Politics LIVE: Starmer clashes with Sunak over national security at PMQs as assisted dying bill introduced

The previous Tory government was preparing to sanction two Israeli ministers over comments encouraging blocking aid to Gaza, David Cameron has said.

Piling pressure on Labour to revive his plans, Lord Cameron said that before the general election he was “working up” sanctions on Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gevir as a way of putting “pressure on Netanyahu“ to act within international law.

Mr Smotrich was recently criticised for appearing to suggest it might be “just and moral” to withhold food aid from Gaza, while Mr Ben-Gvir has backed the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Voters do not believe a raft of key claims in Boris Johnson’s new memoir, covering everything from Prince Harry to Covid, according to a new poll.

Mr Johnson was found to have lied to parliament over “Partygate” late-night bashes in Downing Street while the rest of the country was under Covid restrictions.

And since the release of his new book Unleashed key passages have been disputed.

Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to go further with reform of the House of Lords, with MPs calling for him to abolish Bishops’ automatic seats in the chamber.

It comes as the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill moves a step closer to becoming law with its Second Reading in the Commons taking place on Tuesday.

The landmark legislation, introduced last month, will remove the right of the remaining 92 hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords and is the largest constitutional reform to Parliament in a quarter of a century.

In an open letter, former governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King shares his advice for the chancellor ahead of her first-ever Budget

Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King has made a dramatic intervention warning Rachel Reeves that she must raise national insurance in her Budget on 30 October.

According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), the chancellor has an estimated £25bn black hole to fill in order to meet Labour’s spending commitments.

But in an open letter published in The Independent, Lord King warns her against higher borrowing.

Lord King, who was once the chancellor’s boss at the Bank of England, has told her: “Keep it simple and be ruthlessly honest with the public.”

These are still early days, but weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic or Mounjaro could dramatically reduce demands on the health service, writes John Rentoul

Foreign secretary David Lammy criticised the “inaction of the Israeli government” for allowing “impunity to flourish” among extremist settlers in the West Bank as the UK announced a fresh wave of sanctions in response to continued violence.

The measures target three outposts and four organisations that have supported and perpetrated “heinous abuses of human rights” against Palestinian communities in the occupied territory, the Cabinet minister said.

Tirzah Valley Farm Outpost, Meitarim Outpost and Shuvi Eretz Outpost are the three settlements targeted in the latest restrictions.

The four organisations sanctioned are Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, a religious school known to promote violence against non-Jewish people; Hashomer Yosh, a group which provides volunteers for illegal outposts; Torat Lechima, a registered charity which provides financial support to the settlements; and construction company Amana.

There has been a huge rise in settler violence in the West Bank over the last year, with the UN recording more than 1,400 attacks by the illegal settlers since October 2023.

Mr Lammy said: “When I went to the West Bank earlier this year, on one of my first trips as Foreign Secretary, I met with Palestinians whose communities have suffered horrific violence at the hands of Israeli settlers.

“The inaction of the Israeli government has allowed an environment of impunity to flourish where settler violence has been allowed to increase unchecked. Settlers have shockingly even targeted schools and families with young children.”

He said the latest measures will “help bring accountability to those who have supported and perpetrated such heinous abuses of human rights”.

He added: “The Israeli government must crack down on settler violence and stop settler expansion on Palestinian land. As long as violent extremists remain unaccountable, the UK and the international community will continue to act.”

Downing Street has rejected suggestions that Sir Keir Starmer received Taylor Swift tickets as a “thank you” after she was given taxpayer-funded police security while performing in London.

No 10 would not say whether the prime minister was confident that perceptions of a conflict of interest had been avoided but insisted “operational decisions” were “ultimately” up to Scotland Yard and not the Government.

Last week it emerged that London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper were involved in talks around the security for Swift‘s sell-out summer shows at Wembley before the singer was granted a blue-light escort.

The Sun reported that she was given the motorbike convoy on the way to the stadium despite initial police reservations, with her mother Andrea Swift also negotiating arrangements directly with Number 10 aide Sue Gray.

Asked on Tuesday whether it was the Prime Minister’s view that there was no perception of a conflict of interest, his official spokesman said: “Operational decisions are for the Met (Metropolitan Police). That’s the bottom line.”

Downing Street cited the terror threat faced by Swift in Vienna, which had forced her to cancel gigs on the Austria leg of her Eras tour, as one of the reasons the government was involved in security talks round her London shows.