Matthew Taylor

Sunday round-up: ‘I don’t know’ about Zahawi’s taxes

James Cleverly – ‘I don’t know’ any more detail about Zahawi’s taxes

This morning was always going to be tough for whichever minister was landed with the morning media round. So followed an hour or so of pain for the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who was asked to address two highly inconvenient issues of integrity for the Sunak administration. Laura Kuenssberg raised the issue of the Conservative party chairman Nadhim Zahawi, who has reached a settlement with HMRC over his tax affairs, amounting to a recovery of £4.8 million:

BBC Chairman has ‘a wealth of experience’

Sophy Ridge bought up the case of the BBC Chairman Richard Sharp, who the Sunday Times has reported helped to arrange an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson before he was appointed to the post:

Nicola Sturgeon – UK government should not ‘weaponise’ trans people

Kuenssberg also pre-recorded an interview with Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. The recent vote by the Scottish Parliament to make the process of changing one’s gender subject to fewer restrictions is the subject of a huge rift with the UK government, who say that it undermines the nationally applied Equality Act:

Predatory men not protected by trans rights bill

Kuenssberg asked Sturgeon if the Scottish government’s pro-trans legislation was vulnerable to exploitation by potential rapists or voyeurs who would use the lenience in order to access women’s spaces:

Rachel Reeves – Labour would ‘drain the swamp’ at Westminster

The Shadow Chancellor also joined Kuenssberg and used a phrase reminiscent of a former US president when asked about clearing up politics:

Davos is a ‘great opportunity’ to meet world leaders and investors

And finally, Reeves gave her account of what it was like to be in with the global elite at Davos:

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