No 10 alarm as Boris Johnson plans to attend Cop27 climate summit

Ex-PM’s Cop27 visit is seen as snub to Rishi Sunak as Labour attacks government’s policy failures on environmental crisis

A row over prime minister Rishi Sunak’s refusal to attend the Cop27 climate summit took an extraordinary twist on Saturday night as the Observer was informed that his predecessor but one – Boris Johnson – is planning to attend the event.

Several sources said they had been told that Johnson is intending to go to the crucial meeting of world leaders in Egypt to show his solidarity with the battle against the climate crisis.

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Rishi Sunak reportedly seeking deal with France to curb Channel crossings

Draft deal includes targets and staff bonuses for tackling the number of asylum seekers in the UK

Rishi Sunak is aiming to reach an agreement with France to address the unprecedented number of Channel crossings by asylum seekers which could include new targets and bonuses, according to reports.

Ministers and officials are expected to review a draft deal that was previously close to being signed with France, which encompasses targets for how many boats are stopped from reaching the UK and a minimum number of French officers patrolling the beaches at any one time, sources told the Times.

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Doubts arise over Braverman’s claim to have come forward about code breach

Former intelligence select committee chief warns issue threatens to undermine confidence in sharing sensitive information

Suella Braverman is under pressure to answer fresh questions about alleged “security breaches”, as a former head of parliament’s intelligence and security committee warned the row threatened to undermine officials’ confidence in sharing sensitive information with her.

The account given by the home secretary and backed up by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, when he defended reappointing her just six days after she was found to have broken the ministerial code were challenged by government insiders and a senior Conservative MP.

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Sunak refuses to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation and reinstates fracking ban – live

PM says he will act to protect vulnerable people; Sunak also tells MPs he ‘stands by’ fracking ban after it was lifted by Liz Truss

The first pictures have arrived showing Rishi Sunak with members of his cabinet at their first meeting in Downing Street.

The Liberal Democrats have called for a Cabinet Office inquiry into Rishi Sunak’s reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary six days after she was sacked for a serious security breach.

Suella Braverman’s appointment makes a mockery of Rishi Sunak’s claims to be bringing integrity to Number 10. There must be a full independent inquiry by the Cabinet Office into her appointment, including any promises Sunak made to her behind closed doors.

If it is confirmed that Suella Braverman repeatedly broke the ministerial code and threatened national security, she must be sacked.

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Pensions triple lock and benefits in spotlight as Sunak delays fiscal plan

No 10 not committing to keeping triple lock or inflation-linked benefits rise in 17 November statement

Ministers are to re-examine the pensions triple lock and increasing benefits in line with inflation over the next fortnight, according to No 10, after Rishi Sunak delayed the announcement of the government’s fiscal plans from 31 October to 17 November.

The Treasury has said the new date will now be a full autumn statement, with Sunak telling his cabinet that time needed to be made to do things in the proper way.

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Starmer goes on attack over Braverman reappointment at Sunak’s first PMQs

PM accused of immediately breaking integrity pledge by restoring home secretary in ‘grubby deal’

Rishi Sunak has been accused of immediately breaking his pledge to restore government integrity by bringing Suella Braverman back as home secretary in exchange for a key endorsement for his leadership bid.

Coming under pressure in his first prime minister’s questions, Sunak did not deny that civil servants had raised concerns about one of the most senior roles handed out in his cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday.

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UK minister criticised over call for gay World Cup fans to show respect in Qatar

James Cleverly says ‘flex and compromise’ needed on both sides in country that criminalises homosexuality

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been criticised for telling gay football fans they should show respect to Qatar, which criminalises their sexuality, when attending the World Cup in the emirate.

Cleverly said Qatar was willing to make compromises to allow people it would normally persecute to attend the tournament, which kicks off on 20 November. On Tuesday, the prominent British LGBTQ campaigner Peter Tatchell claimed he had been arrested in Qatar for highlighting the country’s stance.

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‘Sunak’s crisis cabinet’: what the papers say after prime minister’s reshuffle

UK front pages offer their assessments of the prime minister’s new cabinet and outline the scale of the challenges ahead

Rishi Sunak’s sudden return to the top of British politics and the unveiling of his new cabinet dominates the UK front pages on Wednesday.

The Guardian headlines “PM’s reshuffle gamble on first day in charge” and leads with an image of Rishi Sunak meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.

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Rishi Sunak’s cautious reshuffle unlikely to alienate Tory camps

New cabinet is designed to bring down the temperature in the party – but dangers lie ahead

Rishi Sunak has opted for a somewhat cautious cabinet reshuffle, appointing a handful of key allies while trying to splice together the top teams of his two predecessors, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, in an effort to hold the Conservative party together.

The finished product probably does not resemble the cabinet he would have liked to form, nor the one with which he would hope to lead the Tories into the next general election – but it has done the job insofar as it just slightly ruffles most MPs’ feathers rather than alienates a whole wing of the party.

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Rees-Mogg lambasts critics of EU laws bill after quitting government

Former business secretary tells opponents of bill they are fighting a Brexit battle all over again

The former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg launched a scathing attack on opponents of legislation he has tabled to sweep away EU law, telling them they are fighting a Brexit battle all over again.

Rees-Mogg quit his role after Rishi Sunak became prime minister, and less than two hours later returned to the backbenches to see a stand-in, the business minister Dean Russell, opening the second reading of the retained EU law (revocation and reform) bill.

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Rishi Sunak reshuffle: Braverman named home secretary, Gove returns as levelling up secretary, Mordaunt not promoted – as it happened

Braverman reappointed to post after resigning days ago; James Cleverly retained as foreign secretary; Oliver Dowden becomes Cabinet Office minister

The BBC’s political correspondent, Nick Eardley, has just summed things up on BBC Radio 4 like this: “Liz Truss faced one of the most daunting entries of modern times, Mr Sunak faces an even more daunting one – plus he has to pick a cabinet that will unite the party.”

When he becomes PM, Rishi Sunak will be doing many things for the first time in modern politics – he will be the first PM of colour, the first Hindu, the youngest since William Pitt the Younger.

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Jacob Rees-Mogg and Brandon Lewis quit as PM begins reshuffle

Rees-Mogg resigns as business secretary and Lewis relinquishes justice secretary role as Sunak begins to assemble cabinet

Jacob Rees-Mogg and Brandon Lewis have resigned from the government as Rishi Sunak begins to assemble his new cabinet, with the prime minister also sacking Chloe Smith and Wendy Morton.

Sunak is expected to keep Jeremy Hunt as chancellor, at least for the short term, and return Suella Braverman to the cabinet, as well as handing new posts to key leadership allies Oliver Dowden, Mel Stride and Dominic Raab.

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Liz Truss aide Mark Fullbrook pushed for advisers to get honours

Exclusive: chief of staff said to have wanted ex-PM to sign off resignation honours list featuring her advisers

Mark Fullbrook, Liz Truss’s chief of staff, pushed for many of her advisers to get resignation honours despite her government only being in place for seven weeks, according to multiple sources.

Fullbrook, whose tenure in No 10 has been overshadowed by questions over his private lobbying interests, is expected to depart along with Truss’s other advisers as Rishi Sunak takes her place.

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Huge margin of support gives Rishi Sunak a free hand in choosing cabinet

New prime minister likely to prioritise unity in offering ministerial jobs, although leading Trussites can expect the chop

Rishi Sunak has pledged to build a cabinet of all the talents but, given the swiftness of the leadership competition, relatively little has been briefed about his potential cabinet.

His team say no roles have been promised to any backers and Sunak was in the enviable position as the frontrunner of not needing to promise roles to anyone.

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Rishi Sunak to meet King Charles on Tuesday morning before taking over as PM and says UK faces ‘profound economic challenge’ – as it happened

Rishi Sunak to meet monarch after Liz Truss chairs her final cabinet meeting at 9am

I’m Helen Sullivan, with for the next while. If you have questions or see news we may have missed, you can get in touch on Twitter here.

We’re expected to hear from Nadhim Zahawi, who made a dizzying U-turn from supporting Johnson to supporting Sunak yesterday, on Sky News at 07.05 this morning.

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Rishi Sunak tells Tories to ‘unite or die’ as he prepares to become PM

New Tory leader says he will put an end to party’s psychodrama and focus on ‘policies not personalities’

Rishi Sunak warned the Conservatives it was time to “unite or die” as he prepared to enter No 10 as the first person of colour to become UK prime minister.

He said he would put an end to the Conservative psychodrama and vowed to prioritise “policies not personalities”, starting with a cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday . His allies briefed he would reach across the party, in stark contrast to the divisive purges of Liz Truss or Boris Johnson.

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Last morning in No 10 is straightforward – but what now for Liz Truss?

Practicals may be sorted, yet Truss will face her most difficult task, carving out role on Tory backbench as former PM

While Liz Truss’s official spokesperson insisted she was still “working from Downing Street” on Monday, in reality she has just one more real task left from what will be precisely 50 days as prime minister: departing from the role.

In a chronology now familiar to UK politics watchers, after chairing a farewell cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, the much used No 10 lectern will be brought outside for Truss to make a final, brief statement, at about 10.15am.

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Nearly man to next PM: Rishi Sunak’s rapid change of political fortune

Former chancellor looked finished when he lost to Liz Truss – but out of chaos has come a ‘coronation’

One of the many unlikely knock-on effects of Liz Truss’s ultra-brief time as prime minister is the fact that when her successor walks into No 10, the political obituaries that calmly wrote him off as the nearly man of modern UK politics will be just seven weeks old.

Had Boris Johnson successfully returned it would have been viewed, with reason, as an extraordinary and unprecedented comeback. But in some ways Rishi Sunak’s career resurrection has been just as unlikely.

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Gagging for Rish! It’s a second coming for Sunak, the silent messiah | John Crace

As Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt drop out, the 1922 Committee manages to dodge a democratic vote

It all panned out about as well as the Conservative party could have hoped. A new leader – the right leader, as far as MPs were concerned – elected in a matter of days. No general election. Heaven forbid. A failed state couldn’t be doing with that level of democracy. Never trust the people you’re intending to govern.

Not even a parochial, controlled election of the Conservative gerontocratic membership. That hadn’t worked out so well the last time they had tried it. No, now was the time to reduce the electorate from 180,000 down to 357 MPs. That was the way to govern the UK. Men and women who could be trusted to put the interests of themselves and their party ahead of those of the country. A higher calling than simple patriotism.

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‘A moment of pride’: Hindus in India hail Rishi Sunak’s victory

Indians react to news UK will have its first Hindu PM and consider how it will affect bilateral ties

As Rishi Sunak prepares to become the UK’s next prime minister at the start of the festival of Diwali – when Hindus pray to the goddess Lakshmi for prosperity and success – in India some Hindus celebrated the fact that someone sharing their religion had reached such high office in the UK.

“To have a Hindu inside 10 Downing Street is something astonishing and of great joy, and that too on Diwali,” said Satish Verma, a supermarket owner in Delhi. “Although he is British, it will make us Hindus proud that one of us made it so big.”

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