Politics

This is awkward for Downing Street to say the least. The person chosen by the British government to be the keystone in the most important of bilateral relationships is, according to one of the incoming president’s close aides, a “complete moron”. Chris LaCivita is a central character in Trump’s orbit. He managed Trump‘s election victory

Former cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt has revealed she threatened to pull out of a general election TV debate if she couldn’t apologise for Rishi Sunak skipping a D-Day event. The then Commons leader – who went on to lose her seat to Labour – told Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast that Number 10 didn’t want

Sir Keir Starmer is to make his most controversial senior appointment yet by naming Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US. Lord Mandelson, 71, known as the “Prince of Darkness” from his days as a New Labour‘s spin doctor, will be the prime minister‘s link to Donald Trump. ‘Brutal’ figure ‘an inspired choice’ –

The policing minister has said she wants forces “to do far more” to tackle shoplifting after figures obtained by Sky News showed fewer than one in four incidents were attended to by officers in 2023. Dame Diana Johnson blamed declining officer numbers under the previous government but also said she wanted to “see shop theft

Sir Keir Starmer has nominated his former top adviser Sue Gray for a peerage. Ms Gray, whose report into the partygate scandal contributed to the downfall of former prime minister Boris Johnson, is among 30 new Labour peerages announced ahead of Christmas to redress the party “imbalance” in the House of Lords. The Conservatives have

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said most Waspi women knew the state pension age was changing so it was not “the best use of taxpayers’ money to pay an expensive compensation bill”. The government revealed on Tuesday it would not be compensating millions of women born in the 1950s – called Waspi women – who say

Councils will receive a cash injection of nearly £1bn next year to tackle homelessness in England, Angela Rayner has announced. The deputy prime minister and housing secretary said 160,000 children faced spending Christmas without a regular home due to failures in the system and vowed to “break the cycle of spiralling homelessness and get back

Nigel Farage and his party treasurer have met with Elon Musk at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for the first time since rumours surfaced of a multi-million donation from the tech tycoon. The Reform UK leader and Nick Candy, the billionaire husband of singer Holly Valance who will take up the fundraising role for Mr Farage’s

David Cameron and George Osborne made a “massive mistake” in courting China from 2010 to 2016, Sir Iain Duncan Smith has told Sky News. The former Tory leader said the Yang Tengbo spying row proves that aspects of national security were overlooked and the UK is now paying the price. Sir Iain, who served in

Naming an alleged Chinese spy who has been linked to Prince Andrew is a “matter for the courts”, a government minster has said. Jim McMahon told Sky News that while he does not know the alleged agent’s identity, he assumes his more senior cabinet colleagues would be aware “depending on their security clearance”. Politics Live:

The prime minister is visiting Norway to launch a new green energy deal before attending a defence summit in Estonia. Sir Keir Starmer will travel to a carbon capture and storage site and meet his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store to discuss the new Green Industrial Partnership. Number 10 said both leaders intend to sign

The shadow home secretary said he is “deeply concerned” about allegations of Chinese spies in the UK and warned those in public life to be “extremely vigilant”. Chris Philp told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme the Chinese Communist Party has been “engaging in organised and systemic attempts to influence political life” for

More migrants have been removed from the UK since Labour was elected than in any other six-month period over the past five years, the government has claimed. The Home Office announced today that almost 13,460 people had been removed since Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won by a landslide in July. It claimed the government

Ed Miliband does not regret voting against the UK taking military action in Syria in 2013, he has told Sky News. His comments to Sky’s breakfast presenter Anna Jones come following the collapse of the Bashar al Assad regime in the region. Back in 2013, when Mr Miliband was Labour leader, UK MPs voted against

It might be tempting, given how much coverage has focused on it recently, to assume the forthcoming changes to inheritance tax regime are the single biggest issue facing farmers these days.  But the reality is these tax changes come at a moment of extraordinary pressure, with farmers having to contend with a swathe of unsettling

There’s a reason previous governments baulked at the net zero challenge – it’s absolutely colossal, something Labour’s new Clean Power 2030 plan lays bare. Offshore wind generating capacity, which has taken 20 years to reach 14.8GW, must more than triple to about 50GW within just six years. The plan calls for a tripling of solar

Plans to “green” the UK’s power system will protect consumers from future energy crises and has the potential to “bring down bills for good”, the government has said. Achieving clean electricity by 2030 was a key election promise for the Labour party, and reiterated by Keir Starmer last week as he outlined government ‘milestones’. To

Sir Keir Starmer says there are “questions to be answered” over the murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, as a report reveals hundreds of children died or were seriously harmed by abuse in one year.  New findings published a day after Sara’s father and stepmother were found guilty of her murder show more than 480 children in

The government is today demanding “immediate, mandatory” housing targets from councils as part of its plans to build 1.5 million houses by the next general election. During its election campaign Labour promised to build swathes of new housing to address lack of affordability and supply. And it will today release its latest version of the

The cost of assisted dying in the UK could mean it ends up being only be for the wealthy, a specialist lawyer has told Sky News. MPs voted the assisted dying bill through its second stage last month, meaning the UK is closer to allowing people to end their own lives legally. The bill stipulates