Keir Starmer UN speech – live: PM to meet Donald Trump before tonight’s address amid Middle East conflict

Labour’s Tan Dhesi has appeared on the morning media round to defend Sir Keir Starmer after claims emerged he took £20,000 in donations from Lord Alli.

Sir Keir reportedly used a flat from the donor during his son’s GCSE’s and to record a video urging people to work from home during Covid.

Asked whether this was acceptable, the defence select committee chair told Sky News Sir Keir was “fearing for the safety of his family” and worried about his son failing his exams.

But when put to him that the prime minister also stayed during the pandemic, he said: “For me the key thing around the accommodation it is a fact that outside the prime minister’s home there were people camped out.”

Mr Dhesi added: “We do need to bear in mind that the hoome of leader of the opposition at the time was constantly being deluged by protesters, journalists, investigators.

“As the prime minister said, nothing illegal happened and all the rules were followed. I will take him by his word. He is a man of integrity.”

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has declared war on potholes, vowing to use cutting-edge repair technology to battle the “plague”.

Potholes delay journeys, put the lives of drivers and cyclists at risk, and damages vehicles, the government said.

During the general election campaign, Labour pledged to fix an additional one million potholes across England in each year of the next parliament.

Ms Haigh said the state of the nation’s roads had become a “constant and visible reminder of the decline in our country’s infrastructure”.

Last month, new research revealed that concern about the state of local roads had reached record levels.

Some 27 per cent of those questioned in a survey commissioned by the RAC said their vehicle had suffered damage as a result of potholes in the previous 12 months.

During a visit to Blackpool today, the Transport Secretary met road workers and councillors to learn about high-definition imagery technology.

The town’s Project Amber scheme uses an advanced imagery system that takes high-definition pictures of roads to detect potholes and compile data on areas most in need of repair.

It is hoped similar systems can be replicated across the country.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has said she is quitting the Conservative Party in which she was a vocal critic of Islamaphobia.

She posted on X: “It is with a heavy heart that I have today informed my whip and decided for now to no longer take the @Conservatives whip.

“This is a sad day for me. I am a Conservative and remain so but sadly the current Party are far removed from the Party I joined and served in Cabinet.

“My decision is a reflection of how far right my Party has moved and the hypocrisy and double standards in its treatment of different communities. A timely reminder of the issues that I raise in my book Muslims Don’t Matter.”

The Conservative peer had previously criticised Tory leader frontrunner Robert Jenrick after he suggested people who say “Allahu Akbar” should be “immediately arrested”.

She previously wrote on X: “Every day before we start parliamentary business in the Commons and Lords we say a prayer and praise God – we say our parliamentary version of Allah hu Akbars at the heart of democracy – a process Robert Jenrick is a part of.

“This language from Jenrick is more of his usual nasty divisive rhetoric – he is such a tool.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is pictured being interviewed by Andrew Ross Sorkin during CNBC “Squawk Box” financial program on Thursday in New York.

Sir Keir is in New York to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

He had already visited Wall Street standing with Adena Friedman, Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq as he meets the team and family behind BioAge as it starts trading on the Nasdaq

Sir Keir Starmer recorded a Covid-era broadcast urging the public to work from home from a Labour donor’s £18 million penthouse.

The Christmas message, broadcast in December 2021, was reportedly filmed at a flat belonging to Lord Waheed Alli – a donor who has handed hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Labour Party over the last two decades.

Our political correspondent Millie Cooke has the full story:

Chancellor Rachel Reeves and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner were among five cabinet ministers to attend a Labour Party conference fringe event to show solidarity with Israel and the remaining 101 hostages held by Hamas.

Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) on Tuesday evening had one of the most significant and largest turnouts by senior ministers for the entire event, as Palestinian flag-waving protesters remained outside the conference in Liverpool all week.

Our political editor David Maddox has the full story:

Ex-Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has been handpicked by the chair of the party to respond to a debate on free speech at its conference next week.

The Conservative Party conference, which starts in Birmingham on Sunday, is bringing back member debates for the first time in two decades, being trialled out by interim party chair Richard Fuller.

Sir Jacob, who lost the election for the newly created seat of North East Somerset and Hanham in July, said he was “delighted” Mr Fuller was bringing the debates back, and they are about members “taking back control” of the conference.

Members will get the opportunity to take part in the four debates, which will all take place on the conference’s main stage on Monday.

As well as the one on free speech, being responded to by Sir Jacob, there will be a debate on immigration and border control, responded to by shadow foreign minister Paul Holmes; one on building homes and protecting green spaces, which will be responded to by David Simmonds – the shadow minister for housing; and another on growing the economy, which will be responded to by Laura Trott – the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.

Asked how the respondents had been selected, Mr Fuller said: “These are people that I have chosen.”

“I think these are the right people to respond to members on this debate,” he added.

When it comes to seeking advice for my chronic health condition, writes James Moore, I’d rather turn to X/Twitter than my local GP. Wes Streeting is right – things have to change: