Strangers’ bar in parliament to close after alleged spiking incident

Parliament’s Strangers’ bar will be closed next week while security arrangements are reviewed after an alleged spiking incident.A House of Commons spokesperson said the bar, which is located on the parliamentary estate and is frequented by MPs on weekday evenings, would be closed from Monday.“The safety of everyone on the estate remains a key priority of both houses,” the spokesperson said.The Metropolitan police are investigating after a parliamentary researcher reported that her drink had been spiked. The woman alerted bar staff and parliamentary security to her drink being tampered with, according to Politico, which first reported the story

Badenoch’s pensions triple lock remarks prompt alarm among Tory colleagues

Kemi Badenoch has been urged by a former Conservative pensions minister to clarify “what on earth she means” by suggesting the pensions triple lock could be means-tested, amid alarm within the party that she will lose support among older people.The Conservative leader suggested she could back a major policy shift away from the universal promise introduced under her party that the state pension will rise each year by whichever is highest out of 2.5%, inflation, or earnings.When asked during an LBC phone-in whether she would look at the triple lock, Badenoch said: “We’re going to look at means testing. Means testing is something which we don’t do properly here

I won’t let critics get to me, says Reeves after speculation about her future

Rachel Reeves has said she is not going to let her critics get her down after a bruising week of speculation about whether she could be ousted as chancellor.Reeves said she is qualified for the job and has the ideas to turn things around, amid worries about falling business confidence and the rising cost of government borrowing.“I haven’t taken it personally this week. It’s political,” she said on the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson. “Some people don’t want me to succeed

Tories will consider means testing pension triple-lock, Badenoch says

Kemi Badenoch has said the Tories will consider means testing the triple-lock, in what would be a major policy shift.Under the policy, the state pension rises each year by whichever is highest out of 2.5%, inflation, or earnings.During a phone-in on LBC, Badenoch was asked whether she would “look at” the triple-lock, to which she replied: “We’re going to look at means testing. Means testing is something which we don’t do properly here

KemiKaze’s ‘relaunch’ speech reveals a Tory leader already out of ideas | John Crace

Seeing is not always believing. Fair to say that Kemi Badenoch’s time as leader of the Tory party has not got off to the best of starts. Hopeless at prime minister’s questions and seemingly already out of ideas, many in the party are already looking around for possible successors. Even Robert Jenrick. Things really are that desperate

UK politics: Kemi Badenoch describes Rachel Reeves as a ‘woman problem’ for Keir Starmer – as it happened

Here is the quote from Kemi Badenoch’s Q&A with journalists where she referred to Rachel Reeves as being a “woman problem” for the PM.Asked, jokingly, if she would back Keir Starmer if he sacked Reeves (see 2.07pm), Badenoch replied:If he does the right thing with Rachel Reeves, I will also support him in that, but his ‘woman problem’ is not my concern.Asked later why she referred to Reeves being a woman in this context (see 2.15pm), Badenoch replied:Well, when [Reeves] stood up in her budget, she wanted everyone to know that she was the first female chancellor