Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Cabinet secretary says unattributable briefings damaging government in apparent swipe at Tories - live news

Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary.
Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary. Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA

Afternoon summary

  • Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, has said that unattributable briefings are damaging to government in a message to civil servants that will be seen as a rebuke to Tories who have been denouncing the work of officials anonymously to the media. (See 4.51pm.)
  • Patel has told MPs that the new post-Brexit immigration rules announced last week, introducing income thresholds for people coming to the UK to work, could be revised over time. In a statement to MPs she said:

We will continue to refine our immigration system and build on flexibility where it is needed.

Over time more attributes for which points can be earned may be added, such as previous experience and additional qualifications, allowing us to respond effectively to the needs of the labour market and the economy.

But to be effective it must be simple so there will not be the endless exemptions for low paid, lower-skilled workers.

And we are not going to end free movement only to recreate through other routes in name only.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

Revised version of EU's mandate for trade talks appears to tighten level playing field requirements for UK

According to the Financial Times’ Mehreen Khan, EU ambassadors have approved the text of the EU’s negotiating mandate for the trade talks with the UK. It is due to be approved by ministers at the general affairs council tomorrow.

Here is the draft version (pdf) published at the start of February. According to Khan, a key change is in what was paragraph 89 in the draft, but what is now paragraph 92. This may be the most important sentence.

To that end, the envisaged agreement should uphold the common high standards, and corresponding high standards over time with union standards as a reference point, in the areas of State aid, competition, state-owned enterprises, social and employment standards, environmental standards, climate change, and relevant tax matters and other regulatory measures and practices in these areas.

As you can see from the changes (new material in bold, omitted material crossed out ), the changes tighten the level playing field provisions a bit in the direction of dynamic alignment (ie, the principle that standards must remain aligned over time) and away from non-regression (ie, the principle that standards just have to avoid getting weaker than they are now.) But they are quite subtle changes. “Over time” strengthens “uphold”, but arguably that is what uphold meant anyway. And having EU standards “as a reference point” implies some sort of alignment, while allowing an element of divergence.

The addition of “other regulatory measures and practices” also reads like a catch-all addition designed to close any possible loopholes.

Cabinet secretary says unattributable briefings damaging government in apparent swipe at Tories

Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, has written a message for civil servants deprecating “unattributable briefings and leaks to the media”. This practice “besmirches this country’s hard-won reputation for good governance”, he says. It has been posted on a civil service website. In it Sedwill says:

Candour, confidentiality and courtesy between ministers, special advisers and civil servants are crucial to the trust and confidence on which good governance depends. Civil servants should at all times be confident that they can give the honest, impartial and objective advice on which ministers can rely. Both should be confident that this advice, and any debate that surrounds it, will remain private.

Ministers may read this as a reprimand to officials briefing against them, such as those who appeared to be responsible for the Sunday Times story yesterday claiming that MI5 don’t rate Priti Patel, the home secretary. But it also reads like a rebuke to those Tory sources who have been briefing against civil servants, such as those who told the Sunday Telegraph yesterday that three permanent secretaries were on a government hitlist of officials destined for the chop.

No doubt Sedwill has given some thought as to where these hostile anti-civil service briefings are coming from. That might make for an awkward conversation with some of the advisers he will bump into in the corridors of No 10 ...

Here is another picture from the Düsseldorf carnival.

A carnival float depicts B Boris Johnson losing his Scottish legs during the traditional carnival parade in Duesseldorf, Germany.
A carnival float depicts B Boris Johnson losing his Scottish legs during the traditional carnival parade in Duesseldorf, Germany. Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP

At a street carnival in Düsseldorf Germans have been joking about the way Boris Johnson has divided the UK. These carnivals are an annual tradition, and today, Rosenmontag (Rose Monday - the Monday before Lent), is the highlight, apparently.

A carnival float depicts Boris Johnson losing his Scottish legs during the traditional carnival parade in Düsseldorf, Germany, today. The street spectacles in the carnival, centred around Düsseldorf, Mainz and Cologne, are watched by hundreds of thousands of people and are the highlights in Germany’s carnival season on Rosenmontag.
A carnival float depicts Boris Johnson losing his Scottish legs during the traditional carnival parade in Düsseldorf, Germany, today. The street spectacles in the carnival, centred around Düsseldorf, Mainz and Cologne, are watched by hundreds of thousands of people and are the highlights in Germany’s carnival season on Rosenmontag. Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP

Updated

Johnson says UK not seeking 'special or bespoke' trade deal with EU

Boris Johnson met Andrej Plenković, prime minister of Croatia, in Downing Street earlier today and No 10 has just sent out the read-out of their conversation. Croatia currently holds the rotating six-month presidency of the EU.

Normally these Downing Street read-outs are epically uninformative - “the prime minister and President Trump spoke this evening and discussed a range of bilateral and international issues,” they told us last week – but this one contains some fresh words on the forthcoming UK-EU trade talks that are interesting, because they reaffirm Johnson’s determination for the UK not to be “subordinate” to EU rules.

A No 10 spokesperson said:

The leaders spoke about the future relationship between the EU and the UK. The prime minister set out the UK’s vision based on friendly cooperation between sovereign equals and centred on free trade.

The prime minister highlighted that we are not seeking a special or bespoke agreement, but rather one like those the EU has already struck with other friendly countries like Canada. He emphasised that the UK will not extend the transition period or accept any arrangements which subordinate us to EU rules.

During the 2016, and afterwards, Brexiters used to argue that the UK would get a special trade deal with the EU. “The day after we vote to leave we hold all the cards and we can choose the path we want,” Michael Gove, who is now Cabinet Office minister, said during the campaign. And when Theresa May (not a Brexiter) was PM, she said she wanted an ambitious, bespoke deal with the EU.

Now the goal is quite different - not a special deal, but an off-the-shelf Canada-style one.

Boris Johnson meets Croatia’s prime minister Andrej Plenković in Downing Street.
Boris Johnson meets Croatia’s prime minister, Andrej Plenković, in Downing Street. Photograph: Reuters

Updated

Labour tells its members they may have to wait few days before getting leadership ballot paper

Voting in the Labour leadership and deputy leadership contest opens today. But the party is advising members that they may not receive their ballot paper, or ballot email, immediately. It has circulated this note to journalists.

Ballot papers are being issued to hundreds of thousands of Labour members and supporters – by email, or post if we don’t hold an email address.

Members and supporters are being advised that they should not be concerned if they don’t receive their ballot papers today, or even on Tuesday. Emails are being issued in batches due to the size of the electorate, and we expect it will take most of this week to send them all.

Requests for ballot papers to be reissued will only be processed from Monday 2 March. We are asking members and supporters not to request a reissue before this date.

We are naturally expecting a high volume of enquiries by phone and email from members and supporters in the coming days. We are asking the media to help limit this to genuine enquiries, by not publishing scare stories about the process or giving credence to exaggerated or misleading claims.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Labour leadership candidate, has been campaigning in Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd today.

These are from Sky’s Lewis Goodall.

The government has moved to ban membership of more rightwing terrorism groups, the Press Association reports. A proscription order has been put before parliament which would make joining the organisation Sonnenkrieg Division illegal in the UK, the Home Office said. The proposal has to be debated and is subject to parliament backing it. Laws coming into force on Tuesday will also recognise System Resistance Network as an alias of the already-proscribed group National Action. Anyone found to be a member of, or offering support to, the groups could now face up to 10 years in jail.

Updated

On a visit to Derry, Brandon Lewis, the new Northern Ireland secretary, has said that the government will not impose a customs border down the Irish Sea. Asked about the issue, he said:

I think it’s safest not to get too caught up in rumours and stuff in the press over the weekends. We are focusing on our main job.

We have always said we want to make sure there is unfettered access between GB and Northern Ireland, we’ve always as a government obviously gone by the rule of law and we will continue to do that.

We want to make sure that the United Kingdom is one whole union, and one that is good for business across the United Kingdom.

We’ve always said there will not be a border down the Irish Sea, there will be unfettered access for business.

Brandon Lewis.
Brandon Lewis. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA

Updated

There were cases last year of people threatening to leave the country if Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn became prime minister. But David Graeber, the anthropologist, radical author and anarchism advocate, may be the first person to threaten to leave the country if Keir Starmer becomes leader of the opposition.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has been advised to avoid becoming a “creature of No 10” at next month’s budget by steering clear of raising government spending to satisfy Boris Johnson’s demands.

David Gauke, the former justice secretary and Treasury minister who was expelled from the Conservatives for defying Johnson over Brexit, said Sunak was in danger of putting the public finances on an unsustainable path should he pump up government borrowing by too much to meet the prime minister’s spending demands. Gauke said:

You have got a new chancellor who will want to establish that he is not a creature of No 10. [Sunak], I would imagine, would want to assert that independence, if not necessarily on 11 March, sooner rather than later.

Speaking at an event at the Resolution Foundation thinktank in London, Gauke said that the government’s plans to increase spending could result in the national debt as a proportion of GDP increasing, which could be dangerous before a potential economic downturn.

Now that is a very strange position to find ourselves in. It’s a very strange position for a Conservative government to find itself in in particular. [There are] fundamental constraints here. The Treasury is going to have to continue to do the job the Treasury has done in the last 10 years, of being pretty tight with public spending, and making sure we do prioritise.

Gauke also said that the Ministry of Justice had faced a funding settlement that was “essentially unsustainable”. He said prisoner numbers would increase as Boris Johnson’s government toughened up sentencing criteria, meaning more prison officers would be needed. “Those pressures are going to increase yet further,” he added.

David Gauke.
David Gauke. Photograph: Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament (Attribution 3.0 Unpo

Updated

EU tells Johnson he must stick to new customs rules for Northern Ireland amid concern about UK 'backsliding'

The European Union has warned Boris Johnson against trying to water down the new customs rules for Northern Ireland that will apply under the withdrawal agreement from 2021. Speaking at the European commission’s regular briefing, Dana Spinant, deputy chief spokeswoman of the commission, said this issue was “very important” in maintaining trust between the two sides. She said:

The withdrawal agreement has been signed and ratified by both sides and as such it must be effectively implemented. That includes, of course, the protocol on Northern Ireland and all its constituent parts.

Of course, in this context as in all others, we would expect our partners to respect their international obligations under their national law and under international law - that includes, of course, the withdrawal agreement which has legal force.

Obviously, with respect to the future and how this plays in the negotiation, of course respecting our legal obligations is very important for establishing trust between two partners in a negotiation.

Spinant was responding to reports claiming Johnson does want to “get around” the rules he has promised to apply. (See 12.08pm.) Leo Varadkar, the Irish PM, has also said there must be no “backsliding” from the UK. (See 12.08pm.)

Downing Street this morning rejected claims that the PM is planning to ignore the commitments he had made relating to the Northern Ireland border. But the spokesman also said that British ports had not been asked to prepare for any new checks or controls on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland – even though these would be required under the EU’s interpretation of the Northern Ireland protocol. (See 1.07pm.)

Updated

Downing Street lobby briefing - Summary

Here are the main points from the No 10 lobby briefing.

  • Downing Street rejected a suggestion from the French Europe minister (see 10.39am) that the UK is trying to “blackmail” the EU into agreeing a trade deal by the end of 2020. When this notion was put to the prime minister’s spokesman, he rejected it firmly. But he confirmed that the government remained determined not to extend the post-Brexit transition beyond the end of 2020.
  • The spokesman said that restoring independence would be the main goal for the UK in the trade talks with the EU. He said:

The UK’s primary objective in the negotiations is to ensure that we restore our economic and political independence on 1 January 2021.

This firms up the message given by David Frost, the PM’s Brexit negotiator, in his speech in Brussels last week. But it will also be seen as fresh evidence that a “no-deal” outcome at the end of 2020 is a real possibility.

  • The spokesman dismissed claims that the government was exploring ways of evading the commitments it has made for a customs border down the Irish Sea. (See 12.08pm.) Asked about this, the spokesman said:

The [Northern Ireland] protocol specifically allows the UK to ensure unfettered market access for goods moving from Northern Ireland to GB. The UK signed the withdrawal agreement, including the protocol, last month. We will comply with our obligations.

  • The spokesman said British ports have not been asked to prepare for any new checks or controls on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland. Asked for details of the UK’s obligations under the protocol, the spokesman said:

The prime minister set out during the election campaign what he understood to be the obligations of the protocol ... He has been clear that beyond the limited changes that are introduced by the protocol, there will be no changes to GB/NI trade, and we have not asked any ports to prepare for new checks or controls between GB/NI.

As Peter Foster, the Telegraph’s Europe editor, explained in a Twitter thread yesterday, the EU believes that the protocol does oblige the UK to impose checks and controls. Here are two of his tweets.

And here are two slides from a European commission document (pdf) explaining how the withdrawal agreement works setting out the checks that will apply for GB/NI and NI/GB trade.

Checks required on GB/NI trade
Checks required on GB/NI trade Photograph: European commission
Checks required for NI/GB trade
Checks required for NI/GB trade Photograph: European commission
  • The spokesman said the government will publish its negotiating mandate for the trade talks with the EU on Thursday. The mandate for trade talks with the US will then be published next week.
  • The spokesman defended the PM’s decision to stay away from flooded areas last week, saying any such visits would have been a distraction. “It’s important not to distract from that ongoing effort,” the spokesman said. The spokesman did not have a clear explanation as to why the PM took a different approach when flooding happened during the election campaign.
  • The spokesman said there will be no inquiry into the leak of a claim that MI5 is withholding information from Priti Patel, the home secretary. But the claim was “baseless”, the spokesman said.
  • The spokesman declined to say the PM had full confidence in Sir Philip Rutnam, permanent secretary at the Home Office. Asked if he did, the spokesman replied:

The prime minister has full confidence in the civil service which is working very hard to deliver on the government’s priorities.

Yesterday it was reported that Rutnam is one of three permanent secretaries on a Downing Street hitlist of officials whom the PM wants to remove.

  • The spokesman rejected claims that the PM was on holiday last week. The suggestion that Boris Johnson was on holiday was prompted by the fact that he was staying at Chevening, and that he was not doing public engagements.
  • The spokesman revealed that the UK has sent medical supplies to China to help it deal with the coronavirus. The UK has supplied 1,800 goggles, 43,000 disposable gloves, 194,000 sanitising wipes, 37,500 medical gowns and 2,500 face masks, the spokesman said.
10 Downing Street.
10 Downing Street. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

There are two government statements in the Commons this afternoon.

Varadkar says there must be no 'backsliding' from UK over customs deal for Northern Ireland

This morning Leo Varadkar, who remains Ireland’s caretaker prime minister after the inconclusive general election, said there must be no “backsliding” from the UK on the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol, the deal that will keep Northern Ireland in the single market after Brexit, effectively putting a customs border down the Irish Sea.

Responding to a report in the Sunday Times (paywall) saying Boris Johnson intends to “get round” those requirements, Varadkar said:

We totally understand why they may want to minimise any checks at the ports and airports in Northern Ireland, we want to do that too, but the agreement clearly says if there have to be checks anywhere, they would happen at the ports and airports in Northern Ireland rather than on the land border between north and south.

So I am saying to the British government, there can be no backsliding on the withdrawal agreement, let’s not even go there and let’s focus instead on what should be the next phase, which is negotiating a free trade agreement between the European Union and Ireland and the UK so we can protect jobs and our economy.

According to Tim Shipman’s report in the Sunday Times, No 10 is determined to interpret the protocol differently. Shipman said:

Boris Johnson’s Brexit team has been ordered to draw up plans to “get around” the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit withdrawal agreement so the prime minister can play hardball with Brussels over trade.

Officials in Taskforce Europe, run by Johnson’s EU negotiator David Frost, are working in secret on proposals to ensure that there do not need to be checks on goods passing from Britain to Northern Ireland.

They believe the new attorney-general, Suella Braverman, might have to give new legal advice to justify the move. Insiders say she was appointed because her predecessor Geoffrey Cox was not willing to countenance action that will be seen in Brussels as a breach of the exit agreement.

Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach (PM).
Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach (PM). Photograph: Reinhard Krause/Reuters

Q: Is the UK trying to blackmail France into accepting a trade deal, as the French Europe minister implied this morning? (See 10.39am.)

No, says the spokesman.

Q: Is the PM concerned about suggestions that the UK is trying to wriggle out of the commitments it made in the Northern Ireland protocol on checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland.

The spokesman says there will be unfettered access from Northern Ireland to Britain.

He says the UK will comply with its obligations.

Q: Can people trust the UK to keep its word?

The spokesman says the UK will comply with its obligations.

Q: Can the UK comply with its obligations without having to impose checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland?

The spokesman says the PM set out during the election campaign his understanding of the terms of the protocol.

He says the government has not asked ports to impose new checks or controls on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland.

And that’s it. The briefing is over.

I will post a full summary soon.

Updated

Q: If the threat is low, why is the government buying millions of face masks?

The spokesman says the UK government has been sending supplies to China, including 43,000 gloves, 37,000 medical gowns and 2,500 face masks.

Updated

Q: How many Britons are affected by the coronavirus quarantine in Italy?

The spokesman says he has no updates on this.

He says there was a ministerial meeting of the Cobra emergency committee last week, and an officials’ meeting too.

Q: Has the UK contingency plans for sealing off areas, in the way the Italians have done?

The spokesman says the government will follow the advice of public health experts.

The chief medical officer says the risks to people in the UK are low, the spokesman says. And he says the NHS is extremely well prepared.

Q: Will travel advice to Italy be changed?

The spokesman says the advice on the Foreign Office’s website was changed at the weekend to reflect the situation in some parts of Italy.

Q: Can you explain the background to the appointment of someone to review the conditions of work for special advisers?

The spokesman says the government decided to review this at the end of last year. This appointment is part of that process, he says.

On Priti Patel, the spokesman says the home secretary and her permanent secretary issued a statement last night. He says the PM has full confidence in Patel.

Q: Does the PM have confidence in Philip Rutnam, permanent secretary at the Home Office?

The spokesman says the PM has confidence in the whole of the civil service.

Q: Does he think MI5 have been withholding information from Patel?

No, says the spokesman.

Q: Does the PM want to move Rutnam?

The spokesman says the PM has confidence in the whole of the civil service. He says permanent secretary appointments are for the cabinet secretary.

Q: Is there an inquiry going on into the leak of information critical of Patel?

No, says the spokesman. And he says no inquiry was requested.

Updated

The PM’s spokesman is here.

He starts by announcing what is happening today.

He says the PM is working from Downing Street. Later he is meeting the Croatian PM.

James Brokenshire, the Home Office minister, has announced plans for a “protect duty” on people who own open spaces.

Thérèse Coffey, the DWP secretary, is publishing a report on auto-enrolment in pensions schemes.

Alok Sharma, the business secretary, is attending a climate change conference.

Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, is doing a visit in Northern Ireland.

Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, is announcing the final local government settlement. MPs will vote on it later today.

The spokesman is now taking questions.

Q: Does the PM intend to make a statement on plans for new Trident warheads?

The spokesman says he does not have anything to announce on this.

Q: Was the PM annoyed that this news came out in the US?

The spokesman does not have anything to add.

Q: Was the PM on holiday last week?

The spokesman says the PM was working last week. He had calls with the Chinese and US presidents. He was kept updated on the flooding. And he was working on his domestic agenda and on the budget.

Q: Why did the PM not visit any of the flooded areas?

The spokesman says the government is very grateful to all the emergency services who were called out. He says the environment secretary has been in the lead on this. It is important not to distract from the relief effort.

Q: He was happy to do that last year, when there was an election on.

The spokesman repeats the point about being grateful to the emergency services.

  • No 10 defends PM’s decision to stay away from flooded areas, saying such visits would be a distraction.

Updated

Downing Street lobby briefing

I’m at 9 Downing Street for the morning lobby briefing. It will be the first we’ve had for a week (No 10 don’t hold daily briefings during recess) and so there is quite a lot to cover.

The embargo arrangements for these briefings are a bit hit and miss, but I’m expecting the embargo to be lifted, and so I should be able to cover the proceedings live.

We’re waiting for the prime minister’s spokesman to arrive.

France says it will not sign up to bad trade deal with UK just to meet Johnson's deadline

This is from Amélie de Montchalin, the French Europe minister. She is saying that France will not sign up to a bad trade deal with the UK just to meet Boris Johnson’s December 2020 deadline. (Johnson has set this deadline by ruling out an extension to the post-Brexit transition.)

And here is a translation from my colleague Jennifer Rankin.

Jennifer says EU diplomats are meeting again this afternoon to have another go at finalising the EU’s mandate for the trade negotiation with the UK.

On the subject of who might get appointed to Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet, if he wins the Labour leadership, the Economist’s Duncan Weldon has a Twitter thread on who might be appointed shadow chancellor. It starts here.

And here is his conclusion. He thinks Jonathan Reynolds or Anneliese Dodds, both shadow Treasury ministers, could get the job.

Keir Starmer's morning interviews - Summary

Sir Keir Starmer was interviewed this morning by Kay Burley on Sky News, by Mishal Husain on Today and by Nick Ferrari on LBC. Here are the main points from all three interviews.

  • Starmer refused to commit to offering Jeremy Corbyn a post in the shadow cabinet if he won. (See 9.21am.) He insisted that he had not had any discussions about possible shadow cabinet appointments, and he refused to comment on claims that there might be jobs for people like Ed Miliband or Yvette Cooper.
  • He said he was opposed to the government’s plan to use salary thresholds to determine if migrants should be allowed to come to the UK to work. Asked about the Home Office proposals announced last week, he said:

The position the government has just taken is completely wrong - where they are equating the worth of an individual coming to this country by how much money they earn. I think that’s profoundly the wrong approach ... I think the idea that if you don’t earn a certain salary you’re not bringing anything of any worth to this country is offensive.

When asked if that meant he would do away with salary thresholds, he replied:

I would - I do not think they are the right measure for the worth of an individual coming to this country.

  • He did not rule out campaigning for the UK to move towards a Norway-style relationship with the EU at the next general election. He said he expected the next election to be in 2024. Asked if at that point he might be advocating a closer relationship with the EU, akin to Norway’s, he said: “We will have to see what the situation is in 2024.” But he also said that it was in the UK’s interests to be economically close to the EU.
  • He said he disagreed with what Tony Blair said last week about how Labour should not let its support for trans rights lead to it getting involved in a culture war with conservatives. Blair said:

You’ve got to distinguish between the advocacy of certain things that are right, whether it’s about gay rights, transgender rights, whatever it is - you’ve got to distinguish between that and launching yourself politically into a kind of culture war with the right. If you go: ‘Transgender rights is our big thing’, and the right goes: ‘Immigration control is our big thing’, you’re going to lose that war.

Asked about this, Starmer said:

I actually think that the way that a potential leader of the Labour party deals with the LGBT community matters hugely, and it is about the values we bring to this. So I disagree with Tony Blair about that.

  • But Starmer also praised the record of the last Labour government, saying “a lot of good stuff” happened when it was in power. He said that it was wrong to “trash” the record of previous Labour governments, but that it was also wrong to “trash” the record of what had done in opposition over the last five years. He praised Jeremy Corbyn for turning the party into an anti-austerity party.
  • Starmer claimed that “outriders” from other campaigns were floating allegations that his campaign was funded by wealthy donors. He said that he had received contributions from trade unions, from crowdfunding and from individuals, as other candidates had, and he said that donations would all be declared. He implied the accusations were unfair.

I think this is one of those things that is swirling around. So far the candidates themselves have avoided taking lumps out of each other. I think some of the outriders are trying to stir things up a bit now.

  • He said that it had been a mistake for him to abstain on the second reading of the welfare reform bill in 2015. He said that he was a new MP at the time and he was abstaining in line with the party whip.
  • He struggled to refute a suggestion that he was boring. On LBC Ferrari said a Financial Times profile of him today is headlined: ‘Boring’ Starmer seeks to heal wounded party.’ Asked to name the most exciting thing he had done, to prove he was not boring, Starmer replied:

I’ve done lots of exciting things. You know, well, with playing football, going to football with my kids.

He eventually came up with a story about how, when he got stranded in Newcastle one day during the campaign, on Valentine’s night, he checked into a hotel and went to his room to find someone sleeping in the bed. Asked if it was a man or a woman, Starmer said he did not stay long enough to find out.

  • Starmer rejected claims that he tried to bring down Corbyn in 2016. Asked about a Twitter video released by the leftwing Fire Brigades Union, and whether he had tried to bring down Corbyn at the time, Starmer denied this. But he confirmed that he did resign from the shadow cabinet. Starmer said that, when Corbyn won the subsequent leadership election, he agreed to serve again in shadow cabinet. He said that he viewed Corbyn as a friend and that, when he disagreed with him, he kept that private.
Sir Keir Starmer at the Labour hustings in Durham yesterday.
Sir Keir Starmer at the Labour hustings in Durham yesterday. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Updated

One of Priti Patel’s Home Office ministerial colleagues has dismissed claims that she is bullying officials, as the home secretary pushed for an inquiry into a series of damaging leaks about her approach in the department, my colleague Peter Walker reports. After the Home Office released a statement denying a rift between Patel and her most senior civil servant, and MI5 rejected reports it is witholding intelligence from her, James Brokenshire called the reports “absolute nonsense”.

Starmer refuses to commit to keeping Corbyn in shadow cabinet if he wins

Today ballot papers start going out in the Labour leadership contest (or, in most cases, emails - people are generally expected to vote electronically) and this morning Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary and the clear favourite in the contest, has doing a round of interviews. On the Today programme he was asked if there would be space for Jeremy Corbyn in his shadow cabinet if he won and, although he dodged the question, listeners might have concluded that the answer was no. When Mishal Husain asked Starmer if he would give Corbyn a job, Starmer replied:

Look, there’s been so much speculation. I have not discussed that team with anybody. I’m totally focused ...

Husain then pressed him again, saying he must have a view on this. But Starmer stuck to the same line.

If you can believe it, given that we have been at this for weeks, the ballot is only dropping today, no votes have been cast yet, I’m focused on winning this race and getting as many votes as I possibly can through my argument about unity, effective opposition and focusing on winning the next general election. I have not discussed the shadow cabinet with anybody. And therefore whatever is swirling around, because there are names everywhere, it is all rumour, I can tell you.

Although Starmer may not have discussed specific shadow cabinet jobs with anybody, at a Labour hustings yesterday he did say that there would be top jobs for both Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy if he won. Previously he had declined to make that commitment.

In truth, most Labour members would probably expect Corbyn to leave the frontbench whoever wins – not least because that is normally what outgoing leaders do (although some do later return to cabinet or shadow cabinet roles, like William Hague). Long-Bailey herself said less than two weeks ago that Corbyn had done his bit and that it was time for a new generation. But she has also said separately that she would offer Corbyn a job because she likes him so much, and the leftwing deputy leadership candidate Richard Burgon has said the “ideal” outcome would be for Corbyn to stay on as shadow foreign secretary. Last week Corbyn did not rule out taking a shadow cabinet post if offered one.

I will post more from the Starmer interviews shortly.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Prof Sir Michael Marmot publishes a report on health inequalities across England.

9.30am: David Gauke, the former Tory cabinet minister, speaks at the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on the outlook for next month’s budget. As Richard Partington reports, it says the government is set to increase borrowing to spend more than £1tn a year, increasing the size of the British state to make it bigger than at any point under the 10-year premiership of Labour’s Tony Blair.

11am: Downing Street lobby briefing.

2.30pm: The Commons starts sitting again after the half-term recess. After housing questions, there are likely to be urgent questions or government statements.

After 3pm: Peers start debating the emergency terrorist offenders (restriction of early release) bill. It is due to clear all its Lords stages by the end of the day.

As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary when I wrap up.

You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
After SNL’s Marcello Hernández Impersonated Him Again, Sebastian Maniscalco Made A Suggestion I Hope Lorne Michaels Sees
It only makes sense.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Ryan Reynolds Posted A Photo Of Himself Wearing Hulk Hands (And Fans Have The Same Raunchy Response)
Well, of course.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
“Melania Trump Clone”: Heidi Klum’s Outfit At The Oscars After Party Triggers Explosive Reactions
“Thought it was Melania for a moment,” said one user.
Bored Panda
Bored Panda
German tourist sues New York City taqueria over salsa so spicy ‘it was a very big shock physically and mentally’
Faycal Manz sought $100,000 in damages after claiming that Los Tacos No.1 had failed to warn him about the spiciness of its green salsa
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
How should a woman dress in her 50s? Gwyneth Paltrow just changed the game
The red carpet raises all kinds of questions, writes Zoe Williams. What is the age range of a feather boa? Sequins: mutton or lamb? In the face of the carping and scrutiny, Paltrow has issued a bold sartorial retort
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
The Real Reason Sean Penn Missed The 2026 Oscars Despite Winning Best Supporting Actor
Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor at the 2026 Oscars but was absent due to an unexpected reason.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play