Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Nigel Farage launched his shadow great offices of state – he can't really announce a shadow cabinet as he has only eight MPs. 

He couldn't decide which of Richard Tice and Robert Jenrick should be second most important, so he split the difference, making Tice "shadow deputy prime minister" with a brief including business, energy and housing, and Jenrick "shadow chancellor".

Millie Cooke profiles the full line-up here. 

Farage couldn't decide whether it was bad or good that Jenrick and Suella Braverman had been Conservative ministers. "These were two people who were ministers but frankly weren't ministers for very long," he said. But also: "We've got an awful lot to learn; these guys can help us."

I wrote that I thought Zia Yusuf, "shadow home secretary" and the only non-MP in the line-up, was the best performer of the four. 

If Angela Rayner came back to government as first secretary of state, as suggested by Harriet Harman, it would be the first time there was a first secretary and a deputy prime minister since when?  

Answer at the bottom of today's email 

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Daily briefing

Keir Starmer hits out at Reform over past vaccine claims as measles cases surge

Nigel Farage gave Aseem Malhotra a platform last year to promote the false claim that Covid vaccines had been linked to cancer 

Putin launches huge drone attack on Ukraine hours before US-backed talks in Geneva

Ukrainian forces are assessed to have taken back 78 square miles in the last week

Official documents confirm government plan to 'tackle' indefinite detention will fail

Policy will leave 500 prisoners languishing without release 18 years after the sentence was abolished

What else you need to know today

● Obituary of Jesse Jackson by Ariana Baio; tribute by Bonnie Greer

● Keir Starmer pays to keep cufflinks given to him by Donald Trump – to give to his son

● James Moore: Britain needs more young people who dream of being YouTubers

The Independent View

News Analysis

Why will Keir Starmer's local election U-turn hit the Conservatives just as hard as Labour?

Nigel Farage's Reform look set to make gains in the shire councils that were once solid Tory strongholds, says Professor Sir John Curtice...

Read more

MOST COMMENTED

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

If I was hit by a bus tomorrow, Reform has its own brand, Reform has its own identity

Nigel Farage

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Quiz answer: William Hague and Nick Clegg in the coalition government, 2010-15

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