Downing Street says Starmer still has ‘confidence in his top team’ after Rayner and Mandelson departures – as it happened

Downing Street said Keir Starmer still had confidence in his “top team” follow questions over his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who was reported to have lobbied for Peter Mandelson’s initial appointment.Education secretary Bridget Phillipson, and the ousted cabinet minister Lucy Powell, are set to be the two candidates for Labour’s deputy leadership as other candidates struggled to get the minimum number of nominations. On Wednesday evening, Phillipson had the backing of 116 MPs and Powell had 77 nominations, three short of the required 80.The chairwoman of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has written to the foreign secretary demanding answers on the vetting process for Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US. Emily Thornberry wrote to Yvette Cooper, who took over as foreign secretary after the cabinet reshuffle, asking for clarification on what security concerns were raised during the process and how the Foreign Office responded to those concerns

Labour deputy contender Lucy Powell calls for culture change at No 10

Lucy Powell has called for a “change of culture” inside Keir Starmer’s Downing Street to make it more inclusive and better connected to MPs, promising that as Labour’s deputy leader she would when needed deliver difficult truths to the prime minister.Speaking to the Guardian after she secured 117 MP nominations in the battle to replace Angela Rayner, Powell said a sequence of what she called “unforced errors” by the government had left many Labour MPs and members frustrated.Powell now faces a vote of party members against Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, who reached 175 endorsements and is viewed as No 10’s preferred choice to take on the role.Powell was Commons leader until she was sacked from the government in last week’s reshuffle, a decision she said was a complete shock, and for which she had as yet received no explanation.She said she believed it could be because she sometimes passed on MPs’ concerns to Downing Street, and that if elected she would hope to continue such a “shop steward” role, making the government less factional and closed-off

Starmer urged to do more to push back against ‘onslaught of racism’

Senior Labour MPs and the UK’s largest anti-fascist campaign group have called on Keir Starmer to mount a more heartfelt defence of diversity and anti-racism. They say they fear that Labour is not yet putting its “heart and soul” into the battle against Nigel Farage and the far right.Hope Not Hate’s chief executive has written a letter to Starmer in the lead up to a planned far-right demonstration in London on Saturday, demanding the prime minister speak up more against hate and racism.In the letter, Nick Lowles said: “Hate breeds when those in power are silent. I implore you and other ministers to speak out urgently in defence of our migrant communities and our multicultural society more generally

Share your question for the Labour party deputy leadership candidates

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson, and the ousted cabinet minister Lucy Powell, are set to be the two candidates for Labour’s deputy leadership as other candidates struggled to get the minimum number of nominations.On Wednesday evening, Phillipson had the backing of 116 MPs and Powell had 77 nominations, three short of the required 80.Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Paula Barker received support from fewer than 15 MPs, with Emily Thornberry announcing on Thursday she had withdrawn from the race. The communities minister Alison McGovern pulled out on Wednesday afternoon and endorsed Phillipson.The ballot for members to vote will open on Wednesday 8 October and they will have until Thursday 23 October to have their say

Sir Robert Worcester obituary

On the morning of 16 March 1976, Robert Worcester – universally known as “Bob” – received the phone call that converted him from the head of a little-known market research company into the public face of polling in Britain. The call was from Harold Evans, the editor of the Sunday Times. Harold Wilson had just announced his retirement as prime minister. Evans wanted to find out whom voters wanted as the next Labour leader. Who better to conduct the survey than Labour’s own private pollster: Worcester himself?The poll, showing James Callaghan well ahead, provided the front-page lead for the following Sunday’s paper

UK needed ‘unconventional’ US ambassador when picking Mandelson, minister says

The UK government believed an “unconventional presidential administration” required an “unconventional ambassador” when it appointed Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, a cabinet minister has said.But the Scotland secretary, Douglas Alexander, told broadcasters Mandelson would not have been given the role had the prime minister known the depth of his association with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Keir Starmer is facing increasing questions over what he knew and when of Mandelson’s ties with Epstein. The prime minister sacked him on Thursday after emails showed he sent supportive messages even as Epstein faced jail for sex offences.Alexander told Sky News he had reacted with “incredulity and revulsion” to the publication of emails between Mandelson and Epstein, adding he was “not here to defend him”