The Conservatives have won back their Newark West seat in Nottingham county council, defeating Reform UK by just eight votes in Thursday’s byelection.

The seat, which was held by Keith Girling for 18 years before being lost to Reform’s Desmond Clarke in the May election earlier this year, was reclaimed by the councillor with a total of 680 votes, with Reform’s candidate Caroline Hinds receiving 672.

Desmond Clarke stepped down from the position less than a week after being elected, due to what the party said were “personal circumstances.” He originally won with a 35.9% share of the vote, and a majority of 153.

Girling told the BBC he was happy with the byelection result. He said:

It’s showing the Conservatives aren’t dead. We’re alive and kicking and we’re going to work hard for our communities.

He continued:

We’ve knocked on a lot of doors and some of those that voted Reform [in May] were very angry at the fact he resigned.

It’s cost about £25,000 to run this election, from a party that said they’re going to save money.

The Conservative win did not impact who controlled the county council because Reform already had enough seats for a majority, with 41 of the 66 seats.

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative party, congratulated Girling on his win in a social media post. It read:

Huge congrats to Cllr Keith Girling on winning Newark West – a fantastic result, a Conservative gain from Reform, and all credit to our brilliant team of Newark Conservatives on the ground.

Ministers have agreed to pay £1.6m in compensation after a data breach exposed the personal information of Afghan nationals seeking to flee the Taliban takeover, reports the PA news agency.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has already been fined £350,000 over the breach, which saw the details of 265 people mistakenly copied into emails sent by the government in September 2021. Announcing the fine in December 2023, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the breach could have led to a “threat to life” if the data had fallen into the hands of the Taliban.

According to the PA news agency, in a written statement to parliament on Friday, armed forces minister Luke Pollard said the MoD had agreed to pay up to £4,000 to each person affected, with the total cost expected to be “in the region of £1.6m”.

Pollard said he could not “undo past mistakes”, but sought to reassure MPs that he would “drive improvement in the department’s data handling training and practices”.

He added:

Defence’s record on these topics must improve and I am determined to ensure it does.

The breach involved the MoD’s Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap), which was responsible for relocating Afghan nationals who had worked for or with the UK government and were therefore at risk of reprisals once the Taliban returned to power in Kabul.

In its ruling, the ICO found Arap had not taken steps to prevent personal information being disclosed, which came to light after two people “replied all” to an email, with one providing their location to the entire distribution list.

The original email was sent on 20 September 2021 to vulnerable people left behind after the British airlift from Kabul. The MoD then launched an internal investigation that revealed two similar breaches on 7 September and 13 September that year, the ICO said.

Former deputy prime minister Thérèse Coffey has claimed she was advised by civil servants to knowingly break the law, reports the PA news agency.

Coffey, who also held several other cabinet positions, including work and pensions secretary, health secretary and environment secretary, became a Conservative peer earlier this year.

She told the House of Lords on Friday:

There were several occasions when I was advised by civil servants to knowingly break the law. Now, they may have only been minor infringements, but I challenge about how is that possible under the civil service code that, in your advice and in your inaction, you are advising me to knowingly break the law? And I wasn’t prepared to do it.

Coffey went on to recall another situation when she felt the civil service code was not adhered to. She said:

I learned that my shadow secretary of state had written to me on Twitter, and I knew it because he also published my response to him on Twitter.

I’d never seen the letter from the shadow secretary of state. I had never seen the letter written in my name, but there it was: my response and my signature.

And these sorts of things, unfortunately, in the civil service code should be more serious than it was.

The Tory peer added:

Sometimes people try and suggest it’s just politicians trying to do this, that and the other.

I’m not accusing the civil service, but their job is to try and manage and, ultimately, I could go on about another legal case where I was named as the defendant. I didn’t know until a ruling had come against me, formally.

These things, I’m afraid, do happen.

Her comments came as peers debated a report from the constitution select committee entitled executive oversight and responsibility for the UK constitution.

Coffey was deputy prime minister in the Liz Truss government in September and October of 2022. After her brief premiership, Truss took swipes at the civil service and blamed the deep state for “sabotaging” her.

Speaking at a conference in the US in 2024, the former prime minister said:

I wanted to cut taxes, reduce the administrative state, take back control as people talked about in the Brexit referendum.

What I did face was a huge establishment backlash and a lot of it actually came from the state itself.

Truss added:

Now people are joining the civil service who are essentially activists. They might be trans activists, they might be environmental extremists, but they are now having a voice within the civil service in a way I don’t think was true 30 or 40 years ago.

Jeremy Corbyn has said that “discussions are ongoing” after former Labour MP Zarah Sultana said that she would “co-lead the founding of a new party” with the ex-Labour leader.

In a post on social media, the independent MP and former Labour leader said:

Real change is coming.

One year on from the election, this Labour government has refused to deliver the change people expected and deserved. Poverty, inequality and war are not inevitable. Our country needs to change direction, now.

Congratulations to Zarah Sultana on her principled decision to leave the Labour party. I am delighted that she will help us build a real alternative.

The democratic foundations of a new kind of political party will soon take shape. Discussions are ongoing – and I am excited to work alongside all communities to fight for the future people deserve.

Together, we can create something that is desperately missing from our broken political system: hope.

Downing Street has welcomed new French tactics to tackle small boat crossings, saying it is a “significant moment”.

A No 10 spokesperson said:

What we saw this morning was a significant moment.

We welcome action from French law enforcement to take action in shallow waters, and what you have seen in recent weeks is a toughening of their approach.

We are seeing new tactics being used to disrupt these boats before they begin their journey and, together with every other lever that the government is pulling, we think this can have a major impact on shutting down the tactics these gangs use.

Earlier, Yvette Cooper welcomed reports that French police had intervened in French waters to stop a small boat setting off across the Channel.

Responding to a report from the BBC’s Today programme that officers had slashed at a boat with a knife while it was in shallow waters off the French coast, the home secretary said:

That is a different strategy, and that is welcome that it’s taking action in the shallow waters, but we want broader action.

Downing Street also said on Friday that Keir Starmer’s efforts to “reset” relations with Europe have helped bring about a change in French tactics in the Channel.

The No 10 spokesperson said:

No government has been able to get this level of cooperation with the French.

That is important. We are looking to see France change its maritime tactics, and that is down to the prime minister’s efforts to reset our relationships across Europe.

This is down to a serious government recognising this is a complex problem, a serious challenge, and pulling all levers in order to take action on this.

Liberal Democrat candidate Terry Rooney won the Benfieldside ward byelection on Thursday to unseat Reform UK’s Andrew Kilburn – who was elected during the county-wide elections on 1 May but stepped down after it was discovered he already worked for the council.

This meant Kilburn was found to be ineligible for office, as employees are disqualified from standing as councillors at the same time under national law. He resigned after just nine days.

The Lib Dems won with a total of 824 votes, as Reform slipped to third in the byelection, getting 747 votes, behind Labour, who got 800.

Rooney will now join the 14 other Lib Dem representatives on Durham county council, taking their total to 15.

After the win, Rooney told the Northern Echo:

I’m humbled to serve the community where I live and where I grew up.

This result confirms that it is only the Liberal Democrats who can beat the Reform Party across County Durham, as both the official opposition group and the strongest electoral force challenging the Reform Party’s broken promises.

The byelection caused by the Reform error cost the taxpayer £23,000, according to Rooney – who said he has campaigned for the Reform’s “millionaire backers” to pay for the taxpayer money “wasted on this byelection due to their own incompetence nominating an ineligible candidate”.

Councillor Amanda Hopgood, Lib Dem leader of the opposition in County Durham, and chair of the party’s Reform Watch board said:

The Liberal Democrats are holding Reform to account, fighting to protect local services and stop Nigel Farage doing to our communities what his idol Donald Trump is doing to America.

We will continue to stand up to Reform and take on their divisive politics, here in County Durham and across the country.

The technology secretary has demanded an overhaul of the UK’s leading artificial intelligence institute in a wide-ranging letter that calls for a switch in focus to defence and national security, as well as leadership changes.

Peter Kyle said it was clear further action was needed to ensure the government-backed Alan Turing Institute met its full potential.

In a letter to ATI’s chair, seen by the Guardian, Kyle said the institute should be changed to prioritise defence, national security and “sovereign capabilities” – a reference to nation states being able to control their own AI technology.

The call for new priorities implies a downgrading of ATI’s focus on health and the environment, which are two of three core subjects for the institute, alongside defence and security, under its “Turing 2.0” strategy.

“Moving forward, defence and national security projects should form a core of ATI’s activities, and relationships with the UK’s security, defence, and intelligence communities should be strengthened accordingly,” Kyle wrote.

Making clear that the Turing 2.0 strategy did not meet government requirements, Kyle indicated that he expected leadership changes at ATI.

“To realise this vision, it is imperative that the ATI’s leadership reflects the institute’s reformed focus,” he wrote. “While we acknowledge the success of the current leadership in delivering reform at the institute during a difficult period, careful consideration should be given to the importance of an executive team who possesses a relevant background and sector knowledge to lead this transition.”

ATI is chaired by Doug Gurr, the former head of Amazon’s UK operations and interim chair of the UK’s competition watchdog.

The housing minister has promised to crack down on unfair service charges and what he called the “wild west” of property managing agents as he launched the next stage of the government’s reforms of the leasehold system.

Matthew Pennycook told the Guardian he wanted to stop a number of unfair practices undertaken by some companies, including overcharging and imposing large, unexpected repair fees.

He was speaking as the government launched a consultation into measures such as making property managers provide more transparent information on their fees and forcing them to qualify as professional practitioners for the first time.

The consultation is the latest step towards what the government promises will be an eventual end to the “feudal” leasehold system, which applies to 5m homes in England.

Pennycook said:

Managing agents play a key role in multiple-occupancy buildings, and will play an even bigger role in the future, but it is a bit of a wild west at the minute.

Speaking about the new qualification system, he said:

It is very easy to set yourself up as a managing agent. A group of us could do it just by renting an office on top of a newsagent in the high street … we know there are really bad practices out there.

Talking about the changes to service charges, he added:

We are setting out plans to protect millions of leaseholders across the country from opaque and unfair service charges and other fees which they incur.

Leaseholders are suffering and they need urgent relief – that’s why we are doing what we are.

Critics of the UK’s role in the Gaza war are considering setting up an independent tribunal if, as expected, Labour blocks a bill tabled by Jeremy Corbyn backing an official inquiry.

Government whips are expected to object to the former Labour party leader’s bill in the Commons on Friday, leaving him with few practical options for his legislation to pass.

The Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, said the government saw no need for an inquiry, but 22 NGOs working on issues in the region are supporting Corbyn’s call.

The Islington North MP is arguing that a host of issues regarding the UK’s involvement in what he regards as a genocide by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have not been properly aired in Westminster, except through brief replies by ministers in written or oral questions.

The NGOs led by Action Aid said:

In light of reports of atrocities committed by the Israeli government in Gaza and reports of the UK’s collaboration with Israeli military operations, it is increasingly urgent to confirm whether the UK has contributed to any violations of international humanitarian law through economic or political cooperation with the Israeli government since October 2023, including the sale, supply or use of weapons, surveillance aircraft and Royal Air Force bases.

They said establishing an independent public inquiry would provide an evidence-based determination of whether the UK’s actions upheld international law. The possible inquiry comes in the week that the UK courts threw out a 20-month legal battle to force the government to end indirect sales of F-35 parts to Israel for use in Gaza.

John McDonnell, independent MP for Hayes and Harlington and former shadow chancellor for Labour from 2015 to 2020, said Labour needs to “ask themselves” why someone like Zarah Sultana would choose to leave.

This comes after Sultana, MP for Coventry South, announced she is resigning from the party to join Jeremy Corbyn’s Independent Alliance.

“I am dreadfully sorry to lose Zarah from the Labour party,” he wrote in a post on X, adding:

The people running Labour at the moment need to ask themselves why a young, articulate, talented, extremely dedicated socialist feels she now has no home in the Labour party and has to leave.

McDonnell was one of seven MPs to be suspended by the Labour party, alongside Sultana, in July 2024 – after they rebelled by voting against the government on the two-child benefit cap.

In February, the whip was restored to suspended MPs Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Rebecca Long-Bailey, after they spent just over six months as independents. However, McDonnell, Sultana and MP Apsana Begum remained suspended.

In May, McDonnell called for a grassroots leadership challenge to the Labour government, and accused Keir Starmer’s government of “callousness and political incompetence”.

Keir Starmer said he has a good relationship with US president Donald Trump because they both “care about family”, reports the PA news agency.

The prime minister told the BBC Radio 4 podcast Political Thinking With Nick Robinson it was “in the national interest” for the two men to connect. He said:

We are different people and we’ve got different political backgrounds and leanings, but we do have a good relationship and that comes from a numbers of places.

I think I do understand what anchors the president, what he really cares about. For both of us, we really care about family and there’s a point of connection there.

Starmer said in the interview to mark a year in office he has a “good personal relationship” with Trump, and revealed the first time they spoke was after the then-presidential candidate was shot at a campaign rally in July last year.

He said Trump had returned the phone call a few days after the prime minister’s brother Nick had died on Boxing Day.

Starmer said he visited his 60-year-old brother before and after the general election during his cancer treatment. He said:

It’s really hard to lose your brother to cancer. I wanted fiercely to protect him. And that’s why both before the election and after the election, I went secretly to see him at home, secretly to see him in hospital. He was in intensive care for a long time.

Every migrant who arrives on a small boat where a child has died should face prosecution, the home secretary has said, according to the PA news agency.

Yvette Cooper told the BBC’s Today programme that increased overcrowding of boats was part of the reason that the number of arrivals had increased this year.

She said:

I think it’s just totally appalling that you see boats where children are being crushed to death on these overcrowded boats, and yet the boat still continues to the UK.

So we want to strengthen the law to have endangerment of life at sea be part of our laws, so we can prosecute.

Frankly, I want to see everybody who is arriving on a boat where a child’s life has been lost, frankly, should be facing prosecution, either in the UK or in France.

She added:

If you’ve got a boat where we’ve seen all of those people all climb on board that boat, they are putting everybody else’s lives at risk.

If you get on to a boat which is so crowded that a child is crushed to death in the middle of that boat, and if you then refuse rescue from the French authorities who come to the rescue, who end up taking a child’s body and small family members off that boat, and you refuse rescue, I think, frankly, you should face some responsibility and accountability for that.

Zarah Sultana has “always taken a very different view” from the government, the home secretary has said.

Responding to the former Labour MP’s announcement that she was co-founding a new party with Jeremy Corbyn, Yvette Cooper told Sky News:

I think she has always taken a very different view to most people in the government on a lot of different things, and that’s for her to do so.

Cooper also rejected the Coventry South MP’s accusation that Labour was failing to improve people’s lives, saying:

I just strongly disagree with her.

The home secretary pointed to falling waiting times in the NHS, the announcement of additional neighbourhood police officers, extending free school meals and strengthening renters’ rights as areas where the government was acting. She said:

These are real changes [that] have a real impact on people’s lives.

As well as Cooper, co-chair of the Conservative party Nigel Huddleston is also on the media rounds this morning.

There’s sure to be more reaction today to the news that Sultana has resigned from the Labour party to join Corbyn’s Independent Alliance. But there’s more coming up today:

• A bid to temporarily block the banning of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation is set to be heard at the high court on Friday, ahead of a potential legal challenge against the move.

• Councils will have to agree targets to improve the number of children ready for school, under new plans to be announced by the education secretary.

In other recently reported developments:

• Critics of the UK’s role in the Gaza war are considering setting up an independent tribunal if, as expected, Labour blocks a bill tabled by Jeremy Corbyn backing an official inquiry. Government whips are expected to object to the former Labour party leader’s bill in the Commons on Friday, leaving him with few practical options for his legislation to pass.

• Wes Streeting has staked the future of the NHS on a digital overhaul in which a beefed-up NHS app and new hospital league tables are intended to give patients unprecedented control over their care.

• Some farms in England could be taken entirely out of food production under plans to make more space for nature, the environment secretary has said. Speaking at the Groundswell farming festival in Hertfordshire, Steve Reed said a revamp of post-Brexit farming subsidies and a new land use plan would be aimed at increasing food production in the most productive areas and decreasing or completely removing it in the least productive.

• Ministers are closely watching a court case in which Vodafone is alleged to have “unjustly enriched” itself at the expense of franchise operators, and have raised the prospect of a regulatory crackdown on the sector. The small business minister, Gareth Thomas, has said he will “track very carefully” a £120m legal claim brought against Vodafone last year by a group of 62 of about 150 franchise operators.