Boris Johnson

Opposition parties in Westminster are pushing ahead with plans to force a vote on whether Boris Johnson should be investigated for a “consistent failure to be honest” in parliament. Six opposition parties have written to Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle urging him to allow a vote. The letter, organised by the Green MP Caroline Lucas, has […]

A minister has confirmed Boris Johnson’s trip to India later this month was “under review” amid concerns over a new Covid variant in the country. This comes as Downing Street last week said the trip would be “slightly shorter” than planned with important meetings taking place all in one day. Top UK scientists have been calling […]

Boris Johnson risks losing his election gains against Labour if he does not clean up the “shameful” Westminster lobbying controversy, a Conservative grandee has warned. Sir Bernard Jenkin, chair of the Commons Liaison Committee – made up of senior MPs, has urged the prime minister to get a grip on the lobbying system following a […]

Former Conservative politician Alan Duncan’s new memoir In The Thick Of It contains much criticism of Boris Johnson – but why didn’t he say this earlier? “NOW YOU TELL US” OF THE WEEK Former Conservative politician Alan Duncan, whose new memoir In The Thick Of It (can’t imagine where he came up with that title) […]

Boris Johnson has been urged to act after an Indian Covid variant with potentially harmful mutations was discovered in the UK. Scientists said the appearance of the ‘double mutant strain was a “disaster” and branded the prime minister “crazy” for still considering a trade trip to India later this month. Questions have been raised as […]

“How many divisions has the Pope?” sneered Stalin at Yalta in 1945 when asked to lessen persecution of Catholics in the USSR. Today that question is being asked around the world about Britain as the British Army is being reduced to its lowest numbers in 300 years.  The figure of 82,000 men currently in the […]

Further links have emerged between Whitehall and Greensill Capital, the collapsed lender that David Cameron lobbied for. David Brierwood combined a role as a crown representative in the Cabinet Office with being a director at Greensill for three and a half years. The Cabinet Office stressed that Brierwood’s role was nothing to do with supply […]

“The working class people I grew up with are voting Tory, and the trendy middle class professionals I work with in London are voting Labour. It’s all topsy-turvy.” I wish this was the warm-up to one of those long, rolling observational gags that have made Russell Kane one of the country’s most successful comedians. Sadly, […]

Boris Johnson’s plan to save the United Kingdom has been entitled ‘Project Love’, according to one of his top ministers. According to Scottish secretary Alister Jack, in an interview with Politico, there will be a “slow-burn effort” from Number 10 to show Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland what the family of nations means to them.  […]

Boris Johnson intervened after a Saudi bid to buy Newcastle United ran into difficulties, it has been reported. The Daily Mail said the prime minister asked one of his top aides to investigate after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned a row over the sale of the Premier League club could damage relations between […]

Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has again had to intervene in Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) after Boris Johnson failed to answer a question. In the first PMQs since Easter, Johnson and opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer went head-to-head over the recent lobbying scandal involving former prime minister David Cameron. Sir Keir called on Johnson to back an […]

The European parliament has refused to set a date to ratify the Brexit deal for a second time, amid concerns the UK is not implementing it properly. Party group leaders had been expected to announce the deal would be ratified at a sitting in late April, but following a meeting said they would wait for […]

A former civil servant has hit out at Boris Johnson’s government and the way it does not think it has to “abide by the rules”. Jill Rutter, a senior research fellow at UK in a Changing Europe, said the revelation that the former head of Whitehall procurement became an adviser to Greensill Capital while still […]

A former government chief scientist has accused Boris Johnson of privatising the NHS “by stealth” and operating a “chumocracy” which he claims led to the mishandling of the Covid pandemic. Sir David King said he was “extremely worried about the handling of the coronavirus pandemic” and the way in which public money was distributed to private […]

Northern Ireland is still a peacemaking success story. But 23 years after Good Friday Agreement, the region should be further towards reconciliation and social justice There is no mystery about the grassroots unionist anger that has led to street violence in Northern Ireland in recent weeks. Telling communities to be angry has been the political […]

A scathing new report has accused Boris Johnson of “speaking for England alone” and having “considerable indifference” to the devolved nations. Research from the University of Cambridge’s Bennett Institute for Public Policy accuses Westminster of treating devolved administrations with contempt and handling the maintaining of the Union as “someone else’s problem”. The “Union at the Crossroads” document comes […]

Significant differences remain between the government and the European Union over the operation of the Brexit deal in Northern Ireland, No 10 has said. Talks have continued between the two sides, with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic and Brexit minister Lord Frost picking up the phone last week. But Downing Street said there are still […]

The government has been accused of rewriting chunks of its reports on racial disparities, an expert has claimed. Significant sections of the report published on March 31 – which has been widely criticised – were not written by the 12 commission appointed by Boris Johnson last July, the Observer reported. It also said none of the […]

Labour is preparing to heap pressure on Boris Johnson to act in the wake of the killing of Sarah Everard by pledging legislation to protect women and girls. Keir Starmer is planning to use what he believes is a watershed moment to press for the harassment of women on the street to become an offence […]

The pause in election campaigning as a mark of respect over the death of the Duke of Edinburgh is set to end after four days. Prime minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer agreed to the suspension on Friday when they spoke after hearing of Philip’s death at the age of 99. But […]

Boris Johnson will not attend the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral to allow for the attendance of as many family members as possible during coronavirus restrictions, No 10 has said. The prime minister was understood to have been expected to attend the ceremony for Philip by the royals, but offered to step aside with the number […]

TIM WALKER on Dominic Cummings’ prospects on the after-dinner circuit. With apparently little else to do, Dominic Cummings is to try to cash in on his time in government on the after-dinner circuit – and has signed up with an outfit called Chartwell Speakers. One leading booker tells me, however, that his earnings are unlikely to make […]

Jacob-Rees Mogg, Boris Johnson and Matt Gaetz are in the firing line as comedian Mitch Benn hands out another set of his weekly awards. MASSIVE BRASS ONES OF THE WEEK …were to be found clanking away beneath the oddly-cut pinstripes of Britain’s Best Christian, Jacob Rees Mogg.  He welcomed the dawn on Easter Sunday by, […]

The European Commission president has floundered over Covid. But is it a sign of deeper problems within the Union? Perhaps it is because they are blond(e)s. That can be the only reason why Ursula von der Leyen has been compared to Boris Johnson. Yes, their fathers had jobs at the European Commission, and they spent […]

There have been further calls for calm after another night of violence in Northern Ireland which left another 19 police officers injured. Secretary of state Brandon Lewis is to meet Stormont political parties to discuss the situation. The violence was at a lower level on Thursday evening than it had been on Wednesday, but officers […]

Why have our attitudes to standards slipped?

Downing Street has deleted a blog that talks up the economic prospects of Scottish independence, sparking concerns it was actively stifling freedom of speech. The SNP condemned the move and said it showed the government was “terrified” of the growing support for a Yes vote. It comes after a high-profile scientist warned the removal of the article, co-authored […]

Calls for an investigation have been made after Rishi Sunak revealed he “pushed” officials to consider plans that could have helped a firm David Cameron was lobbying for. Labour also questioned whether the chancellor had broken the ministerial code, while the SNP urged Sunak to appear before parliament next week to “set the record straight” […]

The apparent indifference of many in the UK to allegations facing the prime minister is not shared elsewhere. Especially in Ireland, which has a recent history of indulging political corruption. 

Malignant nostalgia is covering up the truth about racism in the UK, claims Bonnie Greer. The new voting laws in the US state of Georgia and the newly published report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities in the UK have one thing in common: They belong to another age. Both came into being […]

Sir Keir Starmer has urged Boris Johnson to “step up” and convene all-party talks, as he noted Unionist concerns that the prime minister’s Brexit promises are not being kept. The Labour leader, a former human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, said there is “no justification” for the rioting. But he acknowledged there […]

Prime minister Boris Johnson has condemned violence that again broke out on the streets of Northern Ireland, after a bus was hijacked and set on fire. The bus was set alight after being pelted with petrol bombs at the junction of Lanark Way and Shankill Road in west Belfast, the PSNI said. It was one […]