Politics - Saturday, April 18, 2026

Marco Rubio says the U.S. is sanctioning a senior Nicaraguan official over alleged human rights violations tied to the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship.

Deputy prime minister says it is ‘inexplicable’ top civil servant kept Downing Street in dark Keir Starmer would have blocked Peter Mandelson from serving as the UK’s ambassador to Washington had he known he failed security vetting , David Lammy has said, as he attempted to shore up the prime minister amid damaging fallout from the row. In his first public comments on the vetting affair, Lammy said it was “inexplicable” that Oliver Robbins, the former top civil servant who was forced out of the Foreign Office this week, had opted to leave Downing Street in the dark over the outcome. Continue reading...

Tim Walz slammed Donald Trump at a progressive conference in Spain, calling him a "feeble-minded, trigger-happy president" with "no exit plan" for the conflict with Iran.

American issued the statement after news reports that United Airlines’ chief executive had discussed the idea with the Trump administration.

Labour calls on Nigel Farage to sack candidates and says his party’s checks ‘clearly not fit for purpose’ Reform UK’s checks on candidates are “clearly not fit for purpose”, Labour has said after two more candidates in May’s local elections were accused of making offensive or potentially racist social media posts. Meanwhile, it emerged that Restore Britain, the party set up by the MP Rupert Lowe after he left Reform, appeared to have accepted a donation from someone who has called publicly on social media for “another Hitler” to come to power. Continue reading...

Rep. Ilhan Omar says she is not a millionaire, blaming accountants after her financial disclosure was amended from up to $30 million in assets.

The U.S. Navy released photos of meals aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli, pushing back against claims of food shortages during operations against Iran.

Several moves suggest Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could revive his campaign to question the safety and effectiveness of the shots after the midterm elections.

California's $2 billion budget accounting error tied to CalPERS went undisclosed for months, even as the state projected a $3 billion fiscal deficit.

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here On Friday the Cabinet Office released a template page from the summary document produced by UKSV after Mandelson’s vetting. The document would be used by a vetting officer to summarise their findings. It lists three rankings for possible “overall concern”: low, medium and high. In the next box, there is a space for a vetting officer to list the outcome of the assessment with their “overall decision or recommendation”. Again, there are three options: clearance approved, clearance approved “with risk management” or clearance denied. If it [the vetting process] did amount to failure then that fact, that ultimate conclusion would have to be conveyed to the political level, but the fact that it was not indicates to me that the fact was rather more complicated than No 10 would wish to present. Continue reading...