Reform will face down any “progressive outrage” from protesters opposing the party’s plans for mass deportations, the party’s home affairs spokesperson has said when asked whether the party was prepared for US-style standoffs.

Zia Yusuf, speaking at a press conference in Dover where he joined Nigel Farage to unveil a new draconian immigration policy, which has been denied that his plans for a Deportation Command were the same as Donald Trump’s ICE but warned “we will never flinch” in the face of unrest.

He suggested that there would not be similar violence as has been seen on the streets of Minnesota where ICE agents have clashed with and killed protesters, because “policing is done by consent” in the UK.

However, asked about sanctuary cities such as Cardiff and Sheffield which protect asylum seekers from deportation in the UK, Mr Yusuf suggested that he would be prepared to confront protesters and authorities there.

Responding to a question from The Independent, he said: “If your question is, ‘do we have the resolve to stand up to progressive outrage against perfectly different enforcement of the law in this country?’ Then the answer is, we will never flinch.”

Under a Reform government, the party would set up the unit to “track down, detain and deport” people in the country illegally, aiming for up to 288,000 people each year.

He said: “So you know this notion that we’re going to have the same issues that come sharply into focus internationally as a result of Trump’s Ice programme – it’s just not true, we would not expect UK Deportation Command to carry weapons. It’s not going to be the case.

“But I also want to be clear that if you’re in this country illegally, they will detect you and they will detain you and they’ll deport you.”

He added: “If your question is: are we going to have the kind of situation that we saw in Minnesota in Britain as a result of our deportation programme? No.”

The plans have been met with fury, with charities warning they will tear families apart.

Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the Work Rights Centre, criticised Reform’s deportation plans, adding that retrospectively stripping people of their settled status in the UK would be “callous” and would “actively hurt our economy and public services”.

Speaking about Reform’s deportation proposals, she said: “This is a sadistic vision of UK families and communities being ripped apart, money being wasted, and the government turning against its own people.

“These are proposals designed purely to grab headlines and stoke anger. They are cruel, economically self-defeating, and offer no solutions to the real problems facing people in Britain: poverty and exploitative work.”

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson had said Reform’s “Trump-inspired plans for an ICE-style force will only bring chaos and disorder to Britain’s streets, not the order and control our immigration system needs”.

Amnesty International UK also warned the UK does not “need or want” a British version of ICE and such proposals to mirror the US “risk unleashing a system built on fear, aggressive raids and discrimination, where enforcement operates with sweeping powers and little accountability.”

In Dover on Monday, Mr Yusuf said the UK is being “invaded” by migrants as he pitched Reform’s mass deportation programme as the biggest in UK history.

The party has also said it will impose “visa freezes” on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria if the countries refuse to take back migrants with no legal right to stay in Britain.

Reform has said it would expect to deport more than 600,000 in its first term in government.

Defending his choice of language, Mr Yusuf told a press conference in Dover: “I know many in the establishment gasp at that word.

“They may well clutch their pearls in the television studios, but the dictionary definition of invasion is an incursion by a large number of people in an unwanted way.

“Make no mistake, as home secretary I will end and indeed reverse this invasion, because the patience of the British people is now exhausted.”

Mr Yusuf also said the rights of British citizens are being placed “beneath those of criminals” because of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The party has pledged to leave the treaty.

Mr Yusuf listed what he said were examples of judges blocking the deportation of illegal migrants who had committed crimes.

“How many more people must die at the hands of those who should never have been in our country in the first place?” he said.

“How many more victims’ families must be devastated in this way when their rights are placed beneath those of criminals?

“The answer is none. Vote Reform. We will leave the ECHR and end this madness.”

Reacting to the speech, shadow home secretary Chris Phlip said Mr Yusuf has “nothing new to offer beyond copying and pasting Conservative plans”.

The hidden Manchester bar Project Halcyon was named one of the UK’s top 50

A secret Manchester bar has quietly closed its doors after confirming it has poured its last cocktail. The team behind Project Halcyon announced the news via social media earlier this month.

The hidden speakeasy-style bar was created by Zymurgorium Distillery, a craft gin distillery owned by Aaron Darke in early 2020. After the pandemic, in 2022, they re-opened the concept at Department Bonded Warehouse, the refurbished 1800s red brick building on the Old Granada Studios site, beneath the original cobbles of the Coronation Street set.

Featuring a seasonal cocktail menu, using craft spirits and liqueurs actually produced on the site of the distillery, and a dedicated absinthe bar, it became known as one of Manchester best hidden drinking spots. It was previously named one of the UK’s top bars alongside a number of esteemed city centre venues.

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Within the site, a series of passageways leads to the bar, and the dedicated absinthe room called the snug, an in-house distillery and laboratory where they create all of their spirits, liqueurs, tinctures, ferments, cordials, syrups and shrubs.

However in a post shared on Instagram, the team said it was with ‘sincere regret’ that they had closed their doors. The post read: “Project Halcyon has poured its last cocktail.

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“It was with sincere regret that due to unexpected challenges at the ownership level we must close our doors for the foreseeable. Though we say goodbye, the memories live on. Thank you to everyone who shared in our craft, our community, and our story.”

The post prompted a number of comments from customers that had been to the venue over the years. “Wow you made this place absolutely incredible and really excelled the drinks better than ever before,” wrote one person.

Another added: “Manchester lost one of its finest! Had the pleasure of working with a few of these guys across the years and can’t wait to see what they do next.” And a third wrote: “Sorry to hear this, we loved you offer. I loved the banana martini you did too!”

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However, in the comments of the post some claimed that staff members have not been paid. The Instagram account, which is run by the bar team, responded directly in the comments.

They wrote: “We sincerely hope that anyone who may be owned by the owners of Project Halcyon – past and present team included – receives what they are owed. We are not deleting comments and have no interest in doing so.

“We also cannot control how Instagram manages comment threads. This page is run by the team, not the owners.”

Responding to the claim about staff payment, owner Aaron Darke told the Manchester Evening News: “Currently at the moment it’s with a restructuring advisement team and they are looking at what the next steps are to be taken.”

David Moyes, meanwhile, takes on his former employers, seeking to consolidate their place in the top half. The Toffees are ninth in the league and could move level on points with seventh-placed Brentford with a win here. Keep up to date with all the latest with our live blog below.

Former head of neurosurgery at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Sam Eljamel, is believed to have harmed more than 200 patients, with some said to have had life-changing injuries.

Patients of disgraced brain surgeon Sam Eljamel were summoned to crunch talks with health chiefs last night – days after calling for one’s resignation at a hospital protest. The former head of neurosurgery at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee is believed to have harmed more than 200 patients, with some said to have had life-changing injuries.

He was suspended in 2013, resigned from the health board the following year and removed from the medical register in 2015, but returned to his native Libya while a public inquiry into his work in the UK continues.

Scots harmed by the rogue medic protested outside Ninewells in Dundee last week alongside 40 bags of shredded paper, representing the destruction of 40 theatre log books by NHS Tayside in September, despite a ‘no not destroy’ order, before handing over a letter demanding the resignation of chief executive Nicky Connor.

Last night, up to 20 patients attended a meeting at a Dundee hotel with Connor and clinical director Dr James Cotton – the first ever collective meeting campaigners have had with the health board.

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Lead campaigner Jules Rose, who discovered Eljamel had removed her tear gland instead of a tumour on her brain, said: “While we welcome the long-overdue meeting with NHS Tayside – first promised in November 2022 – it raises suspicion as to why the health board is suddenly willing to engage with patients and hear about the harm and frustration we have endured. Is this on the back of the protest on their doorstep?

“Having endured years of stalling, deflection and gaslighting with this healthboard, myself and patients are of the opinion that they don’t care about the harm caused to patients and the ever lasting trauma suffered, but they do care about their pay packets.

“We hope to have a productive, open and transparent meeting but we can be forgiven if we won’t hold our breath.”

The public inquiry into Eljamel’s conduct heard in November that Ninewells log books had been destroyed two months earlier.

NHS Tayside told inquiry chair Lord Weir it “deeply regretted” the error, which it said happened because staff were not aware of the logbooks’ connection with Eljamel.

The letter urging chief exec Connor to step down on Thursday said public confidence in her leadership had been “irreparably damaged”.

In January, campaigners staged another protest at Holyrood demanding First Minster John swinney intervene and remove a three-year time bar they say is preventing many victims from pursuing compensation claims against NHS Tayside.

Campaigner Rose said: “This meeting is not to address the deletion of the logbooks – that matter is rightly left to Lord Weir and Police Scotland.

“The First Minister has explicitly instructed NHS Tayside not to plead the time-bar rule. Finally, and hopefully, it appears the board may be listening: patients have been unable to secure legal representation while this barrier remains in place. The patients can never secure any legal representation whilst that rule lingers.”

NHS Tayside has previously said it does not apply a blanket approach to the three-year time bar in any legal claim.

After last week’s Ninewells protest it said it remains “deeply sorry for the destruction in error” of a number of hard copy theatre logbooks.

It said: “NHS Tayside is taking all steps to try to ensure there can be no further destruction of any documentation in error. The Board will continue to cooperate with The Eljamel Inquiry and will be accountable for its decision-making and actions taken in response to Mr Eljamel’s practice and the concerns raised.”

The Scottish Government has said it fully recognises the “pain and distress experienced by people impacted by Mr Eljamel’s practice”.

It said: “That is why we established the statutory public inquiry into the actions of Mr Eljamel and NHS Tayside to ensure patients obtain answers to their questions and that lessons are learned.

“Ministers have complete confidence in Lord Weir and the independent inquiry to get to the truth for patients and families without influence, interference or speculation on the outcome of the Inquiry.”

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Peter Mandelson has been accused of passing on information to the convicted paedophile.

Lord Peter Mandelson has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The Metropolitan Police said the 72-year-old was taken to a London police station for interview on Monday.

The former Labour minister has been accused of passing sensitive information onto paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein during his time as business secretary. Two of his properties were previously searched by police in connection with the allegations, which surfaced following the US Department of Justice’s document dump related to Epstein last month.

The first tranche of documents related to his appointment as US ambassador is expected to be released “very shortly in early March”, MPs have also been told. However, the publication of some correspondence between Downing Street and the peer will be delayed “because of the Metropolitan Police interest”, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones said.

Mr Jones’ statement came minutes before the Metropolitan Police announced the arrest.

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Peter Mandelson has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office by officers investigating latest revelations from the Epstein files.

The 72-year-old seen being led out of his home and loaded into a police car as officers search his properties.

The former Labour minister and US ambassador has been accused of passing on information to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein when he was business secretary.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: ‘Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

‘He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, February 23 and has been taken to a London police station for interview.

‘This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.’

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hayley Sewart, previously said: ‘I can confirm that officers from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime team are in the process of carrying out search warrants at two addresses, one in the Wiltshire area, and another in the Camden area.

‘The searches are related to an ongoing investigation into misconduct in public office offences, involving a 72-year-old man.’

Lord Mandelson was pictured in the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice, showing him in his underwear in the financier’s Paris home.

A series of payments have also been found from Epstein to Mandelson and his husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva.

Lord Mandelson has not responded to the latest allegations, but in an interview with the Times he admitted to a ‘lapse in judgment’ over funding sent by Epstein to his husband Reinaldo for an osteopathy course.

Sir Keir Starmer has said his once-ally Peter Mandelson ‘betrayed our country, our Parliament and my party’.

Starmer admitted knowing about Lord Mandelson’s ongoing friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffry Epstein when he brought him back to government.

The Prime Minister said: ‘He lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador, I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near Government.’

The force has begun a criminal investigation into allegations Lord Peter Mandelson passed market-sensitive information to Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s Labour administration, as it dealt with the 2008 financial crash and its aftermath.

Mandelson was already sacked from his role in Washington in September last year over his links with the paedophile financier.

This is a breaking news story… More to follow…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials on Monday laid out a proposal to spur development of customized treatments for patients with hard-to-treat diseases, including for rare genetic conditions that the pharmaceutical industry has long considered unprofitable.

The preliminary Food and Drug Administration guidelines, if implemented, would create a new pathway for bespoke therapies that have only been tested in a handful of patients due to the challenges of conducting larger studies. The FDA announcement specifically mentions gene editing, although agency officials said the new approach could also be used by other drugs and therapies.

It’s a shift long sought by patients, advocates and researchers focused on rare diseases, which often do not fit within the pharmaceutical industry’s business model or the FDA’s traditional drug-approval system.

“It is our priority to remove barriers and exercise regulatory flexibility to encourage scientific advances and deliver more cures and meaningful treatments for patients suffering from rare diseases,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a release.

The announcement comes a week after Makary said the FDA would drop its decades-old standard of requiring two clinical trials for standard drug reviews. That was the latest in a series of changes to FDA norms and standards, many which have not gone through federal procedures traditionally used to update agency rules.

Senior FDA officials said the recent changes, including the pathway proposed Monday, don’t constitute new FDA standards. The FDA will take comments on its draft guidance for 60 days, before beginning to finalize it.

In recent years, academic researchers have shown they can use emerging technology to correct individual defects in a patient’s genetic code. Last year, a team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania designed a therapy using CRISPR, the Nobel Prize-winning gene editing tool, to treat a baby born with a rare disease that causes ammonia to build up in the blood.

Traditionally, the FDA requires drugmakers to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of their experimental treatments in clinical studies that compare a set of patients getting the therapy with others taking a sham treatment or an alternative intervention. The more patients enrolled, the stronger the evidence.

But for conditions that can affect a tiny fraction of people worldwide, drug companies often have little incentive to invest millions of dollars needed to complete a study and bring it through the FDA approval process, which can take a decade or longer.

The pathway announced Monday would create a standardized process for authorizing experimental treatments and, importantly, offering companies the possibility of commercializing them.

The FDA already authorizes the use of experimental drugs under what’s called “compassionate use,” for people with no other medical options. But the process is cumbersome to navigate and strictly prohibits companies or researchers from profiting from treatments that haven’t been vetted by the FDA.

The new pathway’s name — plausible mechanism — is a reference to criteria FDA regulators will require before greenlighting any experimental therapies.

FDA officials say the approach will be reserved for conditions that are well understood and where there is a plausible reason to think that the therapy will act on the underlying genetic or cellular biology of the disease. Researchers must also confirm that the therapy successfully targeted the patient’s genetic or biological abnormality.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The WRU is facing an EGM following the Six Nations

The Welsh Rugby Union has officially received a requisition from the Central Glamorgan Rugby Union calling for an extraordinary general meeting.

Such a request has thrown the WRU’s plans to restructure the professional game into doubt and has thrown the game into a period of even greater uncertainty. This is the first time an EGM has been called since 2023, which led to a significant reform of the governance of the WRU following recommendations from Dame Anne Rafferty.

But when will the EGM take place, what are the key proposals and what does it seek to change?

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When will it be held?

A date has not yet been set but the WRU has up to 49 days to hold the EGM.

Within 21 days of receiving the formal letter calling the EGM, the WRU must set a date. Once notice is given, the EGM itself must be held within 28 days.

In reality the EGM will be held at the conclusion of the Six Nations.

The background to the EGM?

The call for an EGM results from significant backlash to the WRU’s controversial plans to restructure the professional game.

Following a few years of extremely poor results at international level, including back-to-back Wooden Spoons in the Six Nations and struggles among Wales’ four professional clubs, the WRU decided it needed to enact radical change.

The headline act is a reduction from four to three professional men’s teams with the Ospreys in the firing line.

On top of this the WRU is proposing to invest £20m into the pathway over the next five years which includes 12 player development centres, two centres of excellence and a national academy.

The WRU says it cannot make significant investments into the pathway and retain four strong professional clubs.

But the way it has been handled and communicated has angered many people.

The WRU recently chose Ospreys owners Y11 Sports & Media as its preferred bidder for Cardiff and granted them a 60-day period of exclusivity.

Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart, one of the WRU’s many critics, insists this would lead to the end of the Ospreys as a professional team.

He claims that in a meeting with Ospreys CEO Lance Bradley and WRU CEO Abi Tierney he was told the plan was for the Ospreys to merge with Swansea RFC to become a semi-professional Super Rygbi Cymru outfit. Both the WRU and Y11 say the claims relating to that meeting contain inaccuracies, with Bradley insisting he has made no statement on the long term future of the Ospreys.

Swansea Council has urged the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate Y11’s potential purchase of Cardiff, and they have also attempted to get a high court injunction to delay the deal.

Both WRU chair Richard Collier-Keywood and CEO Tierney have also appeared before the Welsh Affairs Committee in Westminster while there have been numerous protests from supporters.

In addition the WRU is also facing a legal challenge from the Scarlets, relating to their takeover of Cardiff last year.

The criticism has been ferocious with most of the blame placed on Collier-Keywood.

But there is also a school of thought that one of the underlying reasons for the EGM is to unpick the governance changes implemented as a result of the Rafferty Report in 2023.

The Rafferty Report resulted from accusations of a toxic culture within the WRU.

As a result of recommendations put forward by the Rafferty report, the WRU’s structure changed significantly at the previous EGM in 2023. The number of council (community club) members on the board was reduced to four to create a far more professional board.

The motions being tabled

The full requisition to the board is private and has not been released to the public but WalesOnline understands it is the same as what the Central Glamorgan Rugby Union proposed last month.

It is worth noting the WRU is still verifying all the documents sent in and will make explicit which motions will be voted on when it officially calls the EGM.

For the EGM the first issue for consideration will be whether the submission by Central Glamorgan satisfies the requirement under the constitution. In other words, have they secured sufficient numbers and have all the letters been properly authorised?

But the main motion being tabled by the Central Glamorgan Rugby Union is a vote of no confidence in Collier-Keywood and Malcolm Wall, the chair of the Professional Rugby Board.

Wall’s tenure ends next month anyway and according to well-placed sources it was always his plan to retire.

But if Collier-Keywood is voted out that would be a seismic move, although his three-year tenure expires this summer.

This would require a majority of more than 50% of those in attendance to pass.

The second motion tabled would be for the WRU council to hold elections for the four elected member board positions within 14 days after the EGM, which requires more than 50% of the vote.

In addition the third motion is to amend how the WRU district and council members are elected, which will require a 75% majority.

But according to section 36 of the WRU’s articles of association:

“No alteration may be made to the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company unless such alteration has:

(a) in accordance with the Act been approved by a special resolution of the Members (75 percent of those present and voting) passed at the annual general meeting or an extraordinary general meeting of the Company; and

(b) in the case of an extraordinary general meeting been proposed by the Board of Directors.”

If the WRU follows its articles of association to the letter then motion three can only be put forward by the member clubs at an Annual General Meeting (AGM) not an EGM.

Only the WRU board can propose it for an EGM.

In addition the CGMRU is recommending the following:

• Plans to amend the structure of the professional game, with a full review of WRU finances and organisation structure to be undertaken to identify where money can be saved (executive and board salaries, consultants) to support the professional, SRC and community game in Wales.
• A rugby steering group to be set up within three weeks comprising of people from the professional, SRC and community game along with business sector. This group will be directed to advise on rugby related matters and negate the need for expensive consultants.
• A central national academy to be set up within three months to be totally responsible for the identification and development of talent for male and female players.
• Except for the WRU chief executive and chair and the Professional Rugby Board (PRB) chair, no directors (independent non-executive or WRU council members) should be paid.
• The new WRU chair and PRB chair appointments should be immersed in Welsh culture, have a strong understanding of Welsh rugby and values, ideally be conversant in the Welsh language and live in Wales.”

Under the articles of association the WRU board does not need to act on the above demands but if they did not it would leave a lot of bad blood within certain sections of the community game.

For an EGM to be quorate a third of member clubs have to be present on the day.

What are the potential ramifications of an EGM?

To begin with, Collier-Keywood faces a race against time to get the new structure signed off before an EGM in order to make the changes irreversible.

He also has to consider whether it is morally right to do so considering a large part of the EGM is based on halting the restructuring of the professional game.

“The WRU published its plans for the Future of the Elite Game in Wales at the end of October 2025, following an extensive consultation process,” read a WRU statement.

“We are now focused on rolling out that plan and have been working tirelessly with the key stakeholders during the last months to agree a consensus on its implementation.”

According to the above WRU statement it does not plan to halt any restructuring.

The WRU has already given Swansea Council assurances that the Y11 deal to buy Cardiff will not be completed before March 16 which is just two days after Wales’ final match of the Six Nations against Italy.

With regard to the new licences for the three surviving professional teams the WRU is having a tough time getting the Dragons and Scarlets to accept their terms.

The WRU wants total control of the rugby side of each team, which will also include centrally contracting all Welsh-qualified players and staff.

But the WRU still requires the funding directors to pay the £1m licence fee and to put a significant sum of money in each year.

This is not acceptable to the current funding directors. WalesOnline understands there are a number of senior figures within the WRU who are prepared to compromise in order to get a deal done but Collier-Keywood will not budge at all.

Clearly if Collier-Keywood wants to get the new structure in place before an EGM then he will have to drop some of his demands.

If Collier-Keywood loses the vote of no confidence, they will need to find a replacement chair for the WRU board and PRB board with Wall set to leave.

Potential replacements for Collier-Keywood could include former First Minister Carwyn Jones, former chair Gareth Davies, current WRU INED Andrew Williams and Alison Thorne or Go Compare founder Hayley Parsons.

The clubs can get rid of Collier-Keywood but would have little say over his successor because this will be a matter for the non-executive members, not the clubs.

The 12-strong WRU board consists of the chair, CEO, PRB chair, four elected members – Colin Wilks, Chris Jones, John Manders and Claire Donovan who was appointed to promote the women’s game.

It also includes four independent non-executive directors – Andrew Williams, Jamie Roberts, Jennifer Mathias, Alison Thorne and Amanda Bennett.

If the second motion passes then elections will take place for the positions held by Wilks, Jones, Manders and Donovan.

There is also the age old argument of whether the community clubs should have any say over the professional game.

Despite the call for an EGM it is unclear how much of an appetite there is for change.

This writer sat through the AGM last November where not a single question was asked about the restructuring of the professional game despite having ample opportunity to do so.

Some may not be concerned about the strategic direction of the pro game but may vote to oust Collier-Keywood because rightly or wrongly they feel he does not understand Welsh rugby culture.

People will vote for various reasons, not just what’s on the ballot paper.

But the biggest question would be whether a change at an EGM would actually stop the restructuring of the professional game.

Even if Collier-Keywood is gone, it’s crucial to recognise the entire WRU board voted for a cut from four to three teams and they also unanimously backed the decision to accept Y11’s bid for Cardiff.

Ousting the chairman does not mean the four team plan dies with his exit, with the board, and in fact senior figures at some of the regions, believing reducing sides is the best way to go to fund the improvement in pathways and the elite system needed.

There’s also the fact that any new chair, who would be appointed by the board, may well come to the same conclusion, even if the route to getting there is different.

The Princess of Wales stepped out in an elegant gown for the annual BAFTAs on Sunday, with a stylist saying her show-stopping outfit was a subtle sign in the face of a difficult time for the Firm

Prince William and Princess Kate attended the BAFTAs, stepping out for their first joint appearance since the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Despite the turbulent time for the Royal Family, the Prince and Princess of Wales were both the picture of elegance as they hit the red carpet.

Kate wore a floor-length pink-toned Gucci evening gown that she accentuated with a matching clutch handbag. The princess paired the look with a simple silver bangle and let her hair fall in curls to below her shoulders. She also donned a stunning pair of silver drop earrings that belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth.

READ MORE: How disgraced Andrew being axed from line of succession will cause huge shake-upREAD MORE: Sarah Ferguson’s ‘bonkers plot to make cash’ after Andrew’s arrest

While royal watchers were enamoured with Kate’s stunning dress, which she had worn before for a gala at the V&A museum in 2019, a stylist believes there was more to the princess’s outfit than meets the eye.

Fashion expert Lisa Talbot told the Daily Mail that the combination of her gown and her perfectly styled hair and makeup sent a powerful message of tradition and strength amid a turbulent period for The Firm. “In a moment where the Royal Family is under intense scrutiny, her appearance felt quietly strategic, a reminder of stability, grace and the composure expected of a future Queen,” she explained.

The expert revealed that “the soft, flowing silhouette of her gown felt romantic yet incredibly poised, a beautiful balance of femininity and authority”, as she added that Kate’s appearance at the awards “wasn’t about drama; it was about presence”.

“Kate’s BAFTAs look was a masterclass in understated power dressing,” Talbot explained. “Nothing felt overdone. Her hair was glossy and softly styled, and the make-up fresh and refined, allowing her natural features to lead rather than compete with the dress.”

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Inside the awards, Kate spoke candidly about her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and how she was using their newfound love of films to help her have difficult conversations with the young royals.

Kate spoke with Emily Stillman, Chair of Bafta’s Film Committee, who reminisced with the princess and said: “Last time I saw you, you were pregnant with George and you were doing your Harry Potter spells,” referring to the royal couple’s 2013 visit to the Warner Brothers studios in Hertfordshire, where they toured the set of Harry Potter .

Kate replied: “I was saying how much the children would love to look around. They love the idea of going behind the scenes and finding out how it all happens.”

The Princess of Wales went on to reveal that the three children are becoming more interested in films, saying: “The children are starting to get interested in films and it’s a really great way to have some of the hard conversations with them.”

Elsewhere at the annual award ceremony, Prince William made a candid comment about his wife and how she was left in “floods of tears” after watching the emotional movie Hamnet, which was nominated in the Best Picture category.

Chatting with Emily Stillman, Kate added: “Yes, I think it was a very bad idea actually… ended up with very puffy eyes.” She said it was “really very very powerful”, praising the “fantastic” and “raw” music score and talking about its portrayal of “intergenerational grief”.