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Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, appointed several ministers who are not MPs, but will be created life peers. Most cabinet posts went to MPs who had shadowed the portfolios, but as Attorney General he appointed Richard Hermer KC, a human rights lawyer, instead of Emily Thornberry, who said she was ‘very sorry and surprised’. James Timpson, the shoe-repair businessman and prison reformer, was made prisons minister. Sir Patrick Vallance was made science minister. The former home secretary Jacqui Smith became higher education minister; Ellie Reeves, the sister of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, became minister without portfolio. The government dropped the phrase ‘levelling up’. The Chancellor said she would override planning regulations to build hundreds of wind-turbines on land and thousands of houses. Sir Keir said that this was ‘a government unburdened by doctrine, guided only by a determination to serve your interests’.
Labour had more than doubled its seats to 412, though its share of the vote rose by only 1.6 percentage points to 33.7 per cent. A drop in support for the Conservatives saw them lose 251 seats to be left with 121. Rishi Sunak said he would resign as Conservative leader once arrangements were in place to find a successor: ‘To the country I would like to say, first and foremost, I am sorry.’ Among shadow cabinet changes Andrew Mitchell replaced Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton as shadow foreign secretary. The Liberal Democrats won 72 seats. The SNP lost 39 seats, retaining only nine. Sinn Fein, with seven seats, which it chooses not to take, became Northern Ireland’s biggest Westminster party. The 59.7 per cent turnout was the worst since 2001. A survey suggested 425,000 people were prevented from voting by not taking photo identity.
Support for Reform, second in 98 constituencies, contributed to Conservative losses. Nigel Farage was returned for Clacton, and four more Reform MPs elected. Jeremy Corbyn beat Labour in Islington North. George Galloway was defeated in Rochdale, but four independents opposed to Labour’s stance on Gaza won seats in strongly Muslim constituencies. Sir Keir declared the Rwanda scheme ‘dead and buried’. Tony Blair suggested digital identity cards to address the immigration problem; Jonathan Reynolds, the new Business Secretary, said: ‘We can rule that out.’ On 8 July, 65 migrants arrived by boat and 419 the next day. England played Holland in the semi-finals of the Euros.
Abroad
Horse-trading before the second round of the French elections led to the hard-right National Rally, which had been expected to become the largest party, and its allies winning only 143 seats, compared with the hard-left New Popular Front’s 182. President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble won 168. Gabriel Attal resigned as prime minister but the President asked him to stay. Roland Dumas, the French foreign minister 1984-86 and 1988-93, died aged 101.
President Joe Biden, amid doubts about his mental powers, was asked in an ABC interview if he’d realised how badly his debate with Donald Trump went, and said: ‘The whole way I prepared, nobody’s fault, mine. Nobody’s fault but mine. I, uh – I prepared what I usually would do sittin’ down as I did come back with foreign leaders or National Security Council for explicit detail. And I realised – bout partway through that, you know, all – I get quoted the New York Times had me down, at ten points before the debate, nine now, or whatever the hell it is.’ He then hosted a Nato summit, where he promised Ukraine five new strategic air defence systems. Russian air raids killed 42, including two at the Ohmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv. Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, embraced President Vladimir Putin of Russia at a private meeting outside Moscow. Masoud Pezeshkian beat his hardline rival Saeed Jalili to be elected President of Iran. Hezbollah launched 200 rockets and drones into northern Israel in response to an Israeli air strike near Tyre which killed Mohammed Nimah Nasser, one of its senior commanders. Israel bombarded Gaza City and its tanks closed in. Evacuation orders were issued to 28,000 people near a fire that began at Thompson Flat Cemetery, Oroville, California.
The European Union increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to as much as 37.6 per cent, on top of an existing 10 per cent duty. An egg shortage caused by an outbreak of bird flu in Australia led to McDonald’s there cutting its breakfast time by 90 minutes. CSH
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