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UK politics: New leader of Reform UK in Wales named after defeating rival by just two votes – as it happened
Source: The Guardian
Original reporting
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The Guardian
Another day, another Reform Wales leader. Grumpy Nige seems to miss the old one | John Crace
At a low-key event, Helen Jenner replaces Dan Thomas, who was arrested on suspicion of assault and gets warm words from Farage Twenty-five or so Reform members of the Senedd were lined up against a wall. Almost as if they were in a police identification parade. Reform’s need to find a new leader in Wales is becoming habit-forming. First, Nathan Gill was banged up for 10 and a half years on eight counts of taking £40K in bribes to make statements in support of Russia. Easily done. Who among us hasn’t been tempted by the Kremlin? And then last week, Dan Thomas chose to stand down after being arrested on suspicion of assault and coercive behaviour , leaving the Welsh leadership spot open once more. He denies the allegations. Continue reading...
The Guardian2 outlets
Helen Jenner unveiled as Reform UK’s new leader in Wales after arrest of Dan Thomas
Nigel Farage dismisses loss of previous leader as ‘bump in the road’ and says party will ‘carry on as if nothing has happened’ Nigel Farage dismissed the loss of Reform UK’s leader in Wales last week as a “bump in the road” as the party unveiled a replacement. Helen Jenner replaces Dan Thomas, who stood down last Tuesday after he was arrested on suspicion of assault and controlling or coercive behaviours. Continue reading...
The Guardian
Britain loves its underdogs. We should be celebrating our Eurovision flops, not investigating them
The digital, culture, media and sport select committee is to explore why the UK’s entrants are frequently ‘dismal’. Surely such a trifling matter is not worthy of the House of Commons The State of Play inquiry, which is run by the UK House of Commons’ digital, culture, media and sport select committee, recently announced the five areas on which it will focus in 2026-27. One of these is: why are our Eurovision entries so bad? The word used by the chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage, was “dismal” , which is parliamentary speak for “shit”. The evidence is all around. With the exceptions of Sam Ryder (second in 2022) and Jade Ewen (fifth in 2009), the UK has bumped along the bottom of the table in recent years, coming last in 2021 and 2026, second last in 2023 and 19th and 18th in 2025 and 2024 respectively. In four of those cases, the artist received no public votes at all. Continue reading...
BBC Politics
I've got no ceiling on Lib Dem ambitions, says leader Ed Davey
The Lib Dem leader also backed the controversial Jackdaw gas field, which the government is expected to approve.
The Guardian
Can Andy Burnham pull off the ‘Mamdani effect’ on Donald Trump? – podcast
The UK prime minister will meet the US president for the first time in New York on Tuesday. With Trump at his weakest in the polls, could this be a perfect moment for Burnham to charm the president and avoid a very public political spat? Pippa and Kiran discuss what the two leaders might discuss in policy terms, and some of the potential high-risk issues Please keep sending your comments and questions to Pippa and Kiran on politicsweeklyuk@theguardian.com Watch this episode and subscribe to our YouTube channel here Continue reading...
The Guardian
Ben Jennings on the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton – cartoon
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