The former health secretary was giving a talk at Eton, the elite private school, when he took a jab at his Conservative colleague.
According to The Times Diary, Hancock joked about how Rees-Mogg was “not a good politician” – seemingly unaware Rees-Mogg’s son, Peter, was in the audience.
Pupils were later given the chance to ask questions, and the 16-year-old reportedly stood up and insisted his father was a great man in public and in private. He added: “Especially as he remained loyal to his wife.”
Hancock was married with three children when he embarked on an affair with aide Gina Coladangelo.
He was forced to quit as health secretary after video footage emerged of them kissing in his office in breach of the social distancing rules he had set during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rees-Mogg senior told The Telegraph: “I think Peter was brave to stand up in front of hundreds of boys to take on a senior figure.
“It shows backbone and from my point of view admirable loyalty.”
A friend of Hancock’s told HuffPost UK: “Matt thoroughly enjoyed the evening and the sparring with some very impressive boys.”
Jess Phillips has called for the UK government to take violence against women more seriously than the crackdown on small boats crossing the English Channel as she once again read out a list of names of women killed by men in the last year.
For the ninth year, the Labour MP named before parliament every woman killed in the UK in the last 12 months where the primary suspect or known killer was a man. She told the Commons the “epidemic of violence against women and girls has not abated”.
It took around five minutes to read out more than 100 names.
Before reading out the list, Phillips told MPs: “I am tired that women’s safety matters so much less in this place than small boats. I am tired of fighting for systematic change and being given table scraps.
“Never again do I want to hear a politician say that lessons will be learned from abject failure, it is not true. This list is no longer just a testament to these women’s lives, it is a testament to our collective failure.”
The backbench MP, a former shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said that at least half of the women whose names she read out could have been saved.
Phillips spoke during a debate on language in politics on International Women’s Day, and the tribute came on the day a report was published into the murder of Sarah Everard by police officer Wayne Couzens.
According to the bookies, today’s Rochdale by-election is already a done deal.
George Galloway, the former Labour MP who now represents the Workers Party of Britain, is the odds-on favourite to win.
If he does, it will represent another remarkable comeback for one of British politics’s most controversial figures.
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Voters in the Greater Manchester seat began going to the polls from 7am this morning to elect a successor to Tony Lloyd, the veteran Labour MP who died of leukaemia in January.
Lloyd, who had been the constituency’s MP since 2017, was re-elected in 2019 with a majority of 9,668.
All things being equal, the by-election would have been a safe Labour hold. But, in an unprecedented move, the party withdrew support for its own candidate, Azhar Ali, after recordings emerged of him making anti-Israel comments at a community meeting.
Because it was too late to replace him on the ballot paper, Ali is still officially Labour’s candidate even though, if he wins, he will sit as an independent MP and will not stand for the party at the general election.
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Labour’s difficulty has become Galloway’s opportunity. The Dundee-born left-winger aims to capitalise on his former party’s turmoil over the war in Gaza to become Rochdale’s new MP.
A voter arrives at a polling station in the Rochdale by-election.
Christopher Furlong via Getty Images
Galloway was first elected to parliament as the Labour MP for Glasgow Hillhead in 1987, a seat he held until 2005.
By that time, however, he was no longer a Labour member, having been expelled from the party two years previously over his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war.
At the 2005 general election, he was elected the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, defeating Labour’s Oona King in the process.
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After losing his seat in 2010, Galloway returned to parliament again in 2012 when he won the Bradford West by-election.
Once again, he was defeated at the subsequent general election in 2015 and, after unsuccessful attempts to become London mayor and a member of the Scottish Parliament, he is once again on the verge of becoming an MP.
Another curiosity of the Rochdale by-election is that is is being contested by no fewer than three former Labour politicians – Azhar Ali (who is a councillor in Wigan), Galloway and Simon Danczuk, who represented the seat for Labour between 2010 and 2017 and is standing for Reform UK.
Former Labour MP Simon Danczuk is standing for Reform UK.
Christopher Furlong via Getty Images
The unique circumstances of the contest also make it hard to predict, although there is little doubt that Galloway is now the man to beat.
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One local voter told HuffPost UK: “The Labour vote isn’t just going to go to Galloway.
“The idea that George will also get all of the Muslim vote is just not true. And Muslim voters only make up around 20% of the electorate, so it’s hard to call. It will all depend on turnout.”
George Galloway has made the war in Gaza the central theme of his campaign.
James Speakman – PA Images via Getty Images
Galloway has been clear about what his priorities will be should be sent back to the Commons, telling the Manchester Evening News: “On my return – if I’m elected – I’ll begin with, ‘as I was saying, Mr Speaker’, and I’ll ask the prime minister to meet me urgently to hear from the frontline, what millions of British people think about what’s happening in Gaza.
“But my second question will be on the A&E and the maternity services which are now non-existent in Rochdale.”
On Sky News, the veteran MP and the leader of the former Brexit Party had awkward exchanges over Reform UK’s apparent increasing influence.
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The party has received more media coverage in recent weeks following its third place finishes in the Wellingborough and Kingswood by-elections – potentially splitting the Tory vote in future elections – and speculation over the possible defection of Anderson, who was suspended from the Tory parliamentary party after he refused to apologise for saying “Islamists” had “got control of (London mayor Sadiq) Khan and they’ve got control of London”.
The TV exchange got off to an uncomfortable start, with Hodge asking Tice not to “interrupt” her: “Let me put the argument and then I’ll give you plenty of time to respond.”
The former minister then took to task the argument that Reform UK is having an increasing influence on Westminster, pointing out that getting around 10% of the vote in by-elections pales compared to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 1980s: “I think the SDP were picking up much more. They were up at 23%. They never got a seat.”
She went on: “Your great, glorious president, whatever you would call him, he’s had more elections than I’ve had hot dinners and he’s managed to lose every single one.”
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Margaret Hodge tears into Richard Tice(Reform UK);
“Don’t interrupt me… you came 3rd in the one election you stood in… & your great, glorious president or whatever you call him, he’s had more elections than I’ve had hot dinners, & lost every single one.. you’re no threat.” pic.twitter.com/IwQfBv2Fp7
They also clashed over Reform UK’s so-called “contract with you”, in effect a draft manifesto. Tice told Hodge “you clearly haven’t read the contract properly” and “you clearly don’t understand it”, which led to Hodge describing her opponent as “patronising” – and unleashing another attack.
Hello? Police? I’d like to report a murder.
Maybe trying to tell @margarethodge, a woman with 50 years political experience, minister for a decade, then chair of the Public Accounts C’tee, that she can’t read properly and doesn’t understand finance was not the best strategy. ~AA pic.twitter.com/T3ax6QzfbQ
They also went back-and-forth over policing of pro-Palestine protests, with Hodge accusing Tice of being “bloody patronising”.
She added: “Honestly, you really are. I feel a misogynist attack on me in the way (you say) ‘you’re so ill-informed. You don’t know what you’re talking about’. I find that really offensive.”
Rishi Sunak has suggested the UK is descending into “mob rule”, and has urged police to do more to protect Britain’s democracy.
His comment comes amid pro-Palestinian protests that have been held most weekends, drawing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, and growing concern in recent months over MPs’ safety since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
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Last week, parliament descended into chaos as tensions flared over a vote on the Israel-Hamas conflict, with the House of Commons speaker citing “frightening” threats against MPs for a decision to break with usual parliamentary procedure.
But the Conservatives have been accused of deliberately raising tensions.
Ex-Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson had the Tory whip removed over the weekend after he chose not to apologise for saying “Islamists” had “control” over London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim.
Khan accused the Tories of adopting a strategy to “weaponise anti-Muslim prejudice for electoral gain”.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman called the protests “hate marches” and accused police of being too lenient with them.
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The prime minister said a new “democratic policing protocol” would commit to extra patrols and make clear that protests targetting MPs at their homes should be treated as intimidatory.
Speaking to police leaders about the issues around MPs’ safety at a roundtable meeting in Downing Street on Wednesday, Sunak said: “There is a growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule. And we’ve got to collectively, all of us, change that urgently.”
The Tory leader continued: “We also need to demonstrate more broadly to the public that (the police) will use the powers you already have, the laws that you have.
“I am going to do whatever it requires to protect our democracy and our values that we all hold dear.
“That is what the public expect. It is fundamental to our democratic system. And also it is vital for maintaining public confidence in the police.”
New York courts have levied enormous fines against former President Donald Trump in recent weeks. He owes more than $83 million for defaming the writer E Jean Carroll and more than $450 million for his real estate empire’s fraudulent business practices.
No matter how much Trump rails against the courts — so far he has labeled them “absolutely ridiculous” and “a Complete and Total SHAM” — he still needs to figure out what to do about the judgements while he appeals them. And at this point, he doesn’t appear to have the cash on hand.
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If he doesn’t make a plan, he could be forced to fork over the funds, a messy route that New York Attorney General Letitia James has nevertheless said she is prepared to undertake.
James is behind the civil fraud suit against Trump and his business partners that culminated with Judge Arthur Engoron’s whopping February 16 fine of $355 million plus tens of millions in interest, which is accruing at a rate of more than $100,000 per day. A federal civil jury determined the amount of the smaller fine on January 26 in a win for Carroll, who maintains that Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.
In both cases, Trump will need to put up either cash or a bond covering the full amount he owes, plus a little extra, to cover interest while he appeals.
He has until early March to come up with funds for the Carroll case and until March 25 in the fraud case, according to The Washington Post.
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It is not clear what Trump will do; he has not spoken publicly about his plan.
The New York Times estimated that, as of 2023, Trump had at least $350 million at his immediate disposal. (The former president’s net worth — he claims to be a billionaire — is largely rooted in the value of his real estate assets.)
Trump’s likeliest option appears to be securing bonds, although he does not seem to have done this yet.
An attorney for Carroll, Roberta Kaplan, has said she suspects that Trump may actually have a difficult time procuring a bond given how he handled the $5 million fine imposed on him in a related case in 2023. Trump put up cash while he appealed, which Kaplan considered unusual.
“I suspect it’s because he couldn’t get a bond,” she said on a recent episode of the podcast “On with Kara Swisher,” adding, “Whatever questions the bond companies were asking, either he didn’t want to answer or they didn’t like his answers.”
In many cases, an individual can secure a bond by putting up a percentage of the total owed, but the sheer size of the judgments against Trump makes him unique. As does the fact that much of his wealth is tied up in commercial real estate — which is not very desirable in the post-pandemic marketplace.
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“I believe there’s a path for him to get it,” Neil Pedersen, a New York-based bail bondsman, told HuffPost, although he said the size of the bond would be “unprecedented for an individual”.
Trump is going to need to put up “liquid funds either equal to or close to the full amount of the bond”, Pedersen said.
Even then, it is likely to be risky.
“There’s, what, a 50-50 shot that he’s our next president? Let’s say you did extend him credit and you had to enforce an agreement against a sitting president, it’s not an attractive proposition,” Pedersen added.
The Lee Anderson saga that has dominated British politics in recent days has taken an unlikely twist.
Anderson had the Tory whip removed over the weekend after he chose not to apologise for saying “Islamists” had “control” over London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim.
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The incident has escalated into a major row over how the government has handled the issue involving the former Conservative deputy chairman, and raised questions about whether Anderson might defect to Reform UK, formerly known as the Brexit Party.
On Tuesday, GB News reported Anderson has held private one-to-one talks with Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK.
BREAKING on @GBNEWS now, Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson held private ‘one to one’ talks with Richard Tice, the leader of the Reform UK party, at a Holiday Inn hotel, at junction 28 of the M1 in South Normanton, Derbyshire on Sunday, 24 hours after he lost the Tory whip.
GB News political editor, Christopher Hope, reported the summit took place “at a Holiday Inn hotel, at junction 28 of the M1 in South Normanton, Derbyshire on Sunday, 24 hours after he lost the Tory whip”.
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The detailled location had many people on X thinking the same thing – specifically, they recalled the I’m Alan Partridge series set at The Linton Travel Tavern, where Steve Coogan’s character is faced with celebrity purgatory as he pleads for his talk show to be renewed while living “equidistant between Norwich and London”.
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Earlier, Anderson said prime minister Rishi Sunak made a “mistake” in stripping him of the Conservative whip when speaking to Channel 5 News.
On Monday, pressed during a GB News interview on whether he would join Reform UK, Anderson declined to comment but said he had “been on a political journey”.
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He said: “You’ll say Lee Anderson rules out/doesn’t rule out joining the Reform party, so I’m making no comment on my future.”
GB News pays Anderson a £100,000 salary, on top of his £86,584 MP pay, to present a show on its network.
Lee Anderson is unrepentant about comments branded as Islamophobic that led to him being suspended from the Conservative parliamentary party.
Last week, the Tory party’s former deputy chairman said London mayor Sadiq Khan has “given our capital city away to his mates”, and “Islamists” had “got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London”, referring to pro-Palestine protests in the capital in recent weeks.
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The party whip was removed from Anderson after he made the comments on Friday – but Rishi Sunak has since insisted that while his words were “wrong”, Anderson is not “a racist person or an Islamophobic person”.
In an interview with GB News broadcast on Monday, Anderson admitted his language was “clumsy” – but remained fully behind the sentiment.
He told the broadcaster: “I think the party could have given me a little bit more backing, if I’m honest.
“You saw the statement that I produced on Saturday, which I was willing to go with. It’s shown a little bit of contrition in there, although I didn’t directly apologise to Mayor Khan, which I’m not going to, not while I’ve got a breath in my body because the comments I made weren’t racist at all.
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“They keep bandying this word Islamophobia and nobody can explain what it really means.”
After being suspended, Anderson said in a statement: “Following a call with the chief whip, I understand the difficult position that I put both he and the prime minister in. With regard to my comments, I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.
“However, I will continue to support the government’s efforts to call out extremism in all its forms, be that antisemitism or Islamophobia.”
In the GB News interview, he also claimed to have had “lots of support in my WhatsApp, an amazing amount of support”.
When asked whether the support was all Tory MPs, he replied: “Yeah, there’s no Labour MPs.”
Writing in the Evening Standard newspaper, Khan said Anderson’s comments had “poured petrol on the fire” of hatred against Muslims.
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He said some Conservatives were adopting “a deliberate, dangerous political strategy – a strategy to weaponise anti-Muslim prejudice for electoral gain”.
Former President Donald Trump owes a lot of money currently, and a new website will help him and the rest of us keep track of the growing interest on his debts.
The initial verdict ruled that Trump owed $355 million in penalties, but the total is now close to $454 million due to interest. Although he is appealing the ruling, the interest on the debt will continue to accrue at a rate of $112,000 a day until Trump pays up or the amount is changed.
According to the live counter, the former president now owes nearly $465 million as of Monday afternoon.
The website is the brainchild of Pennsylvania-based Democratic strategist Johnny Palmadessa. It also includes a Trump quiz and a chatbot that allows visitors to ask Trump questions that he’ll refuse to answer.
Lee Anderson has been suspended by the Tories after he refused to apologise for claiming Islamists have “got control of” Sadiq Khan.
The party’s former deputy chairman was stripped of the Conservative whip following a furious political backlash to his comments.
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Appearing on GB News on Friday afternoon, Anderson said the London mayor, who is Muslim, had “given our capital city away to his mates”.
Khan described the remarks as “Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist”, while senior Tories also condemned them.
Conservative officials initially tried to defend Anderson, with a party source telling HuffPost UK he “was simply making the point that the mayor … has abjectly failed to get a grip on the appalling Islamist marches we have seen in London recently”.
But this afternoon, a spokesperson for chief whip Simon Hart said: “Following his refusal to apologise for comments made yesterday, the chief whip has suspended the Conservative whip from Lee Anderson.”
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The Ashfield MP later said he accepted the party “had no option” but to take the whip off him.
He said: “Following a call with the chief whip, I understand the difficult position that I have put both he and the prime minister in with regard to my comments.
“I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.
“However, I will continue to support the government’s efforts to call out extremism in all its forms – be that anti-semitism or Islamophobia.”
It is a dramatic fall from grace for Anderson, who was still one of the Tories’ deputy chairs last month.
Just a week later, he said he should have voted for the bill and wanted his old job back.
Responding to the news that he had lost the Tory whip, Labour chair Anneliese Dodds said: “Lee Anderson’s comments were unambiguously Islamophobic, divisive and damaging.
“It is right that he has had the whip removed, but the suggestion that Lee Anderson would have retained the confidence of the prime minister, simply if he apologised, is deeply concerning.
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“These views are wrong, full stop, and there shouldn’t be conditions on removing them from your party.”
Dodds also repeated Labour’s call for Liz Truss to also lose the Tory whip over comments she made at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington DC.
The former prime minister claimed the Financial Times was “friends of the deep state”, which had worked to bring her time in Downing Street to an end.
Dodds said: “Labour is calling on the prime minister to also remove the whip from Liz Truss for her egregious and embarrassing comments about our country on the international stage and if he doesn’t then he is not serious about ridding the Conservatives of radical and dangerous views.”
