King’s brother will become known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, Buckingham Palace says, in latest fallout from Epstein scandal
Prince Andrew is to be stripped of his royal titles and will move out of his home at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, Buckingham Palace has announced.
King Charles has initiated a “formal process to remove the style, titles and honours of Prince Andrew”, who will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the palace said.
Continue reading...Jettisoning of ex-prince became unavoidable when king’s loyalty to his brother collided with task of keeping public on side
To strip his brother of his titles and to evict him from his home is the most consequential action King Charles has taken since he ascended the throne in 2022.
The defenestration of Prince Andrew, now to be known only as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, and the removal of his cherished privilege of royal status is an act of utmost ruthlessness by a king. Ascending the throne at 73, Charles always knew he would play a caretaker role for the monarchy and so could not allow rot to set into an institution that lives and dies by public consent.
Continue reading...Despite pledges to run a squeaky clean administration the prime minister and some in his cabinet have been caught out
There is a theory in British politics, often attributed to Tony Blair, that you need to be careful about throwing a boomerang in opposition, because when you make it to power it could come back and hit you in the face.
As opposition leader, Keir Starmer became adept at landing blows on the Conservatives. Over the Partygate scandal in particular, he called for Boris Johnson to quit over his rule-breaking. “You cannot be a lawmaker and a lawbreaker and it’s time to pack his bags,” he said.
Continue reading...French magazine publishes judicial notice after using paparazzi images of family holiday in Alps
The Prince and Princess of Wales have won a privacy case against a French magazine after it published paparazzi photographs of them and their children on a private family ski holiday, Kensington Palace said.
William and Catherine launched legal action after their break was featured in Paris Match magazine in April, with a series of images documenting their activities with their children at a French resort in the Alps.
Continue reading...Previous visa policy had forced the students ‘to choose between their education and their family’
Some Palestinian students taking up scholarships at UK universities will be allowed to bring their families with them from Gaza after the government announced it would consider case-by-case exemptions to its evacuation policy.
After lobbying by MPs and supporters, the UK government has said partners and children could be allowed to accompany students on government-backed Chevening scholarships or studying for longer research degrees, such as PhDs.
Continue reading...UK rail regulator approves Richard Branson firm’s application to use Temple Mills site in London
Richard Branson’s train company is a step closer to challenging Eurostar’s monopoly on transporting passengers across the Channel after the UK rail regulator approved Virgin Train’s application to use a key depot in east London.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) approved Virgin’s application to use the Temple Mills depot in Leyton – which is used for maintaining and storing trains. It said the move would unlock £700m of investment in new services and create 400 jobs.
Continue reading...Conservationists hail ‘remarkable’ rediscovery after 40 years, at nature reserve only accessible by boat
A tiny spider thought to have vanished for ever from the UK has been rediscovered on a remote area of a nature reserve accessible only by boat.
The Aulonia albimana, a member of the wolf spider family with orange legs, was found on the Isle of Wight in a spot grazed by a flock of Hebridean sheep.
Continue reading...Former PM says he has not seen party ‘soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is’
Boris Johnson has warned the Conservatives they will not win the next election by “bashing the green agenda”.
The former prime minister said he had not seen the Conservatives “soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is”.
Continue reading...Starmer signs agreement with visiting Vietnamese leader after surge in clandestine arrivals from country
Vietnamese people who arrive in the UK by irregular means will be fast-tracked for deportation under a new agreement, Downing Street has said.
After a surge in clandestine arrivals from the south-east Asian country last year via small boats and in the back of lorries, the deal is supposed to cut red tape and make it faster and easier to return those with no right to be in the UK.
Continue reading...Safi Dawood to appear in court charged with murder of one man and attempted murder of another man and a 14-year-old boy
A man has been charged with murder after a triple stabbing in Uxbridge, west London, police have said.
Safi Dawood, 22, was charged with the murder of a 49-year-old man and the attempted murders of another man, 45, and a 14-year-old boy. He will appear on Thursday at Westminster magistrates court.
Continue reading...Ed Miliband says pushing for renewable energy and lower emissions will reduce household bills and boost economy
The UK government will go “all in” on clean energy and climate policy, the energy secretary has said, as he unveiled plans to put the UK back on track to reach its net zero commitments.
In the face of intensifying attacks on climate policy from the poll-leading Reform UK party and the Conservatives, the government insists that pushing for renewable energy and lower carbon emissions will reduce household bills and boost the economy.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed, you can read more of our UK political coverage here
Mark Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary and former national security adviser, goes next. He is now a peer, and a member of the committee.
He says the deputy national security adviser, Matthew Collins, thought there was enough evidence for the case to go ahead. But the CPS did not agree. Who was right?
In 2017, the Law Commission flagged that the term enemy [in the legislation] was deeply problematic and it would give rise to difficulties in future prosecutions.
And I think what has played out, during this prosecution exemplifies and highlights the difficulties with that.
Continue reading...Shares jump on higher profits as Emma Walmsley is ‘hopeful’ standoff with NHS can be resolved
GSK’s outgoing chief executive, Emma Walmsley, has said Britain will struggle to be a “life sciences superpower” unless it overhauls drug pricing.
As ministers draw up proposals to increase the amount the NHS spends on new medicines by up to 25%, Walmsley said she was “hopeful and ambitious” that the standoff with the pharma industry could be resolved.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Data shows wealthiest 0.1% of the US burn carbon at 4,000 times the rate of the world’s poorest 10%
The US’s super-rich are burning through carbon emissions at 4,000 times the speed of the world’s poorest 10%, according to an analysis provided to the Guardian.
These billionaires and multimillionaires, who comprise the wealthiest 0.1% of the US population, are also running down our planet’s safe climate space at 183 times the rate of the global average.
Continue reading...Those in need of free emergency contraception no longer have to see their GP or attend a sexual health clinic
The NHS has made the morning-after pill available for free across pharmacies in England in an effort to reduce a “postcode lottery” of access to emergency contraception.
Almost 10,000 pharmacies are now able to offer the pill without charge, saving those in need of free emergency contraception from having to visit their GP or to get an appointment at a sexual health clinic.
Continue reading...BBC ‘deeply concerned’ for journalist’s wellbeing after Vietnamese police withhold their ID card and passport
Vietnamese authorities have barred a BBC journalist from leaving the country and subjected them to days of interrogation, in a press freedom case that comes to light during a high-profile visit by Vietnam’s leader to the UK.
The journalist, a Vietnamese citizen who lives and works in Thailand, had returned to their home country in August to renew their passport, according a source with knowledge of the situation.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Leftwing party seeks to recover donations and data from company run by Andrew Feinstein, Jamie Driscoll and Beth Winter
Your Party, the leftwing party steered by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, says it is preparing legal action against a group of its own founders after a final deadline to hand over at least £800,000 in donations passed without payment, the Guardian understands.
Figures close to the party accused directors of MoU Operations Ltd (MoU) of having “gone rogue”, holding supporters’ funds to ransom and undermining its founding process “despite direct pleas from Jeremy and Zarah”.
Continue reading...Dania Alafranji, 16, still waiting on visa from Home Office despite being offered school place in Berkshire 18 months ago
A teenager from Gaza who has been denied an opportunity to attend school in Britain and be reunited with her mother has said she is “stuck in hell”, despite other European countries making exceptions for students from the region.
Dania Alafranji, 16, was accepted on to the Nsouli Scholars Programme to attend Reddam House school in Berkshire more than 18 months ago, but has yet to receive a visa that would allow her to escape the war in Gaza, with her family saying that they feel helpless and have been “going in circles” trying to get her to Britain.
Continue reading...A charismatic, tweed-wearing grower from Perthshire falsely claimed to be able to create thriving tea plantations in Scotland. His elaborate deception took in luxury hotels, media outlets and tea growers across the country
With its large silver pouch, artistic label and delicate leaves, Dalreoch Scottish white tea might be expected to grace elegant cups with saucers, perhaps with a scone served on the side. Instead, it is nestled with an array of numbered polythene packets in a room just off a laboratory at the University of Aberdeen.
This is not an ordinary afternoon tea but evidence in a crime that science helped solve.
Continue reading...Footage of online meeting showed Kent county council leader remonstrating with councillors
Earlier I pointed out that, in his Today interview this morning, the Reform MP Danny Kruger was strangely reticent when it came to explaining why the size of the civil service has grown so much in recent years. (See 11.09am.)
In his speech this morning Kruger was a bit more forthcoming. He said:
Let me be very clear. The growth of the civil service will be reversed. After falling in the wake of the global financial crisis, the headcount of the civil service rose again after Brexit – shame on the Tories – and it passed 500,000 in 2023.
Nothing works properly. It’s impossible to build anything. The streets are dirty and unsafe. Taxes and prices are far too high. Immigration is changing our country for the worse and far too fast. And we’re becoming poor, sick and unhappy. There is a malaise over Britain.
These problems are complex. But the effective cause of them is simple. Since 1997 we have had governments that, firstly don’t share the attitude of the country they govern, and secondly, they aren’t properly in charge of the state.
This announcement only reinforces climate policy as a dividing line in our politics, rather than being the unifying issue it once was.
And, for the Conservative party, it risks chasing votes from Reform at the expense of the wider electorate.
By undermining the judiciary we further erode public trust in the institutions of our democracy and therefore in democracy itself.
So I say to those seeking to villainise a judiciary that cannot easily answer back, who wilfully discredit our legal system for their own expediency – it’s time to show responsible leadership.
This is not just about short-term decisions to make it easier to deal with public concerns about immigration.
Our support for human rights has its origin in Magna Carta. How we deal with issues of human rights is fundamental to our ability to deal with autocracies and dictatorships.
In the world of power where the club of strong men want to carve the world up in their own interests, populism and polarisation are enablers.
And those politicians in the Western world who use populism and polarisation for their own short-term political ends risk handing a victory to our enemies.
Continue reading...