Category Archives: UK news

British art dealer in row over return of Banksy artworks from Italy

Posted on by

Essex-based John Brandler seeking final loan payments as well as three murals from exhibitions company

A bitter row has broken out between a British art dealer and an Italian exhibitions company over three enormous Banksy murals that were loaned three years ago and which the dealer insured for £15m.

John Brandler, an Essex-based specialist in work by the graffiti artist, is pursuing legal action after losing patience with Metamorfosi in Rome, which stages temporary touring exhibitions.

Continue reading...

Zarah Sultana drops legal threat over feud with Jeremy Corbyn

Posted on by

MP ‘determined to reconcile’ with former Labour leader after fledgling party’s membership sign-up row

Zarah Sultana has said she will call off legal action after a public row with Jeremy Corbyn over the fledgling party they were to co-lead.

The Coventry South MP acknowledged people felt “demoralised” after the quarrel over her push for members to sign up to Your Party, the political outfit she established with the former Labour leader.

Continue reading...

Lib Dems should ditch Ed Davey’s stunts and talk policy, survey finds

Posted on by

Thinktank poll reveals voters unclear what party stands for despite photo opportunities winning more media coverage

The Liberal Democrats should drop their stunts and offer a more serious policy programme if they want to gain support among voters, according to a study presented at the party’s annual conference.

Polling by the More in Common thinktank, shown to Lib Dem members at the gathering in Bournemouth, suggested that while it has the scope to go beyond its historic total of 72 MPs at the last election, many voters tempted by the party remain uncertain about what it stands for.

Continue reading...

Kenya’s arrest warrant is milestone in Agnes Wanjiru case but lengthy UK process awaits

Posted on by

After 13 years, warrant has been issued for UK suspect, but Robert James Purkiss would need to be extradited to face charges

In the spring of 2012, David Cameron was prime minister and British troops were still fighting in Afghanistan under the stewardship of the then defence secretary, Philip Hammond.

Before deploying, soldiers from the UK would be flown 3,000 miles south-west of Helmand province, to Kenya, for hot weather training. They would train at Batuk, the British army base that still operates today, close to Nanyuki, a poor market town in the east of the country.

Continue reading...

British soldier accused of murdering Kenyan woman Agnes Wanjiru named

Posted on by

Arrest warrant issued for Robert James Purkiss, with Kenyan government seeking his extradition to face charges

The British soldier accused of murdering the Kenyan woman Agnes Wanjiru in 2012 has been named as Robert James Purkiss.

Purkiss, 38, was named in court documents at the high court in Nairobi this week, where a court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Continue reading...

Netanyahu calls UK’s Palestine recognition ‘absurd prize for terrorism’

Posted on by

Opposition leader Yair Golan blames government’s political recklessness and refusal to end the war in Gaza

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, called the UK’s recognition of Palestine on Sunday “an absurd prize for terrorism”.

In remarks to ministers released by his office, he said Israel would have “to fight both in the UN and in all the other fronts against the slanderous propaganda aimed at us, and against the calls to create a Palestinian state that will endanger our existence and constitute an absurd prize for terrorism”.

Continue reading...

How will recognition of Palestinian statehood be greeted in the UK?

Posted on by

As well as being deeply symbolic, the move is also a major foreign policy shift for the Labour government

The UK’s formal recognition of Palestinian statehood is deeply symbolic on the world stage, but the major foreign policy shift is also a significant political step for the Labour government at home. The announcement followed mounting pressure on Keir Starmer from within the Labour party and beyond.

Continue reading...

Disruption continues at Heathrow, Brussels and Berlin airports after cyber-attack

Posted on by

Zaventem asks airlines to cancel half of Monday departures, while most of Heathrow flights expected to operate

Hundreds of thousands of passengers at Heathrow and Berlin airports faced flight delays on Sunday after a cyber-attack hit check-in desk software, while cancellations at Brussels airport suggested that disruption of Europe’s air travel would continue into Monday.

Airlines were forced to revert to slower manual check-ins from Friday night after the attack hit Collins Aerospace, which provides check-in desk technology to various airlines.

Continue reading...

Broadcaster John Stapleton dies aged 79

Posted on by

Tributes paid to ‘consummate pro’ and ‘rock solid’ presenter of Newsnight, Watchdog and GMTV’s News Hour

Tributes have been made across the world of television to the “rock solid broadcaster and ultimate gentleman” John Stapleton, who has died at the age of 79 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2024.

Stapleton’s agent, Jackie Gill, said on Sunday: “John had Parkinson’s disease, which was complicated by pneumonia. His son Nick and daughter-in-law Lise have been constantly at his side and John died peacefully in hospital this morning.”

Continue reading...

British couple released after detention in Afghanistan say they feared being executed

Posted on by

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and husband Peter, 80, said it was never explained to them why they were imprisoned

A British couple who were reunited with their family in the UK after being released from almost eight months in detention in Afghanistan have said they feared being executed by the Taliban.

Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife, Barbie, 76, who arrived at Heathrow on Saturday, said it was never explained to them why they were imprisoned in Afghanistan after their arrest in February.

Continue reading...

Tulip Siddiq fears plans to use ‘fake’ documents to secure conviction in corruption trial

Posted on by

Exclusive: Ex-minister being tried in absentia in Bangladesh claims ID card and passport tendered as evidence not hers

The former City minister Tulip Siddiq has said she fears prosecutors could be planning to use “fake” documents to secure her conviction in her trial in Bangladesh on corruption charges.

The Labour MP, who is being tried in absentia, spoke out after images of a Bangladeshi national identity card and a passport said to be in her name were published in newspapers in the UK and in Bangladesh.

Continue reading...

Owner of Georgian broadcaster called country’s ‘propaganda megaphone’ is based in London

Posted on by

Exclusive: Imedi TV owner denies criticism by EU disinformation monitor and says it is editorially independent

On Pont Street in Belgravia in central London, on the first floor of a handsome Edwardian townhouse, sitting above the royal green awning of the Jeroboams wine shop, is an office. There are no obvious signs for it beyond a little note next to the intercom. When buzzed this week, no one appeared at the door.

This is the registered office of Hunnewell Partners, which describes itself as an “entrepreneurial private equity and litigation funding practice”.

Continue reading...

‘She never got help’: mother says daughter who died on motorway was failed by care system

Posted on by

Tamzin Hall, 17, was struck by a vehicle after leaving a police car on the M5 motorway in Somerset after being arrested at a children’s home

The mother of a girl who was struck by a vehicle and killed after she left a police car on a motorway says the untimely death of her daughter came after years of frustration and disappointment with authorities over the teenager’s care.

Tamzin Hall, 17, had been arrested and was being taken into custody when she left the police vehicle in which she was travelling on the M5 northbound between Taunton and Bridgwater in Somerset on 11 November 2024.

Continue reading...

UK set to recognise Palestinian state on Sunday

Posted on by

Keir Starmer expected to confirm move after concluding the situation has worsened significantly in recent weeks

The UK is expected to recognise a Palestinian state on Sunday after Israel failed to meet the conditions set out by Keir Starmer in July.

The prime minister is to make the announcement after concluding the humanitarian situation has deteriorated significantly in the past few weeks. The move comes despite pressure from the US and the families of hostages held by Hamas.

Continue reading...

More than 1,000 people arrive in UK in small boats in one day

Posted on by

Home Office figures for Friday end a spell of more than a week with no new arrivals in Dover due to poor weather

More than 1,000 people crossed the Channel in small boats on Friday, according to Home Office figures, ending a spell of more than a week with no new arrivals.

Thirteen boats carrying 1,072 individuals made the crossing on Friday, which averages more than 80 people a boat. It is the third time this year the figure for a single day has surpassed 1,000 and brings the total number this year to a record 32,103.

Continue reading...

Lucy Powell: Labour should raise gambling taxes to axe two-child benefit cap

Posted on by

Deputy leadership candidate says party needs to be ‘clear that our objective is to lift children out of poverty’

Labour should consider raising taxes on gambling firms to cover the cost of lifting the two-child benefit cap, the party’s deputy leadership candidate Lucy Powell has suggested.

The Manchester Central MP, who is battling with the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to succeed Angela Rayner as Labour’s deputy leader, also acknowledged the public was “exasperated” because of “some mistakes” Labour had made in office.

Continue reading...

UK and St George’s flags should never be used to ‘intimidate and terrify’, says senior Lib Dem

Posted on by

‘How dare the nationalists steal our flags?’ asks Tim Farron at party conference in Bournemouth

People who use the union jack or St George’s cross as a form of aggressive nationalism do not love their country, a senior Liberal Democrat has said, as he hit back at a wave of hard-right activism based around the flags.

In a strongly worded speech to a rally opening the party’s annual conference in Bournemouth, Tim Farron, a former leader who now speaks for the party on the environment and rural affairs, said national flags should never be “used to intimidate”.

Continue reading...

British couple detained by Taliban in Afghanistan return to UK

Posted on by

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and husband Peter, 80, were released after being held without charge for nearly eight months

A British couple who were detained without charge for nearly eight months by the Taliban in Afghanistan have arrived in the UK.

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, were released on Friday, having been arrested as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan, in February.

Continue reading...

Anti-immigration protesters and counter-protesters clash in Glasgow

Posted on by

Event comes a week after the largest far-right event in decades took place in London

Anti-immigration protesters have clashed with anti-racist counter-protesters in tense scenes in Glasgow this afternoon, a week after the largest far-right event in decades took place in London.

The statue of Scottish statesman Donald Dewar, father of the Holyrood parliament, was surrounded by union flags bearing the words: “Stop the boats” and “Unite the kingdom”.

Continue reading...

JD Twitch, esteemed Scottish DJ in duo Optimo, dies aged 57

Posted on by

The producer and DJ, real name Keith McIvor, had been diagnosed with an untreatable brain tumour earlier this year

JD Twitch, the Scottish DJ and producer celebrated as one half of the duo Optimo, has died aged 57.

The artist, whose real name was Keith McIvor, had been diagnosed with an untreatable brain tumour, which he announced in July. He died on Friday in Glasgow’s Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, his DJ partner Jonnie Wilkes (AKA JG Wilkes) announced.

Continue reading...