Monday’s @theguardian.com front page: Starmer fights to regain control over party after McSweeney exit www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Absolutely this.

ANALYIS: For some, Morgan McSweeney’s resignation removes an obstacle to the eventual downfall of Keir Starmer himself - by @kiranstacey.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

NEW: An email has just gone round No 10 staff confirming that the PM has asked Jill Cuthbertson and Vidhya Alakeson to be acting chiefs of staff, with immediate effect.

NEW: Hearing that Starmer is considering making Vidhya Alakeson and Jill Cuthbertson, Morgan McSweeney's deputies, his joint chiefs of staff.

NEW: McSweeney allies suggest he carried can for Starmer over Mandelson decision. They say it was wrong to suggest he pushed for appointment, and was careful to ensure others shared views, which were unanimous. “He gave his advice, but that’s all it was. Keir made the decision.”

BREAKING: Morgan McSweeney quits as Keir Starmer's chief of staff amid fall-out from the Mandelson scandal

Brilliant line up on @BBCRadio4 #WeekInWestminster - do listen! 🌎 Natalie Fleet & Bernard Jenkin on Mandelson fall-out 🇪🇺 Anneliese Dodds & Peter Lilley on EU reset 💷 Kate Ogden & Chris Curtis on student loans 😱 Anthony Seldon & Anne Perkins on political scandals www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Mandelson latest

Labour MPs & party insiders tell me they’ve never seen Keir Starmer so angry as over Mandelson’s lies about Epstein links. But those who know him well say that anger has now turned inwards. That Starmer is, above all else, a man of public service, and will be grappling with his conscious this w/e.

V insightful analysis by @jessicaelgot.bsky.social on despair inside Labour party over Keir Starmer - and how what’s saving him for now is lack of obvious successor. The Guardian | ‘If someone had pulled the trigger’: MPs rue lack of challenger to oust Starmer www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Friday’s @theguardian.com front page: Starmer in appeal to Labour MPs as pressure grows for No 10 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

We are 🅻🅸🆅🅴 comment below & share to join the debate Joining Robert and Pippa tonight 👇 🔵Conservative Party Leader, Kemi Badenoch MP 📺Broadcaster, Piers Morgan 🌹Labour, Becky Long-Bailey 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿SNP Leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn MP #Peston youtube.com/live/vzma63Y...

Thursday’s @theguardian.com front page: ‘It’s over’ for Starmer, say Labour MPs amid fury over Mandelson www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

NEW: Govt has updated own amendment to allow ISC to vet Mandelson docs after Labour MPs warned they would vote down attempts to limit disclosures about appointment as ambassador. Tories will back a/ment taking some immediate peril away from Starmer.

It’s shaping up to be another mad day in yet another mad week of politics 😮‍💨 So let Robert and Pippa give you the inside track on what’s really going on and what it really means tonight 👇 🔴 9PM LIVE X & YouTube 📺 1045PM ITV1 #Peston

ANALYSIS: Peter Mandelson scandal shortens odds on Keir Starmer following him out the door - @peterwalker99.bsky.social writes www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Mandelson latest👇 Tories plan to use arcane parly procedure ('humble address') to push for release of internal documents relating to Mandelson's US ambo appt. Rather than face difficult vote amid anger among Labour MPs, govt is not seeking to oppose Tory motion but instead will try to amend it.

Wednesday’s @theguardian.com front page: Met investigation into Mandelson over alleged Epstein email links www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

A few people asking about fascinating story by @rowenamason.bsky.social (which others have followed up/ expanded on) so sharing here 👇 She & @guardianheather.bsky.social revealed that Nigel Farage’s trip to Davos was hosted and paid for by the $10bn family trust of an Iranian-born billionaire.

BREAKING: Met police to formally launch criminal investigation into allegations that Peter Mandelson leaked Downing Street emails and market sensitive information to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

NEW: Reform UK says it would re-impose the two-child benefit cap - scrapped by Labour - for most families to fund £3bn support package for pubs.

BREAKING: Lord Mandelson is to step down from the House of Lords immediately. But he will keep his title as a peerage is bestowed for life - unless government changes the law.

BREAKING: Met Police reviewing reports about Mandelson’s emails to Epstein to decide if to investigate. “The Met has received a number of reports relating to alleged misconduct in a public office. The reports will all be reviewed to determine if they meet the criminal threshold for investigation.”

NEW: Emily Thornberry, Labour chair of foreign affairs committee, says police should investigate emails. "Surely this is not a matter of whether Mandelson should be in the Lords [but]... of whether the police should be involved." SNP, Lib Dems and PC have all already called for police involvement

🚨 Peter Mandelson, Jeffrey Epstein and what Labour knew when - @kiranstacey.bsky.social & I chew it all over in our latest podcast www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...

BREAKING: Gordon Brown says he has asked Cabinet Secretary to investigate disclosure of "confidential and market sensitive information" allegedly from Peter Mandelson to Jeffrey Epstein. Former PM says he first asked CS to do this in September but biz department found no records.

BREAKING: Keir Starmer has urged House of Lords to urgently modernise disciplinary procedures so that Peter Mandelson can be stripped of his peerage and removed from upper chamber.

BREAKING: Labour Party says disciplinary action against Peter Mandelson was already underway as result of Epstein affair.

BREAKING: Peter Mandelson resigns from Labour to avoid causing "further embarrassment" to party as result of Epstein links.

NEW: UK should consider re-entering talks for defence pact with the EU, Keir Starmer has said, arguing that Europe needs to “step up and do more” to defend itself in uncertain times. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Really fascinating read on the race for Wales in the run-up to the May elections by Bethan McKernan www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Keir Starmer has said Andrew Mounbatten-Windsor should testify before US Congress about links to late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

MY ANALYSIS: Keir Starmer hopes his China trip will begin the thaw after recent ice age: my take on a fascinating few days 👇 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

I'm not prone to exaggeration but this is probably the biggest scoop I've ever been involved in Mandelson's partner took £10,000 from Epstein to pay for his osteopath course while Mandelson was de facto UK deputy prime minister, according to new files more to follow www.ft.com/content/c950...

💥Keir Starmer has signalled support for Donald Trump’s aggressive approach towards Iran, saying it’s vital Iranian leadership is not able to develop nuclear weapons. While PM did not comment directly on possibility of US military strikes on Iran, he said allies needed to face up to nuclear issue…

BREAKING: China has immediately lifted sanctions imposed on serving British MPs and peers in significant sign of warming relations after Keir Starmer travelled to Beijing for talks with Xi Jinping.

The inevitable has happened…

What happened when Keir Starmer met Xi Jinping? My take from Beijing in our latest #PWUK podcast. Plus diplomacy, economic reality, food and football… (with a little bit of 🏓 for @kiranstacey.bsky.social) www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...

NEW: Keir Starmer has taken a major step towards rapprochement with China - and the door has been opened to a return visit from Xi Jinping, drawing immediate anger from British critics of Beijing 👇 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Andy Burnham calls out Westminster culture of briefing against politicians without impunity...

🇬🇧🇨🇳Keir Starmer meets Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing

NEW: President Xi says UK-China relationship in recent years had seen “twists and turns” that did not serve interests of two countries.

NEW: Keir Starmer is meeting Chinese president Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing. Earlier, UK PM said: “We have made this trip because I believe it is strongly in our common interest to find positive ways to work together, and that has been our long-standing position.”

📣 EXC - Assisted dying bill backers are preparing to use the Parliament Act to force through the law if it is blocked by peers. Tonight in the @theguardian.com they set out how they can do that. The move is a significant escalation as Lords looks set to talk out the bill

Not lost on me that I’m posting this from a burner phone in Beijing… “When PMs travel to China, heightened security arrangements are a given – as is quiet game of cat and mouse that takes place as each country tests each other’s tradecraft and capabilities.” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

NEW: Keir Starmer says he’ll “raise the issues that need to be raised” on human rights with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, as he arrives in Beijing for first trip to country by UK leader in 8 years.

Keir Starmer has accused the Reform UK candidate in Gorton & Denton byelection of “toxic division” after he refused to disown claim that UK-born people from minority backgrounds aren’t necessarily British.

ANALYSIS: With Andy Burnham blocked, Labour’s attention turns back to Angela Rayner… “Angela says she took the scars for Corbyn, she took the scars for Starmer, and so next time she takes the scars it will be for herself,” a senior Labour figure says. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

EXCL: A row between government departments has broken out after the Department of Health proposed cutting all its funding for physical education in schools @jessicaelgot.bsky.social reveals www.theguardian.com/society/2026...