Keir Starmer News

Zelensky on Saturday hailed «tangible progress» after meeting British and French military chiefs in Kyiv to discuss strengthening the Ukrainian army and ways to support the war-torn country after any end of hostilities with Russia. British Chief of the Defence Staff Tony Radakin and French counterpart Thierry Burkhard on Friday held talks with Zelensky, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. Zelensky wrote on social media on Saturday: «There is tangible progress and the first details on how the security contingent of partners can be deployed,» without giving details. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are spearheading European efforts to send a «reassurance force» to Ukraine after any end to the war sparked by Russia's invasion in 2022. Zelensky thanked «the UK and France for their leadership», saying «it is this kind of joint work, when everyone is focused on a strong result, that helps to bring a reliable and lasting peace to Ukraine.»

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.After a week of mounting political drama, the stage is set in the U.K. for months of uncertainty over who will lead the world’s fifth-biggest economy, as unpopular Prime Minister Keir Starmer embarks on a long and messy fight for his job against the left-wing mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.Burnham said late Thursday he planned to stand for election to parliament, opening the path for him to take on Starmer for the leadership of the ruling Labour Party.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The British pound, stocks and markets are in turmoil. U.K.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Brexit was a shot heard ’round the world a decade ago next month, when the British voted to reject the recommendation of their political, economic and cultural establishment and leave the European Union. Its global significance was its loud expression of deep disaffection with the self-satisfied, self-serving elites in Western democracies who dictated the boundaries of acceptable debate on immigration, national sovereignty, the globalized economy and the modern gospel of cultural progressivism.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Aerospace and defence major Rolls-Royce Plc is borrowing from the India playbook of British energy giant BP Plc as it pursues billions of dollars worth of opportunities across defence, civil aviation and nuclear energy in the country.To lead that push, Rolls-Royce has turned to Sashi Mukundan, the former head of BP’s India business, who spent 24 years building the energy company’s partnerships in the country across gas, fuel retail and mobility ventures.The man who recruited him: Rolls-Royce chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic, who himself spent two decades at BP, including five years leading its downstream business.“Tufan was also with BP before. He’s seen how BP built the relationship in India,” Mukundan, now executive vice president Transformation India at Rolls-Royce, told Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Across Europe, voters are fed up and taking it out on their leaders.This week, Britain’s ruling Labour Party had its worst result ever in local elections as voters angry about a persistently weak economy and high immigration punished Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is backed by just 20% of voters.Last month, Europe’s longest-serving leader, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, was swept out of office by a wave of discontent over the sluggish economy and a government that many saw as corrupt.Elsewhere in Europe, the picture is similarly bleak for those now in power. In Germany, a left-right government that is breaking public spending records is also plumbing uncharted popularity lows.The diminished incumbents can do little to placate an angry electorate, as they contend with melting parliamentary majorities, internal divisions and empty public coffers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—King Charles III arrives in Washington on Monday to publicly celebrate 250 years since a nascent U.S. republic ousted his forebears, and privately ensure that a fraying trans-Atlantic relationship can cope with another two-plus years of President Trump.The four day visit—billed as King Charles’s most high-wire diplomatic act since coming to the throne—will include a speech to Congress, the first time a British monarch has spoken there since 1991, a private audience with Trump and state dinner in Washington, as well as trips to New York and Virginia.The attempted attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner cast a shadow over the visit.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.ROME—As President Trump’s rift with Europe widens, he is casting even his political friends into the chasm.Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has spent the past year trying to act as a bridge while Trump tussled with other European leaders over tariffs, Ukraine and Greenland.Trump, who previously called Meloni a “great leader,” now says he is shocked by her refusal to send forces to help open the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Iran war. “I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Tuesday.The abrupt breakdown of their political friendship shows how the middle ground is disappearing between a White House that is demanding loyalty from its allies and a Europe where voters and governments increasingly view the U.S.

Mumbai finally got itself a new mayor, Ritu Tawde from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), after a long hiatus. The city’s municipal corporation is the country’s richest local body and expectations from the incoming mayor were quite high.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. “The distraction has to end and the leadership in Downing Street has to change," said Anas Sarwar, the leader of Scottish Labour, on February 9th. He is the most senior figure in the party to call for Sir Keir Starmer to resign after a bruising few days during which Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of staff, and Tim Allan, his director of communications, both quit.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. U.S. trading partners, feeling burned by an unpredictable and transactional White House, are reassessing China in a drive to lessen their longstanding reliance on America.

Labour government will on Monday set out details of how it plans to slash red tape to boost business, as it struggles to deliver growth nine months after winning power. Chancellor Rachel Reeves' shake-up comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer took aim at the nation's «flabby state», sparking anger from unions who called on him to avoid the «incendiary rhetoric» of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) in the US. The finance ministry said regulators would be summoned to the prime minister's Downing Street office on Monday to hear Reeves announce her «action plan to deliver on the pledge to cut the administrative cost of regulation on business by a quarter». The «radical» plan would cut «costly red tape» such as the «hundreds of pages of guidance on protecting bat habitats which goes far beyond legal requirements», said a statement, referring to the £100 million ($130 million) spent on a bat tunnel by the company building Britain's new high-speed HS2 train line. The tunnel has become a lightning rod for criticism of the planning system, with the Prime Minister describing it as «absurd».

The attacks comes less than 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss details of the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine. Putin told a press conference on Thursday that he supported a truce in principle but set out a host of details that need to be clarified before it is agreed. Kyiv has already endorsed the truce proposal, although Ukrainian officials have publicly raised doubts as to whether Moscow will commit to such a deal. Speaking to reporters in Kyiv on Saturday, after virtual talks between Western allies hosted by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy voiced Ukraine's support for the 30-day full ceasefire proposal to discuss a longer-term peace plan, but said Russia would attempt to derail talks with conditions and «buts». Starmer has told allies to «keep the pressure» on Putin to back a ceasefire in Ukraine, hailing Ukraine as the «party of peace.» Starmer said Putin will «sooner or later» have to «come to the table.

Keir Starmer has told global leaders to «keep the pressure» on Russian President Vladimir Putin to back a ceasefire in Ukraine. In his opening remarks Saturday to a virtual gathering of what he has termed the "coalition of the willing," Starmer said Putin will «sooner or later» have to «come to the table.» Unlike the first summit on March 2, the meeting of what Starmer has termed the «coalition of the willing» is being conducted virtually. The call is expected to delve into how countries can help Ukraine militarily and financially as well as gauging support for any future possible peacekeeping mission. «If Russia finally comes to the table, then we must be ready to monitor a ceasefire to ensure it is a serious, and enduring peace,» Starmer told leaders, in remarks released by his office ahead of the meeting. «If they don't, then we need to strain every sinew to ramp up economic pressure on Russia to secure an end to this war.» Like last time, there will be no representative from the United States, which has shifted its approach on the war since the return of President Donald Trump to the White House. The change of approach relative to that taken by Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, became particularly notable after Trump clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Feb. 28 in the Oval Office.

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves before a key statement about the state of the public finances later this month. Official figures Friday showed that the economy, the world's sixth-largest, saw output drop by 0.1% during the month, in contrast to expectations for a modest increase and December's solid 0.4% gain. The Office of National Statistics said the weak performance was largely due to bad weather affecting the manufacturing and construction sectors, despite a solid performance by the services sector, which accounts for around 80% of the British economy. Though monthly figures are notoriously volatile and prone to future revision, the decline puts in sharp relief the struggles the Labour government, elected last July after 14 years in opposition, is having in generating growth. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said raising the U.K.'s economic growth is his government's number one priority over the next five years. Since the global financial crisis in 2008-9, the British economy's growth performance has been historically lackluster.

Russia's foreign intelligence service calling Britain «a warmonger.» And a threat from a top ally of Vladimir Putin to seize UK assets inside Russia. As the U.S. under Donald Trump seeks to reset ties with Moscow and broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, Britain has been granted the status of Russia's public enemy number one. It's a mantle it has held on and off over the past two centuries. «London today, like on the eve of both World Wars of the last century, is acting as the main global 'warmonger',» Russia's foreign intelligence service said in an unusually charged public statement on Monday. It accused London of trying to derail Trump's efforts to broker peace in Ukraine. «The time has come to expose them and send a clear message to 'perfidious Albion' and its elites: you will not succeed,» the agency, known as SVR, said.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting confirmed plans to slash 9,000 roles from the 15,000-strong NHS England workforce, targeting hundreds of millions in savings by merging duplicated functions like communications and strategy teams. The decision reverses a 2012 Coalition-era restructuring, drawing cautious support from figures like Jeremy Hunt, though critics warn of potential disruptions to patient care. Recent resignations of NHS England’s chief executive and medical director preceded the overhaul, signaling internal turmoil.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. In any word association test, ‘Diego’ would cue the name of football legend Maradona. But for elderly Indians, it recalls Diego Garcia, a geopolitical bugbear of the Cold War era, when India wanted the US to withdraw its forces from an air-base on a small island by that name in the Indian Ocean.

NATO member states’ troops being deployed and have stated that such a move will result in catastrophic losses for European forces.

King Charles III is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his private retreat in Sandringham on Sunday. This meeting comes at a critical moment, following Zelensky’s contentious discussions with former US President Donald Trump in Washington. While royal engagements with foreign leaders typically follow government coordination, this visit is widely viewed as a pointed demonstration of Britain’s continued support for Ukraine. Speaking ahead of his audience with the King, Zelensky expressed gratitude: “I’m very happy that His Majesty the King accepted my meeting tomorrow.”

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A combative White House meeting has presented Ukraine with the prospect of fighting Russia without the support of its primary military backer through the first three years of the war. Now, the question is whether Europe has the firepower—and the political will—to help Ukraine hold off the Russians.