UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailMPs have been shown a Scottish-made “unicorn” satellite as they heard from companies in the country’s space sector.Tom Walkinshaw, CEO of the Glasgow-based satellite manufacturer Alba Orbital, brought one of his company’s Unicorn-2 products to the House of Commons to show members of the Scottish Affairs Committee.The company specialises in making “picosatellites” which weigh less than one kilogram.It has launched 41 of them so far, including 15 Unicorns built in Glasgow, with the rest being from partners around the world.The company was started by Mr Walkinshaw from his bedroom and has grown rapidly, recently raising money through the Y Combinator venture capital process which has linked some of the US’s largest technology companies with investors.Along with Steve Greenland of Craft Prospect Ltd, Mr Walkinshaw gave evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee on Monday as part of its inquiry into the Scottish space sector.Showing the Unicorn-2 to the committee at the start of the hearing, Mr Walkinshaw said it had been “fun” taking it past the Commons’ security.Committee convener Pete Wishart said: “It’s probably the first time a satellite has ever been produced at a Westminster select committee.“So congratulations, a trailblazer in that regard.”The Unicorn-2 is named after Scotland’s national animal and can feature a camera for Earth observation missions and pop-out solar panels, with the Alba Orbital founder saying “it’s a fully functional little satellite that does everything a bigger satellite can do, but in a smaller form factor”.However, larger satellite are able to use cameras with higher definition, he said.Discussing how the Scottish space sector received support from governments, Mr Walkinshaw said the burden of audit requirements from the European Space Agency was one of the reasons they were forced to go to the US for venture capital funding.Alba Orbital carries out its satellite licencing process in Germany, he said, describing the UK’s regulatory system for satellites as “out of date”. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBarack Obama has visited Downing Street for a surprise meeting at No 10 with Rishi Sunak. The former US president – who served in the White House between 2009 and 2017 – waved at reporters outside before he entered the prime minister’s residence for a previously undisclosed private meeting at 3pm. A Downing Street spokesperson insisted the visit was an “informal courtesy drop in” as part of the former president’s visit to London.They added: “President Obama’s team made contact and obviously the prime minister was very happy to to meet with him and discuss the work of the Obama Foundation.”Mr Obama left No 10 after around an hour following a meeting with Mr Sunak.The former US president said “I’m tempted” when asked questions by the media as he re-emerged and got into a Range Rover car with Jane D Hartley, the US ambassador to the UK, just after 4pm.Former US president Barack Obama leaves following a meeting at 10 Downing Street, LondonThe Barack Obama Foundation is a nonprofit organisation focused on social mobility that was founded by the former president back in 2014.The last time Mr Obama visited Downing Street was eight years ago in 2016.The former president met with then prime minister David Cameron at Number 10 for talks ahead of the Brexit vote.He warned the UK would be at the “back of the queue” for US trade deals if it left the European Union.The two leaders also held a joint news conference at the Foreign Office. Mr Obama said the US “wants Britain’s influence to grow – including within Europe”.The talks come as Mr Sunak said he has “confidence for the future: as he battles to shore up his position as prime minister following rumours that his party is looking to replace him ahead of a general election.Mr Sunak’s failure to turn around the Tories’ opinion poll deficit has fuelled speculation about Conservative MPs considering replacing him with Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt in an attempt to avoid a general election disaster.Business secretary Kemi Badenoch told plotters seeking to oust the prime minister to “stop messing around” and end the “Westminster psychodrama”.Ms Badenoch suggested “one or two MPs” are behind the Westminster rumours and they should not be allowed to “dominate the news narrative”.She told BBC Breakfast: “I’m sure if Penny was here, she would be distancing herself from those comments.”Ms Mordaunt has not publicly commented on reports about a bid to elevate her to the Tory leadership, but a source close to her rejected them as “nonsense”. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Rishi Sunak set out the Conservatives’ pledge to create up to 20,000 more apprenticeships in a speech on Monday, 18 March.The prime minister detailed plans the government says will fully fund training for young people and cut red tape for small businesses.Mr Sunak’s reforms “will unlock a tidal wave of opportunity”, he said.The announcement was made at a conference for small firms in Warwickshire.Under the plans, the government will pay the full cost of apprenticeships for under-21-year-olds in small businesses from 1 April in a move aimed at reducing burdens for employers and providing more professional training places for young people.It comes as Mr Sunak’s premiership faces a threat from a chaotic plot of backbench Tory MPs who want to replace him with Penny Mordaunt before the general election.Politicians from across the party are said to have met and held talks about “coronating” the leader of the House of Commons as prime minister in what would be the Tories’ sixth PM since the 2010 general election. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailKemi Badenoch has dismissed the row over Tory donor Frank Hester’s alleged comments about Diane Abbott as “trivia” and insisted the Conservative Party should not return the businessman’s £10m donation. The business secretary, who last week described Mr Hester’s reported remarks as racist, said the country needed to “move away” from the row, claiming it did not matter to the general public and that it was “pure media bubble speculation”.It was reported last week that Mr Hester said Ms Abbott – the longest-serving Black MP – made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.Downing Street originally refused to condem the comments as racist but Ms Badenoch defied the official line and did so. Rishi Sunak later said the remarks were “racist and wrong”.Speaking to LBC, she said “we need to get to a place where we stop chasing people around and looking everywhere for the racism”. Business secretary Kemi Badenoch will host a conference for small businesses “Everybody is accusing, and counter-accusing around racism,” she continued. “We need to move away from these things and actually focus on what matters to people.”She added: “Now, this is trivia. I’m sorry, but I really do believe it is.“I am afraid is not really in the high priorities of how we deal with racism in this country.”On BBC Breakfast, she added: “You are interested in the story from last week, which has been apologised for and everyone has moved on… This is something that is pure media bubble speculation. It is not what the country cares about.”The minister said she had condemned the alleged comments “in a personal capacity as the only black woman in the cabinet” as she defended the prime minister’s response. She said: “I don’t want a prime minister who is just going to be lurching out, making comments every five minutes in response to the media.“What he is not doing is following the media’s lead, and I’m very pleased that he agreed with me, but I was making my comments in a personal capacity as the only black woman in the Cabinet.”Tory donor Frank Hester gave the Conservative party £10m in 2023 Ms Badenoch also said the Conservatives should not have to return the money and that the comments made by Mr Hester weren’t “even really about” Ms Abbott.Asked about returning the donation, she said: “I’m actually quite surprised that people suggest this. This was something that happened five years ago. He wasn’t talking to Diane Abbott. It wasn’t even really about Diane Abbott. He used her in a reference that was completely unacceptable. He’s apologised for it.“I think that it is far more important that we accept the apology and not moving on is taking too much attention away from what is actually meaningful to the people around the country.”Asked whether she was suggesting the Tories were happy to take money from people who make racist remarks, Ms Badenoch replied: “The point I’m making is that when people apologise, they should be forgiven.“And these comments were in no way reflective of the work that he has been doing while we have taken his money.” More