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Nigel Farage has shared a bizarre AI video of himself dancing in a fur coat at Clacton Pier.The Reform leader can be seen surrounded by backing dancers as he performs an energetic routine outside the Clacton monument.Mr Farage shared the video, which has now been viewed more than one million times, on his Twitter account on Sunday (24 August), with the caption: “A little bit of fun.”The rap song accompanying the video has the words “2019 looks so right for Reform” and “party of the people”.This is not the first time the Reform leader has used rap in his political campaigns.Last year, he taunted former prime minister Rishi Sunak by channelling a song from rapper Eminem. More

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has defended Kemi Badenoch’s call for Conservative councils to consider legal challenges against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.In a letter to Tory councils, Mrs Badenoch said she was “encouraging” them to “take the same steps” as Epping Council, “if your legal advice supports it”.Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Thursday morning (21 August), Mr Philp said councils didn’t need to take such action when the Conservatives were in power, as the party had been “getting hotel numbers down”.New Home Office data shows the number of asylum seekers in hotels has gone down from 32,345 in March this year to 32,059 in June 2025. Numbers peaked at the end of September 2023, when 56,042 asylum seekers were in hotels. More

Robert Jenrick said that he had bottles thrown at him during a visit to a migrant camp near Calais.The former Tory leadership hopeful posted footage of himself spotting a group of what he said was “60 or 70 migrants holding life jackets” at around 8:30pm on Sunday, 11 August.He said the group boarded a bus without tickets and was filmed following the bus to Dunkirk with his team. Mr Jenrick said there was no sign of the group by 4am, and called police to report that he had seen “a large group of maybe 40 or 50 illegal migrants in the cemetery off the main road by the beach.”Mr Jenrick added: “We’ve given £800 million to France and we didn’t see a police officer the whole day, and now we just phoned them and it doesn’t sound like they’ll even bother to come out.” More

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said on Thursday, 11 August, that there are “no immediate plans” to change interest levels on student loan repayments.BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt asked Ms Phillipson whether it was fair to make students pay 9 per cent interest on top of existing student loan debt.“We are looking at the student finance system; it is complicated,” the education secretary said. “However, I do think that it is right that students make a contribution to their education.”She reiterated that there were more opportunities for young people receiving their A-level results on Thursday to pursue other than university, including apprenticeships. More

Disinformation could still spread regarding suspects arrested under new guidance for police, the policing minister has said.Police forces have been told to consider disclosing suspects’ ethnicity and nationality to the public when they are charged in high-profile and sensitive cases.It comes after authorities were accused of covering up offences carried out by asylum seekers, and in the wake of riots following the Southport murders, which were partly fuelled by social media disinformation.Asked whether withholding a suspect’s nationality and ethnicity until they are charged, rather than when they are arrested, means disinformation could still spread as it did following the Southport murders, Dame Diana Johnson agreed.The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) guidance reaffirms that it is not the role or responsibility of the police to verify a suspect’s immigration status, and the Home Office should decide if it is appropriate in all the circumstances to confirm immigration status. More

Kemi Badenoch has suggested placing asylum seekers currently housed in hotels into “camps”, as new Home Office figures reveal that almost 50,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats since Sir Keir Starmer took office.Speaking about immigration to members of the public in Epping, Essex on Monday (11 August), the leader of the opposition said: “We’ve got to turn things around very quickly. We cannot use rules from 1995, or 2005, or even 2015 for 2025.”She pondered: “Is it possible for us to set up camps and police that, rather than bringing all of this hassle into communities?”In recent weeks, protesters have gathered across Epping to oppose the decision to house asylum seekers in local hotels. More

Nicola Sturgeon says transgender rapists “probably forfeit the right to be the gender of their choice”, as she conceded she “should have been much more straightforward” on the issue of double rapist Isla Bryson’s gender.Reforms which would have allowed transgender people to self-identify as their preferred gender were passed by Holyrood in 2022 but were blocked by Westminster the following year.Afterwards, Bryson was sent to a women’s only jail after being convicted of raping two women, before being transferred to a male prison.In an interview with ITV News on Monday (11 August), the former SNP leader said that anyone who commits the “most heinous male crime against women probably forfeits the right to be the gender of their choice” before going on to admit “that probably was not the best phrase to use”. More

Video shows the first migrants detained under the UK’s new “one in, one out” deal with Emmanuel Macron, who could be sent back to France within weeks.People who were detained were among those who risked the Channel crossing on Wednesday, the day the pilot scheme began operating.Around 155 people were detected making the crossing on Wednesday in two boats.Sir Keir Starmer wrote on X: “I said that if you enter this country on a small boat, you will face detention and return. I meant it.”Under the pilot scheme, UK officials aim to make referrals for returns to France within three days of a migrant’s arrival by small boat, while French authorities will respond within 14 days. More