Lib Dem’s Steve Darling MP and guide dog Jennie winning the popular vote at the Westminster Dog of the Year Competition, as Sarah Edwards MP and Poykee the Keeshond took 1st place. © Imageplotter
The spotlight has fallen on Keir Starmer’s political judgement, following Peter Mandelson’s sacking on Thursday as UK ambassador to the US, after the release of a series of emails by US courts which revealed the depth of his association with Jeffrey Epstein. The emails revealed a deeper and more sustained association with Epstein than previously known - including a 2008 email in which he urged Epstein to “fight for early release” while he was facing charges for soliciting a minor. Appointed as part of what one minister described as a necessary “unconventional” response to an “unconventional presidential administration,” the Prime Minister is now being urged to clarify whether security officials raised concerns about Mandelson prior to his appointment, and if so, whether they were ignored. The scandal comes at an unfortunate time for Starmer. Ahead of Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK next week, which includes ‘high-level’ talks with the Prime Minister at his Chequers countryside residence, Mandelson’s sacking puts the UK’s position as a stable and reliable ally to the US at jeopardy. The timing is particularly sensitive following the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk earlier this week – an event that has deepened political polarisation in the US and will intensify scrutiny of Trump as he returns to the international stage.
The relationship between the UK and Israel has been put under further strain following a meeting between Keir Starmer and the President of Israel Isaac Herzog in Downing Street on Wednesday. The talks came just 24 hours after an Israeli airstrike targeted senior Hamas figures in Qatar’s capital, Doha, with the meeting revealing the leaders’ sharp divergence in views of how to achieve security for Israel. Whilst Starmer condemned the attack as a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty, Herzog said the decision “to strike at the top leadership of Hamas terrorism is important and correct.” Addressing Chatham House after the meeting, Herzog denied claims of famine in Gaza, and blamed the high civilian death toll on Hamas, offering no apology for the attack in Doha. While there have been some lone voices within the Government – including recently sacked Peter Mandelson – willing to defend Israel’s displays of force, the meeting now risks pushing UK-Israel relations into a deeper diplomatic stalemate.
3:42am – Time the House of Lords sat until on Tuesday morning debating the Planning and Infrastructure Bill
-1.3% – Decline in production in the UK in the three months to July 2025, the weakest quarterly growth since December 2023
15 – Labour MPs from the 2024 intake who joined the frontbench this week (in non-whip, speaking roles)
46% – Ministerial roles that changed hands at this week’s reshuffle
11 months – How long Baroness Gustaffson served as Investment Minister before resigning last Friday
3 – Number of Parliamentary Private Secretaries the Prime Minister now has, to engage with Labour backbenchers on his behalf
27 – Age of new Transport Minister Keir Mather, the youngest Government Minister since Gladstone
214 days – How long Lord Mandelson served as British Ambassador to the US before being sacked on Thursday
The reshuffle continued over the weekend (and into the week if you count some musical chairs that have taken place – more on that below). A whole series of MPs were booted onto the backbenches to join outgoing Cabinet Ministers Angela Rayner and Lucy Powell, including one-time Shadow Cabinet Secretaries Jim McMahon, Maria Eagle, and Nia Griffith. Baroness Gustaffson, who was appointed to the Lords as Investment Minister less than a year ago, also resigned. Almost 50% of ministerial roles have changed hands since last week, including the entire team in the Department for Business and Trade. 15 Labour MPs from the 2024 intake made it into speaking roles on the frontbench for the first time… (deep breath): Mike Tapp, Chris Ward, Satvir Kaur, Josh Simons, Louise Sandher-Jones, Jake Richards, Zubir Ahmed, Josh MacAlister, Olivia Bailey, Katie White, Blair McDougall, Kate Dearden, Kanishka Narayan, Matthew Patrick, and Chris McDonald, as well as Keir Mather – elected at a byelection in 2023, and at 27 the youngest minister since Gladstone almost 200 years ago.
A reshuffle is over… until it’s not. Internal department shenanigans meant that a number of departments continued to play musical chairs well into the week. Firstly Louise Sandher-Jones was appointed Armed Forces Minister – and congratulated on her appointment by Veterans Miniter Al Carns at the dispatch box on Monday… until their roles were switched round just a day later. Then Michael Shanks left his desk at the Department for Business and Trade less than a week after he’d sat down… returning to just the sole role at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, with Chris McDonald the final 2024-intake appointed to the DBT role instead. A whole host of Parliamentary Private Secretaries have also been appointed to complete the job. The music finally appears to have been switched off (at least for now).
The MOD published the long-awaited Defence Industrial Strategy, outlining the basis for a strengthened relationship between the Government and industry as the Government seeks to unlock the UK’s “defence dividend”. The strategy is backed by £773m of investment and announced the creation of five Defence Technical Excellence Colleges and a Defence Skills Passport, the launch of five Defence Growth Deals, a target to increase the MOD’s spending with SMEs by £2.5bn by May 2028, the establishment of a new Defence Office for Small Business Growth, a new Office of Defence Exports, and a £1.5bn ‘always on’ pipeline for munitions. Defence Ministers also descended on London’s Excel Centre to support the UK’s defence industry at the biennial DSEI.
Rachel Reeves committed to explore how to improve business rates for SMEs as part of the wider review of business rates currently being undertaken. The Treasury published its interim Transforming Business Rates report this week, setting out key areas for rates reform to remove barriers to investment. The ongoing review will look at options for fixing the sudden ‘cliff edge’ jumps in business rates that can often discourage small business investment and growth.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and recently sacked Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell will face off against each other for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party. The two candidates each received far more than the 80 MP nominations required to reach the next stage. Bell Riberio-Addy was knocked out with just 24 nominations; whilst other candidates Alison McGovern, Emily Thornberry and Paula Barker withdrew before the final whistle. The final two candidates now need to win the backing of at least two trade unions or 5% of constituency parties, before Labour members get to vote. The new Deputy Leader will be announced on 25th October.
The Defence Secretary hosted Defence Ministers from France, Germany, Italy, and Poland alongside Ukraine’s Minister of Defence earlier this week. Discussions focused on the situation in Ukraine, wider European security developments, nuclear cooperation, and investment in the European defence industry. They also discussed Russia’s latest attacks, which saw Poland reportedly downing 15 Russian drones after its airspace was 'repeatedly violated by drone-type objects'. It marks the first time Poland has directly engaged Russian assets in its airspace since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
New Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle kicked off the job in style with back-to-back visits to the USA and China this week. In Washington he met with White House senior advisers and business leaders to make progress on the UK Tech partnership and strengthen the UK-US relationship, before flying straight to China for the first meeting of the UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO) since 2018.
Offenders will have to undertake remote check-in surveillance under a new pilot rolled out by the Ministry of Justice this week. The measure will also require offenders to record short videos of themselves and use artificial intelligence to confirm their identity, as well as answer questions about their behaviour and recent activities. The pilot is being trialled in four Probation regions across England before being considered for further rollout with additional tech add-ons, such as GPS location verification.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in no way set out her stall for the Labour Deputy Leadership, in a well-timed speech at the TUC Annual Conference on Tuesday… She argued the Government must "hold up their end of the deal" and "cement good, secure jobs in legislation, through the Employment Rights Bill”, called for an end to “exploitative zero hours contracts”, and argued that "strong collective rights that give workers a stronger collective voice, fit for the modern world."
52 affected schools have now had Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete safely removed, two years after it came to light and a number of schools were forced to temporarily close amid safety concerns. A further 71 schools with RAAC are in the process of being rebuilt, along with seven hospitals – with a further 12 hospitals due to be RAAC free by March next year.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch delivered a speech on welfare, in which she warned that the UK was “living beyond our means” and “spending more than we earn”, with the "national credit card close to [being] maxed out”. She accused the Government of “leading Britain into a deeper and deeper crisis”, noted that the job market was being “fundamentally changed by AI” and called for “better, limited regulation, controlled, lower taxation, cheaper, abundant energy”. She also offered to sit down with the Government to “agree a way to bring welfare spending down”… we have a funny feeling they won’t be taking her up on that offer.
The Government’s tumultuous return from recess continued following last weekend’s reshuffle, with further information coming out over Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein – leading to his sacking on Thursday. But not before the Prime Minister, just one day before, repeatedly affirmed his confidence in Mandelson and his role as ambassador during PMQs… oof! In legislative news, the Government pushed ahead with the second reading of the Bill on Diego Garcia, considered Lords amendments to the Renters’ Rights Bill, and the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill completed report stage and third reading.
Meanwhile, the Lords cracked on with more nitty-gritty legislation, discussing a plethora of regulations including on poultry meat marketing standards, electrical safety standards in social housing and implementing parts of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill continued its committee stage, as did the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, with debate continuing into the early hours of Monday night/Tuesday morning (sitting until nearly 4am…). And with around 14 hours of debate on the P&I Bill this week alone, everyone will be pleased to hear that not a single amendment was agreed!
And Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill headed to the Lords to be debated for the first time this Friday, having received a record number of requests to speak over the allocated two days of consideration.
Being from a working-class background is seen as the most important trait for Labour’s next deputy leader, with 62% of Labour voters in a recent YouGov poll saying it matters. This leads over over those prioritising a candidate from outside London (48%) or the left of the party (42%). Just 26% think it's important the candidate is a woman, even though both confirmed contenders are… Cabinet experience (29%) and ethnic minority background (18%) ranked even lower, while 49% of the wider public also backed working-class roots as a key trait.
Ten years (today!) from Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, more people view his leadership positively than Keir Starmer’s, accordingly to another YouGov poll. Although 17% of people viewing him as a good or great leader isn’t exactly a landslide, it’s still more than Starmer’s measly 11%.
Fewer people with lower qualifications are starting careers in the public sector, according to new analysis from the IFS. Between 2008 and 2019 the share of entrants with only GCSEs starting public sector jobs halved from 8% to 4%, while entry also declined among those with A levels. In contrast, graduates with first-class degrees or from higher-ranked universities became more likely to begin their careers in the sector, a shift the IFS largely attributes to public spending cuts and falling recruitment in local government.
Defence has been in the spotlight over the past year ever since the Labour Government threw its weight behind the sector following Keir Starmer’s “Defence Dividend” speech in May; however eagle-eyed industry execs couldn’t believe their eyes this week when they read Defence Secretary John Healey had committed “£182 billion [of] new money behind the Defence Skills Strategy” in his speech at the Defence Investment Summit… 36 hours later and the Government has now – silently – corrected the transcript to read £182 million. That could have been quite a pre-Budget headache for Rachel Reeves if that had stuck… (h/t to the industry insider who spotted this even before the Navigate team did).
(Un)Licensed to Brill…Three weeks ago it emerged then Foreign Secretary David Lammy had been put in his plaice by the Environment Agency for skate’ing around the rules and fishing without a license in August. The incident took place whilst the now Justice Secretary was trying to turbot-charge the UK-US relationship with Vice President JD Vance earlier in the summer. Sensing there was something to crab onto in this story, former Reform MP Rupert Lowe extracted an answer from the Government this week, who having mullet over, revealed the two day investigation cost £500. Hopefully ‘eel be more careful in future (h/t Guido Fawkes for spotting this one first)
