James Saunders
Guest Reporter
Sir Keir Starmer's trip to Saudi Arabia to secure international investment in Britain has raised eyebrows after his own scathing remarks about visiting the Gulf state resurfaced.
Back in 2022, Starmer had accused Boris Johnson of "going cap in hand from dictator to dictator" when the former PM met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
While now-Deputy PM Angela Rayner had torn into Johnson for embarking "on a begging mission to the Saudi prince to bail him out".
But now, Starmer - in the midst of his 16th overseas trip in just five months - has vowed to make the economy his "number one priority" in the face of a litany of human rights allegations plaguing the oil-rich state.
The director of campaign group Reprieve, Dan Dolan, said: "When Boris Johnson visited Mohammed bin Salman in 2022, three days after the mass execution of 81 people, Sir Keir Starmer was rightly scathing of Johnson's unconditional embrace of one of the world’s most prolific executioners of protesters.
"Now he is the Prime Minister, he has the opportunity to address the escalating execution crisis in Saudi Arabia.
"If he publicly raises the cases of child defendants Abdullah al-Howaiti and Abdullah al-Derazi [both of whom face the death penalty] when he meets with the Crown Prince, he could save their lives."
But No10 has hit back - the PM's spokesman said: "Promoting economic growth is the Prime Minister's number one priority - he has been very clear about that.
"No aspect of the relationships that we're building internationally... stops us from raising issues around human rights and protecting our protecting our values globally."
FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY...
With his head above the clouds, Keir Starmer has spent approximately one whole working month in the air since becoming Prime Minister five months ago.
He has now surpassed the incredible milestone of 150 hours - and counting - for flight times, Guido Fawkes reports, as he continues his travels to the Gulf today.
Consequently, Starmer has been responsible for 1,173 tonnes of carbon dioxide since taking office - which is the same amount as 117 Britons' year's worth of pollution.
Sir Keir Starmer has been handed yet another polling blow after Labour voters ranked him the worst of the party's three modern Prime Ministers - and below Margaret Thatcher overall.
Fresh data from pollsters at More In Common saw just nine per cent of Labour voters rank Starmer the best PM of the last 40 years - behind not only Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, but Margaret Thatcher too.
It was Thatcher who ranked highest overall among Tory and Labour voters combined, coming in with 33 per cent of the overall vote, and an overwhelming 55 per cent over the Conservative vote.
A top Labour donor has labelled some British heritage "just history on life support" which should be allowed to die after the party controversially gave the green light for the demolition of an historic building.
Dale Vince, the green energy tycoon, said he backed Angela Rayner's recent move to approve the demolition of Marks & Spencer's art deco shop on Oxford Street.
Just Stop Oil supporter Vince dismissed critics of the beloved building's destruction, saying: "Sometimes 'heritage' is just history on life support and we should let it go."
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Labour's controversial Winter Fuel Payment cuts have been brutally mocked in a new parody song gunning to top the charts at Christmas.
"Freezing This Christmas," a play on Mud's "Lonely This Christmas", first appeared on YouTube and streaming platforms a week ago - and has seen hundreds of thousands of plays in the days since.
The single, by "Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers", takes a series of piercing jabs at Labour's top brass - referring to the PM as "Two-tier Keir" and Rachel Reeves as a "fraud" in the wake of a "deception" row over her CV.
The wannabe No1's lyrics include lines such as: "It'll be freezing this Christmas without fuel at home - it'll be freezing this Christmas while Keir Starmer's warm... It'll be cold, so cold, without fuel at home this Christmas."
Elsewhere in the tune, the words "I just break down as I look around and the only things I see are foreign wars, and open doors, and a freezing OAP" can be heard.
It comes just days after a humiliating petition to call a fresh General Election gained significant traction on the UK Parliament website - with a debate date pencilled in for January 6.
But unlike the petition, Freezing This Christmas appears to have a more altruistic goal - Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers are looking to crowd-fund thousands of pounds for charity Age UK.
"Not a single person in the UK in 2024 should die because of the cold," the band's JustGiving page says.
Robert Jenrick has announced he will be supporting former Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden's move to ban first-cousin marriage in the UK.
Holden is set to table the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Bill in the Commons on Tuesday - where he's expected to argue that such marriages are linked to higher rates of birth defects and can "reinforce negative structures and control women".
Writing on social media, the Shadow Justice Secretary said: "I will be supporting Richard Holden's Bill to ban first cousin marriage. This practice has no place in Britain. Frankly, it should have been banned long ago."
READ THE FULL STORY ON HOLDEN'S PROPOSAL HERE
Rachel Reeves is set to bring Britain closer to the EU through an "economic reset" in a landmark speech to the bloc's finance ministers today.
In her address to Eurozone counterparts, the Chancellor is expected to lay into the UK's "fractious" post-Brexit relations with the continent - which she will claim has been defined by "division and chaos" under the Conservatives.
Reeves will tell the bloc: "This is the first time a British chancellor has addressed the Eurogroup [of finance ministers] since Brexit.
"It is a signal of the new UK government’s commitment to resetting our country's relationship with the European Union, and the importance I place in realising the economic potential of our shared future.
"I know that the last few years have been fractious. Division and chaos defined the last Government's approach to Europe. It will not define ours."
It follows months of calls for "relations resets" with allies and adversaries around the world by Labour's top brass - with both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary pledging to bring Britain back to the table with the EU, China and more.
But the Chancellor's calls for closeness come in the face of dire warnings over fishing and farming. Just days ago, the EU signed a landmark trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur - while Europe has been pushing for greater access to British fishing waters for months.
And her impending speech has seen Tory eyes rolling, too - Shadow Business Secretary has urged Reeves to ignore the slow-growing bloc in favour of "jumping on a plane to the US and talking to Trump about getting a US-UK trade deal done".
Hiring in Britain has slowed to its worst rate in four years as businesses brace for Rachel Reeves's National Insurance hikes.
New figures from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG show jobseekers are facing a tough market as demand for new staff has hit a wall in the wake of the Chancellor's controversial Budget - with employers' National Insurance contributions set to jump from April next year.
Hiring for permanent roles was particularly weak - while demand has plummeted to its lowest since the middle of the pandemic, the data shows.
The REC's chief executive Neil Carberry said: "It should be a surprise to no one that firms took the time to re-assess their hiring needs in November after a tough Budget for employers.
"The drop in vacancies was led by private sector permanent roles, and slower permanent recruitment billings across the month also reflected this trend.
"The real question now is whether businesses will return to the market as they go into next year with greater certainty about the path ahead."
Ahead of Rachel Reeves's speech to EU finance chiefs, the bloc's politicians sparked fury after publishing a map appearing to show the Falkland Islands belonging to Argentina.
The European People's Party (EPP), the largest political group in the European Parliament, shared an image on social media as it boasted of signing a trade deal with South American economic bloc Mercosur.
The EPP, crowing about how the deal "creates the largest free trade zone in the world", depicted the EU and six-member Mercosur in light blue, while non-members like the UK and Chile were coloured in grey.
But the party's map appeared to show the Falklands in the same shade of blue as former invaders Argentina - in the face of the EU's own position on the British Overseas Territory.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Labour faces a crunch decision on whether to remove Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from Britain's group of proscribed terrorist organisations following its overthrow of the Assad regime.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden told Sky News this morning that Labour would need to make a decision on HTS "quite quickly", depending on "how that group behaves" - but top Tories have cautioned that "our enemy's enemy is not automatically our friend".
Robert Jenrick, in the wake of Deputy PM Angela Rayner's comments that she "welcomed" the fall of Assad, wrote on social media: "Nobody will mourn Assad. Neither should we welcome an Islamist militia with an extreme radical agenda."
He said: "our enemy's enemy is not automatically our friend," and added: "We should be particularly concerned about the tens of thousands of Isis prisoners and foreign nationals detained in Syria.
"There is nothing worse for the region - and the UK - than to have them back of the battlefield or heading to our own shores."
Sir Keir Starmer is set to embark on his 16th overseas trip in just five months as Prime Minister as he looks to shore up investment from the Middle East.
Starmer had flown out to the United Arab Emirates just yesterday - his 15th separate trip - to push for a free trade deal with the broadly Western-aligned Gulf Cooperation Council, which he vowed would support regeneration and jobs back in Britain.
"Every region and nation in the United Kingdom should feel the impact of our Plan for Change, which is why I am in the Gulf forging closer ties and strengthening relationships that support our growth mission in every corner of the country," the PM said on Sunday.
He added: "I am determined to ensure international diplomacy drives local results, whether that is discussing how we can support regeneration in the UK or supporting business deals that create jobs - my international agenda starts at home."
Today, Starmer will be in Saudi Arabia to push for more cash - but human rights groups have urged him to decry a spate of executions in the Gulf state. Some 300 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia this year alone.
On his way back to Britain, the PM is expected to visit Cyprus and Britain's pair of RAF bases on the island - the first of which forms his 17th visit overseas.
Sir Keir Starmer and European leaders have been handed an urgent warning over Syrian migrants in the wake of dictator Bashar Al-Assad's ousting over the weekend.
Ex-Margaret Thatcher aide Nile Gardiner has called for the millions of refugees who fled Assad to "return or be returned" - and has told the West to remain firm on accepting further migrants in the months to come.
Writing on social media, Gardiner said: "The millions of refugees from Syria now living in Europe should return or be returned to their home country with the downfall of the Assad regime and contribute to the rebuilding of their own nation.
"And the West should not take in Syrians fleeing from Syria in the coming months."
Welcome back to GB News' Politics LIVE blog.
We'll be updating this page throughout the day with live politics updates as they come in.
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Back in 2022, Starmer had accused Boris Johnson of "going cap in hand from dictator to dictator" when the former PM met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
While now-Deputy PM Angela Rayner had torn into Johnson for embarking "on a begging mission to the Saudi prince to bail him out".
But now, Starmer - in the midst of his 16th overseas trip in just five months - has vowed to make the economy his "number one priority" in the face of a litany of human rights allegations plaguing the oil-rich state.
The director of campaign group Reprieve, Dan Dolan, said: "When Boris Johnson visited Mohammed bin Salman in 2022, three days after the mass execution of 81 people, Sir Keir Starmer was rightly scathing of Johnson's unconditional embrace of one of the world’s most prolific executioners of protesters.
"Now he is the Prime Minister, he has the opportunity to address the escalating execution crisis in Saudi Arabia.
"If he publicly raises the cases of child defendants Abdullah al-Howaiti and Abdullah al-Derazi [both of whom face the death penalty] when he meets with the Crown Prince, he could save their lives."
But No10 has hit back - the PM's spokesman said: "Promoting economic growth is the Prime Minister's number one priority - he has been very clear about that.
"No aspect of the relationships that we're building internationally... stops us from raising issues around human rights and protecting our protecting our values globally."
FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY...
Jet-setting Starmer spent a whole month on planes since becoming PM five months ago
With his head above the clouds, Keir Starmer has spent approximately one whole working month in the air since becoming Prime Minister five months ago.
He has now surpassed the incredible milestone of 150 hours - and counting - for flight times, Guido Fawkes reports, as he continues his travels to the Gulf today.
Consequently, Starmer has been responsible for 1,173 tonnes of carbon dioxide since taking office - which is the same amount as 117 Britons' year's worth of pollution.
Starmer dealt huge polling blow as Labour voters prefer MARGARET THATCHER to current PM
Sir Keir Starmer has been handed yet another polling blow after Labour voters ranked him the worst of the party's three modern Prime Ministers - and below Margaret Thatcher overall.
Fresh data from pollsters at More In Common saw just nine per cent of Labour voters rank Starmer the best PM of the last 40 years - behind not only Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, but Margaret Thatcher too.
It was Thatcher who ranked highest overall among Tory and Labour voters combined, coming in with 33 per cent of the overall vote, and an overwhelming 55 per cent over the Conservative vote.
Labour donor says parts of British heritage are 'history on life support' and should DIE
A top Labour donor has labelled some British heritage "just history on life support" which should be allowed to die after the party controversially gave the green light for the demolition of an historic building.
Dale Vince, the green energy tycoon, said he backed Angela Rayner's recent move to approve the demolition of Marks & Spencer's art deco shop on Oxford Street.
Just Stop Oil supporter Vince dismissed critics of the beloved building's destruction, saying: "Sometimes 'heritage' is just history on life support and we should let it go."
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Labour mocked in parody song hoping for Christmas No1 as 'Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers' release single
Labour's controversial Winter Fuel Payment cuts have been brutally mocked in a new parody song gunning to top the charts at Christmas.
"Freezing This Christmas," a play on Mud's "Lonely This Christmas", first appeared on YouTube and streaming platforms a week ago - and has seen hundreds of thousands of plays in the days since.
The single, by "Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers", takes a series of piercing jabs at Labour's top brass - referring to the PM as "Two-tier Keir" and Rachel Reeves as a "fraud" in the wake of a "deception" row over her CV.
The wannabe No1's lyrics include lines such as: "It'll be freezing this Christmas without fuel at home - it'll be freezing this Christmas while Keir Starmer's warm... It'll be cold, so cold, without fuel at home this Christmas."
Elsewhere in the tune, the words "I just break down as I look around and the only things I see are foreign wars, and open doors, and a freezing OAP" can be heard.
It comes just days after a humiliating petition to call a fresh General Election gained significant traction on the UK Parliament website - with a debate date pencilled in for January 6.
But unlike the petition, Freezing This Christmas appears to have a more altruistic goal - Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers are looking to crowd-fund thousands of pounds for charity Age UK.
"Not a single person in the UK in 2024 should die because of the cold," the band's JustGiving page says.
Jenrick backs ex-Tory chairman's move to ban first cousin marriage - 'No place in Britain!'
Robert Jenrick has announced he will be supporting former Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden's move to ban first-cousin marriage in the UK.
Holden is set to table the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Bill in the Commons on Tuesday - where he's expected to argue that such marriages are linked to higher rates of birth defects and can "reinforce negative structures and control women".
Writing on social media, the Shadow Justice Secretary said: "I will be supporting Richard Holden's Bill to ban first cousin marriage. This practice has no place in Britain. Frankly, it should have been banned long ago."
READ THE FULL STORY ON HOLDEN'S PROPOSAL HERE
Rachel Reeves cosies up to EU amid fears Labour set for fresh assault on Brexit
Rachel Reeves is set to bring Britain closer to the EU through an "economic reset" in a landmark speech to the bloc's finance ministers today.
In her address to Eurozone counterparts, the Chancellor is expected to lay into the UK's "fractious" post-Brexit relations with the continent - which she will claim has been defined by "division and chaos" under the Conservatives.
Reeves will tell the bloc: "This is the first time a British chancellor has addressed the Eurogroup [of finance ministers] since Brexit.
"It is a signal of the new UK government’s commitment to resetting our country's relationship with the European Union, and the importance I place in realising the economic potential of our shared future.
"I know that the last few years have been fractious. Division and chaos defined the last Government's approach to Europe. It will not define ours."
It follows months of calls for "relations resets" with allies and adversaries around the world by Labour's top brass - with both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary pledging to bring Britain back to the table with the EU, China and more.
But the Chancellor's calls for closeness come in the face of dire warnings over fishing and farming. Just days ago, the EU signed a landmark trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur - while Europe has been pushing for greater access to British fishing waters for months.
And her impending speech has seen Tory eyes rolling, too - Shadow Business Secretary has urged Reeves to ignore the slow-growing bloc in favour of "jumping on a plane to the US and talking to Trump about getting a US-UK trade deal done".
Reeves's National Insurance hikes spark hiring slump as Budget fallout grows again
Hiring in Britain has slowed to its worst rate in four years as businesses brace for Rachel Reeves's National Insurance hikes.
New figures from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG show jobseekers are facing a tough market as demand for new staff has hit a wall in the wake of the Chancellor's controversial Budget - with employers' National Insurance contributions set to jump from April next year.
Hiring for permanent roles was particularly weak - while demand has plummeted to its lowest since the middle of the pandemic, the data shows.
The REC's chief executive Neil Carberry said: "It should be a surprise to no one that firms took the time to re-assess their hiring needs in November after a tough Budget for employers.
"The drop in vacancies was led by private sector permanent roles, and slower permanent recruitment billings across the month also reflected this trend.
"The real question now is whether businesses will return to the market as they go into next year with greater certainty about the path ahead."
Outrage as EU politicians reveal map depicting the Falkland Islands 'belonging to Argentina' - before issuing a correction
Ahead of Rachel Reeves's speech to EU finance chiefs, the bloc's politicians sparked fury after publishing a map appearing to show the Falkland Islands belonging to Argentina.
The European People's Party (EPP), the largest political group in the European Parliament, shared an image on social media as it boasted of signing a trade deal with South American economic bloc Mercosur.
The EPP, crowing about how the deal "creates the largest free trade zone in the world", depicted the EU and six-member Mercosur in light blue, while non-members like the UK and Chile were coloured in grey.
But the party's map appeared to show the Falklands in the same shade of blue as former invaders Argentina - in the face of the EU's own position on the British Overseas Territory.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Labour faces crunch decision on whether to 'de-proscribe' Syrian rebels as Jenrick warns of 'radical Islamist militia'
Labour faces a crunch decision on whether to remove Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from Britain's group of proscribed terrorist organisations following its overthrow of the Assad regime.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden told Sky News this morning that Labour would need to make a decision on HTS "quite quickly", depending on "how that group behaves" - but top Tories have cautioned that "our enemy's enemy is not automatically our friend".
Robert Jenrick, in the wake of Deputy PM Angela Rayner's comments that she "welcomed" the fall of Assad, wrote on social media: "Nobody will mourn Assad. Neither should we welcome an Islamist militia with an extreme radical agenda."
He said: "our enemy's enemy is not automatically our friend," and added: "We should be particularly concerned about the tens of thousands of Isis prisoners and foreign nationals detained in Syria.
"There is nothing worse for the region - and the UK - than to have them back of the battlefield or heading to our own shores."
Starmer embarks on SIXTEENTH overseas trip in just five months in charge as PM schmoozes Saudis for investment
Sir Keir Starmer is set to embark on his 16th overseas trip in just five months as Prime Minister as he looks to shore up investment from the Middle East.
Starmer had flown out to the United Arab Emirates just yesterday - his 15th separate trip - to push for a free trade deal with the broadly Western-aligned Gulf Cooperation Council, which he vowed would support regeneration and jobs back in Britain.
"Every region and nation in the United Kingdom should feel the impact of our Plan for Change, which is why I am in the Gulf forging closer ties and strengthening relationships that support our growth mission in every corner of the country," the PM said on Sunday.
He added: "I am determined to ensure international diplomacy drives local results, whether that is discussing how we can support regeneration in the UK or supporting business deals that create jobs - my international agenda starts at home."
Today, Starmer will be in Saudi Arabia to push for more cash - but human rights groups have urged him to decry a spate of executions in the Gulf state. Some 300 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia this year alone.
On his way back to Britain, the PM is expected to visit Cyprus and Britain's pair of RAF bases on the island - the first of which forms his 17th visit overseas.
Starmer faces urgent calls to return thousands of Syrian refugees in Britain as Assad regime crumbles
Sir Keir Starmer and European leaders have been handed an urgent warning over Syrian migrants in the wake of dictator Bashar Al-Assad's ousting over the weekend.
Ex-Margaret Thatcher aide Nile Gardiner has called for the millions of refugees who fled Assad to "return or be returned" - and has told the West to remain firm on accepting further migrants in the months to come.
Writing on social media, Gardiner said: "The millions of refugees from Syria now living in Europe should return or be returned to their home country with the downfall of the Assad regime and contribute to the rebuilding of their own nation.
"And the West should not take in Syrians fleeing from Syria in the coming months."
Politics LIVE
Welcome back to GB News' Politics LIVE blog.
We'll be updating this page throughout the day with live politics updates as they come in.
Find Out More...