Afternoon summary
Andrea Egan, the new, leftwing general secretary of Unison, one of the most powerful unions in Labour politics, has claimed that the survival of the labour movement is “on the line” because of the mistakes being made by Keir Starmer. (See 2.11pm.)
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Starmer says government considering whether Chinese firm will be allowed to suppy turbines for North Sea windfarm
Pippa Crerar is the Guardian’s political editor, in China covering the PM’s visit.
Keir Starmer has said the government has yet to decide whether to allow a Chinese company to suppy turbines for a major windfarm in the North Sea.
As Eleni Courea reported last year, the government is in discussions with Green Volt North Sea over whether Mingyang, China’s biggest offshore wind company, should supply the wind turbines. There are concerns in government about a Chinese government having a role in critical infrastructure of this kind.
Asked about this plan, Starmer told reporters:
No decision has been made in relation to Mingyang. There’s no decision on that yet, one way or another, but obviously uppermost in our minds is the national security of the United Kingdom.
Asked whether the considerations were the same for windfarms as for nuclear power stations, Starmer replied: “That’s part of the consideration in any decision. But there is no decision.”
US intelligence agencies disagree with Trump’s opposition to Chagos deal, says Starmer
US intelligence agencies disagree with Donald Trump’s newly found opposition to the Chagos deal, Keir Starmer has said, as he underlined how the US administration had supported the deal as it bolstered their defences. Pippa Crerar, who is in China covering the PM’s trip, has the story.
The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. It features John Harris and Kiran Stacey discussing the selection of Matt Goodwin was the Reform UK candidate in Gorton and Denton.
John has also interviewed Esther Ghey, mother of the murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, on the case for a social media ban for under-16s.
A reader asks:
Does the More In Common poll take into account the lowered voting age that comes into effect at the next election?
All the polls seem to still be 18-plus. What steps are pollsters taking to remedy these changes?
It’s worth looking at, given how these young uncounted voters are likely to skew to the left and especially the Greens …
Luke Tryl from More in Common tells me the seat projection figures in the MRP poll do not take into account the voting age going down to 16. He points out that this has not happened yet, and says he thinks they will shift when the change becomes law. He thinks other polling companies are adopting the same approach.
Given that the number of 16 and 17-year-olds in the country is relatively small, and that turnout figures for the young are low anyway, the change will probably make little difference to overall results. But Tryl points out that “in an era of 5/6/7 party politics” even marginal changes could make a difference in some seats.
Lucy Powell says voting Green in Gorton and Denton 'really risky' because it could let Reform UK in
Hannah Al-Othman is the Guardian’s North of England correspondent.
Lucy Powell, Labour’s deputy leader, has dismissed claims that the Greens are the party with the best chance of defeating Reform UK in the Gorton and Denton byelection.
Speaking at the launch of an advertising campaing in the constituency, Powell said:
I think there’s been some mixed messages and there’s been some things coming through in the media, but the Greens can’t win here.
So voting Green is really risky because it risks letting Reform in. We lost a byelection in Runcorn, not that far from here, by six votes because people voted Green. And that Reform MP in Runcorn, she’s going around saying she doesn’t want to see black and brown people on the telly.
That’s what happens if people vote for any other party other than Labour in this straight fight between Labour and Reform.
There are no Green councillors across this constituency at all, we are very strong on the ground here. This is a Labour area and this is about whether Reform come into a Labour area or whether Labour stops Reform coming into a Labour area.
She also said Reform had “missed the mark” in their choice of candidate, which she saw as an advantage to Labour.
Reform are dangerous and are quite poisonous in my own view, and Matt Goodwin is them almost on steroids. He is a version of their really bad brand of politics, and I think they’ve missed the mood completely of Manchester by selecting Matt Goodwin.
And I think that he will, people will discover his views on things. And I’m very confident that people around here will reject Reform and elect a Labour MP.
It is clearly what Labour currently views as its best selling point; beside a bar graph that shows Reform leading the polls by 2%, the ad van declares: “Only Labour Can Stop Reform.”
Countering claims that Labour can no longer appeal to leftwing voters, Powell pointed to policies including lifting the two-child benefit cap, bringing rail and buses back into public ownership, investing in public services, and recognising the state of Palestine.
In her speech this morning Kemi Badenoch implicitly criticised Prosper UK, the new group set up by Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Tory leader, and Andy Street, the former West Midlands mayor, calling for moderate Conservatism. (See 9.21am.)
Prosper UK does not seem to bothered. A spokesperson said:
We welcome Kemi Badenoch’s remarks promising to make economic growth a bigger focus as she rebuilds the party. More of that please.
But while the party rebuilds itself, as it must, we will be out there meeting the wider group of voters who don’t yet identify with any party and offering ideas and solutions to the matters they care most about – the cost of living, jobs, housing and more.
So, whilst she cracks on, we’ll do the same.
Decent homes standard for UK private renters delayed by government until 2035
The government’s promise to make private rented homes fit for habitation will not be enforced for almost a decade, a decision campaigners describe as “absurd”. Jessica Murray has the story.
Tory peer’s punishment for fiddling expenses criticised as too lenient
Campaigners have criticised as too lenient the punishment handed to a Conservative hereditary peer who has been found to have broken the House of Lords rules for the second time, Rob Evans and Henry Dyer report.
A reader asks:
Patricia Ferguson wasn’t on the list you published at 11.39 of MPs down to ask a question at PMQs.
Yet she got to ask a question anyway - how does this happen?
Is it because another backbench UK Labour MP stepped aside to provide a soundbite for Anas “Desperate Dan” Sarwar on his daily news slot arraranged by his press team at BBC Scotland’s 6.30 10 Minute SNP hate session? Or did Hoyle just add her to help with his retirement peerage?
It is because the list of MPs down to get a question published on the Commons order paper (a list chosen by lot from MPs who apply) is only a starting point. The speaker has the discretion to call other MPs not on the list. And he has to alternate questions, so that an opposition question gets followed by a government-side question, which in turn gets followed by an opposition question etc. This means that, if too many opposition MPs win a question in the ballot, he has to call more Labour MPs anyway to make up the numbers.
As for why Ferguson got called, I don’t know. MPs wanting to ask a question have to “bob” – jump up after each question has finished, trying to catch the speaker’s eye. I presume Ferguson was bobbing.
Some of them let the speaker know in advance what topic they want to raise, in the hope of persuading him that it is a subject that needs to be addressed at PMQs, but, as you say, this was quite a partisan question, and so I doubt it was granted as a special favour.
Updated
No 10 say Telegraph report claiming Starmer led legal witch-hunt against Iraq veterans contains 'flagrant inaccuracies'
Downing Street has said that the Daily Telegraph report today headlined “Stamer led ‘witch-hunt’ against Iraq veterans” is full of inaccuracies.
Kemi Badenoch said that Keir Starmer should apologise to veterans when she was asked about the report at her press conference earlier. (See 10.41am.)
But, asked about the story at the post-PMQs lobby briefing, a No 10 spokesperson said:
The story broken last night contains flagrant inaccuracies. The prime minister did not represent the claimants in this case. The prime minister did not work alongside Phil Shinner in this case. The prime minister was not the lead barrister in the claim.
The prime minister represented interveners, including the Law Society of England and Wales. Interveners did not advocate for either side. Their role is to assist the court on points of law.
During his career the prime minister has represented British soldiers who were killed in action and who were wrongly accused.
The prime minister will never forget the courage, bravery and sacrifice made by British servicemen and women for their country.
Updated
New Unison leader says labour movement's survival 'on the line' because Starmer's 'control freakery' helping Reform UK
Andrea Egan, the new, leftwing general secretary of Unison, one of the most powerful unions in Labour politics, has claimed that the survival of the labour movement is “on the line” because of the mistakes being made by Keir Starmer.
In an article for Tribune, she is particularly critical of the decision to block Andy Burnham from being a byelection candidate in Gorton and Denton. But she argues that this is just part of a wider problem, and that a “radical change in direction” is needed from Downing Street.
She says:
Today in Britain, the first far-right government in our history is a very real prospect. Nigel Farage in power would be the biggest triumph for the enemies of the working class since his idol Margaret Thatcher took office almost five decades ago – and could make the 1980s look like an easy ride. It would be a global victory for a billionaire-backed ethnonationalist project represented by the administration of Donald Trump, whose contempt for democracy was so brutally demonstrated by the murder of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti by ICE agents.
For every worker, active trade unionist, or anyone who wants to live in an open and democratic society, the political stakes of the coming months and years are potentially existential. We are staring down the barrel of a historically devastating offensive against our class.
But from witnessing the recent behaviour of Labour’s ruling faction, you wouldn’t know it. Spearheaded from Downing Street, this narrow Westminster grouping often gives the impression it would rather hand the country over to Farage and put the labour movement’s survival on the line than consider any change in policy direction or lose the slightest control over the party machine.
Egan says the reasons given by Labour for Burnham being blocked were “an insult to the intelligence of anyone unfortunate enough to have read them”. She says:
One, at least, was revealing: the idea that the risk of losing the Greater Manchester mayoralty to Reform UK was too great. In other words, this Labour government is so unpopular that the party might well lose an election it won last time with 63% of the vote. The solution? Bar your most popular figure from returning to national politics.
She concludes:
I know that I speak for many of my colleagues across the trade union movement, and in chorus with a significant number of Labour MPs, when I say that we cannot allow those currently in charge of the party to take us down with them. A radical change in direction – in party culture, in policy for the country, in how we deal with the far-right threat – could not be more urgently needed. I am confident that a broad, pluralist coalition across our movement will now come together to ensure we see that change.
The prime minister should know that this latest act of control freakery was, above all else, a mistake. He cannot afford any more.
Updated
Labour risks election wipeout unless it improves Britain’s high streets, study finds
Labour will be “washed away in a tide of discontent” at the next general election unless it tackles the decline of Britain’s high streets, a study has warned, as Guardian analysis lays bare the changing face of town centres. Michael Goodier and Josh Halliday have the story.
PMQs – snap verdict
It is easy to criticise Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch at PMQs every week – some of us even do it for a living – but, as with other people performing a job regularly with millions watching (TV news reading is a good example), it is a lot harder than it looks. We knew that, but it is helpful to get a reminder. And that was the main takeaway from today.
Andrew Griffith was the unfortunate chap who ended up as the conduit of this lesson. He is shadow business secretary and, drafting his questions, he decided to use them to make some critical points about Labour’s record on business: that the pub rescue package announced yesterday is a bit weak, and won’t help other sectors with rising business rate costs; that Labour has made hiring young people more expensive, which is bad for youth unemployment; that Labour ministers in general have a blind spot when it comes to business, because most of them have never run a business themselves. All of these are solid points, that can easily be defended. But Griffith did not successfully land any of them. Question by question, he lost 6-0.
Quite why is a bit harder to explain. Partly, it was nerves and confidence (although he probably was no worse than other PMQs first-timers). Partly it was because his jokes were poor, and his deliveray worse; he got the most laughs unintentionally, when he declared the Conservative party was getting stronger. Partly it was because he could not find anything that particularly embarrassed Lammy personally. And partly it was because his script and delivery were just underpowered. In the chamber, you have to boil down a political message into just a few sentences, and make them sound novel and engaging. As I say, it’s harder than it looks.
Lammy got through it all easily, and he will be glad that he has now buried the memory of his first PMQs stand-in for Keir Starmer, which was a bit of a disaster. His jokes were a lot better than Griffith’s. But it was notable that he did not engage much with the specific arguments that his opponent was making, and this was not a performance that at any point made him sound more accomplished or authoritative than his boss.
Updated
Starmer says he is ‘focused on our national interest’ as he begins China visit
Keir Starmer told business delegates they were “making history” as he kicked off his trip to China, PA Media reports.
Addressing business figures in the lobby of their hotel in Beijing, the prime minister said:
They say eight days is a long time in politics, try eight years, because it’s eight years since a British prime minister stepped on Chinese soil.
On this delegation, you’re making history. You’re part of the change that we’re bringing about.
That’s consistent with everything we’ve done in government, particularly internationally.
We are resolute about being outward-looking, about taking opportunities, about building relationships … and always being absolutely focused on our national interest.
Updated
Bob Blackman (Con) says something described as a anti-zionist rally is taking place outside parliament today. Chants at these rallies are antisemitic, and the intention behind them is antisemitic. He says we have seen where that leads, with the killings in Manchester. Will the goverment drive antisemitism out of the country?
Lammy says he has worked on this with Blackman before. He says the nature of antisemitism at some of these protests is unacceptable.
Patricia Ferguson (Lab) asks if the government backs calls for the former first minister to give evidence to the Glasgow hospital infected water scandal inquiry.
Lammy says this is a huge scandal, and an example of why Scotland needs Anas Sarwar as first minister.
James McMurdock (independent) asks about a steel firm in his constituency. He says contracts are going offshore. Why is that?
Lammy says the government stepped in to save British Steel. And it will publish a steel strategy shortly.
Lee Anderson (Reform UK) says the TV was reporting yesterday Labour MPs were revolting. That is a matter of opinion, he says.
(MPs shout, ‘Where is your TV licence? Anderson has said he has not got one, despite being a GB News presenter.)
Lammy says he once campaigned with Anderson when he was Labour. It was said when he defected that he increased the average IQ both of the party he was leaving, and the party he was joining.
Sarah Olney (Lib Dem) asks about Iran. The US cannot show moral leadership. Will the UK step up and proscribe the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps).
Lammy says it is long-standing policy not to say what bodies are about to be proscribed. But sanctions have been employed against Iran, and further measures are being considered, he says.
Melanie Onn (Lab) criticises what Donald Trump said about the armed forces. She asks what is being done to help homeless veterans.
Lammy says the government is dealing with homelessness amongst veterans, and he pays tribute to the valour of members of the armed forces.
Vicky Foxcroft (Lab) says reforms to the asylum system should support, not undermine, efforts to ensure that refugees get proper support.
Lammy says the goverment wants a proper asylum system. But that must involve making the system less attractive, he says.
John Lamont (Con) asks if Scottish Labour MPs are right to think their party will be slaughtered in the Scottish elections.
Lammy says Scots certainly won’t be voting Tory.
Richard Foord (Lib Dem) says his constituents in the south-west are under water. The government needs to invest more in flood defences there. Will Lammy invite JD Vance to a fishing trip there?
Lammy jokes that, if he does, this time he will get a licence. But he acknowledges this is a problem.
Alex Barros-Curtis (Lab) asks about funding for youth services in his Cardiff West constituency.
Lammy says a Labour government is making a difference for Wales.
Jim Allister (TUV) says now GB cars cannot be sold in Northern Ireland because of the post-Brexit rules in place. He asks what sort of government allows a foreign power to impose rules on its territory like this.
Lammy says he looked at this when he was foreign secretary. There is no evidence of serious disruption at the border, he says.
John Slinger (Lab) says Andrew Rossindell, the Tory who defected to Refom UK at the weekend, is on record as saying he would not mind replacing the NHS with an insurance system.
Lammy says Labour would never allow that.
Daisy Cooper, the deputy Lib Dem leader, says the Chinese are still holding Jimmy Lai in prison. But Keir Starmer has gone to China asking for a trade deal. What consequences will China face if they do not stop their campaign of espionage against the UK>
Lammy says China is too big to ignore. The UK has to engage, as countries like France and Canada are doing.
Cooper says Lammy could not name a single consequence China will face if they don’t stop spying on the UK. She says defence spending has to be ramped up now. Will the government consider the Lib Dem plan to raise £20bn through defence bonds.
Lammy says the goverment was spendinng 2.5% of GDP on defence when Labour left office. It was cut when the Lib Dems were in power with the Tories.
Mary Kelly Foy (Lab) asks about Send (special educational needs and disabilities) provision.
Lammy says the government is investing in Send.
Griffith says the Tories are getting stronger and stronger.
(That generates a lot of mocking laughter.)
He says there are no answers from the government for small business. Won’t the deputy PM admit that what Labour MPs are worried about is not Keir Starmer going to China, but him coming back.
Lammy says: “He’s not going to get this gig again.”
He says Badenoch told Desert Islands Discs this week that Britons need to queue. Her MPs are taking her advice; they are queing outside Nigel Farage’s office.
Griffith says Labour does not understand business. What is the cost of the government’s unemployment act?
Lammy says his father was run out of business under the Thatcher government. He says 26 ex-Tory MPs have already left the party. There are 100 days of the transfer season left, he says. It will be the most disloyal transfer season since Sol Campbell, he says.
Griffith says Lammy is the designated survivor. Lammy does not know the answer, he says. He says the extra cost of hiring a 21-year-person is £3,600. This is bad for ambitous people like “Andy from Manchester”, he says.
Lammy says Griffith cannot lecture anyone on U-turns. He was Boris Johnson’s net zero champion, he says.
Updated
Griffith says you don’t make young people better off by putting them of jobs. He says Labour should scrap business rates, as the Tories propose. But Labour won’t cut welfare to fund that.
He asks how much more it costs to hire a 21-year-old under Labour?
Lammy says the Tories left a shameful legacy for young people. The Tories would freeeze the minimum wage. They have nothing to offer the next generation.
Griffith says he spent 25 years building businesses. Lammy spent 25 years manufacturing grievance. This is “too little, too late”. The high streets are bleeding, and the chancellor is handing out sticking plasters. “They can’t even U-turn properly.” He says a senior adviser to Andy Burnham said yesterday Rachel Reeves just wanted a cheap headline.
Lammy says Griffith opposed the minimum wage, and says it was just something MPs passed to make themselves feel good. He says in fact it changes lives.
Andrew Griffith asks Lammy to confirm that 90% of hospitality, retail and leisure premises will get nothing from the business rates concession announced yesterday.
Lammy says it is always a pleasure to hear from the author of the Liz Truss mini-budget. He says under the Tories 7,000 pubs closed.
Anneliese Midgley (Lab) asks about out of control waste dumps, saying it is a problem in her constituency.
Lammy says this is a serious problem.
And, while on the subject of “garbage” he says, he says he notes that Kemi Badenoch has welcomed the clear our her party is having. She is getting rid of the rubbish.
David Lammy starts by saying a Holocaust survivor addressed cabinet yesterday to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. He says her evidence was very moving. The government is building a Holocaust memorial centre next to this parliament.
He also says pays tribute to the army captain who died at the weekend.
Lib Dems urge moderate Tories to join them, saying Badenoch's speech shows they're not welcome in Tories
The Liberal Democrats have issued a fresh appeal to moderate Tories to join their party. Responding to what Kemi Badenoch said about the new, centrist Conservative group Prosper (see 9.21am), Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said:
[Badenoch’s] slapdown of Ruth Davidson and Andy Street sent a clear message to moderate, centre-ground Conservative voters across the country: she doesn’t want their support.
The Liberal Democrats will offer a home to all those let down by the old two parties and who believe in British values of decency, tolerance and the rule of law.
David Lammy faces Andrew Griffith at PMQs
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question at PMQs.
Badenoch says Tories looking for 'next generation of MPs'
In her speech today Kemi Badenoch said that she was looking for a new generation of candidates to stand to be Conservative MPs. She said:
This is the message I want to leave you with today.
The Conservative party is now looking for its next generation of MPs.
I’m looking for excellence. Excellence in standards, conduct, discipline and culture.
We are building an army that is going to deliver meritocracy, dismantle the bureaucratic class, and get Britain working again.
We want people with life experience.
People who want to get on with the job.
It is hard to get onto our candidates list. And it should be.
Because when people see the next generation of Conservative MPs, they will see the best of the best.
The Tories may find it hard to attract good recruits. The results of More in Common’s latest MRP poll suggest, if an election were held now, only 70 Tories would be elected.
Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, will lead for the Tories at PMQs today, the BBC reports. He will be against David Lammy, the deputy PM, standing in for Keir Starmer while he is China.
Other leaders of the opposition have tended to have a designated deputy who takes PMQs for them when the PM is away. But Kemi Badenoch has chosen to nominate different shadow cabinet ministers for the job each time.
Badenoch suggests nativist, 'identity politics' of Reform UK should be worry to minority ethnic Britons
Q: What do you feel about the past comments by Matt Goodwin, the Reform UK candidate in Gorton and Dention, implying some minority ethnic people born in the UK are not fully British?
Badenoch said this was Nigel Farage’s problem, not hers. She went on:
There are people who run around trying to police other’s identity. It used to be the ones on the left that I was fighting when we were in government. Now we are seeing some who claim to be on the right.
It’s all identity politics, it’s all grievance politics.
Trying to tell people who is or who isn’t British based on their personal opinion is divisive. That’s not what the Conservative party is about. That’s where you find the Reform people.
I do ask people to think what would happen if such people came into government if they do not think large sections of the population, including former prime ministers [ie Rishi Sunak], are British. What do you think they’re going to do if they get into government?
And that is why we need to make sure that we have Conservatives in place, the only party really on the right, the only party that doesn’t spend time on grievance politics, identity politics, but that is focused on making sure we can give a better life to everyone, and especially to the next generation.
Badenoch is right to say that nativism, and the implication that minority ethnic people cannot be fully British, is a feature of Reform UK politics. But there are some Tories who have dabbled in this too, like Katie Lam in a Sunday Times interview last year.
In the past Badenoch (who was born in the UK, to Nigerian parents, and who was brought up in Nigeria before moving to Britain as a teenager) has tended to avoid criticising identity politics when practised by people on her side of the political spectrum, and these may be her strongest words yet pushing back at rightwing nativism.
Goodwin has not withdrawn his comments, as Josh Halliday reported yesterday.
Updated
Badenoch says PM should apologise for past work as lawyer pressing MoD to agree proper inquiries into Iraq abuse claims
Q: [From the Telegraph] The Telegraph is reporting today that Keir Starmer was a lead barrister on the case that ultimately led to the Ministry of Defence to order fresh inquiries into deaths in Iraq, triggering years of criminal investigations into soldiers who then wrongly accused. Do you think he should apologise for that?
Yes, says Badenoch. She says the way “veterans have been harassed through the courts is a complete disgrace”. She goes on:
We have been doing everything we can to protect them. What Labour is doing with this legislation it is doing because it does not believe in our veterans.
Whether it’s Keir Starmer or his attorney general Lord Hermer, where they have had the opportunity – pro bono, not cab rank – they have gone to help the people who are acting against our country’s national interests.
Those veterans put their lives on the line to defend us and I want them to know that the Conservative party will always have their back.
In his Telegraph story, Robert Mendick says:
The now-prime minister worked free of charge alongside his close ally, Lord Hermer, now the attorney general, and the now-disgraced solicitor Phil Shiner on a human rights claim in 2007 that reshaped the law governing troops in war zones.
Court documents unearthed by The Telegraph reveal Sir Keir was a lead barrister on the case, which ultimately led the Ministry of Defence to order fresh inquiries into deaths in Iraq. It triggered years of criminal investigations into soldiers who had been wrongly accused, at enormous cost to the taxpayer …
As part of the 2007 case, Sir Keir and Lord Hermer urged the courts to order a fresh inquiry into a British soldier who had already been cleared twice of murder over the death of an Iraqi man in 2003 (see extracts below), telling judges that earlier investigations had been “perfunctory” and “wholly inadequate”.
UPDATE: See 2.53pm for the No 10 response to the Telegraph story.
Updated
Badenoch confirms Tories still view Republicans in US as sister party, saying relationships are 'great'
Q: Do still regard the Republicans in the US as a sister party?
Badenoch replies: “Yes, absolutely.” She says she has a great relationships with Republicans.
Updated
Badenoch says approving embassy application just before China trip makes Starmer look weak
Q: Would you be going to China if you were PM?
Badenoch says, if she were PM, she would not be going to China now.
She says Keir Starmer should be focusing more on countries aligned with the UK’s interests.
I think that that is what a prime minister should be talking about, and he needs to show strength, not approving a super-embassy, which many people think is going to become a spy hub. He looks like he gives way every time things get difficult. And that is the difference between Keir Starmer and myself.
UPDATE: Badenoch started her reply saying:
You asked, would I be going to China? No, not now, because I don’t think that this is the time to do that. We need to be talking to those other countries who are worried about the threat China is posing to them.
Updated
Q: Can you guarantee that there will be no more defections?
Badenoch says she cannot guarantee that people won’t be unhappy. But she goes on to criticise the people who have left.
I was elected to renew and rebuild the Conservative party, and that is what I’m doing.
There is far too much time spent on who’s jumping from one party to another. A defection is not like being baptised and washed away of all your sins previously. We want people who acknowledge that mistakes were made. I acknowledge the Conservative party made mistakes.
Badenoch is now taking questions.
Asked if she agreed with Reform UK that Britain is broken, Badneoch said she believed that it can be fixed.
Badenoch says Tories defecting to Reform UK are like kids having a tantrum
Kemi Badenoch used her speech to accuse Tories who have defected to Reform UK of behaving like kids having a tantrum. She said:
I was not elected to reheat the party with 1990s policies, and I was not elected to dismantle the party so that Nigel Farage can finally have a go.
I was elected by Conservative party members to renew and rebuild. That is exactly what I am doing.
But we’re not just renewing with policy. We are also renewing with standards, conduct, discipline and our culture – and the people who don’t agree with this direction need to get out of the way.
There are people in politics who don’t really know what they are doing, or why? They just want to be in the room. They want to be on top. They want access, attention and advancement. And when they don’t get their way, they create drama …
To those who are defecting, who don’t actually disagree with our policies, I will say: I’m sorry you didn’t win the leadership contest. I’m sorry you didn’t get a job in the shadow cabinet. I’m sorry you didn’t get into the Lords, but you are not offering a plan to fix this country.
This is a tantrum dressed up as politics.
When my kids have a tantrum, I don’t give up or change my mind. I send them to their room. And I say to everyone else: if that tantrum ever found its way into government, we would all pay the price.
Updated
Kemi Badenoch is delivering her speech now. There is a live feed here.
Starmer says he's 'British pragmatist', as he suggests he does not fully accept argument in Mark Carney's Davos speech
At Davos last week there was wide consensus that the most significant speech was that given by Mark Carney, the Canadian PM. Donald Trump may have recieved more attention, but Carney was more coherent and profound. He argued that the world has changed, and that “middle powers” like Canada must accept that.
Here is our report of his speech.
Here is the full text. And here is an extract.
For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order. We joined its institutions, we praised its principles, we benefited from its predictability. And because of that we could pursue values-based foreign policies under its protection.
We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.
This fiction was useful. And American hegemony, in particular, helped provide public goods: open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security and support for frameworks for resolving disputes …
We participated in the rituals. And we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality.
This bargain no longer works.
Carney said that what was happening in the world was “a rupture, not a transition”. And he said that said “middle powers” had to “act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu”.
Keir Starmer was asked about this when he spoke to reporters on his flight to China. Asked if he agreed with Carney, he implied that he did not fully accept his argument. He told reporters:
I’m a pragmatist, a British pragmatist applying common sense.
I’m pleased that we have a good relationship with the US on defence, security, intelligence and on trade and prosperity, and it’s very important that we maintain that good relationship.
Equally, we are moving forward with a better relationship with the EU. We had a very good summit last year with 10 strands of agreement.
We’ll have another summit this year with the EU, which I hope will be iterative, as well as following through on what we’ve already agreed. And I’ve consistently said I’m not choosing between the US and Europe. I’m really glad that the UK has got good relations with both.
Starmer arrives in Beijing
Keir Starmer has arrived in China on the first visit by a British Prime Minister in eight years, PA Media reports. PA says:
A delegation of almost 60 representatives of British businesses and cultural institutions is accompanying the prime minister as he continues his efforts to build bridges with Beijing.
But concerns over the risk China poses to national security and Xi Jinping’s record on human rights mean Starmer’s visit is politically sensitive.
Speaking to reporters on the flight to Beijing, the prime minister said: “The evidence there are opportunities is the fact that we’ve got so many CEOs with us on this flight, that we’ve got 60 coming out to explore those opportunities.”
Stamer added that this “reflects back at home in terms of the benefit that it brings back to the United Kingdom”.
The head of MI5 Sir Ken McCallum has warned that “Chinese state actors” present a national security threat to the UK “every day”.
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Badenoch accuses Reform UK of 'leftwing fantasy' politics, and says Tories have 'moved to right every day' under her leadership
In her speech this morning Kemi Badenoch will also accuse Reform UK of promoting “leftwing fantasy” politics.
According to extracts released in advance, she will say:
Labour believe the answer is more state control.
Reform believe the same thing, they just want their hands on the levers instead.
The Conservatives don’t believe in more control. We believe in you.
We will do our job and get out of the way so that you can do yours.
We’ve done the work and committed to leave the ECHR, so that we can finally deal with illegal immigration.
We’ve done the work and said we’ll repeal the Climate Change Act, so we can bring down energy bills and stop deindustrialising.
We’ve done the work and have a fully funded plan to scrap stamp duty, so we can unglue our housing market and make owning a home a reality again for young people.
We’ve done the work and set out plans to save £23bn from welfare, so we can pay down the deficit, cut taxes and get Britain working again.
My Conservative party has moved to the right every day since I became leader.
What have Reform done in that time?
An unfunded plan to scrap the two-child benefit cap …
An unworkable plan to nationalise British steel.
This is leftwing fantasy.
The Conservatives are proudly the party of the right. The only party of the right.
Keir Starmer has landed in Beijing.
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'It's not 2016 any more' - Badenoch criticises group pushing moderate Conservatism in speech denouncing 'psychodrama'
Kemi Badenoch is going to give a speech today denouncing the “PSYCHODRAMA” of Labour and Reform UK. The all-caps emphasis is from the preview text sent out by CCHQ overnight. It sounds like a personal Badenoch touch – as well as being reminiscent of the tone Donald Trump adopts in his social media output.
Here is the key extract.
At a time when Nato has been under threat.
At a time when Conservatives were simultaneously working day and night in parliament to find ways to stop the government surrendering British territory in the Chagos Islands, and piling the pressure on Labour to save Britain’s pubs…
What were the other parties doing?
PSYCHODRAMA!
The Labour party … scheming to get a new leadership contender to Westminster to challenge Keir Starmer.
Meanwhile, Reform UK dressed up a defection rally as a veterans event. Shameful.
Neither are serious and the public are thoroughly fed up with this style of politics.
So who is going to fix this country’s problems?
Is it the people who are knuckling down day in, day out, holding the government to account for its many failings …
Or is it the party who only call a press conference when they are announcing another defection?
Critics will say that the Tories have not been holding back themselves when it comes to supplying the Westminster demand for psychodrama. After Suella Braverman defected to Reform UK, Tory HQ even issued a statement (which they later retracted) speculating about the psychological health of their former MP. The party said it had been sent out in error, but Braverman said it had echoes of something Badenoch herself had said about her in the past.
And, while claiming that the Conservatives are the only party “serious” about policy, Badenoch is also going to use her speech for a bit of internal faction-fighting – blasting Prosper, the new group launched by Ruth Davidson and Andy Street arguing for “moderate” Conservatism.
In the extract sent out overnight, Badenoch does not name Prosper. But she clearly refers to them, saying:
There’s another group of people who seem to think that if we just pretend that nothing bad is happening, everything is going to be OK …
… as long as we say nice things and don’t mention immigration.
This is my message to them.
We’re about the future, not the past.
We’re not trying to recreate 2006 and it’s not 2016 any more.
We aren’t refighting those battles. It’s 2026 and the world has changed.
This is about the future. I am building a Conservative party for the next decade and the next generation.
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Only Labour can beat Reform in Gorton and Denton byelection, Starmer claims
Good morning. Keir Starmer will be landing in China shortly, and he has been speaking to journalists on his flight over. As usual when a PM travels abroad, while they may want to focus on foreign issues, domestic politics never gets forgotten.
As Pippa Crerar reports, Starmer was asked about the Gorton and Denton byelection, where yesterday Reform UK named a GB News presenter and hard-right commentator, Matt Goodwin, as its candidate. Starmer claimed only Labour could beat Reform in the constituency. He said:
There’s only one party to stop Reform and that’s the Labour party. We can already see what the bybelection is going to be about, which is Labour values which are about delivering on the cost of living with a strong record in that constituency of what we’ve already done versus Reform.
You can see from their candidate what politics they’re going to bring to that constituency: the politics of division, of toxic division, of tearing people apart. That’s not what that constituency is about, it’s not what Manchester is about, so this is a straight fight between Labour and Reform.
The Greens won’t agree with that. And the bookmakers don’t either.
As Pippa reports, Starmer also said that he would “raise the issues that need to be raised” on human rights with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, when they meet tomorrow.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Around 9.30am (UK time): Keir Starmer arrives in Beijing. He will be giving a speech to a business delegation (around 11.45am UK time).
10am: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech criticising the the ‘psychodrama’ of both Reform UK and Labour.
Noon: David Lammy, the deputy PM, takes PMQs on behalf of Starmer.
1.30pm: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, gives a speech in Edinburgh on international affairs.
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