Exclusive: A trio of candidates have been interviewed by the PM, but he could still decide to directly appoint someone else
Keir Starmer is poised to choose a new ambassador to Washington from a shortlist of three as relations with the US are tested over Ukraine and Donald Trump’s attacks on European leaders.
The prime minister held interviews with three finalists for the role this week, the Guardian has learned, with Downing Street preparing to make an appointment before the end of the year.
As 27 European countries urge changes to laws forged after second world war, human rights chief says politicians are playing into hands of populists
The battle had been brewing for months. But this week it came to a head in a flurry of meetings, calls and one heady statement. Twenty-seven European countries urged a rethink of the human rights laws forged after the second world war, describing them asan impediment when it came to addressing migration.
Amnesty International has called it “a moral retreat”. Europe’s most senior human rights official said the approach risked creating a “hierarchy of people” where some are seen as more deserving of protection than others.
Nick Moss, Dr Deborah Talbot, Dimitra Blana and Mary Pimm on the prime minister’s plan to ‘protect our borders’ and Donald Trump’s accusations that Europe is ‘weak’ and ‘decaying’
It is not just that the human rights lawyer who wrote a key text on the Human Rights Act 1998 has become, as prime minister, an advocate of the act’s undoing, along with all the consequences for migrant families that will flow from that. It is that Starmer shows through this the complete dearth of ideas available to European social democracy.
A super flu epidemic is sweeping the country. Let us come together to protect the institution we all love
Keir Starmer is the British prime minister
I am a Labour prime minister who believes in workers’ right to strike. But let’s be clear about the strikes planned by resident doctors next week. They should not happen. They are reckless. They place the NHS and patients who need it in grave danger.
I remain hopeful they can be averted. A good deal is on the table, and the British Medical Association (BMA) is putting it to members this weekend. My message to the doctors is simple – take it.
Keir Starmer is the prime minister of the United Kingdom
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Keir Starmer has said it is “frankly beyond belief” that resident doctors would strike during the NHS’s worst moment since the pandemic, in remarks that risk inflaming tensions with medical staff.
Writing for the Guardian, the prime minister made an outspoken attack on the strikes planned for 17-22 December for placing “the NHS and patients who need it in grave danger”.
The US made it clear this week that it plans to help the parties of the European far right gain power. Keir Starmer and his fellow leaders have to face this new reality
When are we going to get the message? I joked a few months back that, when it comes to Donald Trump, Europe needs to learn from Sex and the City’s Miranda Hobbes and realise that “He’s just not that into you”. After this past week, it’s clear that understates the problem. Trump’s America is not merely indifferent to Europe – it’s positively hostile to it. That has enormous implications for the continent and for Britain, which too many of our leaders still refuse to face.
The depth of US hostility was revealed most explicitly in the new US national security strategy, or NSS, a 29-page document that serves as a formal statement of the foreign policy of the second Trump administration. There is much there to lament, starting with the sceptical quote marks that appear around the sole reference to “climate change”, but the most striking passages are those that take aim at Europe.
Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
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Foreign ministry says there has been ‘significant increase in Russian hybrid activities’ and government will decide on further diplomatic measures later
Russia’s central bank said it was suing the Belgium-based Euroclear financial group, which holds Moscow’s frozen international reserves, as the EU moves closer to using the funds to support Ukraine, AFP reported.
The bank said it was filing “a lawsuit against Euroclear in the Moscow Arbitration Court” due to what it called “the illegal actions” of the institution.
Mark Rowley says capital is a safe city, and claims of no-go areas are ‘completely false’
Members of the House of Lords have proposed “totally unnecessary” and “very cruel” amendments to the assisted dying bill in a bid to scupper it, Kim Leadbeater, the MP leading the campaign for the legislation, has said. Kiran Stacey has the story.
I have beefed up the post at 9.08am to include the direct quote from Wes Streeting about not being able to guarantee patient safety in the NHS if the strike by resident doctors in England goes ahead. You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.
Sir Keir Starmer promised to bring meaningful reform to the House of Lords. He is failing to introduce it
In opposition, Sir Keir Starmer called the unelected House of Lords “indefensible”. This week, barely 18 months into his prime ministership, Sir Keir took the total of unelected peers he has appointed since July 2024 to 96. Remarkably, Wednesday’s 34 new life peerages, mainly Labour supporters, take his appointment total above those of each of his four most recent Conservative predecessors. You must go back to David Cameron to find a prime minister who did more to stuff the Lords than Sir Keir.
At the last election, Labour presented itself to the voters as a party of Lords reform. The party manifesto promised to remove the remaining hereditary peers, to reform the appointments process, to impose a peers’ retirement age, and to consult on proposals for replacing the Lords with an alternative second chamber. The House of Lords, the manifesto flatly declared, was “too big”.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Labour’s £500m national youth strategy has some positives, but real change must start by tackling the root causes of unhappiness
Bonnie Blue, the porn actor who recently made headlines for her antics in Bali – which you probably shouldn’t Google – has come out in support of Nigel Farage.
And in not unconnected news, “rage baiting” – saying deliberately annoying things to get attention – is the Oxford University Press’s word of the year. Bonnie’s most effective way of advertising her X-rated content to the masses now is by generating enough controversy to get her publicly talked about, and she’s very good at making just enough noise (this time in the Spectator, of all places) to drum up a bit of traffic.
US president says Europeans pushing for meeting as ‘Coalition of Willing’ due to hold call about war
In other news, we will also hear from Nobel peace prize winner María Corina Machado later today, as she arrived in Oslo overnight after a truly incredible trip from Venezuela.
The Wall Street Journal reported on the details of the operation to get her out of the country and over to Norway, describing how she “slipped through 10 military checkpoints to reach a fishing boat bound for Curaçao and a private jetheaded to Norway,” where she met members of her family for the first time in almost two years.
Human rights official says politicians are playing into the hands of the populist right as they seek to tackle migration
Keir Starmer and Europe’s hardline governments risk creating a “hierarchy of people” as they seek to address migration by curbing fundamental rights, Europe’s most senior human rights official has said.
Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, said that “middle-of-the-road politicians” are playing into the hands of the populist right.
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems’ Gentleman Ed rips into Starmer for staying silent on The Donald’s US security strategy
With little more than a week to go until the Christmas recess, the Commons is in festive overdrive. Demob happy. A few minutes in to the year’s penultimate prime minister’s questions with MPs from both sides shouting and cheering, the speaker interrupted proceedings to say: “We don’t need the panto auditions any more.” To which the natural response was: “Ooh yes we do.” Because that’s pretty much the whole purpose of PMQs at the best of times. A feelgood experience for some. A feelbad experience for others. Noise with no substance.
No one embraces the panto spirit more than Kemi Badenoch. Kemi has come to realise that the bar is actually quite low for her to remain as Tory leader. All she has to do is be a little bit better than Keir Starmer at PMQs. Which is turning out to be a lot less difficult than she imagined. Sometimes just standing up is enough.
Labour says appointments needed to balance upper house, and chooses former advisers to No 10 and the chancellor
Keir Starmer has appointed 25 Labour peers including a number of former senior government and party aides in an attempt to strengthen his hand in the House of Lords.
Matthew Doyle, a former No 10 director of communications, and Katie Martin, a former chief of staff to Rachel Reeves, will be among those appointed to the upper house in a move first reported by the Guardian.
Calls to modernise human rights law too often assume that hostile public opinion cannot be changed by argument from first principles
Arguments over the role of the European convention on human rights in asylum policy express a tension between the politics of an ever-changing world and the principle of immutable humanitarian values.
When Sir Keir Starmer observes that population flows in 2025 are different to conditions 75 years ago, when the ECHR was drafted, and that governments have a duty to adapt to the change, he is responding to political reality.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
President says there were ‘strong words’ in latest call, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy to join other European leaders to discuss peace plan on Thursday
Leaders of the “coalition of the willing” group of nations will hold a video call about the Ukraine war on Thursday as Donald Trump voiced impatience with European allies and put US involvement in further talks in doubt, saying they risked “wasting time”.
Amid chaotic American efforts to push through a peace deal, the US president said on Wednesday night: “We discussed Ukraine in pretty strong words”, when asked about an earlier phone call with British prime minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz
Keir Starmer has called on European leaders to urgently change human rights laws so that member states can take tougher action to protect their borders and see off the rise of the populist right across the continent. But Labour has been condemned by campaigners and MPs who argue the proposals could lead to countries abandoning the world’s most vulnerable people and will further demonise refugees.
Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s political editor and host of Politics Weekly UK, Pippa Crerar
Guardian reporting ban | Gavel rash | Human rights | Proposed citizenship questions | Sans Serriffe
News that the Guardian has been barred from the Amex stadium (Brighton ban Guardian from stadium over reporting on Tony Bloom, 7 December) follows a previous exclusion order imposed by the club on the local paper, the Evening Argus, for publishing stories unfavourable to the then directors in the 1980s. The paper got around this by covering matches from a back garden overlooking the old Goldstone ground, with the photographer perched up a stepladder. Sadly, this isn’t an option at the totally enclosed Amex arena. Jim Hatley Brighton
• I see that in the Wordsearch about courts (8 December), one answer is “gavel”. I thought it was pretty well established now that judges in the UK do not use gavels, such tools only being employed by auctioneers. Are you trying to assert that justice in Britain is available only to the highest bidder? John Starbuck Lepton, West Yorkshire
The chancellor will give evidence to the Commons Treasury committee about the budget from 10am
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will start giving evidence to the Treasury committee at 10am. She will appear alongside James Bowler, permanent secretary at the Treasury, and Dharmesh Nayee, its director of strategy, planning and budget.
This is what the Treasury committee said in a news release about the topics it wants to cover.
Members are likely to examine the significant changes to the Treasury’s tax and spending plans, and potential implications for the economy, public services and government debt.
The chancellor is also expected to answer questions on topical issues, such as how her department handled the months leading up to the budget and the recently announced leak inquiry.
It’s our generation’s responsibility to break down barriers to opportunity for young people.
We’re investing in youth services so every child has the chance to thrive and we’re boosting apprenticeships so young people can see their talents take them as far as they can.
-Build or refurbish up to 250 youth facilities over the next four years, as well as providing equipment for activities to around 2,500 youth organisations, through a new £350m ‘Better Youth Spaces’ programme. It will provide safe and welcoming spaces, offering young people somewhere to go, something meaningful to do, and someone who cares about their wellbeing.
-Launch a network of 50 Young Futures Hubs by March 2029 as part of a local transformation programme of £70m, providing access to youth workers and other professionals, supporting their wellbeing and career development and preventing them from harm.
Keir Starmer has called on European leaders to urgently curb joint human rights laws so that member states can take tougher action to protect their borders and see off the rise of the populist right across the continent.
Before a crucial European summit on Wednesday, the prime minister urged fellow members to “go further” in modernising the interpretation of the European convention on human rights (ECHR) to prevent asylum seekers using it to avoid deportation.
The White House is aggressively seeking to weaken and dominate the United States’ traditional allies. European leaders must learn to fight back.
Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz have become adept at scrambling to deal with the latest bad news from Washington. Their meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Downing Street on Monday was so hastily arranged that Mr Macron needed to be back in Paris by late afternoon to meet Croatia’s prime minister, while Mr Merz was due on television for an end-of-year Q&A with the German public.
But diplomatic improvisation alone cannot fully answer Donald Trump’s structural threat to European security. The US president and his emissaries are trying to bully Mr Zelenskyy into an unjust peace deal that suits American and Russian interests. In response, the summit helped ramp up support for the use of up to £100bn in frozen Russian assets as collateral for a “reparations loan” to Ukraine. European counter-proposals for a ceasefire will need to be given the kind of financial backing that provides Mr Zelenskyy with leverage at a critical moment.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Public figures sign letter saying plan to reinterpret ECHR for asylum seekers is ‘affront to us all’ and a threat to security
The actors Michael Palin, Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley are among 21 well-known figures calling on Keir Starmer to drop plans to weaken human rights law and instead “take a principled stand” for torture victims, on the eve of a crucial European summit.
As David Lammy prepares to attend a Council of Europe meeting in Strasbourg that will discuss legal changes to stop bogus asylum claims, the novelist Julian Barnes, the actor Adrian Lester and the comedian Aisling Bea have also signed a letter telling the prime minister: “Any attempt at undermining universal protections is an affront to us all and a threat to the security of each and every one of us.”
The PM is the face of failure, but he is not solely responsible. As the Blairite ideologues mass behind Wes Streeting, we should hold them to account too
There have been far too few defences of Keir Starmer in the British press of late. Time for a modest redress. As the last rites are muttered over his premiership, his colleagues want you to know that this is all his fault. The humiliation is complete: even Labour Together – the outfit that quietly plotted Starmer’s leadership bid – is now sharpening its knives. It is polling members on who should replace him, indulging the comforting fantasy that swapping captains will somehow stop the ship from sinking.
The Tory experience of regicide should offer a caution: do not depose a king unless you have already settled on a prince who understands why the kingdom is in crisis. The Tories toppled Boris Johnson and installed Liz Truss, whose zeal to slash taxes for the wealthy detonated the markets and sealed her party’s fate. Why? Because they convinced themselves that Johnson had failed for being insufficiently rightwing.
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