Political correspondent Aletha Adu explores whether the Conservative party under Kemi Badenoch is about to become, once again, the UK’s leading party on the right. Send your comments and questions to tif.questions@theguardian.com What makes Kemi Badenoch one of the most popular party leaders in the UK? And can she drag the Tory party back with her? For two years, the momentum on the British right has been only with one party – Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. But recently, something has begun to change. Polls currently have the Conservatives and Reform neck-and-neck. Continue reading...
Are the Tories back? - podcast
Source: The Guardian
Original reporting
The Guardian: read the full reportRelated stories
The Guardian
Everyone hates Oxford Street. Will pedestrianisation save it?
In a few days the busiest shopping street in Europe will be closed to traffic. The hope is that an unloved and polluted thoroughfare will turn into somewhere that people actually want to spend time In February, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced that Britain’s best-known thoroughfare, Oxford Street, would be pedestrianised. To the surprise of every Londoner that I have spoken to in the past few months, it is actually happening. On Monday 26 October, the busiest shopping street in Europe – or, precisely, half of its 1.2-mile stretch – will be closed to traffic, putting an end to several decades of bitter arguments, obstructions and delays. Cars, lorries, vans, taxis, buses, bicycles, ebikes, scooters will be banned. Nothing but pedestrians (and emergency vehicles) will be allowed in. This change will mark the most remarkable transformation to the streetscape of central London sinc
NPR Politics
The Justice Department begins notifying counties where it wants to monitor elections
The department has long deployed election monitors, but the Trump administration's unprecedented steps to try to wrestle control over elections have led to new concerns about DOJ monitoring this year.
The Guardian
Royal Navy lacks resources to counter Russian threat in high north, MPs warn
Committee cites shortfalls of submarines and warships and says ‘dramatic progress’ needed by end of decade Britain risks failing to deter future Russian aggression in the high north beyond the UK because of shortfalls in the number and availability of Royal Navy submarines and warships, MPs on the defence select committee have said. The committee focused on the slow deployment of HMS Dragon to Cyprus this spring, declining numbers of frigates, and reports that all five Astute-class attack submarines were in dock this summer as evidence of a navy under-resourced for the threat. Continue reading...
The Guardian
Aneurin Bevan’s personal security file was ‘remarkably tame’ – National Archives
Some in UK’s security services questioned why Welsh Labour firebrand was of interest Aneurin “Nye” Bevan, the Welsh Labour firebrand who spearheaded the creation of the NHS, was monitored by security services for more than two decades, though his personal file was “remarkably tame”, according to official files released to the public. Bevan came to MI5’s attention in the 1930s over concerns about his links with known communists, papers released to the National Archives show. Monitoring continued even after he became a minister in the postwar Labour government that created the NHS. Continue reading...
NPR Politics
California gas prices have long plagued Democratic candidates. This year is different
Gas prices in California continue to be the highest in the nation, but the war in Iran has given California Democrats a rare opportunity to turn the tables on the issue.
NPR Politics
A GOP congressman voted to cut Medicaid. It covers 62% of his district. Can he win?
Republican U.S. Rep. David Valadao is fighting for reelection in central California. Six in 10 residents of his district are covered by Medicaid, which he voted to cut last year.