How Norris repelled Verstappen’s terrific comeback to win F1 title

This time on Yas Island, contrary to four years ago, there was no incomprehensible twist of Formula 1 fate. No late crash, no safety cars, no race manipulation. The reality was that it was always going to take something extraordinary for Lando Norris to blow this year’s drivers’ title and, to the delight and relief of the McLaren team on tenterhooks trackside, the closing laps progressed without incident. Their golden boy had his triumph.

As he passed the chequered flag, Norris’s hands went straight to his fluorescent yellow helmet in disbelief. A season in which he started in front, squandered a lead and looked dead and buried in August, has concluded with fulfilling his wildest dreams. The 26-year-old from Somerset becomes Britain’s 11th F1 world champion and McLaren’s first since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

But boy was it a close-run thing. In the end, Norris repelled tonight’s race winner, Max Verstappen’s magnificent fightback by just two points. A podium was all Norris needed on Sunday night in Abu Dhabi and, despite a few nervous glances at Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in his rear-view mirror, a top-three finish never really looked in doubt. When he needed to perform some key overtakes after his first pit-stop, Norris exuded confidence and self-belief, attributes of his that have long been under the microscope. Supremely and efficiently, Norris did what he had to do.

Oscar Piastri, Norris’s impressively magnanimous teammate, finished in second on the track and third overall, 13 points behind the champion. McLaren CEO Zak Brown has some tricky days to navigate the joy on one side of the garage in contrast with the deflation on the other. Piastri led by 34 points in August; he will rue an error-laden end to the season.

But for Norris, after hugs aplenty on the start-finish straight, it was the most emotional of moments.

“I’ve not cried in a while,” he told David Coulthard after the race. “I didn’t think I’d cry, but I did. It’s a long journey, first of all, I want to say a big thanks to my guys, everyone at McLaren and my parents. They’re the ones who’ve supported me since the beginning.

“It feels amazing, I want to congratulate Max and Oscar, my two biggest competitors, it’s been a pleasure and honour to race them. I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been a long year… they certainly didn’t make my life easy this year.

“Not many people in the world or in Formula 1 get to experience what I’ve experienced this year. I’m just crazy happy! It’s been a long journey for me and McLaren; we’ve been together nine years, been through crazy times.”

This year, in isolation, has been one to categorise as somewhat crazy. Norris, the pre-season favourite, endured a tricky opening half of the season, littered with errors in qualifying and summed up by his idiotic crash with Piastri in Canada. Despite that, statement victories in Australia, Monaco and Silverstone kept him on the pace, with a win in Hungary prior to the summer break leaving him just nine points behind Piastri.

Yet in Zandvoort, everything changed. A cruel late mechanical issue for Norris was a game-changer, gifting Piastri a 34-point lead. For the Briton, it was time to go hell-for-leather; a much-needed change of tack. Elbows out, we saw Lando 2.0.

Race-by-race, Norris cut the deficit: somewhat controversially in Monza, as McLaren ordered their drivers to swap, and aggressively in Singapore with a bold move on his teammate. And as the season entered its final furlong, Norris found his performance at the crucial moment. Sterling pole positions in Mexico and Brazil set up two vital race victories and, if it wasn’t for McLaren’s recent clangers in Las Vegas and Qatar, the title would already have been wrapped up. As it was, the irrepressible Verstappen still had a shot.

Yet it went down to this 24th and final round, which, from the get-go, saw an immediate grenade to proceedings on lap one. Pole-sitter Verstappen swerved immediately and aggressively to the left at lights out, memories of a poor start four years ago against Lewis Hamilton fresh in his mind, and all three protagonists progressed smoothly through turn one.

Yet that satisfaction in camp Norris quickly diminished as Piastri, on harder tyres technically slower than Norris’s mediums, swooped brilliantly around the outside of the left-handed turn nine to nick second from his teammate. It was a stunning overtake – one Piastri simply had to make – and sent a firm message to his teammate. At this earliest of phases, there were to be no team orders.

Norris, now in third and one position away from losing it all, moved on precariously with Leclerc hot on his heels for the first 10 laps. After fourth on the grid, George Russell endured a poor start, dropping to sixth. Mercifully for Norris, however, he defended well, and his McLaren car eventually found its performance window, progressing outside of Leclerc’s one-second DRS range and settling into a solid rhythm.

“Keep building this gap on Leclerc, it gives us choices,” Norris’s engineer Will Joseph told his driver, before the Briton dived into the pit-lane on lap 17. A rapid 2.1-second stop, with Leclerc and Russell also in the pits, and back out in ninth. Vitally, he then overtook midfield bystanders Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz on the same lap to move up the order, before a tremendous double overtake down the inside of turn 7. It was heart-in-mouth stuff – and next down the road was Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

“All you can when he catches,” Tsunoda was told on team radio. Could the out-the-door Tsunoda perform a defensive masterclass in his final race, akin to Sergio Perez’s super job on Hamilton in 2021, and back Norris up into Leclerc? Not quite.

With Tsunoda illegally weaving down the back straight, Norris went for broke and surged down the inside, clipping the grass and making the pass, but arguably with all four wheels off the racetrack. The stewards in race control took a deeper look but correctly ruled against the Japanese driver, dishing out a five-second penalty.

Meanwhile, Verstappen pitted on lap 24, switching to hards, and Piastri took the lead of the grand prix. Crucially, in the middle phase, Norris extended his lead to Leclerc in fourth, creating a considerable 25-second buffer. Yet it wasn’t the Australian who pitted next, it was Norris.

Another neat 2.4-second stop on lap 41 and Norris re-emerged safely in third place. A lap later, Piastri took on fresh rubber, re-entering the race in second place. But as the laps dwindled to single figures, Leclerc’s pace remained strong, and he looked to be gradually catching Norris. “Is Charles catching him or not?” Verstappen queried. Not quickly enough was the answer.

Was there to be a late twist, a la 2021? Norris’s Belgian mother, Cisca, could barely watch from the back of the garage. Tension was high. Thankfully for the papaya-clad outfit, fingernails chewed away, not this time. Norris took the chequered flag in third, ahead of Leclerc by six seconds, and despite Verstappen’s third race victory in a row, his valiant fightback fell just two points short.

Astonishingly, Verstappen ends the season as the driver with the most wins, standing at eight. No doubt he’ll be back for more next season, in search of title number five. But now, the Dutchman will have to hand over the No 1 tag on his racecar to his good friend. This time, it’s Norris’s time.

Zelensky says US discussions ‘constructive but not easy’ ahead of London peace talks

President Volodymyr Zelensky has provided a fresh update on peace talks with the US saying they have been “constructive” but “not easy” in a statement on Sunday.

The Ukrainian leader spoke with President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner in a phone call on Saturday.

“The American representatives know the basic Ukrainian positions,” Zelensky said. “The conversation was constructive, although not easy.”

The comments come ahead of key talks between Zelensky, prime minister Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz in London on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has praised Trump’s new national security strategy, saying that it “corresponds in many ways to our vision”.

The new strategy warned that Europe faces “civilisational erasure” and that Washington wanted to reestablish strategic stability with Russia.

On Sunday, Mr Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy said that a deal to end the Ukraine war was “really close” and now depends on resolving just two main outstanding issues – the future of the Donbas region and the Zaporzhzhia nuclear power plant.

Don’t exploit Christianity, church leader warns Tommy Robinson

The Church must resist the exploitation of Christianity by far-right populists such as Tommy Robinson, a bishop has said ahead of a carols event organised by the anti-migrant activist.

The Right Reverend Arun Arora, the bishop of Kirkstall and the Church of England’s (C of E) co-lead on racial justice, has warned that the Church must act to “resist the capture of Christian language and symbols by populist forces seeking to exploit the faith for their own political ends”.

The C of E is to launch a poster campaign aimed at confronting the increasing use of Christianity for a nationalist, anti-migrant agenda.

The posters, which will go on display at bus stops, say “Christ has always been in Christmas” and “Outsiders welcome”. They are part of a package of resources available for local churches to download and display in response to far-right rhetoric.

A coalition of church groups called the Joint Public Issues Team, including the C of E, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist church and the United Reformed church, have put together a “rapid response” resource for churches, with a call to focus particularly on Sunday 14 December – the day after Tommy Robinson’s Whitehall event.

Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has organised a follow-up event to his huge Unite the Kingdom march, which saw more than 100,000 people turn out for what was billed as a “free speech” protest and included Elon Musk addressing the crowd, railing against the “woke mind virus”.

Police were assaulted after violence flared, with dozens of arrests made.

This time he has organised an event called “United for Christ this Christmas”, which promises bible readings, live music, and faith testimonies. He is aiming to “put Christ back into Christmas”, according to details posted to social media platform X/Twitter.

Speaking about Tommy Robinson’s campaign to “reclaim” Christmas, Bishop Arun said: “I rejoice that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon has recently come to faith in prison. Having experienced the wide mercy of God’s grace, Stephen does not now have the right to deny it to others.

“Having embraced and accepted God’s welcome, he can’t now restrict it from others who may be equally lost. Nor does he have the right to subvert the faith so that it serves his purposes rather than the other way round.”

He warned: “We must confront and resist the capture of Christian language and symbols by populist forces seeking to exploit the faith for their own political ends. It is incumbent upon the church – in the recent words of Rowan Williams – ‘to challenge the story that every migrant approaching our shores is an unfriendly alien with unintelligible and hostile values’.

“The danger for a Church that fails to act is that we are diminished to a people who offer religious observance as an alternative to an active pursuit of justice and righteousness.

“As we approach Christmas and recall the Holy Family’s own flight as refugees, we reaffirm our commitment to stand alongside others in working for an asylum system that is fair, compassionate, and rooted in the dignity of being human – when Christ took on flesh – which is at the heart of the Christmas message.”

Since coming out of prison in May this year, Mr Robinson has been using Christianity in his messaging, with Christian symbols such as wooden crosses common at the first Unite the Kingdom rally in September.

Ukip’s leader Nick Tenconi also intertwines Christianity with his party’s anti-migrant politics, thrusting Christian identity politics to the forefront of the organisation that used to be the home of Nigel Farage.

Mr Tenconi is also a key figure within Turning Point UK, a right-wing student political group linked to the deceased Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.

While Mr Robinson is organising his carols event for 13 December, an initiative called Shine Your Light is aiming for 200,000 Christians to sing carols in public spaces across the UK and Ireland over the same weekend.

Man charged with murder after student, 18, dies on night out

A man has been charged with the murder of an 18-year-old student who was stabbed to death while on a night out with his football teammates.

Henry Nowak, from Chafford Hundred in Essex, suffered a puncture wound to his chest and two wounds to the back of his leg after becoming involved in an altercation.

He was pronounced dead at the scene after officers attended the incident in Belmont Road, Portswood, on Wednesday.

Hampshire Police have since charged 22-year-old Vickrum Digwa, of St Denys Road, Southampton, with murder. He has also been charged with possession of a bladed article in a public place.

Kiran Kaur, 52 and of St Denys Road, has been charged with assisting an offender. Both are due to appear at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Police said a 51-year-old man, previously arrested on suspicion of murder, has been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

A 26-year-old man, also arrested on suspicion of murder, was released with no further action in relation to that offence. He was additionally arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and a public order offence and has been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

Mr Nowak’s family wrote in a statement released on Sunday: “Our kind, intelligent, and talented son was in his first year at Southampton University studying accountancy and finance.

“He’d smashed his A-levels and was fully embracing university life, joining not one but two football teams, making new friends as well as working part-time at the local Morrisons.”

The statement continued: “Henry was loved by all those that knew him. He was an incredible son, brother, cousin, grandson, nephew, friend and teammate. He was an all-round top lad and everyone who was lucky enough to share his company thought the same.

“He went on a night out with his new football teammates, celebrating the end of their first semester at uni. Devastatingly, he never made it home.

“Our hearts ache when we think of the bright future he had ahead of him, full of opportunity and adventures. There are no words to describe just how heartbroken we are that we will never get to see him grow and fulfil his awesome potential. We are so proud of him and all he achieved.

“Our world will never be the same without our amazing Henry.”

Southampton University vice-chancellor Professor Mark E Smith said: “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the death of our student, Henry Nowak.

“Our thoughts are very much with his family, friends, and all those who knew and loved him at this incredibly difficult time.”

UK to use AI to tackle Russian submarines in new hi-tech naval force

The UK will use AI to “track and deter” Russian submarines as part of a new multi-million-pound hi-tech force to protect Britain’s undersea cables and pipelines.

The hybrid naval force, named Atlantic Bastion, will combine autonomous vehicles and AI with warships and aircraft to identify threats to underwater structures and to defend them from interference.

Announcing the plans, the defence secretary John Healey said it would be a “highly advanced hybrid fighting force to detect, deter and defeat those who threaten us”.

The move comes after cables in the Baltic Sea were reported to have been damaged recently and UK defence intelligence has identified that Russia is modernising its fleet to target undersea cables and pipelines.

Last month, the defence secretary was forced to issue a stark warning to Vladimir Putin after a Russian spy ship operating on the edge of UK waters directed lasers at RAF pilots.

Meanwhile, the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, this week warned that Putin represents “an active threat to Britain’s citizens, our security and our prosperity” after a major inquiry into the Salisbury novichok poisonings concluded that the Russian president ordered the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal as a “public demonstration of Russian power”.

Subsea infrastructure is the lifeblood of the UK’s connectivity, carrying 99 per cent of international telecommunications data and vital energy supplies such as electricity, oil and gas.

Speaking during a visit to Portsmouth Naval Base, Mr Healey said: “We know what Putin is doing. We know what Putin is developing.

“And we’ve seen in recent weeks, for example, their spy ship, Yantar, in and out of UK waters, and we’re able to find them, whether they are on the surface or underwater.

“We’re able to find them, track them, and, if necessary, we are ready with allies to act to deter them.”

The announcement comes as Volodymyr Zelensky prepares to visit London for talks on peace proposals, with cabinet minister Pat McFadden on Sunday warning that Ukraine faces a “pivotal” moment in the war with Russia.

The Ukrainian president will meet Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Monday, along with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz, amid continued talks between Ukrainian and US officials on a Washington-backed plan to end the war.

Mr McFadden said Ukraine’s security and self-determination would be “at the heart” of the leaders’ discussions, telling Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “This is a really pivotal moment now. Everybody wants the war to come to an end, but they want it to come to an end in a way that gives Ukraine that freedom of choice in the future.

“So, that means not just an end to the war but also security guarantees for Ukraine in the future, and not a completely toothless organisation, which is unable to decide its future.”

The UK has consistently pushed for any peace deal to include security guarantees for Ukraine, both from the US and in the form of the British and French-led “coalition of the willing”.

Atlantic Bastion will involve the development and testing of state-of-the-art anti-submarine sensor technology.

A MoD spokesperson said: “Atlantic Bastion will create an advanced hybrid naval force to defend the UK and Nato allies against evolving threats.

“It will enable the UK to find, track and, if required, act against adversaries with unprecedented effectiveness across vast areas of ocean.”

Mr Healey added: “People should be in no doubt of the new threats facing the UK and our allies under the sea, where adversaries are targeting infrastructure that is so critical to our way of life.

“This new era of threat demands a new era for defence, and we must rapidly innovate at a wartime pace to maintain the battlefield edge as we deliver on the strategic defence review (SDR).

“Our pioneering Atlantic Bastion programme is a blueprint for the future of the Royal Navy.

“It combines the latest autonomous and AI technologies with world-class warships and aircraft to create a highly advanced hybrid fighting force to detect, deter and defeat those who threaten us.”

Speaking at the International Sea Power Conference on Monday, First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins is expected to say: “We are a navy that thrives when it is allowed to adapt. To evolve. We have never stood still – because the threats never do.

“The [Strategic Defence Review] identified the maritime domain as increasingly vulnerable – and that maritime security is a strategic imperative for the UK. It is time to act.

“This begins with Atlantic Bastion – our bold new approach to secure the underwater battle-space against a modernising Russia. Our commitment to alliance. And it is happening now.

“A revolutionary underwater network is taking shape – from the mid-Atlantic ridge to the Norwegian Sea. More autonomous, more resilient, more lethal – and British built.

“We’ve already made rapid and significant progress with delivering Atlantic Bastion. A force that keeps us secure at home and strong abroad.”

The project has been launched with £14m of MoD and industry early investment of £14m for testing and development, with 26 firms from the UK and Europe having submitted proposals.

It comes after the government earlier this week announced that the UK and Norway are poised to sign a landmark defence pact, establishing a combined naval fleet specifically designed to track Russian submarines across the North Atlantic.

The MoD spokesperson said: “Atlantic Bastion will see ships, submarines, aircraft and unmanned vessels connected through AI-powered acoustic detection technology and integrated into a digital targeting web – a pioneering network of weapons systems that allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster.”

Perfect portraits: from groups to selfies and candid pics, expert tips

Portrait photography has come a long way from the days where everyone needed to be smiling directly into the camera, as a flash bulb popped.

And in fact, following on from an era where social media sites offered very curated, sometimes heavily filtered snapshots of our lives, more natural, candid images that really show off our personalities and experiences are now very much on trend. Think authentic photos of genuine moments where no-one is really paying attention to the camera. Instead they’re focused on enjoying what’s happening and the people they are with. For example, friends around a table enjoying a drink and a chat. Families engaged in a favourite activity. Photos that look like a glimpse into someone’s normal every day.

The best way to capture these in-the-moment shots? On a mobile: our ever-present, hand-held, do-everything device that has steadily taken over photography in the 26 years since the first camera phone appeared. Samsung’s newest device, the Galaxy S25 FE offers a wealth of photography-first features, from multiple cameras, lenses and wide angle settings, to in-built AI technology that will help you take the best possible pictures, then easily edit them afterwards. And as a photographer who runs masterclasses in mobile photography I couldn’t wait to try it out.

The phone itself is slim and lightweight, which makes it so much easier to hold steady, for clear, crisp, blur-free images, and take discreet, candid snaps.

Of course, we all have friends, family members and even pets who love performing for the camera. But for those who are a bit more reluctant to step into the frame, the Galaxy S25 FE offers a whole host of easy-to-use, fun AI features that will have even the most camera-shy feeling completely confident and ready for their close-up.

Samsung’s Drawing Assist function is a prime example and was an absolute hit with my kids, transforming our Sunday afternoon walk from a litany of moaning and dragging feet into a fun-filled adventure involving a lucky escape from the shark that apparently now lives in the park pond, and flying through the air with some giant balloons.

And all it took was a few simple, if strategically positioned snaps and some quick sketches using the Sketch to Image* function when editing the photo. This works best when you have some space in the frame around your subjects so you can easily draw what you want to add. In the shark image, for example, we needed enough water to the left of my kids for the shark to emerge from.

In the photo where the children are flying with the balloons, I needed them to be high up against the sky, and I also wanted the trees visible to add some context to the story we were trying to tell. They’re on top of the boulders, but I had to crouch down on the ground to cut out the houses in the background. By using the Generative Edit** function I was then able to replace the boulders with trees and then used Sketch to Image to draw in some balloons to make it look like they were floating away.

You don’t need to be an amazing artist for Sketch to Image to work well either, just enough line and shape for the app to recognise what you want to add into your image. The only limit here is your imagination and creativity. Involving the kids in some fun photography also meant that I got to capture some real, candid moments of them in the beautiful Autumn sunshine, with none of the usual complaints.

While playing around with reality can be fun, the Galaxy S25FE’s other AI features can also be used to make more subtle adjustments to enhance your images.

Just a few minutes of work with the Generative Edit function on a day out with a friend, helped me erase two unwanted photobombers from a photo (in which she perfectly co-ordinated with the graffitied heart wall in Borough Market). While removing some distracting weedkiller from the table where my cat was basking in the sunshine ensured the perfect pic where I can really appreciate him in all his fluffy glory.

Aside from fun and helpful editing functions, the phone’s AI technology is also running in the background to give your photos a boost, whatever and whenever you are capturing them.

This is great when you’re shooting challenging lighting conditions, for example at night. Dark, grainy and blurred photos are a thing of the past, with Samsung’s Nightography feature. Tapping the yellow moon icon that appears in dim lighting will enable this clever function which captures multiple images and then uses AI to blend them together to create one sharper, brighter image.

This can take a few seconds, so you’ll need to keep very still when using this feature – if you can, brace your arms on a table and hold the phone with two hands to keep the camera as steady as possible. It also helps if your subject is still, so this is more for capturing adults and older kids than snapping a restless pet or fast-moving child.

For these trickier subjects, from youngsters to four-legged friends, the excellent autofocus on the device makes for pin-sharp portraits rendered in high definition. And if you couple that with the outstanding Samsung colour profile you get beautifully saturated, nicely contrasted images which really pop. All the colours are beautifully rendered and all skin tones (and fur tones) are true to life. No filters are needed here.

And this is not just true of portraits you take of other people. The 12 MP camera lens on the front of the phone makes for gorgeously rendered, high resolution selfies with a variety of crop options, so you can find the perfect angle or image composition.

Taking a selfie at a 1:1 square crop, as well as the standard 3:4 crop option means you can easily include a friend or family member in your photo. And there’s a lovely little feature where you can get the lens to zoom out a little by tapping the ‘two person’ icon to provide a little extra space.

The 9:16 crop option means you can opt for a more flattering, longer and thinner photo while the full frame cop allows you a more zoomed-in selfie.

And if you want to take your selfies to another level, the option to add a little skin toning and smoothing effect and iron out any wrinkles (or in my case remove evidence of a sleepless night) is one of the additional features that makes the selfie camera stand out!

The excellent battery life means you don’t need to worry about it lasting, even after a few hours of photo fun. And when your battery does run down, lightning fast charging will see you back at 60 per cent in just 30 minutes, so you don’t have to wait long until you are good to go again.

Overall, whether it is taking vibrant portraits of yourself or capturing creative, candid images of the people (and pets) in your lives, making memories you’ll want to share is easy and fun with the Galaxy S25 FE.

Kirsty Hamilton is a portrait photographer – find out more at her website and on Instagram.

To find out more about the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE visit Samsung

*Samsung account login and network connection may be required for certain AI features.

**Samsung account login is required. Requires network connection.

Angela Rayner will return to cabinet, Keir Starmer says

Sir Keir Starmer has said the “hugely talented” Angela Rayner will make a comeback to his cabinet as he slammed “misogynistic” criticism of her.

Ms Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy Labour leader in September after an investigation found she had underpaid stamp duty on her seaside flat in Hove.

In an interview with The Observer on Sunday, the prime minister said that he missed Ms Rayner and described her as “the best social mobility story this country has ever seen”.

It comes as speculation grows that she could run on a joint ticket with health secretary Wes Streeting to challenge the prime minister for the Labour leadership amid concern over the direction of the government and its devastating approval ratings.

When asked if he missed his former deputy, Sir Keir said: “Yes, of course I do. I was really sad that we lost her. As I said to her at the time, she’s going to be a major voice in the Labour movement.”

Pressed as to whether she will be back in the cabinet, he added: “Yes. She’s hugely talented.”

Asked about claims Ms Rayner could return to the front bench, cabinet minister Pat McFadden told Sky News: “I think Angela Rayner is great. I would welcome it, but this is a decision for the prime minister.”

Pressed again on whether she might return, he said: “I think she’s an enormous talent. I’m a great admirer of Angela, but that question is up to the PM.”

No 10 was forced to knock down reports that the former deputy PM had been offered the job of education secretary in order to stave off a leadership bid, saying the claims were “highly speculative”.

Sources had told the Daily Mail she was resisting the offer in order to prepare her own bid for Downing Street.

And in a damning sign of the mood music in the Parliamentary Labour Party, The Times reported on Sunday that Labour MPs are referring to Sir Keir as a “caretaker prime minister”.

Sir Keir also hit out at the “misogyny” he said had played a part in the level of criticism she and chancellor Rachel Reeves have received in recent months.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch argued during Prime Minister’s Questions last month that any return for Ms Rayner should be on the condition that “she must pay back the £40,000 of property taxes she avoided”.

Earlier this week, a source close to the former deputy prime minister said she will “not be played like a pawn” after reports of a deal for Ms Rayner and Mr Streeting to run for the Labour leadership.

The source said “there is no vacancy and there is no pact”, after The Telegraph reported that allies of Mr Streeting were pressing Ms Rayner to sign up to a “joint ticket” for the top job.

Allies of Ms Rayner have previously slammed “false” claims that she is eyeing up a Labour leadership bid, with the ex-deputy PM insisting she has “not gone away” when asked about a return to frontline politics.

In a wide-ranging interview, Sir Keir also insisted that he had no intention of stepping aside before the next election.

He said: “When I took over the Labour Party, everyone said to me, ‘you’re not going to be able to change the party’. We ignored that and carried on.

“Then they said to me, ‘you’re not going to be able to win an election’. We got a landslide Labour victory. Now, 17 months into a five-year Labour term, they say ‘you’re not able to change the country’.

“Every time we’ve been in this position, we’ve defied them. And that’s what I intend to do.”

Ms Rayner’s office and Downing Street have been contacted for comment.

European leaders can still help achieve a positive outcome for Ukraine

Still, no doubt, bathed in the warm, if also absurd, glow of being the first ever recipient of the Fifa Peace Prize, Donald Trump might be in the mood to promote a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, it would be nice to think. This would, aside from anything else, strengthen President Trump’s insistent claim on the Nobel Peace Prize, which has not quite been superseded in prestige by the cynical golden trophy that the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, presented to him.

The worry, however, is that Mr Trump’s innate sympathy for Russia and rush to get any kind of settlement, no matter how grotesque, signed off will result either in a collapse of the whole process, with America completely abandoning Ukraine and relaxing sanctions on Russia; or an imposed deal almost entirely on the Kremlin’s terms that will leave Ukraine, other European nations and Nato itself fatally compromised. Such suspicions are only heightened by the recent publication of the official United States National Security Strategy, which confirms that it is US policy to weaken democratically elected liberal European governments, to undermine the European Union and prevent the expansion of Nato. Instead of treating its European allies as sovereign equals with shared values, the Trump administration would prefer them to be more like Hungary.

Washington now feels it can patronise the European powers and “help Europe correct its current trajectory”. Whether Europe’s governments and voters like it or not, presumably.

European leaders might well regret the current trajectory of Mr Trump’s America, but choose not to turn their misgivings into a public declaration of intent to interfere in American politics. The American foreign policy document, decorated with the presidential seal, tellingly said nothing about the state of free speech and human rights in Putin’s Russia. But the government of the United States does criticise other European nations for holding “unrealistic expectations for the war” in Ukraine.

So the latest talks in London between the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Britain take place against an unpromising background. Hosted by the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, he, President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Friedrich Merz will impress on President Volodymyr Zelensky their support for Ukraine and reassure him that they will do everything in their power to ensure that Ukraine is not betrayed by the Americans because of President Trump’s long held, albeit sometimes intermittent, desire to normalise relations with Russia and explore what are thought to be lucrative economic opportunities, once the war in Ukraine is over.

We know that this is their intention because details of a phone call between President Macron, Chancellor Merz, President Alexander Stubb of Finland and President Zelensky to that effect were recently leaked, and the fear explicitly expressed by the western European leaders is that, metaphorically, “we must not leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys”.

The hope must be that those European leaders can so influence the various negotiations now taking place between the Ukrainians, the Russians and the Americans that vital European and Ukrainian interests are protected. This means territory and security guarantees, as has always been the case. Unfortunately, the time when a united West insisted on nothing less than the withdrawal of all Russian forces from sovereign territory passed when Mr Trump won the presidential election last year. It was, for the record, a perfectly viable policy and one that, as the Russian economy buckled under the demands of war, had some chance of success in the not-so-distant future. Now the focus is on limiting Russian gains, and maximising Ukrainian – and European – security. That means that President Putin should not simply take over those parts of Ukraine he has still failed to conquer; but that if that does become the unwilling policy of Kyiv, that nothing less than Nato-style “Article 5” security guarantees be granted by the United States, with an appropriate military presence, and the maintenance of Ukraine’s considerable modern combat capacity.

The fear must be that even if President Zelensky is bullied into discussing what was so recently regarded as unthinkable, the concessions Kyiv makes would still be insufficient for Vladimir Putin. In such a circumstance, when push comes to shove, which way will Mr Trump turn? Sir Keir is said to believe that, as on past occasions, exasperation with the Kremlin means Mr Trump will resume aid to Ukraine and impose tighter sanctions on Russia, including on Putin-friendly powers such as India and China. The coalition of the willing’s professional Trump whisperers – President Stubb, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, Sir Keir himself and possibly Giorgia Meloni of Italy – could be deployed on such a mission to balance the voice of the Kremlin and the president’s own son-in-law Jared Kushner and his peace envoy Steve Witkoff.

It is, however, equally plausible that Mr Trump will leave Ukraine and its allies in Europe in an invidious position: either agree to a surrender deal or Mr Trump will declare himself “done” with the whole thing and resume his efforts to help Russia rejoin the world economy, with all that means for the strength of the Russian war machine. If so, then the war will drag on, and we shall see just how “willing” the European coalition of the willing really is. In that case, Mr Trump won’t get his Nobel Peace Prize, and the Fifa version will have to do for the groaning gilded mantelpiece in the Oval Office. The president won’t like that; and that could just make him pressure President Putin as never before.

It is strange, and quietly terrifying, that the security of the European continent should rest on the competing vanities of an insecure former Manhattan property developer with an outsize ego, but that is the hand that the American people dealt their allies a little over a year ago. Sir Keir and his colleagues, like Mr Zelensky, may not have all the cards, but they have some, and if they can play them as well as Mr Trump thinks he can play his, then Ukraine can perhaps still be saved, made secure, and the world can move on.