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Rachel Reeves was confronted with Labour’s past criticism of Boris Johnson receiving gifts during an interview on Monday, 23 September, as the party held its annual conference.As she spoke to Good Morning Britain from Liverpool, the chancellor was shown Angela Rayner’s tweet from 2021 in which the now-deputy prime minister accused the former prime minister of “going round with a begging bowl to Tory donors to pay for your posh new wallpaper and [moaning] that you can’t live off your £150,000 salary.”It came after Sir Keir Starmer, Ms Rayner, and Ms Reeves have said that they will not accept any further donations for clothing after a row over gifts. More

Angela Rayner joked Kemi Badenoch is doing “side deals with the Daleks” as she mocked the Conservative leadership hopeful’s row with Doctor Who star David Tennant.The deputy prime minister said next week’s Conservative Party conference will involve “10-minute auditions for wannabe leaders, beating each other to different shades of blue” following their general election defeat.Ms Rayner said “no-one is watching” the Tories, before questioning whether this was why Ms Badenoch, the shadow housing secretary, used her leadership campaign launch to say she is someone “who’s not afraid of Doctor Who”.Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Sunday 22 September, she added that the Tories “failed Britain and tried to cover it up”. More

Angela Rayner was shown the public reaction to the row over donations accepted by senior Labour figures in an awkward moment on live TV.During an appearance on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, the deputy prime minister defended the government, saying that donations were “a feature of our politics”.Ms Rayner admitted that she understands some people are “frustrated” with the situation before she was shown a number of messages from the public.One BBC viewer described accepting gifts as “extraordinary behaviour,” while another suggested it was “morally indefensible”.Another simply said, “Frankly it stinks”. More

Reform UK kicked off its annual conference, set to be the largest the party has ever held, in Birmingham on Friday, 20 September.The party now claims to have more than 70,000 members and has said this year’s ticket sales are more than four times 2023’s figures.Reform UK shot to prominence after securing five MPs at the last general election, including leader Nigel Farage – who announced he is “relinquishing” control of the party and giving up his majority shareholder position just one day ago.Here, The Independent political correspondent Millie Cooke details what to expect from this afternoon’s conference. More

Sir Keir Starmer has defended accepting free tickets to watch Arsenal FC.The prime minister was gifted a private box to watch Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, worth more than £8,000 a match, for him to watch home games. In an interview with Sky News on Thursday evening (19 September), the prime minister said: “Security advice says I can’t go into the stands as it would cost the taxpayers a fortune, so I’ve been offered tickets where it’s more secure and we don’t have to use taxpayers money on additional security.” More

Nigel Farage clashed with Richard Madeley over his loyalty to Donald Trump after the former president peddled a conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, and God “spared his life” from two failed assassination attempts.“Whenever Donald Trump makes a comment that is ridiculed, it always turns out to be true,” the Reform UK MP said on Good Morning Britain on Thursday, 19 September.Farage told Madeley: “Your line of attacking those who believe that there are sometimes divine interventions that actually, there are people out there that believe in God, and believe that sometimes they get spared… I find that line of yours very cynical.” More

Nigel Farage believes there is some truth in Donald Trump’s claim that Haitian migrants are eating pets in Ohio.The former US president made the claim during a live ABC debate with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this month.The Reform MP said he believes there is some truth to Trump’s comments.Appearing on LBC on Thursday (19 September), Mr Farage said: “Whenever he says something like this that is absoluley crackers in the end there is always some truth in it.“I’ll have a tenner with you that within the next month we find some evidence of it.” More

Diane Abbott has opened up on her bizarre date with Jeremy Corbyn and finding love at 70.The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington spoke about how Mr Corbyn took her to see Karl Marx’s tomb in Highgate Cemetery, during an interview on ITV’s Lorraine show on Wednesday (18 September).She explained how the romance “fizzled away”, adding: “There is no bad feeling. Jeremy is not like that and we are still friends.”Ms Abbott also revealed she is open to dating again at the age of 70. She said: “I believe Prince Charming is around the corner.” More