Nigel Farage to discuss Chagos Islands deal at Mar-a-Lago dinner with Donald Trump tonight – as it happened

Downing Street has denied there has been a U-turn on UK government policy on Iran after Britain’s deputy prime minister suggested this morning that the UK could take part on strikes on Iranian targets. Royal Air Force jets could legally strike Iranian missile sites being used to attack British interests in the Middle East, David Lammy said in a BBC interview earlier today.David Lammy has said it is an “absolute travesty” that details were leaked from a top secret national security meeting on the US-Israel attacks on Iran and has called for an investigation. There were reports last weekend of cabinet splits at a national security council meeting, which is protected by the Official Secrets Act, over allowing the US to use British bases for the strikes against Iran.Royal Air Force jets could legally strike Iranian missile sites being used to attack British interests in the Middle East, Lammy also said this morning

Starmer is facing a cocktail of dissent that is growing ever more potent

But for the Iran crisis, Labour’s first major policy announcement since the party’s calamitous defeat in the Gorton and Denton byelection would have been arguably the biggest political story of the week.Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, pressed ahead with what is intended to be the party’s full-throated answer to the competition it faces from Reform UK as she declared an end to permanent refugee status and the removal of state support from some asylum seekers.It immediately put her on a collision course with many Labour backbenchers, but it also left the party’s soft-left majority, who had been pushing for a more progressive offering in recent weeks, asking: “Is that it?”The victory speech in Gorton and Denton by Hannah Spencer, the newly minted Green party MP, contained the sort of lines that many on Labour’s backbenches yearn to hear their leader utter, or even nod towards. Hard-working people had become “sick of making other people rich” and now wondered what their toil would yield, said the young plumber.Yet while Keir Starmer’s troops expected at least some red meat this week from their party’s leadership to counter the Green challenge for economically squeezed traditional Labour voters, his instinctive response was to send a letter to MPs in which he repeated an attack line that sought to paint Zack Polanski’s party as extremist

Defence secretary accuses Tory and Reform MPs of ‘unpatriotic’ behaviour

The defence secretary, John Healey, has accused opposition politicians of deliberately undermining the UK’s relationship with Donald Trump, saying it was “unpatriotic” for MPs to seek to turn the US against Keir Starmer.Healey, speaking to the Guardian at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, which was hit by a drone strike over the weekend, said he had been shocked at the way politicians like Nigel Farage had sought to “undermine” the UK’s relationship with the US.The Conservatives and Reform UK have criticised the British decision not to allow the US to use UK bases for offensive strikes against Iranian targets, though they will be used to help defend UK interests and allies in the region from Iranian retaliatory attacks.But Healey said he had been shocked by the extent to which senior MPs had sought to curry favour with the US president by undermining the position of the UK government – not just on the Iran attacks but also over the Chagos Islands deal.Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, and Farage, have both praised Trump for his opposition – albeit fluctuating – to the government’s Chagos plan, which the US president criticised when apparently frustrated with the UK over other issues

Kemi is wrong about everything. Which is almost an achievement in itself | John Crace

Cast your mind forward 10 years or so. Long after Kemi Badenoch has been sacked as Tory party leader without even getting to contest an election. Long after she has been fired from a sinecure in an HR firm for falling out with all her colleagues. Long after she was dismissed from a Tory thinktank for being unable to think. Long after she was forced to take early retirement

Best way forward for Iran would be negotiated settlement, says Starmer

Keir Starmer has said the conflict engulfing the Middle East could continue “for some time” as he insisted the best way forward in the longer term was a negotiated settlement with Iran.The prime minister said the UK was doing “everything we can” to de-escalate the situation, a clear contrast to the US president, who is focused on regime change and has said it was “too late” for Tehran to negotiate.He defended his decision to block initial offensive strikes by the US and Israel at the weekend, saying he stood by his judgment and denying it had damaged the special relationship.Starmer has faced some criticism from Gulf states and Cyprus for not doing enough to protect regional allies and British citizens there from Iranian strikes. He has also been subject to personal attacks from Trump, including that he was “not Winston Churchill”

Starmer says UK sending more fighter jets to Middle East and first repatriation flight has left Oman – as it happened

The UK is sending four additional Typhoon jets to Qatar, as well as Wildcat helicopters with anti-drone capabilities being sent to Cyprus, Starmer says.He says the US has been allowed to use British airfields to carry out defensive missions and that HMS Dragon is heading for the Mediterranean.More than 4,000 people have arrived back in the UK on commercial flights, he says, with a further seven flights due to arrive in Britain today.The first charter flight from Oman took off “a few minutes ago”, the prime minister adds.double quotation markI want to be very clear; this is a huge undertaking

Transparency fears over plan to redact 2,000 staff names on Commons register

MPs are planning to redact the names of 2,000 parliamentary staff from an official register that has been in place for decades, in a move that experts say will reduce transparency around lobbying by passholders.The proposal has been put forward by the House of Commons standards committee after evidence sessions held in private with staff unions, which raised concerns about the safety of those working for MPs.It would put the Commons out of step with the House of Lords and legislatures in the EU and US, which list most staff members in the interests of transparency.Under the present system, in place since 1993, about 2,000 staff members working for MPs put their names and any financial interests on a register.Parliament had decided to widen the register to about 4,000 staff to include those who have access to the parliamentary online network and may be working in constituency offices

Crypto investor based in Thailand donates further £3m to Reform

Christopher Harborne has donated another £3m to Reform UK on top of his record £9m last summer.Nigel Farage’s party, which has been topping the polls for more than a year, brought in £5.5m in the last quarter of 2025 – outstripping all the other parties. It also included a £200,000 donation from JC Bamford Excavators – traditionally a Conservative donor – which gave the same sum to the Tories that quarter.The Harborne donations will bolster Reform UK’s war chest before the May elections, in which Farage will be hoping to make progress in Wales and across England where council seats are being contested

Wales Senedd elections are a ‘referendum’ on Starmer, claims Farage

Nigel Farage has described May’s Senedd elections as a “referendum” on Keir Starmer, as Reform UK gears up to battle Plaid Cymru for the chance to end a century of Labour dominance in Wales.Launching Reform’s election manifesto in Newport on Thursday alongside the party’s newly appointed Welsh leader, Dan Thomas, Farage said: “It’s a Welsh election, but I’m afraid, whether you like it or not, it doubles up as a referendum on Keir Starmer’s premiership. 7 May will end Labour dominance in Wales and in particular the valleys. And, if we get this right, we will get rid of the worst prime minister any of us have seen in our lifetimes.”Support for Reform in Wales has surged as Welsh Labour struggles with a 26-year-long incumbency and an unpopular leader in Westminster, although Plaid Cymru are ahead of Reform in most polls