Newslinks for Sunday 25th May 2025 | Conservative Home

Farage promises to reinstate Winter Fuel Payment

“Reform UK has said it will fully reinstate winter fuel payments to pensioners and scrap the two-child benefit cap, if the party gets into government. The commitments – to be unveiled at a press conference next week – come after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer faced pressure from Labour MPs to change his approach to both policies. By the time of the next general election there may be no need to reverse either policy. Sir Keir has already announced plans to ease cuts to winter fuel payments – without saying when or how.” – BBC

•  Winter fuel payments for all — is this the beginning of Reeves’ undoing? – Sunday Times
•  Reform UK in talks to get a seven figure donation from American donor – The Sun on Sunday
• Sir Keir Starmer is making a mistake if he plans to characterise his battle against Farage as some sort of moral crusade – Leader, The Sun on Sunday

Coup 1) Tory critics “plot downfall of Badenoch”

“This weekend, three serving MPs and two former cabinet ministers have said that Badenoch is finished as leader and it would be better for the party if she stood down. The MPs say those who think she should go include party whips, who are supposed to enforce discipline, and shadow ministers. It is hard to estimate how many MPs still remain loyal to Badenoch. In any event, under party rules, a vote of confidence cannot be demanded until November 2. Others would prefer to wait until after next spring’s Welsh, Scottish and local elections.” – Sunday Times

>Today: ToryDiary: It’s NOT ‘so funny how we don’t talk anymore’

Coup 2) Rayner’s plot to ‘rebuild Labour’ being masterminded by her former-MP boyfriend

“Angela Rayner has been accused of plotting a ‘coup’ against the Prime Minister after it was claimed her allies were preparing an alternative programme for Government – funded by the unions and masterminded by her boyfriend. Senior Labour figures said they had been contacted by friends of Deputy Prime Minister Ms Rayner inviting them to help create a ‘think-tank’ which would ‘promote a more confident centre-Left programme within government’. Under the plan, the unnamed outfit – which is being seen as a vehicle for Ms Rayner’s leadership ambitions – would be run by her on-off partner Sam Tarry, 42, a former Labour MP for Ilford South who was deselected in 2022.” – Mail on Sunday

• Farage’s greatest threat isn’t Kemi, it’s Angela Rayner – James Frayne, Sunday Telegraph
• Labour’s in a mess of its own making… now the rebels are gathering – Leader, Mail on Sunday
• Rayner backed welfare cuts in private Cabinet meetings despite leaked memo – The Sun on Sunday

Trump sends free speech investigators to UK

“Donald Trump sent US officials to meet British pro-life activists over concerns their freedom of speech has been threatened, The Telegraph can reveal. A team from the US state department spent days in the country and interviewed campaigners to feed back to the White House. The five-person team met with five activists who had been arrested for silently protesting outside abortion clinics across Britain. Washington launched the fact-finding mission after becoming concerned about the erosion of free speech in the UK.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Are social media posts investigated more than physical crimes? – Tom Calver, Sunday Times

Bates compensation offer halved

“Sir Alan Bates has accused the government of presiding over a “quasi kangaroo court” system for Post Office scandal compensation and revealed he has been handed a “take it or leave it” offer of less than half his original claim. Bates, who led the 20-year campaign for justice for sub-postmasters, has accused the Department for Business and Trade, which administers the compensation schemes, of reneging on assurances given when they were set up. Writing for The Sunday Times, the 70-year-old, who was knighted last year for his campaigning, said a promise they would be “non-legalistic” had turned out to be “worthless”. Bates, whose contract was terminated by the Post Office in 2003 after he began raising concerns about the Horizon IT system, has now exhausted his attempts to secure the compensation he feels he is owed.” – Sunday Times

• Postmasters are still being failed by the state – Alan Bates, Sunday Times

Government delays publication of child poverty strategy

“The government’s child poverty strategy, which had been due for publication in the spring, has been delayed. The Child Poverty Taskforce is still working on the strategy and has been considering, among other measures, whether to scrap the two-child benefit cap, a move some Labour MPs have long been calling for. The BBC has been told the strategy could be set out in the autumn in time for the Budget, allowing ministers to say how any policy changes would be paid for.” – BBC

MI5 investigates Russian link to arson attacks on Starmer’s property

“British spies are investigating whether Russia was behind a series of arson attacks on Keir Starmer’s property, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Police say that two Ukrainians and a Romanian who have been charged over the incidents, involving two houses and a car linked to the Prime Minister, had conspired with ‘others unknown’. Now senior official sources have disclosed that MI5 is examining potential links between the three men and Vladimir Putin’s regime.” – Mail on Sunday

Developers with unfinished sites could have land taken from them

“Developers who leave housing sites unfinished for years could see their land handed over to local councils under new rules aimed at getting new homes built faster. Under government plans, housebuilders will have to commit to delivery time frames before they get planning permission, and will also have to submit annual reports to councils showing their progress. The new rules form part of the government’s plan to address the housing crisis, with 1.5 million new homes in England by 2029.” – BBC

Labour Left ‘at war’ with Starmer’s new right-hand woman…

“Morgan McSweeney may have gained unwanted fame in Westminster as Sir Keir Starmer’s ruthless and wily adviser, but he is not the only behind-the-scenes figure ruffling feathers. After conversations with well-placed sources, The Telegraph has uncovered government tensions over the influence of a new top adviser: Liz Lloyd, Sir Tony Blair’s former fixer, who has returned to the top of the Government after nearly two decades to help Sir Keir Starmer turn Labour’s fortunes around.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Labour appears divided when economic focus is vital – Leader, Sunday Times

…as fiscal rules “to be ditched”

“Reeves imposingly titled Charter of Budget Responsibility, centres around the ‘golden rule’ that the public finances should be in balance or surplus by 2030. And according to senior Labour sources, this supposedly inviolate statute is set to be ditched. ‘The winter fuel announcement was part of preparing the ground to shift on the fiscal rules. They’re ploughing the road for the Budget,’ one minister told me. Another revealed: ‘The fiscal rules will go. I was in the room when it was discussed. They will be changed.’ ” – Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday

• Starmer battling Reeves over ending two-child benefit cap – Sunday Express

Sumption denounces ECHR

“A former Supreme Court judge has blasted Europe’s human rights laws imposed on Brits. Jonathan Sumption said we have no control over the European Convention on Human Rights and its  influence on our laws. He backed a Policy Exchange report which hit back at claims that leaving the convention would be a betrayal of Sir Winston Churchill. Lord Sumption said: “It has now become an expanding source of domestic law over which Parliament has no influence or control and which it cannot repeal or amend. The British electorate has no input into it. The constitutional implications are enormous, although hardly appreciated by the public or acknowledged by professional politicians.” The report argues that although Britain helped draft the ECHR it is a far cry from what the Government had imagined as a safeguard against fascism and communism.” – The Sun on Sunday

Other political news

• Boris and Carrie Johnson announce birth of fourth child – BBC
• Complaints over pro-Gaza protests are petty tit-for-tat, say police – Sunday Telegraph
• British doctors chasing jobs will get priority over foreigners – Sunday Times
• Civil servants spent £3,000 on away day at Oval cricket ground – The Sun on Sunday
• South Western first rail firm renationalised by Labour – BBC
• Teachers going on strike over pupils acting like ‘feral cats’ – Sunday Times
• Live facial recognition cameras may become ‘commonplace’ as police use soars – The Guardian
• France impounds UK vessel accused of illegal fishing – BBC
• The town that said no to a £700,000 offer from a solar farm firm – Sunday Times
• Lib Dem MP accused of abuse of power over ‘I want you’ texts to translator on Ukraine visit – Mail on Sunday
• How right-wing activists tried to thwart Chagos deal – The Observer
• Mental health crisis crippling A&E – Sunday Times
• Ministers beg European countries to allow Britons to use e-gates ahead of summer holiday exodus – Mail on Sunday
• Delegation of Labour MPs arrives in Taiwan in first visit since UK election – The Guardian
• Labour accused of car-crash campaign in Hamilton by-election – Sunday Times
• UK citizenship applications from US citizens skyrocket as thousands flee Trump’s America – Sunday Express

Badenoch: Britain is being humiliated

“The Prime Minister flew to Albania to announce his plan for deportation hubs in third-party countries. Having cancelled the Rwanda deterrent and presided over record small boat arrivals at the start of 2025, Starmer was in desperate need of anything to help with illegal immigration. Instead, standing in front of the world’s media and next to the prime minister of Albania – who already have a similar hubs deal with Italy – he was told that Albania didn’t want to be part of his scheme, and Starmer couldn’t even name a country who had signed up. The shame and humiliation were palpable.” – Kemi Badenoch, Sunday Telegraph

Hannan: We face ruin unless we shrink the size of the state

“When push came to shove, Labour would not challenge the prejudices of its core constituency. That core constituency is no longer the working class. Rather, it is what we might call the perking class, made up of those who depend directly or indirectly on state handouts: quangocrats, BBC employees, civil servants, human rights lawyers, white-collar shop stewards. A subset of the perking class is the shirking class: people who will vote against any party that makes it tougher to get signed off work…We are heading for national penury. Labour is not just expanding the state, giving pay rises to its public-sector friends while making their work-from-home arrangements permanent. It is simultaneously driving taxpayers to less punitive jurisdictions.” – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph

Colvile: Only the Conservatives can balance the books

“What the Tories should promise is something very simple: honesty…Reform’s last manifesto was Truss plus. Only the Conservatives will balance the books, painful though that may be. Only the Conservatives will put you and your family first. Of course, this repositioning would require not just Farage-style authenticity but Starmer-style discipline — to keep relentlessly hammering away at the messaging, and to properly convey that the Tories are genuinely sorry for their fiscal sins.” – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times

Hunt: Britain can be great again

“I fundamentally disagree with the doomsters and naysayers. National power is as much about psychology and self-perception as it is about GDP figures or military capabilities. The fact is that excessive pessimism can ultimately become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Can Britain be great again? Most definitely. Britain’s decline is neither inevitable nor desirable. The UK just has too much to offer the world. British ambition, ingenuity and pragmatism can make us a global force for good. We have Europe’s biggest defence budget, its top universities and its most influential culture.” – Jeremy Hunt, serialised from Can We be Great Again?, Mail on Sunday

News in brief

• The ECHR is not Churchill’s court – Richard Ekins, The Spectator
• Free speech is for all, even Kneecap – Joseph Dinnage, CapX
• We were too polite to stop the woke takeover – Mary Gilleece, Daily Sceptic
• Politicians can’t spin mass immigration away – Alp Mehmet, The Critic
• Child poverty is a scar on our national conscience – Gordon Brown, New Statesman