The Home Office has earmarked more than £500 million to manage Channel migrants arriving on small boats for up to a decade, according to official documents.

Officials are seeking commercial partners to run two large facilities from January 2026 until January 2032 that will receive and process illegal migrants crossing the Channel.

Bidding companies are being offered £521 million for up to six years but with a break clause if Sir Keir Starmer’s government succeeds in bringing down the number of migrants crossing the Channel.

However, the contract also has an option to extend its time for up to four more 12-month periods if small boat crossings are still continuing up to 2036, according to the documents.

It came as the Home Office said 471 people arrived in nine boats on Saturday, following 142 in two boats on Friday. They bring the total so far for 2024 to 27,225, a five per cent increase on the 25,931 at the same time last year but 25 per cent less than the 36,491 in 2022.

Home Office sources said that it had reduced by a quarter the cost of the proposed £700 million six-year contract offered by the last Conservative government and also introduced a break clause, unlike the Tories.

Officials also claimed the contract would reduce the number of companies providing different services to the migrants which would save taxpayers money.

Labour has scrapped Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation scheme and diverted the money to help set up a new Border Security Command which will oversee plans to combat the people smuggling gangs.

Extra officers are being recruited to the National Crime Agency, Border Force and MI5 to target the gangs with new arrest and seizure powers modelled on terrorist legislation to crackdown on the people smugglers.

The invitation for commercial partners centre on the UK Border Force’s rescue and arrivals base in Dover docks, known as Western Jet Foil. This is a secure facility where migrants rescued from the English Channel are initially brought ashore, registered and given emergency medical treatment.

The second part of the contract covers the much larger Manston centre, which was designed to accommodate up to 1,600 migrants while officials work out where to house them.

The tender on the Home Office website states: “The Manston reception centre and disembarkation point/s in Kent require providers of operator and healthcare services, including managing staffing of operations, security, healthcare facilities, and other wraparound services.

“The aim of the services is to provide a safe and secure environment, where Border Force can register and process individuals arriving in the UK on small boats from across the English Channel.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are committed to smashing the criminal smuggling gangs responsible for overcrowding people onto boats for financial gain.

“We are procuring to reduce the number of providers that run the Manston site to cut costs and save the taxpayer money.

“However, in time, as we take down the people smuggling gangs through the work of the Border Security Command, we expect to see fewer people exploited into making these dangerous journeys.”

The contract is currently largely run by Mitie at a cost of £120 million a year but this excludes additional services provided by other contractors. The Home Office proposes the new single contractor will be responsible for all services.

Alex Salmond accused the EU of secretly conspiring with the UK Government against Scottish independence the day before he died of a suspected heart attack.

The former first minister, taking part in a panel discussion at a conference in Ohrid, North Macedonia on Friday, singled out José Manuel Barroso, the former European Commission president, as being “not at all helpful to Scotland” in the run-up to the 2014 referendum.

Ahead of the vote, Mr Barroso had warned that it would be “extremely difficult, if not impossible” for an independent Scotland to join the EU in a major blow to the Yes campaign run by Mr Salmond.

He lost when 55 per cent of Scots voted to stay in the UK, though the result was far closer than many expected when David Cameron agreed to an independence referendum.

Mr Salmond died on Saturday after collapsing following a lunch, the day after making the remarks. Plans are being put in place to have his body repatriated to the UK, with his allies hoping for RAF assistance.

In some of his final public remarks, he suggested that an alleged covert partnership between the UK and EU against his campaign had backfired as it indirectly led to the Brexit vote less than two years later.

“It is a reasonable supposition that if Scotland had voted for independence, then England, two years later, would not have voted to leave the European Union,” Mr Salmond told delegates.

“For a start, David Cameron would have resigned as prime minister. Also, the whole nature and psychology of that referendum would have been fundamentally different, if indeed it had taken place at all.”

He added: “So the interesting thing is that although Scotland lost an opportunity, the UK has been diminished.

“The European Union of that time, president Barroso in particular, was not helpful at all to Scotland. In fact [he] was secretly combining with the UK Government.

“What happened as a result of that, is the UK, one of the major players in the European Union, ended up leaving 18 months later. So in many ways, it was a bad outcome for Europe as a whole.”

‘I will not be buying lunch’

Apparently in good spirits, Mr Salmond had earlier made a joke about Scots’ reputation for thriftiness to the international audience, warning them he would not be buying anyone lunch as “I’m Scottish after all, we don’t do these sort of things.”

Mr Salmond was taking part in a discussion chaired by Ivica Bocevski, a Macedonian diplomat who expressed unhappiness that his country was still a candidate for EU membership rather than a full member.

He died following a lunch, the day after he took part in the panel discussion.

Mark Donfried, director of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy which organised the event, said the conference had been left “in a state of shock” over the death of the former first minister.

“He was really in the best of spirits, the best of health,” Mr Donfried said.

“I was sitting across from him at lunch yesterday [Saturday] when all of a sudden he just went out and fell into the arms of a colleague of mine on the other side of the table.

“I immediately got up and ran to call an ambulance and when I came back, he was on the floor.”

He added: “We’re all completely shocked – the entire hotel, the conference, it’s been very difficult for all of us. He was a great man who we all looked up to and so we’re still all in a state of shock.”

Scottish politics had been thrown into turmoil by the sudden loss of one of the most consequential politicians in the country’s history.

Senior SNP figures, such as John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon, have paid tribute to his achievements despite his bitter falling out with them over recent years.

Joanna Cherry, a former SNP MP who was a close ally of Mr Salmond, claimed on Sunday he had been “stabbed in the back” by former colleagues but that in time his reputation would be fully restored following sexual assault allegations.

Mr Salmond was cleared of multiple sexual misconduct charges at a trial in 2020 and had also succeeded in having a civil service probe into allegations against him ruled unlawful as it was “tainted with apparent bias”.

He had a separate civil case ongoing while there are also outstanding criminal investigations linked to the case.

Mr Salmond died believing that his former allies in the SNP, a party he transformed from the fringes of Scottish politics to its dominant political force, had conspired to have him jailed.

Fighting for Scotland

“We have innocent until proven guilty in this country for a reason, and I am very dismayed as a lawyer by the lack of respect there’s been for the jury verdict in Alex’s criminal charge,” Ms Cherry told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show.

“I think it’s a terrible tragedy that Alex has died before he was able to be completely vindicated, but I believe that time will vindicate his name.”

She added: “I think it’s the great tragedy of Alex Salmond’s career that so many of his erstwhile comrades and political colleagues and friends either stabbed him in the back or turned their back on him in his hour of need.

“I found that pretty disgusting at the time, and I’m very proud that I stood by him, and I think it’s very important that as we talk about him in the days to come, we remember that he was acquitted of all the criminal charges against him.”

Train guards will receive a £300 bonus for working a five-day week as part of a new deal signed off by the Transport Secretary.

Louise Haigh struck an agreement last month to prevent strikes by CrossCountry, which is based in the West Midlands and runs intercity services across the country.

Train guards normally work four-day weeks but will receive £300 a day as a bonus if they agree to work for a fifth day as part of the overtime deal, which was first reported by the Sunday Times.

Members of the RMT trade union had voted to strike after CrossCountry used managers to fill in for staff at weekends.

To stave off the walkouts, guards working Saturday shifts between now and mid-November will receive the £300 payment on top of their normal wage.

The deal was criticised by the Conservatives on Sunday. Helen Whately, the shadow transport secretary, said: “Rail unions can’t get enough of this Government.

“They now know that every time they go on strike, Labour will cave.”

CrossCountry was the second-worst ranked train operator for both cancellations and punctuality in the three months through March.

It also had a worse cancellations record than Avanti West Coast, the worst performer among Britain’s 20 train operating companies, in the full year, according to data from the Office of Rail and Road.

Ministers signed off on a 15 per cent pay rise for train drivers last month, meaning they now earn just under £70,000 on average.

Ms Haigh met with Mick Whelan, the general secretary of the Aslef union which represents train drivers, five days after Labour took office. The deal was announced four weeks later.

The Transport Secretary’s long-term future is thought to be in doubt after she angered Downing Street by blindsiding it over the deal.

She was at the centre of a separate political row last week after her claim that P&O Ferries was a “rogue operator” almost led DP World, its parent company, to withdraw £1 billion in investment.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “While this is a local matter for CrossCountry, it’s crucial that passengers receive a more reliable service, on every day of the week – something our overhaul of the railways will help deliver.”

This weekend marks 100 days of Keir Starmer and the Labour Party in Government.

The Prime Minister, who promised Britain a ‘sunlight of hope’ on the steps of No 10 on July 5, has faced a sleaze scandal, race riots, and international turmoil that have blown his plans off course.

The Telegraph has put Sir Keir’s record in office so far under the microscope and Telegraph readers have weighed in.

Freebies row

For weeks, the Prime Minister and the Labour Party have been dogged by media scrutiny about donations, the appropriateness of accepting gifts and what donors may be seeking in return. Telegraph readers shared their dismay in the comments.

“Putting aside Starmer’s politics,” Roger Watson says, “he always said he would expect the highest standards from his Government. He has no shortage of money so why is he accepting freebies so blatantly? It does not bode well.  What example is he setting to his Government?”

Reader Tony Richter went further, and called the Prime Minister “a freeloader with a sense of entitlement”, and argued that “the chances of Starmer dealing with the soft corruption of UK public life is zero.

“His promises are meaningless,” Tony adds.

An anonymous reader questioned: “Is there absolutely anything to commend Keir Starmer? His communication skills are woeful, his blank facial expressions betray his inability to think on his feet, he has zero personality and he’s divisive.

“And now, for good measure, we discover he takes backhanders despite his multi-millionaire status. I doubt very much whether this country can survive the next five years under this pretender and his unimpressive cabinet. We’re in deep tish folks.”

And reader Marcus Aurelius concluded: “How is Keir Starmer waffling on about service whilst taking £70,000 worth of gifts? On what basis is it acceptable to accept £16,000 worth of clothes? What message does this send? He should be ashamed of himself.”

Handling of No 10

After Sue Gray’s salary was leaked to the BBC last month, revealing that she was being paid more than the Prime Minister – Sir Keir has had to shift his attention to a No 10 turf war.

At first, the Prime Minister argued that Sue Gray’s salary was “not for the public to debate”, and Telegraph readers disagreed.

“Of course Sue Gray’s taxpayer-funded salary is up for public scrutiny,” said reader Karen Woodward as she questioned, “what is wrong with this man?”

Reader Nigel Brown echoed this view: “Sue Gray was a public servant, so it is only right that the public – who pay 100 per cent of her salary – should voice their opinion.

“Frankly, I think the whole situation was quite appalling.”

Eventually, Keir Starmer removed Ms Gray from the role after just 93 days in the job and was shifted to a part-time role as the Prime Minister’s envoy for the “regions and nations”. 

And Telegraph readers weighed in again. 

Elizabeth Kirby argued: “This woman should never have been appointed in the first place, and should have been sacked. Allowing her to resign is ridiculous, and to give her another position connected to the government is stupidity at the highest level.”

And reader E.S. warned: “I’m sure the Sue Gray problem has not gone away. Starmer has got a tiger by the tail with this situation.”

General popularity

The Telegraph reported that at the 100-day mark, Keir Starmer’s favourability is languishing on -36 per cent, placing lower than Nigel Farage. Readers took to the comments section to share their thoughts.

Grace Green started: “I must admit Mr Starmer has surpassed my expectations. I was expecting him and his government to do badly but well done to Starmer for exceeding the bar set way, way beyond utterly disastrous.”

Reader Alan Cox blamed Starmer’s “arrogant attitude, atrocious behaviour and selection of ministers” for his plummeting popularity – as he argued that “he is without doubt the worst Prime Minister I have ever seen.”

Echoing this sentiment, reader M. Lane blamed Sir Keir’s “serial dishonesty on every Labour manifesto promise” since he has been in government.

“I have never wanted to leave this country as much as I do now. Thank you, Keir” finished reader Suzanne Rock.

Management of the economy

20 days into the new government, Rachel Reeves presented the public with the £22bn blackhole and announced her plans to tax private schools and axe winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners in order to combat it.

Telegraph readers were left dumbfounded. Reacting to the news, Charlotte Bennett said “To bring VAT in for private schools practically immediately after a July election is absolutely disgraceful. There should be a year’s notice, so parents and children can find alternative education places and not have to find several thousand pounds out of thin air. Disgusting behaviour.”

Stephen Crump called Labour’s plan “appalling” and “an attack on a small section of parents who have the temerity to pay for an alternative education.” While another anonymous reader commented that Labour’s private school VAT plans “is a vile tax on many ordinary parents.”

On the heels of the private school VAT raid, came Labour’s axing of the winter fuel allowance, a move that both the Prime Minister and Chancellor claim is necessary to fill the so-called £22bn fiscal “black hole” left by the Conservatives.

Reader Andrew Logan “can’t think of anything more un-Labour than Labour’s withdrawal of the winter fuel allowance. It’s frankly disgusting and completely dishonest that it wasn’t mentioned in their pre-election manifesto.”

Catherine Fitchet said, “I absolutely disagree with the blanket removal of this benefit, which is one of the very few benefits that those who have worked all their lives have been entitled to.”

Echoing this, Anna L Jones said, “Shame on Labour and shame on every MP who voted to abolish the winter fuel allowance.”

Immigration and justice

On his first day as PM, Sir Keir Starmer killed off the Rwanda deportation plan. “The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started,” the Prime Minister said, and argued it had “never been a deterrent.”

Telegraph readers disagreed. J.B. Fortune claimed “the Rwanda scheme absolutely was a deterrent”.

They added: “Does Starmer not recall all the immigrants fleeing to Ireland when it finally got signed off, or the thousands being open in Calais about waiting until Labour were in before setting sail?”

Stan Blog echoed the same view and warned that “if the Prime Minister doesn’t make inroads into immigration and stop the boats then he will be in big trouble” as “immigration is the defining issue of our time”.

And a month into Keir Starmer’s premiership, a wave of disorder broke out across the UK following a knife attack on children attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. At the time, almost half of the general public believed the PM was handling the riots badly.

M. Gibbons argued that while the behaviour exhibited by the rioters was “intolerable and the sentence is justified,” the policing approach the PM put forward was “definitely ‘two-tier’”.

“The language and behaviour that some have shown against our Jewish fellow citizens hasn’t been subject to the same legal standards. This is a big mistake by Sir Keir Starmer.”

Sharing a similar sentiment, Barry G. claimed that “most understand the need for a deterrent sentencing to quell riots which can get out of hand but cannot understand how only white working-class people are being dealt with so harshly in comparison to the far-Left protesters, who have wreaked havoc for two years.”

A.C. argued: “The British people have an innate belief in fairness. Keir Starmer’s two-tier justice was an abhorrent abuse of state power and will simply cause discontent to fester.”

Prisoners early release scheme

Around 1,750 prisoners were freed in early September under the Labour government’s early-release scheme after jails in England and Wales came close to running out of space.  

Under the scheme, prisoners were released 40 per cent of the way through their sentences rather than halfway.

Readers took to the comments section to share their dismay, with many arguing this was “the worst decision by the Labour party.”

Ann Chalk stated: “Truly Two-Tier Kier. Freeing criminals and failing to arrest and prosecute pro-Hamas/Hezbollah and anti-Semitic Lefties. At the same time, branding all anti-immigration protesters as ‘Right-wing’ and throwing them into jail.”

Reader William Robbins argued: “This is the worst decision by the Labour party,” claiming “they are now actively putting law-abiding British people at risk of harm, breaking the first and most important role of a government. Unbelievable and unforgivable.”

Echoing the same view, reader M Hope labelled the scheme as “irresponsible,” and believed that “if the worst happens, I expect Kir Starmer may be prosecuted for failing to protect the public, the first duty of a PM.”

Finally, Sarah Boxall despaired: “Every day something awful is happening due to this thoroughly dangerous government. What state are we going to be in in a year or so time? Never mind five years. It’s absolutely horrifying.”

Policy offering 

Keir Starmer’s first King’s Speech contained 40 new Bills, the highest number to be announced since 2005. 

Despite this, Telegraph readers argued that “nothing of real value” for Britain has been done.

Reader Mr J Greenaway said: “Across the board, Keir Starmer and his third-rate government are an unmitigated disaster. They are clueless on both policy and procedure having wasted their time in opposition to develop a number of coherent alternatives to the Tories.”

And Stuart Cliff questioned: “Are we surprised by their performance? I’m not. Not a single mention of growth, all they’ve done is give the public sector pay raises and plan hefty tax rises on anyone remotely considered wealthy.

“The Prime Minister and his government have no idea how to pull this country from the doldrums.”

James Baker listed the changes he believed the PM should start focusing on: “The country wants the borders shut, the economy turning, equivalence in pensions, functional services, personal responsibility, a smaller more productive state, pride in Britishness and trustworthy politicians that strive for British people and values not themselves or their wardrobe.

“Keir Starmer provides none of the above.”

International affairs

Telegraph readers have been left unimpressed with the Prime Minister’s, and his Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s,  “ambivalent” stance towards Israel and the ongoing Middle East conflict.

“This Labour government is an international disgrace,” starts reader John Shepherd, “they are student union-level intellects who are trying to look good to their buddies in the unions and Left-wing NGOs.”

Reader William Parsons argued that Mr Starmer “has the backbone of a jellyfish and continues to vacillate. He has no principles and changes his position from minute to minute.”

And Trevor Williams also shared a similar view: “So much for supporting allies. Keir Starmer hasn’t got the guts to stand up for Israel against his party’s love with the other side.

“Where is the condemnation for Iran using its proxies against Israel? Does he really think a cease-fire will change Iran’s crusade to destroy Israel?

“I am ashamed to have our country led by this group of incompetents. Heaven help us if we were under attack, I have absolutely no confidence in them being able to protect us.”

A Strictly Come Dancing couple have brushed off an awkward on-air interaction where a dancer is seen pushing her celebrity partner’s hand away from her waist before ignoring his high-five attempt.

Wynne Evans, 52, put his arm around Katya Jones’s waist as host Claudia Winkleman announced voting lines were open during Strictly’s fourth live show.

As Mr Evans’s hand moved further around Ms Jones’s white top, she could be seen guiding it back to her side.

Later, the 35-year-old professional dancer appeared to deliberately ignore her partner’s attempts at a high-five following fellow contestants Sam Quek and Nikita Kumzin’s performance.

Mr Evans stood with both hands outstretched above his head, but Ms Jones seemed to roll her eyes and turn her back on her partner.

But in a social media video published later, the pair insisted that it was all a “silly joke”.

Addressing the camera, Ms Jones said: “Hello everybody it’s Wynne and Katya here. We just wanted to say we were just messing around in the Clauditorium on Saturday night and just want to say sorry. It was a silly joke.”

Mr Evans, a Welsh opera singer best known for his GoCompare.com adverts, added: “Yes sorry.”

The singer wrote in the caption: “Apologies for this tonight we were just messing around. We really are amazing friends. The high 5’s is a running joke. Have a great evening @‌katyajones.”

Wynne and Katya scored 34 for their Tango, which was set to Abba’s Money Money Money.

Judge Anton Du Beke, awarding the couple eight points, described the routine as “tremendous” and “one of your best performances”, while Craig Revel Horwood, who also gave a score of eight, said: “Your bum was sticking up – but I loved, loved, loved it. Winner, winner, winner.” He added: “The espressos kicked in I see.”

The pair received scores of nine from judges Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse, making it their highest scoring dance so far.

Week four saw Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Charleston expand their lead at the top of the leaderboard with the first 10s of the series.

The BBC has been approached for comment.

Sir Keir Starmer has taken down portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh that were on display in Downing Street, The Telegraph can reveal.

The paintings of the last Tudor monarch and the famed explorer of the Americas previously adorned the walls of a room used for Prime Ministerial meetings with world leaders.

But both artworks have now been replaced with scenes from Crivelli’s Garden, a mural by the late Portuguese-born artist Dame Paula Rego whose art focuses on “strong and courageous women”.

While Downing Street has not explained its decision to remove the paintings, both Elizabeth I and Raleigh have been criticised by campaigners over their links to the slave trade.

Sir Keir has previously come under fire after it emerged he had also removed portraits of William Ewart Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher.

The artwork of Elizabeth I that has been taken down is known as the Ditchley Portrait and was painted in 1592 by the Flemish artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.

Depicted standing on a globe with her feet on Oxfordshire, the monarch is shown in a farthingale against a backdrop of storm clouds parting to give way to sunshine.

The portrait was produced for Sir Henry Lee two years after his retirement as the Queen’s Champion, a position he held for more than three decades.

According to the National Portrait Gallery, the painting likely marks “an elaborate symbolic entertainment” that Lee organised for the monarch after she forgave him for moving in with Anne Vavasour, his mistress.

Elizabeth I was an early supporter of English involvement in the slave trade and gave permission to the adventurer Sir John Hawkins to fly the royal flag on his ships.

Hawkins took 300 African slaves across the Atlantic to sell in Spanish colonies on his first voyage. The queen invested money and ships in Hawkins’s expeditions and would go on to give him his own coat of arms.

The portrait of Raleigh appears to have been restored and created by an unknown artist. It depicts him wearing chainmail with a neutral expression on his face.

Raleigh was a colonialist who attempted to establish a British settlement in North Carolina, only to ultimately fail in doing so because of sour relations with Native Americans.

The paintings have been replaced either side of a fireplace in Downing Street by two of Rego’s works – Study for Crivelli’s Garden and Study for Crivelli’s Garden (The Visitation).

Crivelli’s Garden is one of Rego’s best-known works and the National Gallery observed last year that its focus is on “strong and courageous women” throughout.

“The depictions of these courageous and strong women were based on the people that Rego knew, including friends, family and members of the National Gallery staff at the time,” the gallery said.

Rego’s work throughout the decades had strong feminist themes and included a portrait of Germaine Greer, the women’s rights campaigner.

Study for Crivelli’s Garden is an acrylic painting produced between 1990 and 1991 and shows a woman praying as a second woman appears to wield a weapon behind her.

It was painted for display in the National Gallery’s restaurant and depicts a number of scenes from stories and myths in the Bible, with female characters featuring prominently throughout.

Study for Crivelli’s Garden (The Visitation) is a retelling of the Visitation in the Bible, in which the Virgin Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus at the time, visited Elizabeth, her cousin, who was herself pregnant with John the Baptist.

Elizabeth can be seen grabbing Mary’s upper hand with one hand as she uses the other to cover her mouth.

The National Portrait Gallery noted that the artwork “disrupts any sense of linear time” by also featuring a drawing of a young John the Baptist and a faint image of Mary holding the baby Jesus.

Sir Keir’s decision to replace the portraits of Elizabeth I and Raleigh drew criticism from his political opponents on Sunday.
Robert Jenrick, the Conservative leadership hopeful, said: “Elizabeth I was one of our most iconic female leaders. She’s a hero I love to talk to my daughters about.

“Stripping her portrait from Downing Street – alongside Walter Raleigh’s – seems to betray a strange dislike of our history by this Labour Government.”

Last month, Sir Keir claimed he took down a portrait of Thatcher because he does not like pictures of people staring down at him, instead preferring landscapes.

The likeness of the former prime minister was removed from her former study weeks into the Labour Government and it has since been hung in a first-floor meeting room.

“I use the study for quietly reading most afternoons… This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all,” the Prime Minister told the BBC.

“I don’t like images and pictures of people staring down on me. I’ve found it all my life.”

Downing Street declined to comment.

Christopher Columbus was Jewish, DNA experts concluded in a long-awaited investigation into the true origins of one of history’s most famous explorers.

Researcher conducted over 22 years suggests that Columbus was not a sailor from Genoa, as previously believed, but in fact from a family of Jewish silk spinners from Valencia.

Examinations of the bones of Columbus and of his son, Hernando, showed a Jewish origin, something the explorer concealed during a time in which Jews were being persecuted in Spain and other parts of Europe.

The discovery was the culmination of two decades of investigation led by Antonio Lorente, professor of legal and forensic medicine at the University of Granada.

It was presented in a prime-time Spanish television documentary on Saturday night to coincide with Spain’s national day.

“Both in the ‘Y’ chromosome and in the mitochondrial chromosome of Hernando, there are traits compatible with Jewish origins,” Prof Lorente declared.

He said the DNA showed a “western Mediterranean” origin, but he could not state categorically which country or region.

Francesc Albardaner, a historian who has written extensively about Columbus having origins in Catalan-speaking eastern Spain, explained that being Jewish and from Genoa was effectively impossible in the 15th century.

“Jews could only spend three days at a time in Genoa by law at that time,” said Mr Albardaner.

Mr Albardaner said his research has shown that Columbus was from a family of Jewish silk spinners from the Valencia region.

In the same year of 1492 that Columbus landed on Guanahani in the Bahamas, Spain’s Catholic monarchs Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon ordered the expulsion of all Jews who did not agree to convert to Christianity.

“Christopher Columbus had to pretend all his life that he was a Roman Catholic Christian. If he had made one mistake, this man would have ended up on the pyre,” said Mr Albardaner.

The DNA research shows that Columbus lied about his family; Diego Columbus was the explorer’s second cousin and not his brother, as he told the Spanish court.

A key part of the puzzle was to establish that the remains said to be those of Columbus kept in a tomb in Seville cathedral were really those of the explorer, in the face of a longstanding claim by the Dominican Republic to be the resting place of Columbus.

Prof Lorente’s team established without doubt that the Seville bones were those of Columbus thanks to a close match with the DNA found in the remains of his son, Hernando, kept in the same cathedral.

Speaking on the documentary ‘DNA Columbus – his true origin’, Prof Lorente agreed that Columbus was almost certainly not from mainland Italy and said that there was no solid evidence that he had come from France.

“What do we have left? The Spanish Mediterranean arc, the Balearic Islands and Sicily. But Sicily would also be strange, because if so, Christopher Columbus would have written with some Italian or Sicilian features. So it is most likely that his origin is in the Spanish Mediterranean arc or in the Balearic Islands”, the scientist said.

Analysis of the around 40 letters signed by Columbus that have been preserved show that his writing in Castilian Spanish was free of any Italian influences, with researchers pointing out that he even wrote letters to a bank in Genoa in Spanish.

Mr Albardaner said: “There were around 200,000 Jews living in Spain in Columbus’ time. In the Italian peninsula, it is estimated that there were only between 10,000 and 15,000. There was a much larger Jewish population in Sicily of around 40,000, but we should remember that Sicily, in Columbus’ time, belonged to the Crown of Aragon.”

Hezbollah militants are fleeing southern Lebanon, offering limited resistance to the Israeli ground invasion.

Fighters are said to have “left the area” without demonstrating “meaningful defensive operations”, according to the Institute of the Study of War (ISW), a major conflict think tank.

Sources in Israel told The Telegraph that months of pre-invasion raids into Lebanon had helped push some of the group northwards, while the bombing campaign and pager attacks were also forcing some to flee.

But the ISW said it was surprised by evidence from the early stages of the invasion showing an unwillingness to confront and fight Israeli troops.

A report by the Washington-based think tank said: “Hezbollah fighters do not appear to be defending against Israeli forces in these [southern] villages as the Israeli forces have consistently encountered weapons caches and infrastructure formerly used by Hezbollah fighters that left the area”.

The institute said it was “unclear why Hezbollah is not conducting meaningful defensive operations in response to Israel’s ground operations”.

It assessed that the Israeli air campaign in Lebanon was likely to have “severely disrupted the strategic and operational-level military leadership in Hezbollah and impeded Hezbollah’s ability to conduct and sustain coherent military campaigns, at least in the short term”.

Hezbollah suffered a huge blow when more than 1,500 operatives were taken out of action in Lebanon and Syria after a series of pager and walkie-talkie explosions rocked the terror group last month.

Days later, Hassan Nasrallah, the long-time leader, was assassinated in an airstrike in Beirut along with other top officials, while many of the commanders have also been killed.

Analysing the ground operations which come alongside the war in Gaza against Iran-backed Hamas, the report also said that, in spite of the losses endured in recent weeks, “even isolated tactical units should be capable of fighting effectively on their own for some time”.

A senior source in Israeli intelligence told The Telegraph that secret raids across the border had helped smooth the early stages of the war.

“We have been engaged inside Lebanon for more than half a year. There have been special forces going in and out of Lebanon as most of the villages in the south are deserted,” he said. “Most of the lines were destroyed by the air force, so there isn’t a lot of battle engagement. Most of them fled north of the Litani [river] and even further.”

A second source, in Israeli military intelligence, said those fleeing were even in the middle ranks of the group. “Some of the medium level echelons are even leaving Lebanon, into Syria and Iraq, trying to evacuate their families as well,” the source added.

He said it appeared Hezbollah was finding it “very difficult to conduct the same resistance” that was predicted.

While 24 Israeli soldiers and reservists have died since the ground operations began, the casualties are much lower than hundreds that were expected, he said. However, with the backing of Iran, he did not rule out the possibility of Hezbollah regrouping.

As the US now pushes the two sides for a ceasefire amid mass displacement and civilian casualties in Lebanon, the ISW said Hezbollah was “falsely presenting Israeli ground operations as a failure in order to degrade Israeli will and underscore Hezbollah’s own resilience in the face of massive Hezbollah losses since mid-September… and are using propaganda images to misrepresent military successes”.

Over 63,000 Israelis have been displaced from Israel’s north since Hezbollah began almost daily barrages of drones, rockets and missiles on Oct 8, in allegiance with Hamas in Gaza.

Subsequently, tens of thousands more were displaced in southern Lebanon, with more like 1.4 million Lebanese people now displaced as the conflict spreads across the country.

Poland will temporarily ban migrants from claiming asylum on its territory, Donald Tusk, the prime minister, said on Saturday.

Announcing the move, Mr Tusk said that Warsaw “must regain 100 per cent control over who comes to Poland”.

The Civic Platform party leader said the suspension of the right to claim asylum was needed with Russia-allied Belarus funneling migrants to the Polish border as part of a hybrid war to destabilise the EU.

But Mr Tusk, who was European Council president during the Brexit negotiations, also framed the move as part of wider efforts to toughen Poland’s migration policies.

“If someone wants to come to Poland, they must respect Polish standards, Polish customs, they must want to integrate,” Mr Tusk said.

He said neighbouring Germany, a popular destination for migrants, had “negative experiences” with immigration after ignoring integration. “If there are too many people of other cultures, then the native culture feels threatened,” the Polish prime minister added.

Countries are obliged under international law to offer asylum. To prevent legal challenges, Mr Tusk said he would  “demand” the EU recognise the decision, setting up a potential clash with Brussels.

“I will demand this, I will demand recognition in Europe for this decision,” he said. “This is because we know very well how it is used by [Belarusian president Alexander] Lukashenko, [Russian president Vladimir] Putin… by people smugglers, people traffickers, how this right to asylum is used exactly against the essence of the right to asylum.”

Mr Tusk ousted the hard-Right Law and Justice party in an election last year promising to unlock billions in EU funding by reconciling with the bloc’s leaders.

Framing the suspension of asylum rights as needed to counter Lukashenko and Putin may make it more palatable to Brussels.

EU leaders will meet this week in the Belgian capital for a summit set to be dominated by migration and calls to make deportations of illegal migrants faster and easier.

Earlier this year, the bloc adopted a sweeping reform of its asylum policies, hardening border procedures and compelling countries to take in refugees from under-pressure states or pay €20,000 for each they reject in a package due to come into effect in June 2026.

Denmark last week became the seventh EU member state to tighten its border controls. Others include France, Italy, Austria and Sweden.

The UK’s position on asylum has changed markedly since Labour took office in July. The government vowed to scrap the Rwanda removals policy a few days after the election and has introduced a new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill which is making its way through Parliament.

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has effectively cancelled the previous government’s Illegal Migration Act, which automatically denied asylum to anyone who arrived in the country illegally. Ms Cooper has said the Home Office will use fast-track decisions and returns agreements to clear the asylum backlog.

Both candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party are more hawkish on asylum policies than the Government.

Robert Jenrick has described the UK’s asylum grant rate as “offensively high” and claimed immigration judges are insufficiently scrupulous when assessing claims. The Conservative leadership candidate and former immigration minister has pledged to cut off foreign aid to countries that do not accept the return of failed asylum claimants from their country.

‘There is no more humane policy’

Mr Tusk said he would present Poland’s new migration strategy at a government meeting on Oct 15, the first anniversary of the election which brought the coalition he leads to power.

“There is no more humane policy – in terms of preventing misfortune or death on the border with Belarus – than effective protection of this border”, he told a congress held by his liberal Civic Coalition grouping, the largest member of Poland’s coalition government.

Large numbers of people, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, began trying to make illegal crossings into Poland from Belarus in 2021.

The EU and Poland said that the crisis was orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow in what Mr Tusk has branded a “hybrid war”.

As many as 26,000 migrants have tried to cross the border into Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine, so far this year and Belarusian border guards have been seen helping the groups.

Belarus is accused of offering visas to would-be migrants and encouraging them to fly to the country as a stop before travelling on to the EU. Some of those caught crossing have Russian visas.

Warsaw has set up a special border zone granting tougher powers to local authorities and investing in stronger border infrastructure.

But Mr Tusk attacked EU migration policy, in particular refugee relocation from under-pressure states to other countries, to head off the challenge of the hard-Right Law and Justice party he beat in last year’s election.

In power, he has continued many of the defeated party’s migration policies, including building a barrier on the Belarus border and pushing migrants back after they have crossed.

He is not the only Brexit chief to launch a crackdown on immigration. Former EU negotiator Michel Barnier is now prime minister of France and has vowed to drive down migrant numbers.

Before Thursday’s summit, more than half of member states are calling for even tougher rules on migration, including the possibility of Rwanda-style offshore migrant processing hubs in countries outside the bloc.

Michel Barnier faces claims of dressing up “Left-wing” tax hikes as “austerity” in France’s budget aimed at slashing its “colossal” debt burden.

Details of the upcoming budget came as the French prime minister’s fate hangs in the balance in a hostile parliament.

The 73-year-old leads a conservative-centrist coalition in semi-opposition to President Emmanuel Macron, and has promised to stem state profligacy that has shaken market confidence in the eurozone’s second-largest economy and seen borrowing costs approach those of Greece and Italy.

He is due to present the 2025 budget to Mr Macron and then parliament, where he faces a potential “kiss of death” from Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which could bring his government down at any moment by joining the opposition Left in a no-confidence vote. On Sunday, Ms Le Pen’s party was reportedly preparing an “alternative” budget.

Mr Barnier warned last week that ballooning debt after seven years of Macron rule and a “whatever it costs” spending spree during the Covid-19 pandemic and living costs crisis sparked by the Russia-Ukraine war had become the “sword of Damocles above our heads”.

The EU’s former Brexit negotiator then announced a bitter pill. The 2025 budget, he said, will save €60 billion by slashing spending by €40bn mainly in central and local government, and introducing some €20bn in new taxes on businesses and the wealthy.

The aim is to cut the budget deficit to about 5 per cent of GDP in 2025, from an expected 6.1 per cent this year. That is still well over the eurozone’s maximum 3 per cent limit, which France now hopes to reach in 2027.

It has been billed as the first austerity plan since Nicolas Sarkozy reined in public spending 13 years ago and on a par with Socialist President François Mitterrand’s famous cost-cutting “U-turn” in 1983 after a ruinous tax-and-spend drive.

“This is the most violent austerity plan that this country has ever seen,” said Manuel Bompard, MP for the hard-Left LFI party. “It will cause French people to suffer,” he added. Jean-Luc Mélénchon, the party’s figurehead, called it “calamitous”.

However, experts at France’s High Council of Public Finance, which answers to the state auditor, suggest Mr Barnier’s supposedly fierce spending reductions were not what they seemed.

According to its analysis, a €42bn “structural effort” is required to hit the 5 per cent deficit target. However, it calculated that of this total, 70 per cent are set to come from increasing taxes, and only 30 per cent from spending cuts – the reverse of what Mr Barnier has claimed.

While the tax hikes appeared clearly set out, it warned that the cuts were “not all documented” and their implementation will be “difficult”.

Hikes include exceptional taxes on large companies (€8.5bn) and individuals with very high incomes (€2bn), a six-month freeze on pensions paid to retirees, a tax on share buybacks and a tougher tax on polluting cars. There will also be new taxes on plane tickets and private jet usage.

France’s overall rate of taxes and social security contributions, which are already the highest in Europe, is set to rise even further to 43.6 per cent of GDP by 2025.

Cuts include reduced reimbursement for medical costs and sick pay. In education, 4,000 teacher jobs are set to be cut next year. Overall, the government is planning to cut a net 2,200 public jobs in 2025.

However many reductions appeared vague, said the Council, and half depend on the social security system and local authorities, over which the government has little or no control. It is by no means certain that public spending will actually fall to 56.3 per cent of GDP, as hoped.

Le Monde wrote: “Despite all appearances, the austerity measures planned by Barnier, who hails from the Right-wing Les Républicains party, almost bear the hallmarks of a Left-wing budget.”

Hauke Siemssen, a rates strategist at Commerzbank AG, told Bloomberg: “I don’t think markets consider this deficit reduction a particularly great achievement.”

Regardless, Mr Barnier faces a minefield in steering the budget through parliament before a vote in November.

Ms Le Pen has said she will not “for the time being” join the Left in a no-confidence vote that would be certain to topple the government.

However, any move to force the budget through by decree rather than a parliamentary vote, as Macron’s administration has done in the past, would see the government evicted.

Voicing his disapproval, pro-Le Pen MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy said the budget provided “no break with the mismanagement of the last 50 years”.

“The effort is very poorly distributed,” he warned, “since at least €7bn is earmarked for the middle and working classes and only €2bn for the most privileged. And that, for us, is unacceptable.”

The husband of a Labour MP has quit his role as chairman of West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority after being accused of exaggerating his military service.

Greg Brackenridge, a local Labour councillor and former mayor of Wolverhampton, allegedly told voters he served as a commando, but in fact never finished his training.

On Saturday night, he announced his resignation from the role he had held for the past five years, with immediate effect.

Cllr Brackenridge, 53, 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 previously reported.

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

Greg Brackenridge claiming service

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

In 2021, while unveiling the statue of a Sikh soldier in Wolverhampton in September 2021, Cllr Brackenridge 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.”

His resignation statement, which will be read out at a West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority meeting on Monday, did not specifically address the allegations.

The letter, first published by BirminghamLive, reads: “I write to inform you of my resignation as chair from the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority.

“This has not been a decision taken lightly. Events over recent months are an unnecessary distraction. I will not allow this to happen.”

Cllr Brackenridge added: “I am proud of the dedication and professionalism of the people at West Midlands Fire Service.

“I thank all employees, currently led by deputy chief fire officer Simon Barry, for continuing to take the service forward in challenging circumstances.

“I wish to thank the fire authority members, political, independent and observers (from the) trade unions for their hard work, commitment and support. It has been an honour to serve with all of you.”

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.

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

‘Devastating’

He added: “This was devastating, as I loved what I was doing, as any young lad would. I find it incredible anyone would attack people who join the military and want to serve their country.

“I have served as a firefighter, now retired, and as a councillor continue to serve my community.”

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.

Cllr Brackenridge’s resignation comes days after that of interim chief executive, and decorated Royal Marines colonel, Oliver Lee.

Mr Lee said he was quitting because it enabled him to “do the right thing”, claiming he had been “gagged”.

He had earlier said he could no longer work with Cllr Brackenridge, who he accused of telling “untruths”.

Cubs groups are swapping camping in the woods for expensive all-inclusive trips to Disneyland Paris.

Parents are reacting with surprise to discover that Cubs are travelling by coach to the theme park in France and spending as much as £650 per person for a two-night stay.

The trips are part of a wider collaboration between the Scouts and Disney, which encompasses branding exercises, badges, themed activities, and discounted theatre trips.

The Scouts organisation has defended the trips, saying that an encounter with Mickey Mouse has as much place in the programme as “roasting marshmallows on a fire”.

On its website, the Scouts promise that Cubs aged between eight and 10½ will “master new skills”, “help others and make a difference”, and be “curious about the world around them”. The list is accompanied by a picture of two children building a makeshift shelter in the countryside.

Plans are already underway at Humberside Scouts to ship 150 cubs to Disneyland Paris for two days in February 2026, with tickets costing as much as £650.

‘Executive coach’

Likewise, Cubs in 1st Holmes Chapel are visiting the theme park in August 2026 to celebrate the group’s centenary, with costs coming to around £600 per person. The three-night trip promises travel in an “executive coach” with reclining seats, DVD player and drinks machine.

Peterborough Cubs have booked into the Campanile Val de France at Disneyland Paris in January 2026, with the £540 fee covering transport, food, insurance, a two-night stay and a T-shirt.

Avon Cubs are incorporating a visit to the theme park into their £460 excursion next autumn, while 5th Beckenham South Cubs have the opportunity to spend £400 on a trip to Disneyland Paris in May.

The Basingstoke East cubs visited Disneyland Paris and promised to return in February 2028.

Other Cubs groups to have recently visited Disneyland Paris include 1st Marston Green, Romsey, 38th Rossendale, 7th Walthamstow, Wardle and 2nd Whitton.

A surprised parent took to Mumsnet to ask if it was normal that she was being asked to spend £400 on her child’s Cubs trip.

“It sounds like great fun, but on the other hand (and perhaps I’m being a bit naive here) I’m a little surprised at the cost and the purpose of the trip, especially for primary aged kids”, they said, adding: “I thought cubs would be all about outdoor activities or community oriented stuff.”

One Mumsnet user responded: “I cannot begin to think of the families that can’t afford this and the kids that feel excluded. It seems to shy away from the whole inclusive ethos they bang on about.”

Another questioned why the Cubs didn’t spread the cost of the trip over multiple cheaper activities over the course of the year.

A spokesman for the Scouts said: “We believe that all residential experiences away from home provide an opportunity for young people to learn how to be resilient, self-confident and self-reliant.

“Going on camp in the UK or undertaking an international trip, gives young people the opportunity to develop important key life skills.

“Meeting Mickey Mouse in Paris or cooking marshmallows over an open fire both have their place in the Scout programme. We are proud of our volunteers who give their time freely to deliver all types of residential experience.”

‘Space noodles’

The Scouts have collaborated with Disney on badges and resources, such as the Timon and Pumbaa bug hunt, making Queen Elsa’s ice palace snowflakes, and cooking gumbo like Tiana in the Princess and the Frog.

Before taking part in the Star Wars-themed activity of cooking “space noodles”, the children are encouraged to use their internet devices to “tell everyone you’re going to meet the Young Jedi”.

As part of the close relationship, Scouts receive group discounts to performances of The Lion King at London’s Lyceum Theatre and a free scout leader ticket is also provided for every 10 tickets booked.

The Scouts website lists Venture Abroad, a holiday activity company, as a provider of its group coach packages to Disneyland Paris.

Venture Abroad sets out the intentions of its trips as “mastering new skills and confidence”, “fostering a sense of community and belonging”, nurturing “a deep reverence for nature and our world”.

The site’s trips to Disneyland Paris start at £349pp for a three day and two night coach tour for 48 passengers travelling in February 2025.

It’s a seasonal favourite in Europe, and now British retailers are adding white mulled wine to their shelves ahead of Christmas.

Marks and Spencer is hoping that its white mulled wine, similar to glühwein found in German and Austrian Christmas markets like Berlin’s Weihnachtsmärkte, will be a big hit this winter.

Retailers believe that the white variety will make a refreshing change to the “heavy, oaky and often alcoholic reds” that can “weigh” people down.

German Christmas markets have become a staple part of many cities and town’s Christmas celebrations around the country.

Shoppers in Bath, Manchester, Edinburgh and visitors to Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland, in London, can enjoy mulled wine and flame-grilled bratwurst sausages at markets throughout the festive season.

Experts say that white mulled wine appeals to people’s changing preferences to wine, with many preferring lighter white wines to heavier reds.

Maddie Love, a product developer at M&S, told The Observer that white wines’ “lighter, fruitier notes will appeal to those who prefer a more delicate flavour profile”.

Others argue that supermarkets are trying to find new ways of keeping alcohol sales up throughout the Christmas period, as younger generations drink less than their parents.

“I think this product development is more an attempt to keep consumers drinking alcohol in the first place rather than a reaction to changing tastes”, said Honey Spencer, a sommelier who runs the restaurant Sune in Hackney, east London.

“Across the whole sphere of wine, people are moving towards freshness and minerality,” Amber Gardner, a London wine buyer, added.

“They don’t want to feel weighed down by heavy, oaky and often alcoholic reds, so they’re turning more and more to white wine.

“As we all know, mulled wine can err on the side of sickly and cloying, so I reckon mulled wine is overdue a nouvelle vague! I can see a white version doing really well in the coming years.”

Miranda Hart’s secret husband has been revealed as a building company boss.

In her new book, I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You, the comedian disclosed she had married a mystery man with whom she struck up a romance during the Covid pandemic.

Hart referred to her new husband as “the boy from Bristol” and “the mould man”, after they first met when he removed mould from her house – but had held back from revealing his identity.

The star, 51, also told of her struggle with Lyme disease which has left her with chronic fatigue and away from working on television.

It has now been reported that the actress married surveyor Richard Fairs, 60, in July last year, at a country church ceremony which was followed by a Hawaiian-themed party, according to The Sun newspaper.

Photographs previously emerged of the pair embarking on a bike ride near Hammersmith Bridge earlier this year, spurring speculation that the cyclist could be Hart’s husband.

The actress appeared on The One Show on Wednesday to confirm her marriage status, complete with a debut of her gold wedding ring.

“I’ve got my best friend to do life with and it’s wonderful,” she said. Hart added: “The fact that I could meet somebody – it’s not a rom-com story but it’s hope, and that’s why I think, whatever situation you’re in, there’s always hope that things really do change.”

The actress later teased her Instagram viewers by holding hands on camera with her out of sight husband as she left BBC Broadcasting House in a taxi.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Hart said: “The reason I put this little love story of mine in it was mainly because at the beginning of the book, yeah, I’m alone. I’m bed bound by this illness.

“And waiting in the darkness in a confusing place gives you the chance to long for what you want to do. And I realised I didn’t want to be alone.”

She added: “I really recommend it, honestly, getting married in the midlife is a full injection of joy and fun. It’s the best.”

Mr Fairs, from Bristol, proposed on a walk around Kew Gardens in January, as the pair stood by a bridge overlooking the lake.

‘Burst out crying’

In her book, Hart recalled that she “simply burst out crying, apparently saying yes before he had finished the sentence”.

She added: “I didn’t think a traditional proposal would affect me so.

“But there was someone knowing all my ridiculousness and brokenness and still willing to bend down, look up and commit to loving me and standing by me for the rest of his life.”

Mr Fairs, who owns a company called The Building Consultancy, is said to have married Hart at St Peter and St Paul church in Hambledon, Hampshire, on July 6.

Hart started out performing on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe in the early 2000s before taking on the role of Miranda in her eponymous television sitcom, which ran from 2009 to 2015.

She has taken time away from acting as she recovers from Lyme disease – a bacterial infection that can transfer to humans via a tick bite.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales has been hit with a trigger warning by a leading university over “expressions of Christian faith”, it has emerged.

The University of Nottingham put the warning on the medieval collection of 24 tales which tell the story of pilgrims going to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket.

A Freedom of Information request found that the university warned students that the medieval literature contains expressions of Christian faith as well as violence and mental illness.

The stories also contain explicit references to rape and anti-Semitism, but the warning made no reference to these themes, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported.

The University of Nottingham has now been accused of “demeaning education” with its “ludicrous” and “weird” trigger warning.

Andrea Williams, the chief executive of Christian Concern, claimed that “without an understanding of the Christian faith there will be no way for students to access the world of Chaucer and his contemporaries”.

“From what point in history are we going to censor literary texts given most are steeped in a Christian world view?” she said. “Trigger warnings for Christian themes in literature are demeaning to the Christian faith and stifle the academic progress of our students.

“To censor expressions of the Christian faith is to erase our literary heritage. True education engages and fosters understanding, not avoidance.”

She added: “Our universities should allow students, who have chosen to study some of the greatest works in English literature, the freedom of academic thought to make up their own minds rather than planting loaded warnings about the Christian faith.”

Frank Furedi of the University of Kent said “the problem is not would-be student readers of Chaucer but virtue-signalling, ignorant academics”.

He told the Mail on Sunday: “Warning students of Chaucer about Christian expressions of faith is weird. Since all characters in the stories are immersed in a Christian experience there is bound to be a lot of expressions of faith.”

A university spokesman told the paper that it “champions diversity”, adding: “Even those who are practising Christians will find aspects of the late-medieval world view… alienating and strange”.

It comes as an increasing number of important pieces of literature are hit with trigger warnings.

In 2022, the University of Leeds issued warnings on dozens of classic works including Tarzan and Robinson Crusoe amid fears about how content including war, death, violence and suicide might affect students.

The Telegraph contacted the university for further comment.

A comet that last passed Earth 80,000 years ago will be seen streaking across the night sky on Sunday night.

Comet C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, last orbited the Sun when the Neanderthals still existed, and will be visible for several nights.

Experts say it should be visible with binoculars or a small telescope above the western horizon at just after sunset in cloud-free conditions away from light pollution.

The orbit of the comet is taking it away from Earth at around 150,000 mph, and will be visible slightly higher in the sky on Sunday night than it was the night before.

The comet was observed last year by telescopes in South Africa and China, when it was beyond Jupiter, and astronomers have been anticipating its arrival ever since. Now around halfway between the Earth and the Sun, it has a tail stretching for several miles.

Astronomers think the solid core of the comet is several miles wide and made of ancient ice from when the Solar System was first formed billions of years ago.

It is believed the comet originated from a place called the Oort Cloud, a spherical shell surrounding our solar system, which contained billions of pieces of icy space debris the size of mountains.

Dr Gregory Brown, senior public astronomy officer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: “It contains lots of bits left over from the formation of the solar system. Every so often, one of those bits will be nudged towards the solar system, where it could end up in a very, very long orbit.

“Those orbits can take extraordinarily long periods of time – thousands of years. The estimate on this particular comet is that if it is in a stable orbit, its last path to the inner solar system was about 80,000 years ago.”

The sun’s heat is warming up the comet and causing some of the comet to evaporate, scientists say, and this is producing a haze of dust and matter that can be seen as the comet’s tail.

Dr Daniel Brown, an astronomer and associate professor at Nottingham Trent University, said: “It’s a cracker of a comet that has already delighted more southerly latitudes when it was visible in the morning sky.

“The orbit we have currently seen is what is called hyperbolic – even close to parabolic, which indicates that it is not on a closed orbit. As far as we currently know, it is making its first approach to the sun.

“As all comets, it is made of mostly frozen gases – ie ice – with lots of rocky debris and dust. There will also be trace elements of organic materials.

“These comets are not necessarily rare, however being able to see them with the naked eye is not that common. Comets are notoriously unpredictable and can break up or remain less active than expected. Probably the last such good comet I recall for us here was comet Neowise in 2020.”

Astrophotographers have been sharing their images of the comet from across the UK on Saturday night.

The comet also came into view above South Carolina in the US shortly after sunset on Saturday. It was previously visible from Earth in the southern hemisphere between Sept 27 and Oct 2.

Sir Trevor McDonald, the veteran broadcaster, said Prince Philip’s driving was “slightly mad” as he recounted being given a personal tour around the Sandringham Estate by the then Duke of Edinburgh.

Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Sunday, the former ITN news presenter described Prince Philip’s somewhat haphazard driving during the filming of the 2008 documentary The Duke: A Portrait of Prince Philip.

Sir Trevor, 85, told audience members: “I am not allowed to say this publicly, but I thought his driving was slightly mad.

“I remember he was extraordinarily generous in giving me his time like this.

“But he put me in this super duper thing we are driving around, it was around Sandringham so there was nothing in his way and he would stop to wave to people who worked there and so on.

“But then we drove into a puddle of mud and he went ‘how did this bloody thing get here, why can’t I get this out’, and I thought I mustn’t say ‘because you just put it in there’.”

Sir Trevor, who was attending the festival to promote his book On Cricket, added: “You would be glad to know I didn’t say that, because the Prince had been very generous with his time.

“It was one of those lovely, lovely days.”

Sir Trevor also recounted how Elizabeth II, during a visit to ITN studios, had become either “terribly worried or impressed” when it appeared her clothes had disappeared when they were superimposed onto a green screen.

“I assured her this was only temporary,” he recalled.

Prince Philip, who died aged 99 in 2021, crashed into and injured two women while driving around the estate in January 2019.

In a personal letter to Ellie Townsend, the driver of the Kia Carens that collided with his Land Rover as he pulled out of a side road, and her passenger, Emma Fairweather, he said he was deeply sorry.

He admitted he had “failed to see the car coming” and blamed the bright winter sun that was low in the sky.

He wished her a “speedy recovery from a very distressing experience” and said he felt “very contrite about the consequences”.

Ms Fairweather, who broke her wrist in the accident, had previously criticised Prince Philip for driving his replacement Land Rover on public roads so soon after the accident.

Sir Trevor McDonald, the veteran broadcaster, said Prince Philip’s driving was “slightly mad” as he recounted being given a personal tour around the Sandringham Estate by the then Duke of Edinburgh.

Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Sunday, the former ITN news presenter described Prince Philip’s somewhat haphazard driving during the filming of the 2008 documentary The Duke: A Portrait of Prince Philip.

Sir Trevor, 85, told audience members: “I am not allowed to say this publicly, but I thought his driving was slightly mad.

“I remember he was extraordinarily generous in giving me his time like this.

“But he put me in this super duper thing we are driving around, it was around Sandringham so there was nothing in his way and he would stop to wave to people who worked there and so on.

“But then we drove into a puddle of mud and he went ‘how did this bloody thing get here, why can’t I get this out’, and I thought I mustn’t say ‘because you just put it in there’.”

Sir Trevor, who was attending the festival to promote his book On Cricket, added: “You would be glad to know I didn’t say that, because the Prince had been very generous with his time.

“It was one of those lovely, lovely days.”

Sir Trevor also recounted how Elizabeth II, during a visit to ITN studios, had become either “terribly worried or impressed” when it appeared her clothes had disappeared when they were superimposed onto a green screen.

“I assured her this was only temporary,” he recalled.

Prince Philip, who died aged 99 in 2021, crashed into and injured two women while driving around the estate in January 2019.

In a personal letter to Ellie Townsend, the driver of the Kia Carens that collided with his Land Rover as he pulled out of a side road, and her passenger, Emma Fairweather, he said he was deeply sorry.

He admitted he had “failed to see the car coming” and blamed the bright winter sun that was low in the sky.

He wished her a “speedy recovery from a very distressing experience” and said he felt “very contrite about the consequences”.

Ms Fairweather, who broke her wrist in the accident, had previously criticised Prince Philip for driving his replacement Land Rover on public roads so soon after the accident.

Sir Keir Starmer has taken down portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh that were on display in Downing Street, The Telegraph can reveal.

The paintings of the last Tudor monarch and the famed explorer of the Americas previously adorned the walls of a room used for Prime Ministerial meetings with world leaders.

But both artworks have now been replaced with scenes from Crivelli’s Garden, a mural by the late Portuguese-born artist Dame Paula Rego whose art focuses on “strong and courageous women”.

While Downing Street has not explained its decision to remove the paintings, both Elizabeth I and Raleigh have been criticised by campaigners over their links to the slave trade.

Sir Keir has previously come under fire after it emerged he had also removed portraits of William Ewart Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher.

The artwork of Elizabeth I that has been taken down is known as the Ditchley Portrait and was painted in 1592 by the Flemish artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.

Depicted standing on a globe with her feet on Oxfordshire, the monarch is shown in a farthingale against a backdrop of storm clouds parting to give way to sunshine.

The portrait was produced for Sir Henry Lee two years after his retirement as the Queen’s Champion, a position he held for more than three decades.

According to the National Portrait Gallery, the painting likely marks “an elaborate symbolic entertainment” that Lee organised for the monarch after she forgave him for moving in with Anne Vavasour, his mistress.

Elizabeth I was an early supporter of English involvement in the slave trade and gave permission to the adventurer Sir John Hawkins to fly the royal flag on his ships.

Hawkins took 300 African slaves across the Atlantic to sell in Spanish colonies on his first voyage. The queen invested money and ships in Hawkins’s expeditions and would go on to give him his own coat of arms.

The portrait of Raleigh appears to have been restored and created by an unknown artist. It depicts him wearing chainmail with a neutral expression on his face.

Raleigh was a colonialist who attempted to establish a British settlement in North Carolina, only to ultimately fail in doing so because of sour relations with Native Americans.

The paintings have been replaced either side of a fireplace in Downing Street by two of Rego’s works – Study for Crivelli’s Garden and Study for Crivelli’s Garden (The Visitation).

Crivelli’s Garden is one of Rego’s best-known works and the National Gallery observed last year that its focus is on “strong and courageous women” throughout.

“The depictions of these courageous and strong women were based on the people that Rego knew, including friends, family and members of the National Gallery staff at the time,” the gallery said.

Rego’s work throughout the decades had strong feminist themes and included a portrait of Germaine Greer, the women’s rights campaigner.

Study for Crivelli’s Garden is an acrylic painting produced between 1990 and 1991 and shows a woman praying as a second woman appears to wield a weapon behind her.

It was painted for display in the National Gallery’s restaurant and depicts a number of scenes from stories and myths in the Bible, with female characters featuring prominently throughout.

Study for Crivelli’s Garden (The Visitation) is a retelling of the Visitation in the Bible, in which the Virgin Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus at the time, visited Elizabeth, her cousin, who was herself pregnant with John the Baptist.

Elizabeth can be seen grabbing Mary’s upper hand with one hand as she uses the other to cover her mouth.

The National Portrait Gallery noted that the artwork “disrupts any sense of linear time” by also featuring a drawing of a young John the Baptist and a faint image of Mary holding the baby Jesus.

Sir Keir’s decision to replace the portraits of Elizabeth I and Raleigh drew criticism from his political opponents on Sunday.
Robert Jenrick, the Conservative leadership hopeful, said: “Elizabeth I was one of our most iconic female leaders. She’s a hero I love to talk to my daughters about.

“Stripping her portrait from Downing Street – alongside Walter Raleigh’s – seems to betray a strange dislike of our history by this Labour Government.”

Last month, Sir Keir claimed he took down a portrait of Thatcher because he does not like pictures of people staring down at him, instead preferring landscapes.

The likeness of the former prime minister was removed from her former study weeks into the Labour Government and it has since been hung in a first-floor meeting room.

“I use the study for quietly reading most afternoons… This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all,” the Prime Minister told the BBC.

“I don’t like images and pictures of people staring down on me. I’ve found it all my life.”

Downing Street declined to comment.

When Captain Robert Moresby sailed through the Chagos Islands between 1834 and 1837, to conduct the first survey of the archipelago by a British explorer, he was struck by the atoll’s remarkable natural beauty. This was a land of limpid lagoons, teeming with turtles, fish and “singular submarine terraces” – extensive coral reefs – which were treacherous to shipping.

Later writers, including Charles Darwin, only added to the mythology. Since the Chagos Islands were first visited by Europeans, they have been prized for their strategic value, beauty and pristine environment.

The last of these was formally recognised in 2010, when Britain declared the Chagos Archipelago to be a marine protected area (MPA), then the largest on earth, with a total area of 250,000 square miles, including half of the good coral reef in the Indian Ocean. 

Fourteen years on, with the news that Britain is to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos to Mauritius, critics fear that the MPA could be under threat. They believe that without British oversight, fishing vessels – mostly from India and Sri Lanka – could plunder Chagos’ pristine waters, especially for sharks destined for the Chinese market where they are highly prized. 

“The worry is that this [archipelago] is 1,300 miles from Mauritius,” says Andrew Griffith MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. “Mauritius doesn’t have a navy, beyond some inland water protection vessels. The MPA runs a real risk of becoming an under policed free for all, whether it’s for long-distance Chinese factory trawlers, or privateer fishermen. It would be very easy for this area to be plundered and for these wonderful rare species to end up on a dinner plate.”

John Flesher, the deputy director of the Conservative Environment Network, agrees. “Many will rightly fear China’s clear desire to exploit fishing resources in large parts of the world,” he says. “Given Mauritius’ close relationship with China, the worry is you end up in a situation where China and others are given access to the waters around the Chagos Islands. This is a very special place, with some of the largest coral reefs in the world. It’s not some random bit of ocean; it’s a really pristine part of the marine environment.” 

The Chagos’ pristine reef is home to more than 800 species of fish, including eagle rays, manta rays and a dozen species of shark, including hammerheads and whale sharks, who feed on the smaller fish that thrive in the unspoiled waters. But the system is already under pressure from rogue fishermen who ply its edges and climate change, which threatens to destroy the coral. 

In a joint statement, the Foreign Office said it had agreed to preserve the MPA with the Mauritian Government: “[The] UK and Mauritius will cooperate on environmental protection, maritime security, combating illegal fishing, irregular migration and drug and people trafficking within the Chagos Archipelago, with the shared objective of securing and protecting one of the world’s most important marine environments. This will include the establishment of a Mauritian marine protected area.”  

Optimistic observers are reassured that Mauritian plans for the MPA are robust and informed by international science. There is possible irony that as part of Mauritius, the Chagos MPA might be eligible for funding – for instance from large American funds, or even British foreign aid – that it is ineligible for as part of a British Overseas Territory. 

“We are delighted that the announcement [of a hand over] commits to the establishment of a Mauritian marine protected area,” said Matthew Gould, the CEO of the ZSL, which has carried out research on the MPA for decades. “ZSL is committed to helping make this a success.”

Flesher is not convinced. “I think the government’s approach is really naive,” he says. “I can believe that David Lammy’s thinking is ‘they say they’ll protect it: problem solved’. But MPAs are only as good as their enforcement. You can call it a protected area all you want but, if it comes up against commercial fishing interests, how are you going to enforce that?”

The original Chagos MPA has been controversial since it was created. It was formed on April 1, 2010, under the aegis of David Miliband’s Foreign Office, on the last day of the Labour government before the recess before the 2010 General Election. It was a response to campaigning work by several organisations including the Chagos Environment Network, led by Professor Charles Sheppard, who died last year. A public consultation in the UK found that people supported the establishment of the MPA and that it ought to be a “no-take” zone. 

“As the world’s largest marine reserve, the MPA will bring huge environmental benefits to the Indian Ocean and to the world,” said Henry Bellingham, the junior Foreign Office minister responsible. “It will double the global coverage of the world’s oceans benefiting from full protection. We hope that the UK’s example encourages others to do the same in other vulnerable areas.”

In the teeth of the financial crisis, the government had initially balked at losing £750,000 in tuna fishing licences to create the MPA, at a time when all government spending was heavily restricted. A third party donor, the Bertarelli Foundation, agreed to pay for the cost of enforcing the MPA, which requires a combination of satellite monitoring services and a patrol boat, for the first few years. 

But from its inception, the agreement was criticised for ignoring the wishes of Chagossians, who had been evicted from their homeland between 1965 and 1973. In particular, the “no-take” designation meant there was no provision for Chagossians and Mauritius to fish even in a limited capacity. The only area in which limited fishing rights were maintained was in a three-mile zone around the military base on Diego Garcia. Without the possibility of fishing, the economic prospects of the Chagossians ever being able to resettle on the islands were reduced to almost nil. “Perfidious Albion is dishonest. I am very angry,” said Arvin Boolell, Mauritian foreign minister at the time.

“Everyone would have been happy with the creation of a marine protection area providing it had made provision for the interests of Chagossians and Mauritius, which it could so easily have done,” said David Snoxell, former British high commissioner in Mauritius and chair of the Marine Education Trust.

No sooner was the MPA established than it ran into problems. On December 1 2010, the Wikileaks release of confidential diplomatic cables included messages in which the director of the FCO, Colin Roberts, said that the formation of the MPA would “in effect, put paid to resettlement claims of the archipelago’s former residents”. The Mauritian government initiated proceedings against the British government later that month. In 2015, the Permanent Court of Arbitration found that the MPA was illegal under the UN Convention on Laws of the Sea. In 2019 the UN accepted an opinion by the International Court of Justice that the UK had unlawfully detached the Chagos when it granted Mauritian independence in 1968. 

Peter Harris, an associate professor of political science at Colorado State University, has been involved in the Chagossian cause since before the formation of the MPA. He argues that a more far-sighted government in 2010 could have avoided the tangle it finds itself in this week. 

“At the time we were saying that they should create a marine protected area in conjunction with allowing a Chagossian right of return,” he says. “If you do one without the other, you’re creating problems for the future. That turned out to be true. Our proposal was that instead of the ‘no-take’ there should be a limited take, where the Chagossians were allowed to do limited fishing as part of a resettlement programme. They decided not to do it. It was regarded by us as an attempt to exclude the Chagossians in perpetuity and render the islands unfit for resettlement. 

“If they had resettled the Chagos Islands in 2010, and there was a permanent British civilian population in the territory, would they be handing them over to Mauritius? I don’t think so.” 

The government has made a series of “unforced errors” over the Chagos, he adds. “David Miliband was presented with this option and he jumped at the chance to do it, as part of his ‘green legacy’. But there’s no way to do it without running into these problems because our presence there is unlawful. It took 15 years, but Britain eventually realised it couldn’t keep ignoring international law in perpetuity.” In 2013, a spokesman for David Miliband told the Guardian: “The marine protected area has been a great step forward and went through all proper government processes.”

A key recent event took place in February 2022, when Mauritius sent a survey mission to the Chagos and its crew raised a Mauritian flag on the islands. “The UK did not stop the boat, they stood back and watched as Mauritius raised the flag. They couldn’t stop the boats because it would have been unlawful. The crime of piracy on the high seas is serious. The Americans I spoke to afterwards were like: ‘You can’t stop people visiting the islands because you’re scared you don’t have the legal authority to do so. This is unsustainable. What if Mauritius sends a boat to Diego Garcia?’” 

This week, the Telegraph reported that the US had pressured Britain to relinquish the Chagos because officials feared that if they didn’t, the Mauritians would apply for a binding ruling at the ICJ. It would be almost impossible to run the airbase at Diego Garcia in contravention of international law. 

But whatever the politics around the MPA, scientists say that it has been a success in terms of helping to protect a precious marine environment. 

“The Indian Ocean is the least protected, most poorly regulated, fastest warming ocean under climate change and surrounded by populations of largely developing countries,” says Professor Heather Koldeway, head of the marine science programme at the ZSL. 

“When the current MPA was set up there was very little data,” she adds. “Since then there has been a huge body of work in response. The primary findings are that [Chagos] is an incredibly important place. Undoubtedly, it’s one of the areas of coral reefs and other species that are regionally and globally significant for seabirds, turtles, manta rays. And the reefs are as good as you get in the Indian Ocean region. Protecting it has been fantastic for the species and their habitats.” 

For centuries, the pristine coral reefs of the Chagos Islands were perilous for shipping. Today, they are a nightmare for British politicians. Not that the fish will mind, or the Chagossians keen to return to their homeland.

Unidentified drones spotted flying over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia have baffled US military officials who are not sure whether it is the work of hostile powers or hobbyists.

Airspace over Langley is restricted and the breach in December, first reported by the War Zone website, and which was reported to president Joe Biden, has triggered alarm among military experts.

The flights lasted 17 days, with the drones flying over the base about an hour after sunset.

In a statement, the US Air Force confirmed the breaches, but played down the potential threat.

“The number of UASs [uncrewed aerial systems] fluctuated and they ranged in size/configuration.

“None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions.”

The parade of drones was witnessed by General Mark Kelly, from the US Air Force, the Wall Street Journal reported.

They were flying at around 100mph at 3,000 to 4,000 feet with witnesses saying they sounded like a parade of lawnmowers.

The incursion triggered two weeks of meetings at the White House involving officials from the Pentagon, including staff from its UFO office and the FBI.

Under federal law, the military is only allowed to shoot down drones over military bases if they pose a direct threat.

If they are suspected of snooping, although that is illegal, it does not mean they can be brought down, and members of Congress have called for powers to be strengthened.

In February last year, China triggered a security alert after a suspected surveillance balloon was shot down by the US Air Force.

Experts at the time believed the balloon, which flew over a major US missile silo, was a show of force rather than a serious attempt to gather information.

The latest reports are not the first time the alarm has been raised in the West by the use of drones.

Two years ago, Norway sent warships and fighter jets to patrol offshore oil platforms after drones, believed to be from Russia, were seen buzzing overhead.

Last month, Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, announced an expansion of its Replicator programme which has been developing attack drones to be used against China.

The drones will also be used to defend US bases at home and abroad to fight off attacks by explosive-laden drones from Iran-linked groups, which have been responsible for the deaths of several American soldiers in the Middle East.

Cubs groups are swapping camping in the woods for expensive all-inclusive trips to Disneyland Paris.

Parents are reacting with surprise to discover that Cubs are travelling by coach to the theme park in France and spending as much as £650 per person for a two-night stay.

The trips are part of a wider collaboration between the Scouts and Disney, which encompasses branding exercises, badges, themed activities, and discounted theatre trips.

The Scouts organisation has defended the trips, saying that an encounter with Mickey Mouse has as much place in the programme as “roasting marshmallows on a fire”.

On its website, the Scouts promise that Cubs aged between eight and 10½ will “master new skills”, “help others and make a difference”, and be “curious about the world around them”. The list is accompanied by a picture of two children building a makeshift shelter in the countryside.

Plans are already underway at Humberside Scouts to ship 150 cubs to Disneyland Paris for two days in February 2026, with tickets costing as much as £650.

‘Executive coach’

Likewise, Cubs in 1st Holmes Chapel are visiting the theme park in August 2026 to celebrate the group’s centenary, with costs coming to around £600 per person. The three-night trip promises travel in an “executive coach” with reclining seats, DVD player and drinks machine.

Peterborough Cubs have booked into the Campanile Val de France at Disneyland Paris in January 2026, with the £540 fee covering transport, food, insurance, a two-night stay and a T-shirt.

Avon Cubs are incorporating a visit to the theme park into their £460 excursion next autumn, while 5th Beckenham South Cubs have the opportunity to spend £400 on a trip to Disneyland Paris in May.

The Basingstoke East cubs visited Disneyland Paris and promised to return in February 2028.

Other Cubs groups to have recently visited Disneyland Paris include 1st Marston Green, Romsey, 38th Rossendale, 7th Walthamstow, Wardle and 2nd Whitton.

A surprised parent took to Mumsnet to ask if it was normal that she was being asked to spend £400 on her child’s Cubs trip.

“It sounds like great fun, but on the other hand (and perhaps I’m being a bit naive here) I’m a little surprised at the cost and the purpose of the trip, especially for primary aged kids”, they said, adding: “I thought cubs would be all about outdoor activities or community oriented stuff.”

One Mumsnet user responded: “I cannot begin to think of the families that can’t afford this and the kids that feel excluded. It seems to shy away from the whole inclusive ethos they bang on about.”

Another questioned why the Cubs didn’t spread the cost of the trip over multiple cheaper activities over the course of the year.

A spokesman for the Scouts said: “We believe that all residential experiences away from home provide an opportunity for young people to learn how to be resilient, self-confident and self-reliant.

“Going on camp in the UK or undertaking an international trip, gives young people the opportunity to develop important key life skills.

“Meeting Mickey Mouse in Paris or cooking marshmallows over an open fire both have their place in the Scout programme. We are proud of our volunteers who give their time freely to deliver all types of residential experience.”

‘Space noodles’

The Scouts have collaborated with Disney on badges and resources, such as the Timon and Pumbaa bug hunt, making Queen Elsa’s ice palace snowflakes, and cooking gumbo like Tiana in the Princess and the Frog.

Before taking part in the Star Wars-themed activity of cooking “space noodles”, the children are encouraged to use their internet devices to “tell everyone you’re going to meet the Young Jedi”.

As part of the close relationship, Scouts receive group discounts to performances of The Lion King at London’s Lyceum Theatre and a free scout leader ticket is also provided for every 10 tickets booked.

The Scouts website lists Venture Abroad, a holiday activity company, as a provider of its group coach packages to Disneyland Paris.

Venture Abroad sets out the intentions of its trips as “mastering new skills and confidence”, “fostering a sense of community and belonging”, nurturing “a deep reverence for nature and our world”.

The site’s trips to Disneyland Paris start at £349pp for a three day and two night coach tour for 48 passengers travelling in February 2025.

Alex Salmond accused the EU of secretly conspiring with the UK Government against Scottish independence the day before he died of a suspected heart attack.

The former first minister, taking part in a panel discussion at a conference in Ohrid, North Macedonia on Friday, singled out José Manuel Barroso, the former European Commission president, as being “not at all helpful to Scotland” in the run-up to the 2014 referendum.

Ahead of the vote, Mr Barroso had warned that it would be “extremely difficult, if not impossible” for an independent Scotland to join the EU in a major blow to the Yes campaign run by Mr Salmond.

He lost when 55 per cent of Scots voted to stay in the UK, though the result was far closer than many expected when David Cameron agreed to an independence referendum.

Mr Salmond died on Saturday after collapsing following a lunch, the day after making the remarks. Plans are being put in place to have his body repatriated to the UK, with his allies hoping for RAF assistance.

In some of his final public remarks, he suggested that an alleged covert partnership between the UK and EU against his campaign had backfired as it indirectly led to the Brexit vote less than two years later.

“It is a reasonable supposition that if Scotland had voted for independence, then England, two years later, would not have voted to leave the European Union,” Mr Salmond told delegates.

“For a start, David Cameron would have resigned as prime minister. Also, the whole nature and psychology of that referendum would have been fundamentally different, if indeed it had taken place at all.”

He added: “So the interesting thing is that although Scotland lost an opportunity, the UK has been diminished.

“The European Union of that time, president Barroso in particular, was not helpful at all to Scotland. In fact [he] was secretly combining with the UK Government.

“What happened as a result of that, is the UK, one of the major players in the European Union, ended up leaving 18 months later. So in many ways, it was a bad outcome for Europe as a whole.”

‘I will not be buying lunch’

Apparently in good spirits, Mr Salmond had earlier made a joke about Scots’ reputation for thriftiness to the international audience, warning them he would not be buying anyone lunch as “I’m Scottish after all, we don’t do these sort of things.”

Mr Salmond was taking part in a discussion chaired by Ivica Bocevski, a Macedonian diplomat who expressed unhappiness that his country was still a candidate for EU membership rather than a full member.

He died following a lunch, the day after he took part in the panel discussion.

Mark Donfried, director of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy which organised the event, said the conference had been left “in a state of shock” over the death of the former first minister.

“He was really in the best of spirits, the best of health,” Mr Donfried said.

“I was sitting across from him at lunch yesterday [Saturday] when all of a sudden he just went out and fell into the arms of a colleague of mine on the other side of the table.

“I immediately got up and ran to call an ambulance and when I came back, he was on the floor.”

He added: “We’re all completely shocked – the entire hotel, the conference, it’s been very difficult for all of us. He was a great man who we all looked up to and so we’re still all in a state of shock.”

Scottish politics had been thrown into turmoil by the sudden loss of one of the most consequential politicians in the country’s history.

Senior SNP figures, such as John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon, have paid tribute to his achievements despite his bitter falling out with them over recent years.

Joanna Cherry, a former SNP MP who was a close ally of Mr Salmond, claimed on Sunday he had been “stabbed in the back” by former colleagues but that in time his reputation would be fully restored following sexual assault allegations.

Mr Salmond was cleared of multiple sexual misconduct charges at a trial in 2020 and had also succeeded in having a civil service probe into allegations against him ruled unlawful as it was “tainted with apparent bias”.

He had a separate civil case ongoing while there are also outstanding criminal investigations linked to the case.

Mr Salmond died believing that his former allies in the SNP, a party he transformed from the fringes of Scottish politics to its dominant political force, had conspired to have him jailed.

Fighting for Scotland

“We have innocent until proven guilty in this country for a reason, and I am very dismayed as a lawyer by the lack of respect there’s been for the jury verdict in Alex’s criminal charge,” Ms Cherry told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show.

“I think it’s a terrible tragedy that Alex has died before he was able to be completely vindicated, but I believe that time will vindicate his name.”

She added: “I think it’s the great tragedy of Alex Salmond’s career that so many of his erstwhile comrades and political colleagues and friends either stabbed him in the back or turned their back on him in his hour of need.

“I found that pretty disgusting at the time, and I’m very proud that I stood by him, and I think it’s very important that as we talk about him in the days to come, we remember that he was acquitted of all the criminal charges against him.”