The chairwoman of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has written to the foreign secretary demanding answers on the vetting process for Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US.

Emily Thornberry wrote to Yvette Cooper, who took over as foreign secretary after the cabinet reshuffle, asking for clarification on what security concerns were raised during the process and how the Foreign Office responded to those concerns.

She also asked whether the Foreign Office felt the concerns represented a “potential barrier” to Mandelson’s appointment and whether any conditions were imposed on his remit as ambassador.

“It has been suggested by a number of media outlets that security concerns were overlooked during the appointments process, and that such decisions may have been taken by actors outside of the Foreign Office, perhaps senior people in No 10.

“These allegations are potentially very serious... as chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, it is my responsibility to ensure that the House of Commons receives a thorough response to a number of important unanswered questions.”

Senior Labour MPs and the UK’s largest anti-fascist charity have called on Keir Starmer to mount a more heartfelt defence of diversity and anti-racism. They say they fear that Labour is not yet putting its “heart and soul” into the battle against Nigel Farage and the far right.

Hope Not Hate’s chief executive has written a letter to Starmer in the lead up to a planned far-right demonstration in London on Saturday, demanding the prime minister speak up more against hate and racism.

In the letter, Nick Lowles said: “Hate breeds when those in power are silent. I implore you and other ministers to speak out urgently in defence of our migrant communities and our multicultural society more generally. It is imperative we all push back against the onslaught of racism we currently face because silence will only encourage our opponents more.”

The challenge to No 10 speaks to many MPs’ fear that the party vacated the political playing field over the summer months as Farage, asylum hotel protests and rows over flags dominated. Several said they hoped that it would be a key theme of the Labour deputy leadership race between Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell on how the party could better defend its core values.

MPs who have called for greater clarity in the fight against rightwing hatred include those who had stood for deputy leader as well as a number of candidates who had been urged to stand for the position.

Keir Starmer is “not up to the job” of prime minister, a backbench Labour MP has said.

Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, told the BBC’s The Week In Westminster programme:

You see a Labour prime minister who feels that he’s lost control within the first year.

This isn’t navel-gazing. This is me thinking about my constituents, this country, and the fact that the person who is eight points ahead of us is Nigel Farage. That terrifies me. It terrifies my constituents, and it terrifies a lot of people in this country.

We don’t have the luxury of carrying on this way with someone who I think increasingly, I’m sorry to say, just doesn’t seem up to the job.

Lewis is the first backbencher to call for the prime minister to go, adding there was “a very, very dangerous atmosphere in the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) at the moment” following a “deeply unpopular” cabinet reshuffle.

He said:

People are concerned, slightly downtrodden, a little bit browbeaten and feeling as if the party has seen better days - it’s not a great atmosphere.

There is a “resilience and grit” that comes from being born in the north-east of England, says Fiona Hill, who went from a working-class childhood in County Durham to a top intelligence job at the heart of the White House.

But, she believes, it is also a big reason why she and other notable high achievers have had the success they have. The secret of success could be being from the north-east.

Hill has talked to a number of figures from – or with strong links to – the north-east for her new Forged in the North podcast series, which will be launched at Durham book festival in October.

They include two global figures originally from the same part of Wallsend: the Cramlington primary school teacher turned superstar Sting, and the Yale historian Paul Kennedy.

“It’s basically just listening to two people who seem on the surface so completely different but have this common origin story,” says Hill.

Other podcast guests are Lee Hall, the writer of Billy Elliot; Brendan Foster, the founder of the Great North Run; the north-east mayor, Kim McGuinness; the Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Sara Davies; the dramatist Peter Straughan; and the Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson, who lives in Stockton-on-Tees.

Hill was born and brought up in Bishop Auckland, the daughter of a coalminer and a midwife. She and her accent went on to be a foreign affairs adviser to US presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump and she is considered one of the world’s leading experts on Russia and Putin.

Last year she was named as one of three advisers to oversee the UK government’s strategic defence review.

The new series is born, Hill says, of a belief that “too much happens down in London, as if the rest of the country doesn’t exist”.

The taoiseach Micheál Martin has said “very good progress” has been made on finding a replacement to the controversial British legislation for dealing with historic murders in Northern Ireland following a meeting with Keir Starmer in Chequers this morning.

A new package of measures that would see Ireland drop its interstate lawsuit against the UK is expected to be announced within the coming weeks. This would be a rare move taken after its objections to the Legacy Act, and those of the five main political parties in Northern Ireland, were not heeded by the Conservative government.

Martin said:

Very good progress has been made on legacy, and the prime minister and I agreed that we are close to setting out a framework to address legacy issues, recognising its importance to victims and survivors, and to the wider community in Northern Ireland and across these islands.

They also discussed “the catastrophic situation in Gaza,” he said.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson, and the ousted cabinet minister Lucy Powell, are set to be the two candidates for Labour’s deputy leadership as other candidates struggled to get the minimum number of nominations.

On Wednesday evening, Phillipson had the backing of 116 MPs and Powell had 77 nominations, three short of the required 80.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Paula Barker received support from fewer than 15 MPs, with Emily Thornberry announcing on Thursday she had withdrawn from the race. The communities minister Alison McGovern pulled out on Wednesday afternoon and endorsed Phillipson.

The ballot for members to vote will open on Wednesday 8 October and they will have until Thursday 23 October to have their say. Results will be announced on Saturday 25 October.

The Guardian community team are keen to hear from readers:

What questions would you like us to put to the candidates on your behalf? Let us know. We’ll publish some of your questions, their answers and your verdict on those answers. We will use a photo of those included so please send in an image of yourself as well as your full name, age and where you live. You can see the questions we put to the Green party leadership candidates here.

Downing Street said the prime minister had confidence in the vetting system but the process was kept under “constant review”.

A Number 10 spokesperson said:

We always keep national security vetting and other procedures under constant review to make sure they retain their position as world-leading.

The prime minister has confidence in the vetting process. But, yes, of course, we always keep these things under constant review.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the prime minister “should never have appointed” Peter Mandelson, who has been sacked as ambassador to the US over his close relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaking to broadcasters in Cambridge, Badenoch said:

What this is showing is that he [Keir Starmer] had very bad judgment and he was only forced into sacking Peter Mandelson because I raised those questions at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday and a lot of his backbenchers heard how bad it was and put pressure on him.

It is unfortunate that this is now happening just before a state visit. We now don’t have an ambassador in place. All of that is Keir Starmer’s fault, not anyone else’s.

Hundreds of demonstrators – both for and against the assisted dying bill – have gathered outside parliament as the first House of Lords debate on the proposed legislation takes place.

As peers took their seats in the unelected upper chamber, campaigners held placards showing their passionate stances on a divisive issue, reports the PA news agency.

There is not expected to be a vote on the bill at this stage, with a further day of debate due to be held next Friday.

A group associated with the campaigning organisation Dignity in Dying held banners with faces of loved ones and sang chants of “yes to choice, yes to dignity”.

Elise Burns, from Faversham, told the PA news agency she is hopeful the bill will pass into law. The 51-year-old said she has secondary cancer of her lungs, liver and bones. Asked if she was worried about the bill being blocked, she said:

I would be completely devastated if that were to happen, it’s the will of the people, plus the will of the elected MPs.

She said she had heard rumours of measures being used to “try and time it out” but said change to the current law is “urgent”. She added:

It’s going to be too late for me, but not for hundreds of people in the future, if not thousands of their families.

I would love [peers] to look me in the eye and tell me why me and my friends, and anyone with terminal illness, don’t deserve to die with dignity and to have the choice to die as they choose, without pain.

Opposite the Lords, some people with terminal illnesses, and their family and friends, stood outside in opposition to the bill.

Storm Green, 27, from Plaistow, was joined by her father, Cecil Harper, 64, who was diagnosed with cancer and given just two years to live back in 2019. Both told the PA news agency they are against the bill being passed.

Green pleaded with peers to make “good law” and warned the current bill could leave those who feel they are a burden vulnerable. She said:

We want to live in a country that has good law, that encourages people to thrive, that encourages people to contribute to society, to feel valued by the people around them, and I think ultimately this bill encourages a deaf culture of some sort.

Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, some people feel like they are burdened and that they don’t really have a choice.

Echoing this, her father, Cecil, said:

It may affect their mind in the fact that, ‘My life’s not worth living any more, I might as well go down that route because there’s a choice I didn’t have before’.

He said people can make “bad decisions” if they are “in the depths of depression and a lot of pain”, adding:

This law shouldn’t be passed, it shouldn’t even be an issue.

The newly appointed Scottish secretary Douglas Alexander has told off Scotland’s first minister for “playing politics” over Scotch whisky tariffs.

Earlier this week, Swinney briefed the media on his “very substantial” meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, saying that he had succeeded in pushing Scotch tariffs up the US president’s agenda where the UK government had failed.

Swinney was accompanied to the meeting by Peter Mandelson in one of his last duties before he was sacked at US ambassador.

In a statement released overnight on Friday, Alexander warned:

With president Trump’s state visit just days away, we all need to put Scotland’s economy first – not political point scoring.

Later, he told BBC Scotland:

When [Swinney] said that he had put whisky on the agenda, with great respect, we’d already done a deal with India, where whisky was a central feature of that deal.

We’ve had negotiators on the ground in Washington every day this week, and because we’ve shared that information with him, he’s fully aware that long before John Swinney arrived in the Oval Office, we were talking with and engaging with the US administration on the issue of whisky.

The Irish taoiseach Micheál Martin said “very good progress” has been made to reach an agreement with the UK on dealing with the legacy of the Northern Ireland troubles.

Martin made the comments after what he was described as a “very warm and constructive” meeting with prime minister Keir Starmer at Chequers on Friday morning.

“We discussed a broad range of matters, including the positive relations between our two countries and the extensive programme of bilateral cooperation under way between our two governments, including in preparation for the upcoming UK-Ireland summit, which will take place in Ireland in the spring,” he said.

“Very good progress has been made on legacy and the prime minister and I agreed that we are close to setting out a framework to address legacy issues, recognising its importance to victims and survivors, and to the wider community in Northern Ireland and across these islands.

“We discussed the catastrophic situation in Gaza – the need for a ceasefire, release of all hostages and a massive surge in humanitarian aid. We also committed to continue working together with the coalition of the willing to strengthen support for Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia to stop its war of aggression on the people of Ukraine.”

The chief executive of Barclays has said the UK government needs to limit pay rises for public sector workers and resist a further “squeeze” on banks with tax increases.

CS Venkatakrishnan said the government needed to look at its own spending levels as the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, seeks ways to address a fiscal hole when she announces her budget in November.

“We need to curb expenditure at the government level,” he told the Financial Times. “We need to find a way to curb wage inflation.”

Venkatakrishnan said that, while the government needed to restrict rising “public sector” wages, the inflationary impact of pay rises was an issue across the UK economy.

While UK wage growth has slowed in recent months it is still running at an annual rate of 5.7% in the public sector, excluding bonuses. Private sector wage growth is running at an average of 4.8%.

Venkatakrishnan also said that the banking sector should not be a target of further taxation. “UK banks are taxed more than banks anywhere else,” he said. “How much more are you going to squeeze this?”

Banks are concerned that the industry’s reliable profits, fuelled by higher interest rates, could make it one of the targets for tax increases as Reeves comes under pressure to raise taxes to address a hole in her fiscal plans.

Last month, UK bank shares tumbled, cutting the combined market value of some of the biggest companies in the sector by more than £6bn, as fresh calls for a windfall tax on large lenders in the budget spooked investors.

A coalition of civil society groups is warning of the dangers of cutting safety regulations as the government pushes to “rip up the rules” to accelerate the construction of new nuclear power stations.

The 25 groups from communities neighbouring nuclear sites have submitted a joint response to a consultation by the nuclear regulatory taskforce, saying its proposals lack “both credibility and rigour”.

They argue that the plans to relax regulations only serve to undermine confidence in regulators and the UK’s nuclear regulatory regime.

The government is pushing to speed up approvals for new plants and says it needs to “rip up rules” to “fire up” nuclear power.

But the groups, in their submission to the taskforce, which published its interim report in August, argue that the government has failed to present any evidence to substantiate assertions about the need to reform nuclear safety regulation.

In reality, they say, the problems facing the UK’s nuclear programmes are the result of a multitude of factors, including poor planning, investment difficulties, and slow decision-making by industry and central government.

On the morning of 16 March 1976, Robert Worcester – universally known as “Bob” – received the phone call that converted him from the head of a little-known market research company into the public face of polling in Britain. The call was from Harold Evans, the editor of the Sunday Times. Harold Wilson had just announced his retirement at prime minister. Evans wanted to find out whom voters wanted as the next Labour leader. Who better to conduct the survey than Labour’s own private pollster: Worcester himself?

The poll, showing James Callaghan well ahead, provided the front-page lead for the following Sunday’s paper. In those days party leaders were elected by MPs. The poll helped Callaghan’s cause – and did Worcester himself no harm, for Callaghan was duly elected, and kept him as the party’s pollster.

You can read the full obituary of the founder of the market research company Mori, whose snappy analysis made him the go-to pollster for the British media, at the link below:

In case you missed it, here is the Guardian view on Peter Mandelson in Washington:

The Liberal Democrats have called for the Commons foreign affairs committee to scrutinise the next US ambassador after sacking of Peter Mandelson.

Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller said:

The prime minister’s appointment of Mandelson was a clear error of judgment, a mistake that we cannot afford to let him repeat.

With Trump in the White House, we need an ambassador who will stand up to the president and represent British values.

To avoid further national embarrassment for our country on the international stage, the foreign Aaffairs committee must now have a role in scrutinising Mandelson’s successor before they are appointed.

Keir Starmer has spoken to Abdel Fatah al-Sisi amid reports the Egyptian president has directed his officials to study an internal request to grant a pardon to release the British-Egyptian human rights activist and writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah.

Abd el-Fattah’s British-based family are not commenting on developments save to say they are praying for his release.

The readout of Wednesday’s phone call between Sisi and Starmer focused on the Israeli bombing of Hamas members in Qatar, the threat of a mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and preparations for the UN conference this month on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on which the UK and Egypt have been closely cooperating. Sisi welcomed the UK decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

The Downing Street readout also referred to steps to strengthen bilateral ties in the future. The release of Abd el-Fattah is a Foreign Office priority. The two leaders last spoke in July.

Hopes of a pardon were ignited by Egypt’s official National Human Rights Council making a call this week for his release and six other named prisoners, arguing a pardon would contribute to the stability and psychological balance of his family.

It is expected a decision will be taken in a few days. The move represents the most optimistic development in his ordeal since he was arrested six years ago for endorsing a social media post about the death of a prisoner. He was charged with broadcasting false news.

The BBC has come under renewed pressure over the amount of coverage dedicated to Reform UK after an analysis showed Nigel Farage’s party featured in a quarter of all News At Ten bulletins over six months.

Reform featured in 49 bulletins between January and July this year, whereas the Liberal Democrats – the third party in parliament with 72 MPs – featured in 17.9% of bulletins, with 35 references.

The Cardiff University study found Reform was referenced in just under a fifth of ITV News At Ten bulletins, compared with 6.2% for the Liberal Democrats, meaning Reform was covered three times more.

The study of the two bulletins also raised questions about the scrutiny of Reform. In just under a fifth of cases, there was no analysis of Reform’s policies or claims. They were rigorously scrutinised in just under four in 10 cases, and to some extent in another four in 10 cases.

More than two-thirds of references to Reform featured some footage of its politicians, including Farage in a pub.

The corporation has already released a lengthy riposte to claims it was giving too much attention. It pointed out earlier this month that Reform had been the main beneficiary of a collapse in polling support for the two main parties and performed strongly in local elections, as well as leading opinion polls.

Confronted over the issue this week, the BBC director general, Tim Davie, insisted the corporation was not trying to ingratiate itself with Reform with increased coverage.

The study, however, raises questions about the relative coverage given to the two parties. On the rare occasions when stories included substantial Liberal Democrat claims, they received either high-level or some degree of scrutiny in half of them.

Peter Mandelson’s career was described as durable to an audience of foreign policy top brass just five days ago, writes the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour.

Here he writes about the ambassador whose panache made him a big hitter in Washington DC:

Speaking at the Reform press conference in Caerphilly, Nigel Farage said he had a “very expensive week” seeking advice from tax experts, reports the PA news agency.

The Reform UK leader said last year he had bought a home in his Essex constituency, but it was later reported that his partner had actually made the purchase. Questions over the home have resurfaced after Angela Rayner resigned last week over underpaying stamp duty on a seaside flat she bought this year.

Farage said his partner Laure Ferrari is the sole owner of the Clacton property but has faced calls to explain the situation amid suggestions he could have structured the purchase in order to avoid paying additional tax.

He said:

The money was legally hers, she bought the house. I don’t have any financial stake in it whatsoever – other than she lets me stay there.

Farage told reporters he had sought the advice of a King’s Counsel (KC) tax expert about the situation. He said:

I have paid a lot of money to make sure we have done everything right.

He added that he was “really concerned” that some media reports were “beginning to stray” into “libel territory”. Farage added:

I have done everything I can to prove everything I have done has been legal and correct.

Poland’s Radosław Sikorski has met UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper in Kyiv earlier this morning, the Polish ministry of foreign affairs confirmed.

The pair talks about the situation in Ukraine and the eastern flank of Nato following the Russian drone incursion into Poland, the ministry said.

UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell also joined the meeting, it added.

You can follow more updates from Europe in Jakub Krupa’s live blog:

Reform UK has selected a former communications chief as its candidate in a by-election in Wales, reports the PA news agency.

Llyr Powell has been chosen to run for the party in the vote in Caerphilly, expected to take place on 23 October. Powell previously worked as a communications specialist for the party in Wales.

The byelection was called after the death of Labour politician Hefin Wyn David, who had served as member of the Senedd for Caerphilly since 2016.

Peter Mandelson’s advisory firm is cutting ties with him after his firing as US ambassador after the extent of his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was revealed in emails.

Global Counsel, which Mandelson co-founded in 2010 alongside Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, is in the process of selling off his multimillion pound stake to a new investor. The sale is expected to conclude within the next two months.

Mandelson’s ties to Global Counsel came under fresh scrutiny after the depth and extent of his relationship with Epstein was revealed by the emails, including the suggestion that his first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged.

His relationship with Epstein extended to labelling him his “best pal”, and a photograph emerged this week of Mandelson lounging in a white bathrobe with Epstein.

One of Mandelson’s emails to Epstein said: “Your friends stay with you and love you.”

The company, which helps clients “anticipate regulatory and political change”, has advised firms including JP Morgan, Barclays, Open AI, Anglo American, fast-fashion retailer Shein and social video platform TikTok.

Archie Norman, the chair of FTSE 100 retailer Marks & Spencer, is its vice-chair.

Mandelson, who was a minister in Sir Tony Blair’s Labour government but was forced to resign twice, stepped back from Global Counsel after being appointed by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer as UK ambassador to the US in December.

In January, he entered into an agreement with Global Counsel to sell his stake in the business over time, but recent Companies House filings have shown he still retains a 21% stake. In May last year, Mandelson resigned as a director.

Peter Mandelson would not have been appointed as US ambassador had the prime minister known the depth of his association with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a cabinet minister has said.

Scotland secretary Douglas Alexander told BBC Breakfast:

Nothing justifies Peter Mandelson’s appointment in light of what has now emerged and our thoughts have to be with everyone affected by Jeffrey Epstein’s heinous crimes.

But the reality is, in the last couple of days Peter Mandelson was in the White House with Donald Trump. The reality is the United Kingdom did the first trade deal of any government with the Trump administration. And the reality is, along with Peter Mandelson, the prime minister Keir Starmer has established a strong and important relationship with President Trump in the interests of the United Kingdom.

So, in retrospect, of course, if [it] had been known at the time what is known now, the appointment wouldn’t have been made.

But it is possible that two things are true at once. On one hand, Peter Mandelson did bring some very particular qualities to that job and to that diplomatic post, and on the other hand, as has been confirmed, there were manifest weaknesses of his judgment that have been brutally exposed by these emails.