Starmer hit by new China spying scandal after brutal PMQs

Labour is too scared of losing Muslim voters to address Islamist extremism.That’s according to Fiyaz Mughal, the counter-terrorism expert who left the Home Office over concerns it was overlooking radicalisation in the Muslim community for fear of appearing Islamophobic.A moderate Muslim himself, Fiyaz tells Camilla that failed integration has bred ghettoisation of Muslim communities, and how a formal definition of Islamophobia will be “misused by malign actors to curtail free speech”.A Home Office spokesman said: “The Government regularly works with external partners and experts to discuss policy ideas, as broad consultation is an important part of responsible policy development.“The UK has one of the most robust counter-terrorism frameworks in the world with the powers needed for the security services and police to keep us safe.”We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shabana Mahmood has announced a host of new anti-immigration measures in Labour’s most radical policy intervention since it came to power.The plans include offering asylum-seeking families up to £40,000 to leave Britain, as well as suspending student visas for four countries over migrants using the system as a backdoor route to claim asylum.Camilla and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg assess the plans, after Mahmood tells Camilla at a press conference that the measures are "not the end of the action that we will take in this area".Elsewhere, Jacob condemns Sir Keir Starmer’s “flip-flopping” on Iran, which led to him being “bullied by his own Cabinet” into his initial decision to not allow US forces to use British bases.We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A fresh China spying scandal has hit Labour after David Taylor, the partner of Joani Reid, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, was arrested on suspicion of assisting Beijing intelligence. Police arrested Mr Taylor along with two other men under the same charges.The arrests followed a bruising encounter for Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs, where Kemi Badenoch branded his response to the Iran war “weak and pathetic”. Camilla Tominey and Tim Stanley review what happened, and express their surprise that Badenoch didn’t make more of Donald Trump’s “not exactly Churchill” criticism.They also speak to Gen Sir Richard Barrons, author of the Government’s 2025 strategic defence review, who says we need to be spending billions more on our military, but the Government is choosing to spend money on welfare instead.We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sir Keir Starmer has been forced into an embarrassing scramble to send a warship to Cyprus, after France announced a major deployment to Mediterranean.Camilla and Tim speak to Labour MP Emily Thornberry, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, who has called the US-Israel strikes on Iran illegal – and tells The Daily T, “you can't attack a country because you don’t like it and because you want it to be different.”Meanwhile, the Chancellor has delivered her Spring Statement, in which she took the opportunity to re-run some of Labour’s most tired attack lines. Tim and Camilla are joined by shadow chancellor Mel Stride and his former party colleague, Reform’s Robert Jenrick, to unpack how Rachel Reeve's rosy-sounding figures are hiding a much darker economic picture.We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump has told The Telegraph that he is “very disappointed” in Sir Keir Starmer, after the Government initially refused the US permission to use UK bases to stage an operation that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.After the PM belatedly gave Trump the go-ahead, Camilla and Tim speak to former chief of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove, who bemoans Starmer’s “flip-flopping” on the issue.While he does not think Iran presents an “imminent nuclear threat”, Sir Richard does believe the Prime Minister forfeited the right to be consulted ahead of time about the joint US-Israeli operation when he took his position. He also believes Mr Trump’s aim may be for Iran to be run by a “more compliant” group of Ayatollahs, rather than complete regime change.We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A resounding win for the Green Party in the Gorton and Denton by-election looks set to cause seismic consequences, with Labour MPs once again questioning Keir Starmer's leadership.Camilla and Tim ask whether the PM should have allowed Andy Burnham to stand and if Labour's disastrous third-place result will speed up an Angela Rayner coronation.They also assess allegations of electoral fraud in the constituency, with reports of “family voting”, and assess Reform’s performance. With Matt Goodwin finishing second with a near 30 per cent vote share, there are reasons to be very optimistic for Nigel Farage.We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s election day in Gorton and Denton, and the polls are so tight it’s impossible to call a winner. The campaign itself has been an ugly one, with each party accusing the other of dirty tricks and the Greens accused of “manipulating” an area with a large Muslim population in an attempt to divide the contest along religious lines. Telegraph columnist Allister Heath decries this “retrograde step towards sectarianism” as a “disaster for democracy”, as elections should be “decided on whether policies are good or bad, not whether you win the demographic war”.Elsewhere, Camilla and Tim reflect on damaging revelations by the Daily Telegraph that reveal a very different picture about Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s final visit to “say goodbye” to Jeffrey Epstein in New York in 2010.We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s PMQs was dominated by the extraordinary arrest of Peter Mandelson, who was detained after police were allegedly warned he was preparing to flee the country by no other than the Speaker of the Commons, Lindsay Hoyle.Camilla and Tim react to the explosive exchanges at PMQs, including Kemi Badenoch’s attack branding Labour the “paedo defender party”, the Tories’ choice to go hard on student debt, and some very obviously planted questions on the Gorton and Denton by-election.And Tim headed to Gorton and Denton ahead of a knife-edge by-election to try (and mostly fail) to track down Zack Polanski, the Greens’ leader.We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Georgia Coan and Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Lord Mandelson’s arrest sends shock waves through Westminster, Sir Keir Starmer is set to face his biggest electoral test yet.It is not just a by-election; it is a referendum on the establishment. This week, all eyes are on Manchester as the Gorton and Denton by-election prepares to deliver a verdict that could redefine the UK’s political map and stick another nail in Labour’s coffin.Camilla and Tim are joined by Scarlett Maguire, pollster and founder of Merlin Strategies, to break down the numbers in what is traditionally a “red wall” fortress, discuss the extraordinary unpopularity of Sir Keir and the potential for a new coalition government.And they catch up with Matt Goodwin, Reform UK’s controversial candidate. The academic-turned-politician discusses his belief that the party will win the seat, the “darker forces” and “sectarianism” he claims his opponents are enabling, his comments on the UK’s fertility crisis and Reform’s push to win over white working-class and minority voters.Producer: Georgia CoanSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If that deeply unflattering photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was not bad enough, there are now more revelations about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The former prince is alleged to have spent taxpayer money on massages and faces questions over his use of RAF jets to meet with the sex offender.The wayward royal could even be removed from the line of succession under potential Government plans.Camilla and Tim ask if, amidst all the scandal, the Prince and Princess of Wales can keep the monarchy relevant, and if Labour’s latest talking point is simply a dead cat strategy to distract from their own failings.Plus, Reform’s “shadow” home secretary has pledged that his party will create a British version of ICE and slap visa bans on six countries if they get into government. But while Zia Yusuf also promised to protect churches and Christianity, Tim asks: is his message on immigration un-Christian?We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Georgia Coan and Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.