“By dismissing the socially conservative streak of the movement as an aberration, we risk alienating the very heartlands we should aspire to represent”, writes @connornaismithmp.bsky.social 🗣️ Why Blue Labour is a key component of True Labour www.politics.co.uk/mp-comment/2...

[email protected] with the rebuttal: “Blue Labour isn’t a Tory-lite infiltration. It is a reminder that work is a vocation, not just a contract, that relationships matter more than abstract rights and that patriotism is a valid expression of solidarity”

Not insignificant. Johnson was elected in 2000 as among the first Green MLAs. He stood as the Green London mayoral candidate in 2000 & 2004 He was also the Green male principal speaker from 2001-2003, before backing the current leadership model in the Green 2007 internal referendum

“The lesson of 2001 is clear. Disease does not respect borders. Complacency carries a cost measured in billions”, writes Labour MP @bengoldsborough.bsky.social 🗣️ Biosecurity must be placed at the heart of our national security strategy www.politics.co.uk/mp-comment/2...

“Treating our democracy as a bargaining chip in an age of populist anti-democratic movements would be an act of reckless complacency”, write Labour MPs @timrocamp.bsky.social and @drbeccycoopermp.bsky.social ✍️ Labour must not bind Britain’s fate to the failing electoral system

Very good piece. The media has spent a lot of time on Labour and Reform's defeats in Gorton & Denton, but the real story is the rise of the Greens.

“If the Gorton and Denton by-election reflects the state of Labour under Starmer, it is equally a testament to the transformation of the Green Party under Zack Polanski’s leadership.” www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

Compare and contrast. Wes Streeting’s response to Gorton and Denton (left), via @pronouncedalva.bsky.social on X, and Keir Starmer’s (right) Difficult not to read Streeting’s speech as directly responding to the position taken by Starmer

🚨BREAKING: Josh Simons resigns as a Cabinet Office minister over Labour Together scandal The Labour MP says he had become a “distraction”

“The contest represents the first by-election in Great Britain since the 1945 Combined Scottish Universities election in which neither of the two best-performing candidates came from the Conservative Party, Labour, or Liberal Democrats…” www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

The Green surge is coming for Keir Starmer www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

Only reasonable that Advance UK should now merge into the Monster Raving Loony Party

“This diagnosis is false and the proposed cure is a recipe for division rather than unity”, writes @andrewcopson.bsky.social of @humanists.uk ✍️ Governing by nostalgia: Reform’s crusade for ‘Christian values’ offers false comfort www.politics.co.uk/opinion/2026...

“To ensure that climate denialism does not take root in our politics, the benefits of addressing climate change and biodiversity loss must be tangible”, writes Labour MP Olivia Blake Can climate adaptation strengthen UK national security? www.politics.co.uk/mp-comment/2...

Predictably, the Reform exiles are fighting over who should join/merge with whose party

Starter for 10: The first manifesto of a forerunner to which modern political party proposed a mass emigration scheme, withdrawal from the EEC and a “compulsory national part-time militia”?

To think Osborne was Starmer’s pick for US ambassador. Impossible to reconcile this with his anti-austerity rage at PMQs yesterday PM told Ed Davey to “take accountability and take responsibility for what he has inflicted on this country.” Points once again to Starmer’s lack of politics

Keir Starmer to Ed Davey: “People in this country, millions of people have been let down for years and years, and one of the reasons was austerity which his party supported. "He should take accountability and take responsibility for what he has inflicted on this country.”

From No 10: Starmer told political cabinet this morning that “the whole of the Labour Party wants Anas Sarwar to become First Minister and will fight for a Labour government in Scotland.”

Reaction to Sarwar suggests Labour isn’t ready to depose Starmer Some thoughts for @politics.co.uk as Sarwar’s intervention fails to ignite a leadership putsch at Westminster 👇 www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

🚨 Anas Sarwar: "I have to do what is right for my country, Scotland. "It is not easy and not without pain, but my first priority and first loyalty is to my country... "The distraction has to end and the leadership in Downing Street has to change."

Silence over the last 24 hours from the cabinet is getting more and more difficult to ignore. Not sure we've heard from a senior minister since McFadden backed McSweeney on Sunday morning

‘We go forward from here’, Starmer declares after two top aides resign in 24 hours www.politics.co.uk/news/2026/02...

Tim Allan had been planning for a “strong start in January”. He has now resigned after only five months as Starmer's director of communications

“Labour lacks its own in-house assassination bureau; there is no reliable production line of ‘men in grey suits’ who can coordinate a lethal visitation while an incumbent remains in place.” www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

“The bottom line is that Starmer’s position is terminally vulnerable, but protected by a combination of process and political circumstance… “The length of Starmer’s stay of execution lies with the Labour herd. The prime minister is only in a position to endure.” www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

Starmer leadership crisis will test the Labour herd Starmer has entered the stay of execution phase of his premiership. But removing a Labour PM is more complicated than simply waiting for the “herd” to move Latest for @politics.co.uk 👇 www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

A Hilary Benn resignation speech from the backbenches would absolutely be enough to finish Starmer off. No question

Lots of ramifications from a frantic day in politics – not all of them will be apparent now. Yet I can't help but feel that the most striking takeaway is the political savvy displayed by Angela Rayner No 10 surely hers if she wants it

🚨 Keir Starmer told cabinet today: – Mandelson's alleged passing on of confidential emails was "disgraceful" – He was "not reassured that the totality of the information had yet emerged" – Mandelson "had let his country down."

“I want to contribute ideas that enable Britain to strengthen and to work for all, in every part of the country." Quote from Mandelson in this Times interview is utterly shameless “The smell that won’t go away” indeed www.thetimes.com/article/22e6...

Lib Dems call for Peter Mandelson to be stripped of his peerage

“The poll of 143 voters in Gorton and Denton…” Basically as useful as a vox pop www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

Labour deputy leader @lucympowell.bsky.social responds to Matt Goodwin being selected as Reform’s candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election:

Suella Braverman -> Reform UK

“The Labour Party’s factions are mostly speaking with one voice – that should scare Starmer far more than the prospect of a Burnham comeback.” www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

“Starmer – in a crowning moment of centralised control-freakery – has chosen to keep Labour’s prince across the water in the relative wilderness. “Critics will argue that this culture of control is now crowding out assets in the battle against Nigel Farage.” www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

Burnham responding to the Starmerite line: “I'm not sure losing a by-election does us any good either, Tom.”

Blocking Burnham will not stop the psychodrama There will come a time when Starmer runs out of procedural solutions to his political problems Thoughts for @politics.co.uk on today's developments 👇 www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

Labour statement on Burnham: “Although the Party would be confident of retaining the mayoralty, the NEC could not put Labour’s control of Greater Manchester at any risk.”

Burnham blocked. Politics of this very questionable from the Labour leadership. First impression is Starmer has overestimated his strength. Set ups row now, and if Labour are bested at the by-election. Wounding battles before Starmer’s moment of maximum danger (May elections)

Hague appointing Portillo as shadow chancellor serves as a reasonable playbook for dealing with pretenders who make their way back to parliament via by-election

Right decision from Burnham’s perspective - Get blocked, and his standing as ‘Prince across the water’ is strengthened. Not sure the Labour leadership is strong enough to weather the backlash in this scenario - Get selected, stands a good chance of winning, prove ability to beat Reform…

I wonder if Gorton & Denton contest sparks a serious debate about FPTP and possible reform If speculation is true, we could see serious candidates from Labour, Reform (Yusuf), Conservative, Lib Dem, Green (Polanski), Workers Party (Galloway) all standing Belfast South (2015) on steroids 1/...

“Reform is assembling a collection of grievances, grudges and contradictions, united less by conviction than by convenience”, writes Mario Creatura 🗣️ Reform isn’t building a party of government. It’s building a retirement home www.politics.co.uk/comment/2026...

Jenrick accuses Mel Stride of presiding over “the explosion of the welfare bill” Priti Patel “created the very migration system that enabled 5 million migrants to come here - the greatest failure of any British government in the post-war period”

And there it is... Robert Jenrick defects

Badenoch looks to capitalise on her improved standing by sacking Jenrick *and* removing the Tory whip from him Move has big implications for the fight for dominance on the right. If Jenrick jumps, an outcome this action all but seals, does he take allies with him?

“Zahawi's defection strengthens the argument that Reform is increasingly functioning as a refuge for Conservative flotsam and jetsam.” www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

13 November 1947: Clement Attlee accepts Hugh Dalton's resignation as chancellor after he leaked details of his budget to a lobby journalist The leaks, reported by the Star newspaper, were published 15 minutes before Dalton began reading his budget speech www.nytimes.com/1947/11/14/a...