Category Archives: House of Commons

1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady to stand down as MP at next election

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Powerful voice of Tory backbenchers says he will no longer contest Altrincham and Sale West seat

Sir Graham Brady, whose role as chair of the Conservative party’s 1922 Committee saw him usher three prime ministers out of Downing Street in four years, is to step down as an MP at the next election.

The most powerful backbencher of his political generation, Brady released a statement to his local newspaper saying it was time to “bring this fascinating and fulfilling chapter of my life to a close”.

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MI5 told to share key facts with MPs after Manchester Arena security failures

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Bombing inquiry brings call from terror watchdog for franker approach at spy agency

Britain’s terror watchdog has called on the security services to ensure they promptly share any intelligence requested by MPs investigating the fallout of the Manchester Arena attack.

Last week’s public inquiry concluded that MI5 had missed a significant chance to take action that may have prevented the 2017 bombing that killed 22 people.

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Boris Johnson in battle for political future amid fresh evidence he misled MPs

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Privileges committee document intended to help ex-PM prepare for questioning contains wealth of new information

Boris Johnson faces a battle for his future in parliament after a cross-party committee found there was significant evidence he misled MPs over lockdown parties, and that he and aides almost certainly knew at the time they were breaking rules.

The damning report includes one witness saying the then prime minister told a packed No 10 gathering in November 2020, when strict Covid restrictions were in force, that “this is probably the most unsocially distanced gathering in the UK right now”.

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Kemi Badenoch dismisses idea of trialling menopause leave because it was proposed ‘from a leftwing perspective’ – as it happened

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Minister for women and equalities dismisses suggestion government should pilot menopause leave for women

PMQs is about to start.

Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s chief whip, has said that he thinks the Stormont brake – the mechanism at the heart of Rishi Sunak’s deal to revise the Northern Ireland protocol – will turn out to be “fairly ineffective”.

Let’s not underestimate the fact that when the EU introduces new laws in the future, it will have an impact on Northern Ireland. And the point of the brake was meant to be to give a means for unionists to oppose that. I think it will have to be used on lots of occasions, though I suspect to be fairly ineffective.

As long as it takes us to get, first of all, the analysis, and secondly, the answers from the government, before we make that decision, that’s the time we’ll take.

But the one thing I’ll say to you is that we will not have a knee-jerk reaction to this deal. It means too much to us. And we have got to give it real consideration.

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Sunak sets out Northern Ireland trade deal to MPs as Labour vow to back agreement – as it happened

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Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen say ‘Windsor framework’ has been reached after four months of negotiations. This blog is now closed

Q: Why do you say you will back the PM’s deal when you have not seen the detail? And would you like to see Northern Ireland within the scope of the European court of justice, or outside it?

Starmer says he knows Northern Ireland well and knows the detail. Any deal will be an improvement on the status quo. That is why he is saying he would back it. He says the deal will not come as a surprise.

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Betty Boothroyd dies aged 93

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First female speaker of the House of Commons was ‘one of a kind’, says Sir Lindsay Hoyle

Betty Boothroyd, the first female speaker of the House of Commons, has died, aged 93.

Lady Boothroyd, a former Labour MP, was speaker from 1992 until her retirement in 2000, and was the first person to be elected to the role after the Commons debates started being permanently televised in 1989. She was later made a life peer in the House of Lords.

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Sunak suggests MPs will vote on proposed NI protocol deal and accuses Starmer of wanting to ‘surrender’ to EU – UK politics live

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Latest updates: PM says Commons will be given a chance to ‘express its view’ on any final deal

British Steel has announced the closure of the coking ovens at its Scunthorpe works with the loss of 260 jobs, my colleague Jasper Jolly reports.

Graeme Wearden has reaction to this on his business live blog.

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Sunak rejects calls for BBC chair, Richard Sharp, to stand down

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PM says he does not want to prejudge inquiry and that appointment was made after the ‘correct process’

Rishi Sunak has rejected calls for Richard Sharp to stand down as BBC chairman, despite the businessman failing to declare his role in arranging a secret £800,000 personal loan for Boris Johnson.

Sharp has been criticised by MPs for “significant errors of judgement” over his failure to mention his role in helping to arrange the loan for the former prime minister in early 2020. Johnson later appointed Sharp, a Conservative party donor, to oversee the BBC’s board.

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PMQs live: Rishi Sunak to face Keir Starmer for first time since cabinet reshuffle

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Latest updates: PM, fresh from greeting Zelenskiy at No 10, to face questions from Labour leader and other MPs

Rishi Sunak was at Stansted to welcome President Zelenskiy, he reveals. That explains how they are going to fit in a meeting before PMQs. (See 10.47am.) It is very unusual for a visting leader to be greeted at the airport by the PM. Normally someone more junior is there to do the honours.

To coincide with President Zelenskiy’s visit, the government will today announce further sanctions against Russia, “including the targeting of those who have helped Putin build his personal wealth, and companies who are profiting from the Kremlin’s war machine”. The details are due out later this morning.

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Labour renews call for ‘proper’ windfall tax as Shell declares record £32.2bn profit – UK politics live

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As it happened: Prime minister speaks in interview on TalkTV to mark his 100th day in office

On the subject of Rishi Sunak reaching his 100th day in office, my colleague Jessica Elgot has a great assessment of how it’s going. Here is an extract.

After Liz Truss left office, polls suggested that voters wanted to keep an open mind about Sunak and rated him significantly higher than his party.

That is now beginning to turn. According to senior Labour figures, their most recent focus groups, with swing voters in Southampton, Dewsbury and Bury last week, were described as being “utterly brutal for Sunak”, with participants engaging in “open mockery” of the prime minister. Even the most pessimistic members of Keir Starmer’s team say they have seen a decisive shift.

In the coming weeks, our new stop the boats bill will change the law to send a message loud and clear.

If you come here illegally, you will be detained and removed.

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No 10 refuses to deny Sunak was given informal warning about Raab’s behaviour before he made him deputy PM – live

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Dominic Raab under increasing pressure as civil servants’ union calls for him to be suspended until bullying inquiry concludes

MPs have been told that paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland have coerced young people with drug debts to take part in rioting, PA Media reports. PA says:

A community worker gave an example of a user’s debt being reduced by £80 for doing so.

Megan Phair, coordinator of the Journey to Empowerment Programme and member of the Stop Attacks Forum, said both loyalist and dissident republican groups use the tactic to force people on to the streets.

It’s time for the prime minister to come out of hiding and face the music. The public deserves to know the truth about what he knew and when, including the full disclosure of any advice given to him by the Cabinet Office.

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No 10 refuses to say whether Sunak knew of informal complaints over Raab

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PM not aware of formal complaints at time of appointment, says spokesperson, as Starmer attacks ‘addiction to sleaze and scandal’

Downing Street has repeatedly refused to say whether Rishi Sunak knew of any informal complaints about Dominic Raab’s behaviour before making him a minister, after Keir Starmer attacked the government’s “addiction to sleaze and scandal”.

Speaking after a session of prime minister’s questions in which the Labour leader tackled Sunak over a series of ethical and conduct issues, the prime minister’s press secretary refused to be drawn on possible complaints about Raab before he was made justice secretary and deputy prime minister.

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At least 24 civil servants involved in complaints against Dominic Raab, say sources

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Exclusive: Insiders believe depth of inquiry and severity of some claims means deputy PM will struggle to keep job

Dominic Raab is facing a much broader bullying investigation than originally anticipated with at least 24 civil servants involved in formal complaints against him, the Guardian understands.

Government insiders believe the depth of the inquiry and severity of some of the claims means the deputy prime minister will struggle to survive in post, and throws further doubt on Rishi Sunak’s judgment for having him in such a senior position.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or by emailing jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.

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Rishi Sunak has never paid a penalty to HMRC, No 10 says, amid growing pressure over Nadhim Zahawi – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. You can find all our politics stories here:

Rishi Sunak has welcomed Germany’s decision to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

There is more coverage of the German decision on our Ukraine live blog.

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MPs urge asbestos company to pay £10m to fund cancer research

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All-party group including peers backs campaign by victims’ group, saying Cape ‘knowingly put people in danger’

MPs and peers have written to one of the biggest manufacturers of asbestos, calling on it to make a £10m donation towards mesothelioma research “for knowingly putting people in danger”.

In a letter to Altrad, parent company of Cape, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on occupational safety and health says that documents released after a long-running court battle show that Cape historically “provided misleading reassurance about the dangers of asbestos”.

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PMQs live: Sunak faces Starmer as minister says rail strikes have cost more than settling pay dispute

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Prime minister facing questions from leader of the Labour party and other MPs

Huw Merriman, the rail minister, told MPs this morning that the government has lost more money due to the impact of rail strikes than it would have cost to settle the disputes months ago, PA Media reports. PA says:

Merriman told MPs the row has “ended up costing more” but insisted the “overall impact” on all public sector pay deals must be considered.

Ben Bradshaw, a Labour member of the committee, put it to Merriman that “we’re talking of a cost to the government of over a billion (pounds) so far” from the impact of strikes, which have repeatedly decimated services for several months.

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Andrew Bridgen suspended from House of Commons over lobbying

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Cross-party committee agrees with findings of Kathryn Stone that Conservative MP breached rules on multiple occasions

The Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has been suspended from the House of Commons for five days after being found to have breached rules on paid lobbying and declaring interests.

The MP for north-west Leicestershire was found to have repeatedly broken the MPs’ code of conduct by a cross-party committee, which endorsed findings from Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards.

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Sir Laurie Magnus named Rishi Sunak’s new ethics adviser

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Prime minister appoints Historic England chair to role that had been vacant for six months

Rishi Sunak has appointed a former banker and quango head to be his ethics adviser after a six-month delay in filling the post, but will not allow the new incumbent to launch his own investigations into potential wrongdoing.

Sir Laurie Magnus, who spent his career in corporate finance and who chairs Historic England, will take over from Lord Geidt, who resigned as the independent adviser on ministers’ interests under Boris Johnson in June.

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Right that Michelle Mone has stepped back from Lords after shocking revelations, says Rishi Sunak – UK politics live

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The prime minister says due process needs to be followed after revelations about Baroness Mone in the Guardian

Everyone is hard up at the moment – including the Conservative party, it seems. According to Bloomberg’s Alex Wickham, the party is raising membership fees by 56%.

This morning Steve Barclay said Rishi Sunak was taking “a very strong stand in terms of the priority of getting inflation down”. (See 10.02am.) But not for Tory members, it seems.

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Aberdeenshire MP elected new SNP leader at Westminster

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Stephen Flynn, 34, who won seat in 2019, expected to seek more independence from party’s Edinburgh leadership

An Aberdeenshire MP little known outside Scotland’s political bubble has been elected the Scottish National party’s new leader at Westminster, as the party tries to keep its independence dreams alive after a fresh vote was blocked by the supreme court.

Stephen Flynn, 34, a former city councillor who only won his seat in 2019, will face Rishi Sunak at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday after beating Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss, a surprise late entry into the race, to lead the UK parliament’s third biggest bloc.

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