Category Archives: Oliver Dowden

Dominic Raab blames ‘activist civil servants’ after resigning over bullying report – as it happened

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Raab resigns as deputy prime minister and justice secretary after report finds he displayed ‘persistently aggressive conduct’

There is quite a contrast between the overnight briefing on behalf of Dominic Raab (see 9.06am and 9.24am). That could be explained by his allies talking complete rubbish to journalists. But a much more likely explanation is that last night Raab thought he could stay in office, but that by this morning – presumably after direct, or indirect, contact with Rishi Sunak – he realised that if he did not resign, he was going to sacked.

This is not so much a resignation letter as a “resignation” letter. It reads as if it was written by someone pushed out.

Mr Tolley concluded that I had not once, in four and a half years, sworn or shouted at anyone, let alone thrown anything or otherwise physically intimidated anyone, nor intentionally sought to belittle anyone.

In setting the threshold for bullying so low, this inquiry has set a dangerous precedent. It will encourage spurious complaints against Ministers, and have a chilling effect on those driving changen on behalf of your government – and ultimately the British people.

I am genuinely sorry for any unintended stress or offence that any officials felt, as a result of the pace, standards and challenge that I brought to the Ministry of Justice.

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MPs and peers ask information commissioner to investigate TikTok

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Letter argues that Chinese-owned video-sharing app could be in breach of UK law

A cross-party group of MPs and peers have asked the information commissioner to investigate whether the Chinese-owned TikTok’s handling of personal information is in breach of UK law.

The letter from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) argues that TikTok cannot be compliant with data protection rules – and comes just hours after the UK announced a ban on the popular video-sharing app appearing on ministers’ and officials’ government-owned phones.

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NHS workers expected to be offered one-off payments worth up to 6% as part of revised pay offer – UK politics live

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Health secretary expected to announce a formal pay offer to key unions later today

Sinn Féin’s US fundraising arm has caused a row by calling for a referendum on Irish unity in adverts in the New York Times, Washington Post and other US publications.

The half-page ads were paid for by Friends of Sinn Féin and ran on Wednesday urging support for unity referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. “It is time to agree on a date,” it said. “Let the people have their say.”

They’re ads from Irish American organisations whose view on reunification is well known and held for a very long time and they take out ads every year. So, the focus now needs to be on getting back to work [at Stormont].

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Rishi Sunak under pressure over Gavin Williamson texts

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PM said to have been informed of the complaint against Williamson before giving him a cabinet role

Rishi Sunak is facing further questions over his political judgment after it emerged he was made aware of a complaint by the former chief whip against his political ally Gavin Williamson before appointing him.

The Guardian understands some cabinet ministers and ex-ministers were aware of hostile messages to Wendy Morton. The texts were revealed over the weekend to include angry remonstrations about not being invited to the Queen’s funeral and warnings that “there is a price for everything”.

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Plans in place to deal with strike action by UK’s nurses, government says

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Oliver Dowden says Department of Health has ‘well-oiled contingencies’ to manage impact of action

The government has said it has contingency plans for dealing with a strike by nurses amid the growing threat of industrial action in the NHS.

The Observer revealed on Sunday that the biggest nursing strike in NHS history could take place before Christmas after “large swathes of the country” voted for nationwide industrial action. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is due to announce the results of its ballot in the next few days.

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Huge margin of support gives Rishi Sunak a free hand in choosing cabinet

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New prime minister likely to prioritise unity in offering ministerial jobs, although leading Trussites can expect the chop

Rishi Sunak has pledged to build a cabinet of all the talents but, given the swiftness of the leadership competition, relatively little has been briefed about his potential cabinet.

His team say no roles have been promised to any backers and Sunak was in the enviable position as the frontrunner of not needing to promise roles to anyone.

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Liz Truss cabinet predictions: who could be in and who would lose out?

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Analysis: Kwasi Kwarteng and Thérèse Coffey could be among the big winners if Truss becomes PM

Liz Truss has three weeks before she is likely to walk through No 10’s black door as prime minister, facing a difficult in-tray. Here we take a look at how senior roles could shape up.

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Boris Johnson admits byelection defeats ‘not brilliant’ as ex-Tory leader calls for resignation – as it happened

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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.

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Boris Johnson ‘desperate’ to visit Ukraine, says Tory party chair

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Oliver Dowden says PM has a ‘real emotional connection’ with the Ukrainian people but No 10 sources say a trip is unlikely

Boris Johnson is “desperate” to go to Ukraine and has a “real emotional connection” with the Ukrainian people, the Tory party chair has claimed.

It was reported at the weekend that Johnson wanted to go to Kyiv but on Monday No 10 sources indicated this is unlikely to happen.

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P&O resumes Liverpool-Dublin service as government reviews contracts

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Tory party co-chair voices ‘revulsion’ at ferry company’s actions after 800 staff replaced with agency workers

P&O crossings between Liverpool and Dublin resumed on Saturday afternoon, two days after the ferry company suspended services when it sacked 800 staff and brought in replacement agency workers.

Labour had called on the government to step in and halt any crossings, as ministers confirmed that all government contracts with the company were being reviewed.

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Jacob Rees-Mogg says Ukraine war shows Partygate scandal was just ‘fluff’ – as it happened

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Brexit opportunities minister says people will find Partygate scandal ‘fundamentally trivial’ in the context of war in Ukraine. This live blog has now closed.

“I think people respect honesty,” says Rishi Sunak. A few weeks ago this would have been seen as an obvious dig at Sunak’s boss, but it did not sound like that today. He was talking about Treasury policy in the early days of the Covid pandemic, and how he felt it was important to admit that government policy would not be able to save all jobs.

Now he’s talking about the family dog. He was oppoosed to getting a puppy for a long time, he says, but when he became chancellor, he was spending so much time at work that he lost the moral authority to say no.

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Labour MPs report Boris Johnson to police over 2020 Christmas parties

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Met asked to investigate reports of alleged breaches of Covid lockdown rules at No 10

The prime minister has been reported to the police by Labour MPs over allegations there were at least two parties in Downing Street during lockdown restrictions last year.

Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, wrote to the Met police commissioner, Cressida Dick, asking her to investigate reports that the prime minister spoke at a leaving do in November and also allowed a staff Christmas party to go ahead in December.

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UK minister promises to look at football governance after Super League fiasco

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‘We will not have our national game taken away from us for profit,’ says Oliver Dowden

The withdrawal of six English Premier League clubs from the European Super League highlights the need to examine the governance of football, the UK culture secretary has said, pledging “we will not have our national game taken away from us for profit”.

Oliver Dowden paid tribute to the fans whose pressure prompted the withdrawal of the six English clubs initially signed up for the breakaway competition, leaving the project in tatters, but warned that more needed to be done.

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UK on track to hit Covid vaccine target by July, says Oliver Dowden – video

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A third coronavirus vaccine will start being administered in the UK next month, joining the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs already in use, the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, has confirmed. Britain has ordered 17m doses of the Moderna vaccine, which has a 94% efficacy rate in trials, which are expected to start arriving in April. Dowden also insisted the government was confident it would be able to meet its target of getting people over 50 vaccinated by 15 April, and all remaining adults by the end of July

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England considering Covid ‘certificates’ for larger events after lockdown

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Culture secretary Oliver Dowden says government is piloting different methods while review is under way

Coronavirus “certificates” that would show whether people have had a vaccine or a negative test are being considered by the government as a way of getting people back to larger events, the culture secretary has said.

Oliver Dowden told Sky News that he hoped people would be able to return “in significant numbers” from 21 June if “all goes to plan”.

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No 10 ‘concerned’ about Facebook news shutdown in Australia

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Oliver Dowden expected to meet US company, as No 10 says UK will ‘defend free speech and journalism’

The UK government is “obviously concerned” at the repercussions of Facebook’s shutdown of large numbers of news and public information resources in Australia, Downing Street has said, confirming that the culture secretary will meet the US company this week.

Oliver Dowden is “expecting to meet Facebook this week”, Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said, adding that the date had yet to be confirmed.

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Brexit: Ursula von der Leyen says EU trade deal proposals would not undermine UK sovereignty – live

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Latest updates: Von der Leyen says two sides remain apart and UK must accept fair competition as pre-condition for access to single market

Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, has urged politicians involved in the UK-EU trade negotiations to “dial down the language”. In comments which seemed to be aimed at Boris Johnson, Coveney told reporters at a press conference in Berlin:

What I would say to politicians, we need to try and dial down the language in terms of the division and differences of views and focus on the detail.

There is a bigger picture here that goes beyond trade in a world that is changing and has a lot of risk.

The Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan has criticised Angela Merkel for refusing to let Boris Johnson lobby her over the UK-EU trade talks. (See 10.57am and 12.37pm.) You can tell Ahmad Khan’s a Brexiter, because he’s brought up the war ...

I stand with millions of Britons that are deeply insulted at the shocking news that the German Chancellor has refused the British Prime Minister’s request for a telephone call. This is an insult to every Briton, whether they support our PM or not.

Have our EU “friends” no regard or respect for the UK and our nations’ sacrifices that permit them to live in freedom and prosperity today, safely away from the shadow of totalitarianism?

The EU’s contemptuous treatment of the UK makes it clear there cannot be a deal until it accepts the UK as a sovereign equal and awards us the respect and regard we merit.

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Culture secretary to ask Netflix to play ‘health warning’ that The Crown is fictional

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Oliver Dowden says younger viewers might take historical drama’s portrayal as fact

The culture secretary plans to write to Netflix and request a “health warning” is played before The Crown so viewers are aware that the historical drama is a work of fiction, he said in an intervention that prompted criticism.

Oliver Dowden said that without the caveat younger viewers who did not live through the events might “mistake fiction for fact” following complaints that the fourth series of the drama had abused its artistic licence and fabricated events.

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Government scraps ballet dancer reskilling ad criticised as ‘crass’

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Culture secretary distanced himself from widely mocked poster amid job losses in arts

A government-backed advert that encouraged people working in the arts to reskill by turning to a career in cybersecurity has been scrapped after the culture secretary described it as “crass”.

On Monday morning Oliver Dowden distanced himself from the Cyber First campaign, which resurfaced on the same day his department was celebrating awarding £257m in funding to struggling venues and organisations.

Dowden tweeted that the ad campaign, which is backed by the government and promotes retraining in tech, did not come from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), while reiterating that he wanted to “save jobs in the arts”.

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UK coronavirus live: concern about second wave ‘very high’ among NHS managers, MPs told

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Chief executive of NHS Confederation tells MPs staff are ‘exhausted’; Oliver Dowden tells people to book holidays but be prepared to quarantine

Here are the main points from Nicola Sturgeon’s press briefing earlier.

I want to give people hope. I think there’s a lot right now that should give all of us hope. It’s been painful, it’s been hard, but we’ve got this virus to really low levels.

But I don’t do my job, I don’t discharge my responsibilities and ultimately I don’t do anybody any favours if I give false hope, or if I get so desperate, as I am to get everybody back to normal, that I forget about the risks that we face, and then I’m standing here in a few weeks and we’re going backwards.

My biggest concern right now is that there are things that all of us can do to keep this under control that we’re all maybe getting a bit lax at doing.

Sometimes one person’s political issue is another person’s very legitimate issue, part and parcel of dealing with Covid. And the fiscal flexibility of the government to deal with the overall consequences of Covid [an issue raised by the reporter] I would put into the latter category.

The all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus, which is chaired by the Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, is holding its own inquiry into the lessons to be learnt from coronavirus, and today it has holding its first oral evidence session. Niall Dickson, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS leaders, told the group that NHS managers were very worried about a second wave. He said:

I would say in relation to the second spike issue or something coming, the levels of concern among our members - the people who are leading NHS trusts, who are leading in primary care and all levels in the systems - is very high.

I mean, of course, there’s real concern about winter and the compounding factors there, but also about an earlier spike.

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