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 CorrespondentSir Keir Starmer has said that he will “have to be unpopular” to restore the public finances from the dire inheritance left by the Conservatives.Accusing his predecessors of “running away from difficult decisions”, the prime minister said Labour can only deliver change if he makes “tough choices” now.Sir Keir is facing a rebellion from backbenchers this week in a vote on his decision to withdraw the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners. As many as 30 Labour MPs have signalled that they will vote against the measure or abstain, setting up the second major rebellion of his time as prime minister.He refused to say whether Labour MPs who vote against the government will lose the whip, claiming it is a “matter for the chief whip”. But seven Labour MPs were suspended for months after voting against the government on a motion to scrap the two-child benefit cap imposed by the Conservatives.The move to means test the winter fuel payment, worth up to £300, will affect around 10 million pensioners, with warnings some could end up in hospital as a result of the change.In his first sit-down interview since taking over as prime minister, Sir Keir told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I am absolutely convinced we will only deliver that change, I am absolutely determined we will, if we do the difficult things now.The Prime Minister will also criticise reforms made to the NHS by previous Conservative governments (PA) 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 CorrespondentTory leadership hopeful James Cleverly has revealed that he hopes to be the Ronald Reagan of his party and encourage people to vote for them “with a spring in their step”.While many of his rivals aspire to be “the new Margaret Thatcher”, who led the party to three election victories and transformed the UK in a decade in power in the 1980s, Mr Cleverly said he was looking for a more “optimistic” role model.The shadow home secretary was answering 12 questions for a video to help Tory members get to know him better and was asked which politician he would want to model himself on.Ronald Reagan is Mr Cleverly’s chief inspiration although he admired Thatcher too 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 CorrespondentThe question “do Tory MPs fix leadership votes with dirty tricks?” is usually on a par with “is the Pope a Catholic?” or “do bears s*** in the woods?”. It is obvious and it happens every time even if it takes place in secret.So it is of no surprise to anybody that allegations are already being expressed that vote fixing took place in the first round of the current Tory leadership competition.The suspicions surround former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride who, while seen as a decent chap, is not seen as a serious candidate to replace Rishi Sunak.Somehow, he managed to get enough Tory MPs to put him on the original ballot and then he got 16 votes, one more than Priti Patel in the first round – meaning the former home secretary was the one who was eliminated. This was achieved even though Mr Stride has not even had an official leadership campaign launch yet.Mr Stride now has one of the other early favourites in his sights, former security minister Tom Tugendhat, who only managed to get one more vote, with 17 in the first round.Robert Jenrick speaking at a Conservative Party leadership campaign event (PA) 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 CorrespondentSir Keir Starmer has accused the Conservatives of breaking the NHS in a way that is “unforgivable” as the government prepares to publish a damning report on the state of the health service.The prime minister said the Tories began draining money from the NHS after coming to power in 2010 and pursued a series of “hopelessly misconceived” reforms.With a “warts and all” review by former health minister and surgeon Ara Darzi set to report on Thursday, Sir Keir said it will show the NHS has been left in an “awful position” by the last government.In his first major TV interview since becoming prime minister, he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg:“Everybody watching this who has used the NHS, or whose relatives have, know that it’s broken, they know that it’s broken, that is unforgivable, the state of our NHS.”Keir Starmer accused the last government of leaving the NHS in an ‘unforgivable’ state 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 CorrespondentDiane Abbott has claimed former Labour leader Neil Kinnock viewed his black MPs as “an embarrassment”.Ms Abbott, who is the longest serving black member of Parliament, was elected alongside three other black Labour MPs in 1987.In her book, A Woman Like Me, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington is deeply critical of Lord Kinnock’s leadership, accusing him of “dismissing the concerns of Black people”.Recalling her experience after being elected, Ms Abbott said she and her fellow black Labour MPs felt they were “not allowed to bask in the glory of our achievement” as both the party leadership and officials “did not see it as a triumph and noticeably did not celebrate it as such”.She added: “Kinnock thought of his Black MPs as an embarrassment. We were the embodiment of the ‘loony left’, and this was precisely the image he was trying to get away from.”Diane Abbott has claimed former Labour leader Neil Kinnock viewed his black MPs as “an embarrassment” 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 CorrespondentBoris Johnson failed to disclose that while serving as prime minister he met a uranium lobbyist connected to a co-director at his green energy consultancy Better Earth Limited.The news comes after The Independent revealed that Mr Johnson had employed former aide Charlotte Owen as the firm’s vice-president, despite facing fierce criticism for elevating her to the House of Lords at the age of 29.Transparency campaigners have now warned there appear to be “serious public interest questions” over the nature of the former Tory leader’s relationship with his co-director Amir Adnani, The Observer reports.Mr Adnani, a Canadian citizen, is the founder, president and CEO of Uranium Energy Corp, a US-based mining company that had previously been championed by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.Mr Johnson met Scott Melbye, the executive vice-president of Uranium Energy Corp, in Westminster in May 2022, while he was still prime minister.Better Earth was incorporated last December by Mr Adnani, who is the director of a number of offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands.Companies House filings show “The Rt Hon Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson” was added as a director and chair in May, while Ms Owen was added as vice-president this summer.News of her latest role emerged in a two-line entry in her Lords register of interests in the last month. Her salary was not disclosed.Charlotte Owen, the UK’s youngest peer, has been made vice-president of Better Earth 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 CorrespondentIn a disarmingly personal interview, Sir Tony Blair discloses how his desire for political power was triggered by the early trauma of his father having a stroke and the death of his mother.Speaking to Geordie Greig, editor-in-chief of The Independent, the former prime minister said his ambition to gain power came directly from those tragic moments. He was aged 10 when his father was incapacitated and 22 when his mother died.Watch the Blair interview in full on Independent TVThe former Labour leader declares as his new book, On Leadership, is published: “The moment I saw what power was and what it could do, I wanted it.”As well as providing a masterclass in how to wield power, it also reveals his personal faults and successes during his decade in No 10 as well as the next 17 years forming the Tony Blair Institute, which today has 1,000 staff and advises governments of more than 40 countries.“Power should be based on a desire to do something that you believe as a matter of conviction and principle. But, if you are being honest the power itself is attractive. It doesn’t mean you should pursue it at the expense of the principle, but your wanting to exercise leadership in the exercise of power is what goes with it,” he explains.His motive when he was young, he says, was always “to change the world, to put principles into practice, to be respected and recognised as a person with power and to feel that power, to feel how it could shape my world around me as well as the world of others”.Tony Blair speaks to Geordie Greig 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 CorrespondentGreen Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay has condemned the jail sentences of up to five years handed to Just Stop Oil protesters who caused gridlock on the M25.Speaking to The Independent as his party gathered in Manchester for its conference this weekend, Mr Ramsay made it clear he did not agree with the methods of the climate activists but said he thought the prison terms handed out earlier this year were disproportionate.He pointed out that rapists and many of the far-right rioters this summer received less time in jail when they were sentenced.Protesters climbed onto gantries over the M25 for four successive days in November 2022, bringing traffic to a standstill More