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Danielle Sheridan Defence Editor |
It was Andy Burnham’s first Prime Minister’s Questions, and one major issue he failed to reassure the nation about was his commitment to the defence of the realm.
When attacked by one of his own – Tan Dhesi, the Labour chairman of the Commons defence select committee – who argued that relying on “vibes alone” wasn’t enough to stop Russia beating down our door, Burnham calmly insisted his recent trip to Ukraine was proof enough that he was, in fact, committed to protecting Britain.
Is it? Is going to meet Volodymyr Zelensky enough to prove that our troops will have the much-needed £10bn rise in defence spending to fight the next war and keep us safe? If so, how will he do this? Where are the facts, the figures?
Today, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, will set out how she would raise that £10bn. It’s the first time we will hear specifics on how to hit the 3 per cent target of GDP for defence spending by 2030.
It is by slashing the welfare bill, generating £3.1bn by reimposing the two-child benefit cap and saving £1bn by ending VAT exemptions for Motability vehicles, among other policies.
What will Burnham’s version be? Will he be pushed to cut, rather than spend? So far, the Prime Minister has refused to rule out increasing borrowing and raising taxes, despite turmoil in financial markets and borrowing costs jumping to their highest level in decades.
Badenoch told the Commons: “The markets are clearly worried that we now have a spendthrift Prime Minister who wants to say yes to everyone but cannot tell us where the money is coming from.”
Burnham refused to bite, saying he wouldn’t write the Budget at the Dispatch Box. That’s all well and good, but how will he pay for his promises?
This report is available only to subscribers.
Continue reading ➤
City warns PM of borrowing shock unless he slashes spending ➤
This bond market crisis means Labour may need to cut, not spend ➤ |
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Allister Heath The bond market crisis is the start of a new economic era and the PM is precisely the wrong person to lead us through it Continue reading ➤
Tim Stanley PMQs confirms it: The eyes are pretty but there’s little behind them Continue reading ➤
Lara Brown Harriet Harman has just revealed why Labour women don’t reach the top Continue reading ➤ |
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• Donald Trump said he was “glad” that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had left the US and criticised their treatment of the Royal family. The US president joked that he would not have allowed the couple to return to Britain if he were the King, accusing the Duchess of being “terribly disrespectful” to Elizabeth II.
• Reform UK will cut £100bn in public spending in its first 100 days if it wins the next election. Robert Jenrick, its Treasury chief, spoke to Gordon Rayner, our Associate Editor, on the eve of the party’s annual conference.
• Diane Abbott has described the Russian threat to Britain as a “Nato fiction”. The Labour MP claimed the danger posed by Moscow had been made up to justify the “complete capitulation to Trump’s demands for more military spending”.
• Gene-edited strawberries and tomatoes will soon be stocked on Britain’s shelves. The tomatoes, created by the John Innes Centre in Norfolk, contain as much vitamin D as two eggs.
• The King and Emmanuel Macron have viewed the Bayeux Tapestry together at the British Museum. The pair admired the historic embroidery along with Andy Burnham.
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(Credit: Adrian Dennis/Reuters) |
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Winston Churchill in the military uniform of a hussar in 1895 |
Winston Churchill first tasted combat working as a war correspondent for The Telegraph, writes Craig Simpson, our Arts Correspondent. He saw some of his best friends fall among the green peaks of Malakand on the north-west frontier, a mountainous region in what is now Pakistan. The brutality of this war, and its cost in lives, were lessons the future prime minister would never forget. Now, 130 years later, The Telegraph has returned to Malakand, where there is a fight to ensure his fallen comrades are never forgotten. Continue reading ➤ |
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The Nini West oil platform does not look like the start of a multibillion-pound new industry – or the start of an industry that could help save the planet from global warming. The red-painted, rusting platform sticks out of the North Sea about 150 miles west of the Danish coast, where it has been producing fossil fuels for over two decades. As Jonathan Leake reports, instead of pumping oil, Nini West is about to start pumping CO2 back into the Earth’s crust for permanent storage. Continue reading ➤ |
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Supporters at an AfD rally in Jerichow | Credit: Paul Grover |
Germans will cast their vote this Sunday in what could be the most momentous election in decades. For the first time, writes James Rothwell, our Berlin Correspondent, it is conceivable that the hard-Right populist AfD party will win enough support to form its first-ever regional government. No radical Right-wing party has achieved that goal in Germany since 1945. The AfD believes that harnessing pro-Russian sentiment will secure victory. I visited the former Communist East German towns of Jerichow, Halle, Dessau-Rosslau and Querfurt to find out why. For subscribers only ➤ |
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Before you scroll...Dominic Lawson has rejoined The Telegraph as a twice-weekly columnist, writing primarily about politics and current affairs. You’ll also find him on The Daily T, our flagship podcast. I hope you are as excited as we are to welcome him back. His column will be published tomorrow, and as it will be the best of the bunch, you’ll find it in the next edition of this newsletter. |
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You might think you’re doing your children a favour by leaving them an inheritance. In most cases, they’ll be grateful, but in some cases, even the most well-meaning act of generosity can backfire. Those left with unsellable properties, high-maintenance fine art and niche family heirlooms might end up wishing you hadn’t bothered. Continue reading ➤ Here is another article that may be of interest this morning:
- The schools may just be going back, but if you want to bag a brilliant half-term holiday, there’s no time like the present. Here are the best to book now.
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‘There would be no escape’
Few can imagine the agony of motor neurone disease (MND), a condition that causes muscles to waste away and ultimately leads to paralysis and respiratory failure. One in 300 of us will develop it, and there is currently no cure.
For the past 18 months, one courageous Telegraph reader, whose face we never see, has been living with MND and, with the help of her family, has recorded her battle against a condition which, as she writes so movingly, “does tend to make one feel that one is disappearing from the world”.
Our anonymous author writes:
Still waiting for the neurologist, I was visited at home by an “MND and neuropalliative specialist therapist”. I’ll call her Lucy. She was based in a hospice, which made me anxious – did I need that sort of support yet? She became a very welcome visitor, however, advising on how to keep some comfort and dignity.
Because by then – late spring this year – I could not eat or drink without choking, and there was too much saliva. I was beginning to disgust myself. My husband, who has tirelessly undertaken most of the cooking, told her about his menus comprising lots of fresh fish, cheese, kefir, grapes, eggs and chocolate. She was very positive, emphasising how important it was not to lose too much weight (already a lost cause).
She finally got hold of my results. Days later, a second neurologist fitted us in to relay them. I had little hope: my left leg no longer did what I asked of it, and my speech kept declining. So I was not surprised by the report: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, the form of MND that leads quickly to wasting and paralysis.
There would be no escape.
It is hard to identify quite how we reacted to this unwelcome news. My husband and I had long worked together, almost always amicably. We shared many interests and had always mutually enjoyed our visits to exhibitions, great churches, imaginatively designed landscapes and musical events.
Approaching retirement, we had moved to a part of the country we did not know, to a small Arts and Crafts house with a long-neglected garden. This was to be our last big project, and we had spent a decade making it ours.
In June, we were opening the garden for charity, three times. Of course, we had moments of weeping together at what we were going to lose. There was too much work to dwell for long. We had dug beds, planted dozens of trees, crafted topiary, built paths and steps; none of it designed for easy maintenance.
I could still climb the 10ft tripod ladder to clip the tail feathers of my topiary birds. I could still work long hours, so long as a chair stood nearby to collapse into.
There were times I did not think I would make it back to the house. There were also times when, down among my plants, I talked quietly to the blackbirds and robins at my feet. They always responded, not knowing I was making no sense.
Next week: Finding my voice
If you, a family member or a friend have had an experience with MND, share your story here. |
Wedding bellsWhile Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, is away, Joe Burgis is on hand to share an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Joe writes...
Miraculously, my wedding day was disaster-free, and readers’ accounts of their special days made me even more grateful for my good luck.
Plenty went wrong for Gail Young: “On my wedding day, my father backed the car over the box of bouquets I had left in the garage to keep cool. I was married clutching dog daisies from next door’s garden. The wedding photos were taken in the vicar’s garden, and his goat escaped and ate the remaining flowers.
“Unknown to me, my bridesmaid walked up the aisle held together by safety pins, having ripped the bottom of her Laura Ashley dress, and the vicar kept calling my husband-to-be Keith, his father’s name. We have been happily married for 48 years.”
For Heather Dulson, misfortune did not augur ill: “I’m not sure that my husband thought getting a parking ticket on our wedding day was a happy omen. Nevertheless, we just celebrated our 53rd anniversary, so perhaps the stars were aligned.”
Mike Rowe enjoyed a behind-the-scenes view of marital mishaps: “The vestry in our church is at the base of the tower, where I used to ring the bells for weddings. When the happy couple wished to sign the register in the vestry, my only escape was to climb the ladder and hide in the bell chamber above.
“From there, I could observe proceedings when they retired briefly from the formalities of the service. On one occasion, the bride said to the groom, ‘Where’s the suit I bought you?’ She received the sheepish reply: ‘I couldn’t find it.’”
Leslie Young got through the wedding, but disaster struck soon afterwards: “Two days later, I lost my wedding ring. It was never found, but I have just about been forgiven.” That’s all from me, folks. I’ll be back tomorrow to bring you the best Telegraph talking points. In the meantime, you can contact me here.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
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1928 | Alexander Fleming, the Scottish physician, discovers a mould later identified as penicillin
1939 | Britain declares war on Germany after the invasion of Poland (see our front page from the following day)
1964 | Robert F. Kennedy resigns his post as US attorney general
2017 | Aretha Franklin performs her final full concert
Birthdays: Gareth Southgate (56), Rachel Johnson (61), Charlie Sheen (61)
Also, in today’s news, a man has survived after being struck by lightning in the US. In which state did this happen?
1. Florida
2. New Jersey
3. New York
4. Kansas
Click one of the options to reveal the answer... |
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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 FREELANCE. 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 at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. |
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