The state will be granted powers to take money directly out of bank accounts and wage slips as part of a crackdown on benefit fraud.

Private companies such as airlines will also be compelled to hand over information to investigators, under plans being drawn up by ministers for the biggest overhaul to the department’s powers in 20 years.

Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said it was “absurd” that her department’s powers had become so outdated, with inspectors struggling to “keep pace” with complex methods employed by fraudsters.

Benefit fraud cost taxpayers a record £7.3 billion last year, official figures show, with officials blaming the rise on an “increasing propensity” for such scams since the pandemic when dozens of checks on universal credit applications were lifted.

Details of the crackdown, which is designed to save the taxpayer £1.6 billion over the next five years, come as Rachel Reeves seeks to raise £40 billion in her Budget at the end of the month.

Writing in The Telegraph, Ms Kendall said: “We’re in an absurd situation where DWP’s powers have not been updated for 20 years, meaning fraudsters have new ways of taking public money, and we need to keep pace with them.

“My team are still, in 2024, sending letters to gather evidence for those suspected of welfare fraud, slowing them down to snail’s pace when they could be shutting down serious fraud cases.”

But on Saturday evening privacy campaigners warned the new powers would be a “blank cheque” to force companies to “snoop” on “the country’s poorest citizens”.

The legislation will grant benefit fraud investigators the power to recover debts from people who have previously overclaimed on their benefits.

Currently, the only way to recover this debt from former benefit claimants is to take them to court which officials say is a long and costly process.

Under the new laws, investigators would be handed the power to deduct the money directly from their bank account or pay slip. They would also be allowed to seize assets from a deceased person’s estate.

Inspectors will also be given far-reaching powers to gather information during their investigations into suspected benefit fraud.

Currently, they can compel financial institutions, utilities and employers to hand over evidence – but under the new law, this would be extended to all private companies, meaning people’s movements via international flights and ferries can be tracked more closely.

‘Snooping is intrusive and excessive’

Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said: “This blank cheque to force private companies to snoop and report on the country’s poorest citizens to the state is intrusive, excessive and will create a culture of fear among millions of people claiming benefits.

“For a Labour government to introduce tough investigatory powers more typical of a counter-terror context to Britain’s welfare system is an alarming attack on privacy and yet another assault on the poor.”

Ms Kendall said benefit fraud investigators must be given “the tools they need to fight”, adding: “We’re in an absurd situation where DWP’s powers have not been updated for 20 years, meaning fraudsters have new ways of taking public money, and we need to keep pace with them.

She cited a recent case where a Bulgarian fraudster conned the British taxpayer out of £2.2 million over four years in an audacious scam which involved flying fellow Bulgarians into Britain and shuttling them to Jobcentres to pose as benefit claimants, before flying them home again.

Ms Kendall said that new information gathering powers will “speed up” identifying such cases, with new powers of search and seizure enabling investigators to gather evidence more quickly.

The government’s Fraud, Error and Debt Bill, which will be introduced in the coming months, is a step up from similar proposals put forward by the previous government.

The Tories had planned to increase the amount of information officials could obtain from banks, but these were criticised as a “step too far”.

Officials of the new government say the new laws will be “proportionate and targeted” and will not apply to the state pension.

Ms Kendall said that the idea that the state will be “snooping” on people’s bank accounts as “nonsense”, adding: “We are taking bold steps to ensure this power is proportionate and targeted.”

She added that there will be independent oversight of the new measures, and said there will always be a “human to check” over fraud investigations to ensure they are always “right and necessary”.

The charity responsible for London’s Royal Parks has written to ministers demanding they create new laws to make cyclists obey 20mph speed limits.

In a move that threatens the way some cyclists use the capital’s outdoor spaces as velodromes, The Royal Parks is seeking new legislation so cyclists can be prosecuted for speeding just like motorists in their parks.

It follows a spate of serious injuries connected to cycling, including the death of Hilda Griffiths, 81, who died after being hit by a speeding cyclist in Regent’s Park in June 2022.

Her inquest was told that police did not prosecute the cyclist, riding at 29mph in a 20mph zone, because speed limits do not apply to bikes.

Lloyd Grossman, the chairman of The Royal Parks, has now written to Sir Chris Bryant, the Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism who has Government responsibility for the parks, requesting that laws are updated.

The letter says the charity’s board wants an amendment to The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997 “with a view to setting speed limits for cyclists”.

He adds: “This will match what is already in place for motor vehicles on our park roads, namely a maximum speed limit of 20mph.

“Whilst we recognise there are challenges associated with this request, most notably on enforcement, we believe it is a change that would improve safety within the parks for both cyclists and other park users.”

Any new legislation would affect parks, including Regent’s Park and Richmond Park, where roads have popular cycling routes shared with vehicles and pedestrians.

Mrs Griffiths’ son, Gerard, 51, who has campaigned for an update in cycling laws, said: “This is something that should be in place not just for parks but all roads and I would encourage the Government to put speed limits into place for cycling with legislation that gives parity to all road users.”

Sean Epstein, the chairman of Regent’s Park Cyclists which represents about 35 cycling clubs and shares safe riding advice with them, said they were working with The Royal Parks on several schemes to promote safe cycling.

“In a 2021 FOI request, The Royal Parks confirmed that the motor vehicle speed limit does not apply to cyclists within their parks. We welcome further clarification on this point from the Government,” he said.

A Royal Parks spokesman confirmed the letter had been sent, adding: “We have a responsibility to everyone who uses the parks to ensure we are acting in a way that protects and promotes their safety.”

A DCMS source said it was right that The Royal Parks “continue to examine ways to improve safety”.

She added: “We are aware of a Royal Parks proposal to improve safety for park users and will consider it carefully.”

The letter comes after The Royal Parks cancelled a well-organised bike race in Richmond Park amid fears cyclists would exceed the 20mph limit and pose a threat to pedestrians.

The charity imposed a 20mph speed limit across all its parks in September 2020.

The Government is planning to revamp its flagship “five missions for national renewal” as it tries to correct course after a torrid first 100 days.

There is a “live conversation” at the top of Government about how to make the mission boards more effective, the Telegraph understands.

The renewed focus on the five missions comes as the Government attempts to reset after its first 100 days was marred by the freebies scandal and the downfall of Sue Gray, the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff.

Sir Keir Starmer first announced the five missions in 2023 when he was leader of the opposition. They are: boosting economic growth, making Britain a green energy superpower, cutting crime, fixing the NHS and spreading opportunity.

A new poll has revealed the Conservatives are ahead of Labour for the first time in terms of family finances since Boris Johnson was in power, it emerged on Saturday.

It comes as Labour are looking to put £40 billion of tax hikes as part of its Budget, according to the Mail on Sunday. 

Five months ago Sir Keir had been ahead of the Tories by 15 per cent on the issue but the Opinium findings showed that the Tories are now ahead of Labour by 23 per cent to 21 per cent on being asked which party was likely to improve their financial situation.

But Government insiders admit that since the election, mission-related work has largely involved appointing staff to the mission boards, which are similar to cross-departmental Cabinet committees, and other “behind the scenes” work.

Now new plans still under consideration include using data dashboards with quantifiable indicators for each of the different mission areas, by which success will be measured.

The mission boards are also expected to seek expertise from around the country on how to achieve their goals.

Hospital executives with good outcomes will be cherry-picked and brought in to help with the mission of “fixing the NHS”.

Similarly, local crime prevention projects that are deemed to have successfully made streets safer will be drafted by the “cutting crime” mission board, under the plans.

“It will be a clear and realistic plan of what we are going to be doing,” said a Government figure. “There’s a feeling that if you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing,” they said.

The “spreading opportunity” board has been cited as an example of a mission whose outcomes are currently difficult to measure, when compared with clear outcomes demanded by the energy board which is tasked with delivering Net Zero by 2030.

The Prime Minister will oversee the mission boards with regular separate “stock takes” on each of the five areas.

“The PM has started doing stock takes on individual missions. He’ll go in and have a deep dive on one of the mission areas and see how that’s going,” said the source.

The first such “stock take” happened last week when the Prime Minister met members of the “Clean Energy Superpower” mission board, which is chaired by Ed Miliband, the energy secretary.

While the missions are pegged to the Prime Minister’s goal of a “decade of national renewal”, there is a desire for appreciable results before the next general election.

Labour’s “trans inclusive” ban on conversion therapy risks “criminalising” parents who do not want their children to transition, Sir Keir Starmer has been warned.

A cross-party group of MPs and peers as well as psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors and consultants has written to the Prime Minister to express their “grave concerns” about his proposals.

They warn that such legislation also risks criminalising therapists who do not “unconditionally affirm” a child’s desire to transition.

The previous government had proposed banning conversion therapy but it was never implemented because of concerns that parents, teachers and therapists could be criminalised for questioning a child’s belief that they were born in the wrong body.

Labour has now resurrected these plans, with the Government earlier this month launching a new Office for Equality and Opportunity, stating that one of its “key immediate priorities” will be “delivering a full, trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices”.

The new cross-departmental body will be spearheaded by Annelise Dodds, the equalities minister, who has previously vowed to make it easier to change gender.

But the letter’s 140 signatories – which include Graham Stringer, senior Labour MP, and Dr David Bell, the former Tavistock Centre governor – warn that if such a ban goes ahead, a “slippery slope towards criminalising parents awaits us”.

They point out the “serious and harmful unintended consequences” of the plans, adding that medical interventions known as “gender-affirming transition” have been revealed as a “major medical scandal”.

Earlier this year, Dr Hilary Cass’s landmark report into the treatment of transgender children, advised that under-18s should not be rushed into treatment which they may later regret.

The report by Dr Cass, a paediatric consultant, called for the “unhurried” care of those under-25 who think they may be transgender, an end to the prescribing of powerful hormone drugs to under-18s and early help for primary school children who want to socially transition.

The letter, organised by James Esses, a campaigner, states that: “Whistleblowers in this field have been vindicated by recent events, such as the final report of the independent Cass Review, the NHS decision to halt the prescription of puberty blockers, the closure of the GIDS gender clinic at the Tavistock, and the revelations contained within the WPATH files, amongst other things.

“Many confused and vulnerable children who medically transitioned through puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have suffered irreversible developmental issues, physiological damage (such as loss of bone density, infertility and sexual dysfunction) and significant social and relational harms. Those most at risk are children who do not conform to traditional sex stereotypes.”

Last month, a United Nations expert warned that a trans-inclusive bans on conversion therapy could backfire by putting girls and boys at risk of harm if governments rush their implementation.

Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, warned governments considering such a ban that there was a danger it could make it easier to “fast track” lesbian and autistic girls on the path of irreversible medical gender transition.

‘Any ban must not cover non-directive counselling’ 

Labour has previously come under fire over its transgender policies. Earlier this year, the then shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said that Labour has “a lot of work to do to earn the trust” of women in the wake of rows about transgender rights.

He said it had taken the party “a while to navigate what has been a pretty complicated and at times toxic debate”, saying it was now time to “show some humility” for the hurt caused.

During the election campaign, JK Rowling accused Sir Keir of “abandoning women” who are concerned about transgender rights.

The Harry Potter author criticised the Labour leader for a “dismissive and often offensive” approach to feminist concerns.

The Scottish Government has scrapped plans which could have led to parents being prosecuted for not allowing children to dress as members of the opposite sex.

Legislation to outlaw conversion therapy designed to “change or suppress” a person’s gender identity or sexuality, or their expression of them, had been expected to be introduced at Holyrood next year.

But Scottish ministers say they are now planning to rubber-stamp legislation on the issue being developed at Westminster following major criticism of their own plans.

A UK Government spokesman said: “We will bring forward a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices. We are clear that any ban must not cover legitimate psychological support, treatment, or non-directive counselling.

“It must also respect the important role that teachers, religious leaders, parents and carers can have in supporting those exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Prime Minister must rethink proposed ban – we cannot fail our children again

Society is continuing to wake up to the horrors caused to children in the name of gender ideology, writes James Esses.

Confused, vulnerable children – often gay, sometimes autistic – having been told that they may have been born in the wrong body, were promised a silver bullet in the form of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

Many have suffered irreversible harm, both physical and emotional, including infertility and sexual dysfunction, as well as untold social and developmental harms.

Whistleblowers and campaigners have been vindicated by several recent events, such as the final report of the independent Cass Review, the NHS decision to halt the prescription of puberty blockers, and the closure of the gender clinic at the Tavistock.

However, a new battleground has emerged in the fight for child safeguarding. The Labour government has pledged a “trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices”.

To outsiders, this may sound compassionate, even sensible. It is anything but.

There is no robust evidence to suggest that harmful practices are taking place throughout the UK. When people think of “conversion”, their minds often jump to horrendous acts of torture, such as corrective rape, or electric shock treatment. Thankfully, such tortuous acts have long been criminalised in this country. 

In reality, this legislation will prohibit and criminalise forms of talking therapy; the very same therapy that Dr Hilary Cass said should be at the forefront of treatment for children with gender dysphoria in her final report.

Dr Cass reported the fact that activists seek to portray explorative therapy as conversion therapy. If this legislation is passed, clinicians will essentially be forced to affirm children to transition, thereby denying them the opportunity to settle into their bodies. Many clinicians from countries in which legislation has been passed now refuse to work with children suffering from gender dysphoria, for fear of being struck off, or put behind bars.

‘It is about right and wrong’

Similar legislation from abroad reads as if it has been copied and pasted. The language is ambiguous, the scope unbelievably broad. It talks of “suppressing someone’s gender identity”. We cannot even agree as a society what “gender identity” is, yet the government wants to criminalise its suppression. You cannot legislate for what you cannot define.

Other jurisdictions criminalise parents who do not allow their children to take puberty blockers. Is that awaiting us here in the UK?

Free speech is already being curtailed for those who dare to speak out. I know this only too well – I was expelled from my Masters’ degree in Psychotherapy after raising concerns regarding this proposed legislation. Following years of litigation, I have been vindicated. However, I worry about those who risk losing their livelihoods and reputations if this becomes law.

That is why I, along with over 130 prominent signatories from across professions and political divides, have written to the Prime Minister demanding that he rethinks this proposed ban. This issue is not about left or right. It is about right and wrong.

In truth, the only “conversion” taking place is the children being led to believe that they might have been born in the wrong body. Such pernicious ideology is being taught to children in schools throughout the country, and elsewhere. That should be where the Prime Minister focuses his attention and resources.

This legislation is unnecessary, impossible to define, and will lead to significant, harmful unintended consequences.

As a society, we have already failed in our duty of care towards many children. We cannot fail them again.

Keir – If you are reading this: Do the right thing. This proposed legislation must not become reality. Our children’s well-being depends on it.

James Esses is a social commentator, writer, co-Founder of Thoughtful Therapists, and co-ordinator of Declaration for Biological Reality

Wait times for cancer treatment on the NHS are at their worst level on record since 2010, according to the health service’s data.

The number of urgent cancer referrals made to wait for more than two months to start treatment has already reached a record number this year, figures from NHS Digital show.

A total of 71,523 patients were seen outside of the 62-day standard over the first eight months of 2024, an 8.8 per cent increase from last year and the highest tally since at least 2010.

This year up to August, just two-thirds of urgent cancer referrals were treated on time. On the current trend, 2024 is on track to be the worst year for cancer wait times on record.

The monthly average number of people treated outside the 62-day window (8,851) over the past 12 months was the highest on record, according to an analysis carried out by the Liberal Democrats.

The NHS last met its target of treating 85 per cent of urgent cancer referrals within 62 days in 2015.

For the first eight months of 2015, 18,000 patients were treated outside the 62 days. For the first eight months of 2024, the figure was 71,500.

According to Cancer Research UK, 9 in 10 of such patients will not be diagnosed with cancer, but for those where the disease is found, early diagnosis is critical for successful treatment.

The NHS is also bound by a 28-day Faster Diagnosis standard, which states that 75 per cent of patients with suspected cancer should have it ruled out or receive a diagnosis within 28 days. This standard was breached in six of the past 12 months and was only just met in August, at 75.5 per cent.

Vital chances of survival

Helen Morgan, the Lib Dem MP who is also the spokesperson for health and social care, said: “When someone is diagnosed with cancer, it is often one of the most difficult moments of their lives. We know that starting treatment as quickly as possible is vital to chances of survival in many cases and it is heartbreaking to know that there are far too many cases where people are waiting too long for care.

“The previous Conservative government should hang their heads in shame. Their legacy of neglect and mismanagement of our NHS has left patients without the care they deserve. It is now down to the new government to rise to the greatest challenge facing us, rescuing the health service.”

Michelle Mitchell, the chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “Despite the tireless effort of NHS staff, huge numbers of cancer patients are having to wait longer than they should to begin their treatment. This can cause unimaginable stress and anxiety for patients and their loved ones.

“The last time all cancer wait time targets in England were met was almost a decade ago.”

Delays costing lives

Prof Pat Price, an oncologist who is also the co-founder of the Catch Up With Cancer campaign and chairman of charity Radiotherapy UK, said: “This alarming data reveals we’re experiencing one of the worst years for cancer treatment delays. It builds on years of normalised and dangerous treatment delays, that ultimately costs lives.

“For far too long essential treatments like radiotherapy have been neglected in terms of funding and prioritisation. It’s no surprise our cancer outcomes and waiting times continue to be at crisis point.”

A spokesman from the Department of Health and Social Care said: “Too many cancer patients are waiting too long for treatment so as part of our mission to get the NHS back on its feet, we will hit all cancer waiting time targets within five years, and increase the number of MRI and CT scanners.

“As part of our 10-year plan to radically reform our broken NHS, we will fight cancer on all fronts, from prevention to diagnosis, treatment, and research.”

Heavy rain and gale-force winds are forecast to hit parts of the UK this weekend in the first named storm of the season.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for parts of north-west England as well as Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, ahead of Storm Ashley’s arrival on Sunday.

The storm will bring strong winds across the whole of the UK on Sunday and into Monday, with Scotland and Northern Ireland expected to experience the worst conditions.

Cumbria and other north-western regions could see winds of up to 60mph, with coastal areas and higher ground likely to be bearing the brunt. The weather could disrupt travel, with ferry services and coastal routes particularly vulnerable to high winds and heavy rain.

Tony Wisson, the Met Office’s deputy chief meteorologist, said: “Storm Ashley will bring strong winds for most of the UK on Sunday before it clears on Monday, with a chance of some disruption across parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, north-west England and west Wales.

“A period of especially strong winds is expected on Sunday afternoon and evening in western Scotland, where gusts could potentially reach 70-80mph in exposed areas, and an amber warning for winds has been issued here.

“More generally, 50-60mph gusts are possible in some inland areas in other parts of the warning area, especially Northern Ireland and western Scotland, and perhaps up to 60-70mph along exposed coasts and hills. These strong winds, in conjunction with high spring tides, may cause some disruption.”

Sunday’s Great South Run in Portsmouth was called off ahead of the storm, with the adverse weather conditions showing no signs of likely improvement in time for the race. About 23,000 runners had been expected to take part.

Western parts of the UK could wake up to 50 to 60mph winds and heavy rain, particularly affecting exposed coasts and hills, the Met Office said.

Sunday’s strongest winds will sweep exposed parts of Northern Ireland and western Scotland, with 70mph gusts likely. Aidan McGivern, a Met Office meteorologist, said they could reach 80mph “or perhaps a fraction more” in parts of Scotland.

He added: “Those kinds of wind gusts could cause considerable disruption, damage to buildings, transport disruptions of the ferry crossings, for example. And also the risk to coastal communities of flooding because these winds coincide with high tides, so that risk is especially great.”

The Princess Royal has attended a performance by the world’s oldest riding academy, four months after suffering concussion in a horse accident.

Princess Anne was treated to perfectly-synchronised routines, set to Viennese classical music, by eight riders and as many as 26 horses from the Spanish Riding School in London on Friday evening.

The academy, based in Vienna, Austria, has been maintaining and practising classical horsemanship in its Renaissance equestrian High School tradition for more than 450 years.

The Princess watched the opening night of a tour by the school at the OVO Arena Wembley from the royal box. She was joined by Lady Victoria Hervey, the model, Chuggs Wallis, an influencer, and thousands of fans.

The Princess was concussed in June after apparently being kicked in the head by a horse while walking on her Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire.

The exact circumstances of the June 23 accident remain unknown, as the Princess “couldn’t remember a single thing” about what had happened and there were no witnesses.

She was rushed to Southmead Hospital, in Bristol, and spent five nights as an in-patient before being discharged on June 28 to convalesce at home. 

She returned to public duties by presenting awards at an equine competition three weeks later.

The Princess has supported the riding academy for decades and visited its training base several times. During a visit in 1969, she rode Lipizzaner horses alongside her mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Nicki Chapman, the radio and TV presenter, said: “Hosting the opening night of the prestigious Spanish Riding School tour, with The Princess Royal in attendance, was an absolute honour.

“It’s been eight years since the Lipizzaner horses and their incredibly talented riders last visited the UK, and sharing the magic with both the Princess Royal and the British public made the evening all the more unforgettable.”

The academy will perform twice more at Wembley, on Saturday and Sunday, before heading to Aberdeen’s P&J Live for three shows on Oct 25, 26 and 27.

Princess Anne competed for Great Britain in the equestrian three-day event at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

A surfer has died after being impaled by a swordfish in a freak accident in Indonesia.

Giulia Manfrini, a 36-year-old Italian, was riding a wave when the swordfish reportedly leapt out of the water and struck her in the chest.

The incident happened on Masokut Island, a popular surfing spot in the Mentawai archipelago which lies off the west coast of Sumatra.

It was witnessed by two other surfers, named in local reports as Massimo Ferro and Alexandre Ribas, who administered first aid as best they could.

She had a five-centimetre deep stab wound on the upper left-hand side of her chest. She was taken to a local health clinic but could not be saved.

As news of her death reached Italy, her Instagram account was flooded with tributes.

“The sea, that gave you so much, has taken your life. Rest in peace,” one Italian wrote.

Another wrote: “I just heard the dreadful news. RIP.”

Manfrini was from the town of Venaria Reale, where her father was a lawyer and her mother a GP. 

Fabio Giulivi, the mayor, said: “The whole community offers its condolences to her family. 

“The news of her death has shocked us all, we feel helpless in the face of a tragedy that cut short her life so prematurely.”

Manfrini graduated in law but forged a career initially as a snowboarding coach. She then developed an interest in surfing and moved to Bali, where she worked as a surfing instructor.

Officials planned to transport her body by boat to the port of Padang on the west coast of Sumatra, from where it would be repatriated to Italy.

The Mentawai islands are one of the most renowned surfing destinations in Southeast Asia.

In an interview with a website called The Salt Sirens in 2019, she said: “Surfing wise, I love the wilderness of North Sumatra – the rainforest there is so primordial and gorgeous. I love sitting in the lineup with few friends, listening only to the sounds of the jungle, and waiting for a set which I already know will be perfect and will deliver some barrels.”

Human fatalities from swordfish are highly unusual and extremely rare. Swordfish are found in temperate and tropical waters around the world, and an adult swordfish can grow up to 15 feet long and weigh around 450kg.

In 2015, a fishboat captain in Hawaii died after being impaled by the bill of a swordfish.

Randy Llanes, 47, jumped into the water to spear the fish but it then struck him in the chest.

By the time he was taken to hospital, he was dead. The swordfish was about three feet long with a bill that was about the same length, Hawaiian officials said.

“Swordfish attacks on humans are extremely rare, but they can kill if vital organs are involved,” scientists said in a report published by Science Direct in 2007.

An Israeli police officer narrowly avoided being killed as a car rammed into his vehicle on the side of a motorway in the West Bank in a suspected terror attack.

The officer had walked a step to the right a split second before a white car careened at full speed into the armoured vehicle near the city of Ofra.

No police officers were injured and the driver died, the Israeli government said.

“Earlier today, a Palestinian terrorist attempted a violent attack by accelerating towards a police vehicle,” the IDF said in an official statement.

“The attempt ended in failure, as the terrorist’s actions resulted in his own death.”

The name of the driver was revealed as Yosef Ahmed Adnan Taha, 27, a resident of Nablus.

Ukraine warned of a “huge” escalation risk on Saturday as hundreds of elite North Korean troops were predicted to enter the battlefield within days in support of Russia. 

Around 10,000 of Pyongyang’s soldiers are preparing to join Moscow’s army, according to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, and South Korean intelligence. 

Video released on Friday showed North Korean troops arriving at Russian bases in the country’s far east, picking up military equipment in long queues.

Some 1,500 special forces were transferred to the port city of Vladivostok, with further deployments expected in the near future, the NIS, Seoul’s intelligence service, reported.

Kyrlo Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, said around 2,600 soldiers will be sent to fight in Kursk by Nov 1.

North Korea’s Special Operations Forces [SOF] is one of the most secretive units of its kind in the world and an enigma to Western powers, appearing loyal and highly trained but lacking in advanced military equipment. 

The personnel reportedly sent to Vladivostok are presumed to have been sourced from the 200,000-strong ranks of the SOF, which is primarily used to probe and test South Korean defences.

According to the NIS, the troops were issued Russian military uniforms, weapons and fake IDs, and are expected to be deployed to Ukraine once they have completed acclimatisation training.

“This seems to be an effort to disguise the fact that they are North Korean troops by making them appear as Russian soldiers,” the spy agency said.

Andriy Sybiga, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia carried a “huge threat of further escalation” on Saturday. 

Though fiercely loyal to Pyongyang, it is unclear what role the non-Russian-speaking special forces will fulfil on Ukraine’s eastern front, which has slowly become a war of attrition – hardly a traditional arena for covert missions. 

Mike Turner, a Republican member of the House of Representatives and chairman of its intelligence committee, wrote to Joe Biden complaining about the lack of further detail from the White House on North Korean troop movements.

“The administration has not briefed the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence…of any assessments by US intelligence agencies or the department of defence regarding these troop movements,” he wrote, calling for an immediate briefing on the matter.

Founded around 1968, the SOF is perhaps best known for a disastrous attempt at raiding the Blue House, South Korea’s presidential residence, that year, which ended in the death of 29 out of the 31 operatives involved. 

Unlike the SAS or Israeli Mossad, little else is known about the intelligence service’s exploits, though some of its troops took part in a rare public event in 2017 that involved marching in formation alongside regular army soldiers.

In images broadcast by North Korean state TV, SOF troops were seen wearing black camouflage paint and dark sunglasses. They also carried what state media described as a new rifle fitted with a grenade launcher, and were clad in helmets with night vision goggles.

Several news reports at the time noted a distinct similarity to the uniforms of South Korean special forces – known as the Black Berets – suggesting they may have been modelled directly after them.

A report by Maxwell Goldstein, an analyst at Grey Dynamics, the London-based intelligence consultancy, in July described the SOF as aspiring to be “highly trained troops equipped with the best gear available for dangerous but essential missions”.

He said the SOF possesses 12 light infantry brigades, three reconnaissance units for operating behind enemy lines, three airborne divisions and three general sniper units, in addition to sniper brigades attached to air force and naval forces.

The SOF’s estimated size of 200,000 men is unusual in comparison to other international special forces units. The British SAS is believed to have as few as 500 active soldiers at any given time, while the US Delta Force contains some 2,000 operating members.

A 2021 report by the US Defence Intelligence Agency described the SOF as highly trained, highly motivated and fitted with the best equipment available to a pariah state such as North Korea, including chemical and biological agents.

However, it also observed: “Compared with the equipment of other worldwide SOF units, North Korea’s equipment is rudimentary and North Korean SOF probably lacks such sophisticated items as burst communications equipment, advanced signal-processing equipment, and specialised explosives.”

Ahmed Hassan, the CEO of Grey Dynamics, stressed that SOF were deemed “special” by North Korean army standards and not the criteria for Nato or Russian special forces.

“If there is a ranking between one and ten, and let’s say one is a basic soldier and ten is let’s say Delta Force or the SAS, then the NK force sits at 5,” Mr Hassan told The Telegraph. “The North Koreans don’t have a similar indication of what special operations mean, such as Nato standards. In North Korean parlance it’s more like, anything outside of a normal soldier.”

The SOF is rumoured to have been deployed to Syria in support of Bashar al-Assad, the country’s dictator, but some evidence suggested the troops were merely North Korean mercenaries.

Prof Hazel Smith, a leading UK expert on North Korea at SOAS University, advised caution over Seoul’s claim that special forces could soon be deployed to Ukraine. She noted that some of its previous intelligence assessments had turned out to be “spectacularly wrong.”

“It is very difficult to ascertain the validity of the South Korean intelligence statement,” she said. 

“If there are soldiers, the only reason they are likely to be special operations soldiers is that North Korea can’t risk sending conscripts as they don’t trust conscripts; their priority would be to defect or disappear. Special operations soldiers are considered to be more loyal to the North Korean government.”

Prof Smith also pointed out that the eastern front in Ukraine was primarily being used as a “meat-grinder” battlefield by Vladimir Putin, where the role of special operations soldiers would be unclear – especially ones who do not speak any Russian.

Bruce W Bennett, an analyst at the RAND think tank, called on the US to begin information campaigns to convince North Korean soldiers sent to Russia to defect to the West.

“It has been reported that six officers from [North Korea] were killed in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, a message that will likely anger their families in Pyongyang and thus should also be broadcast into North Korea,” he wrote this week.

North Korea’s greatest ally – the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – is “currently not that bothered by support for Russia,” according to Ian Garner, a historian and analyst of Russian culture.

On Saturday, the US announced sanctions against Chinese firms linked to the production of suicide drones being used against Ukraine.

But Beijing, which regards North Korea as a buffer zone between itself and the US-allied South Korea, has historically opposed any decisions by Pyongyang that are deemed risky or destabilising to Chinese foreign affairs, notably its trade relations with the West.

“If China does say no [to the final deployment of troops], it won’t happen,” Mr Garner told The Telegraph.

“Russia has very little to offer North Korea compared to what China offers, so if Beijing puts the dampeners on the plan, then those troops may never materialise at the front.”

There was a time, back when the calamity that befell their land moved the world to pity and horror, that those forced to flee Syria’s civil war could expect a sympathetic welcome.

Those days are long past. More than 13 years into a grinding, half-forgotten conflict that has killed more than half a million people, Syria’s refugees are more likely to encounter weariness, irritation and outright hostility than sympathy.

Sometimes the hostility explodes into violent hatred. Mobs in half a dozen Turkish cities beat up Syrian refugees and burned down their homes during three days of anti-migrant rioting in July, triggered by allegations that a Syrian man had molested his seven-year-old cousin.

Sympathy has dried up in parts of the European Union, too.

Not only are there more than 1 million Syrian refugees living in the bloc, but Syrians continue to apply for asylum at far greater rates than any other nationality, constituting 14 per cent of the applications made in the first six months of this year, according to EU figures.

Amid a hardening of anti-migration rhetoric, EU leaders met in Brussels last week to consider a call from Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, to normalise relations with Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president.

Such a step, she told the Italian senate, would pave the way for the “safe and sustainable” return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.

Ms Meloni is emerging as the leader of an eight-member faction within the EU that is challenging the body’s “three nos” policy on Syria: no lifting of sanctions, no normalising relations and no reconstruction. In July she also broke with her G7 partners by appointing an Italian ambassador to Damascus, the first time the position has been filled since 2012.

With interest in Syria waning in the US, some members of the Biden administration are also said to favour re-engagement following Syria’s readmission to the Arab League last year.

Yet the prospect of bringing Assad in from the cold – particularly without extracting any concessions in advance – has prompted horror amongst many Syria watchers as well as in the swathes of the country that still remain under the control of opposition forces.

“Returning to areas held by the Assad regime would be suicide,” says Omar al-Ashqar, a human rights activist in Idlib, a province in Syria’s Turkey-backed breakaway north-west.

“And if it is done by force it would be murder, given what the forces of the Assad regime do to returning Syrians, such as kidnapping and enforced disappearance.”

The idea that Syrians could return home without fear of government persecution is met with widespread incredulity both in rebel-held parts of the country and in former opposition-strongholds like the shattered city of Homs, which fell to government forces in 2014.

“There is no security in Syria,” says Ghaith al-Mohammed, a supermarket worker in the city. “If there is a restoration of relations between the European Union and the Assad regime, thousands of Syrians will return to Syria and the Assad regime will brutalise and torture them.”

Such claims are hardly without foundation.

Despite some two dozen amnesties announced by Assad over the years, tens of thousands of prisoners of conscience remain in detention in Syria, many of whom have been held for more than a decade simply for participating in anti-government protests.

Conditions in Syrian prisons are amongst the worst in the world. Most detainees have experienced starvation, torture and overcrowding. Tens of thousands have died, often after being executed without a trial.

Amnesty International estimates that as many as 13,000 detainees were hanged at the Sednaya military prison in Damascus between 2011, when the uprising against Assad began, and 2016 alone.

Nor is the country safe or stable. Violence continues in several parts of the state.

In the past week alone, Israel attacked a weapons depot in the coastal city of Latakia in government-held territory, while Russia, which props up the Assad regime, carried out dozens of airstrikes on rebel-held areas. One Russian strike killed 10 people in Idlib – about half of which is controlled by a jihadist group.

While the crisis remains unresolved, and economic and humanitarian conditions continue to worsen, experts warn that failed Arab League efforts to re-engage Assad should offer the EU a salutary warning against trusting the Syrian president.

‘The Syrians will only ever take’

Last year, the Arab League invited Syria back into its fold for the first time since November 2011 and showered Assad with accolades after he addressed the group at a summit in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

Restoring relations, it was hoped, would prod Assad into reducing Iranian influence in Syria, persuading refugees that it was safe to return and curtailing the illicit trade in Captagon, an amphetamine that is said to have enriched the Assad regime while causing misery across the Middle East.

The Syrian president has made good on none of these promises, however, says Heiko Wimmen of the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank, something that should ring alarm bells for Europeans thinking of adopting the Arab League’s approach.

“There is this experience time and time again that whenever you deal with the Syrians, the Syrians will only take but never give anything back,” he said.

“Everyone has had the same experience as the Gulf states. You just don’t get anything from the Syrians. Maybe Bashar can’t deliver or maybe he won’t. It is unclear which, but in the end what does it matter? In the end if he doesn’t deliver, he doesn’t deliver.”

The issue is one of trust

While rehabilitating an unapologetic Assad may seem an unconscionable and futile betrayal for some in the West, others, however, note that all efforts to topple him have failed, thanks to the support of Russia and Iran – and that by deliberately keeping Syria weak through sanctions is only exacerbating the problem.

Some kind of accommodation, however distasteful, is therefore necessary both on pragmatic and humanitarian grounds, they argue.

It could weaken Russian influence over time, some say, while a stronger state built on credible institutions and with full control of the country would potentially prevent the resurgence of extremist jihadist groups such as Isis, which is regrouping in the east of the country.

Vengeful and vindictive as Assad may be, the pragmatists conclude, he must surely see that the only way to rebuild his shattered country is to ensure the safe return of the 12 million Syrians – more than half the population – still too scared to go home.

Ultimately the issue comes down to trust.

Desperate to stem and reverse the tide of refugees to the EU, particularly with the Middle East in renewed turmoil, Ms Meloni and her allies are eager to give Assad the benefit of the doubt.

Others, including Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, would dearly like to share their optimism.

Turkey is home to more than 3 million Syrian refugees and Mr Erdogan has ostensibly made overtures to Assad about a deal that would see Turkish troops withdraw from the north-west.

But few expect any real progress because it would expose 7 million Syrians who have fled government-held territory for rebel-controlled havens in Syria’s north that are either under Turkish or US military protection.

These Syrians do not trust Assad. Rather than risking ending up in his torture chambers or at the end of a noose, many are likely to flee again – meaning that there is a possibility that Syria’s external refugee crisis could get worse before it gets better.

However much Ms Meloni hopes otherwise, critics say her proposal would therefore not only fail to wish away Syria’s refugee crisis but would send a message to rogue regimes around the world that Western principles fade over time.

“The Assad regime, alongside its allies Russia and Iran, is still arbitrarily arresting, torturing and killing its citizens,” says Mouaz Moustafa, head of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a Washington-based body that supports the opposition in Syria.

“Any normalisation would send the message to other criminal regimes that if you stay the course, you will be rehabilitated and readmitted to the international community.”

Battered by sea spray and baked by the sun, they have clung to the precipitous slopes and black volcanic grit of the island for more than 3,000 years.

But the prized vineyards of Santorini are now facing an existential threat from tourist overdevelopment as land is bought up on the Greek island for villa complexes, hotels and restaurants.

With rampant construction on the Aegean outcrop in the last few years, vineyards have been bought by developers and covered in concrete.

In the 1960s, Santorini boasted 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres) of vines but that figure has now plunged to just under 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres).

Production of grapes on the island, famed for its volcanic caldera, sugar-cube houses and sunset views, has dropped almost 50 per cent in the last 20 years, according to the Association of Winemakers of Santorini.

“The construction of tourism developments is threatening the unique landscape of the island,” Markos Kafouros, a local MP and the chairman of Santo Wines, one of the oldest wineries on Santorini, told The Telegraph.

That threat is being compounded by diminishing rainfall, probably driven by climate change.

To try to make the most of scant moisture, vines on Santorini are grown using a unique method called “kouloura”, a Greek word meaning woven basket.

Rather than growing along upright trellises, as in most wine regions of the world, they are trained to grow in a basket shape on the ground, an arrangement which protects the grapes from the intense sunshine and strong winds that buffet the island.

The result are crisp, citrusy white wines, made from the Assyrtiko, Athiri and Aidani grape varieties, and reds made from the varieties Mandilaria and Mavrotragano.

But even this ancient method, tried and tested over centuries, cannot protect the vines from extremes of drought. Annual rainfall has fallen from an average of 400mm (15.7 inches) to less than 200mm (7.8 inches) a year.

“Climate change and especially drought are the biggest threats to the vineyards on Santorini,” said Mr Kafouros, who is an MP with the governing centre-Right New Democracy party.

A lack of rainfall and scorching temperatures resulted in a disastrous harvest this year.

The island produced just 600 tons of grapes, compared with 3,500 tons in a normal year – a decrease of 82 per cent.

“The decrease in production is due to the extreme weather, particularly drought, hailstorms and summer heat. I’m worried about the future of Santorini’s vineyards, more than ever,” said Mr Kafouros, who has worked for 35 years as an agronomist on the island.

He wants the Greek government to do much more to protect the remaining vineyards from the threat of development and to confront the shortage of water. A study is underway to look at the option of using treated wastewater to irrigate farmland.

It is not just development and drought that imperil the island’s proud wine making tradition.

There are also difficulties in persuading islanders to work in the fields when there are easier, more comfortable jobs available in tourism.

“The grandpas who used to farm the vines slowly quit, and young people are turning to the tourism sector for income. Nobody goes into the vineyards anymore. The vines are struggling, the costs for fertilizers are raised, and working hands are rare,” Tzennis Dartzentas, a wine maker, told Greek media recently.

Reduction in tourism

The mayor of Santorini, Nikos Zorzos, has been calling for years for overdevelopment to be reined-in and for a reduction in tourist arrivals on the island.

His council does not have the power to impose a building ban and must instead defer to Athens.

He wants the number of cruise ship passengers allowed to disembark on the island to be limited to 8,000 a day. He hopes this restriction on numbers will be adopted next year.

“Since 2012, we have been asking [the authorities] to stop the unplanned tourist development, to protect the landscape and save the place from mass tourism. Santorini has a unique environment that should not be sacrificed for the sake of another interest,” he told The Telegraph.

The mayor is also considering introducing an entrance fee for tourists, following the example set by Venice this year when it started levying a €5 (£4.16) charge on day trippers.

He would not be drawn on when the entrance fee might be introduced or how much it would cost but said: “We want to have the ability to impose any fee deemed necessary.”

As Santorini starts to recover from another bruising summer season of saturation tourism, other Greek islands are steering a different course.

The council on Skyros, part of the Sporades island group in the northern Aegean, unanimously rejected a proposed development that would have included new hotels, docks for cruise ships and marinas for yachts.

Kyriakos Antonopoulos, the mayor, said locals are anxious not to spoil the quiet charm that draws visitors to the island. “We’d rather stay ‘undeveloped’ than lose what makes Skyros unique,” he said.

Germany is planning to increase the number of asylum seekers it detains in airports in the latest attempt to toughen its border policies.

In a draft law, Berlin proposes holding asylum seekers from countries with acceptance rates below 20 per cent across the EU on airport premises. Their cases will be heard while they are detained in specially-built facilities.

It already holds some asylum seekers in airports. Those who tear up their passports on landing, or come from countries Germany deems safe, are put up on site in five airports.

But changing the rules so that all from countries with below 20 per cent acceptance rates across the EU would significantly widen the detention scheme.

It is likely that more airport holding pens would have to be constructed, and Olaf Scholz government of  is seeking advice from the European Commission on the legality of its proposed law.

Mr Scholz has made toughening Germany’s migration policies a key plank of his agenda as he risks losing support to the Right, which has called for far tighter rules.

Fewer than 20 per cent of migrants from Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh, India, Serbia, Tunisia and Georgia are granted asylum status across the EU.

Some 300, 000 asylum seekers entered Germany illegally last year. Officials have told their EU counterparts that airports and ports are the only external borders of the bloc in Germany.

Diplomatic sources told The Telegraph that Berlin was keen to clarify with Brussels how far the new airport procedure could go under the legal framework before new EU rules for accelerated asylum claims come into force in mid-2026.

“We want to get as close as possible to the new rules as possible,” said one source.

Under the airport detention scheme, asylum seekers stay in the transit area of the airport while their case is examined, which takes two days.

If thire claim is rejected, they can apply for temporary legal protection while remaining in the airport. If that application is approved, the person can enter Germany, but they are deported if it is rejected.

Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg and Munich are the only airports in Germany currently equipped for the procedure as they have asylum accommodation on site. It is thought the procedure was last used in Frankfurt in January.

Illegal border crossings into the EU fell by 42 per cent to 166,000 in the first nine months of this year but asylum claims are still high.

The European Union Agency for Asylum said that 513,000 asylum claims were made in the EU, Norway and Switzerland in the first half of this year, on course to match more than 1.1 million applications last year. That was the highest number since the migrant crisis in 2015-2016.

The data suggest that while illegal sea crossings have been curbed by EU deals with non-EU countries exchanging funding and aid for stronger policing of borders, migrants are arriving in Europe through other routes, such as airports, before claiming asylum.

At a European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday night, Mr Scholz argued for the swift implementation of new EU migration rules that will allow speeded up asylum processes.

They introduce eight-week deadlines for claims to be heard and a two-week deadline on interim legal protection. However, Poland and Hungary oppose the Migration Pact because of rules that would relocate refugees from under pressure states across the bloc.

Nancy Faeser, the federal minister of the interior, said: “We are implementing the new Common European Asylum System at full speed. This will finally ensure that the EU’s external borders are comprehensively protected and that arrivals are reliably checked and registered.

“Asylum procedures for people with little prospect of protection will then be carried out at the EU’s external borders.”

Mr Scholz’s efforts to change migration rules have accelerated since a mass stabbing attack in Solingen on Aug 23, in which three people were killed.

In September, Germany introduced passport controls at all of its land borders and is also seeking to impose a “bed, bread and soap” reform that cuts benefits for asylum seekers who are based in Germany but registered their claim in a different EU member state to an absolute minimum.

The German chancellor is under immense pressure from Friedrich Merz, the leader of the opposition CDU party, who wants much tougher measures that lead to “the rejection of people at the German external borders on a comprehensive scale”.

The hard-Right, anti-migrant AfD party, which won its first ever state election in Saxony last month, is also pushing Germany’s traditional parties to adopt a tougher stance on refugee policies.

The clampdown comes as EU leaders called for action to speed up deportations from the bloc at Thursday’s summit.

The meeting was dominated by discussions over whether the EU could set up offshore “return hubs”, which are camps for failed asylum seekers outside the bloc where they can be held before being deported.

Out of the 484,000 non-EU citizens who were ordered to leave the EU last year, only about 91,500 – less than 20 per cent – were effectively returned, according to the Eurostat agency.

Labour’s employment rights revamp will pave the way for a £5.5 billion wage rise for carers, an analysis has found.

A forecast, drawn up by officials at the Department for Health earlier this year, found that the full cost could come to £24 billion over the course of this parliament.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, is committed to establishing a fair pay agreement in the sector, under which state-backed collective bargaining would take place between trade unions and social care providers.

Under the Workers’ Rights Bill, those working in the social care sector will be given the right to collective bargaining on pay.

Senior Labour figures have argued that the policy would increase pay for social care staff and decrease reliance on foreign workers who have been issued visas to fill vast shortages. Should it prove successful, those working on the policy say it could be expanded into other sectors.

The Department for Health’s forecast, which was drawn up before the election, is based on a new salary for carers of £15 an hour, which unions have previously said is the minimum that adult social care workers should be paid.

Last night, the Government distanced itself from the analysis, saying it was based on “incorrect” assumptions and did not reflect its policies.

Jeremy Hunt, the shadow chancellor, said: “This simply confirms what we already knew. Labour’s bogus black hole is self-created, and that any decision to raise taxes at the Budget will be as a result of their own choices.

“The real scandal is that despite planning these tax rises all along, they didn’t have the courage to admit it to the public during the election campaign”.

Ministers have not stated who would be in line to foot the bill for carers’ pay rise. Local councils – who for much of the country’s social care provision – have long argued that they are already cash-strapped and would not be able to afford it themselves.

David Fothergill, the social care spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said that a fair pay agreement for care workers is “crucial” for attracting and retaining skilled professionals to the sector.

But he added that “any rise in wages must be funded by genuinely new government funding; the cost cannot be handed over to councils when their budgets are already under significant strain and incapable of absorbing such increases”.

“Any new agreements should also come alongside a fully funded workforce strategy for the sector and the resources councils and providers need to reduce their reliance on costly agency staff.”

Huge responsibility

Gavin Edwards, the head of social care at Unison, said: “Until wages rise in social care, the sector will never be able to recruit and retain the numbers of staff needed to meet the growing demands of an ageing population. That’s something employers, families, ministers and unions can all agree upon.

“It will be the responsibility of the new care negotiating body, made up of provider, union and government representatives, to agree on a minimum hourly rate that will help kickstart the long-overdue reform of this most vital service.”

A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said: “These figures are based on an incorrect set of assumptions and do not reflect this government’s policy. No spending decisions have been made.

“We are committed to delivering a Fair Pay Agreement for adult social care workers to properly reward hard-working staff and improve recruitment and retention.

“In order to deliver this, it is vital to first consult widely to ensure the policy is right for workers, providers and people who draw on care and support.”

Peter Mandelson has been accused of “appealing to tribal loyalties” in the race to be the next chancellor of the University of Oxford.

Undergraduate students associated with Oxford’s Labour Club have been campaigning for Lord Mandelson to become the ceremonial head of the university.

Some Labour MPs who are alumni of the university have also been helping to drum up support for the former Cabinet minister, The Telegraph understands.

Undergraduates are not eligible to vote in the election of the new chancellor, which takes place in the week of Oct 28. More than 250,000 graduates are technically eligible to vote, along with academics at the university, if they have registered to vote online.

In their efforts to elect Lord Mandelson, student activists have tried to sign up graduates to vote in order to “make the race more representative” and Labour-friendly. Some have tried to persuade their tutors to support Lord Mandelson.

Labour-supporting undergraduates have also been involved in helping the party grandee to plan events that seek to boost his profile at the university. He has no full-time campaigning team.

But some dons have expressed their displeasure at the 70-year old accepting help from current students to influence the race. On senior academic said: “At a university of all places, Lord Mandelson should be promoting his cause by the strength of his reasons, not by appealing to tribal loyalties.”

Another don said: “The chancellor of Oxford should be above party politics and should strive to represent the whole university. It’s to be hoped that an electorate as experienced and informed as Oxford’s MAs will see through his immature behaviour and vote for a better candidate who understands the chancellor’s role.”

Another said: “It’s so naff for 20-year-olds to be hassling people and asking them to vote. I think it is highly counter-productive.”

Lord Mandelson has said he would draw on his “political links with the new Government to advocate for Oxford and the university sector.”

One student supporting Lord Mandelson said: “What I’ve been doing is reaching out to people, letting them know that this election is happening because it’s almost always been a Conservative chancellor, but we want people to know that this one is different. It’s online and we can make sure it’s more representative.”

Another said: “There are a lot of Labour MPs who were at Oxford, who were previously involved in Labour student politics, who have reached out to the campaign because they want it to be a Labour result.”

Lord Mandelson told The Telegraph: “I have been a two-term chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University and I therefore know how to support a university but, as an alumnus myself, I also know Oxford University is a global university and I have the international connections and networks to help it remain so.

“I welcome the support of people of all political persuasions and none, and I hope everyone who can will cast a vote in this election.”

Candidates for the chancellorship have not traditionally campaigned in the past, instead being elected at a ceremonial gathering of the electorate. But this year’s election is the first to be held online.

Other politicians running for the position include William Hague, the former foreign secretary, who has received an endorsement from the Oxford University Conservative Association. 

In all, 38 candidates have successfully submitted applications to stand in the election. Janet Royall, a Labour peer and former cabinet colleague of Lord Mandelson, is also running for the position.

The Oxford chancellor role has often been held by former Conservative politicians including Lord Patten, who is the outgoing chancellor, and Harold Macmillan, the former prime minister, who served in the role from 1960 to 1986.

Roy Jenkins, once a Labour cabinet minister, held the position when he was an SDP and later Liberal Democrat politician.

Britain’s candidate for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was a favoured legal adviser to Jeremy Corbyn and said British bombing in Syria was unlawful.

Dapo Akande, a professor of law at Oxford, was chosen to run for membership of the court in September with the backing of the Government. David Lammy, the foreign secretary, said he was “an outstanding international lawyer and has our full support”.

In 2018, when Mr Corbyn was the Labour leader, the party sought Mr Akande’s legal opinion on the UK’s bombing of Syria. Mr Akande argued that the air strikes did not comply with international law.

The strikes, conducted with America and France, were a response to the Douma chemical attack, for which the Syrian government was later found responsible. They were intended to hinder the Assad government’s ability to deploy chemical weapons.

While the former Conservative government had legal advice that the targeted strikes were “right and legal”, Labour asked Mr Akande for his opinion. 

In his advice, he argued that the government’s action had no basis in international law and claimed its legal advice was “significantly flawed”. Based on this, Mr Corbyn told the Commons that he thought the air strikes were “legally questionable”.

Tom Watson, Labour’s then deputy leader, who had approached Mr Akande on behalf of the Labour Party, described his legal opinion as “expert and impartial advice”. 

Mr Akande has previously provided legal advice to Conservative Attorneys Generals and served as the legal adviser to the all-party parliamentary group on drones from 2017 to 2018.

As part of his work with the group, he co-signed a letter to The Telegraph that said: “When Britain shares its bases, intelligence and personnel with its drone partners, it is currently at risk of acting unlawfully.”

In 2015, he co-authored an academic article in the European Journal of International Law titled Corbyn, Trident, and the Letter of Last Resort: Legality of Use of Nuclear Weapons.

In it, he and his co-author argued in a legal thought experiment that the UK “would not be acting lawfully in retaliating” with Trident after a nuclear attack.

If elected by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, Mr Akande will sit for at least a nine-year term. 

The ICJ adjudicates on legal disputes between states and gives opinions on the working of international law. South Africa recently used the court to lodge a case of genocide against Israel. That case is still under consideration by ICJ judges.

Candidates for the court must be eligible for the highest judicial appointments in their home countries or display “recognised competence in international law”. Once elected, judges act impartially and independently, not as delegates for their home countries.

Labour’s tax raid on private schools will cost the Foreign Office an extra £1 million this year, the Government has admitted.

Catherine West, the minister for the Indo-Pacific, said the department’s bill would shoot up as a result of the decision to charge VAT on fees.

It is likely to stem from increased compensation paid to diplomatic families who send their children to boarding school in the UK when they are posted abroad.

The Foreign Office currently spends about £14 million per year on placements for the children of staff who may be forced to travel at short notice or move somewhere unsafe, in order to provide stability for their education.

The department has now admitted it expects its costs to rise significantly as a result of the Government’s decision to scrap the VAT exemption for private school fees.

In answer to a written question from Dame Harriett Baldwin, the former Tory minister, the Government said it estimated that the increased cost to the Foreign Office could be about £1 million for 2024-25.

It is predicted this will rise to an extra £2.5 million in 2025-26, with the department continuing to assess the longer-term financial impact. This is “based on an assumption of how schools might apply the increase to parents and the impact on fees”.

The department did not specify why the change would lead to a rise in costs. However, it would follow that an increase in fees for diplomats would need to be compensated as allowances have risen with costs in recent years.

The Telegraph has approached the Foreign Office for comment.

The revelations will fuel concerns that the tax raid on private schools will serve to increase the burden on the taxpayer, with critics fearing an exodus of pupils to the state sector.

‘Ideological politics’

The support for diplomatic and military families is provided through a fund called the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA), which can cover up to 90 per cent of boarding school fees. 

It is currently capped at £9,080 a term for senior school pupils and £7,489 for younger pupils, with families paying the remaining 10 per cent. The cost of those placements will now be eligible to increase by 20 per cent VAT under current plans.

There has been speculation that the Government could offer mitigations, such as an exemption from the tax rise, or choose to recalculate the CEA to ensure that families in receipt of the benefit are shielded from the VAT raid. However, nothing has been confirmed, with Rachel Reeves still working on her Budget for Oct 30.

Currently, 4,210 pupils receive support through the scheme, funded by the Ministry of Defence, while a further 514 are assisted by the Foreign Office.

Dame Harriett told The Telegraph: “Labour has now admitted that its education tax is going to cost the Foreign Office millions of pounds every year. In the midst of global danger and insecurity, raiding the Foreign Office budget to pay for ideological politics is unjustifiable.

“Not only is it untenable for Labour to avoid publishing a full impact assessment of their education tax, they must do what is right by those who serve our country overseas by exempting those supported by the Continuity Education Allowance.”

Paul McCartney gave John Lennon a “step by step” plan to help his fellow Beatles star get back together with his wife, Yoko Ono.

The revelation is part of a memoir by Elliot Mintz, a radio host, that describes his close personal relationship with the couple.

In We All Shine On, Mintz describes how in 1974, while Lennon was producing an album for singer Harry Nilsson entitled the Pussy Cats, McCartney turned up at the recording studio.

Lennon was in the midst of his famous “lost weekend”, in which he had separated from Ono and spent 18 months partying in Los Angeles with other stars, including Nilsson.

During this time, Lennon also began his infamous affair with 23-year-old May Pang, who flew to Los Angeles as his personal assistant.

After Lennon expressed his desire to reunite with his wife, Mintz says McCartney reportedly offered to speak to Lennon for Ono and visited his fellow Beatles star at the recording studio. The two had not performed together since the Beatles had split.

“They were all just looking at us, thinking that something big was going to happen. To me, it was just playing with Paul”, Mintz recalls Lennon saying about the encounter.

Sometime afterwards, McCartney sat down with Lennon and “laid out, step by step, what he would need to do to win Yoko back”, the excerpt from The Times reads.

Ono has historically been accused by fans of breaking up the Beatles, and was regularly referred to by some as the “dragon lady”.

But McCartney’s actions in 1974 suggest otherwise, which is only further backed up by his interview with BBC Radio 4 in 2021, where he said that he held Lennon responsible for the band’s breakup.

We All Shine On charts Mintz’s friendship with Lennon and Ono, as well as the couple’s complicated relationship.

Mintz describes in the book how he was so close with the couple that they had a special hotline for him and a red light would flash in his bedroom whenever one of them called.

Lennon and Ono eventually reunited after their 18-month split in November 1974, when she attended an Elton John performance in which Lennon took part as a surprise guest. Later backstage the couple met in a dressing room and re-established their connection.

Lennon continued to live with Pang for a short period, but eventually returned to Ono, telling Mintz: “Let the media know the separation did not work”.

Liam Payne’s sister said the world wasn’t “good enough or kind enough” to him as she paid tribute to him on Saturday.

In a statement posted on Instagram on Saturday, Ruth Gibbins said the 31-year-old, who died after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina on Wednesday, “had to really try hard to overcome all that was being aimed” at him over the last few years.

It comes after their father, Geoff Payne, was in Buenos Aires to arrange the repatriation of the former One Direction singer’s body.

Mrs Gibbins wrote: “My brain is struggling to catch up with what’s happening and I don’t understand where you’ve gone. What I love most about you is your ability to make me laugh, I never chuckle as much as I do when I’m with you with anyone else.

“I’m always in awe of your talent, it should be illegal to be so talented and just have the ability to not only be good at things but be bloody great at everything you attempt, without even knowing you’re absolutely smashing it each time.

“I don’t feel this world was good enough or kind enough to you, and quite often over the last few years, you’ve had to really try hard to overcome all that was being aimed at you.

“You just wanted to be loved and to make people happy with your music. You never believed you were good enough, I hope you can now see this outpouring of love that you never received in your time. Thank you for changing my life, thank you for the incredible memories, thank you for being the best brother and friend I’ll ever have.”

Geoff Payne was seen visiting tributes to his son laid by fans outside the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires, reading letters and pausing to look at flowers, photographs and candles.

The singer’s family said they were “heartbroken” following his death, adding: “Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul.”

Simon Cowell, the impresario and X Factor TV show creator, said he was “truly devastated” after the death of the singer, adding that he felt “heartbroken” and “empty”.

Zayn Malik has announced that he will reschedule his tour following the death of his former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne.

He wrote on X: “Given the heartbreaking loss experienced this week, I’ve made the decision to postpone the US leg of the Stairway To The Sky Tour.

“The dates are being rescheduled for January and I’ll post them as soon as it’s all set in the next few days. Your tickets will remain valid for the new dates. Love you all and thank you for your understanding.”

Payne found fame with Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles when Cowell put them together to form One Direction on the ITV talent show in 2010. “Every tear I have shed is a memory of you,” Cowell wrote on Instagram.

Payne first auditioned for the X Factor in 2008 when he was 14, singing the Frank Sinatra hit Fly Me to the Moon, with judge Cowell telling him to return to the show two years later.

“I had to tell you when you were 14 that this wasn’t your time. And we both made a promise that we would meet again. A lot of people would have given up. You didn’t,” Cowell wrote.

He added that Payne had visited him last year where they “reminisced about all of the fun times we had together”. He added: “After you left, I was reminded that you were still the sweet, kind boy I had met all of those years ago.”

Horan said in a tribute that he would “cherish every moment” he had with Payne “forever”.

Payne was seen dancing at Horan’s show about two weeks ago at the Movistar Arena with his girlfriend Cassidy in Argentina.

The singer died of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage”, a post-mortem examination found.

Argentina’s national criminal and correctional prosecutor’s Office No 16 said it was investigating the incident as an “inconclusive death” following the report.

The King and Queen met large, cheering crowds in Sydney after attending a church service on Sunday, the first event of their Australian tour.

They were greeted at St Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney by the archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, and children from the church’s Sunday school who waved Australian flags. The church is near were they are staying at harbourside Admiralty House, the Governor-General’s official Sydney residence.

The Queen, wearing a pale green Anna Valentine dress and straw hat, was given a flower bouquet by the minister’s wife, Ellie Mantle, who asked if they had recovered from jet lag after the long flight to Australia on Friday. “Sort of,” Queen Camilla replied.

Inside the church, King Charles and Queen Camilla signed two bibles, including one that belonged to Australia’s first minister and chaplain of the First Fleet of ships that took convicts from Britain to the penal colony of Australia in 1788

Outside the church, they shook hands and chatted with families and cheering fans, some singing “God Save the King”, who lined the streets around the church, the public’s first opportunity to meet the King and Queen since they arrived in Australia’s biggest city on Friday night.

Travelling across Sydney Harbour,  the King later visited the New South Wales parliament, marking the 200th anniversary of Australia’s oldest legislature in the form of the Legislative Council, the upper chamber.

The King presented members of parliament with an hour glass to time their speeches, and highlighted the fundamental role of strong parliaments to democracy.

“What a great joy it is to come to Australia for the first time as sovereign and to renew a love of this country and its people which I have cherished for so long,” he said.

The King is making his inaugural visit to an overseas realm as sovereign and his first major foreign trip since being diagnosed with cancer.

He will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa after the six-day Australia tour.

The King had made a significant personal donation to create a skills programme to tackle climate change and boost higher education in small island states, including the Pacific Islands, the Association of Commonwealth Universities said on Sunday.

“Throughout my life I have believed in the power of education to improve lives and unite communities across the Commonwealth and beyond,” he said in a statement.

Mid-career professionals and civil servants will benefit from the fellowships, in a programme that aims to retain talent in small island states and bolster resilience to the impacts of climate change such as rising sea levels, Reuters reported.

Sir Chris Hoy, one of Britain’s greatest ever Olympians, has revealed he has terminal cancer.

The 48-year-old six-time Olympic cycling gold medallist has only two to four years to live, according to doctors.

Hoy has been living with his diagnosis for a year but has only now revealed his cancer is terminal.

He said he was now prepared to write his full story and added: “Because once it’s said, you can’t go back. You can’t unsay it

Violent allergic reaction to chemotherapy

Hoy was told that his tumours were at stage 4 by his doctor and that they were incurable.

“And just like that,” Hoy wrote. “I learn how I will die.”

His wife Sarra asked what treatment options were available but medics described it as the management of his condition.

“How long do I have?” Hoy asked. “Two to four years,” he was told.

Hoy, who has been undergoing chemotherapy, took the step of having a cold cap in an attempt to save his hair after his son Callum asked him if that would be a side effect of the treatment.

He said it was like your head “being in a vice”, during all six rounds over 18 weeks and said it was the most painful procedure he had ever been through.

“And I’ve got a very high pain threshold,” he said.

He said he suffered such a bad allergic reaction to the chemo in round two that the session went from two hours long to four.

The impact of the treatment left him “absolutely broken by the end of it”.

Back in February Hoy said on social media that he had been diagnosed with cancer and that his treatment was  “thankfully going really well”.

He added then: “I’m optimistic, positive.”

The father of two, whose children are 10 and seven, in an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, said he originally went to the doctor in September last year.

He thought he had suffered a shoulder strain because he was “getting a bit old for lifting heavy weights”.

Tumour was found in his shoulder 

It was discovered he had a tumour in his shoulder and a further scan uncovered that the primary cancer was in his prostate, which had spread to his bones.

There were tumours in his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine and rib.

Hoy, in a memoir which he has written in the past year, said: “[You are told] one sentence that some person you’ve never met before has just told you.

“And in the space of one sentence, just a collection of words, your whole world has fallen apart.”

His memoir is due to be published next month.

Reveals his wife has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis

He also told how his wife Sarra has also had to deal with the diagnosis that she has  a “very active and aggressive” type of multiple sclerosis following a scan last November.

She made the devastating discovery after she started to suffer a curious tingling sensation in her face and tongue.

Hoy said the biggest challenge was having to tell their children Callum and Chloe but he was able to find perspective and positivity.

“I’m not trying to pretend that every day is amazing. But I have genuine moments of joy… I’m back to my old self,” he said.

Sir Chris told The Sunday Times: “As unnatural as it feels, this is nature.”

He added: “You know, we were all born and we all die, and this is just part of the process.

“You remind yourself, aren’t I lucky that there is medicine I can take that will fend this off for as long as possible.”

Diagnosis came as huge shock

Hoy, who was a pundit for the BBC covering the Paris 2024 Olympics in the summer, was such a dominant force in sprint cycling that he had won six Olympic, 11 world and 34 World Cup titles by the time he retired from competitive racing in 2013.

He is the third most-decorated British Olympian of all time, with six career golds and one silver medal.

Sir Chris said the diagnosis came as a “huge shock”.

He wrote: “I have a bit of news. Last year I was diagnosed with cancer, which came as a huge shock, having had no symptoms up to that point.”

Sir Chris extended his “sincere gratitude” to medical professionals for their “amazing help and care”.

The Scot said: “While I’m thankful for any support, I’d like to deal with this privately.

“My heart goes out to the many others who are also going through similar challenges right now.

“I’m optimistic, positive and surrounded by love for which I’m truly grateful. As you might imagine, the last few months have been incredibly difficult. However, I currently feel fine.”

The King is to become the first monarch to participate in a “smoking ceremony”, as he puts Australia’s indigenous communities at the heart of his first royal visit since his cancer diagnosis.

The King will join the traditional event with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Sydney this week, and observe another in Canberra.

The ceremonies are rituals of welcome and protection, used to ward off bad spirits, cleanse people spiritually, and acknowledge ancestors and the land.

The late Queen Elizabeth II is witnessed the ceremonies during her own visits to Australia, but King Charles is thought to be the first monarch to actively take part.

He has joined a smoking ceremony during previous visits as Prince of Wales, with the Duke of Sussex also watching one on Fraser Island during a royal visit in 2018.

This royal tour, the first of the new reign, will see the King and Queen visit a war memorial dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, named For Our Country.

On Tuesday, the King will meet Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives and community groups to learn about their work in “strengthening culture”.

While in Australia, the King has been appointed to the honorary ranks of Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal Australian Navy, Field Marshal of the Australian Army, and Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force. 

The titles were previously held by his father, Prince Philip, in his role as the consort of Queen Elizabeth II.

Sam Mostyn, Australia’s governor-general and the commander-in-chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), said: “Australians share His Majesty’s pride in the ADF, its sailors, soldiers and aviators and the loved ones who support them.”

“The sovereign serves as an example of service, and His Majesty’s appointments are symbolic of the Royal Family’s longstanding dedication and relationship with the nation,” said Adml David Johnston, chief of the defence force.

In 1911, the Commonwealth Naval Forces were granted the title Royal Australian Navy by King George V, and the ship prefix His Majesty’s Australian Ship (HMAS) was authorised. It is still used by all commissioned Royal Australian Navy vessels.

Island nation fellowships

On Sunday, the King announced  a “significant” personal donation to help fund a new scholarship scheme for the education of “King’s Fellows” across Commonwealth island nations.

Created by the Association of Commonwealth Universities, it is intended to help find solutions to “urgent economic, social and environmental development challenges” affecting what are known as Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The islands, mostly in the Caribbean and Pacific but also including the Seychelles, Mauritius and the Maldives, are considered among the most vulnerable countries in the world.

The King said he was “delighted” to support the initiative, adding: “Throughout my life I have believed in the power of education to improve lives and unite communities across the Commonwealth and beyond.

“There is so much we can learn from  one another as we work together within the Commonwealth to tackle the major challenges of our age and, as these fellowships do in SIDS, to address them where they are felt most acutely.

“It is my fervent hope that these new fellowships will play a significant role in furthering the free exchange of knowledge and advancing the spirit of mutual support that lies at the heart of our Commonwealth – today, tomorrow and towards a brighter future for all.”

The King will ceremonially launch the programme at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa next week.

He is expected to join engagements on themes of the environment, sustainability and biodiversity and will also take part in a traditional Ava Fa’atupu ceremony.

Israel has released a video said to show the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar entering a Gaza tunnel and stocking up with supplies on the night before the Oct 7 attacks.

The clip dated late on Oct 6 shows Sinwar walk back and forth up a narrow concrete tunnel, ferrying water bottles, bedding and supplies, accompanied by a small boy.

The video was recovered from Gaza several months ago and showed him hiding away in preparation for Israel’s retaliation after the attack, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the military, said: “Even on the eve before the brutal massacre, Sinwar was busy with his survival and the survival of his family.

“A few hours before the massacre, Sinwar and his family escaped alone to the tunnel. They equipped themselves with food, water, pillows, a television and other supplies for a long stay.

“Hours before the massacre, Sinwar only cared about himself and his family while he sent terrorists for the brutal attack.”

Another image released by the military was said to show the tunnel in Tel Sultan where Sinwar hid in recent months, along with the tissues the IDF used to identify his DNA.

Rear Adm Hagari  said the tunnel where Sinwar stayed was close to the underground passage where six Israeli hostages were held and later murdered in August.

Israel’s army has said it believed the 61-year-old Hamas leader moved between Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid the war.

Sinwar was killed  on Wednesday after he and his small security detail apparently had a chance encounter with an Israeli patrol in Rafah.

He was cornered in a blasted house, spotted by a drone and then killed by a tank shell, but it was only when troops found his body that they realised who it was.

The Oct 7 attacks planned by Sinwar resulted in Israel’s deadliest ever day, when marauding Hamas fighters charged out of the strip killing 1,200 and taking 250 hostages.

Israel launched immediate air barrages and ground offensives against Hamas in retaliation, which have destroyed much of the strip and forced huge numbers to leave their homes. The Hamas-run health ministry says 40,000 have been killed.

Sinwar’s death and footage of his final moments have drawn a mixed reaction from Gazans. Many said they had been furious with him for bringing Israeli retaliation against them and then hiding in a tunnel while they suffered.

However the release of footage showing him in the moments before he was killed has also prompted many to praise him for fighting to the end.

Robert Jenrick has promised to tear up the Climate Change Act if he becomes Tory leader and eventually prime minister.

He has said he will scrap major pieces of Blair and Brown era legislation including the Climate Change Act, Equality Act and Human Rights Act under a “Great Reform Act” if he makes it to No 10.

His plans include scrapping carbon budgets and unburdening businesses of equality laws which have been criticised for driving positive discrimination and political correctness in the workplace.

He described carbon budgets as “Soviet-style five-year plans” and claimed they impede the building of critical national infrastructure projects.

He would also take aim at the public sector equality duty in the Equality Act and section 6 of the Human Rights Act, which gives the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) force in British law.

“The next Conservative government must do better to deliver a genuinely conservative country. We must repeal and amend the Climate Change Act, Equality Act and Human Rights Act and restore decision-making to ministers accountable to parliament,” Mr Jenrick told The Telegraph.

He accused the Prime Minister of “planning a second disastrous Blairite revolution” and suggested he could repeal laws brought forward by the current Labour Government, including a mooted Race Equality Act that was included in Labour’s manifesto.

He has also pledged to scrap new quangos promised in Sir Keir Starmer’s manifesto, including Great British Energy, the Nationwide Climate Export Hubs and an Office for Value for Money.

Mr Jenrick argued the Public Sector Equality Duty has “led to recruitment based on identity, not merit” and that “the chief beneficiary has been EDI consultants and those that peddle divisive and false narratives about Britain’s past”.

On carbon budgets, the Tory leadership candidate said: “It is ludicrous to set out soviet-style five-year plans at a sectoral level which specify where you plan to reduce carbon emissions. The state does not have sufficient understanding of the economy to do that well. It’s impeding us from building the critical national infrastructure we need.”

Mr Jenrick’s plan is inspired by the Great Reform Act of 1832 which expanded democracy and swept away corruption in the British political system. 

“Keir Starmer is already planning a second disastrous Blairite revolution, handing over ever more power to unelected civil servants, quangos, and lawyers in order to create a technocratic state wholly untroubled by democratic debate,” he said.

Voting has now opened in the race to lead the Conservatives, with Mr Jenrick vying against the former business secretary, Kemi Badenoch.

In Sunday’s Telegraph, Mrs Badenoch is endorsed by the entrepreneur Luke Johnson, who writes: “As an engineer who has worked in tech, she understands we must revive and re-energise the British economy.”

“The Conservative party was rightly heavily punished at the polls in July and has a huge task ahead of it to rebuild trust. But the future prosperity of this country depends on having an effective party in Parliament to defend free enterprise, markets, choice, competition and business. And that’s why I hope Kemi Badenoch becomes leader of the Conservative Party,” he said.

Mrs Badenoch has also won the backing of 37 defeated Conservative parliamentary candidates who, writing a letter in Sunday’s Telegraph, say: “This leadership contest provides us with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rewire our country. 

“We cannot simply hope for renewal and future success, we must vote for it. We believe the person to achieve this, to defeat Starmer, and to reverse Britain’s decline, is Kemi Badenoch.”

The defeated candidates include Rupert Harrison, George Osborne’s former chief of staff at the Treasury, and Nikki da Costa, a former adviser to Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

Also writing in Sunday’s Telegraph, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies gives his backing to Mr Jenrick. “Robert has the credibility on immigration we need to restore trust with voters,” he writes.

Ed Miliband’s “pylon presumption” has come under fire from rural MPs around the country who are demanding a nationwide study into the use of underground electricity cables.

A group of Tory MPs has written to the Energy Secretary to say they are “profoundly concerned” about the potential impact that his department’s pylon-first agenda will have on countryside communities.

Mr Miliband has repeatedly insisted that using underground cables rather than pylons to transmit energy around the country is a “more expensive” option.

But an official report into the East Anglia Network – where a large-scale pylon roll-out from Norwich to Tilbury is planned  – has found that burying cables can be cheaper over the longer term.

The study was published by the National Energy System Operator (NESO), which was previously part of the National Grid but since the start of this month has become a separate Government-owned body charged with accelerating Labour’s “clean power mission”.

It will be officially launched in Parliament in October and will be commissioned by Mr Miliband to launch a strategic review into the future of the grid.

The MPs, who include ten former ministers, said in their letter to the Energy Secretary: “You will be aware that hitherto there has been a ‘presumption’ in favour of pylons, not least based on a presumption of lower cost.”

They pointed out that the previous Government promised to carry out an “urgent review” into the pylon presumption, after findings emerged about the “potential cost competitiveness” of underground cables.

The MPs are now urging Mr Miliband and NESO to use an upcoming study into the future of the national grid to examine the cost-effectiveness of a grid based on underground electricity cables – rather than focussing solely on pylons.

They said that exploring the cost-effectiveness of underground cables on a nationwide scale would help to “find a sustainable way to both reinforce the grid at the scale we need, whilst protecting consumers and the countryside”.

James Cartlidge MP, who is the lead signatory on the letter, said: “I think most fair minded people would think you should look at all the options and present the facts.

“Based on our experience in East Anglia, lots of other MPs now agree that if we are going to take a big picture view of the future grid, that has got to consider different technology – not just pylons – and spell out to the country the options.

“Ideally we would like the Government to be much more open minded to different options rather than taking a dogmatic approach that it has to be pylons and claiming that any opposition to that is nimbyism.”

A NESO spokesman said: “Of course, as an evidence-based organisation our experts and engineers will explore technologies and compare them transparently, as we have done before.”

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “Underground cabling is more expensive, and costs are borne by the electricity bill payer.

“Securing Britain’s clean energy future will require improving infrastructure in a cost-effective way to get renewable electricity on the grid. Without this infrastructure, we will never deliver clean power for the British people.

“It is important we take people with us and are considering ways to ensure communities who live near clean energy infrastructure can see the benefits of this.”