Category Archives: Politics

Boris Johnson’s criticism of sexist smear against Angela Rayner inadequate, says Labour – UK politics live

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Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves says action is needed, ‘not just warm words’

The Downing Street lobby briefing has just ended. And we’ve learned that Boris Johnson has not received a fine over the party in the Downing Street garden on 20 May 2020 – or at least not yet.

There has been speculation that he will be fined for this because at the end of last week it emerged that other people who attended the event in response to an invitation from Johnson’s then principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, are being fined. The invitation told people to BYOB (bring your own bottle).

I, and others in Whitehall, have been clear that the prime minister himself had no direct involvement in decisions around Nowzad.

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Priti Patel’s refugee pushback policy withdrawn days before legal review

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Government lawyers confirm Home Office plan to force small boats back to France has been abandoned

Priti Patel’s refugee pushback policy has been officially withdrawn by the government days before a judicial review of the tactic was due to be heard in the high court.

The government’s legal department acknowledged in a letter on Sunday that the plan to try to force people in dinghies back to France has been abandoned after Boris Johnson’s announcement that the Royal Navy would take over operations in the Channel.

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Tories could lose 1.3m voters if net zero target ditched, says poll

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Report finds strong support for climate policies among Tory voters despite some MPs’ negative stance

The Conservative party could lose more than 1.3 million voters if the government scraps its net zero target, research suggests.

A report by the centre-right thinktank Onward, which counts the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, among its supporters, has found there is strong support for tackling the climate crisis among Tory voters despite attempts by some on the right of the party to campaign against the measures.

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Dorries criticises Jacob Rees-Mogg’s ‘Dickensian’ approach to working from home

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Culture secretary hits out after minister leaves notes for civil servants in empty Whitehall offices

Nadine Dorries has criticised Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister responsible for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, of foisting a “Dickensian” approach to working from home on the civil service.

Rees-Mogg, who has previously been called “the honourable member for the 18th century” has written to cabinet ministers urging them to coerce staff into a “rapid return to the office” and has been leaving notes in empty Whitehall workspaces with the message: “I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.”

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Angela Rayner hits out at ‘sexism and misogyny’ in politics

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Mail on Sunday accusation of ‘Basic Instinct ploy’ criticised by cabinet ministers and MPs across Commons

Angela Rayner has hit out at “sexism and misogyny” in politics, as a storm of criticism erupted after a newspaper reported that she crosses and uncrosses her legs during prime minister’s questions to distract Boris Johnson.

Cabinet ministers including Johnson himself, and MPs from across the House of Commons condemned the Mail on Sunday report, which the chair of the House of Commons women and equalities committee, Caroline Nokes, a Conservative, called a “dirty little story”.

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Partygate: Keir Starmer says Labour will keep pressing Boris Johnson

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Labour leader says cannot ‘pass over’ the fact prime minister and other officials broke the law

Keir Starmer has defended Labour’s determination to keep pressing the prime minister over parties in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, saying even Conservative MPs were “sick of defending the indefensible”.

Challenged about whether he had focused too much on Partygate, the Labour leader insisted his party could not just “pass over” the fact that Johnson had been issued with a fixed-penalty notice (FPN), along with Rishi Sunak and scores of officials.

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Lords rally to protect independence of UK’s Electoral Commission

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Boris Johnson’s government faces new defeat over what critics say is democratic meddling

Boris Johnson is facing another damaging parliamentary defeat on Monday over controversial plans that would give ministers new powers to determine the remit of the independent watchdog that oversees UK elections.

A cross-party group of peers is this weekend rallying behind an amendment to the elections bill that would strike out key clauses which, they believe, would seriously undermine the Electoral Commission’s independence and open the way for political interference in the conduct of elections.

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‘Condescending’: Jacob Rees-Mogg leaves notes for WFH civil servants

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Cabinet minister accused of ‘crass’ behaviour in his campaign to get staff back in the office

Jacob Rees-Mogg has been called “condescending” after leaving notes deemed to be passive-aggressive on civil servants’ desks in an effort to stop them working from home.

As part of his campaign to push workers back into offices, the cabinet minister has toured Whitehall buildings and published a league table of government departments based on how many staff are present.

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Local elections: ‘It’s Partygate versus low council taxes’

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The Tories have held Wandsworth for more than four decades, but Boris Johnson’s lockdown woes and the cost of living crisis threaten to tip the balance towards Labour

In many ways, the London borough of Wandsworth is a paradigm of the modern capital. On one hand, it is a place where a teenager recently fainted from hunger in a food bank queue. And on the other, it is home to the “sky pool”, a spectacular transparent swimming pool suspended 10 storeys above ground in Nine Elms, and reserved exclusively for the development’s richest residents.

The borough is also known for its comparatively low council tax – which, its Conservative-run council boasts, is the lowest average council tax in the country. Wandsworth also claims to be the only local authority in London that is cutting its share of council tax bills.

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Javid orders inquiry into NHS gender identity services for under-18s – reports

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The health secretary is planning an overhaul of services offered to young people who question their gender identity, the Times reports

An inquiry into the impact on under-18s of NHS treatment for gender dysphoria is to be launched by the UK government, according to reports.

The health secretary, Sajid Javid, is said to be concerned that vulnerable children are being given gender hormone treatment before alternatives have been explored, according to the Times, and is planning an overhaul of services.

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Tories face heavy local election losses over Partygate, PM told

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Prominent backbencher Steve Baker says party will ‘reap the whirlwind on polling day’

Boris Johnson has been told public fury at lockdown-breaking Downing Street parties will result in the Conservatives suffering substantial losses at next month’s local elections, with the possibility that the prime minister may receive further police fines ahead of polling day.

Steve Baker, a prominent backbench Tory MP, said voters were repeatedly mentioning the Partygate scandal on the campaign trail and the Conservatives should prepare to “reap the whirlwind” of standing by Johnson.

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Ed Balls rules out political comeback for Labour in Wakefield byelection

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Former shadow chancellor says he has ‘no intention’ of putting himself forward to stand for the West Yorkshire seat

Ed Balls has ruled out a return to politics as a Labour candidate in the upcoming Wakefield byelection.

The former shadow chancellor, who lost his Morley and Outwood seat at the 2015 general election, wrote on Twitter that he had “no intention of putting myself forward” for the contest.

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Johnson vows to stop UK exports to India ending up in Russia

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PM says he will close loopholes that allow components to be smuggled via India for use by Russian military

Boris Johnson has said he will close loopholes to ensure UK exports to India cannot end up being used in Russian weapons, as he conceded the war in Ukraine could go on until the end of next year, and Russia could win.

Speaking in Delhi at the end of a two-day visit, the UK prime minister warned that Vladimir Putin was resorting to a “grinding approach” in Ukraine; and suggested the UK would help to “backfill” countries including Poland if they provided heavy weaponry such as tanks to Kyiv.

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UK gave sanctioned Russians ‘golden visas’ after first Ukraine invasion

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Government accused of ‘shocking complacency’ over awards to seven Putin cronies


Seven Russians now under sanctions were awarded controversial “golden visas” by the UK after Vladimir Putin’s regime first invaded Ukraine in 2014, the government has admitted.

The government closed the “tier 1 investor visa” scheme in February amid the build-up of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border as it prepared to broaden its occupation beyond Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

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Boris Johnson says he will still be prime minister in October as Partygate overshadows India trip – as it happened

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PM says he will still be leading the country by Diwali after being asked questions over Partygate scandal while on India trip

Johnson acknowledges that a Russian military victory in Ukraine is a real possibility.

Putin has a huge army. [But] he has a very difficult political position because he’s made a catastrophic blunder. The only option he now has really is to continue to try to use his appalling, grinding approach – led by artillery – trying to grind the Ukrainians down. And he’s very close to securing a land bridge in Mariupol.

Now, the situation is, I’m afraid, unpredictable at this stage. You’ve just got to be realistic about that.

We’ve got to look at what more we can do militarily. We’ve got to keep intensifying the economic sanctions. And that’s what we’re doing. We want to make sure that there is wave after wave of intensifying pressure on Putin.

One of the things that have been really effective in the sanctions that we’ve seen so far is the ban on tech transfer to Russia and that really makes a difference ... We’ll be making sure that we don’t allow any loopholes of any kind and we will take steps to make sure that stuff does not go through other routes to Russia.

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Boris Johnson feels Westminster heat under the Indian sun

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Analysis: The PM travelled 4,000 miles to not get very far, on a trip fraught with tensions about Partygate and Ukraine

As Boris Johnson met Narendra Modi on Friday morning, he joked of the enthusiastic welcome he received in the Indian prime minister’s home state of Gujarat featuring giant posters of the British leader’s face, and flag-waving crowds: “I wouldn’t get that necessarily everywhere in the world.”

It was a characteristically self-deprecating reference to the fact that even 4,000 miles from home, he was unable to escape Partygate.

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India and UK to press ahead with talks on free trade deal

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Narendra Modi hails ‘good progress’ as Boris Johnson signals he is willing to make concessions on immigration

India and the UK will press ahead with talks on a bilateral free trade agreement, Boris Johnson and the Indian premier, Narendra Modi, have said, after the UK made clear it was willing to make immigration part of any deal.

The pair appeared to differ on how rapidly an agreement could be made – Johnson suggested it could be ready by the festival of Diwali in late October, but Modi pointed to the end of the year.

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Ukrainian soldiers training in UK to use British armoured vehicles

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PM’s spokesperson denies move is escalatory as UK also trains Ukrainian troops in Poland to use anti-aircraft defences

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

Boris Johnson has revealed that dozens of Ukrainian soldiers are training in the UK, learning how to use 120 British armoured vehicles before returning with them to fight in the war against Russia.

British forces are also training Ukrainian counterparts in Poland on how to use anti-aircraft missiles, the prime minister said, as he outlined further details of the UK’s military aid for Kyiv’s embattled forces.

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Outcry in India as Boris Johnson visits JCB plant amid demolitions row

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Observers criticise optics of PM at factory while bulldozers seen in TV coverage of razing of settlements

Boris Johnson’s attempt to use his India visit to hail the success of JCB, the digger firm owned by a Tory donor, was met with a backlash on Thursday over the use of its machinery in the mass demolition of homes.

The prime minister arrived in India as a fierce row rages in Delhi over the demolition of mainly Muslim settlements in an area of the capital hit by communal violence – an issue that is being considered by India’s supreme court.

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Steve Baker says Boris Johnson ‘should be long gone’ as MPs are set to vote for inquiry into claims PM misled parliament – live

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Latest updates: Senior Tory says PM should go after No 10 U-turn means MPs are set to vote for inquiry into the PM

In the Commons Mark Spencer, the leader of the Commons, has just announced that Tory MPs will get a free vote in the debate today.

That means the government may not have enough votes to pass it amendments. It could therefore decide not to press it to a vote.

Can I say to the leader of the house ... I greatly struggled with lockdowns, and the legacy of Covid. It has pumped so much poison into the veins of this country and the veins of this place?

Can we please try and find a way today not to have a fractious debate and a division? I believe genuinely that the prime minister is a good and decent man and he can make the case to the privileges committee directly without having this house to divide and yet more poison be pumped into public life. Please the chief work find a way of making that happen?

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