have a close bond, with the Duke of Edinburgh living close to his royal nephew, with the pair both residing in Windsor. However, when King Charles passes and William becomes King William, then Edward might likely be the shoulder he most leans on for royal advice. Both Charles and Princess Anne are considerably older than their youngest brother, with Charles being Edward’s senior by 15 years and so it is likely that Anne might pass in the years following her older brother’s death. WATCH: See how alike Prince Edward is to nephew Prince William during Blackpool outing And with Prince Andrew out of royal circles, it is unlikely that the royal will consult him. Although William will be prepared his role, like his father was before the late Queen passed away, he will no doubt need some advice on protocol when he ascends to the throne. © Chris JacksonEdward will likely support William following Charles’s death Edward is already a trusted member of the royal family, with the royal undertaking …

Former Obama adviser says RFK Jr. ‘trend lines’ look good for Biden

Former Obama adviser says RFK Jr. ‘trend lines’ look good for Biden

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The man who led former President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign said early polling of the 2024 race is a good sign for President Biden, with independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appearing to draw more support from former President Trump than Biden. Jim Messina said in an MSNBC “Morning Joe” interview Tuesday that despite neck and neck polls between Biden and Trump, trends are pointing in the right direction for the president. “You go to D.C. and think … there’s panic in the streets of D.C. because Democrats are like, ‘Oh my god, the polls are terrible.’ No, look at the trend lines. You look at how things are getting better,” Messina said. Third-party candidates are the key to understanding the race, Messina said, focusing his attention on Kennedy. The unorthodox candidate, who initially jumped into the race as a Democrat, may take more votes from Trump, according to recent polls. “You want to see the numbers continue to move, and you want to see who RFK is taking votes from,” Messina said of campaign …

Britain’s national security adviser Tim Barrow set for US ambassador gig – POLITICO

Britain’s national security adviser Tim Barrow set for US ambassador gig – POLITICO

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The Labour Party — on course to form the next government on current polling — is furious at the news and argued that such a significant diplomatic appointment should not be made by the Conservative prime minister this close to the election. Sunak told journalists on a flight to Poland that it was “entirely normal, entirely keeping with precedent” to appoint an ambassador well ahead of their start date “because ambassadors-designate often go and acclimatize themselves and build relationships before they formally start,” he said. However, he would not be drawn on whether Barrow was about to be appointed. “Those announcements are made in the usual way,” he said. The U.K. is in need of a new ambassador to Washington when Karen Pierce steps down this year, after a four-year stint in the job. Barrow has worked in the civil service for nearly 40 years and was previously the U.K.’s ambassador to the EU. The prime minister also said Jenkins, his new national security adviser, had a “very distinguished career in the armed forces” and …

Sunak has ‘set Britain back’ on net zero, says UK’s climate adviser | Climate crisis

Sunak has ‘set Britain back’ on net zero, says UK’s climate adviser | Climate crisis

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Rishi Sunak has given up Britain’s reputation as a world leader in the fight against the climate crisis and has “set us back” by failing to prioritise the issue in the way his predecessors in No 10 did, the government’s green adviser has warned. Chris Stark, the outgoing head of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), said that the prime minister had “clearly not” championed the issue following a high-profile speech last year in which he made a significant U-turn on the government’s climate commitments. The criticism comes after Sunak was accused of trying to avoid scrutiny of Britain’s climate policies by failing to appoint a new chair of the CCC. Sunak announced last autumn that he was moving back the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years, as part of a wider dilution of climate policies. At the time, the Tories were aiming to create a dividing line with Labour after their victory in the Uxbridge byelection, which largely came as a result of their opposition to London’s ultra …

Ex-Trump adviser says former president ‘hasn’t got the brains’ for dictatorship | John Bolton

Ex-Trump adviser says former president ‘hasn’t got the brains’ for dictatorship | John Bolton

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A former national security adviser in the Donald Trump White House has said that the ex-president “hasn’t got the brains” to helm a dictatorship, despite his admiration for such rulers. In an interview with the conservative French outlet Le Figaro, John Bolton, 75, was asked whether Trump had tendencies that mirror dictators like the ones he has previously praised. Bolton not only disparaged Trump’s intellectual capacity, he also disparaged the former president’s professional background, exclaiming: “He’s a property developer, for God’s sake!” Now a vocal critic of Trump, Bolton served as the former president’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019. Bolton had previously served as US ambassador to the UN during George W Bush’s presidency, developing a reputation as a foreign policy hawk. Bolton’s remarks to Le Figaro suggesting Trump is not smart enough to be a dictator will almost certainly do little to allay fears on the political left at home or abroad about a second Trump presidency. After all, Trump has suggested he plans to be a dictator, if only …

Former national security adviser says Trump “doesn’t have the brains” to be a dictator

Former national security adviser says Trump “doesn’t have the brains” to be a dictator

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Having worked as Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, John Bolton has seen enough to form a concrete opinion on the man. And his opinion is that the former president isn’t that sharp. Or at least not as sharp as he’d have us believe. In a recent interview with Conservative French outlet Le Figaro, Bolton fielded questions on whether or not he viewed Trump as having dictatorial tendencies, sprung from recent comments made on the campaign trail where the GOP frontrunner has said as much himself. “He hasn’t got the brains! He’s a property developer for God’s sake!” Bolton said in response. Trump has made a habit out of serving up praise for foreign leaders of nations the U.S. is at odds with, boasting about receiving “beautiful letters” from North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a “very good person.” But Bolton doesn’t place him in the same category, for the reasons mentioned above. “Trump, when he has an idea, comes back to it again and again, then gets distracted, …