Morgan McSweeney quits as PM's chief of staffpublished at 14:20 14:20Breaking

We've just learnt that Keir Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney has resigned.

"After careful reflection, I have decided to resign from the government. The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself," he says in a statement.

This story is developing. We'll bring you more in just a moment.

 

Christmas is often regarded as a time for goodwill, but one young UK couple's act of kindness 50 years ago changed their lives forever.

On 23 December 1975, Rob Parsons and his wife Dianne were preparing for Christmas at their Cardiff home when they heard a knock at the door.

On their doorstep stood a man with a bin bag containing his possessions in his right hand and a frozen chicken in his left.

Rob studied the man's face and vaguely remembered him as Ronnie Lockwood, someone he would occasionally see at Sunday School as a boy and who he was told to be kind to as he was a "bit different".

"I said 'Ronnie, what's with the chicken?' He said 'somebody gave it to me for Christmas'. And then I said two words that changed all of our lives.

"And I'm not exactly sure why I said them. I said come in."

 

US authorities have discovered more than a million more documents potentially related to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein that they plan to release in the coming days and weeks, officials say.

The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI have informed the Department of Justice (DoJ) about the discovery and turned over the documents for lawyers to review.

"We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible," the DoJ said on social media on Wednesday.

The department said that given the volume of material, the process could take "a few more weeks".

The agency said it would "continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump's direction to release the files".

The statement did not specify how the FBI and New York prosecutors came across the additional material.