News

Richard Tice fumbled his words as he was grilled on why Sir Keir Starmer was like Kim Jong Un after both the deputy Reform UK leader and Nigel Farage compared the UK to North Korea.Appearing on BBC Radio 4 on Friday (5 September), Mr Tice was repeatedly questioned by Nick Robinson on the comparison and said that Sir Keir is “authoritarian”.After he was asked whether Sir Keir was like Kim for a third time, Mr Tice said that it is “good to use anecdotes and analogies at times”.Mr Robinson fired back, calling it “offensive” to compare the prime minister to “one of the worst autocrats on the planet”.Mr Tice said “what is really offensive” is punishing those who are “concerned about illegal immigration”. More

Angela Rayner’s seaside flat in Hove has been vandalised with “tax evader” graffiti, after the deputy prime minister revealed that she had failed to pay enough stamp duty on the property.On Wednesday (3 September) Ms Rayner said that she has referred herself to both the Government’s independent ethics adviser and to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for failing to pay the levy.Video captured on Thursday (4 September) shows the words “tax evader” scrawled outside the £800,000 property, and “Rayner tax avoidance” on a nearby construction chipboard.Rayner, who reportedly earned a tax break worth up to £40,000, said she received inaccurate legal advice that led her to underpay tax when buying a flat in Hove in May. More

Liz Truss has hinted about returning to frontline politics, revealing that she has “always been obsessed with making Britain a great nation again”.Speaking to Sky News’ Wilfred Frost on The Master Investor Podcast on Wednesday (3 September), the former prime minister said that she is “depressed about how far the UK has sunk”.Asked by Mr Frost if she would consider returning as an MP, she said: “I never rule anything out. Why would I do that?”Describing the economy as “dire”, Ms Truss said she “wants to help fix that in any way I can”. More

Sir Keir Starmer has slammed “disgraceful” Nigel Farage for “badmouthing” the UK, as the Reform leader skipped Prime Minister’s Questions to appear at the US congress.Speaking during the Commons exchange on Wednesday (3 September), the prime minister claimed Mr Farage has travelled to Washington to “impose sanctions that will harm working people”.He said: “The honourable member for Clacton is not here representing his constituents in the house he was elected to. No, he has flown to America to badmouth and talk down our country.”Sir Keir said that “you could not get more unpatriotic than that”, branding Mr Farage a “disgrace”.Mr Farage will be discussing free speech in the UK in front of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. More

Wes Streeting has slammed Liz Truss for lecturing the Labour government about the economy, telling the former prime minister she should “keep her head down”.Appearing on Sky News on Wednesday (3 September), the health secretary said the “last person Rachel Reeves should be taking advice from is Liz Truss”, after she chastised the chancellor for pushing “economic orthodoxy” onto the UK.He described Ms Truss’s mini-Budget – which resulted in economic turmoil in the UK – as a type of “self inflicted harm”.Mr Streeting added: “We’ll take no lectures from Liz Truss. In fact, we quite often resent former Conservatives popping up, complaining about the choices we’re making, as we clean up the mess they left behind.” More

Yvette Cooper has revealed that she has Union Jack and St George’s flags scattered around her home, and has encouraged Britons to display the emblems, saying people should “put them up anywhere”.The Home Secretary told BBC Breakfast on Tuesday (2 September) that she has tablecloths and bunting adorned with the Union Jack, St George’s flag, and the Yorkshire rose in her house.Appearing on Times Radio, Ms Cooper added, “Oh put ‘em up anywhere. I would put them up anywhere. I mean, we put them up anywhere. We have the St George’s flag above the Pontefract Castle. We fly [it] in my constituency,” insisting that the flags should not be used “for division.” More

Nick Robinson reminded Chris Philp that he, as immigration minister under the Conservative government, opened up the use of the Bell Hotel in Epping for the use of housing asylum seekers during a live interview on BBC Radio 4 on Monday, 1 September.Labour’s use of asylum hotels has led to widespread protests over the summer.Asylum seekers were moved into hotels during the coronavirus pandemic.“Who was the minister who opened the Bell Hotel to asylum seekers without consulting the community? Do you by any chance remember?,” Mr Robinson pressed Mr Philp.Mr Philp began to explain, “Well, the last government did open that hotel,” before Mr Robinson interjected with, “It was you, you were the immigration minister, you did it.” More

Nigel Farage is producing policies on the “back of a fag packet”, a Home Office minister has claimed.Appearing on NewsNight on Tuesday (26 August), Lord Hanson said that the Reform UK leader’s plans to mass deport 600,000 asylum seekers if his party wins have no “substance to them”.“He’s producing policies which I’m afraid are on the back of a fag packet… They are also not really deliverable in terms of what is a very complex and challenging issue,” he said.Unveiling the radical plans at a press conference on London earlier that day, Mr Farage also pledged to scale up detention capacity for asylum seekers to 24,000 and secure deals with countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran to return migrants to their countries. More