Andy Burnham leads the pack of potential future replacements for Prime Minister Keir Starmer in new Savanta polling of British voters about leadership qualities, The House can exclusively reveal.
While there is currently no vacancy either in the Labour leadership or 10 Downing Street, Labour insiders have speculated that a battle for the top job could come sooner rather than later, given the challenges faced by Starmer and his government.
Leadership candidates must be sitting MPs, which Greater Manchester mayor Burnham is not. But his return to the parliamentary party via a by-election has been floated as a possibility by allies, and he has not denied that he could seek a Westminster seat.
Angela Rayner was tipped to be Starmer’s most likely successor before she resigned as deputy leader and deputy prime minister. She now sits on the backbenches.
Discussing a forthcoming book by investigative journalist Paul Holden titled The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney and the Crisis of British Democracy.
Downing Street’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who was the director of the Labour Together think tank, undated image (PA)
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Holden’s book will contain allegations of irregularities concerning what he calls “a secret unlawful fund” and more than £700,000 of hidden donations to a think tank run by McSweeney.
These revelations are potentially dangerous for McSweeney. Far more importantly, they may impact viscerally on Starmer himself.
This is because, according to Holden, the purpose of McSweeney’s think tank, misleadingly called Labour Together, was to supercharge Starmer’s path to Downing Street.
Once Starmer was installed in No 10 he rewarded McSweeney by making him Downing Street chief of staff.
The Tory Party is now claiming that new evidence has come to light that “raises the question of whether a criminal offence has been committed”.
In a letter to the Electoral Commission, Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake makes the devastating allegation that the “funds were used by Labour Together in a sustained political campaign to bring down Jeremy Corbyn and secure the election of Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party”.
This is especially significant because official records show Starmer did not declare any support from the group in the official Commons register.
Under the Commons code of conduct, MPs are required to declare support worth more than £1,500 designed to help their “candidacy at an election for parliamentary or non-parliamentary office”.
To put the charges made into plain English, the Tories are in effect accusing McSweeney of arranging a secret slush fund to launch Starmer into Downing Street.
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Hundreds of demonstrators carrying flags, banners gathered at Placa de Sant Jaume to protest the recent killing of Palestinian journalists in Gaza during Israeli attacks in Barcelona, Spain on August 27, 2025. [Lorena Sopena – Anadolu Agency]
Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni and AP Executive Editor Julie Pace on Thursday renewed calls for accountability on the one-month anniversary of Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Gaza that killed five journalists, Anadolu reports.
“On the one-month anniversary of the Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Gaza, we renew our demand for a clear account from the Israeli authorities and urge the government to uphold its obligations to ensure press freedom and protection,” the editors said in a joint statement.
The strikes killed Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, visual journalist Mariam Dagga, who worked for AP and other outlets, and freelance journalist Moaz Abu Taha, whose work appeared in Reuters.
“We remain devastated and outraged by their deaths,” Galloni and Pace said.
They stressed that “the strikes that killed them occurred at a hospital, a location protected under international law and one that was widely known to be crucial for news coverage out of Gaza.
“These journalists were acting in their professional capacity, doing eyewitness reporting,” the statement said. “An incident of this gravity requires a prompt and clear explanation, followed by accountability and concrete actions to ensure such attacks are never repeated.”
More than 200 journalists and media workers have been killed in the region since Oct. 7, 2023, according to different media watchdogs, which the editors described as “an alarming toll that underscores the escalating risks for those reporting on the ground.”
“We again call on the government of Israel to explain the deaths of these journalists and to take every step to protect those who continue to cover this conflict,” the statement said.
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Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAVote Labour for Genocide.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAVote Labour for Genocide.
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A general view of the ships, anchored in a bay off the coast of Italy, while the Global Sumud Flotilla continues its preparations for departure towards Greece’s Crete, on September 16, 2025. [Niccolo Celesti – Anadolu Agency]
The Global Sumud Flotilla announced Wednesday that its legal team will take Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after repeated drone assaults on its vessels bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.
Abdelhaq Benqadi, a Moroccan lawyer representing the Arab Lawyers Union aboard the mission, said the team is compiling evidence of “war crimes at sea,” including the types and numbers of drones used, electronic jamming, the munitions deployed, and the resulting damage.
He noted that a comprehensive report will be submitted to The Hague.
Organizers earlier reported 12 blasts hitting nine ships in international waters after drones repeatedly targeted the flotilla. While the group did not attribute responsibility, Israel – which has threatened to block the mission from reaching Gaza – has not commented.
“This is a full-fledged war crime, and the ICC must act,” Benqadi wrote in a post on the US social media company Facebook.
Israel has a record of intercepting aid vessels bound for Gaza, seizing ships and deporting activists in actions widely condemned as piracy.
The case comes as Israel already faces mounting legal scrutiny. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is hearing South Africa’s genocide case over Gaza, where more than 65,400 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in a brutal offensive since October 2023.
In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The current flotilla, carrying humanitarian supplies including medical aid, is among the largest ever to sail for Gaza, with nearly 50 ships attempting to break Israel’s 18-year blockade on the enclave’s 2.4 million residents.
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Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAVote Labour for Genocide.
