Tony Blair was warned repeal of anti-gay section 28 might harm election chances

Archives reveal David Blunkett voiced concerns about overturning ban on ‘promotion’ of homosexuality

Tony Blair was warned about his government’s commitment to overturning a ban on the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools in the run-up to the 2001 general election, previously classified records show.

David Blunkett, then the education secretary, twice wrote to the prime minister to voice his concerns regarding the furore over section 28. It followed months of debate over potential changes to same-sex education in schools.

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Tom Tugendhat out of Tory leadership race as Sunak still leads field – as it happened

Graham Brady announces outcome of third round of race to replace PM, who faced Labour anger during vote of no confidence debate

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says the refusal of Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to attend a TV leadership contest debate tomorrow shows they are treating the public with contempt. In a statement he says:

The Conservatives say they want to lead but they won’t even turn up to debate the issues that matter to our country.

Each of them are treating the nation with utter contempt and they’ve been taking people for granted for long enough.

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Truss camp says Mordaunt has ‘topped out’ with Tugendhat latest to fall

Pressure still on foreign secretary in leadership race as she gains just seven new backers in latest round

Supporters of Liz Truss have said her key rival, Penny Mordaunt, has “topped out” of backers, as the foreign secretary gained ground in the fight for second place in the Conservative leadership contest.

Mordaunt lost a vote in the latest ballot of Tory MPs – a key sign her campaign had stalled after a weekend of bruising attacks – but remained behind frontrunner Rishi Sunak.

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Labour challenges Nadhim Zahawi over tax and £26m business loan

Shadow minister Pat McFadden seeks answers about chancellor and offshore family firm, and £26m loan his firm spent on property

The shadow treasury minister, Pat McFadden, has written to Nadhim Zahawi, challenging him to provide more clarity about his tax and financial affairs.

Since becoming chancellor after Rishi Sunak resigned earlier this month, Zahawi has faced persistent questions about his relationship to a Gibraltar-based firm, Balshore Investment, controlled by his parents.

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‘Meltdown Monday’ and ‘Blowtorch Britain’: what the papers say about UK heatwave

‘Ferocious’ temperatures loom while the Conservative leadership debate is wrung out on the UK front pages of Monday 18 July 2022

“Red alert: ‘ferocious’ heatwave set to send temperatures beyond 40C” – the Guardian leads with the weather and a picture of firefighters on duty in France. The Conservative party’s TV bloodletting is wrapped up as well: “Tory leadership debate exposes deep divisions”. The intro says it was a “bad-tempered” show.

“Blowtorch Britain” says the Mirror, as “42C record heat is on”. The “revellers” shown jumping into the sea at Brighton look happy enough to brave the conditions.

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Conservative leadership race live: Rishi Sunak says he will ‘scrap or reform all EU law, red tape and bureaucracy’

Latest updates: Tory leadership candidates prepare for second TV debate as Monday’s round of voting looms

The expectation of record temperatures will be dominating headlines in the UK over the next couple of days. The chief executive of the College of Paramedics warned on Sky News this morning that the “ferocious heat” could result in people dying.

Tracy Nicholls said: “This isn’t like a lovely hot day where we can put a bit of sunscreen on, go out and enjoy a swim and a meal outside. This is serious heat that could actually, ultimately, end in people’s deaths because it is so ferocious. We’re just not set up for that sort of heat in this country.”

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Home Office in fresh row with UNHCR over Rwanda asylum policy

Despite court hearing, Home Office continues to claim UNHCR is supportive of controversial scheme

The Home Office has been accused of misrepresenting the UN refugee agency’s stance on sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, in a new disagreement between the two organisations, the Guardian has learned.

The Home Office and UNHCR have clashed previously over the safety and suitability of the Home Office’s policy of forcibly removing some asylum seekers who have recently arrived in the UK on small boats or in the back of lorries to Rwanda to have their claims processed there.

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Tory contest shows government levelling up agenda is dead, Lisa Nandy to say

Shadow minister to say PM hopefuls are vying ‘for the mantle of Margaret Thatcher, promising tax cuts for the wealthy’

The shadow communities secretary, Lisa Nandy, will claim the Conservative leadership contest has shown the government’s commitment to levelling up is dead, as she announces plans to give local communities the right to buy up assets such as empty shops.

Nandy will use a speech in Darlington to say Labour would press ahead with handing power to communities outside London and the south-east in an attempt to rebalance the UK’s economy.

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Climate chief Alok Sharma warns: I may quit if new PM dumps net zero pledge

The cabinet minister and Cop26 president could resign if the new Tory leader fails to commit to a strong green agenda

The cabinet minister who led last year’s landmark Cop26 UN climate summit has made a dramatic intervention in the Tory leadership race, suggesting he could resign if the incoming prime minister fails to commit to a strong agenda on the climate crisis.

In an interview with the Observer, Alok Sharma said a total commitment to the net zero agenda from whoever is to lead the country would be essential to avoid “incredible damage” to Britain’s global standing, as well as irreversible harm to the UK and international economies.

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Johnson skips emergency Cobra meeting as experts warn thousands may die in UK heatwave

Prime minister stays at Chequers as NHS, schools and transport providers issue warnings about fatally high temperatures

Boris Johnson was accused on Saturday of being “missing in action” after failing to attend a Cobra meeting to discuss the national heatwave emergency following predictions that thousands could die in the coming days.

As the threat to life from the impending heatwave continues to crystallise, the prime minister chose to skip the meeting on Saturday. He instead stayed at his Chequers country retreat, where he is due to hold a thank you party for supporters on Sunday.

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Tony Blair urges western powers to stand up to China

Former prime minister warns era of political and economic dominance by west coming to an end

Tony Blair has issued a rallying call to western nations to come together to develop a coherent strategy to counter the rise of China as “the world’s second superpower”.

Delivering the annual Ditchley lecture on Saturday, the former prime minister called for a policy towards Beijing of “strength plus engagement” as he warned the era of western political and economic dominance was coming to an end.

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‘Travelling circus’: Starmer says Tory hopefuls have lost economic credibility

Exclusive: Labour leader, speaking after meeting German chancellor, condemns candidates’ ‘fanciful’ spending plans

Keir Starmer has dismissed the acrimonious Conservative leadership race as a “travelling circus”, in which the candidates have demolished their party’s economic credibility by promising billions of pounds of unfunded tax cuts.

Speaking on a visit to Berlin where he held talks with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the Labour leader highlighted the “fanciful” spending pledges made by the five contenders battling it out to succeed Boris Johnson.

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Tory leadership debate: rivals discuss tax, energy, NHS, the green economy and trust in first televised head-to-head – as it happened

The five candidates face off in a televised Channel 4 debate

Penny Mordaunt also rejected the idea that attacks on her for being too “woke” on issues such as trans rights could be the issue that ends her bid to replace Boris Johnson.

She told Sky News this morning:

Look at how we’re doing in the polls in the country, in London, in Scotland, with young people, with women, with Red Wall, with Blue Wall.

It’s not having an impact on my campaign, and it’s not having an impact on my parliamentary campaign. And I think the reason for that is that people recognise it for what it is.

I think it is important we don’t trash our record, because actually we have done an awful lot of good things.

I care about my colleagues. I have great colleagues and we have to, at the end of this contest, come together as a party.

You can see from my campaign, I’m not engaging in any of that.

I have just been getting on with my job, but I have thought long and hard about what this country needs. I feel really compelled to do this. It would be a huge honour to be prime minister.

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Tory leadership rivals clash over trust and ‘fairytale’ economic plans

Head-to-head sees open arguments over tax and identity politics, with no candidate willing to say Boris Johnson is honest

The Conservative leadership race has exploded into acrimony and recrimination after the first televised debate saw open arguments over tax and identity politics with also none of the five candidates willing to say Boris Johnson is honest.

Coming hours after Liz Truss sought to reinvigorate her faltering campaign with a sudden announcement of new tax cuts costing more than £20bn a year, Rishi Sunak the ex-chancellor, openly ridiculed his former colleague’s plans during the Channel 4 broadcast on Friday evening.

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Liz Truss bids to save Tory leadership campaign with new tax cut pledges

Foreign secretary announces tax cut proposals worth billions of pounds during online leadership debate

Liz Truss has sought to breathe new life into her faltering Conservative leadership campaign with a flurry of uncosted tax cut promises worth billions of pounds, as the five remaining candidates took part in their first mass debate.

Truss, who has the third highest number of Tory MPs’ votes – behind Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, promised to scrap a planned rise in corporation tax and suspend green energy levies, costing more than £20bn a year overall.

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NHS doctors’ strike is ‘inevitable,’ says new BMA chair

Exclusive: doctors will use pay row to expose ‘desperate state’ of NHS after years of government neglect, Prof Philip Banfield warned

A doctor’s strike is “inevitable” and will expose how dangerously threadbare the Conservatives have left the health service, the profession’s new leader has said.

In his first interview since taking over as the British Medical Association’s chair of council, Prof Philip Banfield warned ministers that doctors will take the fight to them by using a pay dispute to tell the public patients are dying as a direct result of government neglect of the NHS.

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Dismay as UK gambling reform white paper shelved for fourth time

Delay follows advice to PM that proposals cannot be published until new Conservative leader in place

Proposals to reform gambling laws have been postponed for a fourth time, after advisers to Boris Johnson concluded it could not be published until a new leader of the Conservative party is elected to replace him as prime minister.

Amid a tussle between different Tory party factions over the content of the plans, multiple Whitehall sources told the Guardian that a white paper had been added this week to the government’s “grid” of announcements and was scheduled to be published on Tuesday.

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Suella Braverman out of Tory leadership race as Rishi Sunak leads with 101 votes – live

Latest updates: 1922 committee announce latest vote tally

Q: Lord Frost says Penny Mordaunt is not up to the job. You have worked with her. Do you agree with him?

Truss says she will not be making any disparaging comments about her opponents. The contest shows a broad range of talent. And the party did not get there through identity politics.

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Braverman out of Tory leadership race as Mordaunt pulls away from Truss

Field narrows to five candidates as Sunak wins highest number of votes with Mordaunt consolidating second place

Penny Mordaunt was handed another key boost in the race to make the final two of the Conservative leadership race, with votes putting her in pole position to take on frontrunner Rishi Sunak, at the latest voting round which eliminated Suella Braverman.

Sunak, the former chancellor, is still the frontrunner and added 13 new supporters but Mordaunt pulled away from the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, who added fewer MPs to her tally despite a high-profile launch on Thursday.

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MoD considers review after Panorama’s SAS death squad claims

Inquiry not being ruled out after BBC reports on 54 allegedly suspicious killings by SAS unit in Afghanistan

A UK defence minister has hinted that the government is considering a further inquiry or review of a pattern of 54 allegedly suspicious killings by SAS soldiers in Afghanistan, reported in a BBC Panorama programme earlier this week.

James Heappey told MPs on Thursday morning that the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, “rules nothing out”, and that “he’ll be back in touch with the House very shortly to say how he thinks this might be further reviewed”.

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