Free Republic

French police were accused of "doing nothing whatsoever" to prevent dangerous Channel migrant crossings following more farcical scenes. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp accused French gendarmes of a “shameful dereliction of duty” after they allowed a suspected smuggler who fired up the dinghy's engine to walk away free as the vessel departed. He said officers could easily have prevented the departure because the water was only “knee deep”. And he revealed how male asylum seekers were so desperate to reach the UK that they pushed women and children off in another day of carnage in the Channel. It comes as...

The US delegation walked out of a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, in protest at comments made by France that compared Washington's voting on human rights to that of authoritarian states. The diplomatic row was initially sparked last week, when the US joined North Korea and Russia in voting against extending Volker Turk's term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. After the vote on Friday, France's UN mission criticised the US and compared it to North Korea and Russia. "The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore," it posted on X. In response, US...

Here's the UK's best example of a woman who empowers

Senior London MP Chris Philp has told how a French warship “fired 17 warning shots” as he was giving an interview in the Channel about illegal immigration. The Shadow Home Secretary accused the crew of the French Navy’s Flamant patrol vessel of trying to “intimidate” him as he was stressing that far more needs to be done to tackle the “small boats” crisis. Mr Philp said the incident happened at around 10.15am French time (9.15am UK time) about two to three miles off the French coast near Cap Gris Nez, between Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer. He was clearly slightly startled by...

Leading climate scientists who created Greater Manchester’s carbon neutral by 2038 commitment are urging Andy Burnham to unequivocally reject new drilling in the North Sea. In a letter to the prime minister they said he, as mayor of Greater Manchester, had unveiled one of the UK’s most ambitious local climate programmes that tackled housing, green growth and public transport. Reports over the weekend continued to suggest Burnham was set to give the green light to controversial new drilling in the North Sea by approving the Jackdaw and Rosebank oilfields, which were given approval under the Conservatives but put on hold...

Reform UK say they are reporting Green Party leader Zack Polanski to the police after he shared a post to his Instagram which included a photo of a man wearing a top featuring the name "Nigel" alongside an image of a guillotine. Polanski accepted a request to collaborate with another account and shared a series of pictures of a Green Party event on Sunday with his 713,000 followers. One of the images showed a man wearing a T-shirt which said: "We're only making plans for Nigel". A Green Party spokesperson said: "Once this image was brought to [Zack's] attention he...

A trainee barrister who was allegedly caught driving a car bomb towards Northern Ireland in a suspected New IRA operation spent time in Syria, her lawyer said. Isobella Perrie Sullivan, 25, was arrested after Irish police said they made an 'extremely significant seizure' of a device on Wednesday. The force said the device, which was made from military-grade plastic, could have caused significant damage. It is understood to be the most sophisticated bomb seized by police since the Troubles. A man in his 40s was also arrested in the major investigation, with Irish news outlets reporting that the man was...

Iran has been accused of smuggling spies into the UK disguised as small boat migrants crossing the English Channel. UK authorities are said to have discovered individuals linked to Tehran's intelligence agencies among asylum seekers arriving in Britain by using face recognition technology fitted to drones and surveillance watchtowers. It is also understood that the routes used to traffic migrants are operated and 'owned' by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Daily Mail reported in March how asylum seekers ostensibly fleeing the war in Iran had arrived in France to cross the Channel to the UK. Dozens were said...

The Labour Government has been accused of trying to block a report on migrant crimes from being released. The Ministry of Justice has launched legal action to prevent the publication of crime statistics by nationality. The Information Commissioner’s Office has ordered the department to release conviction data from between 2018 and 2024, which the department is now appealing. The Centre of Migration Control (CMC), a think tank, requested data on violence, sexual offences, drugs, arson, criminal damage, weapons, theft, and robbery under the Freedom of Information Act. The Ministry of Justice has argued that the data would be too expensive,...

A Finnish politician convicted under "hate speech" law has lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights. The case marks the concluding legal chapter in a seven-year battle over freedom of expression in Europe. Päivi Räsänen, a Finnish MP found guilty of "insulting" a group by Finland's Supreme Court, received her conviction in March 2026 for views on marriage and sexual ethics she had set out in a booklet produced for her church more than two decades ago, in 2004. She was ordered to pay thousands of euros in fines. Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal organisation acting on...

A record 165 migrants reached the UK in a single boat, the Home Office has confirmed. The number broke the previous record from July, when 128 crossed the Channel from France in one vessel. Border Security Command was pictured towing a mega dinghy - estimated to be the same size as a standard bus at 13m (42ft) long - when it arrived in Dover on Thursday afternoon. A Home Office spokesperson said the crossing served as a "stark reminder that criminal gangs have no regard for the safety of those they claim to help". "The reality is clear and lives...

Axel Rudakubana, who murdered three children at a dance class in Southport, has been moved from prison to a secure psychiatric hospital. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed he was transferred from HMP Belmarsh to Broadmoor, the high-security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire. Rudakubana murdered Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and injured eight other children and two adults in an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July 2024. He was given a 52-year prison sentence in January 2025 but the judge was unable to impose a whole life order due to...

Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was among thousands who gathered at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site Israel’s far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined thousands of Jewish extremists who stormed Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Thursday. Escorted by armed police, they prayed, waved the Israeli flag and sang the national anthem in a provocative display of political power. Under a fragile, decades-old agreement known as the status quo, non-Muslim prayer is banned at the site, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif compound and to Jews as the Temple Mount. Ben-Gvir has eroded the agreement in recent years through a...

Over the summer months, 5 million people will visit London, with its free museums and galleries, massive events featuring the biggest names in music and sport, and everything Britain’s capital city has to offer. And, as new figures released today show, they’ll be able to do so knowing London is one of the safest cities of its size in the world. On social media, a dark blizzard of disinformation – much of it coordinated and amplified by extreme groups and hostile foreign actors – has seen bots and trolls depict London as a “lawless” city where crime goes unpunished and...

A Russian warship firing its weapons off the British coast on Monday was “performative and irresponsible”, Wes Streeting has said. New Defence Secretary Mr Streeting also warned “Russia should be in no doubt about the resolve of this Government and this Prime Minister” in his first engagement in the job. The live-fire exercise took place 40 nautical miles (46 miles) off the coast of Plymouth on Monday, the same day Andy Burnham entered Government as the new Prime Minister. The Royal Navy “continues to track the vessel’s activity closely, and stands ready to protect UK national security”, a Ministry of...

A white man who was charged with assaulting a police officer has had the case against him dropped following a row about two-tier policing. Cody Harper, 20, was arrested after being assaulted by two black men in the early hours of June 21 in Birmingham. Footage shared on social media showed Mr Harper being pushed to the ground by one man while another tried to punch him in the back of the head. A female West Midlands Police (WMP) officer then appears to push Mr Harper against a wall as he is getting up, to which he reacts by swinging...

Small boat migrants have successfully crossed the Channel for the first time since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister. About 100 migrants arrived on Wednesday morning, with more boats understood to be on the way. Migrants crossing the English Channel plummeted to zero for the week before this, despite the calm weather conditions. Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, said: "Migrants have heard the message loud and clear: With Open Borders Burnham in charge, there’s never been a better time to make the crossing. “Illegal arrivals are set to surpass 13,000 this week, and with Andy Burnham now in No...

Bulgaria’s parliament votes to allow the United States to base refueling planes in the country, as Donald Trump threatens to further escalate military attacks on Iran. Washington made the request Friday, and parliament approved it with 136 votes in favor, 13 against and two abstentions. Bulgaria will authorize the deployment of up to eight KC-135 tanker aircraft and up to 250 military personnel, tasked with supporting operations in the Middle East. They will be stationed at Bezmer Air Base in the southeast, from July 24 to October 1, 2026. Yesterday, amid news that Bulgaria may host the refuelers, Tehran warned...

In the summer of 2018, almost no one thought Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could beat Joe Crowley. Crowley was a 10-term incumbent, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, a man some thought would one day be speaker. A 28-year-old former bartender and democratic socialist was the longest of long shots to succeed him. But ever since she did, the political establishment has been trying to decide whether to take her seriously.For a while it decided not to. The Missouri representative Emanuel Cleaver said the Democratic caucus did not need her “sniping”, while the then senator Claire McCaskill dismissed her as a “bright...

A Russian naval vessel carried out a rare live-fire weapons exercise off the British coast on Monday, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence, on the first day of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s tenure. The vessel, identified by British media as the “Neustrashimy,” conducted the exercise in international waters approximately 40 nautical miles (around 46 miles) from Plymouth, a port city in southwest England. “The Royal Navy monitored that exercise throughout, continues to track the vessel’s activity closely and stands ready to protect UK national security,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson told CNN.