Starmer facing calls to adopt Trump-style media strategy

Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to follow in Donald Trump’s footsteps and appear more regularly in front of the media.

Labour MPs have called on the prime minister to act more like the US president, who has made surprise calls to live TV news shows and held long meetings with cabinet members on camera.

The result is that Mr Trump dominates news coverage in America, with a growing number of senior Labour figures believing Sir Keir would do well to adopt the tactic.

But Sir Keir’s public interventions are limited and usually reserved for what Labour deem major announcements, such as the PM’s decision this month to ease rules on carmakers transitioning to electric vehicles in the wake of the US tariffs being imposed.

At press conferences, Sir Keir only takes a handful of questions from pre-selected journalists, often ignoring other members of the media who attend.

One minister told The Guardian: “Trump and [the vice-president] JD Vance have shown the advantage of getting out there and not worrying about making mistakes.

“In the run-up to the election, Vance did multiple disastrous podcast interviews, but people did not focus on them for long. Eventually he started getting noticed for the things he wanted to say.”

They added: “That style of media strategy seems to make a lot more sense than making the occasional appearance on the [BBC] Today programme or Laura Kuenssberg.”

Another Labour MP added: “I watched the first few days of the Trump administration with envy. He was out there making announcements all the time.

“Imagine if we had done the same thing. It doesn’t even matter whether your announcements are going to happen – the point is you are telling people who you are and what you want to do.”

The Trump administration’s calculation appears to be that the risk of making embarrassing gaffes is outweighed by the benefit of being permanently visible.

And Boris Johnson’s former chief of communications, who has since established public relations firm Charlesbye, backed Sir Keir taking a more proactive approach.

He told the Guardian: “Politicians need today to be able to communicate in 30 seconds on TikTok, but also for three and a half hours on Joe Rogan.

“The ‘line to take’ is dying, the ‘grid’ is dying,” he added. “That whole process where we send politicians on to news programmes with a goal of not saying anything, not creating news, not making a mistake, killing authenticity – is a failing strategy.”

A recent analysis by his firm found Mr Rogan’s podcast now attracts almost as many daily listeners in the UK as BBC Radio 4’s entire output.

Badenoch reveals cousin died by suicide after ‘excessive internet use’

Kemi Badenoch‘s 20-year-old cousin killed himself after falling down an “internet rabbit hole”, the Tory leader has said, opening up about how she “worries a lot about social media”.

In deeply personal interview, Ms Badenoch said her young cousin took his own life after struggling with excessive internet use.

“I worry a lot about social media,” she told the Daily Mail. “I have a family member who was in his 20s and went down an internet ‘rabbit hole’. He was exploring pro-mortalism and anti-natalism, and killed himself.

“I hadn’t heard of either of them. But I saw what excessive internet use can do.”

Pro-mortalism is a philosophical view that argues it would be ethical to kill all humanity to prevent further suffering, while anti-natalism is the belief that it is morally wrong or unjustifiable for people to have children.

Ms Badenoch said her cousin was living alone in Canada and prepared a detailed and graphic suicide note at the end of 2022, describing his struggles.

“He wrote the most extraordinary lucid letter, but ended his own life,” she said.

“It’s heartbreaking. My views about the dangers of social media are not just about children. I know even as adults we can get dangerously addicted.” His death is one of the reasons Ms Badenoch is considering following Australia’s lead and banning children under 16 from social media.

“It’s an area our policy review will look at,” she said, adding that she sometimes spends up to 30 minutes at a time watching “funny reels” on Instagram. “If adults find it addictive, what chance do kids have?” she added.

Ms Badenoch’s comments come as a poll by the NASUWT teaching union found 59 per cent of teachers said they believe social media use has contributed to a deterioration in pupils’ behaviour in schools.

The survey, of more than 5,800 NASUWT members in the UK in January, suggests that teachers think social media is the number one cause of negative pupil behaviour.

The findings have been released during the NASUWT’s annual conference in Liverpool over the Easter weekend.

Delegates at the conference will debate a motion which suggests far-right and populist movements have shifted their recruitment onto social media, messaging and online gaming platforms.

The motion calls on the union’s executive to work with teachers “to assess the risk that far-right and populist movements pose to young people”.

It adds that the union should work with the Government “to support teachers in challenging far-right and populist narratives” presented to young people.

If you need to speak to someone, Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.

Despite the White House’s best efforts, Trump is losing ground on immigration

President Donald Trump’s administration has consistently doubled down on refusing to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran father based in Maryland whom it had been mistakenly sent to El Salvador – it is a move that is costing him in the polls.

Trump and his team believe that the president has public opinion on their side for both Abrego Garcia and their plans to send alleged criminals to El Salvador. He campaigned on conducting mass deportations and he won many counties along the U.S.-Mexico border that historically voted Democratic in the wake of an influx of migrants during the Biden administration.

But a new poll shows his support is cracking. Echelon Insights, a Republican polling outlet, released a survey of Trump’s approval rating on various policies and it showed that Trump is losing support on immigration.

The poll revealed that Trump’s approval rating on immigration fell from a net score of plus-18 points to a net score of plus-10 points, a drop of eight points in just weeks.

Echelon is one of the most respected polling firms on the Republican side. The firm’s founding partner, Patrick Ruffini, has written extensively about Trump’s appeal among working-class voters.

The Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security has alleged that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13 and that he engaged in human trafficking, but has refused to provide concrete evidence. The White House’s top counterterrorism official Sebastian Gorka went so far as to say that people who accused Abrego Garcia’s supporters with “aiding and abetting.”

The fact that Echelon shows that Trump is bleeding support -albeit he is still above water – on his signature issue reflects a larger dissatisfaction with his administration by voters.

There are also signs that Democrats are starting to hit Trump not only where he’s weak, but also where he is strong. On Thursday, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland posted a photo of himself with Abrego Garcia and saying that he had called Abrego Garcia’s family.

Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador earlier this week given the fact that Abrego Garcia has a wife who is an American citizen and resided in Maryland. The Supreme Court had ruled unanimously that the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.

The Trump administration has responded not by trying to return Abrego Garcia but with Trump’s signature style of never backing apologizing. When Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele visited the White House on Monday, Trump said he would not return Abrego Garcia.

But it’s not just the Echelon poll that shows Trump taking a hit on immigration. Quinnipiac University also released a poll earlier this month showing that 50 percent of Americans disapprove of his immigration policy. Tellingly, 51 percent of independents also disapprove of his policies.

For the longest time, Trump’s immigration policies have propped up his approval ratings that have been otherwise meager for any other president in the first 100 days of their presidency.

While his numbers were higher than they were his first term, buoyed by his winning the popular vote and the implosion of the Democratic brand, he’s comparatively unpopular when measured up against other presidents.

But it does not look like the Trump administration will show any signs of letting up on immigration. Rather, in response to Van Hollen’s visit with Abrego Garcia, the White House posted on X that Abrego Garcia is “never coming back.”

The administration remains defiant in legal proceedings to try and bring Abrego Garcia. But being too defiant might come off as opposing the rule of law and eroding the very trust that Trump built on immigration.

Four-foot-long caiman seized in police search of Essex home

A four-foot-long caiman has been seized by police in a search of a home in Essex as two people were arrested on suspicion of drugs and weapons offences.

The animal, which has now been handed over to the RSPCA, was among the items found by officers executing a warrant at an address in Aveley near Grays on Thursday.

A significant cannabis haul and several weapons including knives were also discovered and seized.

A 36-year-old man, from Purfleet, was arrested on suspicion of production of cannabis, contravention of the dangerous wildlife act and possession of an offensive weapon, while a 35-year-old woman was arrested for the same offences as well as on suspicion of possession with intent to supply drugs, Essex Police said.

Both have since been released under investigation.

Inspector Dan Selby said: “Drugs cause misery in our communities and we work hard to tackle their production and sale.

“We know this matters to the public and we value our neighbourhoods so these issues matter to us.

“We are also ensuring the welfare of the caiman and have left it in the hands of the RSPCA.”

Caimans live in marshes, swamps, lakes, and mangrove rivers. The animals are native to Central and South America.