“It’s day and night. The [conservatives] were tetchy, very closed-minded. But now the guy I have opposite me is well-rounded, more convivial, humorous,” said one outgoing French minister who, like others quoted here, was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. The Elysée Palace declined to comment for this story. While the far-right riots across … Read more
The presidency attacked on Tuesday former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his comment warning security agencies against using lethal force against looters and arsonists during the #EndBadGovernance protests. Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, responded to Atiku in a statement shared via his X handle late on Tuesday. Mr Onanuga … Read more
4) Labour is boxed in on tax The theater around Monday’s speech is seen by many as an attempt to roll the pitch for potential, undisclosed tax rises in October, when Reeves will deliver her first budget. And that’s what the Tories are arguing, too. “She will fool absolutely no one with a shameless attempt … Read more
To try and woo the members, whose “loyalty and dedication” she marveled at, the backbench Essex MP pledged to give them a “much greater voice and role” in policy making, offering a democratically elected party chairman. Internally, Patel emphasized the need for rebuttal units and professional party agents to help win seats. Having spent the … Read more
Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard are here with their guide to the day ahead in politics. They discuss what was on the agenda at the Biden and Starmer meeting including Ukraine, EU alignments and, of course, whether football’s coming home. Plus, what Labour are doing to alleviate overcrowding in … Read more
Patel spent the last two years on the backbenches after serving as home secretary when Boris Johnson was in No. 10. A prominent figure on the right, she’s dubbed a “dark horse” of the campaign who can keep the right wing on side while potentially winning over One Nation centrist MPs averse to a harder-right … Read more
LONDON — Keir Starmer admitted he didn’t believe the exit poll released Thursday evening which forecast the result of the general election. Speaking in his first press conference as prime minister, Starmer said: “I was pleased to see that exit poll. I didn’t believe it until, like everybody else, I stayed up to watch every … Read more
The U.K. Labour party is celebrating a landslide victory. Keir Starmer’s party has 411 seats, excluding the speaker’s, and a large majority in the House of Commons. His tally includes a number of “red wall” constituencies the party lost to the Conservatives in the previous election in 2019, and seats the Scottish National Party had … Read more
The pound advanced Friday after Britain’s centre-left Labour Party clinched an expected landslide election victory to end 14 years of right-wing Conservative rule. London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index gave up early gains following news that Keir Starmer will become Britain’s new prime minister after Labour trounced Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives as Wall Street opened flat following … Read more
Labour aides say NHS funding and mental health services (along with the knock-on effect on welfare claims) jostle at the top of the party’s in-tray — as well as acute prison overcrowding, court backlogs and reoffending; and the sheer amount of time it takes to build anything. Asked to describe the land Labour inherits, a … Read more
