Peter Apps

This week, the government passed a landmark housing figure – but not one it should be especially proud of. The latest homelessness statistics show 101,300 families in temporary accommodation at the end of December 2022, the first time in…

As Keir Starmer and Labour have pummelled Boris Johnson over the seemingly endless succession of lockdown parties in Downing Street, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Shadow Defence counterpart John Healey have been on a rather…

According to the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son, there is more rejoicing in heaven for one sinner who repents than for 99 righteous individuals who keep doing the right thing. By that measure, the surprise defection this week of…

If Keir Starmer finds himself in Downing Street after the next election, December 2021 will be seen the point at which more than a decade of Tory rule unravelled. Labour has led in every opinion poll published since December 6th, with a…

As Emily Pomeroy-Smith entered one of the rooms in Brighton on the Sunday of Labour conference, she realised something was wrong: the wheelchair ramp to access the speaker stage was absent minutes before a Disability Labour discussion on…

Tony Blair took to the stage at the Labour Party conference on October 2nd 2001 and outlined his vision of the role that he passionately believed Britain must play in the aftermath of 9/11. "This is a moment to seize," he told the chamber…

If you want to be one of Keir Starmer’s new generation of parliamentary candidates, you now have until Wednesday, August 18th to get your papers in – and join the Labour Party, for those who have not done so. Over the last two months…

As Labour faces another northern by-election in Batley and Spen, there is an opportunity to do at least one thing better than in Hartlepool: candidate selection. The May 6th Hartlepool by-election was always going to be a challenge. But in…

With all the focus on the leader and deputy leadership elections, it’s easy to forget another series of votes have also taken place this month at constituency selection meetings. Also being contested – if you can navigate a perhaps…

The greatest frustration is not just that we have lost. You could tell that was likely from the doorsteps, even as the polls suggested we might be gaining ground. Nor is it even the real pain, anger and horror that Britain’s most vulnerable…

For Labour parliamentary candidate John Kent and his team in Thurrock, it has been a two-year election campaign. In 2017, Conservative Jackie Doyle-Price saw her majority drop to 345, from 536 two years earlier. The local party has been out…

In the 2017 general election, former British Army Royal Signals officer Sarah Church added more than 5,000 votes to the previous Labour share in South Swindon. Gaining half as many again this year would see her beat Conservative Justice…