Barristers are demanding a 15 per cent pay rise to match settlements secured by other public sector unions.

They also want the Government to set up an independent pay review body, to help end the cycle of industrial disputes that saw barristers take strike action in 2014 and 2022.

The demands were part of a five-point plan to tackle a crisis in criminal justice set out by Sam Townend, the chairman of the Bar Council. There is a chronic shortage of barristers, and creaking court buildings require at least £1 billion of renovation.

The demands came days after train drivers were offered a 15 per cent pay rise to end two years of strike action, and nurses rejected a 5.5 per cent offer by the Government.

A bitter dispute under the Tories saw barristers mount indefinite strikes that delayed hundreds of trials and contributed to an increasing backlog of more than 65,000 cases. It was resolved in 2022 when they secured a 15 per cent increase in their fees.

Speaking at a fringe event of the Society of Labour Lawyers, Mr Townend said the Bar Council – which represents some 18,000 lawyers – was seeking a “15 per cent increase now to reflect the public sector pay settlement which others have had, including, for example, judges”.

To tackle a crisis in retention which had contributed to shortages of criminal barristers, Mr Townend suggested an “independent pay review, or fee review body to end the five- to seven-year cycle of industrial disputes as fees have failed to respond to inflation”.

Mr Townend said one in 20 trials at crown courts last year were aborted on their first day because the shortage of barristers meant no lawyers were available. 

“This is utterly wasteful,” he said.

He urged the Government to set up a matched funding scheme to increase recruitment of criminal barristers by paying for 100 additional pupillages every year over five years.

Extra money should also be directed at boosting “third-sector advice” such as law centres and Citizens Advice to ensure more people had access to justice who would otherwise not, he said.

Mr Townend, a former vice-chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers, told ministers: “Finally, if I may, a general warning. What the bar, and I think the public, do not want to hear is a plan of austerity-light or a continuity of cuts, just nicer done. That is not the change that was voted for.

“We know money is tight, and we know that it will take time, but politics is about choices. We must have a vision of a brighter future, a hope of a means to get to swift justice, of access to justice, and to turn around the degraded system of justice that the last government so manifestly left us in,” he added.

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, told the Labour conference on Monday that the pay rises given to millions of public sector workers were the “right choice”.

Speaking to delegates in Liverpool, she said: “I am proud to stand here as the first chancellor in 14 years to have delivered a real meaningful pay rise to millions of public sector workers. 

“We made that choice not just because they needed a pay rise but because it was the right choice for patients and the British public.”

Flooding caused disruption across England on Tuesday, swamping roads and leaving vehicles abandoned, with more expected in nearly 30 areas despite an easing of heavy rain.

The Environment Agency issued 26 flood warnings – meaning flooding is expected – and 71 alerts, meaning it is possible, across England on Tuesday morning.

Part of the A421 in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, remained under water after heavy rain hit the area over Sunday and Monday.

National Highways said it expected the road to remain closed on Tuesday in both directions between the A6 Bedford and M1 Junction 13, and that it “cannot provide a timeline” for it to reopen.

The northbound A5 between the A421 in Bletchley and Great Holm at Milton Keynes was closed because of rising water levels on Tuesday morning.

Flooding between Rugby and Milton Keynes Central disrupted Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway services until 10am, according to National Rail.

London Northwestern Railway said its Marston Vale line, which operates between Bedford and Bletchley, would be suspended until Sep 30.

The National Grid said there had been a week’s worth of power cuts across the weekend.

In Northamptonshire, boat owners reported being rescued by the fire service after a river breached its bank. Saphire Blurton, 32, and Lee Mills, 53, were rescued from their boat on the River Nene on Tuesday – the day after they moved in.

Mr Mills told the BBC: “It was nice being rescued by the Fire Brigade… a bit ironic being rescued from a boat to a boat, but it was OK – they were really good people. They were really on it because a few boats have sunk down here this morning already.”

A Fire Brigade spokesman said: “Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service was called at 6.23 this morning to reports of a boat in difficulty in the water on South Bridge Road, Northampton.

“On arrival, firefighters found that the river had breached the side of the bank and liaised with the owner of the boat to offer them safety advice. Crews spoke to all the boat owners at the scene and, following advice from firefighters, three occupants were assisted from their boats on to dry land.”

Elsewhere in Northamptonshire, homes at Cogenhoe Mill Holiday Park were surrounded by water after the River Nene burst its banks.

Drier but noticeably cooler conditions are forecast on Tuesday, with Scotland and northern England still seeing some isolated heavy showers with a chance of thunder, according to the Met Office. It said further weather warnings were “unlikely”.

Maximum temperatures are expected to rise no higher than the mid-teens.

Liam Eslick, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “There may be odd, heavier bursts just clipping the South-East as a system does slowly start to move away, but it’s a much drier day for most people.

“There are going to be some isolated showers here and there, but they’re going to be very light – nothing like the torrential rain that we’ve seen over the last couple of days.”

River levels should start to decrease to more manageable levels elsewhere towards the end of the day as more water seeps into the ground.

The shift to drier conditions in southern areas will also signal a slight dip in temperatures. The gradual lowering will continue through Wednesday and Thursday but, with plenty of cloud around, it is unlikely any frost will develop.

The transgender owner of a £5 million Scottish castle is selling up, claiming the rural community is “not ready” to accept someone who has changed their gender.

Samantha Kane said it sometimes felt like she had “landed on Mars” when “hurtful” gender identity comments were shared on social media.

Ms Kane, who was born male and now styles herself as Lady Carbisdale, is thought to be the only person in the UK to have changed gender three times.

The barrister has spent millions of pounds restoring Carbisdale Castle, near Ardgay in Sutherland, after buying the 117-year-old property in 2022.

But Ms Kane has now decided to sell the 19-bedroom, 29-acre castle, complete with its own loch. It has been listed with a guide price of £5 million.

Ms Kane, 64, told the Daily Mail: “It has been a labour of love mostly. But when people sit in their bedrooms writing on social media they have to realise the effect that has on some people.

“I really have been quite hurt by comments on my gender identity, so now I think it just needs someone, for a better word, ‘normal’ to take over.”

Ms Kane added: “It is such a special place but I did suffer some prejudice and I think probably the Highlands is not ready for a transgender owner of the castle. It needs someone else to protect its future.

“But I came here to a near-ruined castle and have restored it to its former glory, so I’ve done the job I said I was going to do.

“It’s really such an important landmark and my main concern is to see it preserved and to see it respected.”

After Ms Kane bought Carbisdale Castle for more than £1 million, police were called over a community council meeting at which homophobic remarks were allegedly made about her.

Ms Kane had attended the meeting to state her intention to restore the manor but had to leave while a vote took place.

One resident, who did not want to be named, claimed he heard a woman had been “abusive” towards a committee member understood to have been Ms Kane.

He claimed: “The language she used was exceptionally strong which even a sailor would have been proud of. I wouldn’t use it as a man, never mind it coming from a woman.”

Police Scotland said it received a report of a disturbance in Carron Place, Ardgay, on Nov 23.

Officers issued advice and a woman received a recorded warning in relation to an earlier disturbance on Nov 21.

At the time, Ms Kane described the police involvement as an “overreaction” despite claiming that some of what was said was “homophobic and racist”.

She said of the alleged abuse: “In my view it wasn’t a disturbance other than a handful of people wanting to see what I’m doing derailed. I’ve got a half a dozen people trying to smear my name and the castle’s name. They’d rather see a ruined castle than a preserved castle.”

Ms Kane said there were “a lot of great people in the community” and stressed the “actions of one or two people should not reflect the whole community”.

“Unfortunately if you have one or two very active and very vocal people trying to make it all personal… and comments on social media calling me a man – and this and that – it really hurt me and I can do without that,” Ms Kane said.

“It is a sad situation. But really for me I think it should be about whatever helps the castle, it shouldn’t be what helps me personally. In the interests of the castle I think it will be best served with someone else at the helm.”

Ms Kane was born in Iraq and moved to the UK, later making a fortune as the head of investment at a Saudi-owned company. She transitioned to become Samantha in 1997 and in 2004 transitioned back to a man.

In 2018, she underwent further surgery and hormone replacement therapy to revive her transition into femininity.

Plans to change pub opening hours have caused a rift in the Labour Party a day after they were proposed at the party conference in Liverpool.

Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, vowed to “table an emergency resolution” to stop any motion that would see pubs close earlier.

It came after Andrew Gwynne, a fellow minister who is responsible for public health, suggested that “tightening up on some of the hours of operation” at pubs and bars should be considered as part of efforts to tackle alcohol abuse.

On Tuesday, Mr McFadden ruled out any plans to change hours, hailing pubs as “a great part of the British tradition”.

“We’ve got a day left of the conference, and if that’s on the agenda I’m going to table an emergency resolution myself in order to make sure it doesn’t happen,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I think we’ve been clear about that overnight – the pub’s a great part of the British tradition, and we’ve got no plans to change the opening hours in that way.”

He later told LBC: “I don’t think there’s any plan to shut the pubs early. The pub is a great part of British life.

“I, before we started the interview, I think I told you I don’t have a drink during the conference, but that is partly so I can look forward to having a nice one when the conference is over, and I hope the pub will be open when I go in.”

Speaking at the conference, Mr Gwynne had said: “These are discussions that we have got to have – even if it’s just about tightening up on some of the hours of operation, particularly where there are concerns that people are drinking too much”.

The curtailment on pub licensing hours is under consideration alongside measures to target obesity, including pushing the food industry to reduce the fat, sugar and salt content of everyday foods.

Insisting Labour was “not the fun police” nor “supernanny”, Mr Gwynne said the case for such measures was both moral and economic.

He said the state of Britain’s poor health was “morally reprehensible” and that “bluntly there isn’t enough money” for the NHS to cope with rising demand without such actions.

But a spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “It is categorically untrue that the Government is considering changing alcohol licensing hours.”

Emma McClarkin, the British Beer and Pub Association chief executive, welcomed Mr McFadden’s move to deny the rumours.

She said: “It is a huge relief that the idea of restricting pub hours has been quashed, as it suggested a fundamental misunderstanding about how people drink.

“As the Chancellor said, this Budget will be about economic growth, so it’s important to avoid baffling proposals that would not only ineffectively tackle an issue, but diminish the economy and put jobs at risk.

“The great British pub is at the heart of communities up and down the country who put their faith in Labour for the first time in a generation.  We urge the party not to turn its back on them now they are in government and to honour those promises for the future survival of this vital industry.”

Ms McClarkin had previously criticised a plan to ban smoking in pub gardens, which she said could have “a devastating impact on pubs who are already struggling with soaring energy prices and the cost of doing business”.

Moira Stuart has revealed she nearly fell victim to a sophisticated banking scam.

The Classic FM presenter, 75, said she thought she would be immune to scams but admitted the psychological techniques used by the fraudsters caught her out.

Stuart said she received a call at 9am from an individual claiming to be a representative of her bank.

She was told that someone had taken money from her account after colluding with a member of staff at her local branch.

Stuart was then instructed to visit another bank branch to resolve the issue.

Speaking to The Times, she said: “I’m ex-directory, so I didn’t question it. I had absolutely no idea I was being scammed.”

‘Inside job’

She added: “The fraudster stayed on the phone the whole time and told me it was an inside job at my bank they had uncovered. He told me to stay on my mobile so he could tell me what to say to bank staff at the new branch. 

“He said, ‘We’re going to send this amount of money from your account and see what happens if they intercept it’.”

However while she was on the phone at the branch, a cashier suggested something wasn’t right.

Stuart said: “This gorgeous young man questioned what I was doing and said, ‘Can you wait a moment please, madam?’.”

Despite Stuart’s initial frustration at having to wait, she is now thankful that the employee intervened.

“He took me to one side and said, ‘This doesn’t sound right,’ and now I can’t thank him enough,” she said.

She was put on to the bank’s anti-fraud team, which confirmed that it was a scam.

‘Angry with myself’

Stuart added: “I was absolutely devastated, embarrassed and angry with myself. If you’re very independent, as I am, it feels like you have let yourself down, your family, everyone who knows you. This feeling, this intrusion, it doesn’t leave you.”

The 75-year old said she was sharing the story so others would be aware of such scams. “There is so much shame and embarrassment attached to this sort of thing but it’s ­important that it’s talked about so people are aware,” she said.

Around three million instances of bank fraud, costing a combined £1.2 billion, were recorded last year.

More than 230,000 of these customers were victims of “authorised fraud”, where they were tricked into sending money to a scammer.

Sir Keir Starmer has called for the return of the “sausages” from Gaza in a slip-up during his speech at the Labour Party conference.

In an embarrassing gaffe, the Prime Minister misread his script – which called for the return of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on Oct 7 last year.

He said: “I call again for restraint and de-escalation between Lebanon and Israel. I call again for all parties to pull back from the brink.

“I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the sausages… the hostages, and a recommitment to the two-state solution, a recognised Palestine and a safe and secure Israel.”

The Prime Minister also said criticism of the way he runs his Government was “water off a duck’s back”.

“Politics can be on the side of good, politics can be on the side of truth and justice, politics can secure a better life for your family through the steady and uncompromising work of service,” he said.

“Because service is responsibility and opportunity for all. The precondition for hope. The bond of respect that can unite a country, bind us to the politics of national renewal. Service doesn’t mean you get everything you want. It doesn’t mean everyone will agree.

“But it does mean we understand that every decision we take, we take together, and that it is our duty for the British people to face up to necessary decisions in their interests.

“And conference – you know me by now, so you know all those shouts, the bad faith advice from people who still hanker after the politics of the people before me, the weak and tawdry fantasy of populism, it’s water off a duck’s back. Mere glitter on a shirt cuff.”

The Conservatives responded with a video on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The party said: “Keir Starmer uses his first big speech as Prime Minister to call for the return of the sausages.”

It then led to a Star Wars style title, saying: “Episode X: Return of the Sausages.”

A new species of “ghost shark” with a distinctive beak-like mouth has been discovered in the Pacific Ocean.

The new “spookfish” was found living deep in the waters of Australia and New Zealand by scientists from the Wellington-based National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).

The specimens were discovered during research in the Chatham Rise, an area of the Pacific which stretches around 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) east near New Zealand’s South Island.

Ghost sharks, or chimaeras, are related to sharks and rays, but are part of a group of fish whose skeletons are entirely made of cartilage.

Also known as spookfish, the ghost sharks have haunting black eyes and smooth, light brown, scale-free skin.

They feed off crustaceans at depths of up to 2,600 metres (8,530 feet) using their distinctive beak-like mouth.

“Ghost sharks like this one are largely confined to the ocean floor,” Brit Finucci, a research scientist with NIWA, said.

Ms Finucci gave the new species its scientific name “Harriotta avia” in memory of her grandmother.

She said: “Their habitat makes them hard to study and monitor, meaning we don’t know a lot about their biology or threat status, but it makes discoveries like this even more exciting.”

The spookfish was previously thought to be part of a single globally distributed species until scientists discovered it is genetically and morphologically different to its cousins.

Telegram will hand users’ internet IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities with “valid legal requests” such as search warrants.

The change to the messaging app’s terms of service and privacy policy “should discourage criminals”, Pavel Durov, Telegram’s embattled founder and chief executive, said, weeks after his arrest in France on charges of failing to act against criminals using his app.

“While 99.999 per cent of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001 per cent involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk,” he added.

“We won’t let bad actors jeopardise the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users,” Mr Durov said.

The elusive 39-year-old billionaire – who holds Russian, French and United Arab Emirati passports – added that the messaging platform had removed its more “problematic content”.

Telegram’s search feature “has been abused by people who violated our terms of service to sell illegal goods”, he told the 13 million subscribers to his personal channel.

Over the past few weeks, staff had combed through Telegram using artificial intelligence to ensure “all the problematic content we identified in search is no longer accessible”, he said.

Popular in Russia

Created in 2013, Telegram has become wildly popular in Russia, Ukraine, and the Middle East, both for private communication and as a source of uncensored news.

It is widely used by Russian and Ukrainian war propagandists, and by both sides – especially the Russian army – for battlefield communications.

This week, Ukraine banned the app on state-issued devices to prevent Russian spying. The Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council (RNBO) said it imposed the ban to “minimise” threats such as Russia being able to intercept messages even after they have been deleted.

“Telegram is actively used by the enemy for cyber-attacks, the distribution of phishing and malicious software, user geolocation and missile strike correction,” the RNBO said in a statement.

There is speculation that Russia may have a backdoor to the app’s encrypted communications and that the West is now pressuring Mr Durov to provide the same favour.

The prospect of handing the authorities details of users’ identities will be a source of disquiet to dissidents in Iran (where Telegram is officially banned but widely used), and other repressive states.

Arrested in France

It is a significant reversal for the platform’s Russian-born co-founder, who was arrested on Aug 24 as he arrived on a private jet at Le Bourget airport outside Paris.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, was kept in the dark over his arrest, despite being reportedly close to Mr Durov, who secured fast-track French nationality in 2021.

French prosecutors charged Mr Durov with enabling criminal activity on the platform. Allegations against him include complicity in spreading child abuse images and trafficking of drugs. He was also charged with failing to comply with law enforcement.

Mr Durov, who has denied the charges, initially lashed out, saying that holding him responsible for crimes committed by third parties on the platform was both “surprising” and “misguided”.

But he later announced steps appearing to bow to Paris’s demands.

On Sept 6, he said Telegram would alter its “people nearby” feature to present users with “legitimate businesses” rather than “bots and scammers”.

“This year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise,” he said at the time.

He was released on a €5 million (£4.2 million) bail but must remain in France and report to police twice a week.

‘Misinformation’

Critics say Telegram has become a hotbed of misinformation, child pornography, and terror-related content partly because of a feature that allows groups to have up to 200,000 members.

Meta-owned WhatsApp, by contrast, limits the size of groups to 1,000.

Telegram was under fire last month for hosting far-Right channels that helped provoke riots in English cities this summer.

Mr Durov, who rarely speaks in public, has a fortune estimated at $15.5 billion (£11.6 billion) by Forbes magazine, but touts the virtues of an ascetic life that includes ice baths and not drinking alcohol or coffee.

He came to prominence in Russia by founding Vkontakte, a social network modelled on Facebook. 

He lost control of that company after refusing to hand over data on Ukrainian protesters to the Kremlin and left Russia in 2014, saying he would never return. He headed to France and went on to find wealth with Telegram, founded with his brother Nikolai in 2013.

According to Mr Durov, Telegram has around 900 million active users worldwide.

A missing 10-year-old girl was located with thermal imaging drones one day after she got lost inside a forest in Louisiana.

Peyton Saintignan disappeared on Sept 14 after she sleepwalked deep into the woods near her home.

Drone footage, which was released on Monday, captured the moment she was found huddled under a tree in her pyjamas at 11pm local time the next day.

In the video, the drone operators can be heard cheering as soon as they see Peyton start to lift her head.

“She’s awake,” a male voice exclaims. “They got her! She’s alive!” another man says as clapping can be heard in the background.

Several police officers then arrive at the scene and Peyton, who appears to be shaking, is carried to safety.

Multiple police departments, firefighters, homeland security agents and hundreds of volunteers were involved in a major search which began on Sept 15.

However, it was volunteers from Arkansas who offered up their specialist drone equipment and eventually located Peyton 1.5 miles from her home.

She was found “in dense woods roughly 300 yards from where a trail camera had recorded her earlier Sunday morning”, Jason Parker, the local sheriff, said.

He explained that police had tried but failed to use a helicopter to find her and thanked the three volunteer drone operators, Josh Klober, Matt Ramos and Micah Carter, for “successfully located the young girl”.

“I can’t tell you how thrilled we all are to have a happy ending to this,” Mr Parker said at the time.

“A lot of prayers were answered today. And, I want especially to thank all the agencies who helped bring Peyton safely home and all the volunteers who gave their time and efforts.”

It was just the latest example of such aerial technology being used to find missing children.

Earlier this month, a three-year-old was quickly located within a cornfield in Wisconsin by police using drones with thermal capabilities.

France and Germany have demanded improved post-Brexit rules for EU workers and students in Britain in return for a new migration deal to drive down Channel crossings.

The two countries asked the European Commission to negotiate concessions alongside a deal on asylum with the UK in a letter seen by The Telegraph.

The call is an early result for Sir Keir Starmer’s efforts to reset relations with the EU and his diplomatic outreach to Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor.

But any deal to return Channel migrants will be difficult and come attached with demands over youth mobility and calls on Britain to resettle genuine refugees in Europe to the UK.

Brussels must “rapidly present a draft negotiating mandate with a view to reaching an agreement with the United Kingdom on asylum and immigration issues”, Paris and Berlin wrote to the commission.

“We believe that Brexit has had very detrimental consequences for the coherence of our migration policies,” said the joint letter. 

“The absence of provisions governing the flow of people between the UK and the Schengen area is clearly contributing to the dynamics of irregular flows – and to the danger posed to people using this route in the Channel and the North Sea.”

The joint letter was sent by Nancy Faeser, the German interior minister, and Gerald Darmanin, her outgoing French counterpart, on Friday. Mr Darmanin has now left his post as France ushered in a new Right-wing government that promises to be even tougher on illegal immigration at the weekend.

As many as 41,078 migrants tried to reach the UK from the EU’s Schengen zone in the first eight months of this year, according to Frontex, the bloc’s border agency.

The ministers said the lack of a deal regulating the movement of “persons between the UK and the Schengen zone is obviously contributing to the momentum of irregular migration flows.”

They added: “The arrival in office of a new British Government, demonstrating its intention to co-operate constructively with the EU, seems to us to be conducive to concrete progress on this issue.”

Labour hopes to make the fight against illegal migration part of a new security and defence pact with the EU. The bloc sees the negotiations as a way to impose pressure on the Government to agree to increase legal youth mobility for EU citizens into Britain. 

Labour has already rejected a call from Brussels to negotiate such a deal, or rejoin the Erasmus student exchange scheme.

Diplomatic sources have previously said any EU migrant return deal would require Britain to take in a share of migrants from under-pressure countries in the bloc, as member states do.

“We are relying heavily on the commission to simultaneously address the issues of legal mobility, in particular family and professional mobility, the fight against illegal immigration and the right of asylum with our British partner,” the letter said.

During the Brexit negotiations, the European Commission rejected UK calls for an EU-wide migration deal to replace the Dublin regulation, which means migrants must stay in the first safe country they land.

‘Red lines have not changed’

Any EU-UK deal would require the unanimous support of the EU’s 27 member states, which is unlikely given that migration is a hugely divisive issue in the bloc.

Countries such as Italy and Greece, which have borne the brunt of migrant arrivals into Europe, will be likely resist moves to return people to the EU, as will the fiercely anti-migrant Hungary.

The overture from Paris and Berlin comes after Sir Keir told leaders at the European Political Community summit earlier this year that the UK would never leave the European Convention on Human Rights after ditching the Rwanda plan.

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, will meet Ms Faeser, Bruno Retailleau, the new French interior minister, and Italy’s Matteo Piantedosi, her Italian counterpart, at a G7 ministerial meeting next week.

The Government insists its red lines have not changed and that there will be no return to freedom of movement or any involvement in an EU quota scheme for migrants.

“Starmer would do anything to get closer to the EU,” James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary and Tory leadership candidate, told The Times. “This is a man who campaigned for a second referendum and said all immigration laws were racist. The EU cannot wait to play Labour like a fiddle.”

Kemi Badenoch has accused Labour of being “hypocrites” for accepting donor gifts while criticising Boris Johnson for taking money to help redecorate Number 10.

The Tory leadership frontrunner defended receiving freebies herself, saying it can allow a hard-pressed politician to spend time with her children.

But she insisted: “You can’t buy me with a glass of Prosecco and smoked salmon.”

Ms Badenoch’s comments come in the wake of Labour’s sleaze row, with ministers under fire for accepting free clothes, holidays and concert tickets.

She told Times Radio: “It’s about hypocrisy. They are being criticised because they are being hypocrites.

“They criticised Boris Johnson for putting wallpaper in a public property.”

This is a reference to claims in 2021 that an undisclosed loan was used to fund new wallpaper in Mr Johnson’s Downing Street flat. Following the furore, Mr Johnson agreed to pay for the refurbishment himself.

Angela Rayner tries to deflect criticism

Ms Badenoch made reference to the 40th birthday party of Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary,which was paid for by a donor.

“Once in a while [donors] would ask me to come to something, and my children haven’t seen me for a week and they would like to go,” she said.

“You declare it and you explain what it is you’re doing. Nobody paid for my birthday parties or anything like that.”

Ms Badenoch has taken freebies for an Ed Sheeran concert and a rugby game at Twickenham.

She said: “I think what Labour are failing to do is point out why politicians do this.

“What many people don’t see is the school sports days that I miss or my children crying as they were this weekend because I had to go to hustings, a lot of the constituency functions which you do which mean that you actually miss out on time with your family.

“So if someone says, well, you can do some work and we can have a chat and you get time to spend with your family at something that they probably wouldn’t be able to do normally, you say yes to it.”

On taking her husband to the rugby, she said: “He likes rugby. My husband spends a lot of money subsidising my life as a politician. He has to deal with the fallout.

“So here’s something nice that he can do with me. It doesn’t mean that those people are buying me. You can’t buy me with a glass of Prosecco and smoked salmon.”

Ms Badenoch hit out at Tory leadership rival Robert Jenrick for a poor record as immigration minister, saying things “didn’t go well” under his time in office.

She said that, unlike Mr Jenrick, she was able to campaign on her record in office as business secretary and equalities minister.

She added that while Britain will “probably” need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights in order to tackle the small boats issue, that would not be the major factor in bringing down immigration.

There are now four candidates left in the race to run the Conservative Party: Ms Badenoch, Mr Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat.

Each will make speeches at next week’s Tory conference, after which MPs will hold two votes to whittle the number down to the final two.

Asked by Times Radio whether she thought Mr Jenrick had done a good job as immigration minister, Ms Badenoch said: “I think it’s an interesting argument to say that things didn’t go well when I was doing the job, but give me another chance.

“I’m standing on my record. I got things done and I can do more. And I think when it comes to immigration, we need to start from first principles.

“This policy of leaving the ECHR is something that we probably will have to do, but it’s not where to start from. We need to start from first principles. What kind of country do we want to be? Why have we been so bad at managing the borders despite wanting to do so?

“More promises are not the answer. We need a plan and we need people who show that they understand the system and know how to fix it.”

Ms Badenoch also ruled out doing an electoral deal with Nigel Farage to help the Tories at the next poll.

She said: “I’m a Conservative. I love competition. It’s another thing that we believe in from first principles.

“But that means doing better than the other lot. We created a vacuum which Reform has filled by not being authentically Conservative or visibly Conservative, by not delivering on our promises. So we have a job to do in order to remove that vacuum.

“I don’t think that there is space for two centre-Right parties but I don’t think the solution is attacking Reform voters. We need to win them back.

“Many of the Reform voters in my constituency were former Conservatives. We’ve got to do that but doing a deal with Farage for me is not on the cards.”

Sir Keir Starmer faces a fresh backlash over his relationship with Lord Alli because of the role played by one of the donor’s former staff members in choosing prospective Labour MPs.

Matthew Faulding, who was in charge of candidate selection for this year’s general election, worked in Lord Alli’s office on secondment from his firm BM Creative Management in the months before the poll.

He was blamed by critics of Sir Keir for “parachuting” favoured candidates into constituencies, imposing them on local Labour associations. He is now secretary of the Parliamentary Labour Party, “keeping them all in check” according to one former member of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), who described the arrangement as “rotten to the core”.

It came as Lucy Powell, the Leader of the Commons, said Labour would not change the rules around MPs accepting so-called freebies.

The Labour Party conference has been overshadowed by a row over Lord Alli’s donations to Sir Keir Starmer to buy clothes and spectacles. Lord Alli was given a Downing Street security pass in what has been dubbed the “passes for glasses” controversy.

He is attending the conference but has kept a low profile, shunning the main conference hall and fringe events. On Monday afternoon he was spotted leaving the conference secure zone, when he walked past Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, who did not acknowledge him.

When a reporter for Sky News asked him about the controversy, he said: “Please don’t – this is not very nice.”

Some Labour members are angry that Lord Alli’s influence appears to have extended to the selection of Labour candidates, many of whom are now MPs.

Mark Seddon, a former Labour candidate who served on the NEC and is now director of the Centre for United Nations Studies at the University of Buckingham, said on X: “The same Matt Faulding who fixed the selections is now Secretary of the Parliamentary Labour Party, keeping them all in check. Rotten to the core.”

The journalist Michael Crick reported before the election that candidates parachuted into constituencies included Josh Simons, the former director of the Starmerite think tank Labour Together, who is now MP for Makerfield; Calvin Bailey, MP for Leyton and Wanstead; James Asser, former chair of the NEC and now MP for West Ham and Beckton; and Luke Akehurst, MP for North Durham, who was seen as Sir Keir’s enforcer on the NEC.

Sir Keir had previously promised not to impose candidates on local party associations, but during the general election he was accused of breaking that promise and “riding roughshod” over the wishes of members.

‘Starmtroopers’

Those on the Left of the party accused him of flooding the country with “Starmtroopers” to purge Labour of anyone deemed to have diverged from the party line.

Some members resigned in disgust after having candidates imposed from above rather than being able to interview and select their own candidates.

Mr Faulding, 35, was a deputy director of Progress, the Left-wing think tank, and was also a director of the Lowick Group, a strategic communications consultancy, before he worked for Lord Alli.

‘We want to be transparent’

At a Labour conference fringe event on standards in public life, Ms Powell said she would “very strongly refute” the suggestion that the Government was “in hock” to “vested interests”.

“Campaigning is an expensive business and you do have to raise money. That’s why there are quite tight rules around that and people have fallen foul of it. So perhaps that’s just sort of how things are at the moment and [we have] no plans to change that.”

She acknowledged there were still “many” issues around “culture and behaviour” in politics.

But she said Labour politicians held themselves to higher standards than the Tories, which was “why we are transparent, and we want to be even more transparent around some of these things as well”.

Defending her own record on taking handouts, she said the “vast majority of the so-called freebies” she had accepted were “attending official events” in her former role as the shadow culture secretary.

Lord Alli and the Labour Party were both contacted for comment.

The Work and Pensions Secretary has said young people benefit from being in the office, deepening a growing split in the Cabinet over working from home.

Liz Kendall said that young employees working for her during the pandemic had found remote working from shared rental properties “a nightmare” that left them “stressed”.

She said that there was no “one size fits all” answer to home working, but highlighted the social benefits of the office for the young.

Her stance echoes Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, who has said that she wants civil servants in the office.

However, their comments are at odds with Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, who said that being able to work from home contributes to “productivity” and “resilience”, and makes a “significant contribution” to tackling regional inequality.

‘Bickering’ ministers

The Tories claimed that the Cabinet was not “on the same page” over home working.

Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow business secretary, said: “This just goes to show that if the Labour front bench can’t figure out what they want between themselves, businesses have no chance of navigating Labour’s byzantine regulations.

“Clearly the Business Secretary has been spending too much time telling some of the most successful businesses in the world how to operate, and forgotten to make sure the rest of the Government is on the same page as him.”

He added: “Ministers should spend less time bickering with themselves and more time engaging with businesses.”

Speaking at the Labour Party conference, Ms Kendall told a fringe event: “I do know from my own experience that many young people wanted to be in [the office], because it was a nightmare working from home and they were stressed, and it was great teamwork. But that was just in my circumstances.”

The Work and Pensions Secretary highlighted the challenges of working from home for young graduates who are often living in shared rental accommodation.

‘True flexibility’

She told delegates at a fringe event hosted by the Institute for Public Policy and Research: “Let me just say, from my perspective, during Covid, when I had a couple of young people start work for me, and they were desperate to get into their office.

“They didn’t want to try to work from home with two or three people in shared accommodation. I mean, this is not just London. They didn’t know people.”

She added: “Different things work for different people, and I think that that’s what true flexibility means.

“And as people of a certain generation, someone called me a veteran MP the other day…. How I worked is completely different from what people my age when I started work expect. So we have to change.

“So I’m not going to say either, ‘Everybody in the office’. Neither am I going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s all work from home’. [It’s] what works for your company, but also for your individuals.”

Earlier on Monday, Ms Reeves said that there was “value” in working from the office.

She told LBC: “I lead by example. That first weekend when I was appointed Chancellor, I arrived at the Treasury at about three or four on a Friday afternoon.

‘Bringing people together’ 

“We work well into the evening, not just me and my political team, but civil servants. And we came in on a Saturday and a Sunday.

“We did that in the office, not on Zoom, because I do think there is real value in bringing people together and sharing ideas. You’re challenging each other.”

She said that there was “certainly a case for flexible working” to allow parents to take care of children or elderly relatives, but added: “I do think that productivity gains are more likely to happen when you have that sharing of ideas and bringing people together, and I lead by example on that in my department, and I think that it’s, it’s reaping dividends.”

Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, was asked about his stance on Monday, telling Bloomberg Radio: “Well, I work for the Chancellor, and so I’ll be going to the office.”

Mr Reynolds, who is heading up the New Deal for Working People alongside Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, praised working from home in an interview with The Times last week.

He told the newspaper: “We’ve had flexible working laws for quite some time in the UK. I think where people reach agreement with their employer … it does contribute to productivity, it does contribute to their resilience, their ability to stay working for an employer.”

While he said that there “are times when it is absolutely necessary” to have the workforce in the office, he added: “The UK has very significant regional inequality. It could play a significant contribution to tackling that.”

Mr Reynolds criticised Amazon’s move to order staff back into the office five days a week, saying that “flexibility, when agreed between employer and employee, is good for productivity, is good for staff resilience”.

Also at the fringe event, Ms Kendall expressed concern about the growing mental health crisis among young people, and criticised the former government’s approach and rhetoric on the issue.

“I think it’s really important that we don’t just say, ‘Well, buck your ideas up’. You know, as the last government did. ‘Some day you’ve got to toughen up’.

“Is anybody with a young person who’s anxious, trying to even get them to school, just telling them to toughen up? Well, how successful is that?”

A young mother who took her baby to a riot at a hotel used by asylum seekers has been spared jail, with a judge asking her: “What on Earth were you thinking?”

Nevey Smith, 21, brought her 20-month-old son in a pram to the disorder outside the Holiday Inn in Newton Heath, Manchester, and threw water at police officers trying to contain the violence.

A large mob descended on the hotel and hurled bottles, bricks and eggs at the building as riots broke out across the country in the wake of the Southport killings on July 29.

Daniel Calder, Smith’s lawyer, told the court that she did not know what an asylum seeker was.

Judge Patrick Field KC, sentencing Smith at Manchester crown court on Monday,  told her: “You chose to join, notwithstanding that you had your 20-month-old child in a pushchair. 

“What on Earth were you thinking? I doubt you had his safety in mind.”

The judge also told Smith, of Oldham, Greater Manchester, that she had a “lot to learn” and “quite a lot of growing up to do”, labelling her “misguided, naive and immature”.

He added that her role was “minimal and peripheral” as she had not been involved in throwing bricks or encouraging others to do so.

Mr Calder told the court that Smith had not set out to attend the protest on the day, and had been passing the riot when she “foolishly” got involved. He added that she had not expressed discriminatory views.

Smith was given a community order and made to attend reviews at a women’s problem-solving court and carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.

Her mother, Vanessa Smith, 42, was also at the protest and admitted violent disorder. She will be sentenced on Thursday.

A 40-year-old woman and an eight-year-old girl have been found dead at a property in Salford.

Greater Manchester Police were called to South Radford Street shortly after 10:30am on Monday following reports of a concern for welfare at the property.

Officers attended, with assistance from North West Ambulance Service and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, and the bodies of a woman and girl were found at the property.

All known next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.

Det Supt Simon Moyles said: “A woman and young girl were both tragically found dead and we are working hard as a team to establish what happened here this morning. 

“Whilst we are not actively looking for anyone else in relation to this investigation, I understand the news of their deaths and the large police and emergency services presence at the address will most likely cause some concern to residents and those further afield in Greater Manchester.

“I want to reassure them that we believe this to be an isolated incident with no wider threat in the community.

“A cordon has been put in place and there is a scene contained on South Radford Street. We continue to thank the public for their patience as we respond in the area.

“We have placed a number of highly visible officers to patrol in and around the area should any residents wish to come and talk to us or pass on any information they may have about this tragic incident.”

A Salford City Council spokesman said: “We are aware of the terribly sad news this morning and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of those who have tragically lost their lives. 

“We’re working closely with GMP and assisting them with their ongoing investigation and our teams will be supporting both local residents and council staff who have no doubt been greatly affected by the events today.”

Underneath the blank grey sky of a damp rainy afternoon in September, the small village of Shiptonthorpe in the East Riding of Yorkshire is quietly going about its business. In the village hall, a group of mature ladies are setting up for a watercolour class. There’s the odd dog walker, and a couple of retirees are tending to their gardens during a gap in the rain – gardens which, like the rest of the village, are neat, tidy and unassuming. A Yorkshire flag flutters bravely in the breeze. All seems peaceful, quiet, orderly and very English.

But a week ago, Shiptonthorpe was rocked by the latest arrival in a long series of missives sent to a small group of people who live in or are closely connected with the village. This one, typed on plain white paper and delivered by post, referred to the recipient as a “witch” and offered up hopes and prayers for rain and “lots of it, so your house can be flooded again and again … so you are washed away, never to be seen again”. Previous letters sent to the same resident referred to her as an “ugly fat old cow who nobody likes most find you revolting [sic] … everyone agrees you should rot in hell … hope cancer finds you soon”. In a sickening twist to the tale, the recipient, who has received many such letters over the past two years, is now suffering with cancer. 

It’s all a little reminiscent of Wicked Little Letters, a film based on the real life story of the mysterious and anonymous vile letters sent to residents in Littlehampton in the 1920s. Or, as one local councillor put it to me, possibly a little too jovially: “It’s like a real life Bridgerton.” This Lady Whistledown, however, is seriously vindictive, weirdly obsessed with sexual shenanigans and has been causing havoc since 2022.

“I’ve had four [letters]” one resident who wishes to remain anonymous told me. “Really awful ones.” The first came in November 2022, when this person had been trying to run as a local ward councillor. “This letter, the first one I received, was so vile – it had words in it that I won’t even speak,” she tells me. “Basically it was telling me that I would not be able to get anywhere in politics unless I was going to do naughty things with men. It referred to me as a cow that should be put out to pasture.” She has had three more since then; one accusing her of embezzling parish funds, a letter that arrived in April and the worst, a revolting Christmas card declaring that “this card has your name all over it!” printed over and over with the word c–t. Her partner has received a letter too, she says, warning him to watch out for her and her wicked ways: “Apparently I’ve been having multiple affairs all over the place.” 

“It’s been an absolute nightmare,” she tells me. “I have nightmares about all of it and wake up crying. I just want it to end. I don’t understand where this hatred has come from.”

From the outside, certainly, it’s hard to imagine a more innocuous-looking place than the neat and tidy Shiptonthorpe. The verges are well tended, the hedges neatly trimmed and the notice board outside the village hall is stuffed with information about local activities: a forthcoming quiz night with a light supper; a Shirley Bassey impersonator coming to perform; the village Am Dram society’s performance of The Vicar of Dibley. Residents have already been encouraged to deck their houses with Christmas lights come December and look forward to the panto – Alice in Wonderland – in January.

Despite outward appearances, however, there is also an air of unease about the place. Curtains are firmly drawn and people do not stop to chat or say hello. There are a surprising number of For Sale signs in front gardens. And the locals I do see are reluctant to talk about what has been happening. One elderly lady sucks her teeth and tells me she has no comment when I ask her about it, except to say: “It’s very upsetting and not something that should be happening in this village.” Her husband scurries off the moment I come near.

Dig a little deeper, meanwhile, and what emerges is a story of internecine warfare that anyone familiar with village life will recognise – one that revolves around the parish council.

In May 2023, eight of the nine parish councillors voted in were new faces, after an election in which 18 people, including all of the former council members, stood for office – a surprisingly large number in a village of 520. 

“It was time for a change,” Victor Lambert, the new chairman of the parish council and a resident of Shiptonthorpe for 26 years, tells me. “The people who had been on the council had been there for 10 to 11 years. We didn’t think they were doing anything dramatically good for the village, so it was time for some new ideas.”

Lambert, who says he too has received a poison pen letter (“along the lines of ‘I hope you die’”), is at pains to tell me that he and his fellow new councillors were voted in with a record turnout of 56 per cent – “nearly unheard of in parish elections. We were democratically elected.”

The two big issues at stake were the drawing up of a new lease agreement between the parish council, the Shiptonthorpe Parish Charity, which owns the village hall, and the village hall committee. The second was an accusation that the parish council was being secretive about the fact that the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) was considering building some new social housing in the village, on a field that it owned. Throw in some political rivalry at ward level, and it’s not surprising that tensions were simmering. Accusations were hurled. Allegations about conduct were made. An official investigation into behaviour was opened with ERYC’s standards committee. Local news site The Pocklington Bugle started documenting every twist and turn of the infighting, sending tempers soaring even higher. Things grew deeply unpleasant. 

Amid all this, the poison pen letters had started to trickle in – to people on both sides of the parish council wars, both serving and previous members, as well as to councillors at county level.

Leo Hammond, the Conservative councillor for the Wolds Weighton ward of ERYC, which encompasses Shiptonthorpe, has received eight letters since the tail end of 2022. “Some are handwritten, some are typed, all generally along the same lines and saying the same things,” he tells me quite cheerfully. He is accused of being an embarrassment, a disgrace and “an arrogant, divisive young man whose sole aim is to pursue a career in politics”.

“For some reason, the author’s got some kind of obsession with my sexuality, claiming that I’m a closet homosexual, which my girlfriend and I find quite funny.” One letter was signed by Robert Ducker, the previous chairman of the parish council, although: “Robert assures me it was not sent by him.” 

Everyone I speak to has their theory about who might be behind the missives. Hammond believes there are two authors at play. He believes that the one writing to him is doing it for political purposes “and is quite bitter about the fact that we won in the elections last year”. He says that he sees similarities in the letters and emails received from one former East Riding councillor who lost his seat in last year’s May elections. But he thinks whoever is sending the truly vile letters to villagers is someone else.

Of the parish councillors themselves, the two camps again divide, each suspecting the other side of nefarious play. But the general consensus across all sides is this: that whoever is sending the letters has to be local. 

“It can’t be someone new to the village,” says Becky Oxley, who lives just outside Shiptonthorpe but has popped in to let her friend’s dog out for a run. “Otherwise how would they know all these people?” 

This is not, surprisingly, the first time Shiptonthorpe has been subject to such a brouhaha. “Poison pen letters have gone round before over the last 20 years,” Hammond tells me. “But this time it’s much more intense and on a much wider scale.”

The police have been informed, and have opened a case – but say they can do very little to apprehend the perpetrator. Nobody even knows where the letters are being sent from: in 2023, Royal Mail stopped including the regional sorting office on franked mail.

The overriding sense is of suspicion, misery and, above all, deep sadness that a small community has ended up like this. “We all know each other,” says one person. “You wonder who it is. It’s really unsettling.” Shiptonthorpe is, says Hammond, “one of the warmest, most united communities in my ward. It’s a really nice place to live, with really friendly people.”

Right now, however, it feels far from friendly. Even the village Facebook page has been made private, with all posts and comments now moderated and approved by an admin team “to make sure there’s no more nonsense”.

Until then, everyone is hoping that if the letters don’t stop, the perpetrator will at some point, slip up. Which will, of course, cause even more of a hoo ha. For anyone who thought village life was sleepy, the goings-on in Shiptonthorpe prove that to be far from the case.

The former head of the Police Federation made a sexually suggestive remark about the grieving widow of a police officer killed in the line of duty, a misconduct panel has heard.

John Apter is accused of saying he wanted to comfort Lissie Harper in his hotel room as she prepared to collect a posthumous award on behalf of her husband, Andrew Harper, who was dragged to his death while trying to stop a gang of quad bike thieves in 2019.

Mr Apter, who was chairman of the Police Federation between 2018 and 2021, allegedly told colleagues: “I wouldn’t mind looking after her tonight” and “I’d like to comfort her in my hotel room.”

A gross misconduct panel also heard the former Hampshire constable groped a much younger officer’s bottom and made a suggestive comment to a pregnant colleague while attending the annual Police Bravery Awards.

Barrister Cecily White, representing Hampshire Constabulary, told the misconduct hearing there was a “pattern” to Mr Apter’s behaviour, which she said was “sexist and derogatory”.

“There are significant similarities between the allegations that different people have made from different perspectives which show an unfortunate attitude towards women in the workplace,” Ms White said.

She added that his role as chairman “placed him in significant power and authority”.

Outlining the first of the allegations, Ms White said: “It was about the widow of Pc Andrew Harper, who was killed in the line of duty.

“His widow, Lissie Harper, was due to attend an awards ceremony to accept a posthumous award on behalf of her husband.

“In the context of a discussion about her attending the event, which would have been quite stressful for her, he said ‘I’d like to comfort her in my hotel room’, with an obvious sexual connotation.”

Pc Harper, a 28-year-old officer with Thames Valley Police, was killed in 2019 when a getaway car dragged him to his death.

He had married his wife just three earlier and the pair were about to go on their honeymoon when he was killed.

Three teenagers were subsequently jailed for his manslaughter.

Ms White told the hearing Mr Apter is also accused of touching the bottom of a junior constable from another force – named only as Female A – on a police night out in December 2021 before the Police Bravery Awards in London.

The panel was told a large group of officers had been celebrating at a pub in central London.

Ms White said: “He bought [Female A] a bottle of prosecco whilst everyone else got a single drink, continually topping her drink, giving her the impression that he was trying to get her drunk, directing all his comments to her. It made her feel uncomfortable.”

She said when the group moved on to a restaurant afterwards, Mr Apter allegedly placed his hands on Female A’s hips before squeezing her bottom at least once.

She described Mr Apter’s behaviour as “disrespectful and discourteous”.

The misconduct panel was told Mr Apter was allegedly “intoxicated” and “stumbling on the stairs” during the night out.

It was also alleged that he told a female colleague: “Maybe you’ll get a bum now”, after hearing about her pregnancy.

Mr Apter, who has since retired from Hampshire Constabulary, denies the allegations.

The hearing continues.

Joe Biden has said he helped “ensure the survival of Ukraine” as he outlined his legacy in his final speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Vowing to support Kyiv until victory in its war against Moscow, the US president said that Nato members and other allies in “50-plus nations stood up” to Russian “aggression”, adding: “We defended the UN Charter and ensured the survival of Ukraine as a free nation.”

“We could have stood by and merely protested,” Mr Biden said, but “at my direction, America stepped into the breach”.

“Most importantly, the Ukrainian people stood up,” he said.

‘We cannot let up’

Striking an optimistic note, the 81-year-old said that Vladimir Putin’s “core aim” with his invasion has failed and urged the UN to keep supporting Kyiv until it is victorious.

“He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free,” Mr Biden said of the Russian president. 

“He set out to weaken Nato, but Nato is bigger, stronger, more united than ever before, with two new members, Finland and Sweden.”

“But we cannot let up,” he added.

It marked Mr Biden’s last address as president to the assembly, and comes as a political battle over Ukraine’s future plays out at home, where Donald Trump’s return to the White House could spell the end of substantial funding for Kyiv.

“We cannot grow weary, we cannot look away,” Mr Biden told the international body, in one of his last high-profile opportunities to rally global support for a cause that will come to define his foreign policy legacy.

Mr Biden also addressed his decision to withdraw his re-election bid this summer.

“Being president has been the honour of my life,” he said, “but as much as I love the job, I love my country more.”

“I decided, after 50 years of public service, it was time for new generation to take my nation forward.

“Some things are more important than staying in power,” he said, to loud applause from the chamber.

He was speaking as Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, visited the US visit to present his “victory plan” to Mr Biden, as well as presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Trump.

On Sunday, Mr Zelensky toured a factory in Pennsylvania that produces 155mm artillery shells.

The question on everybody’s lips – who is going to win the election on Nov 5?

There are now less than 50 days to go until polling day. Since our election swingometer was last updated, Kamala Harris has received a boost in the national polls after her performance in the television debate, and Donald Trump faced a second assassination attempt while golfing in West Palm Beach. 

However, the polls also show that most voters have already decided which way they will vote in this election, and there has been little change to the vital swing states and counties that will actually decide this race. Our experts’ average shows they feel Ms Harris is narrowly more likely to win the election, but it remains too close to call.

• Latest presidential election polls: Harris v Trump

Our writers have been predicting the overall winner of the election since early this year, periodically plotting their choices on a sliding scale of likelihood. 

After this week’s events, they have now updated their predictions below.

Kamala Harris may have the better deck as things stand, but this race remains perilously difficult to call. The vice-president remains narrowly ahead in reputable national polls, but the White House will turn on seven states where the margins between Ms Harris and Donald Trump are down to decimal points. 

Pollsters have also noted that with a fast-paced news cycle – Trump’s second assassination attempt came just as they were conducting post-debate surveys – there are logistical challenges to determining which events are swaying voters. 

Trump insiders have shrugged off the polls, and some see echoes of 2016, when the ex-president confounded the pundits. As one GOP strategist told me: “I think you could make a strong case now where you could have a different winner in the electoral college to the popular vote.”  

One week on since Kamala Harris’s victory in the first – and possibly last – televised debate, the polling gap has barely shifted. 

Nationally, Ms Harris leads by just three points, an increase from two points depending which polls you look at.  A second assassination attempt against Trump could help close it once again, but as with other “defining” moments of the election, any gains seem to be quickly reversed. 

Polling shifts are even lower in the seven swing states, which will decide the election. Currently though, polls suggests this election could come down to just one state: Pennsylvania. Here, Ms Harris leads by 0.2 points, a gap so statistically insignificant, it is impossible to say who is really ahead. 

This election is still very much neck and neck. 

Polls indicate a slight improvement for Kamala Harris since the debate, though liberals over-excited by the evening forget that Trump has never performed well in them (except vs Biden at his most senile). It seems Ms Harris is gaining in the swing-states too, though Trump maintains a large lead among the cats and dogs of Springfield, Ohio.

It’s intriguing to note that both media and public seem unmoved by the multiple attempts to kill the Republican candidate. So, the race gently tilts Democratic – but it all depends on how wrong the polls are and in what direction. If they’re out like they were in 2020, Trump is on the road to victory. If they’re out like they were in 2022, Ms Harris is even stronger than she appears. 

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life has hardly seemed to shift the agenda this week. As the race hurdles to a close and the news cycle speeds up, even attempts at murder can only command the headlines for a matter of days. Even Springfield, Ohio – currently caught in the eye of the culture war storm – feels mostly forgotten.

Supporters of Kamala Harris will likely feel positive about their position less than two months to election day. With a host of celebrity endorsements, bursting campaign warchest, and a well-received performance at the debate, some liberal commentators have taken to declaring the race over. 

Still, there’s an undeniable whiff of 2016 in the air. Battleground polling is still fiercely competitive, with Pennsylvania’s swing measured in the tenths of a percentage point. There’s little hard evidence that Ms Harris’s “wins” have translated to potential votes – with an electorate this polarised, it’s hard to imagine what a real October surprise would have to look like to move the dial.

Kamala Harris is enjoying a run of good press after her debate performance last week, and she has also benefitted from a series of unforced errors from the Trump campaign – not least a confrontation between his staff and officials at Arlington Cemetery and apparent divisions between Donald Trump and JD Vance, his running mate. 

The second assassination attempt against Trump will have fuelled the narrative that he is under attack from many enemies, but I wouldn’t expect that to make a major difference to the polls now. Both candidates are fighting over a very small proportion of undecided voters, and this has become a race of very fine margins. 

Methodology

Our experts are asked to plot their decision on a scale of 100, where 0 is a Harris landslide, 50 is a tie and 100 is a Trump landslide.

First, a proposed ban on smoking in pub gardens. Now, landlords could be forced to close their doors early. What will be next in Labour’s “war on pubs”?

Last month, Sir Keir Starmer said the Government could ban smoking in pub gardens, arguing that the move would reduce the burden on the NHS.

Sir Keir said: “My starting point on this is to remind everybody that over 80,000 people lose their lives every year because of smoking. That is a preventable death, it’s a huge burden on the NHS, and of course it is a burden on the taxpayer.”

Despite backlash over Labour’s plans to ban smoking in pub gardens — amid warnings that it could be the “death knell” for the industry as 50 pubs close each month — public health minister Andrew Gwynne has proposed further nanny state restrictions. 

Although some, including Nigel Farage, have vowed never to visit pubs again if outdoor smoking is outlawed, Mr Gwynne revealed the Government is also considering shortening pub and bar operating hours as part of efforts to improve public health and reduce anti-social behaviour.

The Telegraph has spoken to a number of readers who are pub owners about how Labour’s proposals will affect them and the future of Britain’s pub culture.

‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it’

The news that Labour could bring in a ban on smoking in pub gardens has not sat well with Telegraph reader, pub owner and smoker Steve Blake.

“This is a full-on, gloves-off attack on people who chose to undertake a legal, taxed individual choice,” says Mr Blake.

Mr Blake’s pub, The Duke, is located in the affluent town of Marlow, home to over thirty bars and restaurants. Widely accepted as Marlow’s premier pub, The Duke was voted the best pub in Marlow for 2023 and 2024.

“The Duke is not the best pub in Marlow for nothing,” says Mr Blake

“Our approach to setting the right balance between smokers and non-smokers works for everyone – we have never had an issue between the two groups.

“Pubs have invested heavily in keeping everyone happy with smoking —  ourselves to the tune of £5,000 in providing an area to smoke without impacting anyone else.

“If we have won the accolade for two years running, we’re clearly getting things right, including creating environments for the 10 per cent of guests who smoke – and for the 90 per cent who do not. We would not be popular if we did not get this balance right.”

Mr Blake thinks that a ban on smoking in pub gardens is completely unworkable and will “do more harm than good” to the local community. 

“If a smoking ban in pub gardens comes into force, then people will just wander out onto the streets,” says Mr Blake.

“We’re situated in a prime residential area, which means our customers would be smoking right outside someone’s home or garden. This could lead to unnecessary noise, litter, and general disturbances for our neighbours.

“The unexpected consequence of forcing guests onto the street is a retrograde and an ill-thought-through step.

“Quite frankly, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. There are so many other areas of life that the Government should be looking at and pubs right now are not one of them. Labour are tilting at windmills.”

‘Targeting pubs is just spiteful’

Telegraph reader and owner of The White Horse Inn, Newport, Essex, Tom Archer is very concerned about the potential impact of the smoking ban on his business, especially since a third of his customers smoke.

“How many more people will be driven to drink at home, causing even more pubs to close if this spiteful law is introduced?” Mr Archer says.

As a pub owner, he’s already considering possible loopholes to this proposal: “Will car parks be considered gardens? My current smoking shelter is in the corner of our car park. And what about the pavement café benches at the front? They’re on the street, so they aren’t technically part of the garden. Unless smoking is banned in the street, patrons will always have that option.

“If pub gardens are off-limits, what’s to stop people smoking in the garden next door? Will pubs start selling their gardens to sidestep this law? Who decides whether a car park counts as a garden?”

Mr Archer also raises concerns about enforcement: “If you’re running a small village pub, you’ve got one person behind the bar and one person clearing – they can’t be watching the garden all day too. 

“We can’t afford to pay for a bouncer to patrol our pub garden. Are licensees going to have their licenses on the line because we can’t afford to stop people smoking in the garden?

“This idea is mean and spiteful through and through.”

Regarding the latest news of potential early closures, Mr Archer is equally frustrated: “If the Government is serious about improving public health, why not limit the hours of junk food restaurants or ban home delivery takeaways?

“Walking to a pub is better than sitting at home waiting for your takeaway on the sofa. No one needs a Big Mac just before they go to bed – it just adds to their lard.

“Targeting pubs is just spiteful and we are being used as a scapegoat for the real public health crisis: obesity, which costs our taxpayers far more.”

‘We are witnessing Labour re-enact Orwell’s Animal Farm’

Former sportsman-turned-pub-owner and anti-smoker Colin Duson is “forever grateful” to the indoor smoking ban introduced in 2007. However, Mr Duson’s anti-smoking stance is trumped by his dislike of authoritarian rule: “We are witnessing the Labour Party re-enact Orwell’s Animal Farm.”

Mr Duson added: “I’d prefer to see people make better choices rather than be pressured into compliance. 

“While I don’t think banning smoking in pub gardens would cause us to lose significant business, the reality is that most smokers behave responsibly and I don’t believe people choose not to come because of smokers.”

Mr Duson feels there are far more significant issues that the Government should focus on than banning smoking. 

“I started this business in 2019 and was hit by the pandemic just six months later. If the Government genuinely wants to help, it could compel banks to be more supportive in providing loans. When traditional banks refuse, secondary lenders charge exorbitant interest rates of 60 to 80 per cent per annum,” says Mr Duson.

“The Government should also consider offering relief on investments back into small businesses. Costs are skyrocketing with energy bills quintupling in the past two years, and with the rise in minimum wage, supervisors expect a differential between their pay and that of minimum wage employees.

“Additionally, finding enough workers post-Brexit has become a struggle. These are the critical areas that demand attention, rather than focusing on smoking in pub gardens.”

Hunters have slaughtered 25 beavers in Germany for digging holes in a flood prevention system.

The animals were shot dead in Markisch-Oderland, in the eastern state of Brandenburg, to protect dikes from the risk of collapse.

The beavers are said to have dug holes in the Oder dike, a system of flood protection embankments built along the Oder river, the natural border between Poland and Germany.

“Disaster protection takes precedence over species protection,” said Henrik Wendorff, the president of the Brandenburg farmers’ association.

He said that the burrowing of the beavers into the dikes posed a significant risk to the stability of the flood defences, which are crucial for protecting homes in the area.

Markisch-Oderland officials confirmed that 25 beavers were “removed” from the Oder dike by hunters in recent days.

Heavy rain forecast

They added that the damage so far has not been severe but that they were not prepared to take any chances with heavy rain forecast.

Floods, originating in Poland, are being tracked along the Oder moving towards Brandenburg.

The state’s environment department has issued warnings in recent days about major flooding that could affect roads, buildings and rising water levels.

Beavers often dig into dikes during periods of bad weather to seek refuge, which can lead to structural damage.

Officials are hoping that the beaver cull will prevent any further weakening of the crucial dikes.

The main purpose of dikes is to prevent flooding. The structures usually run parallel to a body of water as opposed to a dam which runs across it. The main purposed of a dam is usually to store water.

The beaver population in Germany is estimated to be around 40,000 following successful reintroduction programmes for the species that began in the 1960s.

Half a million illegal migrants will be given residency in Spain under legislation proposed by the Left-wing coalition government.

The bill, which will soon be voted on by congress, was introduced after a movement spearheaded by Regularisation Now campaigners – who have repeatedly called for illegal immigrants to be given permanent residency.

Immigration has quickly become a key concern for Spaniards after 40,000 illegal migrants arrived by sea or land in the year up mid-September – a 49 percent increase on 2023, according to Spain’s interior ministry.

The main opposition People’s Party (PP) and the far-Right Vox party have attacked Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government on the issue, accusing it of operating an “open doors” policy.

Santiago Abascal, the Vox leader, said this week that Spain was suffering from an “invasion” and that he would expel all illegal immigrants if his party were to take power.

But Mr Sánchez’s government has consistently stressed the importance of a humanitarian approach to immigration, including accepting migrant boats from the Mediterranean that have already been turned away by other governments.

Yolanda Díaz, deputy prime minister and labour minister, celebrated Monday’s agreement to drive through the mass regularisation of “half a million people who live and work in our country as our neighbours”.

“Faced with racism, more rights,” Ms Díaz said.

The government’s approach to immigration has become one of the main concerns for Spaniards according to an opinion poll, with 30 per cent placing it among the country’s chief problems – almost double the result from the same survey in July.

In April, Spain’s parliament voted to accept the passage of the regularisation bill after a petition with 700,000 signatures.

Since, it has languished on the legislative back burner but is now expected to return to the floor of Congress for a formal vote after the amendment window closes this week.

Regularisation Now has described the bill as “an historic triumph”.

Spain’s immigrant population stands at just over six million, 13.5 per cent of the country’s total inhabitants.

More than a million people have benefited from previous mass regularisation processes, with the most recent and largest one giving papers to 576,000 foreigners in 2005.