Medway councillor Robbie Lammas, who quit the Conservatives to join Reform UK, has now left the party, calling his decision to defect "the biggest mistake of my life". More here: bbc.in/4uIlJOl

🚨 Michael Heseltine, “We must create a kind of United States of Europe. ⏰ This is an important historical reminder, Churchill’s vision after WW2 was that European nations had to find ways to bind themselves together so that nationalism, rivalry and the cycles of war that devastated the continent would not return. Heseltine is right, Brexit is a reversal of that post-war understanding: a retreat from collective European strength at a moment when the world is once again becoming more dangerous. “Project Fear has become Project Here.” The warnings about trade friction, reduced investment, barriers with our largest market and economic costs were dismissed as “scaremongering”, but those concerns are now reality pulling Britain into decline. On political accountability, Heseltine asks: where are the people who promised the benefits of Brexit now celebrating its success? If the promises had been fulfilled: lower migration, stronger growth, less bureaucracy, a more powerful Britain, one might expect the architects of the project to be loudly claiming victory. His final point: democracy is not a single frozen moment in 2016. The generations who will live longest with the consequences have the same democratic right to assess the outcome and decide their future direction. Whatever one’s view of Brexit, how can a medium-sized European country maintain prosperity, influence and security in a world increasingly shaped by continental-sized powers and geopolitical competition.

Henry Nowak died the same way a civilization dies: abandoned, handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him, and accused of hate crimes he did not commit. His murder is as tragic as it is enraging. He should still be alive today, and he would be if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it. Henry was far from the first to so needlessly lose his life, and I fear he won’t be the last. Each time a life like his is lost, the proper response—the only response—is righteous anger. One of the most important things the Trump administration has proven to the world is that stopping the flow of mass migration and defending national sovereignty is a matter of political will and leadership. Anything else is an excuse. It is because we love the West that we want to preserve it. We love our civilization. We love our country. We love our children. And nobody—nobody—should ever die the way that Henry Nowak died. May God comfort those who loved him, and may God rest his soul.

🚨 NEW: Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told Peter Mandelson that Labour MPs always ask "who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others"