David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is making a statement to MPs about Ukraine.

He starts by paying tribute to the people of Ukraine, and condemns Russia for pretenting to be a victim and for rehashing “lies” about the origin of the conflict.

Ukraine must be at the heart of any talks about its future, he says.

Yesterday the Mail on Sunday splashed on a story about two police officers visiting a grandmother in Greater Manchester over messages she had posted on Facebook calling for a councillor to resign. She had not committed an offence, but the officers said they were investigating a complaint of harassment.

MAIL ON SUNDAY: Come out, it’s the thought police #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/LASnor6QpR

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) February 22, 2025

During questions in the Commons, the shadow Home Office minister Matt Vickers asked Yvette Cooper if she agreed this wa “a waste of police time”.

Cooper replied:

This government has been clear about the important focus of policing needs to be on the neighbourhood crimes that blight our community. That’s why we are increasing neighbourhood policing when, I’m afraid, his party slashed the number of neighbourhood police on the beat so we lost thousands of neighbourhood police in our communities, and why we are also focusing the police on serious violence.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson was even less keen to defend the police action in this case. The spokesperson said:

The police should be spending their time protecting the public and dealing with the issues that matter most to our communities, such as antisocial behavior, knife, climate, violence.

A Guardian investigation into the House of Lords raises questions over the accountability of parliament’s second chamber, with revelations about how a string of peers are benefiting from commercial interests.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson was specifically asked what Keir Starmer thought of Friedrich Merz, the next German chancellor, saying that Donald Trump is indifferent to Europe and that Nato in its current form may not survive. The spokesperson implied that Starmer is more optimistic about the survival of the transatlantic military alliance than Merz is.

The spokesperson said:

Germany obviously remains a close and vital European partner, as demonstrated by the signing for Trinity House Agreement that shows renewed cooperation on the issues that matter to people here ….

The prime minister has spoken more broadly on Nato, and indeed the EU/US relationship.

He’s always been clear that both are important to the UK, that we’ll be pursuing both a stronger relationship with the EU and with the US, and that the role of Nato is absolutely critical and will remain critical.

He’ll look forward to having further discussions with President Trump later in the week on how we and European allies can step up their support for Ukraine and their role in European defence and security.

Reform UK has challenged Mike Amesbury to resign as MP for Runcorn and Helsby, which would avoid the need for opponents to collect signatures on a recall petition to enable a byelection to take place. Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK chair, said:

Today Mike Amesbury has been sentenced to 10 weeks in prison.

The great people of Runcorn deserve far better than waiting six weeks for a recall petition to take place.

We call on Mike Amesbury to do the honourable thing and resign immediately so a byelection can be held.

In his speech this morning Keir Starmer said that that Donald Trump has “changed the global conversation” around Ukraine. (See 11.43am.) That is undoubtedly true – although many leaders in the west don’t think he has changed it for the better. One of them is Friedrich Merz, the incoming German chancellor, who said last night: “After Donald Trump’s remarks last week ... it is clear that this [new US] government does not care much about the fate of Europe.”

But at the Downing Street lobby briefing, when asked if Keir Starmer thought Trump had changed the global conversation “for the better”, the PM’s spokesperson replied:

Absolutely. He’s brought about these talks that could bring lasting peace in Ukraine which is what we all want to see.

We support president Trump’s US-led efforts and we look forward to discussing with president Trump later in the week how we reach that.

Asked if Trump “lying” about Volodymyr Zelenskyy by calling him a dictator also amounted to changing the convervsation for the better, the spokesperson replied:

We support and share president Trump’s desire to reach a durable peace in Ukraine. [The PM] looks forward to speaking to president Trump in more detail on that later in the week.

Downing Street has confirmed that it remains opposed to Russia rejoining the G7.

Russia was expelled from what was then the G8 after it seized Crimea in 2014, but this morning, in an interview, Dan Jarvis, the security minister, implied the government might be open to letting it rejoin.

Asked if Russia might be let back in, Jarvis said that was “a matter to be discussed with international allies”. He went on: “That is a matter that no doubt will be considered at the point at which the conflict in Ukraine has been concluded. And we need to get to that point as quickly as we possibly can.”

But, at the lobby briefing for journalists, the PM’s spokesperson said the government remained opposed to readmitting Russia.

Asked about that Jarvis said, the spokesperson replied:

Our position on the G7 just hasn’t changed. We can’t countenance Russia joining the G7 whilst it has got illegal forces in Ukraine. That has been our longstanding position. That position hasn’t changed.

The Foreign Office has announced what it describes as the largest package of sanctions against Russia since 2022.

It says the 107 sanctions against individuals and entities will “target funds going into Putin’s war chest and propping up Russia’s kleptocratic system”.

Targets include:

-Producers and suppliers of machine tools, electronics and dual-use goods for Russia’s military, including microprocessors used in weapons systems. These are based in a range of third countries including Central Asian states, Turkey, Thailand, India and China, which is the largest supplier of critical goods for Russia’s military.

-North Korean Defence Minister No Kwang Chol and other North Korean generals and senior officials complicit in deploying over 11,000 DPRK forces to Russia. Putin is using DPRK forces as cannon fodder; DPRK has suffered over 4,000 casualties.

-13 Russian targets, including LLC Grant-Trade, its owner Marat Mustafaev and his sister Dinara Mustafaeva, who have used the company to funnel advanced European technology into Russia to support its illegal war.

For the first time, we are also using new powers to target foreign financial institutions supporting Russia’s war machine. We are sanctioning the Kyrgyzstan-based OJSC Keremet Bank, disrupting Russia’s use of the international financial system to support its war efforts …

The new sanctions will put further pressure on Putin’s energy revenues, the most vital source of funding for his illegal invasion. They include specification of another 40 ‘shadow fleet’ ships carrying Russian oil. These vessels have collectively carried more than $5 billion worth of Russian oil and oil products in the last six months alone. The specifications bring the total number of oil tankers sanctioned by the UK to 133 – the highest of any nation in Europe.

Finally, we are sanctioning 14 ‘New Kleptocrats’, some of whom are fronting up strategic sectors of Russia’s economy. Among them are Roman Trotsenko, one of the wealthiest men in Russia, worth £2.2 billion.

Mike Amesbury MP has been sentenced to 10 weeks in jail after pleading guilty to assault last month, the BBC is reporting.

That means campaigners can start organising a petition to hold a recall byelection in his constituency, Runcorn and Helsby, assuming he does not resign as an MP. These petitions have almost always been successful (ie they have almost always reached the threshold of 10% of voters required for a byelection to take place).

This would be the first byelection of this parliament, and it would pose a big challenge for Labour, which won the seat last summer with a majority of 14,696, for Reform UK, which came second at the general election (on 18% of the vote, compared to Labour’s 53%) and for the Tories, who were on 16% at the general election.

Keir Starmer called for support for Ukraine to be boosed in three ways in his virtual speech to the conference in Kyiv.

First, military support should increase, he said.

The UK is doing that, providing £4.5bn pounds in military aid this year, more than ever before. We’re doing more than ever to train Ukrainian troops helping Ukraine to mobilise even further. And we are proud to have taken on the leadership of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

Second, “we must keep dialing up the economic pressure to get Putin to a point where he is ready not just to talk, but to make concessions,” Starmer said.

So today, we’re announcing the UK’s largest packet of sanctions since the early days of the war, going after Russia’s shadow fleet and going after companies in China and elsewhere who are sending military component.

Later day, I will be discussing further steps with the G7. But I am clear that the G7 should be ready to take on more risk, including the oil price cap, sanctioning Russia’s oil giants and going after the banks that are enabling the evasion of sanctions.

Third, “we must bring our collective strength to the peace effort”, Starmer said.

President Trump has changed the global conversation over the last few weeks, and it has created an opportunity.

Now we must get the fundamentals right if we want peace to endure. Ukraine must have a seat at the table, and any settlement must be based on a sovereign Ukraine backed up with strong security guarantees.

The UK is ready and willing to support this with troops on the ground, with other Europeans, and with the right conditions in place, and ultimately, a US backstop will be vital to deter Russia from launching another invasion in just a few years time.

While other European leaders, like Germany’s incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz, have been openly critical of President Trump’s recent Kremlinesque comments about Ukraine, Starmer and all his government ministers have done all they can to avoid antagonising the US president and to focus on areas of agreement, not disagreement. Saying that Trump has “changed the global conversation” and “created an opportunity” is just the latest example of this. It sounds euphemistic, but it is not necessarily wrong.

When he meets Trump on Thursday, Starmer is likely to combine flattery and praise with an attempt to get the president to commit to strong pro-Ukraine safeguards as part of any peace settlement. This passage in his speech this morning sounds like a rehearsal for that pitch.

Keir Starmer is speaking to the Ukraine conference now. He is talking remotely, from Downing Street.

He starts with a tribute to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He says Britons have been “full of admiration for the incredible response of the Ukrainian people” and that “their voices must be at the heart of the drive for peace”.

He has a clear message, he says.

I have a very simple, clear message today, the UK is with you today and every day, from His Majesty the King to the NHS workers volunteering in hospitals in Ukraine to the communities that took Ukrainian refugees to their heart. And that’s why I signed our 100 year partnership with President Zelensky last month.

He says Ukraine has “incredible potential to thrive in the years to come”. He goes on:

This is a time for unity. In this crucial moment, as talks begin, we must work together to shape the outcome.

Russia does not hold all the cards in this war, because the Ukrainians have the courage to defend their country, because Russia’s economy is in trouble, and because they have now lost the best of their land forces and their Black Sea Fleet in this pointless invasion.

So we must increase the pressure even further to deliver an enduring peace, not just a pause in the fighting.

And he says the west must increase support for Ukraine.

Kemi Badenoch has demanded “serious action” from the BBC in response to the controversy caused by the revelation that the narrator of a film about the experience of children living in Gaza during the war was the son a Hamas deputy minister for agriculture.

The BBC has acknowledged that this should have been flagged up when the film was first broadcast.

But, as the Daily Mail reports, Badenoch has now written to Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, calling for an inquiry into how this happened. She asked if any money had been paid to Hamas when the documentary was made, and she suggested that, without “serious action”, the Tories could withdraw their support for the BBC licence fee.

In her letter Badenoch said:

It is now clear to me that you should commission a full independent inquiry to consider this and wider allegations of systemic BBC bias against Israel.

It is well known that inside Gaza the influence of the proscribed terrorist organisation Hamas is pervasive …

Surely it should have been immediately apparent that the programme was fundamentally flawed?

Such an investigation must consider allegations of potential collusion with Hamas, and the possibility of payment to Hamas officials …

The BBC must recognise how serious these allegations are for its public standing.

The Conservative party has supported the BBC in government, including through the current Charter which will end in 2027. I cannot see how my party could support the continuation of the current licence fee-based system without serious action.

The BBC has has said that, while the documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, contained “important stories”, it has removed it from iPlayer while “due diligence” checks with the production company take place.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has said that criticism of the programme shows that “for some, almost any Palestinian perspective appears to be deemed unacceptable” and that the identity of the child narrator’s father does not “invalidate his testimony” in the documentary.

UPDATE: The Guido Fawkes website has published the Badenoch letter in full.

Donald Trump has been strongly criticised over the reported terms of a proposed deal what would see Ukraine handing over minerals and other natural resources worth $500bn to the US as part of a peace settlement, and in compensation for the military aid (worth far less) it has already received from Washington. This has been described as extortion.

But Boris Johnson, the former Tory PM, claims this is a “very promising” deal for Ukraine. Speaking to the BBC from Kyiv, he said:

All the language that we’re hearing about Ukraine being responsible for the war – you might as well say that the swimmers were responsible for attacking the shark in in Jaws, or the United States were responsible for attacking Japan at Pearl Harbor. It is complete inversion of the truth. It’s Orwellian.

However, we have to focus on what is actually happening here in in Kyiv, and what is really going on in the negotiations.

And today, if you look at the text on the table with the minerals deals, it contains in it, I think, things that are very promising for Ukraine.

It commits the United States to a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine, and it commits the United States to future financing of Ukraine.

Now that is very, very important because you can’t have a sovereign country that can’t decide its own future, can’t decide which clubs it wants to belong to, and you can’t have a sovereign country that can’t decide as part of the future of Ukraine what troops it wants to help protect its security.

'All the language that we are hearing about Ukraine being responsible for the war, you might as well say the swimmers are responsible for attacking the shark in Jaws'

On #BBCBreakfast former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in Kyiv, three years after the Russian launched a… pic.twitter.com/wDSp45ufBR

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) February 24, 2025

Johnson has been a strong supporter of Ukraine since the invasion, and also a strong supporter of Donald Trump, and over this last week, as Trump has said false and critical thinks about Volodymyr Zelenskyy, implying Trump is now siding with Moscow against Ukraine and the west, Johnson has been coming up with increasingly elborate arguments trying to show that his two loyalties aren’t in conflict.

Last week he claimed, in effect, that although Trump was talking complete nonsense about Zelenskyy, it did not mean that he was pro-Putin, just that he was trying “to shock Europeans into action”.

UDPATE: Alan Rusbridger, the Prospect editor and former Guardian editor, had fun writing about Johnson’s contortions on this topic in an article published on Friday. This is what he says about Johnson’s tweet last week.

How could he simultaneously keep onside with Trump while supporting his comrade in arms in Ukraine? In short, how could he have his cake and eat it?

The answer came in a brilliantly-crafted tweet of pure cakeism. Of course Ukraine didn’t start the war. Of course there was no need to stage elections during a war. Of course, it was untrue to say that Zelensky’s ratings were 4 per cent. But, really, we should all grow up and stop being scandalised. Trump’s attacks on Zelensky were designed to be a wake-up call, “not intended to be historically accurate.”

This is a wonderfully Johnsonian phrase that readers could store up for use in a tight spot. As in: “When I said there were no parties at Downing Street, it was not intended to be historically accurate.”

Good morning. At least this week we’re not going to have to put up with all the usual guff about the “special relationship”. UK politics this week will be dominated by Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump in the White House on Thursday, which was described as “probably … one of the most consequential meetings of a British prime minister and president that we have had since the second world war” by Sir Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to Washington., on the Westminster Hour last night. For the last 30 years at least, whenever a PM has met a new US president for the first time, commentary has inevitably focused on what it said about the state of the “special relationship”. Despite making the British sound insecure and needy, as a media narrative it always worked because it was simple and appealed to patriotic notions of British exceptionalism.

But last week it became clear that the “special relationship” that seems to matter most to Trump is the one he has with Vladimir Putin. There will still be huge interest in the outcome of the Starmer/Trump meeting. But the parameters have now shifted, and No 10 will probably be happy with a relationship that is positive, functioning, and not entirely disastrous for Ukraine.

Today is the third anniversary of the Russian invasion and this morning Starmer is joining European leaders in a call hosted by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the war. The Home Office has marked the anniversary by announcing that it intends to tighten rules to stop “elites linked to the Russian state” coming to the UK.

In a news release the Home Office says:

Under the new measures, the government will expand the criteria for exclusion to cover Kremlin-linked elites. This will ensure that, while Russia remains an acute national security threat, elites linked to the Russian state can be prevented from entering the UK.

Those who could be barred from the UK include anyone who provides significant support to the Russian state and/or those who owe their significant status or wealth to the Russian state and/or those who enjoy access to the highest levels of the Russian state.

Kremlin-linked elites can pose a real and present danger to our way of life. They denounce our values in public while enjoying the benefits of the UK in private - benefits which they look to deprive Ukraine of through their support of Russia’s war. They can act as tools for the Russian state, enabling the continuation and expansion of Russia’s aggression.

In practice, it is not clear what impact, if any, this is likely to have. The government has already imposed numerous sanctions on people linked to the Kremlin over the past three years (more are expected later today) and the Russians who are prominent in British public life (like the ones who turn up at Tory fundraisers) claim they are not Putin supporters. But the government is trying to send out a message. And it wants to draw a contrast with what used to happen, as described in the intelligence and security committee’s report published in 2020. The ISC said:

Successive governments have welcomed the oligarchs and their money with open arms, providing them with a means of recycling illicit finance through the London ‘laundromat’, and connections at the highest levels with access to UK companies and political figures.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Keir Starmer is joining remotely a meeting of Eurpoean leaders hosted by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukraininan president, to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion. Starmer is due to give a speech at about 10.45am. Martin Belam is covering the meeting on our Ukraine live blog.

10am: Mike Amesbury, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, will be sentenced after pleading guilty to assault last month.

10.30am: John Swinney, the Scottish first minister, attends an event in Edinburgh to mark the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Lunchtime: Starmer attends a virtual meeting of G7 leaders to discuss Ukraine.

2.30pm: Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

After 3.30pm: David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is due to make a statement to MPs on Ukraine.

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