Andy White

I met Lindsay Graham several times. He mattered to the Foreign Office and the British Embassy as a wise-cracking, reliable friend, committed to maximising Western power in an hour that has lost its allure for the new generation in Congress. Both in opposition and in government, I had a chance to encounter some two dozen odd Senators and Congressmen, interested in foreign affairs. But really, regardless of Left or Right, I was meeting two generational cohorts: that of the Lindsay Graham the Boomer and that of the Millennial JD Vance. The foreign policy Boomers, that older, fading, generation, relished being the go between for countries like Britain, France, Israel, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia or whoever the ally of special concern was in their district, when it came to the White House or unlocking the Senate floor. Graham was a true majordomo of that role. He found personal excitement, real influence and a sense of moral grandeur in his campaigns to mould the world with America power. Allies mattered to him because he saw them as tools, not drains, enhancing American strength. In this he was quite unlike the Millennial generation, who like J.D. Vance, see allies as mostly freeloaders and the quest for primacy on every continent as a fools errand. Its practitioners undermining American security with their campaigns. And many of those allies, such as Israel or Ukraine, as now essentially suspect to a chunk of one side of the aisle or the other. Whilst friendly, the foreign policy Millennials in Congress take none of the relish, that Graham did, in acting like a Roman consul, pitching clients, supplicants and expeditions to the Emperor. What the passing of that generation means I found was a subject of some angst to most allied ambassadors from Europe and the Middle East. In the meetings I joined with Graham, he was focused on pushing sanctions on Russia through MAGA and finding a way forward for Israeli-Saudi normalisation. I was struck by the glint in his eyes of a man who truly lived for this kind of politics. Quite unlike most politicians you meet who, overburdened and overwhelmed — like the dog that caught the car — never give the impression of liking the top that much of that greasy pole. But what most struck me most was when it came to diplomacy, he had the kind of accumulated experience and contact book that only an imperial Senator could have, not a provincial European legislator. Texting Bibi and MBS and half the EU leaders. A reach way surpassing, on this continent, most of our heads of government. The truth is we simply don’t have that many figures like this in Britain anymore — perhaps Tony Blair comes closest — and they are not in Parliament.

Scroll after scroll of Bluesky’s hatred of Ann Widdecombe, the very people who claim Musk’s X is the problem. Sick!

Sir Chris Bryant is backing Burnham. Yes there are those who tell us that once Burnham is PM he'll shift left, but its noticeable that those who've spent the last several years ruthlessly punching left are remarkably relaxed about his leadership.

The point is a simple one: Jeremy Corbyn rebelled against the Labour Government 428 times between 1997 and 2010 and was never suspended. Strong leadership is demonstrated by the confidence to tolerate dissent, not by the instinct to punish it.

🚨NEW: Piers Corbyn, brother of Jeremy Corbyn, has announced he will stand in the Clacton by-election

"Our local party have decided that we won't be standing a candidate in the by-election." - Hannah Spencer outlines the Greens position for the Clacton by-election, arguing that Farage’s decision to trigger it will create turmoil for Clacton's constituents.

Britain is finished

Exc: Trump personally called Farage to congratulate him as Starmer faced the final weeks of his premiership, insiders say It's just a reminder of the many hurdles Burnham will face when dealing with this White House

'It's an end to neoliberalism and trickle-down economics which did not trickle down very much at all.' Andy Burnham signals that he will take a ‘very different’ political direction when he becomes Prime Minister, promising a more 'inclusive approach' to government.