Amnesty International says Farage putting ‘hate and inhumanity’ over leadership with El Salvador prison plan – as it happened

August 10, 2026·13 min read·Updated 23 hours ago

Nigel Farage at his press conference this morning. — Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf hold up documents during a press conference Photograph: Victoria Jones/ShutterstockThe Guardian

From

3d ago

Farage welcomes revived police probe into alleged arson attack at his home after Widdecombe murder

Q: [From Jack Elsom from the Sun] Can you tell us anything more about the Ann Widdecombe investigation to cover an arson attack at your home?

That was a reference to this story.

Farage replied:

Shortly before the horrific murder of Ann Widdecombe, I did publicly say something I hadn’t said for a year, which was about an incident that occurred at my home address. The issue was basically arson, and the attempted forcing of the door.
I hadn’t mentioned it for a year, because I generally don’t mention in public the security concerns that I have, because there have been too many of them that have happened.
I spoke about this in the context of me needing to be provided with security clearly to the end of my days.
Ann, 78, been out of office for many, many years. And I discussed that around the issue of money, of my own future protection.
Of course, most of the media organisations in this room called me a liar.

This is a very partial account of what happened earlier this year. Farage did say, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, that there had been an arson attack on his home which he had not revealed before. You would find it very hard to find any mainstream media organisation that called him a liar. But journalists (including from the Guardian) pointed out that he had given this interview as a “spoiler” because it came when he knew the Guardian was about to publish the story about how he had received an undisclosed £5m donation from the cryptobillionaire Christopher Harborne. Farage told the Telegraph about the donation and claimed that it was wholly unrelated to his political work and that it was just a gift to fund his security for the rest of his life (which is why he mentioned the arson attack). Some people are very sceptical about this explanation – particularly in the light of stories like this. Doubts were also raised about the arson story after the Observer reported that, while the police recorded an attempted burglary at Farage’s home, they did not record an arson attack.

In his answer at the press conference, Farage went on:

The truth is, there was an investigation into this.
And clearly counter-terrorism [police] made some mistakes, which is why they referred themselves to the Independent Office of Police Complaints.
I understand this is a completely unprecedented move.
And, yes, this is directly linked to the murder of Ann Widdecombe.
And I’m afraid I just can’t tell you any more than that at this stage.
It’s a great, great tragedy that it took the death of Ann for the security services in Britain to finally take seriously the safety and security of Reform politicians and reform prominent figures.
Up until that moment, we had been treated very differently to everybody else. For example, four days after the murder of Charlie Kirk, I had nearly all of my security removed from me. We have been ignored. Our situation has been undervalued.
But I’m not going to say anything now to prejudice [the investigation], because I do actually believe in my heart that counter-terrorism are now seriously doing this job, and I have confidence in them.
I’d love to tell you more. It will come out, but I just dare not breach that trust and confidence with counter-terrorism at this stage.

The police have yet to confirm any such link between Widdecombe’s murder and the alleged firebombing of Farage’s home. Police did not identify any suspects during their investigation of the incident at the time, which was treated as an attempted burglary, and so the investigation was closed, pending any new lines of inquiry.

Since the case was reopened, CTP London said it had identified a line of inquiry “which may have been relevant” but was “not identified and pursued by [counter-terrorism police] at the time”.

The police watchdog said it was now investigating the conduct of a CTP London staff member over allegations that they “failed to identify and pursue a line of inquiry”.

Key events

Afternoon summary

Andy Burnham has been warned that changing the terms of the prisoners’ early release scheme so PC Andrew Harper’s killers are kept behind bars would force another spate of early releases before the next general election.

A dinghy carrying a record 230 people has arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in the early hours of Monday.

Amnesty International UK has condemned Reform UK’s proposal to send foreign prisoners to serve the rest of their sentences in El Salvador, saying it is an example of politicians choosing to put “hate, violence and inhumanity” ahead of leadership.(See 2.23pm.)

GB News is being investigated by the UK’s media regulator after a guest appeared to link pride parades with bestiality and paedophilia.

The Treasury “materially contributed” to the death of Chloe Moffat, a 26-year-old personal assistant who took her own life after facing disciplinary proceedings, a coroner has found.

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

Danny Shaw, the home affairs commentator and former BBC correspondent who briefly worked as a Labour adviser on home affairs policy, says he thinks Downing Street is wrong to say it can’t find a way of excluding PC Andrew Harper’s killers from the early release scheme. (See 12.46pm.)

This is wrong. Govt can block Pc Harper’s killers’ early release and ensure there’s enough prison space - through emergency legislation in September:
1. Exclude prisoners jailed for 10+ years for manslaughter from early release (220 people, including Pc Harper’s killers, Bowers and Cole)
2. Release on tag & curfew, after risk assessment, people jailed for up to 12 months (up to 2,700 people).
All it takes is imagination and political will.

Reform UK confirms charity staff helping asylum seekers could face jail under its plan to criminalise assisting illegal migrants

Reform UK has confirmed that it would legislate to stop charities helping asylum seekers who come to the UK. Responding to an Express report about how many items Care4Calais has given to help migrants in France and the UK, Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson, said:

Care4Calais is not a charity. It is a facilitator of illegal migration, actively aiding the mass arrival of unvetted, fighting-age males into Britain at a cost of billions to the taxpayer. Successive Tory and Labour governments have colluded by looking the other way.
Reform UK will pass the ‘Polanski Law’ to criminalise any act that assists or encourages illegal entry, punishable by two years’ imprisonment. We will treat those who enable this invasion as the accomplices they are and shut them down immediately.

Yusuf described this as “Polanski’s law” when he first proposed it earlier this year because Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, is a proud supporter of the rights of asylum seekers.

Scottish Greens urged to withdraw whip from MSP over rape 'spectrum' comment

The Scottish Conservatives are urging the Scottish Greens to withdraw the whip from Q Manivannan MSP over their comment about rape being a “spectrum”. (See 1.48pm.) Meghan Gallacher, equalities spokesperson for the Scottish Tories, said:

These remarks from an extremist Scottish Greens MSP were appalling and beyond the pale.
It is deeply alarming that anyone, but especially an elected representative, would ever seek to minimise the seriousness of rape and suggest that there is a spectrum of offences.
Q Manivannan’s comments were so unacceptable that I believe Scottish Greens co-leaders Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay must now remove the whip from them.

Aileen O’Connor, chair of the Thames Valley Police Federation, has said that Downing Street’s failure to block the early release of two of the men who killed PC Andrew Harper (see 12.46pm) is “indefensible”. In a statement, she said:

The public are speaking loudly and clearly.
They agree with us that the government are firmly on the wrong side of this.
What they are doing is indefensible. And they simply cannot defend it.
They must listen. The prime minister must listen.
If you kill a police officer there should be no early release. No ifs. No buts.

Haroon Siddique has a good explainer on the options available to the PM.

Thames Water’s £1m payout to finance chief is ‘unacceptable’, says government department

Thames Water has paid its finance chief a £1m signing fee despite teetering on the brink of a government-handled administration, in a decision which the environment department labelled “unacceptable”. Jasper Jolly has the story.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has claimed that the arrival of a boat carrying 230 migrants shows the French are not trying to tackle the problem. In a statement he said:

This is now beyond a joke. The French authorities could easily have stopped a vessel this size from embarking in shallow waters.
I recently saw for myself French Gendarmes standing by and doing nothing while illegal immigrants boarded in knee deep water. Shabana Mahmood [the home secretary] is handing over £660m of our money while this happens. It’s a disgrace.

Labour ahead of Reform UK in Ipsos poll, but satisfaction with government and Burnham still low

Ipsos UK has released some polling today suggesting Labour now has a 3-point lead over Reform UK. This is Labour’s best result in an Ipsos poll for more than a year.

But, although Andy Burnham’s arrival as PM has given Labour a boost, only two prime ministers since 1979 have taken office with satisfaction with the government at a lower level. They were Boris Johnson in 2019 and Rishi Sunak in 2022.

Satisfaction with government as a new PM takes office Photograph: Ipsos

And only three former PMs since 1979 have had lower personal approval ratings at this point than Burnham’s are now. They were Johnson, Sunak and Liz Truss.

New PM's personal approval ratings as they took office Photograph: Ipsos

Commenting on the findings, Gideon Skinner, senior director of politics at Ipsos UK, said:

These findings confirm Labour are benefiting from changing their leader, with their best position in Ipsos polling for over a year. However, while Andy Burnham is clearly much more personally liked than his predecessor was at the end of his term (and more than the opposition party leaders, who typically the public don’t yet see as ready to replace him), at the moment his position can be seen as part benefit of the doubt and part jury is still out.
Although Labour has received a boost in voting intentions (partly thanks to more of their 2024 base returning to the fold), many of the underlying issues remain. The Labour party itself is still less liked than it has been for most of the last 20 years, and 7 in 10 are still dissatisfied how the country is being run overall – the ongoing pessimism of recent times has dampened public enthusiasm that a new PM will be able to quickly turn around the direction of the country.

Amnesty International says Farage putting 'hate and inhumanity' before leadership with El Salvador prison plan

Amnesty International UK has condemned Reform UK’s proposal to send foreign prisoners to serve the rest of their sentences in El Salvador. In a statement on the policy announced at a press conference this morning (see 9.35am), Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, said:

Reform is proposing to contract into serious human rights abuses in El Salvador to enable the transfer of people convicted in the UK into an extremely overcrowded and abusive prison system overseas – financing brutality with British taxpayers’ money.
Amnesty has documented mass arbitrary detention, beatings, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, denial of medical care and deaths in custody in El Salvador. People have been cut off from their families and effectively disappeared into detention, while relatives have been left searching prisons, courts and even morgues for answers.
This proposal is a further extension of a wider politics that has moved dangerously far from any sense of what is practical, legal or constitutes basic human decency. We have already seen with the Rwanda scheme how policies once considered unthinkable can be pushed dangerously far when politicians choose headlines and hostility over real solutions to human needs.
Too many politicians seem incapable of any real leadership – whether at home or internationally – preferring to agitate hate, violence and inhumanity that makes all of us less safe. This latest proposal from Reform provides a stark example of that.

Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf speaking at their press conference this morning at the Royal Horseguards Hotel. Photograph: James Manning/PA

No 10 says arrival of 230 people on 'mega-dinghy' highlights 'ruthless' tactics used by people-smuggling gangs

Downing Street says the arrival of a record 230 people in the UK on a single ‘mega-dinghy’ crossing the Channel has highlighted the “ruthless” tactics being used by people smugglers.

Asked about the incident at the No 10 lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson said:

We’ve seen today some appalling images of young babies being put into these unseaworthy craft, and they’re shocking images, and they show the reality behind the ruthless smuggling gangs that are prepared to risk human lives for profit.
That’s exactly why the government has signed a new payment-by-results deal with the French to prevent these perilous journeys from happening in the first place.

The government was “not complacent”, the spokesperson said. But he said joint action taken with the French since the general election had prevented 47,000 crossings.

A SNSM picture of the boat carrying 230 people from SNSM from the BBC Photograph: SNSM

Record 230 people cross Channel to UK as smugglers turn to ‘mega-dinghies’

A dinghy carrying a record 230 people has arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in the early hours of Monday, Diane Taylor reports.

Rape crisis centres condemn Green MSP's rape 'spectrum' comment

The Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance (SRCA) has condemned a Green MSP over their comments about the “demonisation of rape”, the Press Association reports. PA says:

Q Manivannan was also rebuked for saying rape exists on a “spectrum”.
In an open letter, the alliance, which represents four rape crisis centres in Scotland, said there was “no hierarchy of rape” and warned the MSP not to “minimise” sexual violence.
Manivannan has faced backlash from Scotland’s children’s minister, as well as Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
The comments from Manivannan, made during The Subjective Space podcast last year, sparked fury after they re-emerged online at the weekend.
During the nearly hour-long exchange, Manivannan, a non-binary MSP who uses they/them pronouns, said there was a “demonisation of rape”.
“It is a spectrum,” they added, “none of which is any worse or less or more worse, but it is a spectrum of things that constitute that one homogenised word, rape.”
Manivannan also said there were “different modes” of consent and rape.
The MSP went on to say that the idea of a rapist being a “big, big, burly man” was “not necessarily unfounded” but said it was “misconstrued” because “any individual is capable” of rape.
The SRCA said it “fundamentally rejects the suggestion that society is demonising rape”.
The alliance said: “We do not need to exaggerate its seriousness. We do not need to turn perpetrators into mythical monsters.
“But neither should we be afraid to say plainly that rape is horrific, that it causes profound trauma and harm, and that responsibility for that harm belongs with the person who chose to violate another person.”

Reporting from The Guardian contributed to this story.