Menzies claims should be investigated by police, Labour says as Starmer has full confidence in Rayner - live

Suspended MP Mark Menzies is potentially someone who is “quite troubled,” Grant Shapps has suggested.

The defence secretary was speaking after it was reported that Mr Menzies allegedly used campaign funds to pay off “bad people” after being locked in a flat late at night.

“It sounds to me that there is potentially somebody who’s quite troubled in the mix here,” he told Times Radio.

Watch the clip below:

Future Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has suggested the foreign aid budget should be cut to fund a boost in defence spending.

The former immigration minister told The Sun’s Never Mind the Ballots podcast that a third of the foreign aid budget should be immediately diverted to bolster Britain’s defences.

He said: “To govern is to choose and if you’re faced with a difficult choice, I think protecting our national security and investing in defence is more important today than our international aid budget.”

Labour plans to kick-start a “historic investment” in Britain’s ports as part of its green spending plans.

The party has already committed to spending £1.8 billion over five years on upgrading the UK’s port infrastructure if it wins the next election as part of its flagship Green Prosperity Plan.

On a visit to the North East of England on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer is expected to say the money will lead to the most significant upgrade of Britain’s ports in a generation and billions more pouring into the UK’s energy industry from the private sector.

MPs have heard a call for the creation of a ministerial post to oversee use of national symbols as well as introducing legislation to protect the “cherished national flag”.

Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell (Romford) said people were “quite angered” by attempts to alter the appearance of flags.

In the Commons on Thursday, Mr Rosindell said: “I think many people will be quite angered by the way certain national organisations have tried to change our national flags – the cross of St George and the Union Jack.

“Isn’t it time that we protected and cherished our national symbols by appointing a minister of the crown to oversee this from the Cabinet Office. And will he also look at the Union Flag Bill of 2008 which enshrines in legislation the protection of our cherished national flag?”

The Labour Party is “confident” that Angela Rayner has done nothing wrong and will exonerated by the police, Ed Miliband has said.

The shadow energy security and net zero security defended his colleague while promoting Labour’s plans for UK ports.

“She has been clear. She is confident. We are confident, she has done nothing wrong. She has complied with the rules,” Mr Miliband told Sky News.

Watch more of the interview here.

As we reported earlier, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden is delivering a speech in which he was expected to outline plans to bolster the UK’s ability to deal with “economic security shocks” such as the rise in energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He was also expected to announce new curbs on trade and investment with China and other countries with frosty relations with the UK.

You can watch his speech at Chatham House live on our YouTube channel:

Grant Shapps said “I just don’t know the answer” when asked if police should investigate allegations that one of his colleagues used campaign funds to pay off “bad people” who had locked him in a flat late at night.

The defence secretary said he was not privy to any of the details of Mark Menzie’s case but that a process was in place to establish all the facts and that the Conservative Party was investigating the allegations.

Mr Menzies denies any wrongdoing. Watch part of the interview below:

MP Mark Menzies has been suspended by the Tories over allegations he used party funds to pay off ‘bad people’ who locked him in a flat, adding to the impression of a rerun of the Nineties sleaze that led to Blair’s Labour landslide, says John Rentoul

Read John’s piece in full here:

Mr Menzies is the Ayrshire-born Tory MP for Fylde, Lancashire, who won his seat at the 2010 general election.

The University of Glasgow graduate spent years at some of Britain’s biggest supermarkets including Marks & Spencer, which he joined as a graduate trainee in 1994 .

He has been an active member of the Conservative Party since 1987 and was president of his university’s Conservative Association.

Full report: