Politics

👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈       Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy serve up their essential guide to the day in British politics. Sir Keir Starmer will be hoping for a quieter week, after the largest backbench rebellion since he took power last week over the reforms to…

An MP who decided until recently to “never speak” about the abuse he suffered as a child has shared his harrowing story so that “no kid has to go through” what he did. Josh Babarinde describes being physically abused by his mother’s former partner from the age of four, and remembers crying himself to sleep…

In common with many parents across the country, here’s a conversation that I have with my young daughter on a semi-regular basis (bear with me, this will take on some political relevance eventually). Me: “So it’s 15 minutes until your bedtime, you can either have a little bit of TV or do a jigsaw, not…

The UK has re-established diplomatic ties with Syria, David Lammy has said, as he made the first visit to the country by a British minister for 14 years. The foreign secretary visited Damascus and met with interim president Ahmed al Sharaa, also the leader of the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and foreign minister…

On Thursday, Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf was gloating that a hard-left party led by Jeremy Corbyn meant the odds of Nigel Farage becoming PM had narrowed further. But now that James McMurdock’s self-suspension over “business propriety” allegations means Reform UK is down from five MPs to four – again – it’s Reform’s rivals who are…

Reform MP James McMurdock has suspended himself from the party. In a statement, Reform chief whip Lee Anderson said it is over allegations around his business affairs published in a national newspaper. The statement said at around 1pm: “I have today received a call from James McMurdock who has advised me, as Chief Whip, that…

Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill. Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion. MPs ended up voting for…

It might feel like it’s been even longer for the prime minister at the moment, but it’s been a whole year since Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won a historic landslide, emphatically defeating Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives and securing a 174-seat majority. Over that time, Sir Keir and his party have regularly reset or restated their…

Those of us who remember Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party with a fond nostalgia will never forget how chaotic it was. I recall a shadow cabinet reshuffle briefing that took place after midnight and, on another occasion, a phone call at 1.50am to inform me Mr Corbyn had sacked Hilary Benn from the…

Zarah Sultana has announced she is quitting the Labour Party and starting a new political party alongside Jeremy Corbyn. Announcing the move on social media, the independent MP argued that “Westminster is broken” and claimed the major parties are fighting for billionaires, declaring an alternative is needed. She included a link for people interested in…