Shadow chancellor distances himself from words after Robert Jenrick accused of racism in comments he made about Handsworth
Asked about the Jenrick story, Badenoch again suggests Guardian reporting is reliable.
Q: Jenrick was making a distinction between white faces and brown faces.
Continue reading...Prime minister will focus on economic growth as an ‘antidote to division’ in address that will seek to strike a more combative, hopeful tone
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has said that Tony Blair could play a positive role in Gaza helping to lead the administration there proposed under Donald Trump’s peace plan.
In an interview on LBC, Streeting said that Blair’s decision to involve the UK in the Iraq war was “a catastrophic error” that had “devasting consequences”. He said that he personally opposed it at the time.
I also think about Tony Blair’s other legacy, great legacy, which is Northern Ireland, and there he showed that he could bring together sworn enemies to broker a lasting peace.
So if Tony Blair can put those skills to use, if he’s got the confidence of both the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the regional players, as seems to be the case, then great. If he can make that contribution, and that can be another legacy, a positive legacy under his belt, then so much the better.
Continue reading...Ministers signal Labour will take stronger approach to attacking Reform rather than just ‘respond to crazy things they’re saying’
Keir Starmer’s new No 10 enforcer has compared Nigel Farage to the influencer Andrew Tate, saying he is a “snake oil salesman” who is taking working-class boys down a dark path.
Darren Jones, the No 10 chief secretary to the prime minister, said Labour was going to take a more “muscular approach to attacking Reform” and it would be “more proactive than just responding to the crazy things they’re saying”.
Continue reading...Home secretary to set out proposed tougher conditions including not taking benefits and ‘spotless’ criminal record
Criminals and people who cannot speak English to “a high standard” will be denied permission to settle in the UK, Shabana Mahmood will announce on Monday, in proposals intended to contain the growing electoral threat from Reform UK.
In a speech framing herself as a “tough home secretary”, Mahmood will say people seeking indefinite leave to remain (ILR) will have to demonstrate they have integrated and “contributed” to society through national insurance payments and voluntary work, and not relied on benefits.
Continue reading...PM says immigration proposals could tear country apart as Labour delegates gather for first day of party conference
Keir Starmer has decried Reform UK’s “racist” plans to revoke the rights of thousands of people to live in Britain, as a number of cabinet ministers escalated attacks on Nigel Farage on the first day of the Labour party conference.
The prime minister said Farage’s plans to revoke indefinite leave to remain for families who may have spent years working in Britain could “tear this country apart”, though he said he understood that many people tempted to vote for Reform were frustrated at the slow pace of change.
Continue reading...PM says immigration proposals could tear country apart as Labour delegates gather for first day of party conference
Keir Starmer has decried Reform UK’s “racist” plans to revoke the rights of thousands of people to live in Britain, as a number of cabinet ministers escalated attacks on Nigel Farage on the first day of the Labour party conference.
The prime minister said Farage’s plans to revoke indefinite leave to remain for families who may have spent years working in Britain could “tear this country apart”, though he said he understood that many people tempted to vote for Reform were frustrated at the slow pace of change.
Continue reading...Labour deputy leader candidate criticises ‘scaremongering’ on autism and says party must be firmer in tackling Reform
Nigel Farage is “endangering women’s health” by failing to condemn Donald Trump’s claims that using paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism, Bridget Phillipson has said.
The education secretary and minister for women said she had used the painkiller throughout her second pregnancy, and she warned that Reform’s connections with medical conspiracy theories including anti-vaccine rhetoric made the party a danger to public health.
Continue reading...From immigrants eating the king’s waterfowl to sharia law in London, it’s all there in our Nige’s relativist world
“Attention all swans! Attention all swans! You are not safe! Immigrants from inferior cultures have been seen loitering with intent to kill in royal parks. They want to eat you alive. Be very vigilant. All offenders who are caught will be punishable under sharia law.”
Never say that a half-hour phone in with Nigel Farage on Nick Ferrari’s LBC morning show is anything but educational. Listen and learn. It’s an object lesson in how to perfect the 30-minute hate. Soon to become compulsory if Reform win the next election.
Continue reading...Manchester mayor urges Keir Starmer to reveal plans to deliver reform but denies he is plotting to replace PM
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has described Nigel Farage over his comment implying Donald Trump might be right about paracetamol posing a risk to pregnant women. (See 10.23am.)
Dangerous and irresponsible.
This man is a snake oil salesman and it’s time people stopped buying.
Lib Dem leader to use conference speech to urge extra funding for mRNA research and accuse Nigel Farage of cheering US funding reductions
The UK should import US scientists whose cancer research projects have been cut by Donald Trump, Ed Davey will argue at a Liberal Democrat conference that has focused heavily on how the party can respond to hard-right populism.
In his closing speech, Davey will also criticise Nigel Farage, saying the Reform UK conference applauded the Trump administration’s decision to slash funding for mRNA vaccines, which are being trialled as a way to offer personalised immunotherapy treatment for some cancers.
Continue reading...Nigel Farage says Reform UK would scrap the main route that migrants take to gain British citizenship
Farage and Yusuf are now taking questions.
Q: [From the BBC’s Iain Watson] Will you withdraw the £230bn figure, because it has been withdrawn by the thinktank that produced it?
What we are attempting to do today is to make people realise that large-scale migration into Britain, where 50% at least of those that come, will never work and live off the British state, is actually making this country substantially poorer.
Continue reading...Reform UK plans to force non-citizens to apply for visas with high salary thresholds and no access to NHS services
Nigel Farage has said Reform UK would scrap the main route that migrants take to gain British citizenship, leaving tens of thousands of legally settled people facing deportation unless they met strict rules.
Farage said the plans would tackle the “Boriswave” – the increase in the number of legal migrants who came to work in the UK under post-Brexit migration rules established under Boris Johnson. Much of that increase was because of schemes from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan to settle refugees.
Continue reading...Tommy Robinson’s ‘free speech’ protest attracted more than 100,000 people – and it was easy to find links to key political figures and events in the US
Who were the key figures at the ‘unite the kingdom’ rally in London?
Far-right London rally sees record crowds and violent clashes with police
A young man in a suit made of union jacks held up a framed photograph of their hero above his head. The crowd loudly chanted the name.
The focus of this acclamation was not Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, the organiser of the so-called “free speech” march in central London last Saturday.
Continue reading...Despite being repeatedly asked, No 10 declines to say the PM was ‘misled’ by Mandelson
Stephen Doughty, a Foreign Office minister, is responding to the UQ about Peter Mandelson.
He starts by making the point that it is the anniversary of the “despicable” 9/11 terrorism attacks.
Keir Starmer must sack Peter Mandelson without further delay - and come clean about what he knew when, and whether he sanctioned blocking the publication of damaging material.
UK government documents shouldn’t be hidden from the public just because they are damaging to the Labour party - and by backing Peter Mandelson to the hilt, the prime minister’s own reputation is now on the line.
Labour and Lib Dems say Reform leader has questions to answer on who paid for £885,000 property owned by his partner
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called for Nigel Farage to clarify whether he saved tax on a house in his constituency, after a BBC investigation questioned whether his partner did, as Farage has said, buy the home with her own money.
The Guardian first reported in May that the house in Clacton, which Farage initially said he had bought himself, is in fact wholly owned by Laure Ferrari, his long-term partner.
Continue reading...Reform UK leader says he should not have claimed he was buyer of property that was really bought by his partner
Nigel Farage has admitted he misspoke when he claimed to have bought a house in his constituency of Clacton, saying the property is in fact solely owned by his long-term partner.
The Guardian revealed in May that the detached property in an upmarket part of Clacton-on-Sea was actually solely bought by Laure Ferrari, and when approached by the newspaper the Reform UK leader insisted his name did not appear because of “security reasons”.
Continue reading...Reform UK leader says he should not have claimed he was buyer of property that was really bought by his partner
Nigel Farage has admitted he misspoke when he claimed to have bought a house in his constituency of Clacton, saying the property is in fact solely owned by his long-term partner.
The Guardian revealed in May that the detached property in an upmarket part of Clacton-on-Sea was actually solely bought by Laure Ferrari, and when approached by the newspaper the Reform UK leader insisted his name did not appear because of “security reasons”.
Continue reading...Reform UK leader criticises Angela Rayner’s ‘entitlement’ and vows to ‘stop the boats’ within two weeks if elected
Nigel Farage has said there is every chance of a general election in 2027, declaring he will run on a pledge to “stop the boats” within two weeks of entering No 10.
Speaking at the Reform UK conference in Birmingham, he said the chaos in government and Angela Rayner’s resignation as deputy prime minister meant the party needed to be “ready” to fight a contest two years early.
Continue reading...Former cabinet minister’s move on eve of Reform conference is further boost for party that took almost £1m in donations from ex-Tory donors
Nadine Dorries has defected to Reform on the eve of its conference, saying the Conservative party “is dead”.
The former Tory cabinet minister, a close ally of Boris Johnson when he was prime minister, served as culture secretary until 2022 before resigning a year later when blocked from getting a peerage.
Continue reading...Donald Trump calls clamor over Jeffrey Epstein files a ‘Democrat hoax that never ends’ as bipartisan group of lawmakers try to force vote on legislation
As part of the Trump administration’s campaign of mass deportations, the defense department will soon have hundreds of military judges work on immigration cases, the Associated Press reports:
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the federal justice department to serve as temporary immigration judges, according to a memo reviewed by the Associated Press.
Continue reading...