Starmer aide’s exit over lewd Abbott jokes deepens crisis as Trump arrives

The crisis engulfing Keir Starmer has deepened on the eve of Donald Trump’s visit to the UK after the resignation of a third senior ally in two weeks raised further questions about the stability of his government.Paul Ovenden quit as the prime minister’s director of political strategy after the publication of old messages in which Ovenden relayed lewd jokes made at a party about the Labour MP Diane Abbott.His resignation comes after a bruising two weeks in which Starmer has overseen the departures of both his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and his US ambassador, Peter Mandelson.Starmer’s internal critics also say he has failed to condemn the far-right protest in London over the weekend, as well as the people who organised it, strongly enough.The prime minister hit back saying there could be “no surrender” to racism and violence, which several cabinet members including Wes Streeting have echoed

UK government ‘disappointed’ charges dropped against men accused of spying for China

The UK government says it is “extremely disappointed” by a decision to drop charges of spying for China against two men, one of whom was a parliamentary aide.The men, Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33, had denied accusations of providing information prejudicial to the interests of the state in breach of the Official Secrets Act between December 2021 and February 2023.Cash worked as a parliamentary researcher and was director of the China Research Group. He was closely linked to then senior Tories, including the former security minister Tom Tugendhat and Alicia Kearns, who served as chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee.The men were due to go on trial next month but the prosecutor Tom Little told the Old Bailey on Monday that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) would offer no evidence against the pair and “we simply cannot continue to prosecute this case”, without giving any reason for the decision

Danny Kruger takes Reform back to full strength – so who’ll be next to quit? | John Crace

Nigel Farage has always been keen on a “one in, one out” policy. At the last election, Reform won five seats. Two MPs, Rupert Lowe and James McMurdock, have since left the party over artistic differences – ie, falling out with Nige – and have gained only one in the cold-hearted Sarah Pochin. Now they are back to their full complement. Five, it turns out, is the magic number

MP Danny Kruger says Tory party ‘is over’ as he defects to Reform

The MP Danny Kruger has defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK, declaring the Tory party “is over” and Nigel Farage is the “new custodian” of conservatism and the political right’s “last hope” of governing Britain.Kruger, who represents East Wiltshire and previously served as political secretary to Boris Johnson, said: “The Conservative party is over. Over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the left.”His defection comes weeks after the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said Tories who “want to jump ship” to Reform UK are “welcome to do so”.In a statement announcing his switch, Kruger accused the Tories of clinging to “defunct institutions”, and said they have been operating under “sham unity” since their general election defeat last year which has left them in “stasis”

Top Starmer aide resigns over explicit Diane Abbott messages in further blow to PM – UK politics live

Keir Starmer has been hit by a fresh Downing Street resignation. Paul Ovenden has resigned as director of strategy at No 10 over revelations, first published by the Mail, that in 2017 he made sexually explicit comments about Diane Abbott in a private email.Ovenden was a Labour party press officer at the time.In his story for the Mail, Dan Hodges reports:The Mail understands that Mr Ovenden had exchanged emails with a former colleague in 2017 in which he retold a story about a game of ‘shag, marry, kill’ involving Ms Abbott he had overheard.He then graphically recounted the conversation in which two women described performing sex acts on Ms Abbott, 71, the veteran MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington

Senior Starmer adviser quits over offensive Diane Abbott messages

A senior adviser to Keir Starmer has resigned after it was revealed he sent inappropriate messages about the Labour MP Diane Abbott eight years ago.Paul Ovenden quit on Monday as the prime minister’s director of political strategy after details emerged about a sexually explicit WhatsApp conversation he had in 2017.His resignation is another setback for the beleaguered prime minister, who has also lost his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and his Washington ambassador, Peter Mandelson, to separate scandals in the last two weeks.The messages show Ovenden and a friend joking about a party that Ovenden had attended the night before at which attenders had joked about having sex with Abbott, the Labour MP who is the longest-serving woman in the Commons.The pair exchanged messages in which Ovenden recounted an explicit conversation in which people at the party had played a game of “shag, marry, kill”