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Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI could trigger a European Union merger investigation, the bloc’s executive branch said Tuesday. The European Commission said it’s “checking whether Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI might be reviewable” under regulations covering mergers and acquisitions that would harm competition in the 27-nation EU.The review could lead to a formal investigation into whether the deal should be unconditionally cleared, allowed with concessions from the companies or blocked. Britain’s antitrust watchdog opened a similar review last month. Antitrust enforcers in the U.S. also have signaled concerns about competition in the AI industry. The Federal Trade Commission in November approved new measures enabling it to more easily investigate AI products and services, noting that “AI can raise competition issues in a variety of ways, including if one or just a few companies control the essential inputs or technologies that underpin AI.”OpenAI has received several rounds of funding from Microsoft, including an initial $1 billion in 2019 and a multibillion-dollar investment last year. OpenAI’s generative AI chatbot ChatGPT has captured world attention with its advanced capabilities, catapulting the San Francisco-based startup to the top ranks of AI companies. Generative AI systems like ChatGPT can spit out new text, images, videos or audio recordings based on prompts from users. The European Commission, the bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, is asking businesses and experts for input on any competition issues that they see in generative AI and has asked “several large digital players” — which it didn’t identify — for information. The commission is “also closely monitoring AI partnerships to ensure they do not unduly distort market dynamics,” the EU’s antitrust enforcer, Margrethe Vestager, said in a press release. Vestager is due to meet with OpenAI executives on a trip this week to the U.S., as well as Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch live as David Cameron faces questions from the Foreign Affairs committee for the first time in his new role as foreign secretary on Tuesday, 9 January.The former prime minister is appearing before the committee at Portcullis House, which is likely to explore Lord Cameron’s approach to his new role, his broader vision and strategy for the UK’s foreign policy, and scrutinise his long-term priorities for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).It comes after Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell warned that the risk of famine in Gaza is “stark” amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.Mr Mitchell said: “UK ministers are lobbying the government of Israel hard and regularly to allow more aid in and reduce the numerous constraints that are hindering many aspects of our and others’ efforts to help Gazan civilians.“Nevertheless the risk of famine is stark and the foreign secretary and other ministers throughout the Government are pushing the need to address this with the Israeli government.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour has increased its huge poll lead over the Conservatives, with the latest YouGov survey putting Sir Keir Starmer’s party on more than double the support of the Tories.The opposition has received a five-point poll bounce, increasing its lead over Rishi Sunak’s party to a mammoth 24 points.YouGov puts Labour on 46 per cent – more than double Tory support on 22 per cent. Sir Keir also has a big lead over Mr Sunak on who will make the best PM, with 30 per cent backing to 18 per cent.It comes as Sir Keir warns Labour MPs that the Tory prime minister could still call a surprise general election in the spring.The Labour leader told his troops to get ready to campaign within months, despite Mr Sunak saying he wanted to go to the polls later in the year.Speaking to his MPs at the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Monday night, Sir Keir also warned of a potentially dirty election campaign – having vowed to fight “fight with fire”.Keir Starmer has warned his MPs that Tories will fight dirty campaign Sir Keir said: “In their desperation, they will attempt anything. We will be prepared for any eventuality, ready to take them on whenever they find the courage to give the public a say.”The Labour leader also said Mr Sunak’s party would “unleash a gauntlet of fear and doubt” – arguing that Tories know that “belief that things can be better” is their biggest threat.Sir Keir also made a joke about Mr Sunak’s meetings with former No 10 strategist Dominic Cummings at the gathering in parliament.“We’ve even learned he is trying to get the old gang back together by getting Dominic Cummings involved,” he said. “Sadly for Sunak, Cummings’ eyesight seems to have improved enough that he can spot a car crash when it’s presented to him and he turned them down.”Mr Sunak raised the prospect of a lengthy and bitter campaign when he said last week that it was his “working assumption” that he would call the election in the second half of the year.Rishi Sunak under pressure to release Rwanda plan documents Meanwhile, Labour will table a vote in parliament on Tuesday calling for the release of documents relating to the Mr Sunak’s Rwanda deportation policy.The vote – which will be part of a humble address on the opposition day debate in the Commons – will ask for any documents that show the cost of relocating each individual asylum seeker to Rwanda, as well as a list of all payments made or scheduled to be made to the country’s government.It will also ask for the government’s internal breakdown of the more than 35,000 asylum decisions made last year and an unredacted copy of the confidential memorandum of understanding ministers reached with the East African country.Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government’s refusal to “come clean” on the cost of the Rwanda scheme is “totally unacceptable”.It comes after the BBC said it has seen No 10 papers from March 2022, a month before the Rwanda plan was announced by then prime minister Boris Johnson, which showed that Mr Sunak had doubts over the impact of deporting migrants to Kigali. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe guest chair in an LBC studio was bolted to the floor after Boris Johnson tried to duck cameras during difficult interviews while he was London mayor, it has emerged.LBC Radio also films politicians and other guests when they are interviewed and sometimes shares clips of the interviews online.Mr Johnson was regularly interviewed in a segment of journalist Nick Ferrari’s show called ‘Ask Boris’ when he was in City Hall from 2008 to 2016.In an interview with the Radio Times, Mr Ferrari revealed that producers resorted to screwing the guest chair to the floor after the former mayor repeatedly drifted “off camera”.“That is the Boris bolt,”  Mr Ferrari said. “[When we were] doing the Ask Boris shows and he was mayor, he’d be asked why he was cancelling the 63 bus and he’d just drift off camera.”The journalist also revealed that Dame Cressida Dick, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, once also tried to evade the camera but found it wouldn’t budge.“We do this in our interview rooms so our officers don’t get hit over the head with them,” Dame Cressida replied when Mr Ferrari explained why the chair was nailed down.During the interview, Mr Ferrari also said that initially had been a fan of Mr Johnson and admitted to liking Keir Starmer, the Labour leader.‘That is the Boris bolt’ When asked if government ministers got a free pass on his show, Mr Ferrari said “not at all”. He appeared to suggest that he would be tougher on Labour politicians than Conservative ones if the opposition wins the next election, expected in spring or autumn this year.“[If Labour win the next election] it will probably mean that I can be a little bit more on the front foot and try to hit a few more sixes and fours, rather than just doing a little tickle for a couple of runs,” he said.It was not the first time Mr Johnson, who stood down as an MP last year following a slew of scandals during his premiership,  tried to avoid difficult questions.In December 2019 he hid in a fridge while being pursued by a TV reporter attempting to interview him on the eve of the general election.The prime minister had been on an early morning milk round in Leeds when he was confronted by Good Morning Britain’s Jonathan Swain about his “promise to talk to Piers [Morgan] and Susanna [Reid]”.“I’ll be with you in a second,” Mr Johnson replied, before escaping into a large fridge.Conservative sources later told The Guardian that the prime minister was “categorically not hiding” in the fridge and claimed he was instead being prepped for a different interview.Mr Johnson had been accused of avoiding media scrutiny during this election campaign after he refused to take part in a one-on-one interview with former BBC journalist Andrew Neil. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Ed Davey has accused Post Office bosses of unleashing a “conspiracy of lies” as he mounted a defence of his role in the Horizon IT scandal.The Liberal Democrat leader, who was postal affairs minister from 2010 to 2012, has been accused of “fobbing off” victims of the scandal.And former Post Office branch managers, hundreds of whom were given criminal convictions after faulty Horizon accounting software, developed by Fujitsu, made it appear money was missing.Ex-postmasters have urged Sir Ed to “look in the mirror” and consider stepping down.But, in an interview with The Guardian, Sir Ed lashed out at “the people in the Post Office who were perpetrating this conspiracy of lies”.He said it is important to “get to the truth” and that “they are held to account”.Liberal Democrat sources have told The Independent that Sir Ed is being scapegoated in a general election year, in a bid to damage Lib Dem hopes in the Tory blue wall.And Lord Arbuthnot, a former MP who sits on the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board and campaigned for the postmasters when he was an MP, told Sky News the focus on Sir Ed was “a bit of a red herring”.Addressing his time as postal affairs minister, Sir Ed said: “We were reassured time and again that the Horizon system was working. We were told there weren’t that many postmasters affected. We were just told so many lies,” he said.“We absolutely have to have these people completely exonerated – their convictions must be overturned. The Post Office lied to judges and the courts.”But the newspaper said he refused to apologise for his role in the scandal as he issued a personal defence.Sir Ed went on to question why the Conservatives had awarded former Post Office boss Paula Vennells a CBE, amid mounting pressure to rescind the gong. A petition calling for her to be stripped of the honour has gathered more than a million signatures.“They knew all about this,” he said. “I’d like to know who signed it off. It was a bizarre decision given that this was clearly in the public domain.”The Tories have been attacking Sir Ed over the scandal, with Conservatives fearing a threat posed by the Lib Dems at the next general election.Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson accused him of having taken “the side of the employers over the workers”.“This man, this Ed Davey, has not really looked at both sides of the story. He took the side of the Post Office employers and sadly many went to prison due to him not listening,” Mr Anderson told GB News, which employs him as a presenter.“But he really should be coming out now – instead of making excuses, instead of saying he was lied to, he should properly apologise, make a public apology in Parliament to these people that sadly took their lives, the families of these victims, and the people who went to prison.”The renewed focus on the scandal comes amid a new ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office.Alan Bates, played by Toby Jones, has spent two decades of his life fighting for justice after hundreds of fellow postmasters and postmistresses were accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting due to faulty computers.In 1999, Horizon, a defective Fujitsu IT system, began incorrectly reporting cash shortfalls at branches across the country. The accusations tore people’s lives apart, with many losing their jobs and homes.Several people took their own lives due to the stress.To this day, not a single Post Office or Fujitsu employee has been held to account over the scandal, much less faced criminal investigation. Sixty of the victims have died before finding any justice at all. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA senior minister directly responsible for the space launch industry is needed to help businesses in the sector, MPs have been told.On Monday, Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee heard from companies involved in spaceports which are being built in Scotland.Scott Hammond, deputy CEO of SaxaVord Spaceport, said they are aiming for their first rocket launches this summer.The spaceport, located on the island of Unst at the northernmost point of the UK, was recently granted its licence by the Civil Aviation Authority.While UK Science Minister Andrew Griffith has the space sector within his portfolio, Mr Hammond said a cabinet-level role is needed.Mr Hammond told the committee he welcomed the space strategies published by the Scottish and UK Governments but felt more resources should be made available.He said: “For me, there’s almost too many cooks involved.“I think what we need to look at is having a senior politician directly responsible for space and space launch and I would suggest that at cabinet level.”Despite the UK Government space portfolio, he said it is still “difficult to know who’s actually running launch in the UK”.He gave the example of seeking permissions from Scottish Government’s marine directorate, something he said was taking six months rather than 14 weeks as promised.He was on a panel of witnesses that also included Martin Coates, chief executive of rocket company Orbex, which plans to launch from Sutherland Spaceport on the Scottish mainland, and David Oxley of the regional development agency Highlands and Island Enterprise (HIE).Committee member Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, asked the panel if HIE had “put all your eggs into one basket” by investing heavily in the Sutherland spaceport.Those involved in SaxaVord have previously complained that HIE is unfairly supporting their competitor.Mr Oxley said Sutherland Spaceport had appeared to be in a “better place” in 2018 but acknowledged circumstances had changed since then.He said it is “great” that two sites are coming close to their first launches and talks are ongoing about support for SaxaVord.Mr Coates said he did not believe his company is in competition with SaxaVord as Sutherland will only be hosting launches by Orbex.However, Mr Hammond said he saw no need for a “dissipation of resources” in having more than one spaceport in Scotland. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSenior Tory MP Chris Skidmore has submitted his resignation in protest over Rishi Sunak’s oil and gas drilling plans – triggering yet another by-election headache for the PM.The ex-energy minister said Mr Sunak’s climate change stance would “destroy the reputation of the UK as a climate leader”, having announced on Friday that he planned to stand down.The MP for Kingswood in Gloucestershire formally quit the Tory whip and his seat on Monday, arguing that his constituents “deserve the right” to elect someone new if he could no longer back the government.It comes as fellow former Tory cabinet minister Sir Alok Sharma said Mr Sunak’s plans to maximise North Sea oil and gas production give the impression he is “not being serious” about tackling climate change.The president of the Cop26 climate summit hosted by the UK said he could not support the PM’s Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill – which sanctions fresh drilling in the North Sea – when MPs vote on it later on Monday.Sir Alok said the legislation is a “smoke and mirrors” exercise which reinforces the perception that the UK is “rowing back from climate action”.A group of 30 politicians, including Mr Skidmore and Lord Zac Goldsmith, have also written to energy secretary Claire Coutinho urging the government to drop the bill – saying that it is “diametrically opposed” to the global drive away from fossil fuels.Chris Skidmore quit the Tory whip and formally resigned his seat Mr Skidmore – who said the PM’s move was the “wrong decision at the wrong time” – said he could not vote for a bill that promotes new oil and gas production or condone a government which pushed it.In his formal resignation letter to the chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Mr Skidmore said the PM and his ministers should be looking to the long-term – not “playing short-term politics” with legislation that does “so much to destroy the reputation of the UK as a climate leader”.He added: “No-one has ever denied that we will not need the oil and gas we are using today, but to seek to open up future new sources of fossil fuels, that will be sold on international markets and owned by foreign companies, will do nothing for our energy security.”His exit sets up a contest in the blue wall seat in February or March. Labour came second in the seat in 2019 – so it would seem to provide Sir Keir Starmer’s party with an ideal opportunity to deliver a fresh blow to Mr Sunak.The battle for Mr Skidmore’s seat is one of three by-elections the Tory party could lose in the early months of 2024. Peter Bone’s Wellingborough seat will soon see a contest after the Tory MP was removed in a recall petition following his suspension for upheld sexual misconduct claims.And Scott Benton’s Blackpool South seat could also be up for grabs after his 35-day suspension over a sting which exposed him offering to lobby for gambling investors.Senior Tory Sir Alok Sharma has said he cannot back the oil and gas drilling bill Mr Sunak’s bill will require the industry regulator to run annual rounds for new oil and gas licences. Currently licensing rounds are run when the North Sea Transition Authority (NTSA) decides it is necessary.The government claims the introduction of regular licensing for exploration will increase certainty, investor confidence and make the UK more energy-independent amid ongoing turmoil from Russia’s war with Ukraine.The former climate minister and Cop president spoke out on Monday ahead of the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill having its first Commons test on Monday night.“It’s actually the opposite of what we agreed to do internationally, so I won’t be supporting it,” Sir Alok told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, calling it a “total distraction which frankly changes nothing”. And Mr Sharma, standing down at the election, accused the Tory leader of “chopping and changing” climate policies, reinforcing “the unfortunate perception about the UK rolling back from climate action”.Mr Sunak defended his decisions and insisted the UK was still a world leader in its net zero commitments when asked about the criticism ahead of the vote.Challenged about “flip flopping” on the issue at a PM Connect event in Lancashire he said: “We’ve got more ambitious targets than any other advanced economy in the world. Fact.“And we can still meet those targets without having to impose these costs on you prematurely, telling you to switch your car, rip out your boiler, upgrade the efficiency in your home.”Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the offshore oil and gas Bill was a “waste of time” designed to create a dividing line.“It isn’t going to make any difference at all – zero impact – on energy bills,” Sir Keir told reporters as he pointed to comments from former ministers.Sir Keir said: “What you’ve got is a government that’s wasting its time trying to pass legislation to create a dividing line with the Labour party rather than to solve the problem.”No 10 declined to say whether the aim of the bill is to increase the number of licences granted. An energy department spokesperson said Britain still needed oil and gas “for decades to come”.They added: “These new licenses will not increase carbon emissions above our legally binding carbon budgets, but will provide certainty for industry, support 200,000 jobs and bring in tens of billions of tax that we can invest in the green transition and support people with cost of living.” More