All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
The good news for France is that their athletes have been winning some medals in the Paris Olympics. The bad news, well, that just keeps coming for the organisers and for Emmanuel Macron, who had wanted to use the Games to showcase his country. The latest debacle is the postponement of the men’s triathlon event
Keir Starmer’s party has only been in government for three weeks – and already they’re spinning like a top. Rachel Reeves’ statement to the Commons yesterday was notable for making the kind of decisions which Labour would have castigated a Tory Chancellor for taking. Chief among them was the decision to scrap winter fuel payments for
Two children have died and nine have been injured, six critically, after a series of stabbings in Southport, Merseyside. Two adults are also in a critical condition – they were apparently injured trying to protect the children from their attacker. A 17-year old boy, from the nearby village of Banks in Lancashire, remains in custody
In the town of Sintra, a suburb of Lisbon, some strongly-worded graffiti greets travellers like me. It reads: ‘F**k you tourist scum’. Locals have mounted a campaign fighting against the scourge of ‘mass tourism’. According to residents’ group QSintra, ‘Enough is enough!’ The time has apparently come for the state to intervene and bring about:
A much bigger story than Rachel Reeves cancelling the winter fuel payment is her announcement today that she is finally killing off the beleaguered cap on social care costs. Reeves told the Commons that the Conservative government had not funded its reforms to social care, so they weren’t going to happen. She said: Adult social
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The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has today been providing covering fire for a raft of unpopular policies, including changes to the winter fuel allowance and cancellations to various building projects. She gave a damning statement in the Commons earlier this afternoon about the economic situation that Labour have inherited from the Tories. We now know that
There is one over-arching question hanging over Rachel Reeves’s speech today, in which she claimed that a £21.9 billion hole has opened up in the current political spending for this financial year: why, if there is such a large ‘black hole’ in the public finances, is there suddenly money available for £9.4 billion worth of
Rachel Reeves has just announced a series of spending cuts in the House of Commons. These were ‘incredibly tough choices’, she said, to account for the £20 billion surprise ‘black hole’ left behind by the Tory government. Her announcement means £5.5 billion of immediate, in-year cuts. These include some projects that were tipped to be
Back to the case of ex-BBC presenter Huw Edwards, who has this afternoon been charged with making indecent images of children. Edwards was suspended by the Beeb in July 2023 after the Sun reported allegations that he had solicited explicit images from a young man. He subsequently resigned from the Corporation in April this year, citing medical
A millionaire I know has a tradition every year: he buys a bottle of vintage wine with his Winter Fuel Payment and invites friends to drink it. His point is that it’s ludicrous that people like him are given handouts by the government – and today, finally, Rachel Reeves is doing something about it by
The slaughter of 12 children on an Israeli soccer pitch was awful, of course, but it’s important not to overreact to these things. That is the takeaway from the Majdal Shams attack for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. Via his spokesperson, Guterres condemned the killings but called for ‘maximum restraint’ to avoid ‘any further escalation’ and urged
In a month full of parliamentary firsts, we now have another: the formation of the first new Labour caucus. More than 60 MPs have co-signed a letter, as part of the ‘Labour Growth Group,’ enthusiastically declaring their support for planning reform. ‘With such a strong mandate from the country,’ they write ‘it’s imperative that the
Nominations for the Tory leadership race have this afternoon closed – and the competition now has six official candidates. Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Priti Patel, Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat all managed to secure the backing of at least 10 MPs and have made it through to the next round of the process.
All is not well in the Tory party these days. After a tumultuous election campaign which saw infighting frequently dominate the headlines, it seems that division and instability have followed the party into opposition too. On Sunday night, Suella Braverman announced that she would not be contesting the leadership, adamant that there would be ‘no
It was meant to be a crushing defeat ending 25 years of socialist rule, and the presidency of a man many see as largely responsible for Venezuela’s economic woes, a humanitarian crisis and rampant corruption. But for many Venezuelans, the only thing crushed following Sunday’s presidential election was hope. Many of those who are desperate
To Scotland, where another Tory leadership race is starting to take shape. Now a second candidate has thrown their hat into the ring as Brian Whittle MSP has today announced his bid to join the Scottish Conservative leadership race – confirming there will indeed be a contest. Game on… The former athlete told the Scotsman
The government has offered junior doctors a pay rise worth up to 20 per cent over two years in a bid to end the strikes that have seriously hampered the NHS. Rachel Reeves is expected to confirm later today that the doctors have struck a deal with their ministers that will include a backdated rise
Trains are again running normally in France today after engineers worked over the weekend to repair the damage caused by Friday’s coordinated attack on the network. Also working overtime are fifty specialists from the national crime unit, who have pored over the three sites where saboteurs struck. ‘Even though the fires melted hundreds of cables,
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It’s a busy day in Westminster as we await the new Chancellor’s ‘spending audit’ of the financial challenges Labour has ‘discovered’ on entering government. But in the meantime there has been some movement in the Tory leadership race, with the deadline for applicants later this afternoon. Kemi Badenoch is the latest to declare, whilst Suella
Just Stop Oil eco-activists took to Gatwick Airport this morning – but their attempt to disrupt summer holiday travellers appears to have failed dismally. Eight people were arrested after environmental protestors with ‘lock-on’ suitcases tried – and failed – to block departure gates. An airport spokesperson insisted Gatwick is ‘open and operating normally’. The protest
There’s a famous 1986 TV advert for the Guardian (remember when newspapers had TV adverts?) which shows you footage of a rough-looking skinhead pelting down the street and appearing to grab at the briefcase of a startled-looking city gent. Just as the viewer is digesting this scene and drawing the conclusion that suits his or
It’s ‘blame the Tories’ day in Westminster as Rachel Reeves prepares to take centre stage. The new Chancellor will this afternoon publish a ‘spending audit’ of the financial challenges Labour has ‘discovered’ on entering government. Reeves will address the Commons chamber detailing these spending pressures before giving a press conference at the Treasury early this
Donald Trump has said he would not rule out military action against Mexico’s narco-cartels which he blames for the opioid crisis killing astronomical numbers of Americans. ‘Mexico’s gonna have to straighten it out really fast, or the answer is absolutely. They’re killing 300,000 people a year with fentanyl coming in,’ he told Fox News host. The narcos
As the Conservative leadership contest gets underway, the various candidates are busy talking up their differences. But most of the candidates – from Kemi Badenoch to Robert Jenrick – hold one thing in common: they realise that the Tory party needs to change if it is to recover from its electoral wipeout. A key part
Sadiq Khan has suggested that the long rumoured prospect of Premier League fixtures being played in the United States is now inevitable. Khan, a Liverpool supporter (largely an armchair one), told the Sports Agents podcast that he believes a stateside ‘international round’ of Premier League fixtures, similar to the NFL and NBL games played in
The Tory leadership race is hotting up and there’s lots of familiar faces featuring this time around. Kemi Badenoch, Priti Patel, Tom Tugendhat – it’s like the 2022 contest never ended! But one candidate who sadly isn’t running is Suella Braverman, the onetime standard-bearer of the Brexiteer right. She has penned a piece for Monday’s
Kemi Badenoch has become the sixth – and potentially last – candidate to enter the Conservative leadership race. In an op-ed for the Times published in the last hour, the Tory frontrunner launched her campaign with a promise to ‘renew by starting from first principles’. ‘We can’t control immigration until we re-confirm our belief in
How much can Rachel Reeves be trusted? A Chancellor’s credibility counts for a lot with the markets, who are asked to lend HM Government tens of billions a year. Reeves claims to be serious, straight and candid in a way her Tory predecessors were not. But now she seems to be channeling Liz Truss and
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is this week expected to announce a £20 billion black hole in the country’s finances. Many believe Labour are setting the ground for inevitable tax hikes and spending cuts in the autumn, blaming unexpected levels of Tory mismanagement for their decisions. On Sky News this morning, Environment Secretary Steve Reed said Labour
Politics and sport have always been cynical and self-interested bedfellows. Rulers since the Caesars have been eager to spend vast sums of taxpayers’ money on circuses to distract the plebs. In more recent times, Louis XIV (a ghostly presence in Friday’s Paris Olympics ceremony) made self-glorification through spectacle a pillar of his reign. Emmanuel Macron made no secret
Rishi Sunak’s political journey over the past few years was summed up by him well in a joke he made responding to the King’s speech earlier this month: ‘On the government benches, life comes at you fast…before you know it, you have a bright future behind you, and you are left wondering if you can
Fashion, forget what they tell you, isn’t about looking good. It’s actually there to remind you that you’re not young anymore. And it’s hit this 36-year-old hard. The boot cuts and bomber jackets of today’s youth are as baffling to me as my skinny jeans doubtless are to them. And the land of male grooming
Priti Patel has tonight entered the race to be the next Tory leader. The former home secretary sets out her pitch in the Daily Telegraph on why she is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak. It is framed by the newspaper as being an appeal to the party’s grassroots, with Patel suggesting that she would give party members
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The rumour swirling around Westminster is that there will soon be a new Cabinet Secretary, the most senior civil servant position. Politico reported that current Cab-Sec Simon Case is being advised to step down for health reasons at the end of the year, providing an opportunity for Keir Starmer to fill the position with his