UK politics: Tories call for block on Chinese super-embassy amid claims of hidden chamber near sensitive cables – as it happened

Responding to Pennycook, Alicia Kearns, a shadow Home Office minister, said she was disappointed by the fact that she just got a “technocratic history lesson” from the minister.She went on:208 secret rooms and a hidden chamber just one metre from cable serving City of London and the British people. That is what the unredacted plans tell us that the Chinese Communist Party has planned for its new embassy if the government gives them the go ahead. Indeed, we now know they plan to demolish the wall between the cables and their embassy cables, in which our economy is dependent.Kearns said this would mean the Chinese could have access to “cables carrying millions of British people’s emails and financial data”, and she said this meant they would have “a launchpad for economic warfare against our nation”

Wes breaks cover to challenge Keir – without even mentioning him | John Crace

There must be a happy medium somewhere. Some ministers you can’t get to shut up, others refuse to say a word. On balance, Keir Starmer probably prefers it when they say next to nothing. On the grounds there is probably less that can go wrong. He likes it best when he is the one doing the talking as he is more in control of the message

End of western alliance means UK must be bolder, says Chatham House director

Donald Trump has ended the western alliance, requiring the UK to adopt a bolder, more independent foreign policy towards the US and China, the director of Britain’s most prestigious foreign policy thinktank has said.Delivering her analysis in her annual lecture, Bronwen Maddox, the director of Chatham House, said: “The risk of staying silent and not standing up for the principles that have underpinned the liberal international order is that those principles do indeed become an article of history and not the foundation of the world we want to live in.”She added: “The UK has performed a balancing act of some agility but to the point where it is hard to discern the policy.”Maddox described Trump’s impulsiveness, taste for military action and rejection of international law as amounting to a revolution. She said US allies “must now contemplate what was unthinkable: to defend themselves against the US, in both trade and security”

New proposed Ukip logo compared to iron cross used by Nazi regime

A proposed new Ukip logo likened to the black military cross associated with the German empire and later the Nazis is being considered by electoral authorities.A previous application by Ukip, which was once led by Nigel Farage, was rejected last November after the Electoral Commission deemed it as offensive.That application featured a black cross with a sword and a spear running through it. Ukip, which has increasingly shifted to the far right in recent years, has now submitted a new application, which appears similar but is without the sword. It includes the word Ukip, with “The New Right” underneath

UK announces ‘full and further sanctions’ amid Iran killings and arrests

The UK has announced “full and further sanctions” against Iran amid widespread protests that have resulted in hundreds of deaths and arrests.The sanctions will target finance, energy, transport, software and other significant industries, Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, told MPs.She also said that the Foreign Office had summoned the Iranian ambassador over reports of the country’s violent response to protests against the regime.Her announcement came as Donald Trump urged Iranians to “keep protesting”, adding that “help is on its way”.Earlier, Trump announced a 25% tariff on imports from any country doing business with Iran, angering China, Iran’s leading export partner

Home Office TikTok account posting deportation footage accused of turning ‘brutality into clickbait’

A Home Office TikTok account posting footage of deportations and arrests set to dramatic music has been criticised for turning “brutality” into “clickbait”.An account called @SecureBordersUK was created on Tuesday with the slogan: “Restoring order and control to our borders.”The first 20-second video shows people handcuffed and escorted on to planes, and raids being carried out to arrest illegal workers.It ends with a message reading: “And it’s just getting started.”The head of asylum advocacy at Freedom From Torture, Sile Reynolds, said: “This government is clearly hooked on the cheap political points it can score by turning the brutality of enforcement raids into clickbait online entertainment