Category Archives: Boris Johnson

Johnson must push G7 to pay billions more in climate aid, say experts

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Rich countries urged to stump up to help developing nations cut greenhouse gas emissions

Boris Johnson must push rich countries meeting in Cornwall in June to come up with tens of billions of dollars more in aid for poor countries to deal with climate breakdown, or face the failure of vital UN climate talks to be hosted by the UK in Glasgow in November, according to leading climate experts.

The UK holds the presidency this year both of the annual meeting of the G7 group of the world’s economic superpowers, and of the Cop26 climate summit.

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Johnson denies saying he would rather see ‘bodies piled high’ than third Covid lockdown

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Bereaved families call PM’s alleged comment ‘a punch in the stomach to all those grieving’

Boris Johnson has denied he said he would rather see bodies piled “high in their thousands” than order a third lockdown, an alleged comment that bereaved relatives described as “a punch in the stomach to all those grieving”.

Johnson said it was “total, total rubbish” that he had said those words. He said: “What I certainly think is that this country has done an amazing job with the lockdowns. And they’ve been very difficult. And they’ve been very tough for people. And there’s no question about that.

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Boris Johnson is warned of ‘dangerous political vacuum’ in Northern Ireland

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Letter from four former secretaries of state says Brexit’s damage to peace process must be addressed

Northern Ireland is in a dangerous political vacuum and could “fall over” unless the UK government acts swiftly, according to a cross-party group of former cabinet ministers with experience in the region.

Boris Johnson needs to show more urgency and focus to ameliorate Brexit’s damage to the peace process, the group tells the prime minister in an open letter published on Monday.

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Labour calls for Electoral Commission inquiry into PM’s flat refurbishment

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Party says Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings must be summoned to give evidence on how works were paid for

The Electoral Commission must legally summon Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings and Conservative officials to give evidence on how the prime minister paid for refurbishments to his Downing Street flat, Labour has said.

Calling on the commission to launch a formal investigation, lawyers for the party said the matter was “incontrovertibly in the public interest”.

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Outrage as No 10 rules out urgent inquiry into Covid mistakes

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Exclusive: bereaved families are told that ‘people who would need to give evidence’ are ‘working round clock’

The government has caused anger among bereaved families by telling them it will be too busy to start an inquiry into the UK’s handling of the Covid pandemic for months.

In a six-page letter to lawyers for thousands of families calling for an immediate statutory public inquiry, the government said “an inquiry now is not appropriate” and “the very people who would need to give evidence to an inquiry are working round the clock”. It said “it is not anticipated that the government’s workload will ease in the coming months”.

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Johnson faces MPs’ fury over Downing Street sleaze claims

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Labour urge Speaker to summon senior minister as poll reveals 40% of voters think Tories are corrupt

Labour is aiming to force a senior minister before parliament this week to account for the growing sleaze crisis engulfing No 10 – amid growing cross-party uproar over a collapse in standards at the heart of government.

The Observer understands the opposition is hoping to persuade Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, to grant an urgent question on Monday that would mean a senior minister – most likely the Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove – being summoned to the Commons to account for the crisis, explain steps being taken to end it, and take questions from MPs.

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No 10 refurb row: Grieve calls Boris Johnson ‘vacuum of integrity’

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Former Tory attorney general piles pressure on PM demanding to know how residence revamp was funded

The former attorney general Dominic Grieve has described Boris Johnson as a “vacuum of integrity” as the prime minister came under pressure to explain how the refurbishment of the Downing Street flat was paid for following an explosive attack by his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings.

The government has said Johnson paid for the refurbishment, reportedly costed at £58,000, but in a blogpost Cummings claimed the prime minister had sought outside funding from Conservative supporters.

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‘Mad and totally unethical’: Dominic Cummings hits out at Boris Johnson

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Ex-aide alleges PM tried to quash leak inquiry that implicated ally and wanted donors to fund work on flat

Dominic Cummings has launched an unprecedented and extraordinary attack on Boris Johnson, alleging that the prime minister tried to quash a leak inquiry as it implicated an ally, and hatched a “possibly illegal” plan for donors to pay to renovate his flat.

The outburst by Cummings, a day after anonymous No 10 sources claimed that he had leaked private text messages between Johnson and the billionaire James Dyson, prompted Labour to accuse the government of “fighting each other like rats in a sack”.

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UK aid cut seen as unforced error in ‘year of British leadership’

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With UK hosting G7 and Cop26 this year, decision threatens Britain’s status as a ‘soft power’ superpower

Boris Johnson is said to be having “queasy second thoughts” about a long-term cut to the UK aid programme, faced both by the surprising unpopularity of the measure with his own backbenchers and the fact that most other G7 countries will come to the British-hosted summit in June increasing theirs – in the process endangering the UK status as a soft power superpower.

The official government line remains not to look at the falls in aid spending but the size of the budget as a proportion of gross national income, which is still in excess of most G7 countries. The reduced £10bn budget still puts the UK third in the aid spending league table and if anyone has doubts about the UK’s soft power status, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, likes to cite an Ipsos Mori poll finding for the British Council in 2020 that found the UK was the most attractive country in the G20.

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Ex-minister Johnny Mercer says ‘almost nobody’ tells truth in Johnson’s government

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Former veterans’ minister says it was ‘most distrustful, awful environment I’ve ever worked in, in government’

The former veterans’ minister Johnny Mercer has launched an extraordinary attack on Boris Johnson’s government, describing it as a “cesspit” and “the most distrustful, awful environment I’ve ever worked in”.

A day after his resignation, the MP also accused ministers of being “cowards” for not implementing a controversial pledge to end “vexatious historical investigations” of veterans who served in Northern Ireland.

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Boris Johnson threatens to use ‘legislative bomb’ to stop European Super League

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Prime minister will offer ‘unwavering support’, he tells FA, Premier League and fans

Boris Johnson has promised football groups that the government will consider using what he called “a legislative bomb” to stop English clubs joining a breakaway European Super League, as official efforts to thwart the plan were stepped up.

The prime minister and Oliver Dowden, the sports and culture secretary, held a meeting with the heads of the Football Association and Premier League, as well as representatives of fans’ groups from Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, three of the clubs involved.

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Boris Johnson cancels India trip due to Covid situation

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Downing Street says next week’s visit won’t go ahead ‘in light of the current coronavirus situation’

Boris Johnson’s planned visit to India next week has been cancelled because of the country’s escalating coronavirus crisis, a joint statement by the UK and India has announced.

“In the light of the current coronavirus situation, prime minister Boris Johnson will not be able to travel to India next week,” said the statement, released by Downing Street.

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UK church leaders warn against ‘dangerous’ vaccine passport plans

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Hundreds of Christian clergy say proposal could ‘bring about the end of liberal democracy’

Hundreds of UK church leaders have told the prime minister that plans to use vaccine passports for entry into venues is “one of the most dangerous policy proposals ever to be made in the history of British politics” with the “potential to bring about the end of liberal democracy as we know it”.

An open letter to Boris Johnson signed by more than 1,250 clergy from different Christian denominations across the UK says the “introduction of vaccine passports would constitute an unethical form of coercion and violation of the principle of informed consent”.

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Saudi crown prince asked Boris Johnson to intervene in Newcastle United bid

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Mohammed bin Salman warned of damage to Saudi-UK relations if Premier League refusal not ‘corrected’

The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, warned Boris Johnson in a text message that UK-Saudi Arabian relations would be damaged if the British government failed to intervene to “correct” the Premier League’s “wrong” decision not to allow a £300m takeover of Newcastle United last year.

Johnson asked Edward Lister, his special envoy for the Gulf, to take up the issue, and Lord Lister reportedly told the prime minister: “I’m on the case. I will investigate.”

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Greensill: Keir Starmer says there is ‘open door’ between Boris Johnson’s government and lobbyists – live

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Prime minister questioned on controversy over Greensill’s influence within government with links to David Cameron and a senior civil servant

Hi there, this is Rhi Storer taking over from Yohannes Lowe this afternoon. Please feel free to send me any contributions to rhi.storer@guardian.co.uk or alternatively you can contact me on Twitter.

Here is video of Vicky Foxcroft’s (Lab) question about sign language at PMQs (see earlier post):

Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft asks a question in sign language

"If the prime minister doesn't understand, why does he still not have sign language at his press briefings?"

Boris Johnson replies “I’m grateful… and will revert to her as soon as I can”#PMQs https://t.co/cNTSzLDCHF pic.twitter.com/zh2nFXn8Yd

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All over-50s and high-risk groups in UK offered vaccine ahead of target date

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Achievement hailed by PM as ‘hugely significant milestone’ means people in late 40s should be next to be immunised

All over-50s and high-risk groups in the UK have been offered a coronavirus vaccine a few days before the mid-April deadline set by the government – meaning the second phase of the rollout to younger cohorts can now begin.

Despite fears of a supply slowdown and possible knock in confidence after a change in advice on who could get the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, Boris Johnson hailed the passing of “another hugely significant milestone”.

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Sturgeon blasts decision to refer Holyrood bills to UK supreme court

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Scottish first minister calls UK government decision ‘morally repugnant’ as bills were passed unanimously

Nicola Sturgeon has condemned the UK government’s decision to refer two bills passed by Holyrood unanimously to the supreme court as “morally repugnant” amid an outcry from MSPs.

The Scottish parliament passed the United Nations convention on the rights of the child bill and the European charter of local self-government bill in the weeks before it went into recess.

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David Cameron faces unprecedented formal inquiry into Greensill scandal

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Boris Johnson orders independent investigation into former prime minister’s lobbying on behalf of collapsed finance firm

David Cameron is at the centre of an unprecedented formal inquiry after Boris Johnson ordered a probe into lobbying by the former prime minister on behalf of the collapsed company Greensill Capital.

The independent investigation will examine the firm’s role in government, supply chain financing and communications by employees, including Cameron, who joined Greensill as an adviser in 2018, two years after resigning as prime minister, and who stood to make millions of pounds from his role.

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Union in peril as PM ‘speaks for England alone’, former civil servant warns

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Philip Rycroft says PM’s ‘muscular brand of unionism’ has deepened divisions between four nations

The pandemic has seeded the idea of a prime minister “who speaks for England alone” as relations between the four nations of the UK deteriorate amid “deep-rooted complacency”, a senior former civil servant has warned.

There is widespread ignorance towards the union, meaning ministers can be kept in the dark about major reforms with little consideration for the four nations, Philip Rycroft, the permanent secretary to the Brexit department until 2019, says in a report.

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UK faces difficult path as it resumes courtship with India

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Boris Johnson is hoping to improve relations with rising superpower but many roadblocks stand in his way

George Osborne, the former British chancellor, tells the story of how, soon after Narendra Modi had been elected prime minister of India in 2014, he and the then foreign secretary, William Hague, alighted on a plan to fly immediately to India to make sure they were the first through the door to congratulate the new leader of the world’s largest democracy.

They decided to take the only British politician who seemed to know Modi well, Priti Patel, now home secretary, then recently appointed the government’s “India diaspora champion”. There was a pushback in the Whitehall system due to Modi’s record of stirring up inter-community violence in Gujarat – a Republican president in 2005 even banned him from travelling to the US – but the pair decided that the Anglo-Indian relationship was finally ready to shed the layers of imperial legacy. “If we are not going to engage with India, who are we going to engage with?” Osborne asked.

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