Campaigners say the appointments system need to be overhauled amid criticism about alleged Conservative cronyism Britain’s system of public appointments needs to be overhauled by an incoming government over alleged Tory cronyism that has seen dozens of former MPs, party supporters and donors given key public roles, campaigners have urged. The public...

Keir Starmer launched his campaign bus on Saturday with his senior shadow cabinet members, but Tory ‘big beasts’ appeared to have deserted the PM in RedcarWe may be in an era when elections are fought with TikTok memes and Instagram reels, but one thing has stubbornly refused to give way in the digital age: the good old battle of the campaign buses....

Arrival of Israeli troops in the southern border town has choked aid supplies, as hunger deepens in southern GazaFayiz Abu Ataya was born into war and knew nothing else. Over his first and only spring, in a town stalked by hunger, he wasted away to a shadow of a child, skin stretched painfully over jutting bones.In seven months of life, he had little...

Follow the day’s news liveGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe Coalition has questioned why the government is using drones to monitor people released from immigration detention.Cabinet minister Murray Watt confirmed on Insiders earlier that “drones are being used as part of this operation, but more in the sense...

Even her toughest opponents admit she’s played it cleverly. Yet the long-term aims of Italy’s prime minister remain unclearWhen she became Italy’s prime minister in October 2022, Giorgia Meloni looked like Brussels’ worst nightmare. Until then, the fiery leader of the Brothers of Italy – a party with neofascist roots – had seemed anything but EU-friendly.For...

Dong Jun rails at length about democratic island’s ‘separatists’ during Shangri-la Dialogue defence conference in SingaporePeaceful “reunification” with Taiwan remains China’s goal but the prospect is being eroded by Taiwanese “separatists” and external forces, the Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, has said.Taiwan – which is democratically governed,...