Keir Starmer and top Labour colleagues to stop taking clothes gifts from donors

Labour’s first party conference as a new government risks being overshadowed by the donations row as Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner gave in to pressure to stop accepting clothes as free gifts.The decision followed days of criticism over the Labour peer Waheed Alli funding Starmer’s work wardrobe, as well as clothes for his wife, Victoria, that were not initially declared. The Guardian revealed on Friday that Reeves and Rayner also received donations for work outfits.Lord Alli, a businessman who is Labour’s main fundraiser, had given Starmer £2,435 worth of glasses and £16,200 worth of work clothing, as well as a stay in an £18m penthouse apartment. Starmer may have broken parliamentary rules by failing to declare clothes bought for his wife by Alli within 28 days of receiving them

Lords appointments must be transparent | Letter

Marina Hyde makes important and valid points in relation to the way pundits comment and speculate on Charlotte Owen (Here’s the real ‘enigma’ about Charlotte Owen: why we still take sexist gossip so seriously, 17 September).However, as it is the UK taxpayer who funds her position in the House of Lords we should be entitled to access a very clearly documented justification for her appointment, including the reason for her appointment to her role in No 10, and what she achieved in that role (or in any other role), to justify her elevation to the peerage.The fact that she was appointed by Boris Johnson, someone whose judgment has previously been seriously questioned in relation to his appointment of Evgeny Lebedev, further justifies any public concerns. As a matter of ethical governance, the same principle of access and transparency should apply to all elevations to the upper house.Dr David ColesElsdon, Northumberland I have found one of the very rare things on which I disagree with Marina Hyde

Focus on NHS and cost of living or lose former Tory voters, Labour told

Keir Starmer won the election because of a ruthless focus on winning over people who voted Conservative in 2019, but the party has been left with a “fragile coalition” of supporters who will abandon it if it fails to deal with the cost of living crisis and the NHS, a thinktank has said.In a report by Labour Together, an influential Starmerite thinktank, researchers concluded voters had “cautiously hired” the prime minister “on a trial basis”, and he was “liable to prompt dismissal” if his government deviated even slightly from focusing on voters’ priorities.The thinktank reported their findings to key No 10 figures, including Pat McFadden and Morgan McSweeney, in a Cabinet Office meeting last week.The researchers, who are regarded as the government’s “critical friend”, said they were honest and direct about the challenges they believed lay ahead for Starmer’s top team. Officials were told that if the government did not deliver for voters, who have become more transactional than ever, they could easily face the same fate the Conservatives did after the 2019 election

‘He could be here more’: Clacton split over Nigel Farage’s first months as MP

It happened sometime on Monday morning, locals think, though no one seems to know exactly when. But as staff in the shops on Old Road in Clacton stepped out of work for lunch, they spotted that the billboard on the corner of Crossfield Road had been ripped to ribbons.Plenty had approved of the poster, placed there by the political campaign group Led By Donkeys, drawing attention to the huge scale of the local MP Nigel Farage’s earnings outside politics. A photo of the billboard posted on X by the group has 24,000 likes.But someone – presumably a fan of the Reform leader – objected to the poster being stuck up in the Essex town

Reform can learn from Lib Dems on ground campaigning, says Richard Tice

Reform UK plans to mimic the Liberal Democrats in building up a national base of councillors and activists to try to expand its support, the party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, has said before its annual conference.While the mood in Birmingham will be celebratory, with Tice joining Nigel Farage as two of the five Reform MPs elected on 4 July, there could also be some internal dissent over a planned new party constitution, with one senior party figure saying it would allow Farage to act as an “absolute dictator”.On Friday, the first day of the gathering, there will be speeches from all the MPs, plus Zia Yusuf, the millionaire businessman, Reform’s new chair, who is leading efforts to professionalise the party.Tice told the Guardian the immediate focus would be on targeting the two main parties at local elections across England next May. “Not only will the Tories be in disarray but Labour will be unpopular coming out of a winter when, bluntly, pensioners will have died because of their policies

Ministers and union leaders to hold crunch talks over workers’ rights plans

Trade union leaders will meet senior ministers on Saturday for crunch talks on the government’s workers’ rights package, as the government looks to head off a potentially damaging row at Labour conference.General secretaries from the 11 unions affiliated to Labour will meet Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, and Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, on the eve of conference to thrash out details of the package, sources have told the Guardian.With just weeks to go until ministers are due to publish their proposals and several points of dispute still outstanding, ministers are hoping to avoid a damaging row with union backers so soon into the new government. Labour has promised to come forward with its proposals in the first 100 days of government, giving a month to do so.One person briefed on the meeting’s agenda said there were still “a number of points of departure” between the government and unions, but that ministers were hoping to emerge with a final agreement