Romanian new ruling coalition agree to swap prime ministers from April 2027
Bolojan will ask parliament for a vote of confidence later on Monday. His cabinet will be backed by the centre-left Social Democrats, the centre-right Liberals and the Save Romania Union, the ethnic Hungarian UDMR party and representatives of minorities.
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The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
By likening Nigel Farage to Jimmy Savile, Peter Kyle has handed Reform a free gift
Just when Nigel Farage and his tiny parliamentary party were beginning to be exposed as shrill and clueless, Peter Kyle, one of the most promising cabinet ministers, handed them a free gift. By saying that the Reform leader is on the side of 'people like Jimmy Savile', Kyle destroys his own arguments for the Online Safety Act. The attempt to link Farage with a notorious child sex abuser is gratuitous and offensive. It makes Kyle seem desperate and allows Farage to pose as the wronged party – Farage's criticisms of the Act seem more credible after Kyle's outburst than before. It is surprising that Kyle has chosen to use this slur when Labour people were so indignant – and rightly so – when Boris Johnson used it against Keir Starmer. That was when Johnson was desperate: Sue Gray's report on lockdown parties in Downing Street had just been published and Johnson wanted some way of deflecting attention. His attack on Starmer had nothing to do with Gray's report. It was an aside referring to Starmer's time as director of public prosecutions, during which, Johnson said, 'he spent most of his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can make out'. But it was more relevant than Kyle's attack on Farage. It is factually correct that the Crown Prosecution Service failed to prosecute Savile when Starmer was in charge, and it is unclear whether it could have done more to bring Savile to justice at the time. But Farage has nothing to do with Savile – at all. Kyle's attempt to smear the Reform leader was phrased thus on Sky News: 'If people like Jimmy Savile were alive today, he'd be perpetrating his crimes online, and Nigel Farage is saying that he's on their side.' Nothing could be better calculated to distract from the real issue, which is whether Farage's pledge to repeal the Online Safety Act is a sensible one. The Reform rhetoric about 'authoritarian' and 'dystopian' legislation is overdone, and Farage admitted yesterday that he didn't know how he would protect children online instead. But rather of exposing the weakness of Farage's arguments, Kyle allowed his opponent to protest on X that his comment was 'disgusting' and to demand an apology. Kyle responded: 'If you want to overturn the Online Safety Act you are on the side of predators. It is as simple as that.' This is a terrible way to conduct a public debate. There are well-founded concerns about the Online Safety Act, which seems to put unworkable obligations on non-profit-making websites while doing little to ensure that the big tech companies behave more responsibly. A lot of well-informed people said it was badly drafted legislation even before it was passed by the Conservative government two years ago. Kyle is now overseeing the coming into effect of provisions of the Act relating to age-verification, and instead of acting on the concerns that have been expressed, he has ploughed ahead – in effect accusing anyone who has doubts, including for example Ella Dorn of the New Statesman, of being aligned with Savile. When Johnson gratuitously dragged Savile's name into his attempt to save his disintegrating premiership, the disgust at his deliberate attempt to invoke conspiracy theories driven by fears of paedophilia was felt across the political spectrum. Munira Mirza, Johnson's adviser who was consulted in advance, begged him not to do it, and resigned when he did. Kyle should not be using the same disreputable tactic, which not only speaks volumes about this government's self-confidence but also allows Reform off the hook. Only this morning, Sarah Pochin, Reform's newest MP, was struggling to explain what her party's policy on small boats actually is. All she could propose was that Britain should 'do something drastic', by which she seemed to suggest that we should let migrants drown in the Channel. If the next election really is a fight between Labour and Reform, Labour must fight it better than this.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Some of Britain's judges make even David Lammy look sensible on immigration
'I have never made but one prayer to God,' wrote Voltaire; 'a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.' One can rarely hope for more in politics. But what Voltaire neglected to mention is the darker irony; that someone may yet come along who is so jaw-droppingly awful that your enemies begin to look sane by comparison. Nobody believes Labour is effective – or even especially dedicated – to solving Britain's ever-increasing immigration problems. According to YouGov, just 11 per cent of people believe Keir Starmer's party would be best at handling asylum and immigration – an all-time low. Reform, who have only recently been added to the survey, currently stand at 36 per cent. But as untrusted as they are, Labour may yet prove to be a restraining force on the worst excesses of Britain's immigration system. Foreign Secretary David Lammy – who once told The Guardian that it was 'morally wrong to take the view that anyone making their way across the Channel is illegal' – is currently playing the part of immigration hardliner after deciding to block a family from Gaza from settling in the UK under the Ukrainian refugee scheme. Earlier this year, in news broken by The Telegraph, Judge Hugo Norton-Taylor permitted a Palestinian family of six to settle in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme. In January last year, the family submitted their application using the Ukraine scheme's form, arguing that it best reflected their circumstances and that their case was so 'compelling and compassionate' it warranted approval outside the scheme's formal rules. A lower-tier immigration tribunal initially rejected their claim, stating that it fell outside the scope of the Ukraine programme and that decisions about which countries qualify for resettlement schemes rest with Parliament. However, upper tribunal judge Hugo Norton-Taylor overturned that ruling, allowing the appeal and granting the family entry to the UK based on their Article 8 right to family life under the European Convention on Human Rights. Since then, Lammy's Foreign Office has denied the family the consular support they need to leave Gaza and travel to a neighbouring country, where they could apply for UK visas at an application centre. In a ruling on Monday, High Court Judge Mr. Justice Chamberlain sided with the family. He stated that the Foreign Office's June decision to withhold consular assistance was 'flawed' and 'irrational' and must be reconsidered, as the family had 'very little food and no effective sanitation' and remained 'at constant risk of injury or death'. The rulings of judges such as Chamberlain and Norton-Taylor show how detached from the British public Britain's 'lanyard class' has become – the self-congratulatory bureaucrats and elites who inhabit a liberal bubble insulated from the practical consequences of their decisions. Labour, however, are not so lucky. In such circumstances it's hard not to see the parallels with Voltaire's ridiculousness; the judiciary's positions have become so absurd that they have forced Labour to become the hardliners. As dangerous and heart-rending as the situation in Gaza is, the answer is not – as it has never been, to any humanitarian crisis – to allow huge flows of refugees into Britain. Yet the decisions of these judges seem to be setting a precedent for Palestinian refugees to enter the UK – despite there being clear and repeated indications from Government and politicians that this is not their intention. As I wrote recently, our immigration rules are collapsing under a combination of legal activism
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Zarah Sultana reveals what she wants new political party with Jeremy Corbyn to be called
Former Labour MP Zarah Sultana has revealed what she wants the new left-wing party she has founded with Jeremy Corbyn to be called. The Coventry South MP, who quit Labour earlier this month to launch the new group, is pushing for the name to be 'The Left'. However, the name, already a well-known phrase used to describe left-wing parties and activists in the UK, risks repeating the same confusion that occurred when the movement was officially announced last week. At that stage Mr Corbyn unveiled its existence with a message saying 'this is your party' and urging his followers to go to the website Many assumed the party's new name was simply Your Party, prompting Ms Sultana to clarify on social media: 'It's not called Your Party.' Political opponents mocked the chaos as sources said members of the new party would decide its name at a later date. Ms Sultana was previously reported to have caught Mr Corbyn by surprise when she announced the formation of a new party as she said she had quit Labour. In an interview with the left-wing website Novara, Ms Sultana said the name would be chosen 'in the most democratic way possible'. She added: 'I think it should be called "The Left" or "The Left Party", because it says what it is on the tin. That is something I will be pitching.' The announcement of the new party came after weeks of speculation and was seen as a blow to Sir Keir, with the new party threatening to split voters on the left. While former allies of Mr Corbyn, including ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell, have said they will not join the new party, Mr Corbyn has already united the so-called 'Gaza independents' who unseated Labour MPs at the last general election. A recent Find Out Now poll suggested that the new party would be equal third to Labour in support, with 15 per cent each, behind Reform on 34 per cent and the Tories on 17 per cent. Last week the health secretary Wes Streeting reposted a tweet mocking the new party's launch, suggesting its message was 'Not Your Party'. Other Labour MPs also made fun of the apparent confusion over the new group's name. Mike Reader, the MP for Northampton South, said: 'Members will choose the name. I strongly recommend Votey McVote Face.' Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has said the fledgling party will 'only assist the enemies of Labour' by forming a breakaway challenger party. He said that division on the left only help 'the parties of the right', including Kemi Badenoch 's Conservatives and Nigel Farage 's Reform UK.
