Reform UK revokes membership of council leader accused of racism

Nigel Farage has revoked the party membership of a Reform UK council leader accused of racially abusing Sadiq Khan, David Lammy and other public figures online.Ian Cooper, the leader of Staffordshire county council, allegedly called the London mayor a “narcissistic Pakistani” and said migrants were “intent on colonising the UK, destroying all that has gone before”.In a post this year attacking Lammy, the justice secretary, Cooper allegedly wrote: “No foreign national or first generation migrant should be allowed to sit in parliament.”He also allegedly abused the British-born lawyer and women’s rights activist Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, calling her “Dr Shaga Bing-Bong” and saying it was “time she F’d off back to Nigeria. She’d feel more at home there

Former Dulwich pupil says Farage told him: ‘That’s the way back to Africa’

A former Dulwich college pupil who claims a teenage Nigel Farage told him “that’s the way back to Africa” has said he felt compelled to speak out after the Reform leader’s attempt at “denying or dismissing” the hurt of his alleged targets.Yinka Bankole, who claims he had just started at the school when a 17-year-old Farage singled him out for abuse, said he had decided to tell his story in full after watching the Reform leader’s press conference on Thursday.Farage told reporters that he had never been racist or antisemitic with “malice”. Instead, he launched a tirade aimed at the BBC and ITV for questioning him about an ongoing Guardian investigation into allegations of past antisemitism and racism.Citing television shows including Are You Being Served? and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, Farage accused the BBC, which he suggested he would boycott, of “double standards and hypocrisy”, and claimed ITV had a case to answer for airing the comedian Bernard Manning in the 1970s

How Farage’s response to racism claims is straight out of Trump’s populist playbook

When Nigel Farage angrily denounced the BBC and insulted one of its presenters for raising questions about his alleged schoolboy racism, those who have been studying the tactics of the right noted that his behaviour felt familiar.“Is it out of the Trump playbook? I think that’s exactly what’s going on,” said Steven Barnett, a professor of communications at the University of Westminster. “This is becoming his new modus operandi, turning defence into attack. It’s exactly the tactics White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, uses. There are a lot of journalists in this country who just aren’t used to it

Labour announces plans to lift 550,000 children out of poverty – as it happened

We’ll end our live coverage now. Keir Starmer’s government has launched its full child poverty action plan – the heart of which is the lifting of the two-child benefits cap announced in the budget last week.Under Labour, families will be able to access welfare payments for more than two children from April. The previous policy, brought in by the Tories in 2017 to teach low-income parents that “children cost money”, had plunged more than 1.7 million children under the poverty line – affecting nearly one in nine

Nigel Farage’s shifting answers on school-days racism claims – a timeline

Nigel Farage’s response to allegations of teenage racism during his time at Dulwich college have ranged from vehement at times and rather more nuanced at others.Here is what he has said:After the Channel 4 reporter Michael Crick revealed a June 1981 letter written by a teacher about Farage during his time in Dulwich referring to him as “racist” and “fascist” or “neo-fascist”, Crick tracked down Farage.Farage said: “Of course I said some ridiculous things that upset them.” Crick asked him if these were “racist things”. Farage replied: “Not necessarily racist things

UK-EU youth mobility scheme could let tens of thousands live and work abroad

Tens of thousands of young British and European citizens would be given the right to live and work in each other’s countries under plans for a scheme that ministers are aiming to finalise within the next year.Ministers want to secure a youth mobility scheme with the EU by the end of 2026, as part of a broader reset of Britain’s relationship with Europe six years after leaving the bloc.Labour strategists believe there is a growing political benefit to ministers stepping up their criticism of Brexit and arguing more openly for a closer relationship with Europe.In a speech on Monday, Keir Starmer attacked the “wild promises” made by Brexit campaigners and said the UK was “still dealing with the consequences today, in our economy, and in trust”.“The idea that leaving the EU was the answer to all our cares and concerns has clearly been proved wrong,” he said, though he stressed that he would “always respect” the outcome of the referendum