UK

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 recalled her first meeting with Jeremy Corbyn in her new book, describing how the two young Labour activists were “drawn to one another” from the moment they met.The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington described the man who would go on to lead the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020 as “funny and kind”, saying she was “impressed by his political commitment”.In her book, A Woman Like Me, Ms Abbott describes meeting Mr Corbyn for the first time at the 1978 Labour Party conference in Blackpool nine years before she was first elected to Parliament.Diane Abbott has recalled her first meeting with Jeremy Corbyn in her new book 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 Green Party will pile pressure on Labour to pursue closer ties with the European Union after members backed a motion calling for the party to fight to rejoin.Party members used the second day of the Greens’ conference in Manchester to vote for a change that will see it fight for “much closer relations with the EU”.The change means that the party’s official position is now that Britain should seek full membership of the bloc “as soon as the political will is present”.Adrian Ramsay, co-leader of the Green Party, opened their conference yesterday on his own 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 former housing secretary Michael Gove has claimed that the Treasury impeded his efforts to punish firms responsible for the flammable cladding on Grenfell Tower.The damning final report of the seven-year inquiry into the blaze which killed 72 people on 14 June 2017 this week accused the three firms – Arconic, Celotex and Kingspan – whose cladding products were installed at Grenfell of “systematic dishonesty”.The firms “engaged in deliberate and sustained strategies to manipulate the [fire safety] testing processes, misrepresent test data and mislead the market”, the 1,600-page report by Sir Martin Moore-Bick found.In the wake of the report’s publication, the bereaved relatives of those who died in what was the worst residential fire since the Second World War are demanding manslaughter charges for those responsible after seven years without justice.With pressure growing on government figures over the lack of accountability for Grenfell, Mr Gove – who served as housing secretary for more than two years prior to the July election – claimed in an article forThe Sunday Times that his own efforts to punish the cladding firms were stymied.“The task now falls to others to secure the justice I sought but failed to bring,” Mr Gove wrote. “I hope the Crown Prosecution Service and Metropolitan Police will do all they can to bring criminal prosecutions quickly. “But pursuing a few of the most guilty individuals is not enough when these companies are still making vast profits without acknowledging their full responsibility.”Accusing the three firms of having “willingly, knowingly, recklessly put greed ahead of decency”, Mr Gove alleged that his own attempts to restrict imports of their products ran up against the “commercial purism of Treasury Mandarin Brain”. The Treasury was approached for comment.Former housing secretary Michael Gove apologised to the relatives and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire 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 CorrespondentProgress tackling cardiovascular diseases stalled under the Conservatives and is now in decline, a damning review into the NHS will find this week.A “warts and all” probe into the health service ordered by health secretary Wes Streeting is to say cardiovascular health has been going in the wrong direction, with the British Heart Foundation describing the picture as “extremely concerning”.Former health minister Ara Darzi, who has carried out the review, is expected to say: “Once adjusted for age, the cardiovascular disease mortality rate for people aged under 75 dropped significantly between 2001 and 2010.“But improvements have stalled since then and the mortality rate started rising again during the Covid-19 pandemic.”Health Secretary Wes Streeting (Tejas Sandhu/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 CorrespondentWes Streeting has said NHS waiting lists need to fall by millions before the next general election.The health secretary vowed to return the health service to its “constitutional standards” by the end of Labour’s first term in office, allowing A&E patients to be seen within four hours and ensuring those referred for cancer treatments are treated within 62 days.Pressed over when NHS waiting lists would fall back below pre-pandemic levels, Mr Streeting said he would “certainly like to see them come down faster”.“We’ve committed to return the NHS by the end of this parliament to the constitutional standards we expect,” he told Sky News. It would mean waiting lists falling by millions before the latest date for a general election to be held in 2029.Asked how that could be achieved, Mr Streeting said: “To get to constitutional standards, NHS waiting lists will need to be millions lower by the end of this parliament.”Health secretary Wes Streeting said waiting lists need to fall by millions 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 CorrespondentLabour will use its upcoming annual conference to condemn the legacy of 14 years of Conservative rule.Senior figures including chancellor Rachel Reeves are expected to criticise the Tory party’s record on managing the country over its time in power.It is understood that Labour’s “inheritance” will be one of the big themes of the event, being held in Liverpool at the end of this month.The four-day event comes just weeks before Ms Reeves delivers the first ever Budget from a female chancellor.Sir Keir Starmer has already warned the country will be hit with a “very painful Budget”, as his new Labour administration tries to “fix the rot” left by the Tories.Rachel Reeves is expected to highlight the legacy left by the Conservative government at the Labour conference 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 insisted the US backed Britain’s decision to suspend some arms sales to Israel, after reports the move had angered Britain’s closest ally.The prime minister said Washington “understands the decision we have taken” and was told about the move in advance.He was quizzed about Britain’s decision to suspend around 30 of its 350 arms export licences to Israel after a review found there is a “clear risk” that they could be used to breach international humanitarian law.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer insisted there was no rift with the US over arms exports to Israel 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 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