Category Archives: Politics

Sue Gray report: redacted version is imminent, say government sources

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Move follows anger after Met police asked civil servant to hold back details in her ‘partygate’ report

A heavily redacted report into Downing Street parties by the senior civil servant Sue Gray will be published imminently, the Guardian understands, after Scotland Yard provoked fury and confusion by revealing it had demanded key details of the worst offending be removed.

MPs labelled the Metropolitan police a broken organisation after the force admitted it had asked Gray to make “minimal reference” in her inquiry report to matters its officers were now investigating. The Met, battered by criticism, insisted it needed to protect the integrity of its investigation.

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Sue Gray report facing further delay after Met police intervention

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Force says it has asked for report to make minimal reference to Downing Street events it is investigating

The publication of the Sue Gray report could be delayed significantly after Scotland Yard revealed it had asked for references to matters it is now investigating to be removed.

Key parts of the long-awaited report on allegations of parties in No 10 that may have broken Covid rules could be pared back after the move.

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‘Time for the truth’: MPs call on Boris Johnson to publish ‘partygate’ report

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Cabinet Office officials wrangle over final version of Sue Gray’s findings on alleged Covid rule-breaking parties

Boris Johnson has been told it is “time for the truth to be released” as he faced more calls to publish a long-awaited report into “partygate” in full and not “suppress crucial details”.

Officials in the Cabinet Office are still wrangling over the final version of Sue Gray’s findings on a string of alleged Covid rule-breaking parties in Downing Street and other parts of government.

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Boris Johnson ‘will not have to resign’ if police interview him under caution – UK politics live news

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Latest news updates: ministers say PM will not follow Tony Blair’s precedent if police read him his rights over partygate investigation

As mentioned earlier, the BBC were calling it Grayja vu this morning. A reader has been in touch to suggest that an alternative would be Groundhog Gray.

Boris Johnson has left No 10 and is doing a visit later this morning, Sky News reports. That means the prospect of his doing a statement in the Commons on the Sue Gray report later today is increasingly unlikely. In his Red Box briefing (paywall) for the Times, Patrick Maguire says the planned trip today will take the PM several hundred miles away from London.

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‘All my life people have told me to lose my Muslimness’ – politicians on their battle with Islamophobia

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The former minister Nusrat Ghani has claimed whips told her she had been sacked for being a Muslim. Labour, Lib Dem and Tory colleagues share their own experiences, from being labelled a terrorist sympathiser to being told to change their name

In 2011, Sayeeda Warsi, then a co-chair of the Conservative party, implored her government to take action over the rising tide of anti-Muslim bigotry, which she said had become socially acceptable enough to pass “the dinner-table test”.

A decade later, it seems too little has changed. Last week, Nusrat Ghani, the Tory MP for Wealden, told the Sunday Times that when she was dismissed from her ministerial post in 2020, she was told by a whip that her “Muslimness” had been an issue. The chief whip, Mark Spencer, identified himself as the person who spoke to her, but strongly denied her allegations.

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Fibbing is part of Boris Johnson’s toolkit but could be his undoing

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Analysis: PM’s assertions that there were no lockdown parties are increasingly hard to believe

If Boris Johnson’s premiership is brought to a humiliating close in the coming days, it will not only be because he allowed Downing Street’s boozy lockdown parties to happen on his watch – but because he lied about them.

When allegations of parties first emerged, Johnson told MPs in the House of Commons that Covid guidance “was followed completely in No 10”, and on another occasion – vehemently – that he had been “repeatedly assured” there were no parties.

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Starmer slams ‘spectacle of PM under police investigation’ as Boris Johnson awaits Sue Gray report – live

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No 10 has still not yet received report on Downing Street parties that could trigger a Tory leadership election

Here is a question from below the line worth answering up here.

The answer is no.

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Boris Johnson accused of lying as emails suggest he approved Afghan dog rescue

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PM called claims he intervened to help evacuation of animal charity ‘complete nonsense’

Foreign Office emails appear to contradict Downing Street’s insistence that Boris Johnson did not personally authorise the controversial rescue of cats and dogs from a British animal charity in Afghanistan.

The release of two emails on Wednesday prompted claims that the prime minister lied, while he faces separate accusations about misleading parliament over the Downing Street parties scandal.

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Boris Johnson braced for perilous 48 hours with release of Sue Gray’s report

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Premiership under threat as MPs see official report that has now triggered police investigation

Boris Johnson is braced for the most perilous 48 hours of his premiership, with exasperated Conservative MPs due to see an official report into Downing Street parties that has now triggered a criminal inquiry.

The Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, announced on Tuesday that her officers are investigating allegations of law-breaking at the heart of government on the basis of evidence unearthed during an inquiry by the senior civil servant Sue Gray.

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Met’s ‘partygate’ inquiry is latest run-in between police and politics

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Analysis: Cressida Dick has had ringside seat for some of Met’s past painful encounters with politicians

The 48 hours before Cressida Dick’s bombshell announcement of a criminal investigation into “partygate” was intense, busy and momentous for the leadership of the Metropolitan police.

It was only on Sunday that the Met decided it had enough evidence to merit a criminal investigation into claims of parties in Downing Street and Whitehall, attended by those who made the onerous lockdown rules.

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‘Virginity repair’ surgery to be banned in Britain under new bill

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Move to outlaw procedures to reconstruct the hymen welcomed by campaigners and survivors of ‘honour’-based abuse

“Virginity repair” surgery known as hymenoplasty has no place in the medical world, British healthcare professionals were warned today, as legislation to criminalise the practice was introduced by the government.

An amendment added to the health and care bill on Monday will make it illegal to perform any procedure that aims to reconstruct the hymen, with or without consent.

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Boris Johnson faces fresh outrage over lockdown birthday party

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Furious response from MPs and bereaved after revelation of celebration held indoors in contravention of Covid restrictions

Boris Johnson was facing renewed anger from MPs and bereaved families on Monday after the disclosure that his fiancee threw him a surprise lockdown birthday party, as sources said an official inquiry had uncovered “appalling evidence of mismanagement” at the heart of Downing Street.

Sue Gray, the senior civil servant leading the inquiry into Downing Street parties, is expected to make deeply critical recommendations on overhauling No 10’s operation after hearing of repeated failures of leadership, according to a Whitehall source who spoke to the inquiry.

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UK scraps Covid testing after arrival for double-vaccinated travellers

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Requirement to take lateral flow test will end from 4am on 11 February, cheered by airlines as a ‘landmark’

Coronavirus testing for double-vaccinated travellers arriving in the UK will be scrapped from 4am on 11 February.

In a boost for travel firms and families planning trips abroad, eligible passengers will no longer have to take a post-arrival lateral flow test (LFT). The change will save families about £100 a trip. The industry body Airlines UK said it was a “landmark day”.

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HS2 protesters plan ‘nationwide day of action’ over rail expansion

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Activists say bill being presented to parliament sanctions irreversible destruction of environment

A nationwide day of action against HS2 – involving banner drops, solidarity protests and a Twitter storm – is planned for Monday as the bill to expand the line beyond Crewe is presented to parliament.

Environmental activists say the bill will “sanction immense and irreversible destruction to the environment” and want to raise awareness of HS2’s “continuing ecocide, corruption and financial mis-management”.

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Johnson orders inquiry into Nusrat Ghani ‘Muslimness’ sacking claims

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PM has asked Cabinet Office to conduct inquiry into allegations, says spokesperson

Boris Johnson has ordered a formal inquiry into allegations by the Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani that she was sacked as a minister after being told her “Muslimness” was “making colleagues uncomfortable”.

In a brief statement early on Monday, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister has asked the Cabinet Office to conduct an inquiry into the allegations made by Nusrat Ghani MP.

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Covid live: 74,799 more cases reported in UK; Russia breaks daily infection record

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Latest updates: follow all the news and politics developments resulting from the coronavirus pandemic in the UK and around the world

Sturgeon talks about the impact on business. She said she realises that hospitality has been badly affected by the pandemic.

“It’s not about having protective measures and businesses are damaged, or having no measures and everything is fine. It’s having measures than stem transmission, or allowing things to be controlled.”

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Ukraine taking UK claim of Russian invasion plot seriously, says adviser

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Warning greeted with shock and some scepticism in Kyiv but aide says it fits ‘logical chain’

Ukraine is reacting “seriously” to UK Foreign Office allegations that Moscow has plans to invade the country and install a puppet government, a senior government adviser has said, adding that Kyiv is resisting Russian efforts to destabilise its government and economy.

The extraordinary Foreign Office claims that Moscow may topple the government and install Yevhen Murayev, a former MP who controls a pro-Russia television station, were met with shock and some scepticism in Ukrainian political and media circles on Sunday.

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Dominic Raab refuses to confirm full publication of Sue Gray partygate report

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Deputy PM promises ‘full transparency’ but says it is for Boris Johnson to decide how much detail is released to the public

Dominic Raab has refused to confirm that the Sue Gray report on alleged Downing Street parties will be published in full, saying the amount of detail released publicly will be a matter for Boris Johnson.

The prime minister is braced for a critical week, with many Tory backbenchers reserving judgment on his future until they see Gray’s findings and how Johnson responds.

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Change to aid rules needed to prevent famine in Afghanistan, say UK experts

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Former security and diplomatic chiefs warn that country is at risk of economic collapse as Taliban begin talks in Norway

Afghanistan can only be saved from state collapse and widespread starvation if the definition of legitimate humanitarian aid to the country is broadened, some of Britain’s most senior former security and diplomatic chiefs have said.

The group, including two former national security advisers, a former chief of defence staff and a former ambassador to Afghanistan, write in a letter published in the Guardian that the aid that can be sent to the Taliban-controlled country without fear of sanctions is too restricted.

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