Sunday papers: Spencer accuses King of 'gaslighting' over Diana

Sunday's newspapers arrived with a collection of stories that sketch the shape of Britain's current anxieties: military readiness, the integrity of elections, the unfinished business of the Royal Family, and the steady flow of weapons into the country.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has stepped into the defense debate with language meant to shake the government awake. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, she frames the moment as urgent—Russia is conducting hybrid warfare, she argues, and the prime minister is not treating it with the seriousness it demands. She calls for a fundamental shift in how the country thinks about itself, rejecting what she describes as a pretense of living in a carefree world. The government, she insists, must increase defense spending and stop avoiding difficult choices through delay and indecision. She also takes aim at Andy Burnham, characterizing him as a people pleaser unwilling to make the hard calls the moment requires.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission is moving toward its own reckoning. Vijay Rangarajan, the commission's chief executive, has indicated to the Sunday Times that he is considering reducing the spending limits that govern election campaigns. His reasoning centers on a straightforward principle: the rules must be fit for purpose and preserve public confidence in how elections are financed. The practical consequence of such a move would be significant. Reform UK has recently received £72 million from two crypto-billionaires, and tighter spending caps would constrain how much of that money the party could deploy. The commission's move, if it proceeds, would reshape the financial landscape of British electoral politics.

Earl Spencer's memoir has become the vehicle for a sustained challenge to the Royal Family's account of events surrounding his sister Diana's death. In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, the earl accuses King Charles of gaslighting him—of denying or distorting his version of what happened and how the institution responded. His book, being serialized in the Daily Mail, contains a series of allegations about the Royal Family's conduct in the aftermath of Diana's death. Spencer describes the King's response to his claims as below the belt, a personal attack rather than an engagement with substance. He suggests that Diana herself would approve of his willingness to speak, imagining her cheering from the rafters as he publishes his account.

The Independent has published polling that suggests a significant shift in how British voters view the country's relationship with Europe. A YouGov survey shows that rejoining the European Union is the most popular option when voters are presented with different choices about Britain's future ties to Brussels. The poll indicates support for this position across all but four constituencies in Great Britain—a striking breadth of agreement on a question that has divided the country for years.

At the border, a different kind of crisis is accumulating in plain sight. The Sunday Express reports that UK Border Force has seized nearly 3,000 illegal knives in the first six months of this year—a rate of roughly 15 blades per day. That figure almost matches the total number of knives confiscated throughout the entirety of 2025. The Ben Kinsella Trust, an anti-knife crime charity, tells the paper that these numbers reveal the scale of demand for banned weapons. The seizures are a symptom of a problem that persists despite enforcement efforts: people are still trying to bring these weapons into the country, and the volume suggests the market for them remains robust.