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      in UK Politics

      Biden was opponent Trump prayed for, ex-UK ambassador says

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      Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorDonald Trump will have harboured hopes of winning a landslide US election victory against Joe Biden, who was the opponent he would have “prayed for”, the UK’s former ambassador to Washington has suggested.The 81-year-old incumbent announced on Sunday that he would cede to calls to end his re-election bid, which had reached a fever pitch over the 25 days since his disastrous TV debate against Mr Trump sparked concerns about his mental fitness.With just 105 days left until the election, all eyes are now on who will replace Mr Biden as the Democratic Party nominee set to face up against an increasingly feverish Trump campaign, which is in the ascendancy after his defiant reaction to an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.Endorsed by Mr Biden, vice president Kamala Harris has emerged as the most likely frontrunner. But others have called for a wider contest to be decided at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on 22 August – a selection process abandoned more than 50 years ago in favour of primaries and caucuses.Sir Kim Darroch – who was forced to resign as the UK’s ambassador in 2019 after leaked cables showed him labelling Mr Trump an “incompetent” and “inept” president – urged Democrats on Monday not to “rush to a decision” on anointing Ms Harris as their candidate.The ex-diplomat said: “The tide at the moment is flowing strongly with Kamala Harris. I’m not sure if it’s sensible to rush to a decision on that, because what the Democrats have to do is look at three key swing states – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – and think ‘who is the best placed Democrat to take those?’.“So they need to just pause a little bit and think about this.”Speaking to LBC, Lord Darroch said he believed it had been “a mistake” for Mr Biden, already the oldest president in US history, to initially insist on putting his name forward for a second term in the Oval Office.Sir Kim Darroch was appointed to the House of Lords by Theresa May in 2019 More

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      in UK Politics

      Why did some of the UK’s worst political rejects like Johnson and Truss spend the week parading about the RNC?

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      Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorNapoleon had the island of Saint Helena, Leon Trotsky had various spots across Turkey, Norway and Mexico. These days political exiles from the UK all appear to end up in a far more desolate place: The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Among the crowds of US political bigwigs, state delegates and zealous supporters of Donald Trump, several familiar British faces have appeared – usually with the prefix of “former” before their job title – to rub shoulders with the GOP elite.At the 2024 convention, where Trump officially accepted the Republican presidential nomination and selected JD Vance as his running mate, a rollcall of infamous names from across the pond dropped by to pay their respects.The former UK prime minister and Donald Trump were pictured together at the RNC on Tuesday, with Johnson’s trademark disheveledness standing in stark contrast to Trump’s polished veneers and white ear bandage.Donald Trump and Boris Johnson at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin More

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      in UK Politics

      ‘Lefty lawyer’, Mark Darcy inspo but ‘lacking star power’: How American media covered UK’s new PM

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      Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe UK has a new political leader and a new ruling party after Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won a historic landslide victory in the nation’s general election on Thursday.Winning 412 seats to just 122 for Conservatives, Rishi Sunak’s party spectacularly crashed out of power after 14 years.Britain’s short-lived former prime minister Liz Truss (who put in an appearance at CPAC in February) lost her seat, as did a host of other prominent Tories.Meanmwhile, MAGA ally Nigel Farage finally won a seat for his right-wing Reform UK party, in what marked his eighth attempt at joining the House of Commons.Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has already rushed to Truth Social to congratulate his old ally while remaining silent on Starmer’s triumph.President Joe Biden is expected to join other world leaders in putting in a call to Starmer as he enters 10 Downing Street later on Friday, with whoever wins November’s presidential election expected to forge a bond to ensure the fabled “special relationship” between the United States and Britain remains in rude health.But how has America’s news media reacted to these seismic political developments across the Atlantic? And what do they make of the UK’s new leader?Sir Keir Starmer is the UK’s new prime minister after the Labour party won the election in a landslide More

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      in UK Politics

      Trump congratulates right-wing ally Nigel Farage on UK election win

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      Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorDonald Trump has congratulated his right-wing ally Nigel Farage after he won his first seat in UK’s parliament following seven failed attempts.The British public went to the polls in the UK general election on Thursday, handing Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party a landslide victory and ousting Rishi Sunak’s unpopular Conservatives.Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party cinched four seats as its hardline immigration policies appeared to steal votes away from Conservatives.Trump took to his Truth Social platform to congratulate his old friend. Congratulations to Nigel Farage on his big WIN of a Parliament Seat Amid Reform UK Election Success,” he wrote.“Nigel is a man who truly loves his Country! DJT.”In his brief congratulations, Trump made no mention of the Labour party sweep and failed to congratulate Starmer – the man who he will have to form a close working relationship with should he win his own election against Joe Biden in November.Farage, who previously led UKIP and the Brexit Party, unexpectedly announced last month that he would stand in the July 4 election for the Reform Party and serve as its leader.His run marked a major u-turn after he insisted he would not be standing in the UK general election so that he could instead focus on helping Trump win his own presidential election.On Thursday, Farage sailed to victory in his race, overturning a 25,000 Conservative majority to become the MP for Clacton in Essex by more than 8,000 votes, finally winning a seat after failing in all seven previous attempts.The Brexiteer said his win, one of four for the Reform party, was “the first step of something that is going to stun all of you” and wasted no time in laying into Sunak’s moribund Tories, declaring: “There is a massive gap on the centre-right of British politics and my job is to fill it.”Farage and Trump have been close allies for almost a decade.It’s a bond that was first forged when Trump invited Farage to speak at his MAGA rallies during his 2016 presidential campaign, in the wake of the UK’s shock decision to leave the European Union – a cause Farage had spearheaded.After Trump entered the White House, Farage then interviewed him on LBC radio in October 2019, an exchange the American used to rebuke then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and offer his opinion on how then-UK prime minister Boris Johnson could make a success of Brexit.Reform UK leader Nigel Farage gives a victory speech at Clacton Leisure Centre in Essex More

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      in World Politics

      Wars drive number of forcibly displaced people to record high, UN says

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      For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThe number of people forcibly displaced in the world through wars, persecution and disasters, natural and man -made, rose to a record 117.3 million last year with the situation likely to get even worse, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has said.Forced displacement has continued to rise in the first four months of this year, and the total of those affected is expected to reach 120 million in the near future, with no end to global strife in sight.”These are refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, people being forced away by conflict, by persecution, by different and increasingly complex forms of violence,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.The Israeli offensive in Gaza has led to 80 per cent of the territory’s population, 1.7 million people, to flee, often being driven from one refuge to another as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has expanded the operation. Those who had fled across the border into Egypt, the UNHCR report said, may find themselves stranded.”Another refugee crisis outside Gaza would be catastrophic on all levels, including because we have no guarantee that the people will be able to return to Gaza one day,” Mr Grandi said.The civil war in Sudan, which has faded from international focus, has been “one of the most catastrophic ones” unfolding with more that nine million people internally displaced and another two million have fled to neighbouring countries including Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.While existing conflicts continue, the unstable international geopolitics could lead to more rather than less violence unfolding, says the report. “Unless there is a shift in international geopolitics, unfortunately, I actually see that figure continuing to go up,” Mr Grandi said. More

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      in UK Politics

      Jon Stewart calls rejection of UK candidate for liking one of his sketches ‘dumbest thing since Boris Johnson’

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      The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USThe US late-night satirist Jon Stewart has responded after Britain’s Labour Party blocked left-wing academic Faiza Shaheen from standing as a candidate in the upcoming general election for liking a number of potentially offensive social media posts, one of which featured a clip from The Daily Show.“This is the dumbest thing The UK has done since electing Boris Johnson… what the actual f****…,” the comedian wrote on X when he was notified of the controversy.The clip in question, dating from July 2014, sees Stewart introducing a segment about an Israeli ground offensive – during the 2014 Gaza War – at which point he is immediately swarmed and rebuked by four of the Comedy Central show’s correspondents, barracking him as a “self-hating Jew” for daring to question the country’s actions.“Look, obviously there are many strong opinions on this issue but just merely mentioning Israel or questioning in any way the effectiveness or humanity of Israel’s policy is not the same thing as being pro-Hamas,” Stewart says, before being shouted down again, at which point he abandons the subject and pivots to talking about Ukraine, a matter about which the correspondents concede they have no strong feelings. Ukraine was also in the news in 2014 after Russia seized the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea.The account that posted the tweet liked by Ms Shaheen, which featured the clip, also included a commentary attacking the “Israel lobby” that read: “You can’t easily ignore them, because those are not just random people, they tend to be friends or people who move in the same circles as you. Those people are mobilized by professional organizations, but to a large extent, that is organic.”Ms Shaheen is understood to have been called to a meeting with a panel of Labour’s National Executive Committee on Tuesday in which they highlighted posts on her X account that they said raised questions about her suitability to stand as its candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green in north London.According to Ms Shaheen, she then received an email on Wednesday evening in which she was told she would be barred from standing for the party – despite having previously contested the same seat in the 2019 election – in which she was told that her running would “frustrate Labour’s purpose”.The Independent has reached out to the Labour Party for comment.Faiza Shaheen, pictured on the campaign trail with former leader Jeremy Corbyn More

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      in UK Politics

      UK troops could be sent to Gaza to help deliver aid

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      For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThe government is said to be considering whether to send troops to Gaza to help deliver aid via a new sea route.The US confirmed on Friday that a temporary pier, designed to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza as famine looms, had begun and operations will begin in early May. Britain is already providing logistical support for construction of the pier, including a Royal Navy ship that will house hundreds of U.S. soldiers and sailors working on the project. In addition, UK military planners have been embedded at US Central Command in Florida and in Cyprus, where aid will be screened before shipment to Gaza, for several weeks. Under the planned new Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) operation, Israel will reportedly be responsible for anchoring the floating 500-metre causeway to the beach, and will provide “security and logistics support”.It comes after a senior US military official said that there would be no American “boots on the ground” and another nation would provide the personnel to drive the delivery trucks to the shore. The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public, declined to identify the third party. While he refused to name this partner nation, the BBC reported that British officials are considering whether UK troops will take this role – known as “wet boots” by military planners – when the aid corridor opens next month. This would involve British troops driving trucks off the landing craft onto the temporary causeway and delivering aid to a secure distribution area onshore in Gaza. Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, where half of Gaza’s population are now sheltering in the face of a feared offensive on the city More

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      in UK Politics

      Europe is ‘too slow and lacks ambition’ in the face of global threats, says Macron

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      For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsEmmanuel Macron has urged Europe to improve its defences and cut red tape as it faces existential threats from Russian aggression and American isolationism.In a nearly two-hour speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris, Mr Macron claimed the 27-member European Union (EU) was “too slow and lacks ambition” before demanding that the bloc does not become a “vassal of the United States”.“Our Europe is mortal. It could die,” the French president said. “We are not equipped to face the risks. We must produce more, we must produce faster and we must produce as Europeans.”Thursday’s speech was billed by Mr Macron’s advisers as France’s contribution to the EU’s strategic agenda for the next five years. The agenda is due to be decided after the European elections, which will take place in early June.Nationalist right-wing parties, including the French opposition party National Rally, run by presidential rival Marine Le Pen, are currently leading in the polls.Mr Macron hopes his speech will have the same impact as a similar address at the Sorbonne he made seven years ago that prefigured some significant EU policy shifts.Since then, much has changed, with geopolitical challenges including the war in Gaza, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and disputes between China and the United States.His stance on ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin have also shifted in the 26 months since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and his speech on Thursday was centred on the new European security order.Having originally hoped to maintain open lines with Putin in the very early stages of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mr Macron has since become one of Europe’s most outspoken supporters of Ukraine.Vladimir Putin, right, Emmanuel Macron, center, and Volodymyr Zelensky pictured at tge Elysee Palace in Paris in December 2019“The basic condition for our security is for Russia not to win,” he said. “Europe needs to be able to protect what is dear to it alongside its allies … Do we need to have an anti-missile shield or anti-missile system? Maybe.“When we have a neighbouring country that has become aggressive and seems to have no limits and that has ballistic missiles [and has] been innovating a lot when it comes to the technology and the range of these missiles, we see that we absolutely have to set up this strategic concept of credible defence.”His comments come weeks after he called for European countries to be prepared to send troops into Ukraine. Though the remarks were later rolled back, they marked a shift in the French leader’s rhetoric – instead of indicating to Russia what Europe is unwilling to do, Ukraine’s allies should keep all options open.Despite often clashing with Mr Macron on issues of defence, including on whether to send troops to Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz responded positively to the French leader’s latest remarks.“France and Germany want Europe to be strong,” Mr Scholz said. “Your speech contains good ideas on how we can achieve this.”Soldiers of the Czech army are seen during the international Nato military exercise in eastern Germany More