Connor Hand

LBC EXCLUSIVE: 'Strip his knighthood': Minister backs review of ex-environment agency chief's honour over toxic water scandal. James Bevan presided over the utter decimation of the Environment Agency and every river in the country. Current project is that by next year just 6% of England's river will be in good ecological condition. That is his legacy. Should we show him any deference? None whatsoever, strip him of his knighthood. lbc.co.uk/article/calls-…

‘I think it should be considered…’ @NickFerrariLBC asks Labour's Emma Reynolds whether she thinks ex-Southern Water head Sir James Bevan should be stripped of his knighthood.

Most senior Labour figure yet to openly call for party to put rejoining EU in next election manifesto. Will others now follow? (Very few even say this privately - but it’s a long time until the next election)…

An update on the ongoing investigation into potential misconduct in public office offences that was launched earlier this week.

'This stains all of politics.' @wesstreeting says he'll 'easily' agree to being investigated over Mandelson's appointment, and condemns the ambassador for 'undermining public trust'.

NEW: LBC understands Deng Chol Majek cannot be deported until the 2050s under current legislation. Under current laws, people serving a life sentence are ineligible for deportation until their minimum term has been served.

'So the claim that you punched him when he tried to shake your hand, is that not true?' Sacked bus driver who chased down a thief surprises @TomSwarbrick1 by calling in to tell his side of the story.

Harrowing story today from @_LaurenEales

JIGSAW COMPLETED! I have now completed the contributor lineup for a new book BRITISH POLITICAL PARTY LEADERSHIP CONTESTS, which will be published by Biteback in 2028. 90 contests/challenges/coronations covered by 90 different political experts. Scroll down for the full list. This book covers each political party leadership contest/election/coronation/challenhe since the 1920s. There are 90 chapters, each written by a different historian, academic, journalist of politician. It features the leadership contests, not just of the three main political parties in the UK - the Conservative Party, Labour Party and the Liberal Party/Liberal Democrats - but also the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the SNP. There are also seven chapters covering all the leadership contests in the UUP, DUP, Alliance, Communist Party of Great Britain, BNP and UKIP/Brexit Party/Reform. Each party has developed different methods of choosing their leaders, and these have changed over the last century. These will be explained in full in the opening chapter by the book's editor, Iain Dale. It is not just actual leadership elections that are included. The criteria for inclusion is when a party changes leader, either because the previous leader dies, resigns or is toppled. What were the events that led up to a change of leader, and how did the eventual successor prevail? We've included all UK parties who have taken their seats in the UK or European Parliament over the years. There follows a full list of the chapters and their authors... Conservative 1922 Andrew Bonar Law Mark Garnett Conservative 1923 Baldwin John Barnes Conservative 1937 Chamberlain Richard Grayson Conservatives 1940 Churchill T G Otte Conaervative 1955 Eden Mark Fox Conaervative 1957 Macmillan Robert Waller Conaervative 1963 Douglas-Home Stephen Parkinson Conaervative 1965 Heath Lord Norton Conaervative 1975 Thatcher Simon Heffer Conservative 1989 Thatcher Philip Cowley Conaervative 1990 Major Michael Crick Conaervative 1995 Major Jack Brown Conaervative 1997 Hague Roger Gough Conaervative 2001 Duncan-Smith Tim Bale Conaervative 2003 Howard Max Stafford Conaervative 2005 Cameron Edward Young Conaervative 2016 May Natasha Clark Conaervative 2019 Johnson Tom Skinner Conaervative 2022 Truss John Curtice Conaervative 2022 Sunak James Heale Conaervative 2024 Badenoch David Jeffrey Labour 1922 Macdonald Richard Johnson Labour 1932 Lansbury Francis Beckett Labour 1935 Attlee Vernon Bogdanor Labour 1955 Gaitskell Lewis Baston Labour 1960 Gaitskell Denis MacShane Labour 1961 Gaitskell Greg Rosen Labour 1963 Wilson Matthew Bailey Labour 1976 Callaghan Robert Buckland Labour 1980 Foot Julia Langdon Labour 1983 Kinnock Peter Kellner Labour 1988 Kinnock Martin Westlake Labour 1992 Smith Connor Hand Labour 1994 Blair Peter Riddell Labour 2007 Brown Jimmy Chen Labour 2010 Miliband Adam Boulton Labour 2015 Corbyn George Parker Labour 2016 Corbyn Patrick Diamond Labour 2020 Starmer Gabriel Pogrund Liberal 1926 Lloyd George David Laws Liberal 1931 Samuel Stephen Bates Liberal 1931 Sinclair David Walsh Liberal 1945 Davies Russell Deacon Liberal 1956 Grimond Mark Egan Liberal 1967 Thorpe Matthew Cole Liberal 1976 Steel Mark Pack Liberal 1988 Ashdown Duncan Brack Liberal 1999 Kennedy Henry Riley Liberal 2006 Campbell Stephen Williams Liberal 2007 Clegg Chris Rennard Liberal 2015 Farron David Howarth Liberal 2017 Cable Caron Lindsay Liberal 2019 Swinson Alia Middleton Liberal 2020 Davey Neil Stockley Liberal National Party 1931-68 David Dutton SDP 1981 Jenkins Michael McManus SDP 1983 Owen Dick Newby SDP 1987 Maclennan Ben Stoneham Green Party 2007 Lucas Natalie Bennett Green Party 2012 Bennett Russell Warfield Green Party 2016/18 Lucas/Bartley Matthew Butcher Green Party 2021 Denyer/Ramsay Adam Ramsay Green Party 2025 Polanski Sam Marks SNP 1945 Watson Malcolm Petrie SNP 1947 McIntyre Ewen Cameron SNP 1956 Halliday Paula Somerville SNP 1960 Donaldson Ewen Cameron SNP 1969 Wolfe Richard Finlay SNP 1979 Wilson David McCrone SNP 1990 Salmond David Torrance SNP 2000 Swinney Andrew Tickell SNP 2004 Salmond Gerry Hassan SNP 2014 Sturgeon Joe Pike SNP 2023 Yousaf Michael Russell SNP 2024 Swinney Mark McGeoghan Plaid Cyrmru 1945 Evans Richard Wyn Jones Plaid Cyrmru 1981 Wigley Aled Eirug Plaid Cyrmru 1984 Ellis-Thomas Rob Osborne Plaid Cyrmru 1991 Wigley Owaiin Phillips Plaid Cyrmru 2000 Wyn Jones Laura McAllister Plaid Cyrmru 2012 Wood Anthony Pickles Plaid Cyrmru 2018 Price Will Timmins Plaid Cyrmru 2023 ap Iowerth Lauren McEvatt UUP Various Jonathan Tonge DUP Various Peter Weir SDLP Various Michael Mckernan Alliance Various Stephen Farry UKIP.Brexit/Reform Various Alex Puffette BNP Various Roger Griffin Communist Party of GB Various Henry Bell You can preorder the book here politicos.co.uk/products/briti…

NEW: Shabana Mahmood Call the Cabinet with @LBC @NickFerrariLBC - Police reforms: We have learned lessons with police Scotland, hope to be still here to implement all in next parliament - Parents were shop workers - had their till stolen twice: 'We were victims ourselves, this is close to home for me' - Updated one in/one out figures: 350 people come in from France, and 281 removed - People smugglers are using adverts of hotels to draw people to Britain - military camps will end that - Burnham - I know people are upset but let’s pull together - ICE: Incredibly worrying and horrifying set of circumstances... huge concerns there, our approach in the UK is very different - Protest: admits need to make changes in legal framework here - accepts postcode lottery across country for policing chants - Anti semitism is rising and we will do more - Gov will continue to fight Shamima Begum to stop her from being able to return to the UK - Not aware of reports re China hacking government phones - "I can reassure you our national security arrangements are very strong"

Suella Braverman defects to Reform UK lbc.co.uk/article/suella…

“Be true to yourself” Robert Jenrick reveals to @NatashaC what his father said to him to make him quit the Conservatives and join Reform.

An extraordinary investigation by LBC's Rebecca Henrys Grok has the ability to tell users how to make chemical weapons like ricin, chlorine gas and mustard gas The xAI tool is under the spotlight again as the UK Government says it's "deeply concerning and cannot go unchecked"

NEW: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer appears to suggest President Trump is bluffing over his threats to use military force to take Greenland. Interesting to see how the White House responds to this later.

Councils in England and Wales shelled out over £150m last year fighting parents seeking special needs support for their children - despite losing over 99% of cases. One mother even told LBC she was hospitalised due to the stress of navigating the system. lbc.co.uk/article/counci…

Turns out Craig Guildford actually misled Parliament TWICE. On December 1st, when he was first called before MPs, he told MPs the “erroneous” West Ham evidence came from “social media scraping”. So he misled parliament once and then didn’t check before his second appearance?

Extraordinary admission from West Mids Chief Constable Craig Guildford that he “misled” Parliament by using evidence from a fictitious West Ham vs Maccabi match to justify the fans’ travel ban. The evidence was generated by AI. Shabana Mahmood to give a statement today.

Rachel Reeves 'poised to u-turn on business rates' for struggling pubs within days lbc.co.uk/article/rachel…

‘My business rates are going up over 100%.’ @ChefTomKerridge shocks @TomSwarbrick1 with how his businesses are being hit by Labour’s taxes on pubs.