UK

Robert Jenrick’s thoughts are just “my thoughts repackaged”, Kemi Badenoch has said in what appears to be a swipe at her main rival ahead of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester this weekend. It comes as the beleaguered Tory leader faces devastating approval ratings and a growing number of defections to Reform UK – with Mr Jenrick being seen as the frontrunner to replace her. Ms Badenoch has promised a “more fun than usual” party conference this year, with the promotion of open debates between party members on the stage.Kemi Badenoch says Robert Jenrick’s thoughts are just ‘my thoughts repackaged’ More

A senior Conservative shadow minister has called for Baroness Michelle Mone to resign from the House of Lords after a company linked to the peer was ordered to repay almost £122 million to the government for breaching a contract to supply surgical gowns during the Covid-19 pandemic.Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said her behaviour was “disgraceful”, saying the “honourable thing to do” would be to resign. It came as immigration minister Mike Tapp called for Ms Mone to “consider her position”. But he suggested the government would not take steps to remove her. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro at the High Court, claiming the company had breached the deal because the 25 million gowns it provided were “faulty” by not being sterile.Michelle Mone speaking in the House of Lords More

A British MP says his newborn baby was subjected to “vile” racism and hate online, just hours after being born.Adnan Hussain, an independent MP for Blackburn, became a father over the weekend and said the flood of abusive responses under a pixelated picture he posted on X was “beyond depraved”.Posting on the social media platform after removing the image, Mr Hussain wrote: “I shared a photo of my newborn daughter, and many of you sent beautiful messages. Thank you. But I’ve had to delete it. The vile racism and hate directed at an innocent soul less than a day old was beyond depraved.Independent MP Adnan Hussain said: “No parent should have to shield their child from this kind of hatred. Enough is enough.” More

Health minister Ashley Dalton has opened up about her fight with cancer, warning that “none of us know what’s around the corner”.The MP for West Lancashire, who is working on Labour’s national cancer plan, was diagnosed with incurable metastatic breast cancer last summer.“When I say I’ve got metastatic cancer, people are surprised. They expect me to be bald, lying in a hospital bed, actively dying. And that might come at some point, and it might be a lot closer than we think, but it might be a long way off,” she said. Ashley Dalton was appointed a health and social care minister when Andrew Gwynne left the government after derogatory remarks he had made in a WhatsApp group came to light More

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to end “the golden ticket” of migrants who are granted asylum in the UK getting automatic rights to settle in the country or bring family members with them, as part of the government’s latest immigration crackdown.The measures, which will see an end to automatic family reunion rights and alter the requirements for long-term settlement in the UK, are aimed at reducing the “pull factors”, which the government says are “driving high levels of illegal migration to the UK”. It comes after the prime minister made a dramatic U-turn over international human rights laws that have been criticised for making it harder to deport asylum seekers.On Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer said the government will review the way British courts apply European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) rules, which could mean asylum seekers are no longer able to avoid being sent back to their home country by claiming they could face torture as a result.And they may be barred from demanding the right to stay in the UK on the grounds that it would separate them from their families.It marks another major policy reversal by Sir Keir, a former human rights lawyer, who has defended the ECHR in the past. It also comes as the prime minister steps up his attacks on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, dubbing the small boats he is trying to stop crossing the English Channel “Farage boats”.Meanwhile, Shabana Mahmood announced a major crackdown on migration through a radical overhaul of the main route for immigrants gaining British citizenship in the UK.Under tougher measures unveiled by the home secretary, migrants who want to remain in the UK will have to learn English to a high standard, have a clean criminal record and volunteer in their community to be eligible for indefinite leave to remain. They will also have to be working, paying national insurance and not be claiming benefits under the proposed changes.The number of migrant arrivals on small boats has topped 33,000 in 2025 so far More

Sir Keir Starmer and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney would block Andy Burnham from getting on the shortlist of potential candidates for a parliamentary seat, scuppering any potential leadership challenge, a senior minister has claimed.The Greater Manchester mayor has been accused privately by allies of “overplaying his hand” in positioning himself as a potential replacement for Sir Keir as leader of the Labour Party.Despite a YouGov poll of Labour voters suggesting he would be a more popular prime minister than Sir Keir, by 33 points to 28, his hopes that the party conference in Liverpool would be a launchpad for any leadership bid fell flat this week.He left before Sir Keir’s speech began, claiming he did not want to upstage the prime minister, and even withdrew from a fringe meeting where he was due to share a platform with rebel Labour MPs.Andy Burnham denies harbouring imminent Labour leadership ambitions More

The Labour conference may have started as the Andy Burnham show, but by the end of day four that show seemed to be attracting less fanfare. Supporters of the Greater Manchester mayor are attracted by the fact that Burnham tops approval rate polling – but critics warn polling is the most fickle of measurements and that he might not be the right person to challenge Keir Starmer. For Sir Keir’s part, he had a good conference and seemed to temporarily silence many critics who questioned his ability to lead the country.But he is far from being out of the woods yet. He has a tough Budget to get through this autumn. Then, in May, the prime minister faces what could be make-or-break local and devolved elections, when the rise of Reform could be what seals his fate.The Labour Party conference started as the Andy Burnham show More