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The King accepted Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation as Prime Minister and asked Andy Burnham to form an administration. In Downing Street, he made a short speech without notes, saying that his first instruction would be to end rough sleeping. He invited President Donald Trump to Manchester. He also spoke to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President Emmanuel Macron of France. He promised a ‘cost of living government’, and removed VAT from domestic energy bills for six months from October, giving an average saving of 86p a week. Bus fares in England would be capped at £2 from 2027.
Mr Burnham appointed a cabinet of 12 women and 11 men, gunning for Starmer loyalists. John Healey, who resigned as defence secretary last month in protest at insufficient funding, was made Chancellor of the Exchequer in place of Rachel Reeves. Wes Streeting became Defence Secretary. Miatta Fahnbulleh was made Energy Secretary in place of Ed Miliband, who became Foreign Secretary in place of Yvette Cooper, who was made Health Secretary. Shabana Mahmood stayed as Home Secretary. Louise Haigh was made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in place of Darren Jones. Angela Rayner was made Housing Secretary again. Lucy Powell was made Education Secretary. Dame Angela Eagle was made Environment Secretary. Alex Norris became Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary in place of David Lammy. Ellie Reeves was made Attorney General in place of Lord Hermer. Jonathan Reynolds became Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade after the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was abolished. Anas Sarwar resigned as Scottish Labour leader to be made a peer and be appointed a minister in the Burnham administration. Mr Burnham swore allegiance to Everton FC. The former Liverpool player and England captain Kevin Keegan died aged 75.
China’s Jingye Group demanded compensation after British Steel was fully nationalised. Inflation fell from 2.8 to 2.6 per cent. Among 26 new peers were Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, and Sir Brian Leveson, the former chairman of the inquiry into the press. Joshua Kerry, 28, from Rotherham, was charged with the murder of Ann Widdecombe; Westminster magistrates’ court heard that she died after being hit on the head with a hammer 21 times. Edward Stourton, who presented Today for ten years, died aged 68. Josh Kerr beat the 1999 record for the mile with a time of three minutes 42.66 seconds.
Abroad
The United States attacked Iran 11 nights in a row. Iran attacked Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Two American soldiers were killed at a base in Jordan and another in Iraq. Since February the war in Iran had cost America $37.5 billion, Pete Hegseth, the Defence Secretary, told Congress. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis announced a ‘maritime embargo’ against Saudi Arabia by closing the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea’s southern gateway. Pirates hijacked a tanker off Yemen. A lettuce from Taylor Farms was declared to contain the cyclosporiasis parasite that caused explosive diarrhoea affecting thousands in the United States; but next day the test was found to be a false positive. Spain won the World Cup in a final that saw an Argentine player sent off.
Many Ukrainians protested against President Zelensky’s decision not to re-appoint defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov. After a few days Mr Zelensky sacked Mr Fedorov’s antagonist, the commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi. Ukrainian drones struck two warehouses belonging to Russia’s biggest online retailer, Wildberries. Russia launched the biggest missile attack on Kyiv of the war and hit a cargo ship off Odesa, killing ten. The Russian frigate Neustrashimy carried out a live-fire artillery exercise 40 miles off Plymouth. Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua since 2007, said that to prevent the opposition from coming to power, the country would hold no further elections.
Hundreds of wildfires in Ontario sent smoke over Washington, New York and Boston. President Trump complained that the US was being ‘invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air’. More than 100 houses were destroyed by a wildfire in Drammen, 30 miles from Oslo. The online ‘influencer’ Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan were arrested in the US as the Crown Prosecution Service in Britain brought 38 new charges against them and sought their extradition. Sir Garfield Sobers, the great West Indies all-rounder, died aged 89. CSH
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