Newslinks for Thursday 29th January 2026

Trump warns Iran to “make a deal” or face military action

“Donald Trump last night issued a chilling threat to Iran: make a nuclear deal or face an overwhelming military onslaught. As the US President’s ‘beautiful armada’ of warships moved into position, the Tehran regime said any attack would be ‘an act of war’. Facing unprecedented domestic pressures, President Trump looked to make good his promise to protect Iranians from the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei following a brutal crackdown on protests against the regime thought to have left tens of thousands dead. Having stepped back from the brink a fortnight ago when Tehran dropped threats to hang protesters, the President vowed the United States was ready to fulfil its mission in the region ‘with speed and violence, if necessary’. He warned that ‘time is running out’ for the mullahs to negotiate a deal on their nuclear programme, which was the subject of US attacks last year.” – Daily Mail

• Trump’s armada must give Iranians the tools to finish the job and topple the mullahs themselves – David Patrikarakos, Daily Mail
• Now is the time for war with Iran – Con Coughlin, Daily Telegraph

>Today: Greg Hands on Comment: If Trump is so obviously bad news where are the ‘rent-o-mob’ of the European left?

Government shelves welfare reform

“Sir Keir Starmer has vetoed plans for a fresh attempt to reform Britain’s welfare system as Downing Street seeks to avoid another confrontation with Labour MPs. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has been told it will not be given time in parliament to introduce any new changes to the benefits system until next year at the earliest. The decision makes it less likely that any controversial reforms to the welfare system will be implemented before the next general election due in 2029. Two major reviews into the welfare state which ministers hope will eventually bring down the cost of the benefits bill are due to report this year but both are expected to require legislation to implement.” – The Times

Badenoch rebukes Reform defectors for “tantrum politics”

“Kemi Badenoch has said she ‘won’t be blown off course’ from holding Labour to account, as she took aim at recent Tory defectors to Reform and the Conservatives trying to drag the party back to the centre. In a speech on Wednesday, Mrs Badenoch likened the recent wave of high-profile defectors to Reform to children ‘having tantrums’ and asserted the Conservatives as ‘the only party of the right’…In a stinging rebuke to her former colleagues, Mrs Badenoch said on Wednesday: ‘To those who are defecting who don’t actually disagree with our policies, I will say: ‘I’m sorry you didn’t win the leadership contest. I’m sorry you didn’t get a job in the shadow cabinet. I’m sorry you didn’t get into the Lords, but you are not offering a plan to fix this country. This is a tantrum dressed up as politics.’ She added: ‘There are people in politics who don’t really know what they are doing or why. They just want to be in the world. They want to be on top. They want access, attention and advancement. And when they don’t get their way they create drama. What we need are people who are going to help get Britain working again, and that means we have to be a truly Conservative party. So I won’t apologise to those walking away because they don’t like the new direction. We only want Conservatives.’ ” – Daily Mail

• Farage is turning Reform into the very elites they despise. This is why he’s doing Badenoch a great favour – Dan Hodges, Daily Mail
• Reform UK rages over ‘obsessed’ Badenoch – Daily Express
• In the room where Churchill announced the sinking of the Bismarck, Kemi Badenoch unleashed torpedoes at the Right and Left, from defecting ‘drama queens’ to ‘scheming’ Labour – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
• Kemi’s psychodrama scene comes off like Anthony Perkins finding Suella in the shower – Tim Stanley, Daily Telegraph
• Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch blast Reform UK’s by-election candidate – Financial Times
• In Denton, where Reform UK hopes to give Labour a bloody nose – The Times
• Jacob Rees-Mogg on Tory psychodrama — ‘Badenoch and Farage must work together’ – Daily Telegraph
• Mainstream parties must resist exploiting rising tensions – Leader, The Times

>Yesterday:

Starmer called for ECHR to investigate British troops

“Sir Keir Starmer called for European human rights laws to be used to investigate British troops in Iraq in a book edited by Phil Shiner, the disgraced lawyer. In the book, the Prime Minister accused the Government of a “deliberate effort” to alter international law. He claimed it had given British troops an effective immunity when operating in Iraq. Sir Keir’s chapter was published in a 2008 book, entitled The Iraq War and International Law, put together by Shiner, who was subsequently convicted of fraud and struck off as a solicitor over false claims of abuse made against British soldiers.” – Daily Telegraph

Tugendhat: I fought in Iraq. Starmer tied our hands.

“One simple example is when threatening force. Police officers in a city warn, soldiers in combat don’t. In battle, enemies are legitimate targets and a warning could give away your position, risking lives. We didn’t fire warning shots in the First World War trenches or on the D-Day beaches, and nor against military targets in Iraq and Afghanistan. But lawyers like Phil Shiner, the disgraced solicitor who began many of these cases, expanded the remit beyond our shores. Representing Al-Skeini in a case against British forces in Iraq, Shiner – and Sir Keir Starmer, who acted as an intervener on behalf of human rights groups – practised legal imperialism, stretching the jurisdiction of the ECHR beyond the borders it was written for to theatres around the world. This turned young lieutenants and corporals into whipping boys for the courts in cases that could never be resolved to the satisfaction of a British magistrate, leading to multiple re-investigations, each a new trial, and changing the way many understood the risk of serving in uniform.” – Tom Tugendhat, Daily Telegraph

“Very, very difficult” for assisted dying bill to become law this year, Falconer warns

“It is now “very, very difficult” to see how the assisted dying bill could become law this year, a leading backer of the change has told BBC News. Lord Falconer said the legislation has “absolutely no hope” of passing without a “fundamental change” in the House of Lords’ approach. The former justice secretary is threatening an unprecedented use of the Parliament Act to override peers’ objections if it is not passed before the King’s Speech in May. The rarely used powers would set up a constitutional clash over what is a highly sensitive issue.” – BBC

Starmer challenged over “naive” China visit

“Keir Starmer has defended his decision to shake hands with Xi Jinping, as critics warned he is ‘naïve’ to trust China’s communist dictator. Sir Keir is due to meet President Xi in the small hours of Thursday morning after becoming the first British PM to travel to China in eight years. Kemi Badenoch questioned his decision to go to Beijing, saying Britain should focus instead on strengthening ties with allies ‘worried about the threat China is posing to them’. President Xi ordered a brutal crackdown in Hong Kong in breach of a deal with the UK – and is accused of overseeing a genocide against the Uygher people in Xinxiang province. Concerns about Chinese espionage against the UK are such that the PM and his officials have been issued with disposable ‘burner’ phones and laptops for the duration of the trip.” – Daily Mail

• Xi tells Starmer ‘twists and turns’ in relationship harm Britain – Daily Telegraph
• How China could be blocked from building wind farms in Britain amid fears over security – Daily Mail
• UK and China to share intelligence over people traffickers in the Channel – Financial Times
• We seriously doubt China will be any more committed to helping PM tackle Channel migrants than the French – Leader, The Sun

1,300 police officers lost under Labour

“The number of police officers has fallen dramatically under Labour, new official figures reveal. Home Office data, published today, showed the total number of officers in England and Wales dipped by more than 1,300, or just under one per cent, in the 12 months to September. It was equivalent to more than three officers being lost every day. There were 145,550 police officers measured on a ‘full-time equivalent’ basis at the end of September, down from 146,868 a year earlier.” – Daily Mail

Chagos talks with the US “underway”

“The prime minister has said that discussions are ongoing with the United States over a controversial deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, amid concerns the US could withdraw support for the agreement. Under the deal, which the US backed last year, the UK would transfer sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius and lease back a joint UK-US military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia. Ministers insist the deal is necessary to protect the base from “malign interests”, but last week President Trump called it “an act of great stupidity”. The Conservatives have accused the government of undermining national security because of Mauritius’s close ties to China. Speaking to reporters while travelling to Beijing, Sir Keir Starmer said he had discussed it with Donald Trump “a number of times” and said the issue had been “raised with the White House at the tail end of last week, over the weekend and into the early part of this week.” – BBC

Other political news

• Ofsted finds school that uninvited Jewish MP is ‘inclusive’ – The Times
• High-rise rules relaxed after internet rollout warning – BBC
• Streeting wants NHS to screen men for prostate cancer – Daily Mail
• US diplomat blasts Labour for ‘authoritarian intentions’ on free speech – The Sun
• Starmer vows to push ahead with cuts to jury trials despite backlash – BBC
• Stop sending suspended pupils home, schools told – Daily Telegraph
• Universal basic income needed to cushion blow from AI job losses, says minister – Financial Times
• Rubio plays down threat of force against Venezuela’s president – The Times
• Labour council leaders ‘leant on’ to cancel elections – Daily Telegraph
• Convicted terrorist is running as a pro-Gaza councillor in Birmingham – Daily Express
• Parents in England fear losing support for disabled children due to Send reforms – The Guardian
• Europe would lose more than the US in a trade war, research finds – Financial Times
• Vehicle crime hits half of urban motorists in a year – Daily Telegraph
• Record number of offenders being recalled to prison in England and Wales – The Guardian
• Stop legal immigration for three years, says French minister – The Times

Samuel: Reheated centrism is no way for Tories to prosper

“Styling themselves Prosper UK, they claim to be a “pro-enterprise” conservative “movement” intent on fostering a “competitive” economy. What’s not to like, you might wonder? Britain needs a dose of pro-business competitiveness. Unfortunately, what really unites this band of has-beens is their unresolved Brexit regret and their compulsion always to defend the apparatus that produces the status quo. Watching their promotional videos is like eating a Smint: you can just about tell what it’s trying to get at but as soon as the strangely disagreeable morsel is swallowed, you wish you hadn’t bothered…There is one thing Reform is resoundingly right about, which the Live-Long-And-Prosper brigade will never get their heads around. Britain is currently so stuck, so hemmed in by bureaucratic norms and legal overgrowth, that even moderate change now demands courageous radicalism by our leaders.” – Juliet Samuel, The Times

>Today: ToryDiary: The past is a foreign country

News in brief

• The guilty men: the ideologues who undermine Britain – Michael Gove, The Spectator
• Cosying up to China won’t save Britain’s economy – James Price, CapX
• Botswana is Africa’s quiet success story – Harry Phibbs, The Freeman
• How Trump is damaging right-wing politics – Chris Bayliss, The Critic
• Rayner is now Starmer’s greatest threat – Richard Johnson, UnHerd