Angela Rayner reveals why she’d never want to be prime minister

Angela Rayner has said she would never want to be prime minister because “it would age me by 10 years within six months”.

“Have you ever seen a prime minister after a year or two in government?” the deputy prime minister joked.

The morning after Sir Keir Starmer scraped through a major rebellion over his watered-down welfare reforms, Ms Rayner was asked whether she is waiting in the wings to take the embattled PM’s place.

“Not a chance,” she told ITV’s Lorraine.

She said: “It would age me by 10 years within six months, it does, anyone who has been prime minister it is a very challenging job.”

Amid mounting questions about the prime minister’s future following a disastrous first year in power, she defended Sir Keir, saying he is “doing the job for Britain”, adding “there’s been a lot going on” in the 12 months since the PM entered Downing Street.

She said: “He’s been all around the world trying to repair the relationships in Europe. We’ve got the trade deals that the previous government wasn’t able to do, tackling the things like the tariffs that the president in the US wanted to put onto the UK, which would have damaged our economy again.

“There’s a lot going on, and the prime minister’s been […] here, there and everywhere, doing the job for Britain.”

It comes after polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice referred to Sir Keir’s first year in office as “the worst start for any newly elected prime minister”.

He told Times Radio that the prime minister was “never especially popular” and that “the public still don’t know what he stands for.”

Asked if she would be interested in being prime minister at some point, Ms Rayner told the ITV programme: “No”.

She said that she is “passionate” about issues including workers’ rights and council housing.

“I’m very interested in delivering for the people of this country, because … to be elected as an MP from my background was incredible,” she said.

“Having that opportunity to serve my community that have raised me, looked after me, given me opportunities, and I don’t forget that. And to be deputy prime minister of this country … it’s got to count for something.”

Djokovic praises ‘miracle pills’ for helping him after mid-match turn

Novak Djokovic admitted to feeling his ‘absolute worst’ on court until the doctor’s ‘miracle pills’ restored eased a stomach issue and helped him fight past Alexandre Muller in four sets.

The first round clash was delicately poised at one set each when Djokovic asked for the doctor following the third game of the third set.

Muller had just taken a 2-1 lead with the set on serve when Djokovic explained an issue he was having in his stomach. The Serb attempted to stretch out his stomach muscles and ease some slight swelling when he was given the tablets by the medical professional.

It took a while for them to kick in but once they did Djokovic flew through the rest of the set, and quickly swept through the fourth to clinch a 6-1 6-7 6-2 6-2 victory and a place in the second round.

Speaking on court following his win, the seven-time Wimbledon champion explained the niggle he felt and praised his opponent for ‘the battle’.

“It’s great to be back in Wimbledon and obviously I have to say that first and acknowledge the sacredness of this court,” Djokovic began.

“This tournament has always meant a lot to me and to many other players, it’s a childhood dream so I never take stepping out on this court for granted. I enjoyed myself, obviously a bit less in the second set but I went from feeling my absolute best for a set and a half to my absolute worst for about 45 minutes, whether it was a stomach bug, I don’t know what it is.

“I struggled with that but the energy kicked back after some doctor’s miracle pills and I managed to finish the match on a good note.”

The Serb was asked whether he thought about retiring from the match when the stomach bug was at its worst but claimed that wasn’t an option.

He added: “I honestly wasn’t thinking about that [retiring from the match] or taking that as an option. I knew that something is off with the stomach so hopefully when that came down the energy will come back – and that’s what happened.

“Credit to Alex [Muller} for playing some really good tennis. He fought in the second set and deserves a round of applause for the battle.”

In the next round Djokovic will take on Great Britain’s Dan Evans who defeated fellow Brit Jay Clarke on Tuesday and he is excited for the opportunity to potential win an eighth Wimbledon title.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I had a chance. I think I always have a chance and have earned my right to feel that I can go all the way to the title,” Djokovic revealed.

“I’ve always enjoyed myself playing on this court, except when I’ve played Alcaraz the last couple of years, apart from that it was great.

“It is just the beginning of the tournament. There are many fantastic players in the draw. I look forward it, I always felt grass is the surface where I play my best tennis so why not do it again?”

US decision to halt some weapons shipments ‘painful’, says senior Ukrainian MP

Washington’s decision to partially suspend arms transfers to Ukraine is “painful” and leaves Kyiv in an “unpleasant situation”, a senior Ukrainian MP has said.

The Pentagon has halted some shipments of air defence missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns about low stockpiles at home, a significant setback for Ukraine as it tries to fend off escalating attacks from Russia.

Air defence interceptors are among the items whose shipment has been delayed. In an email, the Pentagon said it was providing president Donald Trump with options to continue military aid to Ukraine in line with the goal of ending Russia’s war there.

“This decision is certainly very unpleasant for us,” Fedir Venislavskyi, a lawmaker from the ruling Servant of the People party and a member of parliament’s defence committee, told reporters in Kyiv.

“It’s painful, and against the background of the terrorist attacks which Russia commits against Ukraine…it’s a very unpleasant situation.”

The decision comes one day after a Ukrainian drone struck an industrial plant 800 miles inside Russia with “surgical precision”, one of the deepest strikes inside Russian territory.

Lions flex muscles after sloppy start to thrash Reds

The British and Irish Lions overcame a sloppy start to flex their muscles as they thrashed the Queensland Reds 54-12 in Brisbane.

The Lions bounced back from defeat to Argentina in their tour curtain-raiser by beating the Western Force in Perth in their opening match on Australian soil, and very nearly matched their tally at Suncorp Stadium. They did not, however, have things all their own way as the Reds began with real physicality, surging twice into an advantage in a first half in which the errors came a little too regularly for the tourists.

Andy Farrell will, though, be much more pleased with the second half showing as his side pulled away with 31 unanswered points, with Finn Russell and Fin Smith both tidy at 10 and the attacking game starting to click. A worry, though, will be an injury for Elliot Daly, who had heavy strapping and ice on his forearm after leaving the field in clear discomfort late on.

Follow all of the latest from Brisbane with our live blog below:

‘I went on Mounjaro with my husband – this is what happened next’

With just a few days to go before a friend’s wedding this weekend, Amanda* has done some last-minute shopping. “I was planning on wearing a dress with straps,” says the 54-year-old. “But then I realised I’d get so many comments about how much weight I’ve lost that I decided to buy another outfit to cover me up more. No one ever said to me when I was big that I shouldn’t get any bigger. But now I’m back to the weight I was when friends first knew me, it feels as if my weight loss has brought out a competitive streak in some of them. It makes me feel quite uncomfortable.”

Amanda, who lives in London, decided to go on Mounjaro a year ago after weighing herself for the first time in years and realising she was five stone heavier than she had been in her thirties.

“My husband and I love good food, so we’d eat out at least a couple of times a week. My portion sizes were too big, I snacked a lot and also the menopause hit,” she says. “We’d both complained about our weight but had done nothing about it, so when I heard about Mounjaro, I decided to try it.

“It wasn’t just a case of injecting and the weight miraculously falling off. I have had to give up things and be mindful. But it’s completely reset my brain when it comes to food and I eat much more healthily, don’t drink nearly so much alcohol and my sleep has improved. I’m now on a maintenance dose and feel better than I have in years.”

But the Mounjaro effect hasn’t just been physical. Amanda’s husband David* also started the drug soon after she did, and a year on, their marriage is in a better place.

“Doing it together has helped a lot,” says Amanda. “David struggled a bit more than me with minor side effects and worried that we’re becoming boring because we’re no longer the last to leave a party.

“But we still socialise and eat out at restaurants together and I honestly feel like I’m a far calmer and nicer person now. We’re both more confident and complimentary of each other too so our emotional relationship has definitely improved.”

While Amanda told only a few close friends that she was taking Mounjaro, David was more open with male friends.

“They’ve all been really positive about his weight loss,” says Amanda. “But while most of my female friends were really positive at the start, it’s got more complicated as time has gone on. One friend for instance has started constantly asking what size I’m wearing or buying the same new clothes as me and then telling me she doesn’t look good in them.

“I’ve ended up wondering if she was happier when I was the fat friend. Who knew that losing weight could cause such a furore?”

Amanda isn’t alone in experiencing a shift in the long-term emotional dynamics of relationships as she experiences a physical change. And with an estimated 1.5 million people in the UK now taking the new generation of GLP1 drugs, which include Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro, mental health professionals say they are beginning to see the impact in their treatment rooms.

“Weight loss drugs weren’t even a thing a couple of years ago, but I’m seeing them impacting relationships more and more now,” says Dr Linda Papadopoulos, a chartered member of the British Psychological Society.

“If two siblings have always looked similar and one suddenly loses weight for instance, it can create a new sense of competition. Or, if two friends are trying to lose weight and one is on the drug but the other isn’t, there can be accusations of ‘cheating’ to reach a lower weight.

“It’s a whole new area and I think we’ll be seeing more and more of this moving into the future because these drugs seem set to become so widely used.”

Secrecy, driven by stigma around the new generation GLP1 drugs and complex attitudes to weight, self-control and the “right” route to weight loss, is another potential cause of conflict.

On internet forums including Mumsnet and Reddit, multiple threads are devoted to discussions between “secret jabbers” who say judgment from spouses, friends or colleagues is their main reason for concealing their use of medication.

Repeated threads deal with how to hide drugs like Mounjaro, which comes in a pen that needs to be kept cool. One user advised building a “fortress of cheese blocks” at the back of the fridge, another hides the pen in a spare drinks fridge and injects themselves in the garage. One even told a curious husband that the family cat had developed diabetes and needed new medication.

Forty-year-old Bethany* is among the spouses who’ve decided to conceal their use of Mounjaro from their partner.

“I’ve got some face masks that I keep in the fridge, which I know my husband would never look at, so I hide the pen in there,” she says. “I know it’s terrible, but he’d go on and on if he knew about big pharma just selling a drug you constantly need to buy as a moneymaking thing.

“But for me, it has meant finally taking control of my weight, which had been out of control all my life after trying everything from diet to exercise.

“And while I worried a bit at the beginning about my husband finding out and seeing it as a betrayal of trust, I’m pretty sure now that ultimately he’d let it go. We have a good relationship and I now feel very confident it was the right decision for me.”

Bethany started the drug a year ago and, conscious about not losing weight too quickly, took the lowest dose of Mounjaro before upping it slightly and dropping back to a maintenance dose. She has lost 1.5 stone in a few months.

“My husband definitely noticed that I was eating less and losing weight, but put it down to healthier lifestyle choices,” she says. “He likes that I’ve lost weight and our sex life has definitely improved because I feel more confident.

“My mum knows I’m on it and thinks it’s terrible I haven’t told my husband. But what he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him.”

There’s no doubt that the fallout of using GLP1 drugs can be complex, says Dr Rose Aghdami, a chartered psychologist and resilience specialist. “The initial phase can often have a mostly positive impact on relationships,” she says. “The couple re-experiences interest in each other and they both enjoy the resulting closeness.

“Or the partner who has recently started having the jabs often feels a renewed zest for life, they start new hobbies and activities, socialise more, and this can result in more shared enjoyment for the couple. But over time, the negative impact of weight loss jabs can certainly take its toll on relationships.

“Food for instance is often important in relationships and can be a way of showing love to each other as well as building up a store of shared special experiences, so the loss of these can lead to upset, arguments, and feelings of guilt.

“Or the now slimmer partner may attract – and perhaps enjoy – increased interest and attention from others and this can evoke insecurities and jealousy within the couple. Doubt and trust issues can emerge, which can be very difficult to live with, for both partners.”

So, how do those taking the drugs navigate the new landscape that GLP1s have created?

“Any medication can have emotional as well as physical impact,’ says Ammanda Major, clinical quality director, Relate at Family Action. “We get into habits in long-term relationships, so anything that transforms them is going to have a knock-on effect because things don’t exist in vacuums and how we look and our weight are intimately attached to how we see ourselves, and how others see us too.

“But what we do know is that key to any life change – whether it’s a job move or weight loss – is about communication and explaining how you’re both feeling. That’s the key.”

*Names have been changed

Have your relationships been affected by these drugs? Tell us how…

How to host a Macmillan Coffee Morning like you’ve never seen before

What comes to mind when you think of a fundraising coffee morning? Soggy digestives, weak tea and sitting in a school hall having forced fun? Think again.

Macmillan Cancer Support are celebrating 35 years of the iconic Coffee Morning fundraiser, and we’re here to help you give your next Coffee Morning a glow-up. Behind the fun, Coffee Mornings help raise vital funds for people facing one of the toughest challenges of their lives.

Almost one in two people in the UK will get cancer in their lifetime, and no two experiences are the same. Where you live, who you are, or whether you have another health condition can all affect the care you receive – and that’s not fair. Macmillan is working to change that, doing whatever it takes to make sure everyone gets the best possible care, whoever and wherever they are.

So while tasty treats and fundraising fun of course get to stay, we’re leveling up the atmosphere with fresh ideas to keep everyone entertained.

Want to be a Coffee Morning Host?

Best of all, these new ways of raising vital funds don’t have to be expensive. In fact, they might even save you a bit of time, wardrobe space and money. Here’s how to host a Macmillan Coffee Morning like you’ve never seen before…

Organise a ‘style swap shop’

Clear out your wardrobe, raise money and bring your community together all at the same time by organising a ‘style swap shop’ – with all your finest, unworn or unwanted clothes and accessories.

Pack up the majestic hats you bought for a wedding but only wore once, the satin gloves that make you feel like Audrey Hepburn but don’t go with anything you own, or maybe that lace vintage dress your aunty wore to Glastonbury in the 70s, which now lives in an unexplored drawer in your bedroom.

Fill up a bag with your best cast-offs and get your friends, family and neighbours to do the same. Everyone pays £5 entry to the ‘style swap shop’ and then you all get to browse through each other’s preloved treasures – grabbing what takes your fancy.

One person’s hand-me-down is another person’s new look – so elbows at the ready! Want to raise extra cash? Add a £1-£2 price tag on each item that’s been donated.

Strut your stuff at a cake walk

We know that staying healthy and being physically active can reduce the risk of cancer, so why not combine the classic Coffee Morning with a walk around the block? Creative costumes, silly hats and streamers at the ready as we leave behind the school hall and instead take our cakes and cookies for a little jaunt to stretch our legs.

Up the fun, and the stakes, by upgrading from a cake walk to a cake race – the bigger and messier the dessert, the better!  And get the kids involved in the baking and racing too.

Or if you want to keep it indoors, turn your catwalk into a cake walk and give your best strut with your favourite pudding in hand. It’s giving egg and spoon race, jelly wobbling on a plate and doubling over with laughter as you sashay along clutching a platter filled with your finest roulade.

Dance away the morning at a sober rave

Why sit or stand when you can dance? Sober raves are all the rage – and ideal for a morning of fun with friends, family and neighbours. There’s no hangover, no late night and the kids can join in too – so, no need for a babysitter.

Grab your glow sticks for a Coffee Morning like no other, and you can still eat cake and have a brew or a cold drink. It’s a club night where nobody has to worry about the morning-after-the-night-before! You can host it in any hall, all you need is music and a disco ball.

You might feel silly at first, but soon you’ll be grinning with joy as dancing is proven to release endorphins (natural painkillers and mood boosters) as well as reducing stress and keeping you fit. Now, who does a good Big fish, little fish, cardboard box?

Run an Is it cake? competition

If you haven’t seen the Netflix hit Is it cake? – an American game show-style cooking competition, you’re missing a treat. Contestants compete to both identify and recreate their best version of everyday items – in cake form.

That could be fire hoses made from vanilla sponge and icing, kitchen utensils that cut open to reveal red velvet cake, replica designer handbags that are actually edible, and even other food items such as burgers, which are of course, cake.

Up the baking ante by running your own cake lookalike competition inspired by the show. The best thing about it is that even if your cake looks like a pair of stinky old sports shoes, it’ll still taste great!

Whether you’re swapping styles, raving sober or sculpting a sponge handbag, every slice of fun helps Macmillan Cancer Support do whatever it takes to help everyone living with cancer.

Signing up to host your own Macmillan Coffee Morning this year couldn’t be easier! Find out more today on the Macmillan website

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

UK accused of hypocrisy at landmark UN foreign aid conference

The UK has been accused of “hypocrisy” over its lack of high-level participation at a key global development finance summit, on top of cuts to Britain’s aid budget – while talking up its role in helping lower-income nations.

The accusations have been made at the fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4), a once-a-decade summit happening all week in Seville, Southern Spain, where delegates are aiming to tackle the perennial problem of how to help developing countries access the money they need.

Thirty-two African countries currently spend more on debt repayments than on healthcare, and 25 African countries spend more on debt payments than on education, an issue that activists say needs urgent action.

Some 50 world leaders are due at FfD4, including Emmanuel Macron of France, Mark Carney of Canada, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The UK, however, has only sent a government minister in the form of Baroness Chapman, the international development minister.

“A level of ambition from the UK government would have been demonstrated clearly by sending higher level participation such as the prime minister or Foreign Secretary,” Lydia Darby, a senior policy advisor at Save the Children, told The Independent.

Ahead of fDf4, writing in The Independent, Baroness Chapman called for a “new era for global aid and development”, that would see developing countries helped in building their own tax systems, and greater investment in developing countries from the private sector, among other measures.

Hannah Bond, Co-CEO at ActionAid UK, said that it is “hypocritical” for the UK to talk about “fair finance” while cutting overseas aid.

“If the UK truly cares about fair finance, it must honour its overseas aid commitments, tackle unfair debts, and pay its fair share in addressing the climate crisis,” Bond said. “Without this, talk of fair finance is nothing more than empty PR.”

Baroness Chapman’s appearance comes off the back of the UK cutting its foreign aid budget from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) – which is expected to reduce foreign aid by £6.2 billion by 2025.

Alex Farley, from advocacy group Bond, said that it is “impossible” to see how the UK can deliver on existing funding commitments, respond to humanitarian crisis, and tackle climate change, following he 0.5 to 0.3 per cent cut.

“Let alone undo the damage these cuts have done to our reputation and credibility with countries,” he added.

“It would be nice to hear the government expressing regret for its cuts to the aid budget, rather than blithely claiming that they are somehow doing developing countries a favour,” Michael Jacobs, from the think tank ODI, told The Independent.

Mr Jacobs added that the claim that private sector money can substitute public funds is “silly at best, disingenuous at worst”.

This is because “the private sector wants returns, while much aid – for health, schools, sanitation, climate adaptation – doesn’t make a profit, so is not investable”, he said.

Catherine Pettengell, executive director of NGO network Climate Action Network UK concurred that the UK had “failed to sufficiently support developing countries’ calls for fairer debt, tax, international cooperation, and climate finance” in build-up to the conference.

“It’s a crushing blow that only compounds the recent UK aid cuts,” she added.

Attendees of FfD4 say, however, that it is not all doom and gloom in Seville.

The final agreement of the talks – the Compromiso de Sevilla – was in fact agreed to just ahead of this week’s conference. According to Save the Children’s Ms Darby, there is notably positive language on matters including international tax cooperation and an agreement to initiate an intergovernmental process on debt.

“The document is an important step with plenty to build on in the months and years to come,” Darby said – though she acknowledged it has inevitably fallen short of “the transformative ambition that civil society and vulnerable communities worldwide had called for”.

While the UK, along with the EU, has been accused of watering down key priorities for low-and-middle-come countries, these countries have at least contributed much more positively than the US, which withdrew from talks ahead of the conference over the refusal from the rest of the world to delete the goal of “sustainable development” from the text.

This story is part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid series

Diddy jury to return after split on final, most serious count

Jurors are set to deliberate for a third day after reaching a partial verdict in the high-profile sex-trafficking case of Sean “Diddy” Combs.

After more than 12 hours of deliberations, the jury informed Judge Arun Subramanian on Tuesday afternoon that it was in agreement over four of the five counts – two each of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

However, the eight men and four women on the jury said there were members “with unpersuadable opinions on both sides” concerning the final, most serious charge: racketeering conspiracy. Jurors are set to return to Manhattan federal court at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Combs was arrested in September 2024 as federal authorities alleged he threatened, abused, and coerced victims “to fulfill his sexual desires” between 2004 and 2024. He has denied any accusations of wrongdoing.

Combs faces up to life in prison if he is convicted on the RICO charge, another statutory minimum sentence of 15 years if found guilty of sex trafficking, while transportation to engage in prostitution typically carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.