Newslinks for 1st of January 2026 | Conservative Home

Starmer’s New year Message falls flat and Badenoch brands him worst PM in history

“Sir Keir Starmer admits to frustration at the pace of change in Britain but insists: “Things can only get better.” The PM said the cost of living will ease and an improved NHS will become a reality this year. His New Year’s message comes amid dismal poll ratings and a potential challenge to his leadership if he suffers heavy losses in May’s local elections. But he is hopeful that freezes to rail fares, fuel duty and prescription charges will help Brits in everyday life. Sir Keir said: “In 2026, the choices we’ve made will mean more people will begin to feel positive change in your bills, your communities and your health service. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Many in our country are finding it harder and harder to imagine life getting better.” – The Sun 

• The game is up for Reeves if she has to come back for more tax rises – The i
• Keir Starmer to woo voters and MPs with new year plan to cut cost of living – Guardian
• Voters ‘loathe’ Starmer and Reeves, as allies say his days are numbered – Daily Express

Editorial

• It was the year Labour’s manifesto was exposed as a tissue of lies. In any other walk of life, the fraud squad would be banging down doors – Daily Mail
• Starmer’s New Years’ resolution should be to get a new Chancellor who actually understands economics – The Sun

Comment

• Starmer’s trying to save his skin by unpicking Brexit – but it just makes him look even weaker – Kemi Badenoch, Daily Mail
• Happy new year — same unhappy old Keir Starmer – Sonia Sodha, The Times
• My political predictions for 2026 after a year of sleaze & skullduggery – and why Kemi & Nigel MUST do a deal – Trevor Kavangh, Sun

Today

A new year for the Conservatives but whether it is happy depends on gaining and maintaining some perspective

Badenoch back’s Wolfson after Labour accusations of ‘conflict on interest’ and attacks Starmer over Brexit

“Kemi Badenoch has given her full backing to her shadow Attorney General amid claims he has a conflict of interest over the sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Labour stepped up their criticism of Lord Wolfson who is representing the former Chelsea owner at the same time as holding a Conservative frontbench position. On Wednesday, justice minister Jake Richards called on the Tories to address “unanswered questions” about Wolfson acting as one of the barristers for Abramovich. But a Conservative party source said the Tory leader has full confidence in Wolfson and accused the Prime Minister and his Attorney General of having their own questionable legal records before entering politics. “The rank hypocrisy is staggering. The actual Attorney General, Richard Hermer, has represented Gerry Adams, a terrorist plotting an attack on Manchester, and countless other al-Qaeda and ISIS-aligned criminals. And that’s before we get to Keir Starmer’s chequered legal record. This is a desperate and pathetic attack on Lord Wolfson, who is currently acting pro bono for brave British veterans against spurious legal claims, veterans Labour has repeatedly abandoned. Jake Richards should stop using this issue to push himself up the pecking order to replace Keir Starmer and start doing his actual job.” – The i

Michael Gove admits regret at turning on Boris Johnson

Lord Gove has admitted he regrets turning against Boris Johnson after the Brexit referendum victory. The former Cabinet minister stunned Westminster in 2016 by withdrawing support for Mr Johnson just before he prepared to launch his campaign to replace David Cameron as Tory leader. The peer told Sky News that he now realises he should have kept his “profound worries” about Mr Johnson’s abilities to himself. Lord Gove, who worked closely with Mr Johnson on the Leave campaign, was expected to support his leadership bid after Mr Cameron resigned in the wake of the result of the referendum. But a week later, on the morning of Mr Johnson’s leadership launch on June 30 2016, Mr Gove announced that he did not think he was up to the job – and that he was putting his name forward instead. Speaking to Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Lord Gove said the Leave campaign’s plan for Brexit was never implemented because his falling out with Mr Johnson led to a May leadership. Asked whether he regretted his move, he said: “In the days immediately afterwards, the way in which Boris behaved portrayed to me a fundamental unseriousness about the scale of the task that made me feel that he wasn’t ready to discharge the responsibilities of being prime minister. I think on balance, it would have been better all round if I had thought, OK, I may have these profound worries, but it is better that I keep them to myself and that I do everything possible to make things work. I think that would probably have been the right thing, but other people will make their own judgment about whether or not that was. The betrayal forced Mr Johnson to pull out of the contest, which was eventually won by Theresa May, who had supported Remain.” – Daily Telegraph

Home Secretary says she’ll fight ECHR attempts to overturn ISIS bride’s citizenship removal

“Shabana Mahmood has said she will ‘robustly defend’ the decision to revoke Shamima Begum’s citizenship as the Home Secretary gears up to take on the European Court of Human Rights. Yesterday, the ECHR formally asked the Home Office whether it broke human rights and anti-trafficking laws – which is Begum’s main legal argument. Lawyers for the former London schoolgirl hailed the request as an ‘unprecedented opportunity’. But the move has put Ms Mahmood on collision course with Strasbourg after a Government source indicated the Home Secretary was prepared to fight any challenge to the decision to revoke the ISIS bride’s citizenship. ‘The Home Secretary will robustly defend the decision to revoke Shamima Begum’s citizenship, which has been tested and upheld time and again in our domestic courts. The Home Secretary will always put this country’s national security first,’ the source said. Meanwhile, the Tories have backed the Home Secretary and insisted Begum should not be allowed back into the UK ‘under any circumstances’. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Begum chose to go and support the violent Islamist extremists of Daesh, who murdered opponents, raped thousands of women and girls and threw people off buildings for being gay. She has no place in the UK and our own Supreme Court found that depriving her of citizenship was lawful.’  – Daily Mail

‘Fight Begum’ vow. Decision to strip ISIS bride Shamima Begum of UK citizenship ‘will be robustly defended by Home Sec’ – The Sun

News in Brief

• Can Nigel Farage capture London? – Gabriel McKeown, Unherd
• The British right must resist Americanisation – Chris Bayliss, The Critic
• The Boring Twenties: good British fun is being strangled – Gus Carter, Spectator
• David Walliams deserves to be cancelled – Rod Liddle, Spectator