Lord Mandelson reportedly showed support to Jeffrey Epstein and pushed for his early release as he faced child sex offences in further revelations, putting pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to sack Britain’s ambassador to the US after giving him his full backing.
Six Labour MPs have condemned the prime minister for standing by Lord Mandelson and some have called for his sacking.
In leaked emails seen by The Sun, the Labour grandee wrote to Epstein in June 2008: “Your friends stay with you and love you.” It’s also been claimed that the ambassador brokered a business deal with Epstein after the latter had been convicted of child sex offences.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a challenger for the deputy leadership, became the first Labour MP to call for the ambassador to be removed, saying ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus should investigate him.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who began the calls for Sir Keir to sack Mandelson, said the ambassador was “mired in scandal” and his position was untenable.
No 10 has declined to say whether the prime minister aware of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein before appointing him.
Labour MPs turn on Starmer – full report
Starmer says UK will stand by Nato and Poland
Sir Keir Starmer has told the leaders of Ukraine, Poland and Italy that the UK is “ready to support Nato and Poland to continue to defend the alliance” after Russian drones entered Polish airspace.
The Prime Minister spoke to the leaders, along with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, in a call on Wednesday afternoon.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister began by condemning the outrageous violation of Poland’s airspace. This highlighted Russia’s increased recklessness in recent weeks, including their attacks on the Cabinet of Ministers building, British Council and EU Delegation buildings in Kyiv, he added.”
Abuse of visa sponsorship for foreign workers rises
The number of licences for companies to sponsor foreign workers that have been revoked has more than doubled in the past year, and ministers are warning employers against “shameful” abuse of the immigration system.
Home Office figures show 1,948 sponsors for skilled and temporary workers had their licences cancelled in the year to June 2025, compared to 937 in the previous 12-month-period.
The Government is seeking to crack down on rogue employers underpaying and exploiting migrant staff – who are reliant on their visa sponsor to stay in the country – while undercutting British workers.
Adult social care, hospitality, retail and construction are among the sectors seeing the highest levels of abuse, according to the Home Office.
Licences for companies have been ended for breaking rules including underpaying workers, failing to give them promised work and assisting people to the country to get around immigration rules.
Minister drops out to back Phillipson in Labour contest
Local government minister Alison McGovern said she had dropped out of the Labour deputy leadership contest to give her supporters time to back one of the remaining candidates.
Ms McGovern decided to back Bridget Phillipson, but one of her two publicly declared supporters – St Helens North MP David Baines – has given his support to Lucy Powell.
If more than one candidate secures 80 nominations by Thursday evening, they will then need to gain backing from either three of Labour’s affiliate organisations, including two trade unions, or 5% of constituency parties.
That process will continue until September 27, meaning a contested election threatens to overshadow the party’s annual conference that begins in Liverpool the next day.
Phillipson at second stage of Labour deputy leadership race
Bridget Phillipson has made it to the next round of Labour’s deputy leadership contest after securing nominations from 116 of the party’s MPs.
The Education Secretary became the first candidate to cross the threshold of 80 nominations required to make it to the next stage.
Already the frontrunner, Ms Phillipson received a boost on Wednesday afternoon when one of her rivals, fellow minister Alison McGovern, dropped out of the race and pledged to support her.
Figures released on Wednesday evening showed Ms Phillipson’s main rival, Lucy Powell, had received 77 nominations, just three short of the required 80 with a day to go before nominations close.
It now appears likely that Ms Powell, who was sacked by Sir Keir Starmer as leader of the Commons last week, will reach 80 nominations by the deadline of 5pm on Thursday.
Israeli president admits ‘arguing’ with Starmer at No 10
Israel’s president Isaac Herzog proposed sending a “fact-finding mission” to Gaza during “tough” talks with Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Wednesday.
In the No 10 meeting, Mr Herzog “argued” with the Prime Minister over UK plans to recognise a Palestinian state and concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
At an event hosted by the Chatham House think tank, Mr Herzog said he had offered “a fact-finding mission coming to Israel, sitting with us and studying the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level”.
Adding that the pair had “argued out of respect”, he noted there were “things we agreed upon”, such as the threat from Iran and the need to end Hamas’s control of Gaza.
But he said he dismissed “out of hand” comments by Wes Streeting on Monday in which the Health Secretary had said Mr Herzog needed to answer allegations of war crimes and ethnic cleansing.
Two more Labour MPs urge PM to sack Mandelson
Two more Labour MPs have broken ranks to urge Sir Keir Starmer to sack Lord Mandelson immediately.
Backbenchers Richard Burgon and Nadia Whittome said Lord Mandelson should never have been appointed.
Ms Whittome said: “We either stand with victims or we don’t.”
Tapp challenges Yusuf on claims about illegal immigration
The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
While Labour typically meets Reform where they are, piling in to their anti-immigration rhetoric, this evening we’ve seen Mike Tapp in a few instances challenge some of Zia Yusuf’s claims.
While he has unsurprisingly been robust in his agreement that the government wants to stop the boats, we also saw the Home Office minister call out Mr Yusuf for his claims about sexual offences committed by illegal migrants.
“One rape, one sexual assault, is too many, but the majority of those that come over are not rapists and sexual assaulters”, Mr Tapp said, to Mr Yusuf’s outrage.
We also saw him earlier attack the Reform politician for using the word “invasion” to describe the migrant crisis, accusing him of “feeding racism”.
Analysis: Zia Yusuf’s attempts to rewrite history hands open goal to Labour
The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
Zia Yusuf was brutally called out by presenter Trevor Phillips after he claimed Reform “wouldn’t hesitate to deploy the Navy” to stop small boat crossings.
But the Sky News presenter pointed out that a week earlier, the Reform boss was much less convinced by the idea.
When the inconsistency was pointed out to him, he denied having said it.
The altercation handed an open goal to Labour’s Mike Tapp, who declared: “Reform’s head of policy doesn’t even know their own policy”.
Analysis: Mike Tapp immediately in the hot seat as he struggles to say what new Home Office will do differently
The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
Mike Tapp was immediately thrown into the hot seat as this evening’s immigration debate got underway, with the new Home Office minister being urged to explain how things will be different under new home secretary Shabana Mahmood.
Perhaps for fear of undermining the work of Yvette Cooper, he struggled to outline concrete things they would be doing differently – instead resorting to the classic Home Office approach of ramping up the rhetoric.
“We’re going to go harder. We’re going to go faster. We’re going to fix this problem”, he insisted.
Pressed on what exactly would change under Ms Mahmood, he added: “What we’re going to see going forward is essentially doing what it takes. We’re starting already to explore Ministry of Defense sites to take people out of hotels. We’re looking at the ECHR to ensure we can deport and remove more people. We will make sure that the French deal improves.”
Unfortunately for the government, none of this marks a tangible shift from what was being done before.
