Defence secretary 'furious' as he orders review of MoD diversity and inclusivity policy

The defence secretary is said to be "furious" after it was reported the British Army wants to relax security clearance vetting for overseas recruits to boost diversity and inclusion.

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Fujitsu 'to have received £3.4bn in Treasury-linked deals since 2019' despite role in Post Office scandal

Fujitsu is set to have received more than £3.4bn through contracts from Treasury-linked organisations since 2019, despite its role in the Post Office scandal, MPs have found.

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Sir Rod Stewart says Labour 'deserve a crack' at running the country

Sir Rod Stewart has branded Boris Johnson a "lying f****** public schoolboy" as he threw his weight behind Labour ahead of the upcoming general election.

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Professor's BLISTERING attack on 'UNHINGED' Donald Trump

Professor David Dunn from the University of Birmingham has blasted Donald Trump in a scathing interview with Martin Daubney.

Speaking on GB News he said: "If we listen to some of the things that Donald Trump says, they clearly show him to be unhinged."

WATCH THE ABOVE CLIP FOR MORE

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Conservative peer outraged by Domino's' new Creme Egg cookies

Domino's Pizza and Cadbury have been blasted by a minister in the House of Lords after they teamed up to make a Domino's cookie that contains a whole Creme Egg.

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Joe Biden dodges criminal charges in classified documents probe as jurors could see 'elderly man with a poor memory'

Joe Biden has dodged criminal charges for handling classified documents after a report concluded the 46th President took classified information about the US war in Afghanistan and other national security matters.

The documents included a handwritten memo to former President Barack Obama in 2009.

The memo concerned a planned troop surge in Afghanistan but others related to national security meetings.

It is extremely likely the findings will further political division in the US as Donald Trump faces separate charges for taking classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago home.

Classified records were found in 2022 and 2023 at Biden's Delaware home and at a private office used between his service as Obama's Vice President and becoming Commander-in-Chief.

The report by special counsel Robert Hur found that Biden told a writer working on his memoir that he had “just found all the classified stuff downstairs”.

Hur’s report said the conversation created “the best case” for charges against Biden.

The investigator found a number of reasons not to charge Biden, including that the documents were taken home while he had the authority as Vice President.

“Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt,” the report said.

“It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him – by then a former president well into his eighties – of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

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Dentist Sunak visited to promote 'recovery plan' not taking NHS patients

The dentist Rishi Sunak visited in Cornwall to promote his "recovery plan" is not accepting new NHS patients, it has emerged.

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Ed Miliband has been left humiliated and all eyes will be on what he does next - analysis by Millie Cooke

This evening, the Labour Party finally confirmed that it will ditch its pledge to put £28 billion towards green investment.

The plan has been slashed from £28 billion towards green investment in one year, to a total of £23.7billion over five years.

Amid months of speculation and leaks, Ed Miliband had vocal in pushing for the party to stick by its pledge.

Last year, the Shadow Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary wrote on social media: "Some people don't want Britain to borrow to invest in the green economy. They want us to back down. But Keir, Rachel and I will never let that happen. Britain needs this £28 billion a year plan and that is what we are committed to."

But just six months later, hevtook a different tune, rowing in behind the Labour leader. In a statement this evening, he descrbed the watered down plan as a "world-leading agenda on climate and energy".

The Labour Party is arguing that the changes are necessary as a result of the Conservative Party "crashing the economy and Jeremy Hunt’s plans to ‘max out’ the country’s credit card".

But for the Tories, today's announcement - and the months of speculation that came before it - is the perfect opportunity to draw attention to what they have dubbed "complete chaos" under Labour.

Given the Conservative Party's grip on its identity as a "safe pair of hands" has been slipping for years, Labour's latest U-turn has unsurprisingly come as a source of glee.

Unfortuantely for Miliband, his role in the so-called "chaos" has not gone unnoticed either.

Hours before Labour issued an official statement, the Tories had already set up a website tracking the last time the ex-Labour leader was seen in public.

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At the time of writing, the running timer - stationed above an image of a sheepish looking Ed Miliband - was at 140 days, seven hours and and 10 minutes.

And this afternoon, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Laura Trott MP said Labour are in "complete chaos" - a rhetoric that will no doubt bring back unwelcome memories for Labour of the 2015 Tory election campaign slogan - "Chaos under Ed Miliband".

In a scathing attack on the party, Trott said: "Labour are in complete chaos. Hours after they said they do not have a plan to pay for their £28 billion spending promises, a senior Labour Shadow Cabinet member is saying Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves aren’t changing anything.

“Without a plan to pay for their £28 billion promises, Labour will inevitably impose thousands of pounds in higher taxes on working people. That is why Labour will take Britain back to square one.”

It is already proving unlikely that the Tory party will let any humiliation on this climbdown go to waste this week.

When it comes to Miliband's future on the front bench, he is still supporting the party line for now. But the latest U-turn is a huge back step on a pledge that the environment secretary previously defended so fiercely.

He may have buckled to fall in line with the Labour leader this time, but opposition watchers will be looking closely for signs of dissent if Labour is forced to compromise any further.

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Labour in needless tangle over headline policy that didn't exist in detail at all

The incredible - needless - tangle that Labour got itself into over its £28bn green investment policy only truly became clear today as leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves were killing it.

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Scotland's largest local authority set to ban pavement parking

Scotland's largest local authority is planning to enforce a ban on pavement parking.

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Holly Valance 'concerned about way things are going' as she outlines fears for her children

Former Neighbours star Holly Candy, formerly Valance, has told GB News' political editor Chris Hope that she is "concerned about the way that things are going like everyone else in the country."

It comes as Liz Truss launched a political movement to try and rally right-wing Tory MPs ahead of a possible general election, as she called on others to join the UK's "secret Conservative forces".

Popular Conservatism (PopCon) is "a new movement aiming to restore democratic accountability to Britain and deliver popular conservative policies".

Speaking on GB News Candy said: "I'm a citizen, like everyone else here who's concerned about the way things are going in the country.

"Many things worry and bother me with two little children to bring up what they might inherit. So I want to come and listen to good ideas."

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PopCons seek to rally Tory base as they look to a post-election future

Shortly after Liz Truss and co took to the stage to launch the new Popular Conservatism - or "PopCon" - movement, pitching itself as an anti-woke, anti-green, anti-elite, anti-immigration voice of the voter, my phone buzzed with a message from a very disgruntled MP.

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‘The UK dodged a bullet by leaving the EU but dangers remain,’ warns Frederick Chedham

Time flies, and the nation finds itself celebrating the fourth anniversary since the United Kingdom finally wrenched itself free from the control of the European Union.

Not everyone is happy, of course, and a cult of Remainers desperately seeks comfort in tiny cheese tariffs with Canada, posting pictures of the occasional passport queue, searching out supermarkets to find some empty shelves to complain about, and of course, acting surprised that bank holidays cause bottlenecks at Dover.

For the most part, those who follow the Gold Stars can be left to gather in diminishing rallies waving their flags and miming Beethoven, while the rest of us get on with life and thank the stars for dodging the bullet before it was too late.

And what a bullet we dodged.

The UK economy did not collapse, as many predicted (and probably hoped). Indeed, while the Eurozone and the major economies lurch into recession, the UK has consistently outperformed Germany and France. Despite a Government frightened of its own shadow and furious institutional friction, we are on the cusp of the global potential of the CPTTP partnership with the growing and emerging markets of the East.

We’ve learnt that only the EU takes decades to negotiate trade deals. Left to itself, the UK has knocked them out of the park. Oh, and London hasn’t been overtaken by anywhere as the leading global financial centre; in fact, it recently overtook New York.

The global influence of the Nation has not diminished. The world still looks to British leadership in the West’s response to Russian aggression in Ukraine; it provides a more powerful voice on countering Iranian aggression than the EU or its members, and its position in major world institutions such as the UN Security Council, Nato, OSCE is secure.

Most importantly, the people of this country can now vote directly for the people who make its laws without fear of transnational jurisprudence undermining Parliament and our courts.

Over three thousand EU instruments have passed into EU law since our final departure. None of them apply to us, and when I say dodged a bullet, this is what I mean.

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Stupidly, the Government drags its heels over removing EU law from our statute book. Despite this lethargy, the creeping invasive tide of regulations and directives that, with the compliance of a politicised CJEU, has extended deep into our social policy, well beyond its supposed trade mandate, has been halted.

Could it be done better? Of course, it could. The Government should be held to account for not exploiting opportunities quicker. The Windsor Framework is a mess stemming from early failure to confront the EU over its insistence on confecting the Irish Border with exaggerated alarmist rhetoric over security (and I know the border better than most). It’s the EU's job to protect its Single Market access, not ours.

Be under no illusion; dangers remain. The unelected Lord Cameron now heads a Foreign Office plot for closer alignment with EU defence structures. This includes committing UK armed forces to Ursula von der Leyen’s plans for ‘defence unification,’ something he intends to sneak unnoticed past the British people.

The EU craves the UK’s diminished but still potent military capability, while Whitehall mandarins believe that such an alignment would attract EU concessions elsewhere. That this could result in operational control and decision-making on the employment of UK forces being taken in Brussels is not appreciated by the current crop of ministers. Worse, Labour will actively seek it. We must have no part in EU CSDP.

Labour is even more dangerous. They will claim better relations with the EU that will in effect amount to compliance and capitulation. It’s probably too late to prevent a period of Starmergheddon, but forces loyal to Brexit will need to fight him step by step to preserve the gains he would happily give back.

Brexit was a triumph of people power versus the elites, progressives, and liberals. Time and time again, the people prove they have more common sense than the self-righteous cabals in our politics, media, and institutions. That we have a generation of politicians who still feel the need to ignore the people’s instructions is not the fault of Brexit. But that will change, and resisters to the direction the country has chosen face a future being mocked and irrelevant.

The next challenge that the people will have to put right? Net Zero stupidity.

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Labour excluded some campaigners from race equality act launch event

Labour's plans for a new race equality act were announced at a behind closed doors event that excluded equality campaigners who wanted to review the proposals, Sky News can reveal.

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'In touching distance': Is a united Ireland now a realistic prospect?

Two years after power-sharing collapsed in Northern Ireland, Stormont is back in business with Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill becoming its first nationalist First Minister.

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Joe Biden dodges major interview with liberal TV network after repeated gaffes

President Joe Biden is set to break an annual pre Super Bowl tradition for the second year in a row.

CBS News confirmed to Variety that President Biden will not take part in an exchange during pre-game coverage leading up to the Super Bowl.

Variety reports that CBS News offer was believed to have been for a 15-minute interview, three or four minutes of which would have aired during the network’s pre-game coverage.

However, it is the second year in a row that President Biden has turned down the opportunity, which typically draws an audience of tens of millions.

The interview had become a tradition in recent decades, with President Barack Obama starting it in 2009.

Before then, President George W. Bush took part in a Super Bowl coin toss in 2002 and joked with presenter Jim Nantz of CBS Sports before the network’s 2004 broadcast of the event.

President Trump chose to skip a sit down with NBC News and anchor Lester Holt in 2018.

It was reported President Trump wanted to avoid a conversation about criticism he had made of NFL players who had knelt during the playing of the National Anthem to protest social injustice in the United States.

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White House spokesman Ben LaBolt told Variety: "We hope viewers enjoy watching what they tuned in for — the game."

President Biden has had a mixed relationship with journalists, as he has not granted many press interviews since taking over the Oval Office in 2021.

However he has spoken to CBS News presenters Norah O’Donnell and Scott Pelley, and recently granted brief exchanges to Robert Costa and Ed O’Keefe.

It comes as President Biden was believed to have a strained relationship with Fox News.

Presenters who have conducted the pre Super Bowl interview have spoken about how difficult the interview with the President can be.

Savannah Guthrie, who conducted an interview with President Obama in 2015, told Variety: "You have to remember, this is an interview that takes place in the Super Bowl pre-show.

"The last thing everyone is thinking about or wanting to talk about is politics.

"[It is about] striking the right balance, having the right tone for the context of the day, but you want to do an interview that is helpful, asks some important questions."

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Rishi Sunak set to come under fire over Clapham chemical attack

Rishi Sunak will come under pressure from both Labour and Tory rebels this week over the Clapham chemical attack.

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Elon Musk blasts Biden as he sensationally accuses him of plot to make a 'one-party state'

Elon Musk has accused President Biden of letting millions of people into the country on purpose, so the Democrats can permanently stay in power.

The Twitter and Tesla CEO criticised the President's approach to securing the southern border.

Musk made the comments on social media while sharing a 2021 news story headline claiming that Biden had intended to prioritize offering legal status to an estimated 11 million people while in office.

He also claimed that the influx of illegal immigrants will be used as a ruse for ballot harvesting in upcoming elections.

He said: "Biden’s strategy is very simple. 1. Get as many illegals in the country as possible. 2. Legalize them to create a permanent majority – a one-party state.

"That is why they are encouraging so much illegal immigration. Simple, yet effective."

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report for fiscal 2023 shows that the number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained docket has risen from 3.7 million in 2021 to nearly 4.8 million in 2022 to nearly 6.2 million in 2023.

Musk added: "This explains why there are so few deportations, as every deportation is a lost vote...As happened this week, you can literally assault police officers in broad daylight in New York, be released with no bail, give everyone the finger and *still* not be deported!! Outrageous."

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Reacting to the report of a Venezuelan woman who had been arrested eight times in the last six months, he wrote: "What is even the point of arresting criminals if nothing is done!?...No prison, no deportation."

He also criticised suggestions for a bipartisan Senate deal to be passed to fix the unprecedented levels of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border.

The bill is expected to include billions of dollars to Ukraine.

He said: "No laws need to be passed. All that is needed is an executive order to require proof before granting an asylum hearing. That is how it used to be."

It comes after Biden secured an overwhelming win in South Carolina's Democratic primary, the first official Democratic primary ahead of this year's presidential election.

The president, who faces little competition within his party pledged to make Republican Donald Trump a "loser".

The 81-year-old recalled how South Carolina voters "breathed life" into his 2020 campaign and said he had "no doubt" they would set him on the path to winning the presidency in 2024.

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