And as First Minister of scotland when his party faced the latest in a series of crises. John swinney, welcome to political thinking. Lovely to be with you, thank you. It has been something of a rollercoaster six months, havent it . You retire from Front Line politics, then the First Minister of scotland is forced from office and you decide to come back into Front Line politics, come to your partys rescue. Then Rishi Sunak calls a surprise early election in the summer, then you have a bit of a kick in the general election, the westminster election. Has it all been very stomach churning . Its been absolutely a whirlwind. A whirlwind, i think is the best way to describe it, because i quite literally, in the days before Humza Yousaf resigned as First Minister, was making further plans about what would be my gentle scaling down of political activity. And i was actually on the day that he resigned, giving a reflective speech about 25 years of devolution in scotland down here in london. And
Words and little action. That is part of the reason we are where we are. You know that i will take a stand. You saw me take a stand last year. And frankly, it is the only reason why i won my seat at the general election against all the polls and the pundits. The only seat that our party won in the whole of nottinghamshire and derbyshire, because my constituents, to whom i owe so much, knew that i took a stand. Forthem, owe so much, knew that i took a stand. For them, for the country, for the change we need. So, today, let me set out five changes that this new Conservative Party must make. Five stands that this new Conservative Party will take. And let me begin with this one. We must take a stand to secure our borders. We must secure our borders. Applause 120,000 people have entered our country on small boats on our watch. 99 of them are still here costing us billions. Frankly, there is no future for this party unless we take a stand to answer this problem. And the way to do that, we al
Conservatives, elected to conserve what is great about our country. We cannot survive as the left denigrate our history and pull down our monuments. We must not be afraid as we were in batley, we must not be afraid to get involved where a teacher was driven into hiding by islamist thugs or when the very worst crimes were committed, when young girls were groomed and raped four years in rotherham and rochdale, and nothing happened for years. Rochdale, and nothing happened foryears. Nothing rochdale, and nothing happened for years. Nothing happened because those in charge were scared of being called racists, and then the system hid behind the human Rights Act and failed to deport the child abusers and allowed them to walk the streets where their victims live. Well, enough. I am where their victims live. Well, enough. Iam not where their victims live. Well, enough. I am not afraid. This stealthy poisoning of our society needs to stop. The Liberal Democrats are not going to defend our count
SImultaneously exploded across lebanon In what appeared to be a sophIstIcated remote attack. Hezbollah, whIch has Been desIgnated a TerrorIst OrganIsatIon by the uk, Israel and other western countrIes, has called It the bIggest securIty breach. At least nIne people dIed and nearly 3000 were Injured. Blasts were reported In supermarkets, homes and on the streets of the country, whIch shares borders wIth Israel and syrIa. Lebanons Health MInIstry says 200 people are In a crItIcal condItIon and that hospItals are beIng Inundated wIth the wounded. 0ur Correspondent Graham satchell reports. It was an audacIous, unprecedented attack. All across lebanon, thousands of pagers explodIng at the same tIme. Many were on the street. Some, lIke here, In peoples homes. Some In supermarkets. Emergency servIces struggled to cope wIth the scale of the attack. Thousands of hezbollah members sufferIng InjurIes In the same Instant. Israel hasnt commented, but few have any doubts about Its role. So how was I
Killed by israeli fire. The israeli Prime Minister, benjamin netanyahu, blamed hamas leaders, saying the killings showed they did not want a deal. The Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused Mr Netanyahu of deciding not to save the hostages. Jon donnison reports from jerusalem. Six more dead israeli hostages in gaza. Carmel gat, who was a0. Alexander lobanov, 32. Almog sarusi, aged 27. Eden yerushalmi, 24. Ori danino, who was 25. And the youngest, hersh Goldberg Polin, just 23, who was also an american citizen. With broken hearts, the Goldberg Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their son and brother, hersh. They thank you all for your Love And Support and ask for privacy at this time. Just a few days ago, his mother, rachel, had called for his release. Hersh, we are working Day And Night and we will never stop. But she will never see her only son alive again. Israels military says the six bodies were found in a Tunnel Under Rafah in the south of gaza. Its chief spokespers