Labour accuses Badenoch of scoring ‘cheap political points’ over Iran strikes
Labour has accused Kemi Badenoch of scoring “cheap political points” after the Conservative party leader said Keir Starmer was “too scared” to join strikes on Iran,Al Carns, the defence minister, said “serious politics” was required in response to Badenoch’s speech at the party’s spring conference where she criticised the prime minister’s stance on the US-Israel strikes on Iran a week ago,Initially, Starmer did not allow the US to use UK RAF bases for the attack, and did not take part in initial military action against Iran, but then said the RAF would take part in defensive operations,A strike by an Iranian drone hit an aircraft hangar at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus,Badenoch told the Conservative’s spring conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire: “At a time when Britain needs strong and decisive leadership, we have a prime minister who is too afraid of making the wrong decision, too afraid to make any decision at all.
“Last week’s byelection has spooked the Labour party.They watched the Greens campaigning on sectarian voting lines.A tactic Labour used for many years is now being turned against them.And now Keir Starmer is too scared to make foreign interventions for fear of upsetting a tiny section of that electorate.”In response, Carns, a former Royal Marine, said: “Trying to score cheap political points off the back of a serious security situation is deeply irresponsible.
This situation is above politics and requires calm collective decision making – not hyperbole and soundbites.“British troops are doing an amazing job and no one should be questioning their commitment or competency.Serious times require serious politics, not political point-scoring on the back of our armed forces, civil service or [Ministry of Defence] personnel who are doing an amazing job.”Badenoch said Starmer had equivocated when the US and Israel launched airstrikes on the Iran last weekend.The attacks killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as other senior figures.
In response, Iran attacked Israel and US allies in the Middle East, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, leading to an evacuation of British nationals.The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has since apologised to its Gulf neighbours and said it will no longer attack them – unless strikes on Iran are launched from their countries.Badenoch denied she was calling for the UK to join the war uncritically, but hit out at apparent inaction from Starmer.She said: “Everyone remembers the mistakes of the Iraq war.Nobody sensible is suggesting that we should drop bombs without a second thought.
“But Keir Starmer spent days consulting lawyers, plucking up the courage to say whose side he was on,Canada and Australia have the moral clarity to do so immediately and unequivocally,“And even now, our prime minister is sitting on the fence,We are in this war, whether Keir Starmer likes it or not,”Badenoch, whose party finished fourth in the Gorton and Denton byelection and finds itself behind the Labour party and Reform UK in national polling, also said her party would rewrite the Mental Health Act so people who are considered a risk to the public are detained.
She referenced the case of Valdo Calocane, who killed three people in Nottingham in June 2023,“We are going to detain people who pose a risk to the public, keeping them safe, keeping the public safe,We cannot have dangerous men running around our towns and cities stabbing people,”The Tory leader also said she would clamp down on antisocial behaviour, including the introduction of a new immediate justice community sentences for “low-level offences”,It would force criminals to undo damage at the scene rather than go through the courts.
Badenoch named graffiti as one area that could fall into it.
Women built, and still shape, our culinary culture every day
On 8 March each year, the calendar lights up: dinners celebrating women, panel talks, articles and online events amplifying female voices. The mood on International Women’s Day is joyful, the conversations energised and it feels as if the world is finally paying attention. But then 9 March arrives. Do the celebrations stop? Do we tuck away the banners with the last of the desserts? When the events conclude, are women no longer worth celebrating? The sad truth is that many International Women’s Day events can feel like lip service.Less so in the food world – or at least in our corner of it
The future is rosy for English red wines
When did you last buy a bottle of English red wine? Chances are, you never have. Though increasingly available on the high street – Ocado and Waitrose Cellar both stock a couple – reds grown in Blighty have struggled to shift a reputation for being overpriced: the vast majority still cost £15-25 a bottle, which is well outside what most people might consider “everyday drinking”.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for apple, honey and poppy seed cake | A kitchen in Rome
Honey is, among other things, a successful embalming agent. It is also a humectant, which isn’t an eager cyborg, but one of many short-chained organic compounds that are hygroscopic, meaning they attract and hold water, which in turn prevents hardening and encourages softness. Other hardworking humectants are glycerine, which is what keeps face creams creamy and hydrating, and sorbitol, which ensures toothpaste can be squeezed and smeared all over the sink and on the mirror. Honey, though, is the humectant that’s most suitable for this week’s recipe: a one-bowl, everyday cake inspired by my neighbour’s Polish honey cake, miodownik, combined with the tortino di mele e papavero (apple and poppy seed cake) enjoyed at a station bar in Bolzano.Not only does honey keep the cake moist, its sweetness comes largely from fructose, which is naturally sweeter than refined sugar, so the perception of sweetness is much greater even when less is added
My whey: dairy milk back on menu as protein boom cuts demand for plant-based alternatives
Gabriel Morrison hadn’t touched dairy milk for a decade until he read the ingredients label on his cheap carton of oat milk.“It’s [so much] canola oil and you imagine that in your glass, and imagine discovering that much olive oil, you’re like, that’s actually really gross,” he says.“I was just like, ‘ooft, I should stop this’.”The 28-year-old cinematographer had exclusively drunk soy, then almond, then oat milks since 2015 but had started worrying about processed foods – despite expert reassurance.In early 2025, with his housemate already buying cheaper dairy, he gave the old classic another look
It’s crunch time! Gala apples and nashi pears among Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for March
It’s a core month for pome fruit, with apples, pears and quince all heralding the start of autumn. “The first cab off the rank is the gala – a big sweet and juicy apple,” says Graham Gee, senior buyer at the Happy Apple in Melbourne.Granny smith, jazz and kanzi apples will come in during March too, and “Australia’s most popular variety, the pink lady, generally starts in April,” he says.Royal gala apples are between $5 and $8 per kilo at supermarkets. They’re $7 to $9 per kilo at Sydney’s Galluzzo Fruiterers, and Gee is selling them for about $3 to $5 per kilo; Spudshed in Perth is selling bags of prepacked new season apples for $3
How to turn limp rhubarb into tasty jam – recipe
Rachel de Thample is one of my food heroines. She’s the author of six books, and has also been course director of the College of Naturopathic Medicine’s natural chef diploma, head of food for Abel & Cole and commissioning editor of Waitrose Food Illustrated, among so much else. She trained with the likes of Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal and Peter Gordon, and now teaches fermentation and gut health at River Cottage HQ, where I cut my own teeth in teaching eco-gastronomy more than 20 years ago. While researching honey fermenting recently, I came across her recipe in River Cottage’s Bees & Honey Handbook, which I’ve adapted here so you can make as much as you like using a variety of aromatics.The Guardian’s journalism is independent
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