Breaking news: Labour civil war erupts amid deepening internal divisions as Nigel Farage prepares to make a major announcement

Toward the end of the interview, Mrs Badenoch cautioned Nigel Farage to keep an eye on Robert Jenrick. When asked by the Home Secretary’s husband, Ed Balls, what advice she would have for the Reform UK leader she said “watch your back”.

Mrs Badenoch suggested that Mr Jenrick had joined Reform with the intention of taking it over, stating that she “had it on good authority” that members of Mr Jenrick’s team expected Farage to leave one day, and planned to take over when he did.

Robert Jenrick is a “drama queen” who decided to turn on the party after members decided he could not be in charge.

She hit out at Mr Jenrick’s attacks on his former colleagues saying: “He was in cabinet longer than Mel Stride, I think it is extraordinary to come out and criticise former colleagues like this.”

The husband of the Labour Home Secretary, Ed Balls, who is now a presenter on Good Morning Britain, played a clip of the Conservative to Reform defector attacking his former colleagues. Mr Balls claimed it was “true” that the Conservative Party had lost control of the border.

Mr Balls, a former Labour MP and senior figure in previous Labour Governments, continued to press Mrs Badenoch on the subject throughout the interview.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, has confirmed again her support for the banning of social media for young people. She said: “On social media, what we have seen is that these platforms are designed to be addictive.”

She added: “Companies are profiting from children’s anxiety and their distraction. Social media is not for children, I don’t think we should make it easy for strangers to access children.”

Mrs Badenoch, herself a mother of three children, was speaking on Good Morning Britain.

Shadow armed forces minister Mark Francois said the Conservatives have been “defending those who defended us” for “years”.

He added: “As someone who has campaigned consistently on this issue for almost a decade, I welcome support from other parties, even belatedly.

“However, the Conservatives have voted repeatedly in Parliament to oppose Labour’s assault on our 2023 Legacy Act – which actually protects NI Veterans – including last Wednesday, when Farage and [Robert] Jenrick didn’t even bother to vote, to defend our Vets. Where were they instead?”

Labour MPs last week voted to remove protections for British Army veterans who served during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

As it currently stands, the Legacy Act offers immunity from prosecution to anyone accused of crimes if they provide information to a truth recovery body.

However, the High Court in Belfast ruled parts of the Act were incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights in 2024.

The then-Conservative government began the process of appealing against the decision, but this was dropped by Labour ministers after the 2024 general election.

MPs voted 373 to 106 on a Government remedial order to update the legislation.

Reform MP Richard Tice has thanked the Labour NEC for blocking Andy Burnham from standing. Posting on social media the high-profile Reform member and close ally of Nigel Farage shared an article from a national newspaper headlined: ‘I was going to vote for Burnham. Now I’ll back Reform.’

Mr Tice added: “Thank you, Labour NEC.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was one of the NEC members to have voted to block his rumoured leadership rival from returning to Parliament.

Sir Keir, who has a seat on the National Executive Committee, was reported to have cast his vote against Mr Burnham, by several national newspapers.

The vote was 8-1 against Mr Burnham, and now means he will not be allowed to stand in the forthcoming by-election.

Conservative Shadow Minister, Matt Vickers, has said that there is “no growth in our economy, the only thing growing is our national debt” in an interview with Times Radio. Speaking ahead of an event by former West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street and Scottish Peer, Ruth Davidson, he reaffirmed the party’s commitment to controlling migration.

Mr Street and Baroness Davidson will speak later about the need for a new approach to dealing with electoral challenges. They are calling for a broader appeal to more centrist voters. Mr Vickers said “we are a broad church, but we are the party of the right.”

He added: “We are not scared of Reform, we are actually putting our pitch forward […]” and warned “the Labour Party tax anything to death that even tries to do the right thing,”

Veterans convicted for their roles during the Troubles in Northern Ireland would be pardoned under a Reform UK government, Nigel Farage has announced.

The Reform leader promised to end current prosecutions of British veterans, through legislation or the royal prerogative of mercy, and to stop future legal action.

He told the Daily Telegraph: “We are proud to be launching our veterans wing. We will fight the injustice being done to our former servicemen and stand up for their rights.”

He will give a press conference launching Reform’s veterans wing at 11am.

Mr Burnham continued posting online late into the night, replying to his initial conciliatory post urging his party to come together. In his latest post he hit out at the fact the media was told of the NECs decision before he was.

He wrote: “The fact that the media was informed of the NEC decision before I was tells you everything you need to know about the way the Labour Party is being run these days.

“You would think that over 30 years of service would count for something but sadly not.”

MPs took to social media last night to blast their own party’s leadership, with once posting it was a “stitch-up”. Neil Duncan-Jordan, the Labour MP for Poole in the South West said it “put control before country”.

He added: “Those who have orchestrated this outcome are happy to destroy the Labour Party because of their deep seated factionalism.

“We’ve seen this before when some individuals were actively working against us winning. We’re rapidly losing all sense of reason.”

Andy Burnham is due to speak at a pre-planned event, virtually – on the subject of “rewiring eduction” with a think tank. It will be his first appearance since the decision was made to block him from standing.

Mr Burnham was conciliatory online, but late last night replied to a social media post by Sir Keir’s autobiographer to suggest that the party was unable to win the by-election without him standing as the candidate.

Several Labour MPs rounded on Sir Keir last night, with bankbench MP John McDonnell, a close ally of former leader Jeremy Corbyn saying: “Message to Keir: Do not underestimate the depth of anger people will feel about this disgusting decision.

He added, in a fiery post online: “If you think it strengthens you I tell you it will simply hasten your demise. You could have shown magnanimous leadership but instead it’s cowardice.”

Andy Burnham said he was “disappointed” by the decision, breaking his silence in a late night post on X to say: “I am disappointed by today’s NEC decision and concerned about its potential impact on the important elections ahead of us. To whoever is Labour’s candidate and to our members in Manchester and Tameside: you will have my full support and I will be there whenever you need me. Tomorrow I return with full focus to my role as Mayor of [Greater Manchester], defending everything we have built in our city-region over many years.”

Keir Starmer was branded a “control freak” by sitting Labour MP’s last night after the NEC made the controversial decision to stop Andy Burnham from standing. It came just hours after the decision was made public, with fury erupting over the NEC stopping Mr Burnham from being allowed to put himself forward for the Gorton and Denton by-election.

A vote of the NEC went 8-1 against Mr Burnham, sparking outrage from allies of the Mayor who blasted Sir Keir as a “control freak” and suggesting that he was doing it to shore up a “weak” premiership.