Political news

• Cunning plan

  25-04-2017 17:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Labour has a clear Brexit plan but some in the party would prefer more robust opposition to the Tory position.
  
  Read more

• Andrew invited Epstein to Buckingham Palace after child sex offender’s release, files suggest

  31-01-2026 10:48 via theguardian.com
  Emails between former prince and financier revealed in latest tranche of released documents• Epstein files – latest updatesAndrew Mountbatten-Windsor invited Jeffrey Epstein to meet him at Buckingham Palace after the child sex offender was released from house arrest, new documents suggest.The latest tranche of releases from the US Department of Justice include an email exchange in 2010 between the financier and the then prince. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• How the right won the internet | Robert Topinka

  31-01-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  In the second part of our series on digital politics, we look at how online provocateurs have advanced extreme political ideas – and watched them seep into the mainstreamRobert Topinka is a reader in digital media and rhetoric at Birkbeck, University of LondonPart one: How liberals lost the internetThe internet has totally changed the way in which politics is conducted. As established in the first piece in our series, liberals have totally failed to grasp this fact. The right, however, are
  
  Read more

• UK and EU to explore renewed talks on defence cooperation

  31-01-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Keir Starmer says he wants to ‘go further’ in relations with Brussels as ministers look to restart stalled negotiationsThe UK and the EU are exploring the prospect of new talks on closer defence cooperation, as Keir Starmer stressed on Friday that he wanted to “go further” in the UK’s relationship with Brussels.
  Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade commissioner, is due in London for talks next week, with trade, energy and fisheries on the age
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Starmer hopes his China trip will begin the thaw after recent ice age

  31-01-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  PM flies out after courting world’s second biggest economy aware of difficult balance of risks and potential rewardsThe last British prime minister to visit China was Theresa May in 2018. Before the visit, she and her team were advised to get dressed under the covers because of the risk of hidden cameras having been placed in their hotel rooms to record compromising material.Keir Starmer, in Beijing this week, was more sanguine about his privacy, even though the security risks have, if any
  
  Read more

• The Tories have forgotten what it takes to prosper

  31-01-2026 06:00
  No one wants to look like the status quo, but the current crop of Conservatives are stuck
  
  Read more

• Bonus survey: expecting a bigger payout this year?

  31-01-2026 06:00
  Answer the FT’s anonymous survey
  
  Read more

• Starmer’s China trip thaws relations with Beijing but spurs criticism at home

  30-01-2026 23:30
  Fruits of improved relationship — with claims of £2.2bn in export deals and £2.3bn in ‘market access wins’ — appear relatively modest
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Jeffrey Epstein sent money to Mandelson’s husband after prison release, emails suggest

  30-01-2026 19:43 via theguardian.com
  Child sex offender sent thousands of pounds to Reinaldo Avila da Silva, according to documents published by US justice departmentJeffrey Epstein sent thousands of pounds in bank transfers after his release from prison in 2009 to Peter Mandelson’s husband, according to emails published by the US Department of Justice on Friday.The latest documents raise fresh questions about Epstein’s relationship with Mandelson, who was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to Washington when details o
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on China’s military purge: the risks grow in an age of strongmen | Editorial

  30-01-2026 18:59 via theguardian.com
  Xi Jinping’s ousting of the country’s top general underscores the concentration of power in the hands of a few – with dangers for us allSir Keir Starmer is only one of the middle power leaders trekking to Beijing to renew relations. No one has forgotten China’s increasing international forcefulness, its handling of the pandemic and its closer relations with Russia as war engulfed Ukraine. But the wildness of Donald Trump’s first year back in power is spurring Canada
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on the class crisis in the arts: the UK’s culture must not become the preserve of the elite | Editorial

  30-01-2026 18:58 via theguardian.com
  Countless reports and celebrities have called for greater working-class representation, so why has nothing changed?In his McTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV festival in 2024, the playwright James Graham called class “everyone’s least favourite diversity and representation category”. A socioeconomic duty on public bodies was included in 2010’s Equality Act, but has never been enacted. Now Class Ceiling, a review from Manchester University, co-chaired by the former chief
  
  Read more

• Labour accuses Reform candidate of ‘toxic politics’ after Tommy Robinson endorsement

  30-01-2026 18:19 via theguardian.com
  Far-right activist tells X followers to vote for Reform’s Gorton and Denton candidate, Matthew GoodwinLabour have accused the Reform UK candidate for the Gorton and Denton byelection, Matthew Goodwin, of representing “toxic politics” after he was endorsed by the far-right agitator Tommy Robinson.The move will be uncomfortable for Nigel Farage, who has consistently kept the parties he leads separate from Robinson, an anti-Islam campaigner and one of the UK’s leading far-ri
  
  Read more

• UK politics: Starmer shrugs off Trump’s criticism of ‘very dangerous’ deal with China – as it happened

  30-01-2026 18:10 via theguardian.com
  Prime minister suggests US president was ‘talking more about Canada’ when asked for reaction to Beijing visitProminent Hong Kong and Uyghur activists living in exile in the UK have accused Starmer of seeking China’s desperate approval, after the prime minister visited Beijing for the first time in eight years this week.Pro-democracy campaigner and prominent critic of the Communist Party, Finn Lau said the Hong Kong community is disappointed by Starmer’s visit, but unsurpr
  
  Read more

• We will use EU summit to further unwind Brexit, vows Starmer

  30-01-2026 18:00
  UK prime minister plans to explore ways to tear down trade barriers to boost growth and cut prices
  
  Read more

• Greens select former mayoral candidate to run in Gorton and Denton byelection

  30-01-2026 17:09 via theguardian.com
  Hannah Spencer, a Trafford councillor and plumber, ran as the party’s candidate for mayor of Manchester in 2024The Green party has selected the former mayoral candidate Hannah Spencer to run in the Gorton and Denton byelection.Spencer, a Trafford councillor and plumber by trade, used to live in the constituency and was the Green candidate for mayor of Manchester in the 2024 election, where she finished fifth behind Labour’s Andy Burnham, who retained the post, and Conservative, indep
  
  Read more

• Starmer signals support for Trump’s aggressive approach towards Iran

  30-01-2026 17:07 via theguardian.com
  Prime minister says ensuring that Iran does not develop a nuclear programme is a ‘number one priority’Keir Starmer has signalled support for Donald Trump’s aggressive approach towards Iran, saying it is vital the Iranian leadership is not able to develop nuclear weapons.While the prime minister did not comment directly on the possibility of US military strikes on Iran, he said allies needed to face up to the nuclear issue and “deal with” the deadly repression of ant
  
  Read more

• Chinese whispers - at home and abroad

  30-01-2026 16:18
  Starmer and Xi talk ties and trade while leadership challengers plot and plan in Westminster
  
  Read more

• ‘It’s about ego’: Matt Goodwin’s journey from far-right expert to firebrand Reform candidate

  30-01-2026 16:10 via theguardian.com
  Anti-immigration activist is contesting poll in borough where he previously researched far-right extremismUK politics live – latest updatesIt was the autumn of 2011 and Dr Matt Goodwin was documenting the potential reach of the racist far-right in Tameside, a borough in east Manchester that is part of the parliamentary constituency of Gorton and Denton.The borough council had spotted the work the young academic had been doing on the rise of the British National party – the subject of
  
  Read more

• For UK growth, look to the Andys

  30-01-2026 16:00
  Burnham and Street have a keen understanding of the value of empowering local people and places
  
  Read more

• China has lifted sanctions from six serving British MPs and peers, Starmer says

  30-01-2026 15:37 via theguardian.com
  Starmer confirms immediate removal, but it is unclear if sanctions remain on former MP, academic and barristerChina has lifted the sanctions it imposed on serving British MPs and peers in a significant sign of warming relations after Keir Starmer travelled to Beijing for landmark talks with Xi Jinping.Nine UK citizens were banned from China in 2021, including five Conservative MPs and two members of the House of Lords, targeted for highlighting human rights violations against the Muslim Uyghur c
  
  Read more

• China lifts travel ban on British MPs

  30-01-2026 13:02
  Parliamentarians were placed under sanctions in 2021 after criticising Beijing’s human rights record
  
  Read more

• Should I hire someone with designs on my job?

  30-01-2026 12:00
  Managing an ambitious subordinate remains one of the great dilemmas of working life
  
  Read more

• UK services sector holds out hopes for China boost after Starmer visit

  30-01-2026 11:40
  Finance, banking and professional services seek to grow footprint in mainland market despite past challenges
  
  Read more

• Trump warns Starmer against closer business ties with China

  30-01-2026 11:02
  UK prime minister travels to Shanghai seeking to drum up deals after meeting Xi Jinping
  
  Read more

• Labour lacks the data and modelling to justify its judicial reforms

  30-01-2026 10:30
  Government’s misunderstanding of operational failures facing courts makes planned juryless trials hard to defend
  
  Read more

• How liberals lost the internet | Robert Topinka

  30-01-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  In the first part of our series on digital politics, we look at how centrists have lost ground fighting disinformation – when the real battle is over emotion and attentionRobert Topinka is a reader in digital media and rhetoric at Birkbeck, University of LondonThere’s a strange tendency to describe social media as something other people use – those young people on TikTok, that conspiratorial uncle on Facebook, the rightwing trolls on X. In truth, we’re all online now. The
  
  Read more

• We have entered a new age of political rhetoric – and that’s bad news for Keir Starmer | Andy Beckett

  30-01-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Pre-2008, voters with prosperous and improving lives didn’t mind being excluded from the conversation. Those days are over Who was the last politician you listened to for any length of time? Perhaps it was Andy Burnham or Zack Polanski. Or maybe it was Wes Streeting, Nigel Farage or Zarah Sultana. Perhaps your dark secret is that it was Donald Trump.One thing these politicians have in common is that they are all unusually good communicators. From Farage’s drawling provocations to Pol
  
  Read more

• Anomaly in UK rental reforms would leave thousands paying stamp duty

  30-01-2026 06:00
  The government said it is ‘aware’ of the issue facing tenants and working on a solution
  
  Read more

• Trump warns Starmer against closer China business ties

  30-01-2026 04:48
  UK prime minister to travel to Shanghai seeking to drum up deals after meeting Xi Jinping
  
  Read more

• Scotland's first deputy first minister Lord Jim Wallace dies, aged 71

  29-01-2026 23:48 via bbc.com
  The former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader was undergoing a procedure at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
  
  Read more

Follow @political_UKnws on Twitter!