Early evening summary
Keir Starmer has repeatedly insisted that he does not think it will be necessary for the UK to choose between the US and the EU. He made this point at a press conference in Brussels with Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general. Later this evening he will become the first PM since Brexit to attend a European Council dinner with all leaders of the EU. (See 5.40pm.) Starmer adopted a diplomatic, even-handed tone after President Trump contrasted the “nice” treatment he was getting from Starmer with the “atrocity” EU, in comments that implied Trump wants to force the UK to side with the US as the price for avoiding tariffs. (See 9.34am.)
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Rayner says 6 English councils to be allowed to raise council tax by more than 5%, as part of local government settlement
Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, has published details of the final local government settlement for 2025-26 for councils in England.
She has also announced that six councils will be allowed to raise council tax by more than 5% – the cap that applies unless councils can get voters to back a higher council tax increase in a referendums. Referendums have been held in the past, but they have never resulted in an increase of more above 5% being approved.
In a written ministerial statement, Rayner said she had agreed “small increases for six councils”.
Councils are allowed to raise council tax by up to 5% if they have adult social care responsibilities. If they don’t, it is only 3%. But the six councils are all social care councils, and it means these upper limits will apply:
Windsor and Maidenhead borough council – 9%
Birmingham city council – 7.5%
Bradford council – 10%
Newham council – 9%
Somerset council – 7.5%
Trafford council – 7.5%
The full details of the final local government settlement are here.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance, a rightwing campaign group that does not often praise Labour, has welcomed the news. It campaigned in particular against a proposal by Lib Dem-run Windsor and Maidenhead council to raise council tax by 25%. It posted this on social media.
🚨BREAKING NEWS: 25% Council Tax Hike STOPPED in Windsor and Maidenhead 💪
— TaxPayers' Alliance (@the_tpa) February 3, 2025
They will only be allowed to increase their council tax by 9%, meaning that the average household will be saving almost £300 😲
Well done @AngelaRayner for standing up to town hall bosses 👏 pic.twitter.com/LedNdoKoEG
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As the press conference was winding up in Brussels, Keir Starmer was asked by a reporter from the Sun if he broke lockdown rules during Covid by designating his voice coach as a key worker. Starmer replied: “Of course not.”
That is a reference to this allegation, which has been obsessively promoted on the CCHQ X feed all day.
Rutte says Trump raising Greenland as issue has been 'very useful' because it has highlighted security concerns there
Here are the main lines from the Starmer/Rutte press conference. They covered defence policy, and tariffs.
Keir Starmer repeatedly insisted that he did not think it would be necessary for the UK to choose between the US and the EU. Playing down the signficance of Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on the EU, he said that he did not accept the need to choose (see 4.18pm) and that it was not an either/or (see 4.35pm).
Mark Rutte, the Nato general secretary, said it was “silly” to suggest that Trump’s threats to annex Greenland meant Europe should start considering how it could defend itself without relying on the US. When first asked if he had a message for the US and Denmark, in relation to the dispute over Greenland, Rutte at first suggested that Trump was doing the west a favour by highlight the security issues in that region. He said:
And on Greenland, what I think is very useful is that President Trump alerted us to the fact that when it comes to the high north, there is a geopolitical and strategic issue at stake. I would say that it’s not only about Greenland. This has to do with Finland. It has to do with Sweden, Norway, Iceland. Yes, Greenland, and therefore Denmark. Also Canada and also the US. And clearly, collectively as an alliance, we will always look at the best way to make sure that we can tackle those challenges.
In response to a later question from ITV’s James Mates, who pointed out that it was unprecented for one Nato member to threaten another in the way Trump has threatened Nato because he wants Greenland, Rutte said:
Your question about Nato and the assumption that you could run Nato without the US – that is for so many reasons a silly thought ….
For many reasons, that will not work.
First of all, because we are not, as the prime minister was saying, when you look at Ukraine, it is not just Ukraine and Russia. It is a geopolitical thing which is going on. The US realises that, the European side of Nato realises that. It is China, North Korea, Iran, all getting connected to Russia …
So for so many reasons, we have to stay connected. I am a staunch transatlanticist. I absolutely believe that the best thing the west can do is to stay united. And I know that the same thinking is still prevalent in the US, including in the White House.
Rutte insisted that the Greenland dispute would not undermine Nato. Asked if the alliance was unravelling, he replied:
There are always issues between allies. It is never always tranquil and happy going. There are always issues, sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller. But I’m absolutely convinced that will not get in the way of our collective determination to keep our deterrence strong.
Starmer played down the significance of Trump’s decision to threaten the EU with tariffs, saying it was “early days” and that further talks were planned. (See 4.50pm.)
Rutte claimed that the US had a trade surplus with Europe anyway. He said:
And when you talk trade, it is interesting to see that the trade surplus of the US getting into Europe since 2022 – they sell more to Europe than we sell to them. And the net surplus is $180bn since 2022.
And Rutte said Europe was dramatically increasing its defence spending, implying US firms would benefit. He said:
When you look at the defence industrial base, it is clearly it’s very clear that the US is selling much more into Europe than [Europe is selling to the US].
And by the way, collectively, we have to produce much more. There is so much money floating around, and much more will come in because we are spending more. Last year non-US allies spent 18% more on defence than the year before … That means more money available for the defence industrial base, and we have to buy it from everywhere.
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And this is what Keir Starmer told the BBC’s Chris Mason when Mason asked if he would water down his EU rest to avoid upsetting Trump. Starmer replied:
Look in relation to the relationship between the UK and the US and the EU, I’ve always been clear that both are important to us.
Now that for me isn’t new. I think that’s always been the case and will be the case for many, many years to come.
That’s why, in my discussions with President Trump, we’ve touched on issues of trade and on issues of security, both in relation to the trade we already do between our two countries, but also the security, the defence and the intelligence partnership that we’ve founded over many, many years …
Both of these relations are very important to us. We are not choosing between them, but that’s historically been a position of the UK for many, many decades now.
What Starmer said when asked if he accepted it's now clear Trump is 'bad thing for Europe's prosperity and security'
Here is the full reply from Keir Starmer to a question Beth Rigby, the Sky News political editor, who asked him if, in the light of Donald Trump’s tariff threats, it was time to recognise that Trump was “a bad thing for Europe’s economic prosperity and security”. (See 4.16pm.)
Starmer replied:
On the question, firstly of tariffs, obviously, it’s early days, and I think what’s really important is open and strong trading relations, and that’s been the basis of my discussions with president Trump.
And I know that intense US-EU discussions are planned.
In relation to … Ukraine, I do think it’s right for us to acknowledge the role that the US have played in relation to the joint efforts on Ukraine. And that’s pivotal, because it’s not just a question of a war or the sovereignty of Ukraine, it is not just a European issue, it’s a question of global security. And I think it’s very important that we see it in that context.
Starmer also said that the Ukraine war had led to Nato becoming “stronger and bigger”.
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'We don't see it as either/or' – Starmer says it is 'really important' for UK to work with US and Europe
Q: [To Starmer] What happens if you are forced to choose between the US and the UK?
Starmer says it is vital for the UK that it works with both Europe and the US.
It’s really important that we work with both, and we don’t see it as an either/or.
We are working very closely with our European allies every day, particularly in Ukraine, but not only in Ukraine. But equally on defense and security with the US and the special relationship in relation to defense and security
He also says the UK has a huge amount of trade with both the US and the EU.
It’s important that I always act in the national interest, the best interests of the UK … it’s important that we work with both sets of partners, particularly at this volatile time.
And that’s the end of the press conference.
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Rutte says it is 'silly' to suggest Europe should start planning defence pact without US in light of Greenland threat
Q: [To Rutte] Isn’t the threat to Greenland far more serious than any previous disgreement with the US. Doesn’t Europe have to start planning a way of defending itself in future without the US?
Rutte says the idea of Nato without the US is a “silly thought”.
He says he is a “staunch Atlanticist” and thinks the west has to stay connected.
And he says he knows that thinking is still prevalent in the White House.
Starmer says he does not accept UK has to choose between US and EU
Q: Will you water down the EU reset to keep Trump onside?
Starmer says the US and the EU are both important to the UK.
That has always been the case, he says.
He says, in talks with president Trump, he has spoken about defence and trade.
Both of these relations re very important between us. We are not choosing between them.
UPDATE: See 5.05pm for a fuller version of the quote.
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Starmer plays down significance of Trump's tariff announcements, saying it is 'early days'
Starmer and Rutte are now taking quesions.
Q: [To Rutte] Do you fear the Atlantic alliance is unravelling?
Rutte says there are always issues between allies.
He says the US sells more to Europe than Europe does to them.
And he claims this issue will “not have an impact on our collective deterrence”.
Q: [To Starmer] Trump is threatening allies. Isn’t he a bad thing for security?
Starmer says, on tariffs, it is “early days’.
He says it is “really important” to have “open and strong trading relations”.
And he plays tribute to the role the US has played in relation to Ukraine.
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Starmer goes on:
Things that would have provoked utter outrage just a few years ago have now become almost commonplace. Russian spy ships loitering off the British coast, a campaign of sabotage across Europe, cyber attacks, election interference and attempted assassination.
Russia is seeking to destabilise our continent and target our values. So we should still be outraged, and we must harden European defence …
Our defence spending is, of course, 2.3% of GDP now, and we’re working hard to set the path to 2.5%.
Keir Starmer is speaking now.
He recalls visiting Ukraine recently and stresses the need for Nato countries to keep up the pressure on Russia, using the quotes briefed overnight. (See 10.11am.)
Rutte urges UK to ramp up arms manufacturing
Rutte says Nato countries need to spend more on defence.
In a dangerous world, spending 2% of GDP on defence (the current Nato target) will not be enough, he says.
He says the UK understands this.
We need to invest considerably more. We also need to replenish our stocks, and fast, there’s no time to waste.
Reviving our defense industries, to ramp up defense production is an absolute mus.
During the world war two, factories in the UK and the US produced billions of rounds of ammunition. That was before digitisation and automation.
With all the might of British manufacturing, just imagine what we could achieve now.
Nato chief Mark Rutte and Keir Starmer hold press conference
Mark Rutte, the Nato general secretary, is opening the press conference with Keir Starmer.
He starts by paying tribute to the contribution the UK makes to the Nato alliance.
Commons procedure committee launches inquiry into whether MPs should vote electronically
The Commons procedure committee has launched an inquiry into whether MPs should be able to vote electronically. Currently they have to vote in person, by going through the division lobbies on either side of the Commons chamber, and there is very little scope for proxy voting. This takes time, and a division normally last 15 minutes, from start to finish.
In the past MPs have always resisted a move towards electronic voting, because many of them like the chance to meet colleagues in the division lobbies. For government backbenchers, it can be the one chance they get in the week to speak to cabinet ministers.
But more than half of MPs in the Commons now were only elected at the last election, and some of the new arrivals feel parliamentary procedures are too antiquated.
Announcing the inquiry, Cat Smith, the Labour chair of the procedure committee, said:
Electronic voting is already in use in other legislatures in various forms – including in the House of Lords - and the new parliament gives us the chance to investigate whether it’s time for the House of Commons to adapt its procedures.
There are several factors to consider before any major changes, such as the historical context for in-person divisions, the impact of the recent introduction of pass readers in the voting lobbies, and the robustness of our technological systems.
EU leaders will expect Keir Starmer to set out “concrete proposals” for a UK-EU defence pact when they meet tonight, according to Ed Arnold, senior research fellow for European Security at RUSI, the defence thinktank. Arnold said:
The visit of the prime minister to an informal EU Summit – the first such visit since Brexit – is a critical moment in the government’s ‘reset’ agenda. Defence will dominate discussions. However, six months on from Labour’s election victory, there is still little detail on what the UK wants from an ‘ambitious UK-EU defence and security pact’, or the value that each side could gain, outside from the improved politics.
Therefore, the prime minister will need to outline concrete proposals and negotiation start points to entice the EU into putting political capital into pursuing such an agreement.
Despite defence being a sensible area to pursue enhanced cooperation, it will not be easy to insulate it from other policy areas, and it should therefore be seen as one part of a wider – and more complicated – set of negotiations.
Chris Mullin, a former Labour Foreign Office minister, says if Donald Trump does impose tariffs on the UK, at least there might be an upside. He has posted this on social media.
I hope Trump does impose tariffs on the UK because then we might wake up and realise that our future lies with Europe and not with the USA.
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Green party calls for Ofsted to be abolished
The NAHT, the school leaders’ union, has joined other teaching unions in criticising the plans for new Ofsted report cards. In a statement Paul Whiteman, the NAHT general secretary, said:
School leaders share the education secretary’s determination to ensure that all children, no matter what their background, receive a first-rate education, and they welcome fair, proportionate accountability. However, we are deeply concerned that many of Ofsted’s proposals will hinder, not help in this mission.
The inspectorate previously struggled to offer a fair reliable and consistent single-word rating during a two-day inspection, harming teacher and leader retention and driving sky-high rates of ill health. Rather than engage in fundamental reform it seems to think it can judge multiple complex areas in the same timeframe, piling more unnecessary pressure on school leaders and their staff working hard to deliver for pupils.
What’s needed is a constructive approach to schools facing the greatest challenges to improve, supported by significantly more investment. We urgently need to better understand how RISE [regional improvement for standars and excellence] teams will work alongside schools – but make no mistake, if their operation is informed by a flawed inspection framework this will undermine their effectiveness.
The Green party has gone further, saying Ofsted should be abolished. The Green’s education spokesperson Vix Lowthian said:
Ofsted isn’t working. For teachers or parents.
We’ve seen the toxic impact it can have on teachers and we know it doesn’t serve children.
These reforms are too close to the previous failed model.
We must instead scrap Ofsted and end the era of forcing teachers into narrowly defined boxes.
To replace it we need a collaborative model connecting teachers on the frontline with local experts.By connecting them with specialists in pedagogy, child development and social care we can encourage teacher retention, tailor support to local circumstances and drive much better local and national outcomes.
Murdo Fraser, business spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives in Holyrood, says Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on the EU means the SNP plan for an independent Scotland to rejoin the EU is “utter madness”. He has posted this on social media.
When @realDonaldTrump is proposing trade tariffs on the EU but not the UK, it is utter madness for the SNP to be proposing breaking away from rUK in order to join Europe
Britons would prefer PR voting system to first-past-the-post by almost two to one, poll suggests
Britons think a proportional representation voting system would better than first-past-the-post by a margin of almost two to one according to new polling by YouGov.
49% of Britons support introducing proportional representation, with just 26% backing first past the post
— YouGov (@YouGov) February 3, 2025
PR: 49%
FPTP: 26%
By party voted for in 2024
Green: 72% PR vs 15% FPTP
Reform UK: 67% vs 20%
Lib Dem: 61% vs 20%
Labour: 53% vs 27%
Conservative: 39% vs 42%… pic.twitter.com/a2YDgwKbx1
There is a full write-up here.
Phillipson responds to union attacks on new Ofsted report cards saying children's life chances should be their priority
Bridget Phillipson has said she expects the “first priority” of unions to be “children and their life chances”, after her new proposals for Ofsted inspections were criticised for being worse than the system they would replace, PA Media reports.
The education Secretary said she will “always seek to engage in dialogue” with unions, but she “won’t let anything get in the way” of her responsibility to families and children.
Asked by reporters what her message to unions would be given they have criticised the plans and unhappiness over pay proposals, Phillipson replied:
My first priority is children and their life chances, and that’s what I’d expect their first priority to be as well.
Of course I’ll always seek to engage in dialogue and have a constructive relationship where that’s possible, but my first responsibility as secretary of state is to children and families and to their life chances and I won’t let anything get in the way of that.
Pushed more on whether she was listening to teachers and their concerns, she added:
I think there’s been a lot of discussion about how I as secretary of state am apparently in hock to the trade unions. I think we’ve seen today from the reaction to what we’re setting out that that’s very far from the truth.
I will always seek a constructive relationship with trade unions representing our teachers and workforce, they’ve got an important role to play.
But my first priority will always be children and their life chances. That has to be my focus and that’s my first responsibility.
Here is the full text of Phillipson’s speech, in which she she said the new report cards would provide “rich, granular insight”.
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Badenoch meets Charles as Buckingham Palace revives tradition of audiences with new opposition leaders
Kemi Badenoch has held a one-to-one audience with King Charles – reviving an old convention of the monarch meeting with the new leader of the opposition, PA Media reports. PA says:
Charles welcomed Badenoch in the grand 1844 Room of Buckingham Palace on Monday morning.
Badenoch, who was elected Tory leader in November, was pictured grinning as the smiling king gestured and held his arms out wide at the start of their half-hour meeting.
She is said to be the first opposition leader to have a formal one-to-one audience with a monarch in 19 years.
A royal source said: “It was a convention that fell by the way in latter years of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s reign and seemed a courtesy to revive in the new reign.”
It is not known why the tradition lapsed during Labour’s years in opposition.
The last opposition leader to be welcomed in a formal audience in the months after their appointment was David Cameron, when he met with the late Queen in 2006.
Starmer should convene Commonwealth summit to organise joint retaliation against US for tariffs on Canada, Lib Dems say
Ed Davey has urged Keir Starmer to invite Commonwealth leaders to a summit in London to discuss coordinated retaliation against the US for the tariffs it has imposed on Canada.
In a statement the Lib Dem leader he said:
We mustn’t let Donald Trump bully the UK or our close ally Canada, who we share a head of state with. Trump’s tariffs on our Commonwealth partner are a shocking way to treat a country that stood alongside both the US and the UK during the second world war.
We need to work with our allies in the Commonwealth and Europe to stand strong against Trump and remind him that we are America’s longest standing friends. So the prime minister should invite Commonwealth leaders to London as soon as he returns from Brussels, to discuss a joint response to the global trade war Trump is unleashing.
Donald Trump is acting like a playground bully and is trying to play our allies off against each other. We must stand together against his attempts to divide us. Only by showing our combined strength can we persuade the president to behave properly with America’s friends.
The British government can’t just sit back and hope Trump won’t hit us with tariffs directly. He’s proven time and again how unpredictable he is and our economy will be hurt by this trade war anyway, which will push up prices for families in the UK.
Judging by what was said at the Downing Street lobby briefing earlier (see 12.41pm), the chances of Starmer agreeing to this are about zero.
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No 10 says PM 'focused on delivering' in response to questions about damning quotes in new Starmer book
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson was also asked if Keir Starmer was happy about reports saying that he was seen by colleagues as HR manager, or someone who was not driving the train.
These were references to two of the most striking quotes in the extracts from Get In, a new book about Starmer’s rise to power by the Times columnist Patrick Maguire and the Sunday Times Whitehall editor Gabriel Pogrund published in the Sunday Times yesterday. The HR manager one was quoted at 11.53am. The train quote is here, attributed to an unnamed Labour insider speaking in the early phase of Starmer’s leadership.
Occasionally they even spoke of their leader as if he were a useful idiot. Said one, referring to the driverless Docklands Light Railway that wound its way through east London: “Keir’s not driving the train. He thinks he’s driving the train, but we’ve sat him at the front of the DLR.”
Asked about these comments, the spokesperson said it was not for him to comment on what Starmer was doing when he was in opposition. But he also said:
The prime minister is focused on delivering the plan for change and delivering on the priorities for the British people … this government was elected on a mandate to change the country and put people’s priorities at the heart of delivering that’s why the prime minister’s focused on getting on with the job.
Asked if Starmer was right to designate his voice coach a key worker during Covid, the spokesperson said he could not comment on what Labour did in opposition. Asked if the PM would designate voice coaches as key workers in the event of a future pandemic, the spokesperson said that was a hypothetic question.
But the spokesperson did say, as far was he was aware, Starmer has not used a voice coach since he has been PM.
No 10 sides with Denmark over Greenland – but declines to criticise Trump's threats, saying they're 'hypothetical'
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson was also asked about president Trump’s desire to buy Greenland from Denmark, and his threats impose sanctions on Denmark if it refuses to cooperate. The spokesperson seemed anxious to say as little as possible on the subject. He said that the UK’s “longstanding on Denmark and Greenland” (ie support for the status quo, and self-determination) was “well understood”. But, with reference to the US, he said he would not get into “hypothetical situations”.
Asked if the Nato article 5 guarantees would apply to Denmark, which could mean the UK and other Nato members help the Danish fight off an invasion (at one press conference Trump refused to rule out using military force to take Greenland), the spokesperson just repeated the line about not getting into hypothetical situations.
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No 10 says UK has 'fair and balanced' trading relationship with US, implying Trump has no justification for tariffs
Downing Street has inisted that the UK’s trade relationship with the US is “fair”. At the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson would not criticise Donald Trump for suggesting yesterday that the UK’s trade relationship with the US is unbalanced. (See 9.34am.) Trump has hinted that he may impose tariffs on British imports, and he suggested that by implying that current trade arrangments are unbalanced (ie, the UK is selling more to the US than it is buying). But the spokesperson did defend the current trading relationship.
Here are the key points from the briefing on trade matters.
The spokesperson insisted that the US gets a fair deal from trade with the UK. He said:
From our part, the US is indispensable ally. It’s one of our closest trading partners. We’ve got a fair and balanced trading relationship which benefits both sides of the Atlantic. It’s worth about £300bn, and we are each other’s single largest investors, with £1.2tn invested in each other’s economies.
And we look forward to working with President Trump and the new US administration to build on UK us trading relations to benefit of both our economies …
We’re committed to free and open trade. We have a strong UK-US trade relationship, and as we said before, we look forward to working with President Trump to continue to build on the trading relations support so many jobs, no ties as the Atlanta has.
As the Financial Times reports, whether or not the UK has an overall trade surplus with the US depends on whether you look at US statistics or UK statistics.
The spokesperson said Starmer believed Trump was someone he could trust. Asked if Starmer thought the president was someone who would keep his word, the spokesperson replied:
Yes, the prime minister has had a really constructive early set of conversations with president Trump, and looks forward to working with him to deepen our trade, investment, security and defence relationship.
The spokesperson ducked questions about whether the government was confident the UK would avoid tariffs.
The spokesperson would not say whether the UK would retaliate if Trump imposes tariffs on the UK by imposing tariffs of its own on US imports.
The spokesperson dismissed suggestions that the UK might intervene to help Canada in its trade war with the US. Asked about possible intervention to help Canada, an ally, the spokesperson said he would not comment on other countries’ trade relations, and he stressed the strength of the UK-US trade relationship.
The spokesperson said Starmer’s relationship with Trump was “constructive”. He used the term when asked if Starmer agreed with Trump’s claim that Starmer had been “very nice” to him.
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The National Education Union has criticised Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary (for England – because education is devolved) for ignoring the impact of cuts in her speech this morning. Daniel Kedebe, the NEU general secretary, said:
There is an elephant in the room here.
The secretary of state is talking today about urging the education system to achieve more. At the same time, this Government is gearing up to make cuts to education, and to the other services which students need to remove barriers to their learning.
Sir Keir Starmer will be the first Labour prime minister since James Callaghan to tell schools to make cuts. He fudges this by calling them ‘efficiencies’, but they amount to reducing what schools require to meet their students’ needs properly.
And, restating his opposition to the new school report card system proposed for Ofsted, Kedebe said:
Pigs don’t get fatter as a result of weighing them more often. It’s not inspection that delivers excellence – it’s well supported, experienced leaders and education professionals – and it is investment. It’s a motivated, well valued workforce with great CPD [continuting professional development].
Using negative, pejorative terms like ‘stuck schools’ is unhelpful and counter-productive. Collaboration and not ranking is what builds a good local school for every child.
Quite simply you cannot have an improving school system whilst you are implementing austerity.
Starmer changed personal email after suspected Russian hack in 2022, new book reveals
Keir Starmer was forced to change his personal email account in 2022 after the security services investigated a suspected Russian hack, the Times reports today.
It is the latest story from Get In, a new book about Starmer’s rise to power and his early days in No 10, by the Times columnist Patrick Maguire and the Sunday Times Whitehall editor Gabriel Pogrund.
Describing what happened to Starmer, Maguire and Pogrund report:
Jill Cuthbertson, his head of office, circulated a note without explanation instructing staff not to email Starmer under any circumstances.
Starmer subsequently changed his email address, which a source said had been “dangerously obvious”, and added two-factor authentication, a fail-safe under which users can access an account only after passing two security checks …
Senior advisers from the Labour leader’s office were briefed on the hack at the National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of GCHQ.
Starmer was told that his personal email may have been hacked. Although there was no evidence that emails had been published, the services could not guarantee that sensitive information had not been stolen.
The book contains a series of other revelations, some of them embarrassing, which have been published in the Times and the Sunday Times. They include:
Morgan McSweeney, who is now Starmer’s chief of staff, privately doubted whether Starmer was capable of being an effective leader in the early days after he took over Labour, the book says. In an extract published yesterday, the authors say:
To a tiny circle of trusted friends, McSweeney later wondered aloud whether his boss was strong enough to weather the storm that engulfed his office in 2021. He had often referred contemptuously to some MPs as members of “librarian Labour”. Too many of them, he felt, seemed drawn to the quiet life: unprepared to confront the Corbynite left and with it existential questions about Labour’s purpose.
At times, McSweeney wondered if even Starmer was a librarian. In private he voiced his fears that his principal might be too timid. The leader was prepared to work with people who either did not understand the urgency of the change required, or appeared inclined to sabotage it.
He told one friend in the early phase of Starmer’s leadership: “Keir’s very bright and picks things up very fast. He’s not completely unpolitical. He has some sense of skulduggery. But not like these people. Angela is political all the time, she manipulates people … All of her people come from Unite. Keir doesn’t realise these are people he cannot do business with.” To another, McSweeney was openly fatalistic, questioning his boss’s lack of politics: “Keir acts like an HR manager, not a leader. What’s the point of circling the wagons if you can’t last?”
Angela Rayner viewed Prince Andrew as a “nonce” and tried to stop him having the right to stand in for the king as a counsellor of state in the king’s absence, the book says.
Dominic Cummings encouraged Jeremy Corbyn and his team to back Theresa May’s Brexit deal, the book says. It says that Cummings urged Corbyn to do this because he wanted Brexit to happen, and was not concerned that passing the May deal might split the Conservative party.
Starmer hired a voice coach, who was designated a key worker at one point so she could help him during Covid. The Tories are suggesting this broke lockdown rules, but Labour denies that.
Sue Gray, Starmer’s former chief of staff, excluded McSweeney from “accessing official papers and even using Downing Street teabags in a rift inside No 10” shortly after the election, the book says.
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Polish PM Donald Tusk says he wants to have UK 'as close as possible to EU when it comes to security issues'
Donald Tusk, the Polish PM, and a former president of the European Council, has said that he wants to see the UK “as close as possible to the EU when it comes to security issues”. Poland currently holds the presidency of the EU and Tusk said it was his initiative to invite Keir Starmer to the dinner tonight.
This is what he said (in Polish) as he arrived this morning.
I am really keen that, regardless of Brexit and its consequences, to have the UK as close as possible to the EU when it comes to security issues, defence industry, and to find ways to eliminate or reduce barriers in trade between the UK and Europe.
Today is the moment to get as close as possible again.
Here are two UK lobby journalists on President Trump suggesting the UK may be exempt from tariffs.
Brexiters are always keen to highlight Brexit bonuses whenever they can find one (which isn’t often), and Harry Cole from the Sun thinks this is a good example.
Amazing how many people are managing to point out Trump says UK can escape EU tariffs without mentioning the B word this morning!
Hugo Gye from the i says this shows that Starmer’s policy of sucking up to Trump seems to be paying off.
Whisper it, but Starmer's Trump strategy is paying off - for now. Forget the chatter about Mandelson/Chagos/etc, the president is lavishing praise on the PM *and* looks set to exempt UK from tariffs.
— Hugo Gye (@HugoGye) February 3, 2025
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EU leaders arriving for their informal summit have been relatively robust in what they have been saying about President Trump and the threat of tariffs, For example, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said:
If we are attacked in terms of trade, Europe – as a true power – will have to stand up for itself and therefore react.
Jakub Krupa has all the detail on his Europe live blog.
Keir Starmer’s dinner with EU leaders tonight will take place at the Palais d’Egmont, a 16th-century palace where Ted Heath signed the treaty taking Britain into the European Economic Community in 1972. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, claims this is a deliberate attempt to humiliate him.
The EU has invited @Keir_Starmer to a leaders summit in the very building where Ted Heath signed away our sovereignty in 1972.
This is deliberate and humiliating.
Starmer has learned nothing from the Brexit vote and it will come back to bite the Labour Party.
Phillipson says she is 'deeply concerned' about school absence rates
Q: School absences are still very high. How long will it take to turn that round?
Phillipson says she is “deeply concerned” about this. One child in five is not regulary in school. That damages their life chances, she says. She goes on:
That’s not something that we as government can tackle alone, although there’s a lot that we’re doing. It’s about that partnership between government schools and families. And after the pandemic, that increasing fracturing that we’ve seen – that’s why it’s been so important that we’ve reset that relationship between government and schools, and with the workforce, too.
In terms of what we’re doing at the moment, we’re investing more in mentoring and attendance support, working with schools that are not delivering what they should to drive up attendance rates.
Phillipson says it's 'insulting' to suggest new Ofsted report cards too complicated for parents
Q: Is it impossible to have a report card system for schools with enough detail to keep the unions happy, but enough simplicity to make it clear to parents?
Phillipson replies:
I think the system should and can do both. I think parents are more than able to process more information than is the case currently provided.
I think it’s, frankly, deeply insulting to suggest that somehow parents either don’t want or can’t understand a wider range of areas that need further improvement, or where there is real strength within the school system.
What this will also allow us to do is to not just focus on areas where schools need to improve, and where we will put extra support behind that, but alongside that, recognising where there is fantastic work within the system.
Bridget Phillipson has finished her speech. She is now taking questions.
Q: [From the BBC] How will parents hold schools to account? Will you get rid of failing schools?
Phillipson says she wants parents to see “a new and relentless focus on the very best quality education in all of our schools”.
What parents will see from the new set of arrangements, from the report cards, and from what I am setting out today is much more information about what is working well within their child’s school and where there is further to go in driving improvement.
Catherine McKinnell, the schools minister, was doing the interview round this morning on behalf of No 10. She was put up to talk primarily about the proposed Ofsted report cards, but inevitably she ended up being asked about tariffs and President Trump. This is what she said on LBC when asked if the UK was going to choose the EU over the US as a preferred trading partner.
We have incredibly strong trading relationships with the European Union, but also with the United States. The European Union is obviously our largest trading partner. The United States, we have £300bn of trade with the United States. They’re our largest investor. We are the largest investor in the United States – £1.2tn a year invested in one another’s economies. I don’t think we should have to choose.
I think Keir Starmer has taken the right approach in building really strong relationships with our European neighbours and with the United States.
New Ofsted report card system will provide 'rich, granular insight', Bridget Phillipson says
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is giving her speech on school standards now at the Centre for Social Justice.
There is a live feed here.
According to extracts released in advance, she will defend the proposals for a new Ofsted system for assessing schools. She will say:
Our proposals will swap single headline grades for the rich, granular insight of school report cards.
Raising the bar on what we expect from schools, shining a light on all the areas that matter, each given their own grade.
Identifying excellence and rooting out performance that falls short of expectations, so that parents have clearer, better information about their local schools.
Keir Starmer wants his meeting with EU leaders to focus on security. According to Downing Street, when he meets EU leaders tonight, he will “set out his pitch for an ambitious UK-EU defence and security partnership with a number of steps to increase co-operation on shared threats, and go further on cross-border crime and illegal migration, while delivering growth and security at home”. Rowena Mason has more detail here.
In a statement issued overnight, Starmer said:
We need to see all allies stepping up – particularly in Europe.
President Trump has threatened more sanctions on Russia and it’s clear that’s got Putin rattled. We know that he’s worried about the state of the Russian economy.
I’m here to work with our European partners on keeping up the pressure, targeting the energy revenues and the companies supplying his missile factories to crush Putin’s war machine.
Because ultimately, alongside our military support, that is what will bring peace closer.
Given that Putin is not the only European leader “rattled” by what Trump is up to, this agenda may be overshadowed by the trade/tariffs story.
Ofsted’s new school report card worse than old system, say headteachers
Moves to overhaul the way schools are inspected in England have been criticised by headteachers and teaching unions as “demoralising” and worse than the system they are aiming to replace, Richard Adams and Peter Walker report.
The Times this morning has splashed on a story claiming that, at the EU dinner this evening, President Macron will tell Keir Starmer that his appearance at the summit means Brexit has failed.
The story is based on a quote from a “senior diplomat” arguing that Macron thinks Brexit was always doomed to fail anyway, but that the election of Donald Trump has made it even more unviable.
In their story, Bruno Waterfield and Matt Dathan report:
Senior diplomats have said France views Starmer as the “demandeur,” a supplicant who is being pushed back into the EU fold because Britain has been weakened by Brexit at a time of growing international instability and the return of Trump to the White House.
A senior diplomat said: “The Brexit project, breaking away from the EU to create a global Britain, didn’t work. We thought it wouldn’t work because the UK is European, geographically and economically. Brexit was a project for a stable and prosperous world, but in a complicated world, obviously the UK will be closer to Europe.”
#TomorrowsPapersToday - The Times
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Russia suspected of hacking into Sir Keirs email
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UK could avoid the US tariffs the ‘atrocity’ EU is facing because Starmer has been ‘nice’, Trump suggests
Good morning. Keir Starmer will tonight become the first British PM since Brexit to attend a European Council meeting (a dinner, as part of an informal EU summit), and it could not have come at a more difficult time, because it is happening just as Donald Trump is unleashing tariff warfare.
Graeme Wearden is covering the global tariff story on his business live blog.
For the UK, a global tariff war presents a particular challenge. Pre-Brexit, the UK would just been a leading member of the EU camp. In 2016, Brexiters argued that Britain would be better off not aligned to any major trading bloc, and that it would gain most by being able to nimbly duck and weave through the global trading networks. Some Brexiters wanted a straightforward alignment with the US, which now seems to be the official Conservative party position, but most of them were arguing for pick ‘n’ mix unilateralism.
Starmer is about to find out whether this Brexit scenario turns out to be viable, whether, in a trade war between the US and the EU, Britain can avoid the US tariffs that Trump plans to impose on the EU while similtaneously achieving Labour’s goal of improving UK-EU trade by easing some of the trade barriers that have been in place since Brexit. Or whether the UK has to pick a side. Or whether it ends up being crushed in the middle, losing out in both directions.
In comments yesterday, Trump said that he was not ruling out tariffs on the UK, but he implied that he was trying to peel Britain away from the EU, whom he described as “an atrocity”. He was speaking to reporters at Andrews air force base near Washington, as he arrived back from Florida, and he was specifically asked about the UK by Nomia Iqbal, BBC’s North America correspondent. Here is a transcript of the key exchange.
Q: Mr President, which country will be next on tariffs? Would you consider taxing the UK?
DT: Well, we’re going to see what happens. It’ll happen
Q: With the UK?
DT: Might. Let’s see how things work out. It might happen with them.
It will definitely happen with the European Union, I can tell you that, because they’ve really taken advantage of us. We have over $300bn deficit. They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our farm products, they take almost nothing, and we take everything from them - millions of cars, tremendous amounts of food and farm products.
So the UK is way out of line. And we’ll see.
[At this point Trump appears to correct himself, having said UK when he appears to have meant the EU.]
But European Union is really out of line. UK is out of line, but I’m sure that one, I think that one, can be worked out.
But the European Union it’s an atrocity what they’ve done.
Q: Prime Minister Starmer wants a closer relationship with the EU.
DT: Well, Prime Minister Starmer has been very nice. We’ve had a couple of meetings. We’ve had numerous phone calls. We’re getting along very well. We’ll see whether or not we can balance out our budget.
With the European Union, it’s $350bn deficit, so obviously something’s going to take place there
As is often the case with Trump, he managed to combine the language of a teenager (“very nice”, “getting along very well”) with the menace of a gangster.
At some point we will get some sort of response from Starmer, and from EU leaders, although – in public, at least – it may be very constrained and limited.
Jakub Krupa is covering the Europe-wide aspects of the summit on our Europe live blog
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, gives a speech on school standards.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Liz Kendall, the work and pension secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Afternoon: Keir Starmer holds a meeting with the Nato secretary general at Nato HQ in Brussels. They are due to hold press conference at 3.40pm UK time.
3.30pm: The Home Builders Federation and the National Housing Federation give evidence to the Commons public accounts committee about the cladding scandal.
Evening: Starmer has dinner with EU leaders at the Palais d’Egmont in Brussels.
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