Closing summary
We’re wrapping up our coverage of todays events, below is a recap of the latest developments. Thanks for joining us.
Lord Simon McDonald, the former head of the Foreign Office, has called the Peter Mandelson security vetting scandal is the biggest crisis for the diplomatic service in decades. Speaking on the Today programme, Lord McDonald also claimed that Olly Robbins, who was the permanent secretary of the Foreign Office until Thursday when he was asked to step down due to the scandal, was “thrown under a bus” by the prime minister, Keir Starmer and that “No 10 required a scalp and wanted it quickly.”
Scottish first minister John Swinney has joined four other major party leaders in calling for Keir Starmer to step down as prime minister due to the scandal. Swinney, whose statement follows those made my Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farage, Ed Davey and Zach Polanski, has lambasted Starmer for his “incompetence”, describing it as “staggering” and “startling”.
Swinney has also rejected criticism about his governments implementation of a ruling from the Scottish supreme court on sex and gender. Swinney said that he was “satisfied the Scottish government has taken the necessary steps to implement the supreme court ruling”, despite his former colleague Joanna Cherry labelling him as a “coward” who is “too afraid” to push the issue.
Green Party MP Hannah Spencer has accused Labour of “offensively caricaturing” working-class people by claiming that they would be opposed to a ban on greyhound racing in England. Spencer comments come after culture secretary Lisa Nandy said that the government had “absolutely no plans whatsoever” to ban dog racing in England, despite similar bans being implemented in Wales and Scotland.
John Swinney has said that he is “satisfied” that his government has followed last years landmark ruling on sex and gender from Scotland’s supreme court, despite a former MP saying that he has failed to implement it.
Speaking in Dundee, Swinney stated that he was “satisfied the Scottish government has taken the necessary steps to implement the supreme court ruling” despite heavy criticism from Joanna Cherry, a former MP and colleague of Swinney who left the party last year.
Cherry, who told the Times that she was “absolutely disgusted by the SNP, and ashamed of being a member” has heavily criticised Swinney and his predecessors on the SNP stance on sex and gender, labelling Swinney a “coward” and saying they have been “too afraid” to stand up to the party on the issue.
The supreme court’s ruling, made in April 2025, stated that for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, sex is based on birth sex and not acquired gender, a distinction that Cherry had been a longtime campaigner for.
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