Lead News

The British government on Monday criticized US billionaire Elon Musk’s controversial comments during his address via videolink at the weekend’s anti-immigrant rally, saying they are “abhorrent.” The “vast majority” of people would react to Musk’s words with “a shake of the head,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said, adding that his language was “abhorrent.” “Whether you’re a hostile state or a ...

Conservative MP Danny Kruger has become the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to Reform UK. Kruger has been an MP since 2019, and sits on Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s team as a shadow work and pensions minister. “The Conservatives are over,” he told a press conference, sitting alongside Reform party leader Nigel Farage. Kruger said he had been “honoured” ...

Sir Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure from within the Labour party over his handling of the sacking of the US ambassador Peter Mandelson. Labour MPs are expressing public and private frustration with the prime minister’s leadership, as he prepares to welcome US President Donald Trump on a state visit this week. Lord Mandelson was sacked last week after a ...

More than 100,000 people in central London have joined a march organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, with a counter-protest by anti-racism campaigners also taking place. Protesters who are forming the “Unite the Kingdom” march are heading towards Whitehall where they will hear a series of speeches from people including Donald Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon. Meanwhile thousands more gathered ...

Labour MPs are publicly and privately expressing their anger over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the US and the handling of his subsequent sacking. Mandelson was dismissed over his links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The men’s friendship had been known about at the time of his appointment but No 10 said new information about ...

One of the UK’s top planning lawyers has said it would be “unlawful” for the government to grant planning permission for a Chinese “mega embassy” near the Tower of London. The opinion, from Lord Banner KC, was submitted to the government on Monday, just ahead of the final deadline for those opposed to the scheme to have their say. Opponents ...

  The UK could suspend visas from countries that do not “play ball” and agree to returns deals for migrants, the new home secretary has said. Shabana Mahmood made the comments as she hosted Donald Trump’s head of homeland security and ministers from Australia, New Zealand and Canada at a meeting of the intelligence-sharing Five Eyes group in London on ...

Ex-Labour deputy Baroness Harman says deputy leader ‘needs to be a woman’ Former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman said the party must pick a woman from outside London to replace Angela Rayner as the party’s deputy. The party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) has set out a sped-up schedule for a deputy leadership race, shaping up to be a battle ...

The defence secretary has said the government is looking at expanding the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, as it seeks to move people out of hotels. John Healey also confirmed officials were considering other types of “non-military” accommodation. Just over 32,000 asylum seekers are currently in hotels, which represents about a third of the total number being ...

United Kingdom foreign minister David Lammy has been appointed as the country’s new deputy prime minister, replacing Angela Rayner after she resigned amid a tax scandal. Rayner’s resignation on Friday for breaching ministerial code after underpaying tax on her flat prompted a major cabinet reshuffle, with Lammy’s elevation to deputy prime minister among a raft of new appointments. The departure ...