British Politics

Labour has demanded that a report into allegations of bullying from Priti Patel should be published in full amid reports Boris Johnson will ‘fudge’ the outcome by issuing a written warning. The Financial Times said that the probe would be concluded “imminently” but that Johnson would only issue Patel with a written warning, rather than dismissing […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg has compared the awarding of billions of pounds worth of Covid-19 contracts without proper process to “calling a plumber out at 2am”. Rees-Mogg attempted to dismiss calls for a debate on a National Audit Office report into government spending on coronavirus contracts. A report published by the independent parliamentary body found up to £10 […]

There has been an outpouring of rage after Michael Fabricant, a Tory MP accused of sending Islamophobic tweets, will no longer face disciplinary action. Fabricant has been acquitted of inciting Islamophobia after tweeting a message suggesting Muslims were not English. In a now-deleted message, the MP for Lichfield tweeted: “Nationality and religion are not the same thing.” Fabricant had […]

Chip shops in the United Kingdom could suffer from a major fish shortage if the government does not secure a Brexit deal with Greenland, the industry has warned. Around 10% of all fish supplied to England comes from self-governing Danish territory waters as a result of existing EU agreements, the National Federation of Fish Friers, […]

Liz Truss has denied claims the UK “lacks bandwidth” to negotiate post-Brexit trade deals during a tense exchange in the House of Commons. The international trade secretary addressed comments by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau that the UK “lacks the bandwidth” to conclude a trade deal. Trudeau told the FT he feared a trade deal between […]

A Labour MP has been rebuked by the speaker in the House of Commons after claiming Boris Johnson’s “foulmouthed-edness has caught up with him”. Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi raised previous comments by the prime minister to point out that his remarks are likely to have made chances of a deal with the president-elect Joe […]

Support for the EU in Britain is at a record high, a survey into Covid-19 responses across Europe has found. Positive opinions about the bloc in Britain has increased by six points over the last year to 60% of the population – the highest number recorded for the country by researchers. The Pew Research Center study of […]

Liz Truss has claimed that a trade deal between the UK and Japan goes “further and faster” than the current EU-Japan agreement, but refused to quantify how, following questions from Labour. Shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry questioned the minister as the opposition continued to scrutinise the new agreement. Thornberry called for Truss to provide […]

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has warned that Boris Johnson needs to secure a Brexit deal with the EU to guarantee distribution of a coronavirus vaccine. Brown pointed out that the Pfizer vaccine, in particular, requires distribution links with Belgium, where its manufacturing site is based. He said that Britain without a deal with the […]

Led By Donkeys has urged Boris Johnson to meet with the bereaved families of Covid-19 victims in its latest clip beamed onto the Houses of Parliament. The anti-Brexit campaign group have piled pressure on Johnson to make good on his promise to meet the families of people who have died from coronavirus. Johnson is yet to follow […]

Brexiteer Julia Hartley-Brewer has been accused of calling on people to break the coronavirus rules at Christmas, after suggesting those that celebrated other religious events had contributed to a rise in cases. The talkRADIO presenter previously claimed that “families getting together for Eid in an area with a large Muslim population” was a “key part of reasoning” […]

Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg has been urged to make virtual participation in parliament available to all MPs as soon as possible. The government has been criticised in recent weeks for its reluctance to bring back hybrid proceedings for the House of Commons, as per the first coronavirus lockdown in the spring when MPs could participate […]

The Lord Chancellor has said “activist lawyers” have helped undermine the legal profession’s reputation and accused some of playing up their political leanings on social media to tout for work. Robert Buckland refused to reprimand Boris Johnson and Priti Patel for referring to those aiding asylum and refugee seekers as “lefty lawyers” at the Conservative Party […]

Robert Jenrick has “something to hide” if he does not publish minutes and correspondence linked to decisions around a £3.6 billion funding pot to help struggling towns. It comes as Commons spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee warned that a “lack of transparency” over how money has been awarded could “fuel accusations of political bias” […]

Nearly 60% of Welsh people believe Westminster should cede more powers to the Senedd, new polling has found. In a survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of YesCymru, the campaign for Welsh independence, 59% of respondents who had a view said they would support a “devo-max” option in a referendum. The “devo-max” option would see […]

Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill has been heavily defeated again in a House of Lords. Peers voted 367 to 209 for a cross-party amendment that would prevent Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for being “bypassed” once the UK’s Brexit transition period ended on December 31. The result is deemed one of the biggest Lords defeats in history. […]

A Labour MP has clashed with a Tory minister after saying Boris Johnson had a “pattern of behaviour” wasting taxpayers’ funds. Shadow housing and communities minister Steve Reed said the prime minister had a track record of spending public funds on projects that were either scrapped or seen as inefficient. Reed also said the Tory party […]

Despite the government demanding those in self-isolation remain at home, Downing Street has admitted Boris Johnson was neither in his office nor his home to film a virtual session of Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs).  The prime minister was told by Test and Trace to isolate on Sunday evening and, despite testing negative for Covid-19, will […]

Number 10’s new press secretary has ended Boris Johnson’s war with the media, days after the dramatic departure of advisers Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings walked out of Downing Street. Allegra Stratton told a Westminster briefing that Boris Johnson believed the press had played a “powerful role” during the coronavirus pandemic. Cain, a former Mirror […]

Boris Johnson has said he is “very proud” of the government’s efforts to buy up urgently needed kit during the coronavirus outbreak after the public spending watchdog criticised the way normal standards of transparency were set aside. At prime minister’s questions, Labour leader highlighted the National Audit Office report criticising the government’s handling of the […]

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has been praised for cutting Boris Johnson’s long waffling answer off mid-sentence. Johnson was embarking on a rant about the Scottish National Party at Prime Minister’s Questions after Iain Blackford claimed that the Tory leader’s comments about devolution were “not just flippant remarks”. He said: “His attack on devolution wasn’t just a slip of the […]

Ministers have been accused of leaving Northern Ireland businesses ‘in distress’ after failing to answer 60 questions about post-Brexit trading rules. A business leader slammed ministers for leaving firms in the dark with just six weeks to go until the end of the transition period. “We asked 67 questions at the beginning of the summer,” Manufacturing NI’s […]

Is this the way they say the future’s meant to feel? Back to the Future II promised we’d all be shooting around on hoverboards by now while clad in self-drying jackets; The Jetsons said we’d at least have colonised space. But what we have, with Boris Johnson self-isolating after having a non-socially distanced, non-mask-wearing meeting […]

Sir Keir Starmer has taken a dig at Boris Johnson and questioned the loyalty of the Tory backbench during a heated session of Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Sir Keir said 32 backbench MPs had broken ranks to oppose the prime minister and many more had been questioning his authority. Responding to a swipe over Labour’s support the NHS Test […]

A Labour MP has been left in “shock” following claims by a Tory MP that his party does not have an issue with racism. Labour’s Clive Lewis and Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell exchanged barbs over how each party has reacted to internal issues of racism and ethnic and religious discrimination. The row comes on the back of […]

Boris Johnson has been told by Labour leader Keir Starmer that the biggest threat to the future of the United Kingdom is every time he “opens his mouth”. At Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) Starmer challenged Johnson his remarks when he said Scottish devolution was “a disaster”. Sir Keir Starmer said: “Devolution in Scotland, Wales and […]

Despite Jeremy Corbyn being readmitted to the Labour Party, Keir Starmer has blocked restoring the parliamentary party whip to the long-standing MP. The Islington North MP was suspended from Labour last month for his response to a damning Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report which found that the party had broken the law in […]

An SNP politician has schooled Britain’s trade envoy about the UK’s prospect of becoming prosperous after Brexit. Angus Brendan MacNeil, who chairs the Commons committee on trade that met on Wednesday, said the UK faced years of “poverty” after it permanently leaves the EU on January 1. Probing Tony Abbott, Britain’s newly-appointed trade envoy, on his opinions of Brexit, the newly-minted diplomat […]

Boris Johnson and his former senior adviser Dominic Cummings are set to appear in a special edition of the Beano. BeanOLD, produced for older readers reflecting on the year 2020, will be a pull-out inside the regular Beano and will see Dennis the Menace’s parents look back on Zoom quizzes, home-schooling, delayed Bond films and […]

Piers Morgan and Alok Sharma have clashed over the UK government’s preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic in a fiery interview on Good Morning Britain (GMB). Morgan seized an opportunity to question the business minister over the UK’s Covid death toll, which is one of the highest in Europe. “If we were well prepared why do we […]

The boss of Test and Trace has revealed she is self-isolating. Dido Harding, the Conservative peer, becomes the latest politician to receive notice that she must stay away from the public over Covid-19 fears. She tweeted that she had received a notification on her mobile app to do so “overnight”. She wrote: “Nothing like personal experience […]

Piers Morgan has criticised government decisions to award controversial contracts over Covid-19 which has left the taxpayer “reaping the ruin financially”. Morgan was interviewing business secretary Alok Sharma on Good Morning Britain after it was revealed that £21 million was awarded to a Spanish businessman to act as a “go-between” in a contract which worked with Chinese manufacturers […]