Newslinks for Monday 29th December 2025

Kemi: I don’t want people who hate our country coming here

“Kemi Badenoch has called for the deportation of an Egyptian dissident, declaring: ‘I do not want people who hate Britain coming to our country.’ Writing in the Daily Mail, the Tory leader says Alaa Abd El-Fattah – whose arrival in the UK was celebrated by Keir Starmer – should be stripped of his dual British nationality and booted out. It follows the emergence of vile social media posts in which El-Fattah advocated the murder of Jews and boasted of his hatred for white people, saying: ‘I seriously, seriously, seriously hate white people, especially those of English or Dutch or German descent.’ El-Fattah has since issued a grovelling apology over the comments, admitting how ‘shocking and hurtful they are’. It comes just 48 hours after the Prime Minister welcomed El-Fattah’s arrival in the UK following years of detention in his native Egypt. In a gushing welcome, Sir Keir said he was ‘delighted’ that the dissident had landed in Britain, adding that his release had been ‘a top priority for my Government since we came to office’. Government sources suggested the PM was not aware of El-Fattah’s social media posts during the years in which he pressed for his release. Mrs Badenoch called on Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to pull out all the stops to have El-Fattah deported. ‘The comments he made on social media about violence against Jews, white people and the police among others are disgusting and abhorrent – they were also anti-British,’ she said. ‘British citizenship is more than a passport. Our country is our home, not a hotel.’” – Daily Mail

• ‘It’s disgusting & anti-British’ Kemi slams PM for welcoming Egyptian activist who posted about killing cops & Jews – The Sun
• Deport Egyptian activist over ‘death of Zionists’ social media posts, say Tories – The Standard
• Starmer under pressure to strip ‘extremist’ of British citizenship – Daily Telegraph
• Alaa Abd el-Fattah: My words were twisted out of meaning – The Times

Comment:

• Alaa Abd El-Fattah should be stripped of his British citizenship and deported after his antisemitic and racist tweets were exposed – Kemi Badenoch, Daily Mail
• Starmer must deport this vile Egyptian ‘extremist’ immediately – Robert Jenrick, Daily Telegraph
• After a year of political inanity, it’s time to gird ourselves for twelve months of reckonings as 2026 crashes in… – Stephen Daisley, Daily Mail
• The Tories are also to blame for the Egyptian ‘extremist’ fiasco – Stephen Pollard, Daily Telegraph

> Yesterday:

Month-long GP waits soar under Labour, as teachers ready to strike and Birmingham suffers almost 12 months of bin strikes

“Month-long waits to see a GP have hit a record high under Labour. More than seven million patients faced waits of four weeks or more between September and November, making it the worst autumn since records began in 2019. The figures come after weeks of intense pressure on the NHS, which has endured one of the worst flu seasons in history and strikes by resident doctors. Labour has pledged to make the health service a priority and “fix the front door to the NHS”, with a promise to end the “8am scramble” for GP appointments among a raft of reforms announced by Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary. GPs are likely to receive a fresh wave of demand on Monday following the Christmas and Boxing Day bank holidays, with health officials warning that an impending cold snap over the New Year will fuel an increase in demand for services. Stuart Andrew, the shadow health secretary, said: “Labour promised to get NHS waiting lists down, but instead people are waiting longer to access basic services – all while paying higher and higher taxes for the privilege.”” – Daily Telegraph

• Month-long waits to see a GP rise by 250,000 under Labour – The Times
• Teachers will strike next year if they don’t get a proper pay rise, union bosses warn – The Independent
• Fury as mountains of Christmas rubbish pile up on the streets of Birmingham after nearly 12 months of bin strikes – The Sun
• Dumped Christmas trees and tinsel litter the streets of Birmingham amid year of bin strike misery – Daily Mail

Comment:

• Keir Starmer is finished – but what he’s about to do next should terrify us all – Giles Sheldrick, Daily Express
• Market forces, not militancy, are pushing teachers towards strikes – The Independent View

Labour MPs banned from pubs and now hair salons as Reeves’ budget hits them – and now set to hurt churches

“Hairdressers are following in the footsteps of publicans by banning Labour MPs over what they are calling the Government’s business rates betrayal. More than 1,000 pubs have already barred the party’s parliamentarians from their premises in a growing backlash against Rachel Reeves’ Budget. Now barbers and salons are doing the same. Firms are fuming after the Chancellor promised to pay for a reduction in bills for smaller firms by hiking taxes on larger properties to ‘level the playing field between the high street and online giants’. But small businesses will only receive a 5p discount on the ‘multiplier’ used to calculate a final bill – despite pleading for a 20p reduction. And this discount will be wiped out by increases to businesses’ rateable values. Collette Osborne, who runs two Hairven salons in Nottinghamshire, has put up a ‘No Labour MPs’ sign because she feels businesses like hers are ‘desperate and hanging on by a thread’. Ms Osborne, whose local Labour MPs are Juliet Campbell and Michael Payne, is facing an increase in her business rates bill of more than £10,000 a year. She said: ‘[Ms Reeves] promised she would act to protect small businesses and high street salons. I am furious that the Government now seem to have their fingers in their ears. There is no spare capacity to absorb business rate increases on top of rising wages, utilities, finance costs and Covid debt repayments. So no Labour MPs are allowed.’” – Daily Mail

• Celebrity hairdresser joins growing revolt that is banning Labour MPs from services across the country – The Sun
• ‘No other way!’ Business owner who BANNED Labour MPs from her salon slams Rachel Reeves in damning tirade – GBNews
• Every household bill that increased in 2025 under Rachel Reeves – Daily Express
• Rachel Reeves’ ‘unprecedented’ tax grab on airports means Brits face airfare hikes – Daily Express
• Churches ‘will crumble into disrepair’ if Rachel Reeves introduces ‘stealth tax’ on historic buildings, campaigners warn – Daily Mail

Comment:

• Why we shouldn’t rule out more tax rises in the New Year – Roger Bootle, Daily Telegraph
• Liberalism is nothing without the church – Renie Anjeh, The Times
• We must unite against blundering Starmer’s latest attempt to stop decent people doing what they want – Stephen Glover, Daily Mail

> Today:

News in brief:

• Hitting the trail – Simon Hart, The Critic
• We need to talk about Islam – Jonathan Sacerdoti, The Spectator
• Why should Britain rescue an enemy? – Sohbrab Ahmari, UnHerd
• Britain still needs welfare reform – Louise Haigh, The New Statesman