UK Politics

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorDefence secretary John Healey has warned that the west is facing “a decade or more of growing aggression” Vladimir Putin’s Russia as Labour seeks to drawn Britain closer into EU defence arrangements.The new defence secretary was speaking to journalists at the Nato summit in Washington DC after a series of meetings with the other 31 allies and Ukraine.Mr Healey has committed to UK £3 billion of aid to Ukraine for the war to be transferred within the first 100 days of the government.He denied that the UK’s bid to draw back on some of the Tory Brexit arrangements would see the UK joining an EU military force but he confirmed that work on a security pact will start next week when Britain hosts the European Political Council summit.John Healey (right) with Starmer and Europe minister Nick Thomas-Symonds More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorPrime minister Sir Keir Starmer would not commit to an extra bank holiday if England win Euro 2024. The Labour leader said the UK should “certainly mark the occasion” but said he did not want to “jinx anything” by pre-empting the result of Sunday’s final. The Liberal Democrats led calls for an extra bank holiday after England claimed a last-minute 2-1 victory over the Netherlands on Wednesday. Gareth Southgate’s side will now play Spain in the finals. Sir Keir previously supported calls for a bank holiday when England’s women’s football team made it to the World Cup final last year.Asked whether he would back a bank holiday if Southgate’s team is victorious, the prime minister told broadcasters in Washington DC: “We should certainly mark the occasion, I don’t want to jinx it. I went to the last Euros final, I don’t want to go through that again.“I don’t want to jinx anything but we must mark it in some way. But the most important thing is getting it over the line on Sunday.”Sir Keir, an Arsenal supporter who regularly plays five-a-side football, said England’s win on Wednesday night was “fantastic”.The Labour leader said the UK should “certainly mark the occasion” More

Starmer meets with Senate leaders and German chancellor during visit to Capitol HillSupport trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer is facing a backbench rebellion to scrap the two-child benefit cap after figures revealed that 1.6 million children are affected by the policy.In response to the latest figures, work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall warned child poverty is a “stain on our society” with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar pressuring the PM to scrap the cap.A bitter civil war erupted among Reform UK members after Nigel Farage unveiled his new team in a huge shake-up to “professionalise” the party.Mr Farage announced that Ben Habib had been sacked from his role as deputy leader and appointed new MP for Boston and Skegness Richard Tice instead.But Mr Habib said he is now evaluating his position within the party “more generally” after the sudden ousting. Ashfield MP Lee Anderson is now the new chief whip and donator and entrepreneur Zia Yusuf the new Reform chairman. In Washington, Sir Keir is set to meet world leaders and discuss long-term support for Ukraine’s entry process into the Nato alliance. Show latest update 1720709228News website claims Hannah Blythyn not source of Gething leakHannah Blythyn was not the source of a leak which triggered her sacking from the Welsh Government, the website which originally reported the story has said.The Labour former social partnership minister was removed from the Welsh Government by Vaughan Gething in May, after messages from the Covid pandemic were leaked to the media.The leaked messages showed Mr Gething claiming he would delete all correspondence from a WhatsApp group of Welsh ministers.Delyn MS Ms Blythyn said this week in the Senedd that she could “look all my colleagues who sit on these benches in the eye” and say she had not leaked to the media.The embattled First Minister told the Senedd on Wednesday the messages could only have come from her phone, adding that there had been a “breach of trust”.But Nation.Cymru, the website which originally broke the story, has now said she was not the source of the information.A statement from its chief executive, Mark Mansfield, said protecting journalistic sources was very important, and added: “Given the strong public interest and importance of this story and out of concern for Hannah Blythyn’s wellbeing, we have decided that the right thing to do is to state publicly that she was not the source of our story and that at no stage before or since publication of it have we had any contact with her about it.”( More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorJoe Biden has backed Keir Starmer’s ambitions to take the UK back closer to the European Union.The president, who has been a critic of Brexit and the UK’s departure from the EU, made it clear he values the special relationship but only as a “knot” tying together the US and Europe.He made his comments as Sir Keir had his first audience with the president in the Oval Office since winning the election last week.President Biden said: “I kind of see you guys as the knot tying the transatlantic alliance together, the closer you are with Europe. We know where you are, you know where we are.”Sir Keir responded: “Well I think that’s absolutely right.”Biden and Starmer shake hands in the Oval Office More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer has begun to reset Britain’s relations with key allies as his plan to ensure Ukraine’s pathway to joining Nato is irreversible is set to be adopted.The new prime minister arrived in Washington with support for his aim to protect Ukraine’s entry process into the Nato alliance from any potential interference from a Trump presidency.He has spoken of his hopes that military and economic aid to Ukraine from Nato will be Donald Trump-proof should the former US president retake the White House in November.With Nato leaders making the war in Ukraine one of their main topics, Sir Keir’s long-term call – which he made as Labour opposition leader – for the “irreversible” membership strategy is expected to be a key part of discussions.Prime minister Keir Starmer meets Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the Nato summit in Washington on Wednesday More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer has said that an urgent plan is to be brought forward next week to tackle overcrowding in prisons after saying conditions are “even worse” than Labour had feared.The new prime minister said the state of Britain’s prisons was a major shock when his new government got to look at the books after winning the election last week.Sir Keir was unable to guarantee that dangerous criminals would not be released early, although he ruled out sexual offenders and child abusers.Speaking to journalists on the plane to the Nato summit in Washington DC, he was asked whether he was surprised when he opened the financial books. But he answered that prisons are the bigger issue.He said: “Some of what we’ve found is shocking, not so much about the finances but I have to say, on prisons, the situation is worse than I thought it was. “I’m pretty shocked that it’s been allowed to get into that situation. It’s reckless to allow them to get to that place. We’ll be saying more about that in short order.”New prime minister Sir Keir said he was shocked by the situation in prisons (Niall Carson/PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorKeir Starmer has made a point of not pledging to “stop the boats” – considered one of the biggest mistakes of his predecessor, Rishi Sunak.Britain’s new prime minister refused to use the phrase when questioned by journalists about illegal migrant crossings of the Channel.He was speaking on his way to the Nato summit in Washington DC, where President Joe Biden faces his own “migrant crisis” on the Mexican border.One of Sir Keir’s first acts was to cancel the Rwanda deportation flights policy, which Mr Sunak had fought tooth and nail to put in place.Bringing a halt to illegal Channel crossings was one of five key pledges Mr Sunak made to voters in January 2023.He had hoped removing migrants to Rwanda would act as a deterent to those looking to make the dangerous trip to the UK, but the plan was beset by legal challenges and not a single asylum seeker was deported to the East African country.Tackling the small boats issue will be a challenge for the new Prime Minister (Gareth Fuller/PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditor A former Illinois state senator and candidate for governor was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to 3 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to fraudulent use of campaign funds, money laundering and tax evasion. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Lawless, who also ordered William “Sam” McCann to pay $684,000 in restitution, noted during sentencing that McCann continued to siphon campaign money for personal use even after federal authorities confronted him. And she said he fraudulently claimed that he was physically and mentally unable to stand trial during a bizarre series of delays leading up to his February bench trial. McCann, 54, who declared “God’s got this” after firing his attorneys in 2023 and announcing that he would represent himself, later capitulated and started trial with new representation before throwing in the towel on the third day of testimony. He entered a no-strings open guilty plea to seven counts of wire fraud and one count each of money laundering and tax evasion. He faced up to 20 years in prison for each count of fraud and money laundering alone. A state senator from 2011 to 2019, McCann formed the Conservative Party of Illinois in a 2018 bid for governor. His candidacy drew $3 million in contributions from a labor union which considered him a worker-friendly “lunch-pail Republican.” But even after sitting through four FBI interviews in the summer of 2018, in which he acknowledged misspending, he burned through another $340,000 in campaign funds for personal use during the following year. McCann last lived in Plainview, 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of St. Louis.Trial testimony indicated McCann tapped campaign cash to buy two pickups titled in his name and used personally. He bought a recreational vehicle and trailer which he listed with an Ohio business for online rental by Sam McCann, then used campaign money to rent them from himself under the name William McCann. He did not report the income on his federal tax return, nor did he report a $10,000 refunded campaign check which he deposited into a personal account. Campaign finances paid off a personal loan, made installments on two separate personal mortgages, and were used for more than $100,000 in credit card payments, a Colorado family vacation, store and online purchases and cash withdrawals. After his gubernatorial candidacy ended, he used a payroll service to disguise $187,000 in Conservative Party contributions he paid to himself and another $52,000 for payroll taxes. More