Boris Johnson

Ken Clarke has said Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill shows the prime minister has “absolute contempt” for the way of Westminster business is conducted. The former Tory chancellor was discussing the internal market bill when he said Johnson’s determination to push through the legislation was a Donald Trump tactics and could lead to major repercussions with US president-elect Joe Biden. […]

Durham Police has been accused of giving Boris Johnson’s senior adviser “special treatment” when he was investigated over his trip to the north of England during the first lockdown. It is claimed that Cummings was shown a key statement “as a courtesy” before it was made public. The force had explained why it was being […]

Boris Johnson is set to avoid the latest Downing Street press conference following reports of in-fighting at the heart of his administration. There had been planned to be an update on coronavirus on Thursday afternoon, but it will be left to business secretary Alok Sharma to update the nation. He will be joined by NHS England […]

Downing Street has dismissed claims that the in-fighting at the heart of government shows that Boris Johnson is distracted from tackling coronavirus. Responding to Labour leader Keir Starmer’s criticisms that he is not focusing “on the job in hand”, his official spokesperson said that he was “absolutely focused” on the pandemic.  The spokesman said: “The prime minister is […]

Boris Johnson has lost his chief spin doctor after a power struggle in Downing Street. Here are some of the key questions around the turmoil in Number 10. What has happened? Lee Cain is quitting the Number 10 operation, where he had been Johnson’s director of communications, although he will remain in post until the […]

As Boris Johnson attempts a pivot to Joe Biden his time is running out. It may be time to dig out that line of Kipling in which the imperial poet, almost certainly an instinctive Brexiteer, tells us all to beware “those two imposters”, triumph and disaster. Yes, it looks as if an effective Covid-19 vaccine […]

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 […]

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: […]

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”. […]

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”. […]

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, […]

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 Conservative prime minister John Major has savaged the Brexit project warning that Britain is “no longer a great power” and “will never be so again”. In a pre-recorded lecture at Middle Temple the former MP claimed “even more brutal than expected” due to the UK’s negotiating “failures” and warned of its impact on Britain’s standing […]

A former Tory leader has led the calls for the government to “think again” over its controversial Brexit legislation as the peers plan to strip out powers that enable ministers to break international law. Brexiteer Lord Howard of Lympne is one of the rebels planning to remove the contentious parts of the UK Internal Market Bill, […]

Brexiteer Tory MPs are hatching a plan to topple Boris Johnson if he does not resign in the spring before local elections. Opponents of Johnson, including Iain Duncan Smith, John Redwood and Esther McVey, have created a Whatsapp group entitled “Lockdown Loons” and are plotting against the government, the Mirror reports. At least one is […]

Boris Johnson is to hold a press conference at Downing Street this evening, following news on a successful coronavirus vaccine. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has revealed its coronavirus vaccine is more than 90% effective in preventing the disease. But with Johnson looking to seize upon the news, it is likely that the prime minister will face […]

Joe Biden could force Boris Johnson to sign up to a Brexit deal with the EU in his first contact with the British prime minister. British diplomats have conceded that the PM is likely to be far down the list on people the president-elect telephones after his election win, but when he does the dialogue […]

A source close to the Democrats has dismissed suggestions there will be a ‘special relationship’ between Joe Biden and Boris Johnson following the US election result. “They do not think Boris Johnson is an ally,” the Democratic source told the Sunday Times. “They think Britain is an ally. But there will be no special relationship […]

England footballer Marcus Rashford has hailed the power of “kindness and compassion” after reporting that Boris Johnson had U-turned over providing free meals to disadvantaged children during the Christmas holidays. The prime minister personally phoned the Manchester United star on Saturday to alert him to the decision to lay on £170 million of extra funding for […]

Boris Johnson has yet to get in touch with US president-elect Joe Biden after laying out the case for a close UK alliance with the new administration. “The United States is our closest and most important ally, and that has been the case president after president, prime minister after prime minister – it won’t change,” […]

Boris Johnson has refused to answer questions over Dominic Cummings’ unpaid council tax bill during Prime Minister’s Questions. The prime minister sidestepped a question by City of Durham’s Mary Foy over allegations that Cummings had dodged a £50,000 council tax bill on buildings he failed to register with the local authority. The Labour MP said […]

Nicola Sturgeon is planning to ignore Westminster’s veto on holding a second independence referendum, a leaked party memo has suggested. The National is reporting that SNP MPs Angus MacNeil and Chris McEleny will have their motion debate alternative legal routes to independence during this year’s party conference approved. Dubbed “Plan B”, the motion suggests Holyrood should take the UK government […]

The prime minister will host a new coronavirus briefing as England entered a national lockdown for a second time. NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens will join the Downing Street event at 5pm on Thursday. It is unlikely that any new measures will be announced, but it follows chancellor Rishi Sunak revealing that furlough has […]

MITCH BENN on why he would almost be as bad as Boris Johnson. There’s a very useful expression which succinctly encapsulates the difference between the concepts of knowledge and wisdom. As is sometimes the case with such modern aphorisms, I’ve heard a few different versions of it, and I’m not sure with whom the phrase […]

The Test and Trace system has reached the lowest ever proportion of contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England, a day after Boris Johnson said it had achieved a “remarkable feat”. Four in 10 close contacts of people who tested positive are still not being reached by the system, at the same […]

Rory Stewart has called Boris Johnson the “most accomplished liar in public life” in a personal swipe against the prime minister in an article in the Times Literary Supplement. Stewart, who was of 21 rebel Tory MPs fired for voted against Johnson’s Brexit agenda last year, accused Johnson of being an opportunist who created the “historical forces” […]

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL on how the UK government shows contempt of near Trumpian levels. Needless to say, the government’s fabled miscommunications team got itself into all sorts of muddles over its reaction to the Sunday Times’ revelation that the chair of the UK’s ‘vaccine task force’ briefed American venture capitalists on details of which projects the government was […]

Suella Braverman has defended Priti Patel’s attack on “activist lawyers” after reports they have faced physical and verbal attacks following criticism from the government. The attorney general was questioned by MPs about a Home Office video which accused them of epresenting migrants of trying to disrupt the asylum system. Labour’s Andy Slaughter also told the Commons: […]

A handful of Tory MPs have defied public opinion and their own party to vote against Boris Johnson’s lockdown plans. The prime minister’s bill sailed through the Commons by 516 to 39 in a vote on Wednesday evening. Under the legislation, non-essential shops will be forced to close and social gatherings and non-essential travel banned from Thursday […]