News Round-Up

• “Burnham starts lurching Britain Left with Labour ‘coronation’ speech” – Andy Burnham has been unveiled as winner of the bizarre one-candidate contest at an event in London, watched by fawning would-be Cabinet ministers, reports James Tapsfield in the Mail.
• “Beware the most Left-wing government for 50 years” – Burnham’s promise to upend the longstanding economic settlement is either a threat or a potentially catastrophic hostage to fortune, writes Tom Harris in the Telegraph.
• “Welcome to Burnham’s world: a farrago of nonsense,…” – Even given the low bar set by recent prime ministers, Burnham’s first speech as Labour leader was shockingly poor, says Allister Heath in the Telegraph.
• “Ditching PMs when things go wrong is a bad habit” – Labour chose a leader too weak to face the challenges of the age, so the price for pivoting to Burnham feels low, notes Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Burnham bounce? Poll finds Labour neck-and-neck with Reform” – Survation research released as the former Greater Manchester Mayor became leader found the party’s support has surged five points in the past month, reveals James Tapsfield in the Mail.
• “Rayner lined up as Burnham’s Health Secretary” – The former Deputy Prime Minister is tipped for a political comeback to push through a radical £18 billion social care plan under Andy Burnham, reports the Telegraph.
• “Was Never Here Keir the worst PM of my political life?” – In the Telegraph, Camilla Tominey argues that Keir Starmer’s tenure as Prime Minister stands as a uniquely dispiriting chapter in modern British political life – with stiff competition for the title.
• “Has Labour lumbered us with another thudding bore in Andy Burnham?” – Andy Burnham’s maiden speech as Labour leader at London’s Congress House – that retro temple to union power – did little to dispel fears of more of the same, writes Quentin Letts in the Mail.
• “Government signs off £153 million for country that won’t take gang boss back” – Ministers have approved £153 million in aid for Pakistan despite the country’s continued refusal to accept the return of Rochdale grooming gang boss Shabir Ahmed, reveals Jason Groves in the Mail.
• “Stop Pakistan’s foreign aid until it takes back rapist, say MPs” – Reform and other MPs are demanding Labour halt all foreign aid to Pakistan and impose visa sanctions until Rochdale grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed is returned to the country, says the Telegraph.
• “Pakistan and Shabir Ahmed are laughing at Britain” – In the Spectator, Brendan O’Neill argues that the case of Rochdale rape-gang leader Shabir Ahmed – released from prison and now sheltered by Pakistan – grows more enraging by the day.
• “The law is preventing the UK from controlling its borders” – A new High Court judgement has made it even harder to deport illegal migrants, writes Luke Gittos in Spiked.
• “Albanian burglar who cannot be deported feeds his dogs wads of banknotes on Instagram” – An Albanian burglar fighting deportation has flaunted his wealth by posting a video of himself feeding wads of banknotes to his dogs, reports the Telegraph.
• “MP cleared of assaulting women at Groucho Club” – Tory MP Patrick Spencer has been cleared of sexually assaulting two women at London’s Groucho Club after footage showed him walking up behind them, says the Telegraph.
• “Tory MP Patrick Spencer weeps as he’s cleared of sex assault” – Patrick Spencer wept and hugged his wife after a jury found him not guilty of sexually assaulting two women at the exclusive Groucho Club, writes Cameron Charters in the Mail.
• “Police chief behind Maccabi Tel Aviv row handed £57,000 payout” – The West Midlands police chief at the centre of a row over Israeli football fans being banned from a match received a £57,800 payout after leaving the force, says the Telegraph.
• “Trump accuses China of rigging 2020 election” – Donald Trump has claimed Beijing stole 220 million voter files in what he called the “largest compromise of election data in history”, writes the Telegraph.
• “Khan is a terrible mayor – no wonder Starmer has given him the Lords” – In the Telegraph, Stephen Pollard argues that Sir Sadiq Khan’s record running London has been so abysmal that his elevation to the Lords by Keir Starmer speaks volumes about both men.
• “As a Jewish student at King’s College London, I’m being silenced” – In the Telegraph, Tali Smus writes that from her very first day at King’s College London she was made to understand that being Jewish is acceptable only so long as she stands on the “right side of history”.
• “C of E shamefully opens the door to antisemitism” – The Church of England is accused of shamefully enabling antisemitism, says Bepi Pezzulli in the Conservative Woman.
• “Mother of Vickrum Digwa jailed for assisting an offender” – Kiran Kaur, whose son Vickrum Digwa stabbed student Henry Nowak to death in Southampton, has been jailed after taking the murder weapon from the scene and hiding it, reports the Mail.
• “More than 600,000 Britons ‘too fat to work’” – Researchers warn that worklessness caused by obesity is having a significant effect on the British economy, notes the Telegraph.
• “Shut up about your disability” – In the Spectator, Michael Simmons argues that the claim that one in four Britons is disabled is a statistic so obviously at odds with reality that it demands challenge, yet government, doctors, charities and benefits assessors have all adopted it as fact.
• “Left-wing group deletes article branding Widdecombe ‘homophobic’” – Hope Not Hate has quietly scrubbed a web page accusing Ann Widdecombe of a “long history” of homophobia, reports the Telegraph.
• “It’s time the Tory party got properly nasty again” – In the Spectator, Lionel Shriver argues that the Conservatives must rediscover their core principles and stop competing with Labour over who can be more accommodating to the Left.
• “Will assisted dying be Macron’s final legacy?” – France’s National Assembly has passed an assisted dying bill by 291 votes to 241, exposing a deep ideological fracture between progressives and traditionalists, writes Gavin Mortimer in the Spectator.
• “The idea that meat is bad for the climate has just been debunked” – New research suggests livestock farming may be far less damaging to the planet than Net Zero puritans have insisted, says Andrew Orlowski in the Telegraph.
• “Is wind power partly to blame for near-blackouts?” – Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho has revealed that grid operators failed to meet necessary standards during the 34°C heatwave on June 23rd, raising fresh questions about the reliability of wind power, reports the Mail.
• “Scandal engulfs Britain’s electricity grid” – The National Energy System Operator, which keeps power flowing across Britain every minute of every day, has become embroiled in controversy, reports the Telegraph.
• “Miliband-backed pipeline ‘risks engulfing town in deadly gas’” – A 125-mile Net Zero pipeline backed by Ed Miliband could put an East Midlands town at risk of suffocating gas leaks, says the Telegraph.
• “‘Peace is not really an option anymore’: youth nihilism and the education system’s failure to teach cognitive sovereignty” – On his Substack, C.J. Strachan argues that an education system neglecting cognitive sovereignty leaves young people unable to endure political disappointment without descending into despair.
• “Tuchel says keeping the ball is not in England’s DNA” – Despite having an abundance of ball-playing talent at his disposal, Thomas Tuchel insists that possession football does not come naturally to England, writes the Telegraph.
• “Tuchel criticises the DNA of England’s players after World Cup exit” – Under fire for his substitutions and tactical decisions during the semi-final defeat to Argentina in Atlanta, Tuchel has vowed to stay on for the Euros despite the backlash, reports Craig Hope in the Mail.
• “Here he is David Davis MP” – David Davis uses parliamentary privilege to skewer Nicola Sturgeon and her fraudster husband in the House of Commons.

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