Britain’s Armed Forces are unable to protect Israel from Iranian ballistic missile attacks, defence experts have claimed.

RAF Typhoon jet fighters are thought to lack the weapons needed to repel an attack such as that launched by Iran on Tuesday when it fired nearly 200 long-range missiles in its biggest assault yet on Israel. It meant the UK was relegated to a supporting role, assisting the US in defending its ally.

Sir Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, said that the UK’s Type-45 anti-missile destroyers would also struggle to respond, while sources claimed that the Royal Navy’s carrier strike groups did not have enough sailors to operate effectively in a war zone.

Experts fear a lack of military investment is diminishing Britain’s ability to play a leading role in world events and warned that it left the country vulnerable.

Tom Sharpe, a retired navy commander, said: “Our involvement [in the response to Iran] was underwhelming and it’s a reflection of 40 years of underfunding.

“Given what is going on in the Middle East and Russia, we need to expedite our ability to provide ballistic missile defence from our T45 destroyers.”

Ministry of Defence sources insisted on Wednesday night that the Armed Forces remained open to the changing situation in the Middle East. Despite the lack of engagement in Tuesday’s operation, sources insisted that they could shoot down ballistic missiles.

It came as tensions continued to rise in the region, with Israel reportedly planning a “significant” attack on Iran in the coming days that could target oil facilities or nuclear sites.

Joe Biden said the US did not support Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear sites. The US president said he backed Israel’s right to defend itself but the response must be “proportionate”.

Sir Keir Starmer backed Israel’s right to self-defence but called for tensions to be eased.

Speaking after a call with fellow G7 leaders on Wednesday night, the Prime Minister said: “We call on all sides to show restraint and avoid escalating further. No one wants a regional war.

“We also agreed on the urgency of ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza to allow space for political solutions.

“It’s very clear that we stand firm with Israel. Israel does have the right to security. Israel does have the right to defend herself and that is absolutely clear.”

Although Britain is able to shoot down cruise missiles and drones – and did so during a previous Iranian attack on Israel in April – experts warned that it struggled to deal with the more advanced ballistic missiles used on Tuesday.

Powered initially by a rocket, these weapons are faster and fly on a trajectory that arches upwards and can leave the atmosphere, making them more challenging to attack.

Iran is thought to have invested heavily in ballistic missiles over the past decade, building up a stockpile of more than 3,000 of the weapons, according to US intelligence estimates.

On Tuesday, when Iran used the missiles in its attack, the UK’s Typhoon jets based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus did not shoot any down. Instead, Britain was only able to help monitor incoming weapons and “did not engage any targets”, the MoD said.

The US sent three of its Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers close to Israel’s coast and fired advanced interceptor missiles over land to help defeat the incoming Iranian threat.

The UK is planning to make its Type-45 destroyers one of the main defences against ballistic missiles, using new Aster 30 interceptor weapons that were approved by Sir Ben during his time as defence secretary. However, these have not yet been developed.

Sir Ben said: “Britain could have the capability to have a Type 45 permanently guarding our shores equipped with the upgraded Aster 30.

“We should with immediate effect seek to accelerate the already planned upgrade of their missile systems in light of what we are seeing in the Middle East.”

The UK has RAF and other military assets in the Middle East region as part of Operation Shader, which is the fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. After the Hamas attacks on October 7 last year, additional UK forces were deployed to the region.

In April, when Iran launched more than 330 drones and missiles against Israel, the UK sent RAF jets and refuelling aircraft to intercept several drones.

It led to questions about whether the UK would dispatch more firepower to the region, including the £3 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.

However, The Telegraph revealed that a lack of sailors meant the carrier was not at optimal readiness for deployment to the Red Sea to help fight the Houthis, who had started attacking commercial shipping routes following the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

Sir Ben pointed to the F-35s, next-generation fighter jets which fly from the carrier, as another example where the UK had failed to sufficiently upgrade capability.

He said: “Sadly, because of slow walking by the F35 Joint Programme Office in the US, Britain’s F35s cannot enjoy the full range of weapons that we would like to put on them.

“This limits its utility and means that a land-based Typhoon still offers the best offensive capability in the Gulf region.”

Without right missiles, UK jets ‘useless’

Sir Ben cautioned that like the Typhoon, the F-35 carried Paveway bombs for destroying general-purpose targets, and would therefore be rendered “useless” in a Gulf conflict.

Sir Ben said: “If F-35s were properly equipped with the right missiles it probably is worth sending, but at the moment it isn’t.

“It would go down there and guard American aircraft carriers and not maximise its potential.”

Defence sources warned that even if the MoD wanted to send the aircraft carrier to the Gulf to support the US and Israel, it could not because the Navy “does not have enough manpower and active ships”.

A source said: “The Navy has clearly been hiding the fact it has a clear problem with getting sailors to sea.

“They don’t have enough people to crew the ships they already have, let alone new ships.”

In April, HMS Diamond, a Type 45 Destroyer, successfully intercepted a short-range ballistic missile targeting a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, using the Navy’s Sea Viper missile system.

However, Mr Sharpe stressed that this was a different situation to the attack on Tuesday.

He said: “In April it did it over the Red Sea, which is very different to picking [ballistic missiles out] inland, out of the sky and over someone else’s country.

“We are getting a little fixated by drones and swarm attacks and yet if you look at the Red Sea, 94 per cent of attacks on shipping contained missiles. Tuesday was 100 per cent missiles. The good old missile is not going away. All of this needs more money.”

The G7 was discussing fresh sanctions on Iran in response to its attack on Israel, Mr Biden said on Wednesday.

Naftali Bennett, Israel’s former prime minister, urged Israel to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites.

It came as Israel reportedly struck a meeting of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders in Damascus, Syria.

Syrian state media said three civilians were killed in the attack. Israel has struck Iranian-linked targets in Syria since 2013 but has rarely struck the Syrian capital.

In April, Israel killed seven IRGC officers in a strike on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus. That attack sparked Iran’s first bombardment of Israel.

On Wednesday, Israel said that eight of its soldiers had been killed fighting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

An MoD spokesman said: “The UK stands fully prepared to defend itself against any threat alongside our Nato allies.

“The Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force are equipped with a range of advanced capabilities to provide a layered approach to air and missile defence – for example, Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers have successfully shot down a Houthi rebel missile and attack drones as part of efforts to protect shipping in the Red Sea.”

A former head teacher convicted of secretly filming boys getting changed is facing jail again after being found with further child abuse images.

Timothy Moule, 53, who was also the safeguarding lead at his school, was jailed for 52 months in 2018 for voyeurism and making indecent images of children.

In addition to the videos he recorded using secret cameras, more than 3,500 indecent images had been found on his devices.

A parent had contacted police after finding social media messages from Moule to her son.

Moule was in court again this week after being found to have a new collection of 1,100 indecent images of children he had accumulated over four years.

As part of his first sentence, Moule was handed a sexual harm prevention order to stop him from carrying out further sex offences.

The court heard officers would check his electronic devices to make sure he was not searching for or collecting indecent material.

But he had accumulated more child sex abuse pictures between June 2020 and September 2024.

Four laptops

Police officers seized two tablet devices and four laptops, and discovered a stash of images which included 142 category A images depicting the most serious and depraved examples of child sex abuse.

Moule, who worked at schools in Wolverhampton and Shropshire, also had 149 category B pictures, 789 category C and 21 of an unspecified category.

He pleaded guilty at Kidderminster magistrates’ court to four counts of making indecent images of children and one of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Moule, of Telford, Shropshire, was granted bail before sentencing at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Nov 1. 

In the meantime, he must sign on the sex offenders’ register at his local police station and live and sleep at his bail address.

Supt Tom Harding, of West Mercia Police, previously said: “We’re committed to bringing sex offenders to justice and put a stop to any form of child sexual abuse and our efforts to tackle this will continue.

“I’m keen to stress offending can take place across all sections of society and whenever we receive a report of a sex offence it will be thoroughly investigated, regardless of those involved or their background.”

Sir Keir Starmer has paid back more than £6,000 of gifts that were about to be made public – but his Cabinet ministers have not followed suit.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister had decided to cover the cost of six Taylor Swift tickets, four Doncaster racing tickets and clothing loaned to his wife.

The announcement came on Wednesday when the donations were about to be revealed in the latest list of MPs’ financial declarations, potentially further fuelling the “freebies” row.

Sir Keir’s decision to repay was not immediately matched by Angela Rayner, who declared £836 for a visit to a DJ booth in Ibiza, or David Lammy, who was given tickets to watch Arsenal.

A Conservative spokesman claimed Sir Keir had only paid for the gifts because his “back is against the wall” and questioned why other cabinet ministers were not doing the same.

No 10 is planning to publish a new code of conduct for ministers, possibly within days, which will tighten the rules on accepting hospitality in an effort to draw a line under the row.

Questioned on the move at a press conference in Brussels, Sir Keir said it was “right” to repay the donations while a new code of conduct is finalised.

Meanwhile, it emerged Lord Alli, the Labour peer whose donations have been in the spotlight, is under investigation by the House of Lords standards commissioner. The investigation was linked to “non-registration of interests leading to potential breaches” of the peers’ code of conduct.

Multiple well-placed sources told The Telegraph the issue was not linked to donations or any of the recent headlines about Lord Alli. Full details remain unclear.

For weeks the Prime Minister has been dogged by media scrutiny about donations, the appropriateness of accepting gifts and what donors may be seeking in return.

Every few weeks, the parliamentary authorities update a list of MPs’ “financial interests”, with summarised details of donations, payments and gifts of various kinds.

No 10 unexpectedly said that Sir Keir had decided to pay back four sets of gifts that were about to be included under his name in the latest updated publication.

One was a set of four tickets to see Swift in concert originally gifted by Universal Music Group, with a total cost of £2,800, which was dated Aug 20.

Another was a pair of tickets, again to see Swift, which was given by the Football Association and worth £598. It was dated to Aug 15.

A third was paying back the £1,939 cost for four tickets to attend Doncaster Races – contributed originally by Arena Racing Corporation Limited – on Sept 14.

The fourth repayment was £839 for clothing rental from Edeline Lee between Aug 19 and Sept 27. Given Edeline Lee is a women’s clothing designer and Lady Starmer has already had clothing donated in recent months it appears that the gift was linked to her. No 10 declined to comment.

It is believed Lady Starmer was present at one of the Swift concerts and the Doncaster races.

All four sets of gifts were accepted since Sir Keir became Prime Minister. But he has chosen not to repay gifts or “freebies” taken while leader of the Opposition.

Sir Keir will keep £32,200 worth of suits and £2,485 worth of glasses that were paid for by the peer, The Times reported, while Lady Starmer will keep £6,134 worth of dresses he paid for.

Had he not repaid the money, No 10’s emerging argument that Labour frontbenchers will act differently now they are in government would have potentially been undermined.

The decision to repay has knock-on implications for Cabinet ministers who, in the latest declaration of interests, have been shown to have also accepted new gifts after entering government.

Mr Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, accepted £2,300 worth of hospitality from Tottenham Hotspur FC for their derby match against Arsenal in September.

Spokesmen for both cabinet ministers declined to comment when asked if they too had reimbursed the donors of their gifts, like the Prime Minister.

Liam Conlon, Labour MP and son of Downing Street Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s chief of staff, also accepted £1,660 for two tickets to a Swift concert on Aug 20.

A Conservative spokesman said: “Day after day more and more comes out about the scandal at the top of Keir Starmer’s government. This scandal has become a complete distraction from the job of governing.

“It appears Starmer will only be transparent when his back’s against the wall. This announcement today poses more questions than it answers. Why did Starmer take these freebies in the first place? Why haven’t Angela Rayner and other senior party members not paid back donations?”

Asked about the repayments at his Brussels press conference, Sir Keir said: “We came in as a government of change.
“We are now going to bring forward principles for donations, because, until now, politicians have used their best individual judgement on a case-by-case basis. I think we need some principles of general application.

“So, I took the position that until the principles are in place it was right for me to make those repayments.”

Lord Alli was contacted via a spokesman about the investigation by the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards’ Office. No comment was given.

A Labour spokesman said: “Lord Alli will co-operate fully with the Lords’ Commissioner and he is confident all interests have been registered. We cannot comment further while this is ongoing.”

The BBC has been forced to cancel a Laura Kuenssberg interview with Boris Johnson after she sent him her briefing notes “by mistake”.

Kuenssberg was due to meet the former Prime Minister for an interview to be broadcast on BBC One on Thursday night.

But in a statement on X, she announced: “While prepping to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, by mistake I sent our briefing notes to him in a message meant for my team. That obviously means it’s not right for the interview to go ahead.

“It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked. But red faces aside, honesty is the best policy. See you on Sunday.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “Tomorrow’s interview with Boris Johnson won’t be going ahead. As Laura has explained, interview briefing notes meant for colleagues were inadvertently shared with him.

“This makes an interview tomorrow untenable. Under the circumstances, both the BBC and Mr Johnson’s team have agreed this is the best way forward.”

The interview was to promote Mr Johnson’s new memoir, Unleashed.

The book has already been heavily trailed in the media. In it, Mr Johnson says he is no longer sure that lockdowns – which he described as “literally medieval in their savagery and consequences” – played a decisive role in defeating Covid.

He accuses Rishi Sunak of ending his political career by assassinating him like Brutus killing Julius Caesar, saying that he had previously considered Mr Sunak to be a “friend and partner”.

Mr Johnson also claims that he was asked by Buckingham Palace to stop ‘Megxit’ by persuading the Duke of Sussex not to leave the UK, and agreed to give him a “manly pep talk”.

Sources close to the Duke confirmed that Mr Johnson did suggest that the couple stay in the UK, but sources with knowledge of such meetings insisted that the Palace did not ask Mr Johnson to intervene.

A £1 billion fleet of commuter trains has been left idle in storage for years after trade unions objected to the size of their windscreen wipers.

Ninety Arterio trains were bought for South Western Railway (SWR) to replace 40-year-old ex-British Rail carriages that are still in use on commuter lines out of London Waterloo.

However, the Derby-built fleet has been delayed from entering full passenger service for years, partly because train drivers’ trade union Aslef raised objections to the size of its windscreen wipers, The Telegraph can disclose.

Union reps claimed the wipers were so big that they blocked drivers’ views of the trackside signals used to tell trains when to stop and go.

The Arterio train has one of the largest windscreens of any modern UK train, with other designs (such as the Siemens Desiro also used by SWR) restricting the driver to a small side window so a connecting gangway and door can be fitted beside him.

Problems with couplers used to connect the trains together, electrical traction equipment and even cab doors that “proved difficult to open” have also delayed the Arterios’ entry into use, according to Rail magazine.

SWR has acknowledged the flaws and says it aims to get 10 of the new trains into service within the next four months, once the company’s 700-plus drivers have been trained on them.

Aslef is said by SWR sources to have dropped its objections to the trains as part of a deal for a 15 per cent pay rise with Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, earlier in 2024.

SWR is only running two Arterios every day out of London Waterloo despite promising to have all of them operational years ago.

A spokesman said: “As is well documented, introducing the Arterios has been a major and complex project, introducing both a new fleet and method of operation, while facing extensive production and software issues and all against a backdrop of Covid and industry recovery.”

Gareth Dennis, a railways expert, said: “From a software perspective, it has become more and more difficult for Derby to create a train that works within a reasonable timescale.”

Flaws and union intransigence both contributed to the delays to the Arterios’ entry to service, which was scheduled for 2020 when the trains were ordered in 2017.

‘Not fit for purpose’

Most of the Arterio fleet is now stored in depots around the country, such as a vast railyard at Eastleigh, Hants, instead of being driven on commuter services.

And rather than travelling on the modern air-conditioned vehicles, SWR passengers are instead crammed into trains so old that the company even repainted one in heritage British Rail livery to celebrate its 40th birthday.

Sources within SWR admit the first Arterios received from Alstom, the manufacturers, were “not fit for purpose”, with some having to be sent back to be reworked.

An insider said: “There was a lot of production line disruption during Covid.

“It took a long time to get the unions to agree to a new method of working as well.”

The SWR spokesman added: “Our first train entered customer service earlier this year and, following good progress on training colleagues and the trains performing well, we are now expanding the phased rollout of the 90-strong fleet, as evidenced by the new service to Shepperton this week.

“This is an important milestone on the Arterio programme and another step toward the full rollout of the fleet of 90 Arterio trains that are set to transform capacity and comfort on SWR’s suburban network.

“We’re looking forward to introducing more Arterio services and will be sharing the wider rollout plan in due course.”

Both Aslef and Alstom were contacted for comment.

The Princess of Wales has been photographed back at work for the first time since ending her chemotherapy.

The Princess was seen hugging 16-year-old Liz Hatton, who has a rare and aggressive form of cancer and was invited to Windsor Castle as part of her “bucket wish” list.

Liz, a budding photographer, was given rare permission to shoot pictures behind the scenes of an investiture, which were later published by Kensington Palace.

It is the first time the Princess has been photographed back at work since finishing her own chemotherapy this summer and a rare semi-public appearance as she continues her recovery.

Liz had been invited to join a Windsor Castle investiture because she wanted to take part in as many photography experiences as possible while she is able.

In a personal message published on social media, the Prince and Princess said: “A pleasure to meet with Liz at Windsor today. A talented young photographer whose creativity and strength has inspired us both.

“Thank you for sharing your photos and story with us. W&C.”

The investiture will appear in the court circular but the meeting will not. 

Liz and her family, from Harrogate, were photographed with the Prince and Princess after the investiture, in which Liz was encouraged to take photographs of honour recipients and document the day.

Liz wrote that the Waleses were “such lovely, genuine and kind people. I’m over the moon that my family and I had this experience.”

Her family’s X account wrote: “We cannot thank you both or your incredible team enough for the amazing opportunity you gave Liz or the wonderful day that we have experienced as a family.

“It’s a day none of us will ever forget and we are so very grateful to you all.”

The Prince found out about her mission to fulfil a “photography bucket list” via the London Air Ambulance Charity, of which he is patron.

Liz has been diagnosed with desmoplastic small round cell tumour, which is rare and has no standard path of treatment.

She had visited her GP after experiencing abdominal pain during the Christmas holidays, with doctors discovering she had tumours on both her ovaries and liver. She has since undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy and dropped her formal studies in favour of following her dream of photography.

Earlier this year, she told the BBC: “If I only have around three years left to live, what’s the point in A-levels?”

After her diagnosis earlier this year, her family posted her wish list on X, including requests for help in making her dream of having her pictures published in UK magazines, photographing the rehearsals of a musical, television show, or film and shooting models for real fashion houses.

It did not include a specific request to work at a palace, but the Prince invited her to experience an investiture, which included sporting recipients Mark Cavendish, Wayne Barnes and Alistair McCoist.

Liz had already received offers to photograph the Royal Marines, West End theatre shows including Wicked and Cabaret, and watched an episode of her favourite TV show Would I Lie To You? being filmed.

Vicky Robayna, her mother, Aaron, her stepfather, and younger brother Mateo joined her at Windsor Castle.

The Princess joined the group following the investiture. She and her family live nearby at Adelaide Cottage.

Since she announced she had finished her course of chemotherapy last month via a video, she has appeared in the court circular twice for meetings but has not been photographed.

Footage has emerged of two men entering a chip shop on horseback to the bemusement of other customers.

The men, one riding a black and white stallion and the other a brown filly, tried to order at Finnegan’s chip shop in Porthcawl, South Wales, but were told to leave by staff.

Customers described their shock at the antics, captured in a TikTok video that has amassed more than 5.5 million views.

Gabe Godbeer, 22, had visited the shop for a late-night meal after attending Porthcawl Elvis Festival on Sept 28 when the men rode in at 9.30pm.

He said: “It was quite a shock. The first horse made my head fly off, never mind two of them.

“A horse walked in and I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ So I took out my phone and recorded it and another horse walked in.

“I remember watching the second guy walk in and I think himself and the horse had to duck down under the door. They were bigger than the doors anyway. They only just managed to get in.

“There were a lot of people in there getting served as it happened. Everyone got caught off guard. Everyone around me found it funny.”

He added: “I don’t think they got served. I’m assuming they’re not allowed in there. I’m pretty sure they got told to leave because you can’t have horses in a fish and chip shop.”

Your choice of wine is just as likely to be influenced by the label on the bottle as the taste of its contents, a study has found.

Researchers also found women were more likely to be drawn to “feminine” labels featuring woodland animals and flowers than “masculine” designs such as wolves and stags, or “neutral” branding like castles.

Female drinkers who picked bottles with “feminine” labels found they tasted better than the same wine with “masculine” branding, the study by Washington State University found.

In the study, 324 women in the United States were shown wines with mocked-up labels defined as either feminine, masculine or neutral.

“Feminine” labels featured cute animals, flowers and women, while “masculine” designs included wolves, stags, men and a bulldog wearing a spiked collar and sunglasses.

The “neutral” labels featured inanimate objects such as castles and bunches of grapes.

Women were more likely to want to buy wines with a feminine label, and the team found that they believed the sensory experience would be better regardless of their wine expertise.

Dr Christina Chi, co-author of the study, said: “Whether they were knowledgeable or less knowledgeable about wine when they saw those feminine cues, they had a higher intention to buy the wine.

“The gender cue influence was so strong, it trumped the effect of that knowledge.”

Fruity ‘feminine’ wine

Another experiment asked 138 women to taste bottles of the same red wine but with different labels, resulting in the women ranking feminine labelled bottles as fruitier and masculine bottles as having a mineral flavour.

Dr Ruiying Cai, lead author of the paper, told The Telegraph: “The findings also suggest that consumers are still influenced by stereotypes implicit in wine consumption.

“They often associate fruity aroma/flavour and light-bodied wine with feminine labels. Wine marketers should label wines to live up to such expectations to ensure a congruent experience for consumers.”

Women make up less than 20 per cent of winemakers but 59 per cent of wine consumers.

In recent years, wineries have started to move away from stately, traditional labels towards quirkier branding such as that seen on La Vieille Ferme and Whispering Angel.

La Vieille Ferme is sometimes dubbed “chicken wine” thanks to the two poultry animals on its beige label. An £8.50 Southern Rhone rose, it went viral this summer as a cheaper alternative to the popular Whispering Angel.

Victoria Moore, wine columnist for The Telegraph, was not surprised by the findings.

She said: “It’s no secret that our perception of what we taste and smell is influenced by what we see, hear, touch, feel and think.

“Humans are highly complex creatures and our brains have evolved to pay attention to all kinds of information in order to build up a picture of the world around us.

“That goes for food as well as drink. To take just two examples, research has shown that people believe a crisp is fresher and more crunchy if their own crunching is played loudly through headphones while they are eating it, and rate a drink as being sweeter if it’s coloured pinkish-red.

“I’d be surprised if the appearance of a wine label didn’t have an impact on the initial impressions of a wine.”

Amanda Abbington has accused Giovanni Pernice of inappropriate sexual conduct and claimed that he would “outline his erection” during their Strictly Come Dancing rehearsals.

The BBC this week cleared Pernice of physical aggression towards Abbington but upheld six of 17 complaints.

In an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Abbington alleged that two of the upheld complaints related to inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature.

It formed part of “an ongoing litany of being verbally abused, sexual innuendo, sexual gestures”, the actress claimed.

She told the programme: “When I got a dance step right, he would outline his erection in his trousers and tell me that’s what my dance move had made happen, because I’d got it right.”

Pernice denied the allegation. 

A spokesperson for the dancer said: “It’s disappointing that Ms Abbington would knowingly mislead the outcome of the report in order to further attempt to damage Giovanni’s reputation.

“While Ms Abbington may not like the outcome of the six-month investigation, she should not seek to spread false and defamatory claims.”

It was reported last week that the BBC gave approval for Pernice to take part in the Italian version of Strictly Come Dancing, Ballando con le Stelle.

Milly Carlucci, the host of the show, said the corporation had given the “complete green light” for Pernice to appear, which she said “should tell us something” about the nature of the allegations against the dancer.

The BBC has not released details of its findings. However, Mr Pernice’s spokesperson said the review found “no evidence of the alleged… gestures” and “no witness reported actually seeing an erection. There is insufficient evidence to find that Giovanni had an erection at the time.”

Pernice said any gestures had been made in humour and that Abbington “tended to be ‘in on the joke’ and would make similar comments back to Giovanni”.

In the interview with Newsnight’s Victoria Derbyshire, Abbington claimed that she was subjected to “a 35-minute rant with [Pernice] throwing his hands up in the air and calling me names and telling me all sorts of things that I was, and how he couldn’t really cope with it any more. And this went on for seven hours a day for seven weeks.”

She alleged that Pernice called her “mad and unstable”.

“I’d try and do it and if I didn’t get it right I’d get told off about it. And then I’d try again and then there’d be eye-rolling and being called names, and this would go on and on, and the more I got it wrong the more I would be shouted at, and I shut down,” she claimed.

“I don’t respond very well to that sort of teaching and I don’t know of many people who do.”

Abbington quit Strictly five weeks into the competition. She said: “I’m open to criticism. I can be criticised all the livelong day. I don’t make problems or trouble where there isn’t any. I’ve worked for 32 years as an actress in a job that started the #MeToo movement and I have never had to leave a job or had to experience anything like I did in that rehearsal room.

“I don’t ever make accusations lightly and this was one of the hardest things I had to do.”

Abbington said she had not ruled out legal action against the BBC. “I never wanted to bring down the show or ruin anybody’s career. All I did was experience something in a workplace environment that was on a show run by a corporation that is owned by the public, and I didn’t want anybody else to go through what I had gone through,” she said.

While the BBC tried to resolve the situation, she said, “I think I wouldn’t be sitting here if they had tried harder.”

She described the past 12 months as “one of the worst years of my life”, detailing death threats and one message that read: “I’m just laughing at the moment, thinking about you having to watch your daughter get raped because of what you’ve done to Giovanni Pernice.”

In a statement earlier this week, the BBC said: “We take any allegations of bullying and harassment very seriously and this review has taken time due to its complex nature and our desire to ensure a rigorous and robust process was undertaken. 

“We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do. 

“At the time, although the production team took steps to address the issues as they understood them, ultimately these were not enough.”

Police said there is no evidence a gun was fired at a taxi carrying Ian Hislop.

The Metropolitan Police said that despite initial fears a firearm had been discharged, the force now believes a “mechanical fault caused the window to shatter”.

Officers were called to Dean Street, Soho, at 10.10am on Tuesday to reports of a shot being fired at a black cab in Soho.

The driver is said to have told police that a bullet hit the stationary black cab damaging its window, according to the Guardian.

There were no reported injuries and an investigation has been launched.

A spokesman said: “Urgent CCTV and forensic examinations have been conducted.

“While enquiries are ongoing, police have found no evidence of a firearms discharge at this time.

“Initial indications suggest a mechanical fault might have caused the window to shatter. We await further tests. Police have informed the driver and passenger.

A source told the Guardian that police are keeping an open mind as to any motive.

Hislop, the editor of Private Eye, regularly appears as a panellist and team captain on quiz show Have I Got News For You.

He said in a statement that he “wishes to thank everyone for their concern which is greatly appreciated”.

He also sent his thanks to officers and “all who contacted me”.

A Christian teacher has been fired for refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns.

Peter Vlaming lost his job at West Point High School, in West Point, Virginia, after insisting that referring to a biologically female student by male pronouns went against his religious beliefs.

Now, the school board has agreed to pay out $575,000 (£433,000) in damages and legal fees after the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled last year that the school had violated Mr Vlaming’s freedom of expression rights.

Following the ruling, Mr Vlaming said that he hoped his victory “helps protect every other teachers’ and professors’ fundamental First Amendment rights”.

“I was wrongfully fired from my teaching job because my religious beliefs put me on a collision course with school administrators who mandated that teachers ascribe to only one perspective on gender identity—their preferred view,” Mr Vlaming said.

“I loved teaching French and gracefully tried to accommodate every student in my class, but I couldn’t say something that directly violated my conscience.”

Mr Vlaming had taught French at West Point High for six years when, towards the end of the 2017-18 school year, he learned that one of his students, who was biologically a female, was intending to transition to male, the supreme court was told.

In the autumn term, Mr Vlaming alleged he became aware that the child wanted to be referred to by masculine pronouns: a request that went against his Christian beliefs. His faith taught Mr Vlaming that “sex is fixed in each person and cannot be changed”.

According to the complaint, “Mr Vlaming’s conscience and religious practice prohibits him from intentionally lying, and he sincerely believes that referring to a female as a male by using an objectively male pronoun is telling a lie”.

Out of respect for his student’s preferences, the French teacher used the child’s new preferred name but avoided using the third-person pronoun.

In October 2018, Mr Vlaming met with the student to explain his practice of not using pronouns in class and thought the meeting went well. However, in a phone call with the child’s parents later that day, he was allegedly told he “should leave his principles and beliefs out of this”.

In the following days, Mr Vlaming met with assistant principal Suzanne Aunspach to discuss his treatment of the child and was told “that he should be aware of the law”, he alleged.

Right of address

He was referred to documents prepared by the National Center for Transgender Equality asserting that transgender students have the legal “right to be addressed by the names and pronouns that they use”.

The court heard he was also told that “personal religious beliefs end at the school door” and that he “should use male pronouns or his job could be at risk”, he alleged.

After a further incident which Mr Vlaming claimed was accidental, he was suspended and issued with a final warning.

When Mr Vlaming refused to comply with a written directive ordering him to use masculine pronouns to refer to the student, the school board sacked him, the court heard.

Mr Vlaming later sued the school on the grounds that his First Amendment rights had been impinged upon, but a circuit court ruled against him.

However, the state’s supreme court ruled in December that it would reinstate the lawsuit against the school because it said Mr Vlaming’s rights had been violated.

Now, as well as the payout, the school has changed its policies to conform to the new Virginia education policies that respect fundamental free speech and parental rights.

In its ruling, the court said: “No government can lawfully coerce its citizens into pledging verbal allegiance to ideological views that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said: “Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say.

“As a teacher, Peter was passionate about the subject he taught, was well-liked by his students, and did his best to accommodate their needs and requests. But he couldn’t in good conscience speak messages that he doesn’t believe to be true, and no school board or government official can punish someone for that reason.”

A clear win for the man with the harder job

If viewers of Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate were expecting fireworks, they were sorely disappointed.

Unlike in the debate clashes earlier in this campaign, there were no car crash moments, undignified spats or vicious name-calling.

In fact, both JD Vance and Tim Walz approached the debate with remarkable restraint, referring to each other politely and graciously acknowledging when they had found a point of agreement.

“I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting,” said Mr Vance, turning to his opponent during an exchange on gun crime. “I’m sorry about that. Christ have mercy.”

“I appreciate that,” Mr Walz replied. Later, he told Mr Vance: “I’ve enjoyed this debate.”

The only moment of real heat, when the moderators muted both men’s microphones, came during a debate over migrants in Springfield, Ohio.

When the same topic came up in the presidential debate last month, Donald Trump provoked days of headlines with his claim that migrants were “eating cats and dogs”.

This time, there was an arcane disagreement about the specific legal status of Haitian migrants, and the forms they use to obtain Temporary Protected Status.

As the candidates squabbled, the host Margaret Brennan interjected: “Gentlemen, the audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut.”

Mr Vance, who has made a name for himself with bizarre pronouncements about “childless cat ladies” and his awkward manner on the campaign trail, managed to come across as warm and human. He was not, in the words of Mr Walz in an earlier rally, “weird”.

His answers on policy issues were detailed, and he spoke repeatedly about children and families in a way that was designed to appeal to the female voters who are driving Kamala Harris’s poll lead.

It was Mr Walz, the man picked by Ms Harris for his folksy Midwestern charm, who came unstuck in front of the cameras.

Stuttering over his words, getting agitated and failing to pick up on some of the most obvious attack lines to use against Mr Vance, he looked out of his depth on the stage.

At one point, he mistakenly said he had become “friends with school shooters”, while apparently referring to their parents.

Perhaps the worst moment of his night came when he was challenged about his claim that he was in China at the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

Acknowledging he can be a “knucklehead”, he admitted that he “misspoke” and that he actually travelled to Hong Kong months later.  “I will get caught up in the rhetoric,” he said.

His pre-scripted attack lines on “Project 2025” and the claim that Trump and Mr Vance would impose a nationwide pregnancy register came unstuck when his opponent gave a surprisingly moderate answer on abortion.

“We’ve got to do a better job at winning back people’s trust,” Mr Vance replied. “Donald Trump and I are committed to pursuing pro-family policies.”

There is an obvious reason for the friendliness of the exchange on the debate stage.

Both candidates, in truth, were debating each other’s bosses. As Mr Vance put it at the start of the event: “A lot of Americans don’t know who either one of us are.”

On some issues, including border control, climate change, and the economy, there were interesting points of difference between the two men.

But the harshest criticism was instead reserved for Trump and Ms Harris, who were not in the room.

“A nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment,” said Mr Walz, in response to a question about the crisis in the Middle East.

Mr Vance hit back: “When did Iran and Hamas and their proxies attack Israel? It was during the administration of Kamala Harris.”

Tuesday’s debate is unlikely to have a major impact on the polls ahead of next month’s election.

In a presidential race, the only two people who truly matter are the two candidates for the top job, who will not face each other again before polling day.

In a debate where the prize was for each man to charm the audience on behalf of his boss, Mr Vance had a much harder job. Nonetheless, he was the clear winner.

This dud performance could make all the difference

Why was JD Vance, a hardcore MAGA convert with apparently limited electoral ability, selected as VP over Marco Rubio or Tim Scott? Tonight showed us why. Putting his Yale-honed debate skills to the test, the senator from Ohio launched a series of forensically devastating attacks on the Biden administration, and called into question the judgement of the VP’s pick for VP.

Vance’s obvious advantages were made clear in the first few minutes of the debate, with a clear response to the unfolding tensions in the Middle East after Iran’s massive rocket barrage of Israel, he presented a powerful rhetorical defense of a vital ally while craftily reminding voters that no new wars were started under Donald Trump’s premiership. It’s hard to believe this was the same man who notoriously struggles to engage one-on-one with voters, and there were no signs of his occasional awkward vocal tics and stilted delivery. This was pure Ivy-league gloss.

There would be no repeat of Kamala Harris’s bait-and-switch strategy that worked so well in drawing out her Republican rival in the presidential debate. Indeed, Tim Walz struggled to keep up with the young senator, ignoring his direct provocations in favour of railing against Donald Trump – the man he would clearly have preferred to take on.

Mr Walz’s failure to hold Mr Vance to account on his unpopular positions on contentious issues like abortion left the CBS moderators to fill in the gaps. Well-prepared, Mr Vance was able to fight back without falling into the trap of appearing petulant. He called out the selective fact-checking of the CBS moderator, before launching his own version against his opponent.

Immigration was always going to produce a powerful soundbite for the MAGA faithful, but Mr Vance’s masterful linkage of the crisis at the border to the fentanyl crisis will resonate particularly with working-class swing state voters. Thumbing his nose at the loaded terminology of the CBS moderator, Mr Vance argued that “the real family-separation policy in this country is Kamala’s open border”. Mr Walz’s “dehumanisation” rejoinder felt like a Clinton-era moralistic finger-wagging exercise. From his panicked expression, he knew that too.

And what about Hong Kong? Mr Walz’s face contorted into a Bidenesque confused grimace. Hadn’t he once claimed to have been in Hong Kong during the brutal crackdown at Tiananmen Square, despite actually residing in Nebraska? Mr Walz awkwardly tried to dodge the question, before conceding that he “misspoke”.

Looking like a distracted student called upon by a teacher to answer a tricky math question, Mr Walz’s performance hardly improved in the second half of the debate. In one particularly brutal episode, Mr Vance systemically rattled off the material policy wins of the Trump administration like lowered inflation and higher take-home pay. Mr Vance empathised with the “tough job” of “whack-a-mole” Mr Walz would have to play to avoid giving the former president credit. Gulping, his eyes started to widen.

If presidential debates don’t matter, VP debates are so unimportant as to hardly warrant a second thought. Normally. But this is no normal election cycle. A bizarre debate performance exposed Joe Biden’s mental infirmity, setting in motion a brutally quick defenestration of a sitting president and queen-making of his lowly regarded deputy.

The Harris campaign has since sought to sustain itself purely on good vibes and high energy, a strategy that has failed to move the all-important independent voters in a nail-biter of an election. Make no mistake, Mr Walz’s folksy gee-shucks routine was a purposeful attempt to bring those voters on board. But like his boss, Mr Walz has proved that a compelling media narrative does not make a leader. In a nail-biter election, this dud performance could make all the difference. The real mistaken VP pick revealed himself on Tuesday night – and he wasn’t the man from Ohio.

Russian troops have raised their national flag – and the Soviet victory banner – on buildings in the frontline Ukrainian town of Vuhledar.

Volodymyr Zelensky has reportedly ordered the retreat of his badly mauled Ukrainian forces from a town once considered an impregnable “fortress” for Ukraine.

But Russian military bloggers said the withdrawal came too late, as the town was already surrounded by Kremlin troops.

“Currently, the town of Vuhledar is being liberated from scattered groups of Ukrainian Nazis,” said one Russian account. “The suppression of the last resistance in the northern outskirts of the city is underway.”

The claims were supported by Ukrainian military bloggers, who said they had authenticated videos of Russian soldiers raising their flags on ruined buildings across Vuhledar.

Alongside modern Russian flags, Moscow’s troops have made extensive use of Soviet-era symbols during the war in Ukraine.

Other reports described Ukrainian soldiers trying to fight their way out of the surrounded town in small groups, leaving wounded comrades and equipment behind.

Significant victory

Although Vuhledar now lies in ruins, its Soviet-era apartment blocks shattered and its trees reduced to burnt stumps, its capture is Vladimir Putin’s most significant battlefield victory since his forces took control of Avdiivka in February.

Vuhledar sits on high ground above an important east-west road, which could be used as a launchpad to attack other Ukrainian military transport hubs to the west.

Analysts said victory in Vuhledar would be seen as a vindication of Russia’s grinding mass-infantry tactics, which have brought steady gains along the front line, at great cost, over the past 12 months.

Putin has not yet commented on the capture of Vuhledar but Dmitry Peskov, his press secretary, said he was monitoring the battle personally and was anxious for news that his forces had conquered the town.

“We are waiting for official information from the ministry of defence,” Mr Peskov said.

Russian forces had been trying to capture Vuhledar, on the southern side of the front line running through Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, since the start of the war but had been repulsed by stubborn resistance, mainly from Ukraine’s 72nd Brigade.

The 72nd Brigade is regarded as one of the toughest Ukrainian fighting units and is known as “The Black Zaporozhians”.

Russian failures to take Vuhledar in 2022 and 2023 resulted in several humiliating setbacks and in April 2023 prompted the Kremlin to fire Col Gen Rustam Muradov, commander of the eastern district forces – one of the most senior sackings of the war.

In November 2023, Russia’s 155th Marine Brigade, usually based 5,500 miles away in Vladivostok on Russia’s Pacific coast, was ambushed near Vuhledar and suffered up to 1,000 soldiers killed.

Russian forces regrouped and in May and June this year launched another series of attacks with more troops, artillery and glide bombs.

By the start of September, after what soldiers from the 72nd Brigade described as some of the “most intense” bombardments they had experienced, Russian soldiers reached the eastern edge of the town.

With Ukrainian forces overstretched across the front line, Ukrainian commanders in Vuhledar complained that they also lacked enough air power to push back Russian forces.

By last weekend, it appears that senior Ukrainian commanders knew that the battle was lost. They pulled the commander of the 72nd Brigade out of the besieged city and then gave the order for units to retreat or surrender.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s far-Right National Front (FN), has been filmed singing along to a neo-Nazi song with a fascist-linked rock group.

The 96-year-old is under investigation for misappropriation of public funds in a case in which his daughter, Marine, and 25 other people linked to the FN and its successor, National Rally, are on trial. 

The trial opened in Paris on Monday and Ms Le Pen and her co-accused deny the charges, which relate to alleged embezzlement from the European parliament.

Mr Le Pen is not appearing in court as it has been ruled he is not fit to stand trial for health reasons.

However, footage circulating on social media shows him at his home outside Paris singing along with members of Match Retour, a far-Right rock group from Lyon. In the clip, one of the band’s members is wearing a T-shirt glorifying the Hitler Youth.

Match Retour is known to be affiliated with an international neo-Nazi network known as Blood and Honour, which emerged from the UK’s far-Right music scene in the 1980s. Its members call for violent action to ensure the “survival of European races”.

The former far-Right leader, who shocked France when he made it to the second round of the 2002 presidential election, can be seen happily singing along with the band in the clip.

Marine Le Pen, the 56-year-old former president of National Rally, has said she will take legal action against the group and those who allowed them into her father’s house, claiming they took advantage of his frailty and alleged dementia.

She said that she had lodged a complaint against the group for “abuse of weakness”.

He ‘may not know what year it is’

‘It’s a fact that (Jean-Marie Le Pen) is not in a position to give his consent to any act whatsoever,” Ms Le Pen told AFP, denouncing “the scandalous behaviour of those I will take to court to have condemned”.

“Jean-Marie Le Pen is capable of reciting Musset, but may not know what year it is,” she added in a statement.

In the video, the group’s members sing a Napoleonic song, “Fanchon”, and serenade the aged leader with a specially written piece that refers to notorious homophobic remarks he made in public in 1997.

According to Mediapart, a French investigative outlet, Match Retour performed in May 2022 at a rally in Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines (Haut-Rhin) in tribute to French SS soldiers killed by the French army in 1945.

The video clips emerged at a delicate time for the National Rally, with its leaders and dozens of staff on trial over allegations they used fake jobs to defraud the European Parliament of millions.

In their indictment, investigating judges found Mr Le Pen and his daughter were “co-decision-makers” in an alleged “system”, which began in 2004, “designed to use European Parliament funds to pay employees who were actually working for a political party”.

Ms Le Pen faces a potential 10-year-prison term, a million-euro fine and a five-year ban from elected office that could scupper her hopes of claiming the French presidency on her fourth try in 2027.

It threatens to cast a shadow over her record score in July’s snap parliamentary elections that saw the RN win 126 seats and claim a kingmaker role over Michel Barnier’s fragile minority government.

Mr Le Pen has multiple past convictions for racism, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, famously once dismissing the Nazi gas chambers as a “detail of history”.

A North Korean defector living in South Korea has been detained after apparently trying to drive back to the reclusive regime in a stolen village bus.

The man in his 30s allegedly stole the bus from a garage before ramming and crashing it into a barricade on the so-called “Unification” bridge near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, reported the Yonhap news agency.

The man, who has not been named, hit the barrier on the bridge in Paju, about 18 miles north-west of the capital Seoul, after ignoring warnings from the guards to stop.

He is now under investigation by police, who said he had informed them he defected more than a decade ago and had recently been living in Sillim-dong, a suburb in south-west Seoul.

At the time of his arrest he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He reportedly said he wanted to return to the North after experiencing hardship in South Korea.

According to Seoul’s unification ministry, about 34,200 North Koreans have resettled in the South after fleeing oppression and poverty under authoritarian leader Kim Jong-un.

Most have faced a perilous escape across the border followed by a tough and dangerous journey through China and south-east Asian nations.

Often their struggles do not end when they arrive in South Korea. They may find it difficult to integrate into a modern and ultra-competitive society that contrasts sharply with their own upbringing and education.

Attempts to return North across the heavily mined and tightly guarded border are rare but not unknown.

In 2022, the South Korean authorities, who provide resettlement support for defectors, confirmed that about 30 people had gone back since 2012 although there may be unreported cases.

In January 2022, a North Korean gymnast who stunned the nation by vaulting his way through the hazardous high-security border zone, evading surveillance, surprised the public again by climbing back through it after spending only one year in the South’s democratic system.

Local media said he had become disillusioned with his job as a cleaner and had financial problems.

Ji Seong-ho, a high-profile defector who has held senior positions in office since arriving in Seoul, told The Telegraph in an interview in September that many of those who fled from North Korea were burdened with trauma and often forced to take up menial jobs.

“People who need to support their families have no freedom in the choosing of jobs and they just need to work to make ends meet,” he said.

As a former member of the South Korean parliament, Mr Ji previously advocated for incentives for businesses to employ North Koreans who did not have the same networks as their peers in the South, but he said the proposal had met with resistance and not been adopted.

The Socialist mayor of Paris has hit the city’s motorists with a double whammy of a ring road speed limit cut and a tripling of parking fees for heavy vehicles, such as SUVs.

Anne Hidalgo’s cut to the speed limit, from 70 to 50 kph, which will be progressively introduced across the Boulevard Périphérique until Oct 10, has sparked disapproval from the opposition Right and the French government.

Ms Hidalgo, 65, who has made no bones about waging war on petrol-driven cars, insists that slowing the Périph, as it is known to Parisians, will improve air quality in the heavily polluted French capital by reducing “stop and go” driving, in which vehicles speed up and slow down repeatedly.

She also said noise pollution would be lowered for half a million people around the highway, where lower-income families tend to live.

Those caught speeding less than 20 kph above the limit face a €135 fine and the loss of one point on their driving licence.

Valérie Pécresse, the Right-wing head of the Ile-de-France region, denounced the move as “socially unjust” for those with little choice but to use the Périph.

“It affects almost exclusively night and early-morning workers who have to use the ring road to get from suburb to suburb,” she said. Small business representatives have expressed similar grievances.

Drivers questioned on Tuesday also appeared unimpressed. “It’s ridiculous, this is just another of the mayor’s whims,” Claude, a motorist, told BFMTV, a French news channel. “I’m going 50kph and I’m being overtaken by everyone. It’s untenable.”

Last week, François Durovray, France’s new transport minister, tried unsuccessfully to persuade Ms Hidalgo to backtrack.

“The minister regrets this decision, which will affect millions of people in the Paris region. He hopes that future public policies relating to the ring road, which is used by the people of Ile-de-France and not just Parisians, will take a more collaborative and balanced approach,” the ministry said after the meeting.

However, the Mr Durovray and the mayor agreed that an “ongoing and independent” analysis of the lower speed limit would be carried out, with a review in one year’s time.

“If the assessment proves negative and the mayor fails to draw the necessary conclusions, the minister reserves the right to amend the law to ensure that this issue does not fall within the sole remit of the mayor,” warned the ministry.

Before slowing down the Périph, Ms Hidalgo spearheaded a referendum in February over whether to triple parking fees for heavy vehicles such as SUVs.

Sadiq Khan ‘watching closely’

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said at the time he would be watching the results closely, adding: “We always examine policies around the globe. I’m a firm believer in stealing good policies. Rather than inventing [new policies] badly, if other cities are doing stuff that works, we will copy them.”

While the increase in fees was approved by 55 per cent of those who voted, only 5.7 per cent of eligible Parisians took part.

From Tuesday, cars weighing 1.6 tons or more will be charged between €12-18 for one hour and €150-225 for six hours in the city, depending on the arrondissement. Fully electric cars must weigh more than two tons to be affected, while people living or working in Paris, taxi drivers, tradespeople, health workers and people with disabilities are all exempt.

David Belliard, of the Green party, Ms Hidalgo’s transport chief, said only around 10 per cent of vehicles in Paris will be hit by the higher parking fees, which could bring in up to €35 million per year.

But Philippe Nozière, the president of 40 Millions d’Automobilistes, denounced the referendum as a “sham of democracy” and the measure a “masquerade”.

He pointed out that smaller, older cars, such as a 20-year-old Porsche 997, produced more emissions than a newer hybrid SUV.

“It’s a big farce,” he told BFMTV. Others said it punished families in need of larger vehicles.

Supporters said Ms Hidalgo is a green visionary who has pedestrianised many streets, including the banks of the Seine, and built a network of cycle lanes in an effort to discourage driving and reduce harmful transport emissions.

However, critics said she defends bourgeois, bohemian Parisians over working suburbanites who have little choice but to drive to work. They also said her penchant for ugly urban architecture has defaced the City of Lights, and that the capital has become grimy and rat-infested.

Nationwide, Ms Hidalgo is unpopular. When she ran for president in 2022, she received only 1.7 per cent of the vote – the worst performance ever for a Socialist Party candidate.

However, she claimed plaudits when the Paris Olympic Games were widely hailed as a triumph.

Afterwards, she took aim at her detractors in an expletive-laden diatribe, saying in English:  “F— reactionaries, f— the extreme right, f— all those who want to shut us in a war of everyone against everyone.

“Our vision has been contradicted, contested, mocked, caricatured. It is a great pleasure to see the city the way we had planned it and to hear people thank us.”

Sir Daniel Day-Lewis will come out of retirement to star in a film directed by his son.

The 67-year-old publicly quit acting without giving a reason, after starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2017 film Phantom Thread.

However, the triple Oscar winner is now set to star in Anemone, the directorial debut of his son, Ronan Day-Lewis.

The father and son duo co-wrote the film, which is described by US production company Focus Features as an exploration of father-son relationships and the “dynamics of familial bonds”.

Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley and Safia Oakley-Green will also star in the film, which has been shooting in Manchester.

“We could not be more excited to partner with a brilliant visual artist in Ronan Day-Lewis on his first feature film alongside Daniel Day-Lewis as his creative collaborator,” said Peter Kujawski, Focus Features chairman.

“They have written a truly exceptional script, and we look forward to bringing their shared vision to audiences alongside the team at Plan B,” he added.

Day-Lewis is best known for his award-winning and nominated roles in films such as My Left Foot, The Last of the Mohicans, Gangs of New York, Lincoln and There Will Be Blood.

The London-born actor made his screen debut as a 13-year-old in 1971 in John Schlesinger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday.

He went on to become widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, and one of only six actors ever to win three Oscars.

During his career, he developed a reputation for his dedication to method acting and an insistence on staying in character throughout the production of a film, even when the cameras were not rolling.

In 2014, Day-Lewis, who holds dual British and Irish citizenship, received a knighthood for services to drama.

James Blunt has promised to legally change his name to one chosen by the public if his new album gets to No 1 in the charts.

The British pop star is re-releasing his 2004 breakthrough album Back to Bedlam, which features hit singles Goodbye, My Lover and You’re Beautiful, on Oct 11 to celebrate 20 years since its debut.

“Wanna ruin my life?,” the 50-year-old wrote on X.

“I’m legally changing my name if Back To Bedlam 20th Anniversary Edition reaches No 1.

“Comment your name suggestions below, and the most-liked comment wins.”

A popular name suggested was Blunty McBluntface – a parody of Boaty McBoatface which went viral after a campaign to find a name for the UK’s polar research ship in 2016.

The ship was later named the RRS Sir David Attenborough, but one of its robotic submarines was given the title Boaty McBoatface instead.

The post, which had almost two million views, also featured names including “Princess Consuela Banana Hammock” – referencing the Friends episode where Lisa Kudrow’s character Phoebe Buffay changes her name – and “Divock Origi”, the cult former Liverpool footballer.

“Jimmy Spliff” and “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Pop Star Four Chord Song Machiney” were two of the suggestions shared by Blunt.

Others were less printable.

The singer-songwriter, known for his self-deprecating humour, joked that it was “the most important democratic moment of the year”.

“I know you’ve heard the rumours and they’re true,” Blunt said in a video on X.

“I’m re-releasing my debut album Back To Bedlam on October 11, something that has kept me consistently rich for the past 20 years.

“So as a way to give back to you, my adoring public, if Back To Bedlam re-enters the charts at number one, I will legally change my name.

“What will I change it to? Well that’s entirely up to you.

“I’ve been called many things in my life. The most hated man in pop. Annoying. James Beige.

“I’ll let the people decide. But if it doesn’t go to number one I’m not changing my name.”

California has been accused of outlawing satire after the passing of a new law intended to clamp down on misinformation.

The legislation, which was passed in September, prevents anyone from posting “materially deceptive” content online about a political candidate 60 days before an election.

However, critics claim that Gavin Newsom, the California governor, is criminalising political satire, parody and jokes.

The Babylon Bee, a satirical publication that describes itself as “the definitive source of fake news”, and Kelly Chang Rickert, a lawyer who runs a blog, are seeking to prevent the enforcement of the measures through the courts.

Although the laws technically allow for the publication of satire or parody, the plaintiffs claim that this is only if the material is labelled as such in a font the same size as the headline.

If they violate those restrictions, they claim they will be exposed to “significant attorneys’ fees, costs, and damages”.

‘Self-serving politicians’

Seth Dillon, the chief executive of the Babylon Bee, said in a statement: “Our job is hard enough when our jokes keep coming true, as if they were prophecies.

“But it becomes significantly more difficult when self-serving politicians abuse their power to try and control public discourse and clamp down on comedy. Unfortunately for them, the First Amendment secures our right to tell jokes they don’t like.”

Jonathan Scruggs, who is representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement: “California’s war against political memes is censorship, plain and simple.”

Mr Scruggs, the vice-president of civil litigation at the Alliance for Defending Freedom, added: “We shouldn’t trust the government to decide what is true in our online political debates.

“Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed two laws punishing political speech, with one law taking effect immediately, just as the election season heated up – a time when we need more speech, not less.”

Mr Newsom’s office told The Telegraph on Wednesday that it was still reviewing the lawsuit but regarded the complaint as another “joke” from the Babylon Bee.

It said: “These new laws are no more stringent than those already passed across the country, including in deep red states like Alabama. Satire is alive and well in California – even for those who miss the punchline.”

Amanda Abbington has accused Giovanni Pernice of inappropriate sexual conduct and claimed that he would “outline his erection” during their Strictly Come Dancing rehearsals.

The BBC this week cleared Pernice of physical aggression towards Abbington but upheld six of 17 complaints.

In an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Abbington alleged that two of the upheld complaints related to inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature.

It formed part of “an ongoing litany of being verbally abused, sexual innuendo, sexual gestures”, the actress claimed.

She told the programme: “When I got a dance step right, he would outline his erection in his trousers and tell me that’s what my dance move had made happen, because I’d got it right.”

Pernice denied the allegation. 

A spokesperson for the dancer said: “It’s disappointing that Ms Abbington would knowingly mislead the outcome of the report in order to further attempt to damage Giovanni’s reputation.

“While Ms Abbington may not like the outcome of the six-month investigation, she should not seek to spread false and defamatory claims.”

It was reported last week that the BBC gave approval for Pernice to take part in the Italian version of Strictly Come Dancing, Ballando con le Stelle.

Milly Carlucci, the host of the show, said the corporation had given the “complete green light” for Pernice to appear, which she said “should tell us something” about the nature of the allegations against the dancer.

The BBC has not released details of its findings. However, Mr Pernice’s spokesperson said the review found “no evidence of the alleged… gestures” and “no witness reported actually seeing an erection. There is insufficient evidence to find that Giovanni had an erection at the time.”

Pernice said any gestures had been made in humour and that Abbington “tended to be ‘in on the joke’ and would make similar comments back to Giovanni”.

In the interview with Newsnight’s Victoria Derbyshire, Abbington claimed that she was subjected to “a 35-minute rant with [Pernice] throwing his hands up in the air and calling me names and telling me all sorts of things that I was, and how he couldn’t really cope with it any more. And this went on for seven hours a day for seven weeks.”

She alleged that Pernice called her “mad and unstable”.

“I’d try and do it and if I didn’t get it right I’d get told off about it. And then I’d try again and then there’d be eye-rolling and being called names, and this would go on and on, and the more I got it wrong the more I would be shouted at, and I shut down,” she claimed.

“I don’t respond very well to that sort of teaching and I don’t know of many people who do.”

Abbington quit Strictly five weeks into the competition. She said: “I’m open to criticism. I can be criticised all the livelong day. I don’t make problems or trouble where there isn’t any. I’ve worked for 32 years as an actress in a job that started the #MeToo movement and I have never had to leave a job or had to experience anything like I did in that rehearsal room.

“I don’t ever make accusations lightly and this was one of the hardest things I had to do.”

Abbington said she had not ruled out legal action against the BBC. “I never wanted to bring down the show or ruin anybody’s career. All I did was experience something in a workplace environment that was on a show run by a corporation that is owned by the public, and I didn’t want anybody else to go through what I had gone through,” she said.

While the BBC tried to resolve the situation, she said, “I think I wouldn’t be sitting here if they had tried harder.”

She described the past 12 months as “one of the worst years of my life”, detailing death threats and one message that read: “I’m just laughing at the moment, thinking about you having to watch your daughter get raped because of what you’ve done to Giovanni Pernice.”

In a statement earlier this week, the BBC said: “We take any allegations of bullying and harassment very seriously and this review has taken time due to its complex nature and our desire to ensure a rigorous and robust process was undertaken. 

“We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do. 

“At the time, although the production team took steps to address the issues as they understood them, ultimately these were not enough.”

Melania Trump has revealed she is pro-choice in her upcoming memoir, writing that it is “imperative” that women are given the right to choose whether to have an abortion.

The former first lady’s comments draw a stark contrast with her husband who has taken credit for overturning Roe V Wade, a Supreme Court ruling protecting abortion rights.

“It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government”, Mrs Trump, 54, writes.

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?”, she adds in her self-titled book, according to the Guardian, which obtained an early copy.

“A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.

“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”

Mrs Trump’s comments are likely to anger her husband’s staunch pro-life supporters who support a national abortion ban.

Abortion is a political hot potato for Republicans ahead of the election and Mrs Trump’s comments are even more remarkable given she usually steers clear of making political statements.

The former president and his running mate have continually attacked Kamala Harris and the Democrats by falsely claiming they support abortion “after birth”.

Mrs Trump notes that she and her husband do not always agree on political issues.

“Occasional political disagreements between me and my husband,” she says, are “part of our relationship, but I believed in addressing them privately rather than publicly challenging him”.

On the issue of abortion she says she believes it is “critical for people to take care of themselves first”.

“It’s a very straightforward concept; in fact, we are all born with a set of fundamental rights, including the right to enjoy our lives. We are all entitled to maintain a gratifying and dignified existence”, she writes.

Mrs Trump adds: “This common-sense approach applies to a woman’s natural right to make decisions about her own body and health.”

The mother-of-one, said her views on abortion come from “a core set of principles” including “individual liberty” and “personal freedom” and there is “no room for negotiation”.

‘Common-sense standards’

Mrs Trump also reportedly outlines “legitimate reasons” for women to have an abortion such as if the mother’s life is in danger, if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest and if there are potential birth defects.

The former model also defends the right to abortion later in pregnancy saying we should “embrace common-sense standards” for deciding whether a termination is appropriate.

“It is important to note that historically, most abortions conducted during the later stages of pregnancy were the result of severe foetal abnormalities that probably would have led to the death or stillbirth of the child. Perhaps even the death of the mother,” she writes.

“These cases were extremely rare and typically occurred after several consultations between the woman and her doctor. As a community, we should embrace these common-sense standards. Again, timing matters.”

“Many women opt for abortions due to personal medical concerns,” she continues.

“These situations with significant moral implications weigh heavily on the woman and her family and deserve our empathy. Consider, for example, the complexity inherent in the decision of whether the mother should risk her own life to give birth.”

Mrs Trump said she is in favour of minors requiring parental consent to terminate a pregnancy.

But, she adds: “I realise this may not always be possible. Our next generation must be provided with knowledge, security, safety, and solace, and the cultural stigma associated with abortion must be lifted.”

Mrs Trump continues: “The slogan ‘My Body, My Choice’ is typically associated with women activists and those who align with the pro-choice side of the debate.

“But if you really think about it, ‘My Body, My Choice’ applies to both sides – a woman’s right to make an independent decision involving her own body, including the right to choose life.

“Personal freedom.”

Mrs Trump’s book, entitled Melania, will be released on Tuesday in the US. It also describes her growing up in Slovenia, moving to New York to pursue a modelling career and her relationship with Trump.

The Republican candidate praises his wife’s “commitment to excellence … insightful perspective … [and] entrepreneurial achievements” on the blurb of the book, according to The Guardian.

But the former president revealed last month that he had not read the memoir because he is “so busy”.

The BBC has been forced to cancel a Laura Kuenssberg interview with Boris Johnson after she sent him her briefing notes “by mistake”.

Kuenssberg was due to meet the former Prime Minister for an interview to be broadcast on BBC One on Thursday night.

But in a statement on X, she announced: “While prepping to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, by mistake I sent our briefing notes to him in a message meant for my team. That obviously means it’s not right for the interview to go ahead.

“It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked. But red faces aside, honesty is the best policy. See you on Sunday.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “Tomorrow’s interview with Boris Johnson won’t be going ahead. As Laura has explained, interview briefing notes meant for colleagues were inadvertently shared with him.

“This makes an interview tomorrow untenable. Under the circumstances, both the BBC and Mr Johnson’s team have agreed this is the best way forward.”

The interview was to promote Mr Johnson’s new memoir, Unleashed.

The book has already been heavily trailed in the media. In it, Mr Johnson says he is no longer sure that lockdowns – which he described as “literally medieval in their savagery and consequences” – played a decisive role in defeating Covid.

He accuses Rishi Sunak of ending his political career by assassinating him like Brutus killing Julius Caesar, saying that he had previously considered Mr Sunak to be a “friend and partner”.

Mr Johnson also claims that he was asked by Buckingham Palace to stop ‘Megxit’ by persuading the Duke of Sussex not to leave the UK, and agreed to give him a “manly pep talk”.

Sources close to the Duke confirmed that Mr Johnson did suggest that the couple stay in the UK, but sources with knowledge of such meetings insisted that the Palace did not ask Mr Johnson to intervene.

The King has been given a Samoan dancing lesson ahead of his trip to the Pacific Island nation later this month.

Former Samoan professional rugby player Freddie Tuilagi, 53, held out a hand towards Charles and asked him for a dance at the King’s Commonwealth reception.

Pausing momentarily to offload his drink, the King beamed as he held his arms out and copied Mr Tuilagi’s fluttering hand gestures.

At one point Mr Tuilagi, an honorary consul with the Samoan High Commission, gave the King a ceremonial fly swat, which was hung over his shoulder.

Mr Tuilagi said after the performance: “I told King I’m going to dance for you, when you go to Samoa, this is how they will dance.”

Asked to critique the King’s performance, he replied: “Good, he’s got the moves.”.

Charles, 75, was joined by Queen Camilla, Sophie The Duchess of Edinburgh and The Duke of Kent, at a reception ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa.

The King and Queen will both be in Samoa for CHOGM later this month.

Among the 375 guests at the palace were Jamaican-born singer Grace Jones, 76, South African Strictly judge Motse Mabuse, 43, and Aussie judge Craig Revell Horwood, 59.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy was also in attendance.

Grace Jones said: “I have met them a few times, ever since James Bond.”

“I also did the hula hoop for the Queen at the Jubilee. So we have a history.

“Being Jamaican I believe that the Commonwealth has positives. It’s a very good thing that brings people together in a positive way.”

England rugby player Joe Cokanasiga gave the King a traditional greeting kneeling and clapping three times.

He said afterwards: “I am originally from Fiji and it’s a sign of respect to the heads of state.

“I have been practicing that. He definitely knew I was from Fiji after I did it as he experienced it before.

“The Commonwealth is important and I wouldn’t have been here because my dad joined the army he moved here. It gives people a lot of opportunities.”

Also present were Commonwealth High Commissioners and representatives and supporters of The King’s Trust International and the British Asian Trust, The Wow Foundation and The Queen’s Reading Room.

Throughout the reception a String Quartet from the Australian Music Foundation, of which the King is patron, performed.

A university has demanded students fork out thousands of dollars to cover the additional security costs of hosting a conservative speaker.

The University of New Mexico (UNM) has been accused of trying to silence conservative voices on campus after it ordered student group Turning Point USA (TPUSA) to pay $5,384 in security fees to host Riley Gaines, a court heard.

Ms Gaines is a former champion swimmer who campaigns against transgender athletes competing in women’s sport. Her speaking events have been met with demonstrations on university campuses.

TPUSA, the organisers of the event, filed a lawsuit against the university last year, claiming it “engaged in viewpoint and content discrimination” when it imposed the fees, “based on the officials’ subjective assessment of the crowd’s potential reaction”.

The conservative student group argued that imposing the fees was a breach of students’ rights under the first amendment, which prohibits administrators from regulating free speech.

‘Major win’

Now, a federal court judge has ruled that the university must cease enforcing security fees for “speech events”. The preliminary ruling means that the university cannot collect fees from TPUSA until the case is resolved.

“This is a major win in the battle to protect the First Amendment rights of college students, regardless of the viewpoint they express,” said Kimberly Hermann, executive director of Southern Legal Foundation, which supported the lawsuit.

Ms Hermann told Fox that UNM’s policy surrounding speaking events was “so vague that the university can impose whatever fees it wants for any event”.

“Now, TPUSA is the only conservative student organisation left at UNM,” she said. “They basically run every other conservative or libertarian student organisation out of campus.”

Ms Hermann added that the ruling will prevent the university from imposing higher security fees for hosting conservative speakers than they would for any other speaker.

Ms Gaines praised the ruling, labelling the fees an attempt to silence conservative student voices that could cause “irreparable harm”.

“Sadly, we see this all the time. Conservative student voices are silenced on campus through excessive fees blamed on security, like in this case, or other red tape that makes it harder for conservative students to use their voice on campus,” she said.

“Colleges and universities should be a place of critical thinking where different ideas are welcomed and encouraged. They should not be a place of political discrimination and suppression of First Amendment rights, like in this case.

“We are very grateful that the court granted this injunction and saw the irreparable harm that would come if these high fees were applied to our event.”

A UNM spokesman said the university was “committed to the First Amendment and the right of free speech on campus”.

They continued: “UNM intends to comply with the court’s order, which was limited to speech events. While UNM is currently prohibited from charging fees for the security it provides for speech events, UNM remains committed to ensuring the safety of our campus and the safety of our students, faculty, staff and visitors.”