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The Guardian Politics22 Jun 2026

Babcock says Brexit and Covid beset Royal Navy contract as profits plunge

Underlying operating profits down 19% with 2019 frigate-building programme making loss, firm reports One of the UK’s biggest defence contractors has blamed Brexit and Covid among a catalogue of problems to beset a key contract for the Royal Navy, which led its annual profits to plunge. Annual profits at Babcock International fell by almost a fifth in the year to the end of March, as the firm reported a £140m charge on its contract to build five Type 31 frigates for the Royal Navy. Continue read

Defence
The Guardian Politics22 Jun 2026

Don’t worry, a politician can’t present the Today programme. Michael Grade is wrong about that – and GB News | Stewart Purvis and Chris Banatvala

As the former Ofcom chair says extraordinary things about the rightwing channel and its critics, a factcheck would not go amiss • Stewart Purvis is a former editor in chief of ITN; Chris Banatvala is a former Ofcom director of standards During a review of his four years at Ofcom, the outgoing chair, Michael Grade, surprised his BBC Radio 4 interviewer. He had been asked by Katie Razzall whether Ofcom rules would allow a politician to present the Today programme apart from the news bulletins. She

Defence
The Guardian Politics21 Jun 2026

The business secretary knows about jobs, and seems pretty sure Keir is out of one

Doing the rounds of the Sunday studios, Peter Kyle sounded like someone who knew it would all be over come Monday UK politics – live updates Not another one. Brenda from Bristol must be doing her nut. After sounding on Friday like the Japanese soldier who had no idea the second world war had ended decades earlier, sometime over the weekend reality had bitten for Keir Starmer. Maybe all he needed was a bit of time at Chequers to think straight. Maybe his family had also told him the game was ov

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics21 Jun 2026

Burnham must be upfront about tax or risk spooking the bond markets | Heather Stewart

Victory in Makerfield is propelling him towards No 10 but investors expect to know how he will fund his promises Burnham allies confident of ‘coronation’ Andy Burnham’s thumping victory in the Makerfield byelection came and went without the bond market rout Rachel Reeves’s backers had warned about. But as he moves towards the premiership, Burnham would be wise to set clear expectations about tax and spend, and to be upfront about the fact that not everyone can be a winner. Continue reading...

PoliticsEconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics21 Jun 2026

Keir Starmer expected to announce departure as prime minister on Monday

Overwhelming pressure from Labour MPs pushing Starmer towards decision to step down UK politics – live updates Keir Starmer is expected to announce on Monday that he will step down as prime minister, after overwhelming pressure from Labour MPs to make way for Andy Burnham to become Labour leader. The prime minister and his allies had insisted for weeks that they would fight a leadership challenge from Burnham, or anyone else, before the Makerfield byelection in which Burnham secured a return t

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics19 Jun 2026

Excessive probation workloads put public at risk in England and Wales, union warns

Exclusive: Napo declares no confidence in probation service managers and threatens industrial action The public is “at direct risk” from unsupervised ex-offenders because probation officers in England and Wales are being asked to cope with excessive workloads, a union has said. As ministers prepare to release and monitor tens of thousands more prisoners this autumn, Napo’s executive has declared for the first time that it has no confidence in managers at the probation service. Continue reading.

DefenceCrime
The Guardian Politics19 Jun 2026

UK borrows more than expected as impact of Iran war takes toll

May figure of £23.3bn underlines challenge facing Andy Burnham if he ends up as Labour leader Business live – latest updates UK politics – live updates The UK borrowed a higher-than-expected £23.3bn in May amid the economic fallout of the Iran war, underlining the fiscal pressures facing Andy Burnham if he takes over as the Labour leader. In figures released shortly after Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield byelection, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing

PoliticsEconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics19 Jun 2026

MPs urge Fujitsu to make ‘immediate’ payment to Post Office Horizon victims

Liam Byrne, who chairs Commons business committee, says too many operators are still waiting for redress The Japanese tech company at the centre of the Post Office IT scandal is facing calls from a parliamentary committee to make an “immediate” payment towards the compensation bill for victims. Fujitsu supplied the faulty Horizon software to the UK Post Office, which led to branch operators being wrongly prosecuted over discrepancies in their business accounts. Continue reading...

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics19 Jun 2026

Tired of Iran, Trump refocuses on Ukraine – podcast

Donald Trump has signed a 14-point agreement with Iran, trying to bring an end to a war he helped start. Satisfied his work is done in the Middle East, Trump now wants to move onto peace in Ukraine. But is it that easy? Jenna Amatulli speaks to the Guardian’s Andrew Roth about the chances this peace deal will succeed, and why Trump is turning his attention back to Ukraine Archive: AP, Reuters Continue reading...

Defence
The Guardian Politics18 Jun 2026

Pete Hegseth accuses Nato countries of ‘free riding’ in combative address

US defence secretary addresses allies in latest attempt to get Europe to raise military budgets Pete Hegseth has announced a review of US military presence across Europe, in a combative address to Nato allies where he threatened to cut force numbers in countries spending the least on defence. The US defence secretary, speaking at a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, accused some countries of “free riding” and others of being shameful for not allowing their airbases to be used by US j

EconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics18 Jun 2026

Truss the saviour exposes ‘Labour’s secret plan’ | John Crace

Totally lacking in self-awareness, ex-PM also appears to be ignorant of something everyone else has known for ages UK politics live – latest updates It’s one of the great philosophical questions of our age. Or any age, for that matter. If Liz Truss didn’t exist, would it be possible to imagine her? Could anyone conceive that someone so brain-meltingly dim could have once been our prime minister? And even if they could, would they have dared to believe that in harness with this industrial-stren

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics17 Jun 2026

UK officials expect Russia to retaliate for seizure of shadow fleet oil tanker

No formal warning issued to captains or ship owners, but industry body says they are exercising greater vigilance British officials believe Russia will try to retaliate for the Royal Marines’ seizure of the oil tanker Smyrtos, prompting UK ship owners to exercise greater vigilance until tensions with Moscow ease. Military sources said the UK had considered possible responses to the seizure of the vessel carrying Russian crude worth $40m (£30m) to India, and anticipate that the Kremlin will want

Defence