|
Save on an All Access Subscription with your email-exclusive offer
|
Wes Streeting’s political manoeuvrings had damaged Sir Keir Starmer’s attempted reset, allies of the Prime Minister said |
 |
Tony Diver Political Editor |
Sir Keir Starmer faces the start of a leadership race today as Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, prepares to resign and plunge the Labour Party into chaos.
The Prime Minister, who has told friends he will fight any challenge, last night expected Streeting and Ed Miliband to run against him in a battle for No 10.
This morning, the picture has changed, because Angela Rayner could potentially re-enter the fray. The former deputy prime minister says she has been cleared by HMRC following an investigation into her tax affairs brought on by a Telegraph expose.
Rayner indicated that she could stand in a leadership contest, saying she wanted to “play my part”. However, sources said she was not set on being the Left’s candidate.
Cabinet ministers are furious that Streeting has upended the King’s Speech and threatened an internal Labour contest during a time of political and economic crisis for Starmer.
Ed Miliband has denied wanting the party leadership again but could be pushed forward as a candidate on the Labour soft-Left |
If Streeting secures the 81 supporters needed to trigger the leadership race in the coming days, the timetable will be set by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC). However, it is unlikely to be long enough for Andy Burnham to return to Westminster through winning a by-election.
Burnham’s allies are lobbying the NEC to run a longer contest if one is called, which could give him enough time to make his way into the Commons. Yesterday, however, an ally admitted that he would probably be “squeezed out of the race”.
Friends of Burnham suggested he could instead strike a surprise pact with Streeting in exchange for a Cabinet position.
It’ll be another day of high drama in Westminster.
Continue reading ➤
How Labour’s leadership rivals will come for your money ➤
Rayner ‘cleared by HMRC’, opening door for leadership challenge ➤ |
|
Allister Heath Starmer won power on a deceptively moderate manifesto but paved the way for a full Left-wing takeover Continue reading ➤
Michael Deacon Macron is right. We’ve lost our manners Continue reading ➤
Francesca Peacock Give me the fat Shakespeare scholar over the fitness freak Continue reading ➤ |
To make sure you don’t miss our newsletters when they land in your inbox, click here. |
Xi Jinping told Donald Trump he wanted the US and China to be ‘partners, not rivals’ |
Who exactly is Zack Polanski? As the Green Party’s success in nibbling away at Labour’s vote share grows, the answer to that question becomes cloudier and cloudier, writes Guy Kelly. He was born with the name “David”, we know that. He was a jobbing actor, that is also true. But beyond that, Polanski has claimed to have done a lot of things it later turns out he didn’t. Happily, we at The Telegraph found an autobiography pitch he wrote to publishers*, seeking to clear up his CV and life story once and for all. It makes for revelatory reading.
(*All right, fine, I imagined it…)
For subscribers only ➤ |
|
 |
One of Britain’s biggest debt collectors has been accused of chasing people for money they may not even owe. Whistleblowers at the firm contracted by major energy suppliers and the tax office describe a “toxic culture” where debt recovery was “gamified”. The Telegraph reveals the tactics behind an industry they argue is putting revenue above frightened customers’ wellbeing. Continue reading ➤ |
|
Dmitry Senin, a former colonel in the FSB, has been on the run from the Kremlin since 2017 |
For an hour, Dmitry Senin lay completely still inside the carcass of a dead cow. Wrapped in tin foil, a gas mask and a rubber suit to evade thermal-imaging cameras, the high-flying FSB officer was fleeing Vladimir Putin’s death squads. His ordeal began after he stumbled upon a £90m cash hoard in a luxury Moscow flat, triggering a ruthless Kremlin manhunt. Now hiding in the shadows of Europe, the fugitive is determined to clear his name. Continue reading ➤ |
|
|
Emma and Willa Codrington went through a lengthy process of overcoming Willa’s eating disorder together |
If I hadn’t read Willa and Emma Codrington’s book beforehand, I might have assumed I was sitting down to chat about family life in rural Wiltshire, writes Lorna Perry. Instead, what unfolded was a conversation about their harrowing seven-year battle with anorexia – an illness Emma described as “dealing with the devil, not your daughter”. My biggest takeaway? Anorexia isn’t about vanity. Willa’s experience reveals a darker reality: the belief that invisibility and self-destruction are the only escape from a crushing lack of self-worth. Continue reading ➤ |
|
|
The Type 31 warships will be able to carry 100 crew and achieve speeds of 30mph |
The Royal Navy’s new fleet has suffered a setback after Babcock International admitted to assembling two Type 31 warships in the wrong sequence. Although the main problem was with the first of the five ships, HMS Venturer, some of the same errors were repeated on HMS Active. Called “Lidl frigates” by critics, the out-of-sequence blunders have forced a complex £140m rework, Jonathan Leake reports. Continue reading ➤ |
|
 |
 |
The Princess of Wales could hardly have chosen a better location for her first official overseas visit in over three years. Aside from being an international centre for excellence for early childhood development – a cause close to her heart – Reggio Emilia is a destination rich in history, culture and gastronomy. Often overlooked in favour of more famous neighbours such as Parma, Modena and Bologna, this elegant city delivers an authentic experience of real-life Italy, as our local expert Sarah Lane reveals in her guide to getting the best out of a visit.
Stroll around Piazza Prampolini, sample some of the local Lambrusco, visit one of the nearby hillside castles or try the city’s best-loved speciality: erbazzone, a tasty pie filled with chard, spinach and Parmigiano Reggiano. Now’s the perfect time to go (not least because you’ll be following in the footsteps of a trailblazing member of our Royal family).
Continue reading ➤
Read more: Ciao Caterina! Princess charms children by speaking Italian ➤
|
Skipsea sits on soft clay, which is easily eroded by the North Sea. Deborah’s story takes us to the epicentre of the destruction |
|
“Twenty-five years ago, late at night, I went out onto the clifftop of our seaside bungalow at Skipsea in East Yorkshire.
“There was a stunning night sky, and a full moon reflecting across the sea. I wanted to take a photograph with my digital camera. I was distracted by what I saw, about four bungalows down from ours.
“There appeared to be some sort of a party in progress. Intensely bright lights shone out of the bungalow, and I watched in fascination as strange figures moved slowly back and forth around the garden in total silence, passing each other in formation.
“They were tall and slender with very long arms and necks. They all appeared to be carrying something, their arms held forwards. Almost like a religious offering. I pointed my camera towards the scene and pressed the shutter.
“The camera jammed and refused to work. Indeed, it never worked again. The following day I looked up at the same bungalow from the beach. There were no signs of life; it looked empty, as if no one was living there.”
- Deborah
Sarah Knapton, our Science Editor, answers:
The coastline at Skipsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire has a strange, tragic story of its own.
The town sits on soft boulder clay, which is easily eroded by the North Sea, and in stormy years, up to 30ft of the coastline are washed away, with homes and roads claimed by the sea.
Deborah’s story takes us to the epicentre of the destruction – the row of bungalows perched right at the edge of the erosion zone at Skipsea.
Many of the cottages have been abandoned as their gardens slip further over the cliffs each year, while the tide edges ever closer.
In fact, the tiny home where she saw the “strange figures with long arms and necks” has since washed away, taking its secrets into the water.
Lost abodes always carry an air of mystery and intrigue.
Continue reading ➤ |
Seas the day!Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
It’s that time of year when British people dare to turn their thoughts towards the beach. Mid-May thunder and pelting rain on the cards, you say? No matter. This isn’t the Maldives. Still, if you’re going to spend a day gamely getting soaked by the seaside, you might as well do it somewhere properly picturesque.
To that end, 10 Telegraph writers have offered suggestions – and readers have weighed in with their own.
Joe Harrison’s favourite spot, for instance, is: “Holkham Beach in North Norfolk. You see Gwyneth Paltrow walking across it at the end of Shakespeare in Love.”
Carl Martin, meanwhile, offers several tips for anyone venturing to the Gower peninsula: “Three Cliffs is not to be missed. Go for a cliff walk at Penard, then there’s Oxwich Bay, a wonderful stretch of beach at Horton and the smugglers’ village of Port Eynon. So many beaches for your buck, all relatively close.”
William Goodman took issue with the recommendation for Devon: “Personally, I prefer the other side of the Avon to Bigbury – Bantham. The wonderful thing about the British coastline is that you could include hundreds of other names – Marloes Sands in Pembrokeshire, Penbryn in Ceredigion, Walberswick in Suffolk...”
Neil Turner was puzzled to see: “No mention of Polzeath, the scene of millions of family holidays watching the sun set over Pentire. The Famous Five were fans, with lashings of ginger beer and many mysteries to solve.”
I grew up right at the bottom of Cornwall, in St Ives, so Polzeath felt like the far North to me. And anyway, the best beach is surely St Ives’s very own Porthmeor, at sunset – perhaps with a bit of character-building rain thrown in. Where have we missed? Send your responses here and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
The Gail’s Smoked Chicken Caesar Club sandwich |
A new report reveals your grab-and-go lunch may contain alarming sodium levels. The salt content in a Gail’s Smoked Chicken Caesar Club sandwich is equivalent to which of the following options?
|
|
Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was CYBERPUNK. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow.
Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here. |
|
Save on an All Access Subscription with your email-exclusive offer
|
|
