Keir Starmer expresses ‘sincere regret’ over appointment of Labour donor to football watchdog

Keir Starmer has said he made a mistake in rubber-stamping the appointment of the first head of the new football regulator given both his own connections to football and the fact the successful candidate had donated money to him in the past.Starmer expressed “sincere regret” to Laurie Magnus, his independent adviser on ministerial standards, regarding the appointment of David Kogan. It followed an apology to the prime minister by Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, who had also received a donation from Kogan.In a letter to Magnus published by Downing Street on Wednesday, Starmer said the decision to appoint Kogan – a media executive whose career has included negotiating TV rights deals for the Premier League and the English Football League – as chair of the independent football regulator was, under law, a decision for Nandy.Given his interest in football, and the hospitality he has received from football clubs and the Football Association, Starmer wrote, he agreed with Magnus in autumn last year to recuse himself from decisions relating to the new regulator, saying he had abided by this

Will Nigel Farage embrace Europe, following Giorgia Meloni’s lead? | Letter

I am sure Nigel Farage will be delighted at the comparison with Giorgia Meloni, who moved from far-right Mussolini-heritage politics to becoming prime minister of Italy (Can Nigel Farage emulate success enjoyed by Italy’s far-right Giorgia Meloni? 9 November).The way she did this was to snuggle up to Mario Draghi, Italy’s and the European Union’s No 1 banker, who coached her in lines to take. So she ditched her hostility to the EU and support for dropping the euro to return to the lira. She found fault with Vladimir Putin. She sought collaborative solutions with other European leaders to the arrivals of boat people

No 10 says Starmer has confidence in Morgan McSweeney after PM condemns attacks on cabinet members – as it happened

At the post-PMQs lobby briefing the PM’s press secretary said that Keir Starmer does have confidence in Morgan McSweeney, his chief of staff.The press secretary also said that Starmer was not contemplating standing down. She said:He has always been very clear that he will continue to serve as prime minister at the next election, that this is a project which is about a decade of national renewal, because that’s what it takes to turn the country around after 14 years of failure from the Tories.She also said Starmer valued the views of Labour MPs.Our Labour MPs are fantastic champions of the work that the government is doing to deliver for the British people

British Medical Association ‘threat to future of NHS’, says Streeting ahead of doctors’ strike

The British Medical Association is acting like a cartel and its “antics” are endangering the NHS’s future, the health secretary has said before the latest doctors’ strike begins on Friday.Wes Streeting launched his most strongly worded attack yet on the doctors’ union, coming close to accusing resident doctors in England of being greedy in their pay demands.He told the BMA to “get real”, made clear that ministers would not be “held to ransom” and claimed the association wanted other workers to pay higher taxes to give doctors higher salaries but lobbied against medics being taxed more themselves.His pointed comments received loud applause from an audience of NHS leaders, who are bracing themselves for the five-day strike by resident – formerly junior – doctors. It will be their 13th since they began a campaign for “full pay restoration” in March 2023

Keir Starmer and his team mount a leadership challenge … to himself | John Crace

Sometimes what you see is what you get. Usually in Westminster things happen for a reason. The logic may not be obvious but if you use your imagination you can come up with some logic for someone doing something that appears to be batshit crazy. But just occasionally, you reach a singularity on the space-time continuum where the laws of physics break down and nothing makes sense. A state of Platonic batshitness

Keir Starmer under pressure over future of Morgan McSweeney amid briefing row

Keir Starmer is facing intense pressure over the future of Morgan McSweeney after the prime minister’s chief of staff was blamed for No 10’s pushback against a possible leadership challenge.After Starmer dodged a question from Kemi Badenoch at prime minister’s questions about whether he had full confidence in his key aide, Downing Street later clarified that he did.A series of ministers and Labour MPs are pointing the finger at McSweeney for the pre-emptive operation that particularly targeted Wes Streeting, the health secretary, who has responded with undisguised fury.Pressed at PMQs by Badenoch, who said Starmer had lost control of his government, the prime minister condemned as “completely unacceptable” any briefings against cabinet ministers from inside Downing Street.Badenoch asked him to say he had full confidence in McSweeney, to which Starmer gave a non-committal answer

How would a Labour leadership challenge work and how safe is Starmer?

The extraordinary briefing war that erupted at the top of government on Tuesday night has reignited questions about Keir Starmer’s leadership.Speaking to the Guardian and others, Starmer’s most senior political aides warned that he would fight any “reckless” attempt to challenge him after the budget or May elections, while voicing fears that Wes Streeting, the health secretary, was among those manoeuvring to replace him.Instead of putting to bed any questions about his future, the briefing has sparked fresh questions about Starmer’s future and thrown the spotlight on Streeting as a potential successor. Here we look at the rules for removing a Labour leader and the possible consequences.A Labour leadership contest can be triggered if 20% of the party’s MPs throw their weight behind a replacement candidate

Streeting denies plot to oust Starmer and condemns briefings from No 10

Wes Streeting has denied leading a plot to overthrow the prime minister and called for those briefing against him to be sacked, widening an extraordinary rift at the top of government.The health secretary condemned “self-defeating” attacks on him coming from Downing Street and said they were indicative of a toxic culture inside No 10.He rebuked the senior aides behind the anonymous briefings and said they proved that “there are people around the prime minister who do not follow his model and style of leadership”.Streeting was responding to the Guardian’s report that Downing Street had launched an operation to protect Keir Starmer against a leadership challenge his allies believe could come from the Ilford North MP after the budget or May local elections.The prime minister’s closest allies said he would fight any “reckless” attempt to oust him, which they warned would affect the markets and the UK’s international relationships

Reform UK pulls out of BBC film amid Trump speech edit row

Reform UK has pulled out of a BBC documentary about the party amid a row over the broadcaster’s editing of a Donald Trump speech.The film, which was due to be called the Rise of Reform and would have been presented by Laura Kuenssberg, was being made by the independent production company October Films.The company was involved in a Panorama documentary that led to the resignation of two of the most senior executives at the BBC, the director general, Tim Davie, and Deborah Turness, the chief executive of news.The US president has since said the BBC “defrauded the public” and that he had an “obligation” to take legal action over the misleading editing of the speech, which appeared to show Trump inciting violence before the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.October Films was not responsible for this edit, which was done by BBC staff