After taking over as Labour prime minister from Tony Blair, Gordon Brown stood on the brink of a calling a snap election in September 2007. Within weeks, he had backed away.
The move came to define his premiership. The Tories handed out stunt bottles of Newcastle Ale labelled “Bottler Brown”. Once a Labour big beast, with a reputation for strength and strategic skill, Brown never shook off the moniker.
The lesson stuck with two members of Brown’s then Cabinet: Andy Burnham and James Purnell.
Fast-forward nearly 20 years and Purnell is chief of staff in Burnham’s No 10. Now, they in turn are trying to shrug off the question of an early election which has crept up the news agenda since Burnham took over from Sir Keir Starmer in July.
Noah Woods drowned after slipping through ‘gap in playground fence’
Noah Woods, the three-year-old boy who was the subject of a huge search in Suffolk, drowned after escaping “through a gap in the fence” at a playground, an inquest has heard.
Major search for toddler
The toddler, who had a speech delay and was partially deaf, became separated from a relative at a playground in Brantham village on 15 September.
A major search was carried out, with at least 1,300 people helping to try find him in the 24 hours after he went missing, along with helicopters, dog units and police divers.
Noah ran out of sight
Police told Suffolk Coroner’s Court that Noah had left the playground, walked into a memorial garden and left that through an open gate.
- He then ran down a path on a new housing estate towards the nearby Decoy Pond.
- Det Ch Insp Matt Connick from Suffolk Police told the court that CCTV showed Noah playing in the area with a relative close by.
- After he had left the play area, he was closely followed by the relative trying to catch up with him, he added.
- The inquest heard the relative had shouted out to Noah, but he went out of sight shortly afterwards.
Police divers recover boy’s body
Police divers from the Metropolitan Police searched Decoy Pond the next day. They found the boy’s body five metres from the edge of the pond within submerged tree roots at a depth of 1.8 metres.
Noah’s death was confirmed at 4.31pm by paramedics and his identity was formally confirmed by his mother, at Ipswich Hospital that evening, the inquest heard.
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- The inquest has been adjourned until a later date.
- In tribute shared by Suffolk Police, his family said that Noah was a “happy, cheeky, playful” boy who was being assessed for autism.
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‘The centre of our world’
He was part of a loving and caring family, living with his mummy, daddy and his little baby brother. He was at the centre of our world… Despite the challenges he faced, he was learning every day. He was saying new words all the time and had only just started finding and using his little voice.
dr pauline swift, the charity chair of blood pressure uk
Pope Leo arrives in France for first papal visit in 18 years
Pope Leo has arrived in France for a whirlwind four-day papal visit – the first in 18 years.
Leo, who became pope in May last year, said he wished to be a pilgrim of peace for a world at war, as he prepares to meet victims of the Catholic Church abuse scandal.
Pope meets with Macron
Earlier this year, the first US pope criticised leaders who spend billions on wars, just days after a high-profile spat with US President Donald Trump over the Iran conflict.
Superstar fanfare
- Over a million people are expected to turn out to see him, with the highpoint being a Mass attended by half a million people in central Paris.
- Leo has built a strong following among Gen Z through addressing modern anxieties.
Visit hoped to repair Church image
Local Church leaders hope the trip will repair the Church’s standing after a 2021 report found that 330,000 French children had been abused by Catholic clergy and lay leaders over the past 70 years.
French bishops have since introduced compensation and safeguarding measures.
The pope will meet seven French victims of abuse by Catholic clergy on Sunday in Lourdes.
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AI presents ‘new dangers to international peace’, says pope
Leo, who has made AI concerns a cornerstone of his papacy, is expected to address the issue at UNESCO.
In a speech at the Vatican on Thursday, the pope said AI could benefit humanity, but has introduced “new dangers to security and international peace” and urged global leaders to “govern wisely”.
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In pictures: Leo’s visit to Paris
British rapper Yung Filly to face rape retrial
British rapper Yung Filly will face a rape retrial in Australia next June after a jury failed to reach a verdict in an earlier trial.
Filly, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, was charged with the alleged rape and assault of a fan after performing at a nightclub in Perth in 2024.
No decision for rape charges
In July, a jury acquitted the 31-year-old of three counts of rape, one of assault and one of strangulation but found him guilty of two assault charges.
No decision was reached for three rape charges, which Barrientos has denied.
He is understood to have returned to the UK after the court granted him permission to leave Australia as part of his bail conditions.
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Sentencing to take place after retrial
Perth’s district court has set 15 June as the start date for the retrial, which is expected to last eight days.
Sentencing for the two assault charges that the jury found Barrientos guilty of will take place after the retrial.
Barrientos is known for his work with the YouTube collective Beta Squad and has previously appeared in the celebrity version of on Channel 4.
What the court heard in first trial
Barrientos had been on tour in Australia when he was accused of sexually assaulting the woman in his hotel room after he performed in Hillarys, a coastal suburb of Perth.
- The court heard that the social media star had consensual sex with the fan in his hotel room, before she alleged he turned violent and refused to stop.
- During the trial, Barrientos told the court that he had “fancied” the woman when they met at the concert venue.
- He had been in the VIP area while she leaned over the barrier from the general area.
- He said the “vibes were good” between him and the woman when they arrived at his hotel later.
Prosecution calls Filly ‘entitled’
During the first trial’s closing arguments, prosecutor Danielle Clarke said Barrientos was an “entitled” man with a “moderate degree of fame” who had violated the fan “in the most intrusive way possible”.
His defence lawyer argued that the accuser’s evidence was full of “inconsistencies, embellishments and outright lies”.
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The UK’s pharmacy blackspots
Nearly 300,000 people have seen their local pharmacy shut this year, with dozens closing in shortage areas leaving patients with 17-mile round trips to pick up vital medicines.
Two sites closed per week
Analysis of NHS figures by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) revealed that 51 high-street pharmacies in England shut between January and August this year – the equivalent of two a week.
Of the total, 31 received government funding under a scheme to maintain vital access to medicines for patients in “healthcare shortage” areas.
The South West of England has been hit hardest by closures.
- Nine pharmacies closed across Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.
- Three pharmacies alone closed in the Somerset town of Taunton.
- Closures are forcing patients to travel significant distances to access emergency prescriptions as well as contraception and clinical advice, particularly on a weekend, patient groups and pharmacies have warned.
- The recent closure of a Lloyds Pharmacy in Long Rock, Penzance, left patients with an up to 1 hour and 20-minute journey by public transport to access their nearest pharmacy – a 17-mile round trip.
Why are pharmacies closing?
Pharmacies have seen real-terms cuts of 40 per cent to their funding since 2016. Since then, 1,500 pharmacies have closed – meaning 9.9 million patients in England have seen their local chemist close, analysis shows.
Despite a £340m Government boost to pharmacy funding in May, NHS analysis for the Community Pharmacy England (CPE) body shows community pharmacies still face a funding gap of more than £2bn.
Just one in seven pharmacies are profitable, a separate survey by CPE of more than 2,900 pharmacies in July revealed.
Patchy medicine access
When a pharmacy closes, it can create pockets where patients will find it harder to access medicines, collect prescriptions and get advice from their local pharmacy. Closures often happen in areas where healthcare support is needed most so it intensifies health inequalities.
Dr James Davies, director of research and insights at Community Pharmacy England
Pressure on other NHS services
NPA leaders urged the Government to reform NHS’s contract with pharmacies. Around 90 per cent of a pharmacy’s work is funded through the NHS, they added.
William Pett, of Healthwatch, said longer distances were “difficult for those with limited mobility or no access to transport” and that is “is no surprise that some people end up turning to other parts of the NHS when they cannot get the help they need in their community”.
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The groundbreaking new DNA brain tumour test
A groundbreaking new DNA test will be offered to patients with brain tumours as part of a new pilot study, which NHS officials say will reduce average diagnosis rates from weeks to days.
Experts say the rapid genomic test can confirm a diagnosis within two hours – meaning medics can know the precise type of tumour even during surgery.
Huge boost to personalised care
The NHS said the test will be piloted in specialist centres around England.
Personalised care
It could help patients get personalised care sooner and help enrol them on clinical trials which they may have missed out on.
Officials said brain tumours are “notoriously difficult” to diagnose.
How does it work?
The cutting-edge technology works by quickly analysing the DNA or genetic code of a small tumour sample taken during biopsy or surgery, helping doctors identify what type of brain tumour the patient has.
There are more than 100 different types of tumours, which range from slow-growing to aggressive cancers.
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This remarkable rapid test has the potential to completely transform how we diagnose .
Professor Frankie Swords, NHS England’s medical director, added that the test is a “huge leap forward” for patients.
This is a huge leap forward for patients – a faster diagnosis means they can start the right treatment or access clinical trials sooner, while for some patients it could mean surgeons can make potentially life-changing decisions about their surgery while on the operating table.
Professor Frankie Swords, NHS England medical director
Health Secretary hails ‘incredible breakthrough’
Health Secretary Yvette Cooper called the technology an “incredible breakthrough”.
Dr Simon Newman of The Brain Tumour Charity added that it will help patients avoid the “‘cruel, traumatic’” experience of waiting weeks to find out which type of brain tumour they have and their prognosis.
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Why experts fear loss of rare flower shows the UK’s climate future
A rare flower may have gone extinct in southern England due to extreme heat and drought, in what experts fear is a “canary in the mine” for how climate change is affecting biodiversity.
Field gentian all but wiped out
Until recently, the field gentian was abundant in the New Forest, Hampshire.
It was previously thought these populations could survive hot summers, due to their sheer size – often more than 5,000 plants at each site – and their ability for seeds to move with livestock into more sheltered areas.
But successive heatwaves and drought – in the third extreme summer in five years – may have led to their loss from southern England.
Rare flower missing for two years
The Species Recovery Trust has been unable to locate a single field gentian plant in the New Forest for the second year in a row.
Dominic Price, director of the charity, said the purple flower grew in dry or “skeletal” grasslands, which are on the “absolute front line” of climate change as they become parched and dead in hot, dry weather.
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This loss of what was such an abundant plant is deeply worrying, and in many ways, it feels like a canary in the mine for how climate change is likely to accelerate species loss.
Dominic Price, director of the Species Recovery Trust
Is it gone for ever?
- Price said “there’s potential for a miracle” with a wet summer next year helping the plant stage a comeback.
- In the summer of 2022, when UK temperatures soared to 40°C for the first time, field gentian populations crashed in the south of England, and went extinct in Devon.
- But populations recovered slightly the following year.
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The Reform MPs who face losing their seats according to new poll
Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman are among four Reform UK MPs who would lose their seats if a general election were held tomorrow, fresh polling by YouGov shows.
Falling behind the Tories
Tory defector Danny Kruger and Sarah Pochin – who beat Labour in a 2025 by-election – would also be unseated, according to the leading UK pollster’s first large-scale election modelling since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister.
Although the party’s numbers of MPs would hugely increase, it would have fewer seats than the Tories overall, marking a significant fall when compared to last year’s polling.
How a Labour government could be formed
The poll predicts that Labour would be the biggest party in a hung parliament.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey recently ruled out forming a coalition with Reform or the Tories but stopped short of excluding a coalition with Labour.
However, to form a Parliamentary majority in this scenario, Burnham would also need to work with the SNP or Plaid Cymru.
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Reform expanding its operations
The polling comes as Reform is preparing a huge expansion of its operations around the country, targeting London, the South East, the South West and the East of England.
- Analysis of Reform job adverts by The i Paper suggests the party is pumping resources into areas where it wants to keep its high-profile Tory defectors.
There’s turmoil in the Liberal Democrats. And MPs are struggling for direction
Stagnant in the polls but still a potential kingmaker, the party’s at a crossroads – even its own members are asking what comes next.
Record number of assaults on Britain’s trains – what to know
Assaults on Britain’s railways have hit record levels, new figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have revealed.
The numbers
The data published on Thursday showed there were 13,464 reported assaults on people who were not railway workers between April 2025 and March 2026, an increase of 36 per cent compared to the previous year.
- 11,289 assaults on rail workers on mainline networks were also recorded, an increase of 12 per cent. This included 6,390 incidents of verbal abuse, 2,487 physical assaults and 2,412 threats.
Working to make railways safer
No-one on the railway should be subjected to violence, threats or abuse. We’re working with industry and our trade union colleagues to address work-related violence and harassment, including through recent guidance which sets out what we expect from rail employers.
Richard Hines, ORR’s chief inspector railways
“We’re just trying to get rid of the speculation because what Brown let happen was it built up around him and he didn’t damp it down because he was testing to see whether he should or shouldn’t. And he looked weak when he didn’t,” a senior Labour source said.
Efforts by Burnham to declare publicly he has no intention of going to the country seem to have little effect. A Labour bounce in the polls and investigations into Reform UK’s financial affairs have prompted chatter that the Prime Minister would seek his own mandate from the country to escape the fiscal straitjacket of the 2024 manifesto.
Senior No 10 staffers have held private discussions about the level of polling support they would need to call an election. “They’ve had conversations about what would the parameters be in which they would make a decision, but I don’t think they’ve made a decision, and ultimately I don’t think they will,” according to one recent visitor to No 10. “Meanwhile, MPs seem to want to talk themselves into it.”
Purnell has privately told Labour MPs there are no plans for an early election. Sceptics say – naturally -he wouldn’t tell gossipy parliamentarians. It is one thing to keep the party and country guessing, but there are constitutional niceties too. If he intended an election, Burnham would have to inform King Charles as head of state.
Royal insiders made discreet inquiries about election rumours
Sources told The i Paper outriders for the King were concerned enough by speculation that Burnham could go to the country as soon as December that they made discreet inquiries of senior Labour officials at the Goodwood Revival racing meeting in Sussex last weekend. Amid vintage cars, a Vespa rally and live jazz, an unofficial but clear message was passed to the Palace that Burnham has no plans to call an election.
Speculation of an early poll, which had rumbled all summer, became turbo-charged when Reform received a record-breaking total of £72m in donations from two cryptocurrency billionaires within 48 hours this month.
In Labour circles, arguments ranged from how to retrospectively designate the payments as illegal to whether Burnham should bite the bullet and go to the country as quickly as possible before Reform has time to spend the money. He must call an election by August 2029 at the latest.
No 10 party for would-be Labour donors
At a mid-September Downing Street rose garden reception for Labour donors, Cabinet ministers were out charming guests including former Autoglass boss Gary Lubner and Fran Perrin, daughter of Labour peer and scion of the supermarket dynasty David Sainsbury. Celebrity potter Grayson Perry, another donor, added a colourful note.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey, stepped in to speak in Burnham’s place. The Prime Minister was not present, mourning his father, Roy, who had just died.
“It was a thank you for what you have done and a thank you for what you’re about to do, or we’d like you to do,” according to a source close to one of the donors present.
At the party, some erstwhile benefactors yet to contribute to Burnham’s refreshed Labour Party were asking for information about Joe Fortune, who was formally installed as Labour’s General Secretary last week after Burnham’s No 10 politely asked the other candidates to step aside over the summer.
Raised in Liverpool by traditionally Labour family, Fortune is the genial, if plain talking, 6’5’’ backroom fixer who will eventually oversee the party’s general election planning. He’ll be aided by a recently appointed new head of fundraising. Until recently, the party had been struggling to fill the role, resorting to head-hunters to fill the position.
‘Unforgivably reckless’ to throw away Labour’s majority
A large-scale seat by seat poll published by YouGov in recent days did nothing to diminish the chatter among Labour MPs. It put Labour as the largest party, with 241 seats. Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives would be in second place with 130 seats and Reform into third place with 123 seats.
Crucially, this is short of an outright majority. However well he did, Burnham would win far fewer seats than Starmer. “It would be unforgivably reckless to throw it all away,” as one Cabinet minister put it.
Reform’s in-fighting has also led to speculation Burnham could call a snap election. The Holborn and St Pancras by-election in which Zack Polanski is running against Labour is another key test of whether Burnham can see off the Greens on his left flank.
That’s led some to speculate the outcome may help focus the Prime Minister’s mind. Not true, according to one insider.
“I understand why people are speculating because Reform have had some blows, and if we do finish off the Greens in the by-election, then that looks like material political progress,” the Labour insider said. “But when you think how fragmented things were in May, there are absolutely no internal reasons to think an election is imminent at all. Andy wouldn’t want to risk having taken three leadership contests over 15 years to get to be in a position where you’re throwing all caution to the wind.”
“The party simply isn’t ready. We have only just elected Michael Marra as the new leader in Scotland, and in England, the party doesn’t reflect the organisational structures that stem from having stronger emphasis on the regional mayors. Constituency-level organising flows down from that,” another Labour source said.
Little room for giveaways to boost popularity with voters
And if Labour faithful are looking for more proof points that an election is in the offing, they will be disappointed at conference. Bound by the grim fiscal situation both Healey’s keynote address to delegates on Monday and Burnham’s on Tuesday will be light on populist giveaways.
“Andy’s speech is going to be visionary and optimistic and have real content, but both the speech and the Budget would be peppered with retail short-term transactionalism, if that was where the thinking and planning is at [for an election], and it really isn’t that,” a Labour insider observed.
And while the chatter about an early election seemingly won’t quieten down, some Labour insiders are phlegmatic. “I always think is a sign that we’re doing pretty well politically, so you have to take it on the chin,” remarked a party staffer.
A No 10 spokesperson: “The Prime Minister could not have been clearer, he has ruled out an early election.”