The prime minister is set to face a grilling from MPs in the next hour, as he will be taking his weekly session of PMQs. 

Last week, Conservative Party leader used the session to get Sir Keir Starmer to admit Peter Mandelson's relationship to Jeffrey Epstein was raised in vetting when he appointed him as US ambassador. 

Since then, that's led to a growing furore over the appointment and Starmer lost first his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, then his director of communications, Tim Allan, and then nearly his own job on Monday afternoon.

While addressing people about the cost of living yesterday, the PM joked "it's been a busy week".

He'll be hoping that this session of PMQs leads to a smoother week ahead. 

So, who's asking the questions this time around? 

As usual, Badenoch will have six questions while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey will have two.

The rest are then down to a ballot of MPs - plus the Speaker picking those who are "bobbing" in the chamber. 

This week's confirmed list of the PM's interrogators has a mixture of different parties asking questions - but none from Reform UK.

Here's the list in full - and of course, we'll bring you full coverage of PMQs right here on the Politics Hub.

The Metropolitan Police are searching for an escaped 21-year-old prisoner who was jailed for a series of knifepoint robberies - the latest person to escape custody.

Daniel Boakye was serving time at HMP Feltham in West London when he was taken to Middlesex Hospital under escort. 

But somehow, Boakye managed to flee the hospital in the early hours of Tuesday morning. 

He and three others were jailed in 2023 for a series of robberies across London, in which the group stole £115,000.

It's the latest mistake for the Prison Service, under the control of Justice Secretary David Lammy.

Dozens of prisoners have been mistakenly released from jails in England and Wales over the last year.

91 people were freed by accident between April and October last year. 

This includes the high-profile cases of Hadish Kebatu, a small boat migrant who was jailed for assaulting a child in Epping before being mistakenly released in October, Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif - who was on the run for more than a week, and fraudster Billy Smith.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "We are urgently working with the Metropolitan Police to recapture this prisoner and investigating how he was able to escape from hospital."

Reacting to the news, Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty said: "Yet another escaped prisoner? 

"Will David Lammy be giving a statement to parliament about this today?

"The justice secretary's inability to get a grip of the prison system is why he won't survive the forthcoming reshuffle."

On today's episode of Politics at Sam and Anne's...

What did Starmer promise to buy loyalty?

Like MPs, Sam and Anne are battling through until recess. 

It's only Wednesday, but they have the latest on Labour psychodramas. 

Today – who was it calling Anas Sarwar before his news conference on Monday? The new suggestion is that it was Angela Rayner. 

But lots of eyes are still on Wes Streeting, who continues to deny that he isn't conspiring against Sir Keir Starmer. 

Elsewhere, Labour suspend Keir Starmer's former chief of communications – Matthew Doyle – over alleged links to a convicted sex offender. 

Plus, is the civil service about to get its first female leader? 

You can listen to the episode in full below...

By Jenness Mitchell, Scotland reporter

The Scottish government has spent more than £766,000 of taxpayers' money in its long-running legal battle over the definition of a woman.

For Women Scotland (FWS) won the case last April when the UK's highest court ruled "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act 2010 refer to "a biological woman and biological sex".

The Scottish government was ordered to pay a portion of the campaign group's legal costs, with FWS confirming on Tuesday it had received a "full and final settlement" of £392,500.

In total, FWS has received £540,000 from the Scottish government.

Adding this to its own legal costs, the SNP administration has spent at least £766,498.80 of taxpayers' money on two judicial reviews linked to the case.

FWS said the funds received will be used to cover the costs of its current legal challenge against the government's policy on the management of transgender prisoners, and "any future legal action necessary to ensure the Scottish government complies with the law".

Richard Holden has denied that Sir Keir Starmer is in a stronger position going into PMQs today than he was on Monday.

Asked whether the PM is now in a period of relative safety, the shadow transport secretary tells Paste BN: "I think the only reason we've not seen him go is because, actually, there are some people in the Labour Party who fancy the job for themselves, who at the moment are trying to work out their own positions and get themselves in the best position to take over."

He explains: "Angela [Rayner] has still got all those issues with her tax and HMRC to clear up. Wes's relationship with Lord Mandelson is all over the front pages today - obviously he wants to see that story move on. 

"[There are] others who generally want to see Starmer take the heat for the local elections and the by-election coming up.

"Actually we're left there with a prime minister in office but not in power while they all jockey for position."

He says this means we could not have a new PM for eight or nine months - during which time "businesses really find it troubling".

Challenged that businesses were in the same position when the Tories kept swapping leaders - there were three PMs in 2022 - the shadow minister responds: "Let's be very clear. We back the high street. We had massive cuts to business rates, which we carried on from the pandemic all the way through. We were going to cut National Insurance. Labour have put it up. 

"The difference is that when it comes down to it, we're prepared to take the difficult decisions the country needs, like wanting to control welfare. Labour just aren't prepared to do that."

Asked who the Tories are most worried about having to fight in a leadership election, he responds: " I don't think there's anybody who I'm particularly fearful of."

Daisy Cooper has announced that she would scrap the Treasury as a government department if elected.

The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats says her party would replace it with a new "Department for Growth", based in Birmingham.

She explained: "The Treasury does too much. Fiscal policy, economic policy and controlling government spending. In most other countries, these roles are split up.

"The Treasury enables governments to go for short-term tax grabs that suit political cycles over the need for long-term growth. 

"And the Treasury is disconnected from the real economy."

Announcing the changes the Lib Dems would introduce, Cooper said the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) would be "merged into this new growth department, recognising the central role of British business in driving growth".

Cooper says the new department could boost UK-EU relations, raise "around £25bn a year to fix public services and the cost of living crisis", and reset the relationship between the government and business.

Explaining the decision to put the new department in Birmingham, she says closing the UK's second-biggest city's productivity gap with London would add around £12bn a year to the economy.

The health secretary has hit out at a front page which suggests he still intends to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.

This morning, The Guardian splashes with the headline: "Streeting still intent on deposing PM despite united front, say allies"

The paper reports that "MPs who are close to the health secretary insists he still wants to replace Starmer and is willing to stand against him as soon as the afternoon of the Gorton and Denton by-election this month".

It also says another MP has suggested that told the paper that Streeting must challenge Starmer immediately after the local elections in May.

But this has led to furious denials from the cabinet secretary.

Writing on X, Streeting said: "The Guardian did not approach me or my team with these claims.

"Had they done so, I would have said this is categorically untrue."

As our deputy political editor Sam Coates reports, Streeting is under fire from allies of the PM, who believe his support for the PM on Monday was tepid. 

When Starmer was at his peak moment of danger, the health secretary told Paste BN the PM should not resign. 

He said: "It has not been the best week for the government. That's not just Keir Starmer, that's all of us because we're a team.

"Let's give Keir the chance [to turn it around]. Let him set out how he's going to lead us forward."

These comments have been by some as too lukewarm and not matching the enthusiastic messages of support from other cabinet ministers.

Allies of Sir Keir Starmer are said to be "more cross with Wes Streeting than ever", our deputy political editor Sam Coates says.

Speaking on the Politics at Sam and Anne's podcast, Sam says they believe the health secretary is working to undermine the PM.

He explains: "They picked up on his mealy-mouthed backing of the prime minister - the 'give Keir a chance' line from Monday's Sky interview. 

"They also said that even friends are trying to convince Wes to calm down. There's an attempt by Keir's allies to make Wes look a little isolated at the moment, as well as a hothead who, if he can't sort of deal with the forces around him, how on earth is Wes Streeting going to deal with President Putin? 

"We're reaching for those kinds of lines of attack at the moment."

A nudge to the left for Starmer

The PM is "on borrowed time", Sam adds - saying he has "no doubt in my mind" that Starmer is on his way out. 

But he adds: "So long as he remains in place, there's a secondary battle going on, and that's to try and nudge Keir Starmer a bit to the left. 

"There is an attempt by some people to try and sort of take aim at, if not the sort of Blairite voices, but the voices on the right of the Labour Party that have been in ascendancy when Morgan McSweeney was in charge and now look like they're a little bit all over the shop. 

"I think that's what's going on as well."

You can listen to today's episode in full below...

The defence secretary will announce today that the UK is to double the number of troops in Norway, and that Britain's armed forces will join NATO's Arctic Sentry mission.

John Healey will use a visit to Camp Viking in the Arctic Circle, he will confirm that troop numbers in Norway will rise from 1,000 to 2,000 over three years.

The cabinet minister will also say the UK will "play their part" in NATO's new mission, and will join EU defence ministers at NATO HQ in Brussels tomorrow to discuss proposals. 

It's yet a further commitment to bolstering security in the High North, as the government warns that the threat from Russia is growing.

Healey said: "Demands on defence are rising, and Russia poses the greatest threat to Arctic and High North security that we have seen since the Cold War. 

"We see Putin rapidly re-establishing military presence in the region, including reopening old Cold War bases. 

"Cold Response and Lion Protector will this year see thousands of troops deploy across the Arctic and North Atlantic – with the UK leading the way. 

"We train together, we deter together, and if necessary, we will fight together."

Lion Protector will see air, land and sea forces train together to protect critical national infrastructure in September. Meanwhile, Cold Response will see 1,500 Royal Marine Commandos deploy to Norway in March, which will prepare troops to defend strategically important locations across fjords and mountains.

Georgia Gould says discovering more about Peter Mandelson's alleged behaviour through document releases by the US Department of Justice has been "deeply painful".

The junior education minister says she knew Lord Mandelson "my whole life" as he was a "good friend of my father's".

She tells Paste BN: "I have been completely shocked by what has come out. I know that my dad, who's no longer alive, would have been too. 

"He is someone who I thought of as a public servant. And I could not believe when I read some of the things that have come out, when the whole government needed to be focussed at that time on the huge challenge that you face, to be passing information in that way, it is deeply painful to see what has emerged."

Mandelson is alleged to have tipped disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein off about a massive EU bailout before it happened while business minister and shared other confidential information while in government. 

His close friendship with the paedophile led to his sacking as US ambassador in September, by Sir Keir Starmer.

Gould adds: "I feel deeply saddened by it. I feel that we are all getting up every day to serve a country, to make a difference. The prime minister does. That's what I do and for this to have happened - it has been very painful."

Starmer has experienced the most bruising week of his premiership due to revelations about Mandelson and his decision to appoint him as ambassador last year.

This has led to the loss of his chief of staff on Sunday, and the PM almost lost his own job on Monday - but survived, thanks to the backing of his cabinet.

Mandelson has denied all wrongdoing, but has apologised for maintaining his friendship with Epstein for so long.