Andy Wigmore retweeted
We shouldn’t boycott our own Commonwealth Conference. That’s a coward’s way out of this argument.
We are the lead country in this powerful group, and it would be far better, and far more British, to take on the left wing governments peddling their tired old talking points face to face. We must show global leadership, not fear.
A proper reading of history is important, and if we have to read it to their faces, we will.
We are the lead country in this powerful group, and it would be far better, and far more British, to take on the left wing governments peddling their tired old talking points face to face. We must show global leadership, not fear.
A proper reading of history is important, and if we have to read it to their faces, we will.
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Not a happy king fyi
King to address slavery with 'unflinching honesty' after new Burnham stance on apology, as @chrisshipitv reports
itv.com/news/2026-10-3…
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Andy Wigmore retweeted
A steel band warms up as they prepare to welcome the King and Queen at an Anglican church here in St John’s, Antigua
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Andy Wigmore retweeted
Andy Burnham says, in a new Guardian opinion piece, that he is “open to” the “calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state” for the transatlantic slave trade which began almost HALF A MILLENNIUM ago.
This would be like someone in the year 2526 having to apologise for heinous acts conducted today. It is ridiculous.
It goes without saying that the transatlantic slave trade was an awful part of global history. But it is also a part of history for which we have already atoned, multiple times over, as one of the world’s pioneers in abolishing the slave trade and indeed policing, through our West Africa Squadron and others – an endeavour that cost up to 2% of Britain’s GDP every year for decades to come.
Now think about all the aid money we have supplied across the world since. Billions upon billions. And lest we forget the lives Britain has put on the line over the centuries since: our own people, who sacrificed everything, to keep the free world free.
This is a time of year we remember those sacrifices instead of grovelling to anyone who demands it over something of which no Briton alive played any part.
Yet Burnham is still “open” to making humiliating public pronouncements on Britain’s behalf. I say no. I say enough.
One of the biggest problems we face today is that we are no longer a forward-looking nation. We only ever seem to lament our past, or condemn those who came before us. I cannot abide it any longer. Britain is exceptional. We are a moral force in the world. We have given so much, and sacrificed for centuries.
It is now time to put the Britsh people first, instead of caving to every demand that we get on our knees.
This would be like someone in the year 2526 having to apologise for heinous acts conducted today. It is ridiculous.
It goes without saying that the transatlantic slave trade was an awful part of global history. But it is also a part of history for which we have already atoned, multiple times over, as one of the world’s pioneers in abolishing the slave trade and indeed policing, through our West Africa Squadron and others – an endeavour that cost up to 2% of Britain’s GDP every year for decades to come.
Now think about all the aid money we have supplied across the world since. Billions upon billions. And lest we forget the lives Britain has put on the line over the centuries since: our own people, who sacrificed everything, to keep the free world free.
This is a time of year we remember those sacrifices instead of grovelling to anyone who demands it over something of which no Briton alive played any part.
Yet Burnham is still “open” to making humiliating public pronouncements on Britain’s behalf. I say no. I say enough.
One of the biggest problems we face today is that we are no longer a forward-looking nation. We only ever seem to lament our past, or condemn those who came before us. I cannot abide it any longer. Britain is exceptional. We are a moral force in the world. We have given so much, and sacrificed for centuries.
It is now time to put the Britsh people first, instead of caving to every demand that we get on our knees.
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Watching a lot of cross faces amongst ‘officials’ here in Antigua…. I suspect a few other nations may follow @KemiBadenoch on this…..
Andy Burnham risks putting "pressure" on the King with latest comments about the UK potentially apologising for slavery, Kemi Badenoch tells Fraser Nelson.
Speaking on Sky News, the Tory leader says Burnham "has been putting his foot in his mouth since he became prime minister".
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Andy Wigmore retweeted
When will the demands stop?
Everyone knows the transatlantic slave trade was wrong. Britain played a huge role in stopping it.
So when it comes to the question of reparations, my answer is no.
It’s time for the Commonwealth to start looking forwards, not backwards.
Everyone knows the transatlantic slave trade was wrong. Britain played a huge role in stopping it.
So when it comes to the question of reparations, my answer is no.
It’s time for the Commonwealth to start looking forwards, not backwards.
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Difficult to argue with @KemiBadenoch position on this…. I’m in Antigua for CHOGM and I can tell you the reparations issue is NOT widely felt my many of the 56 member nations - there is deep annoyance this is distracting from a more positive future for the Commonwealth and it’s purpose. @commonwealthsec
“I want [the Commonwealth] to become more serious”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says she wants the Commonwealth to be an organisation that “promotes the Anglosphere” and that Britain shouldn’t issue a formal apology for the slave trade
#BBCLauraK
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…
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We cannot reach our destination if we do not start the journey.
Barbados will meet this opening for dialogue with purpose. We will carry our history to the table, speak plainly and respectfully about our differences with the United Kingdom on reparations and pursue agreements
Guided by CARICOM’s Ten Point Plan, we seek an apology, investment in health and education, and fairer debt terms for vulnerable states.
Our children must inherit more than the consequences of the past. They must inherit the progress we have the courage to make.
Barbados will meet this opening for dialogue with purpose. We will carry our history to the table, speak plainly and respectfully about our differences with the United Kingdom on reparations and pursue agreements
Guided by CARICOM’s Ten Point Plan, we seek an apology, investment in health and education, and fairer debt terms for vulnerable states.
Our children must inherit more than the consequences of the past. They must inherit the progress we have the courage to make.
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@Benemy1990 @andywigmore @miaamormottley You wouldn't say this in person only behind the safety of your anonymous account
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British taxpayers today have zero responsibility for things that happened generations before any of us were born.
I’ve got even less patience for political elites in Commonwealth countries who can’t make their own people prosperous and are now hunting for another excuse to blame Britain.
Enough. Look forward or shut up.
I’ve got even less patience for political elites in Commonwealth countries who can’t make their own people prosperous and are now hunting for another excuse to blame Britain.
Enough. Look forward or shut up.
STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIR OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY,
THE HON. PHILIP J. PIERRE, PRIME MINISTER OF SAINT LUCIA |
REPARATORY JUSTICE
The Caribbean Community has taken careful note of the remarks published by the Right Honourable Andy Burnham MP, Prime Minister of the United ole in the transatlantic trafficking and chattel enslavement of African bodies ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which opens in Antigua and Barbuda on Sunday.
Let me begin by recognising what is new.
Prime Minister Burnham has expressed personal sorrow and regret for the suffering caused by slavery and its continuing effects on the world today. He has said that he is open to a formal apology on behalf of the British state, and he has offered a structured dialogue with those affected. No British Prime Minister has gone this far before. It would be wrong of us not to say so, and we welcome it in the spirit in which it appears to be offered. For more than a decade, this Community has asked for exactly such a dialogue.
We are ready to engage.
But friendship requires candour, and so I must be equally clear about where we differ.
The Caribbean Community does not accept that reparations are "not the right answer". Nor do we accept the argument that responsibility falls away because the people of Britain today played no personal part in these crimes. Reparatory justice has never been about individual guilt. It is about the responsibility of states and institutions — and that responsibility does not expire with the passing of generations. We do believe that the successive generations continue to be the beneficiaries, materially, socially and psychologically of that crime of racialised chattel enslavement.
Read the Chair's complete Statement here:
caricom.org/statement-from…
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This endless navel-gazing over the past is a complete distraction. The Commonwealth needs to look forward, not backwards. That means real economic partnerships that make all of us richer, and proper military and security cooperation against shared threats.
If every summit just turns into a queue of demands for British cash, we have to ask whether the whole exercise is still worth it. Time to get serious. #CHOGM26
If every summit just turns into a queue of demands for British cash, we have to ask whether the whole exercise is still worth it. Time to get serious. #CHOGM26
STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIR OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY,
THE HON. PHILIP J. PIERRE, PRIME MINISTER OF SAINT LUCIA |
REPARATORY JUSTICE
The Caribbean Community has taken careful note of the remarks published by the Right Honourable Andy Burnham MP, Prime Minister of the United ole in the transatlantic trafficking and chattel enslavement of African bodies ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which opens in Antigua and Barbuda on Sunday.
Let me begin by recognising what is new.
Prime Minister Burnham has expressed personal sorrow and regret for the suffering caused by slavery and its continuing effects on the world today. He has said that he is open to a formal apology on behalf of the British state, and he has offered a structured dialogue with those affected. No British Prime Minister has gone this far before. It would be wrong of us not to say so, and we welcome it in the spirit in which it appears to be offered. For more than a decade, this Community has asked for exactly such a dialogue.
We are ready to engage.
But friendship requires candour, and so I must be equally clear about where we differ.
The Caribbean Community does not accept that reparations are "not the right answer". Nor do we accept the argument that responsibility falls away because the people of Britain today played no personal part in these crimes. Reparatory justice has never been about individual guilt. It is about the responsibility of states and institutions — and that responsibility does not expire with the passing of generations. We do believe that the successive generations continue to be the beneficiaries, materially, socially and psychologically of that crime of racialised chattel enslavement.
Read the Chair's complete Statement here:
caricom.org/statement-from…
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I’ve cancelled my @Telegraph subscription - go woke go broke….. wishing you all the best @LiamHalligan
I was hoping to be able to announce this in my own time – but the media rumour mill is swirling, I'm being contacted by various reporters and others, and I don't like denying the truth, so ...
I wrote my first "Economic Agenda" column in The Sunday Telegraph 27 years ago, under ic Lawson – filling-in occasionally during the late-1990s, before being given my own weekly slot from 2003.
Since then, while I've been heavily involved in television, and am perhaps better known as a broadcaster, penning "Economic Agenda" for The Sunday Telegraph each week has been the backbone of my journalistic life.
On Thursday, the @Telegraph rang to tell me my column is being scrapped.
I was asked, and have agreed, to write "Economic Agenda" until the end of November, as per my contract. After that, my Sunday Telegraph column will be no more.
Why this decision has been made, and whether or not my columns were any good, is for others to judge.
All I will say is that, as the first person in my family to attend university, sustaining a weekly column in a leading national newspaper for a quarter of a century has been a source of enormous pride for myself and my family.
Lots of people have been asking me about the future of "Planet Normal" - the hugely-popular Telegraph podcast which I co-created and co-present with the brilliant @AllisonPearson
"Planet Normal" has, over the last 330 weekly episodes, also become a major part of my professional life and my broader identity.
With Allison reportedly leaving the Telegraph as well, there is a lot of speculation about whether or not the podcast will continue to impart "news and views from beyond the bubble" with our usual blend of sharp analysis, humour and occasional outrage !
Well, I am delighted to confirm that Co-Pilot Pearson and myself are deeply committed to our joint podcast – and, above all, to our beloved listeners.
We will, as and when notice periods allow, continue our voyages through space every Thursday – perhaps to "Planet Normal", or maybe to another part of the solar system – so we can "gaze down each week at the madness of Planet Earth", as we have done since the Spring of 2020.
So citizens of Planet Normal, stand ready ! The "rocket-of-right-thinking", the "flying refuge of reasoned views", will soon be launched once again 🚀🪐👨🏭👱♀️🎙️📺
I poured my heart and soul into "Economic Agenda" and "Planet Normal". The Telegraph's decision to scrap them is obviously a huge personal blow. But I will always be grateful for the opportunities the paper has given me.
Above all, I would like to thank the illustrious list of successive Telegraph business editors I've worked with since the late-1990s, many of whom have become and remain good friends - including @Peston @RobertsDan @larmitstead @neilbenet @benjaminmarlow @cg_williams @kamalahmednews @MarkKleinmanSky @jamesrquinn (sorry if I've forgotten anyone, it's been a long time!)
On Friday, even though I almost always write my column from elsewhere, and despite being extremely disappointed by the paper's decision, I decided to go into the Telegraph and write today's column sitting in the newsroom.
I am glad I did - as being at the heart of the paper at such a difficult time allowed for lots of conversations, with everyone from junior production staff to senior reporters and executives, which reminded me that journalism, despite being an industry at the whim of seemingly endless and often brutal commercial and technological upheaval, is not only hugely important to our country, but full of talented, decent people.
See picture below, having just filed my piece, as I was heading out the door ...
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Andy Wigmore retweeted
What is happening in Poland is incredibly dangerous. Donald Tusk is carrying out what appears to be a coup that threatens freedom and democracy for the Polish people. Tusk’s reckless and unhinged actions must be strongly condemned by The United States and all leaders in Europe.
W takim momencie Prezydent musi być w Polsce. Przerywam lot do Senegalu. Wracam 🇵🇱
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Andy Wigmore retweeted
🚨 UNREAL: President Karol Nawrocki just arrived and PERSONALLY ENTERED the Constitutional Court building to halt Donald Tusk’s takeover!
The police didn't dare stop the President of Poland.
THIS is what real leadership looks like. He will not let his nation fall! 🇵🇱🔥 x.com/Inevitablewest…
The police didn't dare stop the President of Poland.
THIS is what real leadership looks like. He will not let his nation fall! 🇵🇱🔥 x.com/Inevitablewest…
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Andy Wigmore retweeted
🚨 HOLY CRAP! Right-wing Polish President Karol Nawrocki just PERSONALLY STORMED IN to the nation's highest constitutional court after Donald Tusk's group of pro-EU flunkies tried a COUP
THIS, RIGHT HERE, IS A PATRIOT WHO LOVES POLAND 🇵🇱
Poland is erupting and it's not good for to respect their sovereignty.
America is with Poland and President Nawrocki all the way!
THIS, RIGHT HERE, IS A PATRIOT WHO LOVES POLAND 🇵🇱
Poland is erupting and it's not good for to respect their sovereignty.
America is with Poland and President Nawrocki all the way!
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