Streeting allies hit out at briefings against him amid sacking rumours

Allies of Wes Streeting have called for unity within government after reports emerged that Cabinet ministers are urging the Prime Minister to sack the Health Secretary.

According to The Times, senior figures are pressing for Mr Streeting’s removal, citing his “outspoken opinions” in public pronouncements.

This internal pressure is understood to stem from a briefing war originating in Downing Street, targeting Mr Streeting over his perceived ambitions to succeed Sir Keir as Prime Minister.

A spokesperson for the Health Secretary described the timing of the latest briefing against him as “incredibly stupid,” noting its emergence while Reform UK and the Conservatives vie for dominance on the political right.

The spokesperson said: “It’s a real shame that Keir’s so-called allies are briefing against Wes yet again, when they should be talking about the second biggest fall in waiting lists in 15 years, and ambulances arriving 15 minutes faster with Labour.

“Given Reform and the Tories are at each other’s throats right now, this briefing is also incredibly stupid.

“Wes is delivering real change in the NHS, and is out there making the case for Keir and for Labour.”

According to The Times, one Cabinet minister suggested Sir Keir needed to learn from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who abruptly sacked her shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick this week ahead of his defection to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

They told the newspaper Mr Streeting was “undermining all of us” in Government, and suggested he was “repeatedly breaching collective responsibility”.

Two others who spoke to The Times appeared convinced Mr Streeting was on manoeuvres to become prime minister.

According to the newspaper, one of them said: “Wes is exactly the same as he was when he was 18 … If he doesn’t become Labour prime minister, he will tell himself his entire life has been a failure. Everything he’s doing now is in pursuit of that aim.”

But a No 10 source told The Times Mr Streeting was doing a “great job as health secretary” and was a “key player in the team”.

Mr Streeting has previously voiced his concerns about the direction of the Government, and hit out at a “toxic culture” in No 10 when briefing against him was made public in November.

He also appeared to voice concerns just this week, telling a conference on Tuesday ministers should make their New Year’s resolution to “get it right first time”, amid a series of U-turns by the Government.

Life-extending prostate cancer drug to be made available to thousands more patients

Thousands of men suffering from prostate cancer are set to gain access to a life-extending drug on the NHS following a significant expansion of eligibility criteria.

Previously, the hormone therapy abiraterone, which functions by inhibiting testosterone production throughout the body, was only available to patients whose cancer had already spread.

However, NHS England has now confirmed that men with high-risk prostate cancer that has not yet spread will also qualify for the treatment.

This crucial change means approximately 2,000 men diagnosed in the last quarter could receive the drug if clinically appropriate, with an additional 7,000 men expected to become eligible annually.

Clinical trials show that the proportion of men alive after six years on abiraterone is 86 per cent compared to 77 per cent on standard treatment (hormone therapy with or without radiotherapy).

Professor Nick James from the Institute of Cancer Research in London led the research that proved abiraterone is effective for men whose prostate cancer has not spread.

He said: “This extension of abiraterone to men with newly diagnosed high-risk prostate cancer that has not spread yet is really good news for men in England.

“Our data from the Stampede trial shows that two years of abiraterone halves the risk of prostate cancer coming back and reduces the risk of death by 40 per cent.

“In the next five years, almost 8,000 men will avoid the devastating news that their cancer has come back. Even for men whose cancer does recur, this treatment gives them more healthy years.

“Very importantly, our research also shows that the reduction in relapses will also save the NHS money in the long run, as this will translate into financial savings as well as the big clinical benefit.”

Professor Peter Johnson, national clinical director for cancer at NHS England, said: “For thousands of men with prostate cancer, this treatment option could be life-changing by helping keep their cancer at bay for several years.

“The life-extending treatment available on the NHS within weeks will mean thousands of men can kick-start their year with the news that they will have a better chance of living longer and healthier lives.

“The NHS will continue to work hard to offer people the most effective and evidence-based treatments, with several new prostate cancer drugs rolled out over the last five years.”

Prostate Cancer UK, which has campaigned for wider access to the drug, said it calculated that, over the next five years, 3,000 men’s lives will be saved.

Amy Rylance, assistant director of health improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “This decision is a momentous, life-saving victory for the thousands of men whose lives will now be saved.

“Until now, men in England have found themselves in an impossible situation.

“It’s terrifying to be told you’ve got a cancer that’s likely to spread; to then find out you can’t access the treatment that science has proven to be your best chance at surviving is completely devastating.

“We refused to accept this outcome for men, and we didn’t stop until we changed it.”

Giles Turner, 65, from Brighton, was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer in March 2023.

He paid for his abiraterone treatment privately and is now in remission.

He said: “Abiraterone saved my life, and I didn’t even know about it until I heard about the research trial that proved how effective it is for men with high-risk prostate cancer like I had.

“When I asked my oncologist about it, he told me that abiraterone was available on the NHS in Scotland and Wales but not in England or Northern Ireland.

“I was shocked and angered that my postcode meant I was denied free access to a treatment that could halve my risk of dying and give me the best chance of a cure.”

Labour MP Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton), who has campaigned on the issue following the death of her father to prostate cancer, described the announcement as “a great new year’s present”.

Trump threatens to put tariffs on countries that ‘don’t go along’ with his plans for Greenland

President Donald Trump said he’s weighing tariffs against countries that don’t go along with his push to acquire Greenland.

Trump announced the potential tariffs Friday at a rural health roundtable event. The president has repeatedly argued the U.S. must acquire Greenland, which is a territory of Denmark, for national security purposes.

“I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security,” Trump said.

Trump made the brief remark as he discussed drug prices and tariffs against other nations at the roundtable event. He did not expand further on what Greenland-related tariffs could look like. The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.

When asked on Wednesday about the U.S. acquiring Greenland, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he’s “not going to give up options.”

“Greenland is very important for the national security, including of Denmark. And the problem is there’s not a thing that Denmark can do about it if Russia or China wants to occupy Greenland, but there’s everything we can do. You found that out last week with Venezuela,” Trump added Wednesday.

Just 17 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s efforts to acquire the territory, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday. A significant majority of both Republican and Democratic voters also oppose using military force to annex it, the poll revealed.

The White House has also floated buying the Arctic island, which could cost the U.S. up to $700 billion — which is more than half of the Defense Department’s annual budget, according to NBC News. That aside, Greenland and Denmark have repeatedly said that the territory is not for sale, and those living in the territory have no wish for it to be absorbed into America.

Meanwhile, NATO allies are sending military reinforcements to Greenland amid Trump’s threats. Several nations, including France and Germany, have already committed to sending personnel.

Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen has said the plan is to have a military presence “in rotation” with allies over the coming weeks.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday that an attempt by a NATO member to take over another member would be “a political disaster.”

“It would be the end of the world as we know it, which guaranteed a world based on NATO solidarity, which held back the evil forces associated with communist terror or other forms of aggression,” he added.

Closer to home, some of Trump’s fellow Republicans have criticized his push for Greenland, including Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell and Nebraska Representative Don Bacon.

Danish and Greenlandic officials met with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the White House Wednesday to discuss Trump’s claims. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said a “fundamental disagreement” remained following the talks.

“We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Rasmussen told reporters Wednesday.

“We made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the kingdom,” he added.

Iran’s exiled crown prince says that the ‘slaughter of protesters has not stopped’

Iran’s exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, has accused the Tehran regime of killing an Iranian protester “every 14 seconds” as he declared the “slaughter has not stopped”.

Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last Shah, said that the Islamic Republic “will fall soon” and called on the international community to support the Iranian people in the face of a brutal crackdown.

His comments came after the US moved the nuclear-powered USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to the Middle East, a signal of mounting tensions between Washington and Iran.

Trump has warned the regime to halt the killing of protesters but appeared to step back from military action earlier this week, saying he had received assurances that planned executions were not taking place.

“The Iranian people are taking decisive action on the ground. It is now time for the international community to join them fully,” Pahlavi said, vowing that he would return to Iran because he is “uniquely positioned to ensure a stable transition”.

“The regime will fall. Stand with the people now or watch the cycle of instability continue,” he continued. Addressing the international community, he said: “My brave compatriots … we need your urgent help right now.”

The American warship and its strike group have moved west from the Indo-Pacific region, satellite data from Copernicus shows, carrying with it fighter jets, guided missile destroyers and an attack submarine.

The Trump administration had warned Tehran there would be “grave consequences” if there was further bloodshed in Tehran, after serious unrest in Iran saw the death toll surpass 2,500. Pahlavi claimed that 12,000 Iranians had been killed since the protests began late last month.

The protests began over economic grievances before spiralling into some of the most widespread and deadly protests in years. However, the unrest appears to have receded in recent days, largely due to an internet blackout.

Fears also grew that hundreds of Iranians were set to be executed by the Iranian regime, which in 2025 carried out nearly twice as many executions as it did in 2024.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump had received assurances that 800 scheduled executions were halted, but that the president was keeping “all of his options on the table”.

Erfan Soltani, 26, was named by Norway-based Kurdish human rights organisation Hengaw as the first Iranian scheduled for execution in relation to the protests. His family had been told he faced execution on Wednesday, just days after he was arrested.

But Iran’s judiciary later denied it had scheduled his execution. It said Mr Soltani faced charges of “colluding against national security” and “propaganda activities”, but that neither is punishable by the death penalty, according to state broadcaster IRIB.

An internet and phone blackout imposed by the Iranian regime during the protests has meant that information leaving the country since last Thursday has been scarce.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier this week that the blackout would be lifted, without providing a timeframe. It appears to have been partially relaxed, with some Iranians able to call people outside the country, and accounts of the violence are now becoming clearer.

Several residents of Tehran said the capital had been quiet since Sunday. They said drones were flying over the city, where they’d seen no sign of protests on Thursday or Friday.

One woman in Tehran told Reuters over the phone that her daughter was killed on Friday after joining a demonstration near their home. “She was 15 years old. She was not a terrorist, not a rioter. Basij forces followed her as she was trying to return home,” she said, referring to a branch of the security forces often used to quell unrest.

Hengaw said that there had been no protest gatherings since Sunday, but “the security environment remains highly restrictive”.

“Our independent sources confirm a heavy military and security presence in cities and towns where protests previously took place, as well as in several locations that did not experience major demonstrations,” the group said in comments to Reuters.

But there have been indications of some minor unrest in certain areas. A nurse was killed by direct gunfire from government forces during protests in Karaj, west of Tehran, according to Hengaw.

The state-affiliated Tasnim news outlet reported that rioters set fire to a local education office in Falavarjan County, in central Isfahan Province, on Thursday.

An elderly resident of a town in Iran’s northwestern region, where many Kurdish Iranians live and which has been the focus for many of the biggest flare-ups, said sporadic protests had continued, though not as intensely.

Cold War nuclear bunker could be ‘days away’ from falling into sea

People have been asked to avoid an area of coastline where a Cold War-era nuclear bunker clinging onto the edge of a cliff could be “days away” from falling into the sea.

The building, found above Tunstall Beach in East Yorkshire, is believed to have been built in 1959 as a lookout post in the event of nuclear war. It is thought to have been decommissioned in the 1990s.

Now, coastal erosion between Withernsea and Hornsea – an area that the Environment Agency has said is among the UK’s fastest eroding coastlines – has left the structure teetering on the cliff, around 25 feet above the beach below.

Amateur historian Davey Robinson is filming the final days of the bunker and told the BBC: “We live on one of the most eroded coastlines in Europe and this bunker hasn’t got long left, perhaps just a few days.”

Photographs from recent days show the bunker in a precarious position, clinging to the eroded cliff, with little of the bank remaining to support it.

An East Riding of Yorkshire Council spokesperson said the local authority has no statutory responsibilities to the building as it is on private land, but advised people to avoid the area around it.

A council spokesperson told The Independent: “East Riding of Yorkshire council does not have any statutory responsibilities connected to the structure. The structure sits on an area of privately owned land.

“This location lies within Policy Unit E (Rolston to Waxholme) of the Shoreline Management Plan; the management approach for this location remains ‘no active intervention. Therefore, the coast is undefended in this area, which allows coastal processes to continue.

“Recognising the risk posed by the structure, the council would ask that people avoid the area, both at the cliff top and at the beach as it descends the cliff.

“The council would also remind visitors and residents to always maintain a safe distance to the base of eroding cliffs due to the risks associated.”

According to the Yorkshire Marine Nature Partnership, the cliff-line on the east of the region is retreating by approximately four metres per year. This means that significant quantities of material are released into the sea annually.

Though the coastline has been changing for thousands of years, the changes have been accelerated by climate change. Rising sea levels, frequent and severe storms, as well as the warmer sea surface temperature, all increase the likelihood of land-slips, erosion and flooding.

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Trump claim linking paracetamol to autism rubbished by new study

President Donald Trump’s claim that taking paracetamol during pregnancy is linked to autism is not based on robust evidence, a study has found.

The claims were made by Trump and health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in September, 2025. They urged women to not take Tylenol, known as paracetamol in the UK, and repeated numerous conspiracy theories about autism.

Kennedy, who has previously been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation and pushed a discredited theory that routine childhood vaccines were linked to autism, said the department would encourage clinicians to prescribe the lowest effective dose of the pain relief drug.

UK scientists hit back at the “fearmongering” claims and health secretary Wes Streeting stressed to not “pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine.”

Now a review of the medical evidence published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health journal, has found there is no strong evidence that paracetamol use during pregnancy increases the risk of autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or any intellectual disability among children.

“Autism diagnoses have surged by 787 per cent in the UK since 1998, which naturally raises questions around what’s behind this trend. It’s simply bad science to automatically assume that this is due to autism becoming much more prevalent. It’s even worse to attribute it to a simple cause like taking paracetamol during pregnancy without foundation,” Dr Lisa Williams, founder and clinical director, The Autism Service, who was not involved in the study, told the Independent.

For the study, researchers reviewed 43 papers including one that used sibling data. The Swedish study of 2.4 million births published in 2024 found no relationship between exposure to paracetamol in utero and subsequent autism.

Another example is a Japanese cohort study, which suggested there was a minor risk of ADHD and autism, but further analysis indicated this was due to “confounding and misclassification” and may have been prone to bias.

Study authors said previously reported associations between paracetamol during pregnancy and autism may be due to other maternal factors, such as underlying pain, discomfort, fever, or genetic predisposition, rather than any direct effect from the paracetamol.

Researchers said avoiding paracetamol might expose mothers and foetuses to the risks associated with untreated pain and fever, such as miscarriage, preterm birth or congenital defects.

Experts have praised the “strong and reliable” study for highlighting the inaccurate claims made by the US administration.

“Expectant mothers do not need the stress of questioning whether medicine most commonly used for a headache could have far reaching effects on their child’s health,” Grainne McAlonan, professor of translational neuroscience at King’s College London, said. “While the impact of last year’s announcement has been extensive, I hope the findings of this study bring the matter to a close.”

Parents of disabled children may be more likely to take paracetamol, according to Dr Steven Kapp, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Portsmouth. He explained this could be due to pains from parenting stress or their own chronic conditions – which neurodivergent parents are more likely to have.

“As a neurodivergent researcher and advocate, I think an implication is that society needs to stop going down rabbit holes of seeking false prevention of developmental disabilities. Instead, we should focus more on making the world a better place for disabled people,” he said.

Dr Monique Botha, associate professor in social and developmental psychology at Durham University, said: “When this higher-quality evidence is examined, the findings are clear: there is no evidence that using paracetamol as recommended during pregnancy increases the risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability.”

Union boss ‘pictured with people singing pro-Russia chants in Ukraine’

The leader of a major railway union posed with a communist flag and was pictured alongside people singing pro-Russia chants on a visit to occupied Ukraine, it has emerged.

The general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), Eddie Dempsey, travelled to the Donbas region of Ukraine in 2015, one year after it had been invaded by Russia.

While he characterised the trip as a “humanitarian convoy”, footage from his visit – obtained by The Telegraph – showed him holding the red Communist Party flag while those around him chanted slogans in Russian, such as “United, we will never be defeated” and “The Donbas, the tomb of fascism”.

He was also seen posing in front of a statue of Lenin on the trip, which was organised by the Anti-Fascist Forum.

However, an RMT spokesperson said Mr Dempsey’s trip was part of a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine, “motivated by the appalling House of Trade Unions fire in 2014” that killed 42 people following clashes with far-right nationalists.

They insisted that Mr Dempsey has “at no time supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict”.

Under Mr Dempsey’s leadership, the RMT transport union last year passed a controversial motion calling for the UK to stop sending military aid to Ukraine, accusing Britain of playing a “belligerent role in international relations”.

During the 2015 trip, Mr Dempsey was pictured wearing a T-shirt depicting the coat of arms of Novorossiya, a 19th-century Russian province which covered southern and eastern Ukraine.

Mr Dempsey had reportedly been invited on the trip to Alchevsk by Aleksey Mozgovoy, the founder of the Prizrak Brigade, a pro-Russian separatist group. He died two weeks after the trip.

The footage, seen by The Telegraph, shows Mr Dempsey exiting a coach and filming Mozgovoy, who can reportedly be heard accusing the Ukrainian government of being “money launderers” and talking about plans to build collective pig farms.

One image shows the RMT leader posing with a group of people holding a red flag with the Communist Party logo emblazoned across it.

An RMT spokesperson said: “Eddie Dempsey is a lifelong anti-fascist with an extensive track record of fighting racism in Britain and abroad.

“His decision to go on a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine was motivated by the appalling House of Trade Unions fire in 2014, in which at least 42 people were killed, following clashes with far-right Ukrainian nationalists.

“Mr Dempsey has at no time supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.”

The House of Trade Unions fire occurred when Molotov cocktails were thrown into a building in Odesa during a clash between pro-Ukraine and pro-Russia activists.