Jarvis says MI5 issued an espionage alert earlier today to MPs, peers and parliamentary staff,(See 12,18pm,)He urges all parliamentarians to read it,He says China is trying to contact MPs and peers to get sensitive information about parliament.

He says Chinese agents are trying to contact with access to this sensitive information.They are sometimes posing as headhunters, or as people working for cover companies.He says there is a low threshold for the sort of information they find useful.This is an attempt to interfere in British politics, he says.Jarvis added the government will not tolerate “covert and calculated” attempts by China to interfere with the UK’s sovereign affairs.

UPDATE: Jarvis said:Let me speak plainly.This activity involves a covert and calculated attempt by a foreign power to interfere in our sovereign affairs in favour of its own interests, and this government will not tolerate it.It builds on a pattern of activity that we have seen from China with cyber-operations by China state-affiliated actors targeting parliamentary emails in 2021, attempted foreign interference activity by Christine Lee in 2022 and other more recent cases.We will take all necessary measures to protect our national interests, our citizens and our democratic way of life, including working with our allies and partners.He added:We will always, always, challenge any country, including China, that attempts to interfere, influence or undermine the integrity of our democratic institutions, and we will take all necessary measures to protect UK national security.

Labour has said that Nigel Farage urgently needs to explain himself in the light of the Guardian’s report quoting multiple contemporaries who say they remember him making racist and antisemitic comments when he was at school.(See 5.20pm.)MI5 has issued an espionage alert to MPs and peers warning that two people linked to the Chinese intelligence service are actively seeking to recruit parliamentarians.Shabana Mahmood is facing demands for compassion and clarity after it emerged that only a “few hundred” asylum seekers would initially be permitted to come to the UK under three new schemes for refugees.

Keir Starmer has warned senior ministers and officials to stop briefing against one another and leaking details of the budget as he pleaded for his embattled government to unite.New legacy legislation will address “unfinished business” from the Troubles, Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, has said.As PA Media reports, a commission to investigate Troubles-related killings and a separate information recovery body will be established under the Northern Ireland Troubles bill.A new statutory advisory group will also be established to ensure victims and survivors of the Troubles, including from a service background, are heard by the commission.Speaking at second reading, Benn gave his assurance that “anyone who was previously involved in paramilitary activity will not be appointed to the victims and survivors group”.

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.Keir Starmer’s ratings are dire at the moment.Today the Times is reporting YouGov polling saying 45% of Labour supporters think he should stand down as PM, either now or before the election.But, in a speech tonight, Lord Hermer, the attorney general, and a friend of Starmer’s from the time when they were legal colleagues, will defend the PM.He will cite the Hillsborough law as an example of how Starmer is someone determined to do the right thing.

As Kevin Schofield reports for HuffPost UK, Hermer will say:When the law helps extend rights and delivers justice where it’s most needed, it earns not just respect, but belief.Not as a shield for the status quo, particularly when that status quo may fail too many.But as a promise that across the country, we all stand equal before the law, and no one stands alone.That’s what this prime minister believes in – the idea that power can be rebalanced, that the law can and should evolve to meet the changing needs of society.Injustices can be addressed, wrongs can be made right, through graft, patience and, above all, determination.

That’s the story of the man I know, Keir Starmer,Populists to the left and right say you don’t need any of that,Just ban this thing, leave this convention,All will be well,But who is left to pick up the pieces, when it all goes south? Working class people.

Like the family Keir Starmer grew up in.The Green party has joined charities in criticising Reform UK for proposing to virtually eliminate Britain’s aid spending.(See 12.28pm.) In a comment, the Green MP Ellie Chowns said:It cannot be overstated how many lives will be put at risk by this cruel and senseless policy.

It would cut vital support to the most vulnerable people on the planet – those who rely on foreign aid not only to survive but also helping provide hope that they can thrive, through funding health, education, housing, energy and environmental projects.This policy is also counter-productive, especially for a party that’s raison d’être is to stop migration to the UK.Cutting foreign aid – leaving many more destitute and living in extreme poverty – will drive displacement, forcing people to leave their homes in search of a better life or mere survival.Foreign aid can also help prevent conflicts, fight the spread of disease, and mitigate the impacts of climate breakdown.Addressing these are all in our own national interest.

Foreign aid is the helping hand which, as one of the richest countries in the world, we have a moral obligation to provide.Labour’s cut of foreign aid from 0.7% to 0.3% of national income was disgraceful; Reform’s proposal to reduce it to a pitiful 0.03% is reprehensible.

Greens are clear: we would increase foreign aid to a full 1% of national income and enable the people of the Global South to take the lead on how aid is spent,Anna Turley, the Labour party chair, has said that Nigel Farage urgently needs to explain himself in the light of the Guardian’s report quoting multiple contemporaries who say they remember him making racist and antisemitic comments when he was at school,Commenting on the report, Turley said:These are disturbing allegations and it is vital that Nigel Farage now urgently explains himself,We have seen Farage’s weakness in the face of the divisive politics in Reform’s ranks,They are dragging our politics to a dark place.

Reform UK has said the allegations in the Guardian are “entirely without foundation”.A reader asks:Once leadership rumours started swirling how many prime ministers made it to the next general election? Brown did, May didn’t, nor did Johnson or Truss.Blair I don’t think really counts.Before that I’m too young to know.That is a good question, and it reminded me of this passage in Philip Cowley’s new book, The Smallest Room in the House.

Of all the British prime ministers since the end of the second world war (excluding the incumbent, Keir Starmer, whose race is not yet run), only two, Attlee and Heath, both initially entered and finally exited Downing Street at a general election.The rest came in or left No 10 mid-term.Of the past nine prime minsters (including Starmer), six came to power as a result of an internal party contest.Cowley is making the point that it is more common for prime ministers to be deposed than you might think.Going back to 1990, he is saying six of the PMs took office because they were replacing a predecessor ousted by their party (John Major, who became PM in 1990, Gordon Brown, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak).

Also going back to Major, only three of the eight PMs who have left No 10 did so because they lost a general election (Major, Brown and Sunak).The other five were forced out (Tony Blair, David Cameron, May, Johnson and Truss.) Blair had served 10 years, and he had some control over the timing of his departure, but he was ultimately pushed out by Brown.So, judging by these figures, Starmer’s prospects don’t look particularly good.But the odds are swayed by the fact that there have been more Tory PMs than Labour during this period, and it is easier for Conservative backbenchers to get rid of a leader than it is for Labour backbenchers.

Going back further, the same broad rule applies.Of the nine PMs from Attlee to Thatcher, four of them became PM when a predecessor left office mid-term (Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home and James Callaghan).But prime ministers tended to be older then, and the PMs they were replacing (Winston Churchill, Eden, Macmillan and Harold Wilson) were for the most part standing down for health reasons, not for uselessness.By the way, if you are interested in this sort of thing, the Cowley book is excellent.It is a collection of essays, based on articles written for The House magazine, about findings from research by political academics.

That makes it sound like hard work, but it’s extremely readable, and funny.Kemi Badenoch has argued that allowing welfare spending to soar would be un-Christian.She made the comment at her press conference this morning when asked about a speech she gave to the Conservative Christian Fellowship this week where she linked Christian beliefs with welfare cuts.As the Telegraph reports, Badenoch said:St Paul, we read, in the first Epistle to Timothy proclaims that: ‘Anyone who does not provide for his own household … is worse than an unbeliever.’The Christian recognition that we all have duties … to ourselves, to our families and to the community we are part of.

Conservatives believe in making work pay, in rewarding risk, in ensuring effort matches reward.We also believe a welfare system should be a trampoline, not a trap – cushioning the fall, then propelling you back on your feet.That is not only economically sensible.It is morally right.At her press conference today, where she stressed the Tories’ commitment to cutting welfare, and claimed taxes were going up in the budget because Keir Starmer was unwilling to rein in welfare spending, Badenoch said:Not cutting benefits and allowing the welfare bill to spiral is not a Christian thing to do.

Leaving debt for the next generation, piling up liabilities, is not a Christian thing to do,Badenoch also said, if Labour got rid of the two-child benefit cap, a future Conservative government would restore it,When it was put to her that Dame Sarah Mullally, the incoming archbishop of Canterbury, is one of many bishops who have criticised the two-child benefit cap, and she was asked if she knew more about God than the archbishop, she replied:The comment was not about God,[I was talking about] leaving liabilities for the next generation,But it has been very interesting to see the Church of England stray into politics.

They used to say that the Church was the Tory party at prayer.Certainly in 2018 I often felt that it was the Labour party at prayer.But let’s be honest, the spending which is going on right now is off the scale, £100bn health and sickness benefits.I’m very happy to send the archbishop of Canterbury a briefing with the facts.If we go bankrupt because of the changes which Labour are making, increasing welfare spending, then there’s not going to be any money for any welfare for anybody at all.

We need to get a grip now.That is the Christian thing to do.It is the right thing to do.Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, has said that the UK could impose sanctions on those involved in the civil war in Sudan.In a statement to MPs, Cooper described horrifying scenes from the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and said the aftermath of massacres - including discoloured sand caused by pools of blood and piles of bodies – could be seen by satellite from space.

She urged both sides to agree to a lasting ceasefire to bring the conflict to an end.She said:Famine is spreading, cholera and preventable disease are rampant and in el-Fasher, following the advances by the RSF, horrifying scenes of atrocities with mass executions, starvation, and the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war.I’ve instructed my officials to bring forward potential sanctions relating to human rights violations and abuses in Sudan.As PA Media reports, in April 2024 the previous Conservative government sanctioned businesses that were supporting either the SAF or RSF.It froze the assets of any companies linked to either side.

The UK has already committed more than £125 million, which has helped more than 650,000 people,Cooper said the war needed to be put on the same footing by the international community as the war in Gaza,Nigel Farage has for many years been dogged by claims that when he was a pupil at Dulwich College, a private school in south London, he had a reputation for making racist and antisemitic comments,The investigative journalist Michael Crick covered these claims in some detail when he wrote a biography of Farage, but he decided that the evidence was inconclusive; some contempories said that Farage was racist at the time, and others didn’t,Today the Guardian has published the results of an investigation by Daniel Boffey, Mark Blacklock and Henry Dyer.

They have spoken to more than a dozen contempories of Farage at Dulwich college and they recount numerous incidents of deeply offensive behaviour.Most of them have spoken to the Guardian on the record.A Reform UK spokesperson told the Guardian:These allegations are entirely without foundation.The Guardian has produced no contemporaneous record or corroborating evidence to support these disputed recollections from nearly 50 years ago.Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, has said that Israel’s efforts to tackle settler violence in the West Bank are “completely insufficient, practically and legally”