‘We have to go’: longest-serving lord reflects on looming Labour eviction

At the age of 84, David Trefgarne is not the oldest active peer in the House of Lords. But now well into his 64th year in the upper house, he is very much the longest serving. And in the next few months, it will all end.The 2nd Baron Trefgarne, to use his formal title, is one of the few hereditary peers still helping to make UK law, the tail end of a legislative chain dating back to the 13th century and Magna Carta. When one of these laws, the House of Lords (hereditary peers) bill, receives royal assent some time in the spring, that will be that

Unite leader tells Labour to ‘stop being embarrassed’ to be voice of workers

Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, has told the government it must do more for workers in 2026 or risk sowing the seeds of its own destruction.Graham accused Labour of being preoccupied with its “failing leadership” and described the debate about who might replace Keir Starmer as inevitable.Writing in the Times, she said: “For too long it has been everyday people, workers and communities who have paid the price for crisis after crisis not of their making. In 2026 this must stop. The government needs to decide what it stands for and who it stands for

‘Zack is a phenomenal leader’: Siân Berry on the Green party’s next steps as membership doubles

“Someone has to be out there making the narrative for social security. Someone has to fight the corrosive attitudes to people on benefits,” says Siân Berry, who has just finished her first year as a Green MP in the House of Commons.She is speaking to the Guardian in her Brighton constituency office, formerly occupied by the legendary Caroline Lucas who flew a lone flag as the only member of parliament for the Green party for 14 years.Now, however, there are four MPs including Berry, battling together, she says, to hold the space for the left at a moment when it feels the far right has hypnotised the entire political body. “Often Adrian [Ramsay, MP for Waveney Valley] is the only one bringing up animal welfare in Defra questions, or Carla [Denyer, MP for Bristol Central] will be the only person arguing for a refugee’s right to work to the Home Office

Cooper launches review of ‘serious failures’ in Alaa Abd el-Fattah case

Yvette Cooper has launched a review looking into “serious information failures” around the case of a British-Egyptian activist welcomed to the UK despite his past tweets now called “abhorrent” by the government.Keir Starmer said he was “delighted” by Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s arrival on Friday but a political storm erupted after social media posts from a decade ago were unearthed including some in which the activist had called for Zionists to be killed.Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who landed in London from Egypt on Boxing Day after the British government successfully negotiated his release, said he apologised “unequivocally” for his posts after opposition parties called for him to be deported and his citizenship revoked.But on Tuesday the activist faced fresh criticism from the Conservatives after his official Facebook account appeared recently to have liked a social media post suggesting “Zionists against Alaa Abd el-Fattah” were behind a “campaign” against him.Successive governments led by the Tories and Labour had advocated for Abd el-Fattah’s release over the past 10 years, almost all of which he spent in prison in Egypt for his political beliefs, including his opposition to the treatment of dissidents

‘Too complacent’: how Blair’s advisers misjudged his disastrous WI speech

Tony Blair’s key advisers agonised over the writing of his notoriously ill-judged speech to the Women’s Institute (WI) which saw the then prime minister heckled and slow hand-clapped before 10,000 members at Wembley Arena, newly released documents reveal.Despite the WI explicitly warning they were “wary of anything that smacked of capital P politics”, Blair’s aides were critical of his first draft and bombarded him with additions to inject more policy.Fresh from paternity leave after the birth of his son Leo, Blair believed the annual WI conference in 2000 allowed for a more personal and reflective speech and an opportunity to blend tradition and modernity to appeal to middle England.But his communications chief, Alastair Campbell, wrote of the first draft: “There is not much sense of a recharged, refocused Blair firing on all fronts, and in parts, a danger of coming over as rather Majoresque.”Particular lines that irked Campbell included Blair saying he applauded the Tate Modern “even though I don’t always understand it” and describing any suggestion of doing away with the old-fashioned “pomp and pageantry of the queen’s speech in parliament” as an “unnecessary act of destruction of an ancient and loved ceremony”

Brown’s allies could wreck Labour’s 2005 election hopes, Mandelson warned

Peter Mandelson warned Tony Blair not to allow Gordon Brown’s supporters to wreck Labour’s 2005 general election campaign from within, according to newly released government files.Relations between Blair and his chancellor were strained in the autumn of 2004 as Labour prepared to try for a third successive election victory. Brown and his allies believed the prime minister had reneged on a promise to step down towards the end of Labour’s second term to allow him to take over.In one file released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, the now Lord Mandelson warned Blair that such tensions would need to be carefully managed during the election campaign.Before leaving for Brussels to take up the post of Britain’s EU commissioner, the former cabinet minister said one of the challenges would be “agreeing where GB’s people can be included without giving them a veto or scope for insider demolition”