Newslinks for Sunday 28th September 2025 | Conservative Home

“We can pull this round,” declares Starmer

“The prime minister appears to concede that all is not going to plan. But he insists: “I think we can pull this round.” This weekend his party will meet in Liverpool for their annual conference and at the heart of his speech will be a call for unity as he makes clear that the poll-topping Reform — not the ongoing criticism of his leadership — should be where the party is focusing all its energy. He sees Nigel Farage’s party and the rise of the populist right across the world as an existential threat, something he was discussing at the summit with five centre-left political leaders, including Australia’s Anthony Albanese and Canada’s Mark Carney…He claims Britain will face a “fork in the road” at the next election, with a stark choice between Labour and Reform. The Tories, he believes, are “dead”. “We need to be much clearer about what patriotism is. It’s a love for your country and what your country is: our values, our history, our heritage and who we are as a people,” Starmer said.” – Interview with Sir Keir Starmer, Sunday Times

• This Labour conference will likely be Starmer’s last as leader – Tom Harris, Sunday Telegraph
• The Starmer project is already on its last legs – Leader, Sunday Telegraph
• New term, new politics: why are so many Labour students defecting? – Sunday Times
• UK needs Labour ‘stability’, Welsh First Minister to tell conference – BBC

Polling 1) Starmer is least popular PM on record

“Sir Keir Starmer is the least popular prime minister on record, a poll has shown. Rachel Reeves is now also the least popular chancellor since records began, it found. The finding will be a blow to Sir Keir on the eve of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Sunday. He will be aiming to convince his party that he is the right man to lead them into the next general election in the face of a potential challenge from Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester. The Ipsos poll gives Reform UK a 12-point lead over Labour in Westminster voting intention, with Nigel Farage’s party on 34 per cent and Labour down three points on the same time last month to 22 per cent.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Voters in first-time Labour seats pass judgement – BBC
• Poll puts Burnham 50 points ahead of Starmer – Mail on Sunday
• Even die-hard Labour supporters are fed-up with the Prime Minister – Sunday Express

Polling 2) Mega poll shows Reform UK on course for overall majority of 96

“Reform UK is on course to win a majority at the next general election, according to a poll that predicts Labour is heading for its worst electoral defeat since 1931 and will win fewer than 100 seats. A survey of almost 20,000 people, the biggest seat-by-seat poll carried out in this parliament, says Nigel Farage would become prime minister with 373 MPs if an election were held tomorrow. This would hand Reform a majority of 96, slightly larger than the Conservatives’ 2019 majority of 80 under Boris Johnson. Conducted by the think tank More in Common between August 8 and September 15, the poll of 19,520 voters is believed to be the first to predict an outright majority for Reform, which at present has only five MPs.” – Sunday Times

Badenoch “will commit to quitting the ECHR”

“Kemi Badenoch will next week commit the Conservatives to quitting the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), using the Tory party conference to settle an immigration policy issue that has divided the party for years. The Tory leader will publish the findings of a review headed by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, the shadow attorney-general, which is said to provide the justification for leaving the convention. According to senior party sources, Badenoch will use the findings of Wolfson’s review to announce that she has decided that a Conservative government would leave the ECHR.” – Sunday Times

•  Why I’ve joined the Conservatives – Matthew Syed, Sunday Times

>Today: ToryDiary: The Tory Party’s vanishing act

Building of new towns “will start before the next election”

“The construction of three new towns will begin before the next general election, Labour has pledged. A taskforce has recommended 12 locations in England for development, with three areas – Tempsford in Bedfordshire, Leeds South Bank, and Crews Hill in north London – identified as the most promising sites. Housing Secretary Steve Reed is expected to announce the plans in a speech on the opening day of Labour’s annual party conference. Labour has put housebuilding at the centre of its vision of how to get the economy growing, promising to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029.” – BBC

Healey urges firms to make it easier to join army reserves

“Employers should do more to encourage their workers to join the reserves, John Healey has said. The Defence Secretary issued the call on the eve of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, when ministers will attempt to “reclaim the Union flag” from Right-wing groups and present themselves as the party of patriotism. Mr Healey told The Telegraph that the public could help Britain’s national security by being more “vigilant” to threats, including cyber attacks, and by joining reserve units and the cadets.” – Sunday Telegraph

• This week 200 medals honouring the bravest of the brave I’ve spent 40 years collecting will disappear from public view – because the Imperial ‘Woke’ Museum would rather celebrate diversity than gallantry – Lord Ashcroft, Mail on Sunday

Mahmood promises to “reset” immigration laws

“Shabana Mahmood today vows to “reset” laws so migrants must prove their social worth before being allowed to settle in Britain. In her first big interview since being made Home Secretary, she pledged to curb migration and cut visas to countries that refuse to take back their national offenders. She also branded migrant hotels a “total disaster for the country” and promised to shut them down before the next election. Signalling a massive change of policy, Ms Mahmood said she wants to tighten rules around claiming Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK. Under her plan, migrants must show they are integrated and “contribute” to the UK through things like volunteering for charities or local projects.” – The Sun on Sunday

• “Securing the border is fundamental,” declares Home Secretary – The Sun on Sunday
• Mahmood must act fast on stopping the boats and kicking out those who should not be here – Leader, The Sun on Sunday
• The Left says Farage is guilty of ‘fowl play’ for claiming migrants are eating swans. But how does it explain this extensive troubling evidence that there’s truth in what he said – Tom Harwood, Mail on Sunday
• Lammy: ‘I was spat at by skinheads but the flag-wavers today aren’t bovver boys’ – The Observer

Reed “willing to overrule” independent advisers on Islamophobia definition, if free speech threatened

“Labour will overrule its independent advisers on the definition of Islamophobia if they suggest “blasphemy laws by the back door”, Steve Reed has said. Ministers have commissioned advice on the definition of anti-Muslim hatred following a surge in incidents after the Hamas terror attacks on October 7. A working group, chaired by Dominic Grieve, the former Tory minister, will suggest how the Government should classify discrimination. But campaigners have raised concerns that a stricter definition could harm free speech by effectively banning criticism of Islam, and exacerbate community tensions by creating a “two-tier” enforcement of discrimination.” – Sunday Telegraph

Reeves faces revolt from Ministers pushing for higher spending

“Rachel Reeves is facing a revolt from ministers who are demanding she tear up her fiscal rules to allow more public spending. Ministers are “begging” the Chancellor for additional funding to fulfil manifesto commitments in their departments, warning “austerity-lite” politics will drive voters into the arms of Nigel Farage, The Telegraph understands. Ms Reeves needs to fill a £30bn black hole in the public finances at her Budget in November, when she is expected to announce tax rises and spending cuts to satisfy Britain’s creditors.” – Sunday Telegraph

• The PM needs a vision: first for conference, then the budget – Leader, Sunday Times
• Labour plots £9.4 billion tax raid – Sunday Express

Conservatives demand Commons sleaze investigation over secret Labour funding

“Sir Keir Starmer is facing the growing threat of a Commons sleaze investigation after leaked text messages suggested a secret slush fund used to propel him to the Labour leadership was concealed from Parliament. The WhatsApp messages, which were exchanged between senior Labour MPs and workers on the 2019/20 leadership campaigns, appear to directly contradict the party’s denials last week that embattled Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, used his Labour Together think tank to back Sir Keir. One message, from a Starmer campaign aide to Labour MPs, read: ‘Labour together [sic] are busy finding funders for Keir’s campaign.’ Tonight, the leaks to The Mail on Sunday prompted the Tories to demand a full investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner into whether Sir Keir had misled Parliament by failing to declare the help of the think tank in official records.” – Mail on Sunday

• Labour’s lies are unravelling: Insiders have now admitted slush fund run by PM’s top adviser WAS secretly used to install Starmer as leader – Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday

Other political news

• Cooper suggests international community on brink of Gaza peace deal – The Guardian
• Ex-Green deputy leader launches new legal action against party – BBC
• George Galloway stopped at Gatwick airport under terrorism law – Sunday Times
• Scottish Labour MSP suspended over inappropriate conduct allegation – The Guardian
• Two Sudanese ‘militiamen’ invited to Labour conference event – Sunday Express
• Labour MP forced to hand back donation from football club linked to fraud scandal – Sunday Telegraph
• £1.5bn rescue to keep Jaguar Land Rover afloat until Christmas – Sunday Times
• Fears for the great British pub as poll shows industry in peril – The Sun on Sunday
• Green Party leader ‘open to pacts’ if they stop Tories and Reform – Sunday Times
• Education unions urge Keir Starmer to scrap ‘cruel’ two-child benefit cap – The Guardian
• Energy Secretary Ed Miliband flew 50,000 air miles in first nine months of job – The Sun on Sunday
• Fury after woke NHS supports first-cousin marriages despite risk of birth defects – and oppression against women – Mail on Sunday
• Inside the everyday Facebook networks where far-right ideas grow – The Guardian
• Plaid has a ‘radical’ vision for Wales, leader says – BBC
• Unite created phoney job to prevent challenge to leaders, says whistleblower – The Observer

Colvile: Burnham promised 10,000 council houses. Guess the tally so far.

“Burnham did announce, in May 2024, that he was going to build 10,000 council houses by 2028. But over the following year the region started construction on just ten. No, that’s not a typo. More broadly, during his mayoralty Greater Manchester has gone from building 5 per cent of England’s new houses to 3 per cent. Private housebuilding starts are a third of what they were when he took office in 2017. When he first won election, there was a 20-year plan for the region’s development ready to go. But Burnham faffed around so much that it took seven years to be adopted. By then local consensus had broken down: one of the ten councils involved (Stockport) had pulled out and another (Oldham) voted to do so but was blocked by central government…Burnham promised to make homelessness one of his priorities, donating 15 per cent of his salary to the cause. But after initial successes the tent villages are back.” – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times

• Has Andy Burnham gone too early? He’s become Labour’s enemy within – Jason Cowley, Sunday Times
• Burnham slammed as ‘political weather vane’ by colleagues for flip-flopping views – The Sun on Sunday

Hannan: China gives a warning of the dangers of ID cards

“Every day we read stories of law-abiding citizens whose lives have been turned upside down by the bungling of some state agency. I used to take up such cases when I was an MEP and, as often as not, the first instinct of the bureaucracy that had made the error was to double down, deny everything and accuse the victim. In China, ID cards have been combined with face recognition technology and geolocation to create a terrifying panopticon state. In the name of combatting fraud, the Chinese regime has abolished privacy altogether, building a state that is not so much Orwellian as Huxleian, where it is difficult even to think anti-social thoughts. True, Britain is not China. But our readiness even to countenance placing such powers in the hands of our rulers would have horrified our ancestors. The only ray of sunshine in all this is that Sir Keir is now so unpopular that his advocacy is enough to kill any cause.” – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph

• Is the tech giant who gave Blair £257m in line for huge ID card contract? – Mail on Sunday
• Nothing to hide? Innocent have plenty to fear from Sir Keir’s stone-faced digital Stasi – Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday

News in brief

• Labour is right to build new towns in Poundbury style – Nicholas Boys Smith, UnHerd
• What is Putin’s game? – Simon Diggins, The Spectator
• Starmer’s immigration admission can’t mask long-term failures – Henry Hill, UnHerd
• How Net Zero is weakening the West – Maurice Cousins, The Critic
• Trump on tour – Harry Phibbs, Foundation for Economic Education
• Labour’s ‘Britcard’ will leave us less free and less British – Jasleen Chaggar, CapX