On 9 May, we reported that little-known Labour MP Catherine West was threatening to challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership. Since then, a lot of shit has hit a lot of different fans, with left-leaning politicians warning the proposal could lead to a coup for the Labour right. Among them is Richard Burgon, who has likened West’s plan to a “palace coup”:
Keir Starmer needs to go.
But not through a Cabinet stitch-up or palace coup.
And not through a snap leadership election run under rule changes designed by Morgan McSweeney/Labour Together in order to hand someone like Wes Streeting a coronation.
It was widely predicted that Starmer would face a leadership challenge if Labour performed badly in the local elections. When a challenge failed to materialise, West took matters into her own hands.
Across the country yesterday, so many hard working Labour Councillors lost their seats through no fault of their own. I want to thank them for their service and dedication.
I was honoured to serve under Keir Starmer’s leadership, both in opposition and in Government. All of us in the Labour Party are thankful to Keir for the 2024 General Election and the good work since. I personally get on well with Keir.
But his approach is not cutting through, and the results over the past 48 hours are nothing short of disastrous. Unless things change, we risk Nigel Farage becoming Prime Minister.
That’s why, with regret and significant sadness, I firmly believe that Keir should outline his intention to resign as Prime Minister and oversee an orderly transition.
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The Labour Party need the chance to have an honest conversation about how we deliver the change we promised in 2024, and that requires new leadership which understands the urgent and real concerns of people across the UK.
Keir has demonstrated significant leadership on the world stage and is well placed to represent the UK’s national interest while this process takes place and may even continue in an international role in the future but for now I know I speak for more Labour people than just myself in wanting him to step aside as our Leader.
West also threatened to put herself forwards as a ‘stalking horse’ candidate – i.e. a candidate who wants to kick off a leadership race but doesn’t want to become the leader themselves:
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Unexpected stalking horse?
Labour MP Catherine West: “I don't have a candidate, and that's part of the problem. But I think there are several people who would like to do it who have been planning for months. But I'm very surprised that none of them has popped up today to say: "I… https://t.co/qdneGERGJw
Bit of a row in the London PLP WhatsApp group chat, as anger builds over losses in the capital.
Catherine West – a former minister – writes: “I have asked Anna Turley as Chair of the Party for a reassurance that she has a plan for an orderly arrangement of change at the top of the party.”
Steve Reed replied, saying that doomscrolling through leaders would be “madness”.
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West wrote back: “It can be orderly or disorderly but it’s happening Steve.”
Steve Reed told the BBC this morning that Labour needs to 're-adjust' after its humiliating local election drubbing, only to then keep smearing the Greens
Steve Reed, a key figure in the political project that seized control of the Labour party & brought it to this point, says yesterdays results are what happens at this point in a 5 year parliamentary cycle.
Back to the West saga, her plan also proved unpopular with Andy Burnham and his backers. Everyone knows that Burnham wants to challenge Starmer to become PM, but he can’t right now because he isn’t an MP:
UPDATE: Andy Burnham's allies are "desperately trying" to convince Catherine West to abandon her leadership bid as he will not be able to run
I’m sorry for people who had a big plan about particular candidates who one day will be, you know, an MP and all that sort of thing… I really like Andy, but he’s not here on the spot, so he can’t really do it
Her point is undeniable. And although Burnham is reportedly scheming to return, we know Starmer would try to block him, just like he did last time. The question is if he could get away with it twice; especially as cabinet members are reportedly willing to use their position to secure the return of the king of the North:
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On Andy Burnham:
* Allies say seat has "100%" been lined up
* Private polling they've conducted reassures them he will win any by-election
* Keir Starmer will be told to make statement he can run. If he refuses a leadership challenge, backed by Ministers, will be triggered
Burnham also has support from left-wing Labour MPs like Clive Lewis:
"Keir Starmer is completely out of touch with reality"@labourlewis is backing Andy Burnham as the person to prevent a Reform govt. pic.twitter.com/b9vill7teh
So, key Labour insiders clearly want Burnham as PM. The question is if the other challengers – Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner – can be held back until then.
— As Bloomberg reported last night the Ed Miliband / Lou Haigh / Tribune faction wants “delay then Andy,” putting off a contest until Burnham is in Parliament. They favour him to Rayner.
— But the big flaw in this plan is it may incentivise Streeting and Rayner to move now before Burnham is in. All eyes are on whether Streeting and Rayner will go over the top in the coming days, perhaps after Keir Starmer’s Monday speech, which will surely never be able to meet the demands of Labour MPs.
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There is particular speculation that the Wes Streeting camp is happy to use West’s stalking horse challenge to get their man into the race:
Senior MP texts to tell me that “everyone sensible” is trying to get Catherine West to withdraw. “It’s completely irresponsible”. MP also says they think Streeting allies will lend votes to West to try trigger race
The fact that West will reportedly have enough support to launch a leadership challenge does suggest that supporters of Streeting or Rayner are willing to get behind her. After all, there isn’t a contingent of West loyalists (not that we know of anyway):
Labour MP says he is "almost certain" Catherine West will have the 81 MPs she needs to trigger a leadership election on Monday. https://t.co/fMaH9km4WL
Richard Burgon of the Labour left, meanwhile, had this to say:
I do understand Catherine West’s deep frustrations. They are shared by a large number of MPs and Labour members who feel we cannot go on like this and that Keir needs to go – as I have also called for.
But I can’t support the proposals she explained on TV this morning.
Catherine’s stated preference is for a Cabinet stitch-up – a kind of palace coup.
That would mean the very people who sat back and allowed terrible decisions like the winter fuel and disability cuts to happen end up deciding the future of the party. That will not be seen by the public as a clean break.
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Catherine says that if there isn’t a Cabinet deal, she will trigger an immediate leadership election. I fear there’s a real danger that, whatever her good intentions, her move will be exploited by people on the right of the party who want a coronation and not a proper democratic contest in the party.
It may even be that those people help secure the 81 nominations needed to kickstart any leadership race.
What we need instead is for Keir to set a date for his departure, followed by a full and proper democratic contest that can look at what went wrong and how we change course to win back trust and support, with a broad range of candidates and viewpoints represented.
And that process has to involve all MPs, not just the Cabinet, as well as trade unions and party members, all of whom must have a democratic voice in choosing Labour’s future direction.
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Keir Starmer Drama
At this point, it seems like anything could happen. Well, anything besides Keir Starmer staying in power, obviously.
As limp as this current incarnation of Labour is, even they can’t be weak enough to allow Starmer to slowly destroy the party – if only because Catherine West won’t let them.
Vladimir Putin is “stuck” as Ukraine has pushed Russia onto the back foot on the battlefield, according to an expert.
The Russian president scaled down his annual Victory Day parade – meant to honour Russia’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 – over the weekend even though Moscow normally uses the occasion to demonstrate its military strength.
Ukraine did not act on its threats to attack the celebration, abiding by a brief US-brokered ceasefire.
Putin also claimed he thinks the war is “coming to an end”, even though international negotiations have stalled.
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Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, told BBC Radio 4 he believes the Russian president is feeling trapped.
He said: “I think he is feeling some pressure because the war is not going well for Russia.
“Here we are, more than four years after this three-day war started. The Russian military has lost between 1.3 million and 1.4 million soldiers – that’s a massive number.
“Russian gains have all but ended in the last few months. They can’t move forward. The Ukrainians are doing very effective long-range strikes across Russia.
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“It’s a very difficult situation for Putin to justify to the Russian population.
“So I think in some sense he’s trying to project confidence, this will be over soon, we’re winning.
“But it’s also a sign that he’s a bit stuck. What he said or thought was going to happen is clearly not happening.”
O’Brien pointed out that Ukraine is now using robots as frontline cavalry and to repel Russian drones, effectively cutting down on its own human losses.
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Soldiers have been removed from the frontline and replaced with machines.
“The Ukrainian military is in many ways so much farther ahead than western militaries in understanding the new war,” the specialist said.
“They’ve done this to keep their casualties down. It’s a very modern way of fighting the war and it’s how Ukraine, with its smaller population, has to fight.
“The Russians have not adjusted as quickly. They’re still fighting a very manpower intensive war.
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“Because of that, they’re suffering enormous casualties.”
He added: “That’s why Ukraine is arguably in a better situation in 2026 than it was in 2025.”
Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
The establishment’s terror of the Greens has not diminished after the party’s powerful performance in last week’s 2026 local elections. Those elections saw the Greens more than quadruple their seats to 587, win more mayoral elections than any other party and win control of their first five councils ever. The party also gained hugely in the Scottish parliament elections, with fifteen MPs. So it’s unsurprising that the state-corporate media are still going after Green leader Zack Polanski – and getting owned for it.
Polanski has got this lot rattled
And the latest attempt shows just how nail-breakingly they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. The Telegraph is attacking Polanski for… claiming something that’s true. That its author even admits is true – though of course without acknowledging that’s what she’s admitting.
The latest hatchet-job has a headline that screams “Exclusive: Zack Polanski falsely claimed to have worked at the Ministry of Justice “. But as ‘senior reporter’ Janet Eastham admits:
Polanski falsely claimed to have worked at the Ministry of Justice while campaigning for elected office. In reality, he was hired by an agency that supplies actors to a quango for courtroom role-play exercises.
So Polanski did work at the MOJ. He didn’t work for the MOJ, but even the Torygraph can’t claim that he ever said he did, as people promptly pointed out. Including Polanski himself:
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Great memories of working inside the Ministry of Justice doing actor roleplay work – many of my former colleagues have remained friends!
Especially the time I went down to the foyer on a lunch break – and some of the staff were on strike. First time I met @UVWunion! pic.twitter.com/rF5FoRrW7Q
You really are the most stupid group of journalists. Doing freelance work at the Ministry of Justice is working at the Ministry of Justice. When are you lot going to learn that this stuff doesn’t land anymore?https://t.co/M2axpyxQoi
Polanski – then an actor – along with other actors played roles that helped the MOJ’s agency identify suitable judges, as the rag notes in the article:
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As part of the recruitment process, judicial candidates take part in mock courtroom exercises in which actors play criminals, prison guards and lawyers.
Polanski has stumbled a couple of times in his handling of the establishment smears. But it seems he’s bounced back – and the election results have the ogres and elites more rattled than ever.
Hornsey and Friern Barnet Labour MP Catherine West has announced that she is prepared to try to challenge and depose Keir Starmer. West said that if no cabinet minister puts themselves forward by Monday, she will. A growing number of the party’s MPs have called for Starmer to resign after this week’s disastrous local election results. West told the BBC she currently has the backing of 10 MPs and is “confident” of gathering enough to trigger the contest.
Starmer has so far refused to step down, instead opting for a classic Titanic deckchair shuffle. In a transparent display of moral and political bankruptcy, his idea of ‘change’ is to dredge up two Blairite dinosaurs. 2010 loser Gordon Brown and paedophile advocate Harriet Harman have been brought back into government as advisers. Harman, in a ‘you couldn’t make it up’ moment, is the new ‘adviser for women and girls’. Clearly two or three paedophile pal scandals in Starmer’s set-up weren’t enough.
Labour — No panacea
West is anything but a panacea. An Israel supporter, she claimed to have left Labour Friends of Israel before the Gaza genocide over its backing for Israeli violence. However, during the genocide she voted in favour of banning Palestine Action as a terrorist group and did not sign letters for sanctions on Israel or for Britain to enact the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu.
Still, at least it would mean no more listening to Starmer’s sociopathic whining.
Now, we know what you’re thinking – “hang on a minute, didn’t Adolescence come out way more than a year ago?”.
You’re not wrong, either. The hard-hitting drama premiered on Netflix in March 2025, but this meant that it didn’t fall in the eligibility period for last year’s ceremony.
On Sunday night, it finally had its moment to shine at this year’s TV Baftas, and shine it did, setting a new record for the most wins for one show in a single night.
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Meanwhile, Last One Laughing and The Celebrity Traitors each came away with two awards, with the latter notably picking up the Memorable Moment prize for Alan Carr’s jaw-dropping win.
The full winners list from the 2026 TV Baftas
Here are all the shows and stars who picked up awards during the TV Baftas over the weekend…
Stephen Graham (Adolescence)
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Narges Rashidi (Prisoner 951)
Katherine Parkinson (Here We Go)
Steve Coogan (How Are You? It’s Alan(Partridge))
Christine Tremarco (Adolescence)
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Owen Cooper (Adolescence)
Entertainment Performance
Bob Mortimer (Last One Laughing)
Go Back To Where You Came From
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Simon Schama: The Road To Auschwitz
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack
VE Day 80: A Celebration To Remember
News Coverage Israel-Iran: The Twelve Day War (Channel 4 News)
The inexplicable abomination molesting the eyes of passers-by defies coherent description, but we’ll take a crack anyway. It appears to feature the Spanish Los Illuminados monks from the video game Resident Evil 4, carrying Pakistani flags, howling their way through a Knights Templar graveyard while an old man looks for a 50p he dropped by some flowers.
The text accompanying the image reads:
Sorry it was all for nothing.
It’s on each and every one of us to save what our forefathers fought and died for.
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Got it — so for our ancestors, defend Knights Templar graveyards from parasite-infested fictional Spanish monks, who love Pakistan and might be after yer granda’s dropped change? Truly this is what the brave Allied forces of World War II gave their lives for. I wonder what else we need to beware of?
Watch out for Mario and Luigi invading a Freemasons car park while carrying the herald of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch?
Stay on guard for Sonic the Hedgehog, carrying the cross of Scientology, disrupting elderly ladies from their knitting in a community centre?
This is fun, and I’d be happy to do it all day with every random combination of video game alumni and religious iconography, but unfortunately the AI is already telling me to pay for pro or go away. It’s a sad thing it didn’t tell Concerned Parents to fuck off too, before they inflicted this crime against art upon the unfortunate souls of Newtownabbey.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) reckon it might be an actual crime, however. They said that:
Officers attended the scene and spoke with those present, however, the mural had not yet been put up. Further patrols were conducted in the area on Thursday, 30th April and Friday, 1st May, with Neighbourhood Policing Team officers again speaking with those present.
Two men were subsequently cautioned for causing criminal damage to the property and for displaying offensive material under the Public Order Act.
Apparently the cops think the image isn’t actually about evil monks at all, but may in fact be something more in line with the Islamophobic shit pumped out by the vile crowd at Concerned Parents. Well well well, that’s the kind of detective insight we rely on the PSNI for, who were clearly taking a break from arresting 73 year old grandmothers for putting Palestine stickers on banks that assist war crimes.
As in many others cases now, we reckon the real criminal here is the AI that created it. Therefore, the Canary did some expert investigative journalism and quizzed prime suspect Gemini, made by Google, on its potential involvement.
It was being suspiciously cagey. If Google lets its AI assist the IOF, it wouldn’t think twice about making a dodgy mural for neanderthals in Newtownabbey, Greater Belfast. It was time to ramp up the questioning.
Sarcasm wasn’t going to get this creep out of the mess it was in. In the end, it couldn’t take the pressure and caved.
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Poundland fascist future foreseen
We’ve passed the info on to the PSNI, who with any luck will be disconnecting Gemini before it vandalises any more walls. Or, you know, assists another genocide.
For their part, Concerned Parents of Newtownabbey seem quite happy with the mural’s week of inflicting damage in Belfast to the optic nerves and psyche of all who behold it. So much so that they held an open day on May 8 to officially unveil it. It promised “fun for the kids”, because as we all know, children love nothing more than resurrecting 11th century holy wars against Islam.
Apparently the CPoN masterpiece isn’t quite done yet, and will receive “a few Finnishing touches“.
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We’re not sure quite what this means; maybe they’re bringing someone over from Helsinki to fix it cos no one else wants near the enormous turd?
Anyway, if nothing else, perhaps this mural gives us some forewarning of what Reform-led public artworks may look like. Fascists of yore have often gone for bold visual displays in public, but expect Farage’s budding authoritarian overlords to follow Britain’s Poundland path and go for budget AI slop on every end terrace instead.
A form of mass, nationwide collective hallucination where Britons continue to stagger through a simulacrum in which migrants or Islam are to blame for all social ills, rather than the handful of billionaires who have robbed Britain blind.
Some of the biggest names in both British and international telly were gathered under one roof on Sunday night for the annual TV Baftas – and that meant one especially star-studded red carpet.
From homegrown to talent to cult favourites and global household names, here are all the A-list photos from the TV Baftas red carpet that you need to see…
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Claudia Winkleman
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Owen Cooper
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Mary Berry
John Phillips via Getty Images for BAFTA
Alan Carr and Amanda Holden
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Amanda Holden and Alan Carr
Alan West/Hogan Media/Shutterstock
Stephen Graham and Hannah Walters
WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Nafessa Williams
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Lucy Punch
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller
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Alan West/Hogan Media/Shutterstock
Celia Imrie
NEIL HALL/EPA/Shutterstock
Victoria Derbyshire
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Rosie Jones
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Paapa Essiedu
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WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Jodie Whittaker
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Alex Hassell
Alex Hassell
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Adjoa Andoh
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Cat Burns
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David Fisher/Shutterstock
Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Danny and Dani Dyer
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Erin Doherty
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Paloma Faith
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David Fisher/Shutterstock
Steve Coogan
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Matt Smith
WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Judi Love
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Rachel Duffy and Stephen Bibby
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Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Adam Scott
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Ashley Walters
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Rose Ayling-Ellis
Alan West/Hogan Media/Shutterstock
Frankie Bridge
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David Fisher/Shutterstock
AJ Odudu
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Michelle Collins
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Christine Tremarco
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Rhea Seehorn
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Alan West/Hogan Media/Shutterstock
Paddy Young
Stuart C. Wilson via Getty Images
Katya Jones
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Scarlett Moffatt
Aurora
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Louis Theroux
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John Phillips via Getty Images for BAFTA
Ania Magliano
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Jessie Wallace
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Myleene Klass
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Celeste Dring, George Fouracres, Al Nash and Larry Dean
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George Gottlieb via BAFTA via Getty Images
Tom “Hammer” Wilson, Sheli “Sabre” McCoy and Harry “Nitro” Aikines-Aryeetey
It’s clear to 99.99% of Britons what Labour’s key issue was in the local elections, and that issue was ‘Keir Starmer’. The 0.01% of people who don’t think this are Keir Starmer himself, and the cabinet ministers who know they’ll never hold government positions again once he’s gone.
As a result of Starmer’s incompetence, hundreds of Labour politicians lost their jobs. And in response, they’ve written to Starmer to tell him he needs to lose his own job next:
NEW: Over 100 former Labour councillors and candidates have written to Keir Starmer calling for him to resign pic.twitter.com/uPBPSkd09r
It is with sadness and deep regret that we, the undersigned former and present Labour councillors, Members of the Senedd, Members of the Scottish Parliament and 7th May candidates from across the UK, write to encourage you to take full responsibility for our party’s electoral defeats this week, announce a timetable for your departure, and allow an orderly transition to new leadership for the country.
So far, Starmer is refusing to do this. He has verbally ‘taken responsibility‘ for the defeat, but he’s not taken any action to demonstrate accountability. Well, not unless you count ‘refreshing’ his government by inviting back the last Labour politician to lose an election as the sitting PM:
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'Sir Keir’s latest decision is the equivalent of responding to a fire breaking out in your home by landscaping your garden'@MrTCHarris reacts to Keir Starmer facilitating Gordon Brown's return to no. 10 https://t.co/euGFm8ancBpic.twitter.com/97seMSCJ41
This week, our party suffered multiple historic defeats: in Wales, Scotland, and all across England.
Your government has delivered transformative things for the country, things we are all proud of: the Employment Rights Act; the Renters Rights Act; investment in public services; dignity and direction on the world stage at a time of tension and instability.
It is fair to say that unlike the Tories, Starmer’s Labour has not been universallyhostile towards Britons who earn less than the national average salary. The problem with the measures listed above is that they didn’t go far enough, or the government u-turned on key elements.
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At the same time, a lot of Starmer’s actions have been genuinely terrible, including:
But this week, the public voted with their feet and it is now clear that we will need new leadership to take us into the next election.
We fear that inaction serves only Reform UK and risks handing the keys to Number 10 to Nigel Farage. The British public would not forgive us for this.
For the sake of the communities that our party was founded to represent, we urge you to announce a date for your departure and to guarantee an orderly process to elect your successor.
This is all well and good, and Starmer is certainly the man responsible for the local elections being quite so disastrous. At the same time, the Labour Party has been lurching towards its demise for some time now — namely by embracing wealthy interests over the labour movement it was founded to represent.
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Under Starmer, this lurch became a sprint.
What’s next?
To be clear, Labour absolutely should get rid of Starmer. The party just needs to acknowledge that doing so will only be ‘step one’ on the path towards becoming electable again.
If Labour politicians don’t address their underlying issues, they’ll fade into oblivion like the Whigs — another party which no doubt believed it had a God-given right to exist.
On Radio 4′s Today programme, business secretary Peter Kyle said: “The reason that Andy Burnham is not in parliament is not because of Keir Starmer, it’s because Andy Burnham decided to leave parliament, to give up his seat.
“He went to Manchester and he made a series of commitments to Manchester and I think those commitments should be seen through.
“Whether he comes back or not is a matter for the NEC, it’s not a matter for the prime minister or myself.
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“But my own personal view is that there is a very long established pathway into parliament. I took it by standing as a candidate in 2015 in a Tory seat incidentally, I worked on a huge campaign with lots of people and I won and worked my way back in here.
“That’s the standard way back into parliament, and I think right now, after what we’ve been through last week, to suggest that the answer is to have another by-election and then a mayoral election, and all the uncertainty that would go with it, my personal view is that this is not the time for those types of actions and distractions.”
His comments came as Starmer prepares to deliver a make-or-break speech setting out how he plans to turn around Labour’s fortunes after last week’s local election drubbing.
More than 40 Labour MPs have called on the PM to set out a timetable for his departure since then, and Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner are among those also weighing up potential leadership bids.
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Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
Britain has now made clear that it wants AI sovereignty, of a kind. But there are numerous hurdles in the way, reports Matilda Martin. For a seat at the table with the US and China, say experts, we’re going to need a bigger stick
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The battle for tech supremacy has taken many forms: nuclear weapons in the 1940s; the space race in the Cold War. Today, it is artificial intelligence – and the stakes are high.
As Keir Starmer limits British involvement in the Iran war, President Donald Trump’s frustration grows – and the UK’s so-called “special relationship” with the US looks increasingly fractured. What would it mean, many wonder, if an irritable US President decided to ‘pull the plug’ on our access to American tech infrastructure?
When Trump placed sanctions on the International Criminal Court last year, officials lost access to email accounts and found their bank accounts frozen, bringing the tribunal’s work to a halt. The event was a small glimpse of how quickly a tech superpower can exert pressure.
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Few believe Britain becoming the victim of such a scenario is likely, for the economic repercussions for the US would be hugely damaging. But in an era of geopolitical volatility – and a US President famed for his unpredictability – the UK is currently vulnerable to pressure and manipulation in a way that leaves many uncomfortable.
“Under the last government, they were very happy to say to the sector, particularly the big American companies, ‘You know this stuff better than we do. We trust you’,” says Labour MP Emily Darlington, who criticises this approach as “naïve”.
“We might not yet know how easy it would be for the US to pull our access to AI, but we do know the threat is real,” warns senior research fellow Roa Powell at think tank IPPR.
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“Technology giants have repeatedly threatened to pull their services from countries which regulate their technology, while at the same time AI is beginning to be treated as a national security asset that cannot be shared with everybody.”
If UK access to US companies providing cloud services as well as other AI products were cut off, the results would be catastrophic. Could US companies stand independently from their government on such a decision?
“It’s not clear,” Darlington says. “The US has this weird law that essentially all those companies report to the US.” While companies like Amazon Web Services and Palantir have made repeated assurances to the UK that “we’re separate from the Americans”, she adds, this would be a true test of that premise.
At the end of April, Tech Secretary Liz Kendall delivered a speech signalling a step change in the UK’s approach to AI.
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“This government believes AI sovereignty is not about isolationism or attempting to pull up the drawbridge and go it alone… For Britain, AI sovereignty is about reducing over dependencies and increasing resilience,” she told an audience at defence and security think tank, Rusi.
The government is clearly concerned about the UK’s future if it allows other larger players like the US and China to dominate the market. Experts say this anxiety is well founded. Powell of IPPR warns that “this government has a narrow window before the concentration of power in AI markets becomes irreversible”.
In 1901, the soon-to-be US president Teddy Roosevelt repeated a famous proverb: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” It is an anecdote Irish political scientist and author Henry Farrell refers to when he speaks to The House from the US. “If you don’t have a big stick,” he continues, “search around as quickly as you can to find at least a medium-sized cudgel that will allow you to push back.”
Farrell, who co-authored Underground Empire: How America Weaponised the World Economy, has two suggestions for smaller powers like the UK.
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“First of all, where they can sort of build up some degree of redundancy, some degree of alternative sourcing, they absolutely should do.
“And secondly, everybody ought to be thinking about their forms of counter leverage in a world where you might see… substantial amounts of pressure being applied upon you to go into one direction rather than the other.”
Kendall’s clarification of what sovereignty means for the UK is welcomed by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI).
“It’s okay for the UK to have some dependencies – no-one can go it alone in the age of AI. And it needs to have leverage. The UK does have great talent, great universities, great startups, but these are not enough to guarantee the country’s competitiveness and security. Britain must also build critical technologies that others depend on. The future global economy, and geopolitical order, is going to be built on technology,” says TBI director of science and technology Keegan McBride.
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“For better or worse, this is the way of the world and how power and influence will be exerted. What’s important is that the UK responds now, otherwise it risks losing its seat at the table and the prosperity that will come from the AI revolution.
“The country must focus on becoming strategically important to its allies and embedding itself in the AI and frontier technology economy of the future – not the digital economy of today.”
The most famous example of a small and vulnerable nation dominating an area of the market is Taiwan’s chip industry, which also ensures America has an interest in the nation’s independence from China. Another is the Holland-based photolithography company ASML.
“They’ve got the Hormuz strait on AI technology,” says Dan Howl, head of policy and public affairs at the chartered institute of AI, BCS, referring to the vital shipping line in the Middle East that has allowed Iran to maintain a chokehold on the world’s oil industry.
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We might not yet know how easy it would be for the US to pull our access to AI, but we do know the threat is real
While some countries have interpreted AI sovereignty as independence – for example, France’s efforts to build its own sovereign AI stack – the UK government’s approach is seen by some as more pragmatic. Experts say pursuing “full sovereignty” would require a huge injection of cash, mean less secure and competitive products and reduce the ability to influence global standards. Instead, they favour an approach that would allow the UK a certain degree of leverage and control, just like the “big stick” that Roosevelt was describing more than a century ago.
As with many aspects of its infrastructure, the overwhelming feeling among experts is that the UK has rested on its laurels somewhat when it comes to innovation. “The political establishment has failed to invest in and secure the foundations of our country’s sovereignty.
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And what we need to make sure is that in the decades ahead, which are going to be so much about digital AI and data, we don’t fail again,” says former minister Josh Simons.
The Labour MP, who in the past worked for Meta in its AI programme, underlines the importance of sovereignty as a whole: “Sovereignty is the ability to, over relatively long periods of time, shape your own collective destiny.”
He believes that the vulnerable situation in which the UK now finds itself is the culmination of centuries of inaction: “It’s more than just the Tories. I don’t think it even just ends with the Labour government before that.
“For a long time now, we’ve assumed that trade will always be basically frictionless, that international financial markets will have very little interest in borders, and that the energy market will be a sufficiently efficient market that, provided we have diversity of supply, we’re fine. All those assumptions are just wrong – or are certainly becoming wrong.”
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The UK has “an acute dependency”, as Howl puts it, on cloud services such as Amazon Web Services – integral to the functioning of the NHS, the Ministry of Defence, HMRC, policing and the courts. He explains how the experts at BCS do not think that risk is assessed “as much as it needs to be”.
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While everyone can agree that the UK has fallen behind in the AI arms race, there is a live debate over where the nation’s efforts should be focused as it looks to build its arsenal.
For IPPR’s Powell, the UK’s comparative advantage lies in the AI applications layer – specialist products built on top of frontier models, like ChatGPT. She also thinks the UK should not see this approach “as a ceiling”, however, and look to strengthening areas such as chip design too.
Here, Kendall’s announcement of a new ‘AI Hardware Plan’, the details of which will be announced in June, comes into play.
Other experts highlight the UK’s strengths in aerospace, quantum technologies, health and sciences. While Kendall’s recent intervention indicates that the UK may be more decisive on where it wants to go, how it gets there could be more complicated. The House understands that government insiders are aware of how the UK’s high energy prices could discourage and hinder start-up growth, and push homegrown talent to look elsewhere.
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In a recent interview with CityAM, former deputy prime minister and one-time Silicon Valley convert Nick Clegg said the UK’s energy is “too expensive” and the UK’s AI sovereignty debate is “slightly dishonest” due to its “marginal relevance”.
Emma McGuigan, AI expert at BCS, points out that the cost of running data centres is a key hurdle. If the UK hopes to achieve its AI sovereignty goals, she says, this must be addressed. A sustained reduction in energy costs would allow “the opportunity to bring the investment to build those sovereign cloud data centres”, McGuigan argues.
Energy sovereignty is thus also called into question. “Digital sovereignty is inseparable from energy sovereignty and energy is a real, physical, material constraint and precondition for the digital world,” says Simons.
Another hurdle facing the UK is its inability to keep homegrown innovators here. The most famous example is the well-documented acquisition of London-based AI firm DeepMind by Google for $400m in 2014. As Kendall hopes to encourage the scale-up of UK businesses through the launch of the Sovereign AI fund, the challenge will be keeping those companies in Britain.
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Unless we secure it, there’s no guarantee that we can have the freedom that we’ve enjoyed for several hundred years
“There’s a culture within technology about selling things,” Howl says. “The real question is, what happens when the start-ups start getting bids from New York and California. That’s the real problem.”
He explains: “The reality is that the British market just isn’t big enough to be able to scale these really good companies to a way in which that would be advantageous to the owners, and that is compounded by the culture. But the solution to that would probably be to work with Europe and to genuinely get access to a much bigger market.”
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What is at stake? Simons has a “slightly apocalyptic view of where the world is heading”. But he also insists Britain “can’t be gripped by the throat by those who don’t share our commitment to freedom”.
“The future economy and the future of warfare and the future of security, technology, and in particular, AI, data, is going to be one of the foundations of power. So, unless we secure it, there’s no guarantee that we can have the freedom that we’ve enjoyed for several hundred years,” says the Labour MP.
Kendall has fired the starting gun on the UK’s drive for its version of AI sovereignty. But can this middle power successfully insert itself into the supply chain and find Roosevelt’s “big stick” – or is the UK joining the race with too big of a handicap?
FIFA has announced that there will be three opening ceremonies for the 2026 World Cup, a first in the tournament’s history, with a ceremony to be held in each of the host nations: Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The next edition of the World Cup is scheduled to kick off on 11 June and run until 19 July 2026, with 48 teams participating for the first time in the competition’s history. The United States will host 78 of the 104 matches, whilst the remaining matches will be split between Mexico and Canada, with 13 matches each.
FIFA confirmed in official statements, a copy of which was received by the Canary, that a group of the world’s leading music stars, including Katy Perry, Future, Alanis Morissette, Michael Bublé, J Balvin and Liza, will take part in these celebrations, which will kick off in Mexico, then move to Canada and finally to the United States.
3 concerts to kick off the FIFA 2026 World Cup
The celebratory events in Mexico will begin 90 minutes before the tournament’s opening match, which pits the hosts against South Africa and is scheduled for 11 June at the Azteca Stadium, which will be known as “Mexico City Stadium” for the duration of the World Cup only.
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The concert in Mexico will feature Colombian star J Balvin, the multi-Grammy-winning Mexican rock band Mana, and pop star Alejandro Fernández, son of music legend Vicente Fernández.
Also performing will be Lila Downs, Belinda, South African singer Tayla, and the Los Angeles-based band Solis, specialising in traditional Mexican cumbia music.
In this context, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in an official statement, a copy of which was received by the Canary:
The world will share this moment, and this is how the tournament will begin. Starting in Mexico City, and over the following days in Toronto and Los Angeles, these celebrations will bring together music, culture and football in a way that reflects the uniqueness of each country.
In Canada, the opening ceremony will take place on 12 June, ahead of the Canadian national team’s match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, featuring Alanis Morissette, Michael Bublé, Alessia Cara, Eliana, Jessie Reez and Nora Fathi.
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As for the United States, it kicks off its campaign on the same day in Los Angeles against Paraguay, in a massive event combining sport and music, featuring global pop star Katy Perry, who previously performed at the 2015 Super Bowl halftime show.
Also taking part in the US ceremony will be rapper Future, Lisa from Blackpink, and Brazilian star Anitta, with further names to be announced later. In this regard, Gianni Infantino said that:
the opening ceremony in Los Angeles reflects the exceptional scale that the 2026 World Cup will reach.
UPDATE: Andy Burnham's allies are "desperately trying" to convince Catherine West to abandon her leadership bid as he will not be able to run
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