Newslinks for Sunday 4th May 2025

Reform 1) Badenoch ‘will not chase Farage to the Right’

“Kemi Badenoch will not “chase Reform to the right” despite suffering a historic defeat in Thursday’s local elections, Conservative strategists have decided. The Conservative leader will resist calls to match Nigel Farage’s policies for fear of political collapse in the style of right-wing parties in Australia and Canada. The decision comes amid rising disquiet from Mrs Badenoch’s own MPs, who said she needed to set out a radical change of course within weeks to save her job. On Saturday night, some were calling for a shadow cabinet reshuffle, with one senior MP going further still and suggesting that she should stand down for the good of the party.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Tories and Labour search for ways to deal with reform – FT

Comment

• Banning populists only fuels anger against elites – Jake Wallis Simons, Sunday Telegraph
• Reform can’t fix Britain: only 21st century Thatcherism can do that – Annabel Denham, Sunday Telegraph
• Both Reform and the Tories have work to do – Editorial, Sunday Telegraph
• The Conservative Pary is losing a fight to the death – Robert Shrimsley, FT
• In Australia and Canada, Trump destroyed the Right: in Britain, it must unite to avoid that fate – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph
• Australia’s shock election result should have Starmer in tears – Matthew Lesh, Sunday Telegraph
• The Conservative Party is no dodo. We can come back from the fire that has devoured us – Francis Maude, Sunday Telegraph
• Labour alienated its core and failed to attract Reform voters. Now will Starmer change tack? – John McDonnell, Observer

>Today:

Reform 2) Frost: What the Reformquake means: take back control and make Brexit work

“It’s been another extraordinary political week. The light blue wave has come way further up the beach than most Tories expected. It has washed away many seemingly solid Conservative strongpoints far from the water’s edge. The stunning Runcorn result is almost the least important thing from Friday. Across Britain, many very good Conservatives, decent people who have worked hard for conservative values, have been unceremoniously booted out. In Lincolnshire, just 14 Tory councillors remain. In my own home county of Derbyshire, a bellwether Middle England area, there are 12. And in Kent, just five are left from the 62 in office on Thursday morning.” – Sunday Telegraph

Reform 3) Farage: Tories are in retreat as Reform marches on… nothing will be the same again

“Nothing will ever be the same again. Two-party politics at both local and national level is over. The system that dominated in this country for a century died on Thursday. It will never return. While the Liberal Democrats and the Greens made some advances, further fracturing the left at the expense of the Labour Party, it is the implosion of the Conservative Party in the shires that will have the biggest long-term consequences on British politics. This is a direct result of the surge in support for Reform UK.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Reform’s councils begin war on net zero projects in countryside – Sunday Telegraph
• Reform: Young people need a moral re-education – Sunday Times
• How Farage keeps bouncing back – FT
• Labour rebels tell PM: change or die – Mail on Sunday
• Downing Street ramps up efforts to stop housing asylum seekers in hotels after Reform surge in local elections – Mail on Sunday
• Starmer must scrap the winter fuel cuts and slash immigration to take on Farage, party big guns warns – Sun on Sunday
• Labour civil war erupts – Sunday Express
• And Labour panicking over migration as Reform surges – Sunday Express
• Starmer told to ‘change or die’ – Sunday Express

Comment

>Yesterday:

Reform 4) Reform’s new MP: ‘We will stand up to sexual violence from illegal migrants’

“Reform UK’s first female MP has vowed to “stand up” against sexual violence committed by illegal migrants. Sarah Pochin, the newly elected MP for Runcorn and Helsby, said that she was concerned by the attitudes of those in migrant hotels which she said was “anti-Western women”. She vowed to “stand up for women” on the issue, which she said had been brought up to her by numerous female voters during her successful by-election campaign. Mrs Pochin and Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the newly appointed Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, became the first senior female politicians to be elected for Reform.” – Sunday Telegraph

Labour minister dismisses rape gangs as ‘dog whistle’ issue

“Lucy Powell, the Labour Cabinet minister, is facing calls to resign after dismissing the grooming gangs scandal as a “dog whistle” issue. Ms Powell, the Leader of the House of Commons, accused a political commentator of blowing a “little trumpet” when he brought up a Channel 4 documentary on the subject. Her remarks were branded as a “disgusting betrayal of the victims”, who called for her to retract her statements or step down. Tim Montgomerie, the founder of ConservativeHome, said in a discussion about diversity spending by councils on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions: “I don’t know if you saw the documentary on Channel 4 about rape gangs.” The Reform supporter was then interrupted by Ms Powell, the MP for Manchester Central, who said: “Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Yeah, OK, let’s get that dog whistle out.” – Sunday Telegraph

Britain is ‘compliant servant of communist China’, says Trump’s tariff chief

“Donald Trump’s tariffs tsar has accused Britain of being a “compliant servant of communist China” at risk of having its “blood sucked” dry by Beijing. Peter Navarro, the president’s trade adviser, said the Government must resist “string-laden gifts” from Beijing and avoid becoming a “dumping ground” for goods that China can no longer sell to the US. In an intervention set to complicate trade negotiations between Britain and America, he told The Telegraph: “If the Chinese vampire can’t suck the American blood, it’s going to suck the UK blood and the EU blood. “This is a very dangerous time for the world economies with respect to exposure to China.” – Sunday Telegraph

Miliband sacks Archer from net zero adviser role

“Dame Mary Archer has been sacked from the board of Ed Miliband’s net zero department in what has been described as an attempt to “suppress all opposition” to his policies. On Friday, Dame Mary, the wife of Tory peer and novelist Lord Archer, was summoned to the department to be told she was being removed from her position. Allies of the 80-year-old say her removal came out of the blue, and have pointed out that it happened just days after Sir Tony Blair said the Government’s net zero policy was doomed to failure.” – Sunday Telegraph

Other political news

• Edwards urged to hand back wages by BBC chairman – Sunday Times
• Shadow Chancellor says Reeves’ pension reform smacks of ‘desperation’ – FT
• Labour targets international students claiming asylum after election losses to Reform – Observer
• Lib Dems laugh off ‘party of posh Pimm’s drinkers’ jibe – Mail on Sunday
• Australian PM shrugs off questions about Trump as other world leaders congratulate him – Observer

News in Brief