Dr @blagdendavid.bsky.social spoke to @whazell.bsky.social about the challenges facing the Royal Navy inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Angela Rayner’s speech on Tuesday has sparked a backlash in some quarters of the PLP. MPs have accused Rayner of “selfish” behaviour, of being on “obvious” leadership manoeuvres and of talking “bollocks” with her immigration intervention. Our @theipaper.com story inews.co.uk/news/politic...

NEW POLL - BMG for @theipaper.com Reform UK: 27% (-5) Labour: 20% (no change) Conservatives: 18% (+1) Greens: 14% (+1) Lib Dems: 12% (+1) -Lowest Reform vote share with BMG in a year -Highest Green vote share with BMG to date (1,503 GB adults, 4/5 March)

BMG Research poll for @theipaper.com finds that 47% of British public oppose UK joining US and Israel in airstrikes on Iran, with 22% in support inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Exclusive @theipaper.com: Reform is mulling rolling out new grammars if Nigel Farage wins the next election. A senior Reform source said the party did not believe in “banning things for the sake of banning things” & "selection is something that we shouldn't distrust" inews.co.uk/news/politic...

UK is working on plans to evacuate British nationals from the Gulf. RAF planes could be used to fly UK citizens out of the region, while land routes from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar into Saudi Arabia are also being looked at, @theipaper.com understands inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Exclusive @theipaper.com: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor must repay money if he is found to have misused taxpayers’ funds, Rachel Reeves has said inews.co.uk/news/politic... Reeves also said she was glad she had never met Andrew, who was described by a minister yesterday as “rude, arrogant & entitled”

Can a crowd of 1,100 people predict how UK politics will unfold in 2026? What about a forecaster who has consistently outperformed the 'Wisdom of the Crowd'? My @theipaper.com piece on @igmansfield.bsky.social's great prediction game inews.co.uk/news/politic...

A senior Reform source said the party had already received more than 1,000 applications from supporters wanting to stand as parliamentary candidates (with each paying a £250 fee). Farage set to unveil the first tranche of his prospective cabinet next week @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/news/politic...

In Wales, Labour have the longest election winning streak anywhere in the world. But is that going to end in May, and how does it feel to be the Labour FM who may go down in history as losing Wales? My @theipaper.com interview with Eluned Morgan @prifweinidog.gov.wales inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Labour MP: “The plane is nosediving.. the passengers have been told there is going to be an extended period of turbulence – except the passengers are not entirely confident the pilots are trained to navigate this weather, or that the pilots are in fact in the cockpit..” inews.co.uk/news/politic...

“We really couldn't contemplate a kind of clean break with the Americans... without massive damage” For my latest @theipaper.com read, I looked at what diverging from Trump's America would really mean for the UK- for our nukes, intelligence, defence, diplomacy & trade inews.co.uk/news/politic...

The £400k-a-year chief executive of South East Water Dave Hinton is facing renewed calls to quit after his company was responsible for a second massive water supply failure in two months. Our @theipaper.com story: inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Challenged on whether she is “talking London down” with her portrayals of a crime-infested capital, Reform’s Laila Cunningham told me: “If someone’s an alcoholic and you tell them ‘you’re an alcoholic’, you’re not talking them down” inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Nato allies are mindful of the escalation risk with Russia if further shadow fleet tankers are seized. On the US capture of the Marinera, one (learned) diplomat said: “Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi” (“What is permitted to Jupiter is not permitted to an ox.”) inews.co.uk/news/politic...

MPs in Labour, the Lib Dems & other centre-left parties believe voters lending their support to candidates who aren’t their 1st preference could be key to locking Farage out of No10. A Lib Dem MP said work was already under way to marshal anti-Reform tactical voting inews.co.uk/news/politic...

“It definitely could happen elsewhere.” I have written a long read for @theipaper.com on the Tunbridge Wells water outage, including: -Why it happened -Why the risk of similar incidents is increasing -What we can do to stop them inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Reform UK have been accused of a Monty Python-style farce on Kent County Council after two of their expelled councillors formed a rival “Independent Reformers Group” Reform has lost 9 councillors (latest one today) - or 15% of its contingent - since May's local election inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Keir Starmer insists that Digital ID will be “voluntary”. Unless, er, you want to have a job inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Reform's administration on Kent County Council has been rocked by a leaked video of a chaotic internal meeting, with four councillors suspended as a result. I took a look for @theipaper.com on whether the infighting could hurt Nigel Farage's party nationally inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Bridget Phillipson announced today that tuition fees will rise annually in line with inflation (although unis will need to meet quality standards to benefit after two years’ time). @theipaper.com revealed that indexation was coming back in August Our story from then: inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Starmer is facing a challenge from MPs on the Left to strip Prince Andrew of his dukedom. MPs, including Labour left-wingers, Jeremy Corbyn and the Westminster leaders of the SNP and Plaid Cymru want Parliament to formally remove Andrew’s titles inews.co.uk/news/politic...

The Home Office is brokering extra police officers from forces outside the West Midlands so the ban on Israeli fans attending next month’s match at Aston Villa can be overturned inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Reform pledged to cut costs and taxes in local government with a 'Doge'-style approach, but instead their council taxes are rising ➡# Read more: trib.al/4eTKWIn

Exclusive @theipaper.com: Ministers are looking at introducing salary sacrifice schemes for rooftop solar panels as part of efforts to cut energy bills inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Rachel Reeves has been warned that making changes in the Budget to the amount of cash people can withdraw tax-free from their pensions is a “high risk strategy” which would create a “political storm” inews.co.uk/news/politic...

The collapse of a case involving two men accused of spying for China is a “mess” which is “damaging” to Keir Starmer, an ex-head of MI6 has said. Sir Richard Dearlove told @theipaper.com that if the Govt had “caved” to Chinese pressure then it was “absolutely outrageous” inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Jenrick is on his best behaviour in Manchester. But Tory insiders think he is playing a long game, knowing that any explicit show of disloyalty could fatally damage his reputation among the membership inews.co.uk/news/politic...

House sellers will be forced to disclose problems with their homes before sale under plans by the Government to cut costs for buyers and speed up purchases inews.co.uk/news/politic...

The Home Office is looking at introducing outright bans on protests which risk intimidating minorities or threaten serious disruption, @theipaper.com understands inews.co.uk/news/politic...

As Kemi Badenoch prepares for the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Tory MPs have warned she is “in the last chance saloon”. Here’s our @theipaper.com weekend long read inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Exclusive @theipaper.com: Sir Ed Davey has been told to raise his game by Liberal Democrat MPs amid growing concerns that the party is failing to cut through with the public inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Some Labour MPs have backed proposals to tax private healthcare, but the industry has hit back 🔴 @whazell.bsky.social reports trib.al/xIjDnqF

EXCLUSIVE: Tory to Reform switcher David Jones has told @theipaper.com he is talking to current Conservative MPs who are thinking about defecting too inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out granting a Bank Holiday if the Lionesses win the Euros in Switzerland on Sunday, @theipaper.com understands inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Our latest @theipaper.com weekend long read is on the fallout from Starmer’s strike against Labour rebels and the apparent refusal of the UK economy to play ball with Reeves’ growth plans inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Labour MPs knew a VIP was imminent in Parliament’s old smoking room because when they turned up Mini Cheddars had been left out in advance. Sure enough, the PM arrived to schmooze them. Our @theipaper.com long read is on Starmer's bid to reset his troubled government inews.co.uk/news/politic...

My latest @theipaper.com read is on Putin’s “shadow fleet” of sanction-dodging oil tankers. Is the fleet being used for sabotage and hybrid warfare operations? How can it be stopped? And could it trigger a clash between Russia & NATO? inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Exclusive: One of the frontrunners to be the next Chancellor of Cambridge has said he fears Reform could launch a Trump-style assault on UK universities. Lord Chris Smith, Blair's first culture secretary, said: “Populism is always driven by a wish to kick the elite" inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Everything you need to know about the British voting public

It is certainly positive news for UK universities. The question is still how substantial it is going to be

Could Trump's decision to go to war with US universities inadvertently save the UK's cash-strapped higher education sector? UK uni sources have told me they are already seeing foreign students who had intended to go to the US coming here instead inews.co.uk/news/politic... My @theipaper.com read:

The case for using "global majority" by institutions should be rejected unless + until it can be shown - most people understand what it means (most don't) - most people it is about would like it used (most don't) I find it a deeply incoherent fiction + a highly regressive term in some many ways

Nigel Farage’s plan to slash tax and increase benefits would cause a market shock up to twice the size of Liz Truss’s mini-budget, independent economists have told @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Can Nigel Farage really become PM? I took a look for @theipaper.com at what he’d need to poll, target seats, what Reform has to do over the next 3-4 years, as well as the obstacles (including his proximity to Trump and tactical voting) inews.co.uk/news/politic...

It's worth emphasising the existential problem for the Tories right now - they no longer lead among older Britons, in the South of England or among the middle classes, while holding a 17pt deficit among Leave voters. Their islands of strength are gone and they're becoming a party for nobody.

Excellent thread. The extent to which explicit racism, antisemitism etc has become ubiquitous on social media (I see it most on X but that’s one of the main platforms I use) is shocking and horrific.

Rachel Reeves is pinning her hopes on planning reforms unlocking extra fiscal headroom to avoid raising taxes again this year, @theipaper.com understands inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Starmer pointedly didn't mention Reform in his immigration speech & the White Paper has been in the works for months, but Farage's rise is of course the context to all this. I took a look here at whether Reform could take Wales next year inews.co.uk/news/politic...