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Andy Burnham claims Britain has got it wrong on the war in Gaza |
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David Blair Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator |
Picture the scene. Israel’s security cabinet is meeting in a bunker deep beneath the defence ministry in Tel Aviv. An official rushes in bearing a message. Benjamin Netanyahu’s face drops as he reads the news: the British Labour Party has just called for a ceasefire in Gaza. “This changes everything,” he exclaims. “Cancel the campaign immediately!”
Listening to Andy Burnham’s pronouncements on foreign policy makes you wonder whether he might somehow believe in this daydream.
“Let’s be honest,” said our incoming prime minister in a video message. “Britain was too slow to call for a ceasefire [in Gaza] and we must do more to strengthen our approach.”
Suppose Britain had urged a ceasefire any earlier. Would Israel or Hamas have known or cared? Burnham might have felt better, but nothing would have changed in Gaza.
Embassies across London will now be poring over Burnham’s words and sending telegrams home on what his premiership might mean for British foreign policy. He has given them every reason to suspect that he regards diplomacy, certainly in the Middle East, as nothing but an elaborate exercise in placating rival factions of the Labour Party.
Will Burnham even be prepared to devote enough time to foreign policy? How will he combine meeting other leaders and attending summits with commuting from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston?
So far, Burnham’s clumsy signals risk squandering his influence before he has even taken office.
This essay is available only to subscribers.
Continue reading ➤
See more of our coverage below:
IMF warns Burnham against higher public spending ➤
What Chancellor Mahmood would mean for Britain ➤
Burnham: I put milk in first when making tea ➤ |
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Tom Sharpe HMS Medway’s passage was entirely lawful, with notice given on time Continue reading ➤
Eleanor Mills My older friends no longer feel safe living alone in the countryside Continue reading ➤
Tom Harris Burnham’s embrace of Palestine is as pointless as it is cynical Continue reading ➤ |
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Some of England’s players were said to be surprised that Thomas Tuchel did not try to attack Argentina more after going ahead |
Thomas Tuchel is facing a tidal wave of criticism for England’s semi-final surrender against Argentina, and The Telegraph can reveal that his own players were shocked by his tactics. The manager has come under fire for throwing on three defenders when his side was leading, before Argentina scored twice late on to win 2-1.
However, he has privately rejected accusations that he encouraged his England team to try to hang on in the semi-final. Telegraph Sport understands that Tuchel’s message to his England substitutes was to “play higher”.
England players stunned by Tuchel tactics ➤
Manager privately rejects claims he told England to hang on ➤ |
Tali Smus has felt isolated at King’s College London |
When I started my English degree at King’s College London nearly two years ago, writes Tali Smus, I was hugely excited. It was on my first day, Sept 24, 2024, that I learned my lesson: being Jewish is fine, as long as you stand on the “right side of history”. In my class’s online group chat, discussion quickly turned to the need to “educate the Zionists”. From there, everything snowballed. For subscribers only ➤ |
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Jennifer Lopez has been branded ‘inappropriate’ and ‘inconsiderate’ for wearing a 17-inch-wide hat to Wimbledon |
Unlike the untouchable Hollywood stars of old, modern A-listers love pretending to be down-to-earth. Yet behind their self-promotional “relatability” lies a pattern of diva behaviour that is driving us mere mortals mad. From Jennifer Lopez’s “inconsiderate” Wimbledon outfit to Taylor Swift’s “tacky” Manhattan wedding, here are some of today’s worst offenders... Continue reading ➤ |
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Rachel Hosie lost 14kg after swapping fad diets for sustainable eating habits |
I was living my dream as a lifestyle journalist, writes Rachel Hosie, and yet, when it came to my body image, I was miserable. At 13st and in the overweight category, I knew I needed to change. Here’s how I lost the weight without giving up my beloved pizza and cocktails. Continue reading ➤ |
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When Amnesty International was founded in 1961, its mission was simple: protecting prisoners of conscience. Today, the charity faces accusations that it has abandoned its principles, from blacklisting feminist groups to suspending its own Israeli branch. For Iseult White, granddaughter of the organisation’s co-founder, its actions have silenced ordinary people and exposed how the Nobel Peace Prize-winning giant lost its way. Continue reading ➤ |
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Both Scandinavian capitals offer stunning architecture, including Copenhagen’s Nyhavn and Stockholm’s Gamla Stan |
Neither of these Scandinavian capitals is short on city-break appeal, but which has the edge: pint-sized Copenhagen with its hip cafés, markets, Michelin stars and cobbled streets, or sprawling Stockholm with its stately department stores, open-air museums and scattering of islands? Our expert dives in to declare a winner once and for all. Continue reading ➤ Here is another article you may find helpful this morning:
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Designer Peter McKintosh presents a fantasy London of bowler-hatted gentlemen, cheerful flower girls and warmly glowing lamp posts |
Theatre My Fair Lady ★★★★★ My Fair Lady is both a safe choice and, these days, a risky one. Its foolproof score distracts from a fundamentally grim tale of class snobbery, poverty and social engineering, in which a phonetics professor turns a flower girl into an English lady for a bet. Its contrived fairy-tale ending can send contemporary directors into a spin. Yet this wonderful revival needs no radical reimagining to cast its magic. Just Lerner and Loewe’s original score and text, simply and vivaciously delivered.
Read Claire Allfree’s full review ➤ Books The Showgirl and the Prince ★★★★☆ It was, aptly, on Valentine’s Day 1988 that actress Ruthie Henshall, then making her West End debut as a slinky feline in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats, met her future paramour, Prince Edward. “I was pleasantly surprised by how attractive I found him, although it wasn’t an overwhelming feeling of phwoar,” she recounts in her new book. The word “phwoar” alone tells us that we’re in for a rollicking good time: this is royal memoir by way of Jilly Cooper.
Read Marianka Swain’s full review ➤ Television Ride or Die ★★★★☆ “My name is Whiptail and I kill people for a living,” announces Hannah Waddingham in the opening minutes of this entertaining action caper. We’ve already gathered that because we’ve just seen her assassinate a Russian oligarch in an Austrian ski resort. It’s going to come as shocking news to her best friend. So begins a romp that melds a contract killer thriller with a buddy comedy. Waddingham is in full James Bond mode as the most glamorous hit woman in town.
Read Anita Singh’s full review ➤
Plus, read Robbie Collin’s review of The Odyssey, which he calls his film of the year: “Christopher Nolan has turned one of the great legends of Western civilisation into a blockbuster for the ages.”
Read it here ➤ |
Fashion faux pasWhile Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, is away, Kate Moore is on hand to share an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Kate writes...
One of the great banes of my teenage years was skinny jeans. They might well be glamorous on Kate Moss, but for the rest of us, they had a tendency to make legs look as though they had been wrapped in clingfilm. In theory, then, I should be fully on board with the latest trend for wide-legged trousers. However, Sophia Money-Coutts offered a cautionary tale about their associated hazards after a crashing fall in a restaurant.
As if that wasn’t enough to put me off, readers soon chimed in with their own eye-watering tales. “I am just three weeks out from surgery to repair my left wrist which shattered so badly that my hand actually turned in the opposite direction,” wrote Carly Ackerman. “I tripped on the hem of a pair of wide-leg silk trousers while crossing the street.”
Ouch.
Soon, others were reminiscing about the last time wide trousers were in vogue. “In 1976, at the age of eight, I was dancing an English folk dance with Helen Scott in our school summer festival,” wrote Tim Wright. “Unfortunately, I caught my right foot in my grey Prince of Wales check flares and brought us both to the ground. I wasn’t allowed a pair of long trousers for another three years.”
A few of our female readers have mastered the art successfully. “You have to treat them like a full-length skirt on stairs and practise walking in them,” said Jill Ross.
“The trick to not tripping up is to get them tailored to the right length for you and avoid wearing them with heels,” added Viki Rhodes Bradford. “I always wear mine with flats and I’ve yet to trip up after years of wearing this style.”
I applaud these ladies’ fashion nous. Nonetheless, it was Peter Barnett’s example that left the deepest impression. “I recall driving my Mini in the 1970s and finding that, inexplicably, I could not operate the brake pedal.
“I had shut my wide trousers in the door.” Does style trump safety in your book? Let us know here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.
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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1917 | George V changes the name of the Royal family from the German-sounding title Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (seen below on page four of the following day’s paper)
1936 | Spanish generals Francisco Franco and Emilio Mola launch an uprising, starting the Spanish Civil War
1979 | Sebastian Coe sets world record with 3:49 mile in Oslo
1998 | The Mask of Zorro is released
Birthdays: Angela Merkel (72), David Hasselhoff (74), Queen Camilla (79)
Plus, in the news today, the England rugby squad have been forced to change hotels in Buenos Aires to avoid disruption from World Cup celebrations. What time were they kept up until?
Argentina fans took to the streets in Buenos Aires to celebrate their win over England |
1. 5am
2. 4am
3. 1am
Click one of the options to reveal the answer... |
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The Telegraph has released a range of bite-sized puzzles perfect for a two-minute mental workout on the go. To celebrate, we are bringing you a different one each day this week. Today, try our Mini Panagram.
Plus, see the answer for yesterday’s Mini Cryptic Crossword below:
P.S. If you’re missing the Panagram, rest assured it will return next week, and in the meantime you can play today’s here. |
Please let me know what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk.
Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow.
Chris Evans, Editor |
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