Kieron Clarke

🌹NEW: Pressure on the Prime Minister over blocking Andy Burnham's return to Westminster. 50 Labour MPs from the left and centre of the party have written to Keir Starmer and Shabana Mahmood, the Chair of Labour's NEC, in protest over the blocking of Burnham's candidacy for the Gordon and Denton by-election next month. 👀In the letter seen by Good Morning Britain, the MPs write that the decision has caused huge "anxiety and anger" with Labour MPs and party members, and that an 'unimaginable' loss of the stronghold constituency to Reform UK must now be taken "very seriously". They argue there is "no legitimate reason" to block Burnham's "democratic right" and warn the decision risks looking like a "stitch-up", which they claim is a "gift" to Farage and Reform UK when Burnham is Labour's 'very best chance' of winning the seat. The MPs are calling for an urgent full meeting of Labour's governing body, the NEC, to re-evaluate denying Burnham's permission to stand and to allow local members to choose their candidate. #GMB

@JasonGroves1 Luke Fakehurst

I don’t know who wrote this, but it wasn’t me. Desperate stuff…

The demand for Starmer to quit is likely to be delivered in the 36 hours following the local elections on May 7, Cabinet ministers told The i Paper

Starmer has lost the civil service, 'now only Labour MPs can save the country' 🚨REVEALED: the gushing texts to Mandelson 🚨Robbins' payoff to top £1m of taxpayers' money 🚨OFFICIALS: Why Starmer is worse than Boris 🚨'He’s a shitweasel whose sole political talent is blaming others for his own failings' 🚨Ex-colleague on Cat Little: 'I wouldn’t use her to prop open a door, unless I definitely wanted the door to shut' spectator.com/article/its-wo…

EXC: A Cabinet minister tells @theipaper they've lost patience with Sir Keir Starmer but that it was up to the Cabinet as a whole to move to depose him. “It’s bleak. It’s a question for the Cabinet and colleagues need to come to a view. I know what my view is," they said 🧵

Wow. The prime minister at PMQs confirmed Olly Robbins' bombshell claim from yesterday that No10 sought a top diplomatic job for Lord Matthew Doyle, the PM's now disgraced comms aide. Starmer told MPs: "When people leave roles in any organisation, they're often conversations about other roles ... but nothing came of this."

Labour’s Dame Emily Thornberry tells #GMB Keir Starmer is a in a hole that he’s struggling to get out, she says ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen next’. But other senior Labour MPs and party figures concede it’s a matter of ‘when, not if’ the prime minister will have to go. x.com/GMB/status/204…

🔥NEW - buried in the bundle of documents from the Humble Address Keir Starmer was advised by the cabinet secretary Simon Case to do security clearance BEFORE appointment but ignored the suggestion. Case said (If you want a political appointment) "you should give us the name of the person you would like to appoint and we will develop a plan for them to acquire the necessary security clearances and do due diligence on any potential Conflicts of Interest or other issues of which you should be aware *before* confirming you choice" Which feels quite material .....

Spare a thought for Olly Robbins who is going to have to spend his birthday watching the PM attack him in the Commons, as he prepares for his own MPs grilling session tomorrow. Someone get the man a cake, at least.

I don't normally publish conversations with Downing Street but this was my initial exchange with Downing Street's then director of communications over Mandelson failing vetting on 11 September last year.

Just pointing out that I broke the story 7 months ago that Mandelson failed vetting from the security services and put it to Downing Street...so the idea that Downing Street only found out on Tuesday is complete nonsense. independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

At a @CommonsForeign session in November 2025, I directly asked Sir Oliver Robbins whether the FCDO had a different view of who should be recommended for the posting of US Ambassador. His response? "It was clear that the Prime Minister wanted to make this appointment himself."

It’s understood the PM and Foreign Secretary lost confidence in Robbins and he is leaving his post.

Breaking: Olly Robbins fired

So the story seems to be that Olly Robbins - a career civil servant leading a dept that had warned against Mandelson's appointment - decided of his own volition to overrule the security services and to keep it a secret from ministers. Righto

Exclusive: Britain could face shortages of chicken, pork and other supermarket goods this summer if the war in Iran continues, a secret government analysis has found. Officials have drawn up contingency plans for a “reasonable worst case scenario” amid fears that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz will lead to shortages of carbon dioxide, which is critical to the food industry. Senior officials — including from No 10, the Treasury and Ministry of Defence — have secretly rehearsed scenarios looking at the potential impact on British industry in an event codenamed “Exercise Turnstone”. In the reasonable worst case scenario, the US and Israel ceasefire with Iran has broken down, with supplies of CO2 falling to just 18 per cent of present levels by June 2026. Farming and hospitality would likely be hit earliest and hardest, given the gas is used to help increase the shelf life of food such as salad, packaged meats and baked goods. CO2 is used in the process of slaughtering nearly all pigs and more than two thirds of chickens and the sector is not thought to have much by way of surplus supplies. While the government does have stockpiles, this was said to not be a long-term solution. Breweries would also be hit because the gas is used to make drinks fizzy. Concerns were raised about the shortages coinciding with the Fifa World Cup, which begins on June 11. While there are not expected to be critical food supply shortages, officials expect there could be a lack of product variety in shops. Officials discussed unease that the impact would be highly visible and risk undermining wider government campaigns stressing security of supplies in other areas. The government plans to prioritise combatting healthcare and civil nuclear disruption, believing that a collapse in CO2 supplies could cause a risk to life through a lack of dry ice to cool blood supplies, organs and vaccines, as well as to Britain’s national electricity supply. It is the biggest revelation to date of the behind-the-scenes work to prepare Britain for prolonged hostilities and the impact on supplies and energy costs. To mitigate against the reasonable worst case scenario, plans have been drawn up to ask factories to increase CO2 production to 100% by ceasing other manufacturing. Emergency legislation has been discussed to compel the factories to co-operate, which could be passed in only a few days in parliamentary time. Competition law could also be relaxed to allow prioritisation of more limited CO2 supplies to key areas, including healthcare, as part of the preparations. The Civil Contingencies Act, which gives ministers temporary but far-reaching powers to respond to national emergencies, could be invoked instead. Government lawyers have been told to prepare advice on activating the legislation. Plans were also discussed for compensation to be paid to suppliers for ceasing production of their main products to focus on CO2. It is estimated the move would cost tens of millions of pounds. The exercise was attended by civil servants from the departments for health, defence, business, the environment, energy, housing and communities, as well as the Treasury, No 10 and the Food Standards Agency. Government insiders stressed that the reasonable worst-case scenario was not a prediction, and part of normal Whitehall planning. A government spokesperson said: “We took decisive action last month to shore up the UK’s critical supplies of CO2 by temporarily restarting the Ensus bioethanol plant in Teesside and are continuing to work closely with business groups to tackle the impacts of events in the Middle East. “Reasonable worst case scenarios are a planning tool used by experts and are not a prediction of future events.”

Photo du Jour: Health secretary @wesstreeting takes part in a TV interview after appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. By Stefan Rousseau/PA

@_Dan_Austin @TonyIncenzo A lovely watch

This story is also going out on BBC Breakfast this morning, featuring a genuinely heartfelt guard of honour given to a fan and a reunion with the loveliest man I've ever dealt with - Swap Shop's John Craven. Loved making it. Football is the best thing about this country.

🚨 Travelodge CEO says she was only made aware of a sexual assault at one of her hotels this month - more than 3 YEARS after it happened.  In an interview with me, Jo Boydell also admitted she was aware of other incidents in which strangers have accessed rooms of other guests.