All posts tagged: Theresa May

Starmer dismisses top official Robbins as Mandelson vetting crisis deepens – POLITICO

Starmer dismisses top official Robbins as Mandelson vetting crisis deepens – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“All we want is the truth,” MP Rachael Maskell told POLITICO. “Now a different account of Mr. Mandelson’s security clearance has been brought to light we need accountability as to why we were provided a different version of events.” A highly loyal MP, granted anonymity to discuss internal party matters, said Thursday night: “This is bad, very, very bad. There are so many factors, I don’t know if it will be the end, but it definitely could be.” Robbins’ rocky path The departure of Robbins is the latest twist in a Whitehall career that has seen the senior official — once marked out as a future head of the country’s civil service — take repeated political flak. Robbins served as chief Brexit negotiator during the doomed premiership of Theresa May. As talks with Brussels appeared to be steering the U.K. into a compromise deal, he found himself pilloried as they bogeyman of hardline Tory MPs and newspapers, earning the moniker “the PM’s Rasputin” in one Times article.   When May was finally ousted in 2019, to be replaced by …

Why Britain struggles to hold onto its prime ministers – POLITICO

Why Britain struggles to hold onto its prime ministers – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s sudden departure from No. 10 in 2016 after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union triggered a period of unprecedented churn in British politics. None of his successors — Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak — served a full parliamentary term. Three were ousted from high office by their own side. It wasn’t always this way: Prime ministers used to last. Margaret Thatcher completed 11 years at the top, spending the whole of the 1980s in No. 10. Her successor John Major lasted six-and-a-half years, and Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair enjoyed more than a decade in power. So what’s going on? From acute cost-of-living pressures to a weak No. 10, POLITICO’s Westminster Insider podcast asked historians and former political advisers why it now seems impossible for a British prime minister to last very long at the top.  It’s the economy, stupid — David Runciman, political historian David Runciman is a political historian and host of the “Past, Present, Future” podcast. He believes Britain’s instability is not …

5 things we learned following Keir Starmer around China all week – POLITICO

5 things we learned following Keir Starmer around China all week – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

3) Starmer and his team were genuinely loving it Keir Starmer meets student designers from Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation, Jan. 30, 2026. | Carl Court/Getty Images After such a build-up and so much controversy, Starmer has … been having a great time. The prime minister has struggled to peel the smile off his face and told business delegates they were “making history.” Privately, several people around him enthused about the novelty of it all (many have never visited China and Starmer has not done so since before he went into politics). One said they were looking forward to seeing how Xi operates: “He’s very enigmatic.” Briefing journalists in a small ante-room in the Forbidden City, Starmer enthused about Xi’s love of football and Shakespeare. And talking to business leaders, he repeated the president’s line about blind men finding an elephant: “One touches the leg and thinks it’s a pillow, another feels the belly and thinks it’s a wall. Too often this reflects how China is seen.” So into the spirit was Starmer …

Inside Keir Starmer’s massive China reset – POLITICO

Inside Keir Starmer’s massive China reset – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

These are likely to include joint work on medical, health and life sciences, cooperation on climate science, and work to highlight Mandarin language schemes, the people said.  Officials are also working on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications and visa-free travel for short stays, while firms have been pushing for more expansive banking and insurance licences for British companies operating in China. The U.K. is meanwhile likely to try to persuade Beijing to lower import tariffs on Scotch whisky, which doubled in February 2025. A former U.K. official who was involved in Britain’s last prime ministerial visit to China, by Theresa May in 2018, predicted all deals will already be “either 100 or 99 percent agreed, in the system, and No. 10 will already have a firm number in its head that it can announce.” Threading the needle Yet all five people agreed there is unlikely to be a deal on heavy energy infrastructure, including wind turbine technology, that could leave Britain vulnerable to China. The U.K. has still not decided whether to let Ming …

Former Tory PM Criticises Kemi Badenochs Net Zero U Turn

Former Tory PM Criticises Kemi Badenochs Net Zero U Turn

Published by Sam Flores

Theresa May has taken a swipe at Kemi Badenoch over her decision to ditch the Tories’ support for Net Zero. The former prime minister – who committed the UK to ending carbon emissions by 2050 when she was in No.10 – warned her successor that “there’s a cost to not doing something”. That was a clear dig at Badenoch’s criticism of Net Zero, which she said “tied us in red tape, loaded us with costs, and did nothing to cut global emissions”. Badenoch announced the Conservatives were no longer committed to Net Zero in a major policy shift in October. “We want to leave a cleaner environment for our children, but not by bankrupting the country,” she said. But appearing on Radio 4′s Today programme on Wednesday, May made clear her unhappiness at the move, suggesting that Badenoch was not thinking about the “longer term” impacts for the planet of her decision. She said: “One of the challenges in government is always to remember that yes, you need to be concerned about the here and …