James Cleverly to return to Conservative front bench as Kemi Badenoch makes shadow cabinet reshuffle
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. James Cleverly will return to the Conservative frontbench as Kemi Badenoch reshuffles her shadow cabinet on Tuesday.
Cleverly, the former home and foreign secretary, who unsuccessfully stood to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader, is an MP for Braintree and has used his position from the backbenches to warn his party against following a Reform style populist agenda.
It is not clear what position Cleverly will be appointed to but a Conservative source said it would be a “prominent” one on the frontbenches.
The source said:
The Leader of the Opposition will be making some changes to her frontbench team today.
The changes reflect the next stage of the party’s policy renewal programme and underline the unity of the party under new leadership.
Sir James Cleverly is expected to return in a prominent frontbench role to take the fight to this dreadful Labour government.
A full list of the changes Badenoch is making to her top team will be released this afternoon. There is deep dissatisfaction among the Tory ranks with what some MPs have described as Badenoch’s lackluster performance as leader of the opposition. This sense is also reflected in opinion polls, with the Conservatives often trialling way behind Reform (first place) and Labour (second place).
As my colleague Peter Walker notes in this story, Cleverly recently set out a broad policy pitch for the Conservatives similar to that of Badenoch, based around lower taxes and a smaller state, plus less regulation, reduced migration and more housebuilding, although he did argue that departure from the European convention on human rights, as raised by Badenoch, was not a “silver bullet” on migration and asylum.
Here is the agenda for the day:
Morning. Foreign secretary David Lammy on broadcast rounds.
0930. Latest homelessness figures for England from the housing ministry.
1130. Nigel Farage press conference at Royal Welsh Agricultural Show.
14:00. Rachel Reeves before Economic Affairs Committee for annual scrutiny session.
Key events
Dan Sabbagh
An attempt by three former MPs to force the UK government to hold an inquiry into the impact of Russian disinformation on the Brexit vote and other recent elections has failed at the European court of human rights.
The Strasbourg court ruled on Tuesday that countries had a “wide margin” in determining how to tackle attempts at electoral interference, and ruled against a case brought by Ben Bradshaw, Caroline Lucas and Alyn Smith.
Though the seven judges on the court held “there were undoubtedly shortcomings” in the UK’s initial response to allegations of Russian interference into the 2016 referendum, the deficit was made up for subsequently.
They noted that there had been two inquiries in the UK, including the Russia report by the intelligence and security committee in 2020, and a succession of legislation, including the National Security Act 2023, as a response to the issue.
“While the applicants have criticised these measures as ‘too little, too late’, the measures nevertheless appear to address the points raised by the applicants,” concluded the judges in a ruling released on Tuesday morning.
Russia has been accused repeatedly of trying to influence western elections in the Kremlin’s interest, including the hack of sensitive Democratic party emails in July 2016, before Donald Trump’s first election as president.
Ed Argar has quit as shadow health secretary, citing a “health scare”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said she was “saddened” that Argar feels “unable to continue” in his position, but agreed “that you must put your health first”.
In a letter to the party leader dated 9 July and shared by Badenoch on X on Tuesday, Argar said: “I had a health scare earlier this summer and remain grateful to the doctors and hospital staff who looked after me.”
He added: “I have been well looked after, but have also listened to what the doctors said to me, and have listened to my family, and have concluded that lightening my frontbench workload over the coming months, in order to complete my recovery and fully restore my health in that period, is the sensible approach.”
Jessica Elgot
The UK foreign secretary has said he is “appalled, sickened” by the “grotesque” targeting of starving Palestinians seeking food by the Israeli military, saying there would be further sanctions if the war did not end soon.
Israel on Monday launched air raids and a ground operation in Gaza, targeting Deir al-Balah, the main hub for humanitarian efforts. Military action over the weekend resulted in the highest death toll in almost two years as Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 93 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire as they were queueing for food.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, David Lammy said he deeply regretted that it was not within the UK’s unilateral power to end the war and insisted, despite criticism from human rights groups, that there were no arms licences issued by the UK that could be used in Gaza and that RAF surveillance flights did not share intelligence with the Israeli military.
The UK has joined 27 other countries, including Australia, Canada and France, in condemning Israel for depriving Palestinians of “human dignity”, and urging the Israeli government to lift restrictions on the flow of aid, arguing that the suffering of civilians had “reached new depths”.
Rights groups including Amnesty International called the statement “empty words” and said all arms exports must be halted whether direct or indirect, including components for F-35 fighter jets.
Asked why there were still more than 300 licences in operation, Lammy said: “We have suspended arms sales that can be used in Gaza. I’m satisfied that we are not in any way complicit in a breach of international humanitarian law. That’s the sober undertaking that I take as foreign secretary.”
Robert Booth
The UK government is planning to ban public bodies from paying ransoms to computer hackers, and private companies will be required to inform authorities if they plan to cave into cash demands.
The stance, announced on Tuesday by the Home Office security minister, Dan Jarvis, is intended to send a message to international cybercriminals “that the UK is united in the fight against ransomware”. It follows crippling ransomware attacks on the British Library in 2023 and NHS hospitals in London last summer.
The government said almost three-quarters of responses to a consultation backed the proposal and that “public sector bodies and operators of critical national infrastructure, including the NHS, local councils and schools, would be banned from paying ransom demands to criminals”.
Industry estimates suggest ransomware criminals received more than $1bn (£741m) from their victims globally in 2023. But Alan Woodward, a leading computer security expert at the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security, said UK public authorities are not known to pay ransoms.
He said the latest measures appeared aimed at signalling the refusal to pay more clearly to hackers around the world, which include regular offender networks like LockBit and Evil Corp.
“Some of the criminals may not know this and so communicating this could be valuable in that hackers will read that there is no point in attacking,” Woodward said. “I am not sure it will change anything in practice, but it puts everyone on notice so there can be no confusion.”
UK borrowing rises more than expected as debt interest costs soar
The UK government borrowed more than expected in June amid speculation the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will need to raise taxes at the autumn budget to repair the public finances.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed public sector net borrowing rose to £20.7bn, up by £6.6bn from the same month a year earlier to reach the second-highest June borrowing figure since monthly records began in 1993.
City economists had forecast borrowing – the difference between public spending and income – to increase to £16.5bn.
The ONS said the escalating cost of providing public services and a large increase in servicing the government’s outstanding debts outstripped rising income from taxes and national insurance contributions.
Interest charges on central government debt rose by £8.4bn to £16.4bn from a year earlier, the second-highest June level on records back to 1997, driven by higher index-linked gilt costs after a rise in the retail prices index measure of inflation.
You can read the full story here and follow our business live blog for the latest updates on the projected tax rises after the UK borrowing jump.
UK strikes deal with private investors to build £38bn Sizewell C nuclear power plant
The construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk will cost around £38 billion, the government has announced as it struck a deal with a group of private investors.
The Sizewell C project in Suffolk will be jointly funded by Canadian pension fund La Caisse, UK energy firm Centrica and Amber Infrastructure.
The previous estimated cost for the project was £20bn, but Julia Pyke, the joint managing director of Sizewell C, said the earlier projections did not account for inflation or risk.
The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, signed the final investment decision to give the development the green light.
He said:
It is time to do big things and build big projects in this country again – and today we announce an investment that will provide clean, homegrown power to millions of homes for generations to come.
This government is making the investment needed to deliver a new golden age of nuclear, so we can end delays and free us from the ravages of the global fossil fuel markets to bring bills down for good.
You can read more about the government’s deal for the nuclear plant here.
David Lammy has been interviewed on Good Morning Britain about Gaza. Here are the main takeaways from what he told Ed Balls:
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Lammy said the “grotesque spectacle of kids holding out their hand for food and being shot and killed as they wait” offends the “public consciousness” of the “global community”, which Israel is now putting itself beyond.
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Lammy said he has sanctioned ministers in the Israeli government, broken off discussions on a new free trade agreement and left the possibility open for further actions and sanctions if Israel does not change its “behaviour”.
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Lammy said much of the responsibility rests with Hamas, but Israel has to accept responsibility for the “loss of life and the lack of human dignity” we are seeing across the Strip because it controls access to Gaza and the humanitarian aid system.
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Lammy said once the Knesset – the Israeli parliament – rises on 28 July then we are more likely to see a US/Qatar/Egypt brokered ceasefire come into effect.
David Lammy ‘appalled’ and ‘sickened’ by Israel’s conduct in Gaza
The UK and 27 other nations yesterday condemned the Israeli government and military for its “unacceptable” conduct in Gaza.
David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, joined ministers from Australia, Canada and France in urging Israel to lift restrictions on the flow of aid, arguing the suffering of civilians had “reached new depths”.
Lammy has been asked by BBC breakfast this morning for his personal reaction to the horrifying scenes in Gaza, where hungry and desperate Palestinian people are regularly killed by the Israeli military while trying to collect aid or sheltering from bombardments.
He said:
I feel the same as the British public: appalled, sickened. I described what I saw, yesterday in Parliament, as grotesque.
These are not words that are usually used by a foreign secretary who is attempting to be diplomatic, but when you see innocent children holding out their hand for food, and you see them shot and killed in the way that we have seen in the last few days, of course Britain must call it out.
Of course Britain must lead others in the statement, as I did yesterday, to call it out.
Of course we must get on the phone and we must urge Israel to think again, as I did again yesterday.
We will continue to pressure, we will continue to act, we will continue to urge this Israeli government to listen to 83% of its public who are urging them now to move to a ceasefire so those hostages can come out.
More than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis and the entire population is at risk of famine, according to food security experts.
Israel imposed a total aid blockade for 11 weeks starting in March, and the trickle of food, fuel and medical supplies allowed in since May has not relieved extreme hunger.
James Cleverly to return to Conservative front bench as Kemi Badenoch makes shadow cabinet reshuffle
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. James Cleverly will return to the Conservative frontbench as Kemi Badenoch reshuffles her shadow cabinet on Tuesday.
Cleverly, the former home and foreign secretary, who unsuccessfully stood to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader, is an MP for Braintree and has used his position from the backbenches to warn his party against following a Reform style populist agenda.
It is not clear what position Cleverly will be appointed to but a Conservative source said it would be a “prominent” one on the frontbenches.
The source said:
The Leader of the Opposition will be making some changes to her frontbench team today.
The changes reflect the next stage of the party’s policy renewal programme and underline the unity of the party under new leadership.
Sir James Cleverly is expected to return in a prominent frontbench role to take the fight to this dreadful Labour government.
A full list of the changes Badenoch is making to her top team will be released this afternoon. There is deep dissatisfaction among the Tory ranks with what some MPs have described as Badenoch’s lackluster performance as leader of the opposition. This sense is also reflected in opinion polls, with the Conservatives often trialling way behind Reform (first place) and Labour (second place).
As my colleague Peter Walker notes in this story, Cleverly recently set out a broad policy pitch for the Conservatives similar to that of Badenoch, based around lower taxes and a smaller state, plus less regulation, reduced migration and more housebuilding, although he did argue that departure from the European convention on human rights, as raised by Badenoch, was not a “silver bullet” on migration and asylum.
Here is the agenda for the day:
Morning. Foreign secretary David Lammy on broadcast rounds.
0930. Latest homelessness figures for England from the housing ministry.
1130. Nigel Farage press conference at Royal Welsh Agricultural Show.
14:00. Rachel Reeves before Economic Affairs Committee for annual scrutiny session.