Pascal Lamy, the former World Trade Organization chief, has praised Mandelson as a “politician with an intellectual side, creative on the ideological level.”
He told Politico that Mandelson is “a rather remarkable personality who likes to be seen, who likes money, who likes parties, hence this sometimes sulfurous reputation that he has.”
“He works and communicates very very well,” Lamy added.
“He has an ego, let’s say, above the average, but hey, he has the intellectual means to afford that.”
A source close to the government told ITV News that Labour’s appointment of Mandelson shows how important the UK sees “our relationship with the Trump administration” with the former trade secretary having “unrivalled political experience”.
Quentin Letts, the parliamentary sketchwriter, has reacted to Mandelson’s appointment as the UK ambassador to the US on X:
No 10 announcement of Ld. Mandelson as HM ambassador to Washington includes, at end, a quotation from D. Lammy saying ‘wonderful to welcome Peter back to the team’. Will ‘Peter’ often bother to consult ‘team-mate’ Lammy? Or will he deal directly with Starmer/Powell? Poor David.
Updated
Afternoon summary
Lord Mandelson has said becoming ambassador to the US is a great honour.
It is a great honour to serve the country in this way. We face challenges in Britain but also big opportunities and it will be a privilege to work with the government to land those opportunities, both for our economy and our nation’s security, and to advance our historic alliance with the United States.
And David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has said:
It is wonderful to welcome Peter back to the team. He offers a wealth of experience in trade, economic and foreign policy from his years in government and the private sector.
He will arrive in Washington DC as we deepen our enduring alliance with the incoming United States administration, particularly on growth and security.
Starmer confirms Mandelson new ambassador to US, praising his 'unrivalled experience'
Downing Street has confirmed that Peter Mandelson is the new ambassador to the US.
In a statement Keir Starmer said:
I am delighted to appoint Lord Mandelson to be the next British ambassador to the United States of America.
The United States is one of our most important allies and as we move into a new chapter in our friendship, Peter will bring unrivalled experience to the role and take our partnership from strength to strength.
I would also like to thank Dame Karen Pierce for her invaluable service for the last four years, and in particular the wisdom and steadfast support she has given me personally since July. She made history as the first woman to serve as UK ambassador to the US and she has been an outstanding representative of our country abroad. I wish her all the very best in future.
Updated
New Tory peer nominated by Kemi Badenoch says Britain should leave European convention on human rights
In his Telegraph article published today Nigel Biggar, who has just been nominated for a peerage by Kemi Badenoch, also says he favours leaving the European convention on human rights. He explains:
I’ve come to the view that it would be best for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights and the jurisdiction of the Strasbourg court. While its defenders protest that the convention was largely a British creation, the truth is that the British government subscribed to avoid political embarrassment – and against the strong advice of the chief justice, who warned that subscription would hand a host of political hostages to judicial fortune. If the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand can manage without the supervision of an international court, I am confident Britain can, too.
Who are the new Tory peers?
If there is one feature that stands out from the list of six new peers nominated by Kemi Badenoch, it is anti-woke. The most controversial name on the list is Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, which spends much of its time defending the right of people to say things that would be deemed as bad taste, or worse, by the Guardian. As Ben Kentish from LBC points out on social media, Young has a long record of causing offence.
In 2018, Young was forced to resign from the board of the universities regulator after a series of tweets emerged in which he commented on various women’s breasts. E.g: “What happened to Winkleman’s breasts? Put on some weight, girlie.”
He was condemned after suggesting that wheelchair ramps in schools were a symptom of “ghastly inclusivity”.
He has also proposed offering “parents on low incomes with below-average IQs” the option of genetically engineering their embryos to make the child clever.
More recently, he was found by the press regulator to have published “significantly misleading” claims about the Covid pandemic.
Nigel Biggar, a professor at Oxford University, is a much more conventional candidate for a peerage. But he is also prominent in “anti-woke” circles, and he has been leading a project to challenge what he sees as overly-critical accounts of colonialism. His book, Colonialim: A Moral Reckoning got five stars in the Daily Telegraph, but was described by the Guardian as straining credulity. He has published an article for the Telegraph today saying “the repressive aggression of the ‘progressive’ left, supported by the timidity of the conflict-averse centre” helped to make him a Conservative.
Other names on the list are Badenoch allies, like Roger Evans, who served with her on the London assembly, and Rachel Maclean, the former MP who helped to run her leadership campaign. There is also a London element: Joanne Cash is a former parliamentary candidate in Westminster.
Updated
Who are the new Labour peers?
Peerage lists are normally dominated by former MPs well regarded by the party leadership, and that is the case with the list of 30 new Labour peers announced by Keir Starmer. It features eight former MPs: Luciana Berger, Kevin Brennan, Lyn Brown, Margaret Curran (who is also a former MSP), Thangam Debbonaire, Julie Elliott, Steve McCabe and Phil Wilson. There are also two former MEPs: Theresa Griffin and Claude Moraes.
Many of the other people on the list could be described as Labour grandees; people who have not been MPs, but who have had senior jobs in Labour politics, either in the trade union movement (like Brendan Barber, Mary Bousted, Kay Carberry), in devolved parliaments (Carwyn Jones, Wendy Alexander), in party HQ (David Evans) or working for a past or current leader (Anji Hunter, Deborah Mattinson and Sue Gray).
There are at least two appointments that reflect the emphasis that Starmer has placed on combating antisemitism in the party: Berger, who quit the party when Jeremy Corbyn was party leader because she thought he was too tolerant of antisemitism, and Mike Katz, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement.
Katz also belongs to another sub-group on the list: the Camden mafia. He is a former Camden councillor. Dinah Caine is chair of Camden STEAM, a youth employment project, and Simon Pitkeathley is chief executive of Camden Town Unlimited. Given that Keir Starmer is a Camden MP, the Camden links were probably helpful in getting them on the list.
And there are other names on the list with a personal Starmer connection. Gray, of course, left a good job in the civil service to become his chief of staff, but was then effectively sacked soon after Labour took office amid complaints that No 10 was not working effectively. And Alison Levitt KC was principal legal adviser to Starmer when he was on director of public prosecutions.
How new peerages will affect numbers in House of Lords
The Conservatives will still have considerably more peers than Labour even when all the people on today’s list (see 3pm) have taken their seats.
Here are the numbers for four main groups in the Lords, now and with the new peers
Conservatives
Now: 271
With new peers: 277
Labour
Now: 185
With new peers: 215
Crossbenchers
Now: 184
With new peers: 184
Liberal Democrats
Now: 78
With new peers: 80
There are also 83 other members of the House of Lords who are either non-affiliated, bishops or from smaller parties
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has released this statement about the two Liberal Democrats he has nominated for the House of Lords.
Shaffaq [Mohammed] and Mark [Pack] are both a credit to the Liberal Democrats and I am delighted that they will both be bringing their experience to our group in the House of Lords.
Shaffaq has been an incredible public servant for over two decades through his work in Sheffield and will bring huge expertise on local government and communities. Mark Pack has dedicated himself to making politics more open and transparent, and will bring deep knowledge of electoral law and constitutional matters.
Full list of new peerages announced by No 10
Here is the full list of new peers announced by No 10. Here is the list as published by Downing Street.
Nominations from the leader of the Labour party
1) Professor Wendy Alexander FRSE – Vice Chair of the British Council, former Member of the Scottish Parliament for Paisley North and previously Labour Leader in the Scottish Parliament.
2) Sir Brendan Barber – former General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress and former chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.
3) Luciana Berger – former Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree and current Chair of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance.
4) Mary Bousted – formerly the Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), and education policy adviser.
5) Kevin Brennan – former Member of Parliament for Cardiff West and former Minister of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
6) Lyn Brown – former Member of Parliament for West Ham and former Shadow Minister.
7) Dinah Caine OBE CBE – Chair of Camden STEAM, formerly Chair of Goldsmiths University and CEO and Chair of Creative Skillset.
8) Kay Carberry CBE – former Assistant General Secretary of the British Trades Union Congress (TUC).
9) Margaret Curran – former Member of Parliament for Glasgow East and formerly Minister within the Scottish Executive.
10) Thangam Debbonaire – former Member of Parliament for Bristol West and former Shadow Secretary of State.
11) Julie Elliott – former Member of Parliament for Sunderland Central and former Shadow Minister.
12) David Evans – former Labour Party Regional Director, Assistant General Secretary and General Secretary of the Labour Party 2020-2024.
13) Sue Gray – former Chief of Staff to Prime Minister and former Cabinet Office Second Permanent Secretary.
14) Theresa Griffin – former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North West England.
15) Anji Hunter – Senior Advisor at Edelman, and former Head of Government Relations in Downing Street.
16) Carwyn Jones – former Member of the Senedd (MS) for Bridgend and First Minister of Wales.
17) Mike Katz – National Chair of Jewish Labour Movement and a former Camden Councillor.
18) Gerard Lemos CMG CBE – Social Policy expert and Chair of English Heritage, Chair of National Savings & Investments (NS&I), and Chair of London Institute of Banking and Finance.
19) Alison Levitt KC – Master of the Bench of the Inner Temple. Previously Principal Legal Advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions and a Circuit Judge specialising in serious crime, including rape.
20) Anne Longfield CBE – Campaigner for children and formerly served as the Children’s Commissioner for England. Founder and Executive Chair of the Centre for Young Lives.
21) Deborah Mattinson – former Director of Strategy to Sir Keir Starmer. Co-founder of BritainThinks.
22) Steve McCabe – former Member of Parliament for Birmingham Hall Green and Birmingham Selly Oak, and former Government Whip.
23) Claude Moraes OBE – former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London and chair of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
24) Wendy Nichols – UNISON Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Convenor and Branch Secretary and Labour Councillor.
25) Simon Pitkeathley – Currently the Chief Executive of Camden Town Unlimited and Euston Town, formerly the Mayor of London’s ‘Champion for Small Business’.
26) Dame Anne Marie Rafferty DBE FRCN – Professor of nursing policy and former President of the Royal College of Nursing.
27) Krish Raval OBE – Founding Director of Faith in Leadership.
28) Marvin Rees OBE – former Mayor of Bristol and Head of Bristol City Council. Former journalist, voluntary sector manager and NHS public health manager.
29) Revd Dr Russell David Rook OBE – Partner at the Good Faith Partnership and Anglican priest.
30) Phil Wilson – former Member of Parliament for Sedgefield, and former Opposition Assistant Whip.
Nominations from the leader of the Conservative party
1) Nigel Biggar CBE – Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford and Anglican priest.
2) Joanne Cash – Co-founder of Parent Gym and barrister serving as the Southeastern Circuit Junior and a member of the Bar Human Rights Committee.
3) Rt Hon Dame Thérèse Coffey PhD – former Deputy Prime Minister and former Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal.
4) Roger Evans – former Deputy Mayor of London and former member of the London Assembly for Havering and Redbridge.
5) Rachel Maclean – former Member of Parliament for Redditch and former Minister of State for Housing and Planning.
6) Toby Young – founder and director of the Free Speech Union, and an associate editor of The Spectator.
Nominations from the leader of the Liberal Demorat party
1) Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed MBE – former Sheffield City Councillor and chair of the Liberal Democrat Carers Commission.
2) Dr Mark Pack – former President of the Liberal Democrats.
Updated
Sue Gray included on list of 30 new Labour peers announced by No 10, as well as 6 Tories and 2 Lib Dems
Downing Street has announced 38 political peerages – 30 Labour ones, six Conservative ones, and two Lib Dem ones. As expected, Sue Gray, Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff, is on the list.
Here is the list.
Updated
Readers often complain that this blog, the Guardian, and the media in general, give too much coverage to Reform UK. They’ve only got five MPs, I’m told (prompting me to point out that they came third in terms of share of the vote). I’m always happy to debate this BTL but in the Times today Patrick Maguire has written a good column with an argument about why they deserve attention.
Highlighing what Reform UK has said on economic policy (for example, that Thames Water should be nationalised, that the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe should not be allowed to close), Maguire says “it isn’t difficult to imagine a near future in which Reform is outflanking Labour on the left as well as the right”. And he argues:
Until now Labour politicians have tended to console themselves with the notion that Farage and his boys are little more than the Sealed Knot of Thatcherism: re-enacting old battles in pinstripe armour with little heed for whether their voters think it’s all a bit weird. Sometimes Farage can’t help but affirm their prejudices: recall the election debate in which he suggested the “NHS model isn’t working”. Privatising hospitals is not what his people want to hear.
But what about nationalising monopoly utilities? Wielding the National Security and Investment Act to take steel plants and semiconductor factories into state ownership? Campaigning against the takeover of Royal Mail by the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky? Reminding voters that most of the utilities for which they pay through the nose are owned by funds in China, Canada and wherever else? The Reform leadership is in private discussions about all of that. It is thinking more seriously about what it says in public too. Note, for instance, that Farage and Tice chose not to run their mouths off and pledge to compensate Waspi women this week.
On utilities and strategic industries, Reform is going where No 10 and No 11 won’t. There are countless reasons why not — most of them to do with the government balance sheet — but the sum of it all is a vast expanse of political space to the left of Starmer and Reeves. If they don’t want to fill it, somebody will. And that somebody is likely to be Reform.
Foreign Office admits Chagos Islands sovereignty deal with Mauritius under review
The Foreign Office has admitted that its proposed deal with Mauritius handing over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands is under review.
The government presented the agreement as a done deal when it was announced in October, and ministers said the UK would benefit because the arrangement would allow the UK and the US to continue operating their military airbase on Diego Garcia for at least another 99 years despite the sovereignty transfer. Without a deal, there was a risk of the UK eventually being compelled to surrender sovereignty under international law, the government said.
The deal was announced shortly before an election in Mauritius. But Navinchandra Ramgoolam, who returned for a third term as prime minister after winning the poll, ordered a review of the proposed treaty. He told his parliament on Tuesday that what had been agreed “would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect from such an agreement”.
Initially Downing Street downplayed the significance of this, but in a statement today the Foreign Office has signalled that the deal is being revised. It said:
Mauritius and the UK have held a series of productive, ongoing conversations and exchanges on finalising a historic treaty on the exercise of sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago.
Both countries reiterated their commitment to finalising a treaty as quickly as possible, whose terms will agree to ensure the long-term, secure and effective operation of the existing base on Diego Garcia and that Mauritius is sovereign over the archipelago.
Mandelson appointment shows 'moral bankruptcy' of Labour under Starmer, Momentum claims
Momentum, the leftwing Labour group, has criticised the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, saying it is evidence of the party’s “moral bankruptcy” under Keir Starmer’s leadership. It put this on social media.
Starmer has appointed Peter Mandelson, associated with Jeffrey Epstein and implicated in the worst excesses of New Labour, as US ambassador.
This decision demonstrates once again the moral bankruptcy and political ineptitude that has characterised Starmer’s leadership to date.
Back to council byelection since the general election (see 1.05pm), and David Cowling, a former head of political research at the BBC, has produced his own analysis of the figures. Looking just at the 153 council byelections contested by Labour, he says:
In summary, Labour’s vote share fell in 121 (79%) and increased in 32 (21%). In 73 seats (48% of the total) Labour’s share fell by 10% or more: in a further 39 (25% of the total) the party’s share loss was below 10%. Among the 32 seats where Labour’s vote share increased, twelve were in Scotland and two in Wales.
Labour was defending 88 of the seats, of which they held 54 and lost 34 - nineteen of them to the Conservatives. They also gained six seats – three in Scotland, two in England and one in Wales.
Ann Widdecombe, the former Tory minister who is now a spokesperson for the Reform UK party, has criticised the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US – but not very strongly. In an interview with GB News, she said:
I don’t think he’s a good choice. He’s a staunch remainer. As we all know, Trump was very much in favour of Brexit.
But having said that, he is a smoothie, and he does operate quite well, so let’s watch and see.
Council byelections show Labour vote down 9%, and Tories going backwards when Reform UK on ballot, analyis shows
The last three council byelections of 2024 were held yesterday. Labour were defending all three seats, and they lost two of them. The Conservatives took one of the seats, in Dudley, and Reform UK took another, in Swale in Kent. Election Maps UK posted the results on social media.
West Thamesmead (Greenwich) Council By-Election Result:
— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 19, 2024
🌹 LAB: 45.1% (-16.7)
🔶 LDM: 32.7% (+24.2)
➡️ RFM: 8.9% (New)
🌳 CON: 8.0% (-6.8)
🌍 GRN: 5.3% (-9.6)
Labour HOLD.
Changes w/ 2022.
Brockmoor & Pensnett (Dudley) Council By-Election Result:
— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 20, 2024
🌳 CON: 35.4% (+7.0)
➡️ RFM: 30.1% (New)
🌹LAB: 28.9% (-34.7)
🌍 GRN: 3.0% (New)
🔶 LDM: 1.5% (-6.5)
🙋 IND: 1.0% (New)
Conservative GAIN from Labour.
Changes w/ 2024.
Milton Regis (Swale) Council By-Election Result:
— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 20, 2024
➡️ RFM: 33.9% (New)
🏘️ SI: 25.9% (-0.1)
🌹 LAB: 24.9% (-33.0)
🌳 CON: 12.3% (-3.6)
🔶 LDM: 2.9% (New)
Reform GAIN from Labour.
Changes w/ 2023.
Individual council byelection results don’t count for very much, but cumulatively they are one of the best measures of political performance available. Election Maps UK has produced figures on what has been happening since the general election. Mostly, its bad news for Labour, because its vote share is down almost 9 percentage points.
Aggregate Result of the 172 Council By-Elections (for 175 Seats) Since the 2024 General Election:
— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 20, 2024
LAB: 64 (-27)
CON: 49 (+24)
LDM: 31 (+1)
GRN: 8 (+2)
RFM: 7 (+7)
IND: 7 (-3)
SNP: 5 (-1)
PLC: 2 (=)
LOC: 2 (-2) pic.twitter.com/HcLJq5lZfb
Aggregate Vote Share:
— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 20, 2024
LAB: 24.8% (-8.7)
CON: 23.7% (+0.3)
LDM: 18.4% (+3.9)
GRN: 9.5% (+0.7)
RFM: 7.6% (+7.4)
SNP: 7.4% (-2.5)
PLC: 0.7% (+0.0)
Others: 7.9% (-1.1)https://t.co/vJWLS78S55 pic.twitter.com/X70PbVSYZI
But there is bad news for the Conservatives too. Reform UK has only won seven seats, and overall Nigel Farage’s party is only getting about a third as many votes as Kemi Badenoch’s. But the Election Maps UK analysis suggests that, when Reform UK does stand, the Conservatives lose out far more than Labour.
Both LAB and CON perform comparatively worse when RFM stand candidates, though the net effect on the Conservative's (-6.6) is greater than Labour's (-1.2).
— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) December 20, 2024
Net Changes when Reform Stand:
RFM: +14.9%
LDM: +2.0%
GRN: -1.0%
LAB: -1.2%
SNP: -3.4%
OTH: -4.8%
CON: -6.6% pic.twitter.com/LgxiQNI1CK
Diane Abbott, the Labour leftwinger and mother of the Commons, does not seem to be a fan of the new ambassador to the US. In a post on social media, she also points out (correctly) some of the language used to valorise Mandelson and other politicians like him never gets used to describe women with just as much experience.
Ugh! Mandelson repeatedly referred to as a ‘big hitter’ or ‘big beast’, even by himself!
Never applied to women in politics with just as much experience, some who have never been sacked from government or who have supported far fewer wars.
Updated
How Mandelson once described Trump as 'little short of white nationalist and racist' and 'danger to world'
Peter Mandelson once described Donald Trump as “little short of a white nationalist and racist”, the Telegraph reports. In her story, Amy Gibbons says Mandelson made the comments in an interview with the Italian journalist Alain Elkann in July 2019.
The Trump presidency clearly upset Mandelson greatly because Elkann opened the interview by asking the former cabinet minister how he was, and Mandelson replied:
I wake up today and discover that not only am I seeing my country, which I love, being forced out of its own European neighbourhood, but is crossing the Atlantic to make common cause with an American president who is little short of a white nationalist and racist.
So, you can imagine, I am not very happy. This disturbs me greatly, because it’s completely different from all my upbringing, whether my family or in politics, what I believe in, and the identity I see for my own country.
Those are the words from the audio on Elkann’s website. The website also contains a transcript, in which the word “racist” is not included in this passage, but a line has been added saying the UK was being forced out of the EU “by a hard right Conservative government with the support of under half of the population”.
In the interview Mandelson also said Trump was a danger to the world.
What Donald Trump represents and believes is anathema to mainstream British opinion, and the idea that as a result of Brexit we have to kowtow to an American president who holds those views will outrage people in Britain.
Even those who have a sneaking admiration for Donald Trump, because of the strength of his personality, nonetheless regard him as reckless and a danger to the world.
Many people in mainstream or leftwing politics said similar things, or worse, about Trump around the time of his first presidency. One of them was JD Vance, who is now Trump’s vice president-elect.
Updated
Councils need strong powers to block adverts on billboards deems harmful, says Green party
Councils need stronger powers to block adverts on outdoor billboards that are deemed harmful, the Green party is saying. Carla Denyer, the Green co-leader, championed this issue as a councillor in Bristol but she says, to deal with the problem effectively, councils need stronger powers.
Denyer says she has written to Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, about this issue. Explaining what should change, Denyer says:
It’s very promising to see councils implementing new policies to protect their residents from some of the impacts of consumerism, advertising, greenwashing and injustice. But that’s not enough. National planning laws need to change - they haven’t kept pace and it is clear that local authorities and communities need more power to object to harmful ads.
We need updated planning regulations that properly control billboards, with local councils able to refuse on a range of grounds such as climate, nature, public health, light pollution, and the impact on local businesses.
National planning policy under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) acknowledges the quality and character of places can suffer when advertisements are poorly sited and designed. I have written to the government to ask for a strengthening of the planning laws that control advertisements.
Last month Peter Mandelson suggested that Keir Starmer should use Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, as an intermediary with the Trump administration. In a post this morning on social media, Robert Peston, the ITV political editor, says this almost led to him not getting the US ambassador job. He says:
It is no anomaly that Mandelson was a shoo-in for this job earlier in the autumn, till he remarked that maybe Starmer should use Farage’s good offices to build a relationship with Trump. According to senior diplomats, that public suggestion did not endear himself to Starmer and almost cost Mandelson the keys to the UK’s magnificent DC diplomatic residence.
But Starmer, as is becoming his habit, has made a bold call in appointing him. Whether it is the taxes he chooses to impose or the money he chooses to withhold from the vulnerable, the PM is not shying away from decisions that are neither populist or popular.
Peston says that, although there are reasons why Mandelson is well qualified for the job, there are also risks. “Mandelson has never knowingly been self deprecating or inconspicuous,” Peston writes. “He wears controversy like a designer coat and he’s been sacked from government for it twice.”
But Mandelson was also the preferred choice of Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s powerful chief of staff, Peston says.
GPs in England to get 4.8% real terms funding increase, and fewer targets, under new contract proposed by Streeting
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has said that funding for GPs in England will rise by 4.8% in real terms in 2025-26. Releasing details of the proposed new contract for GPs, the Department for Health and Social Care also revealed that that number of specific targets they get set will be drastically reduced – claiming this will allow GPs to spend more times with patients.
In a news release about the contract details, which are out for consultation with the BMA, DHSC said:
Backed by the biggest boost to GP funding in years – an extra £889m on top of the existing budget for general practice – the proposals would also bring back the family doctor by incentivising GPs to ensure patients most in need see the same doctor at every GP appointment …
Currently, GPs must perform against a range of targets in order to receive certain financial incentives under a scheme called The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), piling added pressure onto already overstretched doctors.
The government will significantly reduce the number of targets – from 76 to 44 – freeing them up to spend more time with their patients.
And Streeting said:
We promised to bring back the family doctor, but we want to be judged by results - not promises. That’s why we will incentivise GPs to ensure more and more patients see the same doctor at each appointment.
Dave West from the Health Service Journal has posted a copy of Streeting’s letter to health staff on social media. He points out that, although the funding increase looks generous, GPs are also facing significant cost increases because of the government’s decision to raise employers’ national insurance.
BREAKING - @wesstreeting says he's made "very difficult choices" after a "thorough review of the NHS budget" for 2025-26 in order to put 7.2% cash growth in GP contract, roughly 4.8% real terms
— Dave West (@Davewwest) December 20, 2024
story soon from @caitlintilley pic.twitter.com/bWBqA2vZCX
Updated
Liam Byrne, the Labour MP who served in cabinet with Peter Mandelson and who is now chair of the Commons business committee, says he thinks Mandelson would be a good appointment as ambassador to Washington.
At the liaison committee yesterday Byrne asked Keir Starmer how realistic it was to think the UK could pursue deeper trade relations with both the EU and the US. Starmer claimed it was possible to do both. In a blog on his Substack account written after the hearing, Byrne explains why he thinks the UK can probably improve trade relations on both sides of the Atlantic – although he thinks sector-by-sector trade deals with the US are more realistic than a fully-fledged free trade agreement.
He has summarised this in a thread on social media. And he concludes:
5/. So: having both Lord Mandelson & Jonathan Powell on your team are wise moves for a PM who needs to build new bridges in a world where friends and allies seem hell bent on building walls
Updated
During her interview round this morning Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, was also asked about Peter Mandelson becoming the next ambassador to the US. She did not officially confirm the appointment, but she said he would be a good choice. She told Sky News:
We need someone as the next ambassador to the US who is going to be able to promote our economic and security interests with one of our closest allies, and so I think he is a really good fit for the job.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander suggests drink and drug-driving laws may be reviewed
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, has suggested that laws on drink and drug-driving could be reviewed amid concern about rising deaths on the roads.
In an interview with LBC, Alexander, who only recently took office after the resignation of Louise Haigh, said:
This is a conversation that I’ve been having with officials in the first couple of weeks that I’ve been in post. I was appointed three weeks ago, and one of the first things I asked to do was to get the team in who are working on a new road safety strategy that my predecessor committed to. I think she was entirely right to do that.
The laws around drink driving and drug driving, it might be time for us to have a look at those.
She was speaking two days after 19-year-old Thomas Johnson was jailed for nine years and four months for causing the deaths of three of his friends in a car crash in Oxfordshire last year. As PA Media reports, Johnson had been inhaling laughing gas behind the wheel and driving at speeds of more than 100mph before losing control of his car and crashing into a lamppost and a tree.
But while Alexander suggested she would review drink and drug-driving laws, she also said the government was not considering banning newly-qualified drivers from carrying passengers – an idea proposed by the AA motoring organisation. Asked if that was an option, Alexander said: “That’s not something that the government is currently looking at.”
This is from Pippa Crerar, the Guardian’s political editor, on the potholes announcements. (See 9.53am.)
NEW: Transport secretary has announced £1.6bn for councils to repair roads and fix an extra 7 million potholes next year.
This is the Morgan McSweeney style of government: deliver small material changes that public will notice. Same tactic he deployed in Barking to take on BNP.
Starmer urges councils to 'get on with job' of fixing potholes as DfT boosts their budget for repairs by almost 50%
Keir Starmer has urged councils to “get on with the job” of fixing pothole-plagued roads. The prime minister made the statement as part of a government announcement about councils in England getting almost £1.6bn next year to repair potholes – enough to fill in 7m extra ones, it claims.
In its news release the Department for Transport said:
In a Christmas boost for drivers, the landmark investment – an increase of nearly 50% on local road maintenance funding from last year – goes well beyond the government’s manifesto pledge and is enough to fix the equivalent of over 7 million extra potholes in 2025 to 2026 …
The government is today announcing how much each local authority is being allocated. Each local authority can use its share of the £1.6 billion for 2025 to 2026 to identify which of their roads are in most need of repair and to deliver immediate fixes for communities and raise living standards across every area of the country.
And Starmer said:
Through our Plan for Change we’re determined to put more money back into the pockets of hardworking people and improve living standards. That’s why we’re giving councils funding to repair our roads and get Britain moving again – with a clear expectation that they get on with the job.
Simon Williams, head of policy at the RAC, said:
This is the biggest one-off road maintenance funding settlement councils in England have ever been given. So we have high hopes it’s the turning point that ends the degradation of our roads and finally delivers fit-for-purpose, smooth surfaces for drivers and all other road users.
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Diplomats welcome Peter Mandelson’s expected appointment as next ambassador to US
Good morning. “I’m reliably informed that I will not be brought back,” Peter Mandelson told a podcast in June, when asked whether he might get a job in a Keir Starmer administration after the election which was then only about a week away. “That has been made absolutely clear. They don’t want any big beasts coming back to mark anyone’s homework.”
Let’s hope that in his new job the intelligence he gathers about what is going on in Donald Trump’s administration turns out to a little bit more accurate.
The news has not been officially confirmed yet, but the story that Mandelson will be the next ambassador to the US has been green-lighted by the government spin machine and here is our overnight version, by Donna Ferguson.
Prime ministers who have to deal with a US president they don’t particularly like have two options: “hug ‘em close”, or “long spoon”. Harold Wilson was in the long spoon category, but more recently “hug ‘em close” has been the option preferred by Tory and Labour leaders and we have already seen Keir Starmer adopting this approach with some gusto. The Mandelson appointment is just an escalation of this. Steven Swinford from the Times broke the news about Mandelson last night and in his story he reports:
One source said that Starmer’s decision to make a political appointment reflected how seriously he takes the UK’s relationship with the US, adding that Mandelson is a “significant figure in his own right”.
So that is one reason for the appointment. Another is that he might turn out to be very good at it; even his opponents admit that he is skilled political operator, and as a former EU trade commissioner he is an expert in the one issue that will dominate UK-EU relations in the Trump era. And if anyone in Labour politics is likely to establish good personal relationships with the Trump team, it might be him; he is comfortable around rightwingers and plutocrats – although when he made his famous comment in 1998 about being “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”, provided they paid their taxes, he probably never imagined a world in which anyone could be worth $400bn – the amount Trump’s pal Elon Musk has accumulated.
But opinion is divided about the appointment. Sir Simon Fraser, a former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, worked with Mandelson at the business department, where he was permanent secretary and Mandelson was business secretary, and before that at the European commission. On the Today programme this morning Fraser said Mandelson was the right man for the job. He explained:
He’s a big political hitter, well connected in our government, and I think that’s what we need with the Trump administration.
He’s very interested in international affairs and foreign policy. And by the way, he is well connected in America.
And he has conducted really difficult trade negotiations with the Americans, when we were working together at the EU, so that’s all very important.
But there are two other things. He also knows the China policy agenda very well. That is going to be really important for the Trump administration.
And, finally, Peter Mandelson is, of course, pro-European. He supports a better relationship between the UK and the EU. And balancing the EU relationship the US relationship is going to be the biggest strategic foreign policy challenge.
So, if you put all that together, he is pretty well placed for the job.
Another former diplomat who has welcomed the appointment is Lord Darroch, who was himself ambassador to Washington during the first Trump administration. In an interview on Newsnight last night, he said, with some Trump allies thinking Starmer runs a leftwing government, Mandelson was “exactly the man to persuade them that this is completely wrong”.
“There is something of an issue with the government’s reputation… I think Peter Mandelson is exactly the man to persuade them that this is completely wrong.”
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) December 19, 2024
Former US ambassador Lord Darroch says Peter Mandelson could improve Britain's image in Washington.
#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/mXgmQmUicw
But Mandelson’s old enemies on the Labour left may be less complimentary. John McDonnell, shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, posted a message on social media saying this was a bad appointment. (McDonnell is currently suspended from the parliamentary Labour party over a rebel vote.)
For many reasons associated with Peter Mandelson’s history in and out of political office many will feel KeIr has lost all sense of political judgment on this decision.
We are expecting the appointment to be confirmed later today. And we are also expecting a large batch of new peers to be announced. But otherwise it looks quiet; the Christmas parliamentary recess has started, and there is virtually nothing in the diary.
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