Boris Johnson

The Green Party has joined calls for the UK to retain membership of the single market and customs union, as Boris Johnson looks set to abandon his self-imposed deadline for a trade deal. The party wants to see freedom of movement retained, particularly for young people who have the most to gain from working and […]

Believe it or not, I try not to yield too often to the temptation to join the dots between the stance politicians took on Brexit to the ones they now advocate on the appropriate government response to the global Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a bit mean, especially to voters in deprived areas who voted Leave in […]

When Boris Johnson announced Tier Three restrictions for the Liverpool City Region earlier this week it appeared that one of the longest running battles in British politics had been brutally re-opened: The Tory party versus Merseyside. The Region’s mayor Steve Rotheram rejected the suggestion that he had agreed with government plans to lockdown saying the […]

A week is a long time in politics. In this Covid crisis – it’s a lifetime. Or more accurately, it’s the difference between life and death. Tragically, this government’s inability to act swiftly has led to untold thousands of deaths. They dithered in March. And now we know if Boris Johnson had instructed the full […]

If the definition of insanity – apocryphally attributed to Einstein, though he never said it – is repeating the same thing and expecting different results, then the definition of idiocy must surely be facing an existential crisis and doing… nothing. Coronavirus was an international crisis in March and remains an international crisis seven months on. […]

A pub in the Wirral has temporarily renamed itself ‘The Three Bellends’ in protest at the government’s coronavirus restrictions for Merseyside. The James Atherton in New Brighton, the Wirral, has renamed itself “The Three Bellends” – with a sign featuring the faces of prime minister Boris Johnson, his close adviser Dominic Cummings and health secretary […]

Normally perfectly attuned to what right-wing newspaper press barons want, Boris Johnson made an uncharacteristic blunder when he announced he wanted to see offshore wind farms generating enough electricity to power every home in the UK within a decade. “He had no idea the Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere, a substantial landowner, considers wind farms […]

Boris Johnson has incorrectly claimed that “whatever happens” furloughed workers were entitled “93% of their current income”. The prime minister told the Commons on Wednesday that workers under a tier 3 lockdown can expect to receive a significant portion of their salary. Addressing MPs during Prime Minister’s Questions, Johnson said misleadingly that “whatever happens, a combination of the Job Support Scheme […]

The Tory leader of Bolton Council has said he is “absolutely disgusted” that Sir Keir Starmer “misrepresented” him in the Commons by claiming he supported a circuit-breaker to control coronavirus. David Greenhalgh said it was “absolutely untrue” that he backed the proposal for a short nationwide lockdown – which Labour is calling for – and […]

Boris Johnson has been told to “keep up” with the latest lockdown announcements after he appeared to lose track during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Defending his three-tiered lockdown approach, the prime minister said: “The disease is appearing much more strongly in parts of the country than in others. “In Liverpool, for instance, alas, the figures are […]

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has taken a swipe at Boris Johnson over the government’s scheme encouraging people to “retrain” and “reskill” themselves to stay in work. Blackford told the prime minister that he will never be forgiven if he refuses to U-turn on the ending of the furlough scheme, before referencing a series of […]

Sir Keir Starmer has labelled Boris Johnson an “opportunist” after he tried to attack Labour for not supporting the government’s latest Covid-19 strategy during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Sir Keir accused Johnson of ignoring Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) advice on introducing a nationwide two-week “circuit breaker” lockdown put forward on September 21. The […]

Boris Johnson is under pressure to implement a “circuit-breaker” lockdown, which scientists calculate could save thousands of lives by the end of the year. Downing Street is understood to be keeping the idea on the table, after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said a two to three-week national lockdown over the October half term was needed to […]

Former Tory prime minister Theresa May has reportedly told prime minister Boris Johnson that business-minded experts should be added to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage). May told the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs that she is keen that more business-minded people appeared at the meetings to give scientists more of an understanding about the […]

A Conservative MP has resigned as a ministerial aide over coronavirus restrictions, saying the “attempted cure is worse than the disease”. Chris Green, who represents Bolton West, said the Greater Manchester lockdown had “failed to control the number of positive tests” within his borough. In a letter to prime minister, Green said he was resigning […]

Downing Street has given a lengthy defence against allegations it ignored advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) on a “circuit-breaker” national lockdown. Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said the prime minister had taken a “considered analysis” of the economic impacts and the public health threat of the virus when he decided not to impose a second […]

Wales’ first minister has threatened to close the Welsh border if Boris Johnson does not impose a travel ban on virus hotspots in England. Mark Drakeford told the prime minister he had “one final opportunity” to stop people crossing the border from England. Drakeford has pledged to write to the prime minister urging him to impose […]

A new poll has found that a significant majority of Britons think that leaving the Brexit transition period without a trade deal would be a bad outcome for the country. Last month, Boris Johnson said ending Brexit talks without a deal was a “good outcome” for Britain, even though it would lead to new tariffs on businesses, […]

A majority of Britons do not believe Boris Johnson has a clear plan for tackling the latest coronavirus outbreak, new polling has shown. A survey by YouGov asked just under 3,000 British adults if they felt assured the prime minister had a plan to contain the virus following his statement on new coronavirus measures on […]

Boris Johnson’s plan for tackling coronavirus will be voted on by MPs, despite warnings from his scientific advisers that it does not go far enough. Official papers showed the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) suggested introducing a national lockdown in September lasting between two and three weeks to halt the rapid spread of the […]

News that the pub chain Wetherspoons could be exempt from new lockdown restrictions in Merseyside has caused outrage online. Pubs that serve food will be allowed to remain open in Merseyside while so called “wet pubs” have been forced to close under new coronavirus restrictions, the Guardian‘s Josh Halliday has reported. Under Boris Johnson’s new three-tiered […]

Rob Davidson of Trade Deal Watch looks at Boris Johnson’s Internal Market Bill and says the result of it will determine how history remembers the era of “Johnsonism”. The people of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland are about to pass a terrifying deadline set by our Prime Minister. Boris Johnson proclaimed that we should […]

Wales’ first minister Mark Drakeford has described Boris Johnson’s proposals for travel restrictions for coronavirus hotspots in England as “inadequate”. It came as Wales’s health minister said there is now evidence that travel to and from areas of England with high rates of Covid-19 has contributed to the spread of the virus to other areas of […]

Boris Johnson is to announce a new three-tier system of local lockdown measures for England in an effort to curb rising Covid-19 rates. – What is happening? Different parts of the country will be split up into “medium”, “high” or “very high” local coronavirus alert areas under the new system. It comes after the prime […]

Boris Johnson has been compared to a school teacher losing control of the class by members of his own party in the House of Lords. A ban on singing, mingling and dancing in groups of more than six in pubs and restaurants came under fire in the House of Lords during a debate on the limits […]

Don’t expect to see the back of Boris Johnson any time soon, says one reader. Reports of Johnson’s early political demise may well titillate but I suspect are exaggerated and probably over-hopeful. I would be the first to admit that I read with relish how this most rubbish of prime ministers is on the skids. […]

Tory backbencher and former party leader Iain Duncan Smith has questioned Boris Johnson’s claims that he and the public can “defeat the virus”. The Brexiteer said that he did not believe the prime minister could ever manage to do it, instead arguing that he must help Britons to live with the disease. Speaking to the […]

DENIS MACSHANE on why Boris Johnson will end the Brexit transition period with a deal. 1) UK Brexit negotiator, Lord David Frost has been instructed to say UK will honour its European Convention/Court of Justice Human Rights obligations which Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in particular opposed as since 2010 he has called for UK withdrawal […]

Boris Johnson’s choice to be the next leader of the World Trade Organisation has been eliminated from the race. Disgraced former defence secretary Liam Fox had been backed by the prime minister and international trade secretary Liz Truss. But the WTO said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria and Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea had made it through […]

I’m sure it seemed a good idea at the time… it’s one I had myself from time to time, when running the Number 10 media operation – get the regional telly in; get the PM to do a round of one-on-ones that cover the whole country; lead the news on every regional bulletin; get the […]

The government’s Brexit strategy threatens to drive the UK down a “very slippery slope” towards “dictatorship” or “tyranny”, one former supreme court judge has warned. Ex supreme court president Lord Neuberger condemned Boris Johnson’s internal market bill during a seminar with legal professionals. He told lawyers on Wednesday that “Once you deprive people of the […]

The Scottish parliament has overwhelming voted against Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill and called on the UK government to abandon the “deeply damaging” piece of legislation. SNP, Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat MSPs all united to vote against the bill, with just the Tories backing it. While the vote – by 90 votes to 28 against […]