Free speech lives here Enjoy journalism that’s proud to share your values Enjoy four months’ free access to The Telegraph. Cancel at any time. | | Angela Rayner pictured vaping on a dinghy at the weekend in Hove | Angela Rayner saved £40,000 in stamp duty on her new seaside flat after telling tax authorities it was her main home, The Telegraph can disclose.
The Deputy Prime Minister is understood to have removed her name from the deeds of her house in Greater Manchester a few weeks before buying an £800,000 seaside flat in Hove, East Sussex.
The changes enabled Ms Rayner to avoid paying £70,000 stamp duty, which would have been applicable if Hove was her second home. Instead she is thought to have paid £30,000 stamp duty, saving her £40,000 in the process.
But she has also told Tameside council in Manchester that her constituency house remains her primary residence and informed Brighton and Hove council that her apartment there was a second home for council tax purposes.
Although the changes are entirely legal, the arrangements will raise questions over whether she has deliberately conducted her property affairs to pay less stamp duty and council tax. A surcharge on stamp duty for second home owners was introduced by the previous Tory government in 2016, the rate of which was raised by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, last October in a move designed to target the wealthy and boost revenue for the Treasury.
Read the full story here ➤ |  | Fiona Parker Senior News Reporter | Tucked into the East Wing of the grand, gothic Royal Courts of Justice, Court 71 is a world away from the notorious Bell Hotel in Epping.
Yet it was here that Yvette Cooper’s legal representatives attempted to overturn an injunction to evict the Bell Hotel’s migrant residents by Sept 12.
Just days ago, protesters in the Essex town rejoiced at news of the eviction.
Those celebrations were cut short when the Home Secretary’s appeal was confirmed.
And last night, the mood soured further as police and protesters who tried to swarm the hotel became tangled in ugly clashes. Earlier in the day, I had sat in a courtroom full to bursting and watched the Home Office’s lawyers argue that closing down the Bell Hotel would interfere with Cooper’s “statutory duty” to provide asylum seekers with accommodation.
But one part of the Home Office’s written submissions stood out like a sore thumb.
The lawyers argued that the two interests at play were not equal. They said that while Epping council’s ability to enforce planning rules was “important”, the Home Secretary was duty-bound to provide accommodation under the European Convention on Human Rights.
They claimed this responsibility trumped the council’s powers to close the hotel, which has been at the centre of protests in recent weeks after an asylum seeker living there was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old schoolgirl.
Asylum seekers’ rights are more important than the concerns of the people of Essex, the Home Office effectively declared.
The panel of three judges said they aim to give their judgment at 2pm today and, just over an hour’s drive away, Epping will be waiting.
Read the full story here ➤ | | David Frost It would represent a massive power grab by the state, basically claiming that all property is theirs – you only get to rent it for a while Continue reading ➤ Robert Tombs Blair is the last person Trump should listen to on the Middle East Continue reading ➤ Rowan Pelling Weight-loss jabs like Mounjaro have turned my middle-class friends into drug fiends Continue reading ➤ | Get the full experience Unlock our award-winning website, app and newsletters Enjoy four months’ free access to The Telegraph. Cancel at any time. | | I had imagined interviewing Sir Chris Bonington thousands of feet up a Himalayan mountain in an ice-blown bivouac, writes Alex Diggins. But Britain’s greatest living mountaineer is now 91, so we had to settle for a nice coffee in a sunny garden close to his Lake District home instead. Yet I still found our meeting gripping and remarkably moving, as Bonington revealed in public for the first time his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
He told me that he can’t remember details of his famous climbs – the friends lost, the peaks summited. His stoicism wasn’t a surprise. After all, this was a man who once climbed down a 7,000m peak in Pakistan with three broken ribs. But what did take me by surprise was his infectious joy and untarnished lust for life. Continue reading ➤ | |  | | Birmingham’s Gravelly Hill Interchange, AKA Spaghetti Junction | | Spaghetti Junction is a marvel of British engineering. It encompasses 73 miles, 175,000 tons of concrete and has 17 junctions of its own. But did you know it also contains a peaceful waterway, myriad wildlife species and that both Sir Cliff Richard and Steven Spielberg have filmed there? We showcase photographer Nick Dawe’s fascinating pictures, taken over recent years underneath the junction and Richard Godwin’s close examination of its secrets. Do you love it … or loathe it? Continue reading ➤ | | | The moment Russian missiles struck the offices of the British Council | | Vladimir Putin has long loathed the British Council, viewing it as a Machiavellian tool wielded by Whitehall’s cunning masterminds to destroy Russia and revive Britain’s imperial might. On Thursday, Russian missiles struck its Kyiv offices. How did a seemingly bland purveyor of British worthiness become recast as a sinister den of espionage? Continue reading ➤ | | | Just a young woman, crying, looking exhausted and overwhelmed. This was the scene Josh Pieters saw after Lily Phillips completed her controversial mission of sleeping with 100 men in one day. Pieters, the Youtuber behind the viral documentary following Phillips’s sex stunt, tells Eleanor Steafel about the emotional aftermath – and his concern about the way it was handled. Continue reading ➤ | | | Kaleb Cooper from Clarkson’s Farm (pictured atop the tractor, left) launched a bursary with the university in his name | | At the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, well-to-do pupils have been wearing their Schöffel waistcoats and pink corduroys whilst getting hands-on with farming for over 170 years. But it’s not all Hooray Henrys set to inherit half of Dorset – applications have risen 11 per cent in the past year due to the “Clarkson effect”. Sophia Money Coutts goes behind the curtain. Continue reading ➤ | | | There’s a new generation of British brands specialising in made-to-order, with prices that are cheaper than you might imagine. It’s the opposite of fast fashion, writes Hannah Rochell. “Having commissioned a few pieces, I can reassure you that you’ll be rewarded with all sorts of benefits that you just can’t get off-the-peg,” she says. Read on for her tips on dipping your toe into bespoke. Continue reading ➤ Below are two more articles I hope you find helpful: | | Film The Roses ★★★★☆ As warring spouses, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch tear strips off each other in this remake of Danny DeVito’s 1989 jet-black comedy The War of the Roses. It’s what we want to see: a vicious duet between virtuosos, in a key of long-repressed matrimonial rage. The heat these two generate is just as dramatic as comic; the depths they supply are the special effects, writes Tim Robey.
(In cinemas now) Books Vegas: A Memoir of a Dark Season by John Gregory Dunne ★★★★★ John Gregory Dunne is best known as having been Joan Didion’s husband. His sudden and fatal heart attack, in 2004 when he was 71, inspired A Year of Magical Thinking, Didion’s account of her grief. But Dunne’s life had almost ended 30 years prior, if Vegas, a superb quasi-memoir that has been newly republished, offers us any clue. After a nervous breakdown, he turned to Sin City. But the sex, filth and depravity he found there only exacerbated his melancholy, writes Roger Lewis. TV King and Conqueror
BBC One ★★☆☆☆ King and Conqueror kicks off with the most fateful meet-cute in British history – the 1066 clash of kings between Harold Godwinson and William the Conqueror. But these two mortal foes have crossed paths already – as the series spells out when they hail each other mid-battle. “William!”, shouts Harold. “Harooold!”, responds William. It’s an unintentionally hilarious moment – rather than duelling monarchs, they sound like mates who know each other from five-a-side football. It isn’t the only time the viewer will be tempted to laugh out loud during this historical drama, writes Ed Power. | Cheesy or cosy? Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
Here’s a confession for you. I have managed to make it to the year 2025 without reading one of Richard Osman’s books. I suspect it’s me, not him. When it comes to thrillers, my tastes remain mired in 2012: give me austere, harrowing Nordic noir. The idea of “cosy crime” – in which, as I imagine it, the murder weapon turns out to be a cupcake – just hasn’t appealed.
But maybe it’s time I ditched my prejudices. In any case, the Osman juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down: the film adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club has just arrived on Netflix. And in response to Jake Kerridge’s article, you’ve been sharing your appreciation.
Stephanie Anderson told how “my first crime books were The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. I devoured them. They were so exciting and, as a child, I could identify with the characters. I am eternally grateful to Enid Blyton for igniting my love of reading.
“I am getting the same thrill now from Richard Osman’s series. I can identify with the protagonists, as they are my age group. The books are largely harmless escapism, but every so often there will be a paragraph that really resonates, and I am taken aback by how well Osman understands old age.”
Lynne Nicholas added: “I loved these books. I also watched David Suchet as Poirot for many years, and enjoyed Rowan Atkinson in Maigret. I wish they would make more television like this: no swearing, no sex – just an entertaining watch.”
Others were more ambivalent, however. One reader wrote: “I’d go with ‘cutie crime’ to describe this type of fiction. There were some good observations about life in older age, but overall it was cheesy, easy reading. I was left loving and loathing the books at the same time.” Are you a cosy crime fan? Let me know here, or join the debate on our Your Say page, exclusively on The Telegraph app. | Make your voice heard Join our journalists in conversation on today’s biggest topics Enjoy four months’ free access to The Telegraph. Cancel at any time. | Plan your day with the telegraph | Set your alarm to catch up with journalists on the Your Say page and listen to their analysis on our latest podcasts.
| | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
The solution to yesterday’s clue was PAROCHIAL. Come back tomorrow for the answer to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow.
Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here. | |
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