News: latest news on Trump, Anthropic and Gorton and Denton

news coverage this weekend focused on two political shocks: a historic Green Party by-election win in Gorton and Denton and a US presidential order to stop government use of Anthropic’s AI. The developments prompted immediate political reactions at home and a heated standoff between the White House and the AI developer.

Saturday front pages and The Wrap

Sky News took a look at the headlines in Saturday's national newspaper front pages on the late-night show The Wrap. Hannah Spencer is pictured in celebrating her by-election success in the Manchester seat of Gorton and Denton. The Daily Star pictured Hannah Spencer, the plasterer and plumber who won the Gorton and Denton by-election for the Greens, and playfully invokes the famous line "Hasta la vista, baby" from the Terminator movie franchise.

Hannah Spencer and the result

Hannah Spencer has become the Green Party's fifth MP after beating Reform UK, leaving Labour in third place. The historic by-election victory in Gorton and Denton has weakened the prime minister’s authority, the FT Weekend says, and Sir Keir Starmer now faces calls from within Labour to move the party to the left. The Times writes that some Labour MPs want the prime minister to veer to the left and scrap policies aimed at seeing off the threat of Reform UK, saying the party has been left "humiliated" after losing the Gorton and Denton by-election and coming third behind the Greens and Reform UK.

Labour reactions and Sir Keir

The Daily Mirror says Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on despite losing a 13, 000 majority to come third in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Labour backbencher and former deputy PM, Angela Rayner, has called the result a "wake-up call" for the party. The daily coverage notes that the loss has raised questions about Sir Keir Starmer's direction and leadership.

Allegations, migration and policing

Reform UK's leader is upset about allegations of illegal "family voting" during the Gorton and Denton by-election, the Daily Mail writes; Nigel Farage says he's "deeply concerned" and has reported the matter to the police and the Electoral Commission. The Daily Telegraph writes that the home secretary believes Labour should press on with reforming the UK's asylum system despite the party's by-election defeat in Gorton and Denton, and it reports Shabana Mahmood will make her case for tougher migration rules during a speech next week.

Other national reactions and outrage

A man has been arrested after the statue of wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill was defaced in Westminster, the Daily Express says, which quotes Second World War veterans expressing outrage at the damage to the figure. The Times and other papers emphasise the scale of the political fallout after the Greens' success in Gorton and Denton and the internal calls for Labour to change course.

Trump directs halt to Anthropic

US President Donald Trump has said he would direct every federal agency to immediately stop using technology from AI developer Anthropic. "We don't need it, we don't want it, and will not do business with them again!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday. Trump said Anthropic's tools will be phased out of all government work over the next six months.

Standoff with Pentagon and Anthropic

The directive followed days of back and forth, in public and private, between the company's CEO Dario Amodei and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Anthropic refused demands that it agree to give the US military unfettered access to its AI tools, and Hegseth deemed Anthropic a "supply chain risk". The label would make Anthropic the first US company to ever publicly receive such treatment, and it "will challenge any supply chain risk designation in court".

Company concerns and public statements

Anthropic had grown concerned in recent months about the government potentially using its AI tools, like Claude, in what it described as "mass surveillance" and "fully autonomous weapons". Hegseth and the Pentagon have insisted Anthropic agree to "any lawful use" of its tools and technology. Both Trump and Hegseth announced their decisions on social media, with the defence secretary saying on X that Anthropic would be "immediately" designated a supply chain risk, prohibiting any business working with the military from "any commercial activity with Anthropic". Anthropic said on Friday evening that it had yet to hear anything directly from the White House or the military "on the status of our negotiations" and that being designated a supply chain risk "would both be legally unsound and set a dangerous precedent for any American company that negotiates with the government".

Dario Amodei and ethical limits

Dario Amodei, head of Anthropic, has written that he does not want weapons aided by his AI model Claude to be able to kill without human intervention. "Without proper oversight, fully autonomous weapons cannot be relied upon to exercise the critical judgment that our highly trained, professional troops exhibit every day. They need to be deployed with proper guardrails, which don't exist today, " he wrote on Thursday, February 26. Anthropic added: "No amount of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. " The Department of War is a secondary name Trump has given to the defence department.

Anthropic has been in use by the US government and military since 2024 and was the first advanced AI company to have its tools deployed in government agencies doing classified work. As for Anthropic's other customers, the only impact will be on companies that also contract with the military, which may have to stop using Anthropic for work being done on behalf of the department. Prior to Trump's pronouncement, Anthropic had said that, if the US Department of Defense chose to stop using the company's tools, it would "work to enable a smooth transition to another provider". Trump also berated the company on Truth Social, warning that Anthropic "better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow".

news coverage of both the UK by-election and the US standoff is likely to continue as parties and officials respond to the immediate political fallout.