Commons to ask crown estate for details of Prince Andrew’s rent-free housing as inquiry moves closer – as it happened

Yesterday Keir Starmer told MPs that he favoured a parliamentary inquiry covering Prince Andrew’s housing arrangements at Royal Lodge – the mansion in Windsor which he leases from the crown estate on a deal that involves him paying no rent.Today the Commons public accounts committee (PAC) said it is going to be asking the crown estate for more details of Andrew’s lease arrangements – in what would be the first step towards a full investigation.Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, said:The public accounts committee will be writing in the coming days to the crown estate commissioners and HM Treasury, seeking further information on the lease arrangements for Royal Lodge.In the correspondence, our cross-party committee will be raising a number of questions with the crown estate and HM Treasury. This forms part of our longstanding remit, on behalf of parliament and the British public, to examine the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public spending, and ensure the taxpayer is receiving best value for money

Conservatives complain to whips about fellow MP’s comments on legally settled people

Conservative MPs have complained to party whips after Katie Lam said many legally settled people should be deported to make the UK “culturally coherent”, the Guardian has learned.Lam, who is seen as a rising Tory star, said last weekend she believed “a large number of people” living legally in the UK should have their right to stay revoked and “go home”. “What that will leave is a mostly but not entirely culturally coherent group of people,” she told the Sunday Times.Her remarks have triggered alarm among Tory MPs. “If we are using phrases like that, we need to explain what they mean,” one said

Frontrunner suffers blow in race to be UK ambassador to US over criticisms of Trump

Mark Sedwill’s prospects of becoming the UK’s ambassador in Washington have taken a blow after officials raised concerns about an article he wrote in 2021 praising Joe Biden and criticising Donald Trump.The former cabinet secretary and national security adviser has emerged as the frontrunner in the race to succeed Peter Mandelson in Washington. But some in government are worried about an article he wrote four years ago in which he made several criticisms of Trump after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Biden.The concerns reflect divides in Whitehall over how to manage the relationship with a volatile White House after the brief but eventful tenure of Lord Mandelson, who was one of the few overtly political holders of the role.In the article Lord Sedwill wrote for the Daily Mail in 2021, he described being involved in Trump’s first official visit to the UK while working in Downing Street under Theresa May

Reform’s only Black branch chair quits over ‘harmful’ migration debate

The only Black branch chair of Reform UK has left the rightwing populist party, saying the tone of Britain’s migration debate is “doing more harm than good”.Neville Watson, from north London, told the Guardian he had not experienced any racism in Reform, where there were “a lot of good people”. However, the former leader of the party’s Enfield branch said he was alarmed by the growing influence of Christian nationalism – the hard-right movement that blends politics with fundamentalism.Watson added that he was dismayed by rising levels of Islamophobia, feared some people within the party were “sympathetic” to the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, and was concerned British politics was “losing its compassion” as parties vied to compete with Reform.The son of Jamaican, Windrush-generation parents, Watson,whose professional background is in social enterprise, youth work and special educational needs, played a key role in welcoming voters from London’s diverse communities into the party

Jess Phillips has ‘full backing’ of PM over grooming gangs inquiry, says minister

A minister has said the government has “full confidence” in Jess Phillips after four abuse survivors called for her resignation as a condition for their participation in the national grooming gangs inquiry.The crisis engulfing the inquiry deepened on Wednesday as the four survivors accused Phillips of “betrayal” and said she was “unfit to oversee a process that requires survivors to trust the government”.But a government minister insisted on Thursday that Phillips would “stay in post” as safeguarding minister, saying she was “a lifelong advocate and champion for young girls who’ve been abused”.Josh MacAlister, the children’s minister, said Phillips had the “full backing of the prime minister and the home secretary”.“She has already shown that she is properly engaging with the survivor community,” he told Sky News

Shabana Mahmood says damning report shows Home Office ‘not fit for purpose’

Shabana Mahmood has said the Home Office is “not yet fit for purpose” after the release of a damning report that was kept secret for years.The review, written under the previous government, uncovered a series of perceived shortcomings including a “culture of defeatism” on immigration, a lack of trust from other departments, and “several confused and conflicting systems”.Written by the former Home Office special adviser Nick Timothy in 2023, it has been released after a two-year legal battle by the Times.Responding to the revelations, Mahmood, who took over as home secretary from Yvette Cooper in September, vowed to overhaul the department, which she said had been “set up to fail”.Timothy, who was given access to the department during a two-month review, found an excessively “defensive approach” among the Home Office’s lawyers and a reluctance among senior officials to tell “difficult truths” to ministers