Memory loss strikes down Starmer and Badenoch at an infuriating PMQs | John Crace

There’s something weird going on in Westminster. A mutant pathogen in the water maybe. Whatever it is, Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch appear to have been struck down by it.Both have had parts of their memory wiped. At times they now sound like the living dead

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

Starmer says Tory shadow minister should be sacked for criticism of Muslims praying in Trafalgar Square – as it happened

Badenoch says Starmer did not answer the question. Did he pick up the phone to Mandelson.She says Starmer said Mandelson lied to him. That implied that they spoke.Starmer again criticises Badenoch

Polanski positions Greens’ economic policy as radical alternative to Reeves

The venue for Zack Polanski’s economic speech on Wednesday – a sunny north London garden centre – could hardly have been more different to the sombre City backdrop for Rachel Reeves’s Mais lecture a day earlier.The chancellor was, as it happens, the last politician to give a major economic speech at the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the leftwing thinktank that invited the Green party leader, Polanski, to set out his stall as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations. Back in 2018 it hosted the speech in which, as a backbencher, Reeves called for an “everyday economy” that would prioritise the needs of low-paid workers.But with their determination to appear sober and moderate, Reeves and Labour have struggled to communicate in government a willingness to shake things up, even where they have in fact made significant changes.Enter Polanski

Zack Polanski says Greens would ditch GDP targets and focus on wellbeing instead

A government led by the Green party would not set targets for GDP growth but would instead focus on people’s mental health, social cohesion and community welfare, Zack Polanski has said in a major speech to set out his plans for the economy.In his first policy address since taking over as leader of the Greens in England and Wales six months ago, Polanski condemned what he called “rip-off Britain”, where a minority of asset owners benefited at the expense of people obliged to pay unaffordable sums for housing and other basics.In a post-speech press conference, when asked if a government he led would seek to create economic growth, Polanski argued this was the wrong way of looking at the issue.“Actually, I’m much more interested in growing people’s mental health, growing our public services, growing cohesion in our communities,” he said, arguing a focus on increasing GDP growth could create unintended incentives and outcomes.“If we’re looking at GDP – if a water company pumps sewage into the water and then pays for that to be cleaned up, then that technically improves your GDP, and that’s economic growth,” he said

Revealed: a crypto billionaire’s political base hosting ‘anti-woke’ and rightwing activists in Westminster

A British billionaire convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate money-laundering controls on his cryptocurrency business is funding a political base in the heart of Westminster used by “anti-woke” and rightwing activists.Ben Delo, 42, who was pardoned by Donald Trump last year, has given support in kind to Rupert Lowe, the anti-migration MP challenging Nigel Farage from the right – while also connecting with mainstream figures including the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and former cabinet minister Michael Gove.Delo, an Oxford graduate who moved to Hong Kong in 2012 and appears to still be based there, says he is a champion of “free speech” and has vowed to tackle the “nuisance” of political correctness. He supports more than 50 organisations ranging across the political spectrum and public life, as well as non-affiliated groups and individuals.Now a joint investigation by the Guardian and Hope Not Hate reveals some of the people and projects that have benefited from Delo’s largesse