Tonight, I've been informed by former police sources that senior members of the PSNI were allegedly monitoring my communications with them. Journalism is not a crime.

Deputy Chair of the Conservatives Angela Richardson on the defection of Natalie Elphicke:

“Labour has its first member of the ERG.”

😬

Wow. The third Tory MP to defect to Labour under Starmer. Extraordinary.

Even Blair only managed one Tory -> Labour defection in the run up to becoming Prime Minister.

BREAKING: Understand that Labour’s Richard Parker is set to take the W Mids mayor. Big upset and Starmer will take as huge win

The full results from the Birmingham region for the West Mids Mayor contest.

Massive result for Akmed Yakoob, the independent pro-Gaza candidate.

But still a nearly 14,000 vote lead for Labour. Will that be enough of a boost, across all 7 regions?

It’s tight.

NEW: A full recount is taking place in the West Midlands region of Coventry.

It’s likely to take a couple of hours, according to officials.

Latest on that nail-bitingly close London race…

In Birmingham, both Labour and Tory sources continuing to insist the West Mids Mayor vote is on a knife edge.

Labour are nervous about the performance of an independent, pro-Gaza candidate. Tories looking over their shoulder at the loss of Dudley council.

Declaration this pm.

Good morning from the French coast.

It may look glorious, but fierce winds mean there are unlikely to be many Channel crossings today, following yesterday’s tragic loss of life.

Last night's events in the Middle East show the value of allies and of long term investment in defence. Iran's capabilities - to attack with a wide variety of precision long range weapons - are considerable. European countries could not have mounted a similar defence

Off to bed. Feels like I may wake up in a whole new world.

As the latest 'honey-trap' scandal rumbles on in Westminster with two MPs now publicly admitting they were approached, questions remain over how many have been affected in total, and why some have fallen for it.

Our piece with Matthew Thompson, produced by me. 👇

BREAKING: Officials working in the Department for Business and Trade have threatened to stop working over UK arms sales to Israel

Sky's Matthew Thompson has the latest from Westminster ⬇️

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