Politics

According to Joe Biden on the steps of Downing Street, by travelling to the UK he ‘couldn’t be meeting with a closer friend and greater ally. Our relationship is rock solid’. Really? In that case, will Biden be using his time in London to start talks for a US-UK trade deal? Will he be changing his mind and back Ben Wallace, rather than Ursula von der Leyen – who was an embarrassing failure as German defence minister – as the next secretary-general of Nato? Will he be taking notice of Britain’s objections to sending cluster bombs to Ukraine? The answer to the above questions, of course, is ‘no’, ‘no’ and

Another day, another investigation into GB News. This time though it’s not Ofcom probing the self-proclaimed ‘people’s channel’, but rather the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Daniel Greenberg KC today opened a probe into one of its hosts, Lee Anderson, over claims that he has breached the MPs’ code of conduct. It comes after the Conservative party deputy chairman filmed a promotional video for his television show on the roof terrace in parliament. According to House of Commons rules, ‘members must ensure that the use of facilities and services provided to them by Parliament, including an office, is in support of their parliamentary activities.’ Whoops! This is just the latest in

There’s a moment in Bob Woodward’s gripping book Peril, the account of the buildup to and aftermath of the 2020 US presidential election, when Democrat fixer Anita Dunn tells Joe Biden, languishing in his party’s primary race, where his strength as a campaigner lies. Most candidates, Dunn mused, struggle with their message. Biden’s route to power, ultimately successful, lay in the fact that he was the message. As Humza Yousaf passes the 100-day mark as first minister of Scotland, and new polling out today reveals that half of Scots believe he is doing a bad job, we can reasonably reflect that not only is he not the message, but that he is

The dust is settling after the SNP Westminster group’s deputy leader announced she would be standing down at the next election — but has Mhairi Black’s record in parliament been scrutinised quite enough? Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon says she is ‘gutted’ about Black’s departure, while FM Humza Yousaf called Black a ‘trailblazer’. But Mr S isn’t so sure they should be all that sad to see the back of her… It appears the Westminster group’s deputy leader has more bark than bite. Of all the SNP’s 2015 intake who remain in parliament, Black has made the fewest spoken contributions — and by a rather large margin. SNP MP Alison

Will Labour and the Tories be heading into the next election ‘following the same tram lines on spending?’ That was the question the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg put to Rachel Reeves this morning, as the shadow chancellor insisted once again that the Labour party is committed to fiscal discipline, promising to ‘not play fast and loose with the public finances’. Labour may not need to show a radical difference in spending priorities if they can stand out in other areas Reeves tried to suggest the differences in tax-and-spend policy would still be significant, citing Labour’s proposed changes to non-domiciled tax status in the UK. But if this is really going to

The papers were heavily focused today on the allegations that a BBC presenter paid a 17-year-old for sexually explicit photos. The mother of the victim has claimed that the presenter stayed on air for weeks after the complaint was made. The shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told Sophy Ridge on Sky that this scandal goes beyond the BBC and questioned wider investigations processes. She also said that the Corporation and other broadcasters ‘need to get a grip’. Rachel Reeves – cluster bombs are not an appropriate weapon Reeves said she was concerned that the US had agreed to supply Ukraine with cluster bombs. The bombs are banned under the Geneva Convention