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How Keir Starmer Keeps His Massive Parliamentary Party In Line
Political parties
How Keir Starmer Keeps His Massive Parliamentary Party In Line
How do you keep a large parliamentary party in line? Sienna Rodgers digs into Labour's job creation scheme for back benchers. Illustrations by Tracy Worrall
Recipes For Disaster: The Bacon Sandwich
Political parties
Recipes For Disaster: The Bacon Sandwich
To launch a new column on politicians making a meal of it, there was only one place to start.
Victoria Atkins: I’ve Cross-Examined Gun-Toting Drug Lords – Labour MPs Don't Worry Me
Environment
Victoria Atkins: I’ve Cross-Examined Gun-Toting Drug Lords – Labour MPs Don't Worry Me
Sienna Rodgers talks to shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins who aims her fire at ‘City Steve’, ‘showman’ Nigel Farage and the government’s ‘Marxist’ policy on compulsory purchase
Inside The Special Educational Needs Crisis Forcing Councils Into Bankruptcy
Education
Inside The Special Educational Needs Crisis Forcing Councils Into Bankruptcy
A dramatic increase in children judged to have special educational needs has created another dysfunctional market driving councils into insolvency, reports Justine Smith
Why Britain Can't Build
Economy
Why Britain Can't Build
We can’t start to clear away the blockers until we understand how we erected them in the first place; Michael Dnes details how thousands of sane decisions have led us to the current madness. Illustrations by Tracy Worrall
Ben Houchen: 'I Don’t Have A Bad Word To Say About How No 10 Have Engaged With Me”
Economy
Ben Houchen: "I Don’t Have A Bad Word To Say About How No 10 Have Engaged With Me”
Ben Houchen survived against the odds last May. Now the last Tory mayor standing tells Tali Fraser of his determination to make Tees Valley great again. Photography by Christopher Owens
The Secret Social Worker: 'It Feels Relentless And The Gaps Are Just Too Big For Us To Fill'
Health
The Secret Social Worker: 'It Feels Relentless And The Gaps Are Just Too Big For Us To Fill'
A mental health social worker takes us through a typical day in the job, from disappointing patients to dealing with abuse and threats
How to resolve the modern care dilemma: drop the obsession with GDP
Health
By Miriam Cates
How to resolve the modern care dilemma: drop the obsession with GDP
Resolving the modern care dilemma means putting family at the heart of the economy, writes Miriam Cates. But the challenges to implementing this conservative plan for care come from all sides – including the ‘ultra-online right’
Stephen Kinnock: 'I have a really personal understanding of what people are going through'
Health
By Sienna Rodgers
Stephen Kinnock: 'I have a really personal understanding of what people are going through'
Stephen Kinnock is responsible for tackling one of the biggest challenges the government faces: social care. The health minister talks to Sienna Rodgers about charging reforms, professionalising the workforce and his family’s experiences with care
Baroness Bertin's porn review: 'This isn't me driving a tank onto the lawn of censorship'
Home affairs
By Sienna Rodgers
Baroness Bertin's porn review: 'This isn't me driving a tank onto the lawn of censorship'
Will the government clamp down on legal but harmful online pornography? Sienna Rodgers talks to Conservative peer Baroness Bertin about her new review, which comes with a warning for ministers
'A broken system': Diary of a London tenant
Communities
By Zoe Crowther
'A broken system': Diary of a London tenant
Professionally familiar with the levers of power, Zoë Crowther was nonetheless caught in an unfolding rental nightmare that she says reveals a deeply broken market. Illustrations by Tracy Worrall
Florence Eshalomi: 'Where’s the outrage that so many children have died in temporary accommodation?'
Communities
By Harriet Symonds
Florence Eshalomi: 'Where’s the outrage that so many children have died in temporary accommodation?'
Labour’s Florence Eshalomi tells Harriet Symonds about Keir Starmer’s need to loosen up, her friendship with Kemi Badenoch, and the pain of knowing that children are still experiencing what she did in unsuitable temporary accommodation. Photography by Louise Haywood-Schiefer
The spiders that ate Ebbsfleet
Environment
By Michael Dnes
The spiders that ate Ebbsfleet
As we – once again – await the unveiling of a host of proposed new towns, Michael Dnes tells the extraordinary cautionary tale of how an industrial wasteland in Kent just 17 minutes by high-speed train from central London remains a spiders’ paradise
Artful Dealing: How to deal with Donald Trump from No 10
Foreign affairs
By Katie Perrior
Artful Dealing: How to deal with Donald Trump from No 10
Theresa May's former press chief reflects on what we've learned about how to deal with Donald Trump
Alison McGovern: 'Employment is 1,000% a progressive cause'
Communities
By Tali Fraser
Alison McGovern: 'Employment is 1,000% a progressive cause'
Vacancies are soaring but so are the numbers out of work – fixing that is at the heart of Labour’s ambition for growth. Alison McGovern’s plans for employment could prove key, writes Tali Fraser. Photography by Louise Haywood-Schiefer
Blue Labour v Reform: The Pro-Worker, Anti-Woke Plan To Beat Farage
Communities
Blue Labour v Reform: The Pro-Worker, Anti-Woke Plan To Beat Farage
Is Blue Labour the answer to Keir Starmer’s problems? Sienna Rodgers and Tom Scotson report on a new group of MPs and the re-emergence of a tradition that had been jettisoned
HM chief inspector of prisons: 'If someone were to get a gun into a prison, all bets are off'
Home affairs
By Sienna Rodgers
HM chief inspector of prisons: 'If someone were to get a gun into a prison, all bets are off'
Speaking to Sienna Rodgers, HM chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor details the many failures he has seen across the prison estate, including the ‘existential risk’ presented by phones, drugs and weapons entering via drones
Inside the problems plaguing the prison estate
Communities
By Tali Fraser
Inside the problems plaguing the prison estate
Unable to innovate or even buy basic materials, and struggling to keep staff while operating antiquated systems, prison governors are trapped in a failing system, reports Tali Fraser
AG Lord Hermer on international law: 'Bring it on, if that’s the fight people want to have'
Foreign affairs
By Sienna Rodgers
AG Lord Hermer on international law: 'Bring it on, if that’s the fight people want to have'
Sienna Rodgers talks to Lord Hermer about his friendship with the Prime Minister and focus on the rule of law since taking up the post of Attorney General
Youngest MP Calls For 'Voting Terminals' Around Parliament As Backbenchers Plan Modernisation Drive
Communities
Youngest MP Calls For 'Voting Terminals' Around Parliament As Backbenchers Plan Modernisation Drive
Labour MP Sam Carling has called for the Modernisation Committee to consider reform of Parliament's voting system to make MPs "more productive".
Baroness Smith of Llanfaes: 'I don’t believe Westminster will ever work for Wales'
Home affairs
By Sophie Church
Baroness Smith of Llanfaes: 'I don’t believe Westminster will ever work for Wales'
Baroness Smith of Llanfaes tells Sophie Church why she thinks Westminster will never work for Wales, and how politics is changing from being a ‘place for men’. Photography by Louise Haywood-Schiefer
Welsh Labour Worries It Could Be Voted Out Of Government For The First Time
Political parties
By Sienna Rodgers
Welsh Labour Worries It Could Be Voted Out Of Government For The First Time
Here be dragons? With the introduction of ‘pure PR’ and the rise of Reform, the next Senedd election looks set to take Wales into uncharted territory, reports Sienna Rodgers
Anas Sarwar: 'I'm Not Willing To Wait For Someone Else To Fix Our Problems'
Energy
By Sienna Rodgers
Anas Sarwar: "I'm Not Willing To Wait For Someone Else To Fix Our Problems"
Sienna Rodgers talks to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar about the UK government’s ‘teething problems’, a bespoke immigration solution for Scotland and how to fight Reform
Freedom's free riders – the European countries that should spend more on defence
Foreign affairs
By Tim Leunig
Freedom's free riders – the European countries that should spend more on defence
Now US president-elect Donald Trump is making Europe pay for its own defence, Tim Leunig says countries like Switzerland and Ireland need to pick a side – and if they won’t join Nato, they should be made to help pay for it
Institutional memory – the Lord Lexden interview
Parliament
By Francis Elliott
Institutional memory – the Lord Lexden interview
For five decades, Lord Lexden has been at the heart of Conservative politics. The party’s official historian tells Francis Elliott what lessons Kemi Badenoch should learn from the past and why she should resist the siren call of Nigel Farage
The rise of AI 'porn': 'The levels of deepfake abuse now are just enormous'
Social affairs
By Sienna Rodgers
The rise of AI 'porn': 'The levels of deepfake abuse now are just enormous'
‘Deepfake porn’ is on the rise. Sienna Rodgers meets the women fighting to criminalise the creation of non-consensual intimate images
Baroness Cass: 'I don't have time for keyboard warriors in their basements'
Health
By Tali Fraser
Baroness Cass: 'I don't have time for keyboard warriors in their basements'
The Cass Review into NHS gender services for children opened up the national conversation on this controversial subject, and divided opinion. Its author, Baroness Cass, speaks to Tali Fraser about being newly introduced as a peer and how she responds to critics. Photography by Louise Haywood-Schiefer
SEND Help: How to reform our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities system
Education
By Matilda Martin
SEND Help: How to reform our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities system
“Lose, lose, lose.” That is how former Conservative education secretary Gillian Keegan described the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system in England, widely described as broken.
Kim Leadbeater On Assisted Dying: 'I Came Into Politics To Make A Difference'
Health
By Sienna Rodgers
Kim Leadbeater On Assisted Dying: "I Came Into Politics To Make A Difference"
Sienna Rodgers talks to Labour MP Kim Leadbeater about why she chose assisted dying as the subject of her bill – and how she responds to its critics
Mary Kelly Foy and breast cancer: 'I’m alive. I should be feeling great because it’s gone'
Health
By Sienna Rodgers
Mary Kelly Foy and breast cancer: 'I’m alive. I should be feeling great because it’s gone'
Labour MP Mary Kelly Foy tells Sienna Rodgers about her recovery from breast cancer, the lack of support she has felt from some quarters, and why Parliament needs to modernise
New Labour MP Peter Lamb: 'I’m too fat to have sharp elbows'
Communities
By Sienna Rodgers
New Labour MP Peter Lamb: 'I’m too fat to have sharp elbows'
New Labour MP Peter Lamb talks to Sienna Rodgers about his fears over the Chagos deal, siding with the left on Gaza, and why all housing association properties should be nationalised
How reforms to UK surrogacy law could lead to a clash with campaigners
Health
By Sienna Rodgers and Sophie Church
How reforms to UK surrogacy law could lead to a clash with campaigners
As the government considers whether to overhaul UK surrogacy law, Sienna Rodgers and Sophie Church explore the ethical and practical questions around reform – and the political backlash that could follow
Layla Moran: 'We are basically at a standstill with social care'
Health
By Sophie Church
Layla Moran: 'We are basically at a standstill with social care'
In her first interview since becoming Health and Social Care Committee chair, Layla Moran tells Sophie Church why Labour’s ‘glaring omission’ in its budget on social care will sink the NHS further. Photography by Tom Pilston
Kim Leadbeater Says Her Assisted Dying Bill Will Have “Strictest Safeguards In The World”
Health
By Sienna Rodgers
Kim Leadbeater Says Her Assisted Dying Bill Will Have “Strictest Safeguards In The World”
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater has promised that her bill to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults will have the “strictest protections and safeguards of any legislation anywhere in the world”, PoliticsHome can reveal.
What do we know about the 2024 cohort of MPs?
Parliament
By Richard Cracknell
What do we know about the 2024 cohort of MPs?
Richard Cracknell, Elections statistics specialist at the House of Commons Library, delves into the data to reveal some interesting facts about the class of 2024
New Labour MP vs MMA fighter: Grappling with ego
Communities
By Tali Fraser
New Labour MP vs MMA fighter: Grappling with ego
A new Labour MP is set to go up against a professional MMA fighter, all in the name of charity. Will Stone tells Tali Fraser about the battle ahead, and why he has a 20 per cent chance of coming out on top