“The pescatarian forced to eat dog meat” - why Morgan McSweeney’s real fault was to force Keir Starmer to be something he is not - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

PM's focus on vetting follow multiple reports about the failures in Mandelson's case, including our own stories: McSweeney asked if ambo role could be part-time observer.co.uk/news/politic... Developed vetting interviews failed to ask about Epstein observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Brace for a seismic week: 🚨 PM will update the country about standards & vetting changes 🚨 Reshuffle rumours suggest a possible cull of "Morgan’s shiny stars" 🚨 PM to address PLP tmr night 🚨 But can he last 3 months to locals? MPs question if he can last 3 days observer.co.uk/news/politic...

“The pescatarian forced to eat dog meat” - why Morgan McSweeney’s real fault was to force Keir Starmer to be something he is not - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Labour donors warn Keir Starmer to get a grip - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social as the endgame nears for the PM observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Keir Starmer has a WhatsApp group with Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz - the mood music has changed on defence and security in Europe as UK tries again to join €150 bn rearmament fund observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

The ice age “is thawing” the PM told me in China - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on a fascinating week observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

The ice age “is thawing” the PM told me in China - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on a fascinating week observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Prime minister urged to forge new links with EU. Senior figures in No 10 are urging Starmer to keep the customs union on the table. ✍️ @rachelsylvester.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3O2IhJS

“Its gross how this tech broligopoly has captured the presidency” - I spoke to Martha Lane Fox for The Observer Walk @theobserveruk.bsky.social in the place she learned to walk aged 1 and again at 31 observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

I was sexually assaulted by an extremely well known and published gynaecologist. This shit is everywhere.

Last year a doctor was found guilty of “serious sexual misconduct” with a schoolgirl who was a former patient but instead of being struck off he was just suspended for 12 months. My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social about the failure of medical tribunals observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

“Terrorism content offers excitement, meaning and clarity, and teenage brains are unable to deal with it,” independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Jonathan Hall tells @theobserveruk.bsky.social as pressure grows on PM to ban social media for under-16s observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Why Jenrick’s defection was a blessing in disguise for Badenoch - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

“We now have a president who does not share our values, does not share our world view” one senior figure told me. My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the splits within Government about how to deal with Trump as the rules-based world order wobbles observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Hillsborough law could leave families waiting even longer in search for justice. The bill is a personal cause of Starmer’s but there are fears that it will become a ‘lawyer’s charter’, writes @rachelsylvester.bsky.social. https://bit.ly/4s8A5Yd

The Hillsborough Law currently going through Parliament could cost £183 million a year , according to the Government impact assessment amid fears it will be a “lawyers’ charter” that delays justice for bereaved families. My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Starmer is being urged to back a ban on social media for under-16s but tells me he “personally” is opposed to a “blanket ban”. “I think it’s more about how you control the content children can see” the PM said in an interview with @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

This is such an insightful post from @peterhyman.bsky.social. It’s amazing how uninterested so many in government seem to be in getting from A to B or even in what B is. A rare exception was Shabana Mahmood’s sentencing reforms open.substack.com/pub/peterhym...

Keir Starmer wants Angela Rayner to return to cabinet: “Yes. She’s hugely talented” He told @rachelsylvester.bsky.social: “Yes, of course I do. I was really sad we lost her. As I said to her at the time, she’s going to be a major voice in the Labour movement” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I’ve interviewed Keir Starmer for @theobserveruk.bsky.social. He is defiant about his leadership and says he’ll prove his critics wrong. He says Angela Rayner will be back in Cabinet, the Greens are “nuts” and young people have been “collateral damage” of past policy observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Keir Starmer tells me the “hugely talented” Angela Rayner will be back in the cabinet. She is “the best social mobility story this country has ever seen” he says in our interview for @theobserveruk.bsky.social. Read the full piece here : observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Two thirds of Reform donations come from donors resident overseas or with offshore interests overseas - astonishing story by @catneilan.bsky.social in @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

I’ve interviewed Keir Starmer for @theobserveruk.bsky.social. He is defiant about his leadership and says he’ll prove his critics wrong. He says Angela Rayner will be back in Cabinet, the Greens are “nuts” and young people have been “collateral damage” of past policy observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

In 2016 “right-wingers were intoxicated by having the crowd on their side” like the “school dweeb who befriends the tough kids”. Great piece by Janan Ganesh on why Labour should promise to rejoin the single market www.ft.com/content/ef94...

Truly shocking that Rachel Reeves had the audacity to call herself the U14 girls chess champions when she won the U14 girls chess championship but some bloke thought she was talking about something else.

“The problem is we have neither Cabinet government nor sofa government” one Cabinet minister told me as fallout from the Budget continues. @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Best thing I’ve read so far on the choices behind the Budget from @rachelsylvester.bsky.social

Great piece by @tombaldwin66.bsky.social in @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the rise of the superadviser and why they dominate British politics observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Excellent telling of the Budget’s story - by @rachelsylvester.bsky.social

Inside the Budget: from sweary rants to swervy U-turns, my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on how a defining moment for the Government became a battle for political survival observer.co.uk/news/politic...

“I fell in love with a gorgeous girl who worked in a little bric-a-brac shop” - I spoke to @richardbranson.bsky.social about his 50 year romance with his wife Joan, who died this week, as we walked around Notting Hill, “the place where it all began”. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

The army is turning to gamers in the age of drone warfare - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

"My NHS colleagues & I weren’t willing to let the bodies pile high in their thousands. Boris no longer mentions them at all." My piece on the responses to the UK Covid-UK Inquiry report that try to airbrush the dead away. Sincere thanks, @theobserveruk.bsky.social. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

“I like both Jeremy and Zarah both politically and personally” - I spoke to @zackpolanski.bsky.social for @theobserveruk.bsky.social about why he’d welcome Corbyn and Sultana into the Greens, being bullied at school and how he thinks Britain is ready for a gay PM observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Wes Streeting @wesstreeting.bsky.social promises to overturn “jaw-dropping” and “indefensible” NHS compensation scheme that means poor families of babies brain-damaged at birth get lower payouts than rich parents. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

A budget swerve and a disastrous briefing lead more Labour MPs to ask if a leadership change might be due sooner than expected. Read more as Rachel Sylvester and @catneilan.bsky.social report: https://bit.ly/484NxTS

Along with all the hardline immigration measures the government will also this week announce 3 new “safe and legal routes” for refugees to come to the UK, Shabana Mahmood tells me. The devil will be in the detail - and the numbers - which she says have not yet been set observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Political authority, like market confidence, is easy to lose and hard to regain - @catneilan.bsky.social and I report on the week that No 10 lost control observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Starmer's removal is "inevitable now," says one minister The chaos united previously "mutually suspicious" people against the PM, says another But what caused it? Sources say a row between Wes Streeting and Morgan McSweeney weeks ago may have been key 👇 observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Thousands to lose right to a jury trial as government backs new intermediate court to help tackle the backlog - my story for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

“A process of intimidation that the BBC’s supporters have long feared has been playing out behind closed doors is now unfolding in plain sight” - @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the “political interference” that led to the departure of two most senior figures at the BBC observer.co.uk/opinion-and-...

An important call for more radical education exam reform from leading scientists. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Britain’s top scientists have written to the PM warning that the education system is holding back children and the country and expressing concern about the timidity of the government’s curriculum and assessment review @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

‘This is a politics built on authenticity, straight talking and straight action’ ✍️ Zack Polanski on Zohran Mamdani https://bit.ly/49CGAeW

This article says what needs to be said about the appalling Curriculum and (forgotten) Assessment review. Well done @rachelsylvester.bsky.social Bit.ly/4oqbHio

The government’s curriculum and assessment review is a huge missed opportunity but it’s not too late for the PM to champion radical reform. My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on why education should be Keir Starmer’s overriding mission observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

NEW: At least five of England’s top-rated maternity units have been forced to turn pregnant women away because of “significant and unanticipated increases in demand", despite birth rates falling across the country. @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Also in the paper this weekend: @rachelsylvester.bsky.social on how to fix the fact that the NHS is spending almost as much on clinical negligence claims related to maternity care as it does on maternity care itself observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

It’s shocking that the NHS spends almost as much on clinical negligence claims related to maternity care as it does on maternity care itself - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the crisis in maternity services and how to fix it observer.co.uk/news/nationa...