In a boost for Andy Burnham, Sagal Abdi-Wali will succeed Sir Keir Starmer in the north London seat Daily Telegraph 09/10/26 The Labour Party has held onto Holborn and St Pancras in a by-election boost for Andy Burnham’s premiership. Sagal Abdi-Wali, the Labour candidate, beat Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader, by 3,364 votes in Sir Keir Starmer’s former constituency. After the defeat , Mr Polanski insisted he would not resign as leader, saying the contest had been “an opportunity to present Green Party values”. He is under mounting internal pressure over his leadership after the Greens lost ground in the polls and activists backed a motion at the annual party conference declaring “Zionism is racism”. Ms Abdi-Wali won with 45 per cent of the vote compared with the Green Party leader’s 32.7 per cent. Turnout was 38.8 per cent, down from 54.1 per cent at the 2024 general election. The Conservatives were a distant third on 1,922 votes with Reform UK fourth on 1,612. Ms Abdi-W...
Labour’s student politics are jeopardising a vital security partnership. We are on the same side in the fight against Islamist terror Daily Telegraph 08/10/26 As Israel marked the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks , it did so in the certain knowledge that the country has emerged from the trauma of the worst terrorist attack in its history by becoming the Middle East’s undisputed military superpower. The Israelis have not only succeeded in destroying the Hamas terrorist infrastructure that enabled legions of fanatical jihadis to storm across their southern border and massacre around 1,200 people, while taking an additional 251 captives. They have also achieved the impressive feat of waging war on a number of fronts simultaneously. Not only have they played a prominent role in the Trump administration’s conflict with Iran, but they have conducted highly effective military campaigns of their own against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen . What makes...