Letter: Sir Robert Worcester obituary

Though Mori, the firm run by Bob Worcester was replaced as Labour’s pollster by the Shadow Communications Agency under Philip Gould in the late 1980s, Bob continued to be a friend. On the Saturday after our election defeat in 1992, giving John Major a majority of 21, he called me to offer commiserations and to say that he wanted to tell me about “the size of Labour’s defeat”. I responded irately that: “The number 21 is tattooed on the inside of my bloody eyelids!”Calmly, he said, “but you should be aware that the bottom 11 Tory constituency majorities totalled 1,240 votes. That was your losing margin.” Obviously, that didn’t ease my sense of defeat, but then he added: “There’s a difference between being beaten badly and being beaten narrowly

Reform UK would let ministers ignore international law, Kruger says

Reform UK would allow ministers to ignore international law and give them the ability to fire civil servants in a Donald Trump-style overhaul of government powers, the party’s new efficiency tsar has said.Danny Kruger, who defected to Reform from the Conservatives last month, set out the party’s plans to change the way the government and civil service operate, handing more power to the cabinet.The party’s department of government efficiency (Doge) chief said he would want to rewrite the ministerial code and the civil service code to free the government from current constraints.“There is a glaring objection that I have to the ministerial code … which is that it requires them to acknowledge international law in their decision-making. That is an immediate change we would make,” Kruger said

Jeremy Corbyn to appear in north London panto

He has spent a whole career dealing with booing and hissing in the House of Commons. But now in the run-up to Christmas, the former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn will bring that experience to bear as he appears in pantomime at a north London theatre.The Islington North MP, who sits as an independent, will perform as the “Wizard of Oz-lington” in a drag production of Wicked Witches. The venue said he would make an onscreen cameo.“The Pleasance [theatre] has been at the heart of our community for 30 years, and local theatre like this deserves our support,” Corbyn said

Lammy tells Labour to learn from Caerphilly defeat as party seeks reset

David Lammy has urged Labour MPs to see the party’s defeat in the Caerphilly byelection as a moment of reflection, arguing progressive governments around the world have recovered from worse to “win big”.The deputy prime minister pointed to Canada’s Liberals, Norway’s Labour party and Australia’s Labor party as examples of centre-left groups that “roared back” from midterm slumps to secure significant victories.Speaking at a private meeting of the parliamentary Labour party on Monday night, Lammy said the lesson from Caerphilly was that “people can mobilise to stop Reform, but we are not always the beneficiary”.He said progressives “have to get better at picking the fights that demonstrate our values” if they wanted to convince voters to feel the purpose behind Labour’s project in power.Lammy’s remarks come as Labour MPs and peers privately concede the party is still trying to define what its reform agenda actually means in practice, and how they can turn it into something voters can actually feel

Director of public prosecutions rejects claim Labour manifesto quote killed off successful China spy case prosecution – as it happened

Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, has rejected claims that the inclusion of a line about Labour’s policy towards China, quoting from its manifesto, killed off the prospect of the alleged China spies being prosecuted. (See 5.42pm.) The ‘Labour manifesto quote’ in one of the witness statements has been cited by Tories as evidence to support their claim that the government intervened to collapse the trial. In evidence to a parliamentary committee, Parkinson and other witnesses did not say anything to substantiate these allegations

Nige thinks Pochin’s comments were ugly and unpleasant. But he agrees with them | John Crace

It’s the hottest new competition in Westminster. The accolade some MPs will do anything to win. It’s Racist of the Week. To Robert Jenrick’s intense annoyance, the Tory whip Katie Lam won it at a canter last week. Chin up, Honest Bob