Badenoch suggests it is not ‘tenable’ for Mandelson to remain in post
Badenoch says Starmer did not answer. That means he probably did know about the relationship. He says the Daily Telegraph reports today that Mandelson did a business deal with Epstein after Epstein had been convicted of child sex offences. How can it be “tenable” for Mandelson remain in post?
Starmer repeats his statement about having confidence in Mandelson.
UPDATE: Badenoch said:
I asked the prime minister if he knew, the fact that he didn’t answer indicates that he probably did know.
I wasn’t asking a question about process. I was asking a question about his judgment.
The Daily Telegraph reports today, that while Lord Mandelson was business secretary, he brokered a deal with Jeffrey Epstein, while he was business secretary. And that this occurred after Epstein had been convicted of child sex offences.
Given this new information, does the prime minister really think it is tenable for our ambassador to remain in post?
And Starmer replied:
The relationship between the US and the UK is one of our foremost relationships, and I have confidence in the ambassador in the role that he is doing.
Early evening summary
Kemi Badenoch has renewed her call for Peter Mandelson to be sacked in the light of the new revelations published by the Sun about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. (See 5.48pm.) In an interview with the PM programme, Harry Cole, the Sun journalist who broke the story, said that, while the revelations were highly embarrassing, it would be awkward for Keir Starmer to get rid of Mandelson because of his Epstein links when Donald Trump also used to be a close friend of Epstein’s.
Alison McGovern, the housing, communities and local government minister, has announced that she is withdrawing from Labour’s deputy leadership contest. (See 4.58pm.) She is now backing Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, who is the favourite and who is expected to have the 80 MP nominations need to be guaranteed a slot on the ballot when the latest nominations update comes out later this evening. Of the four others still in the contest, it is thought that at least three of them – Emily Thornberry, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Paula Barker – will fail to get the 80 nominations they need. Lucy Powell is thought to have the best chance of reaching that threshold.
Kemi Badenoch at PMQs today. Photograph: House of Commons/PAShare
Updated at 19.06 CEST
Badenoch says Mandelson ‘needs to be fired now’ following new Epstein revelations in Sun
Kemi Badenoch has renewed her call for Peter Mandelson to be sacked in the light of the new revelations published by the Sun about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. (See 5.19am.) In a post on social media she said:
These are sickening revelations.
Mandelson’s position is untenable. Why did Starmer defend him today? How was ‘full due process followed’?
This a weak Prime Minister, leading a Government mired in scandal. The public deserves better.
Peter Mandelson needs to be fired now.
John Swinney says, after 50-minute meeting with Trump in White House, he thinks Scotch whisky could get zero-tariff deal
Libby Brooks
Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent.
John Swinney had told the media that he believes a zero-tariff deal for Scotch whisky is now a possibility following his talks with Donald Trump at the White House.
Swinney told a press conference at Bute House, Edinburgh, that whisky “wasn’t being given enough priority” by the UK government – the industry says current 10% tarrifs cost it £4m a week – and that when Trump visited Scotland in July, whisky was “not on his radar”.
It was his own efforts during that visit and his decision to travel to the States earlier with week to speak to the US industry representatives – with a meeting with Trump only a possibility at that point – that have brought him to a point where he now “hopes there is the chance of a better deal for Scotch whisky”, though emphasising that it is for UK government negotiators to secure that deal.
While Swinney would not be drawn on whether he thought the UK government had failed the Scotch whisky industry, he was keen to underline his own warm welcome at the White House – his scheduled 30-minute meeting over-ran by a further 20 minutes.
Swinney also emphasised he did not go to “with a sob story, I was going there offering a deal”, saying the pair had “a very serious and very substantial” conversation.
His plan is to take both whisky and bourbon “out of the equation”, moving them to a zero-tariff category – this was an economic opportunity for the US, he explained, because the more whisky is produced in Scotland, the more bourbon barrels – required for maturation – will be bought from the US.
“The approach I’m suggesting has a benefit for the United States and for Scotland,” he said.
What happens next depends on the UK negotiations, which will be concluding ahead of Trump’s state visit to the UK next week, he added, but he was confident that UK negotiators “are very much aware of the possibilities that have been raised by the intervention I have made”.
John Swinney speaking at his press conference today. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/PAShare
Updated at 18.40 CEST
The Times has also got a new Peter Mandelson revelation. In his story Chris Smyth says officials “blocked the release of a secret memo in which Lord Mandelson urged Sir Tony Blair to meet Jeffrey Epstein while he was prime minister”. Smyth says the note was sent in 2002 and, in normal circumstances, would have been made public 20 years later by the National Archives, like other government papers.
Smith says:
Documents were due to be made public as part of a standard National Archives release but this was blocked, The Times understands. It is thought that officials concluded the document might embarrass Britain and harm relations with the US at a time when Mandelson is seeking to build relations with President Trump.
Mandelson under fresh pressure as Sun publishes new messages he sent backing Epstein as he faced sex charges
Peter Mandelson’s chances of staying on as ambassador to Washington are looking shakier this evening following the publication of a story by the Sun with new details of his closeness to the billionaire paedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
In an interview with the Sun’s Harry Cole last night, Mandelson said he expected further “very embarrassing” correspondence to be made public exposing how close he was to Epstein. (See 9.56am.)
The Sun has now published a new story by Cole that contains some of the material he was probably alluding to. Cole says:
Peter Mandelson coached “best pal” Jeffrey Epstein through his “years of torture” over teen sex allegations, leaked emails suggest.
While the predator was facing charges in June 2008 over soliciting a minor, Lord Mandelson wrote: “Your friends stay with you and love you.”
Shortly before Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in jail after a plea deal with Florida prosecutors, Lord Mandelson added: “Fight for early release.”
Cole says a series of leaked messages from Mandelson to Epstein are circulating in Washington.
In one, Mandelson wrote to Epstein:
I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened.
I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain. You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can …
Everything can be turned into an opportunity and that you will come through it and be stronger for it.
Cole says, when asked about the messages, Mandelson did not dispute their veracity, but instead repeated the apologies given earlier. (See 9.56am.)
Updated at 18.27 CEST
Alison McGovern withdraws from Labour’s deputy leadership contest, saying she is now backing Bridget Phillipson
Alison McGovern, the housing, communities and local government minister, has announced that she is withdrawing from Labour’s deputy leadership contest.
She says she will be backing Bridget Phillipson for the job.
She has posted this on social media.
Statement on deputy leadership Photograph: Alison McGovern
By withdrawing, McGovern enables MPs who have nominated her to nominate someone else. Last night she only had two nominations, but it is possible that some other MPs may have nominated her today. The latest updates will be published here at around 7pm.
Starmer meets Israeli president Isaac Herzog at No 10
Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, has arrived at No 10 for talks. He did not respond to questions from reporters as he met Keir Starmer on the doorstep.
Keir Starmer greeting Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog. Photograph: James Manning/PAShare
Healey asks military to look at how it can bolster Nato’s air defences over Poland after incursion by Russian drones
John Healey, the defence secretary, has asked the military with looking at how the UK can help bolster Nato’s air defences over Poland, after Russia sent drones into Polish territory that were shot down.
Speaking at his press conference this afternoon with officials and counterparts from Poland, Italy, France and Germany (who, with the UK, comprise the E5), he said:
Following our discussions today, I’ve asked our UK armed forces to look at options to bolster Nato’s air defence over Poland.
Until July, six RAF Typhoon jets were operating from Poland as part of Nato’s air policing mission – a task shared between the members of the alliance, Healey said. He went on:
We have 300 UK personnel in Poland at the moment, reinforcing Nato’s deterrence as well as the Polish deterrence and defence as well.
And we will do what we can as part of Nato, as part of a collective response that Poland has asked for from us, its Nato allies.
RAF jets were not involved in destroying the Russian drones overnight, Downing Street confirmed.
John Healey receiving the guard of honour ahead of a meeting of E5 defence ministers today. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PAShare
RMT leader urges Sadiq Khan to convene summit to resolve London Tube strike
The leader of striking Tube workers has called for a summit to try to resolve a dispute over pay and working hours, PA Media reports. PA says:
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) are taking industrial action this week which has crippled London Underground services, causing travel chaos in the capital.
RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey called on the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, to attend a summit with the union in a bid to find a resolution.
Speaking at the TUC Congress in Brighton, Dempsey told delegates: “I’ve got a message for the mayor. Instead of going on social media, instead of the old tired cliches, telling trades unionists to get round the table, you’re the mayor of London, you’re the chair of Transport for London. Stop going on social media, invite us to the meeting, let’s have a discussion, because I want to know what is going on in London.”
Dempsey warned of more strike action if there was no resolution to the dispute, adding: “We take no pleasure in causing disruption but we make no apology for fighting for our members. So if the mayor has any sense, he will reach out to us.”
The union has rejected a 3.4% pay offer and is campaigning for a cut in their members’ 35-hour week, which London Underground says is unaffordable.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog defends attack on Hamas in Qatar ahead of meeting with Starmer
Patrick Wintour
Patrick Wintour is the Guardian’s diplomatic editor.
The Foreign Office was forced to deny the UK was rolling out the red carpet for Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, on his visit to London as Herzog contradicted Keir Starmer by saying Tuesday’s attacks on the Hamas leadership in Qatar were part of a drive for peace.
Starmer had said the attacks set back the cause of peace, but Herzog insisted the aim had been to take out those in the Hamas leadership most consistently opposed to a ceasefire.
Despite the government insisting Herzog was in the UK only on a private visit, he is having meetings not just with Starmer but with the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, as well as delivering an address to the thinktank Chatham House.
The Foreign Office defended the ministerial meetings saying the aim was to impress on Herzog the need to increase aid, but also to do more to allow the evacuation to Britain from Gaza of injured children and fully-funded scholarship students.
Protesters demanded Herzog’s arrest as a war criminal as they demonstrated outside Downing Street and Herzog’s hotel.
Faced by allegations of violating the sovereignty of Qatar and undermining efforts to secure a ceasefire, Herzog hit back in a briefing to reporters saying that the strike on senior Hamas figures in Doha on Tuesday was designed to bring the war to an end. Herzog identified Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya as the chief barrier to peace. Reporters were told:
We targeted those who refused to accept the deal – primarily Khalil al-Hayya, who was the head of Hamas. He kept on being the objector. He refused adamantly to get to a deal. He kept on saying ‘no’, or ‘yes, but’ – and the ‘but’ was impossible to overcome.
His conditions could never be met. He was one of the instigators and perpetrators of October 7, and I guess the Americans can confirm it.
Herzog’s claim that it is Hamas’ foreign-based leadership, rather than militants in Gaza, holding back a peace deal is not a universally shared analysis.
British ministers said they were backing an emergency session of the UN security council today where Israel will be challenged to prove how the attack on Doha met the two legal tests to justify such attacks – self-defence and imminence of an attack. A call between the foreign ministers from France, Germany and the UK is also expected.
At PMQs Starmer defended the encounter with Herzog telling MPs:
I will be clear that restrictions on aid must be lifted. The offensive in Gaza must stop and settlement building must cease. But however difficult the UK will not walk away from a diplomatic solution. We will negotiate and we will strain every sinew, because that is the only way to get the hostages out, to get aid in and to stop the killing.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy accuses GB News of presenting ‘political polemic’ as news
Michael Savage
Michael Savage is the Guardian’s media editor.
Lisa Nandy has accused GB News of presenting “political polemic” as news by allowing politicians like Nigel Farage to front its shows, as she warned a “polarised and fragmented” news media was threatening democracy.
The culture secretary said ministers “intend to act” over what she described as a blurring of news and political attack. It comes with media regulator Ofcom already looking to tighten the rules around politicians presenting current affairs programmes.
Speaking to the Commons culture committee, Nandy said that while there had been recent criticisms of the BBC, there were “different standards being observed in other places”. She said concerns had been raised with her over Farage’s GB News outings.
She went on:
To take a very clear example, and something that this government and I feel very strongly about, there is a real importance for the public when they look at the news to be able to understand whether what they’re seeing is political polemic or news. At the moment, that situation is currently completely unsatisfactory.
I’ve had particular concerns raised with me by parliamentarians about the appearance of Nigel Farage presenting news programmes on GB News. I think that is a fair criticism from members of parliament of all political parties, because the public have a right to know if what they’re seeing is news and is impartial, or is not.
She said it was fuelling the breakdown in trust in news generally, with the consumption of news now “polarised and fragmented”.
She said it had become “a very dangerous position for a country to be in, and it’s something that we intend to robustly defend”.
Lisa Nandy leaving cabinet yesterday. Photograph: Victoria Jones/ShutterstockShare
TUC unanimously backs call for government to repeal ban on Palestine Action
Haroon Siddique
Haroon Siddique is the Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) annual Congress has unanimously passed a motion calling on the government to repeal the ban on Palestine Action.
The motion calls on the UK government to “repeal the authoritarian proscription of Palestine Action under counter-terrorism laws”. The ban, the first of a direct action protest group, came into force on 5 July, placing Palestine Action alongside organisations like Islamic State and National Action.
The government’s decision has been criticised as draconian by UN experts, Amnesty International, Liberty and hundreds of lawyers, including a former director of public prosecutions.
Speaking in the debate at the congress in Brighton, Martin Cavanagh, the president of PCS union, which represents hundreds of thousands of civil servants, said:
The UK government’s proscription of Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 is not just a legal manoeuvre comrades, it is a political attack with implications for our rights, our members and our democracy.
We believe this proscription represents a significant abuse of counter-terrorist powers and a direct attack on our right to protest against the genocidal Israeli regime. Let’s be clear: protest is not and can never be classed as terrorism. Solidarity is not a crime, and silence in the face of injustice is not an option.
The motion, proposed by the National Education Union (NEU), also called on the UK government to take meaningful action to secure an immediate ceasefire, immediately recognise the state of Palestine and end arms trade with Israel as well as all trade which assists violations of international law.
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, which has been organising protests at which hundreds of people have been arrested for declaring support for Palestine Action, said:
The government should listen to trade unions and 5.5 million workers they represent, as well as the countless vicars, protests, war veterans, retired doctors, nurses and teachers and Holocaust survivors and their descendants being rounded up by police. This is Labour’s poll tax moment. A law this unjust and facing such widespread public opposition cannot hold and will inevitably have to be lifted.
John Healey, the defence secretary, has said Nato allies will “stand firm” against Russian aggression.
Speaking after a meeting with counterparts from Poland, Italy, France and Germany (who, with the UK, comprise the E5), he said:
Together, we the E5 totally condemn these attacks.
Russia’s actions are reckless, they’re dangerous, they’re unprecedented.
We see what Putin is doing. Yet again he is testing us. Yet again we will stand firm.
John Healey (third left), Italy’s defence minister Guido Crosetto (second right), Poland’s director of international security policy Marcin Kazmierski, (right), Germany’s state secretary at the federal ministry of defence Jens Ploetner (second left), and Alice Rufo, director general for international relations and strategy of the French ministry for the armed forces (left) at their press conference.
Photograph: Kin Cheung/APShare
MPs condemn Israeli attack on Hamas in Qatar, and Starmer’s decision to meet Herzog in No 10
Kiran Stacey
Kiran Stacey is the Guardian’s policy editor.
MPs from all sides condemned the Israeli attack on Hamas in Qatar during an urgent question in the Commons, with several criticising the prime minister for pressing ahead with his plans to meet Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president.
Abtisam Mohamed, the Labour backbencher, asked:
Why are we meeting Israel’s President Herzog today when his own words, and those of Prime Minister Netanyahu show a complete disregard for international humanitarian law?”
Kim Johnson, another Labour MP, referred to comments by Herzog in October 2023, when the Israeli president claimed “the entire [Palestinian] nation out there” was responsible for the 7 October attacks.
How does the minister justify the genocidal comments of President Herzog?
These individuals must be held accountable. This is not diplomacy, it is shameful complicity … Today’s meeting with Herzog should never have taken place.
Even MPs loyal to Starmer urged the prime minister to use his meeting with Herzog to condemn the Israeli government and its action in Qatar.
Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, who is also running for the deputy leadership of the Labour party, said:
There is an emboldened far-right Israeli govt who believe they can do whatever they like and there won’t be any consequences … In what way will the prime minister be able to convey such a message to President Herzog this afternoon?”
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, said:
Today of all days, after an illegal attack on peace brokers Qatar, it is shocking to see the UK put out the red carpet for President Herzog, who dehumanised Palestinian suffering and incited violence against civilians.
Hamish Falconer, the Middle East minister, defended the visit, saying Starmer would use it to talk about practical concerns such as evacuating civilians from Gaza and getting aid into the region.
President Herzog is the head of state. He is not a functional part of the government, he is an important conduit to raise these concerns.
The foreign secretary sought this morning amongst other things to ensure greater support from the Israeli government in order to get children with injuries, in order to get students out. These are difficult, practical matters on which we are focused.
Updated at 15.33 CEST
Tories claim Starmer has ‘put party above national security’ by keeping Mandelson in post
A Conservative party spokesperson issued this statement after PMQs.
Keir Starmer was in complete disarray at PMQs.
There are clearly questions he refuses to answer, because it appears he knew that Peter Mandelson had an intimate relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and still chose to appoint him to one of our country’s most important diplomatic and economic roles.
The prime minister has put his party, and his friend Mandelson above our national security. Only full transparency will now suffice. Starmer must immediately publish all documents related to Lord Mandelson’s appointment.
The claim that having Mandelson remain as ambassador to the US could compromise national security echoes what Ed Davey suggested at PMQs when he asked if the White House had further “compromising material” on Mandelson that could, Davey implied, by used by Donald Trump as leverage. (See 12.23pm.)
Kemi Badenoch presses Starmer on Peter Mandelson’s suitability as US ambassador – videoShare
Updated at 16.55 CEST
John Healey, the defence secretary, is holding a press conference after a meeting with his counterparts from France, Germany, Italy and Poland. There is a live feed here.
UK defence minister holds news conference – watch liveShare
Updated at 15.05 CEST
