This has now been taken!
28.02.2026 13:27 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0This has now been taken!
28.02.2026 13:27 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Very niche, but if anyone is interested in mudlarking, I have a ticket for the Secrets of the Thames exhibition for 2.15pm today
I can sadly no longer go, but the ticket is non-refundable. DM if interested! (will give it to you for free!)
Labour MP tells me: “Even with the world’s best campaign you can’t win without having/delivering progressive policies. This is a result of the strategy Downing St has set”
Senior Labour MP adds: “Labour needs to be offering hope to progressive voters. Just an anti-Reform [strategy] isn’t enough”
PolHome understands there's frustration among many Labour MPs with what they feel was a by-election campaign too focused on Reform and lacking a positive message about why people should support Labour
"Labour needs to be the party offering hope to progressive voters. Just anti-Reform isn’t enough"
The Green Party has achieved a seismic victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election, with the Labour Party pushed into third place
🟢Green Party's Hannah Spencer - 14,980 votes (40%)
🟣Reform UK's Matt Goodwin - 10,578 votes (28%)
🔴Labour's Angeliki Stogia - 9,364 votes (25%)
The Green Party has achieved a seismic victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election, with the Labour Party pushed into third place
🟢Green Party's Hannah Spencer - 14,980 votes (40%)
🟣Reform UK's Matt Goodwin - 10,578 votes (28%)
🔴Labour's Angeliki Stogia - 9,364 votes (25%)
What exactly is Reform's foreign policy?
It is a growing question for Farage, especially having not appointed a foreign policy spokesperson
Those familiar say leaving the ECHR will take up "the majority" of the thinking
The party has recently met with New Zealand First & Australia’s Liberal Party
Govt’s proposed SEND reforms contain positive ideas to move the system towards early intervention.
But there are tensions the govt has not yet worked through between investing in these changes quickly and ensuring reforms are fully evidenced.
Pleased to be invited to speak on BBC news yesterday about the government‘s SEND reforms and how they’re landing with MPs
Coverage from the day linked below www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Fascinating interview by @siennamarla with Reform UK's Danny Kruger - who (among other things) tells her political parties have a "limited but important" role in undoing the sexual revolution and UK is suffering from a "totally unregulated sexual economy".
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Great piece by @siennarodgers.bsky.social and @zoecrowther.bsky.social on how Wes Streeting runs his department
One Streeting ally: “We do need politicians to be good at politics. If a perm sec were good at politics, that would be a problem – but for a secretary of state, that’s a good thing!”
one thing I love to do is to type and type and type and think oh woah, I must have nearly written a whole article here, I've typed up so many things, and then look at the wordcount and stare at "283" for a while
24.02.2026 10:40 — 👍 330 🔁 22 💬 16 📌 4
Great piece by @siennarodgers.bsky.social and @zoecrowther.bsky.social on how Wes Streeting runs his department
One Streeting ally: “We do need politicians to be good at politics. If a perm sec were good at politics, that would be a problem – but for a secretary of state, that’s a good thing!”
Lord Peter Mandelson has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office
The former Labour cabinet minister was pictured being led from his London home by plain clothes police officers on Monday
For the government, the real work to sell its SEND reforms begins now.
A government source tells me that they are not seeing this as the end of the conversation, and the outreach that Bridget Phillipson has committed to in recent months will continue👇
For the government, the real work to sell its SEND reforms begins now.
A government source tells me that they are not seeing this as the end of the conversation, and the outreach that Bridget Phillipson has committed to in recent months will continue👇
@poppop.studio everything should be published on gov.uk at 11am!
23.02.2026 08:59 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
This is a huge day for Bridget Phillipson as the govt unveils its plans for reform to the special educational needs system in England
From my conversations with MPs across the Labour Party, the mood is considerably more positive than it was a few months ago
As ever, the detail will be important
Bridget Phillipson says she will "look at" the Plan B student loan system, but it is a "question of priorities"
Comes as Tories announce they would cut the rate of interest charged on some student loans
PolHome first reported that the Tories were looking at reforms to the system last week
At what point will Reform UK councillors defecting to: Restore Britain (headed up Rupert Lowe) and Advance UK (Ben Habib) begin to cause issues for Farage
one to keep an eye on both in councils run by Reform (like the case below) and in upcoming council elections
Campaign leaflets have started to arrive on my doorstep in Wandsworth (London), where council elections are coming in May
Marked difference between Reform UK & Tory leaflets:
- Reform's very much centring Farage (no mention of lowering taxes)
- Tories centring Khan + local party members
Should also say I got a 🎄Christmas card🎄from my local Conservative cllrs a couple months ago, so 10/10 for effort!
20.02.2026 11:50 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Campaign leaflets have started to arrive on my doorstep in Wandsworth (London), where council elections are coming in May
Marked difference between Reform UK & Tory leaflets:
- Reform's very much centring Farage (no mention of lowering taxes)
- Tories centring Khan + local party members
Interview with head of National Union of Students
💥Govt could U-turn on its decision to freeze the threshold at which graduates start to pay back their student loans
💥“Very difficult” for Labour govt to “ignore” the growing debate
💥Adds to list of “many things that put Labour's re-election at risk”
BBC understands that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c7...
Shadow leader of the House of Commons Jesse Norman argues that the Palace of Westminster's multi-billion pound restoration and renewal scheme threatens to become another HS2
17.02.2026 17:38 — 👍 18 🔁 4 💬 9 📌 0
In a letter seen by PoliticsHome, the government was warned by lawyers that the decision to delay some local elections would be illegal.
Story by Harriet Symonds
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
The government has U-turned on delaying some local elections, hears PolHome’s Harriet Symonds
Labour MPs have today been told that elections in 30 areas will go ahead as originally planned in May
The decision is believed to relate to new legal advice
My weekend read on the issue of student loans - and why the debate is not going anywhere anytime soon
➡️Several Plan 2 Labour MPs have had discussions with sympathetic ministers
➡️Labour Together and IPPR look at what could be done
➡️Tories, Lib Dems, Reform forming policies in this area
The issue of student loans has exploded in recent weeks, with figures across the political spectrum demanding a conversation about the 'Plan 2' system
-Several Plan 2 Labour MPs have had discussions with sympathetic ministers
-Policies are being worked on by Conservatives, Lib Dems and Reform UK
