Newslinks for Sunday 22nd June 2025 | Conservative Home

US bombs Iran’s nuclear bases

“The US has bombed three of Iran’s nuclear facilities, Donald Trump has announced, in an assault that threatens to bring the two countries to war. The US president authorised the bombings of the underground Fordow plant, one of the country’s key nuclear sites, and two other facilities in the early hours of Sunday morning, calling it a “successful attack”. “We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and [Isfahan],” Mr Trump said in the early hours of Sunday morning. “All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of bombs was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Trump shows flashes of vulnerability in wartime leader address – Sunday Telegraph
• Trump’s inner circle shifted view to support limited, one-off strike on Iran nuclear sites – The Guardian
• How Iran could retaliate – Sunday Telegraph
• Healey says NATO must ‘step up’ and increase its military might amid plan to spend five per cent of GDP on defence – The Sun on Sunday
• It’s time to ditch ruinous green delusions, cut bloated welfare and start taking Britain’s defence seriously – Leader, The Sun on Sunday
• British man arrested in Cyprus for ‘spying on RAF base’ for Iran – Sunday Times
• Hermer is wrong: international law permits Britain to strike against Iran – Natasha Hausdorff, Sunday Telegraph
• Britain must take on the vile Iranian regime – Leader, Sunday Telegraph
• The whole world knew the US and Israel were going to strike Iran – but Keir Starmer was blindsided. And that’s just the start of the humiliation – Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday

Badenoch: Israel’s fight is ours too

“Support for Israel is not about sentiment. It’s about security, sovereignty and survival. We stand with Israel because it shares our values. Because it defends itself against terrorists who have their sights on us, too. Because if we don’t stand with democracies under attack, we embolden those who hate everything we stand for. And what we see now is a weak UK emboldening its enemies. The attack on Israel is part of a broader assault on Western values. An assault on free, democratic countries from an axis of authoritarian states. Their fight is our fight.” – Kemi Badenoch, Sunday Times

Cost of damage by Palestine Action could hit £55m

“Activists from Palestine Action are feared to have cost the government and firms making equipment for the British military as much as £55 million. In a five-year campaign Palestine Action has conducted 356 attacks on sites across the UK, culminating in a raid on RAF Brize Norton last week in which two Voyager aircraft were damaged.” – Sunday Times

• Starmer branded a ‘hypocrite’ for condemning ‘disgraceful’ raid on UK airbase after previously defending RAF protesters in court – Mail on Sunday

>Today: ToryDiary: We all have a right to protest but something’s gone rotten at the heart of recent protests

Kneecap performing at Glastonbury ‘not appropriate’, says Starmer

“The Prime Minister has called for Glastonbury to axe Kneecap from its line-up after a band member was charged with a terror offence. Sir Keir Starmer said it is “not appropriate” for the Irish hip hop group to cash in at the festival.THE Prime Minister has called for Glastonbury to axe Kneecap from its line-up after a band member was charged with a terror offence. Sir Keir Starmer said it is “not appropriate” for the Irish hip hop group to cash in at the festival. Rapper Liam Og O hAnnaidh, appeared in court last week accused of displaying a flag in support of banned terror group Hezbollah at a gig. O hAnnaidh, 27, who goes by the stage name Mo Chara, was bailed until later in the summer — leaving him free to play at Glastonbury.” – The Sun on Sunday

Conservatives urge business to speak out over Government “wrecking” the economy

“British businesses have been urged to rise up and fight Angela Rayner’s crippling new labour laws, amid dire warnings of the devastating effects they will wreak on the economy. Conservatives have sent an open letter to company bosses this weekend urging them to speak out against the Deputy Prime Minister’s radical plans – or be ‘sleepwalked into disaster’. Ms Rayner has been accused of taking a ‘wrecking ball to the economy’ with her Employment Rights Bill – which has also been dubbed ‘the Unemployment Bill’ over fears it will deter firms from taking on staff…In the open letter, Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith says he has been moved to act because he is ‘genuinely concerned that British businesses are being sleepwalked into disaster’ and the Tories cannot oppose it alone. He writes: ‘We need more voices to persuade the Government to listen.’ ” – Mail on Sunday

• Dogma cares little for the state of Britain’s economy – Leader, Mail on Sunday
• All that Lady Thatcher achieved will now go up in flames like an oil drum brazier on a picket line – Alex Brummer, Mail on Sunday

Give new recruits £10,000 to join army, says Davey

“New soldiers should be offered a £10,000 bonus to rapidly boost troop numbers to deal with an increasingly unpredictable world, the Lib Dems have said. The government should also distribute pamphlets to make sure every British home is “war-ready” and able to deal with blackouts and chaos caused by the outbreak of conflict or cyber-attacks, Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey said. The Lib Dems claim the plans will “urgently” boost to the number of trained soldiers from just under 71,000, external to more than 73,000.” – BBC

Assisted Dying Bill 1) Streeting warns letting terminally ill people end their lives could divert resources from elsewhere in the service

“The health secretary warned there was “no budget” for the introduction of assisted dying laws and suggested MPs had made the “wrong” choice last week. In a statement issued to his constituents on Facebook after the historic Commons vote on Friday, Wes Streeting said: “Setting up this service will take time and money that is in short supply.” The process could divert resources from the NHS and other public services, he wrote. “Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we’ve made the wrong one.” Under the terms of the bill, the NHS will be expected to carry out assisted dying procedures. Ana­lysis shows each death will cost the taxpayer about £15,000.” – Sunday Times

• Could a Lords logjam run down the clock? – Sunday Times
• Two new laws on the sanctity of life. Did either face real scrutiny? – Leader, Sunday Times
• MPs have voted to destroy even more unborn babies – and to begin the abortion of the old – Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday

Assisted Dying Bill 2) It puts a price on my head, says disabled peer Lord Shinkwin

“A disabled peer said he fears he would not be alive today if assisted dying was already legal. Lord Kevin Shinkwin said the Terminally Ill Adults Bill “puts a price on my head” and he would have felt pressure to agree to having a lethal injection over fear of being a burden. The Tory’s warning comes as campaigners vow to fight the assisted dying bill in the Lords after MPs narrowly backed it by just 23 votes on Friday. Lord Shinkwin, 54, is a disability rights campaigner who has a severe form of brittle bone disease.” – The Sun on Sunday

Reform UK think tank “seeking links with Jenrick”

“A new Reform-linked think tank has vowed to hand Nigel Farage the keys to power by raising more than £25 million from British and American donors, according to leaked documents. The Centre for a Better Britain (CBB) will plough the funds into the development of “radical” policy and draft legislation, polling, and the selection and training of parliamentary candidates…The group, founded this year by Reform’s former chief operating officer and two of its biggest donors, is based in the same building as the party’s headquarters in Millbank near the House of Commons. It says it is in “direct contact” with Farage and his head of policy. The CBB also says it is “building relationships” with the team of Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, based on the belief that the Conservatives, though in “terminal decline”, may be necessary for Reform to form a right-wing administration in future.” – Sunday Times

• New polling has put Reform UK at its highest vote share to date – Sunday Express

Call for Rayner to pay back donation from Fire Brigades Union

“Deputy PM Angela Rayner took money from the militant Fire Brigades Union — and is now the chief fire minister. She faces calls to pay back the £1,000 to avoid a perceived conflict of interest. Ms Rayner, whose Cabinet brief covers housing and local government, accepted the cash in June 2024. It was not published on her MP’s register of interests as it is beneath the £1,500 threshold. But it was unearthed after a request to view all her donations under the Representation of People Act. Tory shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: “As the minister overseeing the fire service, this dodgy deal reeks of a shady quid pro quo. “To avoid even the perception of a conflict of interest, Angela Rayner must now commit to not taking any more FBU money and repay what she’s had.” – The Sun on Sunday

Business Secretary: defeatist attitude ‘has led to reliance on foreign labour’

“A “defeatist” attitude to getting young people into work has left Britain over-reliant on foreign labour, the Business Secretary has said. Jonathan Reynolds hits out at the “casual” approach taken to packing key sectors such as healthcare, construction and manufacturing with imported workers. In an interview with The Telegraph, he says the UK is “vulnerable” to global events because “tremendous skills gaps” have opened up in the domestic workforce. His intervention comes as Labour prepares to publish plans on Monday on how to boost the number of young Britons taking up jobs in areas like defence.” – Sunday Telegraph

• UK government unveils £275m boost to training and apprenticeships in England – The Guardian

Labour rebels “could form breakaway party”

“Sir Keir Starmer faces the threat of a new left-wing ‘real socialist’ party amid mounting anger from Labour backbenchers over controversial welfare cuts. The Mail on Sunday has learnt that disaffected Labour backbenchers are already being approached to consider joining a new ‘radical Left’ political movement. Sources said that to inflict maximum damage on Sir Keir, the proposed new party – master-minded by supporters of ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – could be launched during Labour’s national conference this Autumn.” – Mail on Sunday

Other political news

• Chinese mega-embassy “to be approved within weeks” – Sunday Times
• Scottish government to remove WhatsApp from phones – BBC
• Ex-army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for millions to support commercial deal – The Guardian
• Council leader sorry for ‘poor people’ social post – BBC
• Rape charge against man staying in asylum hotel ‘was kept secret to avoid stirring up community tensions’ – Mail on Sunday

Hannan: Taxation is theft

“Suppose I were to force my way into your home and help myself to half your possessions. I hope everyone can see that my behaviour would be wrong. Does it become right when I get to call myself “the government”, and to label my confiscation “tax”? Even in a democracy, I surely need a good reason to violate the rules of morality by which everyone else is expected to live. That, in a nutshell, is the case for libertarianism. Supporters of limited government want the state to be bound, to the greatest possible extent, by the same norms as the rest of us.” – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph

Colvile: No wonder HS2 has been a flop

“This sense of HS2 as a kind of national virility test was felt particularly strongly by Andrew Adonis, the project’s father, who argued that we had to have high-speed rail because everyone else did. It’s present in statement after statement from the other politicians who kept it alive — and in the impulse not just to build it, but to build the most gold-plated possible version. Boris Johnson in particular spoke as if cancelling HS2 would leave the nation (and its prime minister) somehow unmanned…Because HS2 was to be a symbol of British virility, it had to go fast, 20 per cent faster than the European standard. Going fast meant going straight. That meant that it couldn’t follow existing road or rail lines: it would have to be a greenfield project. That sent it through lots of pretty Tory seats, which didn’t even get any stops to make up for it, because that would slow the train down. MPs in those seats duly demanded that much of the line be put in tunnels, adding hugely to the cost.” – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times

News in brief

• Could the House of Lords block the assisted suicide bill? – Dan Hitchens, The Spectator
• This grooming gangs inquiry must put people behind bars – Guy Dampier, CapX
• In praise of private policing – Craig Drake, The Critic
• The anti-Western fervour that fuelled the Iranian Revolution continues to seduce today’s ‘progressives’ – Tim Black, Spiked Online