In your briefing today:

📣 Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces MPs today in the first of two “judgement days” this week in which he’ll face questions over his handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal. He’ll address the Commons this afternoon, as questions continue to swirl over the appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the US despite vetting officers advising against the appointment.

His position remains in peril, think many: the PM will have to set out how Mandelson secured the appointment, and who knew what - when. The scandal has already led to the sacking of the Foreign Office’s top civil servant, Olly Robbins, who is expected to appear before MPs himself tomorrow. (Guardian)

📣 A new poll by More in Common suggests the Scottish elections are tighter than some might expect, with half of Scotland’s constituencies considered marginal.

They still think the SNP will continue to be the largest party but will lose seats, failing to form a majority. Reform will be second on 22 seats, according to their numbers, and Labour on 17. They see Reform winning Ayr and Banffshire & Buchan coast off the SNP.

But, says More in Common, their poll’s main message is “the sheer uncertainty that six-party politics creates”.

The poll was large - more than 5,000 voters were questioned - but with fieldwork between February and April it’s also less likely to reflect any recent shifts. (Scotsman)

📣 Iran has vowed revenge after the US fired on and seized a cargo ship attempting to sail to an Iranian port. The Strait of Hormuz is, once again, closed - driving up global oil prices again, and Iran says it will not take part in further peace negotiations.

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📣 A murder investigation has been launched after an 82-year-old woman died after being found injured in the Carntyne area of Glasgow early on Saturday morning. (STV)

📣 The police watchdog will investigate the circumstances surrounding a crash on the M90 in which two drivers died after one drove north on the southbound carriageway. (BBC)

📣 Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has been appointed chair of LGBT charity Stonewall, and says she “still believes” in gender self-ID despite the Supreme Court ruling last year that gender is biological. (The Times)

📣 British Jews are facing a rising tide of antisemitism, with it becoming “hard to be openly Jewish sometimes” in daily life, according to one person who has spoken for tonight’s Panorama. (BBC)

📣 A gunman killed eight children, seven of his own, in Louisiana. (Independent)

📣 The head of Ukraine’s police force has resigned after his officers were accused of running away from a mass shooting in Kyiv on Saturday. Six people died. (The Sun)

📣 You should definitely watch the Earth set from the Artemis II spacecraft, shot on an iPhone by astronaut Reid Wiseman. (Twitter)

⚽️ Celtic eventually overcame St Mirren in the Hampden sunshine yesterday, reaching the Scottish Cup final where they’ll meet Dunfermline next month.

But it took four goals in extra time to put a flattering sheen on the scoreline after the Paisley side had pegged them back.

Manager Martin O’Neill says they’ll have to raise their level for the final six games of the season if they want to win the double. (The Scotsman)

⚽️ It’ll be master O’Neill vs apprentice Neil Lennon, after the former Celtic man guided the Fife side to a penalty shootout win over Falkirk on Saturday and dedicated the win to his late father. (Daily Record)

⚽️ In England, the game billed as one of the biggest of the season did, for once, deliver on the promise: Manchester City’s victory over Arsenal, sealed with an Erling Haaland goal, was full of excitement. (Guardian)

🗣️A cache of text messages showing high-ranking SNP figures appearing to conspire against the late Alex Salmond set social media abuzz on Sunday.

The texts, from 2018-19, showed people privately doubting their experiences with Salmond amounted to criminal offences, one woman saying she was upset her name had been given to police without consent, and SNP managers discussing attempts to “round up” potential complainers.

Former SNP Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill told the Sunday Mail “the entire affair […] strikes at the heart of our democracy” (Sunday Mail has the exclusive)

🗣️The former editor of the left-leaning New Statesman created a few waves when he gave Keir Starmer both metaphorical barrels in the Sunday Times.

Jason Cowley used the phrase Lord Robertson used to characterise this government’s approach to national security - “Corrosive complacency” - and called it “apposite for the entire Starmer premiership, which has been defined by policy U-turns, drift, backbench rebellions, dysfunction inside No 10 and catastrophic misjudgment, notably over the appointment of Lord Mandelson as the country’s chief diplomat.” (The Sunday Times)

🗣️ The SNP’s plan to impose minimum prices on 50 household staples “is a nonsense,” says Alex Massie. “It’s not going to happen”.

That’s only partly because it’s unlawful, he says. It’s also because its real purpose is to send a message. And, in this instance, “the message to business is this: never forget that we, the government, reserve the right to tell you your business. A government that wishes to set the price of eggs is one that recognises no limits on its authority. No wonder Twitter wags refer to John Swinney’s cabinet as the Porridgeburo.” (The Times)

🗣️The Wall Street Journal offers an insight into the Trump White House over Easter, as forces raced to rescue a downed airman and the President grappled with options to continue the war that might lead to US servicepeople not returning home. The carefully-sourced piece reveals a President who, behind the public bravado, is improvising as he goes.

“It was Good Friday afternoon in a nearly empty West Wing soon after the president learned that an American jet had been shot down in Iran, with two airmen missing. Trump screamed at aides for hours,” reports Josh Dawsey and Annie Linskey.

Images of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis had been looming large in his mind, people who have spoken to him said. (WSJ)

🗣️ An mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer is showing real promise in early trials. Scientists caution more research is needed, but… “nearly all” of the patients given a personalised RNA vaccine were still alive six years after starting their treatment.

Less than 13% of people diagnosed with the cancer normally live more than five years, making it one of the most deadly cancers there is, with no routine screening and few treatment options: this could be an enormous breakthrough.

As Arnav Mehta, an oncologist, put it on Twitter: “As a pancreatic cancer doc, cannot understate the gravity of this moment. I get chills at the prospect that we will imminently have something else to offer our patients with real clinical impact.” (NBC News)

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