It is the latest in a string of arrests of sitting MPs and the latest blow to Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party, which has been hit by a string of sleaze allegations.
Tory MP for Wellingborough Peter Bone was suspended on Wednesday from the House of Commons for six weeks after bullying and sexual misconduct claims.
The broadcaster has been criticised for its coverage of the conflict, including its refusal to brand Hamas terrorists and its reporting of the explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza.
Executives said some changes would be made to “increase clarity and accuracy”.
Deborah Turness, head of BBC News and Current Affairs, told staff in an open message: “We are putting in place some additional safeguards around how we attribute and describe sources and information in our coverage of this war.”
The executive explained that the attribution of claims will be altered, with the person or party making the claims now coming before the claim itself, so “instead of ‘Hundreds killed, X claims’, we will start ‘X claims hundreds killed’.”
Ms Turness restated the BBC’s position that parties are not to be called terrorists without attribution, and said that the BBC had not banned the use of the word “militant”, but would no longer use it as the default when referring to Hamas.
Civilian deaths reporting to change
Another key change will be how the BBC reports on civilian deaths in future, in an effort to avoid being accused of bias from either side in the conflict.
Ms Turness wrote: “We also need to think carefully about how we talk about civilian deaths, and how the language we use may, unintentionally, give the impression we view some deaths as more important than others or treat people on either side differently.
“A tweet which said people ‘died’ in Gaza and ‘were killed’ in Israel has been widely used as an example of this. It’s important that we all think carefully about the language we use to avoid creating a false impression.”
The tweaks to the broadcaster’s style come after criticism of its Editorial Guidelines, which prevent journalists from branding Hamas terrorists.
The BBC and other broadcasters’ use of words like “militant” in place of “terrorist” has drawn criticism from figures including the Chief Rabbi and the Prime Minister.
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Wes Streeting has acknowledged people have been "upset and hurt" by Labour's initial reaction to the Israel-Hamas war.
The shadow health secretary told the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that people wanted his party to be "louder and clearer" about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.
There have been tensions in the Labour Party after leader Sir Keir Starmer appeared to suggest in an LBC interview that Israel had the right to cut off water and power to the besieged Gaza Strip following the deadly attack by Hamas on 7 October.
Asked if voters could be turned away from Labour, Mr Streeting said: "No, I think people have been upset and hurt and wanted us to be louder and clearer on the humanitarian crisis."
He went on to say Sir Keir "doesn't think it's ok cut off power and water" and he misspoke in the interview.
"It was never Keir's intention to give the impression that we support those measures," he said.
"In interviews you have a sustained line of questioning - he was answering a previous question and not that one."
In the interview with LBC's Nick Ferrari, Sir Keir was asked what a "proportionate" response would look like to the surprise Hamas attacks, which killed at least 1,400 people.
Starmer is under the spotlight over his party's stance on Gaza
Taking to the dispatch box at PMQs, Sir Keir Starmer could have been mistaken for a man having a good week.
In high spirits, galvanised by a double by-election win last Thursday, he leapt to his feet and quizzed the prime minister on mortgages and no-fault evictions.
What he failed to address was the story overshadowing all else and threatening Labour Party unity.
The Israel-Hamas War has seen Sir Keir in the spotlight. Anger over an interview on LBC (where he suggested Israel had a right to cut off supplies to Gaza, a position later clarified) has led to councillor resignations and calls for a repositioning from the party leadership on a ceasefire.
On Wednesday, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner sought to ease tensions in the parliamentary party by meeting Muslim MPs.
The meeting was described as "constructive".
One shadow cabinet minister told me that reports of dissent were "exaggerated" but there is genuine concern among some MPs I have spoken to that the party is losing Muslim voters.
Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting admitted that people have been "upset and hurt" by the LBC interview and "wanted us to be louder and clearer on the humanitarian crisis".
He said Sir Keir had been misinterpreted.
The Labour leader certainly has a delicate path to tread in the coming weeks.
He has fought hard to move his party on from the past and present a united front - unity though can unravel very quickly.
He said that responsibility "lies with Hamas" and that Israel "has the right to defend herself".
The presenter interjected, asking: "A siege is appropriate? Cutting off power, cutting off water?"
The Labour leader responded: "I think that Israel does have that right. It is an ongoing situation."
The comments, which he has since rowed back on, prompted resignations among Labour councillors and angered the party's MPs, even those on the frontbenches as shadow ministers.
Sir Keir sought to cool tensions by visiting a mosque on Sunday and holding a meeting with Muslim MPs today.
But while sources described the meeting as "constructive", Sir Keir did not back calls for a ceasefire, instead saying Labour supports "humanitarian pauses".
This position was repeated by Mr Streeting, who said UK politicians need to prioritise supporting Israel in getting hostages back from Gaza "and making sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again".
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'All Hamas militants are doomed' says Netanyahu
However, he said there is a "responsibility" to minimise the loss of civilian life and get humanitarian aid in to Gaza.
"That is why US secretary of state Antony Blinken, our allies in France and our government are right to call for a humanitarian pause to allow the safe flow of aid through," he said.
Asked what the difference was between a "humanitarian pause" and a "ceasefire", he said: "This is the difficulty with the concept of a ceasefire.
"We're dealing with a terrorist organisation in Hamas."
Asked if Israel has committed war crimes, as some MPs have suggested, Mr Streeting added: "I'm not qualified to make that judgement."
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A serving police officer who groomed over 200 girls online and asked his victims to take sexual images in their school uniforms has been jailed for life.
Lewis Edwards, 24, had smirked towards the family members of his victims, showing “no remorse” after posing as a 14-year-old boy on Snapchat to target young girls. He was eventually caught with more than 4,500 indecent images of children, who were aged between 10 and 16.
He had threatened his victims, telling them he would publish their images or harm their families if they did not comply with his demands.
His offending took place between November 2020 until his arrest in February 2023, while he had joined South Wales Police in January 2021.
All but one of the victims were abused by Edwards while he was a serving police officer, and he targeted one teenager 17 days after meeting her as part of his duties.
Investigators found that on 30 occasions, he was in contact with his victims during working hours.
Stating that he had gained “sadistic enjoyment” from the distress of his young victims, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke sentenced him to life with a minimum term of 12 years.
Members of the police’s online investigation team had executed a search warrant at the house Edwards shared with his mother and father in Bridgend, not far from South Wales police headquarters, in February 2023.
The prosecutor said: “The defendant was in his bedroom. Found next to him were two mobile phones. Police began the mammoth task of investigating vast quantities of material on the electronic devices they were able to access.
“What it revealed was online interaction between the defendant and female children. He would request girls to engage in various sexual activities.”
In one recording played to the court, Edwards can be heard masturbating as he encourages his 12-year-old victim to do the same.
The majority of his offending took place while he was a police officer with South Wales Police
(Instagram)
He also told a victim that other girls had killed themselves and he did not care if she did.
The court heard some girls were so traumatised by what Edwards did to them that they started self-harming, and another slept with a hammer under her pillow.
On several occasions, Edwards told victims to write “Snapgod” on their bodies. Snapgod is a distributor of child sexual abuse material from whom Edwards had bought images using bitcoin.
Edwards also threatened to bomb the house of one of his victims and shoot her parents if she stopped sending him images, the court was told.
Edwards pleaded guilty to 161 offences, including blackmail, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity at Cardiff Crown Court (Barry Batchelor/PA)
(PA Archive)
Several victims said their trust of the police has been shattered.
One mother said: “We cannot get our head around the fact that somebody who was there to protect you could do this.
“The smirk he gave us in court shows that he has no remorse. I do not think he can or will have any understanding or care how he has impacted his victims.
“Lewis Edwards, I want you to know that as a family we will never forgive you and we feel nothing for you but hate.”
Another mother said: “As parents you will do anything to protect your child and when we think about what she went through during that period, it really does break our hearts.”
During the prosecution’s opening, Mr Griffiths had to take a break having become emotional reading a statement from the mother of one of Edwards’s victims.
One victim had confessed to her father that she had sent Edwards an indecent image via Snapchat and he was asking for more and threatening to share it if she did not comply.
“Her father took her phone and messaged the individual, saying ‘This is her Dad stop now what you’re doing is illegal’,” Mr Griffiths said.
“Their response was ‘Lol’ – ‘laugh out loud’. He replied with a photograph of himself with the caption ‘Just in case you think I’m joking I’m her Dad stop now’.
“From there he sensed the individual seemed to panic. They begged ‘Please don’t say anything I won’t share then. I won’t do anything’.
“From the panic in the tone he assumed he was speaking with a child. He suspended her Snapchat account and reported the episode to Snapchat.”
Mr Griffiths said the girl’s parents reported the incident to the police and they received advice about online safety.
Sentencing him to life, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told Cardiff Crown Court: “These are extremely serious offences and the defendant is a prolific offender.
“He has caused significant harm to the victims, their parents, their siblings and their wider families.
“It is clear that he not only gained sexual gratification but he also enjoyed the power he had over the young girls.”
She described his behaviour as “cruel and sadistic”, adding that she found he was dangerous and posed a high risk of danger to children.
Sir Keir has faced criticism since seeming to say Israel had the "right" to cut off water and energy to Gaza.
He later clarified his position, saying he meant only that the country had a right to self-defence.
At least 19 Labour councillors have already quit the party over the issue, including in Cambridge, Nottinghamshire, Gloucester, while some MPs have also been critical about the position the leadership has taken.
In Oxford, Labour has lost its majority on the council, after eight councillors resigned from the party.
On Wednesday, a letter signed by more than 150 Muslim Labour councillors representing areas including Birmingham, Leicester and Glasgow, called on the party's leadership to back an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to protect civilians and allow access to humanitarian aid.
However, last week Sir Keir refused to support the move, instead saying Israel had the right to defend itself.
Asked if there should be a ceasefire, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones told the BBC "of course we want to get to a position where the fighting stops".
However, he added: "The quickest route to peace would be for Hamas to release those hostages and to stop attacking Israel."
Sources within the party have confirmed to the BBC that Sir Keir is set to meet some of his own Muslim MPs later to discuss the party's position on Gaza.
In an interview with LBC on 11 October, Sir Keir was asked whether it was "appropriate" for Israel to cut off the supply of power and water to Gaza.
"I think that Israel does have that right," he said. "Obviously everything should be done within international law, but I don't want to step away from the core principles that Israel has a right to defend herself."
A spokesman for the Labour leader later said he had only meant to say Israel had a general right to self-defence.
However, Oxford councillor Imogen Thomas - who quit the Labour Party last week - said it was "reprehensible" that Sir Keir was "ambiguous" on the right to water supply in Gaza and took more than a week to clarify his comments.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she wanted to see the Labour leader "standing up unequivocally against war crimes and for humanity".
Comments from Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also appear to be at odds with the position of Sir Keir.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir has faced criticism from an Islamic centre in Cardiff which accused him of "gravely" misrepresenting a meeting with Muslim leaders there over the weekend.
Posting about the visit on X, the Labour leader said he had "repeated our calls for all hostages to be released, more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, for the water and power to be switched back on, and a renewed focus on the two state solution".
However, the South Wales Islamic Centre expressed "dismay" at the statement and said Sir Keir had "gravely misrepresented our congregants and the nature of the visit".
"There was a robust and frank conversation which reflected the sentiments Muslim communities are feeling at this time," the centre added.
Asked about the statement, shadow minister Mr Jones told the BBC it was right for Sir Keir to meet with Muslim and Jewish communities to "listen to their concerns".
He added that the Labour leader had "reaffirmed" party policy off the back of the visit.
Keir Starmer will hold a “routine meeting” with Labour MPs to discuss the party’s position on the situation in Israel and Gaza, a shadow minister has confirmed.
It follows reports that the Labour leader and his deputy Angela Rayner will meet Muslim MPs and peers after prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.
Starmer attracted criticism last week from the Labour Muslim Network, among others, when, asked in an interview with LBC about Israel cutting off water and electricity, he said “Israel does have that right” while adding that “obviously everything should be done within international law”.
The shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, asked about suggestions of a meeting on Times Radio, said:
It is perfectly normal for MPs – we all represent different constituencies around the country – to want to speak to the leader of our party.
I’m sure it is the same in other political parties where there are issues that constituents are raising with us. And the meeting this afternoon is another example of that.
And understandably, this is a very sensitive and emotive issue, both for people who have connections and relatives to the Palestinian people as well as the Israeli people, and it is perfectly normal for Keir to sit down and listen to colleagues in the parliamentary party and indeed our councillors and other members from across the country.
So, a routine meeting and this is another example of that.
Welcome to today’s liveblog. I’m Nicola Slawson and I’m covering for Andrew Sparrow today. Do drop me a line if you have any questions or comments. I’m on nicola.slawson@theguardian.com or @Nicola_Slawson on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.
Filters BETA
Migrants moved out of hotels who then seek council help for homelessness could end up in temporary accommodation - including hotels – the organisation representing local authorities has warned, PA News reports.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said the number of asylum seekers presenting as homeless is likely to “dramatically increase” amid government efforts to clear the backlog in the asylum system.
The warning comes after it was announced that the number of hotels used to house migrants will be cut by 50 over the next three months.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told MPs in Parliament on Tuesday that the process of “exiting” the first tranche of accommodation would begin in the coming days, adding that the plans are possible because of “the progress we’ve made to stop the boats”.
The LGA said councils “share the government’s ambitions to end hotel use for asylum seekers” but added that greater demand combined with an “acute” housing shortage means it will be “extremely challenging” for those leaving Home Office-funded accommodation to find an affordable, long-term place to stay.
In a statement, the association’s chairman Shaun Davies said:
Hotel closures have a direct impact on councils and local government wants to play an active role in working with government on the decisions on which hotels to close. We also need advance engagement on what other alternatives, including large sites, will be opened up both for those leaving hotels and for ongoing new arrivals.
Davies added that councils are “also becoming increasingly concerned over the numbers of asylum seekers presenting as homeless which is likely to dramatically increase when Home Office accommodation is withdrawn as a result of the current clearance of the asylum backlog”.
He called for a “joint and funded approach nationally, regionally and locally to manage the move on from asylum accommodation and avoid risks of destitution and street homelessness throughout the winter”.
Davies told the BBC:
The deep irony is that it might be the same hotels that the government are looking to close down for their purposes are the very same hotels that local authorities will have to stand up and fund for temporary accommodation.
The Refugee Council has also warned that cutting the number of hotels could be a factor in what it described as a developing “homelessness crisis” among migrants.
The environment secretary has suggested the damage done by Storm Babet was harder to predict because the rain came in from the east.
Thérèse Coffey’s remarks to the Commons environment committee prompted the Lib Dems to urge her to “get a grip” and “stop blaming everyone else for her failings”.
At least seven people are thought to have died during Storm Babet, with hundreds of people left homeless and about 1,250 properties in England flooded, according to the Environment Agency.
Coffey told MPs on Tuesday:
One of the things that happened particularly with Storm Babet is that we are very good, with the Met Office and the Environment Agency’s flood forecasting [centre], at predicting weather normally because most of our rain tends to come in from the west. We’ve got that pretty much down to a fine art.
This was rain coming from the other way and we don’t have quite as much experience on that. Therefore, our accuracy of predicting where such heavy rain would fall was not to the same degree as if it had been.
So the Environment Agency had moved assets from parts of the country more towards Yorkshire and the north-east and that way. But I’m conscious that there were still some places that felt they could have done with some more pumps.
The environment secretary, who visited affected residents in Retford, Nottinghamshire, on Monday, said £5.2bn had been allocated to protect homes and businesses from flooding between 2021 and 2017.
But she acknowledged it looked as if her department “may not be hitting” its target of protecting 336,000 properties by 2027.
Read the full story here:
The UK government has said it does not agree with the assessment of the UN secretary general, António Guterres, that there have been “clear violations of international humanitarian law” by Israel in Gaza, where more than 5,700 civilians are reported dead since 7 October.
Minister Robert Jenrick told Sky News:
We don’t agree with that. If he is referring to what has happened over the course of the last two weeks, we don’t believe Israel has broken international law. There is a clear right in international law for a nation to defend itself, and that is what Israel is doing.
We do want to see Israel, wherever practical – and it is immensely difficult to do – to surgically degrade and eradicate Hamas. That is what they are trying to do and we obviously hope they succeed because the world will be a better place … it will be a blessing if we can rid the world of Hamas.
The Israeli military has ordered the civilian population to evacuate south below the Wadi Gaza, and Israel has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip. It has continued to bombard the southern area of Gaza where it has told civilians to relocate to.
You can follow our liveblog on the Israel-Hamas war here:
Keir Starmer has been accused of having “gravely misrepresented” a meeting with Muslim leaders in Wales, amid anger among some in Labour over his remarks on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Labour leader visited the South Wales Islamic Centre in Cardiff on Sunday. In a statement on Tuesday evening, the centre apologised “for the hurt and confusion” caused by hosting Starmer, and said the intention was to highlight the suffering of people in Palestine.
I was grateful to hear from the Muslim community of the South Wales Islamic Centre. I repeated our calls for all hostages to be released, more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, for the water and power to be switched back on, and a renewed focus on a two-state solution.
In response, the South Wales Islamic Centre said:
We wish to stress Keir Starmer’s social media post and images gravely misrepresented our congregants and the nature of the visit.
We affirm, unequivocally, the need for a free Palestine. We implore all those with political authority to uphold international law, and the end to the occupation of Palestine.
The statement added:
There was a robust and frank conversation which reflected the sentiments Muslim communities are feeling at this time. Members of the community directly challenged Keir on his statements made on the Israeli government’s right to cut food, electricity and water to Gaza, warranting war crimes as well as his failure to call for an immediate ceasefire.
It comes after the Labour leader was forced to clarify remarks he made about Israel’s decision to limit supplies to Gaza.
Read the full story here:
Robert Jenrick said some people had been seen “glorifying” terror activities and “praising Hamas”.
The Home Office minister said he could not get into “specific cases” of visa-holders whose conduct is being reviewed, saying there was a “legal process that must be followed properly”.
Jenrick told Times Radio:
We’ve all seen instances of people glorifying, valorising terrorist activities - we’ve seen people holding deeply antisemitic banners, being interviewed on the media and praising Hamas.
That is disgusting behaviour. I don’t want to see that on our streets. And if that person is just a visitor to our country, they should not be doing that.
I can’t look a British Jewish person in the eye as immigration minister and say I’ve allowed somebody to remain at our pleasure in this country, who is conducting themselves in that manner - that is wrong.
If you come to this country, you abide by British values.
The Immigration minister Robert Jenrick appeared to suggest that he thought UK visa-holders should be expelled for inciting antisemitism even if their conduct falls “below the criminal standard”.
It comes after he told the commons on Tuesday that the process of revoking visas and expelling foreign nationals who spread “hate and division” has already begun “in a small number of cases”.
The Conservative minister, asked on Times Radio whether someone waving a Palestinian flag at a demonstration could see their visa revoked, said:
No, we believe in freedom of speech.
But I disagree with your premise that... somebody who is here as a visitor to the UK has the right to be antisemitic, to threaten British communities and can stay unless that is of criminal standard.
I think there is conduct which is below the criminal standard but which is wrong, would be accepted as wrong by most reasonable people.
If those people are not British citizens, they are just visitors to our country enjoying the privileges of living here, being among fellow British people, then I’m afraid their visas will be revoked and they should leave the country.
Keir Starmer will hold a “routine meeting” with Labour MPs to discuss the party’s position on the situation in Israel and Gaza, a shadow minister has confirmed.
It follows reports that the Labour leader and his deputy Angela Rayner will meet Muslim MPs and peers after prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.
Starmer attracted criticism last week from the Labour Muslim Network, among others, when, asked in an interview with LBC about Israel cutting off water and electricity, he said “Israel does have that right” while adding that “obviously everything should be done within international law”.
The shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, asked about suggestions of a meeting on Times Radio, said:
It is perfectly normal for MPs – we all represent different constituencies around the country – to want to speak to the leader of our party.
I’m sure it is the same in other political parties where there are issues that constituents are raising with us. And the meeting this afternoon is another example of that.
And understandably, this is a very sensitive and emotive issue, both for people who have connections and relatives to the Palestinian people as well as the Israeli people, and it is perfectly normal for Keir to sit down and listen to colleagues in the parliamentary party and indeed our councillors and other members from across the country.
So, a routine meeting and this is another example of that.
Welcome to today’s liveblog. I’m Nicola Slawson and I’m covering for Andrew Sparrow today. Do drop me a line if you have any questions or comments. I’m on nicola.slawson@theguardian.com or @Nicola_Slawson on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.
