“The Tory MP at the centre of the Westminster honeytrap scandal resigned from his position as vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers on Monday night. William Wragg, who represents Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester, last week admitted to responding to messages on gay dating app Grindr and sending on numbers of colleagues. Several MPs, members of their staff and political journalists were later sent flirtatious texts, and in several cases explicit photos, from senders with the aliases “Charlie” or “Abi”. It came as Bloomberg reported Mr Wragg had also stood down as the chairman of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, another highly influential group in the Commons.” – Daily Telegraph
“Rishi Sunak has warned that allowing children to change their gender identity could have an impact on their wellbeing, before the publication of a landmark report into the issue. The prime minister is concerned that allowing children to use different pronouns or change their name could have psychological repercussions and is categorically “not a neutral act”. The Cass report into gender services for children, which will be published on Wednesday, will consider the “important role for schools” and the challenges they face. It is expected to say that children who want to change their sex should not be moved over to adult gender clinics when they are as young as 17.” – The Times
“Lord Cameron and Donald Trump met to discuss the war in Ukraine, Nato and the Middle East on Monday in the first summit between a senior government minister and the former president since he left office in 2021. The Foreign Secretary flew to Florida to meet Mr Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, in a move the Government said was “standard practice” for opposition leaders ahead of an election. The two men discussed Ukraine, the war in Gaza and the future of Nato, after Lord Cameron publicly distanced himself from the former president’s remarks on the alliance earlier this year.” – Daily Telegraph
“Most of the properties on a new housing estate in Rwanda that were earmarked for migrants deported from the UK have been sold to local buyers, the developer has said. “Sold” signs have sprung up in the neat terraces of the Bwiza Riverside estate while the UK government has wrestled with numerous setbacks delaying the deportation scheme’s implementation. Of the 163 affordable homes, 70 per cent are taken, the developer ADHI-Rwanda said. A manager at the estate in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, said they had gone to “private people who want to live in them”, leaving space for only a few dozen migrants if flights ever take off.” – The Times
“The Foreign Office is “somewhat elitist and rooted in the past” and should be modernised, with fewer colonial-era pictures on the walls of its Whitehall headquarters, a report by some of the UK’s most senior diplomats has recommended. Lord Sedwill, a former cabinet secretary, Tom Fletcher, a former No 10 foreign policy adviser, and Moazzam Malik, a former director-general at the Foreign Office, said that Britain needed a new approach to international affairs to protect its interests. The report suggested that the headquarters on Whitehall should be revamped, adding: “The physical surroundings also hint at the Foreign Office’s identity: somewhat elitist and rooted in the past.” – The Times
“Labour will mount an inheritance tax raid on wealthy ‘non-doms’ under plans to pay for its flagship commitments on schools and the NHS. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said that Labour will raise £2.6 billion a year over the course of the next parliament by closing “loopholes” in the government’s plans to abolish exemptions for people who are not domiciled in the UK for tax purposes. Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, used his budget last month to announce that he would abolish non-dom status as he sought to raise money for cuts to national insurance.” – The Times
“Sir Keir Starmer said it would be inappropriate for him to see Angela Rayner’s legal advice into her tax affairs as questions mount over money made from the sale of her council house. The Labour leader said that only his team had seen the legal advice on which Rayner, his deputy, has relied while batting away claims she underpaid up to £1,500 of capital gains tax when she sold her home in 2015. Richard Holden MP, the Conservative chairman, sent Starmer a list of questions to answer about Rayner’s tax affairs, telling him the row was “highly corrosive to your own reputation”. Rayner has failed to silence critics who suggest she may have lied over tax owed on her home on Vicarage Road, Stockport, when she sold it for a £48,500 profit.” – The Times
“Labour will take on “middle-class lefties” who are opposed to Labour’s plans to use the private sector to reduce NHS waiting lists, Wes Streeting has said. “We will also use spare capacity in the private sector to cut the waiting lists,” the shadow health secretary said. “Middle-class lefties cry ‘betrayal’. The real betrayal is the two-tier system that sees people like them treated faster — while working families like mine are left waiting for longer.” He said that he would ignore the “howls of outrage” in response to his comments and that he believed the present situation was a “disgrace”. – The Times
“Labour needs a clearer sense of its defining mission in government and must outline its purpose ahead of the election, a Starmerite think tank aiding the party’s preparations for power has said. A new report urges Sir Keir Starmer to opt for a single purpose to help explain its existing five missions, in the latest indication that some senior party figures believe the Labour leader must do more to communicate his plans for government ahead of the election. Last year Starmer announced five missions to be at the heart of the party’s election manifesto, featuring pledges on growth, clean energy, the NHS, crime and opportunity that he later said would be his government’s “north star” in power.” – The Times
“Reform UK published its candidates list early so that the media and other organisations could help vet them, the party’s leader, Richard Tice, has said. The party has vowed to stand 600 candidates, one against every Conservative, in the next general election but has been forced to drop 10 candidates who were reported to have made or liked racist, sexist and homophobic comments on social media. Tice, when asked if he was confident Reform had robust processes in place to screen MP hopefuls, said the vetting process was “like an MOT”. “It’s valid the day you do it, but if the following Friday night someone has a glass or two too much and puts something out on social media they permanently regret, in a sense it never stops,” he said.” – Guardian