Conservative Party

While Petronella Wyatt thinks Boris Johnson's backers are delusional, fellow former mistress Jennifer Arcuri seems to think he's been swapped

Rupert Murdoch's interviewer of choice had a set-to with the Tory leadership favourite on his little-watched TV channel

There is one area in which Rishi Sunak leads Liz Truss - the lack of data breaches reported in his former department

Anyone coming into No 10 with the slightest hope of fixing Britain would need to acknowledge it is actually broken, and neither of the Conservative leadership candidates can do that

The words 'Prime minister Liz Truss' finally spell doom for the satire industry

The former chancellor's wife has been hit with a £5m loss at Acamar Films, in which she holds 2,000 shares through her investment arm, Catamaran Ventures

With his backing for Kemi Badenoch, the former levelling up secretary once again demonstrated his reverse Midas touch

The Conservative leadership contenders are not being required to explain how they would address the devastating economic impacts of our decision to leave the EU. They should be

There is too little questioning either of the process to choose the next prime minister or scrutiny of the half-baked proposals and vacuous slogans the candidates are bringing to the table

Ahead of another vote in the Tory leadership race, former chancellor Rishi Sunak pledges to get rid of those pesky EU regulations and unleash Britain’s potential. Where have we heard that before?

The former foreign secretary is eyeing up Number 10 (again)

Sir Ehud Sheleg’s donations attracted the attention of the National Crime Agency but he'd still put enough aside to finance a luxury leisure complex on the grounds of his £5m Hampstead home

The fight against ‘woke’ carries with it echoes of their doomed battle to hold back gay rights. 

The PM understands the importance of narrative and has turned government into a soap opera… how long can its leading character last?

Mitch Benn looks at another wild week in politics – including Joy Morrissey MP’s campaign to put portraits of the Queen everywhere, and the Matt Hancock affair PATRIOTISM TEST OF THE WEEK It’s been a terrific week for mandatory displays of fake patriotism, or indeed just another week of mandatory displays of fake patriotism if […]

Boris Johnson’s Tories suffered a humiliating by-election defeat as the Liberal Democrats scored a historic win in Chesham and Amersham. Lib Dem Sarah Green is the country’s newest MP after winning the seat, which had been a Conservative stronghold since its creation in 1974. Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said the result sent […]

Boris Johnson’s government risks another tragedy like the hate-fuelled killings of Jo Cox or Stephen Lawrence by stoking a “culture war”, a former race adviser has said. Samuel Kasumu, in his first interview since quitting as the prime minister’s most senior black adviser, said some Conservatives believe the path to victory includes exploiting division. “There […]

A Tory MP will make a public apology in the House of Commons for bullying parliamentary committee staff as he struggled with IT issues. Daniel Kawczynski acted in a “threatening and intimidating manner” towards the complainants after he was unable to join a committee hearing due to technical problems. A disciplinary report said the Shrewsbury […]

Almost five years on from the fateful vote, historian JAMES HAWES explains why the decision to leave the EU was the result of a Tory civil war – triggered by John Major’s 1992 victory – for eternal control of southern England Karl Marx believed that history was all about a succession of class struggles. He was, […]

Reform UK has announced it will not stand a candidate in the Batley and Spen by-election in a bid to boost the Conservative Party’s chances of taking the Labour-held seat. Leader Richard Tice said he hoped a blue victory would bring about a snap general election and “hopefully the final nail in Labour’s coffin”. With […]

Britain is moving, in fits and starts, towards new political equilibrium between London, the devolved nations and the regions Is Britain becoming more like Europe politically? The question may seem preposterous in the immediate aftermath of Brexit and a tightening grip in England by an ultra-nationalist Conservative party. But perhaps not. Last month’s elections – Super […]

A Tory donor who was made a peer against the advice of the Lords’ appointment watchdog made a half-a-million-pound donation to Boris Johnson’s party only days after taking up his seat. Electoral Commission records show that Lord Cruddas donated £500,000 to the Conservative Party on February 5 – three days after being bestowed with the […]

Boris Johnson is facing a major Commons rebellion over his policy to slash foreign aid. Conservative former chief whip Andrew Mitchell is leading a parliamentary push to ensure new legislation makes up the shortfall left by the cut to the UK’s official development assistance. A further 14 Tory backbenchers, including former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt […]

Labour has called on the political party spending watchdog to investigate claims that the Tories accepted donations from companies that were defunct. Anneliese Dodds, chairwoman of the Labour Party, has written to the Electoral Commission asking it to “urgently investigate” two donations made to the Conservatives that “do not appear to comply” with the law. […]

Former Tory chairwoman Baroness Warsi has repeated her claim that the party is “institutionally racist” and warned it would take years to undo the damage done by allegations of Islamophobia. An independent report concluded anti-Muslim sentiment remained a problem in the party but the allegation of institutional racism was not borne out by the evidence […]

Tory MP Rob Roberts faces being suspended from the Commons for six weeks after a complaints panel found he broke parliament’s sexual misconduct policy. The Independent Expert Panel (IEP) found that Roberts, MP for Delyn in North Wales, made repeated and unwanted sexual advances towards a man. The suspension can only be imposed if agreed […]

Boris Johnson’s comments about women wearing the burka have given an impression that the Tories are “insensitive to Muslim communities”, an independent review into alleged Islamophobia and discrimination in the Conservative Party has said. The inquiry found anti-Muslim sentiment was seen at local association and individual levels but claims of “institutional racism” were not borne […]

Health secretary Matt Hancock has released a video in which he is standing in front of an existing hospital and calls it “one of 40 new hospitals we’re going to build” VIOLATION OF THE LAWS OF PHYSICS OF THE WEEK A few days ago, health secretary Matt Hancock released a video in which he is […]

Downing Street has refused to comment on reports the wallpaper in the prime minister’s lavishly furnished flat is falling down. Work on the No 11 apartment Boris Johnson shares with fiancee Carrie Symonds is the subject of a series of investigations. Johnson has insisted that he has paid for all the works himself but has […]

A legal challenge over the government’s decision to award more than £650 million in contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) will be heard at the High Court. The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor claim contracts awarded to PestFix, Clandeboye and Ayanda Capital were given unlawfully at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus […]

The cabinet secretary has defended the prime minister’s role as the ultimate arbitrator of the ministerial code after critics argued the current system means Boris Johnson is able to “mark his own homework”. It comes as the prime minister’s ministerial standards adviser, Lord Geidt, is in the process of undertaking an investigation into how renovations […]

A Tory MP who urged people not be be “litter tossers” has been accused of hypocrisy after he was fined for dropping a cigarette butt. Richard Holden, MP for Durham North West, was one of two people caught by neighbourhood wardens outside the election count at the Louisa Centre in Stanley, County Durham, on Saturday, […]