The US and Russia have quietly drafted a new peace plan without Ukraine’s involvement, which would require Kyiv to surrender territory, severely limit the size of its military and give up most of its powerful weapons. Pentagon officials are now in Ukraine to discuss the 28-point proposal, which Volodymyr Zelensky is likely to view as a surrender. Donald Trump has signed a bill approving the release of the so-called Epstein files, meaning thousands of documents related to the late paedophile will be made public in the next 30 days. Under the legislation, certain files will remain confidential if they concern ongoing federal investigations, but the Department of Justice will not be able to withhold information on account of “embarrassment, reputational harm or political sensitivity”. A Russian spy ship has tried to blind RAF pilots with military-grade lasers, in what the UK defence secretary called a “deeply dangerous” provocation. John Healey has warned that he has “military options ready” if the enemy vessel, Yantar, re-enters UK waters, says The Sun. “See you laser.”

Ignore anyone who talks about Labour being a “disappointment”, says Janan Ganesh in the FT. “This government is exactly as bad as it was always going to be.” Take the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. One of life’s “triers”, but no hero in a crisis. At next week’s Budget, she will announce a second round of tax rises, which she swore would never come, after spending much of the year “fanning and then dousing” speculation about different specific levies, with predictable effects on confidence. Still, Reeves is braver than her leader, who twists every crisis into a conversation about underlings – first Sue Gray, now Morgan McSweeney. “What rotten luck the prime minister has with recruitment.” Britain is having to relearn the lesson of Theresa May: “one can be dull and inept”.

Unfortunately, Keir Starmer’s challengers are worse. Whenever the prime minister is in trouble, the economically illiterate Andy Burnham will say something “nebulously crowd-pleasing” and “flash those sad eyes at Labour members”. Angela Rayner offers a similar “northern-left alternative”, which has prestige among middle-class, southern members who are embarrassed about replacing a leader from Islington with one from Camden. Starmer will tilt left to stop the left from toppling him (as would any “relative right-ist” successor, such as Wes Streeting or Shabana Mahmood). But even if he clings on, his retreat from welfare reform last summer established the precedent that the backbenches can morally blackmail him. Starmer culled the far left, but the soft left are more numerous “and not much less deluded” – so far blocking every measure that would prioritise growth over handouts. If you trusted these people to unleash Britain’s economic potential, “I don’t know what to say to you”.

🇯🇵🤔 Labour’s loyalty travails aren’t specific to Starmer, says Rupert Yorke in The Spectator. All political parties have fractured in the past decade or so, as I saw up close while working in Downing Street under three Tory leaders, most recently Rishi Sunak. For the Tories it was the decision to allow MPs to campaign against the prime minister on the Brexit referendum that ended “loyalty under one single party banner”. Individual careerism became a farce. I remember one backbench 2019 MP threatening to defect to Labour if they weren’t “instantly appointed His Majesty’s Ambassador to Tokyo”.