Julianne Denvir 💙

[Beth Rigby @BethRigby]

Where are we at as we go into the weekend after a remarkable and consequential week in British politics?

For now, all is quiet. Andy Burnham has been whisked away from the front line to spend the weekend with his family, while Keir Starmer has gone to Chequers to reflect on his future with his family.

Senior party figures tell me not to expect any public interventions of top Labour figures this weekend, but there is of course a huge amount going on - and the next few days are going to be critical: As one Burnham ally put it to be on Friday, the Prime Minister can have a dignified exit or a bloody one, but the die is cast, Burnham is going to become the Prime Minister

What’s going on for Keir Starmer? He has been adamant that he would fight any contest, and that is what he repeated when he faced the cameras on Friday, but one of those who have had conversations with him tell me that behind closed doors he is it beginning to hit home that he might have to give way, as a growing number of the cabinet and his MPs indicate that he no longer has their support.

As @HarrietHarman, put it to me & @RuthDavidsonPC our Electoral Dysfunction podcast today, “the herd isn’t moving, it is stampeding...the parliamentary Labour Party have made a decision that they’re not hanging around with Keir Starmer.”

“We don’t want a situation where cabinet ministers are resigning to try and push Keir Starmer out,” says Harman. “One MP who's been a real big Keir-Starmer supporter, who's now signed up for Andy Burnham, said to me that he doubts there's even 30 MPs now who actually believe it's possible for Keir Starmer to stay, not that they necessarily don’t want him to stay, but they just feel it’s over"

The scale of Burnham’s victory - much bigger than anticipated - has sealed the deal with many MPs who are now convinced that Burnham is the one that will help Labour keep Reform off its heartlands and save the party from another terrible set of election results next May. “The idea that we can beat Reform has gripped the party,” said one senior figure.

“The notion is settling that Andy is the only hope, and members are excited that there’s a change their areas won’t be taken over by Reform,” says one senior source.

There is little appetite for a leadership race on the Burnham side or the wider party. Starmer has publicly warned that it will tear the party apart, while one cabinet minister told me it would be “awful” to get to a place where the Prime Minister and rivals tear pieces out of each other in public, trashing the Labour government and destroying Starmer’s legacy. Wes Streeting has been very vocal about the need for one and saying he will run. Others whisper that it might be that he and Burnham do a deal. There are lots of ifs and buts in all of this....

I’m told by party insiders that when it comes to MPs, “probably the majority” want the PM to stand down by party conference, while a “sizeable number” of cabinet colleagues are privately telling the PM he needs to set out a timetable. Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, was the latest to do so on Friday.

The Prime Minister told me last week that he would speak to Burnham after the weekend, while Burnham’s team also want a meeting between the two men next week. Many in the party hope that Starmer and Burnham might come to an agreement and arrange something between them.

There is a lot of upset and sadness amongst those around the Prime Minister, as the walls close in and Starmer’s departure becomes more inevitable. “I feel a sense of bereavement,” said one loyalist. “But it hasn’t worked out. I never thought we’d be here two years in.”

For my part, having interviewed the PM on his future a number of times, I think he would like to fight on if he could and his allies point out to me that “the PM’s agency in this shouldn’t be underestimated”. He has built a £100,000 war chest to fight a contest and has key staff and a leadership website ready to go.

But if Starmer does not have enough support in his cabinet or his parliamentary party night he conclude that he cannot fight on? That’s why what the cabinet, senior ministers and Labour MPs do in the coming days is so critical.

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 BREAKING: Shabana Mahmood and Ed Miliband have told Keir Starmer to set out a timeline for his departure

Other Cabinet Ministers will follow suit this afternoon

[@thetimes]

[Chris D. Jackson @ChrisDJackson]

This is a direct response to the nonstop media pile-on against Joe Biden and the total lack of backbone from Democrats who should be defending him.

But history will be kind to him.
Harry Truman left office at 32% approval. LBJ fell to 35% during his final year and left deeply unpopular because of Vietnam.

Today, both are remembered far differently than they were judged in the moment.

Once the smoke clears, the noise dies down, and historians look honestly at Biden’s record, his character, and what he accomplished, he will be remembered as one of the most effective presidents of the modern era.

[UTV Live News @UTVNews]

On UTV Live...

Mother of Kelly Lynch, found dead in Monaghan, meets First and Deputy First Ministers and proposes reform of how unexplained deaths are investigated

[Sam McBride @SJAMcBride]

Long read on Northern Ireland’s week of chaos: What it’s like inside a riot, being threatened by paramilitaries at a 'peaceful protest', being assaulted by a masked man, and why we can expect this to return again and again and again.
https://t.co/QIaosNWEQg

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

He came into this country when SHE was Home Secretary. Oh the shamelessness of these politicians.

Also - the idea that the UK shouldn’t now take refugees from Sudan? From Sudan?? Where almost everyone agrees there’s a genocide and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises?

[Danny Donnelly MLA @DannyDonnelly1]

.@mikenesbittni is correct. I have worked in the health service and have had many nursing colleagues from other countries. They are needed, respected and valued members of the healthcare workforce and our communities. They should be welcomed and made to feel safe living here.

[Jon Favreau @jonfavs]

Elon Musk held up a chainsaw, fed USAID into the wood chipper, and at least 600,00 people have already died as a result - two-thirds of them children.

History's first trillionaire.

[Paul Doherty @PaulDoherty___]

This is Belfast!

What an incredible turnout today in response to the shocking racism we have seen on our streets this week.

Belfast stands together. Hate will never win. Solidarity will!

[The Irish News @irish_news]

“These boys used a stone and they hit me on the head on my way back from work all dressed in my nursing uniform.

“What was the response when I shared my story online? It was ‘Ireland is tired of immigrants, you should go back home.’ Nobody cares what you do, even though they know I’m a nurse. There is no safety for us, that is the truth."

A Nigerian nurse who has worked in Belfast for five years has said the latest scenes of racist violence has made her want to leave Northern Ireland.

Read more: https://t.co/2fDLQEl9c5

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

"Very poor white people” are being convinced that “very poor, hard-working brown or Black people” are responsible for the “problems caused by billionaire white men”, Allison Morris, Crime Correspondent at the Belfast Telegraph, says in the wake of the riots that spread through the capital of Northern Ireland overnight.

[Sorcha Eastwood MP @SorchaEastwood]

Words matter and words are important. Especially when they come from elected reps. At times of tension you can choose to lead or you can choose to follow. You can choose to calm or you can use to fan the flames. What happened in Belfast last night was beyond evil. However the terrifying violence being inflicted on people and property tonight is sickening and honours no one. It is absolutely disgusting. It is scary and it is not who we are. People are being manipulated and used for clout whilst communities are trashed. They will walk away from the aftermath of violence and pain. Sinister forces are at work and we must call this out. All of us. No ifs no buts.

[BBC Newsnight @BBCNewsnight]

"If you're a parent you should be wondering where your 15,16,17 old is and get them home."

Baroness Foster, former leader of the DUP, calls for "deescalation" in Northern Ireland, adding that it's for "politicians to answer questions about immigration".

#Newsnight

[Maj. (Ret.) Richard Ojeda @Ojeda4America]

Trump’s new acting director of national intelligence has never even received an intelligence briefing before this Thursday.

For context, the White House janitorial staff held a higher security clearance than the new Intelligence Director.

This is DANGEROUS.

[Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP @TanDhesi]

Scapegoating the #Sikh community and their ability to freely practice their faith for the actions of one murderer is wrong.

Exemption for Sikh #women and men to wear a #kirpan is extremely limited — a knee-jerk rection to strip hard-won rights is missing the wood for the trees.

[Marina Purkiss @MarinaPurkiss]

Just watch this…

And for the love of God, please see Farage for what he is.

His response to Sarah Everard Vs his response to Henry Nowak

Jaw dropping.

[Tom Jamieson @jamiesont]

Not saying it's enough to save his job, but Starmer here demolishing Farage & his poisonous far right rhetoric is as good as I have seen him.

[Lucy Dunn @lucyidunn]

🔴 On Mandelson files: The PM texted Peter Mandelson the day before he was officially announced as US ambassador in Dec 24 – according to @spectator reporting in April by @ShippersUnbound – congratulating him on the job.

This message *wasn't* included in Monday's Mandelson files, however, despite other messages between Mandelson and govt ministers of this nature being included.

When asked at lobby briefing today, No10 spox told me it is 'not true' that this message was gathered as part of Cabinet Office evidence for the Humble Address response, as was reported.

When asked whether this was because this message – clearly quoted in piece – was deleted before the Humble Address gathering or wasn't deemed relevant, spox said the PM 'has complied with the humble address' and 'all the messages that he held were passed to the Cabinet Office', adding that the 'guidance is quite clear on what's expected of ministers' and the 'scale of this release shows unprecedented transparency'. 

Judging by what other messages were included in the files – e.g. as @STVNews reported on Monday, gushing messages from ex-Scotland Sec Ian Murray and current Scotland Sec Douglas Alexander on Mandelson's appointment – it seems odd that a message of this nature, if retained, wasn't included.

But govt spox seems to be saying its deletion – if it was deleted – was not a breach of the guidance on the Humble Address, which raises questions about what else could have fallen into this category and, ultimately, what else was not included in the Mandelson files.

[Mary Myatt @MaryMyatt]

For colleagues who asked about the paperback:

KS3: The Ambitious Years is now available earlier than expected.

https://t.co/M3mk9TR8tv

The book makes the case that KS3 isn’t the waiting room for GCSE, it’s the foundation.

Thank you for all the support around this work.

[MetJam @MetJam_]

Oxford, the longest running continuous weather station in UK history, with temperature observations stretching back to 1815, has preliminarily broken its maximum temperature record for May yesterday by OVER 3ºC with a temperature of 33.7ºC. Unprecedented in its 211-year history.