A DeSmog collage of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss in front of a CPAC sign. Credit: Gage Skidmore (Nigel Farage and CPAC sign), Tim Hammond / No 10 Downing Street (Liz Truss)
The Reform leader has opted to join the pro-Trump conference as it comes to the UK.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has announced that he will be speaking at CPAC GB in July – the pro-Trump conference brought to the UK by disgraced former prime minister Liz Truss.
Reform sources speaking to The Guardian previously suggested that Farage would be “steering well clear” of the event, following Truss’ involvement.
However, over the weekend, Farage announced that he would be the “keynote” speaker at the event, which is also set to feature fellow Reform politician Matthew Goodwin, who lost the Gorton and Denton by-election in February.
“Farage likes to pretend he’s on the side of the ordinary working man, but he’s really a 1980s yuppie, with out of date Thatcherite ideas,” said Nick Dearden, director of the campaign group Global Justice.
“Farage said he wouldn’t turn up to CPAC GB, Liz Truss’ embarrassing attempt at a comeback, but he just couldn’t stay away because this is where he belongs – with the grifters of recently failed governments. No one should be in any doubt – Farage is part of Britain’s out of touch elite and offers no solutions to the problems Britain faces today.”
Truss, who was prime minister for 49 days in late 2022, was forced to resign after announcing £45 billion worth unfunded tax cuts and spending hikes – causing an economic shock. Experts have warned that Farage’s agenda, which echoes Truss’ economic policies, would cause similar financial repercussions.
Farage and Truss will be joined by Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former Conservative MP who was a senior minister under Truss and currently works for GB News, which employs Farage as a presenter. The Guardian also previously reported that Rees-Mogg had “no interest in making an appearance” at CPAC GB.
Former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg on GB News.
Credit: GB News / YouTube
Truss and Farage share similar views on climate change. The Reform leader has claimed it’s “nuts” for CO2 to be considered a pollutant, while Truss has called on the UK, EU and U.S. to drop their landmark climate policies. The world’s leading climate scientists say it’s “unequivocal” that man-made CO2 is responsible for the majority of global warming experienced since the Industrial Revolution – driving extreme weather, droughts, and flooding.
The American Conservative Union has hosted annual Conservative Political Action Conferences in the U.S. since 1973, and has been closely linked to Trump and MAGA since his first presidency beginning in 2016. Farage has been a regular feature of CPACs in recent years, and has made tens of thousands speaking at pro-Trump events in since becoming an MP in July 2024.
At CPAC’s 2025 event in Washington D.C., Trump claimed that he had terminated the ”Green New Scam,” referring to Biden-era climate policies.
International CPAC leaders are now counting on the movement’s assistance to “take out” left-leaning politicians in Colombia and Brazil, while aiding the political campaigns of Europe’s staunchest Trump allies, according to audio recordings from recent CPAC events obtained by DeSmog.
Other speakers at CPAC GB include Tory peer Toby Young, Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson – who is a director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a climate science denial group, Talk TV host and former Farage advisor Alexandra Phillips, the radical right-wing YouTube hosts Mike Graham and Dan Wootton, Sun journalist Harry Cole, and Lucy Connolly, who was previously jailed for calling for people to “set fire” to hotels housing asylum seekers.
Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.Lettuce complains about being compared to Liz Truss.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
A water facility is seen in Bemani, Iran after an attack that a New York Times analysis showed was likely a US precision strike on June 10, 2026. Deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure is a war crime under international law. (Photo by Rokna News Agency)
“Destroying a drinking water facility is not an attack on a target of war, but a mafia-style operation designed to harm the Iranian people,” said one academic.
As temperatures in the village of Bemani, Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz, reached above 100°F this week, two water facilities were struck by bombs, cutting off the drinking water supply for 20,000 people in the area.
An analysis by The New York Times late Wednesday indicated that the attack on the drinking-water storage facilities appeared to be a precision strike by the US, raising questions about whether the Trump administration intentionally attacked civilian infrastructure, which would constitute a war crime under international law.
As the provincial water authority in the area reported that two storage tanks had been destroyed in an attack early Wednesday, US Central Command said on social media that the US Air Force and Navy had used “precision munitions” to strike “Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz.”
Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted a video of damage to one of the facilities, whose light blue pipes were consistent with water infrastructure.
“As part of its aggression against Iran, the US military has deliberately struck vital civilian water infrastructure in Sirik, Hormozgan, destroying two reservoirs with a combined capacity of 2,500 cubic meters,” said Baqaei. “These facilities supplied drinking water to more than 20,000 residents across ten villages. This is not collateral damage—it is a calculated war crime and a flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law. The US must be held accountable for committing such systematic brutal attacks on civilian life-sustaining infrastructure.”
Water is the pulse of life — and the U.S. is deliberately targetting the lifeblood of the Iranian people.
As part of its aggression against Iran, the U.S. military has deliberately struck vital civilian water infrastructure in Sirik, Hormozgan, destroying two reservoirs with a… pic.twitter.com/mvdYGvnSyq
The analysis of the strikes came as the US waged more attacks Wednesday night and early Thursday, including on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman and against Iranian radars and air defenses.
In its analysis, the Times said commercial satellite imagery showed two water facilities in Bemani whose descriptions matched those given by Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, the chief executive of the province’s water authority, on Wednesday, when he reported the structures had been damaged by missiles.
Hamzehpour said in a statement that the high temperatures in the area were “unbearable” for residents without drinking water, and said that mobile water tanks had been deployed to nearby villages.
The roof of one of the facilities collapsed, according to videos released by Iranian state media, and the center of the roof of the other structure appeared to have been struck by a bomb.
The Times noted that both buildings were remotely located, with no other infrastructure located in the immediate vicinity, suggesting a likely precision strike.
Tasnim, a semiofficial news agency in Iran, released photos of bomb fragments that it said were recovered from the site. Researchers with the Open Source Munitions Portal identified the fragments as parts of a GBU-39 bomb, which is used by the US Air Force.
The precision-guided bomb was “consistent with the damage shown in the footage of the damaged building: a clean hole punched through the building’s roof and limited blast damage around it,” reported the Times.
Alleged U.S. airstrikes overnight hit two water storage reservoirs in Iran's Sirik County, Hormozgan Province, reportedly leaving many without water.Images of remnants posted by Iranian media show the remains of a U.S.-made GBU-39 air-delivered bomb.osmp.ngo/osmp2336/
The bombing came as President Donald Trump complained that Tehran was taking too long to finalize a peace deal. The US and Iran have each carried out attacks this week, raising doubts about a ceasefire deal that was reached in April following Trump’s threats to wipe out Iran’s civilization.
“Trump is so angry that Iran will not give him a deal that he is telling the US military to commit war crimes,” said Phillips P. O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. “Destroying a drinking water facility is not an attack on a target of war, but a mafia-style operation designed to harm the Iranian people.”
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Hundreds of demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and held signs calling for a boycott of Israel during a rally organized by the EuroPalestine collective in Paris, France on 27 September 2025. [Ümit Dönmez – Anadolu Agency]
Israel has become the country most exposed to boycotts worldwide, facing a sweeping wave of international sanctions targeting government officials, occupiers and official institutions, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth said Thursday.
Under the headline “How Israel became the most boycotted nation in the world,” the newspaper said Israel has faced “a tsunami of international sanctions targeting Israeli government officials, occupiers and institutions, escalating pressure from multiple countries and long-standing pro-BDS organizations.”
It said France recently barred Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, after previously imposing a similar ban on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
According to the newspaper, the French move came in response to the two ministers’ “active promotion of West Bank annexation, new settlements and policies perceived as undermining the Palestinian Authority.”
The United Nations considers the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, occupied Palestinian territory, and its annexation to Israel would effectively eliminate the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state envisioned in international resolutions.
Yedioth Ahronoth said until Oct. 7, 2023, Israel had managed to limit the impact of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns.
“Economic sanctions had little effect because Israel’s strong economy discouraged divestment, while academic and cultural boycotts were largely symbolic,” it added.
However, the phenomenon has intensified, with BDS achieving successes in multiple fields,” the daily said.
“The movement has damaged Israel’s reputation internationally, evident in public opinion surveys showing growing negative perceptions.”
The report cited several examples, including artists refusing to perform in Israel, authors refusing Hebrew translations of their work and campaigns removing Israel from events like Eurovision or FIFA competitions.
It also pointed to growing efforts to withdraw foreign investments, “including the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund divesting from Israeli companies.”
“The UN Human Rights Council blacklist targets Israeli and international companies operating beyond the Green Line,” the paper said, referring to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“Reports and videos from the West Bank showing occupiers engaging in violent behavior against Palestinians and property damage have further fueled the sanctions,” the report said.
“Public statements and actions by ministers, especially Ben-Gvir’s widely circulated video humiliating flotilla participants bound for Gaza, drew condemnation from multiple countries as crossing a red line.”
Referring to France’s decision to bar Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, the newspaper said Paris had joined Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway in restricting entry for Israeli ministers.
“France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway—have coordinated sanctions against occupiers and organizations promoting violence in the West Bank,” it said.
France has also restricted the entry of four illegal settlement leaders and 21 occupiers, according to the report.
The UK launched “a plan of action” targeting networks that finance and support occupiers’ attacks, “urging businesses to avoid operations in West Bank settlements.”
“Canada imposed entry bans and financial restrictions on two citizens and five organizations, while Australia sanctioned three citizens and six outposts,” the newspaper said.
New Zealand also barred three Israelis, adding them to a blacklist of 35 individuals that includes Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and illegal settlement figures such as Daniela Weiss, Ze’ev Haber, Elisha Yered, Noam Federman, Baruch Marzel and Bentzi Gopstein.
“In addition to sanctions, France has opened investigations into alleged torture and war crimes linked to the flotilla incident and Italy announced an inquiry into Ben-Gvir for humiliating Italian civilians,” the report added.
“EU discussions are ongoing regarding personal sanctions against Israeli ministers,” the paper said.
“Germany reportedly opposes measures against Smotrich but may support restrictions on Ben-Gvir, though a Czech veto could prevent action,” it added.
Analysts cited by the newspaper said broad economic sanctions against Israel “are unlikely in the short term, but personal sanctions against ministers are expected to remain under consideration.”
They argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has failed to effectively respond to these developments, mobilize friendly countries or engage with global Jewish communities in confronting the boycott movement.
Netanyahu has been wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2024 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Palestinians in Gaza, where nearly 73,000 people have been killed and over 173,000 others in a genocidal war since October 2023.
Israel is also facing a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) brought by South Africa and supported by several countries, accusing it of committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave.
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Group of Palestinian children in Bureyc Camp raise the Palestinian flag over the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes following announcements of recognition of the State of Palestine by Canada, Australia, the UK, and Portugal, on September 22, 2025, in Gaza City, Gaza. [Moiz Salhi – Anadolu Agency]
The United Kingdom, Australia and Canada announced Thursday the creation of a new International Peace Fund aimed at supporting efforts toward a two-state solution between Palestine and Israel, Anadolu Agency reports.
In a joint statement, the three countries said the multi-donor fund will support projects designed to advance the conditions for a negotiated two-state solution.
The governments said the initiative will complement ongoing diplomatic, humanitarian and development efforts by supporting organizations working to promote peacebuilding and mutual understanding.
The three countries reaffirmed their commitment to a negotiated two-state solution, describing it as the only viable path to lasting peace.
The UK, Australia and Canada will each contribute initial seed funding equivalent to £1 million ($1.3 million) over three years. The fund will also be open to contributions from other international partners.
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A United States flag waves in front of the United States Capitol building in Washington D.C., United States, on September 24, 2025. [Yasin Öztürk – Anadolu Agency]
The US Senate is considering a measure that would force the president to expand intelligence sharing with Israel and make it harder for any administration to restrict Israeli access to American secrets, even amid growing concern in Washington over Israeli espionage against US officials.
Section 622 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027, titled “United States-Israel Intelligence Sharing Enhancement”, would require the president, through the director of national intelligence and, when necessary, the secretary of defence, to “expand and enhance intelligence sharing with the Government of Israel”.
The bill was introduced by Israeli loyalist Senator Tom Cotton, the Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and one of Israel’s most hardline supporters in Congress.
The provision would cover a wide range of intelligence across the Middle East, including cyber threats, terrorism, sanctions evasion, missile threats, drones, air defence and the plans of governments and armed groups. In practice, critics say, it would give Israel broader access to sensitive US assessments on many of the region’s most important security issues.
The measure would also make it difficult for a president to suspend, reduce or restrict intelligence sharing with Israel. According to the bill, any reduction would need to be based on a “specific and identifiable national security concern”. The White House would then have 15 days to notify Congress and explain what information was being withheld, why it was being restricted and how the decision could affect Israel, US forces and regional security.
Former CIA officer Paul R Pillar, writing in Responsible Statecraft, warned that the proposal would move US support for Israel deeper into the less visible world of intelligence cooperation. Unlike military aid, intelligence sharing does not come with a public price tag and is far harder for the public to scrutinise.
Pillar argued that Congress does not normally legislate such relationships because intelligence agencies need flexibility to decide what to share, what to withhold and how to protect sources.
The proposal comes shortly after reports that the Pentagon’s Defence Intelligence Agency raised its counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to “critical”, the highest level.
Israel has a long record of spying on the United States. The most notorious case involved Jonathan Pollard, a US naval intelligence analyst who stole large volumes of classified material for Israel. Israel treated Pollard as a hero after his release, despite US officials describing the damage he caused as severe.
Critics say Section 622 would risk giving Israel intelligence that could be used in military operations opposed by Washington or in breach of international law. Israel has repeatedly carried out attacks across Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran, while the US has faced mounting accusations of enabling Israeli escalation through military, diplomatic and intelligence support.
The measure is seen as a wider shift in Washington’s support for Israel. As unconditional military aid becomes increasingly unpopular, Israel’s supporters in Congress are pushing less visible forms of cooperation, including military integration, shared air defence systems and intelligence sharing.
If passed, critics warn that Section 622 would embed expanded intelligence sharing with Israel into US law, even as US defence agencies warn that Israeli espionage poses a serious threat to American officials and secrets.
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