BREAKING: Peter Mandelson has now been released from his bail conditions, after the Met decided he was no longer a flight risk.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
BREAKING: Peter Mandelson has now been released from his bail conditions, after the Met decided he was no longer a flight risk.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
I, and my team, will continue to serve my constituents in the normal way as their Member of Parliament.
Following discussions with the Chief Whip, I am voluntarily suspending myself from the whip this evening and will not sit as a Labour MP until internal investigations are concluded. I will welcome and cooperate with any questions and worries the party may have.
I also do not want my children - who have nothing to answer for and who deserve privacy and compassion - to find themselves subject to intrusion.
I understand that speculation and gossip is fevered at a time like this. I do not want the circumstances that I and my family find ourselves in to be a distraction for this government, of which I am proud and in whom I believe.
I love my country. To serve the people of East Kilbride and Strathaven as their MP and the Labour Party has been - and continues to be - the privilege of my life.
This week has been the worst of my life. The shock of recent days has been difficult for me and my family.
I want to reiterate something very important: I am not under investigation by the police and no accusations have been against me. I have done nothing wrong.
NEW: MP Joani Reid resigns the Labour whip after her husband was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.
She suggests βinternal investigationsβ are now under way, but denies doing anything wrong.
FULL STATEMENT:
This big question now on Shabana Mahmood's migration plans is what she can do without needing the support of the Commons.
For her part, this is what the home secretary said on Thursday morning:
"If we donβt resolve these problems, others with none of our values will be given the chance to do so instead."
Stella Creasy: "I look forward to reading the NAO [National Audit Office] report and the inevitable Windrush-style scandal coming."
Sarah Owen: "The idea of deporting children mimics Trumpβs ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detention of children... This is the wrong direction politically and morally β as a party and as a country.β
Tony Vaughan: βYou donβt win back public confidence in the asylum system by threatening to forcibly remove refugees who have lived here lawfully for 15 or 20 years. That just breeds insecurity and fractured communities.β
Shabana Mahmood has kicked off quite the internal Labour row with her proposals this morning to change the immigration system.
Here are a selection of quotes from Labour MPs:
Absolutely fascinating story by @chriscook.news and others about suspected insider trading just before the strikes on Iran.
Who knew war was coming? And did they try and profit from it?
www.ft.com/content/2883...
NEW: Mainstream, the Labour group which is supportive of Andy Burnham, has put out this statement:
βOur leader and sections of the NEC blocked the one candidate who could have won it for us. That decision now looks like a catastrophic error.
"We need an immediate and fundamental reset now."
Why this election result is the one those close to Keir Starmer feared the most:
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
41% no?
I've been waiting all week to talk to @johnharris1969.bsky.social about what he thinks of the govt's Send reforms, given he is a bona fide expert.
He surprised me in a number of ways with what he said. Well worth a listen:
www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...
Great story by Will Hazell at the i on ministers looking again at student loan repayments.
inews.co.uk/news/politic...
Struck by this paragraph in particular - how much of govt policy is dictated by the desire to stop people shouting at them?
And those who are not diagnosed are not simply "not at all autistic". That was the point I was trying to make.
I'm talking about cases where children have certain behavioural issues they need help with but don't meet the threshold for a diagnosis.
I think the whole point of our understanding of autism as a spectrum is that it is not a binary "you have it or you don't".
There are a number of factors that add up to a diagnosis, and lots of people display some of them but not enough to clear the threshold for a diagnosis.
What happened when @peterwalker99.bsky.social challenged Nigel Farage on his way out of a press conference over how the Reform leader had spoken to a female journalist?
Fascinating tale in today's episode of Politics Weekly.
www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...
BREAKING: @patrickwintour.bsky.social reports Jonathan Powell turned down the opportunity to become Starmerβs chief of staff, and is thinking of leaving at the end of the year.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
NEW: Maryam Eslamdoust calls for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer, becoming the first union boss to throw her weight behind the former deputy PM.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Inside a dramatic 48 hours in No 10, where those left behind proved they could survive without Morgan McSweeney.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Special late night bonus episode, featuring:
- Three downing st resignations
- An attempted leadership coup
- A rearguard action by the No 10 bomb squad
EXC: Chris Wormald, the cabinet secretary, is on the brink of leaving No 10, sources say. It would be the third major departure from Downing Street in just a few days.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Listen to me from Hastings and @johnharris1969.bsky.social (partly) from Gorton and Denton discuss:
π Can Starmer survive?
π‘ Why do voters seem to dislike him so much?
π³οΈ What would a by-election defeat mean?
www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...