Anti-apartheid activists would have been called terrorists under logic banning Palestine Action, Peter Hain says – as it happened

The Labour peer Peter Hain, who was a leading anti-apartheid campaigner in the UK and who led the direct action protests that disrupted South African rugby and cricket tours in 1969 and 1970, told peers that he was “deeply ashamed” that his party was banning Palestine Action.If he was doing that today, he would be “stigmatised as a terrorist, rather than vilified, as indeed I then was”, he said. He went on:That militant action could have been blocked by this motion [the order banning Palestine Action] as could other anti-apartheid activity, including militant protests to stop Barclays Bank recruiting new students on university campuses, eventually forcing Barclays to withdraw from apartheid South Africa.Remember also that Nelson Mandela was labelled a “terrorist” by the apartheid government, by British prime minister Maragret Thatcher, by the United States and other Western governments during much of the Cold War.Mandela even remained on the US terrorism watchlist until 2008, many years after becoming South Africa’s first democratically elected president and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize

Welfare reform bill fiasco re-empowers parliament | Letters

The one upside that the government can draw from the welfare reform bill debacle is that it demonstrates the genuine tension between the different roles of parliament and government (Keir Starmer forced into dramatic climbdown to pass welfare reform bill, 1 July). It can be presented as chiming in with the view of many voters that politics today does not work and that all governments simply do what benefits themselves.The government’s failure to forge a constructive relationship with its backbench Labour MPs lies at the heart of its need for the last-minute revisions of its proposals, but a recharging of that relationship could well resonate with the electorate.For voters, it is the way that they see their representative that has the most significance. Each MP has the difficult task of balancing their responsibilities to their constituents, their party and their consciences

SMILE, it’s just a normal day for Labour’s happy family of Keir, Rachel and Wes | John Crace

The show must go on. Less than 48 hours after the government’s welfare bill was left in tatters and a day after Rachel Reeves breaking down in tears at prime minister’s questions had caused falls in the financial markets, Keir Starmer, his chancellor and the health secretary were keen to present a clean slate.Everything was totally normal. Couldn’t be more normal. This had been just another ordinary week in Westminster

Rachel Reeves says she is ‘cracking on with the job’ after Commons tears

Rachel Reeves has said she is “cracking on with the job” of chancellor, after a very public show of unity from Keir Starmer after her visible distress in the Commons.In her first comments since her tearful appearance at Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions, Reeves said she had been upset about a personal matter, and that the only real difference to someone else having a bad day at work was that she then had to be seen on television.Reeves was speaking after she unexpectedly joined the prime minister and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, at the launch of the NHS 10-year plan at a health centre in east London, receiving hugs from both colleagues.She made a brief speech at the launch, between Streeting and Starmer, but did not mention Wednesday’s events, talking only about the fiscal foundations of the NHS plan and calling the proposals “good for the health of our nation and good for the health of our nation’s finances”.But speaking to TV reporters afterwards, Reeves said the reason for her upset was a personal issue unconnected to politics, insisting she was now fine

PM shoulders blame for welfare fiasco and says No 10 ‘didn’t get process right’

Keir Starmer has admitted No 10 “didn’t get the process right” in handling the government’s controversial welfare bill and says he shoulders the blame.Looking to repair some of the damage done by Labour’s 11th hour climbdown on the central plank of its welfare changes, Starmer said the government would reflect on its mistakes.“We didn’t get the process right. Labour MPs are absolutely vested in this,” Starmer told the BBC podcast Political Thinking with Nick Robinson. “It matters to them to get things like this right, and we didn’t get that process right

Survival-mode Starmer throws tearful chancellor to wolves at PMQs

It was painful to watch. An intrusion into something deeply private. A grief observed. Rachel Reeves breaking down in tears. Her face lined with misery as Keir Starmer failed to guarantee she would still be in her job at the next election