All posts tagged: Keir

The House | Palantir Boss Louis Mosley: Keir Starmer “Gets” AI, “You Could See In His Eyes”

The House | Palantir Boss Louis Mosley: Keir Starmer “Gets” AI, “You Could See In His Eyes”

Published by Sam

11 min read05 April In a bid to boost growth, Labour has thrown open government’s doors to controversial US tech firm Palantir. In his first ever sit-down interview, Palantir’s UK chief Louis Mosley tells Sophie Church how it is revolutionising the work of government departments. Photography By Dinendra Haria While on a flying visit to President Donald Trump in Washington in February, the Prime Minister made sure for one more stop: to the offices of Palantir – the US tech firm reforming UK public services through AI. Louis Mosley, the head of Palantir UK, met Keir Starmer that day. “You could see in his eyes that he gets it,” he tells The House from Palantir’s London office, in his first sit-down interview since joining the tech giant eight years ago. “The ambition is there – the will is there.” The Prime Minister has described AI as the “defining opportunity” of the age. With economic growth at a standstill, Labour has rested its hopes of becoming an “AI superpower” in Palantir’s hands. …

Keir Starmer promises more ‘democratic control’ of the NHS – how do other European countries do it?

Keir Starmer promises more ‘democratic control’ of the NHS – how do other European countries do it?

Published by Sam

Sir Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, announced on March 13 that the government will move to abolish NHS England in the next two years. During this period, the government plans to bring its functions under the UK’s health ministry, with the aim of bringing the health service “into democratic control”. What does this mean, and what difference will it make? When the NHS was established in 1948, part of the aim was to make the local health problems of patients across the country the concern of the national government. The plan succeeded. Today, the NHS is politically highly important – it matters enormously to patients and the public, and has one of the largest spending budgets in the UK. At the same time, it is technically difficult to manage, with local needs and opportunities and complex organisation that are hard and sometimes inefficient to manage centrally. Striking the balance between delivering high-quality patient care and addressing the technical complexity of doing so is a continual challenge for governments. The solution chosen as part of …

Keir Starmer Calls Choosing Between US and EU “Totally Unserious”

Keir Starmer Calls Choosing Between US and EU “Totally Unserious”

Published by Sam

(Alamy) 4 min read03 March It is “totally unserious” to suggest that the UK must choose between siding with Europe or the United States in its approach to the war in Ukraine, Keir Starmer has said. The prime minister described the US as an “indispensable” ally in a House of Commons statement on Monday afternoon. Starmer updated MPs on government efforts to help bring about peace in the region after hosting a summit with European leaders on Sunday and meeting US president Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday. At the summit in London on Sunday, Starmer said the UK and other European countries were ready to form a “coalition of the willing” — a commitment to defend Ukraine militarily if a peace deal with Russia is agreed. Some opposition MPs had urged Starmer to distance the UK from the US after how Trump and his vice president JD Vance treated Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky during his own trip to Washington last week triggered outrage in the UK.  However, in his statement today, the prime minister stressed that the government must work with both …

Keir Starmer, if you want growth why haven’t you made this key deal? | Politics | News

Keir Starmer, if you want growth why haven’t you made this key deal? | Politics | News

Published by Sam

The times they are a changing, sang Bob Dylan in the 1960s. And once again the world is shifting. We have the innovation and economic implications of the AI, the fifth Industrial Revolution, possibilities of biotech and the promise of fusion energy. All these things have the potential for mischief and risk, as so often in the past however, human progress depends on creative disruption and it is those people and nations who embrace and own it who become rich. But there are of course the naysayers — the Inquisition of Cancel Culture and the Don Quixotes tilting at the windmills of old technologies and false icons, not least mad Ed Milliband. The Trumpian geopolitical tilt away from Europe and towards the economic growth powerhouse of the Pacific rim definitely marks a change which will have profound consequences as yet to be defined, but it is certain that the UK needs to be on the correct side of that pivot. Fortunately, Brexit Britain is free to make our own policies, both economic and foreign. We …

Elon Musk and His Megaphone, X, Rattle British Politics

Elon Musk and His Megaphone, X, Rattle British Politics

Published by skeptic

When Elon Musk asked his 211 million followers on X to vote on whether “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government,” it seemed as if the post could only be tongue-in-cheek. But coming after a barrage of strident posts about Britain by Mr. Musk — assailing the Labour prime minister, Keir Starmer; demanding the release of a jailed far-right agitator; and breaking with a hard-right leader, Nigel Farage — it came off less as a joke than a flex by a powerful man relishing his ability to roil the politics of another country. Mr. Musk’s posts, which popped up on X throughout the holiday like unwelcome guests at a Christmas party, have thoroughly hijacked the political debate in Britain at the start of 2025. On Monday, Mr. Starmer used a news conference about fixing Britain’s National Health Service to deny Mr. Musk’s allegations that he had not acted when he was Britain’s chief prosecutor more than a decade ago against gangs that sexually abused girls. Mr. Farage, for his part, faced …

Keir Starmer Gives Life Peerage To Former Chief Of Staff Sue Gray

Keir Starmer Gives Life Peerage To Former Chief Of Staff Sue Gray

Published by Sam

Sue Gray, the civil servant who investigated Partygate and went on to become Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, who has been made a life peer, Downing Street said 5 min read20 December 2024 Keir Starmer has nominated former chief of staff Sue Gray for a life peerage, Downing Street announced on Friday. Gray, the former senior civil servant who led an investigation into parties held in Downing Street during the pandemic, played a key role in Labour’s preparations for government. She resigned as the Prime Minister’s chief of staff in October, however, before being replaced by Morgan McSweeney. It emerged prior to her resignation that her £170,000 annual salary was larger than the PM’s. Gray was one of thirty people to be nominated for peerages by Starmer. The Prime Minister put forward former Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones, ex-Labour shadow cabinet minister Thangam Debbonaire and Labour’s former general secretary David Evans to join the House of Lords.  Former Labour MPs Luciana Berger, Kevin Brennan and Lyn Brown are also on the list. Starmer has previously set out …

Sir Keir Starmer to announce new green energy deal with Norway to protect from ‘whims of dictators like Putin’ | Politics News

Sir Keir Starmer to announce new green energy deal with Norway to protect from ‘whims of dictators like Putin’ | Politics News

Published by skeptic

The prime minister is visiting Norway to launch a new green energy deal before attending a defence summit in Estonia. Sir Keir Starmer will travel to a carbon capture and storage site today and meet his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store to discuss the new Green Industrial Partnership. Number 10 said both leaders intend to sign the deal in spring 2025. Read more: Major shake-up of UK energy system could ‘lower bills for good’ Sir Keir said the energy partnership with Norway, which has a border with Russia, would help to boost growth and protect against spikes in international energy prices like those seen when President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. “It will harness the UK’s unique potential to become a world leader in carbon capture – from the North Sea to the coastal south – reigniting industrial heartlands and delivering on our plan for change,” he said. “Our partnership with Norway will make the UK more energy secure, ensuring we are never again exposed to international energy price spikes and the whims of dictators like …

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves bombarded with 30,000 emails demanding farm tax U-turn | Politics | News

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves bombarded with 30,000 emails demanding farm tax U-turn | Politics | News

Published by Sam

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been bombarded with emails demanding that they U-turn over Labour’s tax on family farms. The drive, set up by campaigner and former Reform UK candidate for Mayor of London, Howard Cox, urges people against the policy to email the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer to “get the Farmer Inheritance tax policy scrapped”. More than 30,000 have already, with the aim to get to 50,000 by the next protest by farmers in Whitehall tomorrow. Mr Cox told Express.co.uk: “Over 5,000 farmers are supporters of FairFuelUK backing my hugely successful campaign that has stopped fuel duty hikes for 15 years, and that they have benefitted from. “I was delighted that hundreds of them asked me to help fight Labour’s crass inheritance tax so I set up an easy way for the public to email the Chancellor and Prime Minister, calling on them both to scrap this needless and spiteful Budget policy. “Over 30,000 have done so and counting.” The change to inheritance tax for farms was announced by …

Labour civil war as Diane Abbott slams Keir Starmer’s ‘poor judgement’ on winter fuel cuts | Politics | News

Labour civil war as Diane Abbott slams Keir Starmer’s ‘poor judgement’ on winter fuel cuts | Politics | News

Published by Sam

Labour’s Diane Abbott has lashed out at party leader Sir Keir Starmer live on television as she berated his “poor judgement” in accepting freebies and cutting winter fuel payments. The Hackney North MP has a chequered past with the Prime Minister after she had the Labour whip withdrawn over an “offensive” suggestion that “Jews don’t suffer racism”. The whip was restored before the General Election, but only after months of uncertainty about her future. Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, stand-in host Victoria Derbyshire asked Ms Abbott how she thought Labour and the PM were doing so far. She went on to say: “Maybe if he’d done more doorknocking for the Labour Party, he didn’t understand that of all the people to take money off, not pensioners. “Pensioners don’t forgive and forget and they’re one of the blocks of voters who actually do vote – and he didn’t seem to get it that that would be a problem. “People are still coming up to my colleagues in other parts of the country in …

I get £2.60 ‘too much’ and fear Keir Starmer’s winter fuel cut will kill me | UK | News

I get £2.60 ‘too much’ and fear Keir Starmer’s winter fuel cut will kill me | UK | News

Published by Sam

A pensioner has said he’s been left £500 a month worse off because he gets just £2.60 more than the pension credit cap. Arthur Bowling, 65, from Waterloo, Merseyside, said the loss of his winter fuel payment has left him fearing for his life. Mr Bowling explained the small amount above the £218 per week limit meant he has to make a larger payment to cover his rent. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I’m not one of these supposedly ‘rich pensioners’. I live off my pension but my income exceeds the threshold for pension credit by £2.60 per week so now I’m £500 worse off in rent payments every month and now I’ll miss out on the fuel payment. “For the sake of a few quid I’m facing the prospect of dying this winter and I’m not the only one. This will put thousands of pensioners at risk. “I’m afraid for others and I’m afraid for myself. After spending so long in hospital I need the warmth and now I don’t know whether …