This week on Craft Politics, we kick off our latest Issue Scan with a Prime Minister in crisis, a Conservative Party in retreat, and a Canadian housing announcement that somehow manages to add more bureaucracy to solve… bureaucracy.
Plus, our favourite comms segment—Lipstick on a Gerbil—features an impossible task: defending Peter Mandelson.
With Percy mostly frozen on screen (literally), Joseph and Holly carry the show. Here’s what’s inside:
🇬🇧 UK: Mandelson, Epstein, and the Labour Meltdown
❌ Peter Mandelson is sacked as UK ambassador to the US after emails surface linking him to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
🧨 Starmer’s judgment under fire—did he know more than he admitted during PMQs?
🗳 Backbench muttering begins. Is May 2026 the unofficial deadline for a leadership change?
📉 Labour infighting, ministerial fatigue, and growing pressure from Andy Burnham
🔁 Meanwhile, the Conservatives lose… to Reform
🧍♂️ MP Danny Kruger defects to Reform UK, declaring: “The Conservative Party is dead.”
🤷♀️ Holly isn’t so sure: is this the start of a cascade, or just posturing between conferences?
🇺🇸 US: The Shooting of Charlie Kirk
💥 A high-profile act of political violence rocks the U.S.—and spreads globally
📱 The power (and danger) of social media virality in shaping public fear
🛑 What it means for public office, political recruitment, and the future of civil discourse
🇨🇦 Canada: The PM’s Housing Blitz
🏘 Mark Carney launches Build Canada Homes, a new federal agency with a $13B mandate
📈 Goal: 4,000 factory-built homes across 6 sites, using federal land and Canadian materials
🏗 But is launching a new bureaucracy really the best way to fight bureaucracy?
💄 Lipstick on a Gerbil: The Matt Tapp Clip
🎤 Labour Minister Matt Tapp sent out to defend Peter Mandelson’s appointment… hours before the sacking
🐽 Did he even try to apply lipstick? Or did he wisely avoid putting his fingerprints on the mess?