Mandelson mess and Middle East U-turns
It has been a week of red faces for party leaders. On Thursday, Keir Starmer apologised and took personal responsibility for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US – after a fir...
13 Mar 36min
Iran shock for Starmer
A week into the Iran war and Sir Keir Starmer is scrambling to defend the UK’s position on the conflict. Criticised by Donald Trump over blocking the US from using British military bases to launch ini...
6 Mar 35min
Green grief for Starmer: by-election special
The Gorton and Denton by-election was supposedly a three-horse race, but on polling day the Green Party stormed to victory by a vast margin. It was a devastating defeat for Labour, which was pushed in...
27 Feb 31min
Farage against the machine
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage unveiled his ‘shadow cabinet’ at a glitzy event in London this week, with a newly bespectacled Robert Jenrick announced as ‘shadow chancellor’. The event was a hit with R...
20 Feb 36min
Mandarin mayhem
After another torrid week for the prime minister, the focus has shifted from No 10 to Whitehall as the UK’s top civil servant is shown the door. Cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald had been in the job...
13 Feb 31min
Mandelson, money - and the risk to the prime minister
Fresh revelations about Peter Mandelson’s relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have sparked a political explosion in Westminster, reopening questions about Keir Starmer’s decis...
6 Feb 34min
Chinese whispers — at home and abroad
Sir Keir Starmer is 5,000 miles away in China, meeting President Xi Jinping to drum up investment and deepen relations, but back on the home front the PM’s leadership looks increasingly beset. Manches...
30 Jan 36min
When the ‘special relationship’ isn’t so special
From ‘brilliant ally’ to ‘weak and stupid’ within the same paragraph, it’s hard to know how to handle the impulsive outbursts from America’s 47th President. And yet, this is the position in which the ...
23 Jan 35min
