Rees-Mogg, Gove and pyrotechnics: what to expect from Reform party conference

Reform UK’s party conference will last barely more than 30 hours this weekend, but its rivals fear the glitz and political noise are going to be hard to beat.“We’re the only party conference to have our own pyrotechnics budget,” says one Reform insider with pride.The party says more than 12,000 people are scheduled to attend across the Friday and Saturday, with hundreds of businesses – from Heathrow to TikTok and JCB – turning up to get a taste of the political atmosphere around the UK’s current poll leaders.In a sign of how the political landscape has shifted, with Nigel Farage’s party no longer on the fringes, two big-name former Tory cabinet ministers will also be in attendance: Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg.Gove, once an architect of David Cameron’s government and now the editor of the Spectator, is scheduled to interview Reform’s efficiency chief, Zia Yusuf

Wealth tax needed to help working people and avoid threat from Reform, says union chief

Rachel Reeves should bring in wealth taxes at the autumn budget to deliver the change promised by Labour at the election and battle the rising threat from Reform, the UK’s most senior union chief has said.Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), urged the chancellor to “stay the course” on her plans to invest in the country, adding that the government should not be afraid of adopting “a little bit” of economic leftwing populism.Ahead of the TUC’s annual gathering this weekend, he called Nigel Farage an “absolute political opportunist” who could be challenged by Labour demonstrating that it was genuinely on the side of working people, through better employment rights and a fairer tax system.In an interview with the Guardian, Nowak said: “It is clear that we need long-term fixes, and so the chancellor has to be prepared to look at tax. We think that there’s a public mood out there for a grown up conversation about what that means

Robert Jenrick says UK asylum seekers should be held in ‘rudimentary prisons’

Robert Jenrick has called for asylum seekers to be detained in “camps” with facilities like “rudimentary prisons”, in an apparent attempt to outflank Reform with his anti-immigration rhetoric.The shadow justice secretary told Tim Shipman at the Spectator of his hope for a “decade of net emigration” as Britain “now needs breathing space after this period of mad migration”.Jenrick said “there’s a lot to welcome” in Nigel Farage’s immigration plan but criticised Reform for its proposals on housing asylum seekers.“They should be detained in camps,” Jenrick said. “The facilities will need to be rudimentary prisons, not holiday camps

Rayner battling for political survival after referring herself to ethics adviser

Angela Rayner is battling for her political survival after she admitted underpaying stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat and referred herself to the ministerial ethics adviser after days of denials of wrongdoing.The deputy prime minister confirmed her tax arrangements after coming under intense pressure to be more transparent about her properties, but has been left with her reputation damaged and future hanging in the balance.Keir Starmer immediately threw his weight behind Rayner, but faced criticism after Downing Street refused to say when he had been told about her situation. Government sources suggested the ethics inquiry could be completed within days.The controversy comes as the prime minister faces a turbulent autumn, with tax rises expected to be announced in the 26 November budget, which will arrive against a difficult economic backdrop

Jeremy Corbyn to open unofficial inquiry into UK handling of Gaza war

Jeremy Corbyn will open a two-day public tribunal into alleged British complicity in Israeli war crimes in Gaza on Thursday, at which former diplomats, UN specialists and international law academics will examine the Foreign Office’s handling of the crisis.The tribunal is being jointly chaired by the former Labour leader and is the kind of political initiative that will be a thorn in Keir Starmer’s side as his party seeks to retain the backing of leftwing and Muslim voters at the next election.The tribunal, which will be livestreamed from London, has been framed to look at what has happened in Gaza over the past two years, Britain’s legal responsibilities, any evidence of British covert support for Israel, and whether the government’s actions match any legal obligations to prevent a genocide.A former Foreign Office whistleblower, Mark Smith, will give evidence, as well as the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, Francesca Albanese.Other witnesses will be a lawyer for the family of Jim Henderson, a World Food Kitchen aid worker killed on 1 April 2024; Prof Nick Maynard, an Oxford University surgeon who has been given a humanitarian award for his work in Gaza; and Palestinian journalists including Abubaker Abed and Yousef Alhelou

Farage a ‘Putin-loving, free speech impostor’ says Democrat before Reform head’s US speech – UK politics as it happened

Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House judiciary committee, says they do have free speech in the UK. He says Keir Starmer has not shut down GB News, even though Farage has a show on that station in which he criticises the government and calls for bans on peaceful protests.He says Farage is able to parrot “Putin’s absurd talking points” on TV. He goes on:For a man who fancies himself to some kind of a free speech martyr, Mr Farage seems most at home with the autocrats and dictators of the world who are crushing freedom on earth.He says Farage wants to get rid of the Online Safety Act