In your briefing today:

📣 Nigel Farage’s rivals have ruled out running in the Clacton by-election he plans to force, as he attempts to seize back the agenda amid accusations about his support from a convicted criminal and the multi-million-pound personal gifts he has received.

Farage, in a live video statement made away from journalists, said he wanted a “people versus the establishment” battle in the Essex seaside seat. But Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Restore Britain have all ruled out contesting the election, with Labour accusing him of “desperately trying to change the subject”. (BBC)

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that Farage’s £5 million gift from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne was reported to the National Crime Agency by bankers who were concerned it might be laundered money. (Guardian has the exclusive)

📣 The US said it has launched “powerful” strikes overnight against Iran in response to attacks on three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran, in retaliation, has targeted Bahrain and Kuwait. (AP)

📣 The Daily Mail won a stunning victory against claims of hacking and bugging by Prince Harry and several celebrities. In a 436-page judgement, High Court judge Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed, one by one, accusations that 55 articles published between 1997 and 2015, and three incidents that did not lead to articles, were prepared using unlawful information-gathering.

Accusations that the prosecution failed to prove included phone hacking, landline tapping, bugging and corrupt payments. The Mail’s publisher, Associated, will now attempt to recover its £50 million in costs. (Mail) (Guardian)

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📣 A youth worker says he “begged” authorities to help schoolboy Amen Teklay before he was killed in a fatal stabbing. He says his concerns were dismissed. (Daily Record has the exclusive)

📣 The SNP is facing legal action over donations to its “ring-fenced” independence referendum fund, with the Wings Over Scotland political site leading a claim on behalf of a group of donors seeking repayment of their cash, plus compensation. (Herald) (Wings Over Scotland)

📣 Stephen Flynn has attacked the cost of the HS2 railway project, saying the £100 billion project is “symbolic of Westminster dysfunction”. (Daily Record has the exclusive)

📣 A mother has gone on trial accused of killing her baby daughter with “significant” heat from a hairdryer. (STV)

📣 French far-right leader Marine Le Pen will run for president next year despite being convicted of embezzling £2.4 million in European funds and having to wear an electronic tag for the next year. (France24 live coverage)

📣 Virgin Media has been find £28 million for repeatedly preventing customers from cancelling their contracts through various tactics, including “deliberate call-dropping”, and putting customers on hold for no reason. (BBC)

📣 Two high-rise buildings in Manhattan were evacuated when structural steelwork began to buckle and debris fell onto the street. Video shows the problem: had I been behind the camera, I would not have hung around long. (See the footage) (CNN)

📣 Oasis will play six shows at Knebworth and stage a 12-night Etihad Stadium residency next year. (The Sun has the exclusive)

⚽️ Argentina roared back from 2-0 down to score a trio of goals in 13 minutes, break Egyptian hearts and keep captain Lionel Messi in with a chance of winning the World Cup one last time. He was brilliant in this game, and in tears after it. (Report & highlights)

⚽️ It took penalties to separate Colombia and Switzerland, with the Europeans eventually going through after a stunning shootout save by Gregor Kobel. They will meet Argentina in the quarter-finals. (Report & highlights)

⚽️ Believe it or not, there are no World Cup games today. The next fixture is tomorrow, when France meet Morocco in the first of the quarter-final ties.

📣 Nigel Farage’s gambit yesterday, resigning to force a by-election in Clacton, was always going to draw ire from his opponents. More interesting is the verdict of voices in titles traditionally more sympathetic to the Reform leader, and his party.

🗣️ In The Telegraph, it’s only fair to say Janet Daley has in no way been a cheerleader for Farage over the years. But the conservative journalist and philosopher doesn’t hold back in her verdict on Farage’s “by-election stunt”.

“Why exactly should the voters of Clacton have the moral authority to decide that Nigel Farage is fit to be a potential leader of the country?” she asks.

The attempt to characterise this as a Left-wing conspiracy is quite desperate, she says.

“It isn’t the money, or the life choices which create it, which are under scrutiny here. It is the fact that he received very large sums of it under circumstances which may be unacceptable for someone who is – or may be about to become – a member of Parliament.

“The voters of Clacton will not be in a position to judge this. They will have no more information about the circumstances of these contributions than they do now.” (Telegraph)

🗣️ Philip Johnston, in the same title, is surprised at how unwilling Farage is to submit to the scrutiny that goes with political profile. “Few politicians in history have wielded so much power and influence without holding the highest office as Nigel Farage,” he writes.

“Yet he is remarkably thin-skinned for someone who courts the limelight and has found it impossible to accept the recent intrusion into his private and financial affairs without lashing out.”

Farage may have miscalculated, writes Johnston: he’s about to fight an election against candidates no more substantive than Count Binface.

“But if he thinks that means the questions will go away, then he is in for a very rude awakening.” (Telegraph)

🗣️ In the Mail, Dan Hodges can’t recognise the “this self-pitying, evasive and frankly boorish Nigel Farage”.

“He isn't currently under investigation by parliament's sleaze watchdog for making an honest living,” writes Hodges. “He's under investigation for accepting a staggering £5million gift from a mysterious British-Thai sugar daddy, not declaring it, then telling the voters legitimate questions about what he himself boasted was 'a lottery win', were 'none of their business'.

“He's also facing separate questions over accepting staff, security and a flat near Buckingham Palace from an acquaintance called George Cottrell (aka 'Posh George'), who is a convicted fraudster, and recently published a book titled How To Launder Money.

“'I have not broken the law in any way at all', Farage furiously declared. No, but some of his closest allies have.” (Mail)

🗣️ In the Express, chief political commentator David Williamson reckons Farage’s “masterstroke” has ruined Andy Burnham’s honeymoon. “The Clacton campaign will give Mr Farage hourly opportunities to present himself as an alternative prime minister to Mr Burnham,” he writes.

“While his foes want to portray him as a lifelong politico who is the beneficiary of the generosity of fabulously wealthy men, he will recast himself as the anti-establishment warrior.

“Instead of sitting on the Reform bench in the House of Commons he will be out and about in Essex. His fans will flock to the seat to help campaign and thousands of citizens will line up for a selfie.” (Express (£))

🗣️ But, in the same title, a note of warning: Toby Codd goes to the pub in Clacton and found punters unsympathetic - or apathetic. They’d rather watch the football than talk about politics, he found.

“The people here are friendly and willing to talk about the situation, but I'm sure they'd rather just sit with a pint to enjoy the sunshine. They didn't ask for a media frenzy on a weekday in July.

“As I sat down and took in the atmosphere of the bustling pub, one thing quickly became clear: the people of Clacton are ordinary Britons who deserve an MP who stands up for them. They deserve an MP who puts their interests first, ahead of political stunts and party games.” (Express)

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