3 d. ago Starmer rebuffs renewed talk of Andy Burnham leadership challenge

PM says Burnham doing ‘really good job’ as Manchester mayor and urges colleagues not to brief against each otherKeir Starmer has attempted to dampen the latest round of speculation about his leadership, insisting that one of his potential rivals, Andy Burnham, is doing a “really good job as mayor of Manchester” and warning colleagues not to waste their time briefing against each other.The prime minister gave his backing to Burnham on Thursday night as he travelled to the G20 summit in Johannesburg, after the Manchester mayor repeatedly failed to rule out challenging Starmer for his party’s leadership during interviews on Thursday. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Starmer’s squandering of a historic election victory is a tragedy nearing its finale | Rafael Behr

The tactics that gave Labour its huge majority in 2024 were no preparation for government – and the prime minister has proved he has nothing more to offerThe mood among Labour MPs these days follows Edgar’s law. This states that the scale of any misfortune can only be measured against unknown future disasters. As Shakespeare has the banished son of the blinded Earl of Gloucester say in King Lear: “The worst is not, so long as we can say ‘this is the worst’.”According to Edgar’s law, there is no opinion poll so gloomy for Labour that it can’t be followed by one even bleaker; no fiscal forecast so bad that the Treasury can’t aggravate it with contradictory signals on tax; no misgivings about Keir Starmer that can’t be amplified by malevolent briefing about a leadership challenge; no social policy so nauseating to the party faithful that it can’t be made grosser still with a relish of cruelty.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

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6 d. ago Starmer warns his cabinet to ‘stop talking about ourselves’ after Labour briefing war

PM tells ministers that ‘distractions’ means their focus has ‘shifted’

Events

6 d. ago Starmer pleads for government to unite in fightback after difficult week

Prime minister tells cabinet budget leaks and infighting are distracting from priorities and delivering changeUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has warned senior ministers and officials to stop briefing against one another and leaking details of the budget as he pleaded for his embattled government to unite.The prime minister told his weekly cabinet meeting that last week’s political turmoil had distracted from voters’ priorities, and ministers needed to work together and start delivering rather than talking about the government itself. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Starmer warns Cabinet must ‘stop talking about ourselves’ after Labour briefing war

PM tells ministers that ‘distractions’ means their focus has ‘shifted’

Events

6 d. ago Keir Starmer warns Cabinet against ‘distractions’ after briefing row

The Prime Minister also made a plea for unity at the Tuesday meeting.

Events

8 d. ago Labour has entered its musical chairs era. Don’t fall for another pointless death spiral | Nesrine Malik

Briefing wars, toxic infighting, paranoid office politics: we’ve seen it all before. And once again, the drama at No 10 has absolutely nothing to do with us Sorry, what just happened? Before we hurtle on to the next instalment of Labour government drama, let’s pause for a second to recap. So Keir Starmer’s allies briefed against Wes Streeting accusing him of plotting a leadership challenge, then Streeting denied the claims, and Starmer apologised for them, before belatedly claiming the briefing had not come from Downing Street at all. A claim so implausible that a government source said journalists “must have all been tricked by several impostors posing as No 10 staff”.If this sounds farcical, vaguely embarrassing for all concerned and massively irrelevant to your life, you would be right. But in between the first chapter and the last (or perhaps the penultimate, given the aftershocks still reverberating through No 10), the episode acted as a masterclass in the patterns that define ...

Events

8 d. ago Labour has entered its musical chairs era – and we’re sucked into another pointless death spiral | Nesrine Malik

Briefing wars, toxic infighting, paranoid office politics: we’ve seen it all before. And once again, the drama at No 10 has absolutely nothing to do with us Sorry, what just happened? Before we hurtle on to the next instalment of Labour government drama, let’s pause for a second to recap. So Keir Starmer’s allies briefed against Wes Streeting accusing him of plotting a leadership challenge, then Streeting denied the claims, and Starmer apologised for them, before belatedly claiming the briefing had not come from Downing Street at all. A claim so implausible that a government source said journalists “must have all been tricked by several impostors posing as No 10 staff”.If this sounds farcical, vaguely embarrassing for all concerned and massively irrelevant to your life, you would be right. But in between the first chapter and the last (or perhaps the penultimate, given the aftershocks still reverberating through No 10), the episode acted as a masterclass in the patterns that define ...

Events

9 d. ago Shabana Mahmood’s immigration crackdown overshadowed by Labour leadership rumours

The home secretary said the fallout from anonymous briefings about an alleged coup against Sir Keir Starmer were ‘deeply mortifying’

Politics

9 d. ago Lucy Powell slams 'unacceptable' Labour infighting and explains what needs to change

Speaking in a week that saw a briefing war emerge over Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell called for a 'cultural reset' in how politics was done

Politics

1 week ago Epstein emails reveal how he tried to weasel his way into Trump's orbit... and asked for photos of children

In an exchange with Tom Barrack, a private equity investor who is now Trump's ambassador to Turkey, Epstein made the request.

Politics

1 week ago ‘They all think Keir is done’: how push to protect Starmer’s job backfired spectacularly

Botched briefing operation was proof to many that PM is leading an ineffectual No 10. How did it go so wrong?If there’s one thing the Labour party can agree on this week, it is that efforts by Keir Starmer’s allies to shore up his position backfired spectacularly.By briefing journalists that he would face down any challenge and accusing Wes Streeting of leading an advanced plot to overthrow him, figures around the prime minister managed only to expose the weakness of his position. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Who could be behind the phantom briefing and the tax rise that wasn’t? Inspector Starmer is on the case | Marina Hyde

Chaos and ineptitude dog our poor PM. Perhaps the explanation lies (very) close to homeAt this rate the only businesses who will want to invest in Britain after the budget are heroin dealers. No 10 used to have a news grid, now it has an apology grid. Even so, why did Keir Starmer apologise for a sensationally self-destructive round of briefing against Wes Streeting if he didn’t do it? This is like me apologising for accidentally releasing sex offenders from prison. I suppose there is the occasional previous example in public life. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor apologised for his association with Jeffrey Epstein and gave a woman he’d never met a reported £12m. Perhaps that provides the prime minister with the warming cover of precedent.If you’re just joining us, this is a week in which the government finally achieved the chaos spiral of several recent Conservative administrations. We can now officially say: same car, different clowns. We are less than two weeks out from the budget, wit...

Politics

1 week ago Streeting says he and Starmer ‘extremely frustrated’ by leadership row

Health Secretary Wes Streeting was targeted by briefings suggesting he was plotting a coup against Sir Keir Starmer.

Politics

1 week ago Keir Starmer clears his chief of staff over 'toxic' briefings that branded his own MPs 'feral' despite growing calls for him to be sacked

The Prime Minister cleared Morgan McSweeney without even holding an investigation after he was accused of being at the centre of a disastrous briefing operation against Wes Streeting.

Events

1 week ago Ed Miliband says Keir Starmer will sack No 10 briefer who sparked leadership row if found

The cabinet minister says the PM would not have backed attacks on Wes Streeting but will 'get rid' of the culprit who suggested Health Secretary was looking to oust him

Politics

1 week ago The Guardian view on 10 Downing Street: not up to the job | Editorial

The Labour leadership briefing furore highlights failures at the centre of government. Keir Starmer needs to raise his gameSir Keir Starmer went to north Wales on Thursday to announce the building of a new nuclear power station. This is a significant policy event, with local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not spend much time in Wales promoting solutions to UK energy needs. Instead, he spent it trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, telling reporters that No 10 had not, in fact, briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.As such, Sir Keir’s day was a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. On the one hand, he wants his government to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. On the other hand, he is unable to achieve this because of the way he – and to an extent the country more generally – now does politics and government.Do you have an opinion on the issues...

Politics

1 week ago Starmer defies calls to sack chief of staff, claiming briefing didn’t come from No 10

PM is standing by chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, despite calls to sack himKeir Starmer has attempted to draw a line under extraordinary briefings by his allies that No 10 feared Wes Streeting could launch a leadership coup, insisting he had been reassured it “didn’t come from Downing Street”.The prime minister gathered his senior staff to stress that briefings against cabinet ministers were “unacceptable” after apologising to Streeting for what had happened on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Labour leadership live: Starmer’s aides insist none of them briefed against Streeting

Concerns around Labour Party leadership deepens ahead of Rachel Reeves’s upcoming Budget

Politics

1 week ago Starmer backs chief of staff after assurances briefing did not come from No 10

The Prime Minister said he would ‘absolutely deal with anybody responsible for briefing against ministers’.

Politics