UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentLabour’s biggest donor Lord Waheed Alli has found himself at the centre of a political row over the acceptance of gifts and hospitality by senior MPs in the party.In the first controversy to hit Sir Keir Starmer’s new government, questions have been raised over Lord Alli – the business executive who has donated some £700,000 to the party over the past two decades – being handed a Downing Street pass.In a row dubbed “passes for glasses”, it has emerged that Lord Alli had gifted the Sir Keir eyewear and work clothing worth £18,000, clothes for his wife Lady Victoria Starmer, and a £10,000 donation to the PM’s chief of staff Sue Gray’s son Liam Conlon’s campaign to become a Labour MP.Despite Sir Keir insisting parliamentary rules were followed, the PM, Rachel Reeves and Angela Raynor have now all said they will not accept any more free clothes from donors as the row threatened to overshadow the party’s annual conference.Allies of Lord Alli – aged 59 and reported to have a fortune of around £200m – describe him as a lifelong Labour backer who “does not want anything” in return for his donations.“He absolutely hates all the attention. It’s been blown completely out of proportion,” one ally told The Times, while another insider told The Guardian: “Waheed was an important part of Keir’s team during the election campaign, and so it was felt natural that he should get a [Downing Street] pass. “The thing was, Waheed didn’t really know what he was doing there, so he handed it back.”Lord Alli is reported to have a fortune of around £200m More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentChancellor Rachel Reeves turned the tables on the BBC’s Nick Robinson while being grilled on her free clothes, pointing out the presenter took her to the Proms in an outing paid for by the broadcaster.In an interview with the BBC, just hours before her speech to Labour’s conference in Liverpool, Ms Reeves defended the party from wider allegations of sleaze and cronyism centred on ministers’ repeated acceptance of gifts and freebies.She said she does not think hospitality gifts “brings (her) into conflict in any way” when it comes to decisions she makes at the Treasury.Rachel Reeves has been defending Labour colleagues who have been given donations More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentWes Streeting has joked that Sir Keir Starmer’s embattled senior aide Sue Gray had “shot JFK” and “no one should earn more than the Prime Minister” amid a row over her salary.The health secretary made light of suggestions of mounting acrimony at the heart of government as he spoke at an event on the sidelines of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.Speaking to a crowd at the gathering hosted by think tank Labour Together, Mr Streeting: “I want to welcome the BBC’s conviction that no one should be paid more than the Prime Minister, that no one should receive hospitality, and that we should judge performance on social media mentions.“Be careful what we wish for, comrades.”Sue Gray has been the subject of repeated negative press briefings More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentRachel Reeves is set to announce an investigation into more than £600m worth of Covid contracts and will pledge to chase down firms who have ripped off the taxpayer.The chancellor will use her speech at the Labour conference on Monday to announce she has reversed a Conservative approach to “waive” £674m worth of disputed contracts, as her party attempts to re-establish its moral standing during an ongoing row over donations.She will confirm that a new Covid corruption commissioner will be appointed next month to claw back the money wasted on deals, saying the government will not “turn a blind eye to rip-off artists”.It comes as the Labour leadership has faced a tirade of criticism over Sir Keir Starmer and other senior ministers receiving thousands of pounds’ worth of gifts and freebies.Meanwhile, thousands of activists gathered at the conference in Liverpool, with many marching for the Palestinian people and others accusing Labour of preparing to slash public services.Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares her Labour Party conference keynote speech in her hotel room in Liverpool More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentJeremy Corbyn’s allies have tried to use the far-right riots over the summer as a weapon to attack Sir Keir Starmer’s fledgling premiership.At an event which appeared to be aimed at hijacking the conference narrative, Starmer was accused of having “embraced” anti-migrant rhetoric by a former member of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC). Speaking at an event on the fringes of the Labour conference in Liverpool on Sunday, Mish Rahman, a far left member and critic of the prime minister, claimed that the government has “thrown its own fuel” onto Islamophobia and racism in the UK, adding that the far-right riots which rocked England and Northern Ireland in August “were inevitable under this climate”.( More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentOn the opening day of Labour’s first conference since Sir Keir Starmer picked up the keys to No 10 Downing Street, the prime minister sent his top team out to bat for him with TV and newspapers to set out Labour’s vision for the country.His party is hoping to shake off allegations of cronyism and sleaze over senior figures repeatedly accepting freebies and gifts from donors, including thousands of pounds worth of clothing.The PM is also desperate to assure the public he is in control, despite growing evidence of a rift between his chief of staff Sue Gray and other senior No10 figures.The match was played at Everton FC’s Finch Farm Training ComplexBut after a 30-minute drive from the conference centre in Liverpool, several of Sir Keir’s top MPs were engaged in a very different kind of battle with the media – the annual Lobby XI v Labour football match.At the major political party conferences, a handful of MPs and staffers take on a team of political journalists. A week after Lobby XI thrashed the Liberal Democrats eight nil, the team was hoping to continue its winning streak against a strong Labour side.Hosted by the FA at Everton’s Finch Farm Training Complex, Labour sent an assortment of backbench MPs and key ministers.Key players included employment rights minister Justin Madders and care minister Stephen Kinnock.Other notable names included Fred Thomas, who unseated outspoken former veterans minister Johnny Mercer at the general election, and long-serving Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins, whose 6ft 6 inch height made him a dangerous presence in the Lobby XI box. Big names who ducked the match included Sir Keir, despite often touting himself as a keen footballer, and Andy Burnham, who has played in previous instances of the annual fixture. The Lobby XI opened the scoring in six seconds, with Ruan Tremayne, a director at lobbying firm Brunswick Group, finding the back of the opposition net.It took another 20 minutes of the rain-sodden first half for The Independent’s political correspondent Archie Mitchell to put another past Brian Leishman, the Alloa and Grangemouth MP who is also a professional golfer.The journalists dominated much of the rest of the first half, but were unable to extend their lead before conceding a goal to Ipswich MP Jack Abbott on the counterattack.Madders, the MP for Ellesmere Port and Bromborough, was then given the chance to equalise when the Lobby XI gave away a penalty, but sent the ball over the bar.After a half time conflab, the Lobby XI came out playing attacking football, with special adviser Tom Hughes causing trouble for the MPs on the left wing and ex-Lisa Nandy adviser Matt Lavender looking dangerous up front.But a period of intense pressure saw the Labour team equalise. With a little under 20 minutes to play, Lavender made a sumptuous run behind the Labour lot’s back line, coolly slotting the ball past Leishman to make it 3-2. But, in a devastating twist for a knackered Lobby team, Madders made up for his earlier mistake with a late equaliser.The new Labour MP for Rother Valley was awarded player of the match for the MPs, while The House magazine and PoliticsHome’s Tom Scotson was nominated player of the match for the Lobby.The game offers an insight into the closeness at major events between journalists, lobbyists and MPs, who made the journey to and from the match venue together. It is an opportunity for attendees to spend time together without talking about Labour’s plans for government. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentA groundbreaking cross-border deal has been struck to help ease the NHS waiting list crisis. The UK and Welsh governments are to collaborate to ensure access to everything from operations to dentists. The Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens hit out at what she called “cheap political point scoring” by the previous Conservative government, which had made such collaboration “impossible”.In their 14 years in power the Tories made much of the failures of the NHS in what successive prime ministers referred to as “Labour-run Wales”.How to tackle NHS waiting lists is one of the most serious problems the new government faces. Millions are on NHS waiting lists More