Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 20 July 2023

1. Tories brace for by-election pain

The Conservatives are “braced for painful by-election results” as the party is tipped to lose all three of the constituencies that are “up for grabs” this evening, said The Guardian. Polls in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Somerton and Frome, and Selby and Ainsty could become a “damning verdict” on Rishi Sunak’s ability to win a broad enough coalition of voters at the next election to retain his party’s majority, said the paper. The three “true blue” seats look “likely to be lost in the space of a day”, said The Telegraph.

Is Rishi Sunak delivering on his five pledges?

2. Interest rates ‘close to peak’

Cheaper mortgages could be available “within weeks” as better than expected inflation figures suggest interest rates are “close to peaking”, said The Times. The Office for National Statistics said that consumer price inflation had fallen from 8.7% in May to 7.9% in the year to June, boosting hopes that the Bank of England will not have to increase the base rate, now at 5%, much further. The sharp fall in inflation “delivered a boost to the housing market”, said The Telegraph.

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Rising mortgage costs: what can struggling homeowners do?

3. Shooting ahead of World Cup

A shooting has left three people dead in the centre of Auckland, New Zealand, hours before the Fifa Women’s World Cup is due to begin in the city. Ten other people, including police officers, were injured and the gunman is also dead after the incident at on a construction site in the central business district. The shooter has been identified as 24-year-old Matu Tangi Matua Reid. He was on home detention for domestic violence and had approval to travel to the construction site, said the New Zealand Herald.

4. EU calls Falklands ‘Malvinas’

The European Union has agreed to refer to the Falkland Islands as “Islas Malvinas” in a declaration jointly signed with Argentina and other Latin American countries. Buenos Aires has welcomed the wording as a “diplomatic triumph”, regarding it as evidence of European support for their claim to the islands. James Cleverly, the UK Foreign Secretary, had asked the EU to reject any mention of the Falkland Islands in the declaration. However, Brussels said the UK would not be allowed any say in the matter, since it is no longer a member of the bloc.

How Britain won the battle for the Falklands

5. Young use TikTok for news

TikTok is the most popular single source of news for teenagers in the UK, said Ofcom. The watchdog found that the video-sharing app is used by 28% of 12 to 15-year-olds for finding out about current affairs, with YouTube and Instagram joint second, at 25%. Iain Duncan Smith MP told The Telegraph the development was “immensely dangerous” because TikTok is “under the control” of the Chinese Communist Party.

How TikTok is shaking up the news

6. Tories complain about mayor photo

The Conservative Party has complained to the Evening Standard about its coverage of the selection of Susan Hall as the party’s candidate to be London’s mayor. Deputy party chairman Nickie Aiken said the full-page, unflattering image of the London Assembly member the newspaper used on its front page was “contemptible” and a “clear mockery”. Aiken said there was a “whiff of misogyny” about the picture choice. Hall was selected by party members after winning 57% of the vote.

7. News UK probes Wootton claims

News UK, the parent company of The Sun, has hired external lawyers to help investigate “very serious” allegations regarding Dan Wootton’s behaviour when he worked at the paper. The broadcaster is facing claims he used a pseudonym to secretly offer current and former Sun colleagues tens of thousands of pounds in return for compromising sexual material. Although he has admitted to “errors of judgment in the past” Wootton claims he is the victim of a “witch-hunt” driven by “dark forces” intent on shutting down his current employer, GB News.

Dan Wootton: GB News presenter admits ‘errors’ but denies criminality

8. Ellwood sorry for Taliban clip

The Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has apologised for a video in which he claimed Afghanistan had been “transformed” under the Taliban. In a video posted to Twitter from Afghanistan on Monday, the chair of Parliament’s Defence Select Committee said corruption was falling and security had “vastly improved”. However, noted the i news site, he made “no reference to the harsh restrictions re-imposed by the Taliban on rights for women and girls”. The former defence minister was accused of being a “Taliban appeaser”.

Is it time to recognise Afghanistan’s Taliban government?

9. Dahl museum acknowledges racism

A museum dedicated to Roald Dahl has condemned the author’s antisemitic views as “undeniable and indelible”. The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre said an acknowledgment of the writer’s opinions would be displayed at the entrance to the venue. Dahl said that “there is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity”, admitted he had “become antisemitic” and claimed Jewish people “control the media”. Dahl’s work has been “criticised since his death”, said the Jewish Chronicle.

10. Heatwave puts Bardot on oxygen

Emergency services rushed to the home of Brigitte Bardot after she suffered breathing difficulties. The 88-year-old was put on oxygen at her home in Saint-Tropez, where temperatures have peaked at 35C, as her husband said the French screen legend could “no longer bear the heat”. Speaking to local paper Var-Matin, Bernard d’Ormale, said that “like all people of a certain age, she can no longer bear the heat” and “it happens at 88 years old”. Bardot, a former screen legend, now runs an animal sanctuary in St Tropez.