Normal view

Dig deep! Reform frontbench promotes JCBs after £200,000 donation from firm

2 May 2026 at 16:00

Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson and Robert Jenrick, among others, have sung the praises of the JCB PotHole Pro

Reform UK’s leading figures have repeatedly promoted a new pothole-fixing machine by the construction company JCB, while the party received £200,000 from the British digger maker, the Guardian can reveal.

Several Reform politicians including Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson, Robert Jenrick, Zia Yusuf and Richard Tice have sung the praises of the JCB PotHole Pro machine.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Guy Bell/Alamy

© Photograph: Guy Bell/Alamy

© Photograph: Guy Bell/Alamy

The Tories: How to bring down the oldest political party on the planet

2 May 2026 at 04:00

Perhaps not many Europeans have ever envied Britain’s weather, but admiration for its institutions has been unwavering. The explanation is simple: over the past two centuries, Germany has lived under a monarchy, a republic, the Reich, a partition into two opposing regimes, and a federal model. France and Spain have been no less turbulent, and Italy, for a long stretch, did not even exist.

Seguir leyendo

© Carl Court ( Getty Images)

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform, poses with party candidates in Chigwell, on April 10.

Two Green Party candidates arrested over alleged antisemitic online posts – UK politics live

30 April 2026 at 15:01

The candidates standing in the upcoming local elections have been arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred

On BBC Radio Merseyside the presenter, Tony Snell, put it to Kemi Badenoch that Merseyside was a lost cause for the Tories. He said that Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, had been on the programme yesterday. He said that Farage argued that Scousers were down to earth and the Tories they were seen as “aloof and remote”.

Badenoch said no one had ever described her as aloof and remote. When it was put to her that Farage was talking about the party, she said the Tories were the party of working people. Labour were only interested in welfare, she claimed.

Nigel Farage can say as much as he wants that he’s the one who’s down to earth. Someone just gave him a £5m gift to the other day. I don’t know what’s down to earth about that.

Who gets £5m is a gift. If I got £50,000 as a gift, I think people would raise their eyebrows. That’s a hundred times that. And he forgot to register it. He forgot that he’d been given £5m. I don’t think that’s down to earth. So I’m not going to be taking any lessons from Nigel Farage.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: David McHugh/Brighton Pictures

© Photograph: David McHugh/Brighton Pictures

© Photograph: David McHugh/Brighton Pictures

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Revealed: Nigel Farage was given undisclosed £5m by crypto billionaire in 2024 Anna Isaac
    Exclusive: Reform leader changed his mind about standing as MP after gift from Thai-based crypto tycoon Christopher HarborneNigel Farage was given £5m by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before announcing he would stand in the 2024 British general election, the Guardian can reveal.Farage had already stated he did not intend to stand as a prospective MP but U-turned within weeks of receiving the personal gift from the Thai-based businessman. Continue reading...
     

Revealed: Nigel Farage was given undisclosed £5m by crypto billionaire in 2024

29 April 2026 at 10:19

Exclusive: Reform leader changed his mind about standing as MP after gift from Thai-based crypto tycoon Christopher Harborne

Nigel Farage was given £5m by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before announcing he would stand in the 2024 British general election, the Guardian can reveal.

Farage had already stated he did not intend to stand as a prospective MP but U-turned within weeks of receiving the personal gift from the Thai-based businessman.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Farage reported to parliament’s standards watchdog over undeclared £5m donation – UK politics live

29 April 2026 at 15:01

Farage was given £5m by the Thai-based billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before announcing he would stand in the 2024 general election

Here is the running order for PMQs.

Nigel Farage was given £5m by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before announcing he would stand in the 2024 British general election, Anna Isaac reports.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

© Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

© Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

‘Toxic’ views of Reform UK candidates raise questions about party’s vetting

23 April 2026 at 19:02

Hope Not Hate campaign identifies election hopefuls calling for a ‘white Britain’ and complaining of ‘kowtowing to the black community’

A Reform UK candidate who called for a “white Britain” and said Keir Starmer should be shot is among a number of contenders fuelling doubts about the party’s claim to have tightened up its vetting.

The past comments of Linda McFarlane and other political hopefuls have been unearthed ahead of the 7 May elections, including one who complained about “constant kowtowing to the black community” and others who endorsed the far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Greens ‘have welcomed’ people expelled by Labour for antisemitism, Steve Reed claims

20 April 2026 at 13:34

Housing secretary also targets Reform as May elections loom, saying Farage more interested in Trump than own constituency

The Greens have welcomed activists kicked out of Labour for antisemitic views and people should be “very careful” who they vote for next month, one of Keir Starmer’s most senior ministers has said in a notable stepping-up of attacks on Zack Polanski’s party.

In a double-pronged attack on the two parties expected to make big gains in the elections on 7 May, Steve Reed also accused Nigel Farage of being more interested in talking to Donald Trump then representing his Clacton constituency.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

© Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

© Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

Starmer says it ‘beggars belief’ he wasn’t told about Mandelson vetting failure as he faces Commons – UK politics live

20 April 2026 at 15:29

MPs jeer as PM says it is ‘incredible’ he was not told full story and says he was wrong to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador

At his press conference Nigel Farage was asked about reports saying that Keir Starmer knew about the security concerns about Peter Mandelson that led to him failing his security vetting interview. That was a reference to the Telegraph splash, which says:

Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the UKSV [UK Security Vetting] findings largely restated security risks that had already been drawn to Sir Keir’s attention.

One senior source with knowledge of the process said: “The reality is that Starmer had already been warned about the major risks and he had waved them away.”

Sources have told The Independent that MI6 failed to clear the Labour peer largely because of concerns over his business links to China.

However, there were also worries that his past links to the disgraced financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “would compromise him”.

It’s impossible for the prime minister to say the warning lights weren’t flashing.

And if you were prime minister and there were news reports last September that your ambassadorial choice had failed vetting, you would have thought perhaps he might have had some curiosity to try to find out whether this had really happened or not. I just find the whole thing totally incredible. Incredible. There is no way the prime minister couldn’t have known.

The Labour backbenchers are not yet of a mood to get rid of their prime minister, although after 7 May they just might be.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA

© Photograph: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA

© Photograph: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA

Two more Reform local election candidates accused of offensive posts

18 April 2026 at 16:00

Labour calls on Nigel Farage to sack candidates and says his party’s checks ‘clearly not fit for purpose’

Reform UK’s checks on candidates are “clearly not fit for purpose”, Labour has said after two more candidates in May’s local elections were accused of making offensive or potentially racist social media posts.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Restore Britain, the party set up by the MP Rupert Lowe after he left Reform, appeared to have accepted a donation from someone who has called publicly on social media for “another Hitler” to come to power.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Shutterstock

© Photograph: Shutterstock

© Photograph: Shutterstock

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Orbán’s defeat threatens to halt Hungarian support of populist right Ben Quinn Political correspondent
    Individuals such as Matt Goodwin and Lord Frost benefited from largesse of self-styled ‘illiberal democracy’UK politics live – latest updatesThe last 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s rule have been kind to a number of British political figures – from the Tory peer David Frost to Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin and James Orr.All benefited from largesse extended by the self-styled “illiberal democracy” established by the Hungarian leader’s ruling Fidesz party, which took a particular liking for those on the ha
     

Orbán’s defeat threatens to halt Hungarian support of populist right

16 April 2026 at 17:52

Individuals such as Matt Goodwin and Lord Frost benefited from largesse of self-styled ‘illiberal democracy’

The last 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s rule have been kind to a number of British political figures – from the Tory peer David Frost to Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin and James Orr.

All benefited from largesse extended by the self-styled “illiberal democracy” established by the Hungarian leader’s ruling Fidesz party, which took a particular liking for those on the harder right of British conservatism.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Bernadett Szabó/Reuters

© Photograph: Bernadett Szabó/Reuters

© Photograph: Bernadett Szabó/Reuters

No 10 claims Starmer did not know Mandelson failed security vetting until this week – as it happened

The prime minister was not aware that the former US ambassador had failed the vetting process, according to Downing Street

Swinney says this is a manifesto for the whole of Scotland.

He confirms that the SNP would argue for the Scottish power to have more control over energy policy (still largely reserved to Westminter). He says:

The problem is not that we do not have the energy. The problem is that Westminster has the power. This election is our opportunity to take those powers and put them into Scotland’s hands.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

❌