english channel since christmas day, as hundreds more crossed this very day. it comes as it's revealed albanian people smugglers are offering migrants packaged deals to the united kingdom on social media channels. we're also looking back on what's been a hard year for princess catherine following that cancer diagnosis, and looking forward to 2025. i'm asking if we'll be seeing more of her as she continues her recovery. i'm darren grimes and my friends. the weekend starts here. with. now. as ever, this show is absolutely nothing without you and your views. let me know your thoughts on all of the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay and join that

conversation. keeping me company this hour is the broadcaster matthew stadlen and journalist duncan barkes. but before we get stuck in to our stories of the day, here's the news headlines with sophia wenzler. >> darren. thank you. good afternoon. it'sjust >> darren. thank you. good afternoon. it's just gone. 12:00. these are your headlines. russian air defences may have shot down an azerbaijan airlines flight after misidentifying it. according to us military sources. us media is reporting that america had intelligence indicating russia may have believed the flight was a drone and engaged its air defences. white house spokesman john kirby has said the us has seen early indications that russia could have been responsible for downing the jet that crashed on the 25th of december, killing 38 people. the plane is thought to have come under fire from russian air defence systems as it tried to land in chechnya, before being diverted across the

caspian sea to kazakhstan, where it crashed. the kremlin has refused to comment, but the head of russia's civil aviation agency said the situation in chechnya was very complicated due to ukrainian drone strikes on the region. reform uk leader nigel farage has said elon musk will help reform uk win over younger voters because he is an absolute hero figure to them. in an interview with the telegraph. mr farage said mr musk was a huge help in connecting young people with the party. discussing rumours of a large donation to reform. he said the tech mogul would give a reasonable sized amount, but added that it would need to be legal and above board. it comes after nigel farage is demanding an apology from kemi badenoch after a row in which she claimed the reform uk faked its membership numbers. the tory leader accused mr farage of fakery after reforms online member tally overtook the last known number of registered tory

members. in other news, flights have been cancelled and delayed across the country as heavy fog affects visibility at uk airports, forcing air traffic restrictions. some areas could see thick patches of fog, reduce visibility down to just 100m today. that's according to the met office. gatwick and manchester. the second and third busiest airports in the country are among those worst affected by the bad weather. earlier we spoke to simon calder, who's the independent travel correspondent. >> we saw over 150 cancellations yesterday, 48 from gatwick to and from gatwick, 42 at london city airport, 40 at london heathrow, plus some at manchester, luton and other airports. and on top of that, i'm afraid saturday hasn't begun brilliantly. british airways has cancelled 18 flights so far to and from heathrow, another four at gatwick. and there's

cancellations also at london city. so if you are flying today, good luck. >> gb news can confirm that 1300 migrants have now crossed the engush migrants have now crossed the english channel since christmas day, as hundreds more made the journey today. it comes as the home office confirmed 305 arrived yesterday in five small boats. 407 made the illegal crossing on boxing day and 451 on christmas day. they take the total number who've arrived in the uk this year to 36,500. that's a 25% increase on last year's total. some breaking news now a woman has been charged with murdering a father of six on christmas day in staffordshire. police were called to a report of a man in cardiac arrest in norton canes at about 3:25 am. on wednesday. they said despite medical efforts, he died a short time later. a 33 year old, kirsty carlos, has now been charged with murdering 31 year old louis

price. and more than 70 assaults took place in prisons every day last year, according to new analysis. research by the house of commons library, commissioned by the liberal democrats, shows there was a 26,912 assaults recorded in jails in england and wales in 2023, an average of 74 a day. the research also revealed the country's most violent prisons, with hmp wandsworth in southwest london recording the highest number of incidents. those are the latest gb news headlines. >> more in an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com/alerts. >> thank you very much, sophia.

let's get stuck in to today's topics. nigel farage has demanded an apology from conservative leader kemi badenoch after she accused his reform uk party of faking its membership numbers. she said she'd had a look round the back end and decided it was all a fix, so to speak. miss badenoch alleges that the digital counter on the reform uk website was figged on the reform uk website was rigged to tick up automatically, as it now shows the party has more members than the tories. now mr farage has refused to rule out legal action as multiple investigations by uk media have now seemed to verify the figures and the authenticity of them. this comes as he has today hailed elon musk an absolute hero figure, especially with the youth vowing that he will help reform win over younger voters ahead of the next election. well, let's see what my panel make of this. broadcaster matthew stadlen and the journalist duncan barkes.

matthew stadlen as a representative from reform uk. no. i'm joking. do you have any sympathy with nigel farage's plight here in being told that he's fudging the figures? >> well, if kemi badenoch has no evidence for her assertion, she shouldn't have made it. but at the same time, we don't want politicians to go around threatening potential legal action against each other. i mean, we just that's not how british democracy should work, in my view. this speaks to a much wider and much more interesting political question for the year ahead. how are things going to play out not just between labour and what opposition exists within parliament, but also outside? but how do the dynamics work between the tories and reform? because there's no doubt that reform are rattling the tories and they are to some extent rattling labour. except for the moment, labour can take some solace in the fact that there's

no hope of them being removed from office next time round. if the right continues to be split between reform and the tories. >> and duncan, just i read in the telegraph today, actually one opinion piece that's saying from a friend of mine called alan bates denham, she's a brilliant columnist. but she says if farage succeeds in destroying the tories, we are doomed to perpetual left wing rule, which is somewhat what matthews i agree with some of what matt said. >> i mean, you know, whilst the right of our political spectrum is squabbling amongst themselves, you know, the labour government are in a position to carry on trashing the economy and not to really be held to account and rewire our country as we know it. whilst you have badenoch and farage squabbling over social media. >> but i would argue that actually, as far as opposition is concerned, it has been the likes of rupert lowe and richard tice and mr farage and the others that are actually the onesin others that are actually the ones in parliament asking the questions. >> rupert lowe so the reform mp for great yarmouth is, i think,

has proven himself to be an outstanding politician. so far. he's using the parliamentary system to ask questions. and if you're a bit of a political geek like i am, and you watch some of the stuff that, you know, most normal people don't watch, he's asking questions to various government departments. they haven't got the answers, or if they have, they're very reluctant to reveal the data he's he's requesting. so he's playing an absolute blinder. >> i disagree very strongly with part of what you said. i'm all for politicians asking questions and probing the government, holding it to account in all sorts of different ways. but i'm afraid i've clashed with rupert on in the last couple of days or so during the festive period, because over christmas itself, he was spreading hate, in my view, against asylum seekers and potentially illegal migrants. what did he say? yes, he was talking in terms of them roaming the streets. now what does that. what sort of image does that come to? one person's pain is another person's opinion, isn't it? do you roam the streets? >> well, i think everyone roams

the streets. >> but that's language that is designed to cause fear amongst the general population. >> it's down to hang on. it's down to interpretation. >> i would never suggest that you were roaming the streets of london. but, duncan, you were roaming the kitchenette earlier, about ten minutes ago. and you know exactly what he's doing, don't you? but it depends. agree with him. but you know what he's doing. >> duncan has about whether or not you agree with the language that's used, your interpretation, you've interpreted it one way. >> other people watching gb news at the moment might just go. there are people roaming the streets of london. >> you're an experienced broadcaster. you know exactly what he's trying to do. >> you're an experienced broadcaster, and you're interpreting it in a way, trying to spread hate. your belief and the christian message. >> let's remind everyone, and most of the viewers will be well aware of this as it is. is one of forgiveness, one of compassion, one of kindness, particularly over the christmas period. so to point to desperate people and yes, of course they shouldn't be coming. no, no. >> yes, of course they should. of course they are not desperate. >> yes, they shouldn't be. they shouldn't be coming here, but they're desperate enough to risk their lives over the channel.

christmas is not the time to spread hatred of them and fear of them. i want the boats to stop. but i'm also aware that these people are human beings, and suggesting that they are roaming the streets is to point the finger. >> so what are you accusing them of? >> criminal. what are you accusing? i've been very clear. you spreading hatred, spreading hatred and spreading fear. >> what are they doing, matthew? if not roaming? they aren't isolated to one particular venue. are they? >> roaming? suggests criminal intent or malicious intent. no, of course it does. of course it does. >> what? >> what? >> do you roam the streets? >> do you roam the streets? >> yes. no you don't. you can have hordes go shopping. you might have your lunch. >> you're way off beam here. you can have hordes of people roaming over newbury racecourse on a race day. it doesn't mean they're criminals. >> look, you know you are choosing to. >> and you may feel a certain way. >> you may feel hatred towards the people that rupert lowe seems to. i don't feel hatred towards anyone, fear of them, but at least accept that the language he is using is designed precisely to spread those arms.

i'd like him to be sitting here so i could have that conversation directly with him. by conversation directly with him. by the way, get him on nigel farage. okay. nigel farage in your introduction has spelt out that he thinks elon musk is some sort of hero figure 5 or 6 hours ago, elon musk posted the most profane post that you could almost imagine from someone who is actually running this site x using the f word and saying that people that someone should go and f themselves in the face. i cannot repeat the language that he used on national television because it was so disgusting. this is a man that nigel farage, whose party stands potentially to gain significant money from, wants to tell us is a hero figure. >> well, listen, i think having a potty mouth doesn't make you a bad person, just so you're not ineloquent with your words forever. but matthew has a problem with words. >> are you allowed to swear now? >> are you allowed to swear now? >> no, i am not. why not? >> no, i am not. why not? >> well, because there's something called public decency. >> no, because there is something called ofcom. >> actually, can we can we bring

the conversation back to reform and the tories, if that's alright? just because i find this really interesting, i think kemi badenoch has fallen into nigel farage's trap. all right. you have this vacuum between christmas and new year, right? where there's no political pr campaign. okay. farage is a master at strategy, right? you might not like his politics, but he is very good at making noise and getting attention. and what he's done is during this festive penod he's done is during this festive period where there's journalists like you, darren and me and yourself, matt, who have got nothing to talk about or write about. he's created something with this membership tick ticker thing that keeps going up. okay, almost just baiting kemi badenoch to challenge it. she challenged it. and as we have seen, more and more oxygen has gone towards reform. we're talking about it now, and i'll go back on what matthew said about elon musk. >> would you accept that? he's the you know, the man? >> did you read the tim stanley interview in the daily telegraph with farage on boxing day? it's in today's telegraph. he talks about elon musk as being

inspirational to young people, because this guy is a cool young guy with the shades and with the leather jacket on, etc. you know, that i think is the point he was trying to make. he relates to young people. you can be successful as an entrepreneur and actually young people, a certain kind of young person will look at that and just think, i want to do that later in life. >> so you wouldn't buy that he's a danger to democracy or something like. >> well, i think there are two points here. i mean, you know, he controls a massive social media platform. i think that's something to be aware of. absolutely. i am also not a fan of any anyone overseas funding political parties in this country. >> sorry, sorry. just quickly various things. the fact that he may appeal to some young people, elon musk doesn't mean that he's appealing in a good way. what's the name of the man in romania, the name of the man in romania, the andrew tate? andrew tate, i mean, he appeals to a lot of young men. does that mean that he's. >> have you have you read? let me finish. >> because i'm coming back to what you're saying. does it mean just because he does appeal to some young people that that is a good influence? all sorts of people influence young people. some in good ways, some in bad ways. on the question of reform and the tories. you're absolutely right. he is he is he

is a master, certainly a master tactician and arguably a master strategist. i mean, you could say that he was the strategic brains behind brexit. maybe it wouldn't have happened without bofis wouldn't have happened without boris johnson. i've always acknowledged that he is the biggest politician of our age since since tony blair. of course, i disagree with almost everything that comes out of his mouth, but the problem here is, if you look at some of these posts on twitter and you see the replies, there are people on the right who are very concerned that reform is still lining up their tanks against the conservatives, because they want the labour government to be taken down. and it comes back to my opening point. if the right is split, labour are safe and duncan, the point there being, i get so many viewers saying to me, well, darren, you know, a plague on both their houses is how i currently feel. >> and right now the death of the conservative party sounds quite appealing. and to be honest with you, i am minded to agree with that sentiment in the sense of i still feel that there was a complete betrayal of the 2019 vote. well, actually, the

2010 vote, the 2015 vote, the 2017 vote, and the 2019 vote. so why on earth would they get back into bed electorally with the conservatives when they've been betrayed so willingly? >> so i've got a couple of thoughts on this. i mean, first off, reform is in this unique position where it's very easy to call out what's wrong with the country. they don't yet need to provide solutions. okay. labour has spent the first six months in government trashing the economy. they've pretty much managed to upset everyone. the conservative party can't have a p0p conservative party can't have a pop at labour because there's 14 years of a conservative government that had almost a record tax intake, mass immigration. their hands are dirty, if you like, on the stuff that you might want to, you know, criticise, call out labour on. so that's one thing. i think the next 12 months are going to be fascinating. the next 6 to 12 months. i think the number of challenges here. first off, we've got the new years honours list that will be out in the next 48 hours. there will be some mps in there who get elevated to the house of lords. right. that's going to force them by elections because obviously mps can't remain mps if they're in the lords. that is

going to be a test for reform, becau