Exclusive: More than a dozen civil servants from different departments have moved to party in past 18 months

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Labour is recruiting a growing number of civil servants to bolster its preparations for government, with officials hired from No 10, the Treasury and other government departments.

Having poached Sue Gray, the Guardian can reveal that the party has been on a wider hiring spree across Whitehall for roles covering data science, economic growth, and engagement with businesses among others.

Exclusive: Governing body urged to be transparent about policy on football bosses’ betting

The Football Association is facing claims of double standards after a Guardian investigation revealed that the owner of a Premier League club may have benefited from bets on the game placed in his own name.

The disclosures involve Matthew Benham, the owner of the Premier League club Brentford FC, whose star striker, Ivan Toney, is serving an eight-month suspension for breaking the FA’s strict gambling rules.

Home secretary says police ‘mustn’t fear ending up in the dock’ as some officers withdraw from firearms duty

Suella Braverman has ordered a review of armed policing after a number of Metropolitan police officers stepped back from firearms duties after an officer was charged with murder over a shooting.

The home secretary said firearms officers have to make “split-second decisions” and “mustn’t fear ending up in the dock for carrying out their duties”.

Publishing stories like this in England and Wales is fraught with risk – for media groups and accusers

It came as little surprise that the darker corners of the internet were ablaze with conspiracy theories this week, after Russell Brand used his YouTube channel to call the allegations of sexual assault and rape against him a “coordinated attack” and a “serious and concerted agenda” to control his voice.

But even among more mainstream voices, questions were raised about the timing. Toby Young, a former editor at the Spectator, asked if there was a “more innocent” reason why the Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches had “waited this long to produce their findings”, while the British business magnate Alan Sugar tweeted that it was “strange” that multiple people had come forward at the same time.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photo highlights from around the world

Viability of northern leg in doubt after rumours Sunak and Hunt could ditch the Birmingham to Manchester section

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It would be “crazy” not to reassess whether the full HS2 rail project remains viable, Grant Shapps has said, amid signs the government could axe the northern leg.

After nearly a week of briefings that ministers are preparing to ditch the Birmingham to Manchester section, the defence secretary refused to rule out such a move.

Patients have been left confused and frustrated with no centralised system for obtaining medicines

Changes to the way Covid treatments are obtained by those most at risk from the disease could lead to a “postcode lottery” for access, experts have said, with charities warning patients have been left confused and frustrated by the new system.

Previously, people eligible for Covid treatments in England were contacted by their local Covid Medicines Delivery Unit (CMDU) once they reported testing positive for the virus.

Militant pensioner says a majority want a traditional feature but project leaders call row an attack on democracy

Ilkley is an affluent, leafy town, one point of Yorkshire’s “Golden Triangle” where average house prices top £560,000. Last year it was named the best place to live in the UK, and its tree-lined streets hark back to the days when it was a spa town where wealthy Victorians took the waters, Charles Darwin among them.

Now the peace and quiet of this favourite municipality of the middle-classes is being rocked by a row between the, often older, traditionalists in the town and a charitable body of volunteers who were hoping to give it just a flick of a modern makeover. The fight centres on the proposed design of a fountain, to be built at the heart of the town at the junction of its two wide shopping avenues.

The very personal work, owned by Charles I, discovered after being left in storage for years

“A woman’s name raises doubts until her work is seen,” wrote the artist Artemisia Gentileschi to a collector of her paintings in 1649, going on to assure him that her canvases “will speak for themselves”. It took three-and-a-half centuries for the name of Gentileschi to triumphantly step out from the shadows of art history, but it has taken even longer for one of her forgotten paintings to re-emerge from the dark. A remarkable find made in a royal storeroom at Hampton Court, followed by hours of careful conservation effort, has led to the unearthing of Susanna and the Elders , a genuine lost Gentileschi.

“It really is super-exciting,” Anna Reynolds, the deputy surveyor of the king’s pictures , told the Observer . “You just could not see the quality of the painting beneath the grime until now, but absolutely it is true and this find has come about as a result of Artemisia’s recently restored reputation. It had been misattributed and left in storage for many years and no one had taken a closer look.”