By 1993, it was apparent Britannia was reaching the end of its life but John Major’s government was yet to decide whether to commission a new vessel – at an estimated cost of £50m.

It was widely thought Queen Elizabeth II strongly favoured the idea of a new yacht, but the royals could not be seen trying to influence politics.

However files released by the National Archives at Kew, west London, show senior palace staff privately approached No 10 to see if the Conservative PM would stress Britannia’s “inestimable value” in a Commons statement.

The plan was scotched by the Cabinet Office, which said any such comment would be highly “prejudicial”.

The issue of the new yacht came as support for the Royal Family was at a low ebb.

There had been an angry backlash the previous year when ministers said taxpayers would foot the bill – which ran to £36m – for Windsor Castle to be restored after a fire.

In the aftermath of her “annus horribilis” – which included the separation of Prince Charles and Diana – Elizabeth II agreed she would pay taxes for the first time.

With the prime minister due to announce the move to parliament, Queen Elizabeth II’s private secretary Sir Robert Fellowes saw an opportunity.

He asked Mr Major’s principal private secretary Alex Allan if the PM would insert a passage on the importance of Britannia, as well as the royals’ dedicated aircraft and train.

He suggested the prime minister should say it was not just a question of cost “but also the style in which we wish our head of state and members of the Royal Family to represent us” in their public duties.

“I would also like to make clear that there is not, and never has been, any pressure from the Queen to build a replacement for HMY Britannia,” he added.

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However, Nicolas Bevan, leading the working group set up to consider the future of Britannia, warned the proposed remark could be “prejudicial” to any future decisions.

“Equally it hardly rings true to suggest that it is a matter of complete indifference to the Queen as to whether Britannia is replaced or not,” he said.

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Despite misgivings over the cost, the government announced in January 1997 that a replacement yacht would be built if they retained power in the following year’s general election.

When Labour swept to power with a landslide win, they promptly reversed the decision.

When Britannia was finally decommissioned, Queen Elizabeth II, who rarely displayed any emotion in public, was seen shedding a tear.

Carter has declared herself ready to play in the Women’s European Championship semi-final against Italy on Tuesday after speaking out on the hate she has faced online during the tournament.

Players have expressed frustration they are having to use their platform to pressure the tech firms, given how often footballers have had to deal with racist abuse.

There is now the Online Safety Act which should be compelling the companies to take action.

“We’ve introduced new laws so that platforms are under a legal obligation to take down that sort of disgusting content immediately,” Ms Nandy told Sky News.

“And they can be pursued through fines, through Ofcom, if they don’t do it.

“It’s now up to those platforms and up to Ofcom to fulfil those roles that we’ve given them and make sure that this is stamped out online, that it’s dealt with very quickly.”

But Kick It Out chairman Sanjay Bhandari told Sky News on Sunday that “it’s got worse on social media, not better” – singling out Elon Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram.

Neither of the companies has responded to requests for comment, including via a public X post.

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England defender Lucy Bronze said “online abuse is getting worse and worse” in women’s football.

Ms Nandy said: “The racial abuse that’s been directed at Jess Carter is utterly disgusting and unfortunately is too common for women at the top of their game, not just in football but across sport as a whole.

“We’re considering as a government what more we can do to protect women players who reach those levels of exposure.”

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The government has made dealing with sports issues a priority, with legislation passed today to introduce an independent regulator for men’s football.

The watchdog aims to ensure clubs are run sustainably and are accountable to their fans.

Ms Nandy said: “There are now protections in law for fans and for clubs to make sure that we have really fit and proper owners; that there is somebody who can tackle rogue owners when problems arise, that we get a proper financial flow to ensure the sustainability of clubs throughout the football pyramid and to make that fans are put back at the heart of the game where they belong.”

The Premier League remains concerned the regulator could harm the success of its competition through unintended consequences.

Newly declassified UK government files show Sir Tony Blair was warned by his US ambassador that George W Bush was determined to overthrow dictator Saddam Hussein, in the months before the invasion of Iraq.

Sir Tony, who was prime minister at the time, was trying to encourage the US president to use diplomatic means to change the situation in the Middle Eastern country, and flew to Camp David in January 2003 to make the case, just two months before the joint US-UK invasion.

The UK government was also hoping the United Nations Security Council would agree a new resolution specifically authorising the use of military force against Iraq.

But the files, made public for the first time, show that Sir Tony’s ambassador, Sir Christopher Meyer, warned him it would be “politically impossible” to sway Mr Bush away from an invasion unless Hussein surrendered.

The documents, released by the National Archives at Kew in west London, show Sir Christopher also wrote that Mr Bush believed himself to be on “a crusade against evil to be undertaken by God’s chosen people”.

Sir Tony’s foreign policy adviser, Sir David Manning, told the PM that when he met Mr Bush, he should make the point that a new diplomatic resolution was “politically essential for the UK, and almost certainly legally essential as well”.

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But the White House was becoming increasingly impatient at the unwillingness of France and Russia – both of whom held a veto – to agree a resolution so long as UN inspectors were unable to find any evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the supposed justification for war.

Sir Christopher warned Sir Tony shortly before his visit to see Mr Bush in January 2003 that options for a peaceful solution in Iraq had effectively run out.

He wrote: “It is politically impossible for Bush to back down from going to war in Iraq this spring, absent Saddam’s surrender or disappearance from the scene.

“If Bush had any room for manoeuvre beforehand this was closed off by his State of the Union speech.

“In the high-flown prose to which Bush is drawn on these set-piece occasions, he said in effect that destroying Saddam is a crusade against evil to be undertaken by God’s chosen people.”

In a cable sent the previous month, Sir Christopher said that much of the impulse for deposing Hussein was coming from the president, a born-again Christian, who was scornful of what he saw as the “self-serving” reservations of the Europeans.

“His view of the world is Manichean. He sees his mission as ridding it of evil-doers. He believes American values should be universal values,” Sir Christopher stated.

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“He is strongly allergic to Europeans collectively. Anyone who has sat round a dinner table with low-church Southerners will find these sentiments instantly recognisable.”

In the end, Sir Tony and Mr Bush abandoned efforts to get a new Security Council resolution, blaming French President Jacques Chirac for refusing, and launched the invasion of Iraq anyway.

Lobbying from Mandelson and anger at the French

Among the new files, there are also a number of other revelations. These include:

The individuals “under disciplinary investigation” includes the head of a local hospital, while 10 government officials have also been held “accountable”.

It comes after a scandal involving Heshi Peixin kindergarten in Maiji, northwestern China, emerged earlier this month.

Police said staff at the private kindergarten had been adding paint powder to food in an apparent bid to make it look more appealing.

Testing showed 247 out of 251 of the kindergarten’s children and 28 members of staff had “abnormal blood levels”.

A further five children who finished attending the kindergarten in 2024 also recorded abnormal levels of lead in their blood, according to investigators.

A Sky News team in Maiji reported how the local hospital had been accused of returning tests for lead showing much lower levels than at the bigger hospitals.

Investigators have now found the management of the Second People’s Hospital of Tianshui was “chaotic” and its laboratory department had been illegally modifying the results of the blood lead tests.

The head of the hospital is one of the 17 people facing disciplinary investigation.

Sky News was told how one child was found to have lead in her blood at 38 times the normal level.

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Lead poisoning at high levels can cause long term injuries to the brain and the central nervous system.

A mother who lived near the kindergarten said: “Now if people send children to primary school, the first thing they ask is are you safe?

“Can it guarantee the personal safety of our children in the future?”

David Lammy said new powers under the Sanctions Act will allow the UK to freeze the assets of anyone complicit in smuggling illegal migrants into the country.

They can also be banned from travelling to the UK.

The first wave of sanctions on smuggling gangs and their enablers will be imposed on Wednesday.

Mr Lammy said it is the “world’s first sanctions regime” targeted at smuggling gangs.

Gang leaders, small boat suppliers, people making and selling fake passports and middlemen facilitating payments by migrants through hawala networks (informal systems for transferring money) will all be targeted this week.

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They will be publicly named on a sanctions list, making it illegal for the UK financial system to engage with them.

By using the Sanctions Act, the government said it can target the smuggling gangs wherever they are in the world, including where law enforcement and criminal justice approaches cannot reach.

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Labour’s manifesto promised to “smash the gangs”, but the first half of 2025 has seen a record number of small boat crossings, with about 20,000 from January to June – the highest ever in that period, and 48% more than the first half of 2024.

Earlier this month, the UK and France announced a pilot scheme under which migrants arriving in the UK illegally from France will be returned and a legitimate asylum seeker will be able to come to the UK. They did not say how many would be returned each week, but the suggestion was 50.

On the latest sanctions, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “For too long, criminal gangs have been lining their corrupt pockets and preying on the hopes of vulnerable people with impunity as they drive irregular migration to the UK. We will not accept this status quo.

“It is our moral duty and a key part of our Plan for Change to do all we can to smash these gangs and secure Britain’s borders.

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“That’s why the UK has created the world’s first sanctions regime targeted at gangs involved in people smuggling and driving irregular migration, as well as their enablers.

“From tomorrow, those involved will face having their assets frozen, being shut off from the UK financial system and banned from travelling to the UK.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the sanctions send a “clear message that there is no hiding place for those who exploit vulnerable people and put lives at risk for profit”.

The new rules mean estates of affected people who have already died will be able to claim payments.

As well as this, around 1,000 people who are already eligible will be able to claim a higher amount, including chronic Hepatitis C individuals.

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The reforms are being introduced following 16 recommendations from the Infected Blood Inquiry, which published an additional report earlier this month.

Confirming the changes, minister for the Cabinet Office Nick Thomas-Symonds said the government has “concentrated on removing barriers to quicker compensation”.

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He added: “Our focus as we move forward must be working together to not only deliver justice to all those impacted, but also to restore trust in the state to people who have been let down too many times.”

Between the 1970s and early 1990s, more than 30,000 people in the UK were infected with HIV and hepatitis C while receiving NHS care.

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Some 3,000 people have died after they were given contaminated blood and blood products, while survivors live with lifelong implications.

In last October’s Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves committed £11.8bn to compensate victims of the infected blood scandal, with the scheme opening at the end of last year.

The changes will ensure that those who endured treatments with adverse side effects, such as interferon, will receive higher compensation to what is currently provided.

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The government will now hope its response to Sir Brian Langstaff’s criticism will be enough to convince the Infected Blood chair – and more importantly those infected and affected by this scandal – is listening and acting with urgency.

The long-awaited report was published in May 2024. It was an afternoon charged with raw emotion. After decades of being lied to, ignored and gaslit, finally the infected blood community had found its champion. Someone who understood their pain and suffering.

Sir Brian called on the government to deliver compensation quickly, knowing that many were dying before seeing justice delivered.

But Sir Brian was not himself convinced. Even after the publication of the report he kept the Inquiry open.

This is unprecedented. It showed that he feared there would be more stalling and further delays to payments. He was, sadly, proved right.

It took an extraordinary intervention from Sir Brian last month to push the government to respond. It says it will implement all of the Inquiry’s latest recommendations, some immediately and the rest after further consultation with the community.

More people will now qualify for payment and others will get more compensation.

And importantly the claims of victims will not die with them but instead can now be passed on to surviving family members. All hugely important revisions.

The government says it understands the urgency. But it will also know it should not have taken an unprecedented intervention to force the issue.

Higher compensation will also be available for the impacts currently recognised by the Infected Blood Support Scheme ‘Special Category Mechanism’ (SCM), which is provided to chronic Hepatitis C individuals who have experienced a significant impact on their ability to carry out daily duties.

The government said the changes mean that over a thousand people will receive a higher amount than they would have under the existing scheme.

Scheme widened to estates of deceased affected people

The scheme will also be widened to some people who don’t currently qualify.

Under the current mechanism, if someone who was infected dies before receiving full compensation, then any final award can be passed on to their relatives through their estate.

However while compensation is also available to family members affected by the scandal – a partner, sibling or parent of someone who was infected, for example, this claim dies with them if they pass away.

The changes announced today mean that if the affected person has died after May 21st 2024, or dies in future before receiving compensation, their estate will be able to make a claim.

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Memorial plans announced

The government also announced that Clive Smith, president of the Haemophilia Society, will be the chair of the new Infected Blood Memorial Committee.

The project will include plans for a UK memorial and support memorials in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In line with the Infected Blood Inquiry’s recommendation, the committee will also develop plans for commemorative events and is planning to hold the first by the end of 2025.

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Mr Smith said the memorial is “long overdue”.

He added: “It is a great privilege to be asked to lead this important work on behalf of the community.

“I am conscious that we are already behind in relation to implementing the Infected Blood Inquiry’s recommendation that community events be held on a six-month basis post the Inquiry reporting. We intend to correct that by the end of this year.

“I look forward to working with the whole community across the UK on building an appropriate memorial to those we have lost and to act as a lasting memorial to the nation of what can happen when patient safety is not prioritised.”

Gary Kelly, who was part of the Dundee Stars, died at the Ibiza Rocks Hotel, in San Antonio, on Monday.

The 19-year-old’s death comes after another Scottish tourist, Evan Thomson, 26, fell to his death on the premises on 7 July.

In light of their deaths, the hotel said it was pausing its events programme.

It said in a statement: “We are deeply shocked and devastated by the recent incidents that have tragically occurred.

“Our priority is to support those affected and their loved ones during this incredibly difficult time, and to fully assist the authorities with their investigations.

“The safety and wellbeing of our guests has, and always will remain, our highest priority.”

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The hotel added: “Given the seriousness of the situation and out of respect for those involved, we believe it is right to pause our advertised events programme at this time.”

The Dundee Stars paid tribute to Dundee-born Mr Kelly on the club’s website.

A statement read: “Gary was hugely talented and charismatic individual who had a great future ahead of him. His loss will impact many in the ice hockey community and beyond. He will be sadly missed.”

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Another of his clubs, Aberdeen Lynx, said: “The Lynx family is heartbroken to share the devastating news of the sudden passing of one of our brightest young stars, Gary Kelly, while on holiday.

“Gary was more than just a talented hockey player – he was a young man full of heart, passion, and dedication.

“On the ice, he gave everything he had. Off the ice, he brought energy, kindness, and an infectious love of life that lifted everyone around him. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and that spirit left a lasting mark on our team, our club, and everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.”

A number of tributes were also paid to him by other UK ice hockey teams.

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A statement on X from Glasgow Clan said: “The Glasgow Clan would like to express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Gary Kelly.

“This is truly heartbreaking news. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragic incident during this incredibly difficult time.”

Another from the Whitley Warriors, for whom he briefly played, said: “Whitley Warriors are devastated to learn of the tragic passing of former Warrior Gary Kelly, aged just 19.

“Gary iced for Warriors on only a few occasions in the 2023-24 season but was a popular player in the dressing room despite the shortness of his time at Whitley.”

Her comments to Sky’s chief presenter Mark Austin come amid fresh international outcry over Israel’s restrictions on aid, as the UK has joined together with 24 other countries to say: “The war in Gaza must end now.”

Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save The Children, is in Deir al Balah, a city in central Gaza where tens of thousands of people have sought refuge during repeated waves of mass displacement.

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She said: “One of my colleagues said to me yesterday, ‘We are all walking together towards death’. And this is the situation now for people in Gaza.

“There is no food for their children, it’s absolutely desperate here.”

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“The markets are empty,” she said. “People may even have cash in their pockets yet they cannot buy bread [or] vegetables.

“My team have said to me, ‘There’s nothing in my house to feed my children, my children are crying all day, every day.”

Israel launched a ground assault on Deir al Balah on Monday morning, another charity said earlier.

Ms Cummings’s comments came as the UK and 24 other nations issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire.

The statement criticised aid distribution in Gaza, which is being managed by a US and Israel-backed organisation, Gaza Health Foundation.

“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” it said.

The 25 countries also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of hostages captured by Hamas during the 7 October 2023 attacks.

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Foreign Secretary David Lammy later promised £40m for humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

He told MPs: “We are leading diplomatic efforts to show that there must be a viable pathway to a Palestinian state involving the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, in the security and governance of the area.

“Hamas can have no role in the governance of Gaza, nor use it as a launchpad for terrorism.”

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Addressing the foreign secretaries’ joint written statement, charity worker Liz Allcock – who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in Gaza – told Sky News: “While we welcome this, there have been statements in the past 21 months and nothing has changed.

“In fact, things have only got worse. And every time we think it can’t get worse, it does.”

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“Without a reversal of the siege, the lack of supplies, the constant bombardment, the forced displacement, the killing, the militarisation of aid, we are going to collapse as a humanitarian response,” she said.

“And this would do a grave injustice to the 2.2 million people we’re trying to serve.

“An immediate and permanent ceasefire, and avenues for accountability in line with international law, is the minimum people here deserve.”

The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.

More than 59,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

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In recent weeks hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed while waiting for food and aid.

The Israeli military has blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians.

North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) had declared a “major incident” with 15 people taken to hospital. It has since “stood down” from major incident status.

Local media reported that one person was critically injured and two others were seriously hurt.

Pictures on social media showed the yellow bus with its roof torn off and emergency service workers aboard the upper deck.

On X, Greater Manchester Police wrote: “We are currently responding to a collision between a bus and a bridge at the junction of Barton Road and Trafford Road in Eccles.

“Emergency services are currently on scene as part of the ongoing work.

“Please avoid the area as road closures are currently in place.”

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In a statement NWAS said: “The trust dispatched a number of resources, including ten emergency ambulances, advanced paramedics, our Hazard Area Response Team (HART) and colleagues from North West Air Ambulance. The first resource arrived on time at 15.10.

“NWAS treated 15 patients who were all taken to Salford Royal or Manchester Royal Infirmary hospitals.”

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The Judicial Investigation Department in Costa Rica said the 54-year-old actor drowned on Sunday afternoon off a beach on the country’s Caribbean coast.

It is understood he was swimming at Playa Grande de Cocles in Limon province when he was pulled underwater by a current.

“He was rescued by people on the beach,” according to the department’s early report, but emergency workers from Costa Rica’s Red Cross found him without any signs of life and he was taken to the morgue.

Warner was on holiday with his family at the time, according to US celebrity news site People.

The Cosby Show aired from 1984 to 1992 on NBC in the US and is regarded as a groundbreaking show for its portrayal of a successful black middle-class family. It was also shown on British television’s Channel 4 around the same time.

Its star, Bill Cosby, played a doctor named Cliff Huxtable, with Warner in the role of Theo, his only son on the NBC sitcom.

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The sitcom was the most popular show in America for much of its run between 1984 and 1992.

Warner played the role for eight seasons in all 197 episodes, winning an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy in 1986.

For many, the lasting image of the character, and of Warner, is of him wearing a badly botched mock designer shirt sewn by his sister Denise, played by Lisa Bonet.

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