Reform campaign for Farage’s Clacton seat was a ‘juggernaut’, say candidates

The Tory and Labour candidates who Nigel Farage beat to win his Westminster seat of Clacton have described a Reform campaign that felt like a “juggernaut”, as police began assessing claims of overspending by the Reform UK leader.The candidates spoke after a former aide alleged that Reform UK falsely reported election expenses in Clacton, where Farage won in last year’s general election. On Monday, Essex police said they were assessing a report of “alleged misreported expenditure by a political party” after a referral from the Metropolitan police.Richard Everett, a former Reform UK councillor and member of Farage’s campaign team, has reportedly submitted documents to police showing the party spent more than the £20,660 limit in the Essex constituency.Everett has claimed Reform failed to declare spending on leaflets, banners, utility bills and the refurbishment of a bar in its Clacton campaign office, according to the Daily Telegraph

Foreign states using AI videos to undermine support for Ukraine, says Yvette Cooper

Foreign countries are flooding social media with AI-manipulated videos to undermine western support for Ukraine, Yvette Cooper will warn on Tuesday.The UK foreign secretary will urge other countries to help Britain fight what she calls “information warfare”, as officials warn Russia is using forged documents and deepfake material to advance its geopolitical goals.The Foreign Office has previously warned that Russian agencies are operating a vast disinformation network known as Doppelgänger, which has spread false rumours about subjects including the health of the Princess of Wales and western financing of Israel.Cooper will say: “Across Europe we are witnessing an escalation in hybrid threats – from physical through to cyber – designed to weaken critical national infrastructure, undermine our interests and interfere in our democracies all for the advantage of malign foreign states.”The speech – which will mark 100 years of the Locarno treaties, signed after the first world war between the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Czechoslovakia – comes at one of the most sensitive moments in the Ukraine war

Tony Blair reportedly dropped from Trump’s Gaza ‘board of peace’ shortlist

Tony Blair will not occupy a key position on Donald Trump’s Gaza “peace council” after Arab and Muslim nations were reported to have objected to the involvement of the former UK prime minister.According to the Financial Times (FT), Blair has been quietly dropped from consideration for Trump’s “board of peace”, which Trump has said he would chair himself.It had previously been reported widely that Blair had been canvassing behind the scenes for a prominent role in Gaza’s interim administration, amid leaks of a plan drawn up in part by his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) with Trump’s son-in-law and informal envoy Jared Kushner.While Blair’s backers had pointed to his role in ending decades of violence in Northern Ireland, critics had pointed to his lacklustre record of achievements while serving as the representative of the so-called Quartet – the UN, EU, US and Russia – to help mediate Middle East peace.In the wider Arab world, Blair was also viewed with scepticism and hostility over his role in the disastrous US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003

‘Could do a better job than Keir Starmer’: who could replace the PM if he is forced out?

With Keir Starmer’s poll ratings getting worse, and the Labour party alarmed by the prospect of wipeout at next May’s local elections, there is much speculation at Westminster about whether he can last the course.The prime minister has no intention of standing aside for another candidate, saying he has defied his detractors before and would do so again. But with many on his own side fearing that he doesn’t have what it takes to turn things around, he may not have the chance.The jostling among those who may wish to replace him – or whose allies believe they’d do a better job – continues…Timing is everything in politics. When Downing Street unleashed an extraordinary bout of leadership speculation amid fears Starmer was vulnerable to a challenge after the budget, it was not Rayner they were worried about

For once, Nigel Farage is the dog that doesn’t bark | John Crace

The dog that didn’t bark in the night.You can normally set your watches by Reform. It’s a rare Monday morning in which Nigel Farage doesn’t pop up somewhere in central London to give a press conference.Even when he has nothing new to announce, he usually has no shame in saying something he’s said before many times. He likes the attention

UK will go further to stop ‘abusive’ Slapps lawsuits, Lammy says

David Lammy has said the UK will go further to tackle abusive and spurious lawsuits aimed at silencing whistleblowers and journalists, raising the prospect of further legislation next year.The deputy prime minister told campaigners and officials at the launch of the government’s anti-corruption strategy that he was determined to crack down on the practice known as Slapps – strategic lawsuits against public participation.Excessive legal threats have been used in several cases in an attempt to silence reporting on Russian oligarchs, as well those who tried to expose the Post Office Horizon scandal and allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed.The Ministry of Justice said the first priority would be to action the limited provisions in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which tackle Slapps that relate to economic crimes.It also said it was a “priority commitment” in the strategy to consider the future approach for comprehensively tackling all Slapps