A teenage boy died in custody at Young Offenders’ Institute (YOI) Feltham in West London on 20 April. His girlfriend has told reporters after identifying his body that he had been “beaten to a pulp”. Feltham has been described at the most violent jail in the UK’s already dysfunctional prison system.

A death at Feltham Young Offenders Institute

The Canary was tipped off on 21 April. Feltham staff flatly refused to speak to us, but the Ministry of Justice confirmed the death that evening.

A Youth Custody Service spokesperson said:

We were saddened to hear of the death of a child from YOI Feltham, who died in hospital on Monday 20 April, and our thoughts are with their friends and family.

As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.

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Now more details of the death have emerged. The BBC reported on 22 April:

The London Ambulance Service (LAS) said it was called to the site just after 22:00 BST on Monday to reports of an “unwell child”. The boy was treated at the scene and taken to hospital “as a priority”, where he died.

The Met Police said it was notified of the death in the early hours of Tuesday by HMP Feltham staff. A Youth Custody Service spokesperson said the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman would investigate the death.

The Daily Mail reported that Scotland Yard detectives were treating the death as “unexpected”:

On Tuesday, April 21 at 12.05am, police were notified by staff at Feltham Prison and Young Offender Institute about the death of a boy who had been found unresponsive and later died in hospital.

The London Ambulance Service were called at around 9.30pm on Monday, April 20 and treated the boy, aged 16, before taking him to hospital. He sadly died at 11.43pm.

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The Mail also said the individual’s girlfriend, who was not named, had identified his body. They quoted her at length:

His body had been beaten to a pulp, he was covered in scuff marks and bruises.

‘We had to look at him through a glass window, we weren’t allowed to say goodbye properly.

‘We are so confused. We don’t know how he died. He did have a heart condition but it is one that is very rare to die from.

He was a child

She continued:

His mother is completely broken. She was originally told he had died in the prison but then later that it was in hospital so we just don’t know what happened.

He had been in trouble, but he was 16, a child, and should have been protected. He had his whole life ahead of him and planned to go back to college but now he can’t.

It is a complete disgrace that this happened.

Before the story was picked up by legacy media, a source familiar with the matter told the Canary on 21 April:

He had a known heart condition and the other boys are saying he was calling for help (pressing cell alarm) for 45 minutes with no response.

The source said:

All the boys are heartbroken and they have no proper psychological support in there.

According to the BBC and Mail, and as confirmed by the MOJ to the Canary, a post mortem will be carried out in due course.

The MOJ also told us that in cases of this type involving a minor, names are not usually disclosed:

In terms of next steps, as with all deaths in custody the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will carry out an independent investigation. It is sometimes the case that a name may be published later, for example by the PPO on their website and in their report, or through formal processes led by the coroner.

Adding:

The police and coroner will also oversee the post-mortem and any inquest, which is typically when further details may enter the public domain.

Feltham was described by HM Prisons Inspectorate in 2024 as:

the most violent prison in the country.

The report claimed conditions at the youth jail, which houses offenders aged between 16 and 18, had:

deteriorated significantly since its last inspection, and was characterised by rising self-harm and very high levels of violence.

No child should die in prison

Inquest is an organisation which supports bereaved families following deaths involving the state – including cases like the Grenfell Tower fire and the Hillsborough football disaster. Inquest’s director Deborah Coles told the Canary on 22 April:

No child should be dying in the care of the state, let alone a prison. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Coles described some of the shortcomings her organisation had seen:

Away from their families and support systems, locked in their cells for most of the day, with high rates of violence and self-harm, and prison guards now allowed to use PAVA spray, it is clear that imprisoning children will always be harmful and never be safe. This death is a urgent reminder of this.

Adding:

The government must divest money away from punishment and prisons and into community based support services to prevent further death and harm.”

The Canary will bring you more details as they emerge.

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By Joe Glenton

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Iran’s state news agency Tasnim has published a map of the undersea cables running through the Strait of Hormuz in an evident warning to the US, Israel, and their enablers of the consequences of continued aggression. Because of the West’s block on access to the site, it can only be accessed via VPN.

Iran is not having it

In a new article carrying a thinly-veiled threat of retaliatory pain, the Iran-based outlet writes:

The concentration of a large number of internet cables in a narrow passage has made the Strait of Hormuz a vulnerable point for the region’s digital economy.

The point wasn’t lost on observers:

Seven major cable systems pass through the Hormuz Strait, including AAE-1, FALCON, TGN-Gulf, ,SEA-ME-WE and Gulf Bridge International. As an example of the scale of disruption any damage to these cables could cause, countries that use AAE-1 include France, Italy, Greece, India, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar.

The ‘FALCON’ (FLAG Alcatel-Lucent Optical Network) cable system crosses several seas and oceans, including the Atlantic, but the Hormuz stretch connects Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, India and other countries. Tasnim’s article specifically name-checked US enablers in the region – Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Around 30% of global internet traffic passes through these cables, with the shallow depth and narrowness of the Strait leaving them clustered and vulnerable. Iran’s ability to flex on countries collaborating with the US-Israel axis is clearly not limited to oil.

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By Skwawkbox

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Manchester City may be top again, but their narrow win at Burnley has cracked the title race wide open and Arsenal will feel the door has been nudged back in their favour.

The Premier League run‑in has entered its most volatile phase and if Wednesday night at Turf Moor proved anything, it’s that neither Manchester City nor Arsenal are sprinting cleanly toward the finish. City’s 1–0 win over relegated Burnley put them back on top, but the performance was jittery, wasteful, and strangely flat. It has given Arsenal fresh encouragement at a moment when momentum matters more than mathematics.

Manchester City are top, but far from convincing

Pep Guardiola’s side were expected to steamroll Burnley after their strong win over Arsenal at the Etihad days earlier. Instead, they scored early through Erling Haaland and then laboured, failing to kill the game and inviting pressure from a team already condemned to the drop. Gary Neville called it “the best win Arsenal could have hoped for,” arguing that City will “drop points” if they continue to play with such fragility.

City now lead Arsenal only on goals scored, three more than the Gunners with the sides level on points and goal difference. That statistical deadlock underscores how thin the margins have become. Arsenal will play twice before City next return to Premier league action, meaning the table could tilt again before Guardiola’s side even kick another ball.

Haaland, visibly irritated post‑match, dismissed concerns about goal difference, insisting “1–0 is amazing.” But the unease around City’s inability to put Burnley away lingers.  Sky Sports

Arsenal’s opportunity and their burden

Arsenal’s path is deceptively simple, win and keep winning, but the psychological strain is beginning to show. Back‑to‑back defeats to Bournemouth and City earlier this month shifted the emotional balance of the race, replacing Arsenal’s early‑season swagger with a creeping tension.

Gary Neville believes the Emirates crowd itself has become a factor, “extremely nervous” during the Bournemouth loss and warns that fixtures like Newcastle could expose those nerves again. Arsenal’s challenge, he argues, is as much internal as tactical:

They are so close to the finish line that for a moment they imagine they’ve already won.

Yet this is also a team that has repeatedly responded to setbacks. They will play Newcastle next, with the chance to restore a three‑point cushion and reassert control. The question is whether they can do it without tightening up under the weight of expectation.

Manchester City — Pep is in his element

One of the more striking analyses comes from sports psychologist Phil Johnson, who likened Guardiola to a “queen bee” whose emotional connection keeps City’s hive functioning under pressure. That cohesion, he argues, is what allows City to grind out wins even when they’re imperfect, a quality Arsenal have not yet mastered.  Yahoo Sports

City’s experience of title after title, run‑in after run‑in, remains their greatest weapon. Arsenal’s inexperience remains their greatest threat.

The run‑in, a race defined by flaws

Both teams are imperfect. Manchester City lack their usual ruthlessness; Arsenal lack emotional control. That’s what makes this title race compelling: it will be won not by the flawless, but by the side that manages its flaws best.

City are currently top, but unconvincing. Arsenal are chasing, but energised. With five games left, the only certainty is that the next twist is coming, but it may not favour the team currently in first place.

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By Faz Ali

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An independent review has confirmed that a school did nothing wrong when it postponed the visit of a pro-Israel MP (a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel no less!). So as we said at the time, it seems it absolutely was just a non-story that cynical actors were stirring up to create a useful scandal.

The pro-Israel MP and the cynical ‘scandal’

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed over 20,000 children. But our pro–Israel political elites apparently think it’s a good idea for Israel lobbyists to enter our schools. And they don’t want pesky parents, teachers, or students to have any say about that.

That’s why, when ordinary people questioned pro-Israel lobbyist and MP Damien Egan coming into a Bristol school, cynical political actors kicked up a fuss.

The school had postponed Egan’s visit because there were plans for a local protest against the high-profile member of the “opaquely funded” Labour Friends of Israel. And as the independent review confirmed, its decision to postpone over “safeguarding concerns” was entirely justifiable and legitimate.

Cynical right-wing agitators – Jewish and non-Jewish alike – at the time suggested the postponement was because Egan was a convert to Judaism. It wasn’t. And the fact that the school rescheduled his visit soon after proved its decision was not political or discriminatory.

What the media SHOULD be focusing on…

The problem is that the corporate media was, and is, awful. It fuels the highly problematic conflation of Judaism as a religion and Israel as a brutal settler-colonial apartheid state. And it did this even when reporting on the review saying there was nothing wrong with the school’s actions. For example, outlets ran with the headlines:

• Inquiry clears Bristol school of antisemitism for postponing Jewish MP’s visit
• School cleared of antisemitism after cancelling Jewish MP visit
• Bristol school cleared of antisemitism after postponing visit from Jewish MP Damien Egan

Although it’s completely irrelevant, especially considering what the inquiry itself confirmed, outlets placed focus on “Jewish MP”. There was no hint in these headlines that he’s a pro-Israel lobbyist. That’s despite it being a very relevant piece of information, as the whole postponement surrounded public resistance to his political positions.

It would be amazing if the mainstream media actually:

• Placed appropriate emphasis on exactly who Egan is and the politics he represents.
• Highlighted the current Labour government’s million-pound outsourcing of ‘antisemitism education’ to pro-Israel lobbyist (and former Labour Friend of Israel) Natascha Engel.
• Stressed that schools have been censoring solidarity with Palestine during Israel’s mass murder and destruction campaign in Gaza.
• There have been hundreds of incidents of UK institutions and pro-Israel groups targeting teachers and students with censorship in a systematic attempt to “dismantle solidarity” with Palestinians.
• Schools already have enough problems due to years of underfunding and backdoor privatisation. They don’t have time or resources to be dealing with cynical political games too.

This whole fiasco should be a lesson to us all. But it’s not one the corporate media is likely to learn (or want to learn).

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By Ed Sykes

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Labour looks set to take massive losses across London in the 2026 local elections, with the Greens in particular set to benefit from the demise. However, predicted results are currently too close to call across a remarkable number of boroughs.

That’s according to YouGov’s first-ever multilevel regression with poststratification (MRP) model for the London locals. The news follows hot on the heels of the pollster’s latest predictions for the Welsh Senedd elections, which likewise show historic Labour losses.

It’s really not looking good for Starmer here, is it, folks? Our hearts bleed, they truly do.

Vote-share upsets in London

Let’s start with the vote-share projections for London as a whole. Compared to the last council elections in 2022, Labour, of course show the biggest predicted drop – down 16 points to just 26%. The Tories, meanwhile, look set to take a nine-point dive to 17% total.

Next to those massive losses, the Greens and Reform look set to make the biggest gains. YouGov predicts that the Greens could land 22% of the vote share across the city. For their part, Reform could see a 14-point increase, netting it… 14%.

However, the number of votes each party receives is only half the story. Where exactly those votes come from is, of course, just as crucial.

You’ve only got to take a glance at YouGov’s vote share projection chart to see how close the race may be. It’s got more stripes than a seaside rock shop:

YouGov's London council election MRP forecasts breakthrough for the Greens and Reform UK in the capital, but with close races in many boroughs

# of boroughs where party has highest vote share, central projection
Lab: 15 (-6 from 2022)
Con: 5 (-1)
Grn: 4 (+4)
LD: 4 (+1)
Ref: 3… pic.twitter.com/3ofLUWp3LR

— YouGov (@YouGov) April 22, 2026

Too close to call

The data were drawn from over 4,500 London adults between 27 March and 21 April. YouGov stated that many of the boroughs look so close that it’s unwilling to project wins and losses for specific seats. Instead, it is:

focussing on support for the parties. Owing to the first past the post voting system, this does not guarantee a party will win outright control of a borough, or even the most seats, as happened in Bexley at the 2002 elections and Havering in 2022.

London has 32 boroughs up for grabs. According to the central vote share projections, the second-placed party is less than 2% behind the leader in 10 of those boroughs. Allowing for a 5% difference, 16 boroughs are too close to call, rising to 25 boroughs at 10%.

More to the point, 12 of the boroughs with a 5% difference between first and second place are split between the Greens and Labour. As such, many of Labour’s historic heartlands could ditch Starmer’s party for the left-wing alternative. 

Even Labour’s London mayor, Sadiq Khan, warned the PM as much. As Khan put it, Labour was “in danger of being stonked” in the capital on May 7. He also called out Starmer’s apparent obsession with aping the far right:

I’m slightly nervous with this ‘hero voter’ strategy, this understandable obsession to chase the Reform voter. This could lead to progressive voters feeling, wrongly, the Labour Party isn’t for them.

We’d contest the ‘wrongly’ bit, what with all the recent highly public immigrant-bashing. 

Best case/worst case

Unfortunately, it’s a bit early to call the exact magnitude of Labour’s London losses just yet. The close-run nature of this election means that there are massive margins for error in YouGov’s model.

For instance, Labour could feasibly lead in just 7 boroughs in its worst-case scenario. Conversely, that number could hit 19 at the upper-bounds of the projection. Meanwhile, the upper-end estimate could see the Greens win 8 boroughs, and Reform take as many as 5.

Even the smaller local independents could lead in 3 different councils, with YouGov explaining that:

Lutfur Rahman’s Aspire party is forecast to, once again, come first in Tower Hamlets, having become the first party other than the Conservatives, Labour or Lib Dems to win a London borough outright at the 2022 elections. We also expect the Havering Residents Association to again do well in their patch, but to come under a strong challenge from Reform UK.

Of course, from a Canary perspective, we strongly dislike the amount of Reform teal we’re seeing on the London projections. Our friends in the capital, for all their faults, deserve better than a bunch of racist, lying, racist, incompetent, racist, lazy racists to represent them.

Yes, that was too many ‘racists’. Given that we needed the extra space to add receipts, we put it to you that this is a Reform problem, rather than a Canary problem.

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By Alex/Rose Cocker

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A peaceful protester was stabbed outside Downing Street during a demonstration against the US and Israel’s illegal war against Iran, attended by Iranian activists on opposing sides.

Two men, who were taking part in an anti-Iranian counter demonstration, stabbed Mohammed Reza, a British-Iranian and father of two.

Paramedics took Reza to the hospital for treatment, but the extent of his injuries is unclear. Images circulating on social media show very visible stab wounds to Reza’s stomach. Police have since arrested the attackers.

Only recently, a video went viral on social media showing similar pro-monarchy protestors swearing at Reza, whilst he walked to the station with his children.

The stabbing occurred after counter-protestors threatened the main protest with physical violence in full view of the police.

According to Hands Off Iran Coalition:

Eye-witnesses report that the police seem to have paid little attention to keeping the counter-protestors away from the main demonstration, organised by the

This is despite the fact that police are aware that pro-monarchist anti-Iran protestors have a history of trouble and violence.

In recent weeks, they have also targeted mosques, centres and individuals that have shown support for Iran. This includes throwing Molotov cocktails at the Islamic Centre of England in London.

One rule for them

Over the last couple of years, the British Government has imposed increasingly harsher restrictions on anti-genocide protesters in the UK. From the proscription of Palestine Action and the Home Secretary banning the annual Al Quds Day march in London, to the introduction of the Crime and Policing Bill — it has become clear that the Israel lobby has more influence than ever on British politics and policing.

But now, a pro-Israel, pro-Iranian monarchist has stabbed a peaceful protester in broad daylight. Importantly, this only highlights how extra restrictions and curtailed protest rights are completely one-sided.

The Government claimed the changes would ‘protect the public’, yet it was well aware of the violent history of the counter-protesters, and did nothing. Meanwhile, the police continuously arrest and harass anti-genocide protesters, who have no violent history, simply for opposing mass murder and ethnic cleansing.

Two-tier policing is well and truly alive.

Feature image via the Canary

By HG

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A newly uncovered text from Keir Starmer congratulating Peter Mandelson on his now-defunct ambassadorial title, indicates to onlookers just how close the men were — if anyone was still in doubt:

NEW: Keir Starmer messaged Peter Mandelson the night before he announced him as US Ambassador

“You’ll be brilliant in challenging circumstances. And after many years of our discussions, we get to work together side by side. I really look forward to that”

[@ShippersUnbound]

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— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) April 23, 2026

Lest we forget, Mandelson maintained a friendship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. He also resigned in disgrace from government twice. As such, any relationship with the man should be seen as unacceptable for a serious politician.

“Brilliant in challenging circumstances”

The revealed text shows that Mandelson wasn’t simply an associate of Starmer — he was a close confidant of “many years.”

Ed Balls: "Mandelson wants you to believe he's advising the party. Whether he actually is I'm not so sure"pic.twitter.com/2OOhSD5AUk

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 23, 2026

Tim Shipman revealed the text in the Spectator. The piece shows Starmer is far from the only bigwig accused of harbouring an unhealthy fondness for Mandelson:

Those familiar with the cache of documents being prepared fear the most embarrassing will never see the light of day, like the one in which Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Prime Minister, sent Mandelson what is described as a ‘warm’ missive on the day he was sacked.

Here’s a video of Darren Jones defending the vetting failures of his government:

So we're being asked to believe that Starmer announced the appointment of Mandelson before the security vetting had been completed and didn't then enquire about the vetting at any point subsequently, and according to Darren Jones this means due process was followed at all times pic.twitter.com/WckCGE8rbC

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 17, 2026

Regarding those failures, Starmer has been trying to pass the buck on to civil servant Olly Robbins, who he sacked.

This is all going incredibly poorly, with many arguing that Starmer misled Parliament on 22 April in his attempts to blame Robbins:

Struggling to see how Starmer’s claim today at Prime Minister’s Questions that “no pressure existed whatsoever” in relation to the Mandelson vetting is compatible with Sir Olly Robbins’ evidence to Parliament. pic.twitter.com/R2wqeoHqxv

— Matthew Stadlen (@MatthewStadlen) April 22, 2026

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Starmer has sacked others too, or forced them to resign, such as:

• Peter Mandelson himself
• Chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
• Comms chief Tim Allan

This is what Starmer said in the 2020 leadership election, when he wanted to appeal to left-wing Labour members (emphasis added):

I had 8,000 staff for five years as the director of public prosecutions.

I acted, I hope, in the right way with them. When they had victories, I celebrated on their behalf. I picked up awards on their behalves. When they made mistakes, I carried the can.

I never turned on my staff. You should never turn on your staff!

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As the Spectator note, PM Starmer hasn’t exactly “turned” on his staff; it’s more like he’s fed them into the woodchipper:

In 22 months, the PM is now on his third chief of staff, third cabinet secretary and fifth director of communications. ‘The body count outstrips anyone since Thatcher,’ a former official notes. ‘Boris talked a lot about firing people but he was all mouth and no trousers.’ Even Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s former chief of staff, who carried the can for the appointment, told a friend recently: ‘I always knew Keir would throw me overboard in the end.’

Starmer’s boringness fooled many into thinking he’s a rational and sensible man. At this point, though, there is no degree of tedium that can obscure the chaos he’s overseen in government.

Dysfunction

The Spectator piece noted that Starmer has completely torched his government’s relationship with the civil service:

A former official says: ‘Senior leaders who have been there under several prime ministers say it is worse than it was, even under the worst of Boris. People are furious at how the Prime Minister has treated Olly.’

Another Westminster veteran says: ‘I hope this will finally kill the absurd “Keir Starmer is a decent man” narrative. He’s a shitweasel whose sole political talent is blaming others for his own failings.’

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This level of government dysfunction isn’t sustainable — not when the country has problems to deal with beyond those caused by Keir Starmer.

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore

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Workers’ Memorial Day takes place around the world on 28 April. The event remembers those who’ve died either directly or indirectly because of their work. And it’s an opportunity to call for better working conditions and practices. The movement’s slogan is:

Remember the dead – and fight like hell for the living!

Trade unionists and supporters in Waltham Forest will gather to mark Workers’ Memorial Day with a rally. It’s at 12pm on Tuesday 28 April in Fellowship Square outside Walthamstow Town Hall / Assembly Rooms, Forest Rd, E17.

Speakers will include:

• Kevin Parslow, secretary of Waltham Forest Trades Council.
• Annabelle Stanford, Unison Waltham Forest.
• Katie Hinds, NEU.
• Invited speaker, Unite bus workers.
• Rada Daniell, Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
• Sam Mason, climate activist.
• Mick Holder, NUJ and Hazards Campaign.

Parslow said:

Behind the official statistics it is calculated that in reality in the UK 182 people die every day because of their work. That is more than seven every hour. The greater proportion of these people die from diseases and ill health caused by their work.

The International Trade Union Confederation says globally work kills more people than war. It is acknowledged that the greater majority of this is predictable and preventable if employers took greater steps to manage their work safely. It is also acknowledged that where there are trade union health and safety reps looking out for their fellow workers the likelihood of injury or ill-health is greatly reduced.

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We will gather on Workers’ Memorial Day to remember those killed working in Waltham Forest and to hear of the issues faced by workers daily, then, following a respectful minute’s silence, we will again re-commit to remembering the dead and fighting for the living!

Events will happen around the country and around the world.

This year the Waltham Forest rally will focus on trade union disputes in east London which have worker health and safety at their core. Teachers at some local schools have been striking over workloads, hours of work and heavy handed management style. And bus workers have been striking over driver fatigue and work patterns.

Attendees will remember those killed working in Waltham Forest, such as Ekarmanjeet Singh (25), a construction worker killed when a roof collapsed at a house being renovated in Pevensey Rd, Leytonstone in December 2023.

They will remember Jorge Ortega, the RMT member who was murdered whilst working at Ilford Station in December 2024.

Workers’ Memorial Day also calls for action

The rally will also remember the many thousands killed by asbestos and call for a plan to remove all asbestos from our public buildings and elsewhere to ensure an end to the horrific diseases and deaths from this killer dust in the future.

It will call for the damage done by previous governments to the agencies which are meant to protect workers and the environment – the Health & Safety Executive and the Environment Agency – to be stopped and reversed so as to ensure everyone at work is safe and healthy.

Trade unionists will again call for stronger and quicker action against the causes and effects of climate change.

And they will mark the effect of the destruction done by war, notably the asbestos risk from bombed buildings and the chemicals from those bombs, and its effect on those living now and long into the future.

The rally will call for protections that will ensure the safety of future technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

It will speak about the global nature of all of these issues and how Workers’ Memorial Day is a global event. And it will reflect the ITUC theme for this year’s even – the psychosocial risks of work.

And the rally will recognise the role trade unions and trade union health and safety representatives play in preventing damage to the health and safety of their fellow workers – saying safety reps save lives!

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By The Canary

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Lord Robertson, a Labour peer, is lobbying for bigger defence spending for the second week running. The Guardian reported Robertson’s comments at a thinktank event, but did not disclose his decades-long links to the war lobby.

Robertson’s speech at Chatham House

Robertson spoke at a Chatham House event on 22 April. Chatham House is one of the UK’s top establishment thinktanks. The event meant to examine:

the future of UK–US relations in the era of Trump 2.0.

Robertson is an ex-NATO chief, Blair-era defence minister and co-author of the last Strategic Defence Review (SDR). The SDR sets the direction of British foreign policy. On 17 April, the Canary reported on Robertson and the other SDR co-authors attacking UK PM Keir Starmer over a lack of military spending. In particular, we focused on those critics known links to defence firms and consultancies.

The Guardian said of the Chatham House event:

Robertson emphasised that [President] Trump did not represent the full spectrum of American opinion, but he said the UK needed to accept that the president’s behaviour was also reflective of longer-term changes in US foreign policy and act accordingly.

The paper quoted Robertson as saying:

“It’s clear that our high level of military dependence on the US is no longer tenable” … and it was a “naive belief” that the White House would always be on hand to help the UK out in times of conflict. Such an approach had led to the “diminishment of our own capability” militarily, he added.

But you have to wait until paragraph eleven (!) to see what Robertson is actually angling for:

He said the UK “must rapidly pivot to becoming a more autonomous military actor”, working closely with European allies against Russia, and demonstrate progress to lifting defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035 in line with a NATO target, while recognising that the US was becoming more transactional. [Emphasis added.]

At no point in the article are Robertson’s publicly available links to the war industry mentioned. Guess we’ll just do the Guardian‘s job for them then…

Hidden links to the arms trade

The Cohen Group defence consultancy website describes Robertson’s role with them as a senior counsellor. What’s more:

He joined The Cohen Group as a Senior Counselor in April 2004, advising and assisting our clients globally.

For the benefit of legacy media journalists, April 2004 is 8,028 days ago. That’s well over 20 years working for a heavyweight defence consultancy firm. That seems like a relevant detail here.

The Cohen Group even brag on their website about brokering big deals between a US war firm and an unnamed European country:

A leading US-based global aerospace and defense firm approached The Cohen Group (TCG) for assistance in competing for a multi-billion contract in Europe.

It is not clear if Robertson was involved in that deal – though clearly an ex-NATO chief would have been be useful to have around.

But there’s more…

Remunerated advisor for various private interests

Robertson’s registered interests as a peer indicate he has had “remunerated employment” with (been paid by) various other firms. This includes his role as a:

Senior Adviser on geo-political and geo-strategic issues to 5654 & Company (consultancy founded to help companies act to earn reputation) (suspended 16 July 2024).

The Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists says 5654 & Co worked with arms firms Raytheon and Melrose PLC between January and March 2023.

The register also says Robertson has “shareholdings” with Weir Group PLC – an engineering firm with major global mining interests in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. Robertson is also reportedly an advisor to British Petroleum (BP).

And credit where it is due to Labour Right Watch for their spot. Turns out the Financial Times also omitted some important details:

Lord Robertson is also a paid adviser to UK lobby firm 5654 & Co who just last year represented arms firm Melrose, and in 2022-23 represented Raytheon.https://t.co/hRO903efUb pic.twitter.com/Ggz1BGPdkf

— Labour Right Watch (@LabourRightWtch) April 15, 2026

Correcting legacy media

Far too much of our work is correcting the legacy media for their misreporting and/or omissions.

Robertson has repeatedly been framed as an experienced voice raising expert concerns about Britain’s security. Perhaps concern is what drives him… But the fact he has been entangled with defence interests for decades has to be reported too.

Any journalist worth their salt owes their readers that, at the very least, so those readers can make informed judgements about where their vote goes, what they protest and what they endorse.

Featured image via Chatham House

By Joe Glenton

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Fertilizer prices globally are rising since the war on Iran and “are poised to surge even higher,” potentially taking “months and months” to normalize even after the Strait of Hormuz reopens.

One third of global fertilizer trade – along with 35 per cent of crude oil and a fifth of liquified natural gas – passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Many countries affected

India, the world’s top urea importer, is now paying $935 to $959 per ton, up nearly 90% from the $490 pre-war price, India’s Economic Times reported.

The UN said that planting season would end in May for most countries in Africa, making the loss of fertilizer at this time “significant and severe.” The disruption of the Strait of Hormuz could push 45 million more people into hunger and starvation, according to the UN’s World Food Program:

The planting season has already started, and in most countries in Africa it will end in May. So, if we don’t get some solution immediately, the crisis will be very significant and severe, particularly for the poorest countries and for the poorest citizens.

The UN said some of the most fertilizer-dependent countries were already highly vulnerable due to previous shocks, including Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Kenya, and Sri Lanka.

Advice to UK farmers

It is not just Asia and Africa. Even in the UK, advice is being given out to use fertilizer more efficiently. Farmers Guide reported that:

the most profitable strategy is usually about using nitrogen more efficiently, rather than applying more of it.

In the USA too, Responsible Statecraft noted that “Trump risks war backlash from the heartland: American farmers,” with fertilizer costs up.

The FT has reported similar findings, saying:

Across the US, farmers are reeling from a huge surge in the price of crop nutrients triggered by the Iran war — at a time when the economics of farming were already under pressure

This was an ill-thought-out war by Trump and his allies in Israel and the UK. The severe and dire consequences will hit their own voters, too.

By The Canary

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