News and Opinion

A deal between the European Union and the British government is unlikely to be struck until the autumn, the BBC’s Europe editor has claimed. In a case of déjà vu for politics, there may only be a breakthrough in the Brexit process later this year, much like when compromise was reached with the Withdrawal Agreement […]

Who is on the BBC Question Time panel tonight? Here’s your full guide Tonight’s Question Time comes virtually from Glasgow, with audience members submitting questions from the Dear Green Place via video. But who’s on the panel? Here’s your complete guide… Helen Whately Who? Junior health minister Former deputy chair of the Conservative Party, Whately […]

A petition calling for Dominic Cummings’ departure after it emerged he violated lockdown guidelines has gathered almost a million signatures. Cummings is accused of flouting lockdown rules when he had travelled 270 miles to Durham from London to seek childcare support while he and his wife were ill with coronavirus. Despite a growing number of […]

Health secretary Matt Hancock has been criticised for laughing at questions about the government’s track and trace scheme on live television. Hancock appeared on Sky News with Kay Burley when he laughed at accusations the government had rushed its rollout of the track and trace scheme to deflect attention from Dominic Cummings. Hancock, who started […]

The woman behind the ‘clap for carers’ scheme has said she will no longer take part – saying this week’s event should be the last. Millions of people across the UK have lined their thresholds, gathered – while socially distancing – on pavements, and stood in their gardens at 8pm every Thursday to demonstrate their […]

Contact tracing could be undermined if the government continues to keep Dominic Cummings in his post, the shadow health secretary has said. Jonathan Ashworth voiced support for NHS Test and Trace launched in England as ‘the only way we can safely ease out of this lockdown’. But he added that health secretary Matt Hancock’s support […]

Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has said it was her decision not to appear on the show on Wednesday night after she was reprimanded for her Dominic Cummings monologue. Maitlis said she has been ‘overwhelmed’ by support from viewers as a petition in support of the presenter hit 50,000 signatures in under 12 hours. The 49-year-old […]

STEVE ANGLESEY on the reoccurring problems facing Boris Johnson that once troubled John Major. ‘Weak and hopeless’. ‘Ineffective’. ‘A government that can do no right’. They might sound like recent assessments, as Covid calamity turns into Domnishambles, but these critiques of a stuttering Conservative regime blown way off course soon after an election victory are […]

Brexiteer MP Christopher Chope has responded to a constituent’s letter about Dominic Cummings by defending the adviser and then embarking on a rant about migrants. https://twitter.com/bchadwickfrance/status/1265293143550955521 Chope wrote to Benjamin Chadwick, who had sent him a letter concerning Cummings’ actions, commending the senior aide’s ‘work ethic’ while slamming government social distancing guidelines and migrants. In […]

Those working in Whitehall can see Covid and a chaotic Brexit are about to combine with devastating consequences, says THE SECRET CIVIL SERVANT. The Perfect Storm has been one of my go-to movies during lockdown. In a key scene hundreds of miles away from the socio-economic tragedy about to unfold, a harried and bespectacled meteorologist […]

BONNIE GREER on how masks are becoming another signifier in the culture wars. I knew that the severe part of the lockdown was over when I felt a rumble in my apartment and the sound of the pavement outside being split open. Construction was back, and with it construction workers, practically singing like the birds […]

Dominic Cummings may have committed ‘a minor breach’ of lockdown rules when he drove to Barnard Castle but will face no further action, Durham police have said. The force issued a statement on the prime minister’s top aide’s decision to travel to the county days after lockdown had been imposed, saying it did not consider […]

The regional director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Europe has made a barbed reference to Dominic Cummings in calling for leaders, advisers and the public to ‘build trust’. Dr Hans Kluge said a symbiotic relationship between ‘leadership and citizenship’ was needed, saying it was ‘very important’ for the former to ‘build trust’ with […]

A petition has been launched opposing the BBC’s decision to reprimand Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis for her monologue about Dominic Cummings’ rule-breaking. Maitlis is not expected to appear on Wednesday’s programme after introducing the last show saying the prime minister’s chief adviser had ‘broken the rules’ and ‘the country can see that, and it’s shocked […]

Emily Maitlis has been replaced as presenter of Newsnight on Wednesday evening after bosses reprimanded the host for a monologue about Dominic Cummings breaking lockdown rules. Presenter Emily Maitlis opened the latest show by saying the prime minister’s chief adviser had ‘broken the rules’ and ‘the country can see that, and it’s shocked the government […]

A Labour MP has challenged Boris Johnson to release evidence surrounding Dominic Cummings’ whereabouts during his lockdown-breaking trip to Durham after the prime minister admitted to having it. Labour MP Meg Hillier called on the prime minister to release the evidence he admits seeing that proves some claims against Cummings’ trip to Durham during lockdown […]

Prime minister Boris Johnson has told a Commons scrutiny committee that an inquiry into Dominic Cummings breaking lockdown rules would not be ‘a very good use of official time’. In Johnson first appearance in front of the liaison committee since becoming prime minister last July he was asked why he had not launched an inquiry […]

Downing Street has said it was unaware that the number of people being tested for the coronavirus had disappeared from daily press briefings. A No 10 spokesperson said it was unable to explain why Department of Health testing figures had been dropped four days in a row saying it was ‘not something I have noticed.’ […]

Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed a public inquiry will be held into the Scottish government’s response to coronavirus. It came after she faced claims from Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw that residents in care homes have been ‘treated like second-class citizens’. He told her what has happened in care homes is ‘a national scandal’. Have your […]

A Commons Brexit committee has grilled the UK’s chief negotiator over Dominic Cummings’ involvement in EU trade talks. Questioned on the role the prime minister’s top aide had in negotiations, Brexit negotiator David Frost said he had never been ‘instructed’ by Dominic Cummings. Tory MP Peter Bone asked: ‘What’s your relationship with Dominic Cummings, do […]

Keeping Dominic Cummings is the only way to get Brexit done and to fulfil the pledges made in the general election, a Tory MP has told angry colleagues in his parliamentary party. Devizes MP Danny Kruger – son of Bake Off judge Prue Leith and is also close to both Cummings and Wakefield – has […]

A polling expert has likened Boris Johnson’s recent ratings drop to how former Tory prime minister John Major won and quickly lost authority and power in the 1990s. Prime minister Boris Johnson in the Commons and his senior aide, Dominic Cummings (R); PA images – Credit: Archant Peter Kellner, the former chairman at polling company […]

Boris Johnson is facing another Tory rebellion after more than 30 Conservative MPs publicly called on Dominic Cummings’ to go. Senior ministers and backbenchers have called for Johnson’s top political advisor to be ousted from Downing Street after he allegedly broke lockdown rules to travel to Durham in March. Those appealing for Cummings to go […]

A vicar has told of his disappointment after the government rejected Matt Hancock’s proposals for a review of lockdown fines handed to families travelling for childcare purposes. Reverend Martin Poole from Brighton asking a question to Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock about travelling for childcare. Photograph: PA Video/PA Wire – Credit: PA The […]

With no ministers available to defend Dominic Cummings on BBC Newsnight, it was left to Tory backbench MP Andrew Bridgen to offer a defence. Bridgen appeared on the programme to brand the whole story a ‘media witch-hunt’, when presenter Emily Maitlis asked the MP if the senior aide had given was adequate. She asked: ‘So […]

Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy has called on Boris Johnson to take responsibility over the Dominic Cummings saga, telling the prime minister it was a matter of public confidence. Appearing on BBC breakfast, Nandy said Johnson should explain why his top advisor’s trip to Durham from London was ‘so unique’ that it did not warrant […]

Boris Johnson’s senior aide Dominic Cummings staying on his post ‘will help make government better’, a Tory MP has argued. Jerome Mayhew, Conservative MP for Broadland, said that the Downing Street adviser should not lose his job because he is a person ‘that will help make the government better’. The newly-elected MP for Broadland in […]

Government is braced for further resignations over Boris Johnson’s handling of the saga surrounding his senior aide. Douglas Ross, a junor Scotland Office minister, resigned on Tuesday as he was unconvinced by Cummings’ explanation for breaking lockdown rules. The Telegraph reports that both Cummings and Johnson rang the MP to urge him to stay, but […]

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has said it is ‘open’ to giving the UK a two-year Brexit delay. Responding to Westminster leaders of the SNP, Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, Green Party and Alliance Party, Barnier said the option of an extension to the Brexit transition period is available if the UK wants it. The […]

Boris Johnson will face the House of Commons scrutiny committee on Wednesday, but critical Tory MPs have been excluded, and attendees will have just minutes to discuss senior aide Dominic Cummings. It is understood MPs will be given fewer than twenty minutes in a 90-minute session to probe the prime minister on the biggest story […]

The Tory lead over Labour has fallen to single digits in less than a week, a new YouGov survey has revealed. Last week’s polling by YouGov and the Times found that Boris Johnson enjoyed a 15 point lead over the opposition, despite Labour’s new leader Keir Starmer. The Tories were on 48% of support compared […]

Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has been praised for her introduction to the latest programme, after she used her opening lines to perfectly sum up the political turmoil facing the government over Dominic Cummings. The presenter explained to viewers: ‘Dominic Cummings broke the rules, the country can see that, and it’s shocked the government cannot. ‘The […]