Gaza War 1) Cameron warns Israel that support is not unconditional
“Britain’s support for Israel is “not unconditional”, the foreign secretary has said, raising the pressure on Binyamin Netanyahu over the killing of seven aid workers. Writing for The Sunday Times six months after the Israel-Hamas war began, Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton issued a warning to Israel over its compliance with international humanitarian law. Six days after three Britons were among seven killed while working for World Central Kitchen, Cameron describes their deaths as “tragic and avoidable”. While Israel has described the killings as a “grave accident” and has sacked two senior military officials, the foreign secretary says there is “no doubt where the blame lies” and warns: “This must never happen again.” – Sunday Times
- Cameron warns of Gaza famine as UK sends Royal Navy ship to boost aid effort – Observer
- Tens of thousands of Israelis rally against Netanyahu – Observer
- Thousands protest against Israeli PM – Sunday Express
- Sunak vows Britain will stand by Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas – Mail on Sunday
Comment
- Britain has turned against Israel. It’s an unforgivable betrayal – Zoe Strimpel, Sunday Telegraph
- Like Ali with Foreman, Hamas has ‘rope-a-doped’ Israel – Matthew Syed, Sunday Times
>Today:
Gaza War 2) Cameron: We have humanitarian laws. Israel must abide by them
“The tragic and avoidable killing of the World Central Kitchen aid workers was a terrible reminder of the cost of the Gaza conflict. Citizens from five different countries lost their lives, three of them from the UK. On this occasion, there is no doubt where the blame lies: Israel’s inquiry has already enumerated the inadequate processes and the unacceptable conduct of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) personnel involved. This must never happen again. Sunday marks another grim milestone: six months since the brutal attacks by Hamas on October 7. We must not forget how this conflict started — with the Jewish people suffering the worst and most murderous pogrom since the Holocaust.” – Sunday Times
Gaza War 3) Johnson: It would be insane for Britain to ban arms sales to Israel
“If you want an example of the death wish of Western civilisation, I give you the current proposal from members of the British establishment that this country should ban arms sales to Israel. If you want evidence of government madness, it appears that Foreign Office lawyers are busily canvassing the idea — which has not, as far as I can tell, yet been rejected by the Foreign Secretary himself. He seems to have gone into a kind of purdah on the subject. More alarming still, we are told that an Israeli arms ban is the subject of an active row in Cabinet, with only a handful of ministers positively sticking up for Israel. The contagion has spread pretty wide, and very fast.” – Mail on Sunday
- Banning arms sales to Israel would be ‘insane’ – Observer
UK has failed to prepare itself for war, warn former defence ministers
“Britain has failed to prepare itself for war as a “whole nation endeavour”, former defence ministers have warned in a stark wake-up call to the Government. James Heappey, the former Armed Forces minister, has revealed that only Whitehall officials from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) bothered to take part in an exercise to find out how the country would be governed from the UK’s wartime bunker. Two weeks after leaving office, the Tory MP and former Army officer urged ministers to prepare for conflict. His comments were backed by Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, who said there were “too many people” in the Government “relying on hoping” that the current instability would “go away”. – Sunday Telegraph
Comment
- Britain is not ready for war – James Heappey, Sunday Telegraph
Second Tory MP claims to be victim of ‘honeytrap’ sexting scam
“A second Tory MP has come forward with claims of being targeted by a sexting scandal, prompting the Metropolitan Police to launch an inquiry into “unsolicited messages” circulating within Parliament. Dr Luke Evans, the MP for Bosworth, revealed on Friday that he had experienced “cyber flashing” and was the one who initially reported the matter to the authorities. He is now joined by fellow Conservative MP William Wragg, who admitted he too had been bombarded with unrequested explicit images and texts via WhatsApp. Mr Wragg disclosed that he was “manipulated” into sharing the personal contact details of fellow MPs with an individual he encountered on a gay dating app.” – Sunday Express
- Farage calls honeytrap scam MP’s actions ‘abominable’ – Sunday Telegraph
- The Westminster honeytrap plotter tried to catch me too – Sunday Times
Comment
- Honeytrap was too easy to set for our WhatsApp-addicted MPs – Editorial, Observer
‘The proof that Rayner has been lying’
“Angela Rayner’s claims to have not broken any rules over her property dealings have been blown apart by a Mail on Sunday investigation into her real ‘home’. Labour’s Deputy Leader has insisted for six weeks that for many years her ‘principal property’ was a house in Stockport, where she claimed to live separately from her husband and children for the first five years of her marriage. Now this newspaper has disproved her story by studying dozens of postings made by Ms Rayner on social media during that period showing her life with her children and cats at her husband’s address.” – Mail on Sunday
- Rayner’s ‘back home’ selfie deepens tax row – Sunday Times
- Labour deputy boasted of ‘domestic bliss’ at home she says she didn’t live in – Sunday Express
- ‘Very Gordon Brown’: Sunak is down and lashing out – Sunday Times
- Sunak being ‘propped up’ by 1922 committee ‘stooges’, claim MPs – Sunday Telegraph
- Almost half of Tory councillors think Government is too Left-wing – Sunday Telegraph
- Mordaunt is at risk, but there’s little love for Labour either – Observer
- Curtice warns of local election embarrassment for the Tories – Sunday Express
- Fury as ‘true-blue’ Tories claim they have been ‘banned’ from standing – Sunday Express
- Prospective candidate and activists for Galloway’s party accused of anti-Semitism – Sunday Telegraph
- Reform drops two of its election candidates and suspends a third – Mail on Sunday
Comment
- Labour must learn from the Rayner affair – it can’t avoid scrutiny – Editorial, Mail on Sunday
Government delays decision on incinerator opposed by Barclay
“The government has temporarily banned permits for new incinerator plants in England, including one the Environment Secretary Steve Barclay is fighting to stop being built in his constituency. The environment department will now consider how many plants are needed. It comes after a top government lawyer warned a plan being explored to pause permits was “unlawful”. This month Mr Barclay said the proposed incinerator in his Cambridgeshire seat was a “massive blot on the landscape”. – BBC News
Hannan: Starmer is too Left-wing to govern like Blair
“Let’s call it the Blair Dilemma. What do you do when you win a huge majority that is based, not on any enthusiasm for your party, but on a visceral dislike of the last lot? If the polls are right, Sir Keir Starmer will leave the Tories with fewer seats than Blair did in 1997 – largely because Reform is a worse nuisance to the Conservatives now than was the Referendum Party then. But, as poll after poll shows, there is no great love for Labour. Like Blair in 1997, Starmer is benefiting from the accumulated annoyances that inescapably build up when the same party has been in office for four terms.” – Sunday Telegraph
Brexit has made the UK a lower-status nation, says David Miliband
“The UK has lost influence since Brexit to become just one of many “middle powers” in the world, former foreign secretary David Miliband has said. Writing for the Observer, Miliband, now president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, said that in order to reverse the decline, the UK needed to enter new “structures and commitments” with the EU on foreign policy. “Our relations in Nato are strong, but with the EU they are almost non-existent. And this is all the more glaring since the war in Ukraine has brought the EU and Nato closer together,” he said.” – Observer
- Britain can’t afford to isolate itself from its allies – David Miliband, Observer
News in Brief
- Wragg must go – Ben Sixsmith, The Critic
- The Tories are resigned to an almighty defeat – Patrick O’Flynn, The Spectator
- Donaldson’s arrest has shaken unionism – Owen Polley, CapX
- Is this the end for Israel? – Howard Jacobsen, UnHerd
- Reality is chipping away at Putinism – Lawrence Freedman, New Statesman
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