Latest news with #McSweeney
New European
13-05-2025
- Politics
- New European
The complete unknown who could wreck Labour
Several things were notably unusual about the gathering. The first was that it was hosted by the right wing thinktank Policy Exchange and its director, the Conservative peer Dean Godson, and had among its participants Munira Mirza, who ran the No 10 policy unit during Boris Johnson's premiership. On November 6 last year – the day after Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the US election – around 30 influential figures gathered for a closed-door symposium to discuss the future of the left in Britain, looking at everything from the aftermath of the August riots to how the left should tackle the rise of populism. Also, there were two vocal critics of liberalism, the broadcaster Trevor Phillips and former Prospect editor David Goodhart, who now works for Policy Exchange. On hand, naturally, was Maurice Glasman of the Blue Labour campaign group, who preaches about 'conservative socialism' and says the party should 'represent the working class rather than be the party of the aspirant middle classes'. The handful of participants who might still be described as of the left were former Labour MP Jon Cruddas, Sunder Katwala of the British Future think tank, and Blue Labour stalwart Jonathan Rutherford. But the gathering was expecting one particularly high-profile speaker – No 10 chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, perhaps the most influential man in government, and one whose voice is rarely heard. What he would have said about Keir Starmer's plans to tackle populism and their shared vision for the future of the left, alas, remains a mystery. McSweeney appeared in the room during a prolonged monologue from Glasman, and after surveying those present for a time, quietly slipped out without saying his piece. Whether he was simply bored by Glasman's overly long remarks, or whether he realised that comments from No 10's chief of staff the day after a Trump victory might be unwise, we will never know. Such intrigue tends to follow the enigmatic McSweeney everywhere. It was once perceived as a strength. But now, with Labour battered by local election defeats, tanking in national opinion polls and apparently trying to resist the surge of Reform with what seem to be illiberal and ill-considered moves on immigration, the focus is firmly on McSweeney. Having taken credit for election success last July, he is being blamed squarely for almost all of what has come since. The reason is that McSweeney has risen to an astonishing level of power and influence with the government, not least through the brutally effective removal of internal rivals, such as his predecessor, Sue Gray. His control over Starmer's operation – and allegedly over Starmer himself – has already been chronicled in a book and seems likely to feature in many more. He follows the Dominic Cummings mould of the campaign chief who goes on to run the No 10 operation; something that did not end well for either Cummings or his PM, Boris Johnson. But what McSweeney actually thinks remains mostly unknown, even to those within the government. Despite being invisible to most voters, the 48-year-old Cork native's rise to the chief of staff job is fairly well documented. His origin story is that he helped to run the campaign to dislodge the BNP from east London and retain Labour's seats there, when the far right party was in the ascendancy locally – and did this largely by focusing on services: getting the bins emptied reliably and on time. From there, he went on to run Liz Kendall's ill-fated 2015 leadership campaign (she finished a distant fourth, with less than 5% of the vote) before founding the think tank Labour Together, which essentially served as the internal resistance to Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. As the coalition that grew about Labour Together began to look for candidates who might succeed Corbyn once his leadership was done – Owen Smith's disastrous 2016 challenge showed the perils of going too early on that front – Starmer's name eventually emerged, and McSweeney backed him. He served for a time as Starmer's chief of staff in opposition, but was shifted aside in 2021, reportedly against his will but without too much protest. He then served as Labour's campaign chief and is credited with its strategy in 2024 to focus on marginal 'red wall' seats, rather than piling up liberal and left wing votes in safe Labour seats. After a relentless and aggressive public briefing war against Gray, Starmer's first chief of staff, over her competence, pay, handling of issues and more, McSweeney returned to the role last October. He is now more than six months into the job, and they have not been happy ones. Though Starmer is often praised for his statesmanship, his personal numbers are under water and Labour has not led in any of the last 16 opinion polls. The strategy that won the general election appears to be in tatters, with Reform taking hold in the red wall and left wing Labour voters who do not like the McSweeney-driven tough talk on immigration and benefit cheats peeling off to the Greens and Liberal Democrats. Obsession with the aides around the prime minister is a perennial habit of the media and dates back decades – as the New European's own Alastair Campbell knows only too well. But senior Labour figures insist things really are different when it comes to McSweeney. Campbell, they note, was surrounded by figures of similar stature, even if not all of them were as well known to the public. Tony Blair was also advised by Jonathan Powell (then No 10 chief of staff, now serving as national security adviser), Sally Morgan, Anji Hunter and Peter Mandelson. Since Gray was ousted, few advisers around Starmer have had anything like the clout or connections of McSweeney. Stuart Ingham, who heads the policy unit, enjoys a close relationship with Starmer, but there are rumours of tension between McSweeney and Liz Lloyd, recently brought in as Starmer's director of policy delivery and innovation. Neither, though, attracts anything like the level of internal speculation or conversation as McSweeney. Now the talk is overground; Nigel Farage mentioned him often on the local election campaign trail, with the narrative that Starmer was his puppet. Part of the problem is that McSweeney seems to do everything himself: he was the campaigns director, but now occupies the job most directly involved in delivering and executing policy. He is known to brief select figures in the media himself – rather than leaving it to the comms team – and what McSweeney is reportedly thinking often appears in the pages of the newspaper. The media is, in fact, often the only way to know what McSweeney is thinking, according to No 10 staff and those who have seen him briefing the cabinet. When McSweeney presents, he comes with a slide deck and notes, reads from his prepared script, and then stops. The rest of the time, he will be listening rather than speaking. If compelled to offer a few words, he speaks extremely softly, and is much more likely to ask a question than offer an opinion. Far more people guess what McSweeney is thinking than ever hear it from the man himself. He is believed to be behind No 10's ambivalence – sometimes bordering on antipathy – towards net zero. 'He talks a lot about immigration,' according to one senior Labour source. He has taken his bins strategy from east London and transformed it into a plan to tackle Reform by fixing potholes. Some are beginning to worry that the silence isn't serving to hide the moves of a master strategist, but is instead masking the absence of a plan – and validating the fears of a Reform-obsessed government making policy via focus group. There is mounting alarm as to whether McSweeney is more fired up by battles within the Labour Party than outside it. He was a core foot soldier in the internal resistance to Corbyn during his leadership, and was behind efforts to stamp out dissent once Starmer won. He helped to oust Gray. He and Pat McFadden were widely believed to be behind briefing wars against Ed Miliband and his £28bn net zero investment after Labour lost the Uxbridge by-election. Labour's only cabinet departure so far – transport secretary Louise Haigh – was a Miliband ally, dumped over a spent criminal conviction of which Starmer had long been aware. This string of internal and internecine conflicts – and the departures caused by them – have not escaped the notice of Labour's backbenchers. 'Almost immediately after we were elected, the scale of off-record briefing and factionalism felt more like the dying days of a government rather than an insurgent new one,' says one. McSweeney's love of a scrap might be making him the subject of increasingly waspish and frustrated conversations within Labour – where MPs and staffers alike despair at how a government with a landslide majority feels lost less than a year after an election – but others feel he may just be unlucky to be a lightning rod. There are few other aides with any kind of media profile, or who are getting attention among MPs, and since the speculation has to go somewhere, it is all heading in his direction, they suggest. Others counter that the resurgence of the culturally conservative Blue Labour faction is coming from somewhere – and while reports that Glasman and McSweeney are talking are said to be incorrect, he is believed to be in regular contact with the more reasonable face of the movement, Jonathan Rutherford. The biggest danger to McSweeney, though, is hubris – at least according to several of those around him, more than one of whom said they were keen to see him stay involved in the operation, though perhaps in a more curtailed role. All point to Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund's book Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer. McSweeney did not speak on the record to Maguire or Pogrund for the book, but manages still to be quoted at length in it through recollections of his remarks at the dining table of Roger Liddle, head of the Labour think tank Progressive Britain (Wes Streeting is rumoured to have bought a blue plaque for that table to honour its supposed role in the party's political resurrection). The book paints McSweeney as the pivotal figure of Labour's rise to power – even more so than Starmer himself. One analogy, offered unprompted by several people in the book – so it must have originated from somewhere – was that the PM was being allowed to sit at the front of London's driverless Docklands Light Railway trains pretending to be in control, while McSweeney steered remotely. The quote may not have come directly from McSweeney, but people were aghast that it was ever used – regarding it as terrible for Starmer and even worse for McSweeney; the kind of thing that, if said at all, should come out years after power, not one year into government. Starmer is famously 'very fucking competitive', according to one close confidant, and will not have appreciated his apparent demotion to frontman of convenience one iota. Ultimately, McSweeney risks an Icarus narrative. He is the campaign chief, he is now directly responsible for the delivery of government policy, and he still seems to brief the media too – three deeply demanding jobs with often contradictory goals. Those around him note that if he claims the credit for 2024's electoral victory, he must surely deserve a share of the blame for the party's current calamities. As Labour lines up to offer more cuts, more austerity, and little in the way of good news – leading to reports that McSweeney and Rachel Reeves are now also at odds – No 10 is running out of people to blame. A reshuffle and relaunch is likely to follow soon, but unless Labour's fortunes change, its architect faces being reshuffled himself. For now, no one knows what McSweeney is thinking. The danger for him is that they grow tired of waiting to find out.
Daily Record
13-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Older people urged to claim £4,300 income top-up before reaching State Pension age
DWP received 8,500 'advanced' Pension Credit claims in the last week of 2024. Independent Age has warned that "lots of older people are missing out" on benefits and extra financial support they are entitled to which could help off-set the persistent rise in the cost of living. In an online video released by the charity, it shines a light on claiming an income top-up worth £4,300 each year - four months before they reach State Pension age. These are referred to by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as 'advanced' Pension Credit claims, where the application can be submitted before turning 66. The DWP confirmed earlier this year that at the end of week commencing December 30 2024, some 8,500 'advanced' Pension Credit claims. In the Independent Age video, Fran McSweeney, Head of National Services at the charity, shares essential tips on applying for Pension Credit. She explains that the benefit tops-up income from State Pension to a minimum level that the UK Government says older people need to live on. Ms McSweeney added: 'Once you receive Pension Credit you're also entitled to extra help with things like the cost of dental treatment on the NHS, the cost of glasses, help with your Council Tax and other housing costs.' She also said that if you have a disability, or are a carer, you might also qualify for a higher amount of Pension Credit, so it's important to mention that when making a claim. You could get an extra £82.90 a week if you get any of the following: Attendance Allowance the middle or highest rate from the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Armed Forces Independence Payment the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment (ADP) at the standard or enhanced rate If you care for another adult You could get an extra £46.40 a week if: you get Carer's Allowance you get Carer Support Payment you've claimed Carer's Allowance but are not being paid because you already get another benefit paying a higher amount If you and your partner have both claimed or are getting Carer's Allowance, you can both get this extra amount. Independent Age shares top five Pension Credit tips Check your eligibility Check if you are eligible for the benefit either using the online Pension Credit calculator on here, calling the Pension Credit helpline on 0800 99 1234 (lines are open 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday), or reading the guide on the Independent Age website here. Even if you have savings or own your own home, you may still be eligible - the first £10,000 of savings are not counted. An award of just £1 per week is enough to unlock additional support. Apply early You can apply for Pension Credit up to four months before reaching State Pension age (66) - full details on how to claim can be found on here. Backdate your claim Claims for Pension Credit can be backdated by up to three months as long as you were State Pension age or above during that time. Gather information needed before making a claim Have all the details you will need to hand before applying, this includes information about your income, savings or benefits you are claiming. Call the Independent Age helpline If you have any questions, or need any support completing the application, contact the charity on 0800 319 6789. You can also email them on helpline@ Below is an overview of the benefit including who should check eligibility, how to go about it, how much you could get and where to get help filling in the form. Who can claim Pension Credit? There are two types of Pension Credit - Guarantee Credit and Savings Credit. To qualify for Guarantee Pension Credit, you must be State Pension age (66). Your weekly income will need to be less than the minimum amount the UK Government says you need to live on. This is £227.10 for a single person and £346.60 for a couple - this amount could be higher if you're disabled, a carer or have certain housing costs. You can only get Savings Credit if: you reached State Pension age before April 6, 2016, or you have a partner who reached State Pension age before this date and was already receiving it How much could you receive from DWP? Guarantee Credit tops up your weekly income to: £227.10 for a single person £346.60 for a couple (married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting) You might be able to get more than this if you're disabled or a carer, or you have certain housing costs. Savings Credit can give you up to: £17.30 a week for a single person £19.36 a week for a couple (married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting). The exact amount you'll get depends on your income and savings. Your income includes assumed income from savings and capital over £10,000. Other help if you get Pension Credit If you qualify for Pension Credit you can also get other help, such as: Housing Benefit if you rent the property you live in Support for Mortgage Interest if you own the property you live in Council Tax discount Free TV licence if you are aged 75 or over Help with NHS dental treatment, glasses and transport costs for hospital appointments Help with your heating costs through the Warm Home Discount Scheme, Winter Fuel Payment or Pension Age Winter Heating Payment A discount on the Royal Mail redirection service if you are moving house Mixed aged older couples and Pension Credit In May 2019, the law changed so a 'mixed age couple' - a couple where one partner is of State Pension age and the other is under it - are considered to be a 'working age' couple when checking entitlement to means-tested benefits. This means they cannot claim Pension Credit or pension age Housing Benefit until they are both State Pension age. Before this DWP change, a mixed age couple could be eligible to claim the more generous State Pension age benefits when just one of them reached State Pension age. How to use the Pension Credit calculator To use the calculator on you will need details of: earnings, benefits and pensions savings and investments You'll need the same details for your partner if you have one. You will be presented by a series of questions with multiple choice answer options. This includes: Your date of birth Your residential status Where in the UK you live Whether you are registered blind Which benefits you currently receive How much you receive each week for any benefits you get Whether someone is paid Carer's Allowance to look after you How much you get each week from pensions - State Pension, private and work pensions Any employment earnings Any savings, investments or bonds you have Once you have answered these questions, a summary screen shows your responses, allowing you to go back and change any answers before submitting. The Pension Credit calculator then displays how much benefit you could receive each week. All you have to do then is follow the link to the application page to find out exactly what you will get from the DWP, including access to other financial support. There's also an option to print off the answers you give using the calculator tool to help you complete the application form quicker without having to look out the same details again. Try the Pension Credit Calculator for yourself or your family member to make sure you're receiving all the financial support you are entitled to claim. Who cannot use the Pension Credit calculator? You cannot use the calculator if you or your partner: are deferring your State Pension own more than one property are self employed have housing costs (such as service charges or Crown Tenant rent) which are neither mortgage repayments nor rent covered by Housing Benefit How to make a claim You can start your application up to four months before you reach State Pension age. You can claim any time after you reach State Pension age but your claim can only be backdated for three months. This means you can get up to three months of Pension Credit in your first payment if you were eligible during that time. You will need: your National Insurance number information about your income, savings and investments your bank account details, if you're applying by phone or by post If you're backdating your claim, you'll need details of your income, savings and investments on the date you want your claim to start. Apply online You can use the online service if: you have already claimed your State Pension there are no children or young people included in your claim Article continues below To check your entitlement, phone the Pension Credit helpline on 0800 99 1234 or use the Pension Credit calculator here to find out how much you could get.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Only Morgan McSweeney can save Labour from oblivion
It's almost as if Morgan McSweeney never existed. There has been much excited and optimistic talk of Keir Starmer's chief of staff at Number 10, and how his pugilistic political instincts have led the Prime Minister to a more robust approach towards his political opponents, particularly those within the Labour Party. 'Blue Labour', more of a philosophy than a think tank or a distinctive tribe within the party, is the vehicle by which McSweeney was expected to transform Labour's culture, policy offer and electoral prospects. But as last Thursday proved, there remains much work to be done to persuade sceptical voters that the party is on their side, or even the country's. In the era of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, the latter is winning the battle for the hearts and minds of a disgruntled electorate, with Labour – the party of government, the party of the establishment – looking bewildered, anxious and hesitant. McSweeney's influence over Starmer and the wider party cannot be overstated; it was he who injected some iron into the party leader's soul and encouraged Starmer to take the fight to his party's hard Left, whom McSweeney believes (with justification) are a drag on the party's electoral prospects. Hence Starmer's inelegant but decisive 180 degree turn away from the ten Corbynite pledges on which he campaigned for the leadership, and the denial of Corbyn himself of the privilege of standing again as a Labour candidate. Yet if Blue Labour's philosophy is to be socially conservative but economically Left-wing, then its influence looks to have been distinctly limited in Government. Which might explain the party's poor performance at the ballot box last week. A truly socially conservative Labour Party would do more than talk a tough game when it comes to immigration and asylum. All indicators are that this administration is hardly an improvement on what we saw before under Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson. The small boats keep coming, and in record numbers, while official immigration, while expected to reduce from its absurd high of nearly one million net arrivals in 2023, is not about to fall significantly in the short term. On cultural issues which might be thought to be covered by the term 'socially conservative', Labour has, for the most part, gone along with trans ideology, with cabinet members going to great lengths to avoid answering the question, 'what is a woman?' Only the intervention of the Supreme Court offered the Government a way by which ministers and MPs could start talking plain English again when it came to gender. Blue Labour, with its working-class credentials displayed prominently on its sleeve, would not have hesitated to take sides against those in authority, in towns right across the country, who turned a blind eye to the mass rape and abuse of white working-class girls at the hands of organised Pakistani gangs. Surely there can be no more perfect campaign for any organisation to focus on than holding to account, and perhaps even prosecuting, the police officers, council officials and politicians who prioritised 'community relations' ahead of the safety and dignity of the young victims. But instead of taking their lead from the likes of McSweeney and Jonathan Rutherford, a former communist and now advocate of Blue Labour working as an adviser in Number 10, ministers are so determined not to investigate the scandal or even talk about the issue that they are prepared to accuse anyone raising it of racist dog whistles. This is not how it was supposed to go. Labour in office is behaving more like Ed Miliband's party from 2010 to 2015, when it courted whatever popular middle class band wagon that happened to be attracting the most headlines at the time, than a revitalised, re-energised organisation committed to acting on working people's priorities. Today's opinion poll by YouGov, giving Reform a seven point lead over Labour (and a 12-point lead over the Conservatives) is probably down to the post-polling day excitement generated by Reform's impressive performance last Thursday, and the figures might well even out in the medium term, back to an even three-way split among the three main parties. But even this would be potentially disastrous for Labour. Polls can change, but as things stand today Labour cannot count on holding on to its overall Commons majority unless it can break out of its current political and philosophical malaise. What is the point of Blue Labour, or even McSweeney himself, if they prove unable to broaden Starmer's effectiveness in combatting the hard Left to the party's other, external threats? What is the point of a 'socially conservative' mission that talks a good game but which has no impact on policy until the peculiar circumstances in which the country's Supreme Court gives ministers permission to show leadership? McSweeney has been a positive force in Number 10. But unless he can shape a path to a reversal in the party's fortunes, he could yet suffer the same fate as his predecessor as chief of staff, the former civil servant, Sue Gray. And without his éminence grise, Starmer himself would have to concede his own days at Number 10 were numbered. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Derry Girls reunion! Nicola Coughlan to reunite with co-star for exciting new project
Derry Girls stars Nicola Coughlan and Siobhán McSweeney are set to reunite for an exciting new project. The actors, who played Clare Devlin and Sister Michael on the hit '90s-set comedy series, are teaming up once again for the National Theatre production of John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World. They'll be joined on stage by The Sixth Commandment's Éanna Hardwicke, Declan Conlon, Lorcan Cranitch, Megan Cusack and Marty Rea. Caitríona McLaughlin will direct the play, which will be staged in the Lyttelton Theatre from 4 December 2025 to 28 February 2026. The official synopsis for The Playboy of the Western World reads: "Pegeen Flaherty's life is turned upside down when, on a normal day, a young man walks into her pub claiming that he's killed his father. Related: Best streaming services "Instead of being shunned, the killer Christy Mahon becomes a local hero. The welcome murderer wins hearts and races as he beds himself into village life. That is until a second man unexpectedly arrives on the scene…" Coughlan and McSweeney starred in all three seasons of Lisa McGee's award-winning comedy series Derry Girls, which came to an end in 2022. While fans had hoped for either another season or a potential movie spin-off, McSweeney explained she wasn't very keen. Related: "I think the thing that makes shows great is that you want to end them, and don't ruin them by dragging them out for years and years and years," she told Digital Spy back in 2023. "So I think we've left the characters in a good place, a good place of hope, a place of peace. So why not leave them there for the time being? I see Sister Michael every time I open my eyes anyway. She's always with me." The final season of Derry Girls had huge success at the BAFTA TV Awards, where McGee won Best Scripted Comedy and McSweeney won the award for Best Female Comedy Performance. Digital Spy's first print magazine is here! Buy British Comedy Legends in newsagents or online now, priced at £7.99. at at £49.99 at at at Amazon at Audible£328.00 at at EE£18.99 at at EE at at at at at at at Amazon at at at at at Game at at EE at at at Pandora at at at at Sky Mobile£1200.00 at Game at at at at Pandora at Three at at at £79.99 at at at at AO at at at at at at £39.99 at at at at Fitbit£49.99 at at at at John Lewis£119.00 at at at at at at at at at at at £157.00 at John Lewis£184.00 at John Lewis & Partners at at at at at at at at at Amazon at Fitbit£119.99 at at at at John Lewis & Partners at at Three at at Amazon at at at at Amazon at at Apple£293.81 at at at Three£189.99 at at at at Amazon£699.00 at at at at at at at at at at EE at Audible at at at at at John Lewis at at at at at at at at at EE at at at John Lewis at Apple£32.99 at Amazon£379.00 at at at at Samsung at at Three$365.00 at Microsoft£229.00 at John Lewis at at Apple at at at at Samsung£22.00 at Amazon£449.00 at John Lewis at at at AO at crunchyroll at at at Microsoft£79.98 at at at Microsoft at John Lewis & Partners at at at at John Lewis at at at Amazon£269.99 at at at at John Lewis & Partners at now£16.00 at Microsoft at at at at at at at John Lewis at at at at at at at at at at at at at at at at at at at at at at You Might Also Like PS5 consoles for sale – PlayStation 5 stock and restocks: Where to buy PS5 today? IS MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 THE BEST IN THE SERIES? OUR REVIEW AEW game is a modern mix of No Mercy and SmackDown
BBC News
29-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Tuam: Excavation of former mother-and-baby institution to begin this year
The agency in charge of the excavation of the former mother-and-baby institution at Tuam in County Galway has said work is due to start in the second half of 2016, investigators found what they described as "significant quantities of human remain" in underground confirmed the bodies were those of babies and children up to three years in leader of the current team, Daniel McSweeney, said: "Substantial and meaningful planning has gone into this unique and incredibly complex excavation." The Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention Tuam (ODAIT) said the work would go ahead pending the appointment of the excavation institution for unmarried mothers and their children was run by the Bon Secours Sisters and closed in past of the home came to international attention when a local historian, Catherine Corless, discovered that there were death certificates for 796 children and infants but no burial Irish government set up a Commission of Investigation into the network of mother-and-baby institutions, which later said the chambered structure containing the children's remains at Tuam was in a disused sewage tank. 'Forensically sealed' The excavation team will aim to identify as many of the remains as McSweeney said the exact start date would be confirmed in said: "Our work is centred around the people and groups who have been most impacted by the former mother-and-baby institution in Tuam."This includes families, survivors and the Tuam community."Our work will be conducted in accordance with international standards and best practice, and in keeping with our core values."He explained the process would take place in two parts, and further details of the forensic approach would be shared at the start of the McSweeney said: "As the site will be forensically sealed at all times during the excavation, we are hoping to facilitate on-site visits for survivors and family members at the beginning of the excavation."Preparatory surveys began at the site last McSweeney was appointed in 2023, he previously worked around the world for the International Commission of the Red Cross.
