Ruth Foster

Mum, Doctor, Yorkshire, General Practice, Politics, Horror movies.

[Beth Rigby @BethRigby]

NEW: Am told Keir Starmer wrote handwritten notes for every single member of No 10 staff - in the hundreds - thanking them for their public service

[Pippa Crerar @PippaCrerar]

While most of the focus today will be on departure of Keir Starmer and arrival of Andy Burnham - our seventh PM in just over 10 years - it's worth flagging the dozens of advisers who quietly work their arses off behind the scenes in Downing St & across Whitehall.

[Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer]

The test of any Prime Minister is: do you leave your country in a better place than you found it?

I’m proud that the answer is yes.

[Sam @SamCKx]

Keir Starmer rightly receives a standing ovation from the entire House as he bids farewell to Parliament.

He will go down as a genuinely honourable public servant, and one of the most unfairly maligned leaders in modern British politics.

He became a target of a new wave of politics driven by hostility, misinformation and propaganda, designed not to strengthen democracy, but to erode trust in it, whose goal is to concentrate power into the hands of those with the greatest wealth, resources and influence.

[UK Prime Minister @10DowningStreet]

Today the Hillsborough Law has been passed by the @HouseofCommons.

A tribute to the courage, determination and perseverance of the Hillsborough families.

Their fight for justice is delivering lasting change for future generations.

[Matthew England @mattengland3011]

Interesting historical example relevant to Farage's attempt to trigger a by-election.

In 1856, James Sadleir MP was charged with fraud, and absconded from justice.

Other MPs then sought to have him expelled from the House...

[BBC Sport @BBCSport]

Goosebumps 🥹

[Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer]

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[BBC Sport Tees @BBCTeesSport]

Full statement from the EFL 🚨

#Boro | #UTB | #BBCFootball

[Ed Miliband @Ed_Miliband]

It would be completely wrong for a Government to stand by and allow companies to make excess profits from a war.

That’s why we’re taxing these windfall profits to help with the cost of living.

And why the Tories, Reform and the SNP are utterly wrong to oppose the windfall tax.

[David Coverdale @dpcoverdale]

If you listen to one thing today, make it this 60 seconds of commentary on BBC Radio York…

[Will Hazell @whazell]

Speaking at @GoodGrowthFdn National Growth Debate, @LouHaigh says that “42% of Labour prime ministers have sacked Peter Mandelson”.

[Trades Union Congress @The_TUC]

No child in Britain should have to grow up in poverty.

The TUC is proud to have campaigned with allies for the lifting of the cruel two-child benefit cap.

[Alastair McLellan @HSJEditor]

It never rains, but it pours: 'GPs across England have voted 98.9% to reject the Government’s imposed changes to their contract for 2026/27.' Follows yesterday's decision by resident doctors to announce new strike action

[Bridget Phillipson @bphillipsonMP]

Christians, Jews, Sikhs and Hindus have all prayed in Trafalgar Square.

Nick Timothy singled out Muslims, then had the brass neck today to sit on the front bench. He should be sacked.

The Tories are following Reform into the gutter. Neither are fit to govern.

[Mark Green @DrVoles]

Hi @wesstreeting
Can you explain to my why a hospital trust not far from me is taking 6 months to even look at (triage) it's *urgent* vascular referrals. (Not see, triage). (10months for routine).
Whilst General Practice has to triage everything same day?

[Suzy Quiquero @suzyquiquero]

Labour Favourites To Win Next General Election In Surprise Comeback With The Bookies
https://t.co/i6TDG8pOFQ

[Patrick Maguire @patrickkmaguire]

Matt Pound, political director to Rachel Reeves and one of the few remaining close allies of Morgan McSweeney and 2020 Starmer leadership alumni left at the top of government, is leaving the Treasury after the spring statement next week

[Damian Low @DamianLow3]

The level of personal hostility directed at Keir Starmer over the last week deserves scrutiny in its own right. Not because he should be immune from criticism, but because the tone and intensity of the attacks tell us something unhealthy about the state of democratic politics.

1. Starmer is a conventional political figure. Cautious, legalistic, incremental. He frustrates people precisely because he is managerial rather than messianic. Yet the reaction to him often goes far beyond disagreement, tipping into visceral hatred more commonly reserved for authoritarians or demagogues.

2. Much of this hostility is disconnected from concrete policy. It is not about specific votes, proposals or outcomes, but about projection. A belief that Starmer embodies betrayal, bad faith or hidden malice. That kind of politics runs on suspicion rather than evidence.

3. This matters because democracy depends on the assumption of good faith among opponents. You can think a leader is wrong, timid, or misguided without believing they are fundamentally illegitimate. Once politics becomes moralised to the point of demonisation, compromise is reframed as treachery and pluralism as weakness.

4. The pattern is familiar. In fragmented, polarised systems, anger concentrates not on extremists, whose intentions are clear, but on moderates, who disappoint maximalists on all sides. The centre becomes the lightning rod precisely because it resists totalising narratives.

5. There is also a media and online dynamic at work. Incentives reward outrage, not proportionality. Algorithms favour contempt over analysis. Over time, this creates a political culture in which relentless personal attack feels normal, even virtuous, rather than disgusting.

6. None of this is a defence of Starmer’s decisions, instincts or record. Those should be argued over robustly as you do in a democracy. The problem is the substitution of critique with hostility and the quiet erosion of democratic norms that follows when political opponents are treated as enemies rather than rivals.

7. A democracy cannot function if every election is framed as an existential struggle against internal evil. At some point, the target may change, but the damage to trust, restraint and culture remains.

[Paul Johnson @paul__johnson]

Hang on a minute…