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Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the former secretary general of Nato, said: ‘We are under attack. We are not safe… Britain’s national security and safety is in peril.’ The government ran out of time to pass legislation to give the Chagos Islands to Mauritius before the end of the current session of parliament. Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, visited Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. He said in the Guardian that renewable energy would give Britain resilience in an unstable world. The IMF forecast that the Iran war would hit Britain’s economy the hardest, among G7 countries, reducing its estimate for growth this year to 0.8 per cent, from the 1.3 per cent predicted in January. Three Russian submarines conducted a covert operation over cables and pipelines in waters north of Britain, according to John Healey, the Defence Secretary. A Russian frigate accompanied two shadow-fleet tankers that were under sanction by Britain as they sailed through the Channel, with a Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker, Tideforce, in their wake. Four people died off northern France trying to board a boat to take them across the Channel; 38 were rescued and 30 continued in the boat for England. In the seven days to 13 April, 571 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats, bringing the number this year to more than 5,000. I Am Maximus won the Grand National, as it had in 2024, coming second in 2025.

The government is to introduce legislation to allow Britain to adopt new EU laws by way of statutory instruments, without parliament holding a full vote each time. More than 100 people missed an easyJet flight to Manchester from Milan, delayed by the new European Entry-Exit System. Sentebale, a charity co-founded by the Duke of Sussex, is suing him for alleged defamation. Dame Averil Cameron, the historian, died aged 86. Albert Bridge, from Chelsea to Battersea, closed to traffic in February, was closed to cyclists and pedestrians too.

Geoffrey Robertson KC attacked the bill restricting jury trials: ‘The government wants to abolish the very feature of our criminal justice system that makes it the envy of those living under authoritarian regimes.’ The Southport Inquiry into the murder of three girls in 2024 blamed the parents of Axel Rudakubana for not telling the authorities that he was hoarding knives. Police arrested 523 people for expressing support for Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation, at a protest in Trafalgar Square. The government promised £1 million towards the introduction of golden eagles into Northumberland.

Abroad

J.D. Vance flew to Islamabad for peace talks with Iran, and left after a day, saying: ‘We have not reached an agreement.’ America had wanted the Strait of Hormuz open and Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Donald Trump then started ‘blockading any and all ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz’, so that ‘no one who pays an illegal toll [to Iran] will have safe passage on the high seas’. Before the development, Mark Rutte, the Secretary General of Nato, called a meeting with Mr Trump ‘very frank’. Mr Trump posted and then deleted an AI-generated picture of himself as Jesus healing a man. He criticised Pope Leo as ‘WEAK on crime and terrible for foreign policy’. The Pope had said: ‘Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace’; he then set off on an 11-day tour of Africa.

Israel had continued to attack Lebanon in its action against Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. But Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, under pressure from Mr Trump, asked his cabinet to open talks with Lebanon. Melania Trump, the President’s wife, made a statement in person at the White House, out of the blue, denying any connections with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Viktor Orban ended 16 years as prime minister of Hungary when his Fidesz party was trounced by the Tisza party led by Peter Magyar. The Liberal party of Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, secured a slim majority after three by-elections. President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, 78, won a sixth term with 97.8 per cent of the vote, after 27 years in power. The crew of the Artemis II space mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after their journey of 694,481 miles round the Moon. About 250 Rohingya and Bangladeshis were lost after their boat, from Bangladesh bound for Malaysia, capsized in the Andaman Sea; nine were saved. Asha Bhosle, the Bollywood singer, died aged 92. CSH