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Tony Blair’s Labour government pushed on with plans to open the UK’s borders to Eastern Europe despite mounting concerns from senior ministers, according to newly released official files.

The former prime minister relaxed immigration controls in 2004 after eight mainly former Soviet states, including Poland, Lithuania and Hungary, joined the EU.

Papers given to the National Archives in London show then deputy PM John Prescott and foreign secretary Jack Straw both urged delay to the policy, warning of a surge in immigration unless some restrictions were put in place.

But others – including then home secretary David Blunkett – argued that the economy needed the “flexibility and productivity of migrant labour” if it was to continue to prosper.

The records emerged as part of a yearly release of Cabinet Office files once they are 20 years old.

The papers also show:

  • Ministers in Blair’s government were advised to use post-it notes for sensitive messages to avoid having to release them under new Freedom of Information laws, which they had passed.
  • A senior US official warned the British ambassador to the US that George W Bush believed he was on a “mission from God” to crush Iraqi insurgents and had to be given a “dose of reality”.
  • Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi felt like a “jilted lover” after being shut out of talks between Blair and the leaders of France and Germany.
  • Former prime minister Sir John Major privately wrote to Blair urging him to order England’s cricket team not to compete in a “morally repugnant” tour in Zimbabwe amid concerns about its human rights record under Robert Mugabe.
Then foreign secretary Jack Straw
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Then foreign secretary Jack Straw had reservations about the plan

Calls for open borders re-think

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The Blair government’s open borders policy is seen as having helped fuel anti-EU sentiment by the time of the Brexit referendum in 2016.

There was a major increase in immigration in the years that followed, with net migration rising to more than 200,000 a year and cheaper foreign labour blamed for undercutting local workers.

In 2013, Mr Straw admitted that the failure to put in place any transitional controls – as nearly all other EU nations had done – had been a “spectacular mistake” which had far-reaching consequences.

According to the Cabinet papers, the Home Office had predicted the impact of allowing unrestricted access to the UK jobs market for the new countries would be relatively limited – but within weeks the numbers arriving were far outstripping previous estimates.

Three months before the policy was due to be implemented, Mr Straw wrote to Mr Blair calling for a re-think, warning that other countries “who we thought would be joining us have begun to peel away”.

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Sir Tony Blair on leadership

“France, Germany, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece and Luxembourg are all imposing transition periods of at least two years. Portugal is likely to follow suit,” he wrote.

“Italy is undecided. Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark – who were with us – have all announced the introduction of work and/or residence permits for those wishing to avail themselves of the concession.”

He was backed by Mr Prescott who said he was “extremely concerned” about the pressures on social housing from a sudden influx of new migrants.

However Mr Blunkett, backed by work and pensions secretary Andrew Smith and the Treasury, insisted they should stick with the plan on “economic grounds”.

Then Home Secretary David Blunkett
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Then Home Secretary David Blunkett backed the policy

He said that they would be tightening the regulations to stop migrants travelling to the UK simply to claim benefits but rejected calls for a work permit scheme as “not only expensive and bureaucratic but I believe ineffective”.

Mr Blair appeared to also express doubts, questioning whether tougher benefit rules on their own would be enough.

“Are we sure this does the trick? I don’t want to have to return to it,” he said in a handwritten note.

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“I am not sure we shouldn’t have a work permits approach also. Why not? It gives us an extra string to our bow.”

Mr Blair also stressed the need to send out a deterrent “message” about benefits, writing in a note: “We must do the toughest package on benefits possible & announce this plus power to revoke visa plan and message to Romas.”

Bush ‘on mission from God’ in Iraq

Elsewhere in the Cabinet files, there was a record of frank conversations between Richard Armitage, the US deputy Secretary of State, and Britain’s ambassador to the US at the time, Sir David Manning, about the Iraq War.

In one meeting, Mr Armitage dismissed claims by the US commander in Iraq that he could put down a major uprising in the city of Fallujah within days as “bulls**t” and “politically crass”, and appealed for Mr Blair to use his influence with Mr Bush to persuade him there needed to be a wider “political process” if order was to be restored.

Tony Blair with George Bush
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Tony Blair with George Bush

In another meeting, Mr Armitage spoke of President Bush being faced with a “dose of reality” about the conflict.

Sir David reported: “Rich summed it all up by saying that Bush still thought he was on some sort of a mission from God, but that recent events had made him ‘rather more sober’.”

Italian PM felt like ‘jilted lover’

Other papers described a fall-out with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi after he was excluded from a trilateral summit of the UK, France and Germany.

He is said to have been “hurt” because unlike the other two nations he had backed Britain and the US over the invasion of Iraq, and threatened to challenge Britain’s EU rebate at every opportunity as a result.

In a report of a meeting between Britain’s ambassador to Rome, Sir Ivor Roberts, and Mr Berlusconi’s foreign affairs adviser, Giovanni Castellaneta, Sir Ivor wrote: “The gist of what he had to say was that Berlusconi was feeling badly let down by the prime minister.

Tony Blair with Silvio Berlusconi inside number 10 Downing Street.
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Tony Blair with Silvio Berlusconi inside number 10 Downing Street.

“He actually used the image of a jilted lover (very Berlusconi) and added that there was something of the southern Italian about Berlusconi which made him quite vindictive when he thought his affections had been misplaced or betrayed.

“The word ‘tradito’ (betrayed) came up quite often.”

The row even came up during a video conference between Mr Blair and Mr Bush the following week, with the US president expressing “some concern in a jokey way, on Berlusconi’s behalf, over Italy’s exclusion”, according to a Downing Street note of the call.

In the face of such concerns, Mr Blair felt it necessary to travel to Rome to personally placate the unhappy premier and assure him of his continuing support.

John Major’s Zimbabwe intervention

The papers also revealed that former Conservative prime minister John Major – who preceded Mr Blair – privately wrote to his successor to urge him to “indemnify” English cricket for any financial losses if it was sanctioned for pulling out of a controversial tour of Zimbabwe.

Sir John, a noted cricket fan, said the tour was “morally repugnant” given Robert Mugabe’s human rights record, but pointed out that “draconian” rules by the world game’s governing body (ICC) imposed penalties on countries for cancelling – putting English cricket at risk of bankruptcy.

The letter came after Mr Blair had told MPs that in his “personal opinion” the tour should be abandoned, but it would “step over the proper line” for ministers to issue an instruction

Sir John Major
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Sir John Major

Mr Major said if the government “expresses a view” that the tour should not go ahead – or there was a vote in parliament to that effect – then it would be “very difficult” for the ICC to penalise England.

And in the “very unlikely circumstances” that it were to do so, he said the government should indemnify the ICC for any financial losses.

“I daresay the Treasury would hate this, but the blunt truth is that the government could not let English cricket go to the wall because of a refusal to intervene,” Mr Major wrote.

The tour ultimately went ahead.

Ministers urged to communicate in post-it notes

Meanwhile, other papers revealed that ministers in Blair’s government were advised to use post-it notes for sensitive messages to avoid having to release them under the new Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.

The Labour government had passed the bill in 2000, which requires public bodies to disclose information requested by the public, but as its full implementation date crept up in 2005 there was growing disquiet about its implications.

One No 10 adviser wrote to Mr Blair suggesting post-it notes – which could presumably then be thrown away once the message had been read – as a way of getting round the requirement to disclose official material in response to FoI requests.

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‘My dad could still be here’, says daughter of Bhim Kohli, 80, killed by children in Leicestershire park attack

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'My dad could still be here', says daughter of Bhim Kohli, 80, killed by children in Leicestershire park attack

The daughter of a man who was killed by two children has told Sky News “there is a possibility” he could have still been alive if police had taken anti-social behaviour reports more seriously.

Susan Kohli has spoken to The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee about what she says were failures by the Leicestershire force, leading up to the death of her 80-year-old father Bhim Kohli near Leicester in September 2024.

Mr Kohli was racially abused and physically attacked just yards from his home as he walked his dog in Franklin Park, Braunstone Town. He suffered a broken neck and fractured ribs, and died in hospital the next day.

Susan Kohli
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Susan Kohli

Susan Kohli is critical of how Leicestershire Police dealt with earlier reports of anti-social behaviour in the area in July and August 2024, before the attack on her father. The force said it did not identify misconduct or missed opportunities, which could have prevented Mr Kohli’s death.

In one of the cases, Ms Kohli said her father faced abusive and racist comments and was spat at. Although the incident in August was not related to her father’s death, she believes a stronger police response could have deterred her dad’s killers.

“Why is it that they’re not taking these things seriously? Are they just waiting for something to happen? Because that’s literally what it looks and feels like.

“They waited for someone to lose their life before they took any stance. If they had arrested these two boys prior to that incident on the 1st of September, there is a possibility my dad could still be here,” she said.

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A boy, who was 14 at the time of the attack, and a girl, who was 12, denied their part in the killing but were found guilty of manslaughter at Leicester Crown Court in April. The pair cannot be named because of their age.

Jurors heard the boy kicked and punched Mr Kohli – encouraged by the girl who recorded parts of the attack while laughing.

Susan Kohli told Sarah-Jane Mee she felt the children's sentences were too lenient
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Susan Kohli told Sarah-Jane Mee she felt the children’s sentences were too lenient

Ms Kohli said she felt their sentences were too lenient after the boy received seven years’ detention while the girl was given a three-year youth rehabilitation order.

We need the sentencing guidelines to be looked at, whether it’s a child or an adult, they know what they are doing at that age.

“Why is it that because they are a child that they get half the sentence of an adult? He’s going to be out in three and a half years or even less. How is that justice for taking somebody’s life? But that’s not justice at all. They’ve given us a life sentence.”

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Daughter’s anger over child killers

In August, the Court of Appeal ruled the boy’s sentence will not be changed, saying it was neither unduly lenient nor manifestly excessive.

Solicitor General Lucy Rigby had referred the sentence to the court under the unduly lenient sentence scheme. The girl’s sentence was not referred to the Court of Appeal.

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Leicestershire Police told Sky News that, due to prior police contact with Mr Kohli, the force referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

The force found that proportionate and reasonable lines of enquiry were followed and concluded that no misconduct or missed opportunities which could have prevented Mr Kohli’s death were identified.

Chief Superintendent Jonathan Starbuck said: “The death of Bhim Kohli is an extremely shocking, traumatic and upsetting incident and our thoughts, sorrow and sympathies continue to remain with Mr Kohli’s family and friends.

“We know that anti-social behaviour has a huge impact on people’s lives. Preventing and addressing incidents and community concerns is of the utmost importance to our force in order to ensure the safety of our residents. This is something we continue to work on, address and to make ongoing improvements wherever we can.

“Through our own local investigation, following direction by the IOPC, we also identified organisational learning in relation to improving our system of logging and tagging anti-social behaviour incidents.”

An IOPC spokesperson said: “We agreed with Leicestershire Police’s finding that police officers did proactively investigate matters reported to them and there was nothing to indicate any officers or police staff committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner justifying disciplinary proceedings.

“And we agreed with learning identified by the force in respect of accurately recording and tagging incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB), thus ensuring incidents can be dealt with appropriately and to support the long-term management and deterrence of ASB.”

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Summer 2025 was warmest on record – and repeat is now 70 times more likely, Met Office says

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Summer 2025 was warmest on record - and repeat is now 70 times more likely, Met Office says

The UK has just sizzled through its hottest summer on record, a phenomenon made 70 times more likely by climate change, the Met Office said today.

It beat the previous high set in 2018, and kicks the notoriously hot summer of 1976 into sixth place.

The persistent heat drove hosepipe bans, “nationally significant” water shortfalls, and even a “false autumn” in places.

The new provisional data found temperatures between 1 June and 31 August 2025 were 16.10C on average across the UK – much higher than the previous record of 15.76C in 2018.

The difference might sound small, but – as an average over a three-month period, including day and nighttime temperatures – is in fact substantial.

All the top five warmest summers have occurred since the year 2000, which the Met Office called a “clear sign of the UK’s changing and warming climate”.

This summer was the hottest by far, much warmer than all the previous records, and relegating 1976 to sixth place.
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This summer was the hottest by far, much warmer than all the previous records, and relegating 1976 to sixth place.

Did autumn come early this year?

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The heat gave rise to early signs of autumn, with blackberries ripening early and leaves turning brown and falling to the ground in August.

This so-called “false autumn” is not the early arrival of the next season, but a survival mechanism of trees and plants when stressed by extreme summer conditions.

They shed leaves and fruit ahead of schedule to conserve water and energy, especially the younger trees whose shallow roots can’t access moisture further underground.

Kevin Martin from Kew Gardens called false autumns a “visible warning sign”.

“Trees are remarkably resilient, but they are also long-lived organisms facing rapid environmental changes.”

Was this summer warmer than 1976?

This summer was the hottest on record going back to 1884, and far warmer even than the memorably hot summer of 1976, which now trails in sixth place.

The Met Office’s Dr Mark McCarthy said this shows how “what would have been seen as extremes in the past are becoming more common in our changing climate”.

The summer of 1976 is remembered for its heatwave that lasted more than two weeks, and 16 days in total with temperatures over 32C.

Although 2025 has had just nine days of temperatures over 32C, what is “striking” about this summer is how consistently warm it was, the Met Office said.

Why was this summer so warm?

There were a number of factors that made it so warm, so persistently.

Lingering high pressure made for settled, sunny and warm weather, and fuelled four heatwaves.

It was also very dry, with about a quarter less rain than average for summer – though that varied by region. But it followed the driest spring in England for more than a century.

Dry ground holds less moisture that can evaporate: a process that usually cools things down.

And a marine heatwave sent sea temperatures on the surface well above average, with a knock-on impact on air temperatures.

Overnight temperatures were also high, keeping the average up.

What about climate change?

Climate change made a summer as hot or hotter than this year 70 times more likely, the Met Office said.

It adds another layer of heat on top of the other weather patterns that may have happened without humans changing the climate.

The UK is warming by roughly 0.25C per decade, and is already at least 1.24C warmer than the period between 1961-1990.

Without climate change, a summer like in 2025 would have happened about once in every 340 years. Now it’s expected once in five years.

Anna Roguski from Friends of the Earth, said the summer “underlined how unprepared the UK is for extreme heat”.

She said we “urgently” need to adapt towns with things like stricter building standards, shaded streets and “far more nature woven through neighbourhoods – trees, wetlands and green spaces help to keep things cool”.

“But adaptation alone won’t be enough. To stop summers spiralling ever hotter, we must slash emissions.”

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Retired vicar involved in ‘Eunuch Maker’ extreme body modification ring jailed for three years

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Retired vicar involved in 'Eunuch Maker' extreme body modification ring jailed for three years

A retired Church of England vicar who was part of an extreme body modification ring run by man who called himself the Eunuch Maker has been jailed for three years.

Warning: The following article contains graphic details of extreme physical mutilation

Reverend Geoffrey Baulcomb, 79, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent after a nine-second video of him using nail scissors to perform a procedure on a man’s penis in January 2020 was found on his mobile phone.

He also admitted seven other charges, including possessing extreme pornography and making and distributing images of children on or before 14 December 2022.

Prosecutors said some of the material included moving images which had been on the eunuch maker website, run by 47-year-old Norwegian national Marius Gustavson.

Marius Gustavson
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Marius Gustavson

Gustavson was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years last year after a court heard he made almost £300,000 through his website, where thousands of users paid to watch procedures, including castrations.

Baulcomb was said to have been an “acquaintance” of Gustavson, and the pair exchanged more than 10,000 messages with each other over a four-year period.

He was formerly a vicar at St Mary the Virgin Church in Eastbourne but retired from full-time ministry in the Church of England in 2003.

The diocese of Chichester said he applied for “permission to officiate”, which allows clergy to officiate at church services in retirement, when he moved to Sussex the following year.

But Baulcomb was banned for life from exercising his Holy Orders following a tribunal last year, which heard he was issued with a caution after police found crystal meth and ketamine at his home in December 2022.

He had claimed experimenting with drugs or allowing his home in Eastbourne to be used for drug taking would “better enable him to relate and minister to people with difficulties as part of his pastoral care”.

The diocese said the Bishop of Chichester immediately removed his permission to officiate after being contacted by police, and bail conditions prevented him from attending church or entering Church of England premises.

‘Nullos’ subculture

The Old Bailey heard last year that extreme body modification is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos”, short for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed.

Gustavson and nine other men have previously admitted their involvement in the eunuch maker ring, which one victim said had a “cult-like” atmosphere.

The life-changing surgeries, described as “little short of human butchery” by the sentencing judge, were carried out by people with no medical qualifications, who he had recruited.

Prosecutors said there was “clear evidence of cannibalism” as Gustavson – who had his own penis and nipple removed and leg frozen so it needed to be amputated – cooked testicles to eat in a salad.

Gustavson, who was said to have been involved in almost 30 procedures, pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm between 2016 and 2022.

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