Asylum seekers only allowed to stay in UK temporarily under radical new rules

Permanent asylum in the UK is set to be scrapped with most migrants only granted “temporary stays” until their home countries are safe to return to.

Shabana Mahmood will announce a radical overhaul of the asylum system, inspired by reforms in Denmark, on Monday.

Under the plans, most successful asylum seekers will only be able to stay in the UK temporarily, and face being returned back to their home country when it is deemed safe.

Ms Mahmood is also expected to introduce greater restrictions on refugees bringing family members to the UK. Under Denmark’s system, refugees have to be at least aged 24 before they can apply for their partners to join them.

In Denmark, refugees are given temporary residence permits, typically of two years, and there is no guarantee of getting a permanent visa. In order to stay in Denmark permanently, refugees have to show that they can speak Danish and have held a job for at least three years. Refugees also risk losing their residency if they visit their home country.

The home secretary is reportedly expected to challenge MPs to the left of her party on Monday, warning: “if you don’t like this, you won’t like what follows me”. The government is under pressure to go further to bring down levels of immigration due to the political threat from Reform UK.

Ms Mahmood said on Friday that she would be announcing the “most significant changes to our asylum system in modern times”.

In a video posted to X/Twitter, she said: “We need to reduce the numbers coming here illegally, we need to remove more people who have no right to be here. We will always be a country that gives sanctuary to those fleeing danger, but we must restore order and control.”

Under the current system, migrants who are granted refugee status get a five-year period of leave to remain in the UK and they can then apply to stay indefinitely. Once they have indefinite leave to remain, they can then apply for British citizenship.

The home secretary announced in September that asylum seekers will have to “earn” their right to remain in the UK. Migrants who want to remain in the UK will have to learn English to a high standard, have a clean criminal record and volunteer in the community to be eligible for indefinite leave to remain.

They will also have to be working, paying national insurance and not be claiming benefits under the proposed changes.

More than 300 charities and voluntary organisations warned Ms Mahmood on Friday against “making volunteering compulsory”. In an open letter, coordinated by Asylum Matters, Focus on Labour Exploitation and Praxis, charities said: “We will not work with coerced volunteers. We will not report to the Home Office on the time people give freely, to us and to their communities.”

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, hit back at suggestions that asylum seekers came to the UK because they were attracted by government support. He said: “Refugees don’t compare asylum systems before running for their lives. They come to the UK because they already have family here, speak some English or have long-standing ties that help them rebuild their lives in safety.

“In reality, people in that situation will often be unable to safely return after only a few years. Attempts to deter people by reducing their rights once they arrive have been tried many times by previous governments and simply haven’t worked. They don’t stop dangerous journeys; they just create more uncertainty and keep families apart.”

Minnie Rahman, CEO of refugee charity Praxis, added: “Stripping migrants of basic human rights isn’t ‘reform’ – it’s the first step down a very dangerous slope, especially with parties holding extreme views on migration circling the next election. Today it’s migrants. Tomorrow it’s anyone who becomes politically inconvenient”.

Labour has paused refugees’ ability to apply to bring their family members to the UK, suspending the legal visa route. Charities, including the British Red Cross, criticised the move and warned that it may fuel more dangerous Channel crossings.

How one of the UK’s worst sex offenders was finally caught

When answering a 999 call from a young woman who said she believed she had been spiked at a networking event, the Metropolitan Police were unaware they were about to stumble across one of the UK’s worst sex offenders.

Despite going under the radar for years as he abused a series of women in London, it took just a matter of minutes for Chao Xu’s web of depravity to be revealed.

The 33-year-old was caught after his victim was not rendered fully unconscious by the stupefying drugs he had placed in her cocktail, which he had named ‘The Spirit of Life’.

He had invited to the woman to his Greenwich flat on 31 May under the guise that she could meet other professionals, before placing GHB and Scopolamine in her drink and sexually assaulting her.

She recalled being “powerless” to defend herself and remembered seeing Xu film her being raped as she lay “in and out of consciousness”. Once she regained full capacity of herself, she confronted him and asked to see his phone. Once he refused, she remained in the same room with him as she told 999 she suspected he had spiked, abused and filmed her.

Within minutes, officers had arrived and Xu handed over the PIN to his mobile device. While he appeared “calm and compliant” to police, a forensic digital download revealed “deeply disturbing” videos and images which documented his years of sexual abuse.

He has now been jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years after pleading guilty to 24 sex offences.

As well as spiking young women who attended his networking events, Xu placed hidden cameras around his property and at his office in Canary Wharf to spy on other victims, and upskirted “hundreds” of women on public transport, particularly targeting London Bridge tube station.

Prosecutor Catherine Farrelly KC told Woolwich Crown Court: “The evidence gathered by the police shows the defendant to be a bold and persistent sexual predator whose offending has steadily become more and more serious. The evidence revealed he was so emboldened he was willing to strike anywhere. At his own home address, at his place of work and in train stations and also willing to strike in respect of anyone.”

She added: “It appears that no woman was safe around him.

“His offending was mainly planned in a very careful way. He would use hidden cameras to record unsuspecting victims, whether by concealing them in his bathroom at home or by covertly using his mobile telephone to record what he was doing and, even more concerningly, he would use drugs – most likely GHB – to incapacitate some of his victims so he could then abuse them over the course of hours, recording what he was doing as some sort of token.”

Prior to his arrest, it is not believed that anyone suspected Xu, who had been offending in plain sight. Described by police as “relatively wealthy” with a nice flat in Stretton Mansions, he had been the director of a recruitment company and had been “very generous” towards those that knew him.

While he had a girlfriend, little is known about his background in China, with police liaising with their Chinese counterparts to uncover more information as part of the ongoing investigation.

Having moved to the UK in 2016, he had studied International Law at Greenwich University, before remaining in the UK on a working visa until his arrest. Police believe that the majority of his offending occurred in London, and that he very infrequently left the city.

Through his business, which primarily helped Chinese graduate students, he began hosting events at his home which were described as professional networking opportunities.

While several of his guests would be offered ‘The Spring of Life’, which contained various alcoholic substances and Chinese herbal medicines, police believe he would single out his intended victim and place drugs in her drink.

Other secret cameras were hidden inside everyday items such as air freshener, a packet of sanitary pads, a digital clock, a speaker, and under a wash basin. They had also been used to film women without their knowledge, and police said that Xu had compiled his various videos and images for his own sexual gratification.

The first victim in the case is unknown, and was targeted by Xu in February 2022 with detectives discovering 37 videos and two images of the half-dressed unconscious victim being sexually abused by him. A second unknown victim was also caught on camera at his previous address in Newington Causeway, with his cat visible in the background.

Investigating officers were also able to pinpoint London Bridge as the location for many of his upskirting crimes, but it is believed that he may have also targeted women at other underground stations.

He admitted four counts of rape, eight counts of assault by penetration, four counts of sexual assault, four counts of voyeurism, two counts of administering a substance with intent, and two counts of operating equipment beneath the clothing of another without consent between February 2022 and June 2025.

His Honour Judge Christopher Grout said Xu was an “incredibly dangerous man” who “took great enjoyment” from his offending.

The judge told Xu: “Your behaviour was calculated and planned, evidenced by the covert recording systems you had set up in your flats and the fact you had incapacitated a number of your victims by drugging them.

“You betrayed the trust of a number of women who you befriended in the most appalling ways imaginable.”

The lead investigator, Detective Chief Inspector Lewis Sanderson, said: “This case has revealed a deeply disturbing pattern of behaviour that spans several years. Xu operated in environments that were meant to be safe.

“University circles, professional networks and public spaces. He used trust, familiarity and social gatherings to pursue his actions and target vulnerable individuals. We know from the evidence recovered that many women were filmed without their knowledge and consent.”

Police are now appealing for anyone with information, or who suspects they may have been a victim of Xu’s offending to come forward. Since their initial appeal in August, 11 more women have come forward and the investigation remains ongoing.

DCI Sanderson continued: “Our work does not stop here. The investigation remains very much open, and we believe there are many more victims—potentially hundreds—both in the UK and overseas. If you think you may have been targeted by Xu, please come forward and speak with our team. You will be treated with empathy, kindness, and respect, and we will do everything possible to support you.”

Police said anyone wishing to make a report relating to Xu can contact them via email on operation.kafka@met.police.uk or by phoning 02071753802.

People can also make a report to police by calling 101 from within the UK, quoting reference 01/7563135/25.

Trump finally responds to bombshell Epstein emails days after release

President Donald Trump has broken his silence after days of dodging reporter questions over the bombshell emails where deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein said the president “knew about the girls” he and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell were abusing and revealed that Trump spent “hours” at his home with one of his victims.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump accused Democrats in Congress of “doing everything in their withering power” to “push” what he called “the Epstein Hoax” as a distraction from “all of their bad policies and losses.”

Trump also hit out at “weak Republicans” who he described as having “fallen into their clutches because they are soft and foolish” and complained that the demand for his administration to release case files from the FBI investigation into the late sex offender should be directed at a group of Democratic figures who have no role in the federal government.

“Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem! Ask Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, and Larry Summers about Epstein, they know all about him, don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!” he added.

In a separate post, Trump claimed he was ordering Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with former president Bill Clinton, Democratic donor and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, ex-Harvard president Larry Summers, plus “many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him.”

“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” he said.

The president added that Clinton, Summers, Hoffman “and many others” somehow “spent large portions of their life” with the late sex offender on his notorious private island.

The president’s Friday morning social media outburst comes over 48 hours since Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released the incendiary emails from the notorious child abuser, leading the GOP majority on the panel to drop more than 20,000 other documents obtained from Epstein’s estate in an effort to flood the zone and get the initial messages off of reporters’ collective radar.

Instead, what followed was a deluge of unflattering material in which Epstein and many of the people with whom he corresponded described Trump in the most harsh of terms.

In one message, Epstein wrote that he knew “how dirty Donald is,” while in others he called Trump “f**king crazy” and “borderline insane” or compared him to a Mafia boss who’d been granted “great dangerous power” as the nation’s chief executive.

He also boasted in one message that he was “the one able to take him down.”

But until now, Trump has not responded directly to the damaging revelations in part because he has uncharacteristically avoided taking questions from the group of reporters who accompany him into events on the White House campus.

He has instead largely left the task of pushing back against the new Epstein emails to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who in a Wednesday statement outed the victim with whom Trump allegedly spent “hours” at Epstein’s house as the late Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year.

Trump previously claimed that Epstein had “stolen” Giuffre from his Mar-a-Lago club, where she worked as a spa attendant before being recruited, groomed and trafficked to Epstein by Maxwell.

“The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and “couldn’t have been friendlier” to her in their limited interactions,” Leavitt said.

Continuing, Leavitt repeated a disputed claim that Trump had “kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre” and accused news outlets that are reporting on the released emails of engaging in “bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments.”

“Any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again,” she added.

Trump’s belated pushback to the latest Epstein revelations comes as the House of Representatives prepares to vote on legislation that would force the Department of Justice to release case files from the probe into the dead child abuser.

After Democrats and a small number of Republicans successfully filed a discharge petition — a parliamentary maneuver to bring legislation to the House floor over the objections of leadership — House Speaker Mike Johnson said the required vote would occur next week.

The bill, known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, would then move to the Senate, where it would need to garner support from at least 13 Republicans to evade the upper chamber’s filibuster.

If that happens, Trump would then have the choice to sign the legislation, veto it, or do nothing and allow it to become law without his signature after ten days (excluding Sundays).

It’s unclear whether enough GOP senators would support the legislation to force Trump to make that decision, but the furor around the bipartisan House bill has knocked the president — and the White House — off their stride for perhaps the first time since Trump returned to office in January.

White House officials who spoke to The Independent on condition of anonymity described the president as “spun up” and “furious” over his apparent inability to dampen his own supporters’ interest in the entire Epstein matter or at least change the subject and move the news cycle along to another topic.

But six years after Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial in federal court on sex trafficking charges, the continued interest in the case against him is largely a problem of the president’s own making.

During last year’s presidential race, he implied that if elected to another term he would use his authority to release the case files, which his supporters have long believed to contain damaging revelations about prominent Democrats. And during his first months back in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed to have a copy of an Epstein “client list” on her desk to review for release.

Instead, his hand-picked Department of Justice leadership caused public anger this past June by issuing an unsigned statement claiming there was simply nothing in the department’s possession that could be released.

Winter hosepipe bans on the cards as England faces drought

Hosepipe bans across England are likely to continue over the winter months, the Environment Agency has warned.

It comes as the Met Office as predicted a higher likelihood of dry conditions from November to January.

Will Lang, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “While it’s not possible to definitively forecast weather for the next three months, the chances of a dry period are higher than normal.”

This means that England would experience even worse levels of drought next year. leading to significant pressures on the environment and a risk to crop yields.

Despite recent rainfall, the drought situation across the country is still precarious after this spring was the driest in 132 years and this summer has been the hottest since records began in 1884, with four heatwaves.

In August, the National Drought Group declared a “nationally significant water shortfall” in England.

Drought is only over when water levels are fully replenished, and England has seen below average rainfall for eight out of ten months so far this year. Drought also brings the risk of flash floods, where dry soils struggle to soak up intense downpours.

Eight million people are still under hosepipe bans across Yorkshire, Thames Valley, Sussex and Kent.

Helen Wakeham, director of water at the Environment Agency, said: “There will be a drought next year, unless we get sustained rainfall through the winter.

“The severity of that drought will depend both on the weather and the actions we take over winter following this very dry year.

“The public have been brilliant in using a little less water this summer and following the restrictions in some parts of the country. I would urge people to continue to be as efficient as possible with their water use this winter – even if it is raining outside. Our wildlife, our rivers and our public water supplies depend on it.”

Total reservoir stocks across England for the period ending 4 November were 65.8 per cent. The average for this time of year is 77.4 per cent.

Over the summer, the Canal & River Trust shut 20 per cent of its network due to lack of water. Farmers’ harvests were impacted and there are concerns heading into winter on feed availability for livestock due to poor grass growth over the spring and summer.

The dry weather has impacted the breeding success of wetland birds, great crested newts, natterjack toads and the migration patterns of eels and salmon. It has also led to trees, including ancient ones, becoming severely stressed.

Water minister, Emma Hardy, said the prolonged dry weather “continues to pose risks to public water supplies, farming, and the environment”.

She added: “We continue to work with the National Drought Group and water companies to maintain supplies for communities across the country.

“Climate change means we will face more frequent, severe droughts and flooding in the years ahead. That’s why this government is taking decisive action to secure our long-term water resilience, which includes building nine new reservoirs and investing in new pipes to reduce leakage.”

Your Party plunged into fresh chaos as MP quits over ‘infighting’

Your Party has been hit by fresh chaos after an MP pulled out of the Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana-led project, citing “veiled prejudice” against Muslim men. Adnan Hussain also hit out at the “persistent infighting” in the group.

It comes as the party’s founding has been marred by internal division, including rows over financing and leadership.

Mr Hussain, the independent MP for Blackburn, said on Friday that he is withdrawing from the “steering process” of the party, and comes barely two weeks before the founding conference in Liverpool.

He said he had initially agreed to support the founding of the party because he believed in “building a political home with mass appeal” and “a force capable of challenging the rise of far-right rhetoric”.

But, in a statement published on X/Twitter, he said he had been disillusioned by “persistent infighting, factional competition, and a struggle for power, position and influence rather than a shared commitment to the common good”.

Mr Hussain said he had also been “deeply troubled” by the way “certain figures” within the new party had been treated, particularly Muslim men.

He said: “At times, the rhetoric used has been disturbingly similar to the very political forces the left claims to oppose.

“I witnessed insinuations about capability, dismissive attitudes and language that carried, at the very least, veiled prejudice.”

He was one of six MPs behind the efforts to set up the new political outfit, and his departure leaves former Labour leader Mr Corbyn, ex-Labour MP Ms Sultana and Independent MPs Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan and Iqbal Mohamed still involved.

The foundation of the party has been marred by internal divisions, including over leadership, the membership launch, and what the party is called.

On Thursday, the Independent Alliance of MPs – which includes Mr Corbyn, Mr Adam, Mr Khan, Mr Hussain and Mr Mohamed – said Your Party was still attempting to recover money donated by supporters when Ms Sultana promoted a new membership portal that was later disowned as an “unauthorised email”.

They said a “small portion” of the funds had been transferred to the official Your Party, but added this was “insufficient” and demanded “the immediate transfer of all the money that was donated by supporters to get a new party off the ground”.

In his statement, Mr Hussain said he “did not anticipate becoming drawn into very serious and damaging internal disputes on matters relating to organisational conduct and governance”.

He also said he wished “those who continue to work on this endeavour the very best of luck and hope their hard work achieves the results they desire”, and that he remains a “dedicated member of the Independent Alliance” parliamentary group.

Food photography tips: how to make food look as good as it tastes

Ever since the rise of social media, sharing food online has become a global obsession. From Instagram reels to TikTok trends, food content dominates our feeds and for good reason. Food is a universal love language. There’s something irresistible about the smell of freshly baked bread or the comfort of a steaming bowl of delicious pasta.

But as any food lover knows, capturing a photo that truly does your meal justice is easier said than done. Yet, it’s a powerful skill to have, as the perfect food shot can turn a humble dinner into viral content and, in some cases, transform small cafés, bartenders, and home bakers into internet stars.

At the heart of this movement sits the smartphone camera. And as someone who’s been immersed in food photography for over a decade and adores a smartphone for its ease of use and authentic way of capturing food moments, I was eager to see what Samsung’s new lightweight Galaxy S25 FE device could bring to the dinner table as it were.

When it comes to shooting food, I look for four essential things in a phone camera:

The Galaxy S25 FE ticks all four boxes and then some, and truly feels as though it was designed with the modern day foodie/food creator in mind. It even introduces ground-breaking AI features that promise to make editing and shooting more intuitive than ever, for a true end-to-end all encompassing device that elevates your food images effortlessly.

When it comes to food photography, the right lens can transform an ordinary plate into a visual feast – and the Galaxy S25 FE delivers a versatile mix that makes shooting creative, effortless, and fun.

The phone features four lenses in total, each one offering something unique for the way you tell your food story. Up front is a 12 MP selfie lens – solid, though not one you’ll often reach for when photographing your meals (unless you’re keen to share a reaction pic after). The real excitement is at the back, where three impressive lenses open up endless visual possibilities.

The 12 MP ultra-wide lens truly shines in tight spaces – whether you’re in a bustling café or a cosy, low-lit bar – capturing the full atmosphere with ease. It’s also perfect for those beautiful ‘table spread’ shots that continue to be popular on social media: think a tapas feast, a Christmas dinner, or a brunch spread where you want every dish in frame, without needing to balance on a chair!

For most food photography though, the star of the show is the 50 MP wide lens. It’s the one that produces those crisp, vibrant images with lifelike colours that leap off the screen. I always suggest shooting dishes that are abundant in natural hues such as bright salads, deeply coloured curries, or gorgeous fruit platters – and wherever possible, using natural light – because on social media colourful food always wins! I’ll often book a restaurant table near a window or shoot at my home studio beside one: it’s the easiest way to make textures sing and let the Galaxy S25 FE’s sensor show what it can really do.

Then there’s the 8 MP telephoto zoom lens, your best friend for capturing all the delicious food trends making the rounds right now such as the creamy frosting on a cinnamon roll or the sparkle of sea salt on a perfectly fried egg with feta and chilli sauce. It’s also great for those close-up shots that add a touch of drama and intimacy to your food feed – the ones that make people stop scrolling and think, ‘Dang, I need that right now.’

Together, these lenses help you capture not just what your food looks like, but how it feels to eat it.

As mentioned above, natural light is always a food photographer’s best friend, but when you’re enjoying a cosy evening meal, it’s not always an option. Most phone cameras struggle in those dimly lit restaurants or candlelit bars, often leaving food looking flat and colours washed out. That’s why I was especially curious to see how the Galaxy S25 FE would perform once the sun went down considering it has Enhanced Nightography and an AI-powered ProVisual Engine – an image processing engine that analyses each shot to automatically improve its visual. So, I put it to the test and am pleased to report, it delivered.

Even under low, warm lighting, the Galaxy S25 FE captures crisp textures and allows your food to look as good as it tastes, whilst infusing it with that evening ambience. For best results, I would recommend using the ultra wide lens in evening settings to capture the restaurant’s atmosphere and the wide lens for your food shots as it will result in the sharpest low light shots.

The Galaxy S25 FE also introduces some clever AI-powered tools that make creating food content even easier. One standout is Audio Eraser*, perfect for those who prefer filming in lively, bustling restaurants. It intelligently removes unwanted background noise, allowing the subtle sounds of your dish like the gentle bubble of hot soup or the satisfying crunch of a bite to take centre stage instead.

There’s also Photo Assist**, which includes Generative Edit and Sketch to Image***. The former lets you effortlessly move or remove distractions from your frame, while the latter allows you to write or draw directly onto your image – not something I’d necessarily do because food is just so naturally beautiful in its own right, but which could be ideal if you’re keen to add a more personal or artistic touch to your social media food posts to ensure you stand out from the crowd.

The Galaxy SE25 FE isn’t just another smartphone, instead it’s a powerful tool for food lovers and food content creators alike. Whether you’re an aspiring influencer keen to share your latest cookie haul, a café owner hoping to make your matcha lattes go viral or simply a home cook who loves sharing their latest creations, this phone can absolutely help you along your delicious journey. Cheers to that!

Kimberly Espinel is an award-winning food photographer, blogger, stylist, podcaster, teacher and author – find out more at her website or on Instagram.

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

*Samsung account login required. Six types of sound can be detected; voices, music, wind, nature, crowd and noise. Results may vary depending on audio source & condition of the video.

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

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

Teenage nursery worker who sexually abused young children jailed

A nursery worker has been detained for 10 years for rape and sexual abuse against boys as young as three.

Within days of being able to look after children, Thomas Waller, 18, took advantage of his position to gain the trust of two boys in his care before exploiting them.

The teenager was working at a nursery for the summer months, and his responsibilities included taking children to the toilet and helping them get changed, Guildford Crown Court was told.

Sentencing him, Judge Claire Harden-Frost said it was “heartbreaking” to see the boys’ parents feeling responsible for what happened.

The nursery worker was found guilty of rape, two counts of causing or inciting sexual activity and taking indecent photos after a trial at Staines Youth Court earlier this year.

The offending happened at a nursery in Surrey, which cannot be named for legal reasons, between July and August 2024.

In a victim impact statement, one of the boys’ fathers said his son had “gathered a collection of memories that I would never wish on a human being”.

Jonathan Hulley, Surrey County Council cabinet member for children, families and lifelong learning, said: “I am appalled by the crimes committed by Thomas Waller and extend my deepest sympathies to the children and families affected.

“As the local authority, we were informed by partners when these disclosures were first made about an individual working in a private nursery in Surrey.

“We immediately undertook our duties to support the actions of safeguarding partners, and of Ofsted as the regulatory body for early years settings.

“Our role has included co-ordinating information-sharing and actions between relevant bodies, as well as supporting the setting to implement actions identified for them by Ofsted.

“The wellbeing and safeguarding of children and young people is our absolute priority.

“I would encourage anyone with concerns about someone who works with children and young people to contact the local authority designated officer.”

The nursery where Thomas Waller raped and sexually abused children has said it took “immediate action” as soon as concerns were raised about the teenager.

Waller sat in the dock wearing a white polo shirt and black coat, and did not react when he found out his sentence.

The judge sentenced him to 15 years at a young offender institution, of which he must serve 10 in detention and five on licence.

Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673)

How I uncovered the real threat to BBC impartiality

When the saga of the double-decapitation of the two most senior BBC executives comes to be written, historians might care to trace it back to Dougie Smith, a shadowy backroom fixer once described as the most powerful political figure you’ve never heard of.

Google ‘Dougie Smith’ and not much will come up, beyond the fact that he was one of the organisers of Fever, a sex party business that hosted lavish orgies in posh London venues. But his day job – splitting his time between Conservative HQ and No 10 – involved getting the “right” people into the “right” roles.

Mostly, that involved vetting each and every Tory potential candidate for parliament with what observers called a “vice-like grip”. But, according to Tim Shipman, now The Spectator’s political editor, he also paid very close attention to inserting right-thinking people into quangos and public posts.

In June 2021, Shipman wrote a piece for The Sunday Times headlined “How the Tories weaponised woke”, which revealed how Smith had been instrumental in getting his long-standing friend Sir Robbie Gibb onto the BBC board.

It is one of the oddities of governance that five out of 13 members of the supposedly independent BBC are, in fact, appointed by the government of the day. Each region has a representative, and Smith had noticed that Dr Ashley Steel, a below-the-radar former KPMG executive who represented England, would be stepping down.

“He pressed for months to see Sir Robbie Gibb, the former No 10 communications director, put on the board of the BBC, forcing it through despite a lack of enthusiasm from Johnson,” wrote Shipman.

An analogy would be a fixer for Gordon Brown nominating Tony Blair’s chief spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, for a seat on the BBC board. Imagine the furore.

“He kept putting Robbie’s name on the list and Boris kept taking it off,” Shipman reported one of his sources recalling, adding: “The plan to send Paul Dacre, the former editor of the Daily Mail, to run broadcasting watchdog Ofcom is from the same playbook.”

Smith and Gibb had known each other since the days when they had been members of the Federation of Conservative Students, a group of libertarian militants whose politics were so extreme that Tory Party Chairman Norman Tebbit closed it down in 1986.

Thirty-five years after those student days, Smith’s plan to get his friend into the BBC succeeded: Gibb was appointed not only to the board but, crucially, to the five-strong Editorial Standards and Guidelines Committee (ESGC), which is charged with overseeing such matters as bias and impartiality – and would inevitably come to discuss the BBC’s coverage of the Middle East and the Israel-Gaza war.

Gibb was proud to call himself a “proper Thatcherite Conservative”, assuring one audience that “I’m not a Chris Patten apologist-type Conservative” – which some might see as a tactless sideswipe at a previous BBC chairman with a rather more distinguished track record in public life.

Gibb reportedly described his mission as reforming the BBC, “or I’ll blow the place up”.

He set about finding allies, including his old friend Michael Prescott, a fellow corporate PR man and former Sunday Times journalist, who was an editorial adviser to the board; and his old friend and colleague, David Grossman, who was recruited to do the legwork.

Fast forward to the end of 2023, when former culture secretary Nadine Dorries published The Plot, a racy account of an alleged cabal to bring down Boris Johnson. Dougie Smith featured prominently in the narrative.

But one story leapt off the page: an account of how Gibb had tried to intervene to get a long-standing Tory backroom functionary the job of heading Ofcom, the BBC regulator. In other words, the regulated party was trying to get the “right” person to oversee the BBC.

You don’t have to think about that for very long to see it’s – what’s an impartial word? – wrong.

I checked the story out: it was obviously true. When I put it to the BBC, the reaction was close to a shrug.

The BBC, in my experience, has a patchy record in defending its own journalists. But it was a different story when it came to circling the wagons around one particular board member.

At the start of 2024, I published the results of my investigations into how, in my view, the government had effectively captured the BBC. The director general, Tim Davie, reportedly laughed it off. Take Robbie Gibb seriously? Dream on.

I doubt he’s laughing now.

In that piece, and a series of articles since in The Independent, I have explored another facet of Gibb’s life since stepping down as a Tory spin doctor and embarking on a life of corporate PR.

In 2020, Britain’s oldest and most influential Jewish newspaper, The Jewish Chronicle, was in financial difficulties. It was rescued by a consortium led by… Sir Robbie Gibb!

There was just one catch. While Gibb was registered at Companies House as the sole director of the JC, it was immediately apparent, and never denied, that he did not personally have the funds to buy it or to finance its future operations. He was, in other words, the front man for person or persons unknown.

Pause to consider the current furore over who should be allowed to own The Telegraph, the paper which has been leading the charge against the BBC in recent days. The editor and staff are in open revolt against the idea that a great British newspaper should fall into the wrong hands. It is, they say, a betrayal of a fundamental tenet of democracy.

But at least we know – more or less – who the backers of the bid for The Telegraph are. With the JC, which hugely influences Jewish opinion about Israel, we are kept in the dark.

A staffer at the paper, Lee Harpin, remembered that Gibb popped into the office on press days and told the team that the new owners – whoever they were – wanted more views “well to the right of the Tory party”.

But it gets worse. Gibb’s stewardship of the paper was extremely controversial. The JC became mired in ethical and editorial failings. Twice the press regulator IPSO has had to arrange additional training for its staff after numerous complaints, and as an alternative to a full-blown standards investigation.

The editor hand-picked by Gibb eventually published a hoaxed story, which led to a high-profile security investigation in Israel. No fewer than six leading columnists walked out, damning the paper as having become a partisan, ideological instrument. The editor himself left shortly afterwards. Still, the paper refused to say who was ultimately calling the shots.

Now, you may read this sorry story and agree that it would be unacceptable for Gibb to be involved in any reviews of the BBC’s coverage of Israel-Gaza. Imagine you were Lyse Doucet or Jeremy Bowen, knowing that such an avowedly partial figure was making judgements about your coverage.

I contacted the BBC to inquire if Gibb had, in fact, recused himself. The short answer: no.

It seems Gibb doesn’t think he should recuse himself. Perhaps – one can only speculate – Gibb considers himself a perfect arbiter of bias wherever he sees it and it would never occur to him that he might, himself, be biased.

In fact, his involvement, I’m told, is the opposite. When it came to reviews about the BBC’s coverage of the Middle East he “led them, owned them, drove them. Put them on the agenda. He had his researcher, David Grossman, do the research”.

Now, none of this amounts to a coup. But, to my eyes, it does suggest that something has gone very wrong in the way the BBC is governed.

The 13-strong board – including five appointed by the government of the day (and Gibb was reappointed for three years in the dying days of the Sunak administration) – has very few people with any personal experience of journalism.

That means that the ESGC has even more importance as a forum for interrogating the corporation’s journalism. A veteran former news executive told me: “That may explain why Gibb has an outsized influence on the whole board. It would matter less if he was one of six people with a solid journalistic background.”

So, in the run-up to Charter renewal – the 10-yearly process whereby the BBC’s mandate is refreshed – the government has the opportunity to think about whether there are better ways of scrutinising and, where appropriate, defending the BBC’s journalism. Sir Keir Starmer, if he is concentrating, will see the need to Farage-proof public service media.

He could use his imagination to ponder what Britain’s media landscape would look like without the BBC. Does he really want an unholy alliance of Murdoch (or whoever comes after Rupert), Lord Rothermere and whoever ends up owning The Telegraph to mediate most of our national information and conversations? With Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to be in charge of our algorithms and Sir Paul Marshall dominating what we see?

The Murdoch press, which sometimes mounts a high horse to lament the BBC’s ethical failings, seems to forget that it was, for many years, something of a criminal enterprise in this country. As the editor of The Guardian, I published the stories of phone hacking carried out by the News of the World, which led to the eventual closure of the paper. Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers has subsequently paid out more than £1bn in settlements and legal fees.

The BBC has done the right thing to apologise to Donald Trump, while declining to pay so much as a cent in damages. If the case does ever come to court in Florida – which I very much doubt – they should point out that Trump is increasingly prone to making extremely long and rambling speeches and that, most of the time, journalists do him something of a favour by editing him in a way which makes him seem rather more coherent than he is in real life.

The Panorama edit was a mistake – and possibly the Newsnight one that has also come to light. But James Ball has demonstrated in The New World that Michael Prescott, in his rush to accuse the BBC of doctoring the Trump speech, himself doctored it in a similarly misleading way.

The Prescott dossier – so knowingly leaked to The Telegraph – already looks much less substantial than it was billed. The BBC Chair, Samir Shah, has responded reasonably robustly and convincingly to many of the charges in his letter to the culture select committee. He points out that the BBC’s own processes raised some of the issues in the “dossier” and that some of the failings identified are already being addressed. That doesn’t invalidate the entire document, but it may render it less damning than the original cherry-picked highlights suggested.

For further reading, I recommend a forensic 3,000-word analysis of the dossier by the writer and broadcaster David Aaronovitch on his personal Substack. I mean no disrespect to Messrs Prescott or Gibb to say that Aaronovitch’s journalistic career has been at least more distinguished than theirs – and, unlike them, he didn’t bail out of journalism in favour of lucrative jobs in corporate PR. His Radio 4 series, The Briefing Room, is a model of how to analyse issues from all sides.

He says of Prescott: “His objections range from the debatable to the downright partisan … Good journalists at the BBC will find it hard to accept castigation from someone who either leaves out vital information or hasn’t done the most basic research. Ironically, Prescott’s letter had me worrying, not about the BBC’s journalism, but about how the preoccupations and prejudices of ‘independent advisers’ had come to play such a major role in guiding editorial discussion.”

I also recommend a 7,700-word essay by the writer Daniel Trilling in the new online magazine Equator, in which he vigorously argues that the BBC’s fear of being seen as biased against Israel led to a profound and fundamental miscalibration of its coverage of the war in Gaza.

You may agree or disagree with that, but you would not guess from the Prescott dossier that there even are two sides to this argument. In banging the drum for their version of impartiality, they have represented only one side. And they seem utterly oblivious to the irony of that.

And this is why the argument leads back to the fundamental incoherence of the governance arrangements of one of the world’s greatest news organisations. You look at the composition of the BBC board – a worthy enough collection of people drawn mainly from the ranks of business, finance and law – and wonder which of them is really equipped to arbitrate on such fine distinctions in editorial judgement?

“Sexed-up” dossiers have an unfortunate resonance for the BBC. It was a sexed-up report by one Andrew Gilligan in 2003 – himself claiming that the government had sexed up intelligence over Iraq – that led to the defenestration of the then director general and chair of the BBC.

I would not be so crude as to suggest that Prescott has sexed up his own dossier, but it is now clear that there is much less to it than meets the eye. Wise old BBC hands compare the tone and lack of balance with the thorough systematic reviews the BBC used to commission. Alastair Campbell – no stranger to spin in his past life – took one look at it and described it as a MTBL – a “memo to be leaked”.

If any good can come out of this dismal episode, it at least focuses a spotlight on the role of Sir Robbie Gibb. SNP and LibDem MPs are calling for his removal. But he was put there at the pleasure of Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak and is probably unsackable. If he had a modicum of self-knowledge, he would now resign.