Last year in October, Wes Streeting declared a £50k “donation” from Francesca Perrin. Perrin is a current director of Labour Together, A lobby group of Morgan McSweeney fame. Screenshot of donation disclosure form listing Francesca Perrin, £50,000, dates in Sept-Oct 2025, and donor status: Individual Following on from the donation from Francesca Perrin and her husband William, a former secretary to former Prime Minister Tony Blair of the UK, both funded Labour Together, givin

New Health Secretary Yvette Cooper received almost half a million pounds over a decade from a donor with commercial ties to NHS and private healthcare recruitment, according to an investigation published by The BMJ. The report, released on 4 August 2026, details that between 2015 and 2024 Cooper accepted £248,619 directly from businessman Peter Hearn and a further £220,623 from two companies he controlled, MPM Connect and OPD Group. The combined total comes to roughly £469,00

In mid-July 2026, Andy Burnham became the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade after succeeding Keir Starmer. Starmer had announced his resignation as Labour leader and prime minister in late June following poor local election results in May, low personal popularity, economic stagnation, internal party discontent, and controversies including the appointment (and later dismissal) of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US. Burnham, the popular former Mayor of Greater Manche

Newly appointed UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set to begin his first holiday in office tomorrow, 4 August 2026, according to multiple reports circulating on Monday evening. The 56-year-old Labour leader, who formally took office on 20 July after succeeding Keir Starmer, will step away from Downing Street during the parliamentary summer recess. Critics have already labelled the break a case of “bunking off for a jolly abroad,” with First Secretary of State Louise Haigh exp

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to tackle small boat crossings across the English Channel with relentless focus after visiting Border Force operations in Dover on Sunday. Speaking following his tour of the Joint Command Room and related facilities, where he met officials from the Border Security Command, National Crime Agency and Home Office teams, Burnham said the government would confront the issue directly rather than treat it as a political football.“Rather than p

Why the by-election happened Andy Burnham had been Mayor of Greater Manchester since the role was created, winning elections in 2017, 2021 and 2024. In June 2026 he won a parliamentary by-election in Makerfield and returned to the House of Commons. Because the Greater Manchester mayor also holds Police and Crime Commissioner powers, the law disqualifies the post-holder from sitting as an MP at the same time. Burnham’s election as MP therefore automatically ended his mayoralty

In a move that has raised eyebrows across Whitehall, newly installed Prime Minister Andy Burnham has appointed Neil Amin-Smith, the 36-year-old former violinist of Grammy-winning pop group Clean Bandit, as his top economic adviser in No. 10. dailymail.com The appointment, reported on 31 July 2026, comes just days after Burnham took office on 20 July, succeeding Keir Starmer. It forms part of a sweeping reshuffle in which Burnham removed several senior figures, including forme

A story reported by The Telegraph on 31 July 2026, centres on how the Housing Secretary has described her time employed by Stockport Council. Rayner has repeatedly presented herself as having spent long periods as a frontline home help or care worker—figures that have varied publicly between roughly a decade, 14 years, and as high as 17 years in different statements and profiles over the years. Freedom of information records from Stockport Council show she was on the books as

No candidate secured more than 50% of first-preference votes in the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election, forcing a second-round runoff between Labour’s Bev Craig and Reform UK’s Sian Astley. Counting officials confirmed the result on Friday afternoon (31 July 2026), eliminating the Green Party, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Restore Britain and Independent candidates. Second-preference votes from those eliminated ballots are now being redistributed under the supplementa

Speaking from a traditional pub in Harlow, Essex, on Thursday, newly installed UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham delivered a clear message to the country’s struggling hospitality sector: help is on the way. In a video clip widely shared on X, Burnham declared that pubs should know “the cavalry is coming” to save them. He added: “This is our heritage. It’s working-class culture. Once pubs are gone, they don’t come back.”The comments came as Downing Street confirmed a major policy

Natalie Fleet, the Labour MP for Bolsover and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, has resigned from her ministerial post just over two months after taking office. In a personal statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) earlier today, Fleet described the decision as “the bravest thing I’ve ever done.” She said she quickly found the contents of the role “overwhelmingly triggering” and informed the Prime Minister’s team th

Andy Burnham has taken office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Keir Starmer. A dedicated “Andy Burnham Tracker” on the UK Dispatching website monitors his progress and flags key developments and appointments from the early days of his leadership. (https://www.ukdispatching.com/andy-burnham-tracker) The tracker describes Burnham assuming the premiership after Starmer’s departure and lists several high-profile appointments, each tied to past

Andy Burnham has approved the United States use of British military bases. This comes after US Strikes on Iran continue

Anas Sarwar is expected to step down as leader of Scottish Labour and take up a ministerial position in Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s new government, according to reports emerging on Tuesday evening. The move would see Sarwar, who has led Scottish Labour since 2021, leave Holyrood politics and likely accept a peerage to sit in the House of Lords, allowing him to serve in a UK-wide ministerial role under Burnham. Leadership Under Pressure: Sarwar’s departure comes amid mountin

New PM pledges £2 bus fares and 20% hospitality business rates cut to ease pressures on families and high streets Fresh from his appointment as the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade, Andy Burnham is set to announce immediate measures aimed at tackling the cost-of-living crisis. According to an exclusive report, the new Labour leader plans to reintroduce a £2 cap on bus fares within days and outline a 20% reduction in business rates for the hospitality sector. These ste

Andy Burnham was sworn in as the United Kingdom’s 59th Prime Minister, succeeding Sir Keir Starmer. A new Prime Minister’s first duties is to appoint their a cabinet to govern the United Kingdom. Following a day of intensive discussions and negotiations Yesterday, Andy Burnham has completed his initial reshuffle. Below is the full list of his cabinet appointments: Louise Haigh – Deputy Prime Minister John Healey – Chancellor of the Exchequer Ed Miliband – Foreign Secretary

A newly leaked intelligence report has sparked fresh controversy over former British Labour politician and diplomat Lord Peter Mandelson, alleging that Russian intelligence services viewed him as a valuable "privileged contact" for more than 30 years.The claims, first reported by The Telegraph on July 1, 2026, and widely covered by other outlets, originate from a dossier codenamed Project Fish. It was compiled in 2022 by Christopher Steele, the former head of MI6’s Russia des

In the rapidly unfolding drama of the Labour Party's leadership crisis, allies of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham are already mapping out key posts in a potential future government — with former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh emerging as the surprise favourite for Chancellor of the Exchequer. According to reports, senior figures backing Burnham's expected challenge to Prime Minister Keir Starmer have urged the mayor to appoint Haigh to the top Treasury job, describing