Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has narrowly avoided feat over a vote on a bid to outlaw post-Brexit trade deals with countries that are committing genocide. The prime minister’s working majority of 87 dwindled to just 11 as MPs voted to reverse an amendment to the Trade Bill made by the House of Lords by 319 votes to […]

Theresa May has launched a fresh onslaught on Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, in an article for the Daily Mail newspaper. The former prime minister warned Johnson’s threat to override Britain’s treaty obligations in the Brexit divorce settlement risked signalling a “retreat” from the UK’s global commitments. In the article that marks the inauguration of Joe […]

The former head of the UK’s civil service has claimed that Boris Johnson will be “relieved” to see the back of Donald Trump as US president. Lord Sedwill, who served as cabinet secretary from 2018 to 2020, wrote in the Daily Mail that another term for Trump “would not have been to the benefit of […]

Boris Johnson’s official schedule includes time for him to “power nap” during the day, a Downing Street insider has claimed. Times Radio reported an anonymous source as saying that it “would not be entirely uncommon in the diary for him to shut the door and have a kip for half an hour or so,” before […]

Boris Johnson has blamed seafood exporters for a collapse in sales after Brexit, claiming they were “not filling in the right forms”. Johnson also said the UK would control “all the fish” in its coastal waters in years to come. And he linked the crisis – caused by a mountain of new red tape imposed […]

Boris Johnson has demanded politicians be more “civil and kind” to each after debates surround the provision of free school meals sparked public reprisals against MPs. The prime minister’s press secretary, Allegra Stratton, said the debate around free school meals had made life “very unpleasant” for Conservative MPs. This comes as the prime minister accused Labour supporters of using a […]

Greens MP Caroline Lucas has accused the Tories of being the “nasty party” after it told backbenchers to abstain from a vote to keep a £20 top-up to Universal Credit. Lucas accused the government of being “perfectly happy” for the price of the pandemic to be paid for by “some of the poorest people who are least able to […]

A new television drama is to focus on Boris Johnson’s first year in Downing Street, with particular focus on his handling of the pandemic, his own experience with Covid-19, and the birth of his son Wilfred. The drama, to be produced by Freemantle, will focus on the private lives of the prime minister and his […]

Comedian and TV presenter Rufus Hound has used an appearance on ITV’s Dancing on Ice to shame the government over its handling the free school meals fiasco. Hound, a contestant on the show, joked that the only thing crazier than appearing on the programme was a government that refused to feed hungry children during the holidays. […]

Sir Keir Starmer has called Boris Johnson “pathetic” for ordering Conservative MPs to abstain from a vote on extending a £20 weekly rise in Universal Credit, and said that “in their heart of hearts” Tories would back Labour’s move. The prime minister was working to lessen the scale of a potential revolt from his within […]

The Tories are expected to abstain in two key votes on the government’s support for families – which includes scrapping a £1,000 a year cut in Universal Credit and the extension of free school meals – with Boris Johnson claiming the party is “playing politics” with the vote. Johnson will come under intense pressure to […]

Boris Johnson has been told by a senior Tory backbencher that his leadership will be “on the table” if the government does not ease Covid restrictions. Steve Baker of the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group has written to members urging them to put pressure on the Tory chief whip over the issue. Baker, who played a […]

Amber Rudd has said Boris Johnson has a “sort of language which he’s quite rightly nervous using in front of women” as the ex-home secretary hit out at the “boys’ club” atmosphere in the Commons. Rudd also accused the prime minister of going “backwards” on promoting women. The former cabinet minister said she quit Johnson’s […]

Ian Dunt says this is the most severe and unforgivable example of government failure that we have seen in our lifetime. The UK Covid death toll now stands at more than 80,000 people. By the time it is over, it’ll almost certainly hit 100,000. Every afternoon, the same terrible bell tolls announcing the number of […]

Former Commons speaker JOHN BERCOW on the US president, the British politicians who indulged him, and the Trumpian tactics which have spread to the UK. The chorus of execration of the Capitol rioters, and president Trump’s evil incitement of them, has been loud, eloquent and justified. Global media outlets have simply reflected the overwhelming sense […]

New Brexit red tape causing friction at Britain’s borders are an “obvious and inevitable” part of leaving the EU and are here to stay, former chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said. Barnier said businesses could expect to overcome “glitches, problems, and breakdowns” caused by new paperwork in the weeks and months ahead but warned that other […]

It’s the 1246-page document that changed the lives of millions at the stroke of 11pm on New Year’s Eve – but has Boris Johnson read it? The prime minister’s spokesperson was earlier repeatedly unable to confirm whether Johnson had read every word of the treaty setting out the UK’s new trading relationship with the EU. […]

A man has got a tattoo of Boris Johnson’s face on his stomach in order to raise money for a woman to receive life-saving cancer treatment. Kenny Wilding, 41, from Kidderminster, said he got the tattoo to raise money for a family friend who was diagnosed with stage four rectal cancer in January 2019. Megan Smith […]

Last week, editor-at-large Alastair Campbell kicked off a debate as to what more Remainers could have done to stop Brexit. Here, writers, politicians and campaigners have their say. Mary Honeyball Former Labour MEPWe pro-Europeans must show humility. We lost. Leave won. Many Leave voters were on low incomes, over 50 and male. They viewed the EU […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg has claimed fish captured after the Brexit deal came into effect were “British and happier for it”. Rees-Mogg suggested Scottish fishermen should be happy that Britain “got our fish back”, even though many faced financial difficulties caused by stock rotting at British ports due to Brexit-related hold-ups. Responding to the SNP’s Tommy Sheppard’s question on compensating those […]

Home secretary Priti Patel appeared to spark more confusion with an appearance on This Morning alongside Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby. The minister appeared confused about coronavirus rules once more as she stressed the importance of exercising alone. The guidance makes clear that in England someone is allowed to exercise outdoors with one other person from […]

The UK’s vaccination programme started well. But JAMES BALL detects some wearily and worryingly familiar signs of over-promising and under-delivering. No-one ever imagined the UK would end up in a third national coronavirus lockdown, let alone that thanks to systematic government failure it would end up with the NHS in an even more parlous position even […]

Don’t assume it couldn’t happen here, warns ALASTAIR CAMPBELL. There was something almost comical about the way Boris Johnson and his media sycophants sought to distance him and his cabinet from their previous ‘upsucking’ to Donald Trump. Whether Johnson backing Trump for a Nobel peace prize; Dominic Raab even quite recently refusing to criticise Trump’s […]

A government minister has defended Boris Johnson’s record on dealing with the emergence of coronavirus variants around the world – as fears rise over a new Brazilian mutation. Under-secretary of state for safeguarding Victoria Atkins was asked by Sky News’ Niall Paterson why the air corridor between the UK and South America remains open. Atkins […]

A group of Scottish fishermen furious over Brexit red tape has vowed to dump rotting seafood outside Downing Street. Jamie McMillan, boss of the world-renowned Loch Fyne Seafarms, said he would not hesitate to dump rotting stock outside the prime minister’s house if Scottish seafood exports continue to rot at British ports. In a furious video message yesterday, he […]

Boris Johnson has suggested he wants more international collaboration on coping with future pandemics after the coronavirus crisis showed they were “totally unprepared”. The prime minister will chair this year’s summit of the G7 group of major economies and wants it to focus on “building back better, together”. He wants to help shape the meeting […]

Boris Johnson defended having a close relationship with Donald Trump, as the US president was on the verge of being impeached for a second time. During an appearance before the Commons liaison committee of senior backbench MPs, Johnson was questioned over his previous praise of the Republican president. Petitions Committee chair Catherine McKinnell asked the […]

The Commons speaker has had to interrupt Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) to remind him to “answer the question” put forward by Sir Keir Starmer. Sir Lindsay was forced to abruptly end this week’s session of PMQs after Boris Johnson gave a long-winded response to the controversy over free school meals parcels. “Mr prime minister,” Sir Lindsay patiently […]

Boris Johnson has been slapped down for a series of “not truths” as he clashed in the Commons with Keir Starmer over Covid-19 and free school meals. Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle intervened and forced Johnson to withdraw the remark made at Prime Minister’s Questions, advising both leaders to help in “tidying up how this parliament behaves”. […]

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has called on Twitter to act on Boris Johnson’s “lies” on Twitter – in the same way it acted on Donald Trump’s tweets. Rayner hit out the at the prime minister over his comments on free school meals. Turning to Twitter, the prime minister claimed the government “will do everything […]

Well, it finally came. For a year speaker Lindsay Hoyle has been tolerating Boris Johnson’s antics in prime minister’s questions – the ignoring of questions, the deliberate misnaming of the third-largest party, the sheer disdain of spending 30 minutes being held to account; 30 minutes which, in happier times, he could have knocked out a half-arsed column […]

Boris Johnson has claimed that Marcus Rashford was a better leader at holding the government to account than Sir Keir Starmer, in a fiery Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) session which saw the prime minister rebuked for mistruths. Johnson said no one was happy with the images of inadequate school meal parcels that have surfaced over […]