
Rael Braverman quits Reform after attacks on Suella
It comes after the party took aim at Suella on Tuesday following the revelation that a Ministry of Defence leak in 2022 had endangered the lives of thousands of Afghans, resulted in launch of top secret Operation Rubric and cost the taxpayer over £7bn. Taking aim at the former Conservative government, Reform UK's ex-chairman and current head of DOGE Zia Yusuf was quick to point the finger on Twitter.
'The British government learnt of the data leak in August 2023,' Yusuf told his Twitter followers on Tuesday. He went on:
24,000 Afghans secretly granted asylum, costing British taxpayers up to £7bn. The government covered it up. Who was in government? Home Secretary: Suella Braverman. Immigration minister: Robert Jenrick.
Shots fired! Yusuf later reposted a tweet from this morning that read: '22 hours since Suella's last post.' He then separately tweeted 15 minutes later: 'Sometimes silence speaks loudest of all.' There's no love lost there, eh? It had been rumoured that the former Tory Cabinet Secretary could be the next high-profile defector to Reform – but after this morning's developments, Mr S reckons it is safe to assume that is off the table now…
Steerpike has contacted Reform UK for a comment on the whole palaver. While Farage's group may have lost a rather vocal member, they have brought about a timely reminder of the Tories' past record in government…
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The Sun
27 minutes ago
- The Sun
Bombshell poll reveals MOST Brits think crime is out of control & don't trust cops or govt to keep them safe
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The Survation poll, for Friderichs Advisory Partners, found 49 per cent of people thought Britain was 'becoming a lawless country'. Just 35 per cent of the 2,000 adults quizzed disagreed. Meanwhile, 56 per cent said they believed that crime had risen over the past five years. Voters were asked about nine different crimes and whether they thought they were 'out of control'. Shockingly, a majority answered yes to all nine crimes. Inside UK's crime capital where residents fear for lives and lay out razor wire to stop thieves These were: violent crime, knife crime, burglary, theft, drugs, vandalism, cybercrime, sex offences and gangs. Some 74 per cent said knife crime was 'out of control' and 60 per cent said the same of violent crime. For theft it was 70 per cent, for drug-related crimes 69 per cent, and for burglary 55 per cent. Asked what caused the crimewave, immigration came out top, with 22 per cent blaming the migrant crisis. 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Worryingly, the poll also found that trust in the police's ability to catch criminals was at rock bottom. 5 5 One in five said they or a member of their family had been a victim of crime in the past year. But of these, 18 per cent did not bother to call the police because they had no faith they would catch the criminals or take the crimes seriously. The Labour Government made tackling crime one of its top five priorities when it was elected last year. 'Lenient sentencing' But police chiefs have furiously accused the Government of failing to fund forces properly. A row exploded earlier this year when Chancellor Rachel Reeves agreed to hand police another £2billion a year. Top cops had been publicly demanding more, and the National Police Chief Council said the failure to stump up cash threw Labour's promises to hire another 13,000 neighbourhood officers into doubt. LABOUR IS FAILING COUNTRY By Nigel Farage, Reform Leader THIS new polling confirms what many of us already knew — Britain has become a lawless country. It lays bare the lack of faith the British people have in Labour to make our streets and communities safe. And it's not hard to understand the reasons why. Total crime is now 50 per cent higher than it was in the 1990s. Police no longer investigate or attend shoplifting or theft. Violent repeat offenders are released early and two-tier policing has completely eroded trust. People feel that Keir Starmer is not tough on crime and he goes easy on the criminals. As for Conservatives, they have broken Britain and their own brand is broken, too. They are no longer the party of law and order. The decline that we see today began during their 14 failed years in office. Successive Tory governments cut thousands of police officers but oversaw an explosion in the population. It is clear to me that they should be in hiding for the damage they have done and must simply never be forgiven. Reform UK will fix broken Britain and restore law and order in our country. The British people deserve nothing less. This is a topic you'll be hearing a lot more about from us over the next few days and weeks. Career criminals will be put on notice. This is a national emergency and, after years of complacency by the other parties, it's clear that lawless Britain needs Reform.


The Sun
27 minutes ago
- The Sun
Brits have NO faith in Labour to keep our streets safe – and it's not hard to understand the reasons why
THIS new polling confirms what many of us already knew — Britain has become a lawless country. It lays bare the lack of faith the British people have in Labour to make our streets and communities safe. 2 2 And it's not hard to understand the reasons why. Total crime is now 50 per cent higher than it was in the 1990s. Police no longer investigate or attend shoplifting or theft. Violent repeat offenders are released early and two-tier policing has completely eroded trust. People feel that Keir Starmer is not tough on crime and he goes easy on the criminals. As for Conservatives, they have broken Britain and their own brand is broken, too. They are no longer the party of law and order. The decline that we see today began during their 14 failed years in office. Successive Tory governments cut thousands of police officers but oversaw an explosion in the population. It is clear to me that they should be in hiding for the damage they have done and must simply never be forgiven. Reform UK will fix broken Britain and restore law and order in our country. The British people deserve nothing less. This is a topic you'll be hearing a lot more about from us over the next few days and weeks. Career criminals will be put on notice. This is a national emergency and, after years of complacency by the other parties, it's clear that lawless Britain needs Reform.
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The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Chaos and fear as Afghans exposed in huge data breach left in limbo by UK
When the email from the Ministry of Defence dropped into his inbox, Qargha's heart leapt. After an agonising four-year wait, he hoped that this would finally be confirmation that he could escape the threat of the Taliban and be brought to safety in the UK. Instead, it was news that the government had exposed his personal information – and kept him in the dark about it for nearly two years. Already in fear for his life, he will now take extra precautions even when going for a walk or shopping. He is one of around 18,700 Afghans whose names and contact details were exposed in the catastrophic data leak, which happened when an MoD official emailed a secret database to trusted contacts in February 2022. The blunder, which has resulted in some 16,000 Afghans affected by the breach being relocated to Britain as part of a covert operation, was discovered after someone posted parts of the database online in August 2023. 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He told The Independent: ' I am very concerned about the leak of my personal information and I understood more about it from Afghan International TV as well. They said this leak will put many lives at risk. 'My day-to-day life will be harder now. I am living in a safe house and I know that today or tomorrow, if I need to go to the hospital or seek help for anything, I will have to be more cautious now. I am putting restrictions on myself – being more cautious about going shopping, going for a walk, going to the park or going for a haircut'. The former soldier applied for sanctuary in the UK in 2021, but he was rejected along with many members of former Afghan specialist units in the summer of 2023. During that time, one UK special forces liaison officer oversaw the blanket rejection of 1,585 such applications. Qargha is waiting on a review of that decision, and the years of limbo are taking their toll as his agonising wait continues. 'My old home has already been raided twice. 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Some 18,500 people affected by the leak have been brought to the UK or are on their way, while 5,400 have received approval letters but still need to be evacuated. Ministers have said that, while the MoD's resettlement scheme (Arap) has been closed to new applicants, existing cases will still be processed. But no time frame for the evacuations has been given, leaving those affected in limbo. An MoD spokesperson said: 'We will not comment on individual cases. 'This Government is fully committed to delivering on the pledge made by Parliament to those in Afghanistan who are eligible to relocate and resettle. 'We aim to see through our commitment to those eligible under the ARP to its completion by the end of the parliament. Eligible Afghans and their families will continue to arrive in the UK for the foreseeable future.'