Anneliese Dodds’ resignation letter in full
Anneliese Dodds, the development minister, has resigned over the government’s cuts to the aid budget to fund a defence spending increase. Read her letter of resignation below: Dear Prime Minister, It is with sadness that I write to inform you that I will cease attending your Cabinet, and am tendering to you my resignation as […]
Anneliese Dodds quits as international development minister over aid budget cut
Anneliese Dodds has quit her post as the international development minister over Keir Starmer’s decision to cut the international aid budget to pay for an increase in defence spending. On Tuesday, the prime minister told MPs that the development budget would be cut from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent to fund the “biggest […]
Donald Trump praises PM as ‘tough negotiator’ and for raising defence spending
Donald Trump has praised the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, as a “tough negotiator” and welcomed the British government’s decision this week to increase defence spending, labelling it a “great thing to do”. Speaking in a press conference following private discussions in the White house, Trump immediately referred to the prime minister as a “very, […]
Keir Starmer hits back at JD Vance over free speech criticism amid Trump meeting
Keir Starmer hit back against criticism levelled by US vice president JD Vance over free speech in the UK during a White House press conference. In the Oval Office at the start of his Washington visit, Vance was invited by president Donald Trump to expand on his recent criticism of the UK, after which he […]
US ambassador Peter Mandelson says Trump will be ‘very consequential president’
Lord Mandelson has said Donald Trump will be a “very consequential president” as the UK looks to avoid battles on tariffs with the White House. The newly installed UK ambassador to the US said it was a “very significant moment for our lives, between our two countries and indeed for all the freedom-loving democracies in […]
Ed Davey: PM must challenge Donald Trump’s ‘lies over Ukraine’ in Washington
Ed Davey has called on the prime minister to show strength by “challenging Donald Trump’s lies” when he meets with the US president. The Liberal Democrat leader has been a consistent critic of Trump since his election on 5 November, which he referred to at the time as a “dark, dark day for people around […]
Swinney argues Nigel Farage is an ‘accomplice to Russian agenda’ with ‘racist’ worldview
First minister of Scotland John Swinney has labelled Nigel Farage an “accomplice to the Russian agenda” and an “apologist” for the Kremlin. The comments, which the Reform UK leader would refute, came in Swinney’s first Bute House press conference as first minister on Wednesday morning. Less than 24 hours after Scottish government’s budget passed its […]
Mike Amesbury’s constituents deserve ‘new Labour MP’, says Cooper as by-election looms
The constituents of former Labour MP Mike Amesbury “deserve better representation”, the home secretary has said. Amesbury, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, has been jailed for 10 weeks after punching a man in the street. He pleaded guilty to assault by beating of 45-year-old Paul Fellows in Main Street, Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early […]
Kemi Badenoch: UK must be willing to ‘disengage’ from international bodies
The government must be willing to “disengage” from international bodies if they are overtaken by “activists” or autocratic regimes like China or Russia, Kemi Badenoch will say in a foreign policy speech on Tuesday. In what is a significant hint the Conservatives could advocate leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) under her leadership, […]
Keir Starmer: Trump has ‘created an opportunity’ for peace in Ukraine
Keir Starmer has said US president Donald Trump has “created an opportunity” to deliver peace for Ukraine. The prime minister told allies that Trump has “changed the global conversation” around the war, in comments marking the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Addressing a summit in Kyiv via video link, the prime minister […]
