Ceasefire talks in cairo. The good news is that they are happening and that five nations, orfive parties, are at least all there in cairo. So thats hamas, israel, the us, qatar and egypt. The not so good news is that israel has only sent a fairly low level team theyre not there to negotiate, theyre there to study what hope there is of trying to bridge the gap between what is acceptable to israel and what is acceptable to hamas, and that gap is still pretty wide. The main Sticking Point, as my colleague yolande referred to there, is over how this ends. So the fundamentals of the deal are largely intact, theyre largely agreed. They can agree this that it will start with a 42 day period of calm, a truce essentially, during which hamas will give up 33 hostages. Theres a bit of dispute about whether they would be alive or dead, but 33 hostages. In return, a much larger number of Palestinians Prisoners would be released from israeli jails and palestinians who had been moved south into rafah
That really disrupted and perturbed the Prime Minister at the start of Prime Ministers questions. I mean, tom, youve just been on for the last, hour or so, covering pmqs. And im seeing here that lots of reaction already coming in, lots of people not very impressed with the fact that a conservative mp would cross the floor and citing immigration in particular, as one of the reasons, which is curious. Its very, very odd seeing as Natalie Elphicke has been one of the most vocal members of parliament, being the member of parliament, being the member of parliament for dover. Of course, shes on the front line of the small boats crisis, but shes not only been critical of the small boats and the evil gangs that send them , shes also been that send them, shes also been critical of keir starmer and Yvette Cooper, and the lack of policy from the labour party to deal with it. I just wonder what keir starmer has promised her, to do this. Keep your views coming in gbnews. Com yoursay were going to g
Hello and welcome to the bbc news at one. In the last hour, the mp Natalie Elphicke has become the latest conservative to defect to the labour party. Natalie elphicke has been the mp for dover in kent since 2019. Our chief Political Correspondent Henry Zeffmanjoins Me from The Houses Of Parliament henry, was this a surprise . It was a shock. If you had asked me before this afternoon to list 100 conservative mps most likely to defect to the labour party, Natalie Elphicke would have been nowhere near that list. And i think that was reflected in the faces of conservative mps at prime ministers questions, as keir starmer announced at the start of his question that he wanted to welcome her to the labour side. Mps had not noticed her there, and they were expressing to bewilderment to each other. Natalie elphickes announcement will hurt rishi sunak, because she goes for him on an issue that is central to his attempt to recover his political position. She accuses him of failing on small boats.
Prince harry in london loads to talk about chaos in the asylum system. Well be joined by Jonathan Gillis about that dramatic defection. Later on. He will give it both barrels , no will give it both barrels, no doubt. What do you make of this defection . Should it even be allowed . Natalie. Elphicke been very, very critical of sir keir starmer, basically saying he favours open borders now. Hey presto. Suddenly, on the eve of a general election , she defects a general election, she defects to a party. Shes done nothing but criticise for years and years. Do you buy this . Is this an onorable defection or is something fishy going on down there in dover . Whats her career about to head off the white cliffs of dover . Thelma and louise style. And this is about a dramatic way of making her seem like one of the good guys, not one of those whos spectacularly failed to control our borders for all of these years. Get in touch. As you can tell, im hyped. I hope you are too. Get in touch gbnews. Co