


The Sue Gray saga casts doubt on Sir Keir Starmer’s managerial chops
Faith in the prime minister’s technocratic credentials has been tested
THE CASE FOR Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister ran something like this. He may not be a great orator and he might not have a grand vision for how to remake Britain, but he does know how to run a public-sector bureaucracy. Before the election in July he traded on his record as a one-time director of public prosecutions who focused on “getting the boring stuff right”—digitising old documents, say, or listening to the junior staff who knew where efficiencies could be made. After the showboating and internal warfare of successive Conservative governments, in a country with creaking public services, a super-administrator in Downing Street would be worth having.

Britain has agreed to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius
The Chagossians seem set to benefit less than China

Ukrainians are settling down in Britain. That creates a problem
A tricky decision for the new Labour government

Gigafactories and dashed dreams: the parable of Blyth
What one port town says about the British economy
Britain’s Conservatives adopt the bad habits of the Labour left
The cult of the member grips the opposition
How British-Nigerians quietly made their way to the top
A story of modern migration has had extraordinary results
Why on earth would anyone go to a British party conference?
A short guide to an odd political ritual