Top civil servant could become third key No 10 departure in days

The most senior civil servant in Downing Street is negotiating his exit as part of a wider shake-up of Keir Starmer’s operation after one of the most dramatic 48 hours of the prime minister’s time in office, sources have told the Guardian.Chris Wormald, the cabinet secretary, is understood to be negotiating the terms of his departure from No 10, which would make him the third senior member of staff to leave in recent days.Wormald was appointed just over a year ago but has been under pressure for several months, with some of those close to Starmer having come to view him as a “disastrous” appointment.One government source said “the writing is on the wall” for Wormald, with Starmer keen to reassert his authority over both his parliamentary party and the wider government after a turbulent past few days.Another source said Wormald was in talks over taking a seat in the House of Lords as part of his exit deal

Futile resignations and blatant revisionism to the fore as Starmer staggers on | John Crace

Not another one. On Sunday it was Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, who took one for the team by resigning over the Peter Mandelson appointment. On Monday, No 10’s head of communications, Tim Allan, did likewise without offering much by way of an explanation.Presumably it was another effort to delay the inevitable. “We need a futile gesture, chaps

Streeting wrote off his re-election chances in WhatsApp exchanges with Mandelson

Wes Streeting predicted he would be “toast” at the next general election, according to private WhatsApp messages exchanged with Peter Mandelson and published by the health secretary in an effort to draw a line under his relationship with the disgraced peer.In the messages, Streeting said the government lacked a growth strategy and questioned No 10’s communications operation – remarks that appeared to form part of an effort to position himself for a potential leadership contest.The prime minister’s grip on power was pushed to the brink on Monday after Anas Sarwar, Labour’s leader in Scotland, called for him to stand down before the May Scottish parliamentary elections, citing “too many mistakes” by the UK government.Streeting, regarded as a potential leadership contender should Starmer go, had a close friendship with Mandelson that, after the scandal that erupted last week, threatened to be a significant liability to his ambitions.Allies of the health secretary said the WhatsApp messages, sent between August 2024 and October last year, showed he had “nothing to hide” about their relationship

Peter Unwin obituary

My father, Peter Unwin, who has died aged 93, was a distinguished diplomat, author and commentator on foreign affairs. His main area of expertise was central Europe, and he was posted to Budapest twice, first as third secretary (1958-61) and then as ambassador (1983-86), hosting the visit of the then British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and encouraging the opening up to the west. In 1991, he wrote Voice in the Wilderness, his biography of Imre Nagy, the reformist Hungarian prime minister, who was executed for standing up to the Soviet Union.Throughout his life Peter championed the causes of democracy, international norms and the rule of law. His first job in the Foreign Service was in 1956 in the Levant department

Sarwar has shown his ruthless streak. But will his swipe at Starmer mean anything to voters?

Anas Sarwar has shown he has a ruthless streak. Once one of Keir Starmer’s staunchest cheerleaders and allies, the Scottish Labour leader is now the most senior party figure to call for him to quit.Despite anger among his colleagues and criticism that his decision to demand Starmer stands down was “idiotic, immature and self-defeating”, Sarwar’s political calculation is blunt and uncompromising.Sarwar and his advisers, having watched Scottish Labour’s polling figures plummet as the disarray inside the UK government deepened into chaos and then crisis, believe the risk of calling on Starmer to quit is justified.Sarwar, by delivering a better result in Scotland at the 2024 general election – winning 35

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar calls on Keir Starmer to stand down

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has called on Keir Starmer to stand down, throwing the prime minister’s leadership of the country into serious peril.At a hastily arranged press conference in Glasgow, the senior Labour politician said: “The distraction needs to end, and the leadership in Downing Street has to change.”Sarwar said there had been “too many mistakes” by No 10 since Starmer came to power and that while the prime minister was a “decent man” he was undermining Labour’s ability to win the Scottish parliament elections in May.The Scottish party leader is said to be furious that the UK government’s decisions have severely damaged support for Scottish Labour, with the SNP’s John Swinney now appearing to be on course to stay in Bute House.Recent opinion polls show Labour trailing in third place behind the Scottish National party and Reform