Absolutely Not The Daily Troll-o-Graph

  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...

Kemi Badenoch has announced that she would abolish inheritance tax on family homes if the Tories win the next election.  Daily Telegraph - 07/10/26 Kemi Badenoch has announced that she would abolish inheritance tax on family homes if the Tories win the next election.  The Conservative leader told her party’s annual conference that she would legislate “so nobody will ever pay inheritance tax on their family home”.  To rapturous applause from the Tory faithful, she also revealed she would allow a couple to hand £1m to their children tax-free on top of the value of their home. Mrs Badenoch said the changes would cut the number of families paying inheritance tax by more than half, and added that her ambition was to abolish death duties “altogether as soon as we can afford it”. “Inheritance tax was supposed to be a tax on the super-wealthy,” she said. “Instead, it is now a tax on ordinary, middle-class families in every corner of the country. “We understand why putting roots d...

There’s a sordid reason why the PM castigates Israel while cosying up the UAE, which faces its own accusations of complicity in genocide Daily Telegraph 05/10/26 There’s nothing like a Biblical misquote to get the week off to a fine start: “By their friends shall ye know them,” as the gospel of Matthew didn’t quite say. But it’s a truism that can be applied productively across both business and politics. Similarly, the identity of those whom politicians have decided are their opponents can be a useful signpost as to the direction of a government. In the case of this Labour government, Israel has been repeatedly identified as the bad guy in foreign policy terms , a breathtakingly cynical conclusion which ministers hope will make it easier to appeal to a key demographic of voters. A swathe of Cabinet ministers face tough re-election battles in constituencies with large Muslim populations, which goes a long way towards explaining why Andy Burnham has sought to appease campaigners who fals...

  The Left needs to take a deep look at itself Daily Telegraph 04/10/26 I’m glad that the pretence that the Left aren’t Jew-haters is over. They can no longer bother with the crying that it was just Netanyahu they despised. Or just “the genocide” they abhorred. The full-throated support for the Green Party’s motion that “Zionism is Racism” is them showing how much they hate Jews with their chests out. They are proud of it. Yes, they are proud of their nasty anti-Semitism . So sickening. But at least there is now sunlight on their obsession. No two-state solution for this lot: nothing less than the eradication of Israel “by any means necessary”. Self determination for the Palestinians but not for the Jews. The Green Party’s leaders and MPs have belatedly wrung their hands about what has happened to their party. “I am deeply saddened the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion has passed,” their MP Adrian Ramsay meekly bleated. “It doesn’t reflect Green principles or my own view.” Weak. Usele...

  Thatcher’s policy did not result in cultural transformation, but statutorily mandated unfairness Daily Telegraph 04/10/26 Giving council tenants the right to buy their own council house was one of Margaret Thatcher’s great reforms. The Housing Act of 1980 gave millions the opportunity to own their own home for the first time. Even more significantly, it marked a significant unpicking of the post-1945 Clement Attlee settlement, the collectivist consensus that by 1979 had laid Britain low. Now Andy Burnham’s Government is dismantling Right to Buy . In his Labour Party conference speech last week, the Prime Minister announced an expansion of council house building and his intention to “reform Right to Buy. Not taking the right away from anyone in an existing home. But removing it from the new homes we build so they are there for generations to come”. This may well be a step towards its complete removal for all new social tenants in new-builds or otherwise. This comes on top of what ...

  No 10 reveals plan for MPs to vote on policy during this parliament, despite Prime Minister pledging to keep it until 2030 Daily Telegraph 02/10/26 Andy Burnham plans to pass a law scrapping the triple lock before the next election. Despite the Prime Minister having previously said the policy would remain in its current form until 2030, No 10 has said MPs will vote on plans to reform it before the election. Mr Burnham announced his intention to abandon the commitment to link state pension rises to inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent to fund free social care in his speech at Labour Conference on Tuesday. He pledged to end the triple lock following the next election, set to take place in 2029, at which point he would adjust it. But No 10 has now said the Government willThe announcement sets up a divisive debate in Parliament on the issue, and also means the next election will be a fight over whether other parties would keep Labour’s changes to the triple lock in place. Helen Wh...