Friday briefing: Double defeat for Tories as Labour takes two seats in byelection victory

In today’s newsletter: The Conservative party suffered a crushing defeat as Labour wins Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire seats in historic byelections

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Good morning.

So, here we go again. More byelections. Every political party has been tempering expectations: Labour said a victory for them in Tamworth or Mid Bedfordshire would be a “moonshot”, insisting that “neither of them are on our target list”. But no one has been more disheartened about their chances than the government. A leaked memo indicated that the Tories were expecting losses in both byelections, even though they have held Mid Bedfordshire comfortably since 1931.

Israel | Western officials are warning that the risk of regional “spillover” from the Israel-Hamas war is real, after US forces in the region faced increasing threats and American bases in Iraq and Syria were repeatedly targeted by drone attacks.

Maternity | Almost two-thirds of maternity units provide dangerously substandard care that puts women and babies at risk, the NHS watchdog has said in a damning report. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated 65% of maternity services in England as either “inadequate” or “requires improvement” for the safety of care – up from 54% last year.

EU | The EU has raised security concerns about the trade in “golden passports” and vowed to tighten visa controls after revealing that five Caribbean states have sold citizenship to 88,000 individuals from countries including Iran, Russia and China.

UK politics | Rishi Sunak’s controversial fund to support startups during the Covid pandemic invested nearly £2m in companies linked to his wife, Guardian analysis has found. None of Akshata Murty’s investments that benefited from the Future Fund appear publicly on Sunak’s register of ministerial interests.

Weather | The body of a 57-year-old woman has been recovered from a river in Angus, Police Scotland have said, as hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate their homes in a town in the east of the country because of fears that the River Esk will burst its banks during Storm Babet.