Jessica Elgot

The third coming of Andy Burnham began in earnest on the dancefloor of the Ministry of Sound last May. To outsiders, it looks like a power shift that came almost too fast. But all of those who made it happen began last summer. This is the story, for our weekend read 👇

Two new polls this weekend give Labour an 8 pt lead

Wanted: new No 10 adviser to help citizens deal with rise of AI www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

NEW - The energy secretary is leaning towards rejecting Rosebank oilfield. Story from @kiranstacey.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

All the chatter during conference was about the clear water between the parties and how we should all hold on to our hats for the forthcoming BATTLE OF IDEAS this autumn yet that PMQs was more a bickering of past grievances.

The Jackdaw gasfield will be given the go-ahead on Wednesday. Miatta Fahnbulleh and John Healey will make the announcement from Aberdeen on Wednesday morning www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"There is a big fishing fleet here in Portsmouth," Nigel Farage tells a Reform rally in Plymouth, which actually boos in response.

Pretty extraordinary for the Jewish Chronicle to run an op ed & news story about Nigel Farage warning of antisemitism in the Greens without mentioning that he is the only serving major party leader to have been criticised by Jewish groups for using tropes linked to antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Honour guard at Downing Street ahead of Zelenskyy’s arrival.

Sometimes as a parent you think you will be in screaming soft plays forever but now suddenly every weekend my son demands to go the pub and watch the Premier League and it’s just… amazing.

Our weekend read - on the politics of trying. “The public think the only person that can reach those levers is you,” said a government insider. “They justifiably ask, can you do it or not? And if not, they’ll look for an alternative.” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Excl with @jessicaelgot.bsky.social - bleak new forecasts from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggest soaring energy and housing costs mean Labour could be set to preside over the worst parliament for living standards in modern history: www.theguardian.com/business/202...

NEW - Kemi Badeoch says there will be no inheritance tax to pay ever on a family home. Interested to know how this affects the housing market. Asset-rich pensioners just got a huge (extra) incentive not to downsize.

EXC - John Healey is planning a major intervention to cut energy bills for poorer households in this month’s budget. Chancellor is working on plans to spend more than £1bn to help energy consumers, increasing the discount given to households on certain benefits www.theguardian.com/money/2026/o...

Badenoch says her air defence plan "is not going to be exactly like the Irone Dome. We haven’t called it an Iron Dome." Except this is what it said in the press release. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

“We are not where we need to be right now,” a candid Tory party chair Kevin Hollinrake tells the More in Common fringe event. “We don’t want an election right now, ideally.”

The Tory Bayeux Tapestry is very funny and a great skewering of most of the main characters, apart from Angela Rayner who looks absolutely iconic in every image

Quite an odd choice to brief this out

Senior Labour figures are uneasy about Healey’s ‘underpowered’ approach to budget Apart from Burnham's speech, this was the talk of conference... www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Can he bring yesterday back around? My long read today on the emotional business of Labour conference www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The Labour Party is having a moment My analysis of the speech, the most radical from a prime minister in more than a decade www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Well, he certainly knows how to give us copy

Well, he certainly knows how to give us copy

‘You were right’: Ed Miliband tells critics Labour was wrong on Gaza Foreign secretary tells party’s conference ‘we are not here to accept the status quo but to change it’ www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

EXC - Shabana Mahmood will announce a new legal route for refugees that prioritises Afghan women and girls and Palestinians, unfreezing a scheme that will put the most vulnerable refugees on a faster path to permanent status. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

My Labour conference read Burnham, who was once spectre at the feast, now hopes to banish the ghosts of Starmerism Details on the big strategic talk which No10’s “hype man” Hayden Munro gave to cabinet Stay for the ex minister comparing himself to Declan Rice www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

My Labour conference read Burnham, who was once spectre at the feast, now hopes to banish the ghosts of Starmerism Details on the big strategic talk which No10’s “hype man” Hayden Munro gave to cabinet Stay for the ex minister comparing himself to Declan Rice www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

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EXC - We *also* have an MRP out today - which has some very striking findings. Progressives who vote tactically to stop Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could push his party into FOURTH place. The poll also shows Burnham’s Labour is winning back left-leaning voters. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

BREAKING: Daniel Thomas, aka Danny Tommo, has been arrested by Hampshire police over boat slashing incident in the Channel.

Andy Burnham has signalled he may lift the ban on drinking alcohol in the stands at football matches, suggesting it is ‘unfair’ for fans to be singled out when it is permitted for other sports. Story: @pippacrerar.bsky.social and @tomjgarry.bsky.social

Started watching Sky’s War Game last night where Michael Gove is the PM during the Russian attack and I’m afraid it is just very difficult to watch it without thinking of this, one of the great cartoons ever published

Look on my works, ye mighty

Exc - @andyburnham.bsky.social sets out his stall on net zero - and concludes that yes, we do want to live on a liveable planet www.theguardian.com/environment/...

EXCL: The UK government’s EU reset summit could be delayed again unless Brussels agrees to include “Made in Europe” legislation on the agenda, government sources tell @lisaocarroll.bsky.social and me www.theguardian.com/environment/...

NEW - Joint statement agreed by the trade unions at TUC Congress, but stops short of calls for a cap on donations.

YOU LOVE TO SEE IT

I interviewed Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid Cymru’s Welsh first minister, who told me that if Andy Burnham is serious about devolution he has to understand that Wales is a nation and “not a region in England”, and has different needs. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

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