His premiership hung by a thread Thursday after a revolt by MPs in his Labour Party further damaged a 10 Downing Street operation staggering from crisis to crisis.
Starmer tried to clarify his earlier statement in parliament on Wednesday that he knew about the friendship between former Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson and Epstein — but still made him ambassador to Washington.
The move came after the opposition Conservative Party said it would force a vote in Parliament on Wednesday calling for the release of emails and other messages related to Mandelson’s appointment in 2024. Critics say he should never have been given the job because his relationship with Epstein – though not its extent – was known at the time.
The government has agreed to release the requested information unless it is ”prejudicial to U.K. national security or international relations.” It’s unclear how much material will be released, or when.
Last week, the Express reported in detail on how Palantir secured a „record“ £240 million deal with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) in late 2025, forming part of a wider, more extensive, and occasionally undisclosed, £670m+ package of agreements with the UK government. Peter Mandelson played a significant role with Global Counsel, a consultancy that lobbied for Palantir and was was viewed as enabling the firm‘s access to the Starmer government. The tight relationship between the UK government and Palantir attracted fierce scrutiny owing to Palantir‘s connections to Donald Trump (via co-founder Peter Thiel) and its participation in contentious AI-powered military surveillance.
As Mandelson‘s slimy rise and slippery fall have been documented over the years, it seems extraordinary that he could have lasted this long. Let‘s hope this sorry latest scandal relating to Epstein will be the last we hear of the Prince of Darkness
Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the United States and one of his country’s most influential and controversial political figures of the past three decades, resigned from the Labour Party Sunday night and may face removal from the House of Lords amid renewed scrutiny over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender.
The bill would empower the U.K. government, in certain situations, to demand that online platforms use government-approved software to search through all users’ photos, files, and messages, scanning for illegal content. Online services that don’t comply can be subject to extreme penalties, including criminal penalties.
Main debate: MPs consider Lords amendments to the extensively paused and re-written Online Safety Bill.
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The government now says that the tech regulator, Ofcom, would only require companies to scan their networks for harmful material, like child sexual abuse and exploitation content, when a technology was developed that was capable of doing so – thus kicking the issue into the very long grass.
The Public Order Bill, which has now been passed by Parliament in the United Kingdom, is deeply troubling legislation that is incompatible with the UK’s international human rights obligations regarding people’s rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Thursday.
“This new law imposes serious and undue restrictions on these rights that are neither necessary nor proportionate to achieve a legitimate purpose as defined under international law. This law is wholly unnecessary as UK police already have the powers to act against violent and disruptive demonstrations,” Türk said.
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Lord Cruddas, who was last year forced to defend donating £500,000 to the party just three days after he was admitted to the House of Lords, said he wanted Boris Johnson to stay on as Prime Minister.
He said: “If the membership are asked to vote for the last two contenders they will be voting for two people that they do not want on the ballot. The ballot only has credibility if Boris is part of the process.”
Nun kommt es zu einer Art politischem Ping-Pong-Spiel zwischen dem Unter- und dem Oberhaus. Aus der Regierung hieß es bereits, man werde das Gesetz nach Änderungen im Oberhaus wieder entsprechend umändern.
He is to say the methods used by ministers will undo the unity of society and will lead to long-term authoritarian government.
Lord Sumption will say that ministers avoided Parliament through the Public Health Act which let them introduce lockdowns and other measures without the same level of scrutiny by the House of Commons or Lords.
Giving the Cambridge Freshfields annual law lecture, he will accuse the Government of ‚tendentiously‘ presenting guidance as if it was law – such as the two-metre social distancing rule.
The House of Lords has temporarily abandoned plans to live stream its sessions online after some peers‘ phone numbers were read aloud to the public by computer software.
The House of Lords began conducting limited virtual proceedings last week using the Microsoft Teams system to enable video conferencing.
Das britische Parlament hat das Ratifizierungsgesetz für das Brexit-Abkommen verabschiedet. Nach dem Unterhaus passierte der Gesetzesentwurf nun auch das Oberhaus, das House of Lords.
Boris Johnson‘s Brexit Bill is set to become law on Thursday after clearing its finally parliamentary hurdle.
There were fears pro-Brexit peers could deliberately hold up the bill so it could not get royal assent before Parliament is prorogued next week.
But the Conservative chief whip in the Lords announced a breakthrough in the early hours after talks with Labour.
As Guido reported this morning, over 100 amendments have now been tabled by rebel Tory Lords in an attempt to prevent the Commons’s anti-No Deal legislation. Our ennobled readers have taken note, turning up with overnight supplies.
Yvette Cooper‘s backbench Bill aimed at forcing Theresa May to request a Brexit extension rather than leave the EU with no deal has been signed into law.
The cross-party European Union (Withdrawal) (No 5) Bill received royal assent after it was backed by MPs and peers on Monday night.
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Labour Lords said on Twitter that, following internal discussions, the bill would pass the initial stages on Thursday with the remaining stages taking place on Monday.
Lady Hayter, the Labour peer steering the bill to extend article 50 through the Lords after its narrow victory in the Commons late on Wednesday night, said the bill would not stop Brexit but would prevent a no-deal scenario.
The legislation, proposed by Labour MP Yvette Cooper and the Conservative Oliver Letwin, passed the House of Commons by just one vote late on Wednesday night.
The bill moved to the Lords on Thursday, but Eurosceptic peers proposed seven procedural amendments to a business motion about it, in an attempt to prevent the legislation being debated.