Guardian Politics

The architects of Brexit know it has failed. That presents Andy Burnham with an opportunity to set a bolder new agendaModesty is not a trait commonly associated with Nigel Farage. Something else must explain the Reform UK leader’s reluctance to talk about what is undoubtedly his biggest achievement.Few individuals can boast of having influenced British politics as drastically as Mr Farage, with his record of campaigning for Brexit before that word was even coined. He will for ever be associated

Scotland Yard confirms it is investigating allegations broadcast by Channel 4 News after undercover stingThe Metropolitan police will investigate allegations that Reform UK plotted to break electoral law that bans foreign donations as part of a wider inquiry into the party’s funding.The force confirmed it would examine the claims after Channel 4 News broadcast an undercover sting by reporters from Verbatim, in which one of them posed as a foreign donor seeking to fund Reform. Continue reading...

Leader of the opposition rehashes last week’s questions as she comes up short against a PM who preaches consensus politicsThe case of the dog that didn’t bark in the night. Sometimes prime minister’s questions are as notable for the topics that the leader of the opposition doesn’t ask about as for the ones she does. So you have to assume that Kemi Badenoch now realises she was on the wrong side of public opinion on the weekend’s protests and the government’s decision to impose sanctions on Israe

Party denies wrongdoing after Scotland Yard confirms it is investigating allegations broadcast by Channel 4 after undercover stingAlex Burghart, the deputy Tory leader, was giving interviews this morning. On Israel, he opened up a new line of attack against the government, accusing it of hypocrisy. This is what he told GB News.At the same time that Labour were saying all these things about Israel in the House of Commons, they put out a communique.They put out an account of a conversation that An

Wall Street CEO holds meeting with John Healey amid speculation over windfall tax on banks in October budgetJamie Dimon, the chief executive of the largest US bank, JP Morgan, is understood to have warned the UK chancellor, John Healey, against raising taxes on banks in his inaugural budget in October.The Wall Street billionaire met the new chancellor on Wednesday and cautioned him that higher taxes could put investment and employment in the UK at risk, it is understood. Continue reading...

The foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, is facing a backlash over the government’s sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank after the chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, said the safety of British Jews could be at risk. Miliband has rejected the warnings, emphasising that ministers can confront the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government while also fighting antisemitism. Lucy Hough speaks to diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour – watch on YouTube Continue reading...

UK foreign secretary says international community including US shares ‘frustration’ at Israel’s failure to constrain illegal settlersBritish intelligence has been given assurances by its Israeli counterpart that information sharing with the UK will continue as before, Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary has said.The disclosure counters predictions that his decision to impose a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements would lead to a collapse in cooperation between the agencies. Continue read

Government remains confident in under-pressure Martin Rolfe but transport secretary believes glitch was avoidableHow have you been affected by UK air traffic disruption?Business live – latest updatesThe head of the air traffic control provider Nats has been given a week to report back on the reasons for a technical failure that grounded thousands of flights, as the transport secretary declared she did “not believe the issue was unavoidable”.Heidi Alexander said on Tuesday she had also commission

While a survey found Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters to be the strongest backers of such a ban on trade, even Tory and Reform voters were in favour overallUK politics live – latest updatesThere was a time when placing Israel under strict trade sanctions would have been a politically risky thing for a British prime minister to do. Andy Burnham, however, considers it an electoral asset.As Kemi Badenoch attacked him over defence spending at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Burnham delibera

Green leader says ministers must stop ‘hiding the truth’ about threat to UK security from climate and nature crisisZack Polanski has challenged Andy Burnham’s government to publish an unredacted version of an explosive report by the UK’s spy chiefs that found the collapse of overseas ecosystems would have catastrophic consequences for the UK’s national security.The Green party leader in England said the prime minister should come clean about the scale and impact of the climate and nature crisis

The mood at the Reform conference was volatile and brittle. But the forces massing further to the right of the party are testament to its impactFor much of the time since Nigel Farage resumed the Reform UK leadership two long years ago, his party has been an island of relative stability in the increasingly rough sea of British politics. While other parties plunged queasily in the polls, messily purged dissidents, argued publicly about their direction and changed leaders, Farage dominated Reform

At 82, the politician and anti-corruption champion is indefatigable. She discusses fighting the BNP, tackling antisemitism, and why, with her new memoir, she’s reclaiming the word ‘battleaxe’Margaret Hodge doesn’t do small talk. “So, how d’you think Andy’s doing?” is her opening gambit. “Not too bad, huh? I think he’s had a really good start.” It’s classic Hodge – sufficiently curious to ask the question about the new Labour prime minister, and assertive enough to provide the answer before you g

Far-right parties, Maga ideology and Kremlin money are conniving to suffocate liberal idealism for another generationNot all that long ago, Europe was a beacon of liberal idealism. One memoir recalls it as an era “comfortably saturated with confidence in the unfailing and binding power of tolerance and conciliation”. The economic system seemed obviously preferable to barbarous alternatives. “People honestly believed that the divergencies and the boundaries between nations and sects would gradual

Exclusive: Joyce Thomas, 78, describes her ‘nightmare’ hours before the deadline for her removal from countryA 78-year-old British widow facing deportation over from Sweden over Brexit has said she feels she is facing a “death sentence” just hours before she was due to be removed from the country.“I just want this nightmare to go away before I die,” says Joyce Thomas. “It is dragging me down. I am really not the same person I was. This has taken years. I just feel sick,” she adds as she packs he

Opposition to Miliband’s announcement of sanctions rings hollow – helped by fewer than 10 Tory backbenchers turning up to debateNobody can say they weren’t warned. The Andy Burnham government might have looked like Continuity Keir with more positive vibes for the first six weeks or so, but on Tuesday a new line was drawn. When Burnham said he felt Labour had not done enough on Palestine and Gaza, he had meant it. His decision to impose trade sanctions on illegal settlements in the West Bank was

Ed Miliband has delivered Britain’s toughest indictment of Israeli conduct in Palestinian lands - and rightly says this has economic consequencesRarely in recent years has the Commons felt like the cockpit of history. On Tuesday it did. The foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, placed Britain at the head of a 12-country coalition considering economic restrictions on Israel’s illegal settlements, with the UK, France and Canada committing to national trade bans.The move comes after escalating numbers of

International comparisons suggest that some things are being done right in England’s classroomsTeachers, headteachers, children, parents and politicians should all feel proud of England’s schools, which have bucked a disappointing international trend. Results from 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science have held up well compared with 90 other countries, according to the programme for international student assessment (Pisa). Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland did not match England’s success

Despite series of scandals, members remain loyal to their leader as questions over his successor growFew British politicians unleash the kind of evangelical zeal among their party faithful as Nigel Farage. Despite being weighed down by weeks of scandal, last weekend’s Reform UK conference showed that – as far as the membership is concerned – the lustre has not come off their man.So it was notable that Farage felt compelled to reassure his disciples that he wasn’t going anywhere. “I’m only here b

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‘Sometimes we will get things wrong and get a bit of a kicking for it,’ party leader tells gathering in Birmingham No real mention by Anderson of the problems that overshadowed events yesterday. He ended his opening speech saying: "Yesterday was great. Today is going to be absolutely brilliant.”Laila Cunningham is speaking next. Continue reading...