Jill Lawless reporter the Associated Press posed photo at AP Europe in London, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

JILL LAWLESS

Associated Press

London correspondent covering politics and more.

Britain's Prime Minister Prime Keir Starmer speaking at an event in the West Midlands, England, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)

Keir Starmer warns the UK budget this week will reflect ‘harsh’ economic reality

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says fixing Britain’s troubled economy will be a long haul in a “harsh” fiscal environment. He’s setting the stage for his government’s high-stakes first budget later this week.

British author Nick Harkaway, son of John le Carre, poses for a photograph during an interview with The Associated Press, at his home, in London, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Nick Harkaway steps into his father John le Carré's footsteps with spy thriller ‘Karla’s Choice’

Fictional spymaster George Smiley is back. And so, somewhat surprisingly, is his creator, John le Carré. Four years after the spy writer’s death at the age of 89, comes a new thriller, “Karla’s Choice.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a State Banquet during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa, on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (William West/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain’s leaders likely to face slavery reparations questions at a summit of former colonies

A confrontation for Britain over its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade appears increasingly likely to feature at a summit of nations its empire once colonized, after Caribbean leaders said they would thrust the matter of financial reparations into the spotlight at the event in Samoa.

Creations are on display at The World of Tim Burton exhibition at the Design Museum, in London, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. The major exhibition sees Tim Burton's personal archives on display for the first time, featuring 600 items from his nearly fifty years long career. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Tim Burton talks about his dread of AI as an exhibition of his work opens in London

The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits. All are on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween.

An Edward the Confessor Pyramid coin (1065-6), part of the Chew Valley Hoard of 2,584 coins, buried in the turmoil following the Norman Invasion of Britain in 1066, on display at the British Museum in London, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, the hoard is valued at £4.3 million pounds, (US$5.58 million), a record find. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Hoard of 1,000-year-old coins unearthed in a farmer’s field sells for $5.6 million

Actors Mark Strong and Lesley Manville, right, perform in the play “Oedipus”, in London in Oct. 2024. (Manuel Harlan, Jo Allen PR via AP)

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville make ancient tragedy ‘Oedipus’ a political thriller

One of the most basic questions in the world is “Who are you?” It’s at the heart of the ancient tragedy of Oedipus, and it perplexes people still.

FILE - One Direction's Liam Payne, second from right, poses for a photo with fellow band members Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London, Sept. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Jonathan Short, File)

Liam Payne and his bandmates all sought solo success after One Direction fame

One Direction was one of the last boy bands from the age of mass-audience linear television and one of the first of the social media era.

FILE - Members of the House of Commons and Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords, in London, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (Aaron Chown/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Hereditary nobles have sat in Britain’s Parliament for centuries. Their time may be up

British lawmakers are voting on a bill to strip hereditary aristocrats of the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords after more than 700 years.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks with leaders from across the UK during the International Investment Summit in London, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain hosts an international investment summit and denies snubbing Elon Musk

Britain’s new Labour Party government is announcing $82 billion in investment in U.K. artificial intelligence, life sciences, infrastructure and technology at a business summit.

FILE - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to members of the media in Rome, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Phil Noble/Pool Photo via AP, File)

UK leader Keir Starmer is marking 100 days in office. It has been a rocky ride

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer marks 100 days in office on Saturday with little cause for celebration. Starmer’s center-left Labour Party was elected by a landslide on July 4, sweeping back to power after 14 years.

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, greets his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy before a meeting at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy city-hops across Europe, promoting ‘victory plan’ to allies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is city-hopping across Europe to promote a “victory plan.” He posted Thursday that the blueprint “aims to create the right conditions for a just end to the war” against Russia.

FILE - South Korean author Han Kang poses for the media during a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 24, 2016. Kang has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

Han Kang wins the Nobel Prize for literature. She’s the first South Korean to do so

The Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to the South Korean author Han Kang for what the Nobel committee called her “intense poetic prose.”

This combo shows conservative leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch, left, and conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick addressing members during the Conservative Party Conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The race to lead Britain’s Conservative Party is down to the final 2 candidates

Britain’s opposition Conservative Party will choose either Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch to be its next leader. A third contender, James Cleverly, was dramatically knocked out of the leadership contest in a tight vote on Wednesday.

Ken McCallum, Director General of MI5, delivers the annual Director General's speech at Counter Terrorism Operations Centre in west London, Tuesday Oct. 8, 2024. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

MI5 spy chief says Russia and Iran are behind a ‘staggering’ rise in deadly plots

The head of MI5 says Britain is facing a staggering rise in attempts at assassination, sabotage and other crimes backed by Russia and Iran. Ken McCallum says hostile states are increasingly recruiting criminals to carry out plots.

Chagossians Whitney Tranquille, center, attends a protest to response the U.K. announcement to agree to hand sovereignty of the long-contested Chagos Islands to Mauritius and against their "Exclusion" from Chagos negotiations, outside the House of Parliament, in London, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Chagos islanders displaced for a US military base protest a deal on their future made without them

Islanders who were forced to leave their remote Indian Ocean home to make way for a U.S. military base half a century ago protested outside the U.K. Parliament on Monday.

Conservative leadership candidates Kemi Badenoch, from left, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and om Tugendhat stand on the podium during the Conservative Party Conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

4 candidates to lead Britain’s defeated Conservatives bash Labour, and each other

The four contenders to lead Britain’s Conservative Party have taken turns to argue why they have what it takes to lead the right-of-center party back from a catastrophic election defeat.

The Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship leaves Belfast Harbour after the luxury cruise ship became marooned in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for four months due to unexpected repair works, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Liam McBurney/PA via AP)

A cruise ship bound on a round-the-world voyage leaves Belfast after a 4-month delay

A cruise ship taking passengers on a 3 ½-year around-the-world voyage has finally sailed from Belfast, after spending four months stuck in the Northern Ireland capital.

General view of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottingham, England, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. The UK's last coal-fired power plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, will close, marking the end of coal-generated electricity in the nation that sparked the Industrial Revolution. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

Britain’s last coal-fired electricity plant is closing. It ends 142 years of coal power in the UK

Britain’s last coal-fired power plant is closing. This will mark the end of 142 years of coal-generated electricity in the nation that sparked the Industrial Revolution.

Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick leaves after appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, ahead of the Conservatives annual conference where a new leader will be chosen, in Birmingham, England, Sunday Sept. 29, 2024. (Jacob King/PA via AP)

Contenders to lead Britain’s defeated Conservatives woo members at a key party conference

Members of Britain’s defeated and divided Conservative Party are gathering for their annual conference. It is dominated by the search for a new leader capable of bringing the right-of-center party back from a catastrophic election defeat.

FILE - British actress Dame Maggie Smith poses in London on Dec. 16, 2015. Smith, who won an Oscar for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” in 1969 and won new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in “Downton Abbey,” has died at 89. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

Maggie Smith, scene-stealing actor famed for Harry Potter and ‘Downton Abbey,’ dies at 89

Maggie Smith, who won an Oscar for 1969 film “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and won new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in “Downton Abbey” and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, has died at 89.

FILE -A general view of Harrods department store in London, July 1, 2020.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

Harrods apologizes to women who say they were abused by former owner Mohamed Al Fayed

The managing director of Harrods says the London department store is “deeply sorry” for failing employees who say they were sexually assaulted by late owner Mohamed Al Fayed.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham, foreground left vote with other delegates in favour of a motion calling for the winter fuel cut to be reversed during the Labour Party Conference at the ACC Liverpool, in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

Labour Party members deal a blow to Starmer a day after his appeal for unity

Members of Britain’s governing Labour Party have dealt Prime Minister Keir Starmer a blow by rejecting his decision to cut a payment that offsets winter heating costs for millions of retirees.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses members at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

UK leader Starmer aims to shed gloomy image by saying things will get better — eventually

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has tried to shake off his image as a gloom-monger by telling voters that better times are on the way — eventually.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves attend the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Sunday Sept. 22, 2024. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Britain’s Labour Party gathers after a rocky start in government and a scandal over clothes

This should be a time of celebration for Britain’s Labour Party. It’s opening its annual conference Sunday less than three months after winning power in a landslide after 14 years in opposition.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to members of the media in Rome, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Phil Noble/Pool Photo via AP)

UK leader Starmer is facing flak for taking freebies. He says he’s done nothing wrong

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was elected in July on a promise to restore trust in politics. Now he’s trying to shake off criticism over donations from a wealthy businessman and the hefty salary of his most senior aide.

An artwork "Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant)" created by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles is placed for the Fourth Plinth, marking 25 years of the ground-breaking commissioning programme for public art at Trafalgar Square, in London, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Faces of transgender people adorn an artwork in London’s Trafalgar Square

An artwork featuring the plaster face casts of hundreds of transgender people is on display in London’s Trafalgar Square.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, left, welcomes U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer as they meet at Villa Panphilj in Rome, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Monday, as the two very different politicians, from left and right, seek common cause to curb migrants reaching their shores by boat. The visit comes after at least eight seaborne migrants died off the French coast over the weekend. (AP Photo Andrew Medichini)

UK leader Starmer seeks to learn from Meloni’s tough migration policies at meeting in Rome

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has met with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome. The center-left British leader says he wants to learn how her nationalist conservative government has achieved “dramatic declines” in the number of migrants reaching Italy’s shores by boat.

A Banksy painting, Girl With Balloon, on display at the Grove Gallery in London after it was stolen on Sunday, then recovered and returned to the gallery, Friday Sept. 13, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP)

2 men are charged with stealing a famous Banksy artwork from a London gallery

Two men have been charged with burglary over the theft of an artwork by street artist Banksy that was taken in a smash-and-grab raid on a London gallery.

A view of the British Embassy building, centre, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, with the Russian Foreign Ministry building in the right. (AP Photo)

Russia expels 6 British diplomats it accuses of spying. The UK calls it ‘completely baseless’

Russia has accused six British diplomats of spying and decided to expel them. The U.K. says the move, which it calls “completely baseless,” came weeks ago and was linked to its action in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at the Russian Embassy and limit Moscow’s diplomatic activities in Lo

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech in London, Thursday Sept. 12, 2024. (Isabel Infantes/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain’s state-funded health system must ‘reform or die,’ prime minister says

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the country’s much-loved but overstretched health system is in critical condition and must “reform or die.”