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Police launched a murder inquiry into the death of Ann Widdecombe, the former MP, aged 78. Her body was found with head wounds at her house on Dartmoor. They arrested a 28-year-old white British man in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. Counter-terrorism police took over the investigation two days later and rearrested the suspect on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Police called it a ‘targeted’ attack. She had been a minister in Sir John Major’s administration, an MEP for the Brexit Party and, since 2023, a member of Reform, serving as its immigration and justice spokesman.
Andy Burnham was nominated for the Labour leadership by 349 of Labour’s 403 MPs, making it impossible for any rival to secure the 81 nominations needed to stand against him. In an interview with the Guardian he said: ‘At the start of Israel’s military action in Gaza my party didn’t get it right… We’ve got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government.’ The Representation of the People Bill was delayed until September. Sir Stephen Timms, in a formal review, found the personal independence payment (Pip) ‘not fit for purpose’; about 10 million, 24 per cent of working-age people, reported having a disability. The government proposed a midnight social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds. Sir Olly Robbins requested a judicial review to declare that his sacking by Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, was unlawful, unreasonable and would be quashed. The by-election at Clacton precipitated by Nigel Farage was set for 13 August. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children, Archie and Lilibet, visited the King at Highgrove at teatime. In 2025, 5,957 baby boys were called Muhammad, 1,712 Mohammed and 895 Mohammad; only 127 babies were named Andrew.
Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, announced that expressing a positive opinion of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, let alone assisting it, will now be punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Twelve people were arrested in connection with an alleged right-wing terror plot which caused the early closure of a gathering of 15,000 Muslims in the grounds of Shrubland Hall, Suffolk, organised by the radical Islamic movement Tablighi Jamaat. Patricia Greene, the actress who played Jill Archer for 68 years, died aged 95. Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh singer, died aged 75. In the seven days to 13 July, 585 migrants crossed the Channel, 128 in one boat. The Bayeux Tapestry arrived at the British Museum.
Abroad
America launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran after Iran struck ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the Strait was closed. Iran struck American facilities in Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan. President Donald Trump of America said that he was reinstating a blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, and would impose a 20 per cent fee on all cargo shipped through it; but the next day he dropped the fee plan. Senator Lindsey Graham, the hawkish Republican, died aged 71. Cyclosporiasis, characterised by diarrhoea and caused by a microscopic parasite, affected 31 American states.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine announced a new prime minister in the third reshuffle since 2022. Russia used missiles to attack Kyiv and Odessa. In the Sea of Azov 25 Russian ships were hit and set on fire by Ukraine in four days. France gave Ukraine the blueprints for its Scalp-EG cruise missile. A wildfire at Los Gallardos, between Lorca and Almeria, in Andalusia, killed at least 13. A large wildfire raged in Fontainebleau forest 40 miles south of Paris. A fire at a shoe factory in the Chinese city of Jinjiang killed at least 28. A fire in a bar in Bangkok killed at least 28. Cubans banged pots and pans in protest at the third national power cut this year. The Volkswagen Group planned to cut up to 100,000 jobs.
The South African government said that more than 53,000 foreigners had been deported, mostly to Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, since a ‘migration management’ campaign began five weeks ago. De Beers suspended production at South Africa’s biggest diamond mine in the face of competition from laboratory-grown diamonds. Border barriers between Gibraltar and Spain were dismantled; British visitors have to show passports to Spanish police. A woman held on to her husband’s legs to stop him being sucked out of a broken cabin window on a Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki. CSH
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