Exchange between Ed Oldfield and Allegra Stratton took place last December days after alleged party took place
Boris Johnson is facing accusations of lying after senior No 10 officials were filmed joking about a lockdown Christmas party that Downing Street insists did not take place.
Johnson and his aides have repeatedly denied that the event, reportedly held for staff at No 10 in December last year, broke Covid rules or took place at all.
Continue reading...Sir Philip Barton refused to say precisely when Raab had been on holiday in August
The head of the diplomatic service has admitted failing to show leadership after he began a three-week holiday two days before the Foreign Office internally accepted Kabul was about to fall to the Taliban.
Sir Philip Barton stayed on holiday until 28 August and during bruising evidence to the foreign affairs select committee, he admitted this was a mistake.
Continue reading...Two-thirds of contracts awarded before ‘eight-stage process’ was put in place were given out after referrals from ‘VIP lane’
At least 46 PPE deals were awarded to firms put in a special “VIP lane” by Conservative ministers, MPs and officials during the Covid pandemic before a formal due diligence process was put in place, it has emerged.
Ministers had claimed all PPE contracts were put through a rigorous “eight-stage process” for assuring quality and value for money, when criticised over the “VIP lane” via which contracts worth £5bn were handed to companies with political or Whitehall connections.
Continue reading...A 'formal party' in Downing Street in December 2020 would have been contrary to guidance, the justice secretary has admitted, saying it would have been 'the wrong thing to do'. Dominic Raab told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, however, that Boris Johnson had assured him no rules had been broken, despite reports from various sources in several newspapers
Continue reading...Poll reveals huge public cynicism, with just 5% of respondents believing politicians work for public good
Trust in politicians to act in the national interest rather than for themselves has fallen dramatically since Boris Johnson became prime minister, according to figures contained in a disturbing new study into the state of British democracy.
The polling data from YouGov for the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) shows a particularly sharp fall in trust in the few weeks since the Owen Paterson scandal triggered a rash of Tory sleaze scandals.
Continue reading...Met asked to investigate reports of alleged breaches of Covid lockdown rules at No 10
The prime minister has been reported to the police by Labour MPs over allegations there were at least two parties in Downing Street during lockdown restrictions last year.
Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, wrote to the Met police commissioner, Cressida Dick, asking her to investigate reports that the prime minister spoke at a leaving do in November and also allowed a staff Christmas party to go ahead in December.
Continue reading...Government privately being urged by advisers to tell people to work from home as UK cases of variant hit 134
UK ministers have been warned they cannot wait for new research on the Omicron variant and must act now to prevent a potentially “very significant wave of infections” that risks overwhelming the NHS.
A 75 further cases of the variant have been identified in England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Friday night, bringing the total number of UK confirmed cases to 134. The head of the agency, Dr Jenny Harries, said: “We have started to see cases where there are no links to travel, suggesting that we have a small amount of community transmission.”
Continue reading...Louie French becomes MP for suburban London seat, but Tories’ majority of nearly 19,000 cut to 4,478
The Conservatives have held the safe seat of Old Bexley and Sidcup in the first in a series of closely watched parliamentary byelections.
Louie French was elected as the new MP, replacing the well-liked former cabinet minister James Brokenshire, who died in October from lung cancer.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Deal is part of north-east regeneration scheme developed by property tycoons David and Simon Reuben
HM Revenue and Customs has struck a deal to relocate tax officials into a new office complex in Newcastle owned by major Conservative party donors through an offshore company based in a tax haven, the Guardian can reveal.
The department’s planned new home in the north-east of England is part of a regeneration scheme developed by a British Virgin Islands (BVI) entity controlled by the billionaire property tycoons David and Simon Reuben.
Continue reading...Senior party members concerned after chaotic fortnight, with PM said to be losing his grip over key policies
Conservative MPs are increasingly worried about Boris Johnson’s competence and drive after he gave a rambling speech to business leaders and was accused of losing his grip over a series of key policies from social care to rail.
Senior members of his own party said they needed Johnson to get the government back on track after a disastrous two weeks amid dismay about his performance at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference, where he lost his place in his speech for about 20 seconds and diverted into a lengthy tangent about Peppa Pig.
Continue reading...Business leaders and Conservative MPs criticise speech in which PM extensively praised Peppa Pig World and imitated car
Boris Johnson has been criticised by senior business leaders and Conservative MPs for a “rambling” speech to top industry figures that saw him extensively praise Peppa Pig World, compare himself to Moses and imitate the noise of an accelerating car.
The prime minister’s sprawling address to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) was accused of lacking seriousness and professionalism. Johnson lost his place during the speech and spent 20 seconds repeating “forgive me” as he shuffled the printed pages on his podium.
Continue reading...Critics call for planned rule change on outside work to include restricting use of personal companies to avoid tax
Critics have urged Boris Johnson to restrict MPs using personal companies to skirt tax bills under the planned new rules on second jobs, as the Conservative sleaze row continues to dominate Westminster.
Using a personal company to accept payments for consultancy work can provide benefits such as avoiding income tax of up to 45% at source on the earnings, with an investigation by the Times finding multiple MPs were paid in total about £1m via the arrangements.
Continue reading...Morale low as scandals and doubts on policy delivery add to worries about PM’s competence
A shame-faced Boris Johnson told his own MPs this week that he had “crashed the car into the ditch” by misjudging the Owen Paterson scandal. As he heads to his country retreat of Chequers this weekend, some at Westminster have begun to wonder if he has what it takes to get the show back on the road.
As well as exposing Johnson’s lax approach to probity in public life, the Paterson debacle highlighted what those who have worked with him say is one of his most maddening characteristics – the impetuous style of decision-making and tendency to sudden reversals cruelly caricatured by Dominic Cummings as “like a shopping trolley”.
Continue reading...A number of Conservatives made referrals for firms that won Covid contracts, leaked document shows
A list of the 47 companies referred to the government’s VIP fast-track lane for contracts to supply PPE has been revealed. These are five of the significant political figures whose referrals ended up with the companies winning contracts.
Continue reading...More than 50 ministers under Johnson and May took posts with firms in sectors they covered in government
Half of all ministers who have left office in the Boris Johnson or Theresa May governments later took up posts with companies relevant to their former government jobs, the Guardian has found.
An analysis of those who left departmental ministerial roles up until the most recent reshuffle found more than 50 took up employment as advisers in industries where they had government expertise or as more general political consultants.
Continue reading...People in Old Bexley and Sidcup say their faith has been undermined but they are still likely to vote Tory
Residents in Old Bexley and Sidcup are vacillating over whether to return the Conservatives to power in an upcoming byelection that will test their loyalty following the high-profile corruption allegations that have beset the party.
Gillian Moore, 64, a poll clerk and retired bank receptionist, said the sleaze row and the government’s mishandling of the pandemic response had undermined her faith in the Conservatives.
Continue reading...Starmer’s party is 1 point ahead in new poll, following Tory sleaze and second-job rows
Labour has recorded its first poll lead over the Conservatives for almost a year in the wake of the row over Tory sleaze and second jobs, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.
Keir Starmer’s party recorded 37% support, a single point ahead of the Tories. It is the first Labour lead with Opinium since January, when the UK was in the grips of a covid peak and the government had imposed emergency restrictions over Christmas. The Lib Dems are on 9%, Greens 7% and SNP 5%.
Continue reading...Brussels Brexit chief offers glimmer of hope, but London says threat of article 16 still on the table
A glimmer of hope of a solution to the dispute over the Northern Ireland Brexit arrangements has emerged after a fourth week of talks ended on Friday.
After a week of recriminations and the threat of a trade war, the European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič said there had been a change in tone from the UK’s Brexit minister, David Frost, confirming the UK had stepped back from the brink of triggering article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Costa del Sol property firms owned by Goldsmith family ordered to pay €24m in unpaid taxes and fines
The luxury villa where Boris Johnson stayed on holiday last month is linked to Costa del Sol property businesses owned by Zac Goldsmith’s family that engaged in a multimillion-pound tax evasion scheme, according to Spanish courts.
Court papers obtained by the Guardian show tax inspectors ordered two property companies owned by the Goldsmith family to pay €24m (£20m) in unpaid taxes and fines after investigating what they said was a suspicious property deal.
Continue reading...The exclusive property by the sea, with infinity pool, where the Tory MP stayed to conduct his lucrative side-hustle
Most days, there is a cool breeze. The private villa is located above a secluded rocky bay and set in a tropical garden of palms and exotic fruit trees. From the balcony you can gaze at the sea below and the green humps of nearby islands – a “scattered Pleiades”, as the travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor put it.
There is an infinity pool. And a terrace, perfect for cocktails against a pink Caribbean sunset. Tavistock it isn’t. Yet the villa on the north shore of Tortola, the biggest of the British Virgin Islands, was where Sir Geoffrey Cox ended up staying earlier this year as he juggled the responsibilities of his first and second jobs.
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