Liz Truss fights for survival as even allies say she could have only days left

Prime minister to meet mutinous Tory MPs this week in effort to shore up her position after U-turns on tax

Liz Truss is fighting for her political survival, with Conservative MPs threatening to oust her and even allies warning she has just days to turn around her premiership despite ripping up her economic strategy and appointing Jeremy Hunt as chancellor.

The beleaguered prime minister will attempt to shore up her crumbling support by gathering her cabinet ministers at No 10 on Monday and then embarking on a series of meetings with mutinous Tory MPs before the next budget in a fortnight’s time.

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No 10 chief of staff’s position untenable amid lobbying claims, says Labour

Mark Fullbrook accused of trying to change UK policy by arranging for ministers to meet Libyan politician

Labour has claimed Mark Fullbrook’s position as Downing Street chief of staff is no longer tenable after it was revealed that before his appointment he tried to change UK foreign policy by arranging for two cabinet ministers to meet Fathi Bashagha, a Libyan politician with links to the Russian Wagner Group.

The Guardian had previously reported that Fullbrook, as chief executive of Fullbrook Strategies, had lobbied on behalf of Bashagha, but the Sunday Times alleged he arranged for Bashagha to come to London in June, where he met the then business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, and the education secretary at the time, Nadhim Zahawi.

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Liz Truss may be safe until Halloween but nightmare is far from over

PM will gather her cabinet for a rare Monday meeting to try to convince them she still holds levers of power

When Liz Truss gathers her cabinet in Downing Street for a rare Monday meeting to shore up support and talk them through her radically changed plans for the Halloween budget, she will be trying to convince them she still has a grip on power.

Sacking Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor and bringing in Jeremy Hunt – who quickly buried key elements of her economic strategy, with tax rises and public spending cuts to come – was a necessary political sacrifice if she was to survive in No 10.

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Three arrests made after man’s body discovered in Essex woodland

Body believed to be that of a man in his 40s who had gone missing from a north London address alongside a woman in her 30s

Three arrests have been made after the discovery of a man’s body in woodland in Essex, as police investigate whether two people were taken against their will.

The body is believed to be that of a man in his 40s, who had gone missing from an address in north London alongside a woman in her 30s who has since been found physically unharmed.

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John Major dismisses The Crown as a ‘barrel load of nonsense’

Former PM angered by fictitious storyline in which Charles seeks his help in getting the Queen to abdicate

As Netflix prepares to release its fifth season of big budget royal drama The Crown it has rejected criticism of the latest season after former prime minster Sir John Major described it as a “barrel load of nonsense”.

Major’s comments were made after concerns arose that a storyline in the hit programme could damage King Charles’s reputation.

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Ghislaine Maxwell says she feels bad for ‘dear friend’ Prince Andrew

Comments will be embarrassing for royal who has tried to distance himself from disgraced socialite

Ghislaine Maxwell has spoken from a US prison cell about how she feels “so bad” for her “dear friend” Prince Andrew.

In her first lengthy interview since her conviction on sex-trafficking charges last year, Maxwell said she still cared about the Duke of York, who has been stripped of royal duties over his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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China bans fruity vapes – but not their export to the UK

Popular disposable brand will still be able to sell products in Britain, despite being accused of flouting advertising regulations

China has banned the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes as part of a wide-ranging crackdown on the industry. The new rules mean vapes that have flavourings other than tobacco – such as those that taste fruity or sweet – cannot be sold on the domestic market.

But they can still be manufactured in China to be shipped around the world, including to the UK, where Chinese-made brands such as Elfbar, known for its range of flavoured disposable vapes, are popular.

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‘Sack sexist and racist officers’ Met police report rules

Exclusive: Louise Casey’s long-awaited review will say the force has allowed ‘abhorrent’ officers to stay in its ranks

The Metropolitan police must take a “zero-tolerance” approach to misogyny and racism and enable offending officers to be sacked more easily, a report into culture and standards at Britain’s biggest police force will say on Monday.

The long-awaited report by Louise Casey into how Scotland Yard deals with officers accused of sexual misconduct and domestic abuse has uncovered systemic failings that have allowed too many “abhorrent” individuals to remain on the frontline.

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Royal Society of Arts accused of ‘spite’ by staff member who spoke out on unions

Staff member who spoke to the Observer about drive to get workers to join IWGB union claims she was ‘punished’ by arts charity

The Royal Society of Arts has been accused of punishing staff who spoke out about their campaign to unionise the 270-year-old charity.

The Observer reported last week that almost half the charity’s workforce below senior manager level had joined the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), with a petition indicating most staff backed unionisation. The RSA senior management team led by Andy Haldane, a former chief economist at the Bank of England, has rebuffed three requests to voluntarily recognise the union.

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UK food banks at breaking point urge Liz Truss to boost aid to poorest

As cost of living crisis bites, 3,000 volunteers across several organisations sign letter of warning to the prime minister

Thousands of food bank volunteers will warn Liz Truss on Monday that they are having to ration provisions, as their services have become “overstretched and exhausted” because of an influx of people needing their help.

In a sign of a continuing cost of living crisis that was building even before the economic crisis that followed the government’s mini-budget, a letter signed by more than 3,000 food bank workers will be delivered to Downing Street.

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The unravelling: the full story of how Liz Truss lost her way – and her authority in the Tory party

The prime minister ditched her close ally Kwasi Kwarteng to save her own job – but now Conservative MPs are openly plotting to replace her

After an astonishing eight-minute press conference, in which Liz Truss attempted to salvage her imploding leadership by firing her closest political ally and ditching a totemic policy that won her the job, the most telling reaction was that of officials who had served in Boris Johnson’s chaotic Downing Street.

Just a few short months ago, they had been forced to endure months of scandal, followed by the resignations of dozens of ministers. They had even awkwardly brushed shoulders with cabinet members gathered in Downing Street to tell Johnson that his time was up. But after watching Truss’s hunted demeanour on Friday afternoon, their suffering suddenly seemed trifling.

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‘Send off the clowns’: Labour ads tear into Tories amid Truss crisis

Scathing posters ridicule Conservatives for damaging Britain’s reputation, lifting mortgages and crashing the economy

The UK’s Labour party is looking to capitalise on the government crisis with a series of new adverts as it gears up for the next general election.

The scathing posters, seen by the PA news agency, attack the Conservatives for damaging Britain’s standing on the world stage, hiking mortgages and crashing the economy.

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Joe Biden: Liz Truss tax cuts a ‘mistake’ and ‘I wasn’t the only one’ who thought so

US president rejects ‘cutting taxes on the super-wealthy’ and says he is worried by ‘lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries’

Joe Biden has called Liz Truss’s abandoned UK tax cut plan a “mistake” and said he is worried that other nations’ fiscal policies may hurt the US amid “worldwide inflation”.

Biden said it was “predictable” that the new British prime minister was forced on Friday to walk back plans to aggressively cut taxes without identifying cost savings, after Truss’s proposal caused turmoil in global financial markets.

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Common drugs could fight obesity and diabetes, say scientists

Researchers identify medications that could be repurposed, including treatments for heart conditions and stomach ulcers

Scientists have pinpointed a range of commonly used medicines that could be repurposed to treat people suffering from obesity and diabetes.

The medicines – to be outlined at the International Congress on Obesity in Melbourne this weekend – include treatments for stomach ulcers and heart rhythm disorders and were identified using sophisticated computer programs.

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Jeremy Hunt says mistakes made and taxes set to rise as Bank warns of ‘strong response’ to inflation – UK politics live

Chancellor says ‘difficult decisions’ ahead with some departments needing to find savings and some taxes set to rise

Hunt says the UK has a “massive amount going for us”, but the reason it remains a top economy is because the country has been prepared to make “tough decisions” – and this moment is one of them.

The new chancellor says he is “very sensitive” to people at the bottom of the income scale but will not commit to not cutting benefits. “I’ve only been in the job for a matter of hours,” he says, adding that he will be sitting down with the Treasury team later today.

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Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood charged with attempted rape

CPS also charge footballer with controlling behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm

Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood has been charged with attempted rape, engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

The 21-year-old had been arrested on Saturday morning on suspicion of breaching his bail conditions.

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Jeremy Hunt says difficult decisions ahead after Truss ‘mistakes’

New chancellor vows to be ‘completely honest with country’ amid rumours PM has only weeks left in role

The new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has spoken of “mistakes” made by the Liz Truss administration and predicted “difficult decisions ahead”.

Appearing on Sky News on Saturday, in his first interview since replacing Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday, the former health secretary signalled he would have a “clean slate” when it came to the budget, and vowed to be “completely honest with the country” amid rumours that Truss has only weeks left as prime minister.

Hunt, who was parachuted into No 11 in an attempt to restore order to Truss’s ailing government, also suggested that some taxes could rise, as he promised to bring stability to the UK in the wake of the disastrous mini-budget.

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Qatar World Cup imposes ‘chilling’ restrictions on media

Rules ban BBC, ITV and other broadcasters from filming near government buildings and migrant workers’ accommodation

International television crews in Qatar for the Fifa World Cup will be banned from interviewing people in their own homes as part of sweeping reporting restrictions that could have a “severe chilling effect” on media coverage.

Broadcasters, such as the BBC and ITV, will also be forbidden from filming at accommodation sites, like those housing migrant workers, under the terms of filming permits issued by the Qatari government.

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Drought threatens England’s fruit and vegetable crop next year, says report

Scorching summer left reservoirs depleted and unlikely to recover, as growers warn of supply chain collapse in leaked meeting

Farmers have warned they will not be able to grow crops next year if predictions that the drought will last until next summer prove accurate.

Leaked slides from a national drought group meeting, seen by the Observer, show there are concerns that because reservoirs are still empty due to record dry conditions, the fruit and vegetable supply chain could collapse.

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