Politics
Kwasi Kwarteng accuses Liz Truss of desperate attempt to stay relevant in brutal swipe at former ally: ‘Pathetic!’
Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has branded Liz Truss’s appearance at Donald Trump’s inauguration as “pathetic” and “regrettable”.
Speaking on GB News, Kwarteng accused his former boss of attempting to “stay relevant” by attending the Washington DC event.
The ex-Chancellor took particular aim at those who previously held office but have lost their Commons seats, suggesting they were trying to “borrow Trump’s image”.
“These aren’t people who are Trump all the way”, Kwarteng said, drawing a contrast with figures like Nigel Farage who he noted had genuinely backed Trump since 2016.
Kwasi Kwarteng hit out at his former ally
X / LIZ TRUSS / GB NEWS
Truss travelled to Washington DC ahead of Trump’s inauguration, posing for a photo wearing a “Make America Great Again” baseball cap.
The former prime minister posted on social media platform X: “In DC. The Donald Trump term can’t come soon enough. The West needs it.”
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Donald Trump became the 47th president of the United States
Reuters
The inauguration itself has faced last-minute changes due to expected freezing weather, significantly reducing attendance numbers.
While wealthy and influential figures are guaranteed seats at the event, it remains unclear whether Truss will be among those attending the ceremony in person.
Kwarteng specifically criticised Truss’s political transformation, noting her shift from being a Remainer to a Trump supporter.
“Liz Truss was a Remainer and has now morphed into a Brexit, Trump supporter”, he said on GB News.
Kwasi Kwarteng spoke to Martin Daubney on GB News
GB NEWS
He dismissed her Washington connections, stating: “She obviously has friends in Washington but trying to use this as a way of staying relevant I think is regrettable.”
The former Chancellor expressed particular disdain for ex-government members, “some of them Remainers, turning up to the inauguration”, adding bluntly: “Give me a break. These guys are trying to get in the limelight.”
Truss’s Washington appearance comes after she lost her parliamentary seat in the recent general election.
Her trip has sparked widespread mockery on social media, with critics drawing parallels between her appearance and Paddington Bear due to her red hat and blue coat combination.
The ridicule follows recent controversy where Truss sent a “cease and desist” letter to Keir Starmer over his comments about her crashing the economy.
The New European magazine commented: “Many people thought Liz Truss couldn’t embarrass herself further. But they seriously underestimated her on that front.”
Her 44-day tenure as Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister ended following the fallout from her disastrous mini-Budget.
Politics
Keir Starmer scolded for ‘bizarre rabbit hole of blame’ over Axel Rudakubana failings: ‘A real cover-up!’
The head of a leading think tank has accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of going down a “bizarre rabbit hole” of blame in his response to the Southport attack case.
Alan Mendoza, Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society, told GB News he was “puzzled” by Starmer’s approach to the failings that led to Axel Rudakubana’s deadly rampage.
Mendoza criticised the Prime Minister for focusing on social media and Amazon rather than addressing the multiple occasions authorities could have intervened.
“It would have been quite easy for the Prime Minister to make a decision to say, ‘look, we messed up, the authorities messed up, it wasn’t on my watch, I promise to do better’,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza hit out at Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s blame of Amazon in Axel Rudakubana’s case
GB News / PA
The Southport attacker had purchased the murder weapon from Amazon without significant barriers, when he was 17-years-old.
In response to the attack, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced stricter measures for online knife purchases, requiring two forms of identification.
Mendoza claimed there was a “real cover-up” of crucial information about the attacker in the aftermath of the incident.
He specifically criticised the Government’s decision to withhold key information about Rudakubana’s activities.
Keir Starmer has defended his actions after being blasted for Southport ‘cover-up’
PA
“You knew things about al-Qaeda training manuals, you knew he was watching beheading videos, you knew that he had an interest in all these activities and was talking about ricin back in August,” he told GB News.
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He argued this information could have been revealed within days of the crime. The think tank director suggested earlier disclosure might have prevented subsequent unrest.
“Had that come out, I think they would have defused a lot of the pressures out there, where people felt there was a real cover up going on,” he said.
“It turns out they were right, there was a cover up going on,” Mendoza added.
Starmer has recently warned that Britain faces a new threat from “young men in their bedrooms” accessing radical materials online.
Mendoza told GB News that there was a ‘cover up’ of information relating to Rudakubana
GB News
“Terrorism has changed,” the Prime Minister said. “Now, alongside that we also see acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom.”
The new requirements for buying knives online will mandate that buyers provide documents such as a passport or driving licence, along with a live video verification of their age.
Amazon has responded to the incident by launching an urgent investigation, stating they take their responsibility around age-restricted items “extremely seriously.”
The online retailer confirmed they use ID verification services to check personal details and require age verification upon delivery.
Politics
GOP leaders mull a big debt-and-funding deal with Democrats
House and Senate GOP leaders are internally debating a possible deal with Democrats that would include government funding, California wildfire aid, a debt-limit hike and border security money, according to two Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter.
Senior Republicans have been privately mulling a bipartisan government funding deal for weeks now, wary that they may not be able to add a debt-limit hike to their party-line reconciliation package given internal GOP divisions over the matter. But conversations around the potential larger deal have heated up in recent days as GOP leaders try to figure out how to lift the approaching debt ceiling while also advancing a massive, party-line reconciliation bill and avoiding a March 15 government shutdown.
The strategy isn’t finalized. Asked about it on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) indicated that he was open to linking everything together in a giant package but that several options are currently under discussion.
“I’m interested in getting a result on all of the above but how we do that is still an open question,” he said.
It would come with plenty of risks — Republicans would need to convince Democrats to accept the border funding increase. And they could face backlash from House GOP hard-liners unless they attach steep spending cuts, which would automatically threaten Democratic support and raise the risk of a shutdown. President Donald Trump has already shown interest in linking wildfire aid to the longer-term debt ceiling hike he is pursuing.
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) met Wednesday as they negotiated a top-line dollar amount to pitch to Democrats that would pave the way for lawmakers to craft the larger funding package. Those appropriators are circling an agreement for the top-line number, which they hope to clinch in the coming days.
As expected, conservative hardliners who are less inclined to support funding bills such as Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), are signaling they’ll oppose such a package. Roy warned in a brief interview Wednesday that he would oppose the option unless there were spending cuts included and indicated he would want disaster relief spending to be paid for.
Linking border, debt and disaster aid to government funding isn’t the only option that leadership has floated, and in some cases walked back, in recent weeks.
Speaker Mike Johnson has floated linking the debt ceiling to money to recover from the California wildfires. Thune also previously indicated that the debt ceiling was unlikely to be included in the GOP border and energy bill Senate Republicans are crafting, in another sign that Republicans were likely to leave it out of their party-line reconciliation effort.
Johnson, Thune and their respective leadership teams met with Trump on Tuesday, where they discussed the government funding deadline, and potentially linking disaster aid and the debt ceiling.
Politics
Reform UK declare ‘national security emergency’ as staggering number of illegal migrants in London laid bare
London is home to as many as 585,000 illegal migrants, equivalent to one in 12 of the city’s population, according to a previously confidential report commissioned by Thames Water.
The study, conducted by Edge Analytics and demography experts at Leeds University, aimed to quantify “hidden” users of water services.
The report estimates between 390,355 and 585,533 illegal migrants live in London, with a median figure of 487,944.
Most illegal migrants arrived in the UK on work, study or visitor visas before overstaying, the report suggests.
Zia Yusuf declared a national emergency
GB NEWS / PA
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf said he was “not the least bit surprised” by the figures, stating that “anyone who has walked or lived in London knows in their bones these figures are true.”
He accused the Office of National Statistics of “gaslighting” the public, pointing to how legal migration figures were revised upward by 20 per cent.
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“The Tories allowed hundreds of thousands of largely men to cross our Channel illegally and what did they do? They put them up in phones and basically give them every incentive to come here,” he added.
Yusuf warned the situation represents “not just a national emergency, it’s a national security emergency.”
He expressed particular concern about demographics, stating: “90 per cent of the people crossing the Channel are men.”
“The number of military age males making that journey legally surpasses the number of available soldiers, both standing and territorial,” he said.
Zia Yusuf joined Patrick Christys on GB News
GB NEWS
“And most of them come from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran – countries with not the friendliest track records to this country,” Yusuf added, calling the situation “incredibly and grossly unfair.”
In total, there are estimated to be more than one million illegal migrants in the UK, with 60 per cent of those in the capital.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice told The Telegraph: “One in 12 people in London are here illegally, probably working illegally using taxpayer-funded public infrastructure and services. It is totally unacceptable.”
“It’s another reason why we need to properly control our borders and welcome those who come here legally but thank those who are here illegally as we return them where they came from,” he added.
A Home Office spokesman said: “This Government is strengthening global partnerships and rooting out the criminal gangs who profit from small boat crossings which threaten lives.”
The spokesman added they had “removed 16,400 illegal migrants in just six months, the highest figure in half a decade, making it clear that those who arrive illegally will be returned.”
The Home Office confirmed 1,000 migrants had crossed the Channel so far this year, following 38,816 in 2024, the second highest total on record.
Politics
‘Deeply alarming’ new report shows 1 in 12 people in London are illegal immigrants as Home Office fails to publish population data
As many as one in 12 people in London are illegal immigrants, a “deeply alarming” new report has revealed.
A previously confidential report found that almost 600,000 people live in the nation’s capital without the right to be in Britain – but the Home Office do not provide any official figures on the scale of the problem.
The figure – some 585,000 in London – has come to light after a study for Thames Water was brought to light by The Telegraph through freedom of information-style laws for the environment.
The report estimates that there are more than one million illegal migrants in the UK as a whole – 60 per cent of which reside in the capital.
As many as one in 12 people in London are illegal immigrants, the report found
PA
It suggests that the majority of illegal migrants arrived in the UK on work, study or visitor visas and then overstayed.
Migration experts have even warned that the numbers could be even higher as some of the underlying data dates from 2017, before immigration – both legal and illegal – soared under the former Conservative Government.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp – who served in said Government – called the figures “deeply alarming” and has called on Labour to ramp up its deportations.
In a veiled swipe at the ECHR, Philp added: “It is totally unacceptable to have these numbers of illegal immigrants in the UK. The law needs to be looked at so that spurious human rights, modern slavery and asylum claims cannot be used to delay or prevent removals of illegal immigrants.”
That sentiment was echoed by Reform UK’s migration hardliner MP Rupert Lowe, who said “mass deportations” are now required.
LATEST ON BRITAIN’S MIGRATION NIGHTMARE:
Almost 600,000 people live in the nation’s capital without the right to be in Britain
PA
While the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice warned: “One in 12 people in London are here illegally – probably working illegally using taxpayer-funded public infrastructure and services. It is totally unacceptable.
“It’s another reason why we need to properly control our borders and welcome those who come here legally, but thank those who are here illegally as we return them where they came from.”
The Thames Water report, carried out by Edge Analytics and Leeds University data analysts, had aimed to work out how many people truly used its services to enable the water firm to better meet demand.
It based its research on national estimates of illegal migrants from the Pew Research Center in the US, the London School of Economics, and Office for National Statistics data.
It then used National Insurance registrations for non-EU foreign nationals over a nine-year period to estimate the number of so-called “irregular” migrants in each London borough.
Reform’s Richard Tice called the illegal migration situation ‘totally unacceptable’
PA
For London, the study placed its estimate at a minimum of 390,355 illegal migrants and a maximum of 585,533 at its highest, with a median figure of 487,944.
The capital’s estimated population sits at 7,044,667. As a result, one in 12 of the capital’s population is an illegal migrant.
When other areas outside London covered by Thames Water are included, like Henley, Guildford, Reading, Swindon and Newbury, the range for the number of illegal migrants rises to between 415,568 to 623,351.
But in the face of this, the Home Office does not publish any full data on the total number of illegal migrants in the UK, while only since 2018 has it publicised figures on the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
The Home Office, responding to The Telegraph’s findings, hailed how it had ‘removed 16,400 illegal migrants in just six months’
PA
A Thames Water spokesman said: “Water companies have a regulatory obligation to undertake a ‘water balance’, which includes understanding how much water our customers use on a per-person basis, and how it is distributed across our supply area.
“Analysis to estimate ‘hidden and transient’ populations is carried out by an independent firm of consultants, who draw from publicly available sources including census, surveys, and published academic research.
“Thames Water played no part in the writing of the report and the conclusions drawn are those of the independent firm that carried out the research.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “This Government is strengthening global partnerships and rooting out the criminal gangs who profit from small boat crossings which threaten lives.
“We have also removed 16,400 illegal migrants in just six months, the highest figure in half a decade, making it clear that those who arrive illegally will be returned.”
Politics
You, the British people, are being gaslit
You, the British people, are being gaslit. You are being lied to.
While the people always sensed there was something unusual about the Southport atrocities ever since that fateful day the authorities have hid behind legal processes and bureaucracies.
Yesterday, Keir Starmer admitted that he knew the details about Axel Rudakubana’s background long before they came out.
But this is not consistent with his previous actions.
Matt Goodwin spoke on GB News
GB NEWS
During the 2017 Finsbury Park terror attack, Starmer called it a terror attack before terrorism charges were announced.
He also did the same in the case of the London Bridge attack in 2017 and the Plymouth attack in 2019.
And of course after Southport he had no problem at all in deriding many people as “far right thugs” before they went to court and had their cases heard
Yesterday, he appealed to contempt of court laws for not releasing the information about Southport earlier.
But if it applies to Southport, why didn’t this apply to three other terror attacks, as well as those protests?
We’re now of course hearing reports that CPS pressured Merseyside Police not to release the suspect’s details.
Keir Starmer said he was aware of some of the circumstances surrounding Rudakubana
POOL
But just to top it all off, the government now wants you to believe this was a case of knife-purchase laws not being strong enough.
You may remember when David Amess was murdered by an Islamist terrorist.
Parliamentarians tried to make the issue about online abuse.
Well, the same thing is happening now.
The government has fast-tracked tighter restrictions on online knife sales for under-18s, as if Amazon was to blame for Southport.
Writing in the Sun today, the Prime Minister called Axel Rudakubana, a two-click killer.
But the fact of the matter is that the system, the state, failed the victims of Southport, much like it failed the victims of Pakistani rape gangs.
It’s time for the obfuscation, the concealment, the cover-ups and the deflections to come to an end.
It’s time for the people in power to tell us the truth!
Politics
We are witnessing a giant deflection tactic when it comes to the Southport massacre
We are witnessing a giant deflection tactic when it comes to the Southport massacre.
Let’s get one thing clear – knives don’t kill people. Deranged lunatics do.
Keir Starmer’s decided that the main problem here is that the monster Axel Rudakubana could buy a knife and now we’re going to get new laws on that.
You’ve got James O’Brien piping up now blaming Jeff Bezos…
Patrick Christys says we are witnessing a ‘massive’ deflection tactic
GB NEWS
Rudakubana was referred to Prevent three times. He was expelled from school. He apparently attacked pupils with a hockey stick at school. He was known to police. His parents must have had an idea that their son was a monster.
His father reportedly stopped him getting in a taxi to his old school, a week before he took another one on his way to commit the dance studio massacre.
Labour wants tougher laws for under-18’s buying knives online. Firstly, that would have prevented him from buying one for a few weeks. Secondly, he could have killed people with the biological weapon he was making. Thirdly, Labour wanted votes for 16-year-olds at the last election.
So he’d have been old enough to vote, but not old enough to buy a knife.
Fourthly, as Nigel Farage points out, you can’t ban knives entirely – there is a murder weapon in every kitchen drawer.
We’ve been here before.
Keir Starmer admitting to knowing details about Axel Rudakubana before the public
GB NEWS
After the murder of Sir David Amess by a jihadi lunatic somehow it all became about passing a new law to clamp down on social media use.
What about clamping down on jihadis instead?
What you’re going to see now in the Southport case is a concerted attempt to do everything apart from tackle the real issue.
GB News Presenter Matt Goodwin said: “Southport is not about buying knives on Amazon, or what big tech lets us watch online…It’s about hapless Western leaders importing masses of people from high conflict societies who are more prone to violence, don’t share our values and don’t care about our people.”
And look at what’s happened today in Germany, again.
An Afghan asylum seeker stabs a toddler and a man to death in a park.
Our establishment politicians will do everything to distract you from the fact it’s their ideologies and their decisions that have put us all, and our children, at risk.
Politics
Keir Starmer branded a ‘very dangerous man’ as PM raises ‘authoritarian’ fears with protest crackdown
Political commentator Aaron Bastani has issued a stark warning about Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, describing him as a “very, very dangerous man” who could quickly become “authoritarian”.
Speaking on GB News, Bastani expressed deep concerns about potential restrictions on protest rights under Starmer’s leadership.
“I think he’s a very, very dangerous man and I think he’d be a very authoritarian man very quickly,” Bastani said.
The commentator warned that attempts to criminalise protest could lead down a “slippery slope”.
Aaron Bastani is fearful of Keir Starmer cracking down on protests
GB NEWS / PA
The warning comes amid recent protests in London that saw significant police intervention.
Just days ago, 77 protesters were arrested during a pro-Palestine demonstration in central London.
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The Metropolitan Police said the arrests followed “a coordinated effort to breach Public Order Act conditions and cause serious disruption to Londoners”.
The demonstration, which took place on the eve of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, was confined to a static rally in Whitehall after police rejected the organisers’ initially proposed route.
It marked the largest number of arrests at such rallies since they began in October 2023.
Bastani defended the fundamental importance of protest rights, regardless of political stance.
The matter was discussed on GB News
GB NEWS
“The right to protest is only meaningful if it applies to people you disagree with,” he told GB News.
He pointed to recent farmers’ protests as an example of positive democratic expression.
“If you look at the recent farmers’ protest, that was really powerful and positive in many ways to see so many people from around the country protesting their point of view and their rights at the heart of Government,” he said.
He stressed that protest rights shouldn’t be limited only to those whose views align with the authorities.
Bastani warned that restrictions on pro-Palestinian protesters could set a concerning precedent.
“If he’s doing this to Palestinian protesters, who do you think is next?” he questioned.
The political commentator emphasised that protecting fundamental rights was crucial for everyone.
“I think everybody should care deeply about the rights of free speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of protest, because it won’t stop here if this man is given a free hand,” he said.
His comments highlight growing tensions between protest rights and public order enforcement in the capital.
Politics
Keir Starmer’s decision to blame Amazon for Axel Rudakubana failings is ‘puzzling’, Mendoza claims
The head of a leading think tank has accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of going down a “bizarre rabbit hole” of blame in his response to the Southport attack case.
Alan Mendoza, Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society, told GB News he was “puzzled” by Starmer’s approach to the failings that led to Axel Rudakubana’s deadly rampage.
Politics
Trump’s budget pick is famous for defying Congress. GOP senators want to confirm him anyway.
Senate Republicans are eager to seat the man who could undercut their funding power.
As President Donald Trump boldly defies the will of Congress by issuing executive orders freezing billions of dollars in federal cash that lawmakers have approved in recent years, Senate Republicans are still speaking accolades of Russ Vought, the president’s pick for White House budget director and the man famous for withholding government money during Trump’s first administration.
Key committee chairs are predicting that the Senate will confirm Vought without issue to head the Office of Management and Budget again, even as some GOP senators raise concern about protecting Congress’ “power of the purse” — granted under Article I of the Constitution — from presidential overreach.
“I think all of us are going to vote for you,” Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham told Vought on Wednesday, as the nominee testified before the South Carolina Republican’s committee in his second public vetting this month.
“Bottom line is, I think you’re qualified for the job. I know why he picked you,” Graham said of Trump’s selection of Vought. “And again, we just had an election. And when you win, you get to pick people. And I’m glad he picked you.”
Loyally confirming Trump’s desired budget director amid the new president’s sweeping funding pause would immediately strengthen the White House’s ability to pick and choose what cash to spend, shirking the spending laws congressional Republicans have voted to enact and calling into question the soundness of any bills they clear in the future.
Notably, Vought would not promise Wednesday to avoid circumventing impoundment law, which is meant to block presidents from withholding money Congress has previously passed through the Congressional appropriations process.
Federal watchdogs concluded that Vought and other Trump administration officials violated impoundment law several times during Trump’s first term, including the freezing of aid to Ukraine that helped fuel Trump’s impeachment in 2019.
But Vought said the executive orders Trump issued within hours of taking office Monday are simply “programmatic delays” or “pauses,” explaining they are meant “to ensure that the funding that is in place is consistent and moves in a direction along the lines of what the president ran on.”
While Vought vowed to “faithfully uphold the law” if confirmed, he noted that Trump disagrees with the Impoundment Control Act enacted more than 50 years ago to insulate the congressional appropriations process from executive branch meddling.
“The president ran on the notion that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional. I agree with that,” Vought said, further insisting that “what the president has unveiled already are not impoundments.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the Budget Committee’s top Democrat, told Vought on Wednesday he was “deeply disturbed” with his answers.
“Congress makes the law, not the president,” said Merkley. “The fact that you continue to advocate for this impoundment strategy, that is completely in violation of our Constitution.”
Under the far-reaching orders Trump issued after he was inaugurated on Monday, federal agencies are now being forced to pause funding from Democrats’ signature climate and spending law called the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as from the bipartisan infrastructure package Republicans helped enact in 2021.
Foreign assistance is also on hold for 90 days, including to Ukraine and Israel as the two U.S. allies are in the midst of wars.
Not every Republican is giving Vought a total free pass. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee — which also has jurisdiction over the OMB director nomination and held its own confirmation hearing with Vought last week — said he didn’t think a president should have the power to use government funding differently than how lawmakers have dictated in the bills they pass.
“The power of the purse is Congress,” Paul said during that hearing. “I think if we appropriate something for a cause, that’s where it’s supposed to go. And that will still be my position.”
Nonetheless, less than a week later, Paul led Republicans on his committee to approve Vought’s nomination, stating, “There is no doubt he will be swiftly confirmed.”
Politics
SAS veteran hits out at Labour over ‘imbecilic’ inheritance tax raid
An SAS veteran has hit out at Labour’s decision to hit grieving families of military workers with inheritance tax from April 2027.
The money given to families of deceased Armed Forces members, called death in service payments, may be subject to a hefty cut after Labour MPs voted in favour of a raid.
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