Politics

A politician who thrives on drama and attention, Boris Johnson’s bombshell resignation on Friday night was true to form: once again the former prime minister left Westminster reeling, while also throwing in grenades against enemies that will ensure he remains in the spotlight for some time yet. It was undoubtedly a shock: even one of

Boris Johnson ally Nigel Adams has said he is standing down as an MP with “immediate effect”, triggering another by-election. The move, which follows the former prime minister’s resignation on Friday, will leave Prime Minister Rishi Sunak facing a third by-election – this time in Mr Adams’s Selby and Ainsty constituency. He previously said he

It reads like a declaration of war – but in reality, Friday’s resignation statement matters because Boris Johnson is throwing in the towel on his political career. Yes, there are hints of a third political comeback in his kinetic resignation statement. “Never write him off,” say the pundits in the cheap seats. Yes, there will

Boris Johnson has released his full resignation honours list, a tradition granted to outgoing prime ministers. He has named aides involved in organising parties at Number 10 during lockdown, but left out some of his key allies. Below is the full list of people who were named by Mr Johnson: Politics live: Reaction as Johnson’s

Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden have agreed a new partnership to bolster economic security in response to the growing threat of China. Brushing off his failure to deliver on the Tory manifesto promise to land a full-fat free trade deal with the US, the prime minister and US president announced the Atlantic Declaration during a

Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas is stepping down at the next general election. In a letter sent to her Brighton Pavilion constituents, Ms Lucas said it had been the “privilege of my life to serve this extraordinary constituency and community”. She said the “threats to our precious planet” had become “ever more urgent”, but

Members of the public have been urged to share their experiences of how the coronavirus pandemic affected them to help shape the COVID-19 Inquiry’s recommendations. Every Story Matters aims to aid understanding of the full picture of what happened and what more needs to be done to ensure the UK is better prepared in the

Rishi Sunak will take personal responsibility if inflation in the UK has not halved by the end of the year. The prime minister was speaking to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby during a visit to Washington DC where he will meet President Biden. Mr Sunak has made a significant amount of noise about his

The prime minister said Russia would have hit “new lows” if it turns out that Moscow is responsible for what he described as the largest attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the start of the war, following the destruction of a critical dam. Speaking en route to Washington, Rishi Sunak told reporters that the

Ian Blackford, the former leader of the SNP in Westminster, has told Sky News he will be standing down at the next election. Mr Blackford was replaced as leader of the independence-backing party’s Commons delegation at the end of last year by Stephen Flynn. The outgoing MP said he had been thinking “long and hard”

The government is still being “too slow” to recover taxpayer money lost to fraud and error over the pandemic, MPs have said. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also said Whitehall needs a “step change” in its approach to risk in order to prevent a similar “panic response” in the future. In a wide-ranging report,

Conservative MP Bob Stewart has been charged with public order offences relating to a “racially aggravated” incident in December last year. Police say the 73-year-old has been charged with using threatening or abusive words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour and that the offence was racially aggravated. He was also charged with using threatening or abusive

The majority of the British public thinks Rishi Sunak is doing a bad job in delivering on his five priorities, a new poll has found. Almost half a year after the prime minister set out his five key aims – including halving inflation, growing the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists, reducing the national debt and

Hundreds of migrants have so far been returned to Albania under the government’s “gold-standard” deal with the country, says immigration minister Robert Jenrick. That’s despite more than 12,000 Albanian people crossing the Channel on small boats last year, according to official figures. Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge, Mr Jenrick initially said “thousands” of illegal migrants

A sitting Labour MP has filed a complaint against Geraint Davies after he was suspended over allegations of inappropriate behaviour, Sky News understands. It means Labour has now received two formal complaints after a woman also contacted the party yesterday. The 63-year-old has been “administratively suspended” from the party pending an investigation into reports of

Labour has blocked a sitting mayor from standing for a new role in the North East in a move that has reawakened divisions in the party. Jamie Driscoll, the serving North of Tyne mayor, revealed on social media that he had been “barred” from running as the Labour candidate to contest the North East mayoralty

In the wake of the Geraint Davies allegations, Labour has said it will look again at its processes for dealing with these types of complaints. In a (very long) email to all staff, the party’s general secretary, David Evans, went through all the resources already available – and the list was long. In doing so,

Boris Johnson is giving all the WhatsApp messages and diaries available to him directly to the COVID inquiry, Sky News understands. The former prime minister had originally given the information to the Cabinet Office, but it had refused to comply with the inquiry’s order to hand over all the material in unredacted form. Friday’s move

Matt Hancock, who resigned as health secretary in the midst of the pandemic, and his memoir’s co-author Isabel Oakeshott, who subsequently handed over confidential information he gave her to The Daily Telegraph, have both come under heavy public criticism. But they also performed one important public service by revealing the central role played by WhatsApp

The Cabinet Office is seeking a judicial review of Baroness Hallett’s order to release Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, diaries and notebooks, it has said in a letter to the COVID inquiry. The Cabinet Office, in a letter to the inquiry, said it was bringing a judicial review challenge “with regret” – but added that there