Keir Starmer is facing yet another bruising week over the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal.

Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee will continue its probe into the affair, with the prime minister’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, giving evidence on Tuesday.

But it is the possibility of Starmer being investigated by the cross-party Privileges Committee for misleading parliament which is causing most concern inside 10 Downing Street.

Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle is expected to announce on Monday afternoon if MPs will be given a vote tomorrow on whether the PM should be referred to the powerful committee.

Here, HuffPost UK explains the background to the latest controversy to hit Starmer and assesses the damage it could do to the beleaguered PM.

There are two strands to the accusations against the PM.

His critics say he misled the Commons by previously insisting that “due process” was followed when Mandelson was vetted for the role of UK ambassador to Washington.

It has subsequently emerged that UK Security Vetting had recommended the then Labour peer be denied clearance to take up the role.

However, the Foreign Office decided that the risks highlighted over his business links to Russia and China could be mitigated, and he was given the highest security clearance, known as “developed vetting”.

The second accusation centres around comments Starmer made at prime minister’s questions last week.

He said that “no pressure existed whatsoever” in getting the Foreign Office to give Mandelson security clearance.

But that had been contradicted the previous day by Sir Olly Robbins, who was sacked by Starmer for not telling him about UK Security Vetting’s concerns.

Giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sir Olly said there was “constant pressure” on his department from No.10 and there was an “atmosphere of constant chasing”.

In a Sunday Times interview, the PM insisted there was no inconsistency between his comments and Sir Olly’s.

He said there was “different types of pressure” in government.

“There’s pressure – ’Can we get this done quickly?’ – which is not an unusual pressure. That is the everyday pressure of government,” he said.

Starmer said a pressure “essentially, to disregard the security vetting element and give clearance” would be something different, and that Sir Olly “was really clear in his mind that wasn’t pressure that was put on him”.

Even if Hoyle grants MPs a vote on referring the PM to the Privileges Committee, it would require a huge Labour rebellion for it to pass.

According to The Times, No.10 is planning to whip Labour MPs to vote against a probe, making it a major test of the under-fire prime minister’s authority.

One Labour MP told HuffPost UK the issue was a “complete waste of time” and insisted there was no comparison with the Privileges Committee investigation Boris Johnson faced over partygate.

He said: “Boris Johnson’s parties in breach of lockdown rules were of a wholly different magnitude of severity. Besides, the PM has been truthful about due process throughout.”

Emily Thornberry, the Labour MP who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the Tories of playing political games ahead of the elections on May 7.

She said: “It may be that at some stage in the future some of the questions haven’t been answered and it is decided that they are of sufficient importance that the Privileges Committee should be involved but I don’t really see why we are doing it at the moment apart from potentially people trying to score points in advance of the local elections.

“I’m sorry to say that and I’m not supposed to be partisan on this but it is plain as the nose on my face what’s going on here.”

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Though people with dementia tend to face sleep disruptions, it’s a bit of a “chicken and egg” link: “Does poor sleep increase dementia risk, or does dementia lead to poor sleep?” Alzheimer’s Society said.

“Some researchers believe that both of these theories could be true, and the relationship could be circular.”

Whatever the direction of the link, though, one paper found that those who got fewer than six hours of sleep in midlife were less likely to develop dementia.

And a new paper published in PLOS One, which involved data from dozens of other studies, says there may be a “sweet spot” for reducing dementia risk.

The data the researchers used came from millions of people aged 35 and over across decades of research. It looked at day-to-day habits, like rest and movement, and compared those to the rate of dementia among participants.

Parmis Mirzadeh, who helped to write the study, said these studies “provided an opportunity to better understand how daily habits like physical activity, sedentary time and sleep collectively shape brain health over time”.

They found that seven to eight hours’ sleep was linked to a lower dementia risk, while both more and less sleep were associated with an increased likelihood of developing the condition.

The longer sleep pattern (regularly getting more than eight hours’ sleep) was most associated with higher dementia risk.

Previous research has shown that people who sleep more than nine hours a night are more likely to develop dementia 10 years later.

Yes. These researchers also looked at how physical activity and sedentary behaviours seemed to be linked to people’s dementia risk.

They found that people who stuck to the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity a week were 25% less likely to face dementia.

“One of the more surprising findings was how sparse the data remains for sedentary behaviour, despite it being recognised as a distinct health risk for more than a decade,” Mirzadeh stated.

Nonetheless, researchers think sitting for more than eight hours a day may increase dementia risk.

“We hope this work helps raise awareness that everyday behaviours such as physical activity, sedentary time and sleep are associated with brain health,” Mirzadeh added. “Because these are modifiable, they represent practical targets for interventions aimed at reducing dementia risk at the population level.”

It’s worth noting, however, that this paper only looked at associations and did not prove a causal link.

The BBC has issued an apology for inadvertently broadcasting a racial slur twice in one day on Radio 1.

Earlier this month, Radio 1 producers put together a Newsbeat package about the new Super Mario movie, which was soundtracked by a song from the rapper Childish Gambino.

However, the clip of the song, which aired at 12.45pm, contained an uncensored use of the N-word, which went undetected before it was aired again five hours later.

A BBC spokesperson told The Sun: “We are very sorry this was broadcast. We should not have included this clip in this news report, and we removed the clip from Sounds when we realised the error.”

This latest controversy comes just months after the BBC faced widespread condemnation for including another uncensored utterance of the N-word in its coverage of the 2026 Baftas.

During the Baftas ceremony in February, Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson – attending the event alongside the cast and crew of I Swear, which was inspired by his life – experienced an involuntary tic while Sinners actors Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan were presenting on stage, resulting in him shouting the slur from his seat.

After a clip of this was included in the BBC’s broadcast of the event, despite it airing on a two-hour time delay, an investigation was “fast-tracked” by outgoing director-general Tim Davie.

Earlier this month, the BBC’s executive complaints unit concluded that “the inclusion of the N-word in the broadcast (which was also streamed live on iPlayer) was highly offensive, had no editorial justification and represented a breach of the BBC’s editorial standards”, even if the breach in question “was unintentional”.

The morning after the Baftas, chief content officer Kate Phillips sent an internal memo to BBC employees, which read: “The edit team removed another racial slur from the broadcast. This one was aired in error and we would never have knowingly allowed this to be broadcast.

“We take full responsibility for what happened.”

Zack Polanski clashed with presenter Ed Balls on Good Morning Britain and declared “people hate the media” in a tense interview.

The Green Party leader was speaking to the ITV programme on Monday when he hit back at Balls over his Labour Party background.

After a clash over reports from the Daily Mail that Polanski wants to change certain party policies, the party leader said: “Do you know what I’m enjoying?

“The fact that a Labour politician who is married to a senior Labour minister is allowed to ask questions to the leader of the Green Party.”

Balls, who is married to foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, said: “Are you accusing me of being a Labour politician?”

“You might have been a Labour minister fairly recently, in the last 20 years..” the Green leader replied.

Balls cut in: “Unfortunately Mr Polanski, I lost my seat in 2015 and I’ve not been a Labour politician for 10 years.”

After more back and forth with Balls, the Green leader interrupted: “I think you’re really struggling here.

“Ten days until local elections and today I’m announcing that I want to bring buses into public control, and reducing bus fares in cities and rural communities.

“I also want to talk about what’s happening in Manchester, Newcastle, London, and in Wales in the Senedd, where the Greens are picking up incredible momentum.

“It’s interesting that you don’t want to ask me about any of these things. You want to just do shock-jock tactics.

“And by the way, this is why people hate the media.”

Balls’ co-presenter Susanna Reid then tried to ask about Polanski’s previous claims that hypnosis could enlarge women’s breasts.

“You can accuse us as much as you like for not asking the questions that you want to answer – that is absolutely your prerogative,” she said.

“I think it is reasonable to ask you about something you said back then which was demonstrably untrue and to ask you about when you did actually change your mind.”

Polanski said: “This feels very much like this has been a set-up, where the Green Party hasn’t been able to talk about our actual plans at these local elections. That’s what I’m exposing.”

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable Zack Polanski to ask you about your integrity, about your beliefs, about what you say and whether that is the case or not,” Reid replied.

“You can be as angry as you like at the media. You might take issue –″

He hit back: “I’m not angry! This is what I expect sometimes when coming on this programme. But this is what I hear over and over again when speaking to the public, that they think political discourse has been eroded in this country.”

He ended the interview by adding: “You can annoy GMB by voting Green.”

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It probably won’t come as a surprise that May is the peak season for children to call Childline about exam stress.

Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026; the free, confidential service for kids delivered 1,679 counselling sessions where exam or revision stress was mentioned.

These sessions peaked in May, coinciding with the start of exam season. There were 359 counselling sessions about exam stress in May 2025, making up 21% of all counselling sessions about the topic.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, GCSEs start in early May, while AS and A Level exams take place from mid-May into June. In Scotland; National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher exams are already underway, finishing on 1 June.

The majority of concerns about exam stress were from children aged 12-18 years old, however younger students are also impacted, with 11% of contacts coming from children aged 11 and under.

One young person, aged 16, told the service: “If I’m not revising for exams, I feel this panic in my chest, but the panic also stops me focusing on the revision when I try and do it.”

Another 16-year-old girl said they have plans for their future, but have completely lost motivation to revise. “I have no idea why, my friends are trying to help get me back on track but I’m so overwhelmed,” they said.

A 15-year-old boy said when they list everything they need to revise, they get “immediately” overwhelmed. “My parents don’t get why I’m so stressed but also aren’t helping me. I need someone to tell me where to even start,” they explained.

Here are the common themes Childine counsellors identified:

• Young people are putting pressure on themselves to do well.

• Young people are struggling to balance revision and other life pressures, like caring responsibilities or housing issues.

• They are feeling pressure from parents, family members and teachers.

• They feel they have to miss out on friends, hobbies and relationships due to revision and exam pressures.

• They struggle with knowing how to revise and where to get information on how to do this.

• The stress and worry of upcoming exams makes it hard to focus on revision.

• They are losing sleep over revision, exams and the idea of failing.

• They are feeling upset that some subjects are harder for them than others.

• They are comparing themselves with friends in regards to how well they’re doing in class/mock exams and how much revision they’re doing.

• They are losing motivation to revise or confidence around exams based on comments from teachers and friends that they won’t do well.

• They are feeling hopeless about the future if they don’t do well in exams.

• Their parents and teachers are being dismissive about exam stress.

Childline Service Head, Cormac Nolan, noted many children feel guilty about taking breaks and worry about letting people down if they don’t achieve the results they hope for.

“We want to remind young people that no matter what happens, exam results do not define worth or future prospects,” Nolan said, adding that Childline is available 24/7 to support any child who may be struggling.

• Reassure your child that you are here to support them.

• Talk to them over text or on the phone if they don’t feel able to talk in person.

• Recognise that their feelings are valid and let them know it’s OK for them to be honest about what they’re feeling.

• Help them think of healthy ways to cope. You could try things like yoga, breathing exercises or mindfulness together.

• Help your child maintain perspective about their exams. Remind them that while it’s important to try their best, their self-worth isn’t defined by their grades.

Things went a little off the rails, to say the least, during the I’m A Celebrity: South Africa live finale.

While the series itself was pre-recorded last year, the last episode aired live on ITV1 on Friday night, during which Ant and Dec announced who the public had chosen as their latest I’m A Celebrity “Legend”.

Almost the entire cast were reunited for the live special (aside from Beverley Callard, who was unable to attend on medical grounds), during which old arguments between certain campmates resurfaced.

Early on in the show, David Haye interrupted a segment involving Adam Thomas to question whether the Emmerdale star thought he “deserved to win this” after “calling Jimmy the c-word a couple of times” during their heated row towards the end of the season.

Ant and Dec then assured David that they would “come to this” a little bit later – and that’s when things became even more chaotic.

Later, Jimmy Bullard brought up the row again, criticising ITV for editing out the C-bombs dropped by Adam during their argument.

Ant McPartlin pointed out that Adam’s language had been “unbroadcastable”, which Jimmy agreed, but referred to the soap star’s conduct as “abusive, aggressive and intimidating”.

“I was there, I didn’t think it was intimidating,” Ant responded, before inviting Adam to share his side of the story.

The Waterloo Road actor then insisted he takes “full responsibility” for his conduct during his row, and had “nothing but love for Jimmy”, at which point David interjected, retorting: “Funny way of showing it…”

Declan Donnelly then pointed out David wasn’t “even there” for the row, having already been eliminated, with the former heavyweight champion going on to accuse the show of “a lot of editing to make this poor guy look like a victim”, referring to Adam.

Following this, Gemma Collins and Sinitta disagreed about who was in the right, with the So Macho singer going on to walk off set completely.

“You weren’t there, I was there, it was aggressive and abusive,” she insisted, as Gemma left the sofa to join her off stage.

At the end of the turbulent episode, Adam was voted as the public’s winner, over runner-up Mo Farah, and had something of a muted reaction to the news.

David Haye and Jimmy Bullard later claimed they’d been ejected from the I’m A Celebrity studio

The Sun has since published a report claiming that Jimmy and David were “kicked out” of the studio between the live final and the recording of the companion podcast I’m A Celebrity: Unpacked.

In footage shared by the tabloid, David was heard saying: “We’ve been kicked out the show. What’s that about? Genuinely?”

Jimmy then agreed: “We got kicked out.”

“For trying to tell the truth,” David added.

A show source said: “Some campmates were uncomfortable being on stage with David and Jimmy, so we sent them home during Unpacked.”

HuffPost UK has contacted ITV for comment.

Writing on Instagram over the weekend, Adam claimed: “I walked through this journey with my heart first, no matter what came my way. It was not always easy, there were moments that could have broken me, but I stayed true to myself and that is something I will always be proud of.

“I have realised that when people try to dim your light, it says more about them than it ever will about you. This experience has shown me my strength in ways I never imagined. Not because of any title or recognition, but because I stayed kind, I stayed grounded and I stayed real.”

“Those who doubted me or tried to bring me down, I carry no negativity towards you,” he added. “I have already won in the ways that matter most.

“I have love, I have happiness and I have stayed true to myself, and that is something no one can ever take away from me. I hope one day you can do the same.”

A peace deal to end the Iran war “will take a long time” to be reached, the BBC’a chief international correspondent has declared.

In a gloomy assessment, Lyse Doucet said “neither side wants to back down”.

Her comments came after Donald Trump said American officials would not take part in planned negotiations with their Iranian counterparts in Pakistan.

The US president has declared victory on several occasions since the conflict began with Israel and America’s began bombing Iran two months ago.

An indefinite ceasefire is currently in place, but with the key waterway the Strait of Hormuz still blocked and America blockading Iranian ports, Doucet said hopes of a perman end to the war seem remote.

She told Radio 4′s Today programme: “Neither side wants a ‘no war, no peace’ situation. Neither side wants to back down.

“Both sides are saying they won the war. President Trump has his own political and economic pressures at home, the Iranians have their pressures at home. So a deal may be in reach but a reach is not days, it will take a long time.

“Does President Trump want to make that time? How long does Iran want to drag it out and thrash out every day? It’s within the realm of possibility, but right now they’re just not there.”

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