UK

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UKSign up to our Brexit email for the latest insightWhen Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen was at school, his history teacher would be going through an episode in Europe’s chronicles and note: “That’s something Mr Habsburg surely knows about.”He would be referring to the many events linked to the 850-year history of the Habsburg empire which touched almost every corner of Europe right up until the end of the First World War.Mr Habsburg – now Hungary’s ambassador to the Holy See in Rome – admitted that at the time he did not know as much as someone from such an eminent family perhaps should.Speaking to The Independent, he joked: “You realise you don’t know, of course, because you’re not born with knowledge about the Habsburgs. Yes, so you begin to read, and that’s how I got to understand that – apart from England and France – in all the rest of Europe – German speaking, central Europe, Balkans, Italy, the Habsburgs were a big deal.”Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen speaks to The Independent More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWealthy donors aiming to woo Sir Keir Starmer’s party ahead of its likely win in next month’s election have helped Labour overtake the Tory party in receiving political donations, latest figures show.Labour has landed £15.5m in funding so far this year from individuals, companies, unions and others, exceeding the £9.9m handed to the Conservatives.While the Tories have historically found more favour with companies and individuals, Labour typically receives substantially higher donations from trade unions. They contributed 26 per cent of the Labour Party’s fundraising since the last election in 2019, at £25.3m. Overall, Tory donations are still well ahead at £111.9m, topping Labour’s figure of £98.7m.However, The Independent has found that individual donors have been dwindling in their support of the Tories, and flocking to Labour – with some even switching sides.While major donors such as controversial businessman Frank Hester have stayed loyal to the Tories (to the tune of £15m), others like Crystal Palace investor Jeremy Hosking have turned to back competing parties, including Reclaim and Reform. Meanwhile, the two Lord Sainsburys – cousins and heirs to the fortune – have planted their cash in opposite camps. Figures out earlier this week showed Labour received £4.4m between 6-12 June while the Conservatives received just £292,500.Read on to find information on the big-name donors staking their cash on the major parties. Frank HesterFrank Hester donated £10m to the Tories last year, according to Electoral Commission records.He individually donated £5m to Mr Sunak’s party in May and gave another £5m via his IT company in November.Mr Hester came under fire earlier this year accused of saying in 2019 that Diane Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.Frank Hester donated £10m to the Tories in 2023 and £5m earlier this year More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe man who could become the face of the greatest shock in British political history has claimed that whether he wins or not, there is a “bubbling undercurrent” of change in the electorate which means once safe Tory strongholds will fall.Tom Wilson is the 29-year-old Labour candidate running against Rishi Sunak in Richmond and Northallerton who, according to polls last week, could be the first electoral “king killer” – in that he may be the first person to defeat a sitting prime minister in a general election.He became a person of interest for the entire political establishment when an MRP poll last week suggested Mr Sunak’s constituency was “too close to call”.For everyone looking for the so-called “Portillo moment” of this election – named after the shock defeat of Michael Portillo in the 1997 Tory collapse – this looked unbeatable.Sunak could be facing a Portillo moment, according to some polls More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA top aide to James Cleverly has described Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation plan as “crap”, a leaked recording has revealed.James Sunderland, Tory candidate for Bracknell and the home secretary’s parliamentary private secretary, said he has been immersed in the policy for two years, repeatedly calling it “crap”.Addressing a private meeting in April, Mr Sunderland said: “I have been part of this for the last two years and am probably going to say too much.Click here for our live coverage of the general election campaign.“What I would say to you is that… nobody has got their cameras or phones on, have they?“The policy is crap, OK, it’s crap.”James Sunderland said the Rwanda policy is ‘crap’ More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email The chief data officer of Britain’s Conservative Party has taken a leave of absence, British media reported Sunday, following growing allegations that the governing party’s members have been using inside information to bet on the date of Britain’s July 4 national election.The Sunday Times and others reported that Nick Mason is the fourth Conservative official to be investigated by the U.K.’s Gambling Commission for allegedly betting on the timing of the election before the date had been announced. The Times alleged that dozens of bets had been placed with potential winnings worth thousands of pounds. Two other Conservative election candidates, Laura Saunders and Craig Williams, are under investigation by the gambling watchdog. Saunders’ husband Tony Lee, the Conservative director of campaigning, has also taken a leave of absence following allegations he was also investigated over alleged betting. The growing scandal, which came just two weeks ahead of the national election, has dealt a fresh blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which is widely expected to lose to the opposition Labour Party after 14 years in power. Sunak said this week that he was “incredibly angry” to learn of the allegations and said that anyone found to have broken the law should be expelled from his party. Saunders, a candidate standing in Bristol, southwest England, has said she will cooperate fully with the investigation. Williams was Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary as well as a candidate. Senior Conservative minister Michael Gove has condemned the alleged betting and likened it to “ Partygate,” the ethics scandal that contributed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ouster in 2022. That controversy saw public trust in the Conservatives plummet after revelations that politicians and officials held lockdown-flouting parties and gatherings in government buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. “It looks like one rule for them and one rule for us,” Gove told the Sunday Times. “That’s the most potentially damaging thing.”Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said “people are sick and tired of this sleaze” and that Sunak must intervene and order an official inquiry.The Conservative Party said it cannot comment because investigations are ongoing. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer have led criticism of Nigel Farage after the Reform UK leader claimed that the West “provoked” Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.It did not stop Mr Farage from doubling down on his comments, originally made in a BBC Panorama interview which aired on Friday night, in a column piece on Saturday afternoon for the Daily Telegraph, claiming that he should “not be blamed for telling the truth about Putin’s war”. Asked about the remarks during an election campaign visit in London on Saturday, prime minister Mr Sunak suggested Mr Farage was “emboldening Putin”.“What [Mr Farage] said was completely wrong and only plays into Putin’s hands,” he said.“This is a man [Mr Putin] who deployed nerve agent on the streets of Britain, who is doing deals with countries like North Korea, and this kind of appeasement is dangerous for Britain’s security, the security of our allies that rely on us, and only emboldens Putin further.”Sir Keir, speaking at another campaign event in the capital, said: “Anyone who is standing for parliament ought to be really clear that Russia is the aggressor, Putin bears responsibility, and that we stand with Ukraine, as we have done from the beginning of this conflict.Nigel Farage drew a link between Nato and European Union expansion in recent decades and the conflict in eastern Europe More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak appeared to pull up the white flag of surrender at the party’s summer garden party fundraiser with what guests saw as an admission that he will not be prime minister after 4 July.The event at Hurlingham Club, one of London’s most exclusive venues, on Thursday, was meant to be one of the party’s major fundraisers during the year, and came in the middle of an election campaign where the Tories have, according to insiders, run out of money.Mr Sunak was due to attend but because of the BBC Question Time event only appeared by video message instead while other cabinet ministers made an appearance.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking on the campaign trail (Aaron Chown/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour are set to launch a social media campaign aimed at questioning Rishi Sunak’s judgement by ramping up pressure for him to suspend 12 candidates caught up in different controversies including the betting scandal.The new campaign will feature an unnamed cabinet minister who allegedly put a bet on the election date, and 11 named Tory candidates involved in a range of issues highlighted in the campaign.With Labour more than 20 points ahead in most polls currently, they want to go for the jugular over Mr Sunak’s decision not to suspend candidates from his party.Labour are targeting Rishi Sunak over controversies surrounding these 12 candidates More