Mandelson should hand back US ambassador payout, says cabinet minister
A cabinet minister has called for Peter Mandelson to hand back the payout he received after quitting as ambassador to the US last year, as pressure increased on the prime minister to quit for having appointed him in the first place.Pat McFadden, the welfare secretary, said on Sunday he thought the Labour peer should give back his Foreign Office payout, which is reported to be as much as £55,000.The Foreign Office is understood to be reviewing the payment.Mandelson quit last year as Washington ambassador after further details came to light about his relationship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.This week, he said he would stand down from the House of Lords after yet more documents were published, showing the relationship between the two men to have been closer than thought.
Mandelson was reported on Sunday to have received a payment worth three months’ salary when he quit in September,“I think Peter should reflect on that and either return it or give it to an appropriate charity,” McFadden told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg,The Foreign Office said: “Peter Mandelson’s civil service employment was terminated in accordance with legal advice and the terms and conditions of his employment,”The department is understood to be reviewing the payment – though officials believed at the time they had no legal option but to pay it,McFadden was a close ministerial ally of Mandelson in the last Labour government, working as his deputy in the business department.
He said he had not known anything about his former boss’s relationship with Epstein, and said he had been dismayed by emails that appeared to show Mandelson passing sensitive government information to the late US financier,“This is someone from whom I’ve sought political advice over the years, someone who I thought I knew well, but when I look at the emails that have been published in the last two weeks, there’s a whole side of that I knew nothing of,” he said,McFadden insisted Keir Starmer should remain in his job despite rising pressure on the prime minister in the wake of the latest revelations,“I don’t think it’s good for the country to be changing its prime minister every 18 months to two years,” he said,“It has an economic cost, it has a confidence cost, it has an international reputation cost.
”Steve Wright, the head of the Fire Brigades Union, on Sunday became the first boss of a Labour-affiliated union to call on the prime minister to stand down.“I think we need to see change,” he told the BBC.“I think 18 months ago, the general public wanted to see that change, and we’re not seeing it, we’re just seeing a continuation of what happened before.And I think that needs to be a leadership change, and I think MPs need to be calling for that.”Many MPs, meanwhile, are agitating for Starmer to sack his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who pushed personally for Mandelson to be given the job in Washington.
Rosena Allin-Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting, said on Sunday: “Someone needs to take responsibility, and a lot of the responsibility needs to lie with people who advise [Starmer],It is well known that there is a boys’ club in No 10 of people who feel as though they can act with impunity, give advice,And it’s not worked out well,”Another Labour MP added: “The idea of Morgan being allowed to resign makes the PM look even weaker,He should sack him or he will go down with Morgan.
The longer he leaves it, the more likely it is the latter.”
‘It has to be amazing’: Liberty links with Bridgerton as it capitalises on maximalist trend
On a damp Thursday in central London, shoppers have fled the rain to indulge in some Bridgerton-themed escapism at upmarket department store Liberty, which has dedicated its fourth floor to the raunchy period drama.“When customers come to Liberty they want the discovery of new brands or something a bit different,” says Lydia King, Liberty’s new retail managing director.King, who took up the role last month, has just returned from New York, where she has been negotiating with potential new labels before the main fashion week shows.She says Liberty is catering for a “design focused” shopper who comes with “the mindset that they might find something wonderful rather than looking for a logo-ed product. Not being able to find it elsewhere – that point of difference – is the most important thing
Water bosses in England exploiting bonus loophole face crackdown
The government is to close loopholes which allow bosses of failing water companies to continue to receive large bonuses despite a ban passed last year, it can be revealed.Bosses of companies that illegally dumped sewage into England’s rivers and seas and presided over water shortages which left thousands of people in misery have still been paid millions in bonuses despite the ban.The previous environment secretary Steve Reed attempted to ban failing water companies from paying bonuses to chief executives and chief financial officers. However, the legislation passed in the Water (Special Measures) Act last year only referred to “performance-related” bonuses from specific regulated companies.MPs have said the loopholes allowed companies to get around the bonus ban by labelling payments differently or paying bosses through linked companies
‘I fell into it’: ex-criminal hackers urge Manchester pupils to use web skills for good
Cybercriminals, the shadowy online figures often depicted in Hollywood movies as hooded villains capable of wiping millions of pounds off the value of businesses at a keystroke, are not usually known for their candour.But in a sixth-form college in Manchester this week, two former hackers gave the young people gathered an honest appraisal of what living a life of internet crime really looks like.The teenagers in the room are listening intently, but the day-to-day internecine disputes they hear about is not the stuff of screenplays.“It’s just people getting into these online dramas and they’re swatting and doxing each other and getting people to throw bricks through their windows,” one of the hackers says.If the language sounds unfamiliar, it should – “swatting” and “doxing” involve people outing each other online by posting their genuine identities – but their message is clear: though cybercrime may seem alluring, the reality is anything but
Battle of the chatbots: Anthropic and OpenAI go head-to-head over ads in their AI products
The Seahawks and the Patriots aren’t the only ones gearing up for a fight.AI rivals Anthropic and OpenAI have launched a war of ads trying to court corporate America during one of the biggest entertainment nights of the year.Ahead of the Super Bowl, Anthropic has launched a series of ads going hard at its rival.For the scrawny 23-year-old who wants a six-pack, a ripped older man who is supposed to depict a chatbot suggests insoles that “help short kings stand tall” because “confidence isn’t just built in the gym”. And for the man trying to improve communication with his mom: his therapist prescribes “a mature dating site that connects sensitive cubs with roaring cougars” in case he can’t fix that relationship
England v Nepal: Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 – live updates
8th over: Nepal 70-2, (Paudel 11, Airee 19) Jacks drags down and Airee does not miss out, swatting away behind square for four. A couple of singles follow but Airee has got the bit between his teeth, swatting a length ball powerfully for four. Ten off the over. Brook calls for Dawson.7th over: Nepal 60-2, (Paudel 10, Airee 10) Here comes Adil Rashid
Winter Olympics 2026: Vonn crashes on downhill run, snowboarding and more – live
Alpine skiing: Ooof, another big crash now in the women’s downhill. Cande Moreno, the Andorran flagbearer at these games, having also competed in 2022. She’s barely got started on the course, there’s a big downhill jump in the early stages and she crashes there at perhaps the steepest part. This one will require the medics, it looks like a knee injury.At this stage, the rest of the field are the slower-qualifying skiers, so it looks very likely with 10 racers to go that the podium is already set
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