Politics

Kemi Badenoch has said her remarks about maternity pay have been “misrepresented”, as she called for an “honest campaign” for the Tory leadership. The first day of the Conservative Party conference saw a row erupt over comments made by the shadow housing secretary, where she appeared to call the current level of the benefit “excessive”.

Four contenders and the biggest platform of the year to make their case to be leader of the opposition. Welcome to the Conservatives’ annual conference in Birmingham – a four day job interview in the glare of the spotlight, with the axe falling on two of the four candidates in just 10 days when MPs

In some ways this isn’t surprising. Rosie Duffield has been open with her discontent with the party, specifically over the party’s gender views – and she has been only too happy in her disagreement with Sir Keir Starmer. But what is surprising is the strength and tone of the letter – it is savage –

Boris Johnson claims he considered authorising a raid on a warehouse in the Netherlands during the pandemic to retrieve COVID-19 vaccines. In his upcoming memoir, he described meeting senior military officials in March 2021 to discuss the plans, which he admitted were “nuts”. Another extract from his upcoming book, released by the Daily Mail, describes

Applications for pension credit hit nearly 75,000 in the eight weeks since the new chancellor announced the winter fuel payment for pensioners would be means-tested for the first time. Figures released on Friday by the Department for Work and Pensions figures showed there were around 74,400 pension credit claims in the eight weeks since 29

Russell Findlay’s first task as the new leader of the Scottish Conservatives will be to bring his party back together. It’s been a bruising few months for Tories north of the border. Former leader Douglas Ross left amid a row over candidate selections – and ultimately failed to take any Commons seats. Politics latest: SNP

Sir Keir Starmer should give up his current arrangements for watching football and instead watch on television, a former Labour MP and minister has said. Baroness Harriet Harman, a host of the Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast, has again criticised the prime minister and leader of her party for his actions in the ongoing freebies

Russell Findlay has been elected the new leader of the Scottish Conservatives. The MSP saw off competition from Murdo Fraser and Meghan Gallacher in the bruising battle to replace Douglas Ross. Mr Findlay won with 2,565 votes. Mr Murdo placed second with 1,187 votes, while Ms Gallacher claimed third with 403 votes. The announcement comes

Sir Keir Starmer has attacked Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, accusing the country of “treating [its] own citizens as bits of meat to fling into the grinder”. Speaking at the United Nations Security Council in New York – and sat opposite a Russian representative – the British prime minister accused the state of committing

Sir Keir Starmer campaigned in the general election about being a politician who would do things differently and lead a government of service.  His was a message of change not just about how he would run the country, but also about how he would lead the government change. It was billed not just as a

Eighty days into government after a landslide election win, Sir Keir Starmer came to Liverpool as the first Labour prime minister in 15 years to address conference. It should have been a joyous victory lap, but instead this is a PM already stumbling, wrong-footed by a row over the amount of freebies he took as

Sir Keir Starmer has defended removing the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners as he warned of a “hard” path ahead. The prime minister, giving his keynote speech at Labour’s conference, was attempting to turn around the doom and gloom of the past few months. He addressed concern about cutting the winter fuel allowance,

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard share their daily guide to the day ahead in politics in under 20 minutes.  On the day Sir Keir Starmer addresses the Labour Party conference as prime minister for the first time, Jack and Sam set out what he’ll announce and ask whether he

Hecklers have interrupted the chancellor’s speech at the Labour conference as they appeared to call for a halt to arms sales to Israel and for action on the environment. Rachel Reeves was telling the conference in Liverpool how proud she was to be the UK’s first ever female chancellor when shouting came from the hall.

Arguably, there’s a much much bigger problem for Sir Keir Starmer at the Labour conference than the freebies, the briefings and the incessant chatter about an absent chief of staff.  As you go round the Liverpool conference centre, ask Labour MPs and members of the cabinet what they want to be talking about today. What

Angela Rayner has promised to bring Labour’s flagship workers’ rights bill to parliament next month as she told her party’s conference: “Things can get better if we make the right choices.” The government has faced criticism in recent weeks over its pessimistic messaging around the economy, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warning October’s Budget

Even the Iron Lady flinched at the prospect of delivering her leader’s speech to the annual party conference. Her speech writer Ronald Millar recalled leaning forward moments before Margaret Thatcher went to the rostrum with words of encouragement. “Piece of cake, prime minister,” he whispered, only to be rebuffed with “not now Ronnie, I’m about

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”. The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor. Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan

Nigel Farage has spoken about his aspirations as Reform UK party leader and insists he could become prime minister. He told Sky’s political correspondent Darren McCaffrey the prospect of taking over at Number 10 at some point “may not be probable, but it’s certainly possible”. In an interview on the sidelines of the Reform UK

Sir Keir Starmer will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes, Sky News understands. Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner also announced they would take the same approach moving forward. The decision by the prime minister, chancellor and deputy prime minister follows scrutiny of Sir Keir Starmer and his wife for accepting