Patrolling Nato’s skies with the RAF on Europe’s creeping frontline

As the seemingly unremarkable ZZ-343 aircraft taxies along the apron at RAF Brize Norton, it passes the vibrant Union Flag livery of its distinctly more glamorous twin The Vespina, emblazoned with the words “UNITED KINGDOM”.

The planes are fine examples of these islands’ genius for compromise. They’re passenger carriers that are also airborne fuel tankers, known as Voyager. Vespina is fitted out to carry royalty and other British VIPs – but put to better use by the military most of the time.

On this autumnal evening, ZZ-343 left her sibling on a once almost unimaginable mission. Part of Operation Eastern Sentry, she is carrying fuel to Typhoon fighter jets patrolling the skies over Poland to see off Russian invaders.

Inconceivable at the end of the 20th century, Eastern Sentry is now what passes for a “norm”. The hybrid Voyager aircraft is now engaged in hybrid warfare with Russia that’s heating up and defining the early decades of this century.

Still in British air space, ZZ-343 begins to carve ovals in the dark sky. Two Typhoons emerge from the gloom, green lights on their sides and tails flashing. Pulling alongside the Voyager, the fighters fill up before racing off to Poland as part of the Nato-wide response to Russia’s drone assaults there.

One struggled to latch on, rearing and bucking in turbulence as it approached a pipe that has been wound out of the left wing of the Voyager. Its companion is already guzzling on the right wing.

It takes nerve to force the Typhoon jet hard through the churning air – a fireball in the sky the only consequence of a miscalculation of margins measured in inches.

The Voyager feeds about two tons of fuel into each of the fighters who stay alongside the mothership before darting away into the black. Below the North Sea glistens – a few patches of orange light spatter its surface – with ships thousands of feet below.

Some, perhaps, are part of Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers, smuggling fossil fuels to sell for cash that helps power Vladimir Putin’s old-fashioned war on the ground in eastern Ukraine.

Last weekend, French commandos raided and captured the Baracay, a ship suspected of being used by Russia as a platform for drones that had disrupted Danish air space. It had already been under sanctions for fuel smuggling.

This week, Danish intelligence said they had multiple examples of Russian warships tracking their aircraft with weapons systems.

Danish Defence Intelligence Service Director Thomas Ahrenkiel explained: “Russia is using military means, including in an aggressive way, to put pressure on us without crossing the line into armed conflict.”

Late last month, Estonian airspace was violated by three Russian fighters for 12 minutes. And before that, Poland saw some 23 Russian drones fly into its airspace. They turned out to be unarmed and some were shot down.

This penetration of sovereign air space is both a warning, a threat, and a test by Russia.

For all of these incursions, Nato’s response has been swift, with the mobilisation of a multinational effort over Poland to reassure Warsaw and show the Kremlin that the alliance remains robust and healthy.

But Putin’s hybrid warfare has been effective in inflaming existing political infections across the west. His support for Brexit, far right parties in Europe, the magnification of extremist perspectives by Russian bot farms, and useful idiots on both sides of the Atlantic have all combined to weaken western democracy and alliances.

Russia’s population is roughly a third of the European and UK’s combined. It’s economy amounts to about a tenth of the size of the EU plus UK.

But the Kremlin’s efforts to undermine western institutions have allowed it to punch well above its weight.

In response, the UK has sanctioned Russian spy agency the GRU and several of its spooks.

In July the foreign office said that “the GRU routinely uses cyber and information operations to sow chaos, division and disorder in Ukraine and across the world with devastating real-world consequences”.

Donald Trump has, until recently, indicated more support for Putin’s campaigning in Ukraine than he has for defending democracy.

Ironically his wavering leadership of the west has meant that Nato and other allies have hardened their own efforts at defence.

Trump has demanded that Nato’s members outside the US contribute a bigger, and fairer, share of their budgets to defence. They’ve mostly committed to upping their efforts from below 2 per cent of GDP to 3.5 per cent and are making noises about going to five.

So the RAF Voyager flights in support of Typhoons are just part of Nato’s hardening of its conventional defences.

Many in the alliance hope that such efforts will be the end of friction, but in hybrid warfare there are only beginnings.

‘How medical cannabis helped me embrace life again after chronic pain’

More British women suffering from chronic pain are opting for medical cannabis after over-the-counter treatments failed to provide any relief.

They are turning to the rapidly expanding private sector, where cannabis is more accessible, particularly for those dealing with conditions like menopause and endometriosis.

Since medical cannabis was legalised in 2018, thousands of women have accessed the treatment, although it remains rarely prescribed on the NHS.

Kirstie Baker, a 55-year-old mum from Cardiff, said her life was upended when she entered menopause five years ago. “I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t communicate properly. I was snapping at my children, my husband was nervous around me, and I just didn’t feel like me anymore,” she said.

GPs prescribed antidepressants for her symptoms, but they left her feeling woozy and hungover. “It was chemical chaos in my body,” she said.

A conversation with a family member at a Christmas party introduced her to the idea of medical cannabis. Shortly after, she got it prescribed from Alternaleaf, one of the UK-based online clinics.

She immediately noticed a difference, and now medicates in the morning and at night, ingesting it through a vape. “Before I started taking it, I was becoming quite preclusive. I didn’t really want to go anywhere or do anything,” she said. “I became quite anti-social.

“When I started using medical cannabis, all of those things started to dissolve…and I really started to embrace life again.”

Mrs Baker had struggled for years to get effective treatment, and felt as if she wasn’t being heard. She said: “We need to talk about menopause more, what it really does to women, how lonely and misunderstood it can be.

“And we need to talk about medical cannabis, too. If I hadn’t heard about it through my nephew, I’d still be suffering.”

A Nurofen report from late last year found that 81 per cent of UK women aged between 18 and 24 felt that their pain was dismissed or ignored. Mrs Baker said she hopes to see it become more recognised as an alternative to other pain medications.

Medical cannabis is thought to regulate pain, inflammation, ease nerve sensitivity, and improve sleep.

The NHS can prescribe cannabis-based medicine by a specialist hospital doctor or under a specialist’s supervision, which includes a range of licensed treatments for conditions including sclerosis, rare severe epilepsies, and nausea caused by chemotherapy.

But it very rarely provides the ‘full-spectrum cannabis treatment’ Mrs Baker uses, which contains all compounds found in the cannabis plant.

A survey of 500 NHS doctors this year found that 80 per cent would consider prescribing cannabis for women’s health conditions if it were available to them.

About 80,000 people are currently using unlicensed medical cannabis in the UK, according to the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society. Of those, just six have been prescribed through the NHS, the group said. The rest access it from around 40 specialist clinics.

Mrs Baker said: “When I spoke to my GP about this, they weren’t very forthcoming with information on it. They weren’t going to promote it, they would rather me try various antidepressants.”

Her clinic says the number of female patients has grown by 50 per cent every three months over the past year, nearly half of whom are being treated for chronic pain. To qualify, patients must be over 18 and have a confirmed diagnosis.

An NHS spokesperson said: “Many doctors and professional bodies remain concerned about the limited evidence available regarding the safety and efficacy of unlicensed cannabis-based products and licensed products being used off-label for other medical conditions.”

But Professor Mike Barnes, a neurologist and medical cannabis expert, argues otherwise, and claims there is overwhelming evidence showing that it is safe.

He said that while many effective painkillers exist, some women reach a point where no licensed medications work. Mr Barnes said those people should consider medical cannabis.

For women with chronic pain like endometriosis, menopause, or perimenopause, he said: “It’s a very good, valid alternative for chronic pain.”

Mr Barnes believes that this will become more normalised for people with chronic pain, “the numbers are going up about 2,000 to 2,500 a month privately.”

“The side effects are very minimal, relatively easy to control,” he said, claiming that when properly prescribed, there is no risk of getting addicted or dependent.

“I don’t think there is much of a downside. It’s not safe for everybody, but a proper prescription, a properly trained doctor would exclude the small number of women who wouldn’t be suitable for it.”

Those who have recently suffered a heart attack, a stroke, or have a history of psychosis would be excluded from the treatment. “Like any medicine,” he said.

Australia seek revenge on New Zealand in Rugby Championship

Australia will hope to hit back against New Zealand as a thrilling Rugby Championship is settled in the final round of fixtures.

Defeat at Eden Park last week means the All Blacks have retained possession of the Bledisloe Cup for another year, and Scott Robertson’s side will now attempt to put the pressure on South Africa in a competitive fight to top the table. New Zealand begin the day a point behind the Springboks, who face Argentina at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham later knowing a bonus point win will secure the defence of their title.

The Wallabies still have slim hopes themselves of overhauling the world champions, though must win with a bonus point, realistically, to have any hope. A year of real progress under Joe Schmidt appears set to end without silverware but this is a chance to develop momentum heading into their European tour – and a 151st and final outing in green and gold for James Slipper before international retirement will perhaps provide a little extra motivation.

Follow all of the latest from the Bledisloe Cup clash with our live blog below:

Why Amorim’s biggest fear at Manchester United isn’t the sack

Ruben Amorim said he is not scared about getting sacked by Manchester United – because he can afford to pay the bills and because the worst thing about his results is the feeling he gets when his side loses, not his fears about the axe.

The Portuguese has won only nine of his 33 league games in charge of United and insisted he is not “naive” and knows he needs more victories to avoid losing his job.

Amorim said he is keen to carry on at Old Trafford and revealed he hates losing just as much as he did when he was in charge of lower-division club Casa Pia in his homeland.

“The worst thing in this job is not to win games,” he said. “And that is the same feeling in Casa Pia when I lose in the third division. It’s a dream to be here and I want to continue here and I want to fight for this. But the problem is now. What makes me suffer is to lose games, it is not to lose my job. You fear to lose your job when you have to pay the bills. And I don’t have that feeling. I just want to continue this. But when we don’t win games, that is the suffering that I have. It’s not the fear of losing the job. I don’t care.”

Amorim, whose team host Sunderland on Saturday, has only taken 34 points from his 33 games in charge and finished 15th in the Premier League last season,

“Nobody here is naïve,” he added. “We understand that we need results to continue the project. We will reach a point that is impossible for everyone because this is a very big club with a lot of sponsors, with two owners. So it’s hard, the balance is really hard.”

Amorim has come under criticism from pundits, including a host of former United players, but he told them he knows far more about his team than them.

“There is no one in the world that can read everything and listen to everything about people that understand football and not be influenced by that,” he said. “So I try to listen and to see all the games because I know that I see the game more times than all those guys (pundits) together because they have to see all the games in the Premier League and give an opinion. My opinion is completely different. Because I see the games, I see the trainings, I understand my players, I understand what I’m doing and I follow my job this way because it’s impossible to survive in this club, listening to all the things.”

Amorim insisted he will not change from his controversial 3-4-3 formation because of the opinions voiced on television as he said his players had never asked him to change to a different shape.

“Guys, I’m the manager of the club, a big club,” he said. “And is the media that is going to dictate what I’m going to do? It cannot be. It’s not possible to sustain that.”

Amorim smiled that the abuse managers get in his native Portugal is far worse than in England as he shrugged off suggestions that his wife had said United had given him sleepless nights.

“That my wife is talking with the media, that is such a nonsense,” he said. “Nobody in my family talks about that. We love to live in England. You have no idea what is abuse in here because you are so polite compared to my country where we are losing. So you have no idea. We are really happy. My family is really happy. I’m just me and my family that is struggling because I hate losing and I hate failing.”

How Shabana Mahmood could change everything – for Keir Starmer and the country

There are some cabinet ministers whose rise the Westminster circus sees coming a mile off. Shabana Mahmood’s ascent to home secretary has been a quiet one, unaccompanied by commentator fanfare. Perhaps it’s because the first Muslim woman to hold one of the great offices of state has been underestimated by the media; perhaps it’s more a product of the fact she’s been less focused on briefing the press on her ambitions than some of her colleagues. But now she’s ended up in one of the most strategically important jobs for this government, she’s firmly placed herself in the “one to watch” category.

Mahmood’s rise has been steady as opposed to breakneck. Elected to represent her home constituency of Birmingham Ladywood in 2010, she held a range of shadow ministerial positions under Ed Miliband, from prisons, to higher education, to shadow financial secretary. Like many of the most senior members of the cabinet – but unlike her boss Keir Starmer – she declined to serve under Jeremy Corbyn, and returned to the backbenches in 2015. Starmer promoted her to national campaign coordinator after he was elected leader, a party – rather than public-facing role, then, in 2023, to shadow justice secretary.

It is a sign of how trusted she is by No 10 that she was elevated to the Home Office a little over a year after Labour’s election win, where it has been an intense first month for the home secretary, spent launching eye-catching policies on immigration and asylum, and responding to the antisemitic terrorist attack in Manchester that cost two British Jews their lives.

That trust is partly a product of her close relationship with Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, which developed when the two worked together in opposition on Labour’s campaign strategy, but it goes beyond that. Mahmood is seen as highly competent; during her time as campaign chief, she is credited with helping to achieve the Batley and Spen byelection win in opposition that helped settle growing nerves in the party in the early days of Starmer’s leadership.

As justice secretary, she faced the immensely difficult prospect of having to release thousands of prisoners early as a result of the previous government’s failure to build enough prison places. She managed not just to pull that off, but introduce much-needed legislation to scrap most short prison sentences, without ever appearing soft on crime.

This was the product of smart political positioning, including getting former Tory justice secretary David Gauke to lead a review for her, and deft media management.

“She is understood in Downing Street as a very shrewd political operator, who’s played a key role in setting the government’s political priorities”, one of her former staffers tells me. As well as being appointed home secretary, she has just been elected chair of Labour’s all-important National Executive Committee with the leadership’s blessing.

Mahmood’s own politics – she is self-avowedly blue Labour, economically liberal and socially conservative – mean she is ideally placed to deliver policies that toughen up immigration rules while calling out Nigel Farage for going too far. Born in Birmingham to parents from Azad Kashmir, in Pakistan-administered territory, when she was a baby, she and her twin brother moved with their family to Taif, Saudi Arabia, where her father worked as a civil engineer. After seven years abroad, the family returned to Birmingham, where he continued his engineering career, ran a corner shop, and became chairman of the local Labour Party.

As a child of immigrants herself, she identifies with those of her constituents who she says want a fair managed migration system that reflects the rules many of them followed when they themselves came to the UK.

While the Home Office is widely acknowledged as one of the riskier cabinet gigs; from immigration to policing, there’s always the chance of something going so wrong on your watch that the only outcome is resignation. But, alongside the Chancellor’s, there’s perhaps no other cabinet role that’s more fundamental to the political fortunes of Keir Starmer, who spent his party conference underlining that his main electoral threat isn’t the Conservatives, but Reform.

In just a few weeks as home secretary, she has built on existing government plans that will mean migrants will have to live in the UK for 10, rather than five years before applying for indefinite leave to remain, along with her announcement that applicants will also need to meet a number of additional tests, including good English, a clean criminal record, and doing voluntary work.

Taking inspiration from Denmark, where a centre-left government has significantly reduced the generosity of its asylum offer, she has said refugees will no longer be entitled to automatically settle in the UK on a permanent basis or to bring their families over to join them. She could well turn out to be Starmer’s secret weapon against Reform – but only if he backs her against those elements of his party who would prefer Labour to tack more soft left.

A self-described “full-blown geek” as a girl, it was her love of Kavanagh QC that prompted her interest in a career at the bar. Mahmood attended an all-girls grammar school before studying law at Lincoln College, Oxford. Here, she was elected Junior Common Room president – with a vote from Rishi Sunak, then a student in the year above. After graduating, she moved to London to train as a lawyer for much of her twenties, but after Clare Short announced she was standing down in her home seat, she decided to give up the law for politics.

She has been arguing for some time that the European Convention on Human Rights may need reform in order to reduce its use in preventing the deportation of foreign criminals and maintain public legitimacy, though she has drawn a clear line with those who say the UK should derogate from it altogether.

Of course, this brand of politics isn’t always an easy sell to the party faithful. It was noticeable that her tough-message conference speech in Manchester was not as enthusiastically received by many party members in the hall. However, that doesn’t seem to worry her either. While 45-year-old Mahmood may not have actively talked herself up as a future leader, she has been refreshingly honest about her own ambitions when asked: “You shouldn’t believe anyone in politics who says they’re not ambitious about the top job because they’re basically lying,” she joked at an event last week.

But the truth is the Home Office could be a difficult brief from which to pitch to the party membership that currently holds all the votes in a future leadership race, and she’s not one of the most popular cabinet ministers amongst members.

But the respect she commands among Labour MPs goes much broader than any blue Labour faction. “She brings real grit to the role of home secretary; having made tough decisions in justice, she’s proven she’s got the mettle,” one backbencher told me. “I’m a big fan – she’s got sound instincts and real political mettle, her appointment is very good news for the government and for the country,” said another.

Mahmood is not afraid to take a clear stand on issues that are controversial. On grooming gangs, she shunned the “nothing to see here” line many of her colleagues initially took, instead telling the Spectator earlier this year that “there’s an outstanding question of why so many people maybe looked the other way” and “there’s still a moment of reckoning to come.” On the highly contested issue of women’s rights to single sex spaces versus male rights to self-identify into them, she has taken a strong stand, a position quietly appreciated by MPs who are concerned that other cabinet members continue to undermine Labour’s manifesto commitment to protecting women’s existing Equality Act rights.

It’s fairly unusual for politicians to be as open about the importance of their faith to their politics as Mahmood, but she has spoken about how it has anchored her through difficult times in politics, including becoming a target for those who’ve found fault with Labour’s response to the Israel-Gaza conflict.

As a practising Muslim, she is opposed to assisted dying, but in her letter to constituents that set out her position on this issue, she was clear she has a number of serious safeguarding concerns about the legislation, which are shared by non-religious opponents of assisted dying in Parliament.

Mahmood is not at the moment particularly well known among the public and has strict boundaries, keeping her private life private. She is also not without political challenges of her own: her seat was once one of the safest in the country, but her majority was slashed at the last election by Gaza independent Akhmed Yakoob, who particularly appealed to Muslim voters in her constituency, and the former Labour MP Zarah Sultana is reportedly thinking about running against her at the next election.

She will have her work cut out in selling her Home Office agenda to MPs and members on the left of her party. But as the cabinet minister who will inevitably be front and centre of Labour’s battle with Reform, if she makes a success of the Home Office brief, she could be on the way to bigger things yet.

Eats, Beats and Storied Streets: A journey through Louisiana

Few places in America are as spellbinding as Louisiana. Streets are alive with music, every table groans with food that tells a story, and every river bend reveals landscapes as mysterious as they are beautiful. Whether you’re dancing to zydeco in Lafayette, devouring beignets in the French Quarter, or gliding through the Atchafalaya swamps in search of alligators, this is a destination which offers travellers an unforgettable blend of rhythm, flavour and culture.

Music that Moves You

A seemingly never-ending party, a stroll through the bouncing streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter is one of America’s most thrilling sensory experiences. Guitars crunch, symbols crash and horns howl on every street corner, from Bourbon Street to Frenchmen Street. This Cajun corner of the US has a deep heritage too, and the Preservation Hall – dating back to 1961 – is an essential stop. With its intimate time-worn walls and wooden chairs facing the small stage, it’s a shrine to New Orleans jazz and every note should be savoured.

But Louisiana’s music tradition goes far beyond the Big Easy. Beginning in 1981, the Baton Rouge Blues Festival is one of the country’s oldest blues festivals and the state capital is a haven of Cajun music. It’s also the home of the swamp blues, so to hear the best of these laid-back rhythms, spend a foot-tapping night at Phil Brady’s Bar & Grill or Henry Turner Jr’s Listening Room. And for a little backyard boogie from local Louisiana musicians, try and hit the wonderfully chilled out Bee Nice Concert Series.

One of the more niche regional sounds is zydeco, and these infectious beats driven by accordions and washboards are perfect for dancing the night away. Over in Lafayette, the lush outdoor Hideaway on Lee and the charming Blue Moon Saloon host high-energy zydeco and Cajun jams. For a deeper dive into this unique music of the swamp, drop by the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles for three glorious days of Cajun, Creole, and zydeco sounds.

Flavours to Savour

Louisiana has one of America’s most distinct food cultures, with Creole dishes like gumbo and jambalaya not found anywhere else. Needless to say, the fiery flavours found in these creations are sublime and it’s no surprise that 2025 is Louisiana’s Year of Food.

With its rich broth, often featuring a roux base and embellished by juicy shrimp and thick sausage, gumbo is arguably the quintessential Creole dish. If you’re in New Orleans, look no further than no–frills downtown spots like Coop’s Place or head out to neighbourhood joints like the upscale Gabrielle Restaurant who serve a smoky take on Cajun-style gumbo or the dense dishes plated up at Liuzza’s by the Track. And if you’re so enraptured by this unique stew, then learn how to make it at home at the New Orleans School of Cooking.

A Cajun rice dish that originated in southern Louisiana in the 18th Century, Jambalaya is also iconic down here and can include meats, vegetables, seafood and spices in its mouthwatering mix. The Jambalaya Shoppe is dotted all around southern Louisiana and is a good place to start, though make time to visit Gonzales – the ‘Jambalaya Capital of the World. It even has its own Jambalaya Festival every spring.

Remember to make time for sweet treats though, as Louisiana’s beignets are something special. Warm, deep-fried pastries dusted with powdered sugar, these gentle delights are the perfect cafe snack. Open since 1862, the Cafe du Monde is an iconic French Quarter spot to watch the world go by with a beignet and café au lait.

And if you’re here for Mardi Gras, make sure to sample the sweet colourful King Cake as the jaunty floats pass by.

Culture and the Great Outdoors

Louisiana’s diverse cultural heritage is as unique as its landscape. French, Spanish, African, Caribbean and native influences all converge into Cajun and Creole identities and that’s most famously reflected in the state’s sublime cuisine. But don’t miss the great outdoors, as Louisiana’s biodiversity is enchanting too.

Acadiana’s humid moss-cloaked swamps and bayous are one of America’s last wildernesses, and boat tours of these serene and ethereal landscapes are unforgettable, especially if you spot wildlife like American Alligators, beavers, herons, eagles and white tail deer. The Atchafalaya Basin, just east of Lafayette, is a particular haven and several airboat tours depart from here, including McGee’s Swamp Tours and Last Wilderness Swamp Tours.

Road trails through these bayous can be just as inspiring, and the Bayou Teche National Byway tells stories. Running for 183 miles from Arnaudville down to Morgan City, this serpentine route passes by ornate antebellum homes like Shadows-on-the-Teche, tranquil fields of sugar cane, breezy swamps and historic towns packed with friendly cafes, zydeco dancehalls and local museums.

Look out for the region’s lively 400+ festivals too, which often celebrate Louisiana’s local culture. The Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette celebrates the links between Acadiana and the Francophone world, through music, art and food, while the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival in Opelousas aims to preserve Louisiana’s most gleeful music genre. And there’s no better way of learning about the state’s people and heritage than at the various tours, concerts, talks and cultural events held in Vermillionville in Lafayette.

Tories to take UK out of ECHR if it wins election, Badenoch says

The Conservative Party has announced its intention to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if it wins the next general election.

The declaration was made ahead of the party’s upcoming conference in Manchester.

The Tories said so-called “lawfare”, including lawyers using the ECHR to stop deportation attempts, has “frustrated the country’s efforts to secure its borders and deport those with no right to be here”.

It follows a review conducted by shadow attorney general Baron Wolfson of Tredegar, which found that the ECHR has limited the government’s ability to address immigration concerns, as well as policies across a number of other sectors.

The report, which totals nearly 200 pages, also found that membership of the ECHR could lead to restrictions on changes to climate change policy, would allow army veterans to be taken to court for actions while in the forces, and impact whether a government could prioritise British citizens for social housing and public services.

“We believe that charity begins at home and those who have paid in should come first,” the party said.

The review also found legal challenges using the ECHR could provide “debilitating” legal challenges against potential government policy.

However, Lord Wolfson, who was commissioned to carry out the review by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch in June, warned: “Such a decision will not be a panacea to all the issues that have arisen in recent years”.

Labour said the announcement showed Mrs Badenoch was too weak to stand up to her own party.

She is expected to announce the move in a speech to the party conference on its first day on Sunday.

Mrs Badenoch said: “It is time for Britain to leave the ECHR. I have not come to this decision lightly, but it is clear that it is necessary to protect our borders, our veterans, and our citizens.

“I have always been clear that we should leave the ECHR, if necessary, but unlike other parties, we have done the serious work to develop a plan to do so – backed by legal advice from a distinguished King’s Counsel.

“Our country, and our Parliament, must be sovereign. This step will ensure that the next Conservative government will enact the policies the British people rightly expect: controlling our borders and strengthening our economy.”

The issue had been at the heart of the Conservative Party leadership election, which had provided the backdrop to the party’s annual event last year.

Mrs Badenoch’s leadership challenger, Robert Jenrick, had put withdrawing from the ECHR at the heart of his unsuccessful campaign.

Meanwhile, the now-Tory leader had said the move would not be a “silver bullet” in tackling immigration.

The only other country to leave the ECHR is Russia, which was expelled in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine.

Sir Keir Starmer has said this week that the government is considering how Article 3 and Article 8 are interpreted.

Article 3 of the ECHR, on protection from torture and inhumane and degrading treatment, and Article 8, on the right to private and family life, have been used to halt deportation attempts.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Kemi Badenoch has adopted a policy she argued against in her own leadership campaign because she is too weak to stand up to her own party in the face of Reform.

“Badenoch now thinks she is both incapable of negotiating changes to the ECHR with our international partners, and a sufficiently accomplished diplomatic operator to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement, despite not even knowing some of the most basic facts about Northern Irish politics as recently as yesterday.

“This is a decision that has been forced on her and not thought through.

“While the Tories and Reform fight amongst themselves, this Labour government is cracking down on people-smuggling gangs, deporting foreign criminals and bringing forward workable and decisive solutions to bring order to Britain’s borders.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the move would do “nothing” to address issues with border control in the UK.

Sir Ed said: “Kemi Badenoch has chosen to back Nigel Farage and join Vladimir Putin by leaving the European Convention on Human Rights – a proud British creation championed by Churchill that protects everyone’s rights and freedoms.”

A Reform UK spokesman said: “The Conservatives had 14 years in government to leave the ECHR. Since then, it’s taken them 14 months to even decide what their policy is.

“Nobody trusts a single word they say anymore. The Conservative Party is finished.”

In his full letter to Mrs Badenoch setting out the report, Lord Wolfson said: “My overall view and advice is that should you wish to take the decision that it be Conservative Party policy that the UK should withdraw from the ECHR, such a policy would be perfectly possible both legally and practically.

“In fact, it is clear from my detailed analysis that under each of the areas which you asked me to consider, the UK’s ability to achieve the policy goals and objectives you set out will be made substantially easier by our withdrawal from the ECHR.”

He added that he did not believe the Good Friday Agreement, the UK-EU trade agreement, and the Windsor Framework were barriers to leaving the ECHR.

However, he continued: “They do present political and other issues, which I have explained in my advice.”

It comes as Mrs Badenoch told PA Media she is “staying the course” to fix the Conservative Party, which she cast as the only “credible alternative” to Labour.

The Tory leader said she will use her party’s conference to show voters “that we’re the only party that can deliver a stronger economy and stronger borders”.

She acknowledged the Tories were having a “tough time” after last year’s landslide general election defeat, dismal poll ratings and a string of defections to Reform UK.

But she struck a defiant tone, portraying herself as the right leader to revive what she called the “distressed asset” of a party.

Asked whether the comparison might dampen morale among her MPs ahead of the annual gathering, she said: “Not at all.

“I use a corporate analogy. When you have a distressed asset, you need a long-term strategy, not a short-term one, to fix it.”

On Friday, the shadow chancellor Mel Stride told the Financial Times the party would put “fiscal responsibility” at the centre of its pitch to voters.

Mr Stride warned about the state of the economy under Labour and said the bond markets could turn on Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves’s policies, meaning increases for interest rates and mortgages.

However, he said he does not share Mrs Badenoch’s view that Britain could be heading for a 1970s-style IMF bailout.

“I think that’s very unlikely,” he said. “That’s not to say we couldn’t be heading for some kind of bond crisis with runaway yields.”

Meet the energy tycoon accused of fraud who is buying up the North Sea

Donald Trump did not hold back. On his state visit to the UK, the American president was typically forthright. At the joint press conference at Chequers with Sir Keir Starmer, Trump described wind energy as an “expensive joke” and exhorted the British prime minister to exploit the “great asset” of North Sea oil and gas. Said Trump: “We had the worst inflation in the history of our country and we had an expression that I used a lot: drill, baby, drill.

“And as you know, we brought fuel way down. The price is way down. And we don’t do wind because wind is a disaster. It’s a very expensive joke, frankly, and we’ve got our energy prices down … And you have a great asset here… it’s called the North Sea.”

Its ability to solve the UK’s energy problems, he said, was “phenomenal”.

Trump’s exhortation may not have pleased everyone but one person who agreed with his every word is Francesco Mazzagatti. He’s the Italian entrepreneur who soon, if all goes to plan, will speak for five per cent of Britain’s gas production. His UK company, Viaro Energy, is close to buying 11 North Sea gas fields and an onshore terminal from Shell and ExxonMobil for £400m.

Mazzagatti, 39, is no fossil fuel zealot. Unlike Trump, he is a firm advocate of renewable energy, or some of it. “I’ve always seen oil and gas as part of the transition. It can’t be excluded.” He wants Viaro to be a major player, not just in oil and gas but in nuclear. “Fifteen, 16 years from now, that’s where I want to be. I believe in nuclear. Viaro will be my legacy.”

He began his career straight from leaving school in his native Calabria, in southern Italy. He helped his father in the family transport business before setting up on his own in logistics and distribution, ferrying fruit juices in north Africa and Europe. Then he started a chemicals and lubricants company focusing on the Middle East, which took him to oil and gas. One of his customers was the Nato Support and Procurement Agency, transporting the organisation’s fuel and food supplies.

Latterly, he has become something of a North Sea devotee. Mazzagatti first bought into the UK’s principal energy sector in 2020 when his start-up, Viaro, acquired RockRose, a London-listed group with fields in the southern North Sea straddling UK and Dutch waters. Soon afterwards, he added SEE’s portfolio of gas exploration and production assets, again in the south.

The North Sea’s potential, he says, is still enormous. He believes the south of the North Sea alone is sitting on 120 million barrels, which, if they could be extracted, would go a considerable way towards fulfilling the UK’s energy demands and massively improve our security, so we are not so reliant on foreign imports.

His strategy is simple: buying southern North Sea fields the giants no longer want, ones that don’t offer them the levels of return on investment they require. “A super-major needs to be seeing 20 to 30 per cent; a smaller player like ours can operate on a return of 10 per cent. It makes more sense for them to put their capital somewhere else.”

Mazzagatti is embroiled in a legal action brought by his former company, alleging fraud and theft. Alliance Petrochemical Investment (API), a Singaporean trading firm he divested to Arshia Jahanpour, accuses him of using the proceeds to fund the RockRose acquisition. Mazzagatti describes the litigation as “vexatious”, as an attempt to extract a settlement from him, something he refuses to do. He says that thanks to API waging a campaign of “defamation, harassment and extortion” against him, he has suffered “trial by media”.

Fortunately, he insists, the case has not derailed the Shell/ExxonMobil deal. They have conducted their own due diligence and “they know me, know my integrity and know the way we operate”. He declares himself “really grateful to them and all the people” who have stood by him.

He cites coming second in a recent bidding war with 13 other bidders for a downstream refinery in Europe. “The seller was a super-major and there were 14 bidders in total and we got down to the last two. Of all of them, we were the smallest. We didn’t make it, but what pleased me was that despite the allegations thrown at us, a super-major still believed in us.”

He is confident of vindication. “We will fight it, it will pass,” he says, smiling. “You know, in Italy we have a saying: ‘Il cane abbaia, la carovana passa,’ which means ‘the dogs bark but the caravan goes on’”.

Unfortunately for him, the journey in the North Sea is slow. The Shell/ExxonMobil deal requires the approval of the UK’s North Sea Transition Authority, and it is examining each rig included in the package one by one, a process that has taken many months. He signed to buy from Shell/ExxonMobil in July 2024 and hopes to complete by the end of the year.

The regulator will not be rushed; that is the system. It’s frustrating for Britain, too, since Mazzagatti says he is poised to invest in the rigs, to bring them to top condition and boost production. They employ almost 400 people, and he’s got an additional 50-plus ready to join. “I’ve been to them, met the workers, and we’ve more jobs waiting to come on board. Everyone wants to get on, they’re excited, there is so much to be done.”

For now, he and they are waiting for the North Sea authorities to give the green light – and they will not be hurried, whatever Trump may say. Investment in UK energy security continues to be held up.