Penny Mordaunt suggests colleagues should not take funds from Tory donor

Tory minister issues statement after it emerges Alexander Temerko called her an ‘absolutely uncontrollable woman’

The senior Tory minister Penny Mordaunt has suggested her colleagues should stop taking funds from Alexander Temerko, a major party donor who described her as an “absolutely uncontrollable woman” and “threat to national security”.

Mordaunt, a trade minister, said she had no issue with colleagues who have historically accepted money from Temerko but said everyone should be aware now how he has treated her.

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Scottish Tory leader withdraws letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson

Long a critic of the PM, Douglas Ross cites Ukraine war and says now is no time for change of leadership

The Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, has withdrawn his letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson, citing the war in Ukraine and saying it was no time for a change of leadership.

Ross, who has been an outspoken critic of the prime minister, had criticised him over lockdown parties in Downing Street. Johnson, along with dozens of staff and officials, is under police investigation for the breaches.

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Tory peer attended Cop26 summit for Russia, UN list shows

Former energy minister Greg Barker went to climate talks as part of Russian Federation party

A Conservative peer attended Cop26 in Glasgow as part of Russia’s group of participants at the UN climate summit, the Guardian can reveal.

Greg Barker, a former energy minister when David Cameron was prime minister, attended the talks as part of the party of the Russian Federation, according to a list published by the UN.

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Tories criticised for choosing ex-party candidate to chair Charity Commission

Labour said seeking to appoint Orlando Fraser ignored due process and showed Tories ‘looking after their own’

The government has been accused of “looking after their own” after choosing a former Tory party candidate with links to a rightwing thinktank as its preferred candidate for the chair of the charities’ watchdog.

Labour said by seeking to appoint Orlando Fraser, a founding fellow of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), to the chair of the Charity Commission, ministers had ignored due process in favour of another Conservative supporter.

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Downing St was repeatedly warned over Boris Johnson’s misleading jobs claims

Statistics watchdog wrote to the PM about ‘selective use of data’ after statement about number of people in work

Government officials were warned repeatedly about making misleading claims about job figures before the official statistics watchdog reprimanded Boris Johnson over the matter.

Ed Humpherson, the director general of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), said there had been “a series of informal discussions” before the regulator took the “unusual” step of issuing public rebukes to No 10 over the same issue twice last month.

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Gavin Williamson awarded knighthood by Boris Johnson

MP presided over exams debacle after being sacked as defence secretary for alleged leak

Boris Johnson has awarded a knighthood to Gavin Williamson, despite a ministerial record that includes the Covid exams debacle as education secretary and being sacked as defence secretary for allegedly leaking secure information.

The news prompted anger from opposition parties, with Labour calling Williamson’s record “disgraceful”. The Liberal Democrats called the knighthood “an insult to every child, parent and teacher who struggled through Covid against the odds”.

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I didn’t break Covid rules when kissing aide, says Matt Hancock

Ex-minister explains why he resigned last year after CCTV showed him embracing adviser Gina Coladangelo

Matt Hancock has insisted that he broke only Covid guidelines rather than rules in kissing his aide and friend in his ministerial office, events that forced his resignation as UK health secretary after CCTV images of the clinch emerged.

Hancock also said his decision to step down more than 24 hours after the pictures were published was made after people he knew and respected got in touch to remind him they had been unable to see dying relatives because of Covid regulations.

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From partygate to Putin’s war: Boris Johnson rides on a rare wave of unity

The prime minister’s stirring rhetoric on the crisis in Ukraine earns him a reprieve from his woes… for now at least

It was the silence in the House of Commons – more than the words spoken from the dispatch box – that captured the magnitude of the moment, and the dramatic shift of political mood, on Thursday evening.

Boris Johnson had been woken at 4.10am that morning to be told Vladimir Putin’s troops had crossed the border into Ukraine. It was what military intelligence had prepared him to expect.

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UK politics live: Boris Johnson promises ‘massive sanctions’ after Russian invasion of Ukraine

Latest updates: prime minister condemns Russian president Vladimir Putin and promises to stand with Ukraine

General Sir Richard Shirreff, the former British officer who was Nato’s deputy supreme allied commander, told the Today programme this morning the possibility of the war in Ukraine leading to military conflict between Britain and Russia could not be ruled out. Asked if this was possible, he replied:

Absolutely there is a possibility that we as a nation could be at war with Russia, because if Russia puts one bootstep across Nato territory, we are all at war with Russia. Every single one, every single member of the Nato alliance.

Article 5 [of the Nato alliance] says an attack on one is an attack on all, so we need to change our mindset fundamentally, and that is why I say our defence starts in the UK on the frontiers of Nato.

What became evident in the days leading up to this invasion is that Vladimir Putin is increasingly isolated. That bizarre video of him berating his senior officials shows that he’s making these decisions increasingly in isolation and illogically.

And unfortunately I think that that is part of the reason why the initial round of international sanctions that [were] put in place by ourselves, by France, Germany, the US, Canada and others, didn’t have the deterrent effect.

The sanctions package that will be put in response to this is already actually having an effect. Just the announcement that it’s coming - we’ve seen the Russian stock market, the equivalent of the FTSE, drop by over 30%. That is a huge reduction in Russia’s economic abilities to fund this invasion.

And those sanctions will be laid today and over forthcoming days to really prevent Russia from funding this invasion.

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Tory row over testing casts shadow over PM’s Covid announcement

Analysis: cabinet colleagues horrified over wrangling between Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid

Cabinet ministers were already waiting in No 10 on Monday morning when it became clear the sign-off for the prime minister’s much-anticipated end to Covid regulations was not going to be as perfunctory as they had imagined.

A festering row between Rishi Sunak’s Treasury and Sajid Javid’s health department was responsible, first reported by the Guardian last week and still unresolved.

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Ending all Covid restrictions ‘premature and not based on evidence’, says BMA

Council chair says decision not guided by data or made in consultation with health profession

Ending all Covid restrictions is premature and “not based on current evidence”, the British Medical Association has said, as experts warned dropping testing and self-isolation could lead to a surge in cases.

Boris Johnson told MPs last week that he was preparing to lift the legal requirement in England to self-isolate on 24 February, a month earlier than originally planned, with a formal announcement expected on Monday.

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UK and Scottish government agree deal on freeports in Scotland

Plan proposes two ‘green freeports’ based around low-emission industries

UK ministers and the Scottish government have reached a deal over proposed freeports in Scotland, after months of disagreement over what No 10 has billed as one of the main economic benefits of Brexit.

The Scottish government had resisted the idea of freeports – specific areas that offer tax breaks and other incentives to investors – which are intended to revitalise deprived areas but have been accused of encouraging tax avoidance and lower regulation.

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Has Boris Johnson done enough to avoid a no-confidence vote?

Analysis: The letters have seemingly stopped but MPs may be keeping their pens dry for strategic reasons

As MPs wheeled their suitcases on to trains for a short recess, those with lingering doubts about Boris Johnson’s leadership tucked their letter-writing pens back into their pockets.

They seem unlikely to come out again until the Metropolitan police determine whether the prime minister committed any criminal offence by attending a number of Downing Street gatherings.

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John Major says Boris Johnson broke lockdown laws and is creating mistrust

Former Tory PM fiercely attacks Johnson and issues barely veiled challenge to MPs to remove him

Boris Johnson broke lockdown laws, appears to believe rules do not apply to him and is creating an atmosphere of mistrust in politics that threatens the long-term democratic future of the UK, Sir John Major has said.

In a fierce and wide-ranging attack, Major said Johnson had regularly sent ministers out to “defend the indefensible”, with the truth seen as “optional”, and was badly tarnishing the UK’s reputation overseas with populist-style “megaphone diplomacy”.

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More than 50 people to face police questions on Downing Street parties

Those identified as part of Operation Hillman will be sent questionnaire asking for their account of events

More than 50 people must answer police questions about alleged parties in Downing Street and Whitehall that may have breached strict Covid rules, Scotland Yard has said.

In a sign of the scale of the “partygate” criminal inquiry, the Metropolitan police revealed on Wednesday they would this week start contacting more than 50 people as part of “Operation Hillman”, an investigation into events on eight dates between May 2020 to April 2021.

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Billionaire Tory donor calls for Boris Johnson to resign

John Armitage, who has given £3.1m to the Conservatives, says PM has gone ’past the point of no return’

A billionaire donor to the Conservative party has suggested that Boris Johnson should resign, saying that the prime minister was “past the point of no return”.

John Armitage, co-founder of the hedge fund firm Egerton Capital, who has given £3.1m to the Conservatives, including more than £500,000 since Boris Johnson entered No 10, told the BBC he thought leaders should leave if they lose their moral authority.

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Rees-Mogg becomes minister for Brexit opportunities in Boris Johnson reshuffle

Chris Heaton-Harris takes over as chief whip in shake-up as PM seeks to reassure mutinous Tories

Boris Johnson has made Jacob Rees-Mogg the new minister for “Brexit opportunities” and installed a key loyalist as his chief whip in a reshuffle intended to shore up his position after weeks of terrible headlines.

Rees-Mogg, who was Commons leader, is moved to the Cabinet Office to take on a newly created role as Brexit opportunities minister, a cabinet-level job that also includes “government efficiency”.

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Senior Tory and Labour figures speak out over media focus on Carrie Johnson

MPs defend PM’s wife after criticism of her in extracts from book by Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft

Senior political figures, from Keir Starmer to Sajid Javid, have criticised negative briefings that suggest Carrie Johnson is partly to blame for the troubles of her husband’s premiership.

MPs came to the defence of the prime minister’s wife after the publication of extracts from a new book by the Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft which suggested her “behaviour is preventing [Boris Johnson] from leading Britain as effectively as the voters deserve”.

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Johnson allies insist ‘grownups’ in charge of new team at No 10

Prime minister may still face more letters of no confidence and revelations from Dominic Cummings

Allies of Boris Johnson have insisted that “grownups” are now in charge of his operation as he heads into critical week for his beleaguered premiership that could see him face a confidence vote and the threat of further damaging revelations.

Tory MPs said Johnson may have bought some time by bringing a new team into No 10. One major Conservative donor, Alexander Temerko, told the Guardian that the prime minister should now take the opportunity to “purge” the cabinet of disloyal leadership rivals.

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