Political news

• Risky game

  09-07-2017 02:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The BBC's Chris Mason says trying to make political predictions in uncertain times is a risky game.
  
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• UK universities told to step up defences against intimidation by China

  09-02-2026 01:01
  Security services to launch advisory scheme for threatened academics in wake of Sheffield Hallam row
  
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• Keir Starmer faces crunch week in battle to hold on to power

  08-02-2026 23:11
  Labour MPs and officials warn that the Peter Mandelson scandal could yet claim prime minister’s job
  
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• Morgan McSweeney resigns as Downing Street chief of staff

  08-02-2026 19:29
  Peter Mandelson’s protégé quits as Keir Starmer seeks to appease angry Labour MPs and stay in Number 10
  
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• Lammy reportedly warned Starmer over Mandelson; Union boss calls for PM to go – UK politics live

  08-02-2026 14:43 via theguardian.com
  Deputy PM reportedly warned Starmer not to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador because of his links to Jeffrey EpsteinSpeaking to Sky News this morning, Conservative shadow minister Alex Burghart said:This administration under Keir Starmer has failed. It has U-turned, I think, what, 14 or 15 times now. It has had two resets in the past five months, and it is now caught up in the worst political scandal of my lifetime.He was lied to by someone who was known to be a serial liar. There’s no ex
  
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• Politicians ‘don’t live how we live’, voters tell me. The Mandelson scandal won’t change their minds | John Harris

  08-02-2026 14:13 via theguardian.com
  Whoever succeeds Keir Starmer will have an almost impossible task: convincing voters that politicians will serve the people, not themselvesKeir Starmer’s side of the ever-unfolding Jeffrey Epstein scandal clearly centres on one big decision, the twisted calculations that must have led to it, and a question that is not going to go away: between late 2024 and early 2025, despite knowing that Peter Mandelson had maintained his friendship with Epstein after the latter’s conviction for wh
  
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• ‘A pollster’s nightmare’: stakes are high in three-way fight for Gorton and Denton

  08-02-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Labour faces a battle to hold on to its 13,000 majority, with the Greens the bookies’ favourite and Reform hoping to gain from split vote on leftAs Nigel Farage cut the ribbon on Reform UK’s byelection headquarters in Greater Manchester this week, Labour’s candidate, Angeliki Stogia, sat tearfully in a cafe nearby.Politicians do not often show their emotion but for Stogia, who arrived in Britain as a student from Greece in 1995, this is personal. “I am angry,” she s
  
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• Mandelson should hand back US ambassador payout, says cabinet minister

  08-02-2026 11:41 via theguardian.com
  Pressure grows on Keir Starmer as Labour peer reported to have received payment worth three months’ salary when he quit in SeptemberUK politics live – latest updatesA cabinet minister has called for Peter Mandelson to hand back the payout he received after quitting as ambassador to the US last year, as pressure increased on the prime minister to quit for having appointed him in the first place.Pat McFadden, the welfare secretary, said on Sunday he thought the Labour peer should give
  
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• Mandelson’s payout after being sacked as ambassador to be reviewed

  08-02-2026 10:45
  Move comes as ministers prepare to release messages relating to peer’s appointment as UK’s key diplomat in Washington
  
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• Water bosses in England exploiting bonus loophole face crackdown

  08-02-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Ministers to act after last year’s legislation ‘outwitted’ by failing firms paying millions to executivesThe government is to close loopholes which allow bosses of failing water companies to continue to receive large bonuses despite a ban passed last year, it can be revealed.Bosses of companies that illegally dumped sewage into England’s rivers and seas and presided over water shortages which left thousands of people in misery have still been paid millions in b
  
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• Ease borrowing curbs for development schemes, gilt investors urge Reeves

  08-02-2026 06:00
  Aviva and Legal & General warn chancellor that push to boost growth will be inhibited without change
  
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• UK’s ‘unsung army’ of full-time unpaid carers needs more support, report says

  08-02-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Resolution Foundation finds one in three carers from poorer families unable to work because of responsibilitiesA growing “unsung army” of 1 million people with full-time caring responsibilities needs better support, according to a report that found one in three unpaid carers from poorer backgrounds were unable to work because of their duties.The trend is the result of an ageing society and rising ill-health and disability concentrated in the poorest half of the country’s workin
  
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• ‘Hurry for justice’: Windrush victims dying without redress, commissioner says

  07-02-2026 18:34 via theguardian.com
  Clive Foster says action needed now to deliver justice to UK residents who had been wrongly classified as illegal immigrantsThe Windrush commissioner has warned of a “hurry for justice” as more victims of the scandal die without redress, while stakeholders call for a public inquiry and legislative changes amid fears that a Reform government could stall progress toward justice.Speaking on the sidelines of a people’s inquiry symposium for those affected by the Windrush scandal, R
  
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• UK trade policy: time to stop the secret deals and get systematic

  07-02-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Liam Byrne is echoing Robin Cook’s ethical trade policy, warning the UK needs deals more open to scrutiny to prevent future issuesTrade can be a dirty business. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was tolerated as a “special representative for trade and investment” in the noughties despite allegations that he kept convicted gun smugglers for friends, while Peter Mandelson’s ability to schmooze the rich and famous repeatedly overruled concerns about his probity.To close a deal, the
  
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• Starmer leadership speculation ‘serious’ but task ahead ‘very clear’, says Brown – as it happened

  07-02-2026 16:33 via theguardian.com
  This live blog is now closedAmid mounting speculation that Keir Starmer could quit over the Mandelson scandal, Gordon Brown has described the prime minister as a “man of integrity” but said he faced a “serious” challenge to remain in his role.Police officers probing accusations relating to Peter Mandelson’s links with Jeffrey Epstein have concluded their search of two properties connected to the Labour peer in London and Wiltshire.Met police said its investigation &
  
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• Reform-run Kent council accused of fabricating £40m net zero savings

  07-02-2026 14:34 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Disclosures show figures cited by council leader rested on unfunded ideas listed briefly in budget papersReform UK’s flagship council has been accused of telling a “blatant lie” after its claim of nearly £40m in savings on net zero was found to be based on hypothetical projects for which there was no documentation.Kent county council, which has a £2.5bn annual budget, is one of 10 where Nigel Farage’s party has outright control and is seen as a test
  
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• ‘Am I at peak popularity? I hope not’: on the road with Zack Polanski, from protest to podcast to Heaven nightclub

  07-02-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  With polls and membership at an all-time high, the Green party are having a moment – and it’s largely down to their charismatic (if slightly cheesy) new leader. Can he really pull off a socialist revolution?17 JANUARY 2026 Continue reading...
  
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• Starmer faces questions over visit to Palantir office alongside Mandelson

  07-02-2026 06:00
  Former ambassador was also shareholder in lobbying group that counted US tech firm as a client
  
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• Scotland faces its own revolt on the right

  07-02-2026 06:00
  An unprecedented surge for Reform in May’s Holyrood vote will challenge the nation’s self-image
  
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• Lib Dem peer suspended again over harassment allegations

  06-02-2026 23:46 via bbc.com
  The party says it "has now received legal advice" that a 2013 inquiry into the allegations "was flawed in several respects".
  
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• Police search properties linked to Mandelson over Epstein investigation

  06-02-2026 22:29 via bbc.com
  The former ambassador to the US and Labour minister is under investigation for misconduct in a public office.
  
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• Starmer camp warns leadership challenge risks economic chaos

  06-02-2026 20:30
  Investors also signal concern at prospect of a more leftwing government
  
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• Police search Peter Mandelson’s homes as part of misconduct probe

  06-02-2026 20:08
  Veteran Labour politician is being investigated following revelations about his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
  
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• We owe it to Epstein’s victims and to British democracy to demand historic change | Gordon Brown

  06-02-2026 20:00 via theguardian.com
  The abuse of women by figures such as Epstein, and of political power by the likes of Mandelson, must be confronted. As far as I am able, I will play my partFormer prime minister ‘deeply regrets’ bringing Mandelson into his governmentIn Jeffrey Epstein’s wider circle, women and girls were treated as less than human by powerful men acting far beyond the law. The sexual trafficking plotted by him and his fellow criminals is the most egregious example of a global network of wealth
  
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• Hesitation from leadership rivals keeps Starmer in Downing Street for now

  06-02-2026 19:42
  Labour MPs weigh up options including Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner after a week of damaging scandal
  
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• The Guardian view on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor: driven by a belief that his status made him untouchable | Editorial

  06-02-2026 19:30 via theguardian.com
  The disgraced royal was sheltered by silence. Accountability to victims must mean testimony abroad and scrutiny at home, not palace containment tacticsWhen Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his titles last October, it was presented as a final act: a disgraced royal cut loose to protect the monarchy. The Epstein files suggest otherwise. Photographs and emails released by US authorities place Mr Mountbatten-Windsor deep inside Epstein’s network of favours. And they reveal an intimac
  
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• Keir Starmer’s weakening grip on power

  06-02-2026 18:46
  Mandelson’s ties to Epstein have damaged the prime minister, perhaps fatally
  
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• Martin Rowson on Peter Mandelson and the Labour party – cartoon

  06-02-2026 18:29 via theguardian.com
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• ‘Pestering for a role’: how Mandelson talked his way back into the Labour fold

  06-02-2026 17:52 via theguardian.com
  Officials, MPs and other insiders recall a need for clarity and Blair-era frisson before election – even if Sue Gray was waryA general election was on the horizon and Peter Mandelson was everywhere. “He didn’t have a desk but he would dip in and out on big issues; he was always there for advice,” recalled a former Labour official of the party’s run-up to the campaign in 2024.“He would be in and out of the Loto [leader of the opposition] office in Westminster,
  
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• There’s one argument Starmer could make to save his skin – but he won’t dare do it | Jonathan Freedland

  06-02-2026 17:23 via theguardian.com
  Among those focusing on what the PM knew about Peter Mandelson are many who themselves knew plenty and chose to ignore itEverything Donald Trump touches dies. He put his name on the Kennedy Center in Washington, prompting artists and performers to flee in such numbers that the venue will now shut down for “approximately” two years. The Washington Post under owner Jeff Bezos sought to ingratiate itself with the second Trump presidency; this week it announced 300 layoffs and the wither
  
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