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Sir Keir Starmer is facing criticism for celebrating the return of a British democracy activist from detention in Egypt in light of his past social media posts. The Prime Minister said on Friday that he was “delighted” that Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who was released from prison in September after receiving a presidential pardon, had been reunited with his loved ones in the UK. The sentiment was echoed by Cabinet ministers including Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Justice Secretary David Lammy with similar posts. The Jewish Leadership Council, a charity which represents Jewish organisations across the UK, criticised the “effusive welcome”...

Kemi Badenoch has promised to win back voters who have deserted the Conservatives after securing an historic victory in a party leadership contest against fellow right-winger Robert Jenrick. The 44-year-old becomes the first black woman to lead a major political party in the UK. She defeated Jenrick by 12,418 votes after a marathon contest to replace Rishi Sunak, who led the party to the biggest defeat in the party's history in July's general election. In her victory speech, Badenoch promised to "renew" the party and told cheering supporters it was "time to get down to business". Badenoch, who is the...

Robert Jenrick has warned that the UK could face 'the most difficult economic year that we've seen in our lifetime' amid the heavy sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The Tory MP described how the country could be looking at 'an energy crisis unrivalled since the 1970s' and said the government had to 'level with the public that standing up to Putin could cause the most difficult year for household incomes'. He went on to say that the inflation that has been predicted could peak at 10 per cent and see increasing pressure on energy bills, not...

IN THE end, there was no big upset. Despite a surge of support for their nemesis, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), the Conservatives won the Newark by-election on June 5th with ease. This was in a sense historic—the prosperous south Nottinghamshire constituency has now given the Tories their first by-election victory while in office since 1989. But it will have done little, for all that, to quell Tory nerves set jangling by UKIP’s rise. The Tory candidate in Newark, Robert Jenrick, won with a robust majority of 7,000 votes, despite the hostile circumstances in which the election was held. It...