\n<\/p>\n
Badenoch<\/strong> says Starmer did not answer the question. Did he pick up the phone to Mandelson.<\/p>\n She says Starmer said Mandelson lied to him. That implied that they spoke.<\/p>\n Starmer<\/strong> again criticises Badenoch. He says she should have sacked Nick Timothy for his attack on Muslims praying in Trafalgar Square. (See 10.28am.)<\/p>\n UPDATE:<\/em> Starmer<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n double quotation markShe appointed the shadow justice secretary. He said last night that Muslims praying in public, including the mayor of London, practising his faith are not welcome.<\/p>\n He described it as an act of domination. Straight from the Islamist playbook. If he was in my team, he\u2019d be gone. It\u2019s utterly appalling. She should denounce his comments and she should sack him.<\/p>\n <\/span>Nick Timothy pictured in parliament earlier this year<\/span> Photograph: House of Commons\/PAShare<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.02 EDT<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The Reform UK MP Lee Anderson has used his parliamentary office to record paid-for personalised messaging videos, in a possible breach of rules that prohibit the commercial use of the Palace of Westminster, Henry Dyer <\/strong>and Michael Goodier<\/strong> report.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Here is Peter Walker<\/strong>\u2019s report of Zack Polanski<\/strong>\u2019s economy speech, and what he said in his Q&A afterwards.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n At a post-PMQs briefing, a spokesperson for Kemi Badenoch<\/strong> defended Nick Timothy for his comments criticising Muslims praying in Trafalgar Square. (See 10.28am.) The spokesperson said Timothy\u2019s comments were based on footage showing segregated males praying at the event.<\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe Conservative party believes in British values and those British values mean we are an open and open and tolerant society, but with boundaries.<\/p>\n And freedom of religion does not mean the freedom to do anything. It comes with responsibilities.<\/p>\n People are free to practice their faith, but that practice does not require exclusionary use of our shared civic spaces. That is not about worship. It becomes something else which undermines social cohesion. So that is where we draw the line. And that is what Nick Timothy was talking about.<\/p>\n Asked about other pictures showing women at the event, the spokesman said they were \u201coutside the barriers\u201d.<\/p>\n (Timothy\u2019s original tweet criticising the Muslims praying in Trafalgar Square said nothing about the group being segregated by gender. And a follow-up tweet by Timothy this morning defending his original message does not mention gender segregation either.)<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n It is not unusual for the prime minister and the leader of the oppostion to be speaking at cross-purposes at PMQs but today was an extreme example; if your only exposure to what happened comes via short social media clips, you might assume they were speaking at two separate events.<\/p>\n Kemi Badenoch was determined to attack Keir Starmer again over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the UK, and she started by asking if Starmer had spoken to Mandelson personally about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein before he appointed him. Badenoch knew exactly what the answer was \u2013 because it was a lead story in the Times last week. The Times reported:<\/p>\n double quotation markSir Keir Starmer did not speak to Lord Mandelson before appointing him as the ambassador to the US and instead delegated the vetting of his links to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to two personal friends of the peer.<\/p>\n Starmer refused to confirm this. But he did not try to deny it either, and it was obvious from the exchanges that the Times story was true. Badenoch was withering, and \u2013 on this topic \u2013 effective.<\/p>\n Starmer strategy was to turn this instead into a debate about the Tories\u2019 rather confused stance on the Iran war, and Nick Timothy latest anti-Muslim diatribe. (See 10.28am.) In debate, trying to fend off an attack by changing the subject is always a sign of weakness (because it\u2019s an admission that you do not a proper answer to the accusations you are facing) and it is often unsuccessful (because the audience may consider the original topic more important than the distraction topic). But it can work if the counter blast is strong enough.<\/p>\n What about today? Tory MPs were indignant about Starmer\u2019s worse-than-usual topic dodging, and there were a string of questions about this at points of order. The Tory papers (and GB News \u2013 see 12.27pm) will write this up as a Badenoch win. And people watching who had not spent the morning on Twitter might have been a bit unsure as to what Starmer was on about when he repeatedly condemned Nick Timothy.<\/p>\n But Labour MPs understood why the Timothy intervention was so inflammatory. The normalisation of Islamophobia in rightwing circles is one of the more egregious features of modern politics, and today Starmer spoke with more passion and authenticity than we are used to. Here is one of his answers.<\/p>\n double quotation mark[Badenoch\u2019s] position is that the shadow justice secretary is defending British values when he says Muslims praying together in Trafalgar Square are not welcome.<\/p>\n Even Tommy Robinson, I can hardly believe I\u2019m saying this, has said today that if the shadow justice secretary had made these hateful comments two years ago the Conservative party would have kicked him out.<\/p>\n Tommy Robinson isn\u2019t some sort of moral signpost, he was pointing out how much their party has changed. They\u2019re more inclined to his views, and he\u2019s right about that. The fact he\u2019s sitting on her front bench shows she\u2019s too weak and has got absolutely no judgment.<\/p>\n Starmer was referring to this post by Robinson (whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) on X.<\/p>\n Since Morgan McSweeney left No 10, Starmer seems to have become more confident defending the multiculturalism that some Blue Labour types were more inclined to question and today it felt as he had landed a moral argument successfully. He\u2019ll count that as win.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Andrew Snowden<\/strong> (Con) asks why Starmer refused to answer Badenoch\u2019s questions about Peter Mandelson. When he found out Mandelson had an ongoing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, did he speak to him personally before making him ambassador?<\/p>\n Starmer<\/strong> says he has set out the process.<\/p>\n And he is not surprised the Tories do not want to talk about the Iran war, or Nick Timothy.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Greg Smith<\/strong> (Con) says Starmer used to oppose HS2, as he does. He asks for his Mid Buckinghamshire consituents to be treated with fairness as this goes ahead.<\/p>\n Starmer<\/strong> agrees people affected by HS2 do need to be treated fairly.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Noah Law<\/strong> (Lab) asks if Starmer will meet the Labour rural MPs group to discuss extra help for farmers.<\/p>\n Starmer<\/strong> says the government has already set up a farming and food partnership board to help the sector.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Nigel Farage<\/strong>, the Reform UK leader, says the Norwegians have opened 49 drill sites for oil in the last year. The UK has opened none. He says Britain should follow Norway.<\/p>\n Starmer<\/strong> says oil and gas will be part of the UK\u2019s energy mix for years to come.<\/p>\n And he says Farage is highlighting the consequences of a war he supported.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n David Davis<\/strong> (Con) says when Starmer was a laywer he argued that scrapping juries would increase the chance of miscarriages of justice. And the Institute for Government says it will not save as much money as the government claims.<\/p>\n Starmer<\/strong> says he is not abolishing jury trials. Many victims have to wait years for cases to go to trial. He says he is not prepared to do nothing about this. Under this plan, the proportion of cases that go to jury trial will just fall from 3% to 2.25%.<\/p>\n (The figure is just 3% if you include all cases that would not go to a jury, because they are heard by magistrates, and guilty pleas.)<\/p>\n UPDATE:<\/em> Starmer said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe\u2019re not abolishing jury trials, and he knows that.<\/p>\n I have worked with with women and girls who have been victims of sexual violence and rape, who have waited a very, very long time for their cases to come to court. Many of them drop out because of the wait.<\/p>\n They have described to me personally, the mental anguish that they go through when their case can\u2019t get heard for years, when they\u2019re told of adjournment time and time again. I\u2019m not prepared to look them in the eye any longer and not do something about it. We owe it to them.<\/p>\n This is about getting the balance right. We\u2019re not abolishing jury trial. There\u2019s about 3% of cases go to jury trial, as he very well knows, 97% don\u2019t. After this, it\u2019ll be 2.25%. That is the difference between the policy we\u2019re advancing and the policy as it now is.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s not abolishing jury trials. But I\u2019m not prepared to see those who have been victims of violence against women and girls, I\u2019m not prepared to see them repeatedly let down.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what happened for 14 long years. It\u2019s not good enough.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.00 EDT<\/p>\n Paul Davies<\/strong> (Lab) says, under Reform UK, decent healthcare would only be available to people who can afford it.<\/p>\n Starmer<\/strong> says waiting lists are at their lowest level for three years, and the best ambulance response times for five years, because of Labour\u2019s investment in the NHS.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Dawn Butler<\/strong> (Lab) asks Starmer to back calls for phone manufacturers to be required to install a kill switch on phones that will stop them being used if they have been stolen.<\/p>\n Starmer<\/strong> says the government would like to work with the industry on this issue.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Starmer says Nick Timothy should be sacked for his attack on Muslims praying in Trafalgar Square 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. He says she should have sacked<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[6948,132,1354,16613,124,13081,7716,3947,9947,1347,2268,23880],"class_list":{"0":"post-47045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-criticism","9":"tag-live","10":"tag-minister","11":"tag-muslims","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-praying","14":"tag-sacked","15":"tag-shadow","16":"tag-square","17":"tag-starmer","18":"tag-tory","19":"tag-trafalgar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Lee Anderson filmed paid-for Cameo videos at parliament in possible rules breach<\/h2>\n
Polanski says Greens would ditch GDP targets and focus on wellbeing instead<\/h2>\n
PMQs – snap verdict<\/h2>\n
Starmer defends plans to restrict access to jury trials<\/h2>\n