Markus Andrews

Sir Keir Starmer has been warned Labour’s deputy leadership contest is a make or break moment for the government, with the party facing “the fight of its life” amid the rise of Reform. With Nigel Farage comfortably leading in the polls, Dame Emily Thornberry and Andy Burnham said the PM must listen more to his backbenchers to stop Reform UK from winning the next general election. Dame Emily said she was considering running for the deputy leadership after Angela Rayner was forced to resign over her failure to pay £40,000 in stamp duty on the purchase of a flat in Hove. Dame Emily Thornberry said she is considering standing for the deputy leadership More

Reform UK has been criticised for allowing a vaccine sceptic cardiologist to address its conference, where he claimed Covid vaccines may have caused the King and Princess of Wales’s cancer.Health secretary Wes Streeting said it was “irresponsible” of the party to allow Dr Assem Malhotra to speak from the stage in Birmingham, where he made a series of claims about the pharmaceutical industry, politicians and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday.Dr Malhotra, who described himself as a friend of controversial US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, said hundreds of studies showed the harms of mRNA vaccines and that they were interfering with genes.Dr Assem Malhotra made a series of claims about the pharmaceutical industry, politicians and the World Health Organisation at the Reform conference More

The government has announced a new education drive to ramp up defence training to a “wartime pace”.It is aiming to grow the UK’s skilled workforce through five new “technical excellence colleges” nationwide, along with targeted short courses and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) schemes for school students. A £182 million funding package will underpin the initiative, forming a central part of a new defence industrial strategy due to be unveiled on Monday.It will include:Regional STEM initiatives for “thousands” of school-age students over the next four years to pursue careers in defence.Targeted short courses for people already working in specific defence industries.Higher education investment to increase places on defence-related courses. A new apprenticeship and graduate clearing system.Five new defence technical excellence colleges, with applications to go live by the end of this year and with successful colleges to be launched in 2026.The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the strategy would offer opportunities for young people and help veterans into employment.Defence Secretary John Healey visits RAF Akrotiri during a visit to Cyprus in 2024 More

Sir Keir Starmer has continued his major reshuffle following Angela Rayner’s resignation as housing secretary and deputy prime minister.The prime minister is seeking to relaunch his government as it lags behind Reform UK in the polls and struggles to deliver on key promises.Sir Keir moved Yvette Cooper from the Home Office to the Foreign Office on Friday in a major shake-up of his top team.But now he is reshuffling other key ministerial posts, including sweeping changes in the Home Office.Junior ministers and ministers of state have specific areas of responsibility in government departments. This differs from a cabinet minister who is in charge of a whole department and takes part in cabinet meetings. Sir Keir Starmer has continued his major reshuffle over the weekend More

Sir Keir Starmer has orchestrated a ministerial clearout of the Home Office after a failure to tackle illegal migration and rows over grooming gangs and policing badly damaged Labour in the polls.With panic rising over Reform’s 10-point lead in the polls and Nigel Farage continuing to capitalise on a failure to stop the small boats amid protests outside migrant hotels, Sir Keir appears to have lost patience with the highly vaunted team he installed in July last year.Former home secretary Yvette Cooper, who just weeks ago was laying out her vision for the future of the Home Office, has been appointed foreign secretary while several of her key ministers have been moved to different parts of government. Shabana Mahmood is the new home secretary More

The rise and fall of Angela RaynerSir Keir Starmer has made further sweeping changes to his top team with a junior minister reshuffle announced by Downing Street on Saturday. They include the appointment of former home secretary Jacqui Smith to the Department for Work and Pensions, and Jason Stockwood, who had a senior role at dating site match.com, to the Department of Business and Trade. The prime minister has also made a number of changes to the Home Office, in a bid to get a grip on illegal immigration.It comes as his chief secretary Darren Jones denied that Labour were in crisis, and rebuffed Nigel Farage’s prediction that there would be a general election in 2027. Asked if Angela Rayner’s resignation over her tax affairs would cause a split in the party, Mr Jones said: “Nigel Farage is wrong there. The Labour Party is not going to split and there won’t be an early election.”Starmer moved quickly to appoint David Lammy deputy prime minister while Yvette Cooper has been moved from home secretary to take up a new role as foreign secretary, with justice secretary Shabana Mahmood replacing her at the Home Office.Mr Lammy also becomes justice secretary as well as deputy PM. Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons, and Scottish secretary Ian Murray have been sacked from their roles. In total, a dozen cabinet positions were changed during the reshuffle.Ex dating site boss now in charge of Britain’s trade dealsThe former managing director of Match.com has been appointed to the government as a minister of state in the Department for Business and Trade and the Treasury.English businessman Jason Stockwood – who previously stood in the Greater Lincolnshire Mayoral race under the Labour banner – has been nominated for a life peerage in order to bring him into government, where he will help with Britain’s economic and trade policy. Millie Cooke6 September 2025 15:51Junior minister reshuffle announced as Starmer makes critical changesIn a statement, Downing Street has listed the junior minister reshuffle which has been approved this morning. They include: Jason Stockwood as Minister of State (Minister for Investment) jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury. Dan Jarvis MP as Minister of State in the Cabinet Office. He will remain Minister of State for the Home Department. Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern as Minister of State (Minister for Skills) in the Department for Work and Pensions. She will remain Minister of State (Minister for Skills and Minister for Women and Equalities) in the Department for Education. Lord Vallance KCB as Minister of State in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. He will remain Minister of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Michael Shanks MP as Minister of State jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Alison McGovern MP as Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Dame Angela Eagle DBE MP as Minister of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP as Minister of State in the Department for Work and Pensions. Sarah Jones MP as Minister of State for the Home Department. Holly Evans6 September 2025 15:36First junior minister confirms departure as reshuffle continuesJustin Madders MP has been the first junior minister to confirmed that he is leaving the government as Sir Keir Starmer’s reshuffle continues. In a post on X, he wrote: “It has been a real privilege to serve as Minister for Employment Rights & begin delivering on our plan to make work pay.”Sadly it is now time to pass the baton on – I wish my successor well & will do what I can to help them make sure the ERB is implemented as intended.”He added that it is “disappointing” that he did not get to see the legislation through to Royal Assent.Holly Evans6 September 2025 15:34Nigel Farage confirms he would send women asylum seekers back to Taliban in AfghanistanIt comes after confusion over the Reform UK leader’s position on the issue, after he initially said he would deport women back to Afghanistan, before later saying he wouldn’t.But he said the UK has a “duty of care” if a four-year-old were to arrive in a dinghy.”For clarity, those that cross the English Channel will be detained and deported, men and women,” he added.”Children, we’ll have to think about.”Mr Farage faced condemnation last month when he said everyone who arrives in the UK via small boat, including women and children, would be detained.Read the full article here from our political correspondent Millie Cooke: Holly Evans6 September 2025 15:20Reform UK to get rid of ‘woke policing’ if elected A Reform UK government would do away with “woke policing”, MP Sarah Pochin has said.Speaking to the party’s conference in Birmingham, the Runcorn and Helsby MP said: “We have had enough of woke policing.“Police appearing to sympathise with protest groups that simply do not reflect the views of the majority of the British people.“I am sure that the police themselves would like nothing more than to get back to tackling crime, policing with impartiality and to protecting the British people.“A Reform government will address these issues and restore a strong police presence on our streets.”Holly Evans6 September 2025 14:56Farage rows back on pledge to stop small boats within fortnight of election winNigel Farage has rowed back on a pledge he made to the party’s conference to stop small boat crossings within two weeks of taking office.The Reform UK leader had told an audience at the NEC in Birmingham on Friday it would take a fortnight of him entering Downing Street to halt arrivals, if he won an election.However, he told the BBC that instead it would rely on any Government he led passing laws first.In an interview due to be aired on BBC One on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said the country would need a “legal base” to halt crossings.Reform UK leader Nigel Farage signing a football shirt during the party’s conference in Birmingham (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

As the dust settles on Keir Starmer’s first major reshuffle and politicos begin to scour the names of the ministers in his new cabinet, one could be forgiven for wondering whether anything much had changed at all.In fact, a veteran former MP summed it up quite curtly: “It was the moving the deckchairs on the Titanic reshuffle. Same faces, different positions.”And with Nigel Farage looming large at Reform’s conference in Birmingham, the Labour government did not seem to be avoiding a collision course with calamity.As harsh as this may sound, the reality is that when Starmer’s cabinet meets next week, only one new face will have been added – Emma Reynolds, the new environment secretary.The changes following Keir Starmer’s cabinet reshuffle More