Closing summary
That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and the UK politics live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
Here is a summary of the day’s headlines:
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Andy Burnham has apologised for Labour’s initial response to Israel’s military action in Gaza, saying the party “didn’t get it right” and needs to “do better” under his leadership, as he signalled a significant shift in the UK’s approach to the Middle East. The prime minister-in-waiting told the Guardian he would put more pressure on the Israeli government, including through further sanctions on individuals and entities, but also potentially by banning trade in goods with illegal settlements.
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George Cottrell was routinely introduced as Nigel Farage’s chief of staff before the 2024 election despite denials that he had any official role, according to a Reform UK candidate who stood aside for the party leader. Others who have been closely involved in the party have also claimed Cottrell arranged the Land Rovers that ferried Reform’s newly elected MPs to parliament, and that he covered the cost of a fundraising lunch with potential donors before the national vote.
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In a Daily Mail interview, Nigel Farage claimed that the Commons standards committee, which will impose a punishment if Farage is found to have broken Commons rules, was biased against him. He said: “There are people on that standards committee who will judge me, who have reported me for Islamophobia. It is going to be a completely subjective judgment. There’s no objectivity in this.”
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Reform UK activists have been urged to divert from the Greater Manchester mayoral byelection to support Nigel Farage’s “fake” contest 250 miles away in Clacton. A WhatsApp message shared with party members in north-west England said: “The message could not be more clear. We now need all of our fantastic activists, branch officers and councillors to come and help us in Clacton.”
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Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, has confirmed that he has suspended his inquiry into Nigel Farage’s undeclared £5m donation while the Clacton byelection takes place. He has posted this on his website. It is the page about allegations under investigation.
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Andy Burnham has promised MPs that he will never use party discipline to “stifle debate” and says they should raise problems and policy ideas “without fear or favour”. Nominations for the Labour leadership will open on Thursday, and Burnham is expected to be the only candidate. On Wednesday night the former armed forces minister Al Carns confirmed he would not seek to enter the race to replace Keir Starmer.
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Louise Haigh has accused Keir Starmer’s allies of briefing “consistently and viciously” against her after she resigned as transport secretary as she spoke openly about her departure from the cabinet in 2024 and her reasons for backing Andy Burnham. She has helped mastermind Burnham’s likely ascent to power, with the former Manchester mayor expected to be confirmed as prime minister in days.
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Shabana Mahmood is planning to change the law so the government can move towards deporting the ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang. The home secretary is expected to amend the 1971 Immigration Act, which prevents Shabir Ahmed from being removed from Britain.
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Funding is to be made available to remove dangerous cladding from buildings which previously did not qualify for government help, the Press Association reports. Buildings under 11 metres were not covered by existing leaseholder protections because serious cladding problems are considered to be less common in lower-rise buildings, PA says.
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A landmark government review of disability benefits has warned “challenging discussions” remain on how to overhaul and pay for a system it concludes is unfit for purpose and too often leaves vulnerable claimants dehumanised and degraded. The Timms review of the personal independence payment (Pip) concluded the benefit, claimed by nearly 4 million people in England and Wales, suffered from systematic and deep-rooted problems that had undermined public trust in the benefits system.
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Andy Burnham’s plan for a ‘No 10 North’ based in Manchester risks creating a new power bubble and overlooking left-behind communities, Ed Davey has said. On a visit to Torbay in Devon, the Liberal Democrat leader will say the prime minister-in-waiting’s devolution proposals could push the government “even further away” from areas like those in the south-west.
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The Green Party has released its manifesto for the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election – the first party to do so in this race. The party launched its manifesto this morning at the Nia Centre in Hulme. Mayoral candidate Geraldine Coggins was joined by Green party leader Zack Polanski and Gorton and Denton MP Hannah Spencer.
Andy Burnham has apologised for Labour’s slow response in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
In an exclusive interview with Pippa Crerar, he says that more pressure should be put on the Israeli government, including a ban on trade in goods with illegal settlements.
Burnham also says that there is increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed, but that international courts must determine this, not politicians.
Plus Pippa and Kiran discuss the fallout from Nigel Farage’s shock resignation on Tuesday…
George Cottrell was routinely introduced as Nigel Farage’s chief of staff before the 2024 election despite denials that he had any official role, according to a Reform UK candidate who stood aside for the party leader.
Others who have been closely involved in the party have also claimed Cottrell arranged the Land Rovers that ferried Reform’s newly elected MPs to parliament, and that he covered the cost of a fundraising lunch with potential donors before the national vote.
Questions about the role of Cottrell – who is a convicted fraudster – and the extent to which he has provided undeclared support for Farage have been building over the past week as the Reform leader comes under unprecedented pressure.
On Wednesday, the Guardian revealed that a loan from Cottrell to Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, was highlighted by bankers in suspicious activity reports. SARs are a way to raise concerns with the National Crime Agency; they are not proof of wrongdoing but flags for further investigation.
Among other SARs about transactions involving Reform was one relating to a £1m donation from Cottrell’s mother, Fiona, to Britain Means Business, a fundraising organisation for the party. The Guardian understands bank staff were not satisfied that the funds had ultimately come from her.
Louise Haigh has accused Keir Starmer’s allies of briefing “consistently and viciously” against her after she resigned as transport secretary as she spoke openly about her departure from the cabinet in 2024 and her reasons for backing Andy Burnham.
She has helped mastermind Burnham’s likely ascent to power, with the former Manchester mayor expected to be confirmed as prime minister in days.
Talking to the BBC’s Nick Robinson, Haigh said she had been a victim of a “cabal of men mistreating women” who had also targeted her cabinet colleagues Lisa Nandy, Bridget Phillipson and Angela Rayner, as well as Starmer’s former chief of staff Sue Gray.
Haigh was sacked from the cabinet after it emerged she had pleaded guilty to fraudulently reporting a lost mobile phone as stolen in 2013, something she says she had told Starmer about several years before being sacked.
Speaking to Robinson’s podcast, Political Thinking, at the Crossed Wires festival in Sheffield, Haigh said: “Both Morgan [McSweeney] and [Starmer] kept saying ‘well, additional information has emerged’, but at no point would any of them tell me what that additional information was.”
She added: “To pretend that I hadn’t told him and to brief so consistently and so viciously for quite a number of weeks after that was a deliberate attempt to knock my character down.”
Ed Davey claims 'Avanti Andy' may ignores places like south-west
Andy Burnham’s plan for a ‘No 10 North’ based in Manchester risks creating a new power bubble and overlooking left-behind communities, Ed Davey has said.
On a visit to Torbay in Devon, the Liberal Democrat leader will say the prime minister-in-waiting’s devolution proposals could push the government “even further away” from areas like those in the south-west.
In a fresh attack on Keir Starmer’s likely successor, Sir Ed will dub the former metro mayor “Avanti Andy” and tell him “there is a Britain that lies beyond the tracks connecting Euston and Manchester Piccadilly”.
Ahead of his visit, Davey said: “London and Manchester are brilliant cities and engines of innovation for our country, but Avanti Andy is heading for signal failure if he doesn’t rapidly realise there is a Britain that lies beyond the tracks connecting Euston and Manchester Piccadilly.
“From the Devon coast to Swansea’s streets and Shetland’s shores, people are utterly fed up with being overlooked.
“Andy Burnham has a very short window to turn this Government around, end the chaos and build trust with communities the whole length and breadth of the UK.
“From restoring axed rural bus services to saving our high streets from terminal decay, Liberal Democrats will be holding Avanti Andy to account on putting real power back into the hands of local communities.”
Updated
Rupert Lowe condemned for wrongly claiming Dunblane massacre involved just 'one murder'
Rupert Lowe has sparked outrage after incorrectly claiming there was just “one murder” during the Dunblane massacre.
The Restore Britain leader told Joe Rogan, the world’s most popular podcaster, that handguns in the UK were banned “because there was a murder up in Dunblane”.
Rogan asks the Great Yarmouth MP: “One murder?,” before Lowe replies: “One murder.”
Sixteen children aged five and six and their teacher were killed by Thomas Hamilton at Dunblane Primary School on March 13, 1996. Another 15 children and three adults were injured before Hamilton killed himself.
The tragedy remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history and led to major reform of the UK’s gun laws.
Lowe’s comments prompted backlash, with Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr describing them as “shocking”.
He said:
One murder? Sixteen kids and their teacher were murdered. Fifteen other primary school children were wounded.
My children’s school, about 15 minutes from Dunblane, was locked down that day. They’ll never forget being kept in the gym hall until everyone learned the gunman was dead.
They’ll never forget the teachers trying to hold themselves together while reassuring frightened children.
To reduce that atrocity to ‘one murder’ is deeply insulting. It wasn’t a single murder. It was a mass murder. In a primary school.
Updated
The Green Party has released its manifesto for the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election – the first party to do so in this race.
The party launched its manifesto this morning at the Nia Centre in Hulme. Mayoral candidate Geraldine Coggins was joined by Green party leader Zack Polanski and Gorton and Denton MP Hannah Spencer.
The 21-page manifesto is split into four main areas: housing, employment, transport, and community safety.
On housing, Coggins aims to deliver 20,000 affordable homes for rent over the next decade. Her plan involves purchasing 10,000 existing homes, which would be refurbished and made available quickly on the market at affordable rates, while 10,000 new homes are being built. She also pledges to campaign to central government for the ability to deliver rent controls.
To revive local high streets, Coggins plans to introduce a £10 million ‘community development’ fund. Its purpose would be to provide rapid loans to help councils, community groups and co-operatives take over empty shops and create community-owned buildings.
Coggins also plans to make bus travel free for those under 22, funded by an overnight visitor levy “as soon as legislation allows”.
In her chapter on community safety and policing, Coggins says she wishes to tackle “the causes of crime as well as responding to it.” This would mean £5m additional funding for violence reduction programmes and creating a “Tensions Monitoring Network” to identify and reduce rising tensions between communities. For policing, Coggins promises to build relationships between officers and communities by conducting a review into how Greater Manchester Police approaches protests and ensuring officers receive mental health training to tackle complex cases.
Coggins has also pledged to ‘“put climate and nature at the heart of every decision” made as mayor.
Scrutiny is mounting on Reform UK’s finances.
On Tuesday, amid an investigation by parliamentary standards into an undisclosed £5m gift, Nigel Farage announced he would resign and trigger a byelection in his constituency of Clacton-on-Sea.
His statement came an hour after a deadline to respond to the Guardian’s latest investigation, which revealed that the £5m gift had been reported by bankers to the National Crime Agency (NCA) over money laundering concerns.
The Guardian has also revealed he was not alone: transactions worth more than £1m involving other senior figures at Reform had also caused bankers to report their concerns to the NCA via Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). These are not the same as a crime report. They are an invitation for the NCA to examine a transaction and decide whether it merits further investigation.
The disclosures have precipitated Reform’s biggest crisis and led even party supporters to question their leader’s judgment.
Here are some of the most pressing questions the party must now answer on the revelations and their consequences:
Timms says plans to reform Pip disability benefits should make system 'sustainable', but current spending 'not great concern'
A review of disability benefits led by the welfare minister Stephen Timms has warned “challenging discussions” remain on how to overhaul and pay for a system it concludes is unfit for purpose and too often leaves vulnerable claimants dehumanised and degraded. Patrick Butler and Rosie Peters-McDonald have the story here.
The full Timms report on the personal independence payment (Pip) is here. It is an interim report; full proposals are coming later.
As the Press Association reports, when Timms made a statement on this to MPs, a Labour MP claimed oeople abusing drugs and alcohol are getting disability benefits while those with “really serious conditions” are being rejected.
Clive Betts, deputy chair of parliament’s public accounts committee, called for the government to take a “real look” at the different conditions people are using to apply for Pip. He said:
I think the theme of fairness for the people needing benefits and fairness for the taxpayers is right.
The Link Community centre in my constituency in Stradbroke, where they’re saying there are people there with mental health conditions claiming Pip, who have actually got drug abuse and alcohol abuse conditions, and they’re using Pip to fund those conditions.
I’ve complained about young lads in their 20s driving around in motability cars, and someone in the community is paid to fill the forms in for them.
On the other hand, I have so many constituents with really serious conditions who get turned down for Pip and can only get it if they struggle through the appeal system, sometimes without any help at all.
So the system isn’t there to help anyone at present.
Timms replied:
I think he’s right.
The system at present does not work properly for disabled people, and neither does it give confidence to taxpayers that the funding is being well used.
We’re determined to turn things around and to be fair to both.
Later in the session, Timms said the government will not be moving away from the “vital” provision of cash “to meet the additional costs of disability”.
However, he did suggest some people could benefit from alternative services, as opposed to cash payments.
Earlier today, in an interview on the Today programme, Timms said that he wanted to make the disability benefits system “financially sustainable”.
Asked if he would come up with recommendations to cut the number of people getting Pip, Timms said: “Well, we’ll need to wait and see what our recommendations are.”
Explaining what he meant by the term “financially sustainable”, Timms said:
My view is the current level of spending is not a great concern.
What would be a concern would be if it carried on going up forever more, and that we have to address, and we will be doing so.
That is all from me for now. Tom Ambrose is taking over.
Updated
A loyalist bonfire in Northern Ireland featuring an effigy of a mosque has been condemned as an incitement to hatred, Rory Carroll reports.
Tories say Home Office should stop issuing travel visas to Pakistan unless it allows deportation of Rochdale grooming gang leader
The Conservatives want the Home Office to stop issuing travel visas to people from Pakistan if its government refuses to take back the Rochdale grooming gang leader, Shabir Ahmed.
As Rajeev Syal reports, Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, intends to change the law so that Ahmed, a former British-Pakistani joint national who has now had his British nationality revoked, can be deported.
But a law change on its own would not make a difference because Pakistan does not want to accept Ahmed, 73, who has lived most of his life in the UK.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said today:
Last year, the government gave Pakistan almost 150,000 visas. Now Pakistan is refusing to take one single criminal back.
This is total weakness from Labour and a humiliation. Ministers must show some backbone and ensure Shabir Ahmed is removed from our country. Vile rapists and paedophiles who come here from overseas should all be deported.
Invest in Britain or I’ll force you to, minister tells pension funds
Peter Kyle, the business secretary, has told UK pension funds to “get off their high horses” and invest in Britain or be forced to do so by law. Richard Partington has the story.
Cladding removal funding to be extended to lower-rise buildings
Funding is to be made available to remove dangerous cladding from buildings which previously did not qualify for government help, the Press Association reports.
Buildings under 11 metres were not covered by existing leaseholder protections because serious cladding problems are considered to be less common in lower-rise buildings, PA says. But the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced today that new funding is being made available under the Cladding Safety Scheme for buildings under 11 metres, with priority support to be given to those deemed to have the greatest fire safety risks.
This is from Alexander Brown at the Mirror on another of Robert Jenrick’s comments in his LBC phone-in.
Robert Jenrick, asked on LBC if he thinks a man’s Spanish wife should leave the country, says “my view is that you should unashamedly put British citizens first. And I know that’s a hard message for some people, but it seems perverse to me that it’s a controversial thing to say”
This is not new. At a press conference last month, Jenrick said EU nationals who are in the UK and not working should leave – regardless of how long they have been here, he implied.
What Greater Manchester mayoral candidates were promising at 'people's charter' hustings
Chris Osuh is a Guardian community affairs correspondent.
Candidates vying to replace Andy Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor have been urged to support devolving decision-making to communities.
A project to develop a “Greater Manchester People’s Charter” – a region-wide set of demands for more participatory democracy – began this week at “the People’s Hustings” event at Stretford town hall.
Residents explored what “people-powered democracy” could look like, including ideas such as citizens’ assemblies and participatory budgeting, before a mayoral hustings event.
Labour candidate Bev Craig, who has led Manchester city council for five years, said the charter sounded “really energising” and said the Bed Every Night scheme – the drive to reduce rough sleeping that was a flagship policy of Burnham’s mayoralty – had originated by listening to the public.
Craig said she would involve people “in direct decisions and broader agenda setting” by continuing and expanding “panels that already exist across Greater Manchester, and using commissions on difficult issues such as rent affordability and controls.”
Discussing her wider platform, Craig said she was committed to building 15,000 council homes, “restoring pride in our high streets “and free bus travel for 11-to-18 year olds.
Geraldine Coggins, Green mayoralty candidate and leader of Trafford council’s Green group said she had a citizens’ assembly in her manifesto, and that “this election is about us taking Greater Manchester back, giving power to people, taking it away from big businesses and the establishment that has held on to it for so long.”
Coggins said she wanted “to create 20,000 genuine affordable homes, make our buses free for everybody under 22, and to get our high streets buzzing again and make this the greenest city region in our country.”
Lib Dem candidate Richard Kilpatrick, a councillor in Didsbury West ward, said he supported systematic change when it came to sharing decision-making, saying he had delegated £10,000 of my local budget for people in Didsbury to decide what it should be spent on specifically to do with resilience to climate change.”
He added: “Democracy does not end at the ballot box – politicians are meant to listen all the time. Scrutiny needs to be better, if politicians aren’t capable of doing it then it should be the people.”
Conservative candidate Phil Eckersley, a councillor in Bowdon, Altrincham, said he wanted to create “easy to access dashboards” which detailed where public spending was going.
Organisers, who say they are inspired by the Chartists, hope to build on the momentum of former GM mayor Andy Burnham’s devolution agenda, the mayoralty election, and the Gorton and Denton byelection to create a new model of politics which expands voters’ influence beyond the ballot box and into policy
Parliament's standards watchdog confirms inquiry into Farage paused until byelection over
Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, has confirmed that he has suspended his inquiry into Nigel Farage’s undeclared £5m donation while the Clacton byelection takes place.
He has posted this on his website. It is the page about allegations under investigation.
If Farage wins the byelection, it is expected Greenberg will resume the investigation. Even if Farage loses, Greenberg can, and almost certainly would, conclude his report.
The Greens were aiming their jokes at Nigel Farage at an event this morning launching the party’s manifesto for the Greater Manchester mayoral campaign.
Zack Polanski, the Green leader, said:
[The Clacton byelection] is happening because Nigel Farage cares about one thing, and that’s himself and his own money.
Now, I know he’s not a fan of workers’ rights but it feels like he’s taking fire and rehire a bit too far. Maybe this time he’ll take £4m instead of £5m.
And Hannah Spencer, the Green MP, said:
We get to spend the summer watching Clacton, a farce of a byelection where one of the candidates is a joke character filled with rubbish and the other is Count Binface.
No 10 pays tribute to Bonnie Tyler, whose music 'continues to touch lives, flood dancefloors and fill karaoke booths'
Keir Starmer has joined those paying tribute to Bonnie Tyler after her death was announced this morning.
At the No 10 lobby briefing, a No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister is indeed saddened to hear about the death of Bonnie Tyler, one of Britain’s greatest recording artists, an iconic figure.
She leaves behind a catalogue of music, from Total Eclipse of the Heart to Holding Out for a Hero, that continues to touch lives, flood dancefloors, and fill karaoke booths.
The prime minister’s thoughts are very much with her friends and family.
Jenrick describes standards committee inquiry into Farage as 'kangaroo court'
Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesperson, has joined Nigel Farage, his party leader, in accusing the standards committee of being biased against him. (See 11.09am.)
Jenrick described the committee as “a bit of a kangaroo court” – using a phrase that Reform UK has been using in private, and one that led to the privileges committee toughening the penalty it imposed on Boris Johnson after he accused it of being a kangaroo court.
Speaking on his LBC phone-in this morning, Jenrick said:
[Farage is] holding the byelection because it was inevitable there was going to be one. All the political party leaders have totally prejudged the situation.
Kemi Badenoch put out a tweet saying that they wouldn’t field the candidate in this byelection, but they would in the next one. Well, how does she know there’s even going to be another one?
She’s obviously hoping, planning for there to be one, and so Nigel, not unreasonably, concluded that it’s a bit of a kangaroo court. It’s a stitch up. They’re going to call a byelection at some point. So for his sake, but also for his constituents’ sake, let’s just get it done.
Jenrick was referring to the possibility that the standards inquiry into Farage will lead to him being suspended from the Commons for at least 10 days, which would mean a recall byelection could take place.
On LBC Jenrick also claimed it would be pointless to have a subsequent recall byelection in Clacton after the one in August. He said:
It would, I think, be completely ridiculous for there then to be another byelection later in the year.
People really would then start to think the establishment are persecuting this man because they don’t want him to be prime minister because they don’t want the big radical change that he represents to happen to this country.
Jenrick also claimed voters in Clacton knew enough about Farage, and his donations, to make a judgment.
I do question whether the people of Clacton are somehow not informed enough to make a judgment. Nigel is already out on the streets in Clacton chatting to people. I’ve seen he’s been in pubs and cafes on the street, on the pier, in the arcade.
He’s been making his case, and surely the people in Clacton know enough, are capable of making a judgment.
In fact, there are plenty of things about the donations that Farage has received that voters in Clacton don’t know about. He has repeatedly refused to answer questions about his finances, claiming either that people aren’t interested or that it is none of their business.
The report from the standards committee into the allegations is likely to give a fuller picture.
But that depends on the extent to which Farage is cooperating with it, and his language this week implies he no longer believes that is worthwhile.
Jenrick suggests Tories to blame if donation he accepted during 2024 leadership contest turns out to be illegal
The police have launched an investigation into £37,500 of donations to Robert Jenrick’s campaign to become Conservative leader in 2024 after a referral from the elections watchdog. Rowena Mason has the story.
Jenrick was asked about this while hosting an LBC phone-in this morning, and he suggested that the Conservative party was to blame for any offence that might have been committed.
Responding to a caller who asked about Jenrick being investigated by the police, Jenrick replied:
That’s not actually true … That’s not correct.
What’s actually happened here is that I stood for leader of the Conservative party back in the day. The Conservative party introduced a donor to me, they checked out whether or not this bloke was legit or not.
There’s now been a suggestion that maybe part of his donation was from an overseas company. That’s been looked into.
I’ve cooperated fully. I’ve not done anything wrong whatsoever, and I’ve not actually had any contact from the Metropolitan police, so I’ve no idea whether or not they’re looking into it or not. But they’ve certainly not told me one way or another.
Andy Burnham has posted a video on social media confirming that he has nominated himself for Labour leader. Nominations opened this morning. Labour will publish daily updates on how many nominations he has received (it’s an open process, and so names of MPs nominating a candidate are published), and Burnham says we should get the first update at about 7pm tonight.
Al Carns, the former defence minister, has not been in to nominate himself. Last night he confirmed what everyone else already knew – that he would not be standing as a candidate. He said:
I’d hoped a leadership contest would give us the opportunity for a proper debate. But months of internal Labour politics isn’t what the country needs right now. We’ve got to get on with the job.
@AndyBurnham’s earned this and he’s got my full backing.
Our job now as a Labour team is to help him succeed, because the country needs him to...
In a story for the i, Kitty Donaldson quotes a Labour figure as saying a survey of the parliamentary Labour party concluded that Carns had only had “three backers, and one is him”.
Reform activists urged to switch focus from Manchester to Farage’s Clacton contest
Reform UK activists have been urged to divert from the Greater Manchester mayoral byelection to support Nigel Farage’s “fake” contest 250 miles away in Clacton, Josh Halliday reports.
Farage says his ongoing friendship with aide, donor and fraudster George Cottrell shows his 'Christian forgiveness'
Nigel Farage’s difficulties got a lot worse at the weekend when the Sunday Times splashed on a big investigation saying that, before he had become an MP, he had received donations, including funding for staff to manage his social media accounts, from George Cottrell, a friend and adviser who has been convicted of a fraud offence in the US. These donations were not declared.
It is the fact that they were not declared, not the fact that they came from a convicted fraudster, which makes them a potential breach of the rules. But Farage’s reliance on Cottrell has raised questions about his ethical values.
In his Daily Mail interview, Farage insisted that his ongoing friendship with Cottrell was evidence of “Christian forgiveness”.
He told the Mail he believed in “Christian forgiveness for what people have been charged and found to have done wrong aged 21”.
Asked about not declaring the donations, he said:
In 2021 I was going out into the English Channel, filming the boats. I was an influencer.
If George Cottrell helped a bit with paying for the film crews and stuff, so what? What’s that got to do with anybody?
Under the Commons rules, MPs have to declare donations received in the 12 months before they became an MP, as well as those received when they are an MP, if they could “reasonably be thought by others” to be related to their parliamentary or political work. The Sunday Times claimed Cottrell was supporting Farage during that 12-month window before the election.
Updated
Farage launches preemptive attack on Commons standards committee, claiming it won't judge him fairly
In his Daily Mail interview, Nigel Farage also claimed that the Commons standards committee, which will impose a punishment if Farage is found to have broken Commons rules, was biased against him.
He said:
There are people on that standards committee who will judge me, who have reported me for Islamophobia. It is going to be a completely subjective judgment. There’s no objectivity in this.
According to Christian Calgie, who interviewed Farage for the Mail, Reform UK sources are describing the committee as a “kangaroo court”.
Allegations about MPs breaking parliamentary rules are investigated by Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards. He has confirmed that he is investigating the £5m donation. On Tuesday Farage implied undeclared donations from George Cottrell were also being investigated, and Greenberg is also being urged to investigate claims Farage broke lobbying rules.
In his speech on Tuesday Farage implied the standards inquiry was evidence of the establishment using “foul means” to defeat him.
But this is his most explicit attack on the standards committee – and it implies that Farage now believes he will be found guilty of a serious breach of Commons rules.
It is also a move that could see him facing a harsher penalty. The committee regularly imposes harsher punishments on MPs who have not cooperated with or respected the disciplinary process.
In a case with some parallels, Boris Johnson condemned the privileges committee as a “kangaroo court” before it published its final report into him. The committee (comprised of MPs who also serve on the standards committee) said Johnson’s criticism amounted to “a further significant contempt” and this contributed to it proposing a 90-day suspension – which it was not able to enforce because Johnson resigned as an MP first.
In the interview Farage did not name the committee members he said had accused him of Islamophobia, but he may have been referring to a letter from Labour MPs saying the Equality and Human Rights Commission should investigate Islamophobia in Reform UK.
Farage admits he did not anticipate main parties failing to put up candidates in Clacton byelection
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has admitted that he did not anticipate the main political parties failing to put up candidates when he resigned to trigger a byelection in Clacton.
Farage announced the move on Tuesday because he thought a resounding byelction win would somehow invalidate the inquiry into claims he broke parliamentary rules when he did not declare a £5m donation from the cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.
But, because he will not face any serious opposition, it will be hard to argue that a win shows voters have chosen to side with him against the parliamentary authorities and, with Count Binface now Farage’s main opposition, the contest looks farcical.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, asked if he thought the other parties might not contest the byelection, Farage replied:
No, of course not. Why would they [not contest]? It’s a real election.
The fact Labour and the Conservatives don’t want to stand, they’re both showing contempt for the electorate. They can use whatever terms they want – it’s a real election with real people.
Explaining why he took the surprise decision to call the byelection, Farage said it was a response to the ongoing negative publicity he was getting about his personal finances. He said:
If there’s a daily media pile-on saying that I’m dishonest on this, that or the other, it leaves me in a position of paralysis. So I’ve done this to try and break that.
The extent of the co-ordination of the pile-on had left us slightly in a state of paralysis – that could have gone on for months. What if [the parliamentary commissioner for standards, who is investigating the donation] doesn’t answer until October?
Updated
There is an urgent question in the Commons at 10.30am. Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, has asked for a statement about the “Iran’s violation of the ceasefire”.
And there will be two ministerial statements after business questions.
Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, will give one on the Nato summit at about 12.15pm.
And, about an hour later, Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and disability, will give one on his review of the personal independence payment.
Hospital waiting list numbers in England rising for second month in row, NHS figures show
The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has risen for the second month in a row, PA Media reports. PA says:
An estimated 7.28 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of May, relating to 6.16 million patients, NHS figures show.
This is up from 7.22 million treatments and 6.11 million patients at the end of April.
The increase means the waiting list is now at its highest level since December 2025.
Reform UK's Lee Anderson moves writ for Clacton byelection to take place in August
Reform UK have formally triggered the process that will lead to a byelection in Clacton.
At the start of Commons business this morning, Lee Anderson, the Reform UK chief whip, moved the writ for the byelection.
He said:
I beg to move that Mr Speaker do issue his warrant to the Clerk of the Crown to make out a new writ for the electing of a member to serve in this present parliament for the county constituency of Clacton in the room of Nigel Paul Farage, who since his election for the said county constituency has been appointed to the office of Steward and Bailiff of His Majesty’s Manor of Northstead in the county of York.
Reform UK want the byelection, where the main parties are not standing against Nigel Farage and his principal opponent may turn out to be Count Binface, to be held on Thursday 6 August.
But the final decision rests with Tendring district council, who are organising it, and the BBC reports Tendring has not confirmed 6 August. In their London Playbook briefing for Politico, Sam Francis and Megan McElroy say there are “rumblings in Labour circles” that it’s likely to be on 13 August.
The latest episode our of Today in Focus podcast is out. It features Helen Pidd and Ben Quinn talking about the Clacton byelection, and the contest between Nigel Farage and Count Binface.
Burnham calls for ‘more open’ public debate about defence spending in article setting out foreign policy agenda
Good morning. Andy Burnham is due to become Labour leader a week tomorrow and, as nominations open for a leadership election that will not happen because Burnham is set to be elected unopposed, we are learning a bit more about how he intends to lead his party and his country.
Yesterday, in a letter to Labour MPs, Burnham told them he would never use party discipline to “stifle debate” and said they should raise problems and policy ideas “without fear or favour”. Jessica Elgot has the story here.
The full text of the letter is available here.
And Burnham has also published an article in the Times in which he has set out the core elements of his thinking on foreign policy. Burnham’s campaign in Makerfield was all about “change”, but what is striking about this article is how much continuity it implies with the policies of Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. He says that he wants “a Britain that is more resilient” and that he wants to “simultaneously defend our national security, protect and grow our economy and make our nation stronger”. Reeves even coined her own word for this approach: securonomics.
Here are the main points.
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Burnham says he wants a “more open” public debate and scrutiny of defence spending. He says:
Doing politics differently means levelling with the public, engaging them in decisions and ensuring more social value in return for increased government spending.
I want to be more open with the public about how and where defence funding is spent. For our biggest defence and infrastructure projects, I want to see more detailed, public progress updates, with more transparency and accountability to tackle cost overruns or delays before they spiral out of control. Our increased investment must be combined with an increase in scrutiny.
This sounds like a warning shot to the Ministry of Defence over how it handles defence procurement (badly, according to most experts). The article also talks about defence spending in terms of broad principle; it does not say anything specific about the amount of money he would spend on it – the argument at the heart of the debate about the defence investment plan.
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Burnham confirms he will keep Jonathan Powell in place as national security adviser.
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He says national security will be his “first priority if I become prime minister”.
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He says he wants to use higher defence investment to boost economic growth.
In response to the evolving threats we face, and as we meet our Nato commitments, it is right that we rebuild our hard power for a new era that is very different to the one in which much of our current military equipment was first designed.
Crucially, as we do so, I want to ensure we back British workers and businesses. This means we must go much further than ever before through the defence investment plan in backing British resilience, using a sustained increase in defence investment not only to provide the kit our armed forces need, but also to generate economic growth and create apprenticeships and jobs in communities that have seen opportunities drain away …
We will also focus on reducing foreign dependency, securing inward investment and building new industrial partnerships with allies. Reindustrialisation through defence — and other sectors — is critical for both our economic and national security, building resilience in all our places. It will be a core priority for me.
Starmer also repeatedly talked about how he wanted to use higher defence spending to create and sustain good jobs in the defence sector.
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Burnham says he wants an “even closer relationship” with European countries on defence.
I want an even closer relationship with countries across Europe, working more through European-led groupings, such as the E3 (the UK, France and Germany), strengthening the European pillar in Nato and breaking down any barriers to defence industrial co-operation.
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But he also says he wants the UK’s relationship with the US to remain “critical”.
Our commitment to Nato and the UK’s nuclear deterrent will remain absolute. Our relationship with the US will remain critical as our most important defence and security ally. And Britain’s support for Ukraine will not waver. We know that British security and wider Euro-Atlantic security are inseparable from what happens in Ukraine.
From this, it sounds as if Burnham is not a fan of Mark Carney’s thesis about the Atlantic alliance reaching a moment of “rupture”, and the need for democratic “middle powers” to do more without the US.
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He says he wants to make “further progress quickly” in deepening relations with the EU.
I want to consolidate the progress made on the existing UK-EU negotiations and make further progress quickly, including by strengthening our co-operation on illegal migration, economic security and the broader resilience of our societies to external threats — from terrorism to AI-driven disinformation.
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He says he wants alliances “built on values as well as interests”
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: NHS England publishes its monthly hospital performance figures, as well as its annual GP patient survey.
10am: Robert Jenrick, the Reform UK Treasury spokesperson, hosts an LBC phone-in, standing in for James O’Brien.
10am: David Lammy, the deputy PM, and Lord Hermer, the attorney general, speak at the Chatham House London conference. Theresa May, the former PM, is speaking at 11.30am.
10.30am: Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, speaks at the launch of the Green candidate Geraldine Coggins’ campaign to be Greater Manchester mayor.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Also, nominations open today for the election of a new Labour leader. Burnham is the only declared candidate. In Wales nominations also open for the election of Welsh Labour’s next leader.
I’m afraid comments will not be open today due to staffing.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
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