Politics latest: Tories a 'spent force', former Conservative donor John Caudwell says - but Labour 'business unfriendly' (2025)

Tonight's show has finished and we're pausing our live coverage.

We'll be back with more politics news tomorrow.

In the meantime, tap here to follow Politics At Sam And Anne's or here for Electoral Dysfunction, Sky News' politics podcasts.

We're closing tonight's show with a look at famous political fumbles - prompted by a slip up last night by JD Vance.

The US vice president dropped a trophy during a presentation outside the White House.

Embarrassing for him but an amusing moment for those of us watching on - which you can watch below:

Our focus on the Politics Hub now is on the bloody conflict in Sudan, the second anniversary of which has been marked with a conference in London.

The UK has announced a £120m aid package for Sudan, which will be used to support more than 650,000Sudanesepeople who have been caught up in a bloody conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)paramilitaries since 2023.

At the conference, which was attended by representatives from EU nations and the African Union, Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned that much of the world continues to look away.

He told the conference: "We cannot resign ourselves to inevitable conflict.

"Let's show them and the world that we have not given up on them... we have not given up on Sudan."

Next on the Politics Hub, we turn to the latest on the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Victims have been urged to take legal action against the government over compensation delays.

In an email to victims seen by Sky News, Post Office campaigner Sir Alan Bates - made famous by the TV drama about the scandal - suggested it would be November 2027 before all the claims are finished based on the current rate of progress.

He told them going to court was "probably the quickest way to ensure fairness for all".

For context: Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted for theft and false accounting after Fujitsu-made accounting software Horizon inaccurately generated financial shortfalls, making it appear money was missing from Post Offices across the UK.

Many other sub-postmasters were made bankrupt, suffered ill health and experienced relationship breakdowns as a result of the falsely generated shortfalls and how the Post Office, a state-owned company, responded.

Next, Caudwell is asked what he thinks about the prospect of a UK/US trade deal, following US vice president JD Vancesaying he believed there was a good chance of securing a deal.

Caudwell says it's "anybody's guess what's going to happen" as he labels the Trump administration "erratic" and prone to throwing "so many cannonballs into the equation".

However, he warns that any potential trade deal must not be allowed to deregulate food standards.

"American food... as we all know, their food chain is really rather poor, their food chains need improving dramatically. They've got antibiotics, pesticides, herbicides - you know, they've got everything in there. "

Asked whether he is worried the UK may surrender too much in a trade deal with the US, Caudwell replies: "I think Keir is playing quite a smart hand, actually.

"I think the way he went across and was sycophantic to Trump... I admire him for that, because I couldn't have done it.

"Trump's bristling with ego, and that's what you've got to do with him to try and win him over.

"But I think to be honest, there's no winning Trump over... you might get him for a short period of time until the next issue, and then the next issue could cause him to go wherever.

"So would I be hopeful of a trade deal with America? Yes, I'd be hopeful - but I'm not particularly positive that will happen."

Watch below: What happened when Trump met Starmer?

In our interview with John Caudwell, we now turn to the issue of British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, which has just received the raw materials needed to keep the last two blast furnaces running.

Last weekend, MPs passed a law that effectively brought the steelworks into effective government control after talks with the Chinese owner Jingye failed.

The plant's future has sparked a debate about the role of Chinese companies in UK industry, after Jingye faced accusations that it had deliberately tried to shut the blast furnaces by cancelling future orders of the raw materials needed to keep them operating.

Caudwell says the issues at Scunthorpe are less about "short termism" and more about free enterprise -and whether such free enterprise should permit foreign companies to buy UK assets.

He says: "I'm not keen on that, especially Chinese hands, because China is an aggressor, it lacks humanitarian values, it does try to undermine the West's economic structure, and so I think selling off our infrastructure to the Chinese is not a good idea.

"And of course in the case of steel - especially now where we are with Putin's invasion of Ukraine - we cannot afford not to have a steel industry, because we may have to go into really substantial armament production in the future."

Asked where he would "draw the line for Chinese involvement in British business", Caudwell says: "I think non-critical infrastructure is probably okay... but we don't want the Chinese or any other nation to overtake our infrastructure, especially that that might be critical to the future."

Watch below: Race to keep British Steel burning explained.

Ali Fortescue is now speaking to John Caudwell, the founder of Phones4u, who used to donate to the Conservatives but backed Labour at the election last year.

He's asked how he feels about Labour nine months into the government.

He says Labour is "doing some good stuff, which hasn't really shown through yet" but that he opposes the crackdown on the non-dom tax status - saying it makes the UK look "business unfriendly".

"We could have done something around the non-doms, but we didn't need to hit them the way that we have," he says.

"And when you couple that with the changes in various taxes, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, and so on, and then you add on the extra insurance costs there, it all makes us look a little bit business unfriendly, and rich people we know are leaving the UK. I know that without doubt."

'I was 100% Thatcherite'

Turning to the Tories, he says leader Kemi Badenoch has not yet said anything to "turn his head".

He adds: "I think the Tories unfortunately are a spent force and it is quite strange me saying that, since I was an absolute 100% Thatcherite and had so much respect for what she did within the UK economy and within the whole infrastructure of the UK during her tenure.

"I supported the Tories for 50 years and then I find myself switching to Labour for all the right reasons - it's a very strange, strange, almost surrealistic experience for me."

Ali Fortescue is back with the day's biggest political stories on today's episode of the Politics Hub.

Watch live via the stream at the top of this page, or follow the latest updates here.

We're pausing our coverage in the Politics Hub for a few hours.

But don't fret - we'll be back at 7pm for live coverage from the Politics Hub With Ali Fortescue.

Until then, you can scroll through the page to catch up on today.

Sir Ed Davey has said he doesn't think "there's any role" for China in the future of British Steel.

He said Chinese company Jingye had led an "unfriendly, hostile approach" to the UK's steel industry.

But he added that it would be "not serious" to suggest cutting Chinese companies out of the economy altogether.

Why is everybody talking about China?

As we've been hearing today, Westminster has been discussing how close Britain should be to China and, specifically, to Chinese companies in the future.

It follows the government taking over British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe from its Chinese owners, Jingye over the weekend.

Reform UK's Nigel Farage has directly accused the Chinese Communist Party of trying to damage Britain's steelmaking ability - and said today that any future Chinese involvement in Scunthorpe would be "truly dreadful".

Former MP Tobias Ellwood calls for China to be removed from infrastructure

Meanwhile, government ministers seem to have softened their approach. The Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he wouldn't "personally bring a Chinese company into our steel sector" on Sunday but seemed to backtrack today. You can read more on his comments here.

Sir Ed Davey: Jingye 'threatened' Britain's ability to make steel

Now, the Liberal Democrats have weighed in, throwing their weight behind opposing Chinese involvement in the steel industry.

The party leader said: "I think when it comes to steel, I don't think there's any role [for China].

"I'm afraid the way this Chinese company has behaved, potentially threatening the long-term viability of blast furnaces at Scunthorpe and Britain's ability to have a strategic ability to have an industry like steel - that was a real threat.

"It was an unfriendly, hostile approach", he added.

Davey said China has a "lot of investments in the UK" and believes there should be national security tests to ensure "they’re not going to threaten our strategic, long-term interests".

But he added: "I don't think we can pretend that China can be thrown out, that's not serious.

"We need to engage with the Chinese, but we need to do it from a practical, realistic way - not a naive way."