Keir Starmer

The worst of this strange decade of wokeness is over

Measures designed to change material realities matter more than sociocultural pieties

Keir Starmer pays tribute to ‘wonderful’ brother who died on St Stephen’s Day

UK PM’s sibling Nick, who had learning difficulties due to complications at birth, had been battling cancer

Asma al-Assad, wife of ousted Syrian leader, reportedly severely ill with leukaemia

Assad was diagnosed with acute form of disease in May and has been given 50/50 chance of survival

How Britain’s prison system is teetering on the brink of collapse

New Labour government was rocked in autumn by images of unexpectedly-freed criminals popping champagne corks in prison car parks

UK government must make sure it isn’t a confidence killer

There is a danger that animal spirits and the propensity to invest expire in a vicious downward spiral

Shocking crimes, royal illness and Labour’s landslide: The eight big moments that defined 2024 for Britain

Winds of change howled across Britain in a year when a Labour election victory ended 14 years of Tory rule

Peter Mandelson named UK ambassador to US for ‘new chapter of friendship’

‘Prince of Darkness’ will seek to woo Trump administration, avoid trade war and ensure the countries remain aligned over Ukraine

Stormont votes to retain some EU trade laws post-Brexit for Northern Ireland

Rules will continue to serve as a means of maintaining an invisible Border on the island for further four years

Britain pauses Syrian asylum decision process after fall of Assad

Focus will be reflection on ‘diplomatic relations with Syria’ and a cautious observation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

‘Don’t take Fine Gael for granted’: Simon Harris on Government formation talks with Fianna Fáil

Taoiseach says his party’s mandate must be respected, while Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin also raises the issue of Rockall in Scotland, where both leaders were attending a British-Irish summit

Keir Starmer waters down UK clean power target in policy reset

British prime minister redefines economic growth goals as he sets out ‘milestones’ for government

Louise Haigh a casualty of the Westminster power machine

Sheffield MP and UK transport secretary was destined to implement a core Labour policy by nationalising railways but she quit suddenly last week

Downing Street comments on Gregg Wallace allegations indicative of pressure on BBC

Prime minister’s office has criticised Wallace, presenter of popular cookery show Masterchef

‘Starmer the Farmer Harmer’ the target of ire as British farmers mobilise in London

Planet Business: Infowars auction saga, Howard Lutnick’s thoughts on Ireland and a brief history of the Observer

‘Unspeakable’ Birmingham pub bombings remembered 50 years on

Explosions, widely blamed on the IRA, killed 21 people in the city in November 1974

Farmers have a point - if only they could make it more reasonably

New rules introduced by the UK government bring a quarter of farms back within inheritance tax, after three decades of being fully exempt. They’re right to be annoyed, but sympathy is waning

Ire of farmers and pensioners mounts as British Labour faces possibility of new ‘winter of discontent’

Protest this week by farmers over inheritance tax raid sounds alarm bells for Labour’s rural prospects

Vote on assisted dying Bill due to be a cliffhanger as Britain’s Labour opposition mounts

Wes Streeting, health secretary and potential future Labour leader, is against the plan

Cop29: UK attempts to become global leader on climate with new emissions target for 2035

Starmer commits to cutting emissions by 81% at climate summit overshadowed by Trump election win

Big beams, tiny halos and cable ties: election posters are back

Parties and candidates have had lots of time to finesse their lamp-post strategy. But have they?

Jonathan Coe: ‘The morning after the election felt like waking up in a safe room, having been in an abusive relationship for 14 years’

Following the release of his latest novel, The Proof of My Innocence, the author discusses his ‘stylistic homecoming’, the evolution of Liz Truss and why he’s spending more time with his ‘imaginary friends’

Trumpian vibe as Kemi Badenoch faces Keir Starmer in House of Commons

New Tory leader Kemi Badenoch faces Labour prime minister Keir Starmer in the Commons for the first time

Israel-Hamas war: At least 73 killed in Israeli strike on residential building, Gaza officials say

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu says he and his wife were targeted by a drone attack at their holiday home

Biden calls for greater backing for Ukraine and praises German support on short visit to Berlin

US president in Germany to hold talks with Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer

Britain’s anti-obesity jab plan is the stuff of sci-fi

Drastic action is considered essential, but this is part of a wider strategy that represents a looming calamity for Stormont

Kamala Harris has three weeks to tell the American public what she stands for

The Democratic candidate has much in common with Keir Starmer, but there is one big difference: he tells us who he is

UK government must say what Brussels ‘reset’ means, says EU delegation head

‘New phase in bilateral relationship’ is possible, Sandro Gozi says

Keir Starmer’s first 100 days: after a ‘good start’, his Labour government has lost its shine at an alarming speed

The UK’s budget this month takes on near-totemic importance for Labour as it tries to reset the narrative

Zelenskiy seeks arms and backing for Ukraine’s Nato bid on whistle-stop European tour

EU says latest deadly Russian strike on Odesa is “Putin’s answer” to calls for talks with Kremlin

UK and EU are entering a ‘situationship’

Europe Letter: Brussels and London will have to give each other some leeway for post-Brexit reset to work

‘I may not be as lucky as my dog’: Britain gets ready to consider whether there is a right to an assisted death

Campaigners such as Esther Rantzen, who has lung cancer, welcome the news that Westminster will debate a proposal to give terminally ill people to right to seek help ending their lives

When two becomes one: Starmer’s first mistake was to allow competing power bases into Number 10

Exit of Sue Gray and consolidation of Morgan McSweeney’s power allows the prime minister a chance to reset

Who is Morgan McSweeney, the Irishman heading up Keir Starmer’s Downing Street operation?

Political strategist Mr McSweeney has been named chief of staff

Jon Sopel on the madness of post-Brexit Britain: ‘I think we’ve done some stupid sh*t’

The BBC correspondent turned award-winning podcaster has published a new book, Strangeland: How Britain Stopped Making Sense

David Lammy becomes first British foreign secretary to visit Dublin for seven years

Sparse detail of talks emerges after meeting with Micheál Martin but countries vow to deepen ‘key strategic links’

Varadkar seems intent on ensuring Ireland continues to haunt Starmer’s Britain

If Keir Starmer wants to be remembered as a prime minister for the United Kingdom, not just England, he needs to address the question of a Border poll

Starmer pledges return to ‘stable and positive’ EU-UK relationship

Ursula von der Leyen says EU and UK should explore ‘scope for more co-operation’

Chance for ‘rapid progress’ on EU-UK defence deal - MEP

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen set to meet UK prime minister Keir Starmer in Brussels

Newspapers using AI to ‘revive’ late writers are not serious

London Standard’s resurrection of art critic Brian Sewell to review a Van Gogh exhibition was at best a pointless gimmick, at worst the thin end of the wedge

Rupert Murdoch succession saga completes stage one of its Reno era

Planet Business: Employers and the menopause, a new global consortium on the information environment, and UK Labour’s unhappiness with its inheritance

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