Color Scheme

Liz Webster: As Starmer faces a leadership…

😡 As Starmer faces a leadership crisis and expected local election wipeout, his niece Ellie Sandover has been parachuted into a safe Labour seat in Croydon. Sitting councillors reportedly removed to make way for her. Nepotism and central control, while he lectures everyone else about “due process.” @LibDems did similar with @DavidCampanale in Sutton and are now staring at a big payout. Party machine control freakery looking after their own while preaching democracy. Voters notice.

Liz Webster: John Major…

✅ John Major “The fate of individual politicians doesn't really matter as much as the development of the right policy.” Starmer’s in trouble bc of his commitment to Brexit - bad policy. Trying to make Brexit work with US trade deals, lowers standards, exposing farmers, and chipping away at the resilience we desperately need. Brexit made us more vulnerable. We can’t fix generational decline by opening the door wider to imports that undercut British production. We need policy that rebuilds domestic food security, not more short-term trade-offs.

Alex Wickham: Keir Starmer speech on wave...

New: Keir Starmer speech on wave of antisemitic attacks in Britain - says will look at measures to prevent chants such as ‘globalise the intifada’ on marches, and look at repeat protests - condemns people who attend protests alongside those calling for the murder of Jews - says will fast track legislation to give the government stronger powers to tackle threats from states like Iran - says will introduce stronger powers to shut down charities that promote antisemitic extremism - says will speed up sentencing on antisemitic attacks so there is a stronger deterrence - says will bar hate preachers from the country, campuses and streets

Alex Wickham: Keir Starmer speech on wave...

New: Keir Starmer speech on wave of antisemitic attacks in Britain - says will look at measures to prevent chants such as ‘globalise the intifada’ on marches, and look at repeat protests - condemns people who attend protests alongside those calling for the murder of Jews - says will fast track legislation to give the government stronger powers to tackle threats from states like Iran - says will introduce stronger powers to shut down charities that promote antisemitic extremism - says will speed up sentencing on antisemitic attacks so there is a stronger deterrence - says will bar hate preachers from the country, campuses and streets

Alex Wickham: EXCLUSIVE…

EXCLUSIVE: Andy Burnham says Labour must take a “different course” after the local elections. He declines to back Keir Starmer staying on, signals he’ll make another run for Parliament and argues defence spending should be taken out of the fiscal rules to fund a rise through borrowing. “It’s got to be a moment of reflection,” Burnham says in a Bloomberg interview today, warning the results will be “challenging.” He says in the aftermath it means “starting to now pull through on a different course.” “I understand the real frustration people have got with politics and politicians. I honestly, I really understand that. And they’re right to say politics just hasn’t been working,” the Greater Manchester Mayor tells @flacqua . Burnham makes clear he intends to run again for Parliament. “The politics we’ve pioneered as mayors: place first, not party first — that needs to go national, and so we do need to reform Westminster. I can’t remove the kind of feeling that someday I will try and go back. I’m not ruling it out.” Asked if Starmer should stay after May 7, Burnham declines to answer. Instead he says the PM deserves more “credit” for the job he’s done. And he suggests defence spending should be taken out of the fiscal rules in what would be a major change to UK policy to fund an increase in defence spending through borrowing. While he suggests the fiscal rules “will stay in any context,” he says “there’s certainly a case, when we look at the pressure on defence spending, to consider that exceptionally outside of the rules.”

Alex Wickham: Keir Starmer end-day analysis…

Keir Starmer end-day analysis: he is wounded from the last two weeks but limps on to face his fate after the locals. — The PM finished the day in a better place than he started it. He got a rare victory winning tonight’s Commons vote with minimal rebellion. If he had lost it would have been close to game over. But No10 won the argument with Labour MPs that this was a political stunt from the Tories. Labour MPs decided to keep their problems in-house rather than give Kemi Badenoch the win. — Downing Street is relieved that what threatened to be a perilous Tuesday didn’t do much serious new damage. The sessions with Philip Barton and Morgan McSweeney ended without a killer blow. When it comes to the process on Starmer versus Olly Robbins, after hours and hours of testimony from all the key witnesses, there are arguments on both sides and no clear winner, maybe just two losers. — Philip Barton’s evidence was uncomfortable for No10 but his crucial caveat that he was not put under pressure over the substance of Mandelson’s appointment process gave the PM something of a reprieve. It could have been much worse for No10. — That means after two weeks of intense scrutiny on Mandelson, he has survived until the next flashpoint after the locals. As Bloomberg reported on Saturday, Starmer’s rivals think they need a ‘perfect storm’ of events to bring him down including an ‘emotional’ response from MPs to May 7 leading to a cabinet revolt. It remains unclear if Labour MPs have the stomach or plan to change leader now. It all comes down to the days after the vote. — Starmer will seek to move past the Mandelson scandal with a renewed focus on security, in terms of Britain’s defence, economy and energy supply as we reported a few weeks ago. He is planning a series of speeches and policy interventions on those topics.
Read more