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Cooper takes over as foreign secretary as Lammy becomes deputy PM – No 10 sources
Home secretary Yvette Cooper has been shuffled over to the foreign office and will be replaced by Shabana Mahmood, according to No 10 sources.
Our political editor Pippa Crerar has the latest on X:
Downing Street sources tell me that Yvette Cooper is off to the foreign office, with Shabana Mahmood taking over at the home office.
Previous foreign secretary David Lammy is to become deputy prime minister and justice secretary, a source has confirmed.
Key events
Ben Quinn
A Reform UK cabinet should have an ‘AI tsar,’ according to Zia Yusuf, as he outlined details of how the party would approach government after he was named on Friday by Nigel Farage as Reform’s head of policy.
Farage as prime minster would also be able to go further and faster than Reform’s counterparts in the Trump White House because of the way the British system differed from the US, he told a fringe event at the party’s annual conference.
He said that while Elon Musk had been frustrated in his efforts with the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), a Farage Downing Street backed by “a working majority” would be able to achieved radical change. Yusuf added that Reform UK would be drawing on ideas from the “whole ecosystem of thinktanks”, as well as its own as it embarked on planning for how it would govern.
The “bureaucracy” of the British state would seek to block Reform from implementing radical change, he told a fringe event at the party’s annual conference, but he insisted that even a small team could quickly begin making an impact:
We take nothing or granted.
All of these institutions are going to come after us and try to stop us. That is why we have to be prepared. We will have thousands of pages of legislation ready to go.
Ben Quinn
Donald Trump is not “hugely popular” in the UK but Nigel Farage is still benefiting from having a close relationship with the US president, Reform’s chair Zia Yusuf has told members at the party’s conference.
Yusuf also likened recent Labour attacks on Farage for being “unpatriotic” to the “Russia-gate controversy” in the US around claims that Trump was effectively an agent of the Kremlin.
“I think those sorts of attacks are going to ramp up,” Yusuf said at a fringe event at the Reform UK conference:
They have kind of realised they can’t beat us on the arguments. They have just given up on their ability to stop the boats.
Speaking earlier this week in parliament after Farage appeared before a congressional committee, Keir Starmer said that it was “a disgrace” that Farage had gone to US to lobby for sanctions on the UK that would harm working people.
Farage had urged US politicians and businesses to tell the British government “you’ve simply got this wrong” on freedom of speech rules, as he compared the UK to North Korea.
At the same fringe meeting, Yusuf was joined by the influential Conservative thinker James Orr who said that Reform should not be a “Maga tribute act” and sketched out how a Reform government would be able to achieve changes “on day one.”
Contrasting the UK with the US and how a radical populist government could implement policies after winning power, Yusuf said:
We do have a different system, which offers a lot of opportunity and it is potentially going to be easier and quicker for Nigel to do that, provided we have a majority.
Severin Carrell
Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s Scotland spokesperson at Westminster, said Ian Murray’s sacking was proof Labour was in turmoil, facing its plummeting polling and failures to honour its election promises:
Scottish families are paying the price for Labour party failure – as Keir Starmer’s party is torn apart by chaos, division and bitter infighting while the cost of living soars on his watch.
Ian Murray’s sacking is the latest sign of Labour party acrimony. It is no wonder they have slumped 20 points behind the SNP in Scotland, when they are fighting like rats in a sack while failing to lift a finger to help families.
Allies ‘flabbergasted’ by Ian Murray sacking
Severin Carrell
Labour party figures close to Ian Murray, sacked on Friday as Scotland secretary, were “genuinely shocked” and “flabbergasted” that he had lost his job, and unclear why Murray was removed.
“Seriously, I don’t know what the hell is going on,” said one ally. There is no suggestion Murray had misstepped within the party or government, or had botched any policies, the source said.
His allies believe Murray has been a very successful opponent to the Scottish National party government in Edinburgh, helping force John Swinney, the first minister, into a significant U-turn on defence earlier this week.
Murray and his ally Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, had vigorously attacked the SNP’s ambivalent defence policy, forcing Swinney to announce on Wednesday his government would now allow funding of defence firms supporting Ukraine.
Murray has also been Labour’s electorally most successful MP in Scotland, the only one to save his seat in the 2015 general election rout where the SNP won 56 of Scotland’s 59 Westminster seats.
Known for his assiduous constituency work, Murray built up a centrist electoral coalition in Edinburgh South which landed him the country’s largest majority at the last election. He had served as shadow Scottish secretary twice since winning the seat in 2015.
His allies believe that campaigning experience made him extremely well-equipped to out-manoeuvre the SNP on other areas, including promoting his “Brand Scotland” strategy to promote products like whisky and salmon overseas, and challenging the SNP over its opposition to new nuclear power stations.
Speculation about who Starmer will appoint in his place immediately turned to Douglas Alexander, who is now a junior trade minister. One of the current government’s most experienced operators is also a former Labour secretary of state for Scotland and international development secretary under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
It is possible Labour headquarters is worried that Scottish Labour is dangerously far behind in the polls before next May’s Scottish parliament elections – one this week suggested Reform UK is level-pegging, so need to reinvigorate the party’s campaigning.
The Labour party said Nigel Farage was offering “anger without answers” with his speech to Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham.
A Labour party spokesperson, said:
Nigel Farage could have used his conference speech to offer more than just anger without answers and to say more than just ‘don’t know’ to the problems facing the country. He didn’t. It was the same old parade of complaints we’ve heard before.
His answer to the charge that Reform is a one-man band was to unveil one of the faces of failure from the last Tory government, Nadine Dorries.
Farage has proven again today that he is incapable of acting in the best interests of Britain.
Ryanair has urged passengers who have experienced air traffic control (ATC) delays to email the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, to complain.
According to the PA news agency, the Dublin-based airline has included the cabinet minister’s parliament email address on a website named Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight. Her email address was already publicly available.
The carrier said 5,782 Ryanair flights were affected by delays caused by the UK’s ATC provider Nats between the start of the year and 1 September. Ryanair called on Alexander to “fix” Nats, which it described as “mismanaged and short-staffed”.
The government has the largest shareholding in the public-private company at 49%. It also holds a golden share, giving it additional control.
Ryanair’s director of communications Jade Kirwan said:
It is unacceptable that Nats’ ATC mismanagement and staff shortages continue to cause disruption to UK flights and passengers.
Already this year, more than one million Ryanair passengers – many of whom were travelling on holidays with young families – have suffered unnecessary and avoidable ATC delays, and all because minister Alexander has not taken action to properly staff UK ATC services.
Ryanair calls on all passengers to visit the Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight webpage and demand that their national transport minister – like minister Alexander – take urgent action to fix their national ATC services and stop these needless ATC delays.
According to the PA news agency, the website features a mocked-up video of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen slapping an airline passenger in the face. Ryanair has accused von der Leyen of failing to take sufficient action to improve ATC services.
Nats declined to comment, reports the PA news agency. Nats recently cited figures from European air traffic management body Eurocontrol showing the company handled 23.7% of Europe’s traffic in July, and was accountable for 1.8% of delays to flights.
The Department for Transport has been approached by the PA news agency for comment.
Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons, has said it has been “an honour to serve in the first Labour government in 15 years” as the Manchester Central MP confirmed she had been sacked in a post on X.
In a statement she said:
I spoke to the prime minister earlier today and he informed me of his intention to appoint a new leader of the House of Commons.
It has been an honour to serve in the first Labour government in 15 years, particularly as leader of the house. It’s been a role I’ve really enjoyed – overseeing the first Labour king’s speech in a generation with such an ambitious and transformative legislative programme, taking on vested interests in the service of ordinary people.
I’ve also had a big agenda of modernising the commons – I’ve tightened the rules on MPs’ second jobs – with more to come, standing up for the different voices in the house, family-friendly measures and have been embarking on improved accessibility and inclusion. These are the changes a Labour government can and should be making.
This has not been an easy time for the government. People want to see change and improvements to their difficult lives. Nor in politics more generally, not least with the rise of abuse, misrepresentation, social media echo chambers and the call for easy answers. As women in public life, we experience this all the more. The future of our democracy looks uncertain and parliament and representational politics has an important role to play.
Living and raising my children in my home city of Manchester has always given me a different perspective of politics. My first job has always been to represent the residents of Manchester Central, and I look forward to using my voice and my role on in parliament to ensure they see the change they long for.
Kiran Stacey
When Nadhim Zahawi’s fate was hanging in the balance after a scandal over unpaid taxes, Angela Rayner was one of the first to pile on the political pressure.
“Nadhim Zahawi’s story about his tax affairs doesn’t add up,” she said at the time. “After months of denials, the truth emerges. His position is untenable. Rishi Sunak must dismiss him from his cabinet.”
Her comments were similar in 2018, when Jeremy Hunt received a discount when buying seven flats from a Conservative donor. “Jeremy Hunt avoids £100,000 stamp duty by exploiting Tory tax loophole & buying flats in bulk,” she posted on X.
Rayner’s effectiveness as a campaigner, communicator and scourge of the Tories made her an invaluable asset to Keir Starmer, but it also left her particularly vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy as her own tax scandal unfolded this week.
So when Laurie Magnus found on Friday she had breached the ministerial code, the deputy prime minister felt she had little option but to follow the advice she often gave to Conservatives, and resign.
“I accept that I did not meet the highest standards in relation to my recent property purchase,” she wrote in her resignation letter.
Starmer and his deputy have always been an odd political couple.
Both had difficult upbringings: Starmer was the child of an ill mother and an emotionally detached father, while Rayner was the daughter of a mother with chronic depression and had her first child aged 16.
But whereas Starmer responded to hardship by developing a tough exterior and immersing himself in his work, Rayner became a gregarious and energetic trade union representative, whose emotional openness is a key part of her political success.
You can read more of Kiran Stacey’s profile of Angela Rayner here:
Lucy Powell sacked from cabinet and Ian Murray believed to be leaving government
The leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, has been sacked from the cabinet as Keir Starmer begins a reshuffle of his top team.
Scotland secretary Ian Murray is also believed to be leaving the government.
Michael Savage
Angela Rayner’s departure is an old-fashioned scalp for the rightwing press, writes the Guardian’s media editor, Michael Savage:
Angela Rayner’s departure from cabinet marks an abrupt end for a politician who had fought doggedly to reach Labour’s top table. It also represents an old-fashioned scalp for the press, elements of which have been poring over her finances and living arrangements for more than a year.
The frustration among Rayner’s friends is that she had already survived waves of stories aimed at derailing her political career. However, they say her admission that she did not pay the correct stamp duty on the purchase of a Hove flat, which some see as a maddening own goal, gave her opponents a clear opening.
The Telegraph was already claiming victory on Wednesday, reliving how it had exposed crucial details of the Labour deputy leader’s tax arrangements on the flat purchase at the end of last week.
It followed Rayner’s lengthy admission that an error had been made, which she said had come after incorrect advice. However, her statement also revealed complicated personal circumstances that included a court order, a divorce, shifting living arrangements and a trust set up to support her disabled son.
The error was exposed after a previous attempt to draw attention to Rayner’s housing arrangements failed to dislodge her. The Mail on Sunday pursued Rayner last year with allegations she had avoided tax on the sale of a former home. After demands from Conservative MPs, the case was examined by Greater Manchester police, which cleared her of criminal wrongdoing. Soon after, HM Revenue and Customs said she owed no tax.
It was the Mail on Sunday that also first reported Rayner’s acquisition of the Hove flat, stating she had added it to her “burgeoning property empire”. The Telegraph’s crucial development came days later. Rayner says the Hove property is the only one she owns.
By then, the Sun had nicknamed her “three pads Rayner”, echoing the press’s treatment of John Prescott, who – like Rayner – was a Labour deputy prime minister handed high office for his ability to keep a significant slice of the union movement onboard. Prescott was labelled “two Jags” by the press after he used two Jaguar cars – one that he owned, the other a ministerial car.
Coverage of the Rayner row has since spread well beyond the rightwing press. The extent of her admission was enough to lose her the support of some media figures who had been sympathetic. James O’Brien, an LBC radio host who describes himself as a liberal, had said she could no longer survive as housing secretary.
Meanwhile, Darren Jones, who was made the prime minister’s chief secretary on Monday, said in a statement on X that Angela Rayner “is the embodiment of social mobility”.
After she resigned from government, Jones said: “Angela Rayner achieved a huge amount for the country this past year – record investment in council housing and better pay and rights at work.
“For our Labour movement Angela is the embodiment of social mobility and an inspiration to those of us from working-class backgrounds.”
Rowena Mason
Farage is now talking about schools and saying he wants children to be taught trades and services.
He added: “We refuse to have our children’s minds poisoned with a twisted interpretation of history.”
Jumping around topics, he pledged to make officers “police the streets, not the tweets” and stop the military being pursued over historic actions.
He announced that Zia Yusuf will be the new head of policy and that Reform will have its own department for preparing for government.
Rowena Mason
Farage returned to the stage after Dorries warned the audience not to trust the Conservatives again.
He urged the audience to “make Britain great again” and praised the spread of the St George Cross and Union Flag across lamp posts
The Reform leader said this was “sticking two fingers up with every flag they place at the establishment” and was a way of saying “we have had enough”.
He also claimed the government was “doing everything they can to crush free speech online”, adding: “We are without a doubt int he most dangerous place the country has been in my lifetime.”
Farage also claimed a Reform government would “stop the boats” within two weeks of taking office.
As the Reform UK leader revelled in Angela Rayner’s resignation over paying the incorrect amount of stamp duty on her property, it is worth remembering that Farage is using a private company to reduce his tax bill on his GB News media appearances.
The Reform leader decried Rayner as “[screaming] to entitlement” in his speech in Birmingham just half an hour ago.
But The Guardian exclusively revealed this morning that Farage diverts money from his prime-time TV show into his company, which means that he paid only 25% corporation tax on profits, instead of 40% income tax, and could offset some expenses.
The Clacton MP, who is also paid a £94,000-a-year MP’s salary, has in the past criticised people who try to avoid tax as the “common enemy” and has previously come under fire for setting up a trust fund in an offshore tax haven.
He has also claimed that some tax avoidance schemes were acceptable. “Most forms of legal tax avoidance are OK, but clearly some are not,” he said in 2014, adding that nobody voluntarily paid anything to HMRC while defending reducing a tax bill within the law.
Farage claimed last year to have “bought a house” in his constituency, but the property is actually owned in the name of his partner, meaning he legally avoided higher-rate stamp duty on the purchase of an additional home – given that he already owns other properties.
The use of personal service companies is not illegal, but it has been criticised across the political spectrum as a way to reduce tax bills. Farage has declined to publish his tax returns for 2023/24.
Read the full story here:
Rowena Mason
Farage said the party did have a weakness that it does not have experienced people who had been in government before.
“That is why after a lengthy debate and consultation, I’m pleased to welcome … Nadine Dorries.”
As Farage left the stage after just 15 minutes, Dorries made a dramatic entrance.
She said the government was showing it cannot manage the economy and that Labour was “fracturing and dividing into two”.
“We are in deep trouble and you can’t look at either of the two main political parties up till now to save the country.”
Rowena Mason
Farage said Rayner going, not just as housing secretary but elected deputy leader, means there will be an internal battle in Labour.
“Already they are facing the threat of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana … the left of Labour will rear its voice and we are about witness a split in Labour too,” he said.
He rhetorically questioned whether Reform was a one-man band, and the crowd said: “No.”
Farage said it had been a joy to see so many other senior Reform figures across broadcast platforms and getting elected over the last year.
