Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News this morning, Illegal Migration Minister Michael Tomlinson joined the foreign secretary in stating that Putin was responsible for the death of his most prominent critic Alexei Navalny. Tomlinson said Navalny’s ‘courage knew no bounds’. Phillips asked what more the UK could do in response to Putin. Tomlinson described the UK’s previous sanctions as ‘robust’. He said it was important to continue supporting Ukraine, and that Foreign Secretary David Cameron was considering the ‘appropriate next steps’.

Putin remaining in power will mean ‘more warmongering’

Laura Kuenssberg spoke to Evgenia Kara-Murza, whose husband is also imprisoned in Russia for opposing the Ukraine war. Kara-Murza said that Putin believes he is ‘untouchable’, that he has used political assassination for the entirety of his rule, and that there would be more wars if he remains in power. Kuenssberg asked Kara-Murza if Navalny’s death has made her more afraid for her husband’s safety. Kara-Murza said she has been afraid since 2015, when she first learned her husband had collapsed in Moscow and gone into a coma ‘for no reason at all’.

Michael Tomlinson: ‘if you vote for Reform, you get Labour’

The Conservatives suffered another two bruising by-election defeats this week, in what were previously safe seats. Illegal Migration Minister Michael Tomlinson spoke to Trevor Phillips, who asked him if the Reform Party’s record vote share was evidence that the public think the government has failed to tackle illegal immigration. Tomlinson argued that the government has made progress on bringing down the number of boat crossings, and suggested that the by-elections showed voting for Reform meant getting Labour and going ‘back to square one’. Phillips asked Tomlinson what ‘square one’ means, given that the Tories have been in power for 14 years.

Nick Thomas-Symonds: ‘what he said was appalling and I made that absolutely clear’

After Rochdale Labour candidate Azhar Ali apologised for his comments suggesting Israel deliberately allowed the October 7 Hamas attacks in order to carry out their own military response in Gaza, Labour initially said they had accepted his retraction. 48 hours later they removed him as a candidate. On GB News, Camilla Tominey asked Labour MP Nick Thomas-Symonds if he regretted initially defending Ali. Thomas-Symonds claimed Labour had always made it clear that Ali’s comments were unacceptable, but they had listened to prominent people in the Jewish community who had described Ali as an ally against anti-semitic attacks. He said Labour had acted quickly once further remarks made by Ali had come to light, and argued that Keir Starmer has led a real change in Labour dealing with anti-semitism.

David Lammy: ‘we all want to see and end to the fighting’

Finally, after Scottish Labour backed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Laura Kuenssberg asked Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy if Labour would do the same in Westminster. Lammy would not clarify how his party would vote this week, saying he had not seen the motion. He said that everyone wanted a ceasefire, but that it had to be sustainable. Lammy suggested that only diplomacy, and the actions of Hamas and Netanyahu, could bring about peace.