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The proposed release of Pc Andrew Harper’s killers provoked outrage from his family, colleagues and the public |
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Tony Diver Political Editor |
Every police chief in Britain has signed an unprecedented joint letter demanding that Andy Burnham do everything possible to stop the early release of Pc Andrew Harper’s killers.
In the letter, 50 chief constables united to tell the Prime Minister to examine “every lawful option” to ensure that Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole serve their full sentences.
Putting further pressure on Burnham to act, they said that “those who serve and protect the public should know that the justice system recognises the risks they take on society’s behalf”.
The fiasco over Pc Andrew Harper’s killers is shaping up to be Burnham’s version of the Southport riots: a criminal justice story in the first days of his administration that just won’t go away.
Yesterday, he about-turned on his previous view that Cole and Bowers, who were convicted of Pc Harper’s manslaughter, should be released early next year.
He said he had asked Alex Norris, the Justice Secretary, to work on “fast-tracking” reforms to the prison system that would allow the Government to keep more people behind bars.
However, there is already deep scepticism about that plan. Ministry of Justice (MoJ) sources told The Telegraph that Burnham was throwing Norris “under the bus” and setting him up to fail.
Another Labour source said there was “frustration” in the MoJ that warnings from officials had gone unheeded in No 10, while Downing Street insisted the problem could be resolved.
With Pc Harper’s colleagues and family now firmly in the spotlight, any about-turn on today’s announcement will be politically painful for Burnham. The Prime Minister is famously sensitive to criticism from victims, but what happens when that instinct collides with reality?
Continue reading ➤ |
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Pieter Snepvangers Political Reporter |
Nigel Farage tells me he is walking between 35,000 and 40,000 steps per day while campaigning in the Clacton by-election. Having spent the morning canvassing with him before polling day tomorrow, I’m not quite sure how that is true.
I don’t mean to suggest that the Reform UK leader, 62, isn’t diligently campaigning in his constituency. Rather, when you are stopped every few yards by a sea of admirers, it must be difficult.
From pensioners in their nineties to one child as young as eight, they all want their moment and Farage is only too happy to oblige with a tooth-grinned photo or a hastily signed placard.
The “people versus establishment” by-election was seen as a gamble by many after Farage stood down in his own seat, claiming that a sleaze investigation into his finances was being used as a political tool against him.
Opposition parties quickly decided not to stand a candidate in the election, making Farage likely to win around 70 per cent of the vote, according to pollsters.
However, Farage says that his four weeks of campaigning have convinced him Reform can replicate his level of support across Essex. That will set alarm bells ringing at the top of the Conservative Party.
Farage makes clear in no uncertain terms that he thinks he can unseat Kemi Badenoch. In a direct warning to the Tory leader, he says: “We are going to pump big resources into Essex.”
This piece of reporting is exclusive to subscribers.
Continue reading ➤ |
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Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Trump could trigger a disaster as markets lose faith in Washington’s economic management Continue reading ➤
Tom Sharpe London is now permanently covered by Russian naval guns Continue reading ➤
Eleanor Mills The Sussexes’ latest flop proves they only have one talent – telling tales about the royals Continue reading ➤ |
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Even by the dramatic standards of the Channel migrant crisis, it was an extraordinary sight: 230 migrants crammed into a 49ft-long, black “mega dinghy”. It was a record. The biggest migrant vessel ever to be intercepted between France and Britain. So what’s behind the rise of the mega dinghy? Nick Squires and Samuel Montgomery have the answers. For subscribers only ➤ |
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International diplomacy can sometimes look difficult – or at least quite boring, writes Guy Kelly. All that paperwork, all those tricksy negotiations. At its heart, though, it’s a charm offensive, and over the past 18 months few people have been more effective at it than Hiroshi Suzuki, Japan’s social media star ambassador to Britain. I paid him a visit to talk pints, patriotism, and of course Paddington. Continue reading ➤ |
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HMS Eagle goes down the slipway of Harland & Wolff’s shipyard in 1946 |
For decades, the shipbuilding cranes on Belfast’s skyline have been barely used reminders of a bygone heyday. However, a major resurgence is under way as Harland & Wolff – the firm that built the Titanic – returns to the warship business. For the first time in more than 20 years, the two yellow gantry cranes, named Samson and Goliath, are being pressed back into regular service. Continue reading ➤ |
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Pity Gen Z. With no decent tunes of their own, they are having to mine pop and rock’s capacious back-catalogue to define their listening habits. Dire Straits are already a hit with the youth, and so are The Cure. Who else should they be setting their sights on? Here, Rob Fitzpatrick plunders 60 years of music history and has some suggestions. The Wishbone Ash revival starts here. Continue reading ➤ |
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Despite living with hypertension, I wasn’t keen to take medication to control my blood pressure, writes Georgina Fuller. Instead, over the past couple of years I’ve tried everything from tai chi to Zumba to lower my numbers. It wasn’t until I took a breathing retraining course that I finally found the surprising solution to my health issues.
Continue reading ➤
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Christopher Howse |
It’s a pleasure to visit this picturesque market town, founded at the foot of Merlin’s reputed grave. Marlborough High Street, in its rural setting, is far from dead. The reason why few shops are closed, and old buildings have not been demolished, is explained in part by the curious history of the Waitrose branch here.
The supermarket was once the Electric Picture Hall, which occupied the former stone-built Corn Exchange. Because of the way the ancient town had been laid out nearly 1,000 years ago, there was room for the supermarket in the centre to expand without destroying old buildings.
Outside Waitrose, the wide roadway, once used for a big cattle market, today allows space for parking. When customers come into town to use the supermarket, they use other shops too.
The High Street is of a variety of pleasant old buildings in a local style, which features pentices, veranda-like roofs of tiles jutting out above the shop windows and doors.
Shoppers and shopkeepers do complain that bank branches have closed, but it is the good fortune of Marlborough to be historic, prosperous and well preserved. The beauty of the surroundings makes for happier town-dwelling.
Read the full piece here ➤ |
Hard-to-top tripsWhile Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, is away, Joe Burgis is on hand to share an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Joe writes...
Having just returned from a fairly traditional break – a long weekend cycling in the Welsh Marches – I was interested to read Sarah Baxter’s list of Britain’s 10 best old-fashioned holidays. It’s full of excellent ideas (in particular, camping on the Llŷn Peninsula, where I spent many a glorious, if not cloudless, childhood summer), though I was struck by one absence, as was Johnnie McAteer, who wrote: “Blackpool?” Yes, it’s hard to top a week of slots, chips and chilly bathing.
However, Nina Macfie described a charming alternative: “We used to rent a chalet at Dunster Beach – basically a wooden shed with double doors that opened on to the shore. My sister and I slept head-to-toe in a single bed behind a curtain. It was usually freezing for half the holiday. We drove from Birmingham – my grandparents, my mother, two kids and our possessions in a tiny Austin (known as the Racing Onion) that always overheated trying to get up Porlock Hill.”
A reader going by Don Pasquale reinforced the case for beach huts: “In the 1970s, we’d spend two weeks in a cottage in Old Hunstanton. We went to the beach most days, where we had a hut. Dad played golf on the course behind it. Our grandparents would visit for a day, and we’d eat cold roast beef. Twice a week, we went to Sainsbury’s in King’s Lynn to do our food shopping, but we got milk and papers at Proudfoots in the village. If the weather was bad, we went to Sandringham or Holkham. We never wanted to go home.”
Taking us back to Wales – a hive of old-fashioned holiday hotspots, it would seem – Linda Coleman wrote: “I can recommend a weekend in Llandudno – a lovely town with an unspoilt seafront, and not one ugly hotel block to be seen, just Victorian architecture. There’s a long promenade with an old-fashioned pier, and it’s near other wonderful Welsh seaside towns worth exploring – if you have the time after climbing or riding to the top of the Great Orme, a local natural wonder.”
Finally, for Fran Sum, the requirements for a traditional holiday are simple yet specific: “Staying in a thatched cottage in Scotland with lots of spiders.”
That’s all from me folks. I’ll be back tomorrow to bring you the best Telegraph talking points. In the meantime, you can contact me here.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
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1914 | Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary
1942 | Winston Churchill arrives in Moscow for a conference with Joseph Stalin
1966 | Beatles member John Lennon apologises for saying that his band was “more popular than Jesus now”
2022 | Salman Rushdie is stabbed on stage in New York (as we reported in the following day’s paper)
Birthdays: Cara Delevingne (34), Tyson Fury (38), Mark Knopfler (77)
In the news today, cash-strapped councils have opened the door to using real-time data to move prices up and down, according to demand for what? Finish the headline
1. ... bus travel
2. ... public lavatories
3. ... toll roads
4. ... pub gardens
Click one of the options to reveal the answer... |
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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 The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was HANDBRAKE. Come back tomorrow for the solution 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 at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. |
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