LONDON (AP) — This should be a time of celebration for Britain’s Labour Party, which opens its annual conference Sunday less than three months after winning power in a landslide after 14 years in opposition.
But it’s no victory lap for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
His government is facing a reckoning with a battered economy and an electorate impatient for change. The mood among Labour members gathering in the northwest England city of Liverpool has been further dampened by a tempest over Starmer’s acceptance of freebies at a time when the millions of people are struggling with the cost of living.
Starmer insists he followed the rules when he took clothes and designer eyeglasses from Waheed Alli, a media entrepreneur and longtime Labour donor. But after days of negative headlines, the party now says Starmer won’t accept any more free outfits.
“I get that people are angry,” said Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who also accepted donations to pay for clothing.
“But donations for gifts and hospitality and monetary donations have been a feature of our politics for a very long time,” she told the BBC. “People can look it up and see what people have had donations for, and the transparency is really important.”
Starmer won the July 4 election on a promise to “restore politics as a force for good” after scandal-tarnished years under the Conservatives. He vowed to get the country’s sluggish economy growing and restore frayed public services such as the state-funded National Health Service.
Since then, he has struck a gloomy note, saying there is a 22 billion pound ($29 billion) “black hole” in the public finances left by the Conservative government, and warning that “things will get worse” before they get better. One of the government’s first major acts was to strip millions of retirees of a payment intended to help heat their homes in winter.
Starmer also had to deal with anti-immigrant unrest that erupted after three children were stabbed to death in Southport, near Liverpool in July. Starmer responded firmly, pledging swift justice and tough sentences for rioters. But prison overcrowding, a legacy of the last government, meant hundreds of inmates had to be freed early to make way for the newly convicted rioters.
Then came the clothing scandal, dubbed “frockgate” after dresses gifted to the prime minister’s wife, Victoria Starmer.
Keir Starmer is also facing grumbling among his own employees over the salary of his chief of staff, Sue Gray. The BBC disclosed that she is paid 170,000 pounds ($225,000) a year — about 3,000 pounds more than the prime minister’s salary. The government says it wasn't involved in setting the pay scale for political advisers.
Labour says that the criticism is being whipped up by the Conservatives and their media supporters. But polls suggest it has hurt. An Ipsos poll released Friday found 25% of respondents thought Starmer was doing a good job – down from 36% in July -- while 42% thought he was doing a bad job, up from 14%. The firm interviewed 1,082 adults by telephone and the margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
“He promised to be different, but he hasn’t been,” Conservative lawmaker Chris Philp told the BBC. “He is not running a government of service, he is running a government of self-service.”
The diet of bad news has alarmed many Labour members, who worry worse is to come in the form of tax increases and spending cuts when the government announces its first budget on Oct. 30.
Labour leaders will try to convey a more positive message when Treasury chief Rachel Reeves makes a televised conference speech on Monday, followed by Starmer on Tuesday. They’re hoping to inject some cheer into the four-day conference, a blend of pep rally, policy forum and boozy bash that plays a key role in maintaining morale among party activists.
The government argues that it has already made a string of positive changes, including ending a wave of public-sector strikes. In the coming weeks, it plans legislation to take public ownership of the railways, set up a state-owned green energy firm, impose tougher rules on water firms that dump sewage and strengthen rights for workers and renters.
Victoria Honeyman, professor of British politics at the University of Leeds, said Labour’s first months in office were destined to be difficult because voters’ expectations were so high.
“But they have made mistakes,” she said. “The business with the clothing, it’s not a terminal blow, but it’s the kind of thing that will stick in people’s minds for a certain amount of time and could so easily have been avoided.
“It smacks of a lack of attention or a lack of caution, neither of which are good looks.”
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, arrive ahead of the Labour Party Conference, in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, arrive ahead of the Labour Party Conference, in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched over 100 rockets early Sunday across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as the sides appeared to be spiraling toward all-out war following months of escalating tensions.
The rocket barrage overnight sent thousands of people scrambling into shelters. The Israeli military said rockets had been fired “toward civilian areas,” pointing to a possible escalation after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets.
The barrage came after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday killed at least 45 people, including one of Hezbollah’s top leaders as well as women and children. The militant group was already reeling from a sophisticated attack that caused thousands of personal devices to explode just days earlier.
Here’s the latest:
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has dealt Hezbollah “blows that it did not imagine” after days of intense strikes on Lebanon.
In a video statement released by his office, Netanyahu said that if the militant group “did not get the message, I promise you, it will get the message.”
Netanyahu reiterated that Israel was determined to return its displaced citizens in the north, adding: “No country can tolerate fire on its residents, fire on its cities. And the state of Israel will not tolerate it either. We will do everything necessary to restore security.”
JERUSALEM — The Israeli defense minister says the steps taken against Hezbollah will continue until residents of Israel’s north can return to their homes, saying "we will do everything necessary to achieve it.”
Yoav Gallant was on a visit to the command and control center of the Israeli Air Force when he said the Lebanese militant group “has started to sense some of the capabilities" of the Israeli army and that "they sense they are being pursued, and we are seeing the results.”
He also called the operations conducted by the Israeli air force “very impressive, both defensively and offensively.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israeli troops have raided the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The troops ordered the bureau to shut down early Sunday amid a widening campaign by Israel targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster as it covers the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops live on its Arabic-language channel ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. It follows an extraordinary order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera’s broadcast position in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites. The broadcaster has continued operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon has urged calm in the Middle East as Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade fire on Sunday, raising fears of a regional war.
“With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer,” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert wrote in a post on X.
Hennis-Plasschaert has earlier criticized the attack that saw thousands of devices explode in Lebanon and warned that it marks “an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context.”
BEIRUT, Lebanon — An umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias, the Islamic Resistance, says it has launched drones targeting a military base in Israel.
The attack comes amid escalating fire exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, heightening fears of a broadening conflict.
The Israeli military says it intercepted multiple aerial devices approaching Israel from the direction of Iraq. It added that the targets did not cross into Israeli territory and no injuries were reported.
Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq have claimed responsibility for drone attacks on Israel multiple times since the outbreak of the war in Gaza almost a year ago.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The death toll following an Israeli strike on a southern Beirut suburb has risen to 45, Lebanon’s health ministry says, as search operations continue for the third day.
The statement also says some remains have been collected and are yet to be identified
Ali Harake, a local official and engineer at the scene says they are still looking for “around 15 bodies.” Meanwhile, the local municipality has brought in a crane in an attempt to retrieve people’s belongings from the damaged buildings.
Friday's strike killed a top Hezbollah official Ibrahim Akil among a dozen other members of the militant group. Civilians, including at least two children, were among those killed in the busy neighborhood.
Israeli firefighters work at a house that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, near the city of Safed, northern Israel, on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo//Leo Correa)
Israeli security forces examine the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
Israeli security forces work at a house hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers carry the flag-draped casket of reservist Major Nael Fwarsy, one of two soldiers killed by a Lebanese drone attack on northern Israel, during his funeral in Maghar, Israel, Friday, Sept 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Israeli security and rescue forces work at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gil Nechushtan)
An Israeli police officer examines the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli firefighters plane uses a fire retardant to extinguish a fire after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an open area near the city of Safed, northern Israel, on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Israeli firefighters work at a house that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, near the city of Safed, northern Israel, on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo//Leo Correa)
Israeli security forces examine the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
People look at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
Israeli security and rescue forces work at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gil Nechushtan)
