8 h. ago Starmer 'too arrogant' to admit he got things wrong, Badenoch tells Commons

The Conservative leader launched a tirade against her opponent during PMQs

Politics

28 h. ago Update issued on grooming gangs inquiry as ministers face criticism over 'lack of progress'

Sir Keir Starmer committed to a fresh national inquiry in June

Politics

34 h. ago It’s another Labour reboot challenge: how many adults do they need ‘in the room’ before they start telling the truth? | Marina Hyde

The PM has brought in Darren Jones, whose superpower is ‘relentless delivery’. If that won’t save the world, what will? “If I hear one more of our people saying that deckchairs are being shuffled on the Titanic,” a government supporter of Keir Starmer confided to the Daily Mail, “I will scream.” No need for shrieks. The prime minister’s No 10 hokey cokey on Monday wasn’t so much shuffling the deckchairs as restructuring the deck crew and announcing that some fresh faces will enable the team to work with new focus towards their ultimate goal of reshuffling. Expect the first strategy whiteboard to be broken out 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.For now, hold on to your aperitifs and continue to dress for dinner, because the erstwhile chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, becomes something called chief secretary to the prime minister. To Starmer, Darren is a Mr Fixit; to many of his cabinet colleagues, he is a Mr Fuxit. That’s not the official line Downing Steet is going...

Politics

34 h. ago Now showing: it’s Keir Starmer’s march of the ‘grownups’ – the disaster movie we’re all being forced to watch | Marina Hyde

The PM has brought in Darren Jones, whose superpower is ‘relentless delivery’. If that won’t save the world, what will? “If I hear one more of our people saying that deckchairs are being shuffled on the Titanic,” a government supporter of Keir Starmer confided to the Daily Mail, “I will scream.” No need for shrieks. The prime minister’s No 10 hokey cokey on Monday wasn’t so much shuffling the deckchairs as restructuring the deck crew and announcing that some fresh faces will enable the team to work with new focus towards their ultimate goal of reshuffling. Expect the first strategy whiteboard to be broken out 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.For now, hold on to your aperitifs and continue to dress for dinner, because the erstwhile chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, becomes something called chief secretary to the prime minister. To Starmer, Darren is a Mr Fixit; to many of his cabinet colleagues, he is a Mr Fuxit. That’s not the official line Downing Steet is going...

Events

56 h. ago Keir Starmer’s legacy could be electoral reform – or Farage as prime minister | Polly Toynbee

MPs are voting to get rid of first past the post in mayoral elections. Doing the same at a national level would be an antidote to Reform UKWake up to the peril. As MPs return to parliament, they should abandon that self-deluding pretence that it could never happen here in our “moderate” and “tolerant” land. On the contrary, Britain is at more risk of a populist right takeover than many of our European neighbours. With Labour in an electoral slough of despond, and the Tories looking dead already, the reptilian grin of Nigel Farage haunts the political landscape after his satisfactory summer spent stoking division and cynicism.Our first past the post (FPTP) elections make us particularly vulnerable. As Rob Ford, professor of politics at Manchester University, notes: “This is now a Farage-friendly electoral system.” Reform UK has reached the tipping point where winning as little as 30% support in our corkscrewed lottery of a voting system could propel him into No 10, however much that ...

Politics

60 h. ago Starmer's 'tax fanatic' army: PM's bid to rein in Reeves with army of aides in desperate No10 reshuffle fuels tax hike fears

No10 communications director James Lyons announced he is leaving the role after a year amid a desperate effort to 'reset' the PM's team.

Politics

60 h. ago Keir Starmer launches desperate No10 reshuffle drafting in 'tax fanatics' with bombshell Budget looming... as PM faces migrant fury and threat from Farage

No10 communications director James Lyons announced he is leaving the role after a year amid a desperate effort to 'reset' the PM's team.

Events

60 h. ago New headache for Keir Starmer as comms chief quits amid mini Downing Street reshuffle

James Lyons, the son-in-law of Labour grandee Dame Margaret Hodge, is the fourth senior staff member to be replaced in the PM’s office in 12 months

Politics

61 h. ago Keir Starmer launches a desperate No10 reshuffle with key aides OUT as he faces migrant fury, falling poll ratings... and a rising threat from Farage

No10 communications director James Lyons announced he is leaving the role after a year amid a desperate effort to 'reset' the PM's team.

Events

61 h. ago Keir Starmer launches a desperate No 10 reshuffle with key aides OUT as he faces migrant fury, falling poll ratings... and a rising threat from Farage

No10 communications director James Lyons announced he is leaving the role after a year amid a desperate effort to 'reset' the PM's team.

Events

61 h. ago New headache for Keir Starmer as comms chief quits amid reshuffle

James Lyons, the son-in-law of Labour grandee Dame Margaret Hodge, is the fourth senior staff member to be replaced in the PM’s office in 12 months

Politics

62 h. ago Fresh crisis in Downing Street as Keir Starmer's comms chief QUITS amid desperate reset

No10 communications director James Lyons announced he is leaving the role after a year amid a desperate effort to 'reset' the PM's team.

Events

7 d. ago There’s an obvious way to challenge Nigel Farage. But Keir Starmer won’t do it | Rafael Behr

Labour’s reluctance to name Brexit as the cause of so many problems hasn’t stopped Reform’s rise. It’s time to try the truthSo begins another chapter in the liberation struggle. Released from bondage to the EU, Britain finds itself subjugated to a more insidious foe. The border that should have been sealed is wide open. The foreign hordes are still coming, but their passage is no longer directed by bureaucrats from Brussels. This time, national emancipation depends on breaking the tyranny of human rights lawyers.That is the plot to Nigel Farage’s Brexit sequel, previewed on Tuesday in an airport hangar in Oxfordshire. The Reform UK leader laid out plans for “mass deportation” of migrants – all who arrive without permission, plus those who are here already and came by illicit channels.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago In numbers: Is the UK ready to put boots on the ground in Ukraine?

Keir Starmer’s commitment to deploy British peacekeepers to Ukraine has raised questions over whether the UK is ready for conflict, Alicja Hagopian writes

Politics

3 w. ago Prime Minister Keir Starmer praises Hefin David as 'dedicated and committed' public servant in tribute

The MS for Caerphilly died suddenly on Tuesday evening

Politics

3 w. ago What’s the best thing world leaders could do now? 'Let go' and 'embrace uncertainty' | Fran Boait

Self-help homilies seem out out of place in this era of Starmer and Trump. In fact, applied to government, they can offer new solutions for global problemsIf there is one thing that has marked the first year of Keir Starmer’s premiership, it is a propensity for control – whether it’s managing his own party, cracking down on civil liberties and protest, or instilling fear and anxiety in marginalised groups. For a centre-left party, the authoritarian strain Starmer has shown isn’t exactly in line with the “change” from the Tories that was promised.Governments seek to control populations, politicians seek to control their parties: this is nothing new and has been explicitly promoted since Machiavelli’s The Prince was published in 1532. When leaders understand holding power as an end in itself, and see the method as controlling those they have power over, they block themselves from being able to bring about real change, because not “losing control” becomes more important than any change...

Politics

3 w. ago The biggest problem for Starmer and co: the machinery of government is broken and they can’t fix it | Martin Kettle

The prisons crisis is symptomatic of a dysfunctional system that is defeating these ministers as badly as those before themIn one of my favourite Seinfeld episodes, George Costanza is sitting in a New York diner and – this shows how long ago it was – reading his morning paper. Suddenly he folds the paper up, sets it down on the table and looks across to his companion with weary exasperation. Why, he asks, does the high-minded New York Times refuse to accept that China is a turn-off?Just like George, many readers will at some stage probably have experienced a similar feeling. Perhaps it was about China, but perhaps about something completely different. Call it the “not right now” syndrome. It is the syndrome that recognises that a subject might be important, but reading a lengthy report about it can be another thing altogether.Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics