EXCLUSIVE: Gemma Collins shares her hopes to cover Vogue as former editor Edward Enninful ‘is a fan’ after ditching ‘loud and proud’ style for ‘look that’s more Victoria Beckham’

By Laura Parkin For Mailonline

Published: 03:17 EDT, 26 September 2023 | Updated: 03:24 EDT, 26 September 2023

Southern Water pins efficiency hopes on ‘LeakBot’ trial

• LeakBot will be introduced in a trial to over 1,000 customers in the group’s area

By Daniel Fessahaye

Published: 09:35 EDT, 14 August 2023 | Updated: 09:35 EDT, 14 August 2023

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Saturday that he ‘hoped’ actor Woody Harrelson was now supporting his 2024 White House bid and ruled out being former President Donald Trump‘s running mate during his appearance at the Iowa State Fair.

Kennedy and fellow presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson were the two Democrats to attend the fair this year, scheduled back-to-back at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox Saturday afternoon.

With President Joe Biden in the White House – and skipping the fair for Rehoboth Beach – much of the political attention at the fair was on the Republicans vying for their party’s nomination. 

But Kennedy’s speech, in particular, attracted throngs of supporters of Trump – who had spoken across the street earlier – with calls of ‘Trump-Kennedy!’ and ‘Drain the swamp!’ 

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer turned prominent anti-vaxxer, told reporters afterward that he ‘would not’ become Trump’s running mate. 

He was more optimistic, however, about gaining some more star power.

Kennedy is married to actress Cheryl Hines, from Curb Your Enthusiasm fame. 

On Friday she posted a picture with Harrelson – and he was sporting a Kennedy hat. 

Asked by DailyMail.com Saturday if he had gained another famous supporter the candidate answered, ‘I hope so.’ 

 ‘My wife did a podcast with him. And she gave him a hat at the beginning of the podcast and she said, “Well, do you want to take it off now that we’re doing it?” He said no, so,’ Kennedy said. 

‘You know, he’s very hard to get on a cell phone,’ Kennedy also said of Harrelson. ‘Because he doesn’t use cell phones.’ 

Both Kennedy and Williamson have the disadvantage of another Democrat already residing in the White House.

Williamson confirmed Saturday that the Democratic National Committee has informed her campaign that there will be no Democratic primary debates, which is standard practice when there’s an incumbent president running. 

She said that while she’s being ignored by many mainstream media outlets she’s been having success on TikTok, which is why her strongest numbers come from the country’s youngest voters. 

‘They support me because they hear me,’ she said. ‘And they hear me because they’re on TikTok.’ 

‘So if you’re young, I have access to you and it doesn’t cost money,’ she continued. ‘If you’re older than that you’re likely getting your political information from MSNBC, CNN and so on,’ she said, places she’s been ‘blackballed.’  

Biden was represented at the fair on opening day by Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who appeared Thursday alongside Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart. 

Walz expressed that he wasn’t disappointed that Biden wouldn’t be attending this year’s fair.  

‘I think the president is out everywhere. I know, Vice President Harris was here two weeks ago, I think you’re gonna see a lot of surrogates,’ he said. 

He gave a frank ‘no’ when asked if was concerned that Kennedy and Williamson would be representing the party at the fair. 

‘We’ve got some concerns about the fact that Robert Kennedy Jr. made some anti-Semitic comments,’ Hart said, jumping in. 

Kennedy at one point invoked Anne Frank and implied Jews had more freedoms during the Holocaust than the unvaccinated during the pandemic. 

He more recently said COVID was ‘ethnically targeted’ so spare Jewish people and the Chinese. 

‘But, you know, again Iowa is very proud of the tradition of the state fair and is welcoming to all,’ Hart said.

Ariana Grande’s rumored new beau Ethan Slater ‘hopes to co-parent son’ with estranged wife Lilly Jay – who is ‘focused on rebuilding a life as a single mom’

By Amy Lamare For Dailymail.Com and James Vituscka For Dailymail.Com

Published: 13:22 EDT, 28 July 2023 | Updated: 13:54 EDT, 28 July 2023

Tory leadership rival Jeremy Hunt today refused to say whether Boris Johnson is ‘honest’ as he warned the Prime Minister has a ‘big mountain to climb’ in winning back Tory voters.

Mr Hunt, who ran against Mr Johnson for the Conservative leadership in 2019, once again refused to rule out another leadership challenge. 

But the former Cabinet minister insisted now was not the time for renewed efforts to topple Mr Johnson and said he ‘hoped’ the PM would lead the Tories into the next general election.

Mr Hunt’s comments will be seen as a warning shot to the PM – and a clear message to Tory MPs – that he is waiting in the wings should Mr Johnson continue to stumble.

The PM’s position in Number 10 has been put into serious peril by the Partygate scandal, which saw him fined for Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street.

This month’s local election results have also increased fears within Conservative ranks that the party could see its so-called ‘blue wall’ areas across southern England continue to fall to the Liberal Democrats and Labour.

Mr Johnson saw the Tories lose both the Chesham and Amersham and North Shropshire constituences to the Lib Dems in Westminster by-elections last year.

The Conservatives are now also facing a battle to keep hold of Tiverton and Honiton following the recent resignation of porn-watching Tory MP Neil Parish.

At the council elections on 5th May, the Tories lost control of 11 councils – with many of those being ceded to the Lib Dems and Labour – with the Conservatives also suffering the loss of close to 500 council seats.

Mr Hunt, a former foreign secretary and health secretary, today reiterated he could seek a return to the top-level of Government.

But he said the Ukraine war should provide ‘perspective’ on the feverish speculation about the PM’s leadership in the wake of Partygate.

‘I have said many times that I don’t rule out a return to frontline politics myself,’ he told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme.

‘But I don’t think now is the right moment. Britain has been the most robust member of the Western alliance in the face of the first major war in Europe in our lifetimes.

‘I think the only person who would rejoice if we had a hiatus of several months in the leadership in Britain would be Vladimir Putin.

‘So I don’t think this is the moment for these discussions.’ 

The South West Surrey MP cast doubt on the PM’s ability to once again prove a Tory vote winner as he insisted it would be a ‘mistake’ to dismiss the party’s local election losses as ‘mid-term blues’.

He added: ‘The reason people vote Conservative is because they want economic growth, they want sound money, they want the prospect of lower taxes for their family.

‘None of those things are true at the moment. So the absolute priority for the Government must be to change from a high-inflation, low-growth economy to a low-inflation, high-growth economy.’

Asked if Mr Johnson was the best person to be Tory leader, Mr Hunt replied: ‘I hope he can turn things round because I don’t think this is the moment for a leadership contest.

‘But I would say this, I think the outcome of the next election will be decided not on personalities but on which party has the best long-term plans.

‘How do we defend democracy in a world where China is a bigger economy than the US? How do we spread wealth? How do we fix long-term problems in the NHS?’

Mr Hunt also dodged a question on whether Mr Johnson is ‘an honest man’.

He responded that ‘talking about personalities is not a helpful thing to do’, adding: ‘It’s a simple question but it’s not a helpful thing to do when I’ve just said we need to recognise the international situation is very serious and we need strong leadership from the PM we have.’

Mr Hunt called for fellow Tory MPs to ‘back the PM in the situation we’re in now’, as he described how the Ukraine was made it ‘impossible not to put things into perspective’.

He expressed his hope the party ‘can turn things round under the PM’s leadership’.

Asked if this meant he backed Mr Johnson to lead the Tories into the next general election, scheduled for 2024, Mr Hunt replied: ‘I very much hope so.’

Pressed on whether he would rather be the Conservative leader as the party sought to keep hold of its House of Commons majority, he added: ‘I know you would like to create a suggestion I would want something different, but I really hope we can (turn things around).

‘But I do also hope we recognise that in order to do that we have a big mountain to climb in terms of winning back the support of many of our core voters – not just in the south of England, but particularly in the south of England – who are very concerned at the situation we’re in.’

Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney branded Mr Hunt ‘too cowardly to say what everyone else in Britain is thinking’ over the PM’s honesty.

‘Boris Johnson is a serial liar and not fit to govern this country,’ she added.

‘It is time Jeremy Hunt carried out his patriotic duty and called time on Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

‘As a Surrey MP he should know the sheer anger felt in former Conservative heartlands at this Government.

‘From Chesham and Amersham to last week’s local election results, it is clear the public have had enough.’

Republicans pour cold water on Democrats’ hopes to pass a year-long government funding bill in just two weeks: Parties struggle over deal as McConnell signals it will be punted to 2023 when GOP controls the House

• Last week it appeared that Democrats and Republicans could work together on a so-called ‘omnibus’ spending bill to keep the government funded for a year
• But conservatives pushed back on the effort, calling for a shorter continuing resolution to fund the government until January 2023 when GOP controls House
• Multiple GOP senators signaled to DailyMail.com ahead of their weekly policy luncheon on Tuesday that a year-long spending bill likely will not happen 
• ‘I think it’s not very promising,’ Texas Sen. John Cornyn told DailyMail.com
• But the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, retiring Sen. Richard Shelby, said failure to do so will ‘have shown we didn’t do our jobs’

By Elizabeth Elkind, U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 16:52 EDT, 6 December 2022 | Updated: 17:06 EDT, 6 December 2022

I hope Trump doesn’t win the Republican nomination in 2024 because we can still have MAGA policies ‘without the baggage’, his ex-chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says

•  ‘We’ve got younger people, it’s time for Donald Trump to sort of go to the sideline, continue to push the policies that made him so popular,’ Mulvaney said
• ‘We defined my party, but we can have all the policies without the baggage, so I hope he doesn’t run,’ the former GOP congressman continued 
• ‘He may well be the only Republican who can lose to Joe Biden or any other Democrat in 2024,’ Mulvaney said of Trump
• The former chief of staff floated names like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott, former Sec. of State Mike Pompeo and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley
• Pressed on whether he would vote for Trump if Trump did win the GOP nomination, he said, ‘It would be really hard, knowing what I know about Jan 6th’ 

By Morgan Phillips, Politics Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 10:39 EDT, 16 August 2022 | Updated: 13:16 EDT, 17 August 2022

‘We’ve got younger people, it’s time for Donald Trump to sort of go to the sideline, continue to push the policies that made him so popular,’ Mulvaney said on NewsNation’s ‘Banfield 

Global stock markets ended the week in positive territory amid hopes American politicians are closing in on a deal to extend the US debt ceiling.

On a steadier day for the main benchmarks around the world, the FTSE 100 rose 0.7 per cent, or 56.33 points, to 7627.20 while Germany’s Dax rose 1.2 per cent and France’s Cac 40 added 1.2 per cent.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was up 1.3 per cent, the Dow Jones gained 0.9 per cent and the technology-heavy Nasdaq climbed 2.2 per cent.

While negotiations between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy continue, the pair are close to signing off a deal that would raise the US government’s £25trillion debt ceiling for two years while capping spending on everything but military and veterans.

An agreement must be reached before the June 1 otherwise the US will default on its debt, hammering the economy and sparking panic on financial markets.

Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets UK, said stocks enjoyed ‘an end-of-week lift after a negative week for stocks in general’.

He added: ‘The more positive mood appears to be being driven by some optimism that we might see the framework of a debt ceiling deal starting to unfold, with more details expected to emerge over the weekend, as we zero in on next week’s deadline.’

Rio Tinto led a rally among mining stocks after a vote of confidence from the City. Morgan Stanley said the FTSE 100 Anglo-Australian firm, which has been hampered by setbacks and environmental challenges, ‘appeared to have turned the corner’.

It said shares have been hit by demand concerns surrounding China and a slump in iron ore prices. But analysts said it was a ‘business with high-quality assets, a growing copper footprint, [and] improving operating performance’. As a result, the investment bank upgraded it from ‘equal-weight’ to ‘overweight’.

Shares, which have fallen around 15 per cent so far this year, gained 3.5 per cent, or 167p, to 4925p.

There were gains throughout the sector, with Antofagasta up 2.9 per cent, or 39.5p, to 1389.5p while Anglo American added 2.3 per cent, or 51.5p, to 2318.5p, Glencore gained 1.5 per cent, or 6.2p, to 422.65p, Endeavour Mining rose 2.2 per cent, or 44p, to 2010p and Fresnillo edged up 0.5 per cent, or 3.4p, to 656p.

But it was a sluggish session for housebuilders. Persimmon rose 0.5 per cent or 6.5p, to 1226p after Deutsche Bank Research issued a ‘sell’ rating and lowered the target price to 1212p from 1267p.

The broker cut its profit forecasts for the year to £354m from £444m to reflect ‘volume and margin pressure’. It also issued a ‘hold’ rating on Vistry Group – down 1.5 per cent, or 11p, to 740p – and Taylor Wimpey, which fell 1.5 per cent, or 1.75p, to 115.65p.

M&G gained 3.3 per cent, or 6.3p, to 198.35p after Morgan Stanley raised the asset manager’s target price to 270p from 247p.

Cyber security firm Darktrace sank 11 per cent, or 32p, to 260p after Bank of America Merrill Lynch slapped an ‘underperform’ rating on the stock.

Kin and Carta warned its revenue would be lower than hoped following industry-wide issues and contract delays.

The tech consultancy firm said clients have pressed pause on committing to spending on large programmes of work, meaning its revenue for the year to the end of July is expected to be flat.

Its shares tumbled by 9 per cent, or 6.4p, to 64.9p.

UK Commercial Property REIT rose 0.4 per cent, or 0.2p, to 51.2p after it sold a warehouse it has owned since 2009 for £74m, offloading its Wembley logistics asset to Covent Garden IP Limited.

 President Joe Biden said he was ‘optimistic’ of a deal that could avert a U.S. default as he left Washington for Camp David hoping for a signal of progress within hours.  

‘I hope we’ll have some clear evidence tonight before the clock strikes 12 that we have a deal,’ Biden told reporters as he left town at the start of the Memorial Day Weekend.

He spoke hours after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the nation would likely hit the ‘X’ default deadline June 5 unless Congress is able to act. 

Biden said negotiators were ‘very close’ but declared himself ‘optimistic.’ 

‘I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to know tonight whether we are going to be able to have a deal,’ he said.

‘With regard to the debt limit, things are looking good,’ Biden said, despite the White House long disputing that negotiations were about raising the nation’s statutory limit, which Biden thinks Congress ought to do on a ‘clean’ basis. 

The White House has been taking heat, including from Democratic House members, for Biden’s decision to leave town amid the high-stakes talks that could have the U.S. failing to make good on his debts.

He said he was flying to Camp David ‘because my granddaughter graduates on Sunday.’ 

Even with the high stakes global finances on the line, Biden spoke about some other logistics behind his decision. He said the Secret Service ‘is working on my house’ and there’s ‘no place to go at home for five weeks.’ He has previously spoken about bullet proof windows being installed at his Wilmington home.

Biden didn’t otherwise speak on the standoff publicly Friday, although at one of his events, where he hosted the Louisiana State University women’s basketball champs, Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), one of McCarty’s top negotiators, was in attendance. Biden negotiator OMB head Shalanda Young was also there.  

Earlier, Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he believed ‘progress’ was made in debt talks overnight, though the two sides still remain hung up on the biggest part: spending levels. 

‘I thought we made progress last night. We got to make more progress now,’ McCarthy told reporters on his way into the Capitol. 

He said he’d met with his top negotiating deputy, Rep. Garret Graves, for a morning bike ride.  

‘It’s about spending. The Democrats never want to stop,’ McCarthy said. 

Graves and fellow top negotiator Rep. Patrick McHenry were seen entering the speaker’s office again mid-morning on Friday. 

The two sides still have not come to an agreement on a top line number for increasing the nation’s borrowing limit.

McHenry told reporters on his way into the speaker’s office that there were no in-person meetings scheduled between House GOP negotiators and White House negotiators Steve Ricchetti and Shalanda Young for Friday. 

President Biden is headed to Camp David Friday before he plans to spend the weekend at his home in Delaware. The White House insists he can negotiate from anywhere via phone. 

‘We are here night after night after night. The pressure is more, the consequences are greater. We recognize that. The White House should recognize that,’ McHenry, N.C., said. 

Bloomberg reports the two sides are closing in on a deal that would increase the debt limit for two years and would cap spending for the same amount of time – and the deal would claw back $10billion from the $80billion increase in IRS funding Democrats passed last Congress. 

But a source familiar with the talks told DailyMail.com the two sides have not agreed to a top line and have not agreed on whether to extend borrowing for one or two years. 

Republicans want only one year, Democrats want to push the extension through the next election. 

The two sides are also going into Friday hung up on defense spending. 

Republicans wanted a large increase to the defense budget, even as they want to cut spending overall, while Democrats wanted spending cuts. 

The two sides could come to agreement with a small increase – in line with President Biden’s $886.3billion budget request. 

In 2011, the country was in a similar crisis under former President Barack Obama who also faced a Republican House opposed to raising the ceiling.

While the ceiling was raised, the threat of default was enough to plunge the U.S. financial markets into turmoil and the country’s rating downgraded from AAA to AA+ as a result.

Cristiano Ronaldo slots home second-half penalty following VAR review before Talisca punishes gaffe late on as Al Nassr secure 2-0 victory at Al Ta’ee and keep their title hopes alive in Saudi Pro League

• Al Nassr beat Al Ta’ee to narrow the gap on leaders Al-ittihad to three points
• Cristiano Ronaldo slotted home his fifth penalty this season in the 48th minute 
• Talisca doubled the visitors advantage after a mix up on the edge of the box

By David Wood for MailOnline

Published: 17:20 EDT, 16 May 2023 | Updated: 19:42 EDT, 16 May 2023