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It was reported last weekend that allies of Penny Mordaunt claimed Downing Street was keeping her “in a box” during the election campaign because Rishi Sunak’s team see her as a threat.

Well, after her barnstorming performance in a TV debate against politicians from six opposition parties, the Leader of the Commons is well and truly out of her box now. And she mustn’t be put back in it.

Her opening words in this 90-minute showdown were explosive. The prime minister, she declared, was “completely wrong” to leave the D-Day ceremonies in Normandy early. No pulling of punches there.

She said the PM was wrong, not once, not twice, but three times. No wonder Number 10 see her as a threat. If this was an audition for a leadership bid after the election, her friends will claim she passed with flying colours.

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Mordaunt: Sunak’s early exit ‘very wrong’

But once she’d dug her black stilettos out of the PM’s back after her opening remarks, Mordaunt was relentlessly on message in hammering Labour on its policies on tax, immigration and crime.

She was at her most combative on the Tories’ controversial allegation – first made by Sunak in his TV debate with Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday – that Labour is planning a £2,000 per household tax grab if it wins the election.

This attack triggered the most heated clash of the whole debate as Mordaunt traded blows with Labour’s Angela Rayner on tax. It was a shouting match that went on long after presenter Mishal Husain attempted – but failed – to stop them.

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Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

It was all the more heated because the pair were standing next to each other at the end of the row of seven leading politicians – alongside Reform’s Nigel Farage, the Lib Dems’ Daisy Cooper and the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, Plaid Cymru’s and Rhun ap Iorwerth and Carla Denyer, from the Greens.

For the rest of the debate, Rayner was slightly subdued, rather like Sir Keir had been against the PM on Tuesday. Rayner didn’t even attack Sunak about D-Day at the start. Like Sir Keir, his deputy needs to raise her game.

Besides Mordaunt, on D-Day Farage claimed Sunak had been unpatriotic and Flynn accused the PM of putting his own political career before public service and Normandy war veterans. Strong stuff.

More from Sky News:
Cameron subject to hoax call
Sunak heckled by GP
How damaging is the PM’s D-Day mistake?

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PM apologises for D-Day departure

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Mordaunt also tore into Rayner over her previous voting record against renewing Trident. And the brightness of Rayner’s red dress wasn’t matched by a bright performance in the debate, although she improved as the debate went on. Mordaunt, incidentally, wore Thatcher blue. Remind you of anyone?

Throughout the debate, Farage was typically impish. His quips included claiming Starmer was “very dull” and “Blair without the flair”. The PM, he joked, was “slippery Sunak”. Yes, he’s used those jibes before, but the audience enjoyed them.

Flynn had his good moments, most notably when he condemned Brexit, an attack on the Conservatives and Labour that the audience enjoyed.

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But this debate was about Mordaunt. It was her show, despite the large cast list. If she has been kept in a box by No 10 up to now, the PM’s allies will have been delighted by her attacks on Rayner and Labour’s policies.

But they won’t have appreciated her blunt – and completely unprompted criticism – of the prime minister over the big story of the day, his D-Day snub.

It was a story about a blunder of the PM’s own making. It wasn’t a gaffe, or an accident. It was sheer bad planning, terrible political judgement, embarrassing and highly damaging to Sunak and the Tory election campaign.

That, apparently was, Mordaunt’s view. And she said so. No 10 won’t be happy. A threat? You bet.

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ETH core developer testifies in Roman Storm defense as gov’t rests case

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ETH core developer testifies in Roman Storm defense as gov’t rests case

ETH core developer testifies in Roman Storm defense as gov’t rests case

After about two weeks of hearing from US government witnesses, Roman Storm’s legal team called Preston Van Loon to the stand to kick off its defense case.

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France to become first G7 nation to recognise Palestine as a state

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France to become first G7 nation to recognise Palestine as a state

Emmanuel Macron has said France will recognise Palestine as a state later this year.

The French president announced the major change of policy in a letter to the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, which Mr Macron also published online on Thursday evening.

The French leader said he will make the formal announcement at the UN General Assembly, being held in September.

France will become the first G7 member to recognise a Palestinian state.

In his post explaining the decision, Mr Macron called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of the hostages and for much more humanitarian aid to reach those in the territory.

But Israel’s defence minister has called the French decision “a disgrace and a surrender to terrorism”.

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Sky’s international correspondent John Sparks, reports on the children in Gaza who are experiencing malnutrition, one child wishes for ‘life to go back to how it was.’

The move heaps pressure on France’s allies such as the UK, and Sir Keir Starmer insisted tonight that he is “clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people”.

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But the prime minister has resisted calls from within his own party to recognise Palestine immediately, as he views this as part of the peace process in Gaza.

Currently, half of the G20 recognise Palestine as a state, while nations including the UK, US, Germany and others do not.

But pressure has been growing on Sir Keir to change course, with senior Labour figures including the Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan publicly calling for a change in government policy.

Starmer: ‘We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe’

Just hours before Mr Macron’s announcement, Sir Keir said he would be holding an “emergency call” with the leaders of France and Germany over what he termed the “humanitarian catastrophe” happening in Gaza.

In some of the firmest language from the government yet, Sir Keir said that “the suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible”.

He went on to say that it has been “grave for some time”, but that it has now “reached new depths and continues to worsen”.

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The PM says that

Sir Keir said: “I will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow, where we will discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need while pulling together all the steps necessary to build a lasting peace.”

The PM added that “we all agree” on the need for Israel to “change course and allow aid that is desperately needed to enter Gaza without delay”.

He wrote: “It is hard to see a hopeful future in such dark times. But I must reiterate my call for all sides to engage in good faith, and at pace, to bring about an immediate ceasefire and for Hamas to unconditionally release all hostages.”

Across the globe, more than 140 countries recognise Palestine as a state.

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Anchorage Digital announces stablecoin issuance platform on GENIUS’ heels

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<div>Anchorage Digital announces stablecoin issuance platform on GENIUS' heels</div>

<div>Anchorage Digital announces stablecoin issuance platform on GENIUS' heels</div>

The digital asset service company joins a growing list of firms making stablecoin moves following the GENIUS bill’s passage into law.

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