UK

Piers Morgan, the journalist and presenter, has hinted at a potential run for prime minister, suggesting he would adopt a “tough” approach to national leadership. The 60-year-old host of the Uncensored YouTube show made comments in an interview with Saga Magazine.He said: “There has been talk about ‘PM for PM’, Piers Morgan for prime minister, why not? “Right now, there are a lot of people in this country who feel betrayed by successive governments, whether it’s over the NHS, stopping the boats or the state of the roads.”Mr Morgan said a 1 per cent tax on income that would go “straight to the NHS” would be among the items in his manifesto.“Taking a leaf out of (US President Donald) Trump’s book, I would call (French) President (Emmanuel) Macron and tell him that unless he did something about the boats, we would tax French imports by 1,000 per cent. “It’s time to get tough.”Piers Morgan says he’d ‘get tough’ on Channel crossings More

The warning to one of her fellow councillors by Linden Kemkaran, Reform’s leader on Kent County Council (KCC), may well be one which voters will have to get used to if Nigel Farage becomes prime minister.“I’m afraid if you don’t like it you are just going to have to f***ing suck it up,” she said in a rather chaotic Zoom meeting.During the tape of the video conference, first published by The Guardian, Cllr Kemkaran also made a very pertinent point and one which should worry Mr Farage and other senior figures in Reform.“Let’s not forget, we are the shop window in KCC. People are looking at us, they are judging us every single minute of every single day. Nigel knows that. He is super aware that we are the flagship council.”Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage earlier this year More

Reform has been accused of “importing divisive and dangerous ideas” from Maga politics in the US after a right-wing theologian who opposes abortion in all cases joined the party as Nigel Farage’s adviser.Cambridge University professor James Orr, who heads the Centre for a Better Britain think tank, is an influential figure in Donald Trump’s administration and is admired by vice-president JD Vance.His arrival comes soon after the defection from the Tories of right-wing MP Danny Kruger, who holds similar views to Professor Orr.James Orr More

Ed Miliband has warned that nowhere in the UK should be a “no go area” for Jews and Israelis.The energy secretary has intervened as the row over the decision by West Midlands Police to ban football fans of Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv from attending their match in Birmingham against Aston Villa has continued to escalate.It comes as Aston Villa prepare to play Tottenham Hotspur, the club which has Britain’s biggest Jewish support, in the Premier League today at Villa Park.Aston Villa have been informed away fans will not be allowed to attend next month’s home Europa League match against Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv due to safety concerns (Cody Froggatt/PA) More

Brexit will have a negative impact on the UK’s economic growth “for the foreseeable future,” Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned.The economy is, however, likely to adjust and find balance again in the longer term, Mr Bailey, who was speaking at the G30 40th annual International Banking Seminar on Saturday, added.The event in Washington, DC saw Mr Bailey highlight a decline in the UK’s potential growth rate from 2.5% to 1.5% over the past 15 years.He linked this to lower productivity growth, an ageing population and trade restrictions – including post-Brexit economic policies.“For nearly a decade, I have been very careful to say that I take no position per se on Brexit, which was a decision by the people of the UK, and it is our job as public officials to implement it,” Mr Bailey said.“But, I quite often get asked a second question: what’s the impact on economic growth?“And as a public official, I have to answer that question.“And the answer is that for the foreseeable future it is negative.”“But over the longer term, there will be – because trade adjusts – some at least partial rebalancing,” Mr Bailey added.Referencing the works of 18th-century economist and philosopher Adam Smith, he continued: “Why do I give that answer? Because that’s the Smithian growth model: making an economy less open restricts growth over the long term.“Longer term, you will get some adjustment. Trade does adjust, it does rebuild.“And all the evidence we have from the UK is that is exactly what is happening.”Investment in innovation and new technologies, including AI, may help address the decline in productivity growth in the long run, Mr Bailey said.“If we take account of the impact of ageing and trade restrictions, we’re really putting our chips on investment,” he said.“We’re putting our chips on general-purpose technology, and AI looks like the next general-purpose technology, so we need to work with it.“We need to ensure that it develops appropriately and well.”Mr Bailey warned that, although AI is likely to usher in a breakthrough in productivity long-term, it may “in the current circumstances, be a risk to financial stability through stretched valuations in the markets”.“It doesn’t undermine the fact that AI, in my view, is likely, in addressing this slower growth issue, that we have and the consequences of it – that it is actually the best hope we have, and we really do need to do all we can to foster it,” he said.The Bank of England governor’s prediction comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves is under pressure ahead of next month’s Budget, with official figures showing muted growth in August following a surprise contraction in July.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.1% month-on-month in August and fell by 0.1% in July, in a revision to the previous estimate for no growth.In the three months to August, GDP grew by 0.3% compared with 0.2% growth in the three months to July, the ONS said.The latest figures come after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this week forecast UK inflation was set to surge to the highest in the G7 in 2025 and 2026. More

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