Badenoch says teaching boys about misogyny shouldn’t be a priority because migrants more dangerous to women and girls – UK politics live

Kemi Badenoch has dismissed the government’s VAWG strategy as a “complete distraction”, arguing that teaching boys to respect women should not be a priority because migrants post a more serious threat.In a post on social media, and comments quoted by the Telegraph, she backed up the arguments used by Katie Lam in the Commons (see 2.29pm) – but went further, dismissing the long-awaited policy document as “just a big mess”.Badenoch said:It’s not 11-year-old boys who are committing violence against women and girls.We need to get people who have come from cultures that don’t respect women out of our country! Not all cultures are equally valid

Megan Davies obituary

My partner, Megan Davies, who has died aged 67, was for many years Cardiff’s highly regarded branch secretary of the Society of Telecom Executives, now part of the Prospect union.She was a lifelong socialist, a supporter of Socialist Worker and, until her recent ill health, was a regular at Palestine, anti-war and anti-racist protests. At her funeral Cor Cochion, a socialist choir, gave a passionate rendition of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, the South African national anthem. She used to sing it with Jen O’Keefe, her vocalist partner, at the Blue Dragon folk club and Frank Hennessey’s folk club at BBC Cardiff.Born in Belsize Park, north London, to Jean (nee Roderick), a teacher, and Owen Davies, an academic, Megan attended Camden school for girls

Sir John Stanley obituary

John Stanley, who has died aged 83, was one of the longest-serving postwar MPs, representing the Kent commuter belt constituency of Tonbridge and Malling for 41 years, but had a hapless reputation as a minister.Although he never became a cabinet minister, Stanley played a part in some of the most contentious issues of the Thatcher years. An ultra-loyalist, even before he became an MP he was one of the originators of the policy of selling council houses, and steered the legislation through the Commons as housing minister. Moved to the Ministry of Defence after the Conservatives’ post-Falklands general election landslide in 1983, he became embroiled in the Belgrano affair and the prosecution of the civil servant Clive Ponting.Some of these events may not have been his fault, but colleagues tended to believe that he made them worse by a seeming arrogance

Keir Starmer planning new king’s speech after May elections

Keir Starmer is planning for a new king’s speech after crunch elections in May next year as a reset moment for the government amid speculation over the prime minister’s future.Senior sources in parliament said planning was under way to end the parliamentary session the week after local elections in England and parliamentary elections in Wales and Scotland in May, making it a significantly longer session than normal, and nearly two years since Labour first set out its legislative agenda.Starmer will hope the timing of the speech will allow Labour to swiftly change the narrative to its new legislation straight after the difficult elections and try to maintain discipline among MPs.But it is a high-stakes move because votes on the king’s speech are usually considered confidence votes in the government. Starmer suspended several Labour MPs for voting for a Scottish National party (SNP) amendment on the two-child benefits limit after the last king’s speech

Teachers in England face growing misogyny and need help dealing with sexual aggression, says Phillips

Schools are reporting growing misogyny from pupils towards teachers and a lack of avenues to seek help about sexually aggressive behaviour, the safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, has said.Phillips’ comments came as the government was due to launch its long-awaited violence against women and girls strategy. Children as young as 11 who demonstrate misogynistic behaviour will be taught the difference between pornography and real relationships, as part of a multimillion-pound investment to try to tackle misogyny in England’s schools.“I go into schools all the time, and what teachers have been saying to me for a number of years … is that they are seeing growing concerns around … the access to the pornography that their pupils see, and some of the attitudes that come from what they are seeing, misogynistic attitudes displayed towards teachers,” Phillips told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“I have seen so many cases that have led to total tragedy in the sharing of intimate images, for example, and parents desperate for resources

MPs warn that UK agreements with Donald Trump are ‘built on sand’

Ministers and senior MPs have warned that the UK’s agreements with Donald Trump are “built on sand” after the Guardian established that the deal to avoid drug tariffs has no underlying text beyond limited headline terms.The “milestone” US-UK deal announced this month on pharmaceuticals, which will mean the NHS pays more for medicines in exchange for a promise of zero tariffs on the industry, still lacks a legal footing beyond top lines contained in two government press releases.Concerns over the basis of the agreement have been heightened by Washington’s decision to suspend the £31bn “tech prosperity deal”, which had been hailed as “a generational step-change in our relationship with the US”. The deal was paused after the US claimed a lack of progress from the UK in lowering trade barriers in other areas.It has also emerged that concessions to British farmers made in the first tariff deal with Trump, which were hailed as “historic” by Keir Starmer in May, have yet to be signed off by the US despite a looming January deadline