Presenter Scott Mills has confirmed he was investigated over a sexual offence, in his first statement since he was sacked from the BBC over allegations relating to his personal conduct.

In a statement, Mills said the announcement of his sacking had led "to the publication of rumour and speculation".

It comes after it emerged the police launched an investigation into Mills in 2016 before closing it in 2019 after prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.

Mills said he had "fully cooperated and responded" to the investigation at the time, and thanked "from the bottom of my heart all those who have reached out to me with kindness" including his listeners and former colleagues.

The allegations, first published in the Mirror, are reported to have happened between 1997 and 2000, police said, when Mills would have been in his mid-20s.

On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police told BBC News that they had investigated Mills for serious sexual offences against a teenage boy who was under the age of 16.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, the 53-year-old said: "The recent announcement that I am no longer contracted to the BBC has led to the publication of rumour and speculation.

"In response to this the Metropolitan Police has made a statement, which I confirm relates to me.

An allegation was made against me in 2016 of a historic sexual offence which was the subject of a police investigation in which I fully cooperated and responded to in 2018.

"As the police have stated, a file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, which determined that the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges.

"Since the investigation related to an allegation that dates back nearly 30 years and the police investigation was closed 7 years ago, I hope that the public and the media will understand and respect my wish not to make any further public comment on this matter."

He added: "I wish to thank from the bottom of my heart all those who have reached out to me with kindness, my former colleagues, and my beloved listeners, who I greatly miss."

The announcement that the former presenter had been sacked by the BBC caused shock among listeners, and led to mounting pressure on the broadcaster to explain what led to his sudden departure.

Earlier on Wednesday, the BBC confirmed it knew about the sexual offences investigation in 2017.

But in a statement, a spokesperson added that the Radio 2 presenter was sacked after "new information" about his conduct came to light in recent weeks.

It said it was "doing more work to understand the detail of what was known by the BBC" at the time.

Travelodge's chief executive was sent a "serious complaint" on email by the victim of a sexual assault in one of its hotels - carried out by a man given the key card to her room - soon after the attack, despite the boss saying she only found out years later.

Kyran Smith entered the woman's room at a hotel in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in December 2022 and was jailed in February this year.

On Sunday, Jo Boydell said she had only become aware of the attack during Smith's trial, which began in November 2025.

When the BBC asked Travelodge about the victim's email, sent in January 2023 one month after the assault, Boydell said it had been "handled on my behalf" and there had been "serious failures".

Smith, from Staines, Surrey, gained access to the woman's hotel room after lying to hotel staff that he was her boyfriend, and was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

In the email sent to Boydell's Travelodge email address, and seen by the BBC, the victim wrote in detail in January 2023 about what had happened and the conversations that she had had with reception staff minutes after she woke up to Smith sexually assaulting her in her bed.

'In tears'

"I was in tears, shock and absolutely appalled this happened," she wrote in the email, marked "serious complaint" and which Travelodge does not deny it received.

During Sunday's interview, Boydell told the BBC: "The first time I became aware of this was after the court reported the incident, which is completely unacceptable and also shows there are issues with the way we handled the case."

She also apologised, as she has done in previous statements, to the victim, both for the incident and how it was handled.

In the weeks following the attack, staff from the chief executive's office offered the victim a £30 refund, an offer that the victim said was "insulting".

Following the victim speaking with the BBC, Travelodge has committed to an independent review of their room security policies and has also made immediate changes to their door key policies, so that now the company will check with someone in the room before a new keycard is issued.

The firm has said it is also investigating more reports of strangers accessing rooms.

In a statement, Boydell said on Wednesday: "I am deeply sorry for the distress experienced by the survivor and I apologise for our handling of what happened to her.

"I have been very clear there were serious failures in our handling of every aspect of our response to her.

"The email sent by the survivor in January 2023 was handled on my behalf and I am clear this should never have happened."

She added: "Our response was deeply inappropriate and our processes did not work as they should have done in this instance because what happened was not escalated to me.

"We have conducted an internal review and made immediate changes to both our room security processes for additional key cards and our review and escalation processes since I became aware of what happened."

"I have commissioned an independent review led by a leading KC which is looking at every aspect of our handling of this case."

Nearly 100 MPs signed a letter calling for Boydell to meet with MPs to discuss the incident and safety at the company.

The prime minister also wrote directly to her calling for her to meet with MPs.

A search is under way for a gunman after a shooting left a man with potentially life-changing injuries.

Police said they were called to reports a gun had been fired at a car in Speedwell Road, Bristol, at 13:47 BST. A man in his 20s suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital.

Avon and Somerset Police said the suspect fled the scene on a black and grey electric bike in the direction of Soundwell.

Four schools in the area were placed into precautionary lockdowns while the incident unfolded but have since begun to allow pupils to return home.

Police described the gunman as white, in his late teens or early 20s, of slim build, and about 1.8m (6ft) tall.

He was wearing a grey hoodie, black trousers, and a balaclava.

Ch Insp James Clements acknowledged the incident was "incredibly concerning" for people in the area and said police had deployed "significant resources" to find the gunman.

"We're doing everything we can to identify this person and arrest him," he added.

Clements said there would be a significant police presence in the area over the coming days.

"Our neighbourhood officers fully recognise how concerning this incident is and if you have any concerns I would urge you to speak to them," he added.

Police have also appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

Schools locked down

The incident saw Bristol Brunel Academy, Two Mile Hill Primary and Chester Park Infant and Junior schools placed on precutionary lockdowns.

In a statement, Two Mile Hill Primary said: "We understand that this is very close to the end of the school day and may cause inconvenience, however, the safety and security of our pupils and wider community is our highest priority."

The father of a Year 6 pupil at Two Mile Hill said while it was a "pain" waiting outside, the school had kept parents updated and the children were "happy inside playing".

"It's not a nice situation for anyone," he added.

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Of all the warnings in President Trump's arsenal, quitting the Nato military alliance is among those he's wielded the most.

Now he's doing it again.

Asked by Britain's Telegraph newspaper if he is reconsidering US membership of Nato, he said: "Oh yes… I would say [it's] beyond reconsideration" – fuming again that his partners weren't joining America's military operations, alongside Israel, against Iran.

"I just think it should be automatic," he emphasised in his remarks to the paper.

Trump's invective underlines again his misunderstanding of how this 32-member alliance works.

Nato's Article 5 does commit it to collective defence. An attack against one member is deemed to be an attack against all but invoking this principle requires a consensus. And the 1949 treaty only referred to crises in Europe and North America.

One ally after another has held back from joining a war they weren't consulted on, given they still don't understand its goals in the face of mixed messaging from the Trump administration.

Article 5 has only been triggered once, in the wake of the September 11th attacks on the US in 2001.

Trump also referenced Ukraine in the Telegraph, saying: "We've been there automatically, including Ukraine."

After Russia's audacious full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the then-US President Joe Biden did take a leading role in shaping the response of individual Western governments because he believed President Putin's actions threatened them all.

Nato, as an alliance, provided assistance but avoided the dangerous prospect of becoming directly involved as a party to this conflict.

Even before Trump entered the White House in 2017, he repeatedly dismissed Nato as a "paper tiger," described it as "obsolete", and said that it was "costing a fortune" for the US.

This year, he's mocked the alliance, saying Russia would have occupied all of Ukraine if the US had not been Nato's enforcer.

Trump almost walked out in early 2019, during his first term in office.

"We saw clear signs that Trump was preparing to act on his threat," the former Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote in his recent memoir, On my Watch.

Stoltenberg recounted how he went on Fox News and credited Trump with pressuring Nato allies to increase their military spending.

In his telling, Trump immediately acknowledged that praise on social media and then didn't make the speech the White House had reportedly drafted for a US pullout.

At the centre of Trump's concerns was the 2014 agreement that countries should spend 2% of their GDP on defence; at the time, it was only described as a "guideline".

Military spending has ramped up significantly by almost all Nato members, partly in response to Trump's threats, partly because of Russia's growing menace.

This new crisis will again strengthen the resolve of European countries and Canada to bolster their own defences and depend on themselves for their own security. But there's still that cold hard fact that the might of the US military matters - immensely.

The US's contribution now makes up some 62% of Nato's budget and the Pentagon has assets and intelligence capabilities others still can't match.

This time, his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who calls himself a former supporter of the alliance, has also chimed in.

"I think there's no doubt, unfortunately, after this conflict is concluded we are going to have to re-examine that relationship," he told Fox News.

Referring to US bases in Europe he said not using them "to defend America's interests" meant "Nato is a one-way street."

Britain initially refused access to US warplanes but later changed tack, saying bases could be used for "defensive operations." That delay continues to be derided by Trump and his secretary of defence, the self-styled Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth. They've repeatedly taunted Prime Minister Starmer as being "no Churchill" – a reference to Britain's leader during the Second World War.

On Tuesday, Italy denied US aircraft permission to land as they were en route to the Middle East for combat operations. Spain has closed its airspace to US planes conducting missions against Iran.

Rubio added it was "ultimately" up to the President to decide this issue.

But it's not his alone.

The US Congress voted at the end of 2023 to prohibit the president from unilaterally withdrawing from Nato without the approval of a two-thirds Senate majority or an act of Congress.

Nato leaders, and most of all its current secretary general Mark Rutte, will need to spend time again trying to convince and cajole Trump that it's in his interest, and America's, to stay.

Rutte, like Stoltenberg, is called the "Trump whisperer" for his efforts in public, and private, to keep the unpredictable president on side. Rutte, the former Dutch leader armed with his toolbox of praise, is widely seen as having played a significant role in pulling Trump back from the brink in his threats to "take" Greenland – a semi-autonomous territory of fellow Nato member Denmark - earlier this year.

But Rutte has also come under fire from other Nato states for going too far with his staunch support for a war against Iran he said Trump was doing "to make the whole world safe."

But his top priority is keeping his 77-year-old coalition intact as it confronts growing threats in Ukraine, the Middle East – and the White House.

Relatives of the 57 people who died in Greece's worst ever train disaster crowded into a courtroom on Wednesday, demanding justice for the victims.

The trial had already been postponed once because of the chaotic start last week.

Most of the victims of the crash three years ago were students, killed when their intercity service from Athens to Thessaloniki smashed head-on into a goods train on the same line near Tempi in the centre of the country.

Some of the victims are thought to have burnt to death after surviving the initial collision.

Many relatives were unable to get into the courtroom in the central town of Larisa last week, and the situation was little different when it resumed on Wednesday.

Police officers allowed in only participants who were legally scheduled to attend.

Some relatives complained that two rows of seats had been taken up by police, while others said they still could not witness proceedings clearly enough.

Defence lawyer Zoe Konstantopoulou appealed for the proceedings to be filmed as access for families had been restricted.

The February 2023 disaster is widely known in Greece as the "Tempi crime" - with many arguing it encapsulates negligence and corruption at the heart of the state.

Thirty-six people are on trial in a case that is expected to hear from 350 witnesses and set to last years.

Among those killed was 20-year-old Anastasia Plakias, a student at the University of Thessaloniki.

She, like so many other victims, was travelling back to lectures in the northern city after spending a public holiday with her family.

In the weeks after the crash, her grieving father Dimitris told the BBC he would always be proud of his daughter who "only had love to give".

He said: "We relatives call it a state assassination of our children, and all the people who were aboard that train… in which European country could this be possible?"

Anastasia had been travelling with her 20-year-old twin cousins, Thomi and Chrysa, who were also killed.

Thirty-three of the defendants face up to life in prison if convicted.

Among those in the dock is a station master who failed - along with everyone else - to spot that the two trains had been travelling towards each other on the same line for 10 minutes.

Other railway officials are also on trial along with two Italian former employees of the trains' parent company, Ferrovie dello Stato.

The Tempi disaster provoked widespread anger and protest across Greece.

The railway network had not made use of EU funding intended to improve safety. The head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, Laura Kovesi, later said the collision could have been avoided if the money had been spent on modernising the signalling system in time.

Trade unions in Greece had warned that some sort of catastrophe on the railway network was waiting to happen.

To the amazement of some, the crash site was bulldozed within days, which experts say destroyed potentially crucial evidence.

This fuelled claims of a cover-up, which authorities have denied.

Despite the public outcry, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was re-elected soon after the disaster and has survived two related no-confidence votes in parliament.

Mitsotakis apologised to the families of the victims in the days after the crash and has asked repeatedly for public patience so that justice can take its course.

To the frustration of many campaigners, no politician is among those on trial.

The case is taking place in a remodelled conference hall that cost hundreds of thousands of euros and Mitsotakis has said it is "among the most functional and modern in Europe".

More than 60,000 pages on evidence is to be presented and 200 lawyers are involved in the case, but proceedings descended into chaos on 23 March when the courtroom became overcrowded.

Survivors of the disaster and family members of the deceased were forced to sit in the seats of the accused, most of whom were absent.

Lawyers argued health and safety regulations were being violated.

Maria Karystianou, who lost her 19-year-old daughter Marthi, said relatives had been "packed like sardines" and the spectacle was "an absolute disgrace".

Across the world on Wednesday night, millions of people will tune in to watch Donald Trump deliver a primetime update on the war in Iran. Many will hope for some insight on how the war ends and what might come after.

The Trump administration has, so far, given little clue as to what prompted the hastily-arranged remarks, or whether they will mark the beginning of the end of the conflict or a potentially bloody escalation.

This ambiguity is, at least partly, by design. Trump often changes course or leaves his thinking a mystery to all but a small inner circle of supporters, which he has acknowledged leaves friend and foe alike wondering about his next move.

The president also knows that the address comes at a critical time in his presidency and amid mounting domestic pressure to find a way out of the conflict.

Poll after poll has shown that Americans have little appetite for a protracted conflict in Iran, particularly if it involves the prospect of US soldiers on Iranian soil.

A Reuters poll released this week, for example, found that two-third of Americans believe the US should work to swiftly wrap up its involvement in the war, even if the administration's stated military objections are not fully accomplished.

Closer to home, many Americans are increasingly wary of higher prices at the petrol pump, which this week crossed the average of $4 a gallon for the first time in years.

For a president who, pre-war, often pointed to lower petrol prices as a mark of success, this trend represents a challenge.

Imran Bayoumi, a geostrategy expert with the Atlantic Council in Washington DC and former policy adviser to the defence department, told the BBC that the "deep domestic unpopularity" of the war, along with the economic fall-out, "both pose a problem ahead of midterm elections" if the war were to drag on.

The US president will also likely present his view on how the conflict - or at least US involvement in it - will come to a close.

This has shifted repeatedly, from initial calls for an "unconditional" Iranian surrender to a potential negotiated agreement. Just yesterday, he abruptly shifted course, saying that the war could end in "two to three" weeks even without any deal.

This morning, he again seemed to shift, posting on Truth Social that Iran's "much less radicalised" president had asked the US for a ceasefire, but that the US would not consider it until the Strait of Hormuz is open.

Until then, Trump promised, the US will be "blasting Iran into oblivion, or as they say, back to the Stone Ages".

According to Bayoumi, what constitutes victory for Trump is "loosely defined", which provides the president with some flexibility.

"Not having clearly defined goals going into the conflict allows Trump to declare victory at any time," he said. "[He] has mentioned that he's halted the nuclear threat from Iran, but it's not clear he actually has."

While on a tactical level the US-Israeli operation has been successful in severely degrading Iran's military, Trump's assertion that the war is winding down soon leaves a very narrow window for more complex military options, such as seizing control of Iran's highly-enriched uranium or opening the Strait.

On the latter point, we are likely to hear the president dismiss the Nato alliance as one that he believes has proven itself unwilling to help advance US interests.

What he says tonight will be carefully scrutinised by US allies and adversaries, some of whom will wonder whether it constitutes a ruse.

In Tehran, the country's remaining leadership will remember that Trump had publicly endorsed negotiations he said were ongoing and positive nearly until the moment US bombers struck Iranian nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer.

Prosecutors are providing "early investigative advice" to police forces as they carry out inquiries into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Lord Peter Mandelson's links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: "We can confirm that we are now providing early investigative advice to the Metropolitan Police Service regarding the force's investigation into a 72-year-old man and will continue to liaise as requested.

"We can now also confirm that we are providing early investigative advice to Thames Valley Police in relation to a 66-year-old man."

Mountbatten-Windsor and Lord Mandelson have separately been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over their connections to the paedophile and have both since been released under investigation.

Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Lord Mandelson has repeatedly let it be known that he believes he has not acted criminally.

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Councillors have approved plans by fashion designer Stella McCartney and her husband Alasdhair Willis for a clifftop home in the Highlands.

The proposals for a site on Loch Ailort, a sea loch west of Fort William, had received more than 65 objections.

Opponents raised concerns about the property's size, design and impacts on the landscape and wildlife.

A spokesperson for the couple said the stone walls and turfed roof would make it barely visible, and that the energy efficient house would be used as a "family, forever home".

McCartney and Willis' proposed site is in an area at Roshven on a rocky headland called Commando Rock which historically was used for military training.

A previous owner of the land had started work on a house in the early 2000s, but later abandoned the project leaving some low walls.

The couple's project overlaps some of the previous site, and avoids removing pine trees, which had been a cause of some objections.

Renewable energy would provide power to the new house.

McCartney, daughter of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, has established herself as one of the world's leading fashion designers.

She was awarded a CBE in recognition of her services to fashion and sustainability in 2022.

Willis is a creative director at clothing brand Adidas.

Highland Council's south planning applications committee approved the plans on Wednesday, subject to a number of conditions.

They included measures to mitigate the impact of external lighting on the landscape due to the site's elevated position.

There was also a requirement that sewage and surface water drainage be handled away from the site's cliff edge.

A licence is also required from Scotland's nature body, NatureScot, due to the presence of otters in the area.

'Sympathetically designed'

Fort William and Ardnamurchan Green Party councillor Kate Willis asked that "strong" conditions be placed on the project.

But her request for a decision on the application to be deferred to allow for a site visit was not supported by other councillors.

Highland Independent councillor Thomas MacLennan said the property would sit "more comfortably" in the landscape than the previously consented property.

A spokesperson said the couple had sought to deliver a "highly sustainable home that has been sympathetically designed".

They said the property would use natural Scottish stone and have a turfed roof.

The spokesperson added: "It will be secluded and barely visible due to the site's contours, including views from the water.

"Unlike many of the homes in the area, this is not a holiday home; it is a house that the family will live in, our forever home.

"We look forward to continuing to engage with the local community as we progress our development and when we move into our new home."

Two teenage girls have been arrested after a large crowd of young people caused anti-social behaviour in south-west London, the Met Police has said.

Officers were called to Clapham High Street on Tuesday evening and put a dispersal order in place to move the young people out of the area.

Two teenage girls were arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker and were taken to custody, the force said.

It added that officers would respond to any concerns from local residents and businesses.

Christine said she was walking with her husband and baby in Clapham High Street when she saw hundreds of young people, adding: "I think it took everyone by surprise."

She continued: "We weren't sure what was going on initially. There were a lot of police and police cars. You don't see that very often, even having such a heavy police presence was very unusual.

"It was clearly people up to no good. It was quite intimidating, especially with a new baby."

She added: "It's a great neighbourhood, I'm sure it's just a one off. The police were very good yesterday, it was reassuring to have so many around."

Clapham resident Aisling said it was scary but added that any number of people in a big group was scary, no matter the age.

"Nobody wants to see violence in this area. I hope everyone in the shops and everyone passing by is okay."

She said the closure of shops was a "massive shame", adding: "They might have lost quite a lot of money from that. A lot of the staff are very frightened."

The force was contacted for further details.

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Six Metropolitan Police officers are being investigated after a black child suffered a broken knee during a stop and search in north London, the police watchdog has said.

The boy, who was aged 16 at the time, was forced off his electric bike by an officer over concerns about his behaviour as he rode along Northumberland Park in Tottenham in April 2025, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said.

The IOPC launched an investigation in November, looking at the level of force used, whether race or the child's age was a factor in their treatment of him, and the aftercare provided to him.

The Met, which has been contacted for comment, made a mandatory referral to the IOPC of a complaint made on behalf of the boy about his treatment by officers.

Nothing was found in the search before officers removed the battery from his electric bike and told him he could leave.

But they returned a short time later and arrested him on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence, threats to kill and dangerous driving.

The officers attempted to take him into custody but this was refused and they were told to take him to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a fractured knee, according to the IOPC.

Since January, three police constables are being criminally investigated - one officer for potential offences of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm or actual bodily harm and the other two officers for intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence, contrary to section 44 of the Serious Crime Act 2007. They are also being investigated for potential gross misconduct.

A further three police constables are being investigated for potential misconduct in relation to alleged failures to challenge the conduct of the other officers and their treatment of the boy.

Body-cam footage

IOPC director Amanda Rowe said: "The use of stop and search is an important policing tool, however it must be used proportionately.

"This is a serious case where a child has been injured as a result of force being used and we are investigating the officers' actions in this case and their treatment of the child, who was not provided with immediate first aid.

"We have been in contact with the boy's family and obtained further evidence to assist our investigation. We will continue to keep all parties updated as the investigation progresses.

"As part of our investigation, we have viewed officers' body-worn video, obtained accounts from some of the officers involved, a statement from the boy and reviewed medical evidence.

"The officers will be interviewed under caution, and we are currently obtaining further witness statements."

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"Now or never," Peter Magyar has been telling Hungarians, in a breathless campaign across the country in the run-up to 12 April elections that opinion polls suggest he can win.

This 45-year-old former Fidesz party insider represents the biggest threat to Viktor Orban's rule in Hungary since he won the first of four consecutive victories in 2010.

Magyar's slogan dates back to a revolutionary poet's 19th Century rallying cry to rise up for the homeland.

After more than 100 campaign stops his message has been shortened to "Now": the words "or never" have been crossed out, adding to the urgency.

He is on course to visit all of Hungary's 106 constituencies, and he has given four, five, even six speeches a day. Magyar has built a powerful support base in more than two years of touring the country, even in the small towns and villages were Fidesz traditionally dominates.

Last year he walked 300km (185 miles) from Budapest to the Romanian border in a campaign to "reunite" the nation, in a bid to bring natural Fidesz voters to his side.

Magyar promises to tackle corruption, improve the economy and he has sought to woo Hungary's disadvantaged Roma community. He has also promised to unlock billions of euros in EU funds, frozen largely because of concerns over Hungary's rule of law.

But Orban has depicted him as a "puppet" of the EU and Ukraine, and he has been wary of getting too close to Brussels and has promised voters "we are the real party of peace".

His self-confidence stems from a deep understanding of the rival he faces.

Until February 2024, Magyar was very much part of the Fidesz family.

He joined the party at university and married one of its rising stars in Judit Varga, with whom he had three children.

Then Magyar stunned Hungarians with a live appearance on a pro-opposition YouTube Channel called Partizán.

In a country of 9.6 million people, a million watched as a solemn Peter Magyar explained why he had had enough of his own party.

"Everyone warned me against it, friends, family people I know," he told presenter Márton Gulyás. "Obviously I've been in this system, in this circle, for a very long time."

Hungary was in the midst of a scandal in which President Katalin Novak had granted a pardon to a man who had helped cover up sexual abuse in a Hungarian state-run children's home.

She resigned, and so did Magyar's ex-wife. Varga had been justice minister and had co-signed the pardon. Two leading Fidesz women were left to carry the can. Varga had been destined for big things in Fidesz, having left her job as minister to spearhead Fidesz European election campaign. That career was over.

Now she was no longer part of the Fidesz machine, Peter Magyar sensed this was his moment.

"I do not want to be part of a system in which the real people in charge hide behind women's skirts," he wrote on Facebook.

Towards the end of his Partizán interview Magyar spoke of his hope for political change, while realising it would be very difficult while Orban was still in power.

The current opposition was totally inept, he complained, so change would have to come from within. But one day there would be change and when it did happen it could be fast, he predicted.

His YouTube appearance went viral.

"It was not a planned move," he later told the BBC. "My mother called me not to go, but I did the opposite. Everybody knew the situation in Hungary - it's not very safe to go against this government."

Peter Magyar's high-profile party marriage had fallen apart in 2023 but he was still an important figure in Fidesz even if he was little known to the wider public.

He was a natural fit for Orban's social conservatives.

The son of two lawyers - his mother was as senior judge - Peter Magyar also counts a former Hungarian president as his godfather, and he was very interested in politics from an early age.

Magyar went to an elite Catholic boys' high school near the centre of Budapest before studying law at a Catholic university in Budapest while Orban was serving his first term as prime minister from 1998-2002.

Magyar joined the party after Orban's election defeat, and the woman he married, Judit Varga, was destined for Fidesz success, becoming justice minister in 2019, nine years after Orban's return to office.

Magyar himself became a diplomat at Hungary's permanent mission in Brussels, later running Orban's team working with the European Parliament. He went on to serve on the boards of state-owned companies.

His disaffection with the party was gradual.

"After a while I became more and more critical, openly and just among friends. I can tell you that the Fidesz we see today is very very different from the one I joined in 2002."

"I was always told by the politicians it's necessary to keep power - I accepted it for a time. But of course the turning point was in 2024," he told the BBC's Budapest correspondent Nick Thorpe.

For a while, Magyar worried if he had made a mistake: "I have three kids, I love them very much and I was very much worried about their future as well."

If the YouTube interview was the turning point, the next big moment came on 15 March 2024, a national holiday marking the anniversary of Hungary's failed revolution in 1848.

While Orban spoke from the steps of Budapest's National Museum, condemning the EU and calling for the "occupation of Brussels", Peter Magyar was addressing an estimated 10,000 people, alleging corruption and mishandling the economy at the top.

He announced he was forming a new party, with only weeks to go before Hungarians voted in European elections.

He doubled down on his accusations of corruption, releasing a secret recording made of a conversation with his ex-wife in 2023 in which she speaks about a high-profile trial.

Judit Varga said she was appalled by Magyar's actions, accusing him of abuse which he denied. He also fell out with a former friend, Orban minister Gergely Gulyás - who said Magyar was "one who first betrays his family, then betrays his country as an agent of Brussels".

Asked what he thought of his challenger, Orban told the BBC: "He left Fidesz, that's all."

By now Varga's ex-husband was making big strides politically and forming new friendships, among them popular actor Ervin Nagy.

Magyar took over a dormant party called Tisza, and won 29.6% of the vote and seven seats in the European Parliament. Tisza was well behind Orban's ruling Fidesz on 44.8%, but Magyar had made a powerful statement.

By autumn 2024, Magyar's new party was ahead of Fidesz in the polls and he tore into Orban's close ties with Russia as they led rival marches marking Hungary's 1956 uprising against the Soviet Union.

While Orban labelled Tisza as "warmongers" indulging in a "Brussels war march", Magyar taunted the prime minster as the man who had in 1989 called for Russian troops to leave Hungary but now trampled on the legacy of 1956 and was "the most loyal ally of the Kremlin".

"Mr Prime Minister, why won't you say 'Russians go home' any more?" he asked.

Magyar is no liberal. He has openly derided the liberal opposition that tried to take Orban on in the past, only to see the Fidesz leader storm to a two-thirds majority it needed to mould the constitution.

One key to his success has been his demolition of the fragmented, old opposition parties. He sees former Socialist leader Ferenc Gyurcsany as no better than Orban.

And he has not been afraid to take on the pro-Orban new outlets that dominate Hungary's media landscape.

Earlier this year he alleged he had been the target of an attempted "Russian-style" smear campaign involving a sex tape.

Journalists had been sent a black-and-white surveillance image apparently showing drugs on a table near a bed. The implication was that more footage was to come and Magyar moved to pre-empt it.

He admitted having consensual sex with an ex-girlfriend but was adamant he had not touched anything on the table and said he had been lured into a "honey-trap" set up by the secret services.

"My conscience is clear," he said, adding later that he had taken a drug test on 22 March to prove he had not consumed any drugs during the past months, and pointing out he had had similar negative tests in the past.

Until now, none of the accusations and barbs directed at Peter Magyar have stuck. As a former Fidesz adviser, he believes this gives him an advantage.

"I know them, I know their tricks. I know they're very much frightened," he said.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not for Peter Magyar but for the country."