MPs from Labour’s left to urge Ed Miliband to consider leadership bid 09. May 2026 (19:43) Keir Starmer set to face challenge as former minister says she will trigger race if no cabinet minister comes forwardUK politics live – latest updatesMPs from Labour’s left are expected to urge Ed Miliband to consider a leadership bid in the coming days, as Keir Starmer faced the prospect of a definite challenge from his MPs next week.Following grim results for Labour in elections on Thursday, former minister Catherine West said that if no cabinet ministers went public by Monday, she would launch a bid to end the impasse. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘I’ll talk to work on Monday’: what happens when a ‘paper candidate’ actually wins? 09. May 2026 (18:38) Tyrone Scott, who didn’t think he had a hope in the election, wants to help the Greens rebuild ‘community cohesion’ in HackneyYou would expect most political candidates who pull off a shock win to celebrate their victory, maybe with a glass of bubbly and excitement for the challenges of elected office ahead. But on Friday, as thousands of new councillors celebrated their triumphs, some surprise victors were less than pleased.Green party handlers apologised to one newly elected councillor in Finsbury Park, north London, put down as a “paper candidate”, who pulled off an unexpected win. “You’re going to be great, we’ll support you,” they said, according to the Islington Tribune. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Why Welsh voters turned their backs on the Labour party 09. May 2026 (18:31) Disregard from UK Labour and struggling public services are just some of reasons behind ‘astonishing’ collapseUK politics live – latest updatesBy Friday night, Keir Starmer and much of the Westminster Labour group were quietly relieved that the local election results in England hadn’t been quite as bad as feared. In Wales, however, Labour’s collapse in the Senedd was even more total than the most pessimistic predictions.For more than 100 years, Welsh Labour was the democratic world’s most successful election-winning machine, but the political behemoth limped into third place this week with just nine seats in a 96-seat parliament. A new chapter in Wales’s political and cultural history has opened: pro-independence Plaid Cymru is set to form a minority government. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
No-bid contract to turn DC’s reflecting pool blue goes to firm with ties to Trump 09. May 2026 (18:31) A company Trump has used for work at his Virginia golf course was awarded $6.9m to paint the iconic attractionDonald Trump’s latest beautification plan for Washington DC – the restoration of the 2,000ft-long reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial – has met been with claims that a $6.9m contract to carry out the project was hastily handed out to a company that renovated a swimming pool at the president’s Virginia golf course.The New York Times reported that the no-bid contract for the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool was given to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, based in New Canton, Virginia, on 3 April – despite company records’ showing it has not previously been awarded a federal contract. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Starmer brings in Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman to ease pressure on him to resign 09. May 2026 (17:12) Brown to advise on global finance, while Harman will focus on social and economic improvements for women and girlsUK politics live – latest updatesFull results from England, Scotland and WalesKeir Starmer has brought in Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman as advisers in a move to ease the mounting pressure on the prime minister to resign after the disastrous election results for Labour.Brown, the former prime minister and long-serving chancellor under Tony Blair, has been made Starmer’s envoy on global finance, with a brief to advise on financial partnerships to help with defence-related investments, particularly with Europe. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump Media and Technology Group lost $406m in first three months of 2026 09. May 2026 (16:29) Parent company of president’s Truth Social platform generated only $870,000 even as net sales were up 6%The parent company of Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform – one of the president’s preferred communications channels – lost nearly $406m in the first three months of the year while generating a little over $870,000 in revenue, according to financial filings.The Trump Media and Technology Group’s quarterly report for January to March 2026 showed that while net sales were up 6% year over year, the company took sizable losses related to other investments. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Danish rightwing leader asked to form government after Frederiksen fails to form coalition 09. May 2026 (16:17) Denmark’s king asks Troels Lund Poulsen to form government after PM struggles to gather supportThe king of Denmark has asked a centre-right politician to try to form a new government after the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has failed to put together a ruling coalition.The announcement on Friday night shook the political establishment as Frederiksen has been a staple of Danish politics for decades. Her left-leaning party, the Social Democrats, won the plurality of votes in parliamentary elections in March. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Neither US nor Iran can sustain strait of Hormuz standoff indefinitely 09. May 2026 (16:00) Simply hanging on could be a disaster for Iranians, while Trump needs to resolve this economic crisis he created Exchanges of fire between Iran and the US demonstrate the serious instability of the situation in the Middle East. Though the US strikes late on Thursday were just “a love tap”, according to the US president, Donald Trump, the reality is that neither side can continue the high-stakes standoff in the strait of Hormuz indefinitely.The US and its ally Israel demonstrated a comprehensive military superiority over Iran – taking minimal casualties in the 38-day war – but Washington has both failed to translate that into strategic dominance and allowed Iran to take control of the strait, driving up the oil price. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘My ambition is to change the country,’ AOC says when asked about seeking higher office in 2028 09. May 2026 (15:52) New York’s Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez brushed off question about run for presidencyThe New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez answered a question about potentially running for higher office in 2028 by declaring: “My ambition is to change the country.”The Democrat delivered that remark at a political forum in Chicago on Friday amid widespread belief that she is positioning herself to run for the White House in 2028 or challenge her party’s leader in the US Senate, fellow New Yorker Chuck Schumer. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Frontier Airlines plane hits person on runway during takeoff at Denver airport 09. May 2026 (15:10) Passengers were evacuated safely after the plane struck a person and an engine then caught on fireA Frontier Airlines plane hit a person on the runway of Denver’s international airport during takeoff, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate, authorities said.The plane, headed to Los Angeles, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff” at about 11.19pm on Friday, the Denver airport’s official X account wrote. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
