Newslinks for Sunday 11th January 2026 | Conservative Home

Iran 1) Protestors defy violent crackdown

“Protesters in Iran defied a deadly government crackdown on Saturday night, taking to the streets despite reports suggesting hundreds of people have been killed or wounded by security forces in the past three days. Verified videos and eyewitness accounts seen by the BBC appeared to show the government was ramping up its response, as it continues an overarching internet blackout. The country’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, said on Saturday that anyone protesting would be considered an “enemy of God” – an offence that carries the death penalty.” – BBC

• Protester tears down Iranian regime flag from London embassy – Sunday Telegraph
• The chaos and horror inside Iran’s overwhelmed hospitals – Sunday Times
• They protested peacefully. Iran answered with bullets – Sunday Telegraph
• Each popular movement since the Shah was overthrown in the 1970s has brought talk of regime change, then a brutal response – Sunday Times
• The ayatollah is running out of options – Sunday Telegraph

Iran 2) Trump “ready to help” uprising

“Donald Trump said on Saturday night that he was ready to help Iranians protesting against the regime, as his administration began discussing how to carry out a military strike on the country. US government officials were considering striking multiple Iranian military targets, The Wall Street Journal reported. Former Pentagon officials told The Telegraph that Mr Trump could also authorise covert CIA operations to destabilise Tehran or give the green light to Israel to launch its own attacks on the regime.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Starmer’s Trump ties are vital, says Cooper – Sunday Times

Iran 3) Hannan: The end of this brutal reign of terror will benefit the entire world

“A regime born in street protests is perishing by the same rough method. Its end, as well as being a liberation for the Persian people, is a boon for everyone else, a flare of light in the gloom. When we think of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, we tend to emphasise the first word over the second. But the revolutionary nature of Khomeini’s regime – he abolished the monarchy, nationalised businesses, expropriated and exiled a portion of the middle class – is critical to understanding Iran. Revolutionaries do not acknowledge national sovereignty. The ayatollahs made that abundantly clear with their first action: the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran.” – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph

Other comment on Iran:

• The Ayatollah’s strategy has spun out of control since October 7 – Jason Cowley, Sunday Times
• Britain must back freedom, democracy and liberty and stand united with courageous rebels in Iran – Leader, The Sun on Sunday
• The sheer courage of the Iranian people is humbling – Leader, Sunday Times
• It is time to ban the IRGC from Britain – Leader, Sunday Telegraph

Conservatives would ban under-16s from accessing social media

“The Conservatives say they would ban under-16s from accessing social media platforms if they were in power, promising to follow the example of Australia, which was the first country to introduce the policy. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said if her party was in government, smartphones would also be banned in schools. It has been a month since Australia’s ban on under-16s using major social media platforms came into force. The Conservatives say that if elected, they would follow suit to try to protect children’s mental health and education, and to stop them from viewing harmful content online.” – BBC

Musk says X outcry is ‘excuse for censorship’

“Elon Musk has said critics of his social media site X are looking for “any excuse for censorship”, after its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok drew criticism over its use to create sexualised images of people without their knowledge or consent. Ofcom says it is conducting an urgent assessment of X in response, with the backing of Technology Secretary Liz Kendall. But the chairwomen of Parliament’s technology and media committees have both said they are concerned that “gaps” in the Online Safety Act might hinder the media regulator’s ability to deal with the matter.” – BBC

• Why Starmer’s threat to ban X has gone down very badly in the US – Harry Cole, The Sun on Sunday
• Deepfakes are undermining faith in politics – Rachel Sylvester, The Observer
• Lammy: JD Vance agrees that sexualised AI images on X are ‘unacceptable’ – The Guardian
• Starmer rallies international support to take on Musk – Sunday Telegraph
• If Starmer bans X, we are joining the ranks of tyranny – Jake Wallis Simons, Sunday Telegraph

Labour MP threatens by-election over jury trial restrictions

“A Labour MP has made an extraordinary attack on Sir Keir Starmer’s planned jury reforms, threatening to trigger a by-election unless they are dropped, as he revealed he was once falsely accused of a crime. Karl Turner, the former shadow solicitor general, said he was “ashamed” of the prime minister and David Lammy, the justice secretary, and called on them to “stop these ludicrous proposals and get on with the hard job of sorting out the criminal justice system”. The government has said it will drop juries in trials for offences with a likely prison sentence of three years or less. The ability to appeal a magistrates’ court verdict to a crown court will also be limited.” – Sunday Times

Ministers warn u-turn on pubs Business Rates must be extended to other sectors

“Senior ministers have warned that the chancellor’s business rates bailout for pubs must be extended to other sectors to prevent the death of high streets. Rachel Reeves is expected to announce a rescue package for pubs, hundreds of which are facing closure as their business rates bills surge by tens of thousands of pounds through changes announced in last November’s budget. However, industry leaders and backbench Labour MPs have warned the package does not go far enough and must include other retail and hospitality businesses.” – Sunday Times

• Businesses call to be included in any pub rates backtrack – BBC
• Reeves “faces tax rise dilemma over immigration forecast” – Sunday Times
• Inside Starmer’s local, where even north London luvvies want him barred – Sunday Telegraph

>Today: ToryDiary: Resets and relaunches can’t hide fundamental problems for the Prime Minister – and the rest of us

Farage condemns “spineless” UK defence spending policy

“Nigel Farage has condemned Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘spineless’ approach to defence spending, which he says has left Britain looking like a ‘pygmy’ as the world teeters on the edge of multiple incendiary conflicts. With Iran facing meltdown, Donald Trump threatening war over Greenland and Vladimir Putin menacing Europe through Ukraine, the Reform UK leader said it was ‘terrifying’ that the UK faced a £28 billion shortfall in defence funding. “Just look what’s happening in the world,” Mr Farage writes in today’s Mail on Sunday. “We could soon be embroiled in operations in Iran, and are being drawn closer towards conflict with Putin, and yet thanks to spineless Starmer failing to properly fund our Armed Forces we are now military pygmies on the international stage.” – Mail on Sunday

• Our Forces deserve better than Labour’s bumbling platoon of no-hopers – Nigel Farage, Mail on Sunday
• UK facing £28bn defence spending gap claims – BBC

Burnham has “by-election deal agreed”

“Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is said to have done a secret deal to run as an MP in May as he ramps up his plot to oust Keir Starmer as PM. Rumours the “King of the North” is planning a bombshell comeback have been swirling for months. He is ramping up his plot to oust Sir Keir Starmer as PM. Insiders say Labour rebel Jim McMahon has now told colleagues a deal is “sewn up”. It is believed that shamed MP Andrew Gwynne will announce he is standing down from his seat of Gorton and Denton, Gtr Manchester, in March to make way for him.” – The Sun on Sunday

US bombs more Islamic State targets in Syria

“The US military says it carried out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on Saturday. President Trump directed the bombing as part of Operation Hawkeye Strike in retaliation for the deadly attack on US forces carried out by the militant group in Palmyra last month. Two US soldiers and one civilian were killed in the ambush on December 13.” – Sunday Times

• Trump ‘orders army chiefs to draw up plan to invade Greenland’ – Mail on Sunday

Net zero drive “could cost £4.5 trillion”

“Labour’s ‘obsessive’ drive towards Net Zero could cost Britons a staggering £4.5 trillion over the next 25 years, official estimates suggest. Critics said the extraordinary mounting costs for measures such as wind farms, solar panels, green heating systems and upgrades to roads and railways are significantly higher than previous forecasts and could ‘bankrupt’ the economy. The figures, quietly published last month by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) – a Government quango responsible for Britain’s energy systems – includes an estimated £585 billion to be forked out by ordinary households to pay for the move away from energy–guzzling boilers towards eco–friendly heat pumps.” – Mail on Sunday

• Ed Miliband’s eco-war is only benefiting the rich – Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times

Other political news

• Mosque helped appoint police chief who banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans – Sunday Times
• Labour is killing the Great British seaside holiday with business rates hike, coastal MPs warn – The Sun on Sunday
• Potholes map rates council road repair progress – BBC
• UK building powerful new ‘Nightfall’ missiles for Ukraine capable of destroying Russian targets deep behind enemy lines – The Sun on Sunday
• Peers back calls for extra time to debate assisted dying bill – BBC
• UK invests £20m in laser weapons to protect against drone attacks – Sunday Times
• Thousands march and dozens arrested in Minneapolis protests against ICE – BBC
• John Swinney accused of breaking own rules with £7,600 flight bill – Sunday Times
• Academic ‘stripped of title’ after critiquing critical race theory – Sunday Telegraph
• Long waits for disability benefit claims unacceptable, MPs say – BBC

Sunak: The old order is dead

“The old order is dead. But nothing has yet replaced it and history teaches us that these transitions are often bloody and unpredictable; there are 60 active conflicts around the world at present, the most since the Second World War. The global stability that was fundamental to the operating model of so many businesses is gone and is not coming back. Pax Americana is over. For the first time in 40 years, there is a credible economic, technological and military rival to the US. In 100 years, no country had surpassed 70 per cent of America’s gross domestic product (GDP), until China did so in 2020. Meanwhile, under Trump 2.0, the US is fundamentally changing the nature of its own role. One can make a clear, moral case for the removal of Nicolás Maduro, but what is unsettling is that its purpose was not to enable Venezuelans to be governed by those they voted for, but to ensure that oil production was increased.” – Rishi Sunak, Sunday Times

• Trump will not destroy the rules-based world order – Janet Daley, Sunday Telegraph

Colvile: The special needs system is broken. Wales shows the answer.

“In 2018 the rate of pupils with special education needs (SEN) in Wales was about 22 per cent. Among pupils born in 2002-03 nearly half (48 per cent) had SEN status at some point. But then the government in Cardiff changed tack. It replaced SEN with a new category, additional learning needs (ALN). The definition of need was not changed but there was a tighter focus on the pupils who most needed help: among a host of other reforms, the category of “general learning difficulties” was eliminated in favour of better-defined conditions, and responsibility for pupils’ statutory plans was handed to schools. Today the ALN rate in Wales is under 10 per cent and Estyn, the Welsh equivalent of Ofsted, reports “drastic improvements” in proactive support for those pupils.” – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times

Hodges: Focus on foreign affairs won’t save Starmer

“The biggest drawback with Downing Street’s new strategy is that however scared Starmer’s MPs may be by Putin’s aggression and Trump’s irrationality, the British people scare them more. The continuing slide in Labour’s poll ratings, the angry reaction to Rachel Reeves’ betrayal of her pledge not to raise taxes on working people and the chaotic start to the New Year – which has already seen panicked U-turns on farmers’ inheritance tax and pub business rates – are what is focusing their minds.” – Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday

News in brief

• Banning X will not make anyone safer – Loïc Frémond, Unherd
• Why does anyone still take Rory Stewart seriously? – William Atkinson, The Spectator
• How red tape killed the great British house party – Jethro Elsden, CapX
• David Bowie was a political shapeshifter – Alexander Larman, The Critic
• 2025 was an average year for hurricanes globally – Paul Homewood, Daily Sceptic