House of Lords

Eric Pickles urged to quit as Tory peer over Grenfell inquiry criticism

September 6, 2024

Eric Pickles, the former housing secretary, is facing calls to quit as a Tory peer over the Grenfell inquiry, but he has blamed “middle-ranking officials” for failing to act on a coroner’s warning about fire safety. Emma Dent Coad, who was Kensington MP when the fire killed 72 people, said Pickles should “have the grace […]

Lady McDonagh obituary

June 25, 2023

The former Labour Party general secretary Margaret McDonagh, who has died aged 61 from brain cancer, was a formidable political strategist responsible for the tactics that won her party the landslide general election in 1997, sweeping Tony Blair and “New Labour” into office for a generation. A key figure in the modernisation of the party’s […]

Son of Windrush pioneer says ‘truth is finally being told’ 75 years on

January 21, 2023

As one of the Windrush Generation’s guiding lights, Sam King MBE overcame war and racism as he helped lay the foundation stones for a diverse modern Britain. His story, however, and those of his fellow settlers, has been obscured by years of ‘lies, misinformation and non-recognition’, according to his son. As events get underway to […]

Why hoarding power in London doesn’t work | Letters

May 20, 2020

T he tragedy that England has the highest excess death rate in Europe (How England found itself at the wrong end of the Covid-19 league table, 17 May) is not all down to austerity and the indolence of current ministers. England has been failed by a political culture that still clings to the imperial idea […]