Prince Harry reunites with King Charles for ‘private tea’

The Duke of Sussex has had tea with King Charles at Clarence House, their first meeting in 19 months.

Prince Harry arrived at the residence on Wednesday in a black Range Rover at 5.20pm, leaving after about an hour. He later attended an Invictus Games event in London as part of his four-day visit to the UK.

The Duke said of the King: “Yes he’s great, thank you,” as he attended the event in London.

Harry has not seen his father in over a year and said in a BBC interview in May: “I would love a reconciliation with my family.”

He said at the time that his father would not speak to him because of his court battle over his security arrangement and that he did not know “how much longer my father has”.

The King, who has been receiving cancer treatment since early 2024, travelled down from his Balmoral home where he has been spending his summer break.

His son visited the Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London, an institution he has close connections with, earlier on Wednesday, as part of his visit from California, where he lives with his wife Meghan and their two children.

The duke has been carrying out a string of events since Monday. He began his stay by leaving flowers at the final resting place of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II to mark the third anniversary of her death.

Just seven miles down the road from the Queen’s burial site in St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, Harry’s estranged brother the Prince of Wales remembered the late Queen at the national federation of the Women’s Institute in Sunningdale, Berkshire.

Harry’s visit has reignited commentary about the state of his relationship with senior members of the royal family.

He stepped down from the working monarchy in 2020 and has since levelled a barrage of accusations at the King, Queen, Prince William and the Princess of Wales in his Oprah interview, Netflix documentary, interviews and his autobiography Spare, since moving to the United States.

While he appears set to reunite with his father, there seems to be no prospect of the duke reuniting with Prince William, who travelled to Cardiff on Wednesday to learn about a pioneering mental health hub on World Suicide Prevention Day.

In February last year Harry made a dash across the Atlantic from his home in California to Britain to see his father following his cancer diagnosis in a move which showed that both sides were willing to put their strained relationship on hold for family.

The duke spent approximately 45 minutes with his father before the king flew to his Sandringham country estate to recuperate from his treatment.

Royal watchers will be waiting to see if Harry keeps quiet and refrains from publicly discussing his reunion with the King, and, on the other side, whether any briefings emerge from the Palace.

Prince Harry’s communications team, headed by Los Angeles-based Meredith Maines, was pictured with Tobyn Andreae, the King’s press representative on the balcony of a private members’ club in London in July, a moment described by the Mail on Sunday as “the secret Harry peace summit”.

This was believed to be an initial step towards opening channels of communication between the two households after Prince Harry’s court battle over security came to an end. His court case proved itself an impediment to resolving relations with his father as it involved Harry criticising the king’s government in the courts.

But after the case came to an end, he told the BBC: “It would be nice to have that reconciliation part now. If they don’t want that, that’s entirely up to them.”

The Duke of Sussex appeared to be all smiles as he arrived at the Centre for Blast Injury Studies in White City, west London.

He was pictured with former army captain David Henson, who served as Team GB captain for the inaugural Invictus Games, founded by the duke for wounded veterans.

Dr Henson lost both his legs above the knee after standing on an improvised explosive device in 2011 while clearing a compound in Afghanistan. He went on to gain a PhD in Amputee Biomechanics at Imperial.

Harry opened the Centre for Blast Injury Studies in 2013, which was the forerunner of Imperial’s new centre which was launched a few years ago on its White City campus.

Phillipson and Powell set to face-off in Labour deputy leader contest

Sir Keir Starmer’s hopes of a coronation for his chosen successor to replace Angela Rayner as deputy leader seem to have been dashed.

His candidate for the crucial position, education secretary Bridget Phillipson, became the first to clear a major hurdle to secure the 80 MP nominations needed to get on the ballot paper.

With MPs hearing the pitches of the five remaining hopefuls, Ms Phillipson was far ahead with 116 nominations well beyond the 80 needed.

However, her chief rival, sacked former minister Lucy Powell was on 77. Ms Powell just needs three more MPs before nominations close at 5pm on Thursday which would put her in a run-off with Ms Phillipson in a vote by members.

Labour members are thought to be unhappy with Sir Keir over his policy on Gaza as well as attempts to cut welfare and there is a danger that the contest could become a referendum within the party on his premiership.

It was also a bad day for former frontbencher Dame Emily Thornberry who was trailing in last with 13 behind Liverpool Wavertree MP Paula Barker on 14 and the left’s main candidate Bell Ribeiro-Addy on 15.

Sir Keir now faces a potentially damaging contest and weeks of manoeuvring in the race to replace Ms Rayner, as Labour MPs unhappy with their party’s current direction back a former cabinet minister sacked by the prime minister less than a week ago.

Ms Powell, who received her marching orders as Commons leader on Friday, will provide tough opposition to the education secretary.

In a two-horse race she looks set to become a lightning rod for discontent in the Starmer government. Sources have said she fell out of favour ahead of the reshuffle for “standing up to [chief of staff] Morgan McSweeney and not taking his sh**.”

The contest has already sparked a furious row amid claims the party’s top brass has set up its rules to “squeeze out the left”.

And on Wednesday another candidate, backbencher MP Ms Barker, who is standing from the left of the party, hit out at the decision to hold the race’s main hustings event online.

The party has told MPs they do not have to be in parliament on Thursday, meaning many will be travelling back to their constituencies when the hustings takes place.

“I really don’t think that that is the best democratic way for us to run this contest,” she said.

With MPs given just a few days to get a large number of nominations, she also criticised the length of the contest, describing it as a “very, very narrow window of opportunity”.

Another MP from the left of the party, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, has called for Labour to “go back to the guiding values of our party and movement”.

Ms Phillipson also received a boost when another minister, Alison McGovern, who had been backed by the likes of the popular Labour MP Jess Phillips, pulled out and announced she was backing Ms Phillipson.

Members of the cabinet and other ministers were also being urged to nominate Ms Phillipson.

Ms McGovern said it was “clear” she would not get enough nominations to pass to the next stage of the contest, and said her government colleague was “best placed to unite our party and take the fight to our opponents”.

The education secretary emerged as the early frontrunner in the race on Tuesday, when, just hours after she threw her hat in the ring, a poll by Survation for the Labour-focused website LabourList showed that she was in pole position among Labour members.

From early on Wednesday allies of Ms Phillipson believed she would comfortably secure the 80 nominations by the end of the day.

Contenders have until 5pm on Thursday to secure the support of 80 MPs in order to reach the next round of the contest.

As her campaign faltered, Emily Thornberry, chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, tried to convince colleagues that the idea that the next deputy leader should be a northern woman – to balance out Sir Keir – was misguided.

The London MP pointed to previous deputy leaders, saying: “Harman. Prescott. Rayner. What do they have in common? When they spoke, people listened. You’d have a drink with them. And they were Labour to their bones.”

UK to produce drones to help Ukraine fight off Russian aerial attacks

The UK will mass produce cutting-edge interceptor drones to help Ukraine fight off Russian aerial attacks.

The drones, designed by Ukraine with support from UK scientists and technicians, are highly effective in destroying the one-way attack aircraft Moscow continues to launch at Ukrainian cities, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

It comes after Russian drones violating Polish airspace during overnight attacks on Ukraine were shot down by Poland and Nato.

Defence Secretary John Healey will detail the project, the first under a technology-sharing deal with Kyiv, at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) trade show in London on Thursday.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “As Russia continues its egregious and unrelenting attacks on Ukraine, the UK’s support will not falter, and we alongside our allies will continue to step up.

“This new partnership is a landmark moment, bringing together British and Ukrainian ingenuity to deliver cutting-edge defence drone technology to fight back against Russian aggression.

“By harnessing the strength of our world-class defence industry, we are not only helping Ukraine defend itself against (Vladimir) Putin’s barbaric attacks, but we are also creating British jobs, driving growth, and securing our own future.”

The new drones have already proved useful against the Shahed drones used by Russia, and are much cheaper to produce than traditional air defence missiles, the MoD said.

Sir Keir and President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the UK-Ukraine industrial partnership over the summer.

An expansion, signed by the Defence Secretary in Kyiv last week, allows the sharing and joint development of intellectual property.

Mr Healey said: “Through this groundbreaking industrial partnership with Ukraine, and our new Defence Industrial Strategy, we are revving up our world-leading defence industry.

“We will innovate at a wartime pace, support UK and Ukrainian security, and boost jobs here in Britain.

“This deal is a first of its kind, giving UK industry unprecedented access to the latest equipment designs, supporting Ukraine in its fight to defend against Putin’s illegal invasion and showing how defence can be an engine for growth as we deliver on our Plan for Change.”

Mr Healey, after holding talks in London on Wednesday with defence officials from Poland, Italy, France and Germany, condemned Russia’s “reckless” incursion into Polish airspace.

He said he asked the UK Armed Forces to look at options to bolster Nato’s air defence over Poland.

Lineker breaks Ant and Dec’s 23-year streak to win NTA presenter award

Former Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker has won the TV presenter prize at the National Television Awards, breaking the 23-year streak of Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.

Lineker, 64, was shortlisted for the award just months after his early exit from the BBC show in May, following a row after he shared a post about Zionism which featured a depiction of a rat – historically an antisemitic insult.

Collecting the award, he said: “I think it demonstrates that perhaps it’s okay sometimes for us to use our platform to speak up on behalf of those who have no voice.”

Lineker also said that Ant and Dec are “brilliant”, and added that “it’s an honour to follow in their footsteps” when he was questioned at the winner’s press conference.

He added: “I’m doing great. I’m enjoying having weekends off for the first time in my adult life, which has been great fun.

“I’m still watching loads of football, still doing the same sort of things, and I’ve got a new show coming up for ITV, which I start filming next week – The Box, which goes out, I think, probably next year.”

Asked if the award proves he has not been cancelled, he said: “I don’t think anyone seriously thought that I was cancelled at any point.

“It was obviously just a mistake and oversight. And I think everyone saw it for that.

“So I was never in the slightest bit concerned for that.”

Lineker had headed up Match Of The Day since 1999, when he took over from Des Lynam.

The former footballer also beat competition from The Traitors host Claudia Winkleman, This Morning’s Alison Hammond and TV presenter and reality TV star Stacey Solomon.

Elsewhere, comedian Michael McIntyre said he would like to win three NTAs following an early victory at the ceremony on Wednesday.

Collecting the Bruce Forsyth entertainment gong for Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, he said: “I’ve sat in the front row many, many times with my feet on the bottom stair and never won this prize. This is an excellent turn of events.”

At the winner’s press conference, he added: “I would like to win three National Television Awards, actually, tonight.

“I doubt that’s going to happen, but we are nominated for another two awards, so that’s good. That would be a start, but I doubt that’s going to happen.”

McIntyre was also nominated in the quiz game show category for Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel, but lost out to The 1% Club, hosted by Lee Mack.

The comedian was also nominated for Michael McIntyre’s 25th Year Stand-Up Special, which lost out to sitcom Gavin And Stacey: The Finale, which brought the popular BBC series to an end on Christmas Day.

Ruth Jones, who co-wrote and co-starred in the sitcom alongside James Corden, told the audience: “Alright, calm down. I’m going to the bar now for a pint of wine.”

In the winner’s press conference, she paid tribute to her co-star and co-creator Corden, who was unable to attend the event.

Jeremy Clarkson said he was “genuinely thrilled” as Clarkson’s Farm won best factual entertainment show at the ceremony.

Speaking in the winner’s room, he said: “I’d like to think that this is for farming because it demonstrates that people who watch the show go, ‘bloody hell farming’s difficult’, and have voted for this show.”

Elsewhere, Call The Midwife was named best returning drama and EastEnders actor Steve McFadden won the award for serial drama performance.

Another award went to I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! for best reality competition with This Morning picking up best daytime show.

The London ceremony, held at the O2 and hosted by comedian Joel Dommett, saw appearances from a number of stars including The Inheritance host Elizabeth Hurley and US country star Billy Ray Cyrus, who she has been romantically linked to.

Hitting Poland is just the start – expect more tests from Putin

Poland is in crisis mode after a mass Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace. How Europe and Nato respond is vital not just for Poland itself, but also for any other country that needs to see Russia deterred instead of emboldened.

This is not the first time Russian drones have entered Polish airspace, but the Polish response makes clear that this is an entirely different situation from previous incidents that could have been explained away as unintentional. Poland’s unequivocal designation of the incident as an act of aggression leaves no room for misinterpretation.

That also means that the incident is a test for Nato. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty is famously vague both about what constitutes an “armed attack” and what Nato member states must do in response to it. But the one entirely clear thing is that an attack on Poland has to be treated as though it were an attack on every Nato member state. That means that if called upon, countries like the UK, France, and even the United States are treaty-bound to respond to this incident as though they were the victim as well as Poland.

For the time being, Poland has not raised the issue of Nato responding under Article 5. Instead, it has invoked Article 4, which provides for consultations between Nato member states in response to a crisis. That’s a softer option for Poland, for Nato, and for Nato allies that may still be hesitant about confronting Russia.

Based on the consistent pattern to date, Russia can be fairly confident that the United States under Donald Trump will not respond in any meaningful way. But Russia’s plans for Europe depend on Trump remaining as compliant and passive for the continent as a whole as he has been over Ukraine. Russia needs reassurance that the United States will not respond – and incidents of this kind, together with the recent attack on a US-owned factory in western Ukraine – are a means of providing it.

That’s of critical importance for Poland’s neighbours – and not only those in Nato – who will fear that what’s happened overnight is just the start of more Russian probing and testing of other countries. Latvia and Lithuania may be particularly worried about what comes next.

The role of Belarus is now in sharp focus. A “large proportion” of the 19 drones that crossed into Poland came from Belarus territory. Officials there have said that this was accidental and the result of navigational jamming. They add that Belarus was in communication with Poland throughout the incident.

Belarus is often caricatured as a helpless tool of Moscow, with no capacity to act independently. The regular Zapad Russian-Belarusian military exercises are about to begin. That’s always a time for heightened attention to what Russia could potentially do to European neighbours from Belarusian territory – including Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Belarus is about to be part of a land attack on Nato. It’s not in Belarus’s interests to be dragged into the Ukrainian conflict any deeper than it has to be – still less if it involves its European neighbours.

There’s circumstantial evidence to suggest that Russia’s original plans saw Belarus taking a much more active part in the invasion of Ukraine, but the Belarusian armed forces refused. It’s unlikely that this will be confirmed or denied beyond doubt in the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, the “accident” version of events presented by Minsk does give Russia an opportunity. If Moscow feels that now is not the time to escalate with Nato – or if Europe offers a robust response – it can use this as a means of defusing the situation. In any event, the strikes on Poland provide Russia with a useful opportunity to probe and test the resolve of Nato and the United States.

Polish airports were closed during the incident, as all Ukrainian airports have been since February 2022. It’s a tiny sample of the kind of disruption that Russia can inflict even on countries that it is notionally at peace with – and if not adequately deterred, there is little doubt Russia can and will do more.

This incident continues the pattern of Russia testing boundaries and exploring just how much it can do before the victim country or countries respond. That’s often been called “salami tactics”, normalising a state of war, a slice at a time. The key question is when the target decides to recognise the process, and Poland has clearly decided that the time is now.

The incursion also provides Russia with useful information on Poland’s capacity to respond, as well as the rules of engagement that have been set for Polish and Nato aircraft – in other words, when exactly they are allowed to open fire on a threat from Russia.

Poland says it has shot down up to four of the 19 drones currently thought to have entered its airspace. That’s not a high proportion, even if some of the drones were assessed not to be worth intercepting.

Ukraine has had years to put in place a system both to detect and intercept incoming threats and to protect its population against them. Other European countries are urgently preparing, but lag far behind. The UK has supposedly started the process of rebuilding homeland defences and provision for the civil population, but with no publicly visible effects to date.

In the best case, the incident could spur the “coalition of the willing” – set up supposedly to enforce peace in Ukraine – to recognise that the task is the defence of Europe as a whole, ideally with US backing.

British troops are already in Poland, some of them as part of the longstanding Nato contingent there. There is also a much larger US troop presence, still currently in place despite initiatives from Trump-installed Pentagon officials to curtail US support for Europe.

The obvious response – and thus one that probably won’t happen – is to defend forward, so neighbouring countries intercept drones and other threats before they reach their airspace, not after they get there. That’s the key point of the longstanding Sky Shield plan for Ukraine’s backers to protect the airspace over the west of the country, far behind the front line, to prevent exactly the kind of incident that has affected Poland now.

Choosing to implement Sky Shield would both demonstrate to Russia that it cannot attack without consequences and offer specific protection to Russia and Belarus’s other neighbours against similar threats in the future.

But it is equally likely that EU and European leaders will limit their involvement to expressions of “concern”, or possibly even “deep concern”. That’s a response whose futility has been the object of longstanding parody. Any response to Russia that is less than robust – in terms that Russia understands as costly, rather than expressed in diplomatic niceties – will mean that Europe has failed this latest test just as it failed so many before.

How Macmillan Cancer Support built a movement that reaches everyone

Only half of people with cancer are diagnosed within NHS target time

Cancer patients are having to wait longer for a diagnosis now than they did four years ago, with new analysis finding only half are receiving diagnoses within NHS England’s target of 28 days.

For people with urological cancers, such as bladder, prostate and kidney cancer, 29 per cent of urgent referrals were met on time.

Diagnosis delays have also meant that a third of patients have had to wait longer than 62 days for an urgent suspected cancer referral to start treatment, Cancer Research UK said in its report.

In the last three months of 2021, 57.3 per cent of diagnoses were given within 28 days, but this fell to 52.3 per cent by the middle of 2024.

Jon Shelton, the charity’s head of cancer intelligence, said speed was of necessity. “For those who do have cancer, the quicker we can diagnose it, the quicker we can start treatment,” he told The Independent.

“The longer we delay that process, the more it can have adverse effects for some patients. Days waiting for patients means nights of worry, and so the longer patients are waiting has an impact on them.”

From April to June 2024, more than 25,000 people had to wait more than 28 days to be diagnosed with cancer.

The report further found that between October 2021 and June 2024, 53.8 per cent of people who had cancer were diagnosed within 28 days compared with 71.7 per cent for those who had it ruled out.

The Faster Diagnosis Target (FDS) aims to diagnose or rule out cancer for 75 per cent of people within 28 days of an urgent referral.

NHS England reported improvement on this target in recent months, but this is due to more people having cancer ruled out, rather than diagnosed. The study identified that for people being diagnosed with cancer, things have actually been getting worse over time.

The NHS said it will be publishing separate figures from Thursday for the number of people who receive cancer diagnoses or have it ruled out.

Cancer Research UK has urged the government to separately report the number of people who receive diagnoses versus those who have cancer ruled out.

The wait time for some cancer types, Cancer Research UK said, is much longer than 28 days. More than half of the people diagnosed after a urological cancer referral waited more than 42 days.

Mr Shelton said: “We’re talking quite a long time period, and we know from evidence that even a small growth in the size of a tumour can lead, in some instances, to worse outcomes, and it all depends on the tumour type.”

Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, Michelle Mitchell, said: “Waiting for a cancer diagnosis can make every single day feel like forever.”

Cancer Research has called on the government to implement a ‘cancer guarantee’ to meet the waiting times by the end of this parliament and raise the FDS target to 80 per cent. The original target proposal was 95 per cent in 2015.

Ms Mitchell added: “The UK government needs to act. Its upcoming National Cancer Plan for England must include a new commitment to diagnose cancers earlier, and a pledge to meet all cancer wait time targets by the end of this parliament, including the increased FDS target.”

An NHS spokesperson said: “The NHS is seeing and treating more patients than ever before – with survival rates at an all-time high – and we know that prompt diagnosis and treatment are crucial.“That’s why we’re making our diagnostic targets more ambitious, are rolling out lung and liver scanning trucks, and introducing at-home tests to help catch more cases earlier.

”The Department of Health and Social Care will ask the NHS to meet a target of 80 per cent from March 2026.”

A DHSC spokesperson said: “We know there is more to do and we are shining a light on disparities that have gripped our health service for too long.

“The National Cancer Plan will set out how we will put the NHS back at the forefront of global cancer care, as we continue to harness the very latest innovations, to give patients the most cutting-edge care.“Our Plan for Change is already making an impact, with 148,000 more people having cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days from July 2024 to June 2025 compared to a year earlier.”

Starmer tells Israeli president Qatar airstrikes ‘unacceptable’

Sir Keir Starmer has “condemned” Israel’s air strikes in Qatar as “completely unacceptable”, adding they “do nothing to secure peace”, as he met the country’s president Isaac Herzog in Downing Street.

Israel killed at least six people, including a member of Qatar’s internal security forces and five Hamas figures after it launched an unprecedented air raid on Doha on Tuesday.

The meeting at Number 10 saw Mr Herzog “argue” with the Sir Keir over UK plans to recognise a Palestinian state and concerns over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Sir Keir had “condemned Israel’s action in Doha yesterday as completely unacceptable. He said the strikes were a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty and do nothing to secure the peace we all desperately want to see”.

“Turning to Gaza, he reiterated his huge concern and implored Israel to change course. They must stop the man-made famine from worsening further by letting aid in and halting their offensive operations, he added.”

The spokesperson added that both leaders “agreed that the hostages who were cruelly ripped by Hamas from their families nearly two years ago must be released” while Sir Keir offered his condolences for the terrorist attack in Jerusalem on Monday.

Sir Keir concluded by saying the UK and Israel were “long-standing allies”, and he would “continue his work to secure an enduring peace and a better future for the Israeli and Palestinian people alike”.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Chatham House think tank, Mr Herzog said he had offered “a fact-finding mission coming to Israel, sitting with us and studying the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level”, adding that Israel “have full answers and we are fully transparent.”

Mr Herzog also defended Israel’s attack on Qatar, claiming that Israel did want a ceasefire with Hamas but arguing it was necessary to “remove some of the people if they are not willing to get that deal”.

The Israeli president added that the pair had “argued out of respect”, he noted there were “things we agreed upon”, such as the threat from Iran and the need to end Hamas’s control of Gaza.

Israel has faced international condemnation following its strike on Qatar – and more widely for its intensified attacks on Gaza – which has led to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announcing plans to seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel over its military campaign in Gaza.

Hamas confirmed on Tuesday that five of its members died, including Hammam, the son of exiled leader Khalil al-Hayya and Jihad Labad, the director of al-Hayya’s office, the remaining three were listed as “companions”. The militant group said Israel “failed” to kill anyone in the negotiating team.

The Qatari interior ministry later said a member of its internal security service – Corporal Badr al-Dosari – was killed in the strike and a number of others were injured.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres condemned the bombing, saying “all parties must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it.”