Lead News

Sir Keir Starmer has made his first trip to Kyiv as prime minister, vowing to put Ukraine in the “strongest possible position” in 2025. Arriving on Thursday morning, he accompanied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to lay flowers at a wall of remembrance for those killed in the war with Russia – telling reporters the UK will “never let up” on ...

Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned after growing pressure over an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh. The Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate had referred herself to the PM’s standards adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, but insisted she has done nothing wrong. She said that whilst Sir Laurie found she had not breached ministerial rules, it was “clear that continuing in my ...

Artificial intelligence presents a “vast potential” for rejuvenating UK public services, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday. In a speech setting out the government’s plans to use AI across the UK to boost growth and deliver services more efficiently, the Prime Minister said the government had a responsibility to make AI “work for working people”. The AI Opportunities ...

King Charles will travel to Auschwitz later this month to attend an event marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp. The commemoration in Poland will take place on 27 January, with the King among the international visitors expected for memorial events. On Monday afternoon at Buckingham Palace, the King will meet people involved in education ...

Kemi Badenoch has called for the PM to sack Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq after she was named in an investigation into claims her family embezzled up to £3.9bn from infrastructure spending in Bangladesh. In a post on X, the Conservative Party leader said: “It’s time for Keir Starmer to sack Tulip Siddiq,” adding that the PM had “appointed his personal ...

The British government is considering replacing Tulip Siddiq, if she is forced to quit over her alleged ties to aunt Sheikh Hasina’s corrupt rule in Bangladesh, and have at least verbally prepared a list of possible alternative officials for the Treasury minister post. A government spokesman has said it is “completely untrue” to suggest the party had drawn up a ...

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has sent a legal “cease and desist” letter to Sir Keir Starmer demanding he stop saying she “crashed the economy”. Her lawyers argue the claim made repeatedly by Sir Keir is “false and defamatory”, and harmed her politically in the run-up to losing her South West Norfolk seat in the general election. Truss was the ...

British daily The Times in a damning editorial has called on Sheikh Hasina’s niece, the embattled Labour MP Tulip Siddiq to step down from her role as the UK’s Treasury minister, pending investigations into allegations of corruption involving Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project and a “free flat” in London. In the editorial, the newspaper owned by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch ...

Wintry weather is tightening its grip in many parts of the UK, with sub-zero temperatures expected to plunge even lower than during the heavy snowfall of the past weekend. Weather forecasters predict the coldest nights of the year over the next two days, and temperatures are expected to fall as low as -20C in some areas. A series of yellow ...

Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq has referred herself to the PM’s standards adviser after controversy over her links to her aunt’s political movement in Bangladesh. It comes after the minister was named last month in an investigation into claims her family embezzled infrastructure funding in the country. Siddiq had faced growing calls for an investigation after reports in recent days she ...