Steerpike

To Labour conference, where a number of conversations are being dominated by another political party: Reform UK. New Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has had her first few weeks in the job dominated by the small boats crisis and concerns about immigration – announcing yesterday that she will toughen up Labour’s migration policy. But that wasn’t all: the Labour politician didn’t hold back when it came to the subject of Nigel Farage… Slamming the Reform UK leader as ‘worse than a racist’, Mahmood revealed during an interview with the Spectator’s Michael Gove that members of her family had been branded ‘f***ing P***s’ in recent weeks.

At the last Labour conference before the 2026 Holyrood election, Scottish Labour is enjoying the limelight. With less than eight months to go until the Scottish parliament election, the party is trying to prove that – despite its rather dire polling – it can win. But in an increasingly fractured political world, Labour may have to rely on another political party to prop itself up if it is to have any hope of governing in Scotland. And given Nigel Farage's tartan outfit is doing pretty well north of the border, a Labour-Reform pact – informal or not – could be one solution. But would Anas Sarwar do a deal with Reform?

Well, well, well. The atmosphere is more than a little tense as Labour conference kicks off in Liverpool. In recent weeks, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suffered not just from poor poll results – with a recent MRP suggesting his party could fall to less than 100 seats at the next general election – but the PM has lost both his deputy and ambassador to the US. Further north, feathers were ruffled during Starmer's reshuffle when Scottish Secretary Ian Murray – member of parliament for Edinburgh South since 2010 – was cut from the government in place of Douglas Alexander, onetime Scotland Secretary for Tony Blair. But while Sir Keir has had a rough ride lately, it would appear that Scottish Labour are rather sceptical about Andy Burnham's bid for the leadership.

It would be putting it mildly to say Sir Keir Starmer's digital ID card plans have gone down like a lead balloon. The Prime Minister's proposals to make ID cards compulsory for every British adult have raised concerns about freedom, data security and effectiveness – as it isn't clear the policy would actually work to tackle illegal immigration if it was rolled out. Hardly the best start to conference season… Some of those criticising Starmer over his policy are – surprise surprise – Scottish nationalists. SNP First Minister John Swinney took to Twitter to rage: I am opposed to mandatory digital ID – people should be able to go about their daily lives without such infringements.

Dear oh dear. Labour conference is just days away but as the party prepares to come together it would appear its politicians are coming apart. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham gave a rather revealing interview this week in which he called for 'wholesale change' to prevent an 'existential' crisis, set out his own brand of lefty politics – Manchesterism – and refused to rule out a return to Westminster. Now communities secretary Steve Reed has hit back in a defence of Prime Minister Keir Starmer – dismissing Burnham's 'potshots'. Ouch. Speaking to Sky News, Reed remarked: [Burnham] is entitled to his view, but we’ve heard these kinds of comments before. When Labour was in opposition, there used to be people that would take potshots at Keir Starmer.

Ding ding ding! US President Donald Trump hit out at London mayor Sadiq Khan at the UN general assembly yesterday and now the Labour man is hitting back. The mayor has accused Trump of showing he is 'racist, sexist, misogynist and Islamophobic' after the President claimed Khan was trying to put London under sharia law. The gloves are coming off… In an interview with BBC London, Khan fumed that 'I appear to be living rent-free inside Donald Trump's head'. He went on to rage: People are wondering what it is about this Muslim mayor who leads a liberal, multi-cultural, progressive and successful city, that means I appear to be living rent-free inside Donald Trump's head. I think President Trump has shown he is racist, he is sexist, he is misogynistic and he is Islamophobic.

Donald Trump's trip to the UK has finished and it appears his love-in with London has ended too. In a speech at the UN headquarters in New York, the US President took a pop at London mayor Sadiq Khan – calling him a 'terrible, terrible mayor' – before claiming that the Labour politician wants to put the British capital under sharia law. He knows how to grab headlines, eh? In a scathing address to the UN's general assembly, Trump fumed about Khan: I have to say, I look at London – where you have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor – it's been so changed. Now they want to go to shariah law. But you're in a different country, you can't do that. Turning his guns on the European Union, the President raged to leader that: 'Your countries are going to hell.

Labour might have recognised Palestinian statehood and green-lighted a new Gatwick runway, but Nigel Farage has once again managed to steal the show. This morning the Reform UK leader held a London press conference in which he announced his plans to abolish indefinite leave to remain, make foreign nationals ineligible to claim benefits and introduce an English standards test – which would be retaken every five years. Crikey! Reform has planned its headline domination well, with Farage and his head of policy Zia Yusuf taking aim at ex-prime minister Boris Johnson and the 'Boriswave' of immigration that came after Brexit.