‘She did kill. There’s no grey area there’: Labour MP Naz Shah on the day she and her mother were arrested for murder

The politician was 18 when she and her mum were hauled off to a police station for the killing of the man she’d considered an uncle. What happened next would shape her future. She talks Labour’s woes, making mistakes, and why it’s finally time to share her own traumatic storyRead an extract from Naz Shah’s memoirNaz Shah found it thrilling when she was arrested on suspicion of murder. “I’ll be honest with you, I had fun. It was the most excitement I’d ever had in my flipping life

Labour minister faces calls to be sacked over false claims against journalists

Politicians from across the spectrum have said a minister should be sacked after a Guardian report that he had accused journalists of having links to Russian intelligence.Their comments came after an investigation showed that Josh Simons, who was running Labour Together at the time, had falsely concluded the journalists had obtained information about the thinktank from a Russian hack.The revelation has added to the pressure on Simons, a Cabinet Office minister, who is already the subject of a departmental ethics inquiry, and prompted calls from several politicians that he should be sacked or resign.Kevin Hollinrake, the chair of the Conservative party, said Simons should be suspended from office and an independent inquiry should be carried out, adding: “The Cabinet Office cannot be left to mark its own homework.”Hollinrake said the need to act was acute because Simons, in his role as a junior minister, had a “ministerial responsibility for inquiries and whistleblowing across government” at a time when questions were being raised about his conduct

Donor suspended from Tories pays £50,000 for dinner with Kemi Badenoch

A Conservative donor who was suspended from the party after being accused of bullying and inappropriate language spent £50,000 last week to have dinner with Kemi Badenoch, the Guardian has learned.Rami Ranger was the successful bidder for the dinner at a Tory fundraising event and will attend the meal with a small group of friends, infuriating those in the party who believe he should not have been readmitted.Lord Ranger, who has given more than £1.5m to the Conservatives since 2009, was suspended in 2023 after complaints about remarks he had made to an independent journalist, and separately, about Pakistanis. He was readmitted in November 2024, but lost his CBE soon afterwards

Does Nigel Farage have a problem with women?

When Nigel Farage told a journalist this week she should “write some silly story … and we won’t bother to read it”, it provoked an instant – and divided – reaction. For some it was a “masterclass” in dealing with mainstream media, but for others it was “rude, dismissive, misogynistic, arrogant”.Behind the scenes, Farage’s treatment of the Financial Times’s Anna Gross – which was met with mirth and applause among Reform diehards in the room – provoked disquiet and anger among lobby journalists across the political spectrum.As the Reform UK leader was leaving the event, a Guardian political reporter suggested he had been rude and had upset the journalist. “Good,” Farage responded

Starmer 2.0: could a more authentic PM revive Labour’s appeal?

Two days after Keir Starmer had been disowned by the Scottish Labour leader last week, and as a row raged over another controversial peerage, the prime minister decided to pick a fight with a billionaire.It was a dark week for the prime minister, with the departure of his longtime chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who had become a deeply divisive figure and who took the hit for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, despite his links to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.But last Thursday morning had – for a change – been dominated by a different story. Top of the bulletins were comments from Jim Ratcliffe, the Monaco-based Manchester United owner, who said the UK had been “colonised by immigrants”, citing wildly inaccurate figures.The previous afternoon, when the comments were first broadcast, Starmer tweeted to proactively condemn them as “offensive and wrong”

UK ‘working with US’ to analyse impact of supreme court’s ruling against tariffs

Britain and the EU said they were assessing the implications of the US supreme court ruling against Donald Trump’s global tariffs, while business groups reacted to the court’s announcement with caution.A spokesperson for Downing Street said: “The UK government is working with the US to understand how the overturning of Donald Trump’s tariffs by the supreme court will affect the UK but expects our privileged trading position with the US to continue.”The UK was the first to strike a tariff deal with the US, with 10% tariffs on all imports from Britain, compared with a blanket 15% rate for the EU.The EU said it was analysing the ruling while continuing its drive to work towards reducing the tariffs the US imposed on European exports.The EU agreed the 15% tariff rate with the US at Trump’s Scottish golf course last July but 50% tariffs are still imposed on steel