Lead News

Boris Johnson was part of a last-minute attempt to discourage the Duke of Sussex from leaving his royal life in the UK, according to the former prime minister’s soon-to-be-published memoir. Johnson delivered what he calls a “manly pep talk” to Prince Harry on the sidelines of a UK-Africa investment summit in London in January 2020, according to Unleashed, the memoir ...

“Boris Johnson was such a numpty, have we got another numpty now?” asked Tal, a business analyst, after the end of the Labour party conference on Wednesday. His question summed up the mood of the voters More in Common spoke to in a focus group in Hendon, a seat Labour won in July by just 15 votes. The group had ...

British police called on Thursday for anyone with allegations against former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed to come forward and said it would look to prosecute others after multiple women accused the late billionaire of sexual abuse and rape. A BBC documentary aired last week said Al Fayed had sexually abused female staff at his London department store Harrods and ...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer next week, a commission spokesperson said on Thursday, as he continues a charm offensive to reset ties between the UK and the European Union. “There will be a meeting between the President and Prime Minister Starmer next week,” said the spokesperson, without providing further details. Starmer ...

Britain must prepare for more pylons and more prisons to deliver “national renewal”, Sir Keir Starmer has said. Sir Keir used his first conference speech as Prime Minister to tell the British public would have to accept “trade-offs” as he prepared to take on the “massive challenges the Tories ignored”. Addressing the party faithful in Liverpool, Sir Keir said: “So ...

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has set out plans to crackdown on crime as she said the government would attempt to halve knife offences in a decade. In a speech to Labour conference, Cooper said police would be given new powers to tackle anti-social behaviour, off-road bikes and shoplifting. The government would also pass a new law to ban the sale ...

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner says she does not believe she has broken parliamentary rules over declaring a stay in a New York flat owned by a Labour donor. She told the BBC that Lord Waheed Alli was a friend and the trip had been a “personal holiday” but she had been “transparent” by disclosing her use of the apartment ...

Sir Keir Starmer, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves will not accept any further donations for clothing after a row over gifts, a Downing Street source has said. The prime minister has faced growing criticism after it emerged he had received more than £16,000 for work clothing and spectacles for him, and further money for his wife, ...

Brexit red tape on British businesses has caused goods trade between the UK and EU to slump and the problem is getting worse, a study has warned. Many smaller UK producers have given up exporting small amounts to the EU after facing more rules and regulations, a report by Aston University Business School has found. Between 2021 and 2023, the ...

Everywhere you go in the party conference centre at Brighton you keep seeing the same number – 72. That’s how many MPs the Liberal Democrats now have – and they have been celebrating that fact all week. It’s a dramatic increase on the 15 MPs they had before the election and represents a record number of seats for the party. ...