Kate Ferguson

EXCL: Angela Rayner splashes out over £700k on a luxury seaside flat. It’s her third home.

A new portrait of Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been unveiled. It shows her preparing to deliver her first budget in October 2024 as the first female chancellor of the exchequer in the over 900 years the role has existed. It is an oil painting by artist Sally Ward, and the Commons says she approached it "both a portrait and a history painting, showing an important moment in British political and parliamentary history". Reeves says she is "deeply honoured" that it will be acquired by the Parliamentary Art Collection, and that she hopes it "serves as a reminder to every young woman and girl across the country that there should be no ceiling on their ambition". It will be displayed in the Society of Women Artist’s summer exhibition in June, before its permanent hang in parliament's Portcullis House.

First Lady handbag wars. How posh is your clutch?

Ed Miliband is Britain’s Charles de Gaulle apparently. I’ve never wanted to be French before….

This is precisely the sort of nightmarish, anti-enterprise, anti-joy, stakeholder state red tape the government should be scrapping. Save the Regency cafe! thetimes.com/article/6d2789…

🚨 WATCH: Keir Starmer says he "beat himself up" for appointing Peter Mandelson "I've been really hard on myself... nobody was criticising me more than myself"

Iran’s intelligence service appears to be recruiting people on social media to carry out acts of terror and espionage on British soil by offering payments starting from £500 to film targets, great story by @matt_dathan thetimes.com/uk/crime/artic…

Crime and punishment of a former French President, forced to endure "limp damp baguette" in his prison cell.

My take on the stolen phone rocking politics. Broken Britain writ large. If cops can’t be bothered to properly investigate the PM’s chief of staff’s phone theft, what hope have the rest of us? From the reporter who broke the story…

CONFIRMED: There was snow in south London today.

Boys lecturing me on Twitter about a story I broke is not so cute.

Cops release full transcript of the Morgan Mc Sweeney call reporting his mobile was stolen. Morgan reports it straight away, says it’s a government phone and says he is in Westminster. Not sure why the Met thinks this clears them. Just reinforces their bungled ‘investigation’

Anyone who has had their phone stolen or been burgled will recognise the apathy of cops. They shrug their shoulders, hand out a crime reference number and move on. But given Morgan was the chief of staff to the PM, that is - quite frankly - not OK of the police.

Official inflation figures of 3% already wildly out of date as largely reflects the *fall* in fuel prices before Iran. Today IGD is warning that food inflation could double to 8% by June if conflict persists and diesel and petrol at the pumps has already jumped.

Lots of MPs and political figures have had their phones nicked around Westminster and Downing Street. So many that MPs were warned to “stay vigilant” when walking through Westminster by the parliamentary authorities

Well he would say that, wouldn’t he.

Eeeek apologies this is not new policy. Announced last year. My bad

With antisemitism at record levels, empty promises are not enough. The government, Parliament, police and courts must take urgent action to deal with the racists and extremists. And we must all stand up for the Jewish community and our country’s values. thesun.co.uk/news/38613310/…

Rachel Reeves suggests an energy bailout won’t happen until “the autumn”

Jeremy Hunt has a pop at Rachel Reeves: “Can I gently ask the chancellor to be less partisan at a time of crisis. “If she has to bring forward difficult measures that are right for the country she will have the support of the whole House. “If she is partisan she won’t.”

💥 #Newsnight has been nominated for a BAFTA 💥 It was for our special programme dedicated to hearing from survivors of grooming & rape gangs Congratulations to fellow nominees Channel 4 News & Sky News :) @BAFTA