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Chris Mason: Another crunch moment for Starmer as he pleads with Labour MPs not to topple him

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It feels like the prime minister has to give the speech of his life today.

Those within the Labour Party who want to see him succeed acknowledge that you can't change everything in one speech.

But it is clearly imperative for Sir Keir Starmer to try to calm down a party that is hurting and anxious.

Many Labour MPs have spent the weekend observing the politically scorched earth around them locally – their friends and colleagues in local and devolved government wiped out. There are fraught emotions and there is anger.

And for the last few days now there has been the drip, drip of revolt, with Labour MP after Labour MP coming out publicly to say Starmer has to go.

With every one, a little more of the prime minister's authority drains away.

Incidentally, don't underestimate what a big deal it is for any individual MP to go over the top and say their boss should go – not least because, for now at least, those that have done so are a tiny fraction of the total number of Labour MPs.

And it was his name up in lights as their leader when many of them won their seats for the first time, and often in parts of the country where Labour rarely if ever win. So to say now, out loud, that you think he is a dud is a big deal.

Wherever you look in the Labour Party right now there are knots of anxiety.

Firstly, there is anxiety in Downing Street, of course. They are acutely aware of what is at stake.

Secondly, there is anxiety among the potential challengers, weighing up if, when or whether to go for it. Timing can be everything: get it right, and the premiership can be yours. Get it wrong, and what might be your only chance to be prime minister is gone.

Thirdly, there is anxiety among the many, many Labour MPs keeping their heads down and who really don't want the prime minister to leave right now, nor for there to be a leadership contest.

Then there are those who would like Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham to be Labour's next leader and so don't want a contest right now – because he needs time to firstly find and then win a Westminster seat, having been blocked from standing in one just a few months ago.

So what happens after the speech tomorrow? How do Labour MPs react? Does Catherine West, the former minister who has said she is willing to challenge the prime minister to try to force a contest, decide to back down, or press ahead?

Does the prime minister manage to put people off challenging him, at least for now?

Or is there a flood of anguish that leaves his position untenable and tempts one of the challengers to go for it?

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, in particular, faces a massive call in the next couple of days. He has said he won't challenge Sir Keir, but is prepared to make his case if it becomes clear the prime minister is a goner.

So does he go for it, or not? Some who would like to see him replace Sir Keir think this might be his very best chance, before Burnham can get back to Westminster.

It is worth emphasising that it is not easy to dislodge a sitting prime minister who doesn't want to budge and, up until now at least, Sir Keir has given every indication he wants to stick around.

But what a moment he confronts and his party confronts.

The Labour Party is in a glum swirl right now, where no one can be certain what will happen next.

Whatever does – or doesn't – happen will have consequences for us all.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevp4kr79e4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

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The Papers: Original 'Labour leadership rivals circle' and 'Golden boys' on Baftas red carpet

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Ailing Iran Nobel laureate given bail and hospital transfer

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Iranian human rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi has been transferred from jail to a Tehran hospital amid concern over her deteriorating health.

Iranian authorities granted Mohammadi "a sentence suspension on heavy bail", a foundation run by her family said on Sunday.

Last week Mohammadi's family and supporters warned she could die in prison after suffering two suspected heart attacks earlier this year.

Mohammadi, 54, was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism against female oppression in Iran and promoting human rights.

After pleas from her family for her to be transferred from prison, Mohammadi is "now at Tehran Pars Hospital to be treated by her own medical team", ​the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said in a statement.

She had spent 10 days hospitalised in Zanjan in northern Iran, where she had been serving her sentence.

Mohammadi's Paris-based husband said "she is not in a favourable general condition" and that "her status remains unstable", in a statement over the weekend.

The activist is believed to have lost about 20kg (three stone) while in prison, and has difficulty speaking and is barely recognisable, according to her lawyer Chirinne Ardakani.

In 2021, Mohammadi began serving a 13-year sentence on charges of committing "propaganda activity against the state" and "collusion against state security", which she denied.

In December 2024, she was given a temporary release from Tehran's notorious Evin prison on medical grounds.

Mohammadi was arrested last December for making "provocative remarks" at a memorial ceremony, Iranian authorities said at the time. Her family said she was taken to hospital after being beaten during the arrest.

In early February, Mohammadi was sentenced by a Revolutionary Court to an additional seven-and-a-half years in prison after being convicted of "gathering and collusion" and "propaganda activities", her lawyer said.

Last month, Mohammadi's brother Hamidreza said his sister had been found unconscious by fellow inmates at Zanjan prison after suffering a suspected heart attack.

The foundation's statement on Sunday said "a suspension is not enough" and that the human rights activist requires "permanent, specialised care".

"We must ensure she never returns to prison to face the 18 years remaining on her sentence," it read.

"Now is the time to demand her unconditional freedom and the dismissal of all charges. No human and women's rights activists should ever be imprisoned for their peaceful work," it said.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j257w87neo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

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Adolescence makes history at Bafta TV Awards

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Netflix drama Adolescence was the big winner at the Bafta Television Awards on Sunday, while The Celebrity Traitors and Last One Laughing also scooped a share of the glory.

The Celebrity Traitors and Last One Laughing won two prizes each, while Adolescence took four – breaking the record for the most wins at the Bafta TV Awards ceremony in a single year.

The hard-hitting drama, which became a national talking point when it was released in March 2025, was named best limited series, and there were acting honours for its stars Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper and Christine Tremarco.

At 16, Cooper became the youngest ever winner of the award for best supporting actor.

Cooper's Bafta can go alongside the Emmy, Golden Globe, National Television, Royal Television Society and Actor Awards he has already won for playing a boy accused of murdering a female classmate.

In his acceptance speech, the rising star paid tribute to the Beatles.

"In the words of John Lennon, you won't get anything unless you have the vision to imagine it," he said.

"So in my eyes I think you only need three things to succeed: one, you need an obsession; two, you need a dream; and, three, you need the Beatles."

Graham was named best leading actor for playing Cooper's on-screen dad, and Tremarco won best supporting actress for playing his mum.

It was Graham's first Bafta win after seven previous nominations.

In his speech, he encouraged young viewers to believe they could follow a similar path in acting.

"We're not digging holes, we're not digging ditches, we're not saving lives, but we have the opportunity to tell the human condition, and we have the obligation to tell beautiful stories and we need to keep that going," he said.

He also ending his speech with a Beatles reference, telling the ceremony: "The kid's already said it, but in the words of the Beatles, all we need is love."

Meanwhile, Narges Rashidi, who was born in Iran, won best leading actress for playing Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in BBC One's real-life drama Prisoner 951.

Rashidi dedicated the award to the British-Iranian woman who was imprisoned in Tehran for six years, and her family, telling the ceremony: "Your resilience, your dignity, your love through impossible circumstances have moved us all.

"Your courage will stay with me for the rest of my life. This is for you."

Elsewhere, the award for best drama went to ITV's Code of Silence, which starred Rose Ayling-Ellis as a deaf woman who helps police with her lip reading skills.

The Celebrity Traitors, the most-watched programme of last year with more than 15 million viewers, won best reality programme.

Accepting the award, host Claudia Winkleman dedicated it to the show's "extraordinary cast who played with dignity, gusto and their entire hearts and we love them".

Alan Carr's victory on the programme was named the year's most memorable TV moment – the only award of the night to be voted for by the public.

In his acceptance speech, he joked: "Was I good? Was I really – or were the other celebrities just thick?!", referencing their inability to spot him as a Traitor.

Prime Video's hit Last One Laughing was named best entertainment programme, beating BBC One heavyweights The Graham Norton Show, Michael McIntyre's Big Show and Would I Lie To You.

Bob Mortimer's efforts to make his rival comedians crack a smile while he kept a straight face in Last One Laughing earned him the Bafta for best entertainment performance.

Steve Coogan won best actor in a comedy for How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge).

He said: "Doing comedy in these troubled times is so important. It's a privilege to make people laugh after all these years."

He continued: "I will keep on doing it. If anyone wants to know when Alan Partridge is going to die, it's about the same time that I am going to die."

Katherine Parkinson was named best comedy actress for her role as mum Rachel in family sitcom Here We Go.

Her competition in the category included a trio of stars from Amandaland (Lucy Punch, Philippa Dunne and Jennifer Saunders) as well as Diane Morgan and Rosie Jones.

Amandaland did have success in the category for best scripted comedy, four years after Motherland – in which the title character first appeared – won the same award.

Creator Holly Walsh said: "This is for everyone who is going through a process of reinvention, whatever that is, because it takes a lot to start again."

The current affairs prize went to Gaza: Doctors Under Attack after it was pulled by the BBC last year, which the broadcaster said was because of impartiality concerns. It was later shown by Channel 4 instead.

The documentary's reporter and producer, Ramita Navai, told the audience: "This award means so much to us," then spoke about the numbers of women, children and healthcare workers who have been killed in Gaza.

"These are the findings of our organisation that the BBC failed to show but we refused to be silenced and censored and we thank Channel 4."

Ben de Pear, the founder of Basement Films behind Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, added he had a question for the BBC: "Given you dropped our film, will you drop us from the Bafta screening later tonight?" He also thanked the journalists on the ground in Gaza.

When the BBC shelved the documentary, it said in a statement "it was determined to report all aspects of the conflict in the Middle East impartially and fairly."

De Pear's comments during the ceremony were later included in BBC One's broadcast of the awards, as part of a round-up of some of the winners.

Netflix's Grenfell: Uncovered, about the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people, won best single documentary.

In other categories, EastEnders was named best soap, Scam Interceptors won best daytime show, and Go Back To Where You Came From picked up the factual entertainment prize.

Former Great British Bake Off judge Dame Mary Berry received the top lifetime achievement honour, the Bafta Fellowship, at the age of 91.

"I'm really bowled over by this accolade. I'm a cook, I'm a teacher, so I feel very honoured to be given Bafta's highest award," she said.

She finished her speech offering thanks to her three children, including her late son William, who died in a car accident in 1989 at the age of 19. She said: "William is in heaven, but I thank him."

Financial expert Martin Lewis was also given an honorary prize, the Special Award.

An emotional Lewis said he wrote the speech on Thursday, 42 years after the death of his mother when he was 11.

"For six years, barring school, I barely left the house. Now I'm picking up a Bafta," he told the audience.

"Life can be transformed, it can get better. If you had told that broken, scared boy that I'd proudly be a campaigning journalist, his jaw would have dropped.

"So I dedicate this to consumer journalism, where I found my voice."

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y76dll19po?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

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