ANDREW PIERCE: How humiliating! Starmer could lose seat to Corbyn ally
That indignity looks increasingly likely thanks to the efforts of his predecessor as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who was expelled from the party last May.
Over the past week, Jezza's newly launched rival party has set up shop in Holborn & St Pancras, the north London constituency held by Starmer since 2015.
More worrying for the PM is the candidate who will contest the seat for Corbyn's party at the next election: Andrew Feinstein, the pro-Palestinian activist who ran as an independent in the constituency last year.
He secured an astonishing 19 per cent of the vote, slashing Starmer's majority from 28,000 to just 11,000.
Next time round, with the resources of Corbyn's party behind him, Feinstein is likely to fight an even more effective campaign. And his supporters are confident it will take him all the way to Westminster.
PS Whispers from the Westminster cloisters: Keir Starmer has fallen out with his Commons Chief Whip, Sir Alan Campbell.
I'm told Campbell was unhappy when Starmer and his sidekick Morgan McSweeney suspended York MP Rachael Maskell from the Labour Party for rebelling over benefits cuts.
Prime Ministers seldom prosper when they argue with their Chief Whips – and Campbell is nobody's fool.
He was hardly known for his charm and good manners when it came to his successor Margaret Thatcher, but it seems former PM Ted Heath was just as rude to his staff.
Lord Patten remembers being summoned to Heath's Piccadilly apartment in the mid-1970s. Patten and his colleagues arrived at 9am but Heath did not appear until 10am – in a kimono.
'About 1pm, his housekeeper comes in with a silver tray with a bottle of Chablis, a plate of lobster salad, and some brie and camembert,' recalls Patten, who hadn't even been offered a coffee.
'As Heath tucked in, he asked: 'Have you had anything to eat, boys?' We said: 'No, Ted, we haven't.' He said, 'Aww, you must be very hungry then.' That was it.'
Jets on a wing and a prayer
Labour's commitment to hike defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035 will include the purchase from US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin of 12 F-35 stealth jets, which can carry nuclear warheads.
So how much will they cost?
Cue this answer from defence minister Maria Eagle: 'Prices will be identified during contract negotiations.'
No wonder the defence procurement budget is in such a mess.
Tory culture spokesman Nigel Huddleston can't be accused of not being on top of his, er, brief at the lower end of the arts.
His brother-in-law was a member of all-male strip troupe the Chippendales, and even stripped off at the Tory MP's wedding in 1999. Sadly, he no longer provides that kind of entertainment. As Nigel says: 'They retire young in that line of work.'
On his Rosebud podcast, former MP Gyles Brandreth says he was proud to watch his MP daughter Aphra in a Commons debate she initiated: 'Watching her speaking was moving, and she was brilliant. What was interesting was the subject... potholes!'
Political leaders like to bask in the reflected glory of giving awards to rock stars, but Noddy Holder, lead singer of Slade, has gone one better than Sirs Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart and Paul McCartney.
He's been offered a token Lordship... from the Monster Raving Loony Party.
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Spectator
22 minutes ago
- Spectator
Starmer's Palestine policy is perverse
Keir Starmer's declaration that Britain will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes 'substantive steps' to end the war in Gaza is, on its face, a symbolic diplomatic gesture. Yet symbols, particularly in international affairs, carry weight. And this one is a blow to Israel, both politically and strategically. The question is not whether this decision is consequential, but how and for whom. Framed as a humanitarian imperative, the British ultimatum appears, on closer inspection, to rest on an unsettling inversion of logic. The precondition for recognition of a Palestinian state is not reform or renunciation of violence by the Palestinian leadership, nor a credible commitment to peaceful coexistence, good governance, or democratic legitimacy. Rather, it is Israel's conduct alone, its willingness to agree to a ceasefire, to deliver aid, and to move toward a long-term peace process, that is made the determining factor. Starmer's conditions should of course mention Hamas's responsibility, and that of the Palestinian Authority with its decades-long record of corruption, incitement, and rejectionism, for the horrific war. This is the peculiarity at the heart of Starmer's announcement. Recognition of statehood is offered as a punitive measure. It is effectively, a sanction imposed on Israel for continuing a war it did not start, and whose most basic defensive aims are not yet fulfilled. The attack of 7 October, in which Hamas-led forces massacred, raped, and abducted Israeli civilians in the deadliest day of anti-Jewish violence since the Holocaust, appears in this logic not as a disqualifying atrocity but as the trigger for Western diplomatic reward and a capitulation to the demands of the worst parts of Starmer's domestic pressures. That reward, moreover, creates perverse incentives. If recognition is contingent on Israel achieving a ceasefire, then Hamas has every reason to prolong the conflict rather than agree to the proposals already agreed on by Israel. In fact, in recent rounds of negotiations, it has been Hamas, not Israel, that has rejected US- and Egypt-brokered proposals for truce. Britain's move risks reinforcing the calculus that terrorism and intransigence are politically productive strategies. Why compromise when war advances your diplomatic standing? If Hamas holds out until September Britain will reward them recognition. If they agree to a ceasefire, then that recognition will most likely fall away. The broader implication is chilling: terrorism works. What the Palestinians could not gain from Oslo, Camp David, or the Annapolis process, they now edge closer to achieving by Hamas-led butchery. And the lesson will not be lost on other Islamic terrorist groups. If the United Kingdom, long a proponent of negotiated two-state coexistence, can shift towards unilateral recognition without requiring any substantive improvement in Palestinian behaviour, then the deterrent against future atrocities weakens. The incentive structure is reversed. Violence is vindicated, and increased violence can tip the balance in their favour. Indeed, Starmer's conditions underscore a deeper asymmetry. While Israel is asked to prove its readiness for peace by making strategic concessions, the Palestinians are exempt from analogous expectations. There is no requirement to fully dismantle all terrorist infrastructure, to end incitement, to hold elections, or to stop paying stipends to the families of terrorist killers as a reward and incentive. The Palestinian Authority, far from being a credible alternative to Hamas, continues to glorify violence and undermine coexistence. Just who does Starmer think will run this state and what policies will they take towards Israel, Jews, deradicalisation, and peace? What sort of state would such leadership produce? The most likely answer is a new Islamic terror state, making Britain's decision not a gesture of peace but a leap into further delusion. It bypasses the very preconditions that any serious two-state solution must entail: mutual recognition, renunciation of violence, and the emergence of stable, responsible governance. Recognition without those anchors risks institutionalising the very dynamics that have kept the conflict alive. None of this is to deny the suffering in Gaza. Civilian suffering is immense, and better aid solutions are important. But conflating humanitarian concern with state recognition is both analytically unsound and strategically counterproductive. In truth, Britain's posture is less an act of moral courage than a transparent diplomatic sleight of hand. It pretends to reward Palestinian aspirations, but in fact punishes Israeli resilience. It offers a vision of peace, while reinforcing the machinery of perpetual war. On 7 October, Israel learned that its enemies are prepared to cross every moral line. Starmer's proposal risks confirming that lesson with a dangerous corollary: such depravity not only pays, it persuades. Hamas, in other words, sought to invert the moral foundations of Israel's legitimacy by orchestrating an atrocity so extreme that it would provoke a devastating retaliation — one whose humanitarian toll, cynically manufactured and then weaponised through propaganda, could be falsely presented to the world as a mirror image of the Holocaust, thereby compelling the very same nations that once affirmed Israel's right to exist to now affirm the Palestinian claim to statehood. It seems to have worked on many History will judge whether this gesture was, in the end, merely symbolic. But it already sends a signal that cannot be unheard. And that signal, to Israel and the world, is not one of peace, but of peril.
The Guardian
22 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Wednesday briefing: Facing the reality of Gaza's ‘unfolding' famine
Good morning. Humanitarians are running out of words to describe the horrors taking place in Gaza. The small strip of land has been brutalised, with all institutions that sustain life – from hospitals to schools – either completely destroyed or barely functioning. Now, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warns that 'the worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip.' Thousands of children are malnourished and hunger-related deaths on the rise, particularly among the youngest. It is worth noting this is not a formal designation of famine in Gaza, and formal designations are incredibly rare and have only taken place a handful of times in the 21st century: in Somalia in 2011, in South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and in Sudan in 2024. What is perhaps most extraordinary about the situation is that desperately needed food and medicine lie at the borders of Gaza, leaving many to say that this famine is entirely human-made. It's for this reason, among others, that UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced Britain would recognise a Palestinian state in September – unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution for the Middle East. Israel has denied limiting aid shipments. It has accused Hamas of diverting aid and blamed food shortages in Gaza on other factors, including distribution failures by the UN. To understand the nuance of when famine is declared, whether Gaza meets that threshold and what is needed to reverse course, I spoke to Francesco Checchi, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and one of the county's leading experts on food insecurity in conflict zones. That's after the headlines. Asia-Pacific | A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake has triggered a series of tsunami warnings and evacuation orders across Japan, the US and parts of the Pacific, after the shallow quake hit near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Israel-Gaza war | A group of high-profile Israeli public figures, including academics, artists and public intellectuals, has called for 'crippling sanctions' to be imposed by the international community on Israel, amid mounting horror over its starvation of Gaza. Labour | Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Labour government of 'appeasing' Reform UK by 'scapegoating' migrants and minorities for its own domestic policy failures, saying his new leftwing political party would take on Nigel Farage instead. Economy | Global growth will be stronger than previously expected this year after Donald Trump scaled back his most extreme tariff threats, the International Monetary Fund said as it upgraded the economic outlook for 2025. UK news | Five women who were abused as children by Rotherham grooming gangs were also raped by police officers when they were as young as 12 years old, they have claimed. The IPC was created as a tracking tool for hunger by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization in 2004. It is now the primary means of identifying famine across the world. The group applies the same standards across the countries it operates in, using a sliding scale from phase one (no or minimal food insecurity) to phase five (catastrophe or famine). It defines famine as a situation in which at least 20% households have an extreme lack of food and face starvation and destitution, resulting in extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition and death. Other classifications for phase five include roughly 30% of children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition, and two adults or four children out of 10,000 people dying from starvation or malnutrition on a daily basis. The latest analysis for the IPC makes for grim reading. It notes that: Between May and July 2025, acute malnutrition rates doubled in Khan Younis and increased by 70% in Deir al-Balah. In Gaza City, the acute malnutrition soared from 4.4% in May to 16.5% in the first half of July, reaching the famine threshold. Two-fifths of pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip were acutely malnourished in June. In northern Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is thought to be the worst, humanitarians are operating in the dark due to the lack of data. Famine is often declared in clusters within a city or an area, Francesco Checchi told me. 'It isn't necessarily the case that an entire population is declared to be in famine conditions. But in the case of Gaza, I think that's what we're seeing now'. Is there famine in Gaza? The IPC has stopped short of a formal declaration of famine, though its alert noted that some areas have reached the threshold. But Checchi, and other leading experts on the topic, are confident there is now a famine in Gaza. He explained there are different definitions of famine, but the broader one describes it as a situation where people have run out of any coping mechanisms to find food for themselves and their children. 'By coping mechanisms, I mean people sell off their assets, such as furniture, anything, borrow money from somebody else, or ask for remittances from relatives overseas. Where famine has set in is where none of that is actually possible. 'So talking to people from charities on the ground that I know, even their staff who have money in their pocket quite literally cannot purchase any food because there is no food to be purchased in a market,' Checchi said. Some on social media have criticised media portrayals of skeletal children in Gaza as misleading, including the shocking images and footage of 18-month-old Mohammed al-Mutawaq (pictured above with his mother, Hidaya), claiming his appearance is the result of other health conditions. 'Every time you show a single image, you expose yourself to the criticism that any given individual child may have some sort of condition that explains what they're going through other than malnutrition,' Checchi said. 'Now, I can show you an obvious demonstration of the fact that people in Gaza are literally starving: you have thousands and thousands of people queueing every day at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site, even though it is almost certain on any given day that they will be fired upon. The fact they are going there anyway, even though they may not return, gives you a sense of how absolutely in need of food people are.' He added: 'When it comes to any individual child, it is worth understanding that children do not die of severe malnutrition. Very rarely do people literally starve to death. It happens, but it's relatively rare. Instead, people die of conditions that they would have survived from, such as common diarrhoea or common respiratory infections, that you and I would cope with very easily, but a malnourished body cannot cope with.' It's not surprising then that in a famine the first children to die are those who are disabled or have pre-existing conditions, Checchi said. It's also worth noting that in Gaza there are severe shortages of the life-saving medication needed to treat these children. 'What I think is going to start happening inevitably, unless the situation changes radically in the next two to three weeks, is that there's going to be a huge wave of children dying of common conditions and who otherwise wouldn't have,' he warned. Do we need more data? The IPC alert noted its struggle to get the data necessary to properly assess the situation, particularly in northern Gaza. Checchi said that one of the main reasons for this is Israel's tightening of the border crossing, preventing humanitarians from working freely through the strip. 'The kind of analysis that one could have done a year ago is no longer possible. I don't think there is any real information that is missing in terms of declaring a famine on the grounds because of the convergence of multiple data and multiple contextual information. And I don't think that governments such as the UK are unaware that what is happening is a famine,' Checchi said. Why is the UK now recognising Palestine? The 'increasingly intolerable' situation on the ground in Gaza has spearheaded a historic announcement by the UK government: it committed to recognising a Palestinian state. UK prime minister Keir Starmer told his ministers that recognition would take place ahead of the UN general assembly in New York this September, unless Israel agreed to a series of conditions set out in the UK-led eight-point peace plan. The UK has called on Israel to take 'substantive steps' to end the situation in Gaza, reach a ceasefire, commit to no annexation in the West Bank, as well as a long-term peace process. While many Labour MPs have welcomed the announcement, others are unhappy that Palestinian statehood – widely regarded as an inalienable right – was being wielded as leverage to pressure Israel into compliance. 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 What can we do now to stop this catastrophe? For now, severe hunger and death continue to stalk the Gaza Strip. Checchi said he was shocked to see the UK government back airdrops as a solution to the crisis of hunger in Gaza. The studies on the effectiveness of airdrops and former US president Joe Biden's humanitarian aid pier were damning: it only contributed about 1% of caloric need in Gaza last year. 'Airdrops are actually dangerous because they kill people. People will drown trying to reach food [while others have been crushed to death by them]. They are ineffective and inefficient,' Checchi said. 'What needs to happen is very, very simple: a complete opening of the border crossings, and a complete restart of the traditional system of food distribution run by Unrwa, which has been running for decades now. They know what to do. They have the lists of people, they have the warehouses, they have everything in place to restart that system.' Checchi was keen to emphasise that the worst can still be averted. 'If food began to flood in and people were able to access it, despite reaching famine levels, the situation could conceivably reverse quite quickly. Whereas if you leave that for another two weeks or three weeks, then I think it's almost inevitable we'll see extremely high levels of child mortality.' The issue, as always, is political will. Here's a lovely piece about grandparents who get roped into school runs, sleepovers, film nights and baking (like Rita Labiche-Robinson, pictured above with her granddaughter Nia). For many, the main reason is simple: they enjoy it. Their kids seem to appreciate it, too. Phoebe Keir Starmer was sold to the public as a distinguished human rights lawyer who would restore the UK's commitment to international law if he won the election. But, since he became prime minister, many are asking why he is so cautious about tackling human rights abuses. Aamna It'll be American families who pick up the bill for Trump's tariffs, writes Callum Jones. Estimates suggest the impact so far is the equivalent to an average income loss of $2,400 (£1,800) per US household. Phoebe England are European champions – again. The togetherness of the team, including their shared anger at the racist abuse meted out to black players, was central in helping them clinch victory. Aamna Campaigners in Devon have mapped out land ownership along the Dart river and found it has 108 separate owners. Ownership is often murky –one-eighth of it is owned via offshore companies. Looks like the government election manifesto pledge to implement nine new 'river walks' in England could be a logistical nightmare. Phoebe Football | A total of 65,000 jubilant England fans lined the Mall in central London on Tuesday to welcome home the victorious Lionesses after their Euro 2025 victory on Sunday. The England squad, who returned from Switzerland on Monday after their victory over Spain the day before, were greeted by chants, cheers and more than a few tears. Cricket | India's increasingly ill-tempered tour of England continued as their head coach, Gautam Gambhir, engaged in an angry exchange with Surrey's head groundsman on Tuesday. Cycling | Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes stormed to her second consecutive stage victory at the Tour de France Femmes, winning the fourth leg with a dominant sprint finish. The largely flat 130km stage from Saumur to Poitiers saw the peloton remain tightly packed until the closing stretch before a showdown among the sprinters. The Guardian leads with 'UK to recognise state of Palestine unless Israel commits to ceasefire'. The Mirror calls it an 'Ultimatum', while the Times says 'Israel blasts Starmer over recognition of Palestine'. The Telegraph quotes Benjamin Netanyahu, saying 'Starmer 'rewarding Hamas on Palestine'', while the Mail follows the same line with 'Starmer's 'reward for Hamas''. The Financial Times reports 'Reeves' impatience for full Revolut approval triggers clash with Bailey'. Finally, the Sun reports on the end of a celebrity marriage with 'Cat & Pat split'. Can people still protest about Palestine in the UK? What has been the impact of Palestine Action's proscription as a terrorist organisation? Haroon Siddique reports. A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad A Cambridge-based antiques dealer snapped up a Salvador Dalí painting at a house clearance sale after spotting Dalí's signature scrawled on the bottom-right corner. The painting of a bejewelled sultan hadn't garnered much interest among others at the auction. 'I wasn't sure I'd have it on the wall, to be honest,' said John Russell (not his real name). But he realised he was on to a winner, and was confident in his ability to spot an imitation thanks to years spent avidly watching the BBC TV show Fake or Fortune?. The painting only attracted two bidders, and Russell quickly outbid the other person when he offered £150. The Dalí expert Nicolas Descharnes confirmed to the Guardian it was authentic, albeit not his usual style. 'People expect to see very surrealist pieces by Dalí. This one is not surrealist, but it's a Dalí,' he said. It is now valued at £20,000 to £30,000. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Jon Burrows: UUP's newest MLA carries on tradition of men in uniform
Jon Burrows is the newest Stormont MLA for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), but he is not the only former police officer the party has tried to attract News NI understands the party approached Jim Gamble, the former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command Centre in the United Kingdom, to be its North Down candidate in the Westminster election in July immediately turned down the Gamble declined to comment when approached by the BBC. Instead, the party went for the former Army officer Colonel Tim Collins, who failed to win the notoriously told the BBC at the election count that the people of North Down "don't want someone who doesn't live in Northern Ireland"."They're interested in local politics," he added."They're not interested in cutting VAT, they're not interested in international affairs. "They're interested in potholes and hedges."He had already complained during the campaign that he could insure his Rolls Royce in England, where he lived, for what it costs to insure a Ford Fiesta in north the recruitment of Jon Burrows to replace Colin Crawford, who lasted less than a year in the North Antrim Stormont seat, carries on a tradition within the UUP of seeking to attract oven-ready high(ish) profile representatives who are no strangers to of the past four leaders of the UUP have been:Steve Aiken, a former Royal Navy submarine commanderDoug Beattie, a former Royal Irish Regiment officer well known for his service in Iraq and AfghanistanMike Nesbitt, a former TV news presenterIn addition, one of its nine current assembly members, Andy Allen, was seriously injured while serving in the Army in leader Robbie Butler is a former firefighter. The policy of bringing in high profile people from other walks of life is not entirely unique to the example, Sinn Féin now has an MP, Pat Cullen, better known for her role as boss of a UK-wide nursing trade the UUP unarguably is way out in front for bringing in candidates already well known in other fields. So why?"There is something that attracts seniority to the UUP," says former party staffer Michael Shilliday. "In the old days that was just "big house unionism". "Maybe it's still that."But really it is what the 'decent people' shtick from 2005 was all about."That's why these people see themselves reflected in the UUP."That is a reference to a disastrous 2005 general election campaign slogan: "Decent People Vote Ulster Unionist". I remember being in the BBC office in Stormont one morning when the party press officer walked in introducing a man he said was a former Royal Navy submarine what seemed like no time at all, Steve Aiken, to use the hackneyed line, went from the command of one sinking ship to he stepped down, he was replaced by Doug Beattie who promised a "union of people", before things the latest changes is Mike Nesbitt, another man who had no grounding in elected politics when he swapped his news anchor role at UTV for an even hotter seat at quitting the leadership the first time, following a disappointing assembly election, he is because there was no other obvious candidate and partly because he represented the best chance of salvation for a party which is rapidly using up its quota of last to former UUP director of communications Alex Kane "it's a hangover from the 1920s when the Ulster Unionists saw themselves as the party of service". "They still do," he adds."Service to the people, service to the country and for them that is represented by a uniform."In a way, Mike Nesbitt is the same. "He was seen in people's living rooms on television each night and that is a form of service too. "The problem is times have changed."But it also reflects a lack of candidates from those already within the ranks who have the track record necessary to win elections and that, long-term, is a problem for the once mighty party of unionism.
