Political news

• Profumo affair model Christine Keeler dies aged 75

  05-12-2017 23:06 via bbc.co.uk
  The model, who made headlines after her affair with a cabinet minister in the 1960s, dies aged 75.
  
  Read more

• Tory MP cries at universal credit impact speech from Frank Field

  05-12-2017 22:51
  Heidi Allen wiped away tears at welfare reform debate after hearing Labour MP tell of persuading a man not to kill himself A Conservative MP broke down in the House of Commons during an emotional Labour-led debate on universal credit, where the government conceded it would release confidential reports into the impact of the welfare reform’s rollout. MP Heidi Allen wiped away tears as Labour’s Frank Field, the chair of the work and pensions select committee, described persuading a man
  
  Read more

• Labour attacks 'embarrassing' Brexit talks

  05-12-2017 22:48 via bbc.co.uk
  The PM has days to get Brexit talks back on track after the DUP objects to Irish border proposals.
  
  Read more

• Pressure grows on Theresa May as DUP reveals Brexit 'shock'

  05-12-2017 22:29
  Unease from senior cabinet members over tactics compound problems facing PM over Irish border question Theresa May is facing mounting pressure to secure a breakthrough in EU negotiations after the Democratic Unionist party expressed shock at the handling of the Irish border question and Brexit-supporting Conservatives said the time had come to walk away. Senior cabinet members also voiced unease at May’s tactics, and complained they were not informed in advance about Downing Street’s
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Christine Keeler, Model At Centre Of Profumo Scandal, Dies Aged 75

  05-12-2017 22:06
  Christine Keeler, the former showgirl at the heart of the Profumo scandal of the 1960s, has died aged 75.Her son, Seymour Platt, told the Guardian she died on Monday at the Princess Royal University Hospital, near Farnborough.“My mother passed away last night at about 11.30pm,” he told the paper.A hospital spokesman confirmed Ms Keeler had died, having been a patient at the Princess Royal.Platt paid tribute to his mother in a Facebook post on Tuesday evening.He wrote: “My mothe
  
  Read more

• Christine Keeler, Ex-Showgirl At Centre Of Profumo Scandal, Dies Aged 75

  05-12-2017 22:06
  Christine Keeler, the former showgirl at the heart of the Profumo scandal of the 1960s, has died aged 75.Her son, Seymour Platt, told the Guardian she died on Monday at the Princess Royal University Hospital, near Farnborough.“My mother passed away last night at about 11.30pm,” he told the paper.A hospital spokesman confirmed Ms Keeler had died, having been a patient at the Princess Royal.Platt paid tribute to his mother in a Facebook post on Tuesday evening.He wrote: “My mothe
  
  Read more

• Portrait Of History-Making MP Bernie Grant Is Unveiled In Parliament

  05-12-2017 21:51
  A new portrait of one of Britain’s first black MPs has been unveiled in Parliament by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.Bernie Grant was elected MP for Tottenham in 1987 and became one of three history-making Labour politicians in Westminster, alongside now-shadow home secretary Diane Abbott and Paul Boeteng, who later became the first mixed race cabinet minister.Artist Kelvin Okafor, who spent 180 hours painstakingly crafting the pencil and charcoal portrait now hanging in Portcullis House, sai
  
  Read more

• Theresa May’s Brexit red lines were reckless. Now she has to cross them | Keir Starmer

  05-12-2017 21:30
  This week’s farcical talks exposed the flaws in her government’s approach. She is hostage to the DUP and has made promises she cannot sensibly keepThe breakdown of the Brexit talks yesterday was the latest, but most serious, setback so far. It further eroded the prime minister’s already limited authority. It raised the stakes in Northern Ireland even higher. And it increased the risk of negotiations not progressing to the crucial next phase and a long overdue agreement on trans
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Iain Duncan Smith Thinks 'This Irish Stuff' Is Overblown In Warning To EU To 'Back Off'

  05-12-2017 21:26
  Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith has claimed the dispute over the Irish border that has halted Brexit talks has been cooked-up for political gain as he signalled the UK could walk away from talks with the EU.The ex-Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith told the BBC that “this Irish stuff was not at this state some months ago” as he suggested Brussels needed to “back off” or the UK will “get on with other arrangements which are not going to be beneficial to you” - e
  
  Read more

• Steve Bell on Arlene Foster and Theresa May – cartoon

  05-12-2017 21:25
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Irish dispute triggers Tory battle on Brexit destination

  05-12-2017 20:54
  Rift within party exposed between Eurosceptics and backers of keeping Brussels close
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on Britain and the customs union: just do it | Editorial

  05-12-2017 20:46
  A form of words may still get the UK government over next week’s negotiating hurdle in Brussels. But the real answer is a change of policyIn 2016, more than 17 million British people voted to leave the European Union. But – as the journalist Tim Shipman’s new book, Fall Out, which covers the political turmoil of the 15 months since the referendum, makes clear – only two British people decided that this meant leaving the European single market, the customs union and the ju
  
  Read more

• Shy Tory remainers must find the courage to mutiny too | Rafael Behr

  05-12-2017 20:39
  Theresa May’s Brexit delusions need to be challenged. But that task shouldn’t all be left to Brussels and DublinEnacting the will of the people turns out to be rather tricky when there are lots of different people with incompatible wills. That is a banal truth of democratic politics that Theresa May avoided for months and finally bumped into in Brussels this week.Even after the opinions of millions who voted to stay in the EU were discounted, the chances of satisfying every one of th
  
  Read more

• Persisting problems with Brexit and the Irish border | Letters

  05-12-2017 20:33
  Readers reflect on how Brexit negotiations will affect Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UKIt is understandable that Fintan O’Toole (Britain has just discovered it’s now weaker than Ireland, 5 December) should make the most of his country’s 15 minutes of fame but he will soon find that, when push comes to shove, the EU will treat Ireland with the same contempt as they did Greece. It wasn’t that long ago that the people of Ireland had to endure severe austerity
  
  Read more

• David Davis promises no special Brexit status for N Ireland

  05-12-2017 20:07
  Any regulatory alignment need for Irish border would be UK-wide
  
  Read more

• This hefty train fare rise is yet another Tory betrayal of passengers | Andy McDonald

  05-12-2017 19:54
  The highest price rise in five years is part of a simple truth that the government won’t admit: the rail system it created is now broken beyond repair• Andy McDonald MP is shadow secretary of state for transportThe chancellor, Philip Hammond, has been true to his word and his government has followed through on his promise. In 2011 he said the railway was a “rich man’s toy”. The rail industry is doing its level best to deliver on that pledge with Tuesday’s annou
  
  Read more

• Arlene Foster says draft of UK-EU Brexit deal came as 'big shock' to DUP – as it happened

  05-12-2017 19:46
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May’s attempt to salvage a Brexit deal after it was rejected by the DUPDavid Davis’s Commons Brexit statement - Summary and analysisAfternoon summary 5.50pm GMTWhen we looked at the wording [on regulatory alignment]and had seen the import of all that we knew we couldn’t sign up to anything that was in that text that would allow a border to develop in the Irish Sea.The Irish prime minist
  
  Read more

• David Davis: Northern Ireland plan would apply to whole UK

  05-12-2017 19:41
  Brexit secretary says ‘regulatory alignment’ would not mean having same rules as EU or remaining in single market
  Any Brexit deal that applies to Northern Ireland will also cover the rest of the UK, David Davis has promised in an urgent bid to reassure the Democrat Unionist party on whom the government relies for votes.The Brexit secretary told MPs the government was seeking “regulatory alignment” with the EU, although shortly afterwards the DUP MP Nigel Dodds said his pa
  
  Read more

• Iain Duncan Smith: EU needs to 'back off' or 'move on'

  05-12-2017 19:21 via bbc.co.uk
  The former Conservative leader suggests the UK should walk away from the Brexit negotiations.
  
  Read more

• Arlene Foster: Brexit deal paper was a 'big shock' for DUP

  05-12-2017 19:07 via bbc.co.uk
  Arlene Foster says the DUP had been asking to see the text of the Brexit deal for five weeks.
  
  Read more

• Jeremy Hunt hits out at Facebook kids' app

  05-12-2017 19:05 via bbc.co.uk
  The health secretary told the social network to "stay away from my kids" with its app for under-13s.
  
  Read more

• Jeremy Hunt attacks Facebook over app aimed at children

  05-12-2017 19:05
  ‘Stay away from my kids,’ health secretary tells US social media platform after trial of new service designed for under 13sJeremy Hunt has publicly attacked Facebook for releasing a version of its Messenger app aimed at children, and called on the social media company to “stay away from my kids”.The health secretary accused the company of “targeting younger children” after Facebook announced on Monday that it was conducting trials of an app called Messenger Ki
  
  Read more

• Outrage At A Boy In A Dress Belies A Deeper Problem; And I Know Because I Was One

  05-12-2017 19:00
  We live in a current climate of outrage, where everyone reserves the right to be offended by whatever they choose. Then those that have committed the offence then turn the tables claiming autocracy and the death of freedom of speech. People cry ‘witch’ as much as they cry ‘witch hunt’, like some cyclical never ending version of The Crucible we are all living in.This week I was lucky enough to see the brand new musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Apollo in
  
  Read more

• Blocking a Brexit divorce deal is a high-stakes game

  05-12-2017 18:49
  It is in everyone’s interests to help Theresa May keep the show on the road
  
  Read more

• Why Social Innovation Could Help Us Navigate The Unforeseen Consequences Of New Technology

  05-12-2017 18:41
  In 2017, we’ve seen businesses across the board attempt to give customers what they want by harnessing the digital technologies now at their fingertips. The intent of those driving this change is customer-centricity, which is admirable. However, a broader perspective is crucial. For every new innovation that is created, something else will likely be replaced or changed radically – so the road to future technology must be navigated carefully lest we fall foul of unforeseen consequence
  
  Read more

• Tory MP Heidi Allen Moved To Tears After Heartbreaking Universal Credit Speech

  05-12-2017 18:30
  Tory MP @heidiallen75 moved to tears as she stands to speak during universal credit debate, after Labour MP @frankfieldteam recounts stories from his constituency of claimants. She goes on to welcome "package of reforms" announced in recent Budget. pic.twitter.com/3i4iwnOkEr — BBC Parliament (@BBCParliament) December 5, 2017
  A Tory MP was moved to tears during an emotional debate on the controversial Universal Credit benefit reform.Heidi Allen, MP for South Cambridgeshire and a vocal criti
  
  Read more

• Manchester Arena attack 'could have been stopped'

  05-12-2017 18:27 via bbc.co.uk
  The Manchester Arena bomber had been a "subject of interest" of the security services, a review says.
  
  Read more

• Clara Amfo Replaces Reggie Yates On 'Top Of The Pops' Following Anti-Semitism Controversy

  05-12-2017 18:24
  The BBC has announced that Claro Amfo has been appointed as the new co-host of this year’s ‘Top Of The Pops’ specials.Claro will present both Christmas Day episode and the New Year one that follows, alongside Fearne Cotton, after the departure of Reggie Yates earlier this week.Announcing the news, Clara - best known for presenting the mid-morning show on Radio 1 - said: “I’m so happy and honoured to be presenting ‘Top Of The Pops’ alongside Fea
  
  Read more

• David Davis promises no special post-Brexit rules for N Ireland

  05-12-2017 18:23
  Labour calls for customs union and single market to be put ‘back on the table’
  
  Read more

• Manchester terror attack could have been prevented, says report

  05-12-2017 18:22
  Official review finds security services ‘wrongly’ interpreted intelligence on bomber
  
  Read more

• Sir Vince Cable was on Daily Politics - here's what happened

  05-12-2017 18:17 via bbc.co.uk
  The Lib Dem leader tells the Daily Politics his party could gain traction from the Brexit fallout.
  
  Read more

• There's Really No Such Thing As The 'Voiceless'

  05-12-2017 18:13
  Since Harvey Weinstein’s exposure as an alleged serial sexual predator, women of all walks of life have felt encouraged to share their experiences of sexual harassment via the #MeToo social media hashtag. It has been used millions of times on social media. Breaking the silence on sexual harassment and abuse has been mostly welcomed but a recurring question has been asked - why has it taken women so long to speak up?It is almost a century since women over the age of 30 were granted the righ
  
  Read more

• Time For Action On Children's Mental Health

  05-12-2017 18:12
  The government has repeatedly acknowledged the crisis facing mental health services for children and young people. Theresa May has often spoken about the “burning injustice” of inadequate treatment, while her Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has described Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) as “the biggest single area of weakness” in NHS Provision.But while some improvements have been happening, they simply aren’t happening fast enough. We need to see re
  
  Read more

• Time To Get Tough On Tax Avoiders Or We All Pay

  05-12-2017 18:08
  Three cheers for signs, at last, that the Government is getting to grips with multinational tech companies and their tricksy ways to avoid paying much tax in countries where they operate.But will they succeed, particularly in finding an international consensus on how best to do it? I wonder. The review just announced by The Treasury is a promising start.One key idea being floated is to tax the number of users that online sites harvest, thus elegantly bypassing any need to deal with the whole edi
  
  Read more

• Channel 4 Told To Move Out Of London Or Face Legislation Forcing HQ Move

  05-12-2017 18:07
  Channel 4 is being warned by the Government to relocate out of London – or face legislation forcing a move.The state-backed broadcaster, which has its HQ in Westminster, is under fresh political pressure to shift its staff and offices to either Birmingham, Manchester or Bristol.Culture Secretary Karen Bradley is stepping up her demands, warning privately that the station has until the New Year to “get on board”.Ministers have been taken aback by the reluctance of some at the ch
  
  Read more

• Under fire from both sides, David Davis retreats into his shell | John Crace

  05-12-2017 18:02
  At best he had suggested the UK become a puppet state of the EU, at worst he had shown himself to be completely delusionalAfter the fiasco in Brussels, we had the fantasy in the Commons as David Davis set about explaining the government’s Brexit plan in response to an urgent question from Labour’s Keir Starmer. Though plan might have been putting it too kindly. The whole reason the Brexit secretary found himself in the line of fire was the apparent absence of any plan. With the clock
  
  Read more

• How This Middle Eastern Cuisine Is Default Zero Waste

  05-12-2017 18:01
  Before 'zero waste' was a phrase, there was just using what you had.Boiling a chicken carcass for broth was what you did because you'd like to eat again tomorrow, rather than to create a youth-giving elixir. Soaking stale bread to make it edible was so that you had something for lunch, rather than to make a panzanella to take Instagram snaps of. One cuisine that's creative with this side of things is Palestinian. Currently making waves, (chef Joudie Kalla's 'Palestine On A Plate supperclubs sell
  
  Read more

• Why You Should Think Again About Workless Young Women

  05-12-2017 18:00
  I met three young women at the start of this year to talk about their everyday lives and their experience of education, work and claiming benefits. They were from Manchester and a local youth organisation had put us in touch. What all the women had in common was that they were not working, studying or training (NEET) and they were unable to seek work or start a job imminently. They would be defined by researchers and policymakers as ‘economically inactive’ (EI).The stories that the w
  
  Read more

• This Is Why I Created My Own Makeup Brand

  05-12-2017 18:00
  I never planned on becoming a makeup artist.But when my rebellious streak and ego put an end to my dreams of becoming a fashion designer, I figured doing makeup would still keep me in the industry. I had no experience other than doing my own makeup, but I had a good eye and figured I could fake it until I learned. I was right.Being a makeup artist took me from Vancouver to Toronto, and then to Europe where I lived in Hamburg, Paris, Berlin, and London. During the late ’70s and throughout t
  
  Read more

• Gene technology could exterminate rodent vermin

  05-12-2017 18:00
  Scottish scientists look at DNA editing technology to spread infertility
  
  Read more

• What It’s Like To Experience Islamophobia As A Sikh

  05-12-2017 17:57
  The programme My Week As a Muslim caused outrage this autumn. It’s easy to see why: a white woman was ‘browned up’ as a Muslim, complete with hijab, prosthetic nose and false teeth. Instead of ‘disguising’ someone in such a crude manner why not actually ask Muslims about their experiences? It also stereotyped Muslims as ‘brown’ when in fact, Islam is a faith and not an ethnicity.While I understood the controversy, the programme was also a powerful r
  
  Read more

• Ex-police officer demands Damian Green retracts 'lie' claim

  05-12-2017 17:55 via bbc.co.uk
  A police officer who says he found pornography on a Westminster computer is threatening legal action.
  
  Read more

• More People Could Die Of Cancer Because Of Brexit, Experts Say

  05-12-2017 17:54
  More people could be at risk of dying of cancer in the UK if no transitional arrangements are put in place post-Brexit.Experts say diagnosis of many forms of the disease relies heavily on methods and medications imported in large parts from the EU, and potential disruption to supply chains if no solid trade deal is reached by March 2019 could have a devastating impact.Giving evidence to Parliament’s health select committee, Dr Jeanette Dickson, vice president of the faculty of clinica
  
  Read more

• Voters in DUP heartland back its stance on Irish border agreement

  05-12-2017 17:52
  In Northern Irish city of Lisburn, many feel party is standing up for union by rejecting Brexit dealInside the Irish Linen Centre in Lisburn is an exhibition that illuminates why the market town is a heartland of unionism. It is a display of artefacts, journals, flags, medals and unit reports from the first world war.One of the most surprising items relates to Sgt Thomas Davis, who made history in Easter Week 1916 when Irish Republican rebels stormed Dublin’s General Post Office building a
  
  Read more

• UK Brexit team is walking a tightrope to reach first-phase deal

  05-12-2017 17:50
  Davis and May’s proposed rebadging of EU rules in a British guise may appease the DUP, but could lead to Tory civil war
  The British government is walking a tightrope as it seeks to persuade the Democratic Unionist party that it has nothing to fear from the proposed first-phase Brexit deal.
  Ministers are seeking to reassure their parliamentary partners that nothing on offer in Brussels is intended to treat Northern Ireland any differently from the rest of the United Kingdom. Continue readin
  
  Read more

• Tory MP Heidi Allen in tears during universal credit debate

  05-12-2017 17:50 via bbc.co.uk
  Conservative MP Heidi Allen was in tears after Labour's Frank Field's speech.
  
  Read more

• Brexit Is Undermining Britain's Influence In The World

  05-12-2017 17:48
  The issue of foreign policy was greatly neglected during last year’s European Union (EU) referendum, however, the consequences of the Brexit vote will have a long-standing impact on the UK’s role in the world. Whilst the UK will remain a member of NATO and retain its permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC), through Brexit, the UK will crucially lose influence on the world stage, through one of the organisations which had been able to magnify it the most – the EU.Post-B
  
  Read more

• 'We can't go on like this': mood of resignation in EU as Brexit talks stutter

  05-12-2017 17:47
  Theresa May is ‘afraid of her own shadow’, her government is weak and Brexit is proving ‘nonsense’, observers sayTheresa May has less than a week to salvage a Brexit deal that would open the way to trade talks before the end of the year, amid increasing signs of impatience within the EU over her handling of the process.EU negotiators expect the prime minister to return to Brussels very soon, but have said time is running out to strike a deal at a European summit next week
  
  Read more

• Dan Hett Rejects Claims That Manchester Arena Victim Terror Attack Might Have Been Averted

  05-12-2017 17:46
  A man who lost his brother in the Manchester Arena attack has said that “assigning blame is a mug’s game” after an official review into the terror attack revealed that it might have been averted.Dan Hett lost his 22-year-old brother Martyn when terrorists targeted an Ariana Grande concert on May 22.A report by David Anderson QC, released on Tuesday, established that bomber Salman Abedi was a former “subject of interest”, adding that it was “conceivable”
  
  Read more

• Why Stoke Needs The City Of Culture Crown

  05-12-2017 17:45
  The challenge to claim the title of UK City of Culture 2021 thunders on, with five areas desperately hoping to be victorious.Coventry, Sunderland, Stoke-on-Trent, Paisley and Swansea are all under consideration for when the winner is announced on December 7th.All are noticeably (and rather predictably) some way outside of London and have been inflicted with industrial and social destruction during decades of ignorance and abuse.Perhaps none more so than Stoke.Always described as simply being som
  
  Read more

Follow @political_UKnws on Twitter!