Starmer claims Tory party has ‘problem with Muslims’ after Nick Timothy tweet

Keir Starmer has claimed the Conservative party “has a problem with Muslims” after the shadow justice secretary described an event where the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, joined others to pray in Trafalgar Square as “an act of domination”.During PMQs, the prime minister urged Kemi Badenoch to sack Nick Timothy over a post on X in which he shared a clip of Khan and other Muslims praying in the square.Timothy wrote: “Too many are too polite to say this. But mass ritual prayer in public places is an act of domination.” He went on to say: “The domination of public places is straight from the Islamist playbook

Andy Burnham says Labour would ‘do well to listen’ to Angela Rayner

Andy Burnham has backed stark criticism of the direction of Keir Starmer’s government by Angela Rayner after she said the very survival of the Labour party was at stake.Rayner, the former deputy prime minister and an influential backbencher, used a speech on Tuesday night to warn that the prime minister “cannot go through the motions” in the face of declining support.Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, who is regarded as a rival to Rayner in any potential leadership contest to succeed Starmer, said on Wednesday: “I certainly know where she is coming from and the party would always do well to listen to what Angela has got to say.”In comments that will be seen alongside Rayner’s intervention as an effort to shift the party to the left as it faces the prospect of heavy losses in local elections in May, Burnham said the frustrations she was reflecting had also been heard at the recent Gorton and Denton byelection.Burnham had wanted to stand in that election for a previously safe Labour seat which ended up being won by the Greens but was blocked by the Labour leadership

‘I don’t distance myself from the IRA’: Gerry Adams brings his ‘dead true’ denials to court | Esther Addley

“A very happy St Patrick’s Day,” said Gerry Adams, as he took his seat in the stand of court 16 in the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday. Mr Justice Smith hadn’t quite caught what the defendant said, and asked him to repeat himself.“Oh that’s very kind of you,” the judge stammered when he finally worked it out. The green tie and small sprig of shamrock in Adams’s lapel – worn alongside a Palestinian flag pin – ought perhaps to have been a clue.Adams used to spend 17 March at the White House, glad-handing a succession of thematically dressed presidents and supportive senators of Irish extraction

Zelenskyy says Europe is a ‘global force’ that can stand against any other power in address to MPs – as it happened

Zelenskyy suggests Ukraine is also protected by its values.We believe in people, in their rights and freedom. We believe in culture and we want nations to live in real peace, strong peace and communities in respect together.double quotation markEurope is a global force – one the world cannot do without and that no one can stand against.Zelenskyy says European leaders must protect it so “that the future generations will say these leaders acted when it mattered and that people lived in safety

Nige and Honest Bob want to turn politics into a downmarket reality gameshow

Nige and Honest Bob. Honest Bob and Nige. Reform’s answer to the Chuckle Brothers. Robert Jenrick is just about the only other member of Reform UK that Nige will be seen dead with now. Apart from Richard Tice, everyone’s favourite fake-tanned beta male

Iran war cannot be ’windfall’ for Putin, says Starmer, as Zelenskyy arrives in UK

Keir Starmer will host Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Tuesday as the prime minister warns US-Israeli strikes on Iran cannot be allowed to become a “windfall for Putin”.Zelenskyy’s visit will come on the day of the government deadline for the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich to pay proceeds from his sale of Chelsea FC to victims of the Ukraine war.The former Chelsea owner is now expected to face legal action, having insisted that the £2.5bn raised by the sale is his to allocate, including to Russian victims of the war.The British government warned Abramovich last year he must release the cash, or he could be taken to court