One beer, bed, then back on duty – the British pilot who made RAF history shooting down drones
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
06.03.2026 13:47
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One beer, bed, then back on duty – the British pilot who made RAF history shooting down drones
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
The defence secretary, John Healey, has accused opposition politicians of deliberately undermining the UK’s relationship with Donald Trump, saying it was “unpatriotic” for MPs to seek to turn the US against Keir Starmer.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
NEW - I’m in Cyprus this morning as John Healey flies in to speak to his Cypriot counterpart amid rising anger on the island over the drone which hit the British base - officials are still to determine if it came from Lebanon or Western Iraq
NEW: John Healey has flown into Cyprus to calm diplomatic fallout over drone that evaded detection and hit RAF base prompting fury from local ministers - @jessicaelgot.bsky.social is with him www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
Exc from @pippacrerar.bsky.social - The partner of a sitting Labour MP is among three people who have been arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of spying for China, the Guardian understands.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Whatever you think the response to Iranian missiles be fired on British citizens and British allies in the Gulf should be, I don't think that 'it might hurt Labour electorally' should be part of your answer.
Radical parties of the right and left in top two slots. Legacy parties getting only a third of the vote between them.
A whole new world.
Keir Starmer has issued his strongest rebuke yet of Donald Trump’s action in Iran, saying the UK did not believe in “regime change from the skies”.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Trump does this routinely and he also just calls and texts other world leaders from his personal mobile, often without warning
Breaking - UK moving families off the base in RAF Akrotiri as a precaution.
Bases in Cyprus are not being used by US bombers.
We just finished this extraordinary Oscar-nominated documentary which is currently on iPlayer - a truly unique insight into the life of young Russians made only possible by the bravery of one teacher
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ja...
‘Coalition of socially Conservative working class voters and with middle class social liberals cannot survive an election campaign’. What does Keir Starmer think the Labour coalition is, or has ever been?
Labour MPs on the ground yesterday said previous Labour voters started going Green very late, and remonstrated with them on the doorstep about potentially letting in a Reform MP. One minister said they were repeatedly told off for not “sorting it out” that there was only one option against Reform
Even now you will find very senior people in Labour who just do not take the threat from the left seriously at all, and who simply refuse to believe who their own voters actually are. Now that the Greens actually realise who their voters can be, they have a big opening.
The Green victory in Denton is the result which will have the biggest effect on Labour, far more so than a Reform win.
The blithe assumption progressives have nowhere else to go has been proved catastrophically wrong.
Can’t help thinking of this quote from a Labour minister, a year ago…
Pretty downbeat messaging at close of polls from Labour…
This goes to something @jillongovt.bsky.social taught me soon after I joined IfG - no matter how long something has been discussed and played around with in government, the only test is how it is received in the real world.
I do find it very hard to take either Labour or Green indignation at the other’s activities seriously. By-elections are often dirty fights, and this one has been no exception. Neither of the parties can sincerely claim to have fought cleanly. Spare us the phony righteousness.
(Also there could conceivably be a banter outcome of about 1000 votes between first and third, leading the winner to massively over-interpret the result)
What happens if Labour, the Greens or Reform win in Gorton and Denton?
The three outcomes for this knife edge vote and what they mean for British politics.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Pound was a Labour First organiser and a fierce enforcer in opposition and was at the centre of a lot of the controversial decisions over party selections. But no one at the top of government now instinctively understands party structures in same way.
NEW - Matt Pound, Rachel Reeves’ political secretary, is leaving government. This is the very last of the team loyal to McSweeney.
That influence is now gone from government - remains unclear what will emerge next with big roles still unfilled.
Ministers are examining ways to ease the burden of student loans after weeks of pressure over a policy pulling more people into repayments, the Guardian understands.
www.theguardian.com/money/2026/f...
Oh, hello.
[From a Labour Gorton & Denton campaign video]
Exc from @pippacrerar.bsky.social - The Metropolitan police has apologised to the Commons speaker for sharing with Peter Mandelson’s lawyers that he had passed on a claim that the former UK ambassador planned to flee the country.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Sir Lindsay Hoyle has a quick pop at the media as he admits he was the one to tip off the Metropolitan Police that he believed that Peter Mandelson was a flight risk.
It’s also really clear that “social media” is not the only issue, but the gaming platforms which merrily allow mass exploitation of children for cash
My children are far too young for social media but this honestly makes me want to never ever let them even near a screen again. What are we doing allowing all this poison into kids lives? www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...
🚨EXCLUSIVE: New poll for Byline Times finds Greens and Labour in a dead heat with Reform in the Gorton and Denton by-election
- Greens and Labour on 28%, one point ahead of Reform
- But among most likely and tactical voters, Greens edge ahead
- Pollsters Opinium say final result “too close to call”
Proper lolled at this