Politics

Labour has launched a proposal to grant a cross-party select committee emergency powers if Boris Johnson fails to appoint a new ethics adviser. It comes after the prime minister’s ethics adviser Lord Geidt quit last week, saying he “could not be party to advising on potential law breaking”. Mr Johnson‘s official spokesperson has said there

Downing Street has confirmed it was in conversation with The Times around the time the newspaper dropped a report claiming Boris Johnson tried to appoint his now wife to a government role when he was foreign secretary. In a story published on Saturday morning, the paper reported that Mr Johnson attempted to hire Carrie Johnson,

Larry, the Downing Street cat, has made a name for himself after prowling the corridors of power. But he may be feline threatened after the Speaker of the House of Commons announced he has a new kitten. Sir Lindsay Hoyle has named his cat Attlee, in honour of former Labour prime minister Clement Attlee. The

Cabinet minister Grant Shapps has revealed  he predicted to within one vote the scale of the recent revolt by Tory MPs against Boris Johnson. In doing do so, the transport secretary was far more accurate in forecasting the scale of opposition against the prime minister’s leadership than the Conservative whips. The backroom fixers were taken

The RMT’s decision to proceed with train strikes next week will “punish millions of people”, the transport secretary has said. Grant Shapps warned the UK is “now on the cusp of major disruption which will cause misery for people right across the country”. He also claimed the RMT union had been repeatedly urged not to

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the world against letting “Ukraine-fatigue” set in as he returned from a surprise visit to the war-torn country. Mr Johnson had pulled out of a planned appearance at conference of northern Tories on Friday in order to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Asked if he had timed the visit

The grounding of the first flight of asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda was an “absolutely scandalous” move, Priti Patel has said. Judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) granted an injunction that resulted in a chartered aircraft to Kigali being unable to depart Wiltshire on Tuesday. And in an interview with

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has returned a questionnaire to police investigating the so-called “beergate” episode. Sir Keir has been under pressure over the event in Durham in April 2021, when he was filmed having a drink and a takeaway curry with party colleagues. He has pledged to resign as party leader if he is

Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser told the prime minister he was quitting after being placed in an “impossible and odious position”. Downing Street published Lord Geidt’s resignation letter a day after he unexpectedly decided to step down, becoming the second in the role to do so under Mr Johnson. Lord Geidt admitted this week that he

This month’s Platinum Jubilee was a celebration of permanence. Seventy years on the throne by the same Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Union Jack decked the streets as an emblem of that union, combining the crosses of the patron saints of England, Scotland and Ireland. There is no

Lord Geidt has resigned as the prime minister’s adviser on ministerial interests. He tendered his resignation to Boris Johnson, according to a brief statement on the government’s website on Wednesday evening. “With regret, I feel that it is right that I am resigning from my post as Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests,” the statement reads.

The government has not ruled out leaving Europe’s human rights framework after last-ditch legal rulings blocked the first scheduled deportation flight on Tuesday evening. Downing Street said on Wednesday that all options were on the table and did not rule out withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It comes after last-minute interventions

The first deportation flight due to take asylum seekers to Rwanda will not be taking off tonight following a series of last-minute legal appeals, the Home Office has confirmed. A Home Office source said the plane, which was stood ready on a Ministry of Defence runway at Boscombe Down in Amesbury, would not be departing

SNP MP Patrick Grady is facing suspension from the House of Commons after an allegation of sexual misconduct was upheld by a parliamentary probe. The independent expert panel recommended that Mr Grady should be suspended from the House for two days for making an “unwanted sexual advance” to a member of party staff at a

A bill to amend the Northern Ireland Protocol will be introduced in parliament today, despite claims that the move breaches international law. The bill will allow ministers to override parts of the protocol, which was agreed by the UK and European Union to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit. Northern

Boris Johnson has been told that the majority of Northern Ireland assembly members reject the government’s “reckless new protocol legislation”. A letter on behalf of 52 of the 90 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) said the proposal “flies in the face of the expressed wishes of not just most businesses, but most people in

For a leader on the backfoot, offence can be the best form of defence. For Boris Johnson, there’s no better way to try and move the conversation on from his own political woes than picking a big fight with the EU. But when the prime minister unveils controversial legislation on the Northern Ireland Protocol that

The Northern Ireland secretary has insisted that plans to override the Northern Ireland Protocol are within the law – but critics say the move is “disgraceful”. Brandon Lewis defended the proposals as the government prepares to publish legislation on Monday despite growing concern about the legalities of the move. One senior Tory MP has told

Rwanda’s government has asked for the scheme to send some illegal migrants to its country to be given “a chance”, after Prince Charles is said to have privately called it “appalling”. Yolande Makolo, a spokesperson for the Kigali government, told Sky News the scheme is “well thought out” and it is the responsibility of governments

A leaked version of the government’s new food strategy advises people to eat wild venison as a low-carbon alternative to beef and grow their own cucumbers to save the planet, reports claim. The 27-page document, due to be officially released on Monday, follows two reports carried out by the co-founder of restaurant chain Leon, Henry