Starmer to pick new US ambassador as relations with Trump tested
Keir Starmer is poised to choose a new ambassador to Washington from a shortlist of three as relations with the US are tested over Ukraine and Donald Trump’s attacks on European leaders.The prime minister held interviews with three finalists for the role this week, the Guardian has learned, with Downing Street preparing to make an appointment before the end of the year.The trio of candidates seen by Starmer were Varun Chandra, his business adviser who has helped negotiate a series of deals with the Trump administration, Christian Turner, a diplomat due to become ambassador to the UN, and Nigel Casey, the British ambassador to Russia.Whoever is chosen will be taking up the role at a critical stage in US-UK relations, with insiders warning of rising tensions over Ukraine and the White House’s pugnacious national security strategy.Chandra, a former managing partner at the corporate intelligence firm Hakluyt, has played a central role in negotiating bilateral deals with the US on trade, tech and pharmaceuticals and is seen as the frontrunner.
However, the Foreign Office is said to be pushing for a career diplomat to be chosen, with some insiders arguing this carries less political risk.Turner, who previously served as political director of the Foreign Office and high commissioner to Pakistan, and Casey, who has served as high commissioner to South Africa and private secretary for foreign affairs to David Cameron and Theresa May, are both highly regarded in Whitehall.Casey was a late entrant to the contest, with his addition seen as a sign that Downing Street was disappointed with the original list put forward by the Foreign Office.If the prime minister is not satisfied with any of the three candidates, he could decide to directly appoint someone else.Earlier this week Starmer met Warren Stephens, the US ambassador to the UK, in Downing Street to discuss implementing the trade and tech deals announced earlier this year.
Starmer has cultivated a strong personal relationship with Trump but this is constantly being tested by their major policy differences, including on green energy and cultural issues.Relations between the US and Europe are being severely strained by Trump’s growing impatience at the continuation of the war in Ukraine.The US president has been pressuring Kyiv to cede territory in order to bring the conflict to a speedy end, and has told Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, that he wants a peace deal done by Christmas.European leaders including Starmer are due to hold a fresh set of crisis talks in Berlin on Monday to discuss the US-brokered peace proposal, amid concerns that it is too favourable to Moscow.Meanwhile, senior British MPs rounded on the Trump administration this week over its national security strategy, which said Europe was facing “civilisational erasure” and hailed the growing influence of “patriotic European parties”.
Trump stepped up his attacks in an interview this week, suggesting that many European states would “not be viable countries any longer” unless they change their border policies and crack down on immigration.Starmer and his ministers have been careful not to criticise Trump over the document or his interventions, while insisting that Europe is strong and investing more in its own defence.The US ambassador role fell vacant in September after Peter Mandelson was sacked for failing to disclose the extent of his ties with the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.Documents and emails published that month disclosed that Mandelson had expressed his love and support for Epstein, and urged him to “fight for early release” in 2008, while the financier was facing charges of soliciting sex from minors.The episode was damaging to Starmer, as it emerged that he had been briefed on details of Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein as well as other “reputational risks” before choosing him.
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Young people are leaving the UK in high numbers and we’d like to find out more about the reasons why.Is it about finding a better salary abroad or concerns about rising costs and tax in the UK? How did you choose where to move? How have you found the experience?You can tell us your experience of moving abroad using this form.Please include as much detail as possible. Please include as much detail as possible. Please include as much detail as possible
As NHS braces for record flu cases, is the strain active in continental Europe too?
The NHS is bracing for one of its worst winters on record as a surge in flu cases puts pressure on GP surgeries, hospitals and ambulance services. The flu season is well under way in continental Europe, too, where the same flu strain active in the UK is emerging as the force behind a new wave of infections.In the northern hemisphere it normally runs from mid-November to mid-February, though it can start as early as October and run into May. Health officials call the start of the season when 10% of suspected cases test positive for flu. At the start of November, the figure in England was already at 11% compared with 3% at the same time last year
Tell us: how are you being affected by the rise in UK flu cases?
Flu cases rose 55% in one week in England this month, as the NHS braces for a “worst-case scenario” in the next fortnight as hospitals, GP surgeries and ambulances services come under intense strain.It comes as the British Medical Association has lined up strike action for resident doctors in England next week over concerns on pay.We want to hear from you.How are you affected by the rise in flu? Are you a patient who has become unwell, or have you changed your behaviour to try and avoid infection? Are you a healthcare worker dealing with the impact? What are your thoughts on the potential strike action?You can tell us about how the rise of flu cases is affecting you here.Please include as much detail as possible
‘He was struggling with his breath. I sat beside him and sang’: the choir who sing to people on their deathbeds
It’s a brisk November afternoon in the village of South Brent in Devon and, in a daffodil yellow cottage, two women are singing me lullabies. But these aren’t the sort of lullabies that parents sing to their children. They are songs written and sung for terminally ill people, to ease them towards what will hopefully be a peaceful and painless death.We are at the home of Nickie Aven, singer and leader of a Threshold Choir. Aven and her friend are giving me a glimpse of what happens when they sing for people receiving end-of-life care
‘Cruel’ amendments being used to thwart assisted dying bill, says lead MP
Members of the House of Lords have proposed “totally unnecessary” and “very cruel” amendments to the assisted dying bill in an attempt to scupper it, the MP leading the campaign has said.Kim Leadbeater said on Friday she believed that peers opposed to the bill were trying to block it by proposing hundreds of changes, including one that would require terminally ill people to be filmed as they undergo an assisted death.The Lords will vote on some of those on Friday during a fourth day of debate on the bill, with six more sessions scheduled for the new year. Supporters now fear there will not be enough time to debate more than 1,000 amendments before the parliamentary session ends, putting the bill at risk of collapsing.Leadbeater told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we’re seeing with this bill, sadly, is well over 1,000 amendments have been tabled, many of which are totally unnecessary and some of which are actually just very cruel when we think about the cohort of people that the bill is designed to help
Strikes could collapse flu-hit NHS amid worst crisis since Covid, says Streeting
Wes Streeting has told resident doctors that strikes and a sharp rise in the number of flu cases over the Christmas period could be “the Jenga piece” that forces the NHS to collapse.The health secretary said the NHS faced a “challenge unlike any it has seen since the pandemic” and urged resident doctors to accept the government’s offer and end their action.He said: “The whole NHS team is working around the clock to keep the show on the road. But it’s an incredibly precarious situation. Christmas strikes could be the Jenga piece that collapses the tower
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