Having faced the fury of Conservative backbenchers over reports of planned tax hikes as the week kicked off, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is the subject of growing speculation about possible plots against him from within the Tory party.
In further political strife, senior officials at the Home Office faced a grilling from MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee over their failure to tackle the ongoing migrant crisis in the Channel. The probe was launched after a record number of migrants attempted to reach British shores on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, over in the US, the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Joe Biden kicked up a gear, with both Republicans and Democrats pushing a “law and order” message to voters and pledging to quell unrest in cities across the country.
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Senior World Health Organization officials have warned that any coronavirus vaccine “is not going to be the end of the pandemic”. The UN health agency is urging world governments to instead adopt a more wide-ranging approach to tackling the health crisis, saying that leaders should “take the responsibility and communicate clearly” in order to “instil public trust and hope”.
In the UK, the BBC faced the wrath of some members of the public after banning singing during performances of Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory at the Last Night of the Proms. BBC bosses argued that the lyrics carry associations with slavery and British colonialism, but reversed the ban decision amid an ongoing controversy over allegations of bias within the broadcaster.
Trouble is also brewing on the global stage, after Germany confirmed that Alexei Navalny - an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was flown to Berlin after falling ill on a flight in Siberia last month - was poisoned.
Fingers have been pointed at the Kremlin, after it emerged that the toxin used was to poison Navalny, who remains in a coma, was novichok. The nerve agent was also used in the failed assassination attempt on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018.
