Babak Belurs

Rabu, 26 Juni 2024

Starmer distances himself from David Tennant over Badenoch comments - The Guardian

Keir Starmer has distanced himself from the actor David Tennant after he said Kemi Badenoch should “shut up”.

Tennant told an awards ceremony last week he would like to live in a world where Badenoch, the equalities minister and likely Conservative leadership contender, “doesn’t exist any more”.

Badenoch has come under fire from transgender rights activists over herviews on sex and gender.

Asked about Tennant’s comments, Starmer said he “wouldn’t have engaged” in the discussion in the same way.

“In politics, as in life, it’s important that we are able to robustly disagree with others – obviously that happens a lot in the general election campaign,” the Labour leader told reporters on a visit to a GP surgery near Nottingham. “But we should do it with respect for everybody involved in that robust discussion.

“I wouldn’t have engaged in the way that he did. I think it’s right that we have these robust discussions, but we must do it respectfully.”

Badenoch hit back at Tennant on X saying: “I will not shut up. I will not be silenced by men who prioritise applause from Stonewall over the safety of women and girls.

“A rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only black woman in government by calling publicly for my existence to end.”

Rishi Sunak has also waded into the row, posting on X: “If you’re calling for women to shut up and wishing they didn’t exist, you are the problem.”

Tennant was speaking at the British LGBT Awards, where he won a prize for being a “celebrity ally”. In his acceptance speech he said: “If I’m honest I’m a little depressed by the fact that acknowledging that everyone has the right to be who they want to be and live their life how they want to live it as long as they’re not hurting anyone else should merit any kind of special award or special mention, because it’s common sense, isn’t it?”

He continued: “However, until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist any more – I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up – whilst we do live in this world, I am honoured to receive this.”

Starmer was also pressed on the Westminster gambling scandal, and said that the Labour candidate who had been implicated in it was a “materially different” case.

Kevin Craig, the Labour candidate for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, was suspended by the party on Tuesday after he was put under investigation by the Gambling Commission. Craig is understood to have bet against himself winning in the constituency.

“It’s materially different to the Tories being investigated,” Starmer said. “It’s one thing using insider information about the election, it’s different to bet against yourself.”

Craig said in a statement he had made a “huge mistake” and a “stupid error of judgment”.

The gambling watchdog launched an investigation two weeks ago when the Guardian revealed that Craig Williams, a Tory candidate who was Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide, bet on a July election three days before it was announced.

This week Conservative party disowned two of its candidates, one of whom was Williams, in an attempt to draw a line under the row. Two senior Conservative officials who are also being investigated have taken a leave of absence from the party’s HQ.

“I don’t think that we should be lured into thinking this is a problem with the rules, it’s a problem with politicians,” Starmer said. “The reason I’m resistant to go down the road of changing the rules is a number of Conservatives got caught with their fingers in the till. Instead of saying you shouldn’t put your fingers in the till, they want to have an argument about the rules.”

The Labour leader added he had never personally bet on politics and “only bet on the horses”.

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2024-06-26 23:19:00Z
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Six key takeaways from the last TV leadership debate - BBC.com

Six key takeaways from Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer's final TV debate before the election

British opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak take part in BBC's Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham

The gloves were off as Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer went head-to-head in the final TV debate of the election between the leaders.

With just over a week to go before 4 July polling day, this was an opportunity for prime minister Rishi Sunak's to make an impact on the polls, with the Conservative Party trailing Labour by 20 points.

Here are some of the best verbal tussles from the 75 minutes of the BBC's debate.

Attack, attack, attack

Mr Sunak learnt from his previous debate appearances and went on the attack from the get-go.

He repeatedly interrupted the Labour leader to dominate some early sections of the debate, notably on immigration.

The prime minister also turned interrogator, demanding to know Labour's plan to deal with small boats and insisting Sir Keir was "not being straight with people".

The Labour leader tried to rise above the hectoring, sighing and giving exasperated responses, but his frustration was evident.

Pointing out that immigration numbers "have gone through the roof" under Mr Sunak's premiership, Sir Keir also talked about prosecuting criminal gangs and terrorists as the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Sir Keir got the first applause of the night for his own comeback when Mr Sunak again interrupted, suggesting "if you listened to people in the audience, across the country, you might not be so out of touch."

Protesters disrupt the start of the debate

As the debate started, shouts could be heard in the background throughout the first 20 minutes or so of the debate - and a few loud bangs as well.

This was from a group of pro-Palestinian protesters standing outside Nottingham Trent University.

Debate chair Mishal Husain acknowledged the disruption part-way through, flagging that protest is a valid part of UK democracy.

Taxing times for the leaders

There had been criticism of Sir Keir's performance during the first debate for failing to shut down Mr Sunak's attacks on taxes.

The time, Mr Sunak had a new attack line, claiming a Labour shadow minister had said that public spending could reach hundreds of billions of pounds on green energy, leading to higher taxes.

Mr Sunak was also punchy over a string of council bankruptcies, including in Labour-run Nottingham, where the debate was being held, claiming they were a "snapshot" of what would happen under a Labour government.

Despite Labour committing to keep the pensions triple lock (which means the state pension is increased by whichever is highest of average earnings growth, inflation, or 2.5%), Mr Sunak claimed the party wanted to introduce a "retirement tax".

Sir Keir hit back, branding that "a falsehood" and adding: "He has raised tax 26 times - nobody has raised more tax than this Prime Minister."

Don't surrender...

Mr Sunak ended his response to many questions with a plea to voters not to "surrender" to Labour - whether on borders, finances or council taxes.

But Sir Keir was quick to jump on how Mr Sunak handled the election bets saga, which he said showed the PM had failed to "lead from the front" on standards in politics more generally, and also raised Mr Sunak's Partygate police fine.

Even the audience got personal

The two leaders were more frank with each other than ever during this debate.

Even audience members didn't pull their punches, with one accusing Mr Sunak of being "a pretty mediocre prime minister" before rounding on Sir Keir and claiming his "strings are being pulled" by senior Labour members.

"Are you two really the best we've got to be the next prime minister of our great country?" he asked, to loud applause.

Notably, although Sir Keir and Mr Sunak both shook Ms Husain's hand at the end of the debate, they appeared to avoid doing the same to each other.

What does it mean to be a woman?

There was a question from the audience on women's rights and trans rights in single sex spaces.

Mr Sunak was quick to assert his belief that protecting women's spaces was vital.

Sir Keir jabbed at Mr Sunak for a lack of compassion, saying he had joked about trans issues in front of grieving mother of Brianna Ghey, a trans teenager who was murdered.

He urged the PM to "stop always trying to divide everybody" by using human beings as a "political football" to loud whoops of approval from some in the crowd.

A graphic which reads 'more on general election 2024'

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2024-06-26 23:00:04Z
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Failures 'across multiple agencies' contributed to murder of Zara Aleena - Sky News

Failures "across multiple agencies" contributed to the murder of Zara Aleena, an inquest has found.

The 35-year-old law graduate was killed as she walked home from a night out in east London.

Her killer Jordan McSweeney was freed from prison nine days before he attacked Ms Aleena as she walked home in Ilford on 26 June 2022.

Ms Aleena died in hospital from a blunt force head injury and neck compression, the jury said.

On Wednesday, it found "Zara's death was contributed to by the failure of multiple state agencies to act in accordance to policies and procedures - to share intelligence, accurately assess risk of serious harm, [and] act and plan in response to the risk in a sufficient, timely and coordinated way".

There were "significant failures to appropriately assess risk" by the prison and probation service, with McSweeney not being rated high risk.

It added there was "failure to define, understand and execute roles and responsibilities across multiple agencies to manage the offender effectively".

"Attempts [by the Metropolitan Police] to arrest the offender post-recall were impeded by a number of factors, including inaccurate data on the recall and a lack of professional curiosity and follow-ups on Saturday 25 June," the jury said.

Ms Aleena's aunt Farah Naz said in a statement: "Today is a difficult day for my family. It marks the two-year anniversary of the brutal murder of our precious Zara, coinciding with the conclusion of the inquest into her death and the jury's final verdict.

"We welcome the jury's conclusions under the coroner's guidance. The inquest has highlighted numerous devastating and unnecessary failings and mistakes made within and by our under-resourced justice system."

McSweeney was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 38 years at the Old Bailey in December 2022 after admitting Ms Aleena's murder and sexual assault.

In November 2023, he won a Court of Appeal bid to reduce the minimum term of his life sentence to 33 years.

Area coroner Nadia Persaud had asked jurors to consider whether any failings by the prison and probation services or Metropolitan Police contributed to Ms Aleena's death.

Delays in recall to prison

Police were unable to make contact with McSweeney after he was released on licence on 17 June 2022, but probation waited five days before initiating his recall to prison.

He missed his probation appointment on the day he was let out, with his mother telling staff he had passed out drunk at her house. Although it was rescheduled twice, McSweeney did not attend either appointment and his mother said she did not know where he was.

Despite the lack of contact, his recall was not initiated until 22 June and the recall report was signed on 24 June 2022.

Police were given powers to arrest McSweeney at 4.10pm the same day. In the early hours of 26 June McSweeney murdered Ms Aleena.

Probation officer: McSweeney should have been graded high risk

His recently qualified probation officer Austin Uwaifo said McSweeney should have been graded high risk and, if he had been, he would have pushed for him to have been recalled to prison earlier.

Mr Uwaifo said: "At the time, the thinking was that because he came out on the Friday, my thinking was to give him the opportunity to return - possibly he came out and decided to, for whatever reason, decided to go out and get drunk."

Mr Uwaifo said the probation office was not staffed over the weekend but he would have requested a faster out-of-hours emergency recall if McSweeney had been graded high risk.

Initial inquiries closed prematurely

The police officer who actioned McSweeney's recall said initial inquiries into his whereabouts were closed prematurely and more checks should have been carried out.

Metropolitan Police operations sergeant Ian Batten said he did not foresee McSweeney being a risk to the public after receiving a recall to prison notice for him on 24 June 2022.

Mr Batten also said he did not know initial inquiries into McSweeney's whereabouts were closed before the end of his shift.

Chief probation officer Kim Thornden-Edwards said: "We have taken significant steps to address the failings previously identified since 2022, including mandatory training to improve risk assessments and implementing new processes to ensure the swift recall of offenders, and will look at any further action now required."

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2024-06-26 17:26:15Z
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Six key takeaways from the last TV leadership debate - BBC.com