Free Republic

Keir Starmer and government departments will keep using X/Twitter, No10 said today. It comes amid a huge exodus from Elon Musk's social media giant. Today the Guardian announced it would no longer post to X/ Twitter, branding it a "toxic media platform" which its owner has been able to use to "shape political discourse". But no conversations have taken place within government about whether departments and ministers should keep using the site. Asked if Mr Starmer was comfortable with his government using X/Twitter, his official spokesman said: "No change to our position in relation to using social media for communicating."

Keir Starmer is to hand up to £200 million to offshore wind companies to build factories in traditional oil and gas areas, he will announce at the COP29 climate change summit on Tuesday. Wind farms will be eligible for tens of millions to establish factories building turbine blades, cables and ports under the Government’s new “clean industry bonus”. The Government has insisted that its push for clean energy will benefit the public with new jobs, and promised that oil and gas communities would not be left behind in the transition. Sir Keir will be one of only two G7 leaders...

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has announced that he will step down after facing mounting pressure to quit over his handling of an abuse scandal. Pressure on Welby has been intensifying since the publication last week of a damning report on the church’s cover-up of John Smyth’s abuse in the UK in the late 1970s and early 80s, and later in Zimbabwe and South Africa. About 130 boys are believed to have been victims. The independent Makin review into the abuse concluded that he might have been brought to justice had the archbishop formally reported it to police a...

Sir Keir Starmer is to urge Joe Biden to release funds for a $20 billion (£15.5 billion) loan to Ukraine before Donald Trump takes office. The Prime Minister is pressing to hold face-to-face talks with Mr Biden, the outgoing US president, when they both attend the G20 summit in Brazil next week. Sir Keir is also expected to say Ukraine should finally be given permission to fire long-range Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russia, something Mr Biden has opposed. Sir Keir and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, discussed getting the US to change its stance on Storm Shadows during talks...

Russia has consistently cautioned Western nations against supplying Ukraine with long-range weapons. President Vladimir Putin has stated that using such armaments to carry out strikes deep within Russian territory would represent "a serious and dangerous step."UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron may make a last-ditch attempt to tackle efforts by the incoming Trump administration to cut US aid to Ukraine, British government sources told The Telegraph.The two leaders are meeting in Paris on November 11 to discuss the potential for persuading outgoing US President Joe Biden to approve Ukraine's use of Storm Shadow cruise missiles deep...

Donald Trump’s remarkable election victory has been rightly attributed to the long shadow of inflation combined with mass illegal immigration across the southern border. While these factors dominated the national swing, an under-discussed element of the Republican campaign was the relentless targeting of voters in swing states with paid advertising linking Kamala Harris to radical trans ideology. Why was this – and what lessons should be drawn for Labour in the UK? The ads were simple. Their tagline: ‘Kamala Harris is for they/them. President Trump is for you.’ They showed clips of her, from 2019, pledging her support for sex-change...

Relations between Ukraine and the UK have 'worsened' since the Labour party took power, officials in Kyiv have said. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is yet to visit Ukraine in the four months since he took office in government. According to a senior figure in President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, a trip to Kyiv would now be 'worthless' unless Starmer committed to replenishing stocks of the long-range Storm Shadow system. This comes after Boris Johnson urged the PM to break the impasse over allowing Ukraine to fire long-range missiles into Russia, warning that every day's delay is costing lives. The senior...

Sir Keir Starmer is set to reveal plans to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP within weeks of Donald Trump taking office, The Telegraph understands. The long-awaited timetable for increasing UK military spending is expected to be announced in the spring as Labour looks to build a relationship with the incoming US president. The move would be seen as an olive branch to Mr Trump, who for years has railed against European allies for riding on the coat-tails of US defence spending and called for more contributions. John Healey, the Defence Secretary, used an interview with The...

Sir Keir Starmer last night denied he was too left-wing to get on with Donald Trump as the Government faced more embarrassment over Labour MPs' previous comments about the returning President. The Prime Minister insisted they had a positive phone call after this week's election and that the special relationship between the UK and US is more important than ever. He was asked by reporters at the European Political Community summit in Hungary yesterday about claims that Mr Trump had privately described him as 'very left-wing', suggesting relations between the administrations would be strained. Sir Keir replied: 'I had a...

Sir Keir Starmer said allies must “step up” support for Ukraine, as he met the country’s president amid uncertainty about the future of US backing for Kyiv after Donald Trump’s election victory. The Prime Minister told Volodymyr Zelensky the UK had an “unwavering” commitment to help the country defend itself against Russia’s invasion during bilateral talks at a European Political Community summit in Hungary. Sir Keir also said the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia was “proof of Putin’s increasing desperation” and that the UK would stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes for Russia to withdraw”....

An Oxford University student killed himself after becoming a victim of “pervasive cancel culture” over an unproven allegation made by his ex, a UK court has heard. The body of 20-year-old Alexander Rogers was pulled from the River Thames on Jan. 15 — just days after his friends and classmates stopped speaking to him when his former partner aired the unknown allegation, This Is Oxfordshire reported. The unspecified allegation was not reported to authorities or the school, but resulted in Rogers being “ostracized” as part of a “pile-on” effect, a court hearing into his death was told. Dr. Dominique Thompson,...

Donald Trump's presidential victory means some U.S. allies may have to reckon with prior scathing remarks as their countries prepare to build diplomatic ties with a president-elect whose return they may not have anticipated. “The most destructive president in history,” Australian Ambassador to the U.S. Kevin Rudd said of Trump in 2020, who “drags America and democracy through the mud.” “A woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath” and a “profound threat to the international order,” David Lammy, the U.K.'s current foreign secretary, said in 2018. “A political pyromaniac who must be put before a criminal court,” Jean Asselborn, then-foreign minister for Luxembourg, said...

Donald Trump's victory yesterday sparked a barrage of calls for a hike in UK defence spending amid fears the US could pull out of NATO. A string of former defence secretaries said ministers should set a timetable for increasing military funding to 3 per cent of GDP in case Mr Trump reduces support for UK-backed campaigns, such as the war in Ukraine. And new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch rounded on Sir Keir Starmer over the issue during her first Prime Minister's Questions, challenging him to commit to hiking spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP. During the US election campaign,...

Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have agreed the relationship between the UK and US is "incredibly strong" and will "continue to thrive", Downing Street has said. In the first phone call between the pair after the US election, the PM offered his "hearty congratulations" to Trump after his "historic victory" and said he looked forward to working closely with the President-elect, a No 10 spokeswoman said. It comes after Kemi Badenoch urged Sir Keir to apologise for "derogatory" comments made about Trump by David Lammy before he was foreign secretary. In her first appearance in Parliament as Conservative leader,...

Iran said on Saturday it had arrested the head of a US-based “terrorist group” accused of being behind a deadly 2008 bombing in the southern city of Shiraz and planning other attacks. “Jamshid Sharmahd, who was leading armed and sabotage operations inside Iran, is now in the powerful hands” of Iran’s security forces, state television said, citing an intelligence ministry statement. It did not elaborate on where or when the alleged leader of the opposition royalist group known as the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, or Tondar (Farsi for Thunder), was detained. Iran slammed its arch enemy the United States for...

Two British music producers have flown to the US to campaign for Kamala Harris, describing Donald Trump’s allyship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as “terrifying” for the UK. Dan Glatman and Jon Cohen landed on Thursday in Pennsylvania, a battleground swing state, joining an army of volunteers knocking on doors and engaging with voters ahead of polling day on Tuesday. The London-born pair have no vote or stake in the US election, but 52-year-old Mr Cohen told the PA news agency it was becoming impossible to overlook when the “stakes are so high”. Mr Cohen, whose producing credits include Joss...

Conservative party announces Badenoch has beaten rival Robert Jenrick in ballot of party members Five things to know about Kemi Badenoch Kemi Badenoch is the new Conservative party leader after defeating Robert Jenrick in a members’ vote, becoming the first Black leader of a major UK party and the fourth woman to lead the Tories. Badenoch took just over 56% of the 95,000 votes, in a poll that had a 73% turnout of eligible members. This amounts to the narrowest win of the four since the party changed its rules to allow party members the final say in contested leadership...

Never frightened to ruffle feathers, Kemi Badenoch's willingness to say what others may regard as unsayable has made her the darling of the Tory grassroots. Her task now will be to convince voters to agree with her views as much as the Conservative Party members who have made her leader today.

Kemi Badenoch has promised to win back voters who have deserted the Conservatives after securing an historic victory in the party's leadership contest. The 44-year-old becomes the first black woman to lead a major political party in the UK. She defeated fellow right-winger Robert Jenrick, 42, by 12,418 votes after a marathon contest to replace Rishi Sunak, who led the party to the biggest defeat in its 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".

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...