Margaret Beckett and her party’s most working-class leader ever
Goodbye to all that
The woman who led Labour: Margaret Beckett on fights, friends and ferocious change in 50 years of politics
April 2024
Sadiq Khan says UK arms sales to Israel have ‘got to stop’
London mayor’s comments come as other senior Labour figures call for government to take action after killing of aid workers
March 2024
Tory party to lose almost 1,000 years of Commons experience when MPs quit
Sixty-six MPs who already plan to stand down at election have 987 years between them, analysis shows
November 2022
The Observer view on the toxic workplace that is Westminster
Bullying is rife in parliament and MPs should be the last people to condone it
May 2022
Margaret Beckett is still wrong about the Iraq war and WMD claims
‘I saw two Tory whips having tequila for breakfast’: Margaret Beckett on Blair, the Iraq war and half a century in politics
March 2022
An inspiration and a political survivor, Labour will miss Margaret Beckett
Alison McGovern
Margaret Beckett will retire at next election after 40 years as MP for Derby South
February 2022
Other lives
Leo Beckett obituary
Other lives: Stalwart Labour party member who ran his wife Margaret Beckett’s parliamentary office
September 2021
Covid and Afghanistan ‘reveal weakness of UK’s security policy’
Cross-party MPs and peers say the response to the two crises has exposed system as inadequate
November 2020
There is still no end in sight to the infighting tearing Labour apart
Sienna Rodgers
The NEC walkout over the election of a new chair revealed that Keir Starmer has much to do to unite the party behind him, says Sienna Rodgers, editor of LabourList
June 2020
Seven former foreign secretaries urge UK to take lead on Hong Kong
Cross-party initiative reflects concern response to China’s imposition of security laws cannot be left to Donald Trump
September 2019
People's Vote tells Labour MPs not to back a Johnson Brexit deal
MPs warned they will be blamed for job losses and NHS privatisation under any Johnson deal
August 2019
Only a government of national unity can deliver us from no deal
Polly Toynbee
Let Margaret Beckett lead a ‘government’ to do what the crisis demands – call an election and a referendum, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
July 2019
UK too weak to address strategic threats, warns MPs’ committee
Defence and diplomacy are running dangerously short of funds says report
June 2019
Jeremy Corbyn making his own decisions on Brexit, says spokesman
Labour must back Remain to survive, warns Tom Watson memo
April 2019
EU elections: Farage will win unless Labour backs remain, says Beckett
Ex-minister says supporting another form of Brexit will give victory to Nigel Farage’s party
March 2019
Margaret Beckett: why Brexit has to go back to the people
The former foreign secretary says Theresa May’s approach to Brexit has been indefensible. Time to take back control
