Markus Andrews

It might already be a month since Reform’s newest MP Danny Kruger jumped ship to join Nigel Farage’s right-wing camp, but walking to the ex-Tory devotee’s Westminster office, you’d be forgiven for questioning if it really happened. Two signs for his office – deep within the Palace of Westminster’s labyrinth of carpeted corridors and creaky stairwells – still show Mr Kruger as shadow minister for work and pensions under Kemi Badenoch.Then inside, hung on the wall alongside Imperial War Museum recruitment posters and a painting of conservative philosopher Roger Scruton, is a framed map of Boris Johnson’s landslide 2019 election victory.Swathes of Tory blue dominate many of the UK’s regions. The outcome of the snap election steered by Brexit not only saw Mr Kruger, then Mr Johnson’s parliamentary secretary, return his boss to No 10, but also got him his first seat in parliament as the new MP for Devizes.“I’m not putting the 2024 election map up,” he jokes. “We need that whole map to go turquoise don’t we,” he adds with a smile.Breakups in any walk of life are hard, but for Mr Kruger, it’s clear to see his split from the Tories was a particularly painful one.“I regret to say, having been a member and an employee and an MP for the Conservative Party for many years, my whole adult life… I think the time for the Conservatives as that principal opposition, that main challenger from the right, has finished,” the married father of three explains.His exit, probably the biggest scalp for Reform yet, was announced at a press conference alongside Mr Farage last month. A few weeks later, he wrote a letter to his 71,000 East Wiltshire constituents to explain his decision.Reform, currently 14 points ahead of the Tories in the latest polls, was now the new opposition to the Labour Party, he said, bemoaning a loss in voter confidence in the Conservatives on issues such as mass migration and Brexit.“We now have – in Nigel Farage’s party – the opposition that we need to Labour, so it’s not just a rejection of the Conservatives, which I deeply regret making on a personal level, it’s an active, positive choice to join Reform because I think they represent the change we need,” he says.Danny Kruger says he approached Nigel Farage over joining the party after conversations with Lee Anderson More

David Lammy has claimed Vladimir Putin wants Nigel Farage and his “right-wing populist” allies to succeed in the hope that they divide Europe.The deputy prime minister’s attack comes after a leading ally of Mr Farage – former Reform UK leader in Wales Nathan Gill – was found guilty of taking money from the Kremlin. It also follows longer-standing concerns over Mr Farage’s “admiration” for the Russian autocrat even though recently the Reform UK leader described Putin as “a very bad dude” in response to criticism.Mr Lammy used a major speech in Amsterdam on Saturday to claim that Labour and its centre-left allies “are winning” in holding back right-wing populism around the world.Deputy prime minister David Lammy More

Rachel Reeves has warned that she could trigger Labour’s biggest donors to disaffiliate from the party if she continues to “pander to the right” in the Budget.The warning from a trade union boss comes as the chancellor gave an interview to Bloomberg TV, confirming that she is pushing for more spending cuts, including on welfare.Fire Brigade Union (FBU) general secretary Steve Wright told The Independent that Labour is at a crossroads, with unions like his debating whether they should financially back the party any more.The loss of union donations ahead of the next general election would cost Labour millions. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, the party received almost £1.2m from trade unions.Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Paul Grover/Daily Telegraph/PA) More

The government has forked out nearly £115,000 for “influencer marketing” in less than a year, despite pledges to cut wasteful spending.The Conservatives have said the spend “makes a mockery” of Labour’s pledge after Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the cash had supported “multiple campaigns” since the creation of a new government communications unit at the start of this year. It comes after the prime minister hosted a reception for online content creators over the summer, and Downing Street hailed the “content creators shaping Britain”. In response to a written question from shadow minister Mike Wood, Mr Thomas-Symonds said that the “total amount spent on digital influencer marketing by the New Media Unit since its establishment is £114,769.51”. He went on: “This investment has supported multiple campaigns of varying scale and reach. “Influencers have proven to be effective in reaching audiences that traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.”The existence of the unit was first reported on in November 2024, but it is understood that it has been up and running since January 2025. Pushed further on explicitly how much money had been spent on specific campaigns, or which influencers have received money, the Cabinet Office declined to go into further detail. Shadow cabinet office minister Mr Wood described the money as a “bung to influencers”. He told The Independent: “This makes a mockery of the government’s pledge to take ‘decisive action’ to reduce wasteful spending on government communications.“This £114,796.51 bung to influencers to promote this deeply unpopular government is another slap in the face for taxpayers just as Rachel Reeves prepares to announce more tax grabs.“Only the Conservatives have a plan to tackle government waste by cutting the civil service headcount, ensuring taxpayers get value for money.”A Cabinet Office source told The Independent that “it is really important in a changing media landscape that the government works with creators, influencers and smaller platforms to tell our story alongside traditional media”.Ahead of the spending review earlier this year, chancellor Ms Reeves pledged to wield an “iron fist against waste”.The New Media Unit is part of the government Communications Service (GCS), which describes itself as “supporting ministers’ priorities, enabling effective operation of public services and improving people’s lives”. According to a job advert posted for a position at the media unit earlier this year, it seeks to “connect and rebuild trust with audiences in the most effective way possible”. In July it was announced that former Sun editor David Dinsmore would be appointed the new head of the GCS. More

The Home Office was told last week that supporters of Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv could be barred from a Europa League match at Aston Villa, police have revealed, as a major row over the ban escalated.Sir Keir Starmer will do “everything in his power” to overturn the ban, according his spokesperson, after he condemned the move as the “wrong decision” in a major government intervention.News that Israeli fans would not be able to attend the club’s fixture in Birmingham on 6 November due to fears of violence has been met with outrage from Jewish communities. The move by council leaders in Birmingham was branded a “national disgrace” by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and a “shameful decision” by Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar.The government is now expecting West Midlands Police to come forward with proposals for what resources it would need for all fans to attend the football match safely, The Independent understands, ahead of a council Safety Advisory Group (SAG) meeting next week. However, ministers face fresh questions after it emerged the Home Office was briefed about the safety fears – and possible restrictions on fans visiting Villa Park – as early as last week by specialists from the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU).Senior officers at the unit backed the ban, saying it was “important that we respect and support the structures in place for making these decisions”.The decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv’s fans from their match with Aston Villa has been met with outrage from Jewish communities More

Rachel Reeves is planning to restrict disabled people’s access to cars through the benefits system in a bid to save £1bn, it has emerged.The chancellor is reportedly considering reforming the Motability scheme in a bid to save money and boost public confidence in the welfare system. She is said to be ready to axe tax breaks worth around £1bn each year in next month’s Budget, cutting an exemption which lets cars leased under the scheme avoid paying VAT or insurance premium tax. And, in another change, luxury cars including Mercedes and BMWs could be removed from the scheme, The Times reports. It comes as the chancellor has been warned by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that she needs to find at least £22bn of tax hikes or spending cuts in her November Budget in order to avoid a financial “groundhog day”.The Motability scheme provides cars to around 815,000 users, including around 40,000 luxury vehicles. It is open to people who claim a qualifying mobility allowance, most commonly through the personal independence payment (PIP).But it has come under fire in recent months, and formed a major part of Kemi Badenoch’s speech at the Conservative Party conference, with critics claiming online “sickfluencers” are teaching people to game the system in order to claim free cars. In her speech in Manchester, Ms Badenoch said: “Those cars are not for people with ADHD.” Rachel Reeves needs to find £22bn to plug the UK’s growing debt More

Birmingham MP defends ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending Aston Villa gameThe Home Office was briefed about possible restrictions on the Maccabi Tel Aviv match with Aston Villa last week, police have revealed.The UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU), a specialist team which works to help reduce incidents of football violence, said they helped West Midlands Police to access full details of previous incidents in Amsterdam.“Following this, the Home Office were briefed last week by the UKFPU about the potential issues and options that the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) may take including restrictions on visiting fans,” the UKFPU said in a statement.The revelation comes after criticism from the prime minister over the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from attending a match against Aston Villa in Birmingham next month.West Midlands Police said they had classified the fixture as high risk based on “current intelligence and previous incidents”, including violent clashes that occurred during a match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam last year.Downing Street said discussions are happening “at pace, across Government” and Culture secretary Lisa Nandy is among the senior government officials set to meet on Friday in a bid to overturn the decision. PSC express support for fan banThe Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has said it supports the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a Europa League match at Aston Villa next month and criticised the Prime Minister for opposing the action.Ben Jamal, director of the PSC, said: “(Sir Keir) Starmer’s willingness to conflate opposition to Israel’s crimes with antisemitism has now taken him to a place where he defends, supposedly in the name of anti-racism, the rights of avowedly anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic, violent thugs to demonstrate their hate in a British city and at a football match.“The Maccabi fan base has an egregious track record of racist violence that led them to being banned from the city of Amsterdam. Starmer wants Birmingham to host people who chant for Palestinians to be raped and their villages burned.“The fixture should not be going ahead. Israel and all Israeli clubs should be removed from international competitions.”( More