#keir-starmer

#keir-starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has revealed the profound personal toll of his brother's death, saying that the loss hit me like a bus. The prime minister shared the reflections in an interview for The Only Way Is Essex star Pete Wicks's Man Made podcast. Recorded at 10 Downing Street to mark Men's Mental Health Month, Sir Keir described processing the loss as intensely difficult.

We're in a quandary, it feels like we are in checkmate, it's hard to see a way out of it. It's a question I've asked myself, and I'd have to obviously consult with my wife as well and family, but do you know what, if I'm going to sit here and say 'country before party, party before personal ambition', then yes, I have to say yes, don't I?

We've got to learn the lessons of this episode and say this is not where the focus should be.

I confirmed that I was supportive. I knew that the decision was for the secretary of state to take and I replied on the basis that the decision had been taken. In retrospect, it would have been better if I had not been given the note or confirmed that I was content with the appointment. This was an unfortunate error for which I express my sincere regret.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Pressure is mounting on Keir Starmer not to cut the UK's contribution to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria after polling found 62% of Britons believe the government should maintain or increase its support. The prime minister must decide this year whether to maintain the UK contribution at 1bn or implement a cut in line with recent reductions to the aid budget. A cut of 20% has been rumoured.

This was their moment to take centre stage. When they could bathe in their own importance. When they could believe that they and national security were one and the same thing. There again, whatever Starmer had put into the public domain would never have been enough. Even a letter from the director of public prosecutions (DPP), Stephen Parkinson, falling on his sword and admitting he had taken his eye off the ball, would have been dismissed as irrelevant.

Of course, Kemi might argue that she has proved the doubters wrong. She has become leader of the Tory party, after all. Though that's not the job it used to be. A small party becoming ever smaller. Where no sensible person really wants to be leader anyway. But credit where credit's due Kemi is the living embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

In his book about working as Tony Blair's chief of staff in No 10, Jonathan Powell warned of the danger leaders surrounding themselves with flatterers and yes-men. He quoted the Italian philosopher of power Niccolo Machiavelli on how it was one error into which princes are apt to fall because men take such pleasure in their own concerns, and so deceive themselves with regard to them.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.

Keir Starmer saved his best for the fragile circumstances of a difficult Labour conference. It may not yet be enough to save him. All the same, this was by some way Starmer's most effective and certainly his most interesting conference speech since becoming Labour leader five years ago. Not a particularly high bar, it must be admitted, since Starmer is no great orator but at least the bar is one that he cleared. In the dire situation now facing Labour, this mattered a lot.