Farage claims he received official advice not to hold constituency surgeries

Nigel Farage has said he received official parliamentary advice against holding in-person surgeries for his constituents – though his claim was immediately called into question by insiders.On Thursday the Reform UK leader, who became the MP for Clacton in Essex in July, said he had been advised not to hold the physical weekly meetings that are a staple for most MPs, citing fears the public would “flow through the door with knives in their pockets”.He recalled the murder of the Conservative MP David Amess at a surgery in Essex three years ago.Farage said he had been given guidance by “the [Commons] speaker’s office, and beneath the speaker’s office there is a security team who give advice and say you should do some things and not do others”.However, a source told the Guardian this was not advice that the office of the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, or the security team would give to any MP as it would interfere with their democratic duties

European court rejects Paterson appeal over report into improper lobbying

The European court of human rights has dismissed an appeal by the former MP Owen Paterson against the parliamentary report that preceded his political downfall.Paterson, a former environment secretary and influential pro-Brexit Conservative, resigned as an MP in 2021 after an investigation by the parliamentary commissioner for standards established that he had repeatedly engaged in improper lobbying.The investigation began in 2019 after the Guardian reported that Paterson had lobbied ministers and officials, asking them to take steps that would benefit two companies that were paying him to be their consultant.Two years later the commissioner, Kathryn Stone, found that Paterson had made 14 approaches to ministers and officials. A committee of MPs recommended he be suspended from the House of Commons for 30 days over the “egregious” breach of lobbying rules

With a lust for freebies and hobbled by infighting, Labour look like the Tories 2.0 | John Crace

During the last election campaign it was hard to escape the impression that, whatever his other faults, Rishi Sunak just wasn’t very good at politics. The charge sheet included getting drenched announcing the election and leaving D-day veterans on the beaches. And insisting that black was white: that he was stopping the boats, that the economy was in good shape, that the Tories were on course for victory.Just a couple of months later, it very much feels like Keir Starmer and Labour are saying: “Hold my beer.” Keen to prove that they, too, are amateurs at the political PR game

Starmer’s free tickets for Arsenal and Taylor Swift part of job, says minister

Keir Starmer’s attendance at Arsenal football matches and Taylor Swift concerts is “part of the job”, the business secretary has said.Jonathan Reynolds described the occasions for which Starmer had accepted tickets, including a Coldplay gig and football matches, as “major cultural, sporting events”.The minister said he had “no problem” with politicians accepting gifts that can be of “a more personal nature” and noted hard-working politicians were entitled to “a bit of relaxation”.Starmer has accepted almost 40 sets of free tickets during his time as Labour leader, mostly to football matches but also £4,000 of hospitality at a Taylor Swift concert and £698-worth of Coldplay tickets in Manchester.He has also come under fire for the number of gifts accepted from Waheed Alli, who paid for work clothing worth £12,000, accommodation valued at more than £20,000 and glasses valued at £2,485

Labour will lean into hope at first conference in power for 15 years

When Ellie Reeves opens Labour conference, she will be the first Labour minister to do so since Harriet Harman walked off the stage in Brighton 15 years ago. For the 20,000 Labour supporters flocking to Liverpool this year, it is in many ways the first chance at a victory party.In No 10, there is a dilemma about how much ministers can use that sense of celebration – with a story to drive home about the dire state of Labour’s inheritance and amid a background of weeks of turmoil over winter fuel allowance, donations and the prime minister’s chief of staff.But those close to Keir Starmer say he will use this moment to lean into a sense of hope about what a Labour government can do – and to spell out the tangible change that he expects to deliver in the country over the next five years.The message will be how effective and serious government can be a “reckoning for populism”

Rachel Reeves to replace No 11 paintings with art of or by women

Rachel Reeves has announced plans to replace every painting in the lavish state room at No 11 Downing Street with artworks of or by women.Speaking at a reception for female business leaders on Wednesday evening, the chancellor said she wanted to mark the lives of the “amazing women who have gone before us”.Addressing the all-female gathering, she said: “This is King James behind me, but next week the artwork in this room is going to change.“Every picture in this room is either going to be of a woman or by a woman – and we’re also going to have a statue in this room of Millicent Fawcett, who did so much for the rights of women.”King James II, who is posing in a suit of armour, with a lustrous head of shoulder-length hair, is likely to be relegated to a storage room