This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest UK political coverage here
This is from James Johnson, a Tory pollster (who worked for Theresa May in No 10) whose firm JL Partners carried out polling in Wakefield, on who ought to be taking the blame for the byelection defeats.
PM Media has just snapped this.
Boris Johnson has said he will “listen” to voters but will “keep going” after the Tories suffered a double by-election defeat.
Continue reading...PM’s spokesperson says workers should not be ‘chasing inflation with wages’ as that would increase inflation
Moderna has announced that it will open a vaccine research and manufacturing centre in the UK. In a visit to mark the announcement, Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said:
We all saw during the pandemic the differences that cutting edge vaccines and treatments can make and we all particularly saw that the mRNA technology has been very transformational. It has literally saved millions of lives over the last couple of years.
And that’s why I’m thrilled to announce this new partnership between the UK government and Moderna, where Moderna will established here in the UK, a global R&D facility with over £1bn for investment in this cutting edge technology, and also a huge manufacturing centre, their largest outside of the US, and so this is a great investment in the UK, and gives huge confidence to our life sciences sector already leading in Europe.
Continue reading...At least five MPs defy Keir Starmer’s orders and tweet pictures of themselves with RMT strikers
Keir Starmer is expected to discipline at least five Labour frontbenchers who defied his orders and appeared on RMT picket lines on Tuesday in solidarity with striking railworkers.
On the first of three days of industrial action, the Labour leader had instructed his team not to appear alongside striking workers, in order to show “leadership”, amid fears of Labour being portrayed by the Tories as responsible for the RMT’s walkout.
Continue reading...At least two frontbenchers have said Labour should not support former leader’s candidacy at next election
Shadow cabinet ministers have privately urged Keir Starmer to draw a line under Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension from Labour and allow the party to begin the process of selecting a new candidate in Islington North.
The Guardian has learned of at least two Labour frontbenchers who say they have counselled for the party to inform Corbyn the party would no longer be prepared to support his candidacy at the next election.
Continue reading...Unions critical of leader’s instruction to senior MPs to ‘show leadership’ by not publicly siding with workers
Labour’s frontbenchers have been warned to stay away from picket lines on the eve of the biggest rail strike since 1989.
As staff get ready to take part in the RMT strike on Tuesday, Keir Starmer’s office told shadow cabinet members that to “show leadership” frontbenchers “should not be on picket lines”.
Continue reading...Labour leader and deputy have promised to resign if found to have breached Covid rules by eating curry and drinking beer at event
Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have returned questionnaires to Durham constabulary, giving their account of a gathering during last year’s local election campaign, the Labour party has confirmed.
The pair have both promised to resign if they are found to have breached Covid rules by eating a curry and drinking a beer at the event, which was caught on camera.
Continue reading...Downing Street refuses to rule out withdrawing from European convention on human rights after Yvette Cooper challenges Priti Patel over Rwanda
This is what Šefčovič said about the UK bill in his opening statement.
Let there be no doubt: there is no legal nor political justification whatsoever for unilaterally changing an international agreement.
Opening the door to unilaterally changing an international agreement is a breach of international law as well.
Continue reading...Labour leader says PM is spouting nonsense, telling people ‘they’ve never had it so good’, in bad-tempered PMQs
Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of trying to fool the public with “nonsense” about a booming economy, as an often bad-tempered prime minister’s questions saw the pair square up over stagnant growth and tax rises.
In an extended Star Wars-referencing section, Starmer said Johnson was trying to “perform Jedi mind tricks on the country” by insisting the economy was buoyant, also mocking the PM by saying his backbenchers compared him to Jeremy Corbyn.
Continue reading...Labour leader urges colleagues to focus on returning to government, after a string of negative stories
Keir Starmer has urged his shadow cabinet to stop briefing the press that he is boring, warning them: “What’s boring is being in opposition.”
Stung by a series of negative stories about his leadership, Starmer angrily urged colleagues at Tuesday’s shadow cabinet meeting to focus on the job in hand, telling them it was “boring” to undermine Labour’s project of getting back into government.
Continue reading...Court of appeal judges have rejected a last-ditch legal bid to block a flight due to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda on Tuesday
Q: Your Northern Ireland protocol plan is holed below the water line because it has so much opposition in your party, isn’t it?
Johnson says the government needs to resolve the problems with the protocol.
Continue reading...Labour ahead of Tories by two points, but Labour’s leader failing to make a personal breakthrough
Boris Johnson makes a better prime minister than Keir Starmer would despite Partygate, the cost of living crisis and the confidence vote in Johnson held by his MPs, according to the latest Observer poll.
The Opinium figures, which will raise further concerns within Labour over the party leader’s performance, shows that the prime minister has a two-point lead over his opponent. It also reveals that Starmer’s party holds a narrow two-point lead, compared with a three-point lead in the last poll a fortnight ago. Labour are on 36% of the vote, with the Tories up one point on 34%. The Lib Dems are on 13% with the Greens on 6%.
Continue reading...Many in the opposition fear their leader is not sufficiently punishing the government’s weakness
At Tuesday’s shadow cabinet meeting, less than 24 hours after Boris Johnson’s humiliating confidence vote, Keir Starmer gave his troops what one called “a bit of cold reality” about how much work remains to be done in developing Labour’s policies and message in the months ahead.
Many could not agree more. Conversations with shadow cabinet members, party aides and other senior Labour figures this week revealed deep disquiet about whether Starmer and his team are ready to capitalise on the Tories’ weakness.
Continue reading...Vote means he will remain as Conservative leader and PM
This is from my colleague Aubrey Allegretti explaining how the no-confidence vote in Boris Johnson will be carried out.
Boris Johnson welcomes the chance to make his case to MPs, Downing Street claims. In a statement a No 10 spokesperson said:
Tonight is a chance to end months of speculation and allow the government to draw a line and move on, delivering on the people’s priorities. The PM welcomes the opportunity to make his case to MPs and will remind them that when they’re united and focused on the issues that matter to voters there is no more formidable political force.
Continue reading...‘We’re standing up for UK institutions,’ says shadow minister, pointing to booing of Boris Johnson
Labour has staked a bold claim to be the true party of patriotism and the best of British values, as four days of nationwide celebrations to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee draw to a close on Sunday.
Senior Labour party figures said Boris Johnson – who was booed outside St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday – was no longer seen by the public as a leader who upholds the British standards of integrity, decency and honesty that the country has long been admired for across the world.
Continue reading...Labour leader writes to Boris Johnson after UN working group declared Johal’s five-year detention arbitrary
Keir Starmer has asked Boris Johnson to intervene and request that the Indian government release a British citizen after a UN working group declared his five-year detention arbitrary and without any legal basis.
In a letter, the Labour leader asks why Johnson has not acted to ask for the release of Jagtar Singh Johal given the findings of the UN report on arbitrary detention last month.
Continue reading...Prime minister feels it is his ‘job to get on with my job’ despite report detailing major leadership failures at No 10
This is from Nikki da Costa, a former director of legislative affairs at No 10, speaking up on civil servants whose reputations, she fears, will be tainted by the Sue Gray report.
Tom Harwood from GB News is now also saying the report has arrived in Downing Street. It is 37 pages long, he says.
Continue reading...Latest updates: PM’s spokesperson clears up that No 10 requested meeting after Simon Clarke suggests it was the other way round
The Downing Street lobby briefing has just finished, and the PM’s spokesperson told journalists that Boris Johnson has still not received the Sue Gray report into Partygate. The spokesperson did not say when it would be arriving, but it is not expected to be published today.
Boris Johnson has recorded a clip for broadcasters during a visit to a school in south-east London. PA Media has written up the key lines.
I’m not attracted, intrinsically, to new taxes. But as I have said throughout, we have got to do what we can - and we will - to look after people through the aftershocks of Covid, through the current pressures on energy prices that we are seeing post-Covid and with what’s going on in Russia and we are going to put our arms round people, just as we did during the pandemic.
Of course, but on the process you are just going to have to hold your horses a little bit longer. I don’t believe it will be too much longer and then I will be able to say a bit more.
It’s basically very rare disease, and so far the consequences don’t seem to be very serious but it’s important that we keep an eye on it and that’s exactly what the the new UK Health Security Agency is doing.
As things stand the judgment is that it’s rare. I think we’re looking very carefully at the circumstances of transmission.
It hasn’t yet proved, fatal in any case that we know of, certainly not in this country.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can find our latest cost of living stories below:
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, has warned that inflation will experience a further “bump” before prices are likely to stabilise.
In a Q&A after delivering a speech on green trade at Bloomberg’s HQ in London, she said countries around the world were facing a “a global battle against inflation”. She went on:
This is something we have to tackle across the board.
And the worry we always have is that inflation tends to have two bumps to it.
Continue reading...Latest updates: UK prime minister meets Sinn Féin and DUP as Mary Lou McDonald suggests forming Stormont assembly is not UK government priority
This is from my colleague Jennifer Rankin in Brussels on the UK government’s mixed messaging over the Northern Ireland protocol.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, have said they recognise there are “serious issues” in relation to the implementation of the Brexit protocol that Boris Johnson is planning to override in part.
They expressed serious concern about possible unilateral moves on the protocol by the British government, which would have a destabilising impact on Northern Ireland.
They recognised that there are genuine issues regarding aspects of the implementation of the protocol but these can be taken forward in the context of EU-UK discussions.
Continue reading...A fundraising event held for the shadow minister sparks rumours that he is readying himself to replace Keir Starmer if he resigns over Beergate
Labour rising star Wes Streeting has denied preparing a leadership bid to replace Keir Starmer after it emerged that the wealthy party donor Waheed Alli hosted a recent fundraising event for him and another MP at his central London home.
The Observer has been told that the actors Ian McKellen and Michael Cashman, as well the businesswoman and LGBTQ+ activist Linda Riley, were among 20 to 30 people present at the event in March, where Lord Alli picked up the £4,600 bill for a buffet and drinks.
Continue reading...