Sir Keir Starmer has made a personal appeal to Labour MPs as he prepares to face a Commons vote on whether to launch a sleaze inquiry into the Peter Mandelson vetting saga on what will be a crucial day for the future of his premiership.

His direct appeal at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) came after Sir Lindsay Hoyle confirmed on Monday that MPs would be allowed to debate whether or not the prime minister should be referred to the powerful Commons Privileges Committee for a probe into whether he misled parliament over the disgraced peer’s appointment as US ambassador.

Speaking at a Monday night meeting of the PLP, the beleaguered prime minister said: “I have responsibility for being totally transparent with you, with parliament and the British public. I take that very seriously as well.

“But this is not about a lack of transparency. This is a political stunt by our opponents who want to bring us down, obscure our message, stop us getting on with our work. And the timing tells you everything nine days before local elections.”

He told Labour MPs: “Tomorrow is pure politics and we need to stand together against it.”

With Labour MPs mulling over supporting Kemi Badenoch’s motion and others plotting to remove him in May, Sir Keir pleaded with them to “look at the bigger picture” and stick by him.

The Privileges Committee was responsible for Boris Johnson’s exit from frontline politics after it investigated him for misleading the House over the “partygate” breaches of Covid laws in Downing Street.

The vote will come on a difficult day withhis former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and former top civil servant Sir Philip Barton – both of whom played key roles in the appointment of Lord Mandelson – will give evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee.

already Labour grandees, former home secretaries Alan Johnson and Lord David Blunkett, have written a letter calling on Labour MPs to oppose referring Sir Keir for investigation.

Mr McSweeney was widely regarded as a protege of the former US ambassador and pushed for his appointment, while Sir Philip was the predecessor of Sir Olly Robbins – who was sacked by Sir Keir for failing to tell ministers that Lord Mandelson had failed security vetting.

Sir Philip left the department in January 2025, eight months earlier than expected. The committee is expected to examine whether he left his post as a result of his opposition to Lord Mandelson’s appointment.

As the prime minister faces pressure from all sides on the Mandelson saga, he will also have his attention diverted by a meeting of the Middle East Response Committee, as part of an attempt to mitigate the economic impacts of the Iran war, and by King Charles’s address to the US Congress, both of which are taking place on Tuesday.

On the same day, the Commons will vote on whether to refer the PM to the Privileges Committee to consider if he misled MPs when he claimed “due process” was followed in Lord Mandelson’s appointment, and that there was “no pressure whatsoever”.

It comes after it emerged that the Foreign Office decided to appoint the Labour grandee despite the fact that he failed the vetting process.

The prime minister repeatedly told MPs that he and his ministers only found out that UK Security Vetting had advised Lord Mandelson should be denied clearance for the role last Tuesday evening, despite The Independent raising concerns that he had failed vetting last September and running a front page story on it – prompting claims of a cover-up.

Labour’s huge majority in the Commons means such a vote would almost certainly not pass, especially as Labour MPs are expected to be whipped to vote against the motion, but it could still be damaging for the prime minister.

As first revealed by The Independent, MPs from both sides of the House, including Labour, are understood to have written to the speaker requesting that the committee, which deals with serious disciplinary issues in parliament, investigate the PM.

In the wake of Sir Lindsay’s decision to allow MPs to debate the issue, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch claimed that the “facts are overwhelming”.

“The prime minister misled the House of Commons, repeatedly,” she claimed. “He appointed a national security risk and friend of a convicted paedophile, to be our ambassador in Washington, our most sensitive diplomatic post. He pretended that full due process was followed for this appointment. It was not.”

Ms Badenoch argued that the prime minister must “be held to the same standards he held previous prime ministers to”, warning: “There is no room for hypocrisy.”

She added: “Every MP now faces a matter of conscience, not party, conscience. Do they cover this up or do they vote to seek the truth?”

But a No 10 spokesperson dismissed the attempt to launch a parliamentary inquiry as a “desperate political stunt by the Conservative Party”.

A number of MPs and former parliamentarians have referred to the precedent set during the Partygate probe into Mr Johnson, when the Tories failed to use their majority to oppose the inquiry, and their MPs on the committee “put party second” in finding him guilty.

It comes as concerns grow among Labour MPs across different factions of the party that the government plans to whip to block the vote.

However, the Tories are going to push the fact that they did not oppose the motion when Boris Johnson was referred to the committee for misleading parliament.

One former cabinet minister said: “We did set something of a precedent, but I think we have some moral authority on the issue because of the way we allowed the inquiry to take place into Boris. This is a question of putting integrity before party.”

Sir Ed Davey also piled pressure on Sir Keir not to whip his MPs to oppose his referral to the Privileges Committee, saying: “Even Boris Johnson didn’t block his MPs voting for scrutiny.

“MPs must be given a free vote on any motion to refer Starmer, not forced into being accomplices to a cover-up.”

Over the weekend, Cabinet minister Darren Jones insisted there is “no case to answer” when asked about a potential referral of Sir Keir to the committee, as well as accusing the Conservatives of “using tactics” ahead of local elections.

Actor James Cartwright’s time in the ITV soap could be coming to an end as villain Theo Silverton

Coronation Street star James Cartwright has shared the simple, almost wholesome, way he has found to switch off from playing Theo Silverton as his time on the cobbles could be nearing an end.

The actor joined the ITV soap in March last year in the role of builder Theo, and quickly found himself involved in a hard-hitting, coercively controlling, and abusive relationship with Todd Grimshaw.

It has been in recent weeks and months that Theo’s behaviour has slowly been exposed to those in Weatherfield, eventually leading to Todd bravely going to the police about the horrific domestic violence he has suffered at the hands of his husband.

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But, Corrie fans have been aware for a couple of months now that Betsy Swain will make a deadly discovery as she finds the lifeless body of one of her neighbours following her mum, Lisa Swain’s, wedding day with Carla Connor – with one of the possible victims being Theo.

In a flashforward episode, which was aired in February, fans saw the shocked and anxious teen being interviewed by detectives about finding the dead body of someone she knows. She explained she had been at the Swarla wedding and was heading into town to continue the celebrations when she made the shocking discovery.

As the episode returned to the present day, Corrie viewers started to see how the behaviour of the five characters could lead to their possible death, with Theo, Megan Walsh, Maggie Driscoll, Jodie Ramsey and Carl Webster seen as the potential victims, each showing behaviours that could lead to them being bumped off.

The killer week has since gotten underway on Monday (April 27), with Theo’s being the first of five stories to be told before the victim is seen being found by Betsy in Friday’s (May 1) episode of the long-running show.

There were dramatic scenes as Theo wasn’t pleased to find Todd at the flat, getting ready to leave for Thailand. After an altercation in the flat, which saw George Shuttleworth helping Todd to escape, despite being hit by the villain himself. But as the police arrived, Theo managed to escape the police, only to end up confronting Todd once more.

Speaking about Theo’s state of mind this week, James told the Manchester Evening News and other press: “He’s really desperate and I think it’s like those sorts of people. If they’ve got a front on, what’s that saying? You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

“And I think eventually it’s got to the point where he’s not even bothered now. He is not even bothered trying to persuade people he’s a nice fellow. Because you know, the game’s up and so now it’s about survival. And I think very much like the wild dog analogy. You know, a dog backed into a corner is a dangerous dog, and actually, he’s suddenly become incredibly unpredictable. I think he’s become hyper-aggressive. I think all his negative traits have suddenly bubbled to the surface and you realise what a dangerous nut job he is.”

Having now played the villain for over a year, James was also quizzed on how he manages to switch off from playing Theo, to which she said: “It’s a funny thing really, I don’t know if I have to shake him. Sometimes, if you’re having to do a lot of shouting and arguing, what’s really weird is the brain knows you’re acting, but the body doesn’t.

“So if you are shouting at someone all day, you get all stiff in your shoulders, it’s dead weight and you’ve got adrenaline in your system and all that sort of thing. But I don’t know really, I mean I’m as daft as a brush, so I don’t really take it too hard to just sort of go home and watch Homes Under the Hammer or Bargain Hunt.”

Asha Bhosle, the last surviving singing legend of the golden era of Hindi cinema, has died at 92. She debuted in the industry shortly after Indian independence in the late 1940s and is now widely considered the best-known singer in India, with more than 12,000 songs to her name. Over the course of a long and prolific career, she demonstrated extraordinary enthusiasm for reinvention, and a range and versatility that still remain unmatched.

Fans of Bhosle found joy in her singing and intrigue in her tumultuous love life. She was often associated with the trope of the fallen woman in the public imagination and pitted against her singing elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, who famously did her best to steer clear of “vulgar” songs and was seen to embody piety, modesty, and self-sacrifice.

The painting of Mangeshkar’s good sister to Bhosle’s bad reflected the distinct categorisation of female characters as either submissive women of virtue or self-serving women of vice, which prevailed in Hindi cinema well into the 1980s. This was mapped onto the singing voices of the sisters by music directors. For instance, Anil Biswas, the pioneer of playback singing, quipped that “Asha has body while Lata has soul”.

However, it was precisely this penchant for breaking the rigid bonds and boundaries of acceptable femininity that always drew me, as it did many other queer south Asian misfits, to Bhosle’s songs.

Possibility and Plenitude

Bhosle belonged to the first generation of star playback singers. These were singers who record songs for actors to lip synch over in films – a common practice in south Asian cinema. Although she was behind the scenes, the quality of her singing made her, in many cases, more famous than the actors who mimed along to her voice.

The hundreds of songs Bhosle sang in the voice of “the other woman” moved sapphic (women and non-binary people who are attracted to women) listeners like me not because they were literally addressed to women, but because they gave voice to women whom Hindi cinema often treated as excessive, dangerous or disposable.

The actors who lip-synched her pre-recorded vocals on screen were frequently women who stood just outside the moral centre of the film: cabaret dancers, courtesans, mistresses, club performers and women whose desire was too intense to be easily domesticated. In their films, such women were often punished, abandoned or contained. In Bhosle’s voice, however, they became vivid, thinking, feeling subjects.

This is why Aao Huzoor Tumko from romantic thriller Kismat (1968) is so revealing. Sung by Bhosle, composed by O.P. Nayyar and written by Noor Devasi, the song is an invitation into intoxicated romance during a seduction scene in the film. Its refrain may be translated as: “Come, my lord, let me take you among the stars; let me take you into such springtime that your heart begins to sway.”

The actor Babita Kapoor performs the song on screen for her beloved, who is played by the debonair Biswajit Chatterjee. But what I hear in Bhosle’s performance is not simply a woman offering herself to a man. I hear a woman luxuriating in the textures of her own desire.

Bhosle laughs, hiccups, sighs and croons languorously through the song. These are not merely ornamental flourishes, but also small acts of vocal acting: ways of turning a film song into a miniature performance of mood, body and selfhood.

When she lingers on the word “mein” (“in” or “into” ) in phrases such as “sitaron mein le chalun” (“let me take you among the stars”), “baharon mein le chalun” (“let me take you into springtime”) and “hazaaron mein le chalun” (“let me take you among thousands”), she makes each repetition feel slightly different. She carefully infuses each “mein” with a distinctive flavour of longing, turning an intoxicated declaration of desire into an intoxicating invitation into female interiority.

For me, the space of this song was never only straight. The song invited me into an elsewhere: into stars, springtime, crowds, intoxication, laughter and the strange privacy of a woman’s pleasure. It allowed me to imagine desire not as shame, sin, or plot device, but as atmosphere. This is what Bhosle so often made possible: the reimagining of a spectacle of seduction as a scene of emotional complexity.

Bhosle herself seemed to understand the power of such performances. In later years, when asked to name her favourite actor to sing for, she chose Helen, who appeared in countless films as a dancer. She remembered Helen as so beautiful that she would stop singing when she entered the room, and joked that, had she been a man, she would have eloped with her.

To me, this felt like a gift to queer women: not because the remark makes Bhosle queer in any simple biographical sense, but because it acknowledged the force of female beauty, female performance and female fascination without embarrassment.

Bhosle did not merely sing women who desired men. She made female desire itself sound artful and alive: playful, pensive, hungry, theatrical, contradictory. In her voice, levity became a mode of serious identity construction, melancholy a means of knowing, and seduction something more than a narrative device designed to punish the woman who performed it. Time and again, she made room for coyness, brazenness, restlessness, satisfaction, anger and hunger to coexist within the same sonic space.

If the pure and pious heroines of Hindi cinema were often permitted only dignity and devotion, Bhosle’s women were granted appetite, ambivalence and ambition. Her singing offered us possibility and plenitude: complex ways of feeling, sensing and relating to love and life that the moral world of Hindi cinema could neither name nor contain.

Her singing was often sinuous and sensuous, and deliberately so, but it was also playful, pensive and passionate in equal measure. She embraced and enlivened the full spectrum of femininity, and rendered women profoundly, excitingly and almost achingly human in ways that were often unthinkable in the narratives that her songs animated. For me, she will always be the greater sister.

The reporter was bombarded with further adverts for codeine, xanax and oxycodone, among other high-strength opioid medications.

An investigation has uncovered that highly addictive pain pills and prescription medications are among the items being advertised for sale locally on TikTok.

Our sister title, Glasgow Live, became aware of the items after a reporter started receiving ads on the platform promoting the controlled substances. After clicking on one ad, which the platform was paid to host, the reporter was taken to pages on the messaging app Telegram where users could purchase the drugs.

After closing the page, the reporter was bombarded with further adverts for codeine, xanax and oxycodone, among other high-strength opioid medications, which are illegal to sell in the UK without a prescription. Within minutes of looking at the account behind it, the owner – believed to be from Scotland – messaged asking if they needed ‘benzos, uppers or opiates’, despite the account clearly stating they were a journalist.

Benzos, short for benzodiazepine, are a commonly abused prescription sedative-hypnotic medication used for short-term, acute anxiety, panic attacks, seizures, and insomnia. Uppers can refer to a wide range of drugs, including cocaine, amphetamines and methylphenidate (a stimulant medication used in the UK as a treatment for ADHD). The NHS describes both as addictive.

It comes as the number of suspected drug deaths in Scotland rose by 8% last year, with Glasgow seeing the highest spike in deaths. Statistics released by the Scottish Government earlier this year showed 1,146 people were suspected to have died from drugs, up from 1,065 the previous year.

National Records of Scotland found that in 2024, the most common drugs implicated in drug misuse deaths were opiates/opioids (80% of deaths), benzodiazepines (56%) and cocaine (47%).

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates the sale of medication in the UK, said that they are closely working with law enforcement partners to stamp out the sales and have warned the public of the risk of buying from illegal online suppliers.

A spokesperson for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said: “Buying any medicine from illegal online suppliers significantly increases the risk of receiving falsified or unlicensed products. We work closely with law enforcement partners, customs authorities, social media and online platforms to remove illegal medicines from sale, block harmful websites, disrupt payment routes, and delist offending domains from search engines.

“Where breaches of the law are identified in the UK, we will not hesitate to use the full range of our enforcement powers to protect public health, including, where appropriate, prosecuting those who put people at risk.”

Medications being touted on the social media platform also included peptides, which are often marketed for weight loss or muscle gain.

Lynda Scammell, Head of Borderlines, MHRA said: “Peptide products may be sold as cosmetics, supplements and medicines, and depending on their intended purpose, they fall under different regulatory frameworks.

“The MHRA determines whether a product is a medicine on a case-by-case basis. This includes consideration of a number of factors including the product’s effect on the body, the way it is used and takes into account all the available evidence and relevant legal precedents.

“We disregard claims that products are for ‘research purposes’ if it is clear that such claims are being used as an attempt to avoid medicines regulations. If there is evidence within the promotional material that the products are in fact unauthorised medicines intended for human use, we will take appropriate regulatory action.

“If a product is classified as a medicine and is not appropriately authorised, we take regulatory compliance action. Not all peptides fall under MHRA’s remit, for example, many peptides are sold for body-building purposes and in the absence of medicinal claims, these would not be considered medicines.”

TikTok were contacted about the sale of the medications on the widely used platform. The company said that all accounts found in the investigation have been banned, adding that their community guidelines ban the sale of to regulated, prohibited, or high-risk goods and services. They added that the majority of adverts violating their policies are removed before being reported.

However, moments after receiving their response, two further adverts for pregabalin (a prescription medication used to treat epilepsy, nerve pain and generalised anxiety disorder) and “Royal-225” (a high-dose, illegal tablet containing synthetic opioid tramadol hydrochloride) appeared.

The BBC reports that Royal-225 is “not licensed for use anywhere in the world” and can cause breathing difficulties, seizures and an overdose can kill. The drug is among a dozens driving a public heath crisis in West Africa.

Police Scotland were also contacted for comment.

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She also told the pontiff the King had “valued” his October visit to Rome, “especially the shared prayer and spirit of fraternity it embodied”, which marked the first time a British monarch, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, had prayed at a public service with the Pope, head of the Catholic Church, since the Reformation.

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard is ready to return to management and he could follow in the footsteps of his former England colleague Frank Lampard by coaching in the Championship

Steven Gerrard is said to have been offered the chance to return to management with Bristol City amid reports linking the former Rangers and Aston Villa head coach with Burnley.

The Championship outfit named Roy Hodgson as their interim manager last month after deciding to axe Gerhard Struber ahead of appointing a new permanent head coach this summer. And Gerrard, who is unattached after a spell managing Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League, is seemingly who Bristol City have their sights set on to fill said vacancy.

The Independent claim that Bristol City want to ‘persuade’ Gerrard to take charge at Ashton Gate and that the Championship club have even tabled an ‘an enticing and attractive project’ to the 45-year-old.

It’s noted that Gerrard is not only open to the prospect of managing Bristol City in England’s second-tier, but also that he is keen to return to management ‘as soon as possible’.

READ MORE: EFL clubs make final decision on video challenges being first step towards VAR

OPINION

Burnley are another club who reportedly have one eye on Gerrard as they prepare for another Championship campaign following their relegation from the Premier League.

Scott Parker’s position is expected to be reviewed at the end of the season after failing to keep the Clarets in the top-flight.

Gerrard left Al-Ettifaq in 2025 and has not managed in England since 2022. He was sacked after less than a year in charge of Aston Villa after making a bright start to his managerial career with Rangers, whom he guided to the Scottish title in his third season at Ibrox.

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Gerrard’s former England team-mate, Frank Lampard, has enjoyed a remarkable renaissance in the Championship after accepting a job with Coventry City back in November 2024 – something which has not gone unnoticed among those from the same era as the two.

The Chelsea legend’s stock had fallen after losing his job at Everton after a little more than a year followed by a disastrous second spell at Stamford Bridge in an interim capacity but won plenty of plaudits for turning the Sky Blues fortunes around mid-season and guiding them to the play-offs.

Though Coventry were ultimately unsuccessful, Lampard and Co blitzed their way to automatic promotion and the Championship title this term.

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Hundreds of towns and cities across the UK could see a new Lidl supermarket open in the coming years, as the discount chain has released its latest ‘wish list’ of 876 target locations for its UK expansion

Millions of British households could soon find themselves within easy reach of a brand new Lidl store, as the budget supermarket giant unveils its latest location ‘wish list’, outlining hundreds of sites across the country where it hopes to set up shop.

Announced today (Monday, April 27), the list spans hundreds of locations throughout Scotland, Wales and England. Locations making the list include several Cambridgeshire towns and cities.

Locations in Cambridgeshire include:

The German retailer confirmed it is actively pursuing freehold, leasehold, or long-leasehold sites in prominent positions with high footfall and good transport links.

Richard Taylor, chief real estate officer at Lidl GB, said: “At Lidl GB, we currently have one of the most ambitious store opening programmes of any supermarket, and we are more committed than ever to bringing our high-quality and low-priced products to even more communities across the country.”

It comes after Lidl GB announced plans to open more than 50 new stores over the next year. This forms part of its £600 million investment. The popular supermarket is also constructing a new warehouse in Leeds as part of its planned UK expansion, reports the Express.

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It is estimated it could attract 600,000 visitors a year and would employ 250 full-time staff

Plans have emerged for a huge new resort in south Wales comprising a futuristic museum, indoor playgrounds and food market, but a proposed site hasn’t been decided. It is estimated it could attract 600,000 visitors a year and would employ 250 full-time staff.

The plans seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service and briefly discussed last week at a meeting of councillors for Torfaen County Borough Council show the visitor attraction would have four core elements.

They would include a Gallery of Marvelous Solutions to showcase exhibits currently in storage in galleries and museums across the world, a Trading Place market space offering food, locally-sourced products and workshops on repairing goods.

Other attractions would include a playground with a “super-sized helter-skelter, enormous maze” and “life-sized snakes and ladders” to reconnect people with their “creative problem-solving ability”.

The Tomorrow’s World exhibit would work with universities, companies and charities to showcase “groundbreaking innovations and ideas” to the public including through virtual and augmented reality technology. The entire attraction would bring science and art together and be for all ages.

Behind the plans for the site, which would be called Xanadoo, is Gaynor Coley who was one of the founders of Cornwall’s Eden Project which transformed a former clay mine into a botanical garden.

Ms Coley said Xanadoo would be a world class visitor destination with a major environmental and social impact and an £840 million economic impact, over 30 years, which would support more than 1,000 jobs.

One site near Pontypool is likely to have been ruled out but Ms Coley and partner Susan Hill, who also worked at the Eden Project, are currently looking at sites in Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent and also Swansea.

Their firm, Road to Happiness, which worked with Torfaen council on redesigning Greenmeadow Community Farm in Cwmbran, is in discussions with the council but Ms Coley has also urged anyone with potential sites in mind to contact it.

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Ms Coley, who is originally from Cwmbran, said: “I’m Welsh and grew up in Cwmbran and my partner, Susan Hill, and I think Welsh tourism needs and deserves this fantastic opportunity.

“We believe Xanadoo can do the same for south Wales as the Eden Project did for Cornwall. An economic impact assessment has just been carried out and it has bought £6 billion to Cornwall and the West Country which is more than the whole of European funding and we’d like to do the same for south Wales. It will bring sustainable tourism, support hospitality and creativity, storytelling, digital and health and wellbeing.”

The grade II-listed former Nylon Spinners Factory, at Mamhilad Park in Pontypool, had been under consideration as a potential site but has likely been ruled out as the site owners intend to develop it for new housing, despite the most recently approved plans having been overturned following a judicial review.

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Ms Coley said she and her partners are “still open-minded” on potential sites and are “actively looking for sites” in Swansea, Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent. The two Gwent councils have a formal partnership in which they work together.

She said: “I would encourage anybody who thinks there is a location that could be right for Xanadoo to get in touch.”

A prospectus for the project lists Torfaen Borough Council and the UK Government under those that have further developed and contributed to the feasibility study which cites figures based on research from 2023 and a projected opening in 2028.

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As well as a visitor attraction Xanadoo would have space for businesses and universities to work together.

Xanadoo is also highlighted in a report on a proposed Torfaen destination management plan intended to guide the development of a visitor and tourism economy in the borough.

The report reads: “A potential major visitor attraction development such as Xanadoo could help to transform the area”. It adds: “Xanadoo would be a major draw for Torfaen and south Wales.”

When the tourism plan was discussed by Torfaen councillors Reform UK member for Llantarnam, Alan Slade, asked what Xanadoo is.

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Council deputy chief executive Dave Leech said he couldn’t go into details “as they are commercially sensitive” but described it as a “potential tourism product” in “very, very early stages” with sites in the borough being looked at. Make sure you never miss Wales’ biggest updates by getting our daily newsletter.