Badenoch defends seeking a ban on pro-Palestine marches but not Tommy Robinson ones – UK politics live
Badenoch defends wanting to ban pro-Palestine marches for spreading hate, but not Tommy Robinson ones
Kemi Badenoch also used her Today interview to defend her argument that pro-Palestine marches should be banned because they platform antisemitism, but that marches organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson should be allowed.
When it was put to Badenoch that the Robinson marches were a platform for anti-Muslim hate, Badenoch said that the marches were “different”, and that two Jewish men were killed at Heaton Park synagogue last year and that another two Jewish men were almost killed in Golders Green last week.
When it was put to her that Muslims might feel threatened by some of the things said at a Robinson event, she insisted that the two sorts of marches were “not the same”.
She went on:
Criticism of religion is allowed in this country. We mustn’t mix the two things.
I am talking about the attacks on Jews. It’s not the faith that’s being attacked, it’s the people.
And I do have to ask, why is it that whenever we’re talking about Jewish hatred, we always have what about, what about?
When something happens to black people, no one does the whataboutery. When something does happen to Muslims, we don’t say what about antisemitism?
Why do we have this double standard that, whenever there’s an issue with antisemitism and Jews being attacked, we have to broaden it out all the time.
Key events
No 10 does not deny report saying Reeves and US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent had ‘fierce row’ about Iran war
At the Downing Street lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson did not deny a report in the Financial Times saying that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, and Scott Bessent, her US opposite number, had a “fierce row” about the Iran war when they met in Washington last month.
In their FT story, Jim Pickard, Sam Fleming and Claire Jones say:
When the pair met later that day [after Reeves told a CNBC event she did not know why the Americans started the war] Bessent berated Reeves over the remarks, according to people familiar with the situation.
The Treasury secretary insisted the world was safer because of the US-Israeli war against Iran, even invoking the spectre of Tehran launching a nuclear attack on London. Reeves responded angrily by telling Bessent she did not work for him and disliked how he had spoken to her.
She also reiterated her argument about the Iran conflict lacking clear goals and not necessarily making the world safer.
The FT also said that Reeves and Bessent had spoken since the incident, and that on other issues they worked well together.
Asked about the story, the spokesperson said:
Although I wouldn’t get into private conversations, the chancellor and the US Treasury Secretary have a good relationship. They have had constructive conversations together since the chancellor’s visits to Washington. There is a readout from the US Department of the Treasury, which made clear the productive nature of their relationship.
Aamna Mohdin
Aamna Mohdin is the a Guardian community affairs correspondent.
Jewish leaders welcomed commitments made at the antisemitism summit at 10 Downing Street, but said more urgent action is needed.
Representatives from the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council described the announcements as an important moment to demonstrate a change in approach, pointing to measures including increased funding for communal security, an expansion of the “Common Ground” programme, new powers to suspend public funding from organisations promoting antisemitic content, and support for the Board’s new Jewish Culture Month.
However, they urged the government to go further. Among their demands were the proscription of the IRGC (the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) and its proxies operating in the UK, faster responses to alleged incitement at pro-Palestinian protests, and the full use of public order powers to restrict or ban marches where necessary.
They also called for quicker arrests and prosecutions in cases involving incitement against Jews, and an end to what they described as a “postcode lottery” in policing.
While the chant “globalise the intifada” has led to arrests in London, Manchester and Birmingham, they said enforcement has been inconsistent elsewhere.
UPDATE: Here is the statement in full.
No 10 unable to say what might happen to universities that do not comply with new antisemitism audit requirements
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson said that more than 90 people attended the antisemitism summit in No 10 this morning. They included people from businesses (including the CBI, Barclays, PWC), the media (including the BBC, Channel 4), arts groups (including the National Theatre, the Arts Council), the police (including from the Met, Greater Manchester police and the NPCC), community groups (including the Board of Deputies and the Community Safety Trust), the university sector (including Universtities UK and Union of Jewish Students), the NHS and Ofcom.
And the ministers attending included Steve Reed, the communities secretary, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, Lord Stockwood, the investment minister, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, the faith and communities minister.
Speaking about the meeting, the spokesperson said:
We are determined to make Jewish people in this country feel safe again.
I think, as the housing secretary said, people being anxious and afraid of being Jewish, people being afraid to wear the traditional Jewish skull cap or women being afraid to wear necklaces with the star of David. None of this can be acceptable in our society and it requires a whole society response to tackling it.
But the spokesperson was unable to say what would happen to universities that failed to comply with the new requirement to show what they were doing to tackle antisemitism. (See 10.41am.) Asked about this, the spokesperson said:
In terms of next steps we’ll set them out in due course.
We already expect universities to set out clear disciplinary consequences for antisemitism and to enforce them, and so we will hold them to account on that.
Journalists also questioned why social media companies were not invited, given the role they play in allowing the spread of antisemitism. The spokesperson said that Ofcom was there.
Badenoch defends wanting to ban pro-Palestine marches for spreading hate, but not Tommy Robinson ones
Kemi Badenoch also used her Today interview to defend her argument that pro-Palestine marches should be banned because they platform antisemitism, but that marches organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson should be allowed.
When it was put to Badenoch that the Robinson marches were a platform for anti-Muslim hate, Badenoch said that the marches were “different”, and that two Jewish men were killed at Heaton Park synagogue last year and that another two Jewish men were almost killed in Golders Green last week.
When it was put to her that Muslims might feel threatened by some of the things said at a Robinson event, she insisted that the two sorts of marches were “not the same”.
She went on:
Criticism of religion is allowed in this country. We mustn’t mix the two things.
I am talking about the attacks on Jews. It’s not the faith that’s being attacked, it’s the people.
And I do have to ask, why is it that whenever we’re talking about Jewish hatred, we always have what about, what about?
When something happens to black people, no one does the whataboutery. When something does happen to Muslims, we don’t say what about antisemitism?
Why do we have this double standard that, whenever there’s an issue with antisemitism and Jews being attacked, we have to broaden it out all the time.
Trump’s ‘relentless’ criticism of UK and other allies ‘only benefits Russia and Iran’, Badenoch says
In her Today interview, Kemi Badenoch also described Donald Trump as ‘very erratic”. Having in the past been reluctant to say anything negative about him, recently she has become increasingly critical. She told the programme:
The issue with Donald Trump is that he’s very erratic.
Even where you agree with him on what he is wanting to do, the way he goes about doing those things is very problematic.
A lot of his rhetoric, especially against allies, I do not like.
The relentless criticism of allies, whether it’s the UK or other European countries, only benefits Russia and Iran.
Badenoch questions whether undisclosed £5m donation to Farage means he’s been ‘bought’
Kemi Badenoch has questioned whether the undisclosed £5m donation given to Nigel Farage by a crypto billionaire shows that he has been “bought”.
In an interview with the Today programme this morning, the Conservative leader asked whether the donation was linked to Farage’s support for cryptocurrencies, and she said the donation showed why Farage could not be trusted as a political leader.
In the Guardian last week Anna Isaac revealed that, shortly before the 2024 general election, Farage received £5m from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
There was nothing illegal about the gift. But once he became an MP Farage was obliged to register gifts that were, or might be thought to be, related to his political activity. Farage did not do that, and he has argued that he did not need to because the gift was entirely personal, intended to cover his security costs for the rest of his life.
In her Today interview, when it was put to her that rightwing voters wanting to get rid of Labour might be better of voting for Reform UK, Badenoch said:
Let’s see, I believe that people should look at the character of an individual.
You look at Nigel Farage’s fishy £5m. I think that’s a very, very concerning story. No one gets £5m directly. This was not for his party. He kept it a secret. What was that money for? Who’s bought him?
When it was put to Badenoch that Farage insists this was just a personal gift, she went on:
Well, I don’t understand why somebody who works in crypto gives this sort of personal gift, as Farage calls it, and then all of a sudden Farage is promoting crypto.
He should have declared it. We’ve already made a report to the standards committee. He should have declared it because those are the rules in this country.
He is not someone who plays by the rules. I play by the rules.
Harborne, who also give Reform UK £12m in 2025 (which was declared properly), has said that Farage was out of politics at the time he gave him the £5m. At that point Farage had not yet announced he would be a candidate in the 2024 election and had not yet resumed his leadership of Reform UK. Harborne told the Telegraph: “I wasn’t expecting anything in return apart from ensuring [Farage’s] safety.” Farage has also insisted that this donation was personal, and that, even in relation to the declared political donations, Harborne had not asked for anything in return.
At the weekend Badenoch also claimed there was something “fishy” about the Harborne donation, and she claimed that it explained why Farage at the last minute ducked an invitation to appear on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show.
Last month the Guardian published a long investigation by Tom Burgis exploring the links between Farage and Harborne.
FBU general secretary Steve Wright says Starmer ‘sitting duck’ and leadership challenge ‘inevitable’ after elections
Keir Starmer is now a “sitting duck” because a leadership challenge is “inevitable” after the elections this week, a union leader has said.
Steve Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, made the comment in an interview with Simon Fletcher, a former aide to Ken Livingstone, Jeremy Corbyn and (briefly) Starmer, published on Fletcher’s Modern Left Substack blog.
Wright first publicly called for Starmer to go in February, and he told Murphy that he now thought a contest could not be avoided.
Wright, whose union is affiliated to Labour, said:
If [the election results are] as bad as all the polls suggest – I’m not a betting, man, but I’m sure they’re not going to be great, are they – I think Starmer should stand down.
I think he should have stood down a couple of months ago and given me, others, Labour activists, people that are proud of the Labour party, an opportunity to try and win round some people. It would have been hard, but I think without him there, we could have probably done something.
So I think he will go. I think there will be calls for him to go. We just need to have been in a position to try and shape that. It’s inevitable now, isn’t it? I think he’s a bit of a sitting duck.
In the interview Wright did not endorse an alternative candidate for Labour leader. He said he was more interested in establishing “a set of principles” the government should follow in the next three years before an election has to take place.
But he said that under Starmer the unions had been sidelined, and he said people wanted an end to austerity and real change. He explained:
For us in the fire service, with our wages and also with the lack of funding and investment in public services, it’s just been austerity mark II.
I’ve no criticism of why people are looking for alternatives. They’re either turning to Reform because they’re providing an alternative narrative – the wrong one, I think – or they’re turning to the Greens as some kind of saviour of working-class people. And I certainly don’t think the Green party or Zack Polanski are the saviours of that.
I think we need to take back ownership of the Labour party and what we really know it stands for, and make sure it starts delivering for working people.
And I’m quite angry that the party’s got in this position we find ourselves in, but I’m certainly not going to walk away from that. I’m going to try and change it from within.
Starmer orders review into whether Arts Council tough enough on dealing with organisations that platform antisemitism
In his speech Keir Starmer also said that, if arts organisations platform antisemitism, the Arts Council “must act using its powers to suspend, withdraw and clawback funding”.
And he announced a review into whether this is happening properly. He went on:
And today we’re mandating an independent audit of how allegations are handled. This will be a hard-edged review of where systems are failing and where they need to be strengthened.
We will not and cannot accept complacency, delays or weak enforcement.
And where complacency is found. It will be challenged and addressed swiftly.
Starmer says universities will be expected to publish audit of of antisemitism on campus, and how it’s being tackled
Keir Starmer has said that universities will now be expected to publish information about the scale of antisemitism on their campuses, and what they are doing to tackle it.
He made the announcement in a speech at the antisemitism summit in No 10. He told the civic leaders in his audience.
We’re rolling out antisemitism training for staff and in our schools, colleges and universities. We’re investing £7m to tackle antisemitism while making sure Holocaust education is taught in all schools.
And today, we’re going further.
We already expect universities to set out clear disciplinary consequences for antisemitism and to enforce them. And so we will hold them to account on that.
But today I can announce that we will lift the bar higher when abuses take place. We’re calling on universities to demonstrate action. We will now expect them to publish the scale of the problem on their campuses, as well as the specific steps they have taken to clamp down on it. There will be zero tolerance for inaction.
Polanski hits back after Labour attacks Greens for not tackling antisemitism in party properly
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, posted these on social media this morning. They seem to be a response at least in part to the antisemitism attack ad launched by Labour yesterday. (See 8.41am and 9.16am.)
When you see the relentless attacks from other parties on the Greens across the media remember this:
They hate our plan to end Rip Off Britain.
They don’t want a wealth tax.
They don’t want public ownership & lower bills.
They’re trying everything in their power to stop us.
It’s not going to work.
They have deep pockets.
We have people power and a plan to change our country.
Steve Reed warns Labour another leadership contest ‘ends in annihilation’ for party
Steve Reed, the housing secretary, has warned that Labour risks “annihilation” if it gets rid of Keir Starmer and holds another leadership contest.
He delivered this message as he did a media interview round this morning. As Pippa Crerar reports in this overnight story, what Reed was saying in public echoes what multiple cabinet ministers have been telling the Guardian in private about the dangers of a leadership contest.
Reed told Times Radio:
I speak to a lot of my fellow MPs, of course I do, all the time, but also council leaders, and they’re sick and tired of all this psychodrama … The whole notion that we would copy the Conservatives and go doomscrolling through leaders in a way that means the government is completely incapable of dealing with the things that matter to most of the British public is absolute nonsense, and I’m not going to engage in it, and most of our MPs would not engage in that either.
Jessica Elgot has more on that interview here.
And, in an interview on Sky News, Reed said that another leadership election would be disastrous for Labour. He said:
We can’t be like the Tories and doomscroll through leaders. It ends in annihilation. We’ve got to focus on the British public, not ourselves.
In his Sky News interview, Reed also said that he had dinner with Angela Rayner, the former deputy PM, on Saturday – but he claimed they did not discuss whether she might run for the leadership. “Sometimes even we politicians talk about other things,” he said. But he did say “in time” he would like to see her back in cabinet.
Next Scottish government faces ‘really difficult’ spending choices, economists say
The next Scottish government will need to make “really difficult” spending decisions soon after taking power, including tackling its large public sector pay bill, senior economists have said. Severin Carrell has the story.
Steve Reed accuses Zack Polanski of ignoring antisemtism problem in Green party
Steve Reed, the environment secretary, has been giving interviews this morning. As well as promoting the (small) funding announcement for councils dealing with antisemitism (see 8.41am), he has also been reviving the Labour attack on the Green party over their handling of antisemitism in their party (see 9.16am).
Reed, a former leader of Lambeth council who now represents Streatham and Croydon North (which covers parts of Lambeth), told GB News:
We need the Green party to do what the Labour Party did and kick out members of their party who are openly antisemitic. In my borough, where my constituency is, two Green Party candidates have been arrested for allegations of stirring up racial hatred.
Instead of condemning them, the Green party has put out a letter saying that the Labour party is spreading cynical misinformation.
These people were arrested for hate crimes targeting the Jewish community. One of them was back out on the doorsteps this weekend. We have photographic evidence of knocking on doors now.
Zack Polanski, come on, these people are spreading antisemitic hatred. You cannot put them up for election.
You cannot back them, and you cannot shut your eyes and pretend this problem doesn’t exist. We only tackle racism by calling it out and stopping it. And all of us have a responsibility to do that.
This morning’s Downing Street meeting is a government event, and non-partisan. But, conveniently perhaps, it coincides with the Labour party last night releasing a new campaign video, attacking the Greens on the basis of antisemitic comments made by some of their election candidates. In its format, it is similar to the one Labour produced highlighting the racist views of some Reform UK candidates.
Starmer calls antisemitism ‘crisis for all of us’, as No 10 holds summit and councils get extra funding to address problem
Good morning. Keir Starmer has declared antisemitism “a crisis for all of us”. This morning he is hosting an event in Downing Street intended to get leaders across all areas of public life to address the problem and, according to the briefing from No 10, he will say:
Last week’s terrorist attack in Golders Green was utterly appalling. But it was not an isolated incident. It is part of a pattern of rising antisemitism that has left our Jewish communities feeling frightened, angry, and asking whether this country, their home, is safe for them.
These disgusting attacks are being made against British Jews. But, make no mistake, this crisis – it is a crisis for all of us. It is a test of our values. Values that are not guaranteed, but are earned. Every single day, through our actions.
Here is Pippa Crerar and Aamna Mohdin’s overnight story about this.
And here is the overnight news release.
Last week, after the attack in Golders Green, the government announced an extra £25m “to boost police patrols, specialist officers, and protective security for Jewish communities – taking total funding to £58m, as well as £7m to tackle antisemitism in schools, colleges and universities”. This morning the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced a smaller funding boost for councils to coincide with the No 10 event. It says:
Jewish communities across England will receive a further £1m of government funding to tackle antisemitism and strengthen community cohesion in those places facing the greatest risk.
An immediate £500,000 will also be allocated to Barnet council, reflecting recent serious antisemitic incidents in the borough and the large number of Jewish residents there.
There has been an alarming rise in antisemitism both in this country and across much of the globe, including the horrific antisemitic terrorist attacks in Heaton Park and Bondi Beach last year, and an appalling spate of antisemitic attacks in North West London in recent weeks.
To tackle this, the additional funding being announced today will expand MHCLG’s Common Ground programme – which is already providing more than £4m to communities across the country.
The money can be used by councils on measures to counter antisemitism.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer hosts a meeting in Downing Street to discuss how to implement a whole-of-society response to rising antisemitism.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, is campaigning in Suffolk. In the afternoon she is in Coventry.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Noon: Paul Ovenden, Starmer’s former head of political strategy in No 10, speaks at a Policy Exchange event on how to reshape Britain.
Afternoon: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, visits a synagogue in central London.
5pm: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, and the party’s Welsh leader, Dan Thomas, speak at a rally in south Wales with a “special guest”.
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