Planet Normal: Bringing you the best of the Rocket 2025, part 2
Also on the rocket is former Conservative councillor, Ray Connolly - husband of Lucy Connolly, who was sentenced to 31 months for posting a tweet in response to the tragic death of 3 girls in Southport last year. Ray discusses the devastating impact of Lucy's ongoing incarceration on their family.
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The Independent
15 minutes ago
- The Independent
I told Jeremy Corbyn starting a new party was a bad idea, says Diane Abbott
Diane Abbott advised Jeremy Corbyn against setting up a new political party, she said, over concerns it would struggle to get a foothold in Britain because of the voting system. Ms Abbott, who served as Mr Corbyn's shadow home secretary when he was Labour leader, said she had spoken to him before its launch, and said it was not a good idea. Speaking at an event at the Edinburgh Book Festival, the current longest-serving female MP said: 'There were people around Jeremy encouraging him to set up a new party, and I told him not to. 'It's very difficult under first-past-the-post system for a new party to absolutely win. If it wasn't first-past-the-post, then you can see how a new party could come through, but I understand why he did it.' Ms Abbott said she thought the party, formed by her long-time friend Mr Corbyn alongside independent MP Zarah Sultana, would outperform people's expectations. It was launched last month, but is still without a formal name. She said she believed it would take advantage of a broader discontent with politics in Britain. She paid tribute to Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana but said: 'At this point in time, it's difficult to see how a brand new party wins. 'However, I think Jeremy's party is going to do a lot better than people think because a lot of people who are not necessarily terribly left-wing people, are a tiny bit disappointed about the way we've gone in the past year.' The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington indicated her disappointment with the Labour government. She had the whip withdrawn for the second time in two years in July, after she expressed a lack of regret about comments to the Observer in 2023 that suggested that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice, but not racism. However, she implied she would not join Mr Corbyn's party. Ms Abbott said: 'It's a tricky state of play. I wouldn't have thought that you'd have a Labour government and they'd be cutting winter fuel allowance for the elderly and benefits for the disabled.' She was also critical of the Government's proscription of Palestine Action and labelled the decision 'a complete disgrace'. 'What they are seeking to do is proscribe protest as such,' she said. 'I mean, we all saw the pictures of the people in Trafalgar Square – 500 people? Half of them over 60. Come on, these are terrorists? I think this is an attempt to bear down on (protest).' She added her more than 40 years in Labour meant it was too late to leave it. She was elected to Parliament in 1987, and was the only black female MP in the Commons for a decade until Labour's landslide under Tony Blair. In response to a question about whether she thought she would ever be accepted 'at the heart' of the Labour Party, she replied: 'I think I am at the heart of the Labour Party, it's other people who aren't.' Ms Abbott, whose book A Woman Like Me was the subject of the interview in the Scottish capital by campaigner Talat Yaqoob, also told the audience of her anger at not being called by Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle in the aftermath of racist comments by Conservative Party donor Frank Hester in 2024. She said she had stood during a Prime Minister's Question session more than 40 times to be called to speak, after Sir Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak and Sir Ed Davey had all spoken about the incident. Mr Hester was reported to have said Ms Abbott made him want to 'hate all black women' and that she 'should be shot'. The remarks brought widespread condemnation, including from Sir Keir, but she told the event her office was used to receiving racist abuse. 'I've been an MP for 38 years, and custom practice in the chamber is if you're being talked about, you get called. It's just a courtesy. I was so shocked that I wasn't called. 'But I heard later from someone who had reason to know, that what happened was that Rishi didn't want me called, because (Hester) was a Tory donor and it would look bad for them, and I'm afraid Keir Starmer didn't want me called because he wanted to milk the issue (for) political advantage, without mentioning me.' She said Sir Keir had approached her after the questions session and asked what he could do to help. 'I said, 'Yes, you can restore the whip'. And as if he hadn't heard, he said, 'Is there anything I can do for you?' It was like he was deaf. And I said, 'Yes, you can restore the whip', and he realised I wasn't going to play that game and he went off.'
Daily Mail
15 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Anti-Putin activist, 26, 'took his own life' after asylum bid was rejected as he 'feared being sent back to Russia'
An anti-Putin activist has been found dead in London after his asylum bid was rejected. After more than a year's wait for an appeal hearing, Alexander Frolov, 26, was found dead in Acton, west London, on July 28. His friends believe that he took his own life because of the mental pressure of being sent back to Russia. Originally arriving in the UK under a temporary visa as an agricultural worker in 2021, Alexander submitted his asylum application in December 2022. When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, his friend Galina Shakirova said he was unable to return home as he 'refused to take part in killing people'. According to The i Paper, his asylum application was rejected in April 2024. Alexander had appealed the decision and was waiting for his hearing to be rescheduled when he died. Metropolitan Police are not believed to be investigating any suspicious circumstances into his death and an inquest will be held next week. He was described by the Russian Democratic Society as a 'dedicated opponent of Putin's regime'. They added he was a 'volunteer who gave his time to help others, and a constant presence at anti-war protests'. 'Alexander believed in the possibility of a free and democratic Russia and hoped to one day return to it,' the group said. His friend Galina, who met Alexander when they worked together as stewards at anti-war rally, called him 'kind, generous, quietly dependable'. She said: 'Imagine being an opposition activist who knows that returning home almost certainly means prison. You've spoken out publicly. You've worked with organisations labelled in Russia as 'undesirable' or 'extremist'. 'Then you ask for protection – hoping for safety, for a chance to survive. And instead, you're refused.' The Home Office said: 'It is our long-standing policy not to comment on individual cases.'
The Guardian
16 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Diane Abbott: I advised Jeremy Corbyn not to start new party
Diane Abbott has said she advised her longtime friend Jeremy Corbyn not to launch a new political party because she believed it would struggle to make inroads under the first-past-the-post system. Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said last month she would not be leaving Labour in favour of Corbyn's as yet unnamed party, despite the pair having worked closely together in the past. Speaking at an Edinburgh book festival in conversation with the campaigner and commentator Talat Yaqoob, Abbott confirmed she had spoken to Corbyn before the party's launch to warn him against it. 'There were people around Jeremy encouraging him to set up a new party and I told him not to,' she said. 'It's very difficult under the first-past-the-post system for a new party to absolutely win. If it wasn't first past the post then you can see how a new party could come through, but I understand why he did it.' Abbott described Zarah Sultana, the independent MP launching the new party with Corbyn, as a 'lovely person who is full of energy'. She said the party could get votes and support from people who were 'not necessarily leftwing' but were 'disappointed about the way [Labour has] gone in the past year'. Abbott, who as the longest-serving female MP has the honorary title of mother of the house, is currently suspended by Labour. She lost the party whip in autumn 2023 after she wrote a letter to the Observer in which she argued that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people did not experience racism in the same way as Black people and likened their experience to that of people with red hair. She said the letter published was a draft version and that her comments had been taken out of context. She was readmitted to the party in time to hold her seat at the general election. But she was suspended again last month after telling the BBC in an interview that she did not regret the remarks. Abbott said in Edinburgh: 'I think she and Jeremy are a great combination but at this point in time, it's difficult to see how a brand new party wins. However, I think Jeremy's party is going to do a lot better than people think, because a lot of people are not necessarily terribly leftwing. People are a tiny bit disappointed about the way we've gone in the past year.' In response to a question about whether she thought she would ever be accepted at the heart of the Labour party, Abbott said: 'I think I am at the heart of the Labour party, it's other people who aren't.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion She was speaking at the festival about her book A Woman Like Me, during which she also said Keir Starmer had been 'timid on Gaza' and that the proscription of Palestine Action was 'absolutely dreadful'.
