New EU border rules which would force British tourists to submit fingerprints and facial biometrics have been postponed indefinitely.

Brussels will now investigate the possibility of a new approach, which would involve phasing in the system gradually over time. The rules had been due to come into force on Nov 10.

It is the third time it has been postponed, but this time no new deadline has been set.

The European Commission said the deadline for the Entry/Exit System (EES) would be delayed a month before it was due to come into force after a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday.

Germany, France and the Netherlands had said they were not ready to roll out the new electronic replacement for wet-stamping the passports of non-EU citizens entering the Schengen Zone.

Ylva Johansson, the Commissioner for Home Affairs, said there were “some concerns when it comes to the resilience of the system”.

The three countries are responsible for 40 per cent of all inward traffic in to the EU and have faced IT difficulties.

There have also been warnings that the EES will lead to long queues when first introduced because of the need to submit the biometric data.

The latest delay comes just days after Spain warned the UK the new rules would mean a hard border with Gibraltar and urged London to cave to its demands over a post-Brexit deal making the Rock part of Schengen.

“10th of November is no longer on the table,” Ms Johansson said after the meeting of interior ministers.

“I hope we can start as soon as possible but there’s no new timeline so far. This also depends on the legal assessment that we will do and we’re working on it right now.”

Ms Johannsson said the EES could be introduced “with a little step by step going into the system, not a Big Bang of all border crossing points at the same time.”

However, that could throw up legal problems because the original regulations were not written with that approach in mind.

“The Commission has been given a mandate to work on a phased approach for the rollout, which might require some legal tweaks. So the Commission now has some homework to do,” a diplomat from one member state told The Telegraph.

The EES was meant to be introduced in summer last year but was delayed amid French concerns over disruption to the Paris Olympics and Rugby World Cup. It was rescheduled for Oct 6 before being delayed again to Nov 10.

It will apply to non-EU citizens, including Britons, entering the passport-free Schengen Zone for visits, holidays and business trips for a stay of up to 90 days within a 180-day period

All entries and exits will be recorded. Once it is working, visitors will have to provide passports, have their face photographed and fingerprints scanned electronically.

The system is meant to help crack down on people overstaying short term visas and identity fraudsters.

The Schengen Zone consists of most – but not all – of the EU’s 27 member states, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Bulgaria and Romania are expected to join soon.

The UK was never a member of Schengen when it was in the EU. Ireland, which has a Common Travel Area with the UK, and Cyprus are the only EU states which are not Schengen members and passports will continue to be stamped manually there.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of The Advantage Travel Partnership, said: “An inordinate amount of work has already been undertaken across the UK Outbound Travel industry in preparing for these new digital border systems and the numerous delays to the introduction of the scheme are not conducive to good public awareness, and this further delay whilst it gives more time to prepare remains another point of confusion.

“The confirmed delay by the EU of the infamous EES launch will inevitably give the travel industry a huge sigh of relief as there was significant concern at the preparedness throughout the EU bloc that would inevitably have caused delay and setbacks for so many non-EU passport holders at the borders.”

Luke Petherbridge, Director of Public Affairs at ABTA – The Travel Association said: “It is good to know the full implementation of EES is no longer expected in November, as the industry had been left in limbo waiting for news on when it will start.

“We do still need urgent confirmation and clarification on the next steps of EES; it’s difficult to talk to a customer about a new system without knowing if it will actually be in place for their trip.

The remains of a British mountaineer who may have climbed Everest 30 years before Sir Edmund Hillary have finally been discovered.

Andrew “Sandy” Irvine disappeared on the world’s highest mountain in 1924 while attempting to climb it with George Mallory.

Mystery has swirled ever since over whether the men were lost before or after they reached the peak’s 29,032ft summit.

If proved, their success would rewrite the history of mountaineering, since Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay’s 1953 expedition is widely accepted as the first time the summit of Everest was reached.

Irvine’s partial remains, along with a boot and a sock embroidered with his name, have been discovered for the first time on a glacier below the mountain’s north face.

DNA tests will be conducted to confirm the finding, which was made by an expedition filming a documentary for National Geographic.

Jimmy Chin, who found the remains with filmmakers Erich Roepke and Mark Fisher, said it was a “monumental and emotional moment”.

“Sometimes in life the greatest discoveries occur when you aren’t even looking,” he said.

Mallory’s body was found in 1999 at a higher altitude than Irvine’s suspected remains, directly in a fall line from where a lone ice axe was found in 1933.

A key reason why some believe Irvine and Mallory may have reached the summit is that Mallory’s body was found without a photograph of his wife, Ruth, in his possession.

He had told family members before setting out for the peak that he intended to carry one with him and leave it at the top of Everest.

Julie Summers, Irvine’s great-niece and biographer, said she was “moved to tears” when she was told of the new discovery.

“I have lived with this story since I was a seven-year-old when my father told us about the mystery of Uncle Sandy on Everest,” she said.

“The story became more real when climbers found the body of George Mallory in 1999, and I wondered if Sandy’s body would be discovered next.

“A quarter-of-a-century after that discovery, it seemed extremely unlikely that anything new would be found.

“When Jimmy told me that he saw the name AC Irvine on the label on the sock inside the boot, I found myself moved to tears. It was and will remain an extraordinary and poignant moment.”

It is thought that Irvine, who disappeared at the age of 22, was carrying a camera which, if found and its photographs developed, could prove whether he and Mallory reached the summit.

But the camera was not recovered by the National Geographic expedition.

If successful, Irvine and Mallory would also have beaten the first successful summit of Everest’s north face, which was accomplished by Chinese climbers in 1960.

Mallory’s face-down body was found 2,000 feet below Everest’s summit 25 years ago and was well-preserved owing to the freezing, high-altitude conditions.

He had a frayed rope around his waist and injuries consistent with having fallen while roped together with Irvine.

The specific location of Irvine’s partial remains has not been disclosed but the Central Rongbuk Glacier, where they were found, is at an altitude at least 7,000 feet lower than where Mallory’s body was discovered.

Prof Joe Smith, director of the Royal Geographical Society, said of the discovery: “Sandy was an exceptional figure and made a significant contribution to our understanding of Everest and the Himalaya.

“This discovery of his remains provides an element of closure for his relatives and the wider mountaineering community, and we are grateful to Jimmy and his team for enabling this and ensuring Sandy is in safe hands.”

In a statement, Irvine’s family said: “The Irvine family is deeply moved to hear of the discovery of partial remains of Sandy Irvine.

“We are grateful to the mountaineering and film team, led by Jimmy Chin, who made the discovery and who have treated it with respect and professionalism.”

Irvine’s partial remains are now in the possession of the China Tibet Mountaineering Association, which is responsible for climbing permits on Everest’s northern side.

The husband of a Labour MP has been accused of exaggerating his military service in the Royal Marines.

Greg Brackenridge, a local councillor and former mayor of Wolverhampton, has told voters he served as a commando but in fact never finished training, according to reports.

Cllr Brackenridge, 53 who is also the Chair of the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority, was previously pictured wearing a badge for veterans of the Iraq War from 1990 to 1991 and a Royal Marines Corps tie.

But he allegedly failed to complete the 32-week training in 1988 and left at the rank of recruit without earning his green beret, the Sun newspaper reported.

“Until you pass out, you’re still a recruit, you’re not really a Royal Marine,” a source told the newspaper.

His wife, Sureena Brackenridge, won the seat Wolverhampton North East for Labour in July, and her son Ciaran also sits as a councillor.

When unveiling the statue of a Sikh soldier in Wolverhampton in September 2021, he told a journalist: “I served as a Royal Marine myself when I left school and I worked with members of the Sikh community in the Armed Forces and people from all around the world, the Nepalese, the Gurkhas.”

The Gurkhas are soldiers from Nepal who are recruited into the British Army.

In an interview with news website BirminghamLive this week he admitted to never serving “in battle or the front line” and that his career was prematurely cut short for “personal family reasons”.

He has also claimed his own personal military record held by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had been illegally accessed.

“I am formally requesting the MoD investigate these matters, and I’m in discussions with lawyers about the next steps,” he said.

A biography on the Wolverhampton Labour Group, which has since been deleted, reportedly repeated his claim of serving with the Royal Marines.

“It has been my honour to serve the people of Wednesfield over many years as your councillor and in my previous professional careers firstly with the Royal Marines and as a local firefighter with the West Midlands Service,” it is alleged to have read.

Cllr Brackenridge and Mrs Brackenridge have both been approached for comment.

A woman who murdered her parents and then lived alongside their bodies for four years told police who arrested her: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.” 

Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with a “cocktail of prescription drugs” and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, with a kitchen knife in the summer of 2019.

At a sentencing hearing on Friday, the court heard how McCullough had built a “makeshift tomb” for her father in a ground floor room of the family home, which had been his bedroom and study.

She is then said to have put her mother’s body in a sleeping bag in a bedroom wardrobe on the top floor of their home in Pump Hill in Great Baddow, Essex.

When Essex Police arrested her last year, she admitted everything to them and said “you’ve caught the bad guy”.

The court also heard how McCullough made 185 calls to a GP surgery including calls where she pretended to be her mother.

McCullough also spoke to a police officer over the phone and told them her parents were away but would be back for her mother’s birthday.

McCullough benefited from more than £135,000 after the murders from cashing in her parents’ pensions.

Prof Nigel Blackwood, a psychiatrist, who assessed McCullough, told the court her behaviour including her “lack of emotional empathy” was “more typically found in psychopathic personalities”.

Essex Police has now released footage of her arrest.

On Sept 15 2023 officers attended McCullough’s home address after her parents’ failure to attend GP appointments had raised concerns for their wellbeing.
Video footage shows five officers outside the suburban home as a policeman in riot gear breaks a glass plane in the back door.

An officer in forensic clothing then crawls through the door, and says, “No one here at the moment, hold on.” He shouts: “[This is] the police.”

Holding a yellow Taser, an officer walks through the property to the front door, where McCullough is standing wearing a pink top.

Appearing calm, McCullough is then told: “The time is 12.12pm and you are under arrest on suspicion of murder against John McCullough and Lois McCullough, okay?”

She replies: “Yes.”

While being handcuffed, one of the officers asks McCullough if there is “anything improper we should know about?”

She replied: “Yes, there is.”

The officer interjected: “Where?”

She went on: “Can I take you to it?”

He replied: “No, you can tell me.”

Four years earlier, on June 17 2019, McCullough had poisoned her father with prescription medicine before stabbing her mother and hitting her with a hammer the next day. Their bodies had never left the house.

As she continued to be questioned by police, McCullough told them her father’s body was in what prosecutors described as a “homemade mausoleum” in the back room of the house’s ground floor.

Asked where her mother’s body was, she said it was “a little bit more complicated”.

“So, upstairs, there are about five wardrobes,” she said. “It’s behind the bed at the back, next to the sink.”

Footage shows McCullough telling police how she killed her father by spiking his drinks.

“I’ve slipped a pile of those into his drink,” she said. “There were about two or three drinks that I brought downstairs.

“He didn’t drink all of them. He only drunk probably half of them. Six o’clock in the morning, I came in and he was gone. He was gone.”

As officers searched the house, McCullough continued to talk to the officers who arrested her.

“I did know that this would kind of come eventually,” she told them. “It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”

The court heard she had told persistent lies about her parents’ whereabouts, cancelling family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.

The murders were only uncovered after a GP at Lois and John’s practice raised a concern for their welfare, having not seen them for some time.

It later emerged that McCullough frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.

McCullough initially lied to officers when they first contacted her claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.

The footage of her arrest goes on to show McCullough signing the confession she had just made to police.

The officer asks her: “Are you happy to sign that to say it’s a true account?” She replied, “Yes, yeah”, before signing with a biro pen, apparently emotionless.

In a bizarre turn, McCullough then told the officer to “cheer up” because he had “caught the bad guy”.

“I know I don’t seem 100 per cent evil,” she added. 

The officer replied: “I’ve just woken up today and done my job.”

Detectives told the court that McCullough had “long manipulated and abused her parents’ goodwill for financial gain”.

She stole from them while they were alive to support her gambling habit and also after they died. Documents found at the property showed she had run up tens of thousands of pounds of debts on credit cards in her parents’ names.

As she continued to talk to the officers, McCullough told them that her eventual conviction “might give me a bit of peace”.

“I deserve to obviously get whatever is coming sentence-wise because that is the right thing to do and that might give me a bit of peace,” she said.

McCullough was sentenced to life in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday and ordered to serve a minimum term of 36 years.

Later footage filmed in the police station where McCullough was taken after her arrest shows her revealing the location of the knife used in the murder of her mother.

Handcuffed in a cell, she said: “So, um, murder weapon is upstairs… a kitchen knife.”

The court was told that her fatal attacks were, by her own admission, the culmination of months of thought and planning that began around March 2019.

She struck her mother over the head with a hammer as she pleaded with her, “What are you doing? What are you doing?”.

McCullough then stabbed her mother with a kitchen knife when she “realised that the hammer was not going to work”, she admitted to police. 

McCullough admitted to police that there would still be “blood traces” on the hammer she used to attack her mother.

“The next bit is very hard to talk about, that’s probably the most grisly detail,” she told officers from her cell.

“So on the ground floor, underneath the stairs, there’s a few, like, storage boxes and things.

“You will find that forensically it’s helpful. There’s a hammer. It will still have blood on it. It’s rusted but it will still have blood traces on it.”

In the final clip, McCullough was filmed candidly telling police why she admitted her crimes, saying she “should pay for what I’ve done”.

“So not co-operating is, it’s futile,” she said. “There’s no point not co-operating. There really isn’t.

“And plus apart from which, anyway, I should pay for what I’ve done. So that’s the other side of the coin, I think.”

Det Superintendent Rob Kirby, from Essex Police, said the case had shocked “even the most experienced of murder detectives”.

“This process, from the finding of John and Lois’ remains, to the unravelling of McCullough’s web of lies, has taken a huge toll on the wider family network,” he said.

“With this sentence and with all that we have uncovered throughout our investigation, we hope they can now start to find a way forward with their lives.”

A conference in Turkmenistan celebrating a local poet’s 300th birthday is not an obvious spot for the first meeting between Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president.

But these are urgent times for the West’s most dangerous enemies.

Analysts said that the meeting in Ashgabat on Friday, which will focus on “a sharply aggravated situation in the Middle East”, appears to have been arranged at the last minute.

“It is a very strange forum to hold their first meeting,” said Nicole Grajewski, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Until Monday, when Russian media announced the Putin-Pezeshkian meeting, not even Turkmen media had been reporting on the forum dedicated to Magtymguly Pyragy, a Turkmen philosopher born in 1724.

A handful of central Asian leaders have since confirmed their attendance at the forum, possibly to add credibility.

Now, though, Pyragy will be linked not just with 18th-century Turkmen nationalism and traditional poetry tinged with Sufism, a mystical form of Islam, but also with Iran-Russia diplomacy as the Middle East edges towards all-out conflict, and the war in Ukraine rages on.

Since the Kremlin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Iran and Russia have become close allies, building on a partnership forged in the civil war in Syria almost 10 years ago.

Tehran has sent thousands of drones and short-range missiles to Moscow. In return, Russia has been sending oil to Iran and giving it much-needed technical know-how.

On the face of it, Russia appears to be moving towards backing Iran further as there are unconfirmed reports that it has sent fighter jets and missile defence systems to Iran. But there is a feeling in Tehran that the Kremlin still owes Iran.

“Our relationship with Putin resembles that of being friends with someone who never pays their share when you go out,” a professor at a university near Tehran said on condition of anonymity.

But the professor said that Western sanctions had so badly crippled Iran’s economy that it was only able to act as a weak partner to Russia.

“Pezeshkian just needs to keep Putin satisfied, perhaps by promising to send more drones to Russia for use in the Ukraine war,” he said.

Although the Kremlin has hosted Hamas, Iran’s Gaza-based proxies, in the past 12 months and has both blamed the West for escalating conflict in the Middle East and applauded Iran for its restraint, this frustration towards Russia is reflected in Iranian state media.

Tehran’s Ettelaat newspaper has blamed Putin for “abandoning” Iran in Gaza, and for “maintaining his distance from the crisis”. The Hamshahri newspaper said that it was about time that the Kremlin delivered on its promise to send sophisticated S-400 missile defence systems to Iran.

“Access to the S-400 system can position Iran better in diplomatic and military negotiations with other countries,” the newspaper said.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War also said that it expected Putin and Pezeshkian to discuss how to respond to a “potential Israeli retaliation” for Tehran’s missile attack last week, but other analysts said the Kremlin would prefer to take an indirect role in the conflict.

“I think that would be too much in terms of antagonising America and Israel. Russia is also still desperately trying to keep Israel away from funding Ukraine,” said Stephen Hall, an assistant professor of Russian politics at the University of Bath.

Yuri Ushakov, a top Kremlin aide, said that at the meeting, Putin and Pezeshkian would also sign off on a bilateral agreement, expected to intensify cooperation, that has been the focus of intense diplomacy.

Last month, Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s security council, and Mikhail Mishustin, the Russian prime minister, both separately visited Tehran for talks on the deal with Pezeshkian. Pezeshkian only became Iran’s president at the end of July.

For Turkmenistan, wedged on former Soviet Central Asia’s southern border with Iran, the high-stakes Putin-Pezeshkian meeting is a rare opportunity to grab international attention.

Turkmenistan is one of the most repressive countries in the world, where Serdar Berdymukhamedov, the dour president, inherited power in 2022 from his cheerful father, a fast car enthusiast and an amateur DJ.

It is a reclusive place, hosting an obscure forum, disguising a high-stakes Russia-Iran summit.

Barack Obama admitted that Kamala Harris is failing to mobilise black voters as he made his first appearance on the Democratic campaign trail.

Ahead of a rally in the must-win state of Pennsylvania, the former president made a surprise pitstop at a campaign field office in Pittsburgh, where he said he wanted to “speak some truths” to black men, who Ms Harris has struggled to win over, according to the polls.

“My understanding, based on reports I’m getting from campaigns and communities, is that we have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighbourhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Mr Obama said, adding that it “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers”.

The former president went on to admonish black male voters for their failure to endorse Ms Harris, suggesting that sexism might be at play.

“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” he said. “Because part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

Mr Obama added that “women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time”.

“When we get in trouble and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones out there marching and protesting. And now, you’re thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down? That’s not acceptable.”

The former president is seen as one of Ms Harris’ most powerful surrogates, and his arrival on the campaign trail marks the first stop in a blitz of swing states to shore up support in the final weeks of the election.

His comments will be seen as a clear sign of the campaign’s nervousness over support among black voters, which polls show has waned since Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Ms Harris acknowledged last month that she must do more to win over black male voters.

One in four black men plan to back Donald Trump in November, according to an NAACP poll published last month. This is a significant boost for the Republican candidate. Last election, Joe Biden won 92 per cent of the black vote, according to Pew Research.

During his rally at the University of Pittsburgh, Mr Obama admitted the election will be “tight” and suggested that men seem particularly drawn to Donald Trump’s “bullying”.

“I’m sorry, gentlemen — I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behaviour, the bullying and the putting people down, is a sign of strength,” he said. “I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is and has never been.”

In addition to exhorting voters to support the vice-president, Mr Obama sought to draw dividing lines between Ms Harris and Trump.

He attacked the Republican candidate over spreading misinformation about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, criticised his policies on abortion, immigration, and healthcare, and compared his monologues to Fidel Castro, the late Cuban dictator.

Democrats are hoping Mr Obama will give Ms Harris a boost in the polls which have remained in deadlock after an initial surge after the vice-president took over from Mr Biden as the party’s nominee in July.

Mr Obama’s initial failure to immediately endorse Ms Harris after President Biden backed out of the race fuelled speculation of divisions with his former protégée, whose relationship goes back as far as 2004.

However, the former president dispelled rumours by backing Ms Harris in the following days, referring to her as “my girl”. The Obamas both gave speeches at the Democratic National Convention in August and were widely seen to have upstaged Ms Harris.

CBS News edited an interview with Kamala Harris to show her giving two different answers to the same question, prompting accusations the network deliberately cut a “word salad” response to make her appear more competent.

Ms Harris sat for an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” programme, which aired on Monday.

An excerpt of the interview, played by the network on Sunday, had prompted criticism after it showed her giving a lengthy answer to a question about Israel.

“The work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region,” she said.

Commentators said the answer was a “word salad” that failed to answer the question or grasp the foreign policy challenges in the Middle East.

But when the interview aired on Monday’s show, Ms Harris appeared to give a more focussed answer to the same question.

“We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end,” she said in the second clip.

The second clip raised accusations from Donald Trump and his presidential campaign that CBS had edited its interview with Ms Harris after the teaser on Sunday.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump said that the network had “sliced and diced” her answers “to make her look more presidential’”.

“This is a stain on the reputation of 60 Minutes that is not recoverable — it will always remain with this once storied brand,” he said.

“I have never heard of such a thing being done in ‘News’. It is the very definition of fake news!”

‘Deceptively edited’

Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, said that “the word salad was deceptively edited to lessen Kamala’s idiotic response” and called for the original tape of the interview to be released.

“The American people deserve the full, unedited transcript from Kamala’s sit-down interview,” she said.

“We call upon 60 Minutes and CBS to release it. What do they, and Kamala, have to hide?”

The claims come after Ms Harris was accused of choosing sympathetic outlets to give interviews during her presidential campaign, including with a sex podcast named “Call Her Daddy”.

CBS said before Monday’s programme aired that Trump had agreed to sit for an interview, but later pulled out. His campaign denied that claim.

CBS News was contacted for comment.

A Nigerian pirate who lost his leg in a shoot-out with Denmark’s navy will have his new prosthesis funded by the taxpayer as part of a special residential deal granted by the government.

Lucky Frances, who lost a gunfight with the Danish navy in 2021, will receive an education plan, guidance on employment and an “integration contract” to ensure that he becomes a productive member of society.

The Right-wing Danish People’s Party (DF) said the decision mocked the country’s migration and security policy.

Mikkel Bjorn, the DF’s integration spokesman, said: “This is absolutely absurd. That man should never have been in Denmark and to imagine that he can now be meaningfully integrated in Denmark is completely beyond the pale.”

Frances’ run-in with the navy has gripped Denmark since 2021 when he was severely wounded in a firefight with the Danish frigate Esbern Snare in the Gulf of Guinea.

Four of his fellow pirates were killed in the confrontation, but Frances himself received medical treatment, including the amputation of his bullet-riddled leg. Three other survivors were set free by the Danish navy.

As a result of his severe injuries, Frances was brought back to Denmark, where he recovered before being found guilty of endangering Danish lives. Nonetheless, he was spared jail and later claimed asylum in Denmark.

His application sparked a lengthy and complex government process that culminated in him receiving a residence permit and an integration plan.

This includes a language programme, so that Frances can become fluent in Danish, as well as assistance in finding a job as an amputee, BT, a local news outlet, reported.

‘Repatriation benefits’

Frances must also sign an “integration contract” that “contains a number of set goals that Lucky must meet in order to be integrated and otherwise continue to receive his self-support and repatriation benefits”, the news outlet reported. He will also receive an allowance for his new leg.

Frances’s case is so far estimated to have cost the public 4.2 million Danish kroner (£300,000) in addition to his medical bills, according to DR, another local media outlet.

The former pirate said in 2023 that he initially wanted to recover in Denmark before returning to Nigeria, but later changed his mind and applied for asylum despite his daughter’s hesitations.

“Going back to Africa will not be good for me,” he said. “I have thought about my situation. I have also spoken to my family and explained to them about my physical condition. They are okay with me applying for asylum, even if my daughter is not completely satisfied.”

“This shows that [famous Danish comedy writer] Erik Balling’s Denmark is alive and well. It looks like a satirical side story in an Olsen Banden film,” Steffen Larsen, a spokesman for Denmark’s Liberal Alliance, said.

“After we have shot the man’s leg off in battle, we must then send him on a work trial and teach him Danish. Good luck with that.”

They are the soaring human towers that have become the pride of Catalonia over hundreds of years of carefully honed tradition.

Hundreds of people compete in the region every year to create the highest peak in a death-defying tradition stretching back generations.

So when the town of Vilafranca claimed victory in the sport’s most coveted tournament on Sunday, some may have been a little surprised to find a pensioner from south-east London at the base of the “castell”.

Thousands packed into Tarragona’s old bullring to watch the historic event on Sunday for the Concurs de Castells tournament.

Michael, who was born in Catford but lives in Bromley, has been partaking in the sport for 18 years. He told The Telegraph: “The opportunities this has given me as an Englishman are unbelievable.

“How else could an OAP from Bromley get to perform in front of 100,000 at the Camp Nou stadium?”

Michael admitted that he is the unlikeliest member of Catalonia’s Castellers de Vilafranca, an association dedicated to building castells (human towers), not least because he is an ardent Brexiteer who does not speak a word of Catalan.

The London-based pensioner fell into Catalonia’s most traditional sport in 2006 as the Vilafranca group was short on numbers.

Convinced that he was not the right fit, Michael initially dismissed the offer to join Vilafranca, but they had different ideas.

“I said I don’t speak Catalan but they put me in the base of the tower,” Michael told The Telegraph.

Fast-forward nearly two decades and Michael travels the world more than a dozen times a year, helping the group to glory across the globe.

His latest escapade came in Tarragona’s old bullring in the Concurs de Castells tournament on Sunday, which culminates 200 years of fierce local rivalry every two years.

His team, the Castellers de Vilafranca, has won 13 out of 15 of the last championships at the Tarragona event.

But Sunday’s competition went down to the wire after the team failed to complete three out of their first four towers.

In the competition, hundreds of men and women are used to form the foundation of the human towers, which measure up to 10-people high, and are often crowned by children as young as five years old.

Known as enxanetes, the children clamber up like monkeys and slide down the adults’ legs in order to dismount.

Naturally, all roles in the human tower are important, but Michael, who is 6ft 1in, plays a particularly crucial part as one of the key pressure points at the base of the tower.

That means Michael is forced to withstand both a lot of physical and mental pressure.

“When the tower starts wobbling and you hear the crowd gasp, you just think ‘please let no one fall on me today’,” he told The Telegraph.

Vilafranca’s has a strong rivalry with Vella dels Xiquets de Valls, another human tower group, though incidences of murders and gloating over accidents by delivering coffins to each other have been left behind in recent decades.

Nowadays digital calculations of weight and pressures and modern fitness regimes are the order of the day.

“We normally have falls only 20 percent of the time, but at the championship you wheel out the hardest constructions and take risks; you’re there to win it,” Michael explained.

Michael was not always into building human towers, having travelled all over Spain and Italy in search of “weird Catholic festivals” and the latest opera concert.

But despite most of his interests being rooted in European culture, Michael insisted that it is “not about loving Europe”.

“The thing is I’m a Brexiteer… it’s about not becoming one big, grey blob controlled by an unelected government. I love cultural differences; they’re what make us great and I am passionate about Catalonia,” Michael explained.

Despite Lorraine, his wife, describing her husband’s passion as “madness”, Michael said he has no intention of stopping.

“There are 80-year-olds who still take part, although in less strenuous positions than mine,” he said.

Even if he wanted to, Vilafranca would not let him go anyway, Michael said as he has become a kind of mascot for the club as its sole Englishman.

“We talk in English because as they’re all Catalan nationalists, they won’t let me speak Spanish and I’m too old to learn Catalan. The days are too long with dinner and drinks until midnight for me to take on anything new.”

An anonymous erotica writer has sent “grubby” romance stories to residents of a Yorkshire street and asked for money in return.

The mystery writer has sent three letters to most addresses on Abbott Street in Hexthorpe, Doncaster in recent days.

In the 1,700-word correspondence, the author tells the apparently fictitious story of the “Reverend” and his lover, a parishioner called “Contralto”.

The story features some racy details, but the romance is marred by murder.

One recipient of the “dark” tale said it left her slightly scared. Katarina, who did not give her second name, said she considered calling the police.

She told Yorkshire Live: “The first one I found amusing, thinking someone had sent it as a joke. I brought it into work and myself and the staff had a good giggle about it.

“Then the second was delivered and I found it dark, to say the least, and if I’m honest it did get me thinking if it was someone trying to confess to something in a strange sort of way.”

She added: “I wasn’t aware that they had been delivered to almost everyone on the street as I work long hours as part of the management team in a care home.

“It did scare me a little, the second letter, and I was a little worried about it. I was debating speaking to police about it and then a friend shared a post on Facebook about them so that put me at ease.”

An individual claiming to be the author of the story later wrote anonymously to Yorkshire Live saying they had spent £50 on stamps and envelopes to deliver the letters. They made the local newspaper aware of a GoFundMe page that had been set up so they could recoup the money and fund subsequent postage costs.

At the time of writing, a total of £5 had been raised out of the £300 overall target, with just one anonymous donor having contributed.

The email to the local newspaper from a named address, TheDoncasterLetters, read: “The number of letters that I send will depend on my ability to afford the ever-increasing cost of printing, envelopes and postage.

“I wouldn’t like to give too much away on how many are to come, but they won’t carry on forever. I hope people enjoy receiving them while they last.

“Nobody has to donate anything, and I admit that the appeal has been launched more in hope than expectation. But I like the wild and unfounded optimism of it.”

They added: “Admittedly, The Doncaster Letters do depict a couple of slightly grubby sex scenes early on, and I’m sorry if anyone is offended by that (this is the reason why they’re addressed to ‘The Resident Adult’), but I hope that people will ultimately see that the wider themes of the story are much more edifying and honourable.

“My further desire is that people find the tone of the early letters, and the amount of innuendo when describing those scenes, more amusing than threatening.

“If I do become aware that people are genuinely distressed/worried by the letters, then they will stop. But that would seem a shame, particularly at this early juncture.”

Nicola Sturgeon has said she felt a “sense of affinity” with Boris Johnson while reading his recollections of dealing with the Covid pandemic in his memoir.

The former first minister said she empathised with his assertion that he felt an “almost unbearable burden of responsibility” for “every Covid decision”.

Writing a review of the book in The New Statesman, she said it was “not as bad as I first thought”, adding that “if the book surprises at all, it is on the positive side”.

But she bridled at a section in which the former prime minister criticised her over Scotland’s Covid response, saying it was “my supposedly pursed lips and furrowed brow that get the treatment”.

In a jibe that referred to the partygate scandal, Ms Sturgeon added: “Perhaps he thinks I should have created more of a party atmosphere.”

The 784-page book, titled Unleashed, looks back on Mr Johnson’s time as prime minister – from 2019 to 2022 – including Brexit and the pandemic.

He previously told the Covid public inquiry that he had a “friendly” relationship with Ms Sturgeon. However, it later heard evidence that she had called him a “clown” and was offended by his “utter incompetence.”

Ms Sturgeon, whose own memoirs are due to be published next year, said Mr Johnson’s book contained “surprising moments of candour” but these were “swept away on a tide of shameless self-justification”.

She wrote: “As I read his account of the almost unbearable burden of responsibility he felt for every Covid decision (so did I), or the devastation of having to ‘cancel’ Christmas in 2020 (one of my own lowest points), I felt a sense of affinity with him.”

But she added: “Then I remembered that this was rarely how he seemed at the time. In a section of the book about his early days as London mayor, he talks about feeling as though he was ‘skating over the intricacies of the job’.

“To be frank, that is how he always seemed to me, even during Covid.” She accused the former prime minister of “displaying something of a messiah complex”, claiming he had failed to take responsibility for his own failures.

She added: “His resignation came about not as a result of anything he did, but because everyone had it in for him.” However, she said the book overall is an “easy” and “snappy” read, despite its length, and “dare I say, it’s enjoyable”.

Ms Sturgeon concluded: “While this one wasn’t quite the ordeal I feared, I wouldn’t want to make a habit of reading Boris Johnson.”

A man who once dubbed himself “a rich kid of Instagram” is being sought by police after allegedly breaching bail conditions.

Jack Watkin, 25, claimed on social media in 2016 to own a £1.7 million fleet of expensive cars, to have access to his father’s private jet and to have been selected to appear on a TV show.

In an interview he gave when he was 17, he said: “I know my life is different to other teenagers because I’m very blessed. I don’t have to worry about jobs and I have unlimited funds.

“But my life is not easy. My dad has worked very hard to make sure I can have all these nice things.”

He boasted of a car collection that included a Rolls Royce, a Bentley, two Mercedes, a Range Rover and a Porsche.

‘Known to visit London on regular basis’

Mr Watkin also claimed in 2016 that his family’s wealth had earned them the nickname, “the British Kardashians”.

But Cheshire Constabulary has appealed for the public’s help to find him after he allegedly breached his bail conditions for a recent charge of fraud.

A spokesman for the force said: “Police are appealing for information from the public to help trace a wanted man from Alderley Edge.

“Jack Watkin is wanted on breach of bail conditions. The 25 year-old is described as white, around 5ft 9ins tall, of medium build, with dark brown hair and green eyes. Mr Watkin resides in Alderley Edge, but is known to visit London on a regular basis.”

The BBC Weather app has incorrectly forecast hurricane force winds and record temperatures across England.

Wind speeds of 15,345mph were predicted in Oxford Circus, central London, while temperatures of 404C were forecast in Nottingham.

BBC Weather said it was working to fix some “data issues” on its app and website, and apologised for the inaccuracy.

Commenting on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, host Nick Robinson said: “If, like me, you’re one of those people who reaches for your phone first thing in the morning to look at the BBC News app or BBC Weather, you might have noticed that there are hurricane force winds in Oxford Circus.

“Let me just reassure you, there aren’t, because I’m in Oxford Circus. I’m afraid there’s just a little problem with the data on the BBC Weather app, which suggests that the wind speed is 350mph – which I think is something of an overestimate – but it is being dealt with, rest assured.”

Co-host Emma Barnett added that Robinson was providing “a live debunking of misinformation”.

It came as Hurricane Milton brought winds of up to 120mph as it made landfall in Florida, causing nearly three million households to lose power.

Matt Taylor, a BBC presenter, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Don’t be alarmed folks – Hurricane Milton hasn’t made it to us here in the UK! There’s been a data glitch between our suppliers and the app/online. Folk are working to solve the issue.”

In another post, presenter Simon King said: “Oops, don’t be alarmed by some of our BBC Weather app data this morning. Be assured there won’t be 14,408mph winds, hurricane force winds or overnight temperatures of 404C.”

The actual weather forecast for England includes rain and drizzle in the south and blustery showers near the east coast, BBC weather said in an updated forecast.

A BBC spokesman said: “We’re aware of an issue with our third-party supplier, which means our weather app and website are wrongly predicting hurricane wind speeds everywhere.

“That is incorrect, and we apologise. We’re working with our supplier to fix this as soon as possible.”

The strongest-ever wind speed recorded in the UK was 173mph at Cairngorm summit, Scotland, on March 20 1986, according to the Met Office.

The maximum wind speed ever recorded on earth was 253mph on April 4 1996 in Barrow Island Australia, the World Meteorological Organisation’s extreme weather archives record.

Earth’s wind speeds are not the Solar System’s strongest. Jupiter has gales of around 900mph, Saturn winds peak at 1,100mph and wind speeds on Neptune reach 1,600mph.

The BBC was contacted for comment.

Vladimir Putin cultivated Donald Trump as a “source” to manipulate the United States, a former head of the CIA has said.

Leon Panetta, who also served as defence secretary under Barack Obama, added that there were “real questions” over Trump’s loyalty to the United States because of his relationship with the Russian president.

Trump recently said they had “a very good relationship”, while a new book claimed the former president had secretly sent Covid-19 tests, which were in limited supply, to Russia for Putin’s personal use in 2020.

Speaking on the One Decision podcast, Mr Panetta said: “To have a president basically engaging with an adversary, who knows what deals are made… the mere fact a former president of the United States is having regular conversations with our primary adversary raises real questions about where is his basic loyalty. Is it really to the United States of America or is it to Donald Trump?”

The book claimed Trump and Putin have spoken by phone at least seven times since the former left the White House in 2021.

‘A tyrant and our enemy’

“Why would you possibly — someone who wants to be president of the United States — have a continuing relationship with someone who is a tyrant and is basically our enemy.”

Mr Panetta described Putin, a former KGB spy, as a “bad guy”, adding that the Russian president is “not to be trusted”.

“That’s what worries me,” the former CIA boss added. “I think Donald Trump in many ways is naive about who Putin really is.

“He [Putin] knows how to work a source and he’s got a source that is very near the top in this country, he, himself is going to engage that source.

“And that really is what the bottom line is, is that Trump has turned into a source for Putin, and somebody who can help him manipulate what he wants to get done.”

Mr Panetta went on to accuse Trump of trusting Russian intelligence more than US intelligence.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, denied that the former president had maintained a regular speaking relationship with Putin.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, also denied it, saying: “As for the calls, that’s not true, it didn’t happen.”

The accusations come after Bob Woodward, the veteran American reporter who broke the Watergate scandal, said a former Trump aide had told him about the shipment of Covid tests to Moscow.

The claims prompted fierce denials from Trump’s campaign team, which said: “None of these made up stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

Exchange of ‘rare items’

However, on Thursday the Kremlin claimed the reports that Trump had shipped Covid tests to Moscow were true.

Mr Peskov said: “The first tests worked badly and at first there was not enough equipment… all countries tried to somehow exchange between themselves. We sent a supply of ventilator units to the US, they sent these tests to us.”

He said the shipment was made at the beginning of the pandemic, adding: “At the time, these were rare items.”

Mr Woodward’s account of the story said that Putin had told Trump not to reveal details of the alleged shipments because it would harm the then-US president politically.

His new book, War, contains a number of revelations about Trump’s relationship with the Russian despot.

The book claims that the two men held a phone call in early 2024, as Joe Biden prepared to send more weapons to Ukraine.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that he could end the war in Ukraine by brokering a deal between Kyiv and Moscow.

He has also said Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he had won the 2020 presidential election.

A British convert to Islam who claims she was ordered to remove her hijab at work is claiming she was racially discriminated against because she is white.

Aisha Amalou, described in legal papers as a “caucasian female who converted to Islam many years ago”, is attempting to win damages from a care home company over allegations a manager insisted she was “not even a Muslim”.

She alleges a colleague at the Lochleven Care Home in Broughty Ferry, where she was employed as a care assistant, repeatedly ordered her to remove the head covering and dismissed her pleas that she wore it for religious reasons.

Ms Amalou, 33, claims she then sought to raise the issue with a manager. However, it is alleged that manager revealed that she was the one who had given the order for the hijab to be taken off.

It is alleged that another manager sacked Ms Amalou on March 1 because she suffered a panic attack at work and because of the “hijab issue”. 

He is said to have told Ms Amalou “toddle-oo” in a “mocking tone” after firing her.

‘Stereotypical assumption’

Ms Amalou, who was born and raised in Scotland, is taking legal action against Thistle Healthcare, the care home operator, alleging an “incorrect stereotypical assumption” was made that she should not be wearing a hijab.

Ms Amalou, who began working at the care home in November last year, is also claiming mistreatment on the grounds of her Muslim religion and disability, citing a history of anxiety and depression.

Thistle Healthcare declined to comment before the case is heard at the end of next month but it is understood the company will dispute all of Ms Amalou’s claims and state that at no point during her employment was she asked to remove her head covering.

Sources suggested the firm had evidence to confirm that conversations Ms Amalou alleges took place never happened.

However, Ryan Russell, Ms Amalou’s lawyer, insisted his client had the evidence to support her allegations, including text message exchanges with her imam and eyewitness accounts from other workers.

Legal papers include a WhatsApp exchange with her imam, on the date she alleges she was ordered to remove the hijab, seeking his guidance.

She wrote: “My manager told me to remove my hijab I got emotional… she says its [sic] not religion and to take it off I’m really upset.” She asked the imam: “Is the hijab a choice? What should I do?”

‘The hijab is timeless’

Ms Amalou’s imam advised her to explain the importance of her hijab in a “non-confrontational way” and added: “The benefits of hijab are many, the ruling of hijab is timeless, and it is a part of our religion and obedience to Allah.”

The legal papers state that Ms Amalou was told to remove her hijab due to a policy around head coverings in the workplace.

It is alleged that she was dismissed for reasons “connected to wearing the hijab” and that comments about it created an “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment”.

Ms Amalou is seeking a ruling that she was unlawfully discriminated against and “financial compensation and an award for injury to feelings.”

She claims the discrimination she encountered “had a significant impact” on her mental health.

Mr Russell said his firm, MML Law, “seeks to raise awareness for those being discriminated against in the workplace” and predicted the case would proceed to a full public hearing in 2025.

Video shows the moment a burglar suspect is caught hiding under a bed by police before being arrested.

The man, 43, was found by officers at a property in Coalpit Heath, South Gloucestershire, who said the man was wanted in connection to eight burglaries in Winterbourne, Hambrook and Yate.

He is suspected of stealing garden machinery, power tools and bicycles from garages and garden sheds, Avon and Somerset police said.

Footage shows the officers entering a bedroom in the property before walking around the side of the bed to find a man crouched down.

They tell the man to “come out” , to which he replies “who is it?”

One of the officers then says: “Come out, it’s the police.”

The man is then seen crawling out from under the bed and asks police “what’s up?”. 

However, before the officers place him under arrest, the suspect continues: “Can I have a quick drag of my vape please before we go?”

The man was arrested on Oct 1 and has since been released on bail pending investigation.

Police crackdown on local crime

The arrest was part of a seven-day shoplifting and burglary crackdown by Avon and Somerset police, which began on Sept 25.

The Neighbourhood Policing Team in South Gloucestershire was joined by operational support units and roads policing officers to target the biggest community concerns in the area.

The additional resource enabled officers to gather intelligence and arrest perpetrators in local communities, including the arrest of the suspected burglar. 

Dudley Bond, the neighbourhood inspector, said: “These days of targeted action have been an opportunity for us to use additional resources from across Avon and Somerset to achieve some great results for South Gloucestershire.

“We wanted to prioritise the areas of highest concern affecting our communities, including business crime and burglary, motorcycle theft and exploitation.

“If you have information related to any of these issues, we urge you to get in touch. In the meantime, our officers will continue to work hard every day to ensure South Gloucestershire remains a safe place for everyone.”

John Torode, the TV chef, has revealed he hates potato mashers and prefers to use a fork instead.

The Australian-born MasterChef presenter and judge, 59, said he “cannot bear” the kitchen utensil.

Speaking at Cheltenham Literature Festival on Friday alongside his wife Lisa Faulkner, he said: “One thing I cannot bear, but I did give one to my wife recently, was a potato masher.

“My grandmother taught me to mash potatoes with a fork and I still use a fork. It’s really the best mashed potato.

“Some of those mash potato mashers, they push the starch down and make it really hard and it doesn’t make a fluffy mashed potato.”

Faulkner, who has been married to Torode since 2019, added: “When we merged our kitchens together as a blended family, my two potato mashers – one which was my grandmother’s – were thrown away and I was told ‘you don’t need that…and you need to mash it with a fork’.”

While the actress said she “hasn’t seen” her grandmother’s potato masher since, her husband insisted it was “downstairs” in their home. 

‘We haven’t got space, darling’

The couple, who last month released their cookbook John and Lisa’s Kitchen: Everyday Recipes From a Professional Chef and a Home Cook, also discussed another controversial kitchen appliance – the air fryer.

Faulkner, who won BBC’s Celebrity MasterChef in 2010, revealed that she wants one but she cannot persuade her husband.

“I can tell you that I’d love an air fryer,” she said. “I’ve never used an air fryer and I haven’t got an air fryer. Apparently, we don’t need an air fryer.”

Torode responded: “We haven’t got space, darling.”

The chef, who moved to the UK from Australia in the 1990s, claimed that Britain lacks the same pride in the skill of cooking that his home country has.

Discussing snobbery against the profession, he said: “Being trained as a chef, what you’re told in Australia is you’re allowed to be proud of being a cook.

“You’re allowed to be proud of working in a kitchen, you’re allowed to be proud of working in a restaurant.”

However, he said in Britain there is “this thing about ‘you’ve got to go to university’”.

“And I think, sadly, I think that’s a shame for a lot of people. I didn’t go to university, Lisa didn’t go to university, we’ve done all right.”

He started presenting MasterChef on BBC One in 2005 and in 2022 was appointed an MBE for services to food and charity.

Torode added that Britons are “really rubbish about saying how cool their food is, how great the food is”.

He cited langoustines, asparagus, raspberries and beef as examples of what the British should be proud of from this country.

“I mean there’s so many wonderful places you look at like London and all these places. But they’re rubbish at saying how cool the food is because of this apology for roast beef and saying the French are amazing. No, they’re not. They’re good. There’s amazing food in Britain,” he said.

Torode began his culinary career – now spanning more than four decades – aged 16 years old, after learning how to cook from his grandmother in Australia.

He attended catering college and subsequently began work for the Conran Group in 1992 after he moved to the UK. He is widely credited as one of the main players in introducing Australasian food to the country.

He became the Sous Chef at Quaglino’s and subsequently began to work his way to a household name on TV with a regular chef spot on ITV’s This Morning before doing MasterChef.

Two landlords who banned children from their village pub have said they “couldn’t give a toss” about the backlash on social media.

Mandy Keefe and John Forge welcomed punters back to The Wheel Inn in Westwell, near Ashford, last week after it had been closed for more than two years.

The couple, who bought the village’s only pub in March 2022, renovated and extended the venue, which also features an adjoining tea room.

But one clientele group was missing from the opening party – children.

The couple said the decision not to admit under 14s stemmed from a lack of adult-only spaces and relaxed environments where people do not have to mind their language.

Mr Forge, 59, told KentOnline: “We’re getting older people saying, ‘Brilliant, we don’t want bloody kids running about.

“Customers have said it’s brilliant because they don’t have to watch exactly what they’re saying.”

The publicans have said they do not want to facilitate a rowdy atmosphere or encourage swearing and shouting but “it still happens”.

Ms Keefe said: “Do people really want their children in that sort of adult environment?

“Also, what is there for children to do? So, they get bored.

“Then they start to run, they start to cry, or they get shouty.

“That impacts on those people who have come in here for a quiet, adult time.

“We’ve had people in here sitting all evening on the sofas, meeting up with their friends, having a nice chat, and all have said what a lovely atmosphere it is.

“Unfortunately, part of that lovely atmosphere is no children.”

Up until 1995, it was illegal in England and Wales to bring under 14s into pubs.

The Licensing Act 2003 gave pubs and restaurants the power to operate their own policies in their venues relating to children.

Ms Keefe, who has grown-up children, said the Wheel Inn’s rule is “to some extent” an ode to the glory days of the boozer.

The 62-year-old said: “If you go on holiday, you can choose to go to an adult-only hotel or resort or cruise. Here, where can you go where there are no children? Nowhere.

“What we’ve done here is given people a choice.

“We’re the only ones that are saying no children.”

However, some critics on social media have criticised the publicans’ rule.

One mother, who recently moved to the village, said: “It will please a very small demographic, unfortunately not the future one.

“Even when my kids come ‘of age’, I don’t get the impression they’ll be welcomed with open arms.

“It’s archaic and just a shame more than anything. We’re gutted as we were looking forward to getting to know people in the village.”

Despite the backlash, the landlords said they will not change their policy to please parents.

Mr Forge said: “At the end of the day – when their kids have grown up – 90% of them will want to go to a child-free environment.”

Ms Keefe, however, was more affected by the criticism, as she said: “When the signs went up, nobody came to speak to us. Not one person.

“It’s a close-knit community, and then suddenly you look on what is the village Facebook page, and you see it being slated.”

A House of Commons research briefing on children in pubs stipulates that a commercial service provider “like a restaurateur or pub landlord is entitled to refuse to serve someone”.

“In exercising that right, the service provider must consider the obligations placed on them by legislation outlawing discrimination on grounds of disability or race.

“However, there is no law that would cover alleged ‘discrimination’ against children.”

Sir Keir Starmer must “go further” to get people off sickness benefits to kick-start the economy and save millions from “a life on the margins”, Jonathan Ashworth, the former Labour MP and shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, has said.

Around 9.5 million people of working age are economically inactive, which means they are neither in work nor looking for work, according to the Office for National Statistics. Since the pandemic struck, the number of economically inactive people has ballooned by more than a million.

Mr Ashworth, who is now the chief executive of the highly influential Starmerite think tank Labour Together, is warning the Government that this is not a topic it can shirk if it wants to remove a key roadblock to improving productivity.

“Sometimes this sounds like forcing people who can’t work into unsuitable jobs,” said Mr Ashworth. “Obviously, there are people with permanent disabilities and illness who should not be forced into work.

“However, there are people on sickness benefits who want to work. Currently, there is no incentive in the system to support them. The OBR is warning this is costing billions and billions. I’ve been pushing the Government to really look at it.”

Mr Ashworth, who was intimately involved with Labour’s preparations for government as well as its attack operation against the Conservatives, places the blame for the current crisis firmly at the feet of the Tories.

He said the removal of employment and support allowance in 2017 as well as a sharp drop off in assessments resulted in a huge rise in the number of people being placed on sickness benefits. Once categorised in this way, it is hard for those who would like to work to even look for employment.

Mr Ashworth wants the Government to consider linking up welfare and mental health services, devolving more services to local authorities, offering better occupational health support and using the relatively new Universal Credit IT system to pilot different approaches around the country.

He sees welfare reform as a long-term project, although he understands the Government is looking at bringing forward a White Paper exploring these themes in the coming weeks. “The Blair/Brown government had a driving preoccupation on welfare reform,” said Mr Ashworth. “I’m urging the Government to recapture that reforming spirit.”

He believes that Rachel Reeves’s first Budget as Chancellor at the end of this month will be “the most significant moment of this parliament” and the point at which the Government “really starts to deliver on its mandate for change”.

The administration experienced one of the shortest post-election honeymoons in British political history following a landslide election victory. Within weeks, it was embroiled in the freebies row, criticised for its negativity over the nation’s finances and rocked by political infighting.

Mr Ashworth concedes the Government has not got off to the best of starts but refuses to characterise the Budget as a “reboot”. 

“It’s no surprise that the first 100 days have been challenging given what we inherited,” said Mr Ashworth.

He is joining the growing chorus of voices urging the Chancellor, who he has known for 25 years, to make changes to the fiscal rules that are supposed to constrain government borrowing. Many economists believe the Chancellor needs to give herself enough leeway to invest in national infrastructure.

“This is not some arid technical debate,” said Mr Ashworth. “This is about how you get cranes in the sky, how you get houses built, how you fix crumbling hospitals.”

But, as Rishi Sunak pointed out at last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, didn’t Reeves say last November that she was “not going to fiddle the figures”? And weren’t Jeremy Hunt’s fiscal rules already the loosest any Chancellor has subjected themselves to?

“Well, I’m saying what I would do. And Mark Carney [the former governor of the Bank of England], Gus O’Donnell [the former cabinet secretary] and Jim O’Neill [the former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management] are making similar arguments.”

Mr Ashworth’s enforced move to the world of wonkery certainly does not appear to have diminished his reflexive desire to give the Tories a kicking. He describes Robert Jenrick as “weird” and Kemi Badenoch as “Liz Truss on steroids”. He said he would not be surprised if neither candidate is the leader of the Tory party at the next general election.

“Throughout this leadership campaign, the Tories have refused to confront the reasons why they lost the general election,” he said. “Until the Tory party fundamentally understands why it lost and embarks on the hard yards to change, like Labour did, I don’t think the British public will trust them again on the economy.”

He is far from complacent about Labour retaining power: “The Tories are never buried. They’re the most successful election-winning machine in the Western world. Even if I think the current two candidates for Tory leader are making huge mistakes, I would never write them off.

“My 10-year-old has got into watching WWE clips on YouTube. There’s a character in it called The Undertaker. His opponents always think he’s finished and then he suddenly sits up. The Tories could suddenly sit up at any moment.”

As a key Labour Party insider now observing developments from the outside, Mr Ashworth has a unique perspective on the power battle within No 10, which has resulted in Sue Gray being axed as Sir Keir’s chief of staff and, in the eyes of many, made the scapegoat for the disastrous start to Labour’s tenure.

Mr Ashworth said he “always enjoyed working with Sue”, which sounds suspiciously like faint praise when he goes on to describe her replacement Morgan McSweeney as “the most exceptional political talent I’ve ever worked with at staff level”.

But if he is that good, why wasn’t Mr McSweeney appointed to the position on day one? “Because he had been preoccupied with the general election planning. Look, it’s the prerogative of prime ministers to decide who they put on the pitch, who they leave on the bench and who they put on the transfer market. They’re the main gaffers; it’s up to them.”

But if a football manager pulled a player off after 10 minutes, there are going to be questions asked of both the player and the manager, right? “Look, there was all this stuff in the newspapers week in week out. And it’s no surprise that the Prime Minister wanted to deal with that. I think Sue recognised that as well.”

He described recent rumours he might join the No 10 operation as “gossip and tittle-tattle” and said he’s enjoying his new role. Labour Together was set up by Mr McSweeney and senior Labour politicians to work out how to prevent the party splitting during Jeremy Corbyn’s time as leader.

It helped the Labour front bench develop policy in the run-up to the general election. Now, in its third iteration, the think tank is helping the party prepare for the next general election in roughly 1,800 days time. “Labour governments, other than under Tony Blair, generally don’t really win full second terms, so that’s an important project,” said Mr Ashworth.

Would he like to be fighting for a seat in the next election? The career politician started working for the Labour Party 20 years ago, then became a special adviser to Gordon Brown before winning the 2011 Leicester South by-election. But then, after 13 years in opposition, just as Labour was on the cusp of power, he lost his seat.

“Yeah, how about that for a kick in the knackers? I was on the Jeremy Vine show this morning and he introduced me by reading out my Wikipedia page. Apparently, it now describes me as a TV personality rather than a politician.

“I can’t pretend I don’t miss politics. But you never know what’s around the corner.”