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Oh dear. It seems that the office of the Hon. Member for Spen Valley has put their foot in it again. Kim Leadbeater might have hoped for a quieter life now that her much-criticised Assisted Dying Private Members’ Bill narrowly scraped through the Commons by 23 votes on Friday. But Leadbeater has started the new week off in the worst possible way in her capacity as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. Leadbeater’s office gaily sent around an email to her Labour comrades this afternoon, giving them their lines to take at this week’s oral questions on Thursday. ‘Dear colleagues’, it began, ‘we’re writing ahead… to share

Wes Streeting has announced yet another inquiry into NHS maternity safety: this time a national investigation which the Health Secretary wants to address ‘systemic problems dating back over 15 years.’ This rapid review, modelled on the Darzi review of the NHS, will report in December 2025 and will work across the entire maternity system, using the findings of previous reviews and urgently examining the ten worst-performing maternity services in the country. The resistance within the NHS to being honest about what’s really driving this maternity crisis would make it difficult for any review, inquiry or other format to promise real change In a speech to the Royal College of Obstetricians

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced in the Commons this afternoon that the UK government will proscribe Palestine Action. The move comes after members of the activist group broke into RAF Brize Norton and graffitied two military planes. In a statement, Cooper said: ‘A draft proscription order will be laid in Parliament on Monday 30 June. If passed, it will make it illegal to be a member of, or invite support for, Palestine Action.’ And the Metropolitan police have taken no chances with them in London. The force has banned protests planned for today from taking place outside parliament, imposing an exclusion zone around Westminster. Meanwhile police have said that

Reform UK are on the rise – quite literally. The party is planning to move one floor up in their headquarters at Millbank Tower, giving its 40-odd staff a commanding view of Westminster from their office. That change in circumstance was reflected in Nigel Farage’s speech this morning, when he strolled in to Westminster’s Church House to set out his party’s pitch to non-doms. The Clacton MP told journalists that ‘tens of thousands’ of people would be tempted to the UK by the offer of the card The party’s headline announcement today was the launch of a new ‘Britannia card’. This would be a one-off £250,000 fee which would allow