United Kingdom

A former aide to Boris Johnson advised him on new planning laws while being employed by two major property firms, a report claims. Industry insiders told the Mirror that Eddie Lister, who stepped down from No 10 over a conflict of interest, had been advising on the proposals. Whitehall sources suggested that Lord Udny-Lister had been […]

The new royal yacht named after Prince Philip is a waste of £200 million, says MITCH BENN. “SERIOUSLY GUYS, READ THE ROOM” MOMENT OF THE WEEK  This week brought the news our beleaguered nation has been waiting to hear. Yes, we are still fighting our way out from underneath the virus; yes, our economy is […]

A new poll has revealed the Tories could be on course to win the Hartlepool by-election after its candidate polled 17 points ahead of Labour. Tory candidate Jill Mortimer could win 50% of the vote with Labour GP Dr Paul Williams on 33%, if undecideds were removed, according to Survation. Independents Thelma Walker and Sam Lee […]

Best known as Grouty in Porridge, Peter Vaughan was an actor who seemed to get better with age The Seven Ages of Man speech in Shakespeare’s As You Like It amounts to a career trajectory for all serious actors. The best and luckiest manage to grow old with their audiences, going from playing “the whining schoolboy, with […]

A new book shows how Christians are turning away from the Labour Party. Does it impact their chances? Labour, Harold Wilson once said, owes more to Methodism than Marx. Its founder, Keir Hardie – after whom its present leader is named – was a lay preacher. Its early leaders were devout men; Ramsay Macdonald, its first […]

Set in a Britain with zero-Covid and corruption is punished, is this why we love Line of Duty? SUDDEN EPIPHANY OF THE WEEK On Sunday night I was (like, apparently, 80% of the population of the United Kingdom) watching Line of Duty on BBC 1, when I had a sudden realisation: Line of Duty takes […]

There's reason for opponents of this Tory government to feel optimistic about Boris Johnson's changing fortunes

The owners of a supertrawler have hit out at the collapse of post-Brexit fishing talks with Norway, which has left hundreds of crewmen without work. The failure to reach a deal means fish and chip shops will be selling Arctic cod imported from Norway rather than landed in Britain, UK Fisheries said. Its giant vessel […]

Labour leader Keir Starmer has quipped he is going to start wearing boxing gloves at the despatch box as he campaigned for Labour in Hull. Starmer donned pristine red gloves sporting the logo “vote Labour” as he was shown the ropes at the Vulcan Boxing Club in the city on Friday. The leader of the opposition […]

David Cameron’s mates at Greensill Capital may not have been eligible for any of Rishi Sunak’s emergency Covid bailouts, but it turns out that a company in which the chancellor’s wife Akshata Murty had invested in heavily did qualify. Even though the educational publishing outfit called Mrs Wordsmith received a £1.3m cash injection from Sunak’s […]

The former deputy leader of the Conservative Party has claimed people are getting “worked up over nothing” over the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat. Talking to Times Radio, Lord Peter Lilley said: “We are unique in that people get worked up where nothing bad has happened. “In Russia, public money was used to […]

Boris Johnson has insisted he is a fan of retailer John Lewis after the leader of the opposition mocked the scandal surrounding the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat. The prime minister was asked about reports he and his fiancee Carrie Symonds had rejected furnishings by the department store left in the Number 11 flat […]

Boris Johnson’s mobile phone number was freely available on the internet for the last 15 years, according to reports. A contact number for Johnson was listed on the bottom of a press release when he was still shadow higher education minister in 2006 – a document which was still available online in 2021. Reports earlier […]

New research shows how the Conservatives are hoovering up Christian support The past six years have seen the old rules of British politics torn up. Identities such as ‘Tory’, ‘Labour’, ‘working class’ or ‘middle class’ have been replaced by ‘Remainer’ or ‘Brexiteer’ and voters are deserting their traditional parties. The Conservatives, once the party of choice for middle-class professionals, […]

Robbie Gibb, a former communications director at No 10 under Theresa May, has been appointed to the BBC’s board. It is understood that Sir Robbie, who had a 25-year career at the BBC before spending two years in Downing Street under the Conservative prime minister, was appointed by the government. The BBC reported that he […]

Boris Johnson has said that he doesn’t “think there’s anything to see here” with regards to an investigation into the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat despite the Electoral Commission saying there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect an offence. The prime minister has said he will comply with “whatever” the Commission wants after it launched a […]

From the very beginning, makeovers of the PM’s place of abode have often been a source of antagonism, controversy… and expense. ROBERT WALPOLE (1721-1742)Offered 10 Downing Street by King George II, Walpole refused it as a personal gift and suggested it be the official residence for him and future First Lords of the Treasury. It […]

Boris Johnson created an administration in his own image, and it is doing irreparable damage to our country Shortly before he stepped down after a decade as prime minister, Tony Blair hosted a dinner at Chequers for advisers who had been with him more or less since he became Labour leader. In every one of […]

Keir Starmer has claimed an investigation into the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat could be “over in five minutes” if he revealed “who paid for it in the first place”. The PM has insisted he has not broken any laws over renovations of his Number 11 residence after the Electoral Commission launched a […]

The scandals surrounding Boris Johnson hide the disaster that Brexit has created It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain as companies continue to pay dearly for two basic yet common business mistakes – not putting a Cabinet minister’s sister on the board or having Boris Johnson’s mobile phone number. […]

Department store John Lewis appeared to mock Boris Johnson as he faced a probe into the controversial refurbishment of his Downing Street flat. The lavish update of the Downing Street decor was reportedly inspired by a desire to get rid of the “John Lewis furniture nightmare” left over by Theresa May. As the Electoral Commission […]

A cross-party panel of MPs will be asked to consider how misleading comments in the Commons should be corrected over concerns from opposition MPs that Boris Johnson is consistently dishonest. Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle backed a proposal for the Commons Procedure Committee to look into “how perceived inaccuracies could be corrected” in a bid to […]

Boris Johnson “certainly won’t be resigning” amid accusations of sleaze against him and his government, a minister has insisted. Scottish secretary Alister Jack was peppered with questions about the PM, including over the controversial refurbishment of his Downing Street flat and why he is not due to visit Scotland ahead of next week’s Holyrood elections. SNP […]

Matt Kelly on how media saw Boris Johnson as one of their own… and gave the shyster a free ride. Only once have I encountered Boris Johnson in the flesh. It was an illuminating experience, shedding as much sunlight on my industry as it did on this man who, as Ted Hastings would simmer, we’ve […]

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “sleaze, cronyism and scandal” after the Electoral Commission launched an investigation into the refurb of the prime minister’s Downing Street flat. Sir Keir used Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) to grill Johnson over the Commission’s announcement. “Who initially, and prime minister, initially is the key word here, who initially […]

The Electoral Commission has announced it will investigate the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat, saying it was “satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence or offences may have occurred”. The election and donations watchdog said it had been in contact with the Conservative Party on the matter since March. […]

News UK has drastically scaled back plans for a new opinionated television service in Britain after its chief executive said it was no longer financially viable. Rebekah Brooks told staff the enormous costs of launching a new channel on-air meant it did not make business sense. Brooks said News UK would instead focus on streaming platforms […]

Michael Gove’s wife has come to the defence of Boris Johnson over allegations surrounding his flat refurbishment, by claiming that he “can’t be expected to live in a skip”. Sarah Vine, who is married to the Cabinet Office minister, said the prime minister must live “to a certain standard” and that it is “perfectly reasonable” for […]

Downing Street is said to be alarmed by reports circulating that Dominic Cummings will release explosive WhatsApp messages exposing the chaos during the early days of the fight against Covid-19. Insiders are said to be sifting through the phones in search of information that could cause them trouble. This comes as a bitter spat between Boris […]

Boris Johnson reportedly claimed he could not afford the £200,000 cost of revamping his Downing Street flat, following suggestions he wanted donors to “secretly pay” for the work. It is the latest allegation about the refurbishment of Number 11, and comes after Downing Street attempted to draw a line under the issue. A No 10 spokeswoman […]

James Dyson had said the reporting of his leaked texts to Boris Johnson suggesting he was trying to “extract favours” was not an accusation “characterisation” of himself. The billionaire pro-Brexit inventor was embroiled in a lobbying row after Johnson reportedly promised Dyson he would “fix” an issue over the tax status of his employees after he […]

Labour has called for an investigation into whether Boris Johnson’s former press secretary “knowingly misled” journalists over the Downing Street flat refurbishments. On March 8, Allegra Stratton told reporters: “Conservative Party funds are not being used to pay for any refurbishment of the Downing Street estate.” The Conservative HQ “supports the leader of the Tory party […]