When Downing Street wants to seize the news agenda, its staff call in political reporters for a scripted speech by the prime minister. It is an advantage of power: the ability to drag out a lectern bearing the UK government’s official seal and command attention. Keir Starmer had spent days hiding from a febrile Westminster … Read more
Tory opposition barbs in UK politics tend to be soaked in hyperbole. Yet its taunt on Friday morning that a crucial byelection result suggests Keir Starmer has “killed” the Labour Party may not be as outlandish as it sounds for the embattled UK prime minister. The impressive victory overnight for the Greens in Gorton and … Read more
UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has suffered an embarrassing election defeat in an area of Greater Manchester that it had dominated for almost a century, a loss that underscores the breakdown of Britain’s two-party politics. The loss of one of Labour’s safest seats, in the biggest electoral test in almost a year, puts … Read more
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has called on Keir Starmer to stand down as prime minister at a hastily arranged press conference in Glasgow. Sarwar, who said “the leadership in Downing Street has to change”, said the “distraction” caused by “too many mistakes” would damage Scottish Labour’s prospects in in May’s crucial Scottish parliament … Read more
UK prime minister Keir Starmer was battling to save his premiership on Sunday night, following the resignation of his closest aide, Cork man Morgan McSweeney. McSweeney, the backroom mastermind behind Starmer’s rise to the Labour leadership and the party’s return to power, quit over the decision to appoint the Jeffrey Epstein-linked Peter Mandelson as the … Read more
Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff and longtime ally, has quit his role as the British prime minister’s closest aide amid anger over his role in the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador. The Irish man’s position had grown increasingly untenable as pressure on Starmer mounted over the scandal, which followed the release … Read more
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch loaded the political gun, but it was Labour MPs who turned it on their own leader on Wednesday. They were furious at Keir Starmer in the House of Commons all day over the debacle of Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US while keeping close links with child sex offender … Read more
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage teased the crowd of party loyalists who showed up to its veterans’ event at an old guildhall in central London on Monday morning. “It’s about time, isn’t it?” he said, trying to ramp up the mystery. But by the time he was halfway through his opening speech, many had already … Read more
The Pineapple is an attractive pub, a proper local boozer with character. Located on a quiet residential back street just north of Kentish Town in northwest London, it eschews the remorselessly drab templates of Britain’s ubiquitous chains. The decor is vintage but not in a plastic, performative way: modest wood-panelling halfway up the walls, patterned … Read more
The UK’s supreme court decision that trans women are not defined as women under equality law is likely to have widespread ramifications for the regulation of how public space is shared in Britain’s hospitals, schools, armed services, sports, changing rooms and toilets. The biggest sigh of relief at the ruling, however, may come not from … Read more