Harry bombshell 'backfires' and Reform 're-education'

Nigel Farage speaks to a crrowd of supportersImage source, EPA
  • Published

The Sunday Times reports, external that Reform UK will announce plans to - in the party's words - "remoralise" young people, declare a national emergency on illegal immigration, and erect statues of prominent British historical figures across the UK - should it win the next general election. Reform claims that young people are being taught quite deliberately that they should hate their country. The paper says the party wants to reverse this by clamping down on what it believes is "woke" ideology in schools.

In response to the local election results, the paper also says that Tory donors and MPs have been plotting against Kemi Badenoch this weekend and that she'll begin a policy review to pave the way for Tories to back withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights. That's been described by one insider as a "break-the-glass panic moment".

The Sunday Times also suggests, external the prime minister could use a reshuffle next month to fire the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy and move the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to a less prominent role.

The founder of Blue Labour - which aims to promote culturally conservative values within the party - Lord Glasman - gives details of a plan in the Sun, external which he thinks will see off the challenge of Nigel Farage. He's called for the armed forces to double in size, an industrial strategy to support defence, for the UK to leave the European Court of Human Rights and for an inquiry into grooming gangs. He says the inquiry should have powers of arrest and lead to televised trials.

A poll in the Observer, external suggests Reform is now the party supported by the greatest number of Generation X women. In the paper the former leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas, calls for the abolishment of the first past the post voting system. She says "any party could seize power with a third of the vote," and asks readers whether they're "comfortable" with this opening the way for Farage to become prime minister.

The Daily Express quotes a former Conservative cabinet minister , externalsaying that the election results have "woken up a lot of donors and supporters who didn't think they needed to get involved" with the Tories. He claims many people regard Farage as "amusing", but "they don't want him in charge of their money or their lives".

A woman who took part in demonstrations against plans for a new Chinese embassy in London has told the Mail on Sunday, external that members of her family in Hong Kong were subsequently arrested in dawn raids. Carmen Lau, a former politician who fled Hong Kong five years ago, tells the paper she believes the mega-embassy will become a hub for repression in the heart of London.

In the Sunday Mirror the prime minister says, external this week's VE Day celebrations are an opportunity to remember what he calls the "lion-hearted generation that defeated Nazi evil". The paper details some of the events which are planned - including a fly-past over Buckingham Palace involving the Red Arrows and a Lancaster Bomber, and a tea party for veterans hosted by the King and Queen.

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