Politics
Wings Over Scotland | ACC Houston, We Have A Problem
We’ve already discussed the contents of the videos released last week by the BBC containing interviews with Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston of Police Scotland and Crown Agent John Logue of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
But videos (especially lengthy ones) are always a bit of a pain to reference, and these are incredibly significant documents, so we thought it’d be quite useful to post the full transcripts too, with tidied-up text (taking out all the “um”s and “eh”s and so on) for ease of reading.
Here’s the interview with Stuart Houston:
And below is what’s said in it. We’ve added a comment here and there, in red.
STUART HOUSTON: Stuart Houston, Assistant Chief Constable for organized crime, counter-terrorism, and intelligence for Police Scotland.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Over the years of Operation Branchform, what was your role or roles?
STUART HOUSTON: Initially, when the matter was reported to police, I was the Detective Chief Superintendent for organized crime, and my remit included economic crime and fraud. I oversaw that department at the time, so I was aware of the circumstances when it was initially reported.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Talk about that initial report. How did the police get involved in investigating the SNP’s finances?
STUART HOUSTON: As has been well covered over various occasions and obvioysly in the leadup to the ongoing court matter, an individual came forward to the police and raised concerns regarding what he had assessed from the public-facing accounts of the Scottish National Party. That came into the economic crime unit that I oversaw for an assessment. From there it gathered momentum and engagement with others to establish what was being reported.
GLENN CAMPBELL: So essentially that was an investigation into fraud or potential fraud. But we know that case didn’t develop very far and your focus shifted. Explain why there was no fraud case and no fraud prosecution.
STUART HOUSTON: As the police started to investigate the financial activities that had gone on within the SNP, parts were looked at to establish if there was fraud in relation to how money was gathered into the SNP.
[WINGS COMMENT: And? Was there?]
But what that uncovered were other matters that clearly showed money was being misappropriated, which led to embezzlement. That was through a lot of investigation. We had to engage with a number of people who were part of the SNP, and we looked at bank accounts and various financial transactions to establish where certain monies had gone.
[WINGS COMMENT: So you just lobbed the original complaint in the bin?]
GLENN CAMPBELL: For those looking in from the outside who see that the SNP raised over £600,000 through their independence appeals but didn’t have that money in the bank account — why, when you looked into that issue, was there not a criminal case to pursue?
STUART HOUSTON: The money was coming into one account, whether through fundraising or other matters, and in essence disappeared through other transactions that we later uncovered.
In relation to the fraud aspect, we looked at all the circumstances and what would indicate a fraud having occurred. That was part of our engagement with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and how we sort of looked at all the circumstances of monies that were coming in, but more importantly were able to show where monies were going out.
[WINGS COMMENT: But why were monies going out? There hadn’t been a second independence referendum, so none of that money should have gone anywhere. That means a crime had taken place.]
And I think it’s really important to stress that the fact is that our part suddenly turned to the fact the money that came into the SNP certainly wasn’t showing up in the accounts at a later stage, and some of that had been misappropriated by an individual.
[WINGS COMMENT: Some of it? And the rest?]
GLENN CAMPBELL: Let’s talk a bit about that. Why did your investigation switch to embezzlement?
STUART HOUSTON: From our investigation, as we went through and we started to look at financial records, we looked at certain activities, and there were what were described as “unusual spends”, was one way it was described by some on the team.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Was this on the credit cards?
STUART HOUSTON: Between credit cards and bank accounts. And I must emphasise that this was a significant amount of work to go through transaction by transaction to see where monies had gone.
From that there were items that would not probably have been required by a political party, and quite luxury items at a time when there maybe wasn’t as much ready available cash.
These were things that were alarm bells for us to go and look at a bit further and I actually started to look at some of other purchases that taken place and they became very excessive.
GLENN CAMPBELL: These early items included purchases from Le Creuset?
STUART HOUSTON: And a number of different retailers that we saw. There was a question why that was required for purchase by a political party. That led further to some of the bigger purchases through the movement of funds, including the financing of vehicles and, particularly, later on, a motorhome.
GLENN CAMPBELL: I suppose the iconic image from this whole investigation is from the day of the police action, the blue tent outside the home of the then-former First Minister and her husband Peter Murrell. Can you just explain why that was necessary?
STUART HOUSTON: From the very outset of this investigation, as the person who oversaw it, I recognized the political sensitivities. The fact is we were investigating the SNP, who were the sitting party in government. We required operational security, and a real driver for me throughout this was the integrity of the investigation.
If any of the information about what we were investigating, what we were looking for or what was being suspected had become in the public domain, that may have jeopardized any future proceedings by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and certainly would have cast doubt on the professionalism, integrity, and capability of the police investigation.
GLENN CAMPBELL: So what’s the purpose of the blue tent? What’s going on inside?
STUART HOUSTON: The blue tent was something that was discussed at length. We were aware that we were going to search the home address and we suspected there were items we would recover that you couldn’t put into a bag and walk out the door with. You would have to account for a large number of items in that house.
To protect from media scrutiny and the integrity of the investigation, we made a decision that we would place a tent around the driveway of the house where we could process the items we were recovering correctly and in line with our procedures, but also protect the integrity of that really crucial investigation.
GLENN CAMPBELL: You’ve got a van inside that tent into which you’re placing items taken from the house?
STUART HOUSTON: Yes, and that was a decision to allow officers to carry out the role correctly and professionally, obtain the evidence, and also to ensure we protected the integrity of what we were investigating. As can be borne out now, that has made it a very professional and high-standard investigation.
GLENN CAMPBELL: You’re taking items from the house and at the same time from the SNP’s headquarters in Edinburgh. What did you have to do to seize the motorhome?
STUART HOUSTON: Our investigations led us to understand where it was being stored. From there we were able to seek a warrant to take possession of the motorhome, as we believed it had been purchased with embezzled funds.
GLENN CAMPBELL: When you came across the motorhome, were you surprised?
STUART HOUSTON: The fact it was in the accounts system, and why a political party would purchase a motorhome, was a question that was raised. What our investigation led to show that the motorhome was purchased by an individual, insured for an individual, and from that we were able to say where it was being kept. And that is a really important part – why would you purchase something and then not use it?
GLENN CAMPBELL: Is it not possible that this could have been used as a campaign bus during an election where COVID was still an issue and it might have been difficult to move people around the country to campaign?
STUART HOUSTON: I think that might be a suggestion from someone, but it was never used for that purpose.
GLENN CAMPBELL: And when you looked inside, was there anything that might have indicated that it could be used as an SNP campaign vehicle?
STUART HOUSTON: There was nothing that I would say would suggest that. It was an ordinary camper van. It had a number of toiletry items within it, as if it was to be used as a personal vehicle,
GLENN CAMPBELL: And some books as well.
STUART HOUSTON: There were a number of items within the camper van which were obviously part of our investigation and were seized during its seizure and removal to police premises.
GLENN CAMPBELL: The travel books?
STUART HOUSTON: I believe there were some travel books that were present.
GLENN CAMPBELL: This investigation from complaint to conclusion took more than five years. Why so long?
STUART HOUSTON: That has been a question that’s been asked on a number of occasions, about the length of time it takes. The fact it that we had to go through a number of accounts. The actual fraudulent or embezzled activity took place over a long time. We were able to check every transaction, look at who the retailers were, we had to look at every line of payments, this was at times a very complex and difficult investigation.
You had bank accounts and credit cards that have been mentioned, but you also had an accounting system within the party that didn’t necessarily have the correct description of what had been purchased.
So a lot of work by forensic accountancy, by police investigators to go through and make sure what we were looking at had not been purchased on behalf of the SNP but, as has now been admitted, was embezzled funds.
[WINGS COMMENT: All of that is true for Peter Murrell’s embezzlement crime, which wasn’t even discovered until two years into the investigation. None of it is true for the original crime which was reported to the police, and which could have been materially cleared up in two weeks at the very most.]
GLENN CAMPBELL: What do you say to those who look at the length of time this investigation has taken and think that somehow you’re drawing it out?
STUART HOUSTON: I would say that we were making absolutely sure we had the right information. We went through a number of financial institutions through warrantry to obtain information, because that’s not owned by necessarily a victim, it’s owned by the banking authorities.
There was obviously potential for legally privileged material that had to be assessed at various times throughout the investigation as well. These are things that investigations over financial inquiries can take a lengthy period of time.
In addition, working in conjunction with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, we got to the stages where we planned for a day of arresting individuals, carrying out interviews, and being in a position where we could put evidence to all the people that were arrested in the inquiry.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Let me put to you some comments from the former SNP MP Tommy Sheppard, who’s suggested to us this whole process took far too long and who accuses the police of creating CSI-style photo opportunities for the media. Is that fair criticism?
STUART HOUSTON: If I’ve touched on it, I believe you must be referring to the tent. As I’ve stressed already, that was to protect the integrity of the investigation.
It’s been commented upon by colleagues of yours in recent days to say that at no time during this investigation were they really aware of what we were looking at. That’s testament to those individuals that carried out that work.
But I come back to the fact that if we hadn’t done something like that, how much media speculation would there have been with items they saw us removing from that house? But it didn’t happen. That allows us to have a fair, transparent process further down the line for a person who became the accused in this case.
GLENN CAMPBELL: No conspiracy here?
STUART HOUSTON: No conspiracy. I would say it is our part in ensuring we carry out a professional investigation.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Does it annoy you that people poke at your investigation in that way?
STUART HOUSTON: This case has been the subject of huge scrutiny, whether that be from yourself media colleagues or through social media, and people who have an opinion on what the police were or were not doing.
What I would say is the complexity and challenging nature was that we were under scrutiny at all times for this. We were under the public eye. Anything we had done out of step with process, or out of step with what we’d expect from a serious and high-profile criminal investigation, could have put in real jeopardy the outcome that we now have.
GLENN CAMPBELL: When you look at the graph of Peter Murrell’s illegal spending – it starts small and then rises to a great peak – what does that tell you about his offending behavior?
STUART HOUSTON: The offending behavior went back a long time when we started looking, at the very start of this. What is show is there was an ability to increase what was being embezzled. The increase we have in online shopping has increased significantly in that period of time as well.
I do think there was that confidence that occurred for some time about continuing to carry out that behavior.
GLENN CAMPBELL: He’s getting bolder.
STUART HOUSTON: Yes, that would be one way of putting it.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Just explain – how did he steal?
STUART HOUSTON: In essence, it was being able to have access and responsibility for the finances to allow him the opportunity to move money, the opportunity to spend, probably at times without question. That’s about stealing, being able to embezzle those funds for his own personal gain.
GLENN CAMPBELL: And how did he cover it up, particularly when it comes to the high-value items?
STUART HOUSTON: He’s a person who had access to the ledger or accounting system that allows you to document what the purchases are. He was able to make those purchases purporting to be on behalf of the party. He wasn’t challenged in that at the right time, and had that ability through the falsification of records and other aspects that allowed him to be in a position to embezzle and hide his crime.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Were there any mechanisms in place to check him?
STUART HOUSTON: Throughout this, the SNP and a number of committees that they had have been spoken to. But I think we need to understand is, this was the chief executive of the party, who is the person in charge of the day-to-day running of that organization. He was in that position and had the ability to be able to falsify records and be the person that was accountable for the finances.
GLENN CAMPBELL: He was trusted.
STUART HOUSTON: He was trusted.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Why was Nicola Sturgeon not reported for prosecution?
STUART HOUSTON: Nicola Sturgeon was subject to arrest and interview during the investigation, as was Colin Beattie. The circumstances of those arrests and the information the police held was all subject of an advice and guidance report to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, where it was laid out what their involvement or position was in relation to any crime.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Did she do anything wrong?
STUART HOUSTON: The police, we report the circumstances to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to allow them to make the decision whether someone is prosecuted. We put in the circumstances and allow them to make an informed decision.
GLENN CAMPBELL: You didn’t recommend prosecution in her case.
STUART HOUSTON: We didn’t make any recommendations to prosecute or otherwise. Our role is to report the circumstances.
GLENN CAMPBELL: The Crown are very clear that they accepted your recommendation that there was not enough evidence for a prosecution. Is that correct?
STUART HOUSTON: Our role is to report all the circumstances to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in relation to everything that’s happened, whether than be any investigation and not necessarily unique to this inquiry.
We then seek advice and guidance on whay way they think that should go. It is their decision in relation to the prosecution of cases.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Were you happy to leave it at that?
STUART HOUSTON: We act in working conjunction with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and we have to do that. The fact is that we are there to act on their behalf to carry out investigations.
It’s essential that we work together and reach agreement on certain things, to make sure how we take things forward, whether about progressing to get warrants etc. We report the circumstances and again it’s for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to assess that as well, and provide any advice and direction.
GLENN CAMPBELL: And just one last thing on that – were you in agreement with the Crown that there was no case to pursue that might lead to a prosecution?
STUART HOUSTON: Our line was very much: here is all the evidence that we have collated, as much as we could find. Our job is not to have that final decision. Our job is to assess-
GLENN CAMPBELL: But hang on a minute – in the case of Peter Murrell, you’re sending in a report saying that this guy’s committed a crime and should be prosecuted. I recognize that it was a different type of report that you sent in in relation to Nicola Sturgeon, but therefore can we conclude that you did not think there was the evidence there for her to be prosecuted or for further inquiries to be made?
STUART HOUSTON: To distinguish between the two types of report: for Peter Murrell there is a Standard Prosecution Report to say we have carried out an investigation, and we can have evidence of certain offences that we put forward.
An Advice And Guidance report is – the word is in it – here’s the circumstances that we’ve uncovered. We’re seeking your advice and guidance on where we go next. That’s really important – in those occasions where there’s a circumstance that you need to examine, that’s for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to give us advice on where we go next.
[WINGS COMMENT: In the above paragraphs, ACC Houston denies seven times in a row that the police made any decision that there was insufficient evidence to charge Nicola Sturgeon, flatly contradicting the assertions made to the contrary by Crown Agent John Logue.]
GLENN CAMPBELL: Would you be happy for that report, that advice and guidance file that you sent into the Crown, to be published?
STUART HOUSTON: Something we need to be very mindful of is that is a lot of information, some of that is sensitive information regarding other individuals. And again, that is a report that is shared between the police and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and-
GLENN CAMPBELL: You’re not saying no.
STUART HOUSTON: That wouldn’t be a matter for the police to release that information.
GLENN CAMPBELL: But would you be comfortable if eventually that was put into the public domain?
STUART HOUSTON: That [wouldn’t] be a matter for us, we’ve delivered that to the Crown Office and any release of information from that would be a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Did Nicola Sturgeon fully cooperate with your investigation? Would that be a fair way to characterize her engagement?
STUART HOUSTON: She was subject to arrest and interviewed. As has been reported and released by herself, she provided a written statement to the police following that interaction. For those circumstances, she provided a written account which was obviously taken in and assessed by ourselves.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Full cooperation or not?
STUART HOUSTON: Whether someone is fully cooperative is probably a difficult situation, the fact is when someone is under arrest, the fact is they have a right not to say anything, that is someone’s right. Regarding cooperation I think we’d probably need to define that, the fact is someone made themselves available and provided a written update to us — I would say that is cooperating.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Did she answer all your questions in the written statement?
STUART HOUSTON: There was a lot of information in there, it’s not something I would be able to go into in great detail. The fact is that someone has provided information to us – bearing in mind, she didn’t need to at that point – but has provided information to us that has been assessed by police.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Is it reasonable for her to say that she’s been cleared as a result of this investigation and not being prosecuted?
STUART HOUSTON: The word “cleared” — it’s not for the police to clear people. That’s for the police to carry out an investigation and report the circumstances to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
The word “cleared” could have a number of different meanings. The fact is that we reported the circumstances and there was no further action and no prosecution, that can be determined by us reporting what we had to report to the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service.
GLENN CAMPBELL: And that report didn’t include wrongdoing on her part?
STUART HOUSTON: That report concluded an outline of a number of circumstances involving not just Nicola Sturgeon.
[WINGS COMMENT: That’s an interesting total evasion of the question.]
GLENN CAMPBELL: A number of items that were purchased with ill-gotten funds were used for items that then became the possession of Nicola Sturgeon. Has she handed those over to the police?
STUART HOUSTON: There’s no items that have come to my attention that have been handed over by Nicola Sturgeon.
[WINGS COMMENT: That’s a mildly extraordinary revelation. Scots law requires that the recipient of stolen goods give them back once they discover their provenance, even if they received them in good faith with no reason to suspect they were stolen. Not to do so is the criminal offence of reset.]
GLENN CAMPBELL: Should she hand over those items that have been identified?
STUART HOUSTON: That’s not a question for ourselves. The fact is that items that have been purchased through embezzled funds may be subject to further proceedings under the Proceeds Of Crime Act. Again that is very much a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
GLENN CAMPBELL: How much of the stuff that you identified that’s listed in the indictment has been recovered?
STUART HOUSTON: I actually don’t know the full answer to that. What I would say is that there’s a number of items that we were aware of that had been purchased were recovered from the home address.
GLENN CAMPBELL: What stuff has been handed in by others, not the direct subjects of this investigation?
STUART HOUSTON: There were items that had come to the attention of individuals within the SNP who highlighted them to us and handed them over, which were items that had been purchased we believed through the embezzled funds.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Any examples?
STUART HOUSTON: I can’t recall off the top of my head what they all were, but there was a number of different things.
GLENN CAMPBELL: What would you say to anybody who thinks that they might have something that was bought with SNP funds that had been embezzled by Peter Murrell? Should they come forward to the police? Should they be handing those things in?
STUART HOUSTON: That’s a matter for individuals, and again individuals may want to seek advice on that. It’s probably not for me as the police to say.
[WINGS COMMENT: Yes it flipping is! The law is absolutely clear – if someone gives you something and later you find out they stole it, you are unambiguously and definitely supposed to give it back! Sheesh.]
We have carried out our investigation to trace items that we believed were in possession of Peter Murrell, which we did do. I think you also need to understand that some of those purchases were some time ago and may no longer exist.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Have you any sense of why he did what he did?
STUART HOUSTON: We have someone who had the ability to manipulate records and has had that opportunity to do things that has allowed them to make purchases. As I think I said at the time of his plea of guilty, he was funding a lifestyle that I don’t think his salary could afford, and he saw an opportunity.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Do we know for sure that he wasn’t offending before 2010?
STUART HOUSTON: As you know and I’ve already highlighted, financial records and banking transactions are only kept for certain periods of time. That would only be speculation in the fact of anything beyond what we were able to place and report to the Procurator Fiscal.
GLENN CAMPBELL: So the investigations by the police and the Crown didn’t look back further than that?
STUART HOUSTON: We went as far back as we possibly could in relation to what evidence we had. And as I say, financial institutions and other areas may not keep records for any long periods of time.
GLENN CAMPBELL: So we don’t know?
STUART HOUSTON: It’s not something I’d be able to speculate or comment upon.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Going back to the very beginning and the first of a number of complaints, Sean Clerkin has told the BBC he initially tried to report his concerns at Helen Street Police Station and was told that they would not take a complaint against the First Minister and Peter Murrell. Is that possible?
STUART HOUSTON: I’m aware that an individual did try to report this probably a few days before he actually made a report to another police station in the Glasgow area. My understanding is that he was spoken to and it was explained to him that police were now taking a statement from him at the second calling.
I don’t understand, I don’t know the full circumstances why it wasn’t taken on the first occasion, but what I can say is when, certainly, the team that I oversaw became aware of it, he was engaged with from that moment onwards.
GLENN CAMPBELL: But does that suggest that the police, or at least some of the police, were a bit scared of taking on people in such high-profile and high-ranking political positions?
STUART HOUSTON: I don’t think you could say that. The fact is someone came in to make a complaint which from the very outset you can see is quite complex and involves financial investigation that requires specialisms. And hence why, certainly when it came to my attention, the right specialisms were put in place to engage with that individual to gather what information he had.
[WINGS COMMENT: As we’ve noted already the original crime complained of was not complex at all. It involves just two, undisputed, facts.]
GLENN CAMPBELL: Just looking back on the whole thing — the five years of energy and effort, the expense, several million pounds — has it all been worth it?
STUART HOUSTON: People have come forward to tell us something, and there were others that told us matters in this, and I think we need to acknowledge there were other witnesses here and other people who came forward to say that this isn’t right – the fact is that would be able to find some answers for those individuals.
But you can’t take away the fact that Peter Murrell was a person in a position of trust, seen as a political figure within Scotland, and he has been embezzling funds that had come into a political party.
Whoever that may be, the police are going to investigate and report those circumstances and, where possible, bring that person to justice.
GLENN CAMPBELL: Assistant Chief Constable, thank you very much.
STUART HOUSTON: Thank you.
.
[NOTE: Transcript partly edited by AI for readability. It has been manually checked by a human, but minor errors may remain, because nobody’s perfect.]
Politics
Politics Home | Labour MP Says Her Colleagues Are “On A Journey” To Support Her Summer Of Sex Campaign
Make Love Not Porn founder Cindy Gallop, Labour MP Samantha Niblett and Coco de Mer CEO Lucy Litwack at the ‘Summer of Sex’ campaign launch party (Coco de Mer/John Lewis)
7 min read
Labour’s Samantha Niblett said she believes some of her MP colleagues are starting to come round to her campaign for lifelong sex education, which sparked fierce debate across Westminster earlier this year.
Three months on from kicking off her campaign for lifelong sex education via an exclusive interview with PoliticsHome, Niblett partnered with major retailer John Lewis and luxury lingerie and sexual wellness brand Coco de Mer to host an event on Wednesday evening to officially launch the ‘Summer of Sex’.
Speaking at the event with Coco de Mer CEO Lucy Litwack and Make Love Not Porn founder Cindy Gallop – who has partnered with Niblett for her campaign – Niblett laid out how the campaign has progressed over the last few months.
“If I get known as Samantha the sex MP, I just start making it easier for other MPs to start to talk about it. Many of them have gone ‘my god, good on you, this is amazing’.”
She said some supportive MPs have told her that some of the “original doubters” have started to see the point of the campaign.
“Some MPs that were critical of the way that I went about it, they don’t like the sex toys, they think it’s diminishing the campaign.
“But it’s not. I grabbed the mic. It did get the attention, and I am absolutely going to do a sex toys event in Parliament because I want it to not be shocking. I want it to not be pearl-clutchy.
“Some colleagues are going on a journey. I honestly believe it: the more that the country gets behind this campaign, the more that Parliament will, because it will be led by what is palatable. We are as basic as that, seriously. People are interested in sex. Everybody wants to talk about sex.”
Niblett said she aims to pull together a briefing document by the end of summer recess to send to fellow MPs and promote the purpose of the campaign.
In her interview with PoliticsHome in April, Niblett said she wanted to push for more open, inclusive lifelong sex education by securing a debate in Parliament on the topic in the autumn. Niblett said she wanted to promote wider awareness of consent, prevent abuse and violence, and raise awareness of how childbirth, the menopause, stress and other health conditions can impact sexual satisfaction.
Niblett shared that she watched porn herself like “lots of other people” and that it was a “turn on”. She said she will host an event in Parliament where she brings in sex toys, which has since been confirmed to be allowed by the parliamentary authorities.
The campaign took Westminster by storm, generating discussion in the chamber, in which Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused Labour of “fiddling while Rome burns”, and heated debate within the women’s Parliamentary Labour Party WhatsApp group, in which other MPs accused Niblett of trivialising a serious topic.
“I certainly found myself posting less in MP WhatsApp chats because there were slightly terse comments that went flying by in the women’s PLP chat,” Niblett said.
“So I extricated myself from it, which is horrible because you think you’ve got comrades, but it didn’t feel like that. So that was a bit sad, but it’s politics.”
The interview generated many TV interviews and opinion columns, including an LBC interview with Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell in which she said: “I personally don’t own any sex toys, but each to their own”.
Niblett has since become the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for sexual and reproductive health.
The campaign launch event on Wednesday evening was attended by sponsoring brands John Lewis and Coco de Mer, sex education content creators, sexual intimacy coaches, charity campaigners and journalists. It was an exclusive affair, with the vast majority of the around 50 attendees being women.
The event was located at the rooftop bar of John Lewis in central London, with servings of canapés and glasses of Aperol spritz, flowery decor and luxury goodie bags for attendees that contained biscuits, canned cocktails and intimate bodycare products.
The ‘Yes sex please, we’re British’ campaign has a broad scope: covering lifelong sex education which Niblett describes as needing buy-in from government, the NHS and education systems, parents, and businesses.
Pressed on what specific demands she hopes to bring to government ministers, Niblett said she is continuing to speak to stakeholders and charities throughout the summer to learn as much as possible, before delivering a speech at the debate she has secured in Parliament, which is set to be held in the autumn.
Talked about what she wants to systemic change and for positive sexual wellness should be “promoted” across the health and education systems.
“I have spoken to doctors and sexologists and people working within the NHS and educators that are just so grateful someone is taking this seriously within Parliament, that’s prepared to put their head above the parapet,” Niblett told PoliticsHome.
“We need to be talking about sexual wellness within the NHS, not just sexual health. Talking about the benefits of sex, not just let’s fix you when you’re broken.”
Niblett spoke of concerns raised by people working in the NHS that support is “patchy” for patients whose health conditions affect their sex lives: “Some doctors are embarrassed to talk about it; there isn’t a standard of sex education in GP training even.”
The MP also wants to start work on determining the economic value benefit of improving lifelong sex education, as a way of getting the Treasury on board by saving money for the NHS.
“How is it preventing other illnesses from happening? How is it making people better?”
Niblett also recently hosted a roundtable with Meta to express her opposition to the banning of accounts that share ‘positive’ sex education content.
The MP hopes that the sponsorship from John Lewis for the launch event will help to legitimise the campaign. John Lewis has seen a 22 per cent increase in demand for their sexual wellness products in the last year, which has been growing since the Covid-19 pandemic. John Lewis and Coco de Mer representatives told PoliticsHome at the event that both companies wanted to help take the “stigma” out of sex.
Niblett has already won the support of Emma Thompson, who recorded a video with Niblett last month, saying that the campaign was “not party political, but it was critical”.
The MP has her sights on further celebrity endorsements: She is in conversation with LGBTQ dating app Grindr to get her an introduction to pop star Madonna, and with American media company Condé Nast to connect her with singer Harry Styles, who launched his own sex toy range last year.
“We’re trying to get the nation behind the campaign, because when you do that, MPs will fall in line,” Niblett said.
“If it looks like a vote winner, people don’t want to look like the idiot who looks like the one who’s on the side.”
Britain has become very good at talking about compassion. We’re much less good at actually delivering it. Which is why, whenever you visit parliament, you’ll probably find people sleeping on the pavement next to a politician announcing a new policy to end homelessness.
Andy Burnham is right to make ending rough sleeping one of his first ambitions as UK prime minister. It is a national disgrace. It should be a priority. But there is one awkward problem: he’s promised this before.
As mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham pledged to end rough sleeping there. He didn’t. Rough sleeping, begging and public drug use remain part of everyday life in central Manchester. Spend half an hour around Piccadilly Gardens and you’ll see exactly what I mean.
Despite his evident failure there, he’s now making the same promise to the whole nation. But why should Britain believe him this time?
His failure to end rough sleeping in Manchester – where he had nine years to do something about it – doesn’t mean he should give up. Failure is okay. But it does mean he needs to explain why he’ll succeed nationally when he couldn’t locally.
Rough sleeping can be ended. Not every individual case – life’s more complicated than that. But the long-term encampments, occupied shop doorways and places the public walks past every day can be cleaned up. Those don’t have to exist.
What you need isn’t another strategy. You need beds, trained workers and strict rules. You also need, heaven forbid, politicians prepared to make difficult decisions.
First, we should create around 6,000 safe individual sleeping pods. Very basic modular units with a bed, toilet, sink, window, light and a charging point. That’s enough to get someone off the street tonight.
Communal hostels don’t work for everybody. Some people fear violence or theft. Others have addictions or behavioural problems that make shared accommodation impossible. A private room with a lock on the door can make all the difference.
Second, every area with a serious problem needs properly funded outreach teams. Not more awareness campaigns. Not another glossy strategy document. We need trained people who get to know who’s sleeping rough, where they are and what help they need. Those staff can connect people with housing, addiction services, mental-health support, councils and the police.
A bed doesn’t fix a broken life. But it is the vital first step to a better life.
Now comes the bit politicians hate. Once suitable accommodation has genuinely been offered, people cannot be allowed to carry on sleeping in shop doorways, stations and public spaces. Not only should they be taken to the accommodation that’s available – there should be consequences for choosing to sleep rough in public places.
Some people will call that criminalising poverty. It isn’t. Leaving somebody to deteriorate in public isn’t kind or compassionate. It’s cowardly.
As mayor of Middlesbrough, I saw these things close up. Beds were available, yet some people stayed outside because they refused hostel rules, often around drugs or alcohol. Sometimes they just want to be on their own.
We never eliminated rough sleeping altogether. Nobody does. But we kept it under control.
Beyond the short-term pods, we need basic but decent modular homes on a mass scale, getting individuals and families out of the horrendous temporary hostels councils use and fund.
But none of this works unless Britain builds far more homes. Right now, we have more households than we have available homes. Until we build in big numbers, there will always be large-scale homelessness.
We also need to stop pretending every new housing development is a local outrage. Everybody in Britain agrees that we need more homes. They just don’t want them built nearby. Mayors need the powers and targets that hold them accountable – and to have their funding clipped if they fail to deliver.
Burnham should publish a funded timetable, measurable targets and tell us exactly where these emergency spaces will come from, who’ll staff them and what happens when suitable help is repeatedly refused.
Britain doesn’t need another promise on rough sleeping. It needs beds and then proper homes. And it needs rules, too. Andy Burnham has made this promise before – he needs to prove how this time will be different from the last.
Andy Preston was mayor of Middlesbrough from 2019 until 2023.
Politics
Politics Home | Green Party Manchester Mayoral Candidate Pledges To Twin Manchester With Palestinian City Of Ramallah
Geraldine Coggins is the Green Party candidate for the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election (Alamy)
5 min read
Exclusive: The Green Party candidate for the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election will pledge to twin the Greater Manchester region with Ramallah, the administrative capital of Palestine, if she wins the contest.
Geraldine Coggins will announce on Friday that she will seek to twin the Greater Manchester city-region with the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank if she is elected as mayor next week.
On 30 July, voters in Greater Manchester will head to the polls to elect a new regional mayor to replace Andy Burnham, who left the role to become the new prime minister of the United Kingdom.
The mayoral by-election is a hugely significant contest for the Labour Party, which wants to prove it can maintain its stronghold in the region, and Reform UK and the Green Party, which both made significant electoral gains in the local council elections in May and want to show they can challenge Labour on its home turf.
With Andy Burnham as the new Labour leader and prime minister, the Green Party are having to rethink their strategy to retain left-wing voters who have moved from Labour to support them during Keir Starmer’s premiership.
Asked by PoliticsHome how the party might have to change its campaign messaging to adapt to a Burnham premiership, Coggins said it would “depend on which version of Burnham we get” but insisted that the Greens had a clear dividing line with Labour over the war in Gaza, which the party believes resonates with voters in the Greater Manchester region.
“We’ve not seen the serious recognition of what is happening in Gaza, and a lot of people will not go back to Labour and really see Labour as morally bankrupt,” she said.
“That’s what we hear from people. That is not a thing that people just get over.
“We are still funding and fueling this war and sharing military intelligence. Our government is still complicit in that, and people are not just going to get over that because there’s a new prime minister at the front.”
The Greens included a pledge to partner with a Palestinian city in their mayoral election manifesto. The party has now chosen Ramallah as the proposed twin city because it has growing technology, creative, professional services, and education sectors which could create opportunities for collaboration between the cities.
Coggins will announce the pledge outside the Dar ul Uloom Mosque in Manchester’s Longsight District on Friday, where she is expected to say that Manchester has a “proud tradition of international solidarity, from the campaign against apartheid to welcoming refugees fleeing conflict”.
A Green Party source said: “People up and down the country have been outraged by Labour’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.
“It’s clear that this isn’t going to change now Andy Burnham has become Prime Minister. Greens will always stand up for human rights and international law. And, as mayor of Greater Manchester, Geraldine would continue to call out the government’s failings and show there is a different way.”
The Manchester mayoral by-election is shaping up to be less closely fought than was initially expected following Labour’s devastating losses in the region in the May local elections.
A YouGov poll on 17 July put Labour candidate Bev Craig at 62 per cent in the second round of the by-election voting, beating Reform UK’s Sian Astley on 38 per cent. The poll also showed Craig leading on 38 per cent on first preference votes, compared to Astley’s 24 per cent and the Greens in third on 17 per cent.
Nevertheless, the Greens say they are continuing to campaign hard after their former leader Caroline Lucas told PoliticsHome it was the party’s intention to “throw everything” at the contest.
Speaking to PoliticsHome in Manchester this week, Coggins criticised Burnham’s announcement to cut VAT on household electricity as a measure that would only save the average household less than a pound a week.
“That’s a continuation of the sort of incrementalism that we had under Starmer,” she said.
“It is not the wholesale change to the rip-off Britain model that we really need. I don’t think people are going to be fooled by that.”
Coggins highlighted suggestions that Burnham intends to continue drilling in the North Sea, and his failure to eradicate homelessness in Greater Manchester during his time as mayor, with the new PM now making the same pledge from Downing Street.
She also criticised Burnham’s approach to ‘Manchesterism’, arguing that the way housing development had been carried out in Manchester was seen primarily as an “investment opportunity for wealthy individuals and big corporations”.
In contrast, she said the Greens see housing as “bringing back homes for people” in Greater Manchester, with a pledge to create 20,000 “genuinely affordable” homes over 10 years.
At an LGBT hustings in Manchester’s Gay Village on Tuesday evening, Coggins was keen to draw a dividing line between the Greens and Labour on housing in particular. PoliticsHome previously revealed that the Greens were hoping to target unease about gentrification in the region to attack Labour in the contest.
“Unlike Bev, I can tell you what genuinely affordable means,” Coggins told the hustings.
“That means that if you are on housing benefit, you will be able to afford to rent them.”
She described a system where housing benefit money was being “funnelled into big corporate landlords who own these shiny towers in other countries who aren’t even paying tax here” and said she wanted to “really radically change our housing”.
Craig responded by saying that Coggins’ comments got a “little bit personal”.
“If you want to know what I think genuinely affordable homes look like, you can look at the Manchester living rent,” the Labour candidate said.
“And you can look at the record numbers of council and social homes that we built last year, building more in the city than we’ve done in 25 years.”
The full list of Greater Manchester Mayoral Candidates:
Sian Astley (Reform UK)
Geraldine Coggins (The Green Party)
Bev Craig (Labour and Co-operative Party)
Phil Eckersley (The Conservative Party)
Marcus Farmer (Independent)
Richard Kilpatrick (Liberal Democrats)
Marlon West (Restore Britain)
5 min read
Labour MPs unhappy with the treatment of Keir Starmer loyalists have warned that they could make life difficult for Andy Burnham at the Budget.
“Andy’s Starmerite purge has created an incredibly powerful phalanx of skilled political operators who intimately know the government’s fiscal position,” one Labour MP told PoliticsHome.
“Some sought assurances about the direction of travel before nominating Andy and have been alarmed at how quickly those assurances seem to have turned hollow.
“After the undoubted conference euphoria in Liverpool, the Autumn Budget will loom very large on the Horizon. That will be a big event,” they added.
While it was widely expected that Burnham would remove Starmer loyalists from ministerial positions after entering office, the scale of what is being described as a ‘purge’ has angered those close to the former prime minister, who argue it went too far.
Starmer allies David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Darren Jones, Steve Reed and Jo Stevens were all removed from Cabinet, as were Lord Hermer, Nick Thomas-Symonds and Baroness Chapman, who were ministers who attended Cabinet.
Defenders of Burnham’s approach have stressed to PoliticsHome that the former Manchester mayor sold himself as a departure from the last Labour leadership, which inevitably means making significant changes to the team. Several key Burnham allies have secured jobs in the new ministry, including Lou Haigh, Anneliese Midgley and Angela Rayner.
“It’s not what Andy said he would do, which is a real shame,” said one Labour MP who Burnham sacked from Cabinet.
Another MP complained: “There is a large group of MPs who believe in whole-PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] collective responsibility, who expressed disagreement privately but were publicly loyal to Keir Starmer. What they are seeing in Andy’s new team is punishment for anyone who showed loyalty and a reward for the disrupters.”
They added: “It feels like an early breach of trust for MPs who, for the sake of unity, gave their endorsements to Andy. We were promised an end to factionalism and recruitment based on merit.”
The treatment of Jones has become a particular source of frustration among Starmer’s supporters.
Jones, former chief secretary to the prime minister, was encouraged by Starmer allies to challenge Burnham for the leadership but ultimately ruled out a run, saying that he decided against it after recieving reassurances from Burnham about his economic policies. He was not offered a ministerial role in the new government on Monday.
“It’s understandable after taking power in such a way to be insecure about those around you, but the new Prime Minister has shown naivety here. The purge has been far too obviously targeting those loyal to Keir Starmer,” a different Labour MP said.
They warned: “It will cause problems for him in the future.”
Just hours after leaving government, Jones publicly criticised Burnham’s first cost-of-living announcement, posting on X that the new government’s plan to scrap digital ID and use the money to take VAT off energy bills was unfunded.
Several Labour MPs told PoliticsHome that Jones’ attack was a sign of things to come later in the year when Burnham sets out his spending plans.
The new Prime Minister has faced questions over how he would fund his cost-of-living policies, which also include capping bus fares at £2 and a 20 per cent cut to business rates for some hospitality settings, but full details are not expected to be confirmed until his first fiscal event as PM.
Bev Craig, the Labour candidate looking to succeed Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor, told PoliticsHome that Jones might come to regret his public criticism. “I wonder if Darren will look back and regret making a bit of a barbed dig,” said Craig during an interview in Manchester earlier this week.
While he may have angered Starmer loyalists, there are early signs that Burnham’s first few days in Downing Street have been well received by the public.
A More in Common survey published on Wednesday showed that the Prime Minister’s personal ratings had increased 10 per cent in the last week, rising from +3 to +13. The poll indicated that Burnham has started particularly strongly with 2024 Labour voters, with 57 per cent saying he’s doing a good job, and 8 per cent bad.
Burnham also faces needing to reassure Labour MPs not in the north of England that his government will focus on all parts of the country.
Perron Moon, the Labour MP for Camborne and Redruth, told PoliticsHome that it was “troubling” to see what he described as a lack of regional representation in Cabinet. As PoliticsHome analysis illustrates, there are six MPs from seats in the northwest in Burnham’s Cabinet, compared to one from the southwest, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
“As the most southerly Labour MP in the UK with some of the highest levels of deprivation, I find the ongoing focus on the North of England troubling,” Moon said.
“Devolution and industrial regeneration are as important here in Cornwall as any part of the UK, if not more so. But it feels like the current narrative is about a model that is imposed on us.
“Whilst I’ve heard many other towns, cities and regions mentioned by this new administration, I haven’t heard Cornwall mentioned once. Sadly, I think some carry with them outdated and inaccurate stereotypes of Cornwall. That needs to change, and I’m hopeful that working with colleagues we can help to unleash the Cornish Celtic tiger.”
Additional reporting by Zoë Crowther
Politics
The House | Britain helped drive back the world’s deadliest diseases. Now it is abandoning the fight
4 min read
The current Ebola outbreak is back on the front pages with the news that a British aid worker recently returned from DRC is being monitored at a London hospital after displaying possible symptoms.
Those of us who work in public health are not surprised. Infectious diseases do not respect borders. The current Ebola outbreak is now the fastest-growing on record, outpacing even the 2013-16 West Africa epidemic, with more than 2,000 confirmed cases and 750 deaths by mid-July.
An estimated 63,000 pregnant women are due to give birth in the outbreak zone, in a country that already has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates. Those rates are expected to rise even higher as women are too scared to go to hospital to give birth in case they contract Ebola.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that countries neighbouring the DRC are at high risk, and that the outbreak is still expanding into new areas. Diseases do not stop at borders.
Yet this week, in the middle of that outbreak, the Foreign Office published its annual report. Buried in its annexes are three years of planned cuts to bilateral aid, country by country. The DRC will receive £34 million less this year, a 29 per cent cut. UK bilateral aid to Africa as a whole is falling by £733 million this financial year compared with 2024-25, and by £875 million, more than half, by 2029. It is the largest cut facing any region in the world.
Over the last two decades, we have shown again and again that major infectious disease threats can be contained, driven back, and in some cases defeated.
HIV is no longer the death sentence it once was for millions of people. Malaria deaths have been reduced substantially. Polio has been pushed almost to the brink of eradication. Previous Ebola outbreaks have been brought under control. And smallpox has been removed from the face of the earth.
None of this happened by chance. It happened through hard work, science, partnership and money.
You would not know it from the annual report. A year ago, the same document set out the UK’s global health work in detail, naming Gavi and the Global Fund and pointing to Britain’s role in helping vaccinate over half the world’s children. This year’s report contains none of that. The words malaria, HIV, tuberculosis and maternal health do not appear anywhere in its 264 pages.
The countries where British aid helped drive down deaths from these diseases, including Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Rwanda, will have their bilateral programmes all but ended, reduced to an influencing budget of £5 million a year.
Also, in recent months, the UK Government has cut critical global health funding for vaccines, for tackling AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, for pandemic preparedness, and for reducing our defences against the risk of antimicrobial resistance. The Government’s own equality impact assessment states that its multilateral global health investments will fall by roughly a quarter.
UNAIDS estimates that the loss of previously US-supported HIV programmes could lead to an additional six million infections and four million deaths between now and 2029, including 300,000 children. The UK cuts continue to bite deeper.
Supporting health beyond our own shores as part of UK overseas aid is in our own interests. Think of it this way. Wouldn’t you want your next-door neighbours to have working smoke alarms? In the same way, we need our global partners to have strong and effective health systems and healthy populations.
Investing in global health is not a ‘forever project’. The past decades of successful international partnerships mean that most health services in low- and middle-income countries are now funded by those countries themselves. That has meant that the resources the UK provides are more focused on where it is most needed, where the risks are greatest, and where cuts and sudden policy changes do the most damage.
The right response to President Trump’s widespread USAID cuts would have been for the UK to step up: to help fill the gaps, smooth the transition, and act as a counterweight for countries negotiating new agreements with the United States.
Instead, in some areas, the UK has compounded the damage by cutting our own funding. This retreat is an abdication of responsibility by the current Government. The consequences were predictable, and they are already becoming apparent.
It is not too late to reverse these damaging cuts. Andy Burnham inherits this decision, but he is not bound by it. There could be no better moment for our new Prime Minister to show that the UK still understands that its own health security begins beyond its own borders.
Professor Timothy Hallett is Professor of Global Health in the School of Public Health at Imperial College London and an Affiliate Professor at the Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle.
Politics
Politics Home | The Winners And Losers In Andy Burnham’s First Set Of Ministerial Appointments
Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrives to host his first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street, 21 July 2026 (PA Images / Alamy)
10 min read
Andy Burnham has delighted many of his supporters and largely dismayed Starmerites with the Cabinet and wider frontbench appointments made in his first week as Prime Minister.
Friends and supporters of Burnham have secured top jobs over recent days, while those closest to Keir Starmer have been jettisoned.
“When you take the lid off Labour factionalism, you can’t put it back on. They are storing up problems for the future,” warned one Starmer loyalist source. “This is far from a clean slate.”
Defenders of Burnham’s approach to ministerial appointments have stressed that he sold himself as a departure from the last leadership, which inevitably means making significant changes to the team.
They also point out that the retention of Emma Reynolds and Pat McFadden, among others, shows the Prime Minister has not shunned the Labour right.
Below Cabinet level, in the hires announced later in the week, Starmerites and non-Burnhamites have done better. Josh MacAlister and Jake Richards are among those who have held on to their ministerial jobs. The decision to make Dan Tomlinson a minister for growth is notable and a win for the Labour Growth Group.
On the Labour left, there is disappointment that Ed Miliband was not made chancellor and a view that John Healey’s appointment ends any chance of the Burnham premiership representing bold change as they see it. No Socialist Campaign Group MPs have been picked for roles so far.
The soft left are delighted, meanwhile, by their dominance in the new Cabinet – which has done much to reverse Starmer’s September 2025 reshuffle.
THE WINNERS
The Makerfield crew
Louise Haigh, who is now First Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Anneliese Midgley, the new Chief Whip (The House reported in early June that she was interested in this position), were the two Labour MPs who ran Burnham’s Makerfield by-election bid as the political leads. In managing the campaign day-to-day, the pair established themselves as integral to the Burnham operation and have been promoted accordingly.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, meanwhile, led on policy for Burnham, working from the South during the by-election in preparation for government – which came sooner than Burnham allies expected. Although she was thought to be interested in becoming housing secretary, she will instead head up the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, having worked as a minister there until Starmer’s September reshuffle.
And despite being energy secretary at the time, Miliband also played a role in the Makerfield by-election, even advising on the minute details of how the campaign was run according to Labour sources. Ultimately, after much briefing and counter-briefing, he did not secure the coveted role of chancellor but did nab a ‘great office of state’ by being appointed the new Foreign Secretary.
Other Burnham allies
Heidi Alexander is among the survivors of Starmer’s Cabinet, remaining as Transport Secretary. It comes as little surprise considering she is a longtime supporter of Burnham’s leadership ambitions, having nominated him for the post on all three of his bids – in 2010, 2015 and 2026. She was also understood to have told Starmer to set a timetable for his departure.
Lisa Nandy, Burnham’s Wigan neighbour who called on the party to allow him to run as a parliamentary candidate, has again defied critics by staying in post as Culture Secretary, while Lucy Powell – the only officer on Labour’s ruling body to vote in favour of permitting Burnham to stand in Gorton and Denton – has been brought back to the Cabinet as Education Secretary. Angela Rayner is another ally who was always expected to make a return and has done so, going back to her old job of Housing Secretary.
Less well-known is former Unison official Alex Norris, the new Justice Secretary who represents a Nottingham seat but is originally from Altrincham. He was expected to be rewarded after being seen to have handled a tricky brief well in the Home Office, where he handled illegal migration – but it also helps that he is close to a tight-knit circle of people around Burnham. He is seen as a “people person” who, accordingly, has been given another difficult job where those skills will come into play.
Starmer rebels
Like Heidi Alexander, Yvette Cooper and Shabana Mahmood are known to have made clear to Starmer that his time was up. All three have stayed in Cabinet.
Anas Sarwar, who as Scottish Labour leader publicly called on Starmer to go, is leaving his post in Holyrood to enter the Lords and become a trade minister.
Streeting and Healey, meanwhile, both resigned in Starmer’s final weeks, representing big blows to his authority – particularly in the case of the former defence secretary. Healey’s damning verdict on the ex-PM being “unable” and the Treasury “unwilling” to sufficiently increase defence spending was a final nail in the coffin for the Starmer era.
Vicky Foxcroft, who quit as a whip last year amid the welfare rebellion, has returned as a DCMS minister.
Losers of the September 2025 reshuffle
Many of the notable moves in the infamous September 2025 reshuffle triggered by Rayner’s resignation – now back in her old Cabinet job – have been reversed by Burnham.
The top-level sackings at the time were Powell and Ian Murray; the former is the new Education Secretary while the latter (who was ultimately demoted rather than removed completely, following an outcry) has stayed under Burnham as a minister of state in DCMS.
Aside from Powell, it was notable that Jonathan Reynolds was also moved from business and trade secretary to chief whip in a switch that baffled Westminster. Under Burnham, he has been returned to his former position, to which he is widely thought to be far better-suited, and will lead a “beefed up” DBT.
In the ministerial ranks, Rayner ally Justin Madders was the most noteworthy sacking, being removed as employment rights minister. He has now returned as a transport minister.
Rayner ally Jim McMahon, similarly, was a local government minister until his September sacking, and will now return to the department.
The North West
The North of England has done well under Burnham – and the North West especially so. Powell, Rayner, Reynolds, Nandy, Midgley and Angela Eagle all hail from Burnham’s region. This is up from just two Cabinet members from the North West under Starmer. See the changes mapped out on PoliticsHome.
The Co-operative Party
Labour’s sister outfit, the affiliated Co-operative Party, has much to celebrate under Burnham, who is himself the first ever officially Co-op Prime Minister.
Reynolds will be able to put Co-op priorities into action as head of the bolstered Department of Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. Fahnbulleh will have the same opportunity to do so in Desnz, building on Miliband’s ‘Local Power Plan’ developed in conjunction with Co-op.
The appointments of Co-op MPs Norris (husband of Emma Foody, a whip who was Co-op assistant general secretary before entering Parliament) and Powell are wins too. Douglas Alexander, who remains in Cabinet, is also Co-op.
While Rayner is not officially a Labour and Co-op MP, she is often regarded as “spiritually” Co-op in that she has worked with the affiliate and is particularly sympathetic to its aims.
With peers Baroness Smith also reappointed, a quarter of all ministers attending Cabinet under Burnham are Co-op, and there are 22 Co-op ministers in total across 15 departments – a historic high.
Below Cabinet level, Co-op wins include Florence Eshalomi, who is leaving her Housing Committee chair role to go straight into MHCLG at ministerial level, Kirsty McNeill, promoted from junior Scottish minister to minister of state at the Foreign Office, Kate Dearden, bumped up from parliamentary under-secretary to become a minister of state at DBIST, and McMahon who has made a return to MHCLG. Luke Pollard, Stephen Doughty and Lord Coaker have also been reappointed.
Trade unions
There is some apprehension from those trade unions that lobby against net-zero over Fahnbulleh replacing Miliband as Energy Secretary – as a strong ally of his and an enthusiastic backer of decarbonisation, she is not generally expected to be less radical than her predecessor on the subject.
But unions have done well, overall, with Rayner, Midgley and Haigh in key roles and union-friendly Reynolds in DBIST.
The whips’ office, led by Midgley, is particularly good news for the unions, complete with GMB’s Laurence Turner and Usdaw’s Michael Wheeler being picked.
There was a call from the Prospect union last month for continuity around the government’s work on employment rights, with Mike Clancy writing for The House: “The Employment Rights Bill, as it once was, started with Angela Rayner, Jonathan Reynolds and Justin Madders in charge but was passed under Peter Kyle and Kate Dearden.
“That personnel change caused delays, and I hope the new Prime Minister will reflect carefully on how they deliver continuity to this vital area of work. Minister Dearden in particular has skilfully conducted the various discussions needed to progress the consultation process.”
Dearden, formerly of Community union, now has a ‘future of work’ brief in the same department.
THE LOSERS
Starmer allies
The most notable losers from Burnham’s appointments are, of course, allies of Starmer, from David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Darren Jones, Steve Reed and Jo Stevens being removed from Cabinet to Lord Hermer, Nick Thomas-Symonds and Baroness Chapman leaving as ministers who attended Cabinet.
Bridget Phillipson, who despite being briefed against during the Starmer era was kept in place by him as PM, was heavily demoted – losing her education brief and being left with the women and equalities role only, albeit remaining in Cabinet. A source said Burnham’s team were surprised she accepted the downgrade.
Neither Dan Jarvis nor James Murray, who stepped up to Cabinet roles when John Healey resigned as defence secretary and Streeting as health secretary, have been kept in Cabinet – though both have become ministers again.
Chris Ward, a former Starmer staffer before becoming an MP and perhaps his closest ally in the Parliamentary Labour Party, has left government as expected.
The Socialist Campaign Group
On the other end of the Labour Party’s factional spectrum, the Socialist Campaign Group and other MPs on the Corbynite or ‘hard’ left are deeply disappointed – and some angry – to have been completely overlooked for ministerial roles. This is despite many having backed Burnham’s return and nominated him for the leadership.
“A lot of people are very unhappy,” one Labour left MP said. “So much for using all talents.” Although pleased about the cost of living policies announced, they added: “Everyone knows politics is brutal but this is just a big two fingers up to people.”
Londoners
Streeting and Fahnbulleh are the only full Cabinet members representing London seats under Burnham, whereas Starmer’s Cabinet had himself, Reed, Murray and David Lammy. The new PM does have Ellie Reeves and Matthew Pennycook as ministers attending Cabinet, however.
This shift away from London is defended by Burnham allies as a shift towards being more representative of the country.
YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME
Blairites
Blairite Cabinet members Peter Kyle and Liz Kendall have both been sacked. The picture is mixed, however. McFadden remains Work and Pensions Secretary. Reynolds has been moved from Defra to become Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Streeting stays too, of course, though he is a unique case.
Among non-Cabinet ministers, some have been kept on – Baroness (Jacqui) Smith and Georgia Gould remain in post, and Alison McGovern has been moved sideways to health, for example – while others, like Sharon Hodgson, have not.
4 min read
Is it really any wonder so many people feel like nothing is really happening in politics these days?
There’s a lot of talking, not a lot of action. Now, in Clacton’s by-election, much of the national conversation has been reduced to a choice between Nigel Farage and Count Binface.
I understand why Binface has struck a chord. Humour works when politics has become absurd, and a vote for a man wearing a bin on his head can feel more honest than supporting politicians who make promises and then disappear. He gives people a way to express their frustration. But Clacton needs more than an expression of frustration. It needs someone who will still be here when the cameras have gone, bringing people together and doing the unglamorous work of getting things done.
That is why I am standing as an independent candidate.
Like Clacton, I grew up in an area that was forgotten. Deindustrialisation and tourism decline has led to fewer opportunities. It has felt like decades of little to no political interest has been paid to people like us.I grew up on a council estate in a single-parent family and relied on free school meals.
Forty seven per cent of Clacton’s residents over 16 are classified as “economically inactive. One in five working-age adults have never held a traditional job.
Later, as a young adult, I found myself in a similar position – struggling. After a divorce, I was left struggling to pay my bills resulting in me being in £24,000 worth of debt and was constantly trying to make ends meet. If anyone has lived like that you know how that fear changes you. It also gives you a very good understanding of the difference between political soundbites and everyday life.
What has changed my life is education, but not the education that I got in school – but financial education. This is the education we should be getting – what is a mortgage, what is tax, what is compounded interest. This education taught me about budgeting, credit and how money actually works. That education helped me clear my debt – it gave me a future.
Real life solutions are what I want to bring to Clacton. I’ll give you an example – the people of Clacton have told me about the need for a local dentist, at present, if you need an NHS dentist you need to travel up to Colchester. Why are we not empowering a local entrepreneur to fill this void?! This is remedied with financial education – and if I get in – and if I don’t – we’ll get to the solution.
This is why financial education sits at the heart of my priorities. If a single lesson on budgeting and money could have saved me years of struggle, imagine what it could do for every child growing up right now. This shouldn’t be a privilege for the lucky few. It should be normal.
But education alone isn’t enough. I want to work with residents, small businesses, schools, community groups and public bodies to find paths to thrive. I wantto help local businesses grow and bring empty units back to life whilst making sure taxpayers’ money is spent wisely. I don’t want to see Clacton’s future in The Bin(face).
When this by-election was called, the choice on offer seemed to be Nigel Farage or a bin.
Now, Count Binface offers clever commentary on a political system that has let people down. But I’m offering something a little different, providing real life skills, commitment and something beyond a protest vote.
I won’t pretend to have every answer. But I will always listen, I will always work hard, and I will always put the people of Clacton first. I want the people to of Clacton to have a real choice – not between personalities and punchlines – but someone who can help Clacton thrive, and that’s me, Abi Hookway.
Abi Hookway is an independent candidate for Clacton
Piddington, a small village in Oxfordshire, might seem like an unlikely centre of revolutionary discontent. But even the residents of sleepy hollows associated with hobby farms, market gardens and village cricket seem to have their limits. In response to the government’s plans to accommodate over a thousand male asylum seekers at a nearby military base, outraged residents have decided to hold a referendum on whether to declare their ‘independence’ from the United Kingdom.
Of course, a Piddington ‘Declaration of Independence’ would be futile – no town, county, city or region can secede from the UK because of a vote in the village hall. But even the act of holding a referendum speaks to a desperation felt by most of their compatriots. If the British state refuses to control its borders, then maybe the Piddington parish council can try to control its own.
Piddington’s 400 residents are perfectly right to feel angry. Soon, the nearby Bicester Garrison will be home to 1,250 men – many of whom do not speak English, and who have no legal right to be in the UK. Even the local MP, Calum Miller of the Liberal Democrats, has reacted furiously to the government’s plans.
Miller’s comments are telling. The Home Office, he told the BBC recently, had given no consideration to ‘social cohesion’. He said he had ‘no idea how the government thinks [1,250 asylum seekers] can be absorbed into the community’. So opposing illegal immigration isn’t ‘far right’, after all. It turns out that no one, irrespective of class or political loyalty, is prepared to live with its daily consequences.
This is why opposition to migrant hotels, or now migrant military camps, has bubbled up in just about every community that has been told to accept them. Crowborough in Sussex, which has been forced to accept 540 male illegal immigrants, has been the scene of protests for months. The local community around RAF Wethersfield, Essex – which is currently housing 1,245 male illegal migrants – has also been up in arms. Of course, last summer was defined by the Pink Ladies’ protests in Epping, Essex, where asylum seekers were housed at the Bell Hotel.
Community cohesion is one concern. Community safety is another. Residents might have been reluctant to state this openly, although one Piddington local alluded to it when he said, ‘There is no crime at the moment, but what happens if there is crime?’. Recent history would sadly suggest that it isn’t if, but when.
The protests in Epping were sparked when a resident of the Bell Hotel, Ethiopian national Hadush Kebatu, sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl just days after arriving. A few weeks later, Afghan national Ahmad Mulakhil raped a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, where he was living in a taxpayer-funded HMO. In October, three migrant-hotel residents in Brighton gang-raped a woman who was returning home from a night out. In October 2024, in Walsall, Sudanese national Deng Majek violently murdered Rhiannon Whyte, an employee of the migrant hotel he was living in. Last year, dogwalker Wayne Broadhurst was stabbed to death in broad daylight in Uxbridge by an Afghan refugee who arrived in a lorry in 2020. These are just a handful of the seemingly endless examples. Locals are not ‘racist’ or ‘bigoted’ to fear that a large influx of unvetted male asylum seekers, many of whom are escaping criminal convictions abroad, will have an impact on public safety.
Few issues shine a light on the British state’s incompetence like illegal immigration. Having failed to respect the clear wishes of the British people by stopping illegal immigrants from entering the UK, successive governments have proceeded to spend billions of pounds a year housing them. The Labour government seemed to think it could avoid public outrage by transferring illegal immigrants from hotels to military sites – as though the exact form of accommodation they are provided, rather than illegal immigration itself, was the issue. The Home Office still plans to repurpose two more military sites to accommodate illegal immigrants – one in Suffolk and one in North Yorkshire.
As we well know, once illegal immigrants arrive here, there is basically no prospect of them leaving. Their asylum claims progress at a glacial pace through a labyrinthine network of tribunals and courts, at the end of which a judge generally allows them to stay on spurious human-rights grounds. Even those who commit the most serious crimes are highly unlikely to be deported. And although asylum seekers have no legal right to work, that is usually no barrier. The UK’s grey economy is now so large that it is perfectly easy to live, work, drive a car and rent a home without going through the hassle of trying to acquire the right paperwork.
So of course locals feel pushed to the brink. It might be one migrant hotel, or one migrant ‘garrison’, pencilled for your local community that lights the fuse. Yet it’s the sheer weight of the British government’s failure to control the border, with no end in sight, that is making each community response more drastic than the last.
Given all this, is it any wonder that the residents of Piddington have had enough? A vote for ‘independence’ would only be symbolic – but the anger that’s got us here could hardly be more genuine.
Hugo Timms is a staff writer at spiked.
Former state Rep. Amish Shah won the crowded Democratic primary for Arizona’s 1st District on Wednesday, defeating an establishment pick and other well-funded candidates for the battleground seat.
The district, which President Donald Trump carried by just three points in 2024, is one of Democrats’ top pickup opportunities this cycle — and the tight primary evolved into a test of party leaders, after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee backed former broadcast journalist Marlene Galán-Woods.
In the end, voters rejected Galán-Woods, the latest example of an establishment-backed candidate losing as Democrats continue to show frustration with leaders in Washington.
This year marks the second consecutive time Shah won the district’s Democratic primary: He won it in 2024, before losing to Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) by four points in the general election.
The seat became open when Schweikert, an eight-term Republican lawmaker, decided to take on another member of the Arizona House delegation, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), in the GOP primary for governor.
Shah will take on Jay Feely in the general election. The Trump-endorsed former NFL kicker who spent four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals bested former state Rep. Joseph Chaplik in the Republican primary on Tuesday.
The 1st District surrounds Phoenix in central Arizona, and encompasses wealthy Scottsdale and Paradise Valley as well as large swaths of land to the northeast of the city.
There’s a bit of a media narrative at the moment claiming that churches are seeing more young worshippers flocking to their congregations. It’s perhaps a bit overblown – the numbers aren’t all that high in the UK – but there is certainly something to it.
There is also a concurrent narrative: Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2013) is becoming socially conservative, or at least more questioning of progressive orthodoxies. Naturally, plenty are drawing a link between the two – people are becoming more socially conservative and so are going to church, or people are going to church and therefore becoming more socially conservative. It’s as though church pews are simply another step on the road to voting Conservative, Reform or (heaven forbid!) Restore.
I submit that causation in this instance is a bit overdone. I would rather simply look at the correlation, at each element separately. Young people perhaps aren’t turning to Christianity because they are becoming increasingly politically conservative, nor vice versa. Rather, they are turning to both in many instances because each offers something that modern Western culture and progressive politics struggle to provide. And I think it’s well worth looking at exactly what those things are.
For all its advantages, modernity has left many young people spiritually homeless. Today’s young adults have inherited a pretty cold world without any ready remedies to nihilism. Traditional institutions – like the church – have been collapsing for years. We are increasingly atomised, with lifelong friendships growing fewer and farther between. Fewer people are marrying, or able to afford to marry, and fewer are able to afford to have children.
Social media seems to be replacing real communities, and doing a bad job of it. Work is increasingly precarious and hard to get into, and when you do get it, it’s not like you can afford to buy a house, or even rent a flat to yourself. Young people don’t go out drinking much, meaning fewer trips to the pub for quiet pints with friends. Our towns don’t look or feel like they used to, high streets are dying, communities are fractured, and we have had our senses of self – both our personal and national identity – undermined on various fronts.
Is it any wonder people are despairing, or simply giving up? And is it any wonder that some people might look to yesterday for the answers?
In many ways, modern individualism is good at giving people freedom, but it struggles to tell them what that freedom is for, or to give them the grounds to make something of it. Well, what are we giving people to believe in? How are we showing them how to orient themselves?
We can’t. Not really. But religion has always excelled here. Christianity has given us a sense of national and individual purpose for centuries, so is it any wonder it’s being called on again to do so?
Christianity offers far more than a set of abstract beliefs, metaphysics and ontology. Its rituals and liturgy give shape to the working week. Its music, the beauty of its architecture (in a modern world in thrall to concrete), and the divine feeling in worship uplift what we might once have called the soul. Its festivals mark the passing of the year. The moral framework and centuries-old prayers bind individuals into something much older and greater than themselves – Christianity is in many ways an ongoing story that invites you to be a part of it. There is a sense to it all of permanence and continuity – a sense increasingly difficult to find in the modern world.
Contrast this with much of modern culture. The endless scrolling and algorithmic feeds, the dating apps that streamline the mating process while divorcing it from so much that is actually romantic. It prioritises the convenience of remote working for ease over being part of a team, and replaces dignity and loyalty with disposable relationships and identity politics.
The church offers and asks something that feels radically different, though it was the norm just a few short years ago. It asks you to belong – to actually, truly belong, rather than simply be a number on a spreadsheet. It asks you to serve rather than to consume, which speaks to something primal and vital within us all. It asks for sacrifice above indulgence, for forgiveness rather than cancellation. It asks you to remain faithful rather than endlessly chasing novelty and hedonistic satisfaction. At its core, it requires you to be selfless as opposed to self-centered. This is quite a profound counter-offer in an age defined by flux, individualism and the soulless ontology of the new atheist.
Conservatism answers many of the same needs. To be clear, conservatism is not Christianity. Far from it. One is a political philosophy, the other a religion with transcendent claims. And plenty of Christian denominations very plausibly use Christ’s teachings to argue for left-wing ideals. However, both appeal to similar instincts because they recognise many of the same truths about human nature. Both value tradition, inherited wisdom, family, local community, duty, restraint, gratitude and continuity. Both are sceptical of the idea that society can simply reinvent itself from scratch.
Modern progressivism typically looks askance at inherited tradition. It’s guilty until proven otherwise, or often simply guilty, with no hope of reprieve. It employs an oppressor-oppressed narrative that fails to ask the fundamental conservative question: why have these traditions survived? Why are these the ways that have organically evolved over millennia? What needs have these traditions and their attendant institutions been meeting? And what, to borrow from GK Chesterton, have the fences of tradition been built to contain?
For young people exhausted by relentless social, technological and cultural upheaval, a more conservative outlook can be reassuring. It helps explain why some are rediscovering both conservatism and the church at the same time. They are searching for roots – for something that modernity does not offer.
Ultimately, though, it’s not about left versus right. As above, there are plenty of left-wing Christians in the world. I grew up in a congregation full of them, and they were glorious people. Why would they not be? Rather, it’s about something much deeper: a growing sense that material prosperity and individual freedom, valuable as they undoubtedly are, are far from enough to sustain a life of meaning and belonging.
Gen Z – and to a fair degree millennials like myself – have grown up sandwiched between unprecedented choice and unprecedented limitations. They can buy whatever they want on Temu and have it delivered the next day, while never being able to afford more than a hovel in which to live, and only in rare instances know what it’s like to wander down a thriving high street that’s unbeholden to curiously empty vape shops and barbers. At the same time, they have been confronted with unprecedented levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression and social atomisation. These are not simply economic problems. They are social, cultural and, in many cases, spiritual ones.
This is the background against which the church is seeing rising numbers, and in which young people are exploring political ideas outside of the current liberal orthodoxies. These are the reasons underpinning it all. For goodness sake, is there any wonder people want change?
James Dixon is a Glasgow-based novelist, poet and playwright.
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