Boris Johnson

Six in 10 people in Britain regard Boris Johnson as “untrustworthy”, new polling has revealed. In an Ipsos MORI survey commissioned by the Evening Standard, only 35% of voters said they trusted the prime minister, compared to 59% who did not. The findings will increase alarm in Tory circles after weeks of leaks and allegations about sleaze. The […]

A cabinet minister has downplayed concerns over the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s official residency by Tory Party donors, declaring the public was not interested in “some wallpaper or sofas”. Work and pensions minister Therese Coffey also said “the right declarations will be made” in due course showing the prime minister is personally paying for the £200,000 refurbishment. Questions have […]

The leaders of six Westminster opposition parties will meet with Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to discuss holding a debate on Boris Johnson’s “inaccuracies” in parliament. The Liberal Democrats, Greens, SNP, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and Alliance Party will attend the talks with Sir Lindsay. Labour has said it will not back the call for a debate […]

Allegations of bullying by home secretary Priti Patel will reach the High Court after a union representing senior public servants challenged Boris Johnson’s refusal to sack the minister. The FDA union launched judicial review proceedings in February over the prime minister’s decision to disregard the findings of his adviser on ministerial standards last year. Sir […]

Douglas Ross has said that offensive comments attributed to Boris Johnson are “indefensible” but stopped short of calling for the prime minister’s resignation. Johnson has denied accusations that he said “no more ****ing lockdowns – let the bodies pile high in their thousands” in a furious Downing Street rant. Asked about his boss’ behaviour, Ross said […]

Number 10 has refused to deny that Boris Johnson personally briefed editors of pro-Tory newspapers over a number of leaks against him. The Telegraph, Sun, and Times last week all claimed that Dominic Cummings was to blame for “systematic leaking” of the prime minister’s texts with James Dyson and Saudi prince Mohammed Bin Salman. The […]

Boris Johnson did not try to block the investigation into who leaked the decision to impose the second lockdown, the top civil servant has suggested, as he said a culprit is yet to be identified. Simon Case declined to comment on Monday on whether the prime minister’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings had been cleared […]

The Tories have suffered a slump in public support as allegations of sleaze and cronyism continue to mount, a new poll suggests. The results come as voters across the UK head to the polls in less than 10 days. Ipsos MORI found the prime minister’s party on 40%, down from 45% in March, with Labour on 37%, down from […]

Boris Johnson has claimed it is “total rubbish” that he allegedly made a remark suggesting they should let “the bodies pile high” over coronavirus rather than have a third lockdown. He also claimed that the public was “not interested” in what was reported in the newspapers over the matter. Talking to reporters, he said: “What I […]

Downing Street has said it is too busy dealing with the pandemic to launch a public inquiry into its handling of the crisis. In a letter seen by The Guardian to lawyers representing bereaved families, the government said “an inquiry now is not appropriate” because “the very people who would need to give evidence to an […]

A group of former political and religious leaders have urged the prime minister to “step up” to tackle recent violence in Northern Ireland. Police came under sustained and violent attack on both sides of a Belfast peace wall earlier this month following successive nights of violence. Loyalists staged protests at the so-called border in the […]

The SNP is demanding that Boris Johnson should resign if reports he said he would rather see “bodies pile high in their thousands” than have a third English lockdown are true. Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said Johnson had a “duty to resign” and called for the PM to address the reports in parliament and […]

The UK’s most senior civil servant is expected to indicate he has not cleared Boris Johnson’s former adviser Dominic Cummings over the so-called “chatty rat” leak of plans for a second lockdown. Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, is expected to say his inquiry into the leak last autumn is still “live” when he appears before the […]

Labour is demanding Boris Johnson explain whether he signalled his backing for the ill-fated European Super League. The plan by the so-called Big Six Premier League clubs for a breakaway competition dramatically unravelled within just 48 hours after it was vehemently condemned by fans and government ministers – including Johnson – alike. However, the Sunday […]

Boris Johnson has denied he tried to block an official leak inquiry following a series of incendiary allegations by his former top adviser Dominic Cummings. In a furious outburst, Cummings accused the PM of seeking to halt the investigation into the leak of plans for a second lockdown after he was warned a close friend of […]

Dominic Cummings told Boris Johnson plans to have donors “secretly pay” to revamp his official Downing Street flat were “unethical, foolish” and “possibly illegal”, the ex-Number 10 aide said. The prime minister stopped speaking to his top adviser about the issue last year, Cummings said. He said he had refused to help Johnson organise payments […]

Sir Keir Starmer has called for an investigation into renovation work on Boris Johnson’s official flat. The Electoral Commission says it is trying to establish whether money being funneled into the project needs to be considered as political donations. There have been ongoing reports about the cost of the refurbishments to the Downing Street flat, […]

Boris Johnson has insisted there is nothing “sleazy” about his messages with James Dyson as he prepared to publish the communications in an attempt to cool a lobbying row. The prime minister said the texts exchanged with the billionaire would be published later on Friday, as Downing Street declined to dismiss suggestions they had been […]

Political journalist Robert Peston has claimed that Boris Johnson is on the path to “mutually assured nuclear destruction” as Dominic Cummings is brought into the lobbying row. Cummings has been accused of being “bitter” over the government’s “great progress” since departing as the prime minister’s senior aide. It has been claimed he leaked text messages between […]

A Tory minister has been left humiliated live on-air after she admitted to not having Boris Johnson’s private number. Culture minister Caroline Dinenage said the prime minister did not give his number out “willy-nilly” in an interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain, adding she did not even have it. Dinenage then defended billionaire businessman James Dyson for possessing […]

Downing Street is embarking on an incompetent battle to preserve the Union Boris Johnson doesn’t care about Scotland. There are a lot of complex elements to the government’s anti-independence strategy, but at the heart of it is that one simple fact. He doesn’t understand Scotland and he isn’t interested in it. There couldn’t be a worse […]

French fishermen have blocked lorries of UK-landed fish arriving in Boulogne-sur-Mer in protest at the slow granted of fishing licenses in UK waters by the government. Under Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit deal, EU fishermen could continue to fish in British waters, but only once they had received a license. But almost four months since the deal was […]

A committee of senior MPs has rejected a Labour call to launch an investigation into Boris Johnson’s conduct over “cronyism”. Shadow frontbencher Rachel Reeves issued the call after it emerged the prime minister exchanged text messages with billionaire Sir James Dyson over the tax status of employees involved in creating new ventilators as the coronavirus […]

The Greensill scandal has exposed long-running tensions caused by a decision to allow business interests into the corridors of Whitehall In May 2010, Gordon Brown left a handwritten note to David Cameron, the incoming prime minister, with a simple message: “The country is in good hands. Jeremy is running it.” Nine years later, Brown’s telling […]

The prime minister has miscalculated on the current sleaze scandal and it will cost him dear During the Brexit referendum, among the pleading emails I occasionally sent to David Cameron’s team were several urging them to hit back far harder against the lies being told by Boris Johnson and the Leave campaign. There were two […]

An inquiry was launched more than a year ago – when will it reach a conclusion? More than a year after it was revealed that Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, had begun an inquiry into how Boris Johnson‘s Caribbean break over the Christmas holiday in 2019 was funded, she has still to say a word […]

A former defence minister has described Boris Johnson’s government as a “cesspit” and the “most distrustful, awful environment” that he has ever worked in. A day after quitting his job, Johnny Mercer launched an extraordinary attack on Johnson and fellow ministers, accusing them of being “cowards” for backtracking on promises to end “vexatious historical investigations” of veterans who […]

The opposition has demanded that the powerful Liaison Committee of MPs holds an urgent investigation into Boris Johnson’s conduct after fresh revelations about Tory sleaze. The call came after it emerged the prime minister exchanged text messages with billionaire James Dyson over the tax status of his employees. Johnson promised the entrepreneur he would “fix” […]

Sir Keir Starmer has grilled Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions over alleged tax breaks he gave to Sir James Dyson’s employees. The leader of the opposition pressed Johnson over lobbying concerns during the Covid-19 pandemic. Citing correspondence between Dyson and Johnson over tax breaks, Sir Keir told the Commons: “What does the prime minister think is the […]

Sir James Dyson has said it is “absurd to suggest” texts he sent Boris Johnson on the tax status of his employees had broken lobbying rules. The BBC reported that Sir James had sent Johnson a series of messages in March last year to get assurances his employees would be exempt from tax rules if they moved […]

A British fisherman has expressed his regret over voting for Brexit during an appearance on Danish TV. Ian Perkes, a fish exporter from Brixham, Devon, told Danish broadcaster DR that he had been “lied to” about the implications of leaving the EU and the increased costs to business. He said: “Do you think I would […]

Boris Johnson has been challenged over his conduct with businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri during a press conference from Downing Street. The prime minister was asked if he had acted with “honesty and integrity” in line with the code of conduct for people in public life, following reports about his relationship with the American businesswoman. Arcuri made […]