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Democrats may win a vote to give their party more House seats, but they are growing anxious — in part because of dueling TV ads that might confuse voters about where the former president stands.
Analilia Mejia, a former top Bernie Sanders staffer, convincingly won a House seat despite "radical" label.
Not least because JD Vance’s show of support for Viktor Orbán appears to have had opposite of desired effect So much of the news is depressing these days. The wars in Iran, Lebanon and Ukraine. The cost of living crisis. At times it feels as if the world has tipped into the surreal. Donald Trump posting photos of himself on his Truth Social account as the Risen Christ. A step too far even for Nigel Farage. And the US president picking a fight with the pope. Leo is a terrible man, apparently, fo…
The companies had asked the justices to clear the way to move environmental lawsuits out of state courts, to friendlier federal venues.
The prime minister’s explanation has shifted between being misled and admitting error, raising questions about vetting, accountability and what he knew In February, the prime minister apologised to victims of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying he had “believed (Peter) Mandelson’s lies” before making him Britain’s ambassador to the US. By March, that account had shifted. Faced with evidence that he was warned the appointment posed a “reputational risk”, but gave the peer the job anywa…
Dazzling new additions like V&A East are a source of national pride, but so are much-loved regional institutions The V&A East Museum, which opens its doors for the first time in Stratford, London, on Saturday, is the latest addition to the buzzing East Bank cultural quarter on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This £135m architect-designed V&A outpost is a short walk from the V&A East Storehouse (on Time Magazine’s list of The World’s Greatest Places to Visit 2026) and Sadler’s Wells East, both…
Data shows only a third of concluded claims in scheme for those wrongly classed as illegal migrants resulted in pay outs The Home Office has refused to pay compensation for more than half the claims made by victims of the Windrush scandal, new analysis by the UK’s public spending watchdog has shown. The National Audit Office’s (NAO) “government’s compensation and financial recognition schemes report” found that by January 2026, 11,475 claims had been received to the scheme. It was set up in 201…
If only the PM had been the process-obsessed technocrat he was once painted as, this disaster wouldn’t have happened – and he wouldn’t be on the brink Keir Starmer is dull and managerial, they said. He’s a process-obsessed technocrat, they said. He is, his opponents argued long before Starmer won a landslide election victory nearly two years ago, a bad choice for prime minister – indeed, unsuited to politics itself – because he is not so much a leader as a lawyer, animated less by ideology than…
Almost all officials working in Foreign Office HQ undergo process before gaining access to top secret material After Keir Starmer announced Peter Mandelson as his pick to be ambassador to the US in December 2024, officials in the Foreign Office contacted him to organise the security vetting clearance process. As with almost all of the 8,000 officials working in the Foreign Office’s Whitehall headquarters, Mandelson required a level of clearance known as developed vetting(DV). This is necessary…
The Senate approved a stopgap measure that passed the House early Friday. Libertarian-leaning House Republicans had balked at a long-term extension.
Starmer says ministers were in the dark, but friends of former top civil servant suggest it was a case of them looking the other way Fiddling with his reading glasses, the then cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald – sitting alongside the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, Sir Olly Robbins – suddenly appeared a little tense. The bonhomie evident in earlier answers had quite disappeared. Continue reading...
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The PM is facing calls to resign over the revelation that Lord Mandelson did not pass security checks.
How did the PM’s chosen US ambassador fail security vetting but still get approved, what exactly did he know, and who is to blame? Downing Street has tried to do a lot of explaining, as has Keir Starmer himself. But there are still plenty of things we do not know about how Peter Mandelson failed security vetting, and what the prime minister did or did not know about it. Continue reading...
While the Labour leader is deeply unpopular, several factors – including the Iran war – seem to be delaying his exit It still feels improbable that the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, will face a formal challenge even if, as assumed, his Labour party performs disastrously in next month’s local elections. But for many of his MPs, the latest revelations about Peter Mandelson have emphasised that the question is simply one of when, not if. “It does seems incredible that he didn’t know, but the pr…
It's emerged that Lord Mandelson did not pass inital security vetting checks ahead of taking up the role of ambassador to the United States.
This live blog is now closed. For the latest Peter Mandelson, read our full report: Starmer says it is unforgivable he was not told Mandelson failed vetting Jones repeatedly denied that the prime minister had given a misleading impression about what has happened and had “lost grip” of the situation. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: I completely refute the suggestion the PM misled the public or the House of Commons. It’s very clear from his words he was reporting what he had been told and…
The former US ambassador was given a security clearance despite concerns being raised during checks.
Diana Acosta Verde, who came into the United States illegally when she was six months pregnant, had to leave her baby at a hospital while she returned to a detention center.
The measure would renew the warrantless surveillance program through April 30.
Pierre Poilievre targets prime minister on tariffs and economy.
Republicans are standing by the Energy secretary, who was on Capitol Hill answering for the fallout from the Iran war.
Some fear a fragmented field of hopefuls from Labour, the Conservatives, Greens, Reform and independents could leave city ungovernable Paul Tilsley was 23 when he was first elected for the Liberal party in Birmingham’s council elections in 1968. At that time, the UK had an unpopular Labour government facing an economic crisis, tensions around immigration and US pressure to back military action abroad. Such a backdrop may seem familiar, but this May the local elections in Birmingham could not be…
Nations split over doubling down on fossil fuels or accelerating renewables.
James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, has been amassing campaign cash as Senator John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton still battle each other.
The president said the U.S.'s blockade on Iranian shipping in the region will remain in effect, and lambasted allies for their lack of support.
BBC West Midlands political editor Elizabeth Glinka explains the significance of 14 local elections.
Ministers are considering restricting spot-on treatments and collars to prescriptions from vets and medical professionals.
Political correspondent Harry Farley reports as new information emerges about the former US ambassador's appointment to the role.
"Absolutely furious", "unforgivable" and "completely unacceptable". Sir Keir Starmer is normally not one to show emotion, but he was near apoplectic on Friday as he insisted he was not told Peter Mandelson's security vetting had failed.
A former aide to a Labour MP has been spared jail after downloading more than 500 indecent images of children.
Campaign finance reports show how new industries are preparing to spend big on elections.
Florida attorney David Oscar Markus has made a career of representing controversial clients. His next challenge is trying to get Ghislaine Maxwell out of prison.
The Liberal government clinched a majority Monday after winning three special elections, bolstered by five aisle-crossers.
The GOP governor launched an ambitious final policy push that could face severe backlash and leave his last year in office trickier as he begins to assess his future.
Sir Olly Robbins has effectively been sacked after his department did not inform the prime minister that Lord Mandelson had failed security vetting.
Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.
The documents show the fallout for the US in Bahrain, Indonesia and Azerbaijan as it struggles to catch up with pro-Iran messaging.
The first minister defends his party's plans to impose a limit on the cost of "essential" items.
George Robertson has joined Reform and the Tories in making the case. Look welfare recipients in the face and say that The benefits budget is now a magic money tree. Whenever Conservatives or Faragists make wild promises – tax cuts, more police, more punishment, more bonuses for marriage – and are asked how they would pay, the answer is always “welfare”. The sums are enormous. “Only the Conservatives will cut welfare spending by £23bn and get Britain working again,” the party insists. More unex…
Though welcomed by chefs and campaigners, many schools say the government’s plan to remove ‘grab and go’ options from the menu is a step too far It is lunchtime at Richard Challoner school, a Catholic comprehensive for boys in New Malden, south-west London. The familiar smell of school lunch is beginning to waft around the corridors. In the canteen, there is a moment of calm as the kitchen team make final preparations before year 7 descend – a mass of chatting, laughing boys, with backpacks swi…
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At an economic event, the president sought to downplay the financial hardship that has followed his war with Iran, saying that “we’re having some fake inflation because of the fuel, the energy prices.”
Todd Lyons said he would leave to spend more time with his family. He has spoken about a surge in threats against ICE officers, saying that he knew the reality firsthand.
The prime minister is believed to be absolutely furious over the handling of Lord Mandelson's vetting, Chris Mason writes.
The Commission of Fine Arts, a Trump-aligned advisory body, granted preliminary approval. But its vice chairman suggested losing statues atop the structure and other revisions before a final vote.
The UK is adopting a "ruthlessly pragmatic" approach to becoming closer to its European neighbours, the UK's EU minister tells the BBC.
Gov. Gavin Newsom offered supporters who gave any amount a copy of his book. Roughly 67,000 donors received the memoir, accounting for about two-thirds of its total print sales.
A federal judge wrote that an exception he made for work on security features did not cover most of the construction on the larger ballroom project Trump has proposed.
While the president claims he's got the cards, he may have to give ground to get a deal.
Trump Cabinet members RFK Jr. and Brooke Rollins joined GOP lawmakers Thursday in pillorying onetime allies.
The action was largely symbolic since the president would be all but certain to veto the bill, but the bipartisan vote reflected resistance within his own ranks on his signature issue.
The G.O.P. narrowly blocked a Democratic war powers resolution, but a senior Republican suggested that backing for the conflict is not open-ended and could wane as a statutory deadline approaches in weeks.
Bics fix accepts nose-bleed energy bills are a structural problem but pretends they are only an issue for a narrow section of industry It is “bold action” to boost UK competitiveness, claimed the government. Not everybody shared that assessment of the British industrial competitiveness scheme (Bics), the long-awaited plan to cut electricity bills for UK manufacturers by up to 25% – or, at least, to cut them for a subset of firms that are aligned with the eight chosen sectors of the “modern” ind…
The lack of a unified digital repository for patients and healthcare workers means that key medical changes are often missed. But the NHS can learn from US intelligence sharing Will Parman is the winner of the The Guardian Foundation’s 2026 Emerging Voices award (19-25 age category), recognising young talent in political opinion writing As she battles cancer, my mum fears that she will forget to tell her consultant something important. Like many people with complex and chronic health needs, she…
Penn & Teller filed a Supreme Court brief questioning the use of “investigative hypnosis” in a death-penalty case in Texas.
The court had barred national security agencies from using certain tools to process Americans’ data gathered under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expires on Monday.
No 10 says the government is working to ensure "anyone potentially abusing our immigration system is held accountable".
Samantha Niblett says her campaign is about ‘taking control of our Britishness’ – bring on the union jack dildos We could almost be back in the San Francisco of the 1960s. Tune in, turn on, drop out. Make love not war. A hippy counterculture that turned its back on the American involvement in Vietnam. One determined to shape a new world order. Fast forward to today and we have one MP who is hellbent on making 2026 the summer of sex. One who wants to focus politicians’ attention on the joys of t…
Party leaders each face questions from an audience of voters in Llandudno.