Digital ID for veterans promises to ‘remove barriers’ and ‘reduce red-tape’.

Digital ID for veterans promises to ‘remove barriers’ and ‘reduce red-tape’.

Buying a home should be one of the most exciting moments in a person’s life. It shouldn’t be a nightmare to navigate.

The PM said these moves would cut the time, cost and complexity of buying a home in the UK.

‘This system will allow people to access government services without needing to remember multiple logins or provide physical documents.’

Most normal people only find out the Labour Party Conference is going on when they see clips of the Prime Minister’s speech on the news.

But there’s an awful lot more to it than that.

The event consists of four days packed with panels, talks and shindigs, with the first coffee-fuelled sessions kicking off around 8am and the final booze-fuelled sessions lasting as late as 3am.

Even if you’re the right kind of strange person who’s willing to take a few days off work for a political gathering, it can all get a bit exhausting.

For those who weren’t willing to put themselves through it, here are some of the things you might not have caught on the telly.

Not-MAGA baseball caps

One of the more bewildering and unexpected sights at this year’s Labour conference was all the people milling around in Trump-style baseball caps.

From a distance, all you could see was that they were the exact same shade of red as the hats made famous by the US President and they had some writing on the front.

Once you were a little closer, you could see it didn’t say ‘Make America Great Again’ – it said ‘Build, Baby, Build’ in a comic book-style font.

This was the brainchild of new Housing Secretary Steve Reed, who wanted to inject a bit of fun into the conference after a bleak few weeks for the party. He even signed a bunch of them.

I have it on good authority that the similarity to the MAGA caps was intended to be ironic, rather than any kind of homage to the The Donald.

Belting it out

One thing you might not know about British politicians is how much they love karaoke.

Well, not all of them. But the ones that do really do.

The Liberal Democrats have their ‘communioke’ night, where the screen faces out to the crowd for the ultimate singalong experience.

In Liverpool, there was a choice of the LabourList karaoke – where you could see Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander giving her rendition of Disco 2000 by Pulp – or the more exclusive Mirror Party.

That was where Health Secretary Wes Streeting treated the crowd to Elton John’s classic Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me, and talented Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones performed a genuinely impressive You’ll Never Walk Alone for the Hillsborough families.

Good Luck, Milibabe

Ed Miliband has been popping up on TikTok feeds in recent weeks waxing lyrical about his unlikely love for US singer Chappell Roan.

So when Metro got the chance to chat with the Energy Secretary, we made sure to question him about it (just ahead of the more pressing and important questions, of course).

We asked which Chappell song he’d use to sum up his conference experience so far – but all he could think of was Pink Pony Club, a song which doesn’t really work as an answer but which he is ‘obsessed’ with.

Miliband also told us he still hadn’t quite managed to see her live, but it’s a strong ambition of his.

In the meantime, he’s gonna keep on dancing down in West Hollywood…

AI Attlee

You never really know what you’re going to get when you set off for a party conference, but some things still have the capacity to surprise.

One sure thing at Labour is plenty of chat about Clement Attlee’s transformative postwar government, which introduced the NHS and modern welfare state.

This year was the 80th anniversary of his 1945 victory, and there was some lovely retro merch on offer in the Labour store to mark it.

But eyebrows were raised at data company Datnexa’s introduction of an AI Clement Attlee to provide advice and information about the conference, accessible via the website AskClem.com.

The site claims robo-Clem is ‘customised with Labour Party-specific knowledge’ to ‘revolutionise how attendees engage with conference content’.

Row over ‘racism’

If you saw anything from the Labour conference, it might have involved this.

Sir Keir Starmer grabbed headlines on Sunday by telling the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that he believed Reform’s policy of deporting people currently living legally in the UK with indefinite leave to remain is ‘racist’.

What you might not have seen is just how much this remark set tongues wagging across the conference centre.

The PM had to make clear in further interviews that he doesn’t consider Reform voters or Nigel Farage themselves racist.

Some cabinet ministers, like Justice Secretary David Lammy, leapt with enthusiasm into using the ‘r’ word when talking about Farage, while other figures like Sadiq Khan explained why they hesitated over it.

If the intention was to wind up Farage, it certainly worked – he put a whole video up on social media about it. The question is how his millions of fans will respond.

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Keir Starmer delivered his keynote speech on the last full day of Labour’s party conference.

The PM will use his keynote speech at the Labour Conference to focus his attacks against Reform after calling its policies ‘racist’.

The Mayor of London has given a withering assessment of the government’s first 14 months in power.

Clare Caudery lived for years in an inadequate private rental with her two disabled kids.

The announcement comes exactly a week after Nigel Farage unveiled Reform’s plans to change the system.

The new scheme, touted as an anti-illegal migration measure, won’t require UK residents to produce their ID in public.

MI6 has launched a new recruitment drive for spies – using the dark web.

The UK’s intelligence agency has set up a new secure messaging platform which will make it easier for spies to submit information and for MI6 to recruit.

The Foreign Office says the UK aims to recruit more foreign agents, based in Russia and around the world.

Potential spies can submit information through the new Silent Courier secure messaging platform, which was launched on Friday.

It will use the anonymity of the dark web to allow anyone in the world to contact MI6 securely.

MI6 has even posted a handy instruction video on how to use the portal on their YouTube channel.

They also helpfully suggest that potential spies access the Silent Courier platform through a VPN on devices which aren’t linked to themselves.

Sir Richard Moore, outgoing chief of MI6, will announce the new platform in a speech later this morning.

Want to know more about the government and how their policies affect you?

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Every Wednesday, I write our Alright, Gov? newsletter with insights from behind the scenes in the Houses of Parliament – and how the decisions made there will end up affecting you.

In last week’s newsletter I wrote about the latest scandals to hit the Labour party.

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He’s expected to say: ‘Today we’re asking those with sensitive information on global instability, international terrorism or hostile state intelligence activity to contact MI6 securely online.

‘Our virtual door is open to you.’

It’s not long since the US tried a similar approach, with the CIA sharing videos on social media trying to target potential Russian spies in 2023.

Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘National security is the first duty of any government and the bedrock of the prime minister’s plan for change.

‘As the world changes, and the threats we’re facing multiply, we must ensure the UK is always one step ahead of our adversaries.

‘Our world-class intelligence agencies are at the coalface of this challenge, working behind the scenes to keep British people safe.

‘Now we’re bolstering their efforts with cutting-edge tech so MI6 can recruit new spies for the UK – in Russia and around the world.’

MI6 was set up in the early 1900s but wasn’t officially acknowledged by the UK government until the 1990s.

It has operated from the SIS Building on the bank of the River Thames in Vauxhall, central London, since 1994.

The agency’s head – only known as ‘C’ – is the only publicly named member.

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Metro was standing in the room with the President and PM this afternoon.

The medication could ‘restrain’ offenders who are a risk to the public.

Trump wants a flashy few days with the Royals – what the PM wants is more complicated.

I initially fled through an unsafe route and entirely reliant on smugglers.

They hit out at having to ‘pull out the skeletons for people to be held accountable’.

The relationship between the two men stretches back to at least 2002.

Peter Mandelson’s has been sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the United States after a series of revelations about his friendship with child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The Labour peer, who was previously a high-profile figure in Tony Blair’s government, faced massive pressure after his contributions to Epstein’s notorious 50th birthday book were published on Tuesday.

This morning, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty confirmed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had asked for him to be withdrawn from the role.

In the book, Mandelson described the New York financier as his ‘best pal’ and signed off by saying: ‘We love you!’

He also wrote about Epstein’s ‘glorious homes he likes to share with his friends’, adding in brackets: ‘Yum yum’.

The document was released in full by Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee, who wanted to highlight an equally cryptic contribution allegedly by President Donald Trump.

But attention in the UK has instead focused on ten pages of messages from Mandelson, which included pictures of himself with Epstein and others apparently showing him visiting a residence.

In an interview yesterday morning, Mandelson said he was ‘profoundly upset’ that he was ‘taken in’ by a man he described as a ‘charismatic criminal liar’.

He also said he expected further ’embarrassing’ correspondence between himself and Epstein to emerge in the media.

Want to know more about the government and how their policies affect you?

Hello, I’m Craig Munro and I’m Metro‘s man in Westminster.

Every Wednesday, I write our Alright, Gov? newsletter with insights from behind the scenes in the Houses of Parliament – and how the decisions made there will end up affecting you.

In last week’s newsletter I wrote about the potential ramifications of the Epping hotel decision and whether or not we should be worried about taxes going up.

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Later that day, the Sun and Bloomberg published emails showing conversations Mandelson had with Epstein when he was facing charges over soliciting sex with a minor in 2008.

Among them was one message where the he advised his then-friend: ‘Fight for early release.’

Doughty told MPs this morning: ‘In light of additional information in emails written by Peter Mandelson, the Prime Minister has asked the Foreign Secretary to withdraw him as ambassador to the United States.

‘The emails show […] that the depths and extent of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment.

‘In particular, Lord Mandelson’s suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein’s first conviction was unlawful and should be challenged is new information.’

He said the withdrawal had taken place with immediate effect.

At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer stood behind the man he personally selected to take on the ambassador role earlier this year.

Grilled by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch on whether Mandelson still had his backing, the PM said: ‘The ambassador has repeatedly expressed his deep regret for his association with him. He is right to do so.

‘I have confidence in him, and he is playing an important role in the UK-US relationship.’

In a briefing afterwards, a government spokesman said Mandelson had been ‘subject to extensive vetting and background checks’.

But in the hours that followed, a number of Labour MPs called for the ambassador to step down or face an investigation.

Andy McDonald, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, told the BBC’s Today programme: ‘He should go immediately, his position is completely and utterly untenable and him staying on in post is causing the government and the Labour Party further damage.

‘I’m afraid if he doesn’t do the right thing and resign today then the Prime Minister should sack him.’

Asked about the latest tranche of emails on BBC Breakfast this morning, Home Office minister Mike Tapp said they made him ‘shudder’.

He added: ‘I find it disturbing, those sorts of emails in honesty… we have to just look at what Peter Mandelson saying around his regret and what he knew at the time.’

Tapp, who joined the government in last week’s reshuffle, declined to say the Prime Minister would continue to have confidence in his ambassador.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said: ‘The latest I have is that the statement made in the Commons yesterday at Prime Minister’s Questions is still relevant, and Keir Starmer does have confidence in the ambassador’s ability.

‘And what he means there is the important work that he’s doing in America.’

Asked if that support would continue throughout the day, Tapp said: ‘I can’t say. I’m not the Prime Minister.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Poland’s president has invoked Nato’s Article 4 in response.

Angela Rayner stepped down as Labour deputy leader at the same time she departed as Deputy Prime Minister.

Brits have been left scratching their heads after national alert system failed to warn them of an albeit hypothetical risk to life test.

Get ready to hear a piercingly unpleasant noise today, as 87 million phones blare in unison.

It follows months of divisive protests outside hotels, as well as a wave of English flags being spray painted across the country.