Forget Burnham, what will Starmer do next? Opinion The end of a premiership means finding an epilogue, so what will Keir Starmer’s be, asks John Oxley Around the summer parties of Westminster, the key conversation is “What will Andy actually do?” The presumptive PM has always been something of a political enigma (or weathervane, depending on your perspective). He has been out of [...]
Is Andy Burnham a left-wing Liz Truss? Politics Say what you like about Andy Burnham (and I intend to say a lot) but he’s not short on ambition. Armed with a single by election victory he now intends to oversee “the biggest change in our lifetime to the way Britain is run.” The PM-in-waiting had popped down to London for some selfies before [...]
Senior Labour figures downplay public appetite for general election Politics Senior Labour figures have downplayed the British public’s appetite for a general election to secure any major policy shifts under a new leader and have insisted the party is united behind Andy Burnham. Talking to Sky News on Sunday, housing secretary Steve Reed suggested Keir Starmer’s possible successor would introduce “changes in emphasis” but stick [...]
What if Andy Burnham had become Labour leader in 2015? June 24, 2026 On his third try, Andy Burnham looks all but certain to become Labour leader. But what if he had taken the reins of the party eleven years earlier? Matt Kenyon imagines an alternative timeline… 2015 It’s a world that looks a lot like our own. There’s just one, seemingly minor, difference: A cluster of well-meaning [...]
House prices will fall by two per cent this year – the most since the financial crisis June 1, 2026 House prices will fall by two per cent for the first time since the financial crisis this year, according to Savills, which warned mortgage hikes as a result of the Iran war had “fundamentally changed the outlook for the housing market”. The property giant was forced to revise down its property price forecast for 2026 [...]
Palantir ‘should challenge Sadiq Khan in court’ over blocked Met Police contract May 25, 2026 American tech firm Palantir should challenge Sadiq Khan in court after the London mayor blocked a £50m contract with the Metropolitan Police, former government legal officer Sir Michael Ellis has said. Sir Michael Ellis KC, a former Tory attorney general under Liz Truss, said Khan’s decision is “an extraordinary intervention, which may be susceptible to [...]
Labour MP: Bond markets ‘will have to fall into line’ with Burnham agenda May 12, 2026 Bond markets will have to fall in line with an Andy Burnham premiership even if the Manchester mayor pursues a considerably more left-leaning economic platform, a Labour MP has claimed. Paula Barker, the Labour member for Liverpool Wavertree, hailed Burnham as a “fantastic politician” who is the only person likely to beat Keir Starmer in [...]
London Local Elections 2026: Who will win in Greenwich? May 6, 2026 CLICK HERE to view all the latest London election results As voters head to the polls in Greenwich, the Labour stronghold is set to see a rise in Green support amidst a hike in council tax and a cut in central government funding of the local authority. Back in 2022 Labour secured an overwhelming majority [...]
Government borrowing costs soar as Iran war drags on April 28, 2026 The government’s borrowing costs have risen to their joint highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, after a sharp jump in the oil price prompted a sell-off in UK debt because of concerns over inflation. The yield on the 10-year gilt – the main benchmark for any government’s long-term ability to borrow – climbed back [...]
Bond traders: Bank of England gilt shake-up would ‘concentrate risks’ in market meltdown April 2, 2026 Bank of England plans to reduce the bond market’s vulnerability to a Liz Truss-style crash would fail to improve financial stability and could make stress points worse, according to gilt traders and hedge funds polled by the Bank. Responses to the central bank’s plans to overhaul its regulation of the gilt repo market showed market [...]