In a change from 2025, the event was defined by optimism.
- Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History, Newcastle University
Having satisfied the party membership and erstwhile Labour voters over Israel, Andy Burnham may find it harder to do so over his meeting with Donald Trump.
A week is a very long time in British politics these days.
How the political debate has shifted in the last 25 years.
This looks like the beginning of the end for Starmer – and the end of the beginning for Burnham.
Unlike the Conservatives, Labour doesn’t have a history of toppling prime ministers.
The prime minister was more reliant on his chief of staff than most. Now he’s alone, facing calls to resign.
In the space of a few hours, Mandelson’s future has now shifted from the certainty of ignominy to the possibility of prison.
Trump has transgressed the only recognisable facet of what political identity Starmer actually has: the rule of law.
Some substantive deals were struck and, most importantly, the president was flattered into playing nice.
Mandelson took the UK’s most important diplomatic post knowing he was sitting on a ticking bomb – and Starmer will pay the price.
No one else could have been called – in the words of Labour’s Michael Foot – a ‘semi-house-trained polecat’.
The two are probably as close as ever, but it’s not currently politically expedient to acknowledge it in public.
Left and right boundaries are blurring, and Labour is on the back foot.
Overseas development has always fallen in and out of favour between governments. But this feels different – and terminal.
Theatrics are not in his nature, but thinking ahead certainly is. Hence a letter from the King, delivered at just the right moment.
Relations between presidents and prime ministers aren’t always easy, even without Elon Musk weighing in with his views.
Donald Trump is reportedly poised to veto Keir Starmer’s choice for UK ambassador to the US. And it’s very bad news for one side of the special relationship.
Starmer has already laid the groundwork for a positive working relationship with Trump – but will it be enough?
In the second part of our podcast series Know Your Place: what happened to class in British politics, we trace the history of class politics over the past century.
In a dismal night for the government, one result towers above the others.
Ramsay MacDonald was Labour’s first ever PM but he ended up being booted out of the party he helped found.
With an election on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to curl up with one of our expert recommendations.
A crisis abroad has exposed multiple disagreements at home.
He’s a man on five missions but he’ll need to learn from his predecessors to lead Labour back to power after over a decade out of it.
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