British Politics

MPs have hit out at the lack of transparency behind a process of distributing billions of taxpayers’ money to towns across England, fuelling fears of “political bias”. The cross-party Commons Public Accounts Committee said the process for selecting communities to benefit from the £3.6 billion Towns Fund was “not impartial” and risked undermining the integrity […]

A series of Brexiteers in the Labour Party are demanding an apology from Keir Starmer for opposing Brexit when he was in charge of the party’s policy. The former Jeremy Corbyn frontbenchers say that Starmer cannot rebuild trust with “red wall” voters without “settling of accounts” on the issue. Laura Smith, Jon Trickett, and Ian […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has slammed the infighting in Downing Street after Boris Johnson’s director of communications walked out, with Dominic Cummings considering resigning.  “This is pathetic. I think millions of people will be waking up this morning, scratching their heads, saying what on earth is going on? “We’re in the middle of a […]

Dominic Cummings could resign from Downing Street as Boris Johnson’s senior aide after Lee Cain was forced out as director of communications. Former Vote Leave communications chief Cain had been expected to enter Boris Johnson’s inner circle by becoming his chief of staff, ahead of Allegra Stratton joining the government as press spokesperson. But there […]

A former Labour frontbencher used his maiden speech in the House of Lords to express his pride at having helped to stop Jeremy Corbyn win the general election. John Woodcock, who sits as Lord Walney in the upper chamber, also revealed his criticism of the ex-party leader, had strained long-term friendships and also led to […]

A Conservative MP has been criticised for suggesting ballet and opera is enjoyed by many people in the south of England while northerners prefer football, as he warned “northern culture” is being hit by Covid-19. Former minister Jake Berry, whose previous government position included the northern powerhouse brief, compared Accrington Stanley to the Royal Ballet as he […]

The election of Joe Biden is a rare moment of opportunity for British advocates of internationalism to help cement the president-elect’s world view. The moment will be short-lived. The news agenda will move on and the Bannon/Cummings right will regroup and chip away at the new White House. Now is the time for Keir Starmer, […]

Historian Dan Snow has been left with his head in his hands after a Brexiteer made comparisons between Joe Biden’s support for the Good Friday Agreement and American support for the IRA. Lowri Turner -a former journalist and television presenter – appeared on the Jeremy Vine on 5 show to say that Biden was “not helpful” […]

At Westminster today, the talk was of a reshuffle of Boris Johnson’s top team – no, not the cabinet, but the people actually running the country: the rag-tag bunch of unelected former Vote Leave staffers who surround the prime minister.  Johnson is said to want to appoint Lee Cain, his hapless communications chief once employed […]

A minister has hit out at the “politicisation” around questions about contracts and public funding being handed to associates of the Tory party. Alex Chalk, a justice minister, was forced to defend the government over allegations of “cronyism” from a Labour shadow minister on Politics Live. Labour’s Jo Stevens explained: “It raises another issue… the amount of […]

Keir Starmer has slammed Boris Johnson over his government’s lack of “basic accountability” over private contracts during the coronavirus pandemic. Labour cited Cabinet Office data as showing the communications company spend between January and September, adding the total does not include the cost of special advisers and civil servants working on press matters. He told MPs: […]

A Brexiteer MP has claimed that he did not send his ‘ill-advised’ letter to Joe Biden warning him about Brexit, after being convinced by Donald Trump’s lawyers. The Tory had drafted a letter congratulating Biden for his win, before insisting that the president-elect does not interfere in Brexit, because the EU referendum “gave us a […]

A campaigner who launched a legal challenge over Dominic Cummings’ lockdown trips to Durham is appealing his case after it was rejected by the High Court. Martin Redston is seeking a judicial review after claiming the Director of Public Prosecutions failed to fully investigate the Brexiteer’s breach of lockdown rules earlier this year. Durham Constabulary investigated […]

Despite failing to mention it in his tweet, Boris Johnson was forced to talk Brexit with new president-elect Joe Biden. A spokesperson for the Democratic politician said that in the 25-minute telephone call there was a discussion about upholding the Good Friday Agreement, after Biden insisted it was essential to any future trade deal between […]

Conservative MPs have claimed a promotion for Boris Johnson’s head of communications would be the “final nail for the prime minister”. The Telegraph reports that former Vote Leave spokesman Lee Cain could be made chief of staff, joining a trio of advisers including Dominic Cummings, Lord Udny-Lister and Simon Case in the prime minister’s inner […]

An adviser to Boris Johnson has called for the report into allegations of bullying by Priti Patel should be made public. Lord Evans of Weardale, the former head of MI5 and now adviser on standards in public life, said not revealing the report risks undermining voters’ trusts and would suggest the issue was “brushed over”. […]

There are fears that Brexit could hold up the coronavirus vaccine in the United Kingdom,  as the transition period comes to an end on December 31.  At present, there is an agreement with the European Union to keep the same rules in place until the end of the year, but the country needs a deal […]

A group of Conservative MPs have launched a group to resist calls for an extended national lockdown, in a bid to prevent Nigel Farage’s new party gaining influence. Some 32 Conservatives rebelled against the government when the Commons approved the second lockdown for England which lasts until December 2. The prime minister said he expects […]

Tate and Lyle Sugars, a company that has backed both the Tories and Brexit, have issued a warning to customers that it could be hit by significant disruption at the end of the transition period later this year. The company, which supplies major supermarkets including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencers has warned the […]

President-elect Joe Biden has started to reach out to world leaders, with Boris Johnson finally speaking with the Democrat. The American politician had been expected to prioritise calls with top European leaders, with French president Emmanuel Macron high on the list. But Downing Street has insisted they were near the top of the calls list, […]

Boris Johnson’s Internal Market Bill – which attempts to override international law – is to be tested in Northern Ireland’s High Court. An anonymous litigant is challenging the prime minister for acting in bad faith over the Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union, and signing it “without ever intending he should be bound by it”. […]

The director of a public relations firm paid £670,000 to advise the government’s coronavirus vaccine tsar is a longstanding business associate of Dominic Cummings’ father-in-law. It was reported that the vaccine tsar, Kate Bingham, was step down at the end of the year following controversy over the PR contract given to Admiral Public Relations. Bingham […]

Boris Johnson’s tweet congratulating Joe Biden on his US election victory was originally designed for Donald Trump, it has been revealed. The message sent by Boris Johnson on Saturday evening showed the word “Trump” faintly in the background. This led to online speculation that Number 10 had originally prepared a message to herald a Trump win, […]

Testing and trace on its own is not a “silver bullet” to tackling coronavirus, the person in charge of the scheme has claimed. Baroness Dido Harding, chair of Test and Trace, told a committee of MP that the evidence in the UK and across Europe was that it was just one of a range of […]

Boris Johnson ignored the advice of four former prime ministers over his coronavirus strategy, it has been revealed. Former Tory chancellor George Osborne revealed that Conservatives David Cameron and John Major joined forces with Labour politicians Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to write a private letter to Downing Street back in July. They urged Johnson […]

Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said the UK could “struggle for relevance” under Joe Biden’s presidency. The Remain campaigner also warned that the Democrat election winner would view Brexit developments in a “completely different way” from beaten incumbent Donald Trump, given his strong Irish roots. Clegg, who was David Cameron’s deputy in Downing Street […]

Brexiteer Kate Hoey has claimed that opponents of Boris Johnson’s Internal Market bill – which would override international law – are stabbing “in the back of the people of Northern Ireland”. The former Labour MP urged peers to ignore the comments of president-elect Joe Biden, claiming the original Brexit deal has “sold out” the people […]

Iain Duncan Smith has become the latest Brexiteer to worsen relations between Boris Johnson and Joe Biden’s administration, by telling the president-elect that Brexit “has nothing to do with him”. Over the weekend fellow European Research Group member John Redwood was criticised for sending a “warning letter” to Biden over Brexit, claiming they have a […]

Health secretary Matt Hancock has run away from a Good Morning Britain reporter as ministers continue to boycott the programme. The government has boycotted the programme for 196 days, with a reporter opting to instead shout his questions at the MP as he spoke to other interviewers on other networks over the vaccine. As Hancock’s […]

Ken Clarke has attacked the government for behaving like a “third-world dictatorship” with the Internal Market Bill, claiming what it was asking politicians to do was “ridiculous and deeply damaging to the reputation of the country”. The former Tory minister said that Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill was “inferior” in comparison to the three attempts Theresa […]

Former Brexit Party MEP Claire Fox has delivered a speech in the House of Lords attacking opponents of Boris Johnson’s law-breaking Brexit bill, before voting against it herself. By a significant margin, peers voted against the legislation which has powers to enable ministers to override international law. And the Baroness of Buckley was one of […]

Key parts of Boris Johnson’s controversial Brexit legislation have been defeated by the Lords by a huge margin. Peers moved to strip controversial clauses from the UK Internal Market Bill that would enable ministers to break international laws. The Lords voted 433 to 165, a government defeat of 268, to reject law-breaking powers after fierce criticism […]