Peter Walker
@peterwalker99.bsky.social
Guardian senior political correspondent. New book, Stress tested, out now: https://tinyurl.com/mhn82a7m
Email: peter.walker@theguardian.com Secure email if needed: peter.walker.guardian@protonmail.com
Email: peter.walker@theguardian.com Secure email if needed: peter.walker.guardian@protonmail.com
I’m standing outside a Commons committee room where Keir Starmer has walked in to a mass of loud applause from his MPs. It was very loud. Well, that settles it. He’s 100% safe now.
February 9, 2026 at 6:00 PM
I’m standing outside a Commons committee room where Keir Starmer has walked in to a mass of loud applause from his MPs. It was very loud. Well, that settles it. He’s 100% safe now.
Reposted by Peter Walker
Jeremy Kyle is interviewing Reform MPs at a live press conference
Discussing who might take over from Keir Starmer as PM, Kyle just said: "She's had a makeover, Angela"
Lee Anderson: "She's throwing her money away, isn't she, to be honest with you"
*applause from the audience*
Discussing who might take over from Keir Starmer as PM, Kyle just said: "She's had a makeover, Angela"
Lee Anderson: "She's throwing her money away, isn't she, to be honest with you"
*applause from the audience*
February 9, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Jeremy Kyle is interviewing Reform MPs at a live press conference
Discussing who might take over from Keir Starmer as PM, Kyle just said: "She's had a makeover, Angela"
Lee Anderson: "She's throwing her money away, isn't she, to be honest with you"
*applause from the audience*
Discussing who might take over from Keir Starmer as PM, Kyle just said: "She's had a makeover, Angela"
Lee Anderson: "She's throwing her money away, isn't she, to be honest with you"
*applause from the audience*
Reposted by Peter Walker
David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Darren Jones, John Healey, Heidi Alexander etc have all rallied round the prime minister - keep an eye on which cabinet ministers don't 👀
February 9, 2026 at 2:54 PM
David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Darren Jones, John Healey, Heidi Alexander etc have all rallied round the prime minister - keep an eye on which cabinet ministers don't 👀
It's starting to look very end-period-Boris-Johnson for Keir Starmer, and while you can't argue with Johnson's First Law of Politics – when the herd moves, it moves – I do wonder whether whoever challenges and/or take over are prepared for quite how much voters dislike this kind of chaos.
February 9, 2026 at 2:27 PM
It's starting to look very end-period-Boris-Johnson for Keir Starmer, and while you can't argue with Johnson's First Law of Politics – when the herd moves, it moves – I do wonder whether whoever challenges and/or take over are prepared for quite how much voters dislike this kind of chaos.
Blimey. No 10 head of comms, Tim Allan, is also departing, saying it is to allow "a new No10 team to be built".
February 9, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Blimey. No 10 head of comms, Tim Allan, is also departing, saying it is to allow "a new No10 team to be built".
NEW: Reform UK’s flagship council, Kent, has been accused of telling a “blatant lie” after its claim of nearly £40m in savings on net zero were found to be based on hypothetical projects for which there was no documentation.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reform-run Kent council accused of fabricating £40m net zero savings
Disclosures show figures cited by authority’s leader rested on unfunded ideas listed briefly in budget papers
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 11:04 AM
NEW: Reform UK’s flagship council, Kent, has been accused of telling a “blatant lie” after its claim of nearly £40m in savings on net zero were found to be based on hypothetical projects for which there was no documentation.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
NEW: Gordon Brown has said he deeply regrets bringing Peter Mandelson into his government, saying Mandelson alleged actions as business secretary were “a betrayal of everything we stand for as a country”.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Gordon Brown ‘deeply regrets’ bringing Peter Mandelson into his government
Former prime minister says revelations about Epstein’s influence on UK politics caused him revulsion
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2026 at 7:42 PM
NEW: Gordon Brown has said he deeply regrets bringing Peter Mandelson into his government, saying Mandelson alleged actions as business secretary were “a betrayal of everything we stand for as a country”.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
That No 10 could and should have known enough about Peter Mandelson and his post-prison links to Jeffrey Epstein to not make him Washington ambassador is of course true. But what is also true is that the Conservatives also did not point this out at the time.
February 6, 2026 at 1:09 PM
That No 10 could and should have known enough about Peter Mandelson and his post-prison links to Jeffrey Epstein to not make him Washington ambassador is of course true. But what is also true is that the Conservatives also did not point this out at the time.
Keir Starmer describes Matt Goodwin as someone "who looks at people like Rishi Sunak, Shabana Mahmood, and presumably Marcus Rashford, Shirley Bassey and Asas Sarwar, and says they can't really be English or Welsh or Scottish because they are not white."
February 5, 2026 at 11:24 AM
Keir Starmer describes Matt Goodwin as someone "who looks at people like Rishi Sunak, Shabana Mahmood, and presumably Marcus Rashford, Shirley Bassey and Asas Sarwar, and says they can't really be English or Welsh or Scottish because they are not white."
I still do not have a clue who will win the Gorton and Denton by-election but the Greens say that in six hours today they leafleted all 40,000-plus households, done by 400 volunteers, which does show Lib Dem-style levels of dedication to campaigning (and to the printing trade).
February 4, 2026 at 6:40 PM
I still do not have a clue who will win the Gorton and Denton by-election but the Greens say that in six hours today they leafleted all 40,000-plus households, done by 400 volunteers, which does show Lib Dem-style levels of dedication to campaigning (and to the printing trade).
For all the (justified) political angst about how and why Peter Mandelson got the Washington job, Kemi Badenoch's spokesman admitted that he can't recall the Tories raising the Epstein link at the time, and doesn't think they formally opposed the move either.
February 4, 2026 at 1:53 PM
For all the (justified) political angst about how and why Peter Mandelson got the Washington job, Kemi Badenoch's spokesman admitted that he can't recall the Tories raising the Epstein link at the time, and doesn't think they formally opposed the move either.
The Times interview with Peter Mandelson is a masterclass in lack of self-awareness, but this quote about what it is precisely that makes very rich people so appealing to him is especially revealing.
February 3, 2026 at 9:50 AM
The Times interview with Peter Mandelson is a masterclass in lack of self-awareness, but this quote about what it is precisely that makes very rich people so appealing to him is especially revealing.
I mean, this is just such bollocks. A crime, in Knightsbridge? Really? You mean the same area as one of the world's biggest-ever robberies, the 1987 Knightsbridge security deposit theft?
February 2, 2026 at 7:05 PM
I mean, this is just such bollocks. A crime, in Knightsbridge? Really? You mean the same area as one of the world's biggest-ever robberies, the 1987 Knightsbridge security deposit theft?
Reposted by Peter Walker
BREAKING: Keir Starmer has urged House of Lords to urgently modernise disciplinary procedures so that Peter Mandelson can be stripped of his peerage and removed from upper chamber.
February 2, 2026 at 12:41 PM
BREAKING: Keir Starmer has urged House of Lords to urgently modernise disciplinary procedures so that Peter Mandelson can be stripped of his peerage and removed from upper chamber.
I have no idea who will win the Gorton & Denton by-election but one thing that does seem clear is Labour view Reform’s decision to select Matt Goodwin as an opportunity for them.
February 1, 2026 at 11:23 AM
I have no idea who will win the Gorton & Denton by-election but one thing that does seem clear is Labour view Reform’s decision to select Matt Goodwin as an opportunity for them.
It’s fair to say that when judges do this sort of thing, you are not in a constitutionally or legally normal place.
Judge Biery signed the order with a photo of Liam and two bible verses: The first is "But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The second is simply "Jesus wept."
Astonishing thing for a judge to do.
Astonishing thing for a judge to do.
January 31, 2026 at 9:48 PM
It’s fair to say that when judges do this sort of thing, you are not in a constitutionally or legally normal place.
If you’ve not seen it, v good piece by top colleague @matthewweaver.bsky.social on the suburban Ulez camera bomber, the online radicalisation of older people and the sheer toxicity of “war on the motorist” and anti-Sadiq Khan discourse.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Ulez bomber: the retired electrician who turned bomb-making extremist
Shy 63-year-old’s decision to blow up London traffic camera linked to online conspiracy theories and Islamophobia
www.theguardian.com
January 31, 2026 at 11:57 AM
If you’ve not seen it, v good piece by top colleague @matthewweaver.bsky.social on the suburban Ulez camera bomber, the online radicalisation of older people and the sheer toxicity of “war on the motorist” and anti-Sadiq Khan discourse.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Reposted by Peter Walker
The BBC is getting played here: if a contributor gets to flat out deny having his own words quoted to him on television (with the viewer not told the denial is untrue) then post about "dropping truth bombs". The mission to inform & counter misinformation is flailing if the editorial controls so weak
Konstantin Kisin has since posted on his own Youtube channel saying he 'dropped truth bombs on Question Time'.
Clearly 'alternative truth' bombs.
The video has had over 400k views and counting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AN1...
Clearly 'alternative truth' bombs.
The video has had over 400k views and counting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AN1...
January 31, 2026 at 11:13 AM
The BBC is getting played here: if a contributor gets to flat out deny having his own words quoted to him on television (with the viewer not told the denial is untrue) then post about "dropping truth bombs". The mission to inform & counter misinformation is flailing if the editorial controls so weak
Someone from the Tories’ Lords team really needs to change Sharron Davies’ X log in.
As an aside, how *would* 15 minute cities be “thrust on us overnight”?
As an aside, how *would* 15 minute cities be “thrust on us overnight”?
January 30, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Someone from the Tories’ Lords team really needs to change Sharron Davies’ X log in.
As an aside, how *would* 15 minute cities be “thrust on us overnight”?
As an aside, how *would* 15 minute cities be “thrust on us overnight”?
I'm late to this but what on earth were Question Time doing putting Konstantin Kisin on the show? These are not serious people. They're controversialists-for-cash. The whole business model is to say increasingly outrageous things for the coverage and clicks. Next week: Lucy White.
January 30, 2026 at 10:21 AM
I'm late to this but what on earth were Question Time doing putting Konstantin Kisin on the show? These are not serious people. They're controversialists-for-cash. The whole business model is to say increasingly outrageous things for the coverage and clicks. Next week: Lucy White.
This is quite odd. Even if you, personally, don't like the ideas of Ruth Davidson and Andy Street it's a simple fact that they both consistently out-performed their party in elections. There is also no polling evidence I know of that the wider electorate is in the "mood" described.
January 29, 2026 at 12:46 PM
This is quite odd. Even if you, personally, don't like the ideas of Ruth Davidson and Andy Street it's a simple fact that they both consistently out-performed their party in elections. There is also no polling evidence I know of that the wider electorate is in the "mood" described.
Absolutely fantastic example of multiple-metaphor government jargon-ese
January 29, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Absolutely fantastic example of multiple-metaphor government jargon-ese
NEW: The government's new national planning framework for England contains precisely zero mentions of women and girls despite urban design been seen as a key element in helping women and girls feel safer. by @lexytopping.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
England planning proposals fail to mention safety of women and girls, say critics
Draft proposals likely to ‘embed risk and inequality’, campaigners and urban planners say
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 3:04 PM
NEW: The government's new national planning framework for England contains precisely zero mentions of women and girls despite urban design been seen as a key element in helping women and girls feel safer. by @lexytopping.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
It's deputies day at PMQs, with Starmer in China, so David Lammy vs Andrew Griffith. Nice opening reply from Lammy: "It’s always a pleasure to hear from the co-author of the mini budget."
January 28, 2026 at 12:06 PM
It's deputies day at PMQs, with Starmer in China, so David Lammy vs Andrew Griffith. Nice opening reply from Lammy: "It’s always a pleasure to hear from the co-author of the mini budget."