Keir

Some familiar, arcane terms are returning to the fore as the Tories study the tactics Labour used against Boris JohnsonThe lexicon of a British parliamentary scandal is arcane.As Keir Starmer fights to remain prime minister, he has had to respond to a “humble address”, had his judgment picked over during an “emergency opposition day debate” and now faces the ignominy of a “privilege motion”. Continue reading...

Olly Robbins gave MPs a classic civil servant’s performance – and there are lessons from history about how ministers should respondThe Whitehall satire Yes Minister was said to be Margaret Thatcher’s favourite TV show due to its proximity to reality, as the programme’s loquacious top civil servant, Sir Humphrey, might have put it.Yes Minister had a familiar groove: there would be a problem in response to which the mandarin would artfully deploy the most astonishing sophistry to avoid blame or get his own way. Jim Hacker, the largely clueless yet ambitious politician played by the late Paul Eddington, rarely won the day. Continue reading...

The prime minister’s leadership is still in the spotlight after Mandelson was appointed US ambassador after he failed security vettingLiz Kendall has repeated David Lammy’s claim the prime minister would have stopped Peter Mandelson’s appointment if he had known the peer had failed security vetting.Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News on Sunday, the science and technology said Keir Starmer was a “man of integrity”. Continue reading...

How did the PM’s chosen US ambassador fail security vetting but still get approved, what exactly did he know, and who is to blame?Downing Street has tried to do a lot of explaining, as has Keir Starmer himself. But there are still plenty of things we do not know about how Peter Mandelson failed security vetting, and what the prime minister did or did not know about it. Continue reading...

PM says he is ‘furious’ and did not know security officials had recommended that Mandelson be denied clearanceUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has said it was “unforgivable” that he was not told that Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting before being appointed as ambassador to Washington.The prime minister said he was “furious” about what had happened, as he insisted he had not known that security officials had initially recommended that Mandelson be denied clearance. Continue reading...

Eluned Morgan says US under Donald Trump is ‘not partner it once was’ with Iran threats and ‘contempt’ towards UKWales’s first minister has called on Keir Starmer to suspend a big joint defence project with the US, saying that under Donald Trump the country is “not the partner it once was”.In a statement on Wednesday, Labour’s Eluned Morgan cited the US president’s “contempt” towards the UK and his threat to “annihilate” Iran as reasons to halt the development of the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (Darc) programme in Pembrokeshire, part of the Aukus defence partnership between the UK, US and Australia. Continue reading...

PM rejects claim plan is integration with EU ‘by stealth’, saying changes will happen only if parliament passes lawUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has defended plans for the UK to align more closely with some EU rules without parliamentary votes, saying a closer relationship with Europe “is in the UK’s best interest”, particularly given the international turmoil over the Iran war.Speaking to the BBC after the Guardian revealed that ministers were planning to use so-called Henry VIII powers to dynamically align with EU rules by default, Starmer argued that, nearly 10 years after the Brexit referendum, it was time to “look forward”. Continue reading...