The prime minister was widely criticised for repeating the slur that is widespread online – but extremists were delighted
A network of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and antisemites has celebrated Boris Johnson’s false claim that Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
Johnson was roundly criticised, including by some Tory MPs, after he made the accusation during an ill-tempered exchange in the Commons last Monday.
Continue reading...Labour leader says ‘it’s time to restore dignity’ as PM refuses to apologise for Jimmy Savile remarks
Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists” for political gain after the prime minister doubled down on false claims about the Labour leader’s blame for the failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
Johnson has been condemned by victims of the disgraced broadcaster, as well by as some MPs and the Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, for making the claim in parliament on Monday.
Continue reading...Angry Tories confront Boris Johnson as report finds many of 16 lockdown events ‘difficult to justify’
Boris Johnson has been left desperately trying to shore up his premiership after the Sue Gray report as detectives were revealed to be investigating 300 photos and 12 events in Downing Street, including a party in the prime minister’s private flat.
Johnson faced a wall of anger from Conservative MPs in the House of Commons after Gray’s investigation concluded that many of the 16 parties were “difficult to justify” and condemned “failures of leadership and judgment” in No 10 and the Cabinet Office.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Latest updates: health secretary leads coronavirus update after Boris Johnson says England’s Omicron measures to end next week
Boris Johnson is expected to instruct millions to return to workplaces across England as he tries to placate furious MPs with a review of Covid restrictions that could end all rules introduced to combat Omicron.
The cabinet will meet on this morning to examine Covid data and review plan B restrictions imposed in December amid the rapid spread of the variant, with Johnson set to update the Commons later in the day.
I think they are a crucial building block of our baseline, a bit like Test and Trace, Test and Protect for us in Scotland, the alcohol gels, the vaccinations, I think these are what we’re going to be left with post-Omicron.
Continue reading...Tory grandee calls on Johnson to resign at PMQs featuring fierce exchanges between PM and Keir Starmer
The Tory grandee David Davis told Boris Johnson: “In the name of God, go,” during an often chaotic prime minister’s questions overshadowed by intense doubt about Johnson’s future.
After a fierce set of exchanges between Johnson and Keir Starmer, Davis rose to tell Johnson that he had spent weeks defending him from “angry constituents”, but that repeated reports about lockdown-breaching parties were too much.
Continue reading...Conservative MPs could force PM out within weeks after furious reaction to Downing Street gatherings
Tory MPs will be ready in sufficient numbers to force Boris Johnson out of Downing Street within weeks if he tries to dodge responsibility for rule-breaking parties at No 10, the Observer has been told.
While most Conservative MPs say they are waiting for a report into so-called “partygate” by the senior civil servant Sue Gray before deciding the prime minister’s fate, large numbers admit privately that their minds are effectively made up and that they are merely observing “due process”.
Continue reading...Warning circulated to MPs and peers about woman targeting parliamentarians
A security warning from MI5 has been circulated to MPs and peers claiming that a female Chinese national has been seeking to improperly influence parliamentarians.
The “interference alert” names an individual “knowingly engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist party” with MI5’s logo at the top.
Continue reading...William Wragg says Boris Johnson is damaging reputation of party as Douglas Ross calls for him to stand down after prime minister admits attending party
Another journalist who is very well plugged in to the thinking of Tory MPs is the Conservative Home editor Paul Goodman, a former MP himself. In what might be a rather ominous development for Johnson, Goodman devotes his main ConHome article this morning to discussing the process by which the Conservative party might go about replacing him (although he does not describe Johnson’s resignation as inevitable).
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has said Boris Johnson should resign. He told BBC Breakfast:
Boris Johnson is now incapable of leading our country through this public health crisis - I actually think he is a threat to the health of the nation, because no-one will do anything he says because he has now shown to have been deceitful, so Boris Johnson must now resign ...
He said to parliament and to the country before Christmas when he was apologising that he didn’t know about the parties, and now we know he was at at least one of those parties.
Continue reading...The chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, faces a select committee hearing where he will answer questions about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the day after new infections in the UK reached a record 78,610 laboratory-confirmed cases
Continue reading...Dozens of Conservative MPs threaten to rebel or abstain next week as Johnson struggles with fallout from No 10 party scandal
Downing Street is facing a damaging revolt over planned Covid restrictions after dozens of Tory backbenchers threatened to rebel or abstain in fury over the proposed new rules and Boris Johnson’s handling of the Christmas party scandal.
With at least 30 Conservative MPs already expected to vote against regulations on masks, home working and vaccine passports, and many more now vowing to stay away from Tuesday’s vote, the prime minister could be left relying on Labour support to win.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Scotland Yard cites ‘absence of evidence’, as PM triggers plan B Covid restrictions
Downing Street sources are saying this morning that “no decisions have been made” on a move to plan B. But, frankly, an FT story carries more credibility in the Westminster media village.
Ben Riley-Smith, the Telegraph political editor, thinks the timing of such a move would be suspicious.
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...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.
Continue reading...Latest updates: prime minister also does not rule out peerage for Paterson; No 10 says PM will not attend debate as he will be on a train then
The Downing Street lobby briefing is over, and the prime minister’s spokesman has confirmed that Boris Johnson will not be speaking in, or attending, the sleaze/standards/corruption debate in the Commons this afternoon.
And he won’t be watching it on the TV in his office afterwards; he is on a visit to a hospital in the north-east. No 10 signalled that he would not be able to be able to return to London in time for the debate because the rail timetable did not allow this.
Continue reading...Watchdog considers tightening restrictions on MPs’ second jobs which could affect 30 parliamentarians
MPs could be banned from having consultancy jobs like Owen Paterson’s under plans for a clampdown on sleaze being considered by the Commons standards committee.
The prospect of tightened restrictions on MPs’ second jobs is to be decided within weeks and could affect more than 30 parliamentarians earning between £180,000 and hundreds of pounds a year on top of their £82,000 salary.
Continue reading...As No 10 ham-fistedly let the scandal spread, was this about saving an old Brexit ally or protecting the PM himself?
A Conservative MP who entered parliament in 2010 began to receive what he described as a series of “unusually persistent” texts from his Tory whip last week. The member in question had been part of the Conservative intake that followed the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009.
The arrival of this new group at Westminster – many of them with impressive previous careers outside politics – was supposed to demonstrate, as David Cameron said at the time, that his party was reforming its ways, ridding itself of sleaze.
Continue reading...Route to resignation was marked out more than two years ago following a Guardian investigation
The route to Owen Paterson’s resignation on Thursday afternoon was marked out more than two years ago, when in 2019 the Guardian exposed his lobbying on behalf of two companies from whom he has received at least £500,000 in payments.
Documents released following freedom of information requests revealed that the MP had repeatedly demanded access to ministers and regulators on behalf of his paying clients. This raised the question of whether he had broken parliamentary rules that prohibit MPs from undertaking paid advocacy– rules that have existed in various forms since the 17th century.
Continue reading...Tory MP was facing suspension after standards watchdog found he had broken lobbying rules
Owen Paterson has announced his resignation as MP for North Shropshire, after Boris Johnson made clear he would no longer seek to prevent the former cabinet minister from being punished by parliament for lobbying.
“I will remain a public servant but outside the cruel world of politics,” the MP for North Shropshire said in a statement.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email 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 www.befrienders.org.
Continue reading...Ex-employee tells UK MPs Mark Zuckerberg ‘has unilateral control over 3bn people’ due to his position
Mark Zuckerberg “has unilateral control over 3 billion people” due to his unassailable position at the top of Facebook, the whistleblower Frances Haugen told MPs as she called for urgent external regulation to rein in the tech company’s management and reduce the harm being done to society.
Haugen, a former Facebook employee who released tens of thousands of damaging documents about its inner workings, travelled to London from the US for a parliamentary hearing and gave qualified backing to UK government proposals to regulate social media platforms and make them take some responsibility for content on their sites.
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