Joe Bedell-Brill

Grant Shapps ‘angry’ about infected blood scandal The final report on the infected blood scandal will be published on Monday. The scandal is the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history, with more than 30,000 infected with HIV and Hepatitis C between 1970 and 1991. On Sky News, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps agreed with Trevor Phillips

Natalie Elphicke’s dramatic defection to Labour had already caused some controversy this week, with many in Labour feeling she should not have been welcome given her history on the right of the Tory party. Now there could be more trouble for Keir Starmer after the Sunday Times reported that Elphicke may have lobbied Justice Secretary

The Tories are expected to lose around half their councillors in the upcoming local elections on 4 May. Trevor Phillips interviewed the prime minister on Sky News, asking him whether a general election could take place as early as July. A frustrated and bullish Sunak claimed he did not get distracted by his diminished approval

Conflict in the Middle East entered a new dangerous phase on Saturday night, as Iran launched over 300 drones and missiles against Israel, its first direct military attack against the country after years of shadow warfare. On the BBC this morning, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told Laura Kuenssberg this was an ‘incredibly significant attack’. She

Dowden: UK position on arms sales to Israel ‘has not changed’ Israel and Hamas are expected to hold a new round of ceasefire negotiations in Cairo today, at a time when Israel is under more pressure than ever before to pause the conflict. An IDF strike on an aid convoy which killed seven aid workers,

Jeremy Hunt: Russian government creating a ‘smokescreen of propaganda’ On Friday night, a terrorist attack at a large concert in Moscow led to at least 133 deaths. Russian officials vowed revenge and suggested Ukrainian involvement, despite Islamic State claiming responsibility. On Sky News this morning, Trevor Phillips asked Jeremy Hunt how much Russia’s version of

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has been clear that Labour will stick to the same fiscal rules as the Tories if elected, and also that they don’t want to raise taxes. Laura Kuenssberg asked Reeves to confirm that this might mean Labour would be forced to make cuts to some public services. Reeves said that the

Jeremy Hunt: Budget will be ‘prudent and responsible’ Ahead of Wednesday’s Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt gave an interview on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg in which he tried to manage expectations regarding potential tax cuts. Without mentioning any specific details, he said the ‘most unconservative’ thing he could do would be to lower taxes by borrowing

Lee Anderson was stripped of the Tory whip yestereday after refusing to apologise for remarks in which he claimed ‘Islamists’ had ‘control of Khan, and… control of London’. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said ‘words matter’, and that Sunak was right to take action. However, Dowden was uncomfortable

Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News this morning, Illegal Migration Minister Michael Tomlinson joined the foreign secretary in stating that Putin was responsible for the death of his most prominent critic Alexei Navalny. Tomlinson said Navalny’s ‘courage knew no bounds’. Phillips asked what more the UK could do in response to Putin. Tomlinson described

In an interview with the Times this week, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove suggested that the country’s broken housing market could cause young people to lose faith in democracy. This morning, Laura Kuenssberg showed Gove a variety of statistics emphasising the worsening of the problem since the Conservatives came to power, and asked him who

Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill made history this week as she became Northern Ireland’s first nationalist first minister. Speaking to David Blevins on Sky News, she described herself as a ‘proud Republican’, but insisted that she ‘wants to be a unifier’. Blevins asked her about her ambitions for Irish unity, pointing out that the UK

This week there have been reports of Tory ministers calling for Rishi Sunak to be replaced by Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who consistently tops polls on the popularity of cabinet ministers. On Sky News this morning, Trevor Phillips showed Badenoch a graph which gave her a favourability rating of 64 per cent, contrasted with Rishi

On a call with Joe Biden this weekend, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s demand for security control over Gaza once Hamas has been destroyed, and said that this was incompatible with Palestinian sovereignty. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps described Netanyahu’s views as ‘disappointing’, and said that the two-state

David Cameron: western strikes on Houthi rebels are ‘a very clear message’ This week the US and UK launched military strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, following repeated Houthi attacks on Red Sea cargo ships. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, David Cameron suggested the strikes sent a message that western countries were prepared to ‘follow our

Does Rishi Sunak believe in Rwanda? An election year has begun, with Rishi Sunak still struggling in the polls and continuing to face great challenges home and abroad. His first appearance of the year on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg didn’t get off to an easy start. Kuenssberg surprised him with leaked documents she said implied

Baroness Mone: ‘I can’t see what we’ve done wrong’ Laura Kuenssberg’s show this morning was dominated by her interview with Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman, who have admitted their direct involvement with PPE Medpro, a company which was awarded a huge PPE contract during the pandemic, despite years claiming the contrary. The

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg after resigning on Wednesday, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick was disparaging in his assessment of the government’s new Rwanda legislation. Explaining his resignation, he said he couldn’t be the minister guiding the bill through parliament. Jenrick implied he had a better understanding of the issue than the Prime Minister, and that

Another winter crisis looms for the NHS, meaning a difficult start for the new Health Secretary, Victoria Atkins. Despite Rishi Sunak pledging to reduce the hospital waiting list, it has continued to grow. Atkins told Laura Kuenssberg that more money than ever before was going into the NHS, and the government was using that cash