Author: James Carter

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is among at least four cabinet ministers who have told Sir Keir Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure from Downing Street, Sky News and The Times have reported — as the Prime Minister faces the most serious threat to his leadership since taking office. Union sources told Sky News deputy political editor Sam Coates that Mahmood, who has served as Home Secretary since September 2025, is among those saying the Prime Minister should go. Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby also confirmed she had been told that Mahmood had visited Starmer in person on…

European Union prosecutors have opened a formal investigation into French right-wing leader Jordan Bardella and other members of his National Rally party over the alleged misuse of EU funds — a development that RN has dismissed as politically motivated and timed to damage its prospects less than a year before France’s presidential election. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to AFP that “following a preliminary review, an investigation has been opened on suspicion of fraud,” though an EPPO spokesman declined to comment further on an ongoing case. The probe stems from a complaint filed in Paris last December by anti-corruption…

Sir Keir Starmer’s grip on power is collapsing tonight after five government ministerial aides resigned to join a rebellion that has now seen more than 70 Labour MPs publicly call for him to stand down — as a bitter factional war erupts over who should replace him and how quickly. The resignations of Parliamentary Private Secretaries Joe Morris, Tom Rutland, Sally Jameson, Naushabah Khan and Melanie Ward mark a significant escalation, with aides to senior Cabinet ministers among those walking out. Morris serves Health Secretary Wes Streeting — widely regarded as the Blairite frontrunner to succeed Starmer — while Ward,…

Zack Polanski has admitted falsely claiming to have worked for the Ministry of Justice — the second CV inaccuracy the Green Party leader has been forced to correct in the space of a week, raising fresh questions about his credibility at a moment when his party is enjoying its most significant electoral surge in years. The Telegraph, which first revealed the discrepancy, found that Polanski’s campaign website stated in 2020 that he was “currently working at the Ministry of Justice on their training and diversity programmes.” When the outlet put the claim to the MoJ directly, the department confirmed it…

The Green Party is preparing to aggressively target Andy Burnham from the left if he is allowed to stand in a future Manchester by-election, according to party sources — a move that would set up one of the most watched constituency battles in recent British political history. Green sources have told journalists the party would “throw the kitchen sink” at any seat where Burnham stands, framing the Greater Manchester Mayor as part of the Labour establishment and positioning themselves as the authentic progressive alternative. The strategy builds directly on their stunning victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election in February…

Scottish Labour has descended into open civil war following its worst ever Holyrood election result, with an MP becoming the first parliamentarian to publicly demand Anas Sarwar’s resignation as the party grapples with being reduced to just 17 MSPs. Alloa and Grangemouth MP Brian Leishman broke cover on BBC Radio Scotland, calling on both Sarwar and his deputy Jackie Baillie to “absolutely” stand down and warning that the party faced “electoral oblivion” unless it returned to its radical roots. “If Scottish Labour don’t get back to our radical values and actually offering something different for the Scots that need it,…

Scotland Yard is investigating election posters that appeared in Tower Hamlets before Friday’s local elections after a formal complaint alleged they stirred up racial hatred against Jewish people in breach of the Public Order Act. The posters, which appeared around Shadwell station in the east London borough, depicted what has been described as a “monstrous characterisation” of a religious Jewish man in military uniform beneath the text “Labour’s monsters.” According to the complaint submitted to the Metropolitan Police, the image was “selected to appear menacing” and its characterisation was “anchored specifically in Jewish religious identity markers, not Israeli military conduct…

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has declared that British politics has been fundamentally reshaped, insisting the defining contest is now between his party and Reform UK — and dismissing the notion that the Greens are splitting the progressive vote. Speaking on Friday following the local election results, Polanski pointed to his party’s performance in the recent Gorton and Denton by-election as evidence that the Green vote was rising “right across the country.” He argued that Labour could no longer claim the progressive mantle, accusing the Government of continuing austerity and saying the idea that Keir Starmer’s administration was progressive was…

The Conservative Party has recaptured Westminster City Council, winning 32 of 54 seats to end Labour’s historic four-year control of one of Britain’s most symbolically significant local authorities — a result that stands out as a rare bright spot for the Tories in an otherwise punishing night for the party nationally. The Conservatives made gains in Bayswater, West End and Lancaster Gate wards, while support for Labour declined, mirroring broader results across the capital. Labour finished with 22 seats, having entered the election holding 28. Reform UK had also held two seats on the council going into Thursday’s vote, but…

Sir Keir Starmer is facing mounting calls from within his own party to set out a timetable for his departure from Downing Street, after a catastrophic set of local election results left Labour MPs in open revolt — with even senior figures refusing to rule out the Prime Minister’s imminent end. Starmer insisted on Friday morning that he was “not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos,” but his defiant language was swiftly seized upon by critics who noted he had stopped short of ruling out an orderly, planned exit — leaving the door open to precisely…