An apology to Keir Starmer
Footage released of the Russian-organised arsonists who attacked Keir Starmer’s North London home show they pulled off the reprehensible act by drenching a copy of a recent Morning Wire with lighter fluid, before setting it ablaze.
At Morning Wire we like to say our paper has an impact that touches the highest levels of government. But when we say that, this isn’t quite what we have in mind.
We would like to apologise to Mr Starmer for the appalling, albeit entirely inadvertent, involvement in Morning Wire in the debacle. We hope the next time a copy reaches the prime minister it is one piece, safe for him to consume cover to cover.
~
The Farage factor
Nigel Farage proved he was a good sport by turning up to his own character assassination.
The Reform leader was spotted quaffing Gusborne in Westminster Chapel alongside right-wing grandees for the launch of the latest in Lord Ashcroft’s series of excoriating political biographies ‘The Farage Factor’.
The author thanked his subject for being “one of only two victims of mine to turn up to the party, but he did charge me £2m for security” (the other was Jacob Rees-Mogg, since you asked).
Much of the gossip was on whether Tories and their teal challengers would do a deal, something which polling guru Ashcroft said he was “more convinced than ever”. The Capitalist worries that this could be a Kemi-kaze move for the Conservatives.
~
Saba PR agency has the zeal of a convert
Boaz Weinstein’s Saba Capital has enjoyed a gratifying few months. After a string of increasingly agitated open letters and ad hominem attacks, the notorious activist hedge fund’s years-long campaign to shake up the UK’s investment trust industry is starting to bear fruit.
The punch-drunk shareholders of several London-listed trusts – including the likes of Impax Environmental Markets, Herald and Edinburgh Worldwide – and their shareholders have finally caved to the New York hedge fund’s demands.
Its battle with the latter – a cosy, Baillie Gifford-run vehicle that can trace its roots back to the Victorian era – was particularly bad blooded, with the ever-pugnacious Weinstein accusing it of being “out of touch” and “falling short” of its fiduciary duty.
In a bid to rebuff the onslaught, EWIT enlisted the help of boutique City PR shop Greenbrook, which managed to secure a glut of fawning coverage – some in these very pages – for the under fire trust. The rearguard action, while noble, was, however, in vein, and Ewit investors threw in the towel a couple of months ago.
As if ceding control of a trust to the US investor wasn’t bad enough for EWIT, it appears they have lost a PR agency to Weinstein, too.
The Capitalist was minding its own business on Wednesday when we received an email alerting us to Saba’s latest dressing down of another long-suffering trust.
The sender? Why, Greenbrook, of course. If you can’t beat ‘em…