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Former US president Barack Obama met with Rishi Sunak in a “courtesy visit” to Downing Street on Monday 18 March.Mr Obama spent around an hour inside the No 10 study with the prime minister.He joked he was “tempted” to discuss the state of Russian democracy when members of the media asked him to stop as he left with the US ambassador to the UK, Jane D Hartley, just after 4pm.It is understood Mr Sunak and Mr Obama discussed a range of subjects, including artificial intelligence, in a largely one-on-one meeting. More

A Labour MP has compared the cost of the government’s Rwanda scheme to Virgin Galactic “sending six people to space” during a debate in the House of Commons.Neil Coyle urged the Tories to “rethink” the bill ahead of another vote on Monday 18 March, in which Rishi Sunak will seek to reverse the defeats from the House of Lords.“Is the minister aware that Virgin Galactic can send six people into space for less than this government wants to spend sending one person to Rwanda?” Mr Coyle asked illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson.“Is it not time to rethink this absurd policy and extortionate cost?” More

London mayor Sadiq Khan has claimed London is a “safer city” than Berlin, Madrid and Paris but admits he does not want to be “complacent” as he launched his bid for a third term in office.Citing research from University College London, Mr Khan claimed that the capital was safer than most major cities in Europe and the United States despite recent ONS figures suggesting knife crime had risen.“Both as a member of parliament and as the mayor I have met too many victims of crime,” he admitted on Monday 18 March.Mr Khan added that Londoners have the “opportunity” to vote in a Labour government and mayor to “work together” this year. More

Barack Obama arrived at Downing Street on Monday, 18 March, for an undisclosed private meeting.The former US president, who served in the White House from 2009 to 2017, smiled and waved at members of the press before he entered Rishi Sunak’s residence just after 3pm.The reason for his visit was not immediately confirmed at the time of reporting.Mr Obama’s London trip came after he met the Belgian royal family over the weekend at their official residence, the Palace of Laeken. More

Kemi Badenoch dismissed the Tory donor racism row as “trivia” during an interview on LBC on Monday, 18 March.Speaking to Nick Ferrari, the business secretary commented on the ongoing conversation regarding Frank Hester’s alleged remarks about Diane Abbott.“We need to get to a place where we stop chasing people around and looking everywhere for the racism… We’ve been talking about this for well over a week now,” Ms Badenoch said.Mr Hester, who gave the Conservative party £10m in 2023, allegedly made derogatory comments about Ms Abbott during a 2019 company meeting, suggesting she “should be shot”. More