Tag: united kingdom

Starmer Calls for Spyware on All Phones

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer strode onto a stage at London Tech Week and handed Apple, Google and friends a three-month ultimatum with all the menace of a substitute teacher confiscating phones at the door. Build us controls that stop children from taking, sharing, or viewing nude images, switch them on by default across every phone and tablet already humming away in the nation’s pockets, and look sharp about it.

“This government will not stand by while children are put at risk online,” he announced, before adding the line every tech executive in the room heard as a polite threat.

“Today I am calling on the tech companies to introduce device-level controls to prevent children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images. And if they don’t act, we will.”

Stirring stuff. Nobody wants children harmed, and saying so out loud is the cheapest applause line in British politics.

The trouble is the two innocent-looking words tucked into the speech like a wasp in a picnic basket, the words “device-level.”

Here is what “device-level” means once you peel off the cuddly branding. To catch one naughty photo on your phone, something has to inspect every photo on your phone. All of them.

It is software that leans over your shoulder the instant you raise your camera, squints at whatever you are making, and decides whether you may keep it or it gets reported to authorities.

Engineers named this trick years ago, client-side scanning, and even Apple, a company that would happily sell you the air inside its packaging, built a version of it in 2021 and then sprinted away from the idea the moment people worked out what it did to private messaging.

The worst part is what it does to encryption. End-to-end encryption is meant to mean nobody in the middle can read your stuff, not the app, not your internet provider, not a bored government with a search warrant fetish.

Client-side scanning waltzes around all of that by reading your photo on your own device first, before the encryption clicks shut. The lock on the front door stays bolted. There is just a man with a clipboard standing in your hallway, jotting notes before you turn the key. The math survives. The privacy, meanwhile, is dead.

Step back and admire how casually people are treating this. A government politely asking every phone maker to install a tiny invigilator inside the camera lens, marking your snapshots as they form, would have been thrown out of a Black Mirror writers’ room a decade ago for being too on the nose.

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UK Encryption Backdoor Could Hit US Data, Jordan Warns

Britain has refused to let a US technology company brief Congress about a secret order to weaken encryption and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is treating that refusal as a problem in its own right.

Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who leads the committee, wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Friday warning that Britain may be using encryption powers to reach the private data of US citizens.

The underlying dispute is not new. For more than a year, the UK’s use of secret “technical capability notices” under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 has strained relations with Washington, ever since reports that Britain ordered Apple to open up encrypted iCloud data. What is new is the wall Jordan says he keeps hitting when he tries to learn more.

He met Sir Christian Turner, the British ambassador to the United States, in March, after a US company asked to brief members of Congress about one of these notices, something that would require Mahmood’s sign-off.

The ambassador suggested it could happen. Mahmood then refused.

“This denial is inconsistent with our understanding from Ambassador Turner and raises serious concerns about shared cooperation on these sensitive matters, particularly as Congress exercises its important oversight responsibilities,” Jordan wrote, the Telegraph reported, adding that it cast doubt on the “trust and effective partnership between our two countries.”

He asked Mahmood to “review this matter and grant the US company’s request to speak with Congress about an alleged technical capability notice,” which he said would “honour the representation made by the ambassador during our meeting and uphold the spirit of transparency and cooperation that is the foundation of our shared security relationship.”

The secrecy Jordan ran into is built into how these orders work and it is worth keeping in view.

The UK may be building “backdoors into their encrypted services,” he wrote.

A backdoor is a deliberately built flaw, a master key, or a hidden bypass that lets an intelligence agency read encrypted data without the user ever knowing. It defeats end-to-end encryption, the design that normally keeps a message readable only to the person who sent it and the person who received it.

A company served with a notice cannot tell its customers, the press, or apparently even a foreign legislature, without the express permission of the Home Secretary.

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UK Deputy PM Says Equality Before Law Doesn’t Mean Treating All Ethnic Groups the ‘Same’ After Nowak Killing

British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has said that not all ethnic groups should be treated the same by police in the wake of the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, who died in police handcuffs after officers refused to believe he had been stabbed by a Sikh man.

Lammy, who also serves as the left-wing Labour Party government’s Justice Secretary, said that while the “starting point” should be equality before the law, it is not always appropriate to be treated “the same”, noting the disproportionate arrest rates of certain ethnic minority groups, such as Roma travellers [Gypsies] and black Britons.

“We are all equal before the law. So that is not the starting point, but it is the case. Recognising that in our country it is still the case that on arrest, prosecution, and conviction, I’m afraid in our prisons, ethnic minorities are disproportionately [represented] in the criminal justice system. So context can matter, but it cannot eclipse violence or the fact that we need our police to act to mitigate and deal with crimes in our communities, whatever the color of your skin or background,” he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Saturday.

The BBC presenter put to Lammy the guidance from the National Police Chiefs’ Council on its anti-racism policy, which states: “Our commitment to racial equity means producing equality of policing outcomes for people from different ethnic groups… It does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’ (racial equality).”

The leftist government minister denied that this meant that there was not equality before the law, stating that “the complexity is [that] equality does not always necessarily mean the same” and that it is important to “understand that context can be different for different groups.”

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UK Cop Fired For Questioning Islam In ‘Safe Space’

A Christian police community support officer lost his career after asking a Muslim colleague about jihad and Hamas atrocities during a diversity session that promised open discussion. At the same time, training drilled “white privilege” into police ranks.

Luke Salmons, a 46-year-old Christian father of two and respected PCSO with North Yorkshire Police, relates how he attended a mandatory training day on race, religion and culture. Trainers spent several minutes marching up and down the room chanting “Islam is a religion of peace” repeatedly. A Muslim sergeant then spoke about his faith and invited questions in what was presented as a “safe space” where “there was no such thing as a bad question.”

Salmons asked what the sergeant, as a peaceful Muslim, thought about the situation in Gaza and atrocities carried out by Hamas and other groups in the name of Islam. He also asked what jihad meant to him. The discussion was civil. The sergeant later invited Salmons for coffee to continue the conversation privately.

Salmons brought a book on the topic to work. Colleagues photographed it in his locker and reported him as a risk. An inspector then suspended him, declaring “I don’t like your beliefs.” Salmons noted the obvious double standard: no inspector would ever say that to a Muslim officer.

He was suspended on full pay for months, resigned under pressure in April 2025, and faced gross misconduct proceedings. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, he appealed. Chief Constable Tim Forber overturned the dismissal before Salmons had even finished presenting his case. There was no apology and the episode devastated his family.

“I loved my job and I was good at it. I was well respected as a PCSO and my colleagues said they loved working with me and couldn’t understand what was happening. But an overzealous inspector took against me and that was the end of my career, even though I had done nothing wrong,” he related.

“It devastated me and my family. For months we lived in total uncertainty, with my reputation being shredded in secret. I resigned not because I had done anything wrong, but because the silence, the delay and the pressure became unbearable for my wife and daughters,” Salmons added.

This is the new reality inside parts of British policing: open discussion of uncomfortable facts about Islamist ideology is treated as career-ending wrongthink, while entire days are devoted to chanting slogans and centring one faith above others.

The same ideological pressures are visible in operational failures. In the Henry Nowak case, an 18-year-old white British student was stabbed five times. He told responding officers he had been stabbed and could not breathe. Instead of treating him as a medical emergency, officers handcuffed him after his attacker falsely claimed racism. The attacker was allowed to walk away. An inquest is examining whether the handcuffing contributed to Nowak’s death.

The police watchdog investigated itself and declared no wrongdoing.

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Entire British Fleet of Attack Submarines Is Docked and Incapable of Combat, in New Humiliation for Royal Navy

‘Oh, Britannia, Britannia rules the seas’ – not.

We have been reporting here on TGP on how the British armed forces – particularly its once legendary Royal Navy – is depleted and unprepared for war.

Yesterday, a shocking report arose saying that the entire fleet of hunter-killer submarines is ‘stuck in port, unable to sail’ – leaving Britain at risk from today’s threats.

Daily Mail reported:

“In a fresh humiliation for Britain’s Armed Forces, all five of its Astute class submarines are currently laid up awaiting maintenance and other repair work.

Military experts have also warned that the Navy’s lack of available nuclear-powered attack submarines – which carry up to 38 Spearfish torpedoes and a battery of Tomahawk missiles – leaves the UK’s sub-sea internet and power cables dangerously vulnerable to sabotage by [Russia].”

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UK Government Plots Digital ID Lockdown On Every Phone In Lockstep With Big Tech

The Labour government in Britain is accelerating its assault on digital privacy under the well-worn banner of child protection. Fresh plans leaked to the press reveal ministers intend to compel Apple, Google and other tech firms to restrict smartphones so thoroughly that a digital ID will be needed to use them with unfettered access.

The mechanism comes in the form of expanded age verification that effectively demands digital identification for device setup and use. What is sold as safeguarding the young is shaping up as a backdoor mandate for every adult in Britain to submit ID just to operate a phone or go online.

This development lands alongside Google’s confirmation that it will soon bring digital IDs to Android devices in the UK via Google Wallet. Users will record a short video selfie and scan a government-issued ID to add a digital version of their passport or other documents.

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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan Warns British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood To Stop Backdoor Spying on US Citizens

Not a friendly move by the Brits.

In the context of a grave crisis in the ‘special relationship’ between the US and the UK, a top House representative is warning the British government against ‘using sensitive backdoor technology’ to spy on Americans.

Yesterday (5), Donald J. Trump’s ally, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood alerting her about a ‘lack of security cooperation’.

Jordan warned that Britain ‘may be using encryption to gain access to US citizens’ private data’.

The Telegraph reported:

“[Jordan] pointed to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act 2016, which allows the government to issue secret orders known as ‘technical capability notices’.”

As the leader of the House judiciary committee, Jordan has led investigations into the activities of the FBI and US spy agencies – and now he is targeting the United Kingdom.

“The UK may be building ‘backdoors into their encrypted services’, he wrote to Ms. Mahmood.

US companies would be prohibited from informing anyone about these backdoors without the express permission of the Home Secretary.”

Jordan told Sir Christian Turner, the ambassador to the UK, that a US company who wanted to discuss a ‘technical capability notice’ with members of Congress, something that would require Mahmood’s permission.

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Norwegian Teenager Allegedly Recruited by Swedish Gang Linked to Iran – Gets Arrested and Prosecuted in the UK for Attempting to Carry Out a Murder for Hire

Another aspect of the migrant invasion in Northern Europe.

We have been reporting here on TGP about the rising criminality in the Scandinavian countries, with migrant gangs in Sweden and Norway taking the law enforcement challenges to unprecedented levels.

One of the commons features of these gangs is their use of minors for criminal acts. Usually, we see teens from migrant backgrounds – but now, it appears their reach has widened.

News arose today of a court session in which a white, middle-class looking Norwegian teenager is being charged with travelling to Britain to carry out a murder for hire.

The defendant was allegedly recruited by a ​Swedish organized crime group with ties to the Iranian government, prosecutors told a London court.

Reuters reported:

“Johannes Natland, now 19, was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield in northern England in March last year ​in possession of two firearms and ammunition, prosecutor Alistair Richardson ​told London’s Old Bailey Court.

‘He had been recruited by an ⁠organization called the Foxtrot Network to an agreement that in ​return for money he would travel here and undertake a hit’, Richardson ​said. ‘The group that had recruited him, the Foxtrot Network, is a Swedish organized crime group used by the Iranian regime’.”

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“Dystopian” Police.AI Launches in UK Amid False Arrests

A new UK national center launches within days, promising to find suspects in minutes, except it costs £115 million ($155M) and occasionally arrests the wrong person.

Police.AI, the body charged with pushing dystopian artificial intelligence across all 43 forces in England and Wales, comes with a seductive sales pitch from its frontman. Catch your suspect in minutes. Turn a weeks-long manhunt into a coffee break.

Alex Murray, National Crime Agency director and the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s first AI lead, wants facial recognition to do exactly that. The catch, and it is a fairly significant one, is that the technology keeps flagging innocent people.

Murray’s whole pitch is speed. “What took days, weeks, sometimes months can potentially take hours,” he said, describing AI tools that span CCTV analysis, searches of seized phones and the flagging of fake images.

He likes to point to a Bedfordshire fraud case where the software chewed through Romanian-language phone data from four suspects and produced guilty pleas. Notice the shape of the pattern, though. It is always a list of what the police get to do. The part where the rest of us get scanned, sorted and occasionally pulled off the street tends to fall off the slide.

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All The British Government Does Is Ask ‘Who Can We Tax to Give Benefits to Others’, Mandelson-Epstein Scandal Papers Reveal

A document dump released by the British government because of the Peter Mandelson-Jeffrey Epstein scandal has revealed extensive private conversations among top Labour figures, including one that reveals tunnel-vision obsession with tax raids to pay for endless welfare giveaways.

Internal messages from inside the British Labour government have once again revealed the remarkable perspicacity with which select top figures are able to assess and recognise their own shortcomings and articulate among themselves — when they believe they are speaking in private confidence — precisely what their critics observe in public. Among over 1,500 pages of government text messages and emails released as part of the long tail fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein emails released in the United States, which brought down the British ambassador Peter Mandelson, is a remarkable smoking gun of an exchange where a top Labour figure admits the only real driving force of the government is endless tax extraction to prop up the welfare state.

In a conversation between Peter Mandelson, during his time as ambassador, and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Pat McFadden, days after a punishing election defeat in May 2025, the pair discuss internal debates within the governing Labour Party. Reflecting on the mood, McFadden messaged Mandelson to say he had observed a “lot of manoeuvring here this week… Doesn’t feel good for Keir”.

Responding, Peter Mandelson, while he apparently enjoyed significant influence from Washington over the workings of the British government back home, led with criticism of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and said: “Keir is not leading from the front… does he even realise? The [Parliamentary Labour Party, I] gather is in mutinous state”. McFadden replied in turn: “Yes. Every meeting I have is ‘who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others’. They’re asking the wrong questions”.

This revelation of the state of the most senior Labour ministers by a consummate insider is politically radioactive for Labour, given it confirms some of the very most damaging accusations made about it by its political rivals; that its rapacious appetite for tax revenue to fund the welfare state is in part a result of open borders and government failures, while at the same time destroying the economy.

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