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At the weekend, Downing Street said recognition of Palestine was “a matter of when, not if”.

So why now?

“We will recognise the state of Palestine in September before the United Nations General Assembly”, Sir Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday, in what looks like another U-turn.

Politics latest: PM’s Palestine plan ‘absurd’

Was it pressure from the more than 250 MPs, most of whom are Labour, who wrote to the prime minister last week calling for recognition? Almost certainly.

The PM has a lot of form now for bowing to pressure from Labour MPs poised to rebel against government policy.

The demand to the PM in the letter orchestrated by Labour MP Sarah Champion, who chairs the all-party international development select committee, was for the government to recognise Palestine at the United Nations conference on the Middle East currently taking place in New York.

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Foreign Secretary David Lammy was cheered and applauded when he repeated the pledge made by Sir Keir in a near-empty room in Downing Street to TV cameras and just two journalists.

But there are conditions. And the early response from the Israelis was not encouraging.

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Lammy: ‘Time to abate suffering of Palestinians in Gaza’

First, the PM said, “end the appalling situation in Gaza“, then “a ceasefire, no annexation in the West Bank and a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution”.

Good luck, as they say, with that.

If the shift in the PM’s position wasn’t the result of pressure from MPs, was it a potential mutiny inside the cabinet?

It followed a lengthy cabinet meeting after ministers were dragged from their sun beds and allowed to dial in remotely rather than turn up at 10 Downing Street in person.

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Trump: ‘Real stavation in Gaza’

It was reported before the meeting that seven cabinet ministers, including big hitters Mr Lammy and the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, backed recognising Palestine.

So yes, the PM could see that the way cabinet ministers were moving and holding out against recognition was becoming unsustainable.

Was it the result of pressure from President Macron. That was certainly a major factor too. After “le bromance” during the president’s state visit, the two leaders spoke at length at the weekend.

Asked what difference recognising Palestine would make in practice, Sir Keir said the aim was that it would help improve conditions on the ground in Gaza.

Read more:
British Palestinians attack PM’s plan
Explainer: Recognising a Palestinian state?
Gaza children ‘eating out of piles of garbage’

Ahead of his statement, the PM briefed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the King of Jordan, whose country is spearheading the air drops of aid into Gaza. More phone calls with world leaders are planned in the coming hours.

Sir Keir wouldn’t answer a question about what assurances he’d received from President Trump during their talks in Scotland about using his influence with the Israeli PM to allow aid into Gaza.

That is the most urgent priority, as the PM acknowledged. And since President Trump, speaking about the horrible TV pictures from Gaza, memorably said “you can’t fake that” and “every ounce of food” should be allowed in, it seems he did indeed listen to Sir Keir’s pleas in Scotland.

So even if he has indeed bowed to pressure from MPs and cabinet ministers, Sir Keir has achieved a significant breakthrough in the past 48 hours or so.

He won’t please everyone, obviously, but no politician ever did in the Middle East.

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112 crypto companies urge Senate to protect developers in market structure bill

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112 crypto companies urge Senate to protect developers in market structure bill

112 crypto companies urge Senate to protect developers in market structure bill

Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, a16z and others pressed the Senate to add explicit protections for developers and non-custodial services in the market structure bill.

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After six months of planning, Reform’s immigration policy is as clear as mud

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After six months of planning, Reform's immigration policy is as clear as mud

Reform’s plan was meant to be detailed. Instead, there’s more confusion.

The party had grown weary of the longstanding criticism that their tough talk on immigration did not come with a full proposal for what they would do to tackle small boats if they came to power.

So, after six months of planning, yesterday they attempted to put flesh on to the bones of their flagship policy.

Politics latest: Farage rows back on pledge to deport illegal migrant women and girls

At an expensive press conference in a vast airhanger in Oxford, the headline news was clear: Reform UK would deport anyone who comes here by small boat, arresting, detaining and then deporting up to 600,000 people in the first five years of governing.

They would leave international treaties and repeal the Human Rights Act to do it

But, one day later, that policy is clear as mud when it comes to who this would apply to.

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Nigel Farage launched an airport-style departures board to illustrate how many illegal migrants have arrived in the UK. Pic: PA
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Nigel Farage launched an airport-style departures board to illustrate how many illegal migrants have arrived in the UK. Pic: PA

I asked Farage at the time of the announcement whether this would apply to women and girls – an important question – as the basis for their extreme policy seemed to hinge on the safety of women and girls in the UK.

He was unequivocal: “Yes, women and children, everybody on arrival will be detained.

“And I’ve accepted already that how we deal with children is a much more complicated and difficult issue.”

But a day later, he appeared to row back on this stance at a press conference in Scotland, saying Reform is “not even discussing women and children at this stage”.

Read more:
Farage has a new ‘leave’ campaign – here’s how it could work

He later clarified that if a single woman came by boat, then they could fall under the policy, but if “a woman comes with children, we will work out the best thing to do”.

A third clarification in the space of 24 hours on a flagship policy they worked on over six months seems like a pretty big gaffe, and it only feeds into the Labour criticism that these plans aren’t yet credible.

If they had hoped to pivot from rhetoric to rigour, this announcement showed serious pitfalls.

But party strategists probably will not be tearing out too much hair over this, with polling showing Reform UK still as the most trusted party on the issue of immigration overall.

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Crypto trader ups MEXC ‘bounty’ to $2.5M after in-person KYC request

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Crypto trader ups MEXC ‘bounty’ to .5M after in-person KYC request

Crypto trader ups MEXC ‘bounty’ to .5M after in-person KYC request

The “White Whale” increased his social media pressure campaign to $2.5 million after claiming that MEXC requested an in-person KYC verification in Malaysia.

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