Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow, Alexandra Topping and Kevin Rawlinson

Jeremy Corbyn appoints Diane Abbott as shadow home secretary in reshuffle – as it happened

Diane Abbott, Keir Starmer and Shami Chakrabarti
Diane Abbott, Keir Starmer and Shami Chakrabarti. Composite: The Guardian

Jeremy Corbyn makes a host of frontbench appointments

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been naming members of his new-look frontbench team. Here’s a summary of who’s moved where:

  • Nick Brown was appointed Labour’s chief whip to replace Rosie Winterton, who was unexpectedly sacked.
  • Corbyn ally Diane Abbott moved from shadow health to shadow home secretary.
  • Shami Chakrabarti, recently ennobled by Corbyn, was appointed shadow attorney general.
  • Keir Starmer was installed as shadow Brexit secretary.
  • After the row over his Trident speech, Clive Lewis was moved from shadow defence to shadow business secretary.
  • He replaced Jon Trickett, who became shadow lord president of the council and the party’s national campaigns coordinator.
  • Lewis was replaced as shadow defence secretary by Nia Griffith, who was previously shadow secretary of state for Wales.
  • And Griffith, in turn, was replaced by the former shadow solicitor general, Jo Stevens.
  • Dawn Butler was named the new shadow minister for black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.
  • Sarah Champion was given the shadow women and equalities brief.
  • Jonathan Reynolds was added to shadow chancellor John McDonnell’s team as shadow economic secretary to the treasury.

Updated

Some more appointments just announced: Clive Lewis moves from shadow defence secretary to shadow business secretary and Nia Griffith takes his place. Jon Trickett, who was the shadow business secretary, has been made Labour’s national campaigns coordinator and shadow lord president of the council.

Jeremy Corbyn said:

I welcome the appointment of Keir Starmer as our shadow secretary of state for Brexit. Keir brings vital experience to this role at what is a crucial time for Britain. Keir will join our Shadow Brexit Team which includes Emily Thornberry, Barry Gardiner, Jonathan Reynolds and John McDonnell.

While, Clive Lewis said:

I am delighted to accept the role of shadow business secretary. This is one of the most challenging times for our country, and I want to set out policies that are central to Labour’s vision for 21st century socialism.

There are rumours that Dan Jarvis, who was seen by some as a rival to Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership, is considering a post in the shadow cabinet. Those are very much unconfirmed, though.

My colleague Libby Brooks has been watching Jeremy Corbyn give the annual Jimmy Reid lecture in Glasgow, followed by a Q&A (at which members of the press have been prevented from asking questions). She sends the following:

As reaction to this evening’s shadow cabinet appointments continues to filter out, Jeremy Corbyn is standing in a chilly gothic church in Glasgow’s Govan, once the centrepiece of the city’s shipbuilding industry, delivering the Jimmy Reid Foundation’s annual lecture.

He begins with a historical survey of the way that “political choices have damaged Britain’s economy”, starting with his own recollections of trade unionist Reid and the Upper Clyde shipbuilders.

The challenge for the left, says Corbyn, is “to understand how we got to the position we’re in and how to change it. This is about the new-liberal model that we’ve inherited since the 1970s.”

The programme he sets out is one that anyone who has followed his leadership campaign will find familiar. He seems to be referencing the benefits of devolution and the policies of Scottish Labour marginally more frequently than on previous visits.

It should be said that he seems to be enjoying waxing lyrical about Jimmy Reid far more than he does reiterating his policy platform, and why wouldn’t he?

Latterly, he accuses Tory leaders of “fanning the flames of xenophobia” at their conference earlier this week and “trying to blame foreign workers for their own failures”.

Keir Starmer named shadow Brexit secretary

Keir Starmer, who campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU, has been named the shadow Brexit secretary.

Updated

In a bid to stress regional balance in the top team, Jeremy Corbyn has said the appointment of Jonathan Reynolds to the role of shadow economic secretary to the treasury meant there were 10 MPs from the north of England on the front bench.

A source close to the whips office said Rosie Winterton’s sacking had come as a complete shock. The source said Winterton had believed she was still bridge-building between the leader’s office and the parliamentary Labour party, and had been having conversations about mediation and a possible return to shadow cabinet elections over the last few days.

A surprise call then came from Jeremy Corbyn’s office and Winterton, who was expecting to continue talks about party unity, was sacked. “It came completely out of the blue,” the source said. “It’s not where we thought we were at all.”

There are unconfirmed reports that Keir Starmer, who backed the UK remaining in the EU, is to be named the shadow Brexit secretary.

Jonathan Reynolds becomes the first of the “core group negative” MPs to be handed a job in tonight’s reshuffle. He has been named as the shadow city minister, my colleague Jessica Elgot reports:

Jonathan Reynolds
Jonathan Reynolds Photograph: John Stilwell/PA

Updated

As news of the Labour reshuffle comes out, Jeremy Corbyn is in Glasgow preparing to give a speech on “good, secure jobs”:

After handing Dawn Butler the shadow minister for black and minority ethnic communities portfolio, Jeremy Corbyn said: “I am very proud that the Labour party now has five MPs in our shadow cabinet from the BAME community - the highest number ever in any cabinet or shadow cabinet.”

It is perhaps worth pointing out that Butler is another of the “core group plus” MPs thought largely supportive of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership back in March.

And that is a point Labour’s political rivals are looking to drive home. Tim Farron, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has just released a statement saying that Corbyn’s “vow to reach out to moderates in his party lasted barely a week. It is clear centrist, pro-Europeans have been sidelined”.

Labour is hopelessly divided and is clearly unfit for government with no credible plan for a modern economy.

Jeremy Corybn and his old comrade Diane Abbott, the new shadow home secretary, are obsessed with re-fighting the battles of the past and ignoring the damage the government is doing to our future.

It must be clear now to moderate, centrist Labour supporters that they have lost control of their party. Only the Liberal Democrats are fighting to keep Britain in Europe and providing the real opposition to the Conservative Brexit government.

Dawn Butler has been named as the new shadow minister for black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.

Dawn Butler
Dawn Butler Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Updated

Some more reaction to the sacking of Rosie Winterton as Labour’s chief whip:

Labour has released a statement on the appointments so far.

“I am delighted to confirm the appointments of four extremely talented women to our shadow cabinet,” the party’s leader Jeremy Corbyn said. “These appointments mean, for the first time ever, two out of the three traditional ‘great offices of state’ will be shadowed by women.”

Baroness Shami Chakrabarti called her appointment as shadow attorney general an “enormous privilege”, adding: “I hope to follow in a great tradition of law officers on both sides of the aisle who have defended rights, freedoms and the rule of law.”

The new shadow women and equalities minister, Sarah Champion, said: “I became an MP to make a difference. Women and equalities is something I have spent years fighting for and this appointment is a great honour.”

And Diane Abbott, who has moved from shadow health to shadow home secretary, said she was “honoured to serve”. She said her first job after leaving university was as a graduate trainee at the home office, “so my career has come full circle”.

The statement confirmed that Jo Stevens has been appointed the shadow secretary of state for Wales, though there was no comment included from her.

Jo Stevens and Sarah Champion
Jo Stevens and Sarah Champion Composite: PA/The Guardian

Updated

Nominated by Jeremy Corbyn for a peerage only in August, Shami Chakrabarti’s promotion to Labour’s front bench as shadow attorney has been rapid.

The 47-year-old former director of the human rights organisation Liberty was raised in north-west London and studied law at the London School of Economics.

She qualified as a barrister and worked initially as an in-house lawyer for the home office. In 2001 - the day before the 9/11 attacks - she moved to Liberty, where she came to prominence as a persuasive and determined campaigner, resisting government attempts to impose “repressive” anti-terrorist measures.

Chakrabarti was a panel member of the Leveson inquiry into phone-hacking, carried an Olympic flag in the 2012 London opening ceremony and, earlier this summer, completed a controversial inquiry into anti-semitism in the Labour party.

Updated

It seems Darren McCaffrey, one of the reporters who overheard details of Corbyn’s first shadow cabinet appointment while sitting outside the Labour leader’s office, has been told to move on this time round:

Coyle’s colleague Tom Blenkinsop (hostile group) is also unhappy about the reshuffle so far:

There’s a little bit of heat coming from Labour MP Neil Coyle (core group negative) over the removal of Rosie Winterton as chief whip:

Updated

News of further shadow cabinet appointments and, thus far, the positions have gone to MPs Corbyn’s office thought largely friendly to his leadership:

Diane Abbott named shadow home secretary

Some more news coming from Corbyn’s office:

Updated

As the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn begins the process of naming his shadow cabinet, those with long memories will remember that, prior to the attempted coup, lists of supposedly friendly and hostile MPs were drawn up.

For those whose memories aren’t that long, here are those lists.

Updated

The interim Ukip leader Nigel Farage has just been speaking to reporters. He says he is launching an inquiry into the incident that preceded Steven Woolfe’s collapse earlier today.

He says doctors have found no bleeding on the MEP’s brain and no blood clots. That, he says, is good news, given that - at one point today - some of Woolfe’s Ukip colleagues were worried about whether or not he was “going to make it”.

Farage said he did not want to “get involved in the blame game” at this stage, adding that the incident is “not good” and is the sort of thing “you see third world parliaments”.

But he says he believes there is no criminal investigation underway because no criminal complaint has been made. “I don’t believe there will be a complaint,” he adds.

And on that pleasing note, I’m finishing up for the evening and handing over this liveblog to my colleague Kevin Rawlinson, who will keep you up to date with developments as they come.

So as the cabinet reshuffle gets under way Jeremy Corbyn is set to give a speech in Glasgow? On what? “Good secure jobs” of course. Perhaps he’ll suggest not going into politics...

Hat tip to @Alain_Tolhurst

Updated

Here’s some reaction from Labour MPs

And a decent point from former Labout MP Tony McNulty

The reshuffle from the leader of the opposition had been expected since the mass walk out in June, following the Brexit vote. Many loyalists have been “double jobbing” in multiple roles on the Labour front bench.

Nick Brown’s appointment could suggest that some MPs who had previously expressed doubts about a Corbyn leadership may be prepared to return to shadow positions after his landslide re-election by the membership.

Others, like failed leadership challenger Owen Smith, have said they would not serve under Corbyn.

Corbyn has so far resisted calls from former shadow cabinet members for the body’s membership to be decided by a ballot of MPs.

This was Rosie Winterton, saying she would play her part in unifying the party at Labour party conference:

This from Labour:

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Jeremy has today spoken to a number of colleagues in the Parliamentary Labour Party and will continue to do so throughout the day. He has begun the process of appointing a new front bench team.”

Meanwhile, back to the other dust up of the day:

Nigel Farage has launched an inquiry into the fight which resulted in the hospitalisation of Steven Woolfe.

Looks like Winterton is unlikely to be the only victim in this reshuffle. My colleague Jessica Elgot has just tweeted this:

Here’s a quick take of that news from my colleagues Rajeev Syal and Jessica Elgot.

Rosie Winterton, the shadow chief whip who has been under immense pressure to step down from Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters, is to leave her post and be replaced by Gordon Brown’s former government fixer.

Nick Brown, 66 is to return to Labour’s front bench for the first time in six years.

The Newcastle upon Tyne East MP held the post of chief whip under Brown between 2008 and 2010, during which time he earned a reputation as a political bruiser.

The appointment is believed to be the first move in a major reshuffle of the party since Corbyn was re-elected as leader last month.

In a carefully co-ordinated statement, Corbyn said: “I’d like to pay tribute to Rosie Winterton for her six years’ exceptional service as chief whip.

“She has played an outstanding role both in her support for me as leader and the Labour Party as a whole.”

Winterton played a key role in negotiations between Corbyn and the Parliamentary party following his victory.

She said: “It has been an honour to have served as Labour’s Chief Whip for the past six years under three different Leaders. I would like to thank the Whips and the Parliamentary Labour Party for the support they have given me. I wish Nick Brown every success in his new role.”

Corbyn said at the Labour Party Conference that he was going to reshuffle his cabinet, but it has come a little sooner than expected.

The replacement of Rosie Winterton will be controversial. When Corbyn faced an all-out rebellion in July, with many members of his cabinet resigning en masse, Winterton remained loyal.

She was chief whip for six years played a key role in negotiations between Corbyn and the Parliamentary party following his victory. It will be a further worry for moderate MPs in the party.

In a statement Winterton said: “It has been an honour to have served as Labour’s Chief Whip for the past six years under three different Leaders. I would like to thank the Whips and the Parliamentary Labour Party for the support they have given me. I wish Nick Brown every success in his new role.”

Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle

Jeremy Corbyn has replaced Rosie Winterton with Nick Brown as the opposition chief whip.

In a statement Corbyn said:

“I welcome Nick’s agreement to serve as chief whip to the parliamentary Labour party.

“I would like to pay tribute to Rosie Winterton for her six years’ exceptional service as chief whip. She has played an outstanding role in her support for me as leader and for the Labour party as a whole.”

Commenting on his appointment, Nick Brown said:

“Jeremy Corbyn has asked me to serve as chief whip to the parliamentary Labour party and I have accepted. I hope that I can bring experience and play a constructive role in providing the strongest possible opposition to this Tory government.”

Nick Brown is to replace Rosie Winterton as the shadow chief whip.
Nick Brown is to replace Rosie Winterton as the opposition chief whip. Photograph: PA

Updated

Former party director Lisa Duffy has said Ukip is having a “very challenging time”. But she said - in somewhat unfortunate terms, given the circumstances - the party would continue to “fight with force” in political terms.

She told the BBC: “In my 12 years’ experience within Ukip I have seen many heated discussions but never got to the point where punches have been exchanged so this is deeply distressing today.

“I think it’s not necessarily about the party but about the conduct of two of our MEPs and it’s very difficult for me to comment on what happened as I was not at the meeting.

The power vacuum at the top of Ukip has caused divisions, she said.

“We need to get a good leader in place and we will come back and fight with force in politics and we’ll have a really great election next year. But today is a very, very difficult day,” Duffy said.

“There are divides at the top at the moment but that’s purely because we haven’t got a strong leader in place and we are going to get that.”

She also didn’t rule out running in the leadership contest, saying: “I haven’t made that decision yet.”

Updated

Here is the latest version of our main story about Steven Woolfe having to go to hospital after an alleged fight with a fellow Ukip MEP.

I’m handing over the blog now to my colleague Alexandra Topping who will be in charge for the rest of the day.

Updated

Hamilton blames Farage for 'growing unpleasantness' in Ukip

Neil Hamilton, the former Tory minister who is now leader of the Ukip group in the Welsh assembly, has also been talking to Sky News about the culture of abuse in the party. He said Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, was to blame for allowing it. He told Sky:

I will say this; that there has been for some time a growing unpleasantness in the party which starts right at the top, I’m going to be quite open about this, with Nigel Farage. The verbal abuse which has been hurled about in public and on social media in particular is quite appalling and totally unacceptable. A grown-up political party simply should not tolerate it.

Until today Mike Hookem was probably best known for the stance he took over migrants at Calais trying to get into the UK. Hookem made various trips to Calais to investigate the issue, and he claimed that on one occasion he was threatened at gunpoint. In a speech about Calais to the Ukip conference in 2015 he claimed that the migrants were a threat to British hauliers.

Hookem also attracted some notoriety in April this year when he marked President Obama’s visit to the UK, and his intervention in the EU referendum campaign, by claiming that America wanted to use the second world war to “smash” Britain’s influence in the world. Hookem said:

If Mr Obama wants to bring up the US involvement in the war, it might be timely to remind him that in 1939 the US State department policy was to use the upcoming war as a way of smashing the UK’s influence in the world. When, in desperation, Britain asked for help, they used Lend Lease to financially cripple the UK whilst palming off old and sub standard naval assets.

Who is Mike Hookem?

Who is Mike Hookem? MPs and MEPs usually publish biographical information on their website, but normally these pages are bland and unilluminating.

But Hookem’s entry on the ‘about me’ section of his website is quite personal and revealing. Here are some extracts.

Disillusioned with Labour’s betrayal of working people, I joined the UK Independence party in 2008, as I felt they were the only party that truly represented the people and spoke with an honest voice ...

My decision to join Ukip was initially prompted by the dismay and defeat I saw in the faces of the people that I came across everyday in the streets of my home city of Hull, as well as the struggling tenants that I dealt with in the course of my job as a property manager.

The credit crunch was biting deep and like many people in the city, I felt abandoned, lied to, betrayed and fobbed off by everything political I had ever believed in. Up until this point, I had trusted Labour to do what was right for the working classes, but it was becoming more and more obvious to me that all the champagne socialists of the Labour party were interested in doing, was serving themselves, rather than the people they were elected to represent.

I come from working class roots and was born into the fishing community on Hessle Road, west of Hull and had voted Labour all my life up until that point.

My father worked on the fish docks, filleting fish, before moving on to work in heavy engineering, and it looked like I was destined to follow in his footsteps. After leaving school at 15, I had several low paid jobs, but I craved more, and at the age of 17 enlisted in the Royal Air Force. Serving in the armed forces was a revelation to me and I was extremely proud to serve my country. My four-year stint kick started my life and by the time I left four years later; I was determined to make a success of myself.

From there my working life was a mixture of skilled trades and management positions, however, the military life still called to me and I soon joined the Royal Engineers as a Commando Engineer, a position I held for 9 years.

At the time I joined Ukip in 2008, I had no political experience; not unless you count shouting at TV’s Question Time every Thursday night, but it had become clear to me that if I didn’t do something, no-one would. We now live in a political society where those in power ignore your voice as an individual; however, joining Ukip was like a breath of fresh air. Plain speaking was the norm, and the aims of the party were both realistic and achievable and in the interests of only the British people ...

As an MEP, I don’t intend to change who I am or where I came from. I will not be changing my accent or the way I speak, as I am still a working class lad from the west end of Hull, who calls a spade a spade. I do however promise to debunk the rubbish coming out of the EU, and to give the public the opportunity to understand what is being done in Europe in your name. I will also strive to help anyone who approaches me and give 100% of myself to this region. Thing are changing in British politics and I aim to be at the forefront of the People’s Army.

Mike Hookem.
Mike Hookem. Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters

Here is a picture of Steven Woolfe after he collapsed in the European parliament in Strasbourg. It was broadcast earlier today by ITV. Initially, when Woolfe’s condition was reported to be life-threatening, we refrained from using it on taste grounds, but we are content to publish it now that Woolfe is known to be recovering.

An ITV picture of Steven Woolfe, lying face-down on a walk-way inside the European Parliament building in Strasbourg.
An ITV picture of Steven Woolfe, lying face-down on a walk-way inside the European Parliament building in Strasbourg. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

Mike Hookem has not been responding to calls today, but this is what he posted on Twitter yesterday, giving his thoughts on the Ukip leadership contest.

The police in Strasbourg have confirmed that they were not called to the incident and that, so far, there is no police investigation.

Ukip has confirmed that the tests on Steven Woolfe showed that there was no bleeding on his brain. He did have what are described as two “epileptic-like” fits and numbness down the left-hand side of his body at 12.30pm. And he did pass out. But that has now passed, Ukip says.

Here is the full statement from Steven Woolfe.

The CT scan has shown that there is no blood clot in the brain. At the moment I am feeling brighter, happier, and smiling as ever. As a precaution, I am being kept in overnight awaiting secondary tests to make sure everything in fine.

I would like everyone to know that the parliamentary staff, the Ukip MEPs with me and hospital staff have been brilliant. Their care has been exceptional. I am sitting up, and said to be looking well. The only consequence at the moment is a bit of numbness on the left hand side of my face.

Steven Woolfe says he is 'feeling brighter, happier and smiling as ever'

Steven Woolfe has released this statement.

The CT scan has shown that there is no blood clot in the brain. At the moment I am feeling brighter, happier, and smiling as ever.

Mike Hookem named as Ukip MEP involved in fight with Woolfe

A source close to the party said the fight happened when Mike Hookem, MEP, turned up to the Strasbourg meeting at 10am and “made a few choice words” to Woolfe about “defecting to the Tories”.

“Steven Woolfe has then taken his jacket off, walked over and said, ‘Right, you outside now’ or words to that effect,” the source told the Guardian. “They went outside and Steven Woolfe got the brunt of it.”

It is understood that Woolfe walked away from the fight and appeared well enough to vote half an hour later. However, Woolfe left the vote mid-way through and then collapsed before he was taken to hospital.

The source added that Woolfe is thought to be conscious and recovering well to hospital treatment. Nathan Gill, his fellow MEP and a close friend, is at Woolfe’s hospital bedside.

The source said he is concerned about what will happen next to both MEPs. “Steven was the aggressor but Hookem has hit him and I just know the way that will come across,” the contact said.

Mike Hookem.
MEP Mike Hookem. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Updated

These are from the BBC’s Alex Forsyth.

Steven Woolfe 'conscious and recovering'

Steven Woolfe’s condition is better than some initial reports suggested, according to the latest updates from Strasbourg.

These are from Politico’s Tara Palmeri.

This is from the Telegraph’s Steven Swinford.

And this is from the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope.

Updated

Neil Hamilton claims Steven Woolfe 'picked a fight and came off worse'

This is what Neil Hamilton, the leader of the Ukip group in the Welsh assembly, told BBC News about what happened to Steven Woolfe. Hamilton blamed Woolfe for starting the fight. Hamilton was speaking from Cardiff, but he said he had heard what happened from someone who was an eye witness. He told the programme:

I understand there was an argument between some MEPs and Steven, I think, picked a fight with one of them and came off worse. That’s what I’ve heard second hand ... I don’t know what his current condition is. It is obviously a serious matter if he’s been carted off to hospital with bleeding on the brain, as I understand.

I was told that he was knocked over and hit his head on a window. I don’t know that he was knocked unconscious, but it has obviously had some repercussions ... It must have been quite a wallop.

When asked if Woolfe was a front runner for the leadership, Hamilton then played down Woolfe’s prospects.

Well, you recall he did not get his nomination papers in on time when the last leadership election was held. He was famously 17 minutes late. Well, this time he has announced his nomination early, but on the same time that he also announced that a few weeks ago he was considering defecting to the Conservative party. So it’s a rather bizarre coincidence of events.

Hamilton then said there was too much abuse going on in Ukip generally. It was a “cancer” that had to be stamped out, he said.

Hamilton, who resigned as a Conservative minister in the 1990s after being caught up in the cash-for-questions scandal, is a divisive figure in Ukip who is unpopular with Nigel Farage and those close to the party leader.

On Twitter Hamilton is being fiercely criticised for the cavalier and slightly jovial tone he adopted during the BBC News interview. For example, this from Stephen Pollard, the editor of the Jewish Chronicle.

UPDATE: Here is audio of the interview.

Updated

Neil Hamilton, the leader of the Ukip group in the Welsh assembly, is on the BBC News now. He says he has been told Steven Woolfe “picked a fight with someone and came off worse” at the meeting of Ukip MEPs in Strasbourg. Hamilton says he told this by someone who was there. Woolfe was knocked over and hit his head on a window, Hamilton says.

Hamilton says there is “too much violence” going on in Ukip at the moment. Not physical violence but abuse, he says.

Updated

These are from Sky’s Robert Nisbet.

A spokesperson for the Strasbourg police said they had not been called to the parliament and no investigation had been launched so far.

Ukip politicians have taken to Twitter to express their support for Steven Woolfe.

From Diane James, who has just stood down after 18 days as Ukip leader

From Ukip’s sole MP Douglas Carswell

From the MEP Jonathan Arnott

From Peter Whittle, a Ukip member of the London assembly

From David Kurten, the second Ukip member in the London assembly

These are from Sky’s Kay Burley.

Some of Steven Woolfe’s colleagues may have been unhappy about the reports that emerged on Wednesday that he had considered joining the Tories. Here is an extract from the story my colleague Rowena Mason published about this yesterday.

One Tory source said some conversations had taken place between senior party figures and Woolfe about the possibility of him joining the party. A source in Woolfe’s camp confirmed this and said he had thought about it “very, very seriously”.

In a statement, Woolfe said: “I have been enthused by the start to Theresa May’s premiership. Her support of new grammar schools, her words on social mobility and the growing evidence that she is committed to a clean Brexit prompted me, as it did many of my friends and colleagues, to wonder whether our future was within her new Conservative party.

“However, having watched the prime minister’s speech on Sunday, I came to the conclusion that only a strong Ukip can guarantee Brexit is delivered in full, and only our party can stand up for the communities of the Midlands and the north.”

Here is the Guardian’s news story about Steven Woolfe.

These are from the Telegraph’s Asa Bennett.

This is from the Times’s Lucy Fisher.

This is from Sky’s Beth Rigby.

Woolfe was 'punched by a fellow MEP'

When Nigel Farage said that there had been an “altercation” (see 12.39pm), he meant a fight - or at least a punch. Woolfe was hit by a colleague, according to a source familiar with what happened this morning.

Farage, Woolfe and the rest of Ukip’s 22 MEPs were invited to a meeting in the European parliament in Strasbourg this morning to discuss the leadership crisis and developments in the party. It is understood that most of them were there. The meeting became very intense. At some point, away from the main meeting, or afterwards, Woolfe was hit.

The source would not say who hit him. But it was not Farage, who is a supporter and ally of Woolfe.

Woolfe did not collapse immediately. After the meeting he told colleagues it had been “difficult” but he did not go into details about what happened. He then went to vote in the parliament. It was not until some time later that he collapsed.

UPDATE: I’ve corrected this post because it originally said the meeting was at the European parliament in Brussels. But this week the parliament is meeting in Strasbourg, its alternative venue.

Updated

Farage says Woolfe taken ill after 'altercation' at meeting of Ukip MEPs

Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, says Steven Woolfe was taken ill after an “altercation” at a meeting of Ukip MEPs. Here is his statement in full.

I deeply regret that following an altercation that took place at a meeting of Ukip MEPs this morning that Steven Woolfe subsequently collapsed and was taken to hospital. His condition is serious.

Updated

Ukip’s Suzanne Evans, another possible leadership contender, has used Twitter to send her best wishes to Steven Woolfe.

Earlier today, before he was taken ill, Steven Woolfe used Twitter to promote a blog he has written responding to Theresa May’s Conservative conference speech. In his article he claimed Ukip was now setting the agenda.

Here’s an extract from the article.

Social mobility has been declining for a generation – and I support any moves to put academic selection back at the heart of our education system. This has been UKIP policy for a decade, and I’m pleased it’s now at the centre of political debate.

While UKIP gained 4 million votes last year and only one MP, it goes to show that UKIP has influenced the political agenda – making us the true opposition. Politics is not always about winning – sometimes it’s about changing and influencing things from the outside.

There are other areas of domestic policy which Theresa May is now talking about where UKIP has driven the agenda for some time.

The coalition government took the minimum wage out of tax altogether – this was a UKIP policy. Increasing the defence budget to 2% of GDP, in line with NATO guidelines, was also a UKIP policy. And only this week at the Conservative Party conference, the government announced a new scheme to build thousands more homes on brownfield sites – which was in our last manifesto.

Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, was in the European parliament at the time Steven Woolfe fell ill. Farage is due to be issuing a statement about what happened shortly.

Raheem Kassam, a former aide to Nigel Farage and a candidate for the Ukip leadership, has pulled out of an interview on the BBC’s Daily Politics in the light of Steven Woolfe suddenly falling ill.

Ukip leadership contender Steven Woolfe taken to hospital after suddenly falling ill in European parliament

Ukip has put a statement out about Steven Woolfe. A spokeskman said:

Steven Woolfe MEP was taken suddenly ill in the European parliament building in Strasbourg this morning. He has been taken to hospital in the city and he is undergoing tests.

Updated

The Ukip MEP Steven Woolfe, a strong contender for the party leadership in the contest that has just opened up, has been taken ill in the European parliament, it is being reported.

I will post more when I get it.

You can read all the Guardian’s Conservative conference coverage here.

And here are three Tory stories from the other papers that are worth reading.

A senior Brexit-supporting minister said that Britain would reap in “two to four years” the economic rewards of leaving the EU, but Remain colleagues accused Brexiters of “a reality gap” between rhetoric and what was achievable. Britain’s next steps towards Brexit risk being beset by tensions between ministers despite public displays of unity at the Tory conference.

Divisions have emerged over the scale of dangers facing the economy; how long it will take to agree trade deals; the value of warnings by the City of London; and the consequences of the fall in the value of sterling.

Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, said this week that Britain would face no delay in reaping the benefits of quitting the EU, promising to sign deals on the day the country left. This was challenged by a leading minister on the other side of the referendum campaign who said that Britain might not see true benefits for “a 15-year time horizon”. The minister said that the deals themselves might take five to eight years, then, once the trade agreement is in place, companies would need to design suitable products for new markets and develop distributors. “It doesn’t happen overnight.”

On the “hard Brexit” fringe of the Cabinet, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox is pushing for a clean break from the customs union to give the UK the maximum ability to strike trade deals elsewhere in the world.

But he is pitted against Chancellor Philip Hammond and, increasingly, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, The Sun has been told.

Both Tory heavyweights have serious fears over the extra costs that delays and tariffs will inflict on British businesses and jobs.

One Cabinet minister told The Sun: “In my view, there is no way Liam and Philip can ever agree on this.

“They are ideologically too far apart, and one of them will end up walking.”

A business director scolded by the Home Secretary for employing too many foreign workers has hit back by telling The Telegraphhe was forced to recruit Eastern Europeans because there were not enough homegrown candidates.

Matt O’Flynn, managing director of a sofa manufacturer supplying John Lewis and Furniture Village, said he felt he had been hit with a boomerang after Amber Rudd referenced his company while discussing proposals to force companies to produce foreign worker lists.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “I went and visited a factory quite recently where they recruit almost exclusively from Romania and Poland, where they have people who have experience in factories building these sofas that they have. They didn’t even consider training locally - there was a local college they could have worked with, but they choose to recruit outside the UK.”

Mr O’Flynn, who runs Hastings-based Collins and Hayes, expressed astonishment at Ms Rudd’s comments, explaining he had invited her to tour its manufacturing plant to illustrate how the company was investing heavily in her local constituency.

Farage says Ukip should pick a new leader best placed to take votes from Labour

Nigel Farage, who we discovered yesterday remains Ukip leader, has made an interesting intervention in his party’s new leadership contest. Writing in today’s Telegraph, he says the party should pick a leader best able to win over Labour voters.

There are some other lines in the article too. Here is a summary.

  • Farage says Ukip should focus on gaining votes from Labour and pick a leader best able to do this.

Over the last couple of years we have impacted the Labour vote in a way that very few commentators predicted. It was in many traditional Labour constituencies that a surprisingly large number of Brexit votes were delivered on June 23. In areas like the Midlands, the North of England and Wales a large number of life-long Labour voters opted for Brexit.

They have now been cast aside by their own party – denounced as racists by Diane Abbott and told by Mr Corbyn that there should be no limits on the number of people coming to Britain. I believe that Ukip can talk to these people, that the party must now target this old Labour vote and choose a leader fit for that purpose.

As my colleague Rowena Mason writes, there are five potential candidates for the Ukip leadership. Farage’s comments suggest he wants the party to pick either Paul Nuttall, the former deputy leader who has spoken repeatedly about the need for Ukip to chase Labour votes, or Steven Woolfe. Both are MEPs for the north west of England.

  • He claimed “nearly every line” in Theresa May’s Conservative conference speech yesterday echoed what he had said in his own speeches. This showed how much politics had changed, he said.

To listen to Theresa May’s first speech to the Tory party conference as Prime Minister is to marvel at the seismic change in British politics in 2016. Ukip has not just pushed for, gained and helped to win a national referendum; more than that, we have changed the entire national debate. Indeed, the centre of gravity has shifted so much that nearly every line in Mrs May’s speech echoed my own at Ukip conferences over the years.

  • He rejected claims that Ukip no longer had a purpose in politics. Ukip had to ensure the government delivered on Brexit, he said.

I accept there will be many Tories cheering Mrs May’s words today. Some of them will have voted Ukip in the 2014 European elections. The danger that she now faces is one of raised expectations on the EU, immigration and grammar schools. If she delivers, her position will be unassailable in 2020. But if she falters, if Brexit is not seen to have been delivered, then there will be a deep wave of Tory disappointment.

It is worth remembering that as home secretary she talked tough on immigration and utterly failed to deliver. Either way, it is vital for the 17.4 million Brexit voters that we have a strong Ukip voice to challenge the Government throughout this journey to our nation’s independence outside of the EU. If by the time of the next election we do not have our British passports back and have not reclaimed our territorial fishing waters, then the June 2016 referendum will be unfinished business.

  • He said if Theresa May failed to deliver, Ukip could go into the 2020 general election “in a stronger position than at any point in its history.
  • He joked about the fact that he was technically still Ukip leader, because Diane James’s election as leader was never ratified by the Electoral Commission. “I feel rather like an escapee who has been recaptured, but no matter,” he said. He said he would remain as Ukip leader until a new one was elected. He would not be standing himself, he said.
Nigel Farage with Diane James, who resigned after 18 days as leader, triggering a new leadership contest.
Nigel Farage with Diane James, who resigned after 18 days as leader, triggering a new leadership contest. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

Here is Adam Vaughan’s story about the fracking decision.

And here is how it starts.

Sajid Javid has overturned Lancashire county council’s rejection of a fracking site, paving the way for shale company Cuadrilla to drill in the county next year and drawing outrage from local groups.

The council cited visual impact and noise when it turned down the company’s two planning applications to frack on the Fylde last year, but a month later Cuadrilla submitted an appeal.

On Thursday, the communities secretary said he had accepted the appeal for one of the sites, at Preston New Road. The move marks a major step up in the scale of exploratory fracking in the UK, as it green lights four wells compared to the single well approved for fracking in North Yorkshire earlier this year.

Pat Davies, chair of Preston New Road Action Group, a local anti-fracking group, said: “This is a sad day as it is clear to all that this government neither listens, nor can it be trusted, to do the right thing for local communities. It is deplorable that an industry that has been rejected on every level has inflicted itself on Preston New Road.”

Fracking scheme approved in Lancashire

The Press Association has just snapped this.

The government has given the go-ahead to one fracking scheme in Lancashire, but has refused permission for a second project in the county, Friends of the Earth said.

Osborne says capitalism and democracy are 'in crisis' as he announces book about how to defend them

George Osborne, the former chancellor, is writing a book defending “open societies and free markets”, the Bookseller reports. It is provisionally titled The Age of Unreason, and it will be published by William Collins.

Osborne said:

I want to apply the lessons I’ve learnt in victory and defeat to the urgent challenge of this Age of Unreason. Capitalism and democracy is in crisis. The west is in retreat. The forces of populist nationalism and prejudice are on the rise, amplified by new technology. The likes of Donald Trump say to people: ‘what the hell have you got to lose?’. The answer is: ‘a lot’. Peace, prosperity and security. It’s time to say so. It’s time for the defenders of open societies and free markets to fight back.

Commenting on the book, Arabella Pike, publishing director of William Collins, said:

This book is far more than a memoir of George Osborne’s time in government. Whilst it will draw lessons from his defeats and analyse his triumphs, the book will be above all a rallying cry to save capitalism, western democracy and to map our future course towards a fairer society – one that affords the benefits of capitalism to all. It is a book to address the biggest issues of our age - The Age of Unreason - and sets out plans to give more people capital in capitalism, control over their work, their communities and their money. The book could not be more timely or important.

George Osborne.
George Osborne. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

Muslims feel Prevent programme targets their religion, says terror law expert

David Anderson QC is coming to the end of his time as the government’s independent reviewer of terrorist legislation. And this morning he has decided to stir things up with an interview to the Today programme calling for a review and an overhaul of the controversial Prevent programme, which was set up to counter radicalisation. He said in Muslim communities it was almost seen as a “spying programme”.

He told the programme:

There is a strong feeling in Muslim communities that I visit that Prevent is, if not a spying programme, at least a programme that is targeted on them. In some cases it is even felt it is targeted not just Islamist terrorism or extremism, but at the practice of Islam. People who pray or who wear the veil, for example, are sometimes felt to be under suspicion.

Not, I’m sure those fears are exaggerated, and they are certainly not what the programme is supposed to be about, but the fact is that they are very real. So it is frustrating for me to see a programme whose ideals are obviously good falling down on the delivery to the point where it is not trusted in the community where it principally applies ...

The unpalatable fact at the moment is that there is a serious problem of Islamist extremism in this country. It certainly isn’t the only extremist problem; 15% of those interventions relate to the extreme right wing. But at the end of the day the unhappiness is real, the suspicion in communities is real, and it seems to me that the government needs to do something about that.

Anderson said that he was not calling for Prevent to be scrapped. But he was calling for an independent review of it, and for a thorough overhaul.

I would like to see three big changes. The first is much more transparency in terms of data, in terms of the underlying research, in terms of results, and some metrics for gauging success. Secondly, we need somebody or some group of people, completely independent of the programme, who can get in there, read the secrets, talk to everybody and report to parliament and to the public on how it is working. Then I think the third thing we need is better engagement from the government, including at national level, with the range of Muslim communities in this county. It is extraordinary to me that there is no dialogue, for example, between the government and the Muslim Council of Britain.

The government has to be more open about what it is doing, and it has to subject itself to some kind of independent scrutiny that can judge whether it’s effective or whether it isn’t.

I will post any reaction to his comments as it comes in.

The main party conferences are over, and the Commons is still in recess, and so it looks relatively quiet at Westminster. There had been talk of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet reshuffle coming today, but I gather that is now unlikely. Later this morning we will get a decision on whether the government will approve two controversial fracking schemes in Lancashire.

As usual, I will be covering the breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I will post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Zach Braff denies he is dating AI chatbot
‘Not me,’ said the star of ‘Scrubs’ and ‘Garden State’, ‘love, the guy not dating his chatbot’
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Andrew and Peter Mandelson pictured in bathrobes with Jeffrey Epstein
Trio captured relaxing around a wooden table in photo believed to have been taken on Martha’s Vineyard
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Hooked by Asako Yuzuki: a biting tale of female loneliness and obsession
After the sensational reception of her novel Butter (2017, translated into English in 2024), Asako Yuzuki is back with Hooked (translated by Polly Barton) – a novel about loneliness and the sometimes twisted and complicated relationships between women.
The Conversation
The Conversation
What experts want you to know about the squigglies in your vision
Eye ‘floaters’ are generally harmless - until they’re a sign of something terribly wrong
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
Fiery writs, imperial sovereigns, and cheating escheators.
Reason
Reason
Why everyone is switching to modular sofas in 2026 (and the 10 best picks to upgrade your space)
Stars like Kylie Jenner, Justin Bieber, and Kerry Washington love this style of buildable sofa. Is it time to hop aboard?
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play