I’d spoil my ballot if I was voting in Rochdale, says ‘ashamed’ Wes Streeting
Labour voters in Rochdale should spoil their ballots after the party’s candidate was axed in an anti-Semitism row, Wes Streeting has suggested.
Mr Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said he was “sorry and ashamed” that people in the Greater Manchester town will not be able to back Labour in the forthcoming by-election.
Alexei Navalny was poisoned by Putin, his widow claims
Alexei Navalny’s widow has promised to reveal how Vladimir Putin killed her husband, as she pledged to take over her husband’s work.
Post Office chair was being investigated for bullying, says Kemi Badenoch
The former chairman of the Post Office was being investigated for bullying, Kemi Badenoch has told the Commons.
Kemi Badenoch launched the attack on Henry Staunton on Sunday after he claimed in an interview that he had been told by a senior government official to slow down the payment of compensation for sub-postmasters to allow the Tories to “limp into” the next election. Mrs Badenoch, who sacked him as chairman last month, said his comments were “full of lies” and accused him of failing to get justice for postmasters.
Labour | Shadow environment secretary Steve Reed has vowed to ‘eliminate’ fox hunting and has promised to close ‘loopholes’ in the ban to prevent hounds killing pets or livestock.
Israel rejects allies’ two-state solution and sets date for Rafah ground offensive
The Israeli government said the international community was trying to “unilaterally” impose the creation of a Palestinian state to bring about peace in the Middle East. Meanwhile, retired general Benny Gantz, who is part of Mr Netanyahu’s three-member War Cabinet, on Sunday threatened to invade Rafah if remaining Israeli hostages were not freed by Ramadan.
Headteachers told to search pupils for mobile phones
Headteachers will be told to search pupils for mobile phones as part of a government ban on the devices in schools. Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, said phones were an “unwanted distraction in the classroom” and banishing them would reduce disruption and improve behaviour. In guidance to be published on Monday, headteachers will be given four options on how to implement the ban.
Germany ‘likely in recession’ amid uncertainty over net zero targets
Germany is “likely” in recession as it grapples with strikes, a property slump and its faltering transition to net zero, according to its central bank. The Bundesbank warned there was no end in sight for the “ongoing period of weakness” in Europe’s largest economy that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Rishi Sunak has become the first prime minister to address the National Farmers Union conference since Gordon Brown in 2008 as he made both a pledge and a plea to the farmers of Britain.
Sunak targets farming red tape
With poll after poll suggesting that farmers and rural communities plan to desert the Tories, it was hardly surprising that Sunak showed up today.
“Farming is going through its biggest change in a generation, and as you do so this Government will be by your side.”
Pledging to wage war on red tape, he added: “I appreciate the perception that we didn’t always get the balance exactly right but I still believe that the vision is the right one.”
Most tellingly, Sunak attacked the top-down measures imposed on farmers by Labour in Wales, including blanket 20mph zones and mandatory land use requirements. I hear from Tory insiders they want to use Wales as a major wedge issue come the election, as the Prime Minister looks to stem the bleeding of the core Tory vote in its traditional farming heartlands.
Israel responds to Prince William’s call to end fighting in Gaza
The Israeli Government has responded to the Prince of Wales’s intervention on the Gaza conflict, warning that the fighting would end when all hostages are released and Hamas is dismantled.
The Prince, 41, who will meet aid workers involved in the humanitarian effort, attracted criticism for his comments that will be considered a significant intervention in the conflict.
Nigel Farage claimed he should “stick to the Baftas” rather than intervene in the Middle East crisis.
A deadline has been set for the start of Ramadan, the clock is ticking down, and the fate of more than a million displaced people seeking shelter hangs in the balance.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, had her account on X, formerly known as Twitter, reinstated after a brief suspension.
Responding to a wave of online criticism following her suspension, the social network owned by Elon Musk said its defence mechanism “mistakenly flagged” her account as “violating our rules”.
US moves to stop Israel’s invasion of Rafah
Joe Biden is pushing for a United Nations vote on a “temporary ceasefire” in a break with the Israeli government as its troops prepare for an assault on the city in south Gaza. In a draft resolution, the US warns that a ground offensive into the city, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering, would have “serious implications for regional peace and security”.
Yemen’s Houthis have shown they still have tricks up their sleeves in the Red Sea
Houthi supporters at a rally for Hamas in Sanaa, Yemen CREDIT: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
Yemen’s Houthis are launching attacks with greater frequency as they cheer being re-designated as a terrorist group by the United States.
Washington took the Houthis off the list in early 2021, shortly after Joe Biden assumed the presidency, in order to make it easier for much-needed humanitarian aid to enter Yemen.
But missiles launched by the Houthis in recent months have changed the calculus, prompting the group’s re-classification on Friday.
In recent days, the Houthis appear to have been emboldened, damaging one ship so severely that it’s at risk of sinking.
The crew was able to abandon the vessel, though this marks the first time the Houthis have immobilised a ship since the conflict began.
Sunak and Starmer approval gap widest ever after Tory by-election defeats
Rishi Sunak’s approval rating has plummeted in the wake of the Conservatives’ by-election defeats, with the gap between the Prime Minister and Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, now the widest it has ever been.
A survey conducted by Deltapoll gave Mr Sunak a net approval rating of minus 43, with 26 per cent of respondents saying he was doing well and 68 per cent saying he was doing badly.
Sadiq Khan has been accused of promoting “anti-British propaganda” with a multicultural shortlist of sculptures for Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth. The Mayor of London has resisted calls for a statue of Queen Elizabeth II to be erected in the space and instead launched a competition that will be decided by a public vote.
After highly charged exchanges at previous Prime Minister’s Questions, both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer dialled things back with events in Gaza set to dominate the day in Westminster.
Challenged by SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn on why he is not backing an immediate ceasefire, Sunak said: “Of course we want to see the fighting in Gaza end as soon as possible and never again allow Hamas to carry out the appalling terrorist attacks that Israel was subject to.
Tory MP tables motion of no confidence in Hoyle amid fury over handling of Gaza debate
The Commons Speaker took the highly unusual step of selecting both a Labour amendment and a Government amendment to an SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The decision to select the Labour amendment was greeted in the Commons by Tory cries of “shameful” and “bring back Bercow”.
In a public statement, Prince William said “too many have been killed” in the conflict, urging more humanitarian aid and the release of hostages as he called for “an end to the fighting as soon as possible”. His intervention was backed by Number 10, which said the nation should speak with “one voice”. Meanwhile, Hannah Furness writes the Prince of Wales knew his Gaza plea would court controversy.
Boris Johnson | The former prime minister has denied demanding a million-dollar fee for an interview with ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
British nuclear missile ‘misfires and crashes into ocean’
A Trident nuclear missile misfired and crashed into the ocean near the submarine that launched it during a test last month, it has been reported. It is the second misfire in a row, with a test launch of a Trident missile by the Royal Navy off the coast of the US in June 2016 also reported to have been a failure.
Only Mordaunt could beat Starmer at next election, say Tory voters
Conservative voters believe that only Penny Mordaunt could beat Sir Keir Starmer at the next election, a new poll suggests. Ms Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, was the only candidate backed by 2019 Tory voters to give the party a better chance of winning a fifth term if she replaced Rishi Sunak.
US attempt to use UN to halt Rafah offensive is ‘ethically reprehensible’
The US’s attempt to use the United Nations to halt Israel’s Rafah offensive is “ethically reprehensible”, an Israeli minister has said. The Biden administration broke with the Israeli government this week to warn the planned invasion of the Gazan city “should not proceed under current circumstances”. Read more here.
The Speaker enraged the Tories and the SNP by going against official advice to controversially select a Labour amendment. His decision got Sir Keir Starmer out of a huge hole, sparing the Labour leader the threat of another revolt by dozens of his own MPs. But it sparked a constitutional crisis with the Conservatives and the SNP storming out of the chamber in protest.
Aid trucks going into Gaza are being looted out of “utter desperation” as they drive through what is now being described as a “death zone”. This week, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said it had paused deliveries to northern Gaza because of “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order”.
Huge fire devastates Sir Alf Ramsey’s favourite hotel
Former Brazil footballer Dani Alves has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022.
In an article for The Telegraph, Mrs Braverman, the former home secretary, said Britain was “sleep-walking into a ghettoised society” that threatened free expression. Her comments come a day after Sir Lindsay Hoyle sparked a furious backlash over a Gaza ceasefire vote by allowing a vote on a Labour amendment, leading to accusations that he had given in to extremists.
Speaking for the first time since the Gaza debate, the Prime Minister said the usual process of the House has been changed but he understood Sir Lindsay had apologised. Some 67 MPs had signed a motion declaring no confidence in Sir Lindsay by Thursday night. Elsewhere, with the Israel-Hamas war in its fifth month, Telegraph readers discuss possible outcomes of the conflict.
Left-wing anarchist made plan to kill 50 politicians
A Left-wing anarchist wanted to kill at least 50 politicians and government officials “to stand up for working classes”, a court heard. Student Jacob Graham was convicted of preparing terrorist acts following a five-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Valencia fire ‘exactly the same as Grenfell’ as search for survivors begins
A huge fire killed 10 people, including an entire family and their newborn baby, as it ripped through a multi-storey apartment block in Valencia.
Firefighters rescued some occupants from their balconies as high winds fanned the flames during the incident in the Spanish city’s affluent Campanar neighbourhood.
Odysseus becomes first private spacecraft to land on the moon
A Houston-based company completed the United States’ first successful lunar landing in more than 50 years, after a dramatic touchdown on Thursday night. It was feared the landing of the hexagon-shaped Odysseus would have to be abandoned or delayed after its onboard laser based navigation system failed. However Intuitive Machines technicians managed to use a Nasa instrument which was part of the payload to complete the mission.
‘I hit the bomb with a spade’: How Plymouth resident sparked biggest peacetime evacuation
What started as a simple home extension spiralled into one of the biggest peacetime evacuations in British history when a spade knocked an unexploded Second World War bomb. Thousands were forced to leave their homes after a father assisting his daughter sparked a major incident when he found the 500kg explosive dropped by the Luftwaffe 83 years ago in his Plymouth garden. The Nazi explosive was detonated at sea on Friday night following a carefully planned operation which brought parts of the city to a standstill.
The bomb is loaded by crane onto an inflatable boat and driven out to sea CREDIT: SWNS
Atkins signals backing for decriminalisation of abortion
The Health Secretary has signalled that she would back the decriminalisation of abortion as MPs prepare to vote on the first significant changes in the law for more than 30 years. Victoria Atkins, who has previously supported decriminalisation and backed buffer zones for abortion clinics, said in an interview with The Telegraph her voting record “speaks for itself”.
Capitol riots as a pinball game. Welcome to the MAGA universe
People play Jan 6-themed pinball at the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting in Maryland CREDIT: REUTERS
Donald Trump’s grip is evident at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. Rozina Sabur reports from Maryland
A joint effort of several authors who do find that nobody can keep standing at the side and that “Everyone" must care about what is going on in today’s world.
We are a bunch of people who do not mind that somebody has a totally different idea but is willing to share the ideas with others and to be Active and willing to let others understand how "today’s decisions will influence the future”. Therefore we would love to see many others to "Act today".
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Some View on the World 