British Politics

James O’Brien has warned the debate surrounding Scottish independence risked turning the UK “upside down again”. The LBC presenter’s comment comes as Boris Johnson visited Scotland on Thursday in a bid to “shore up” the union. Johnson defied advice from Scotland’s first minister that visiting the country would amount to breaking lockdown rules and that he should […]

Prime minister Boris Johnson said he had not seen alleged remarks made by Tory Brexiteer Desmond Swayne calling into question the veracity of official coronavirus statistics. The former minister has been accused by Labour and campaigners of spreading misinformation about the virus when he reportedly said that the infection and mortality figures had been “manipulated”. Cabinet minister […]

The UK government shut down the chance of continuing the Erasmus programme because it was “too European”, a Scottish minister has claimed. The education exchange programme was one of the casualties of the Brexit process, but Scotland and Wales are continuing to push for access to it. The UK government has announced a replacement scheme, […]

Piers Morgan has hinted that he could run for parliament after turning his attention to politics during the coronavirus pandemic. The Good Morning Britain presenter has been ranked by bookies 10/1 favourite to become an MP this year, and a 20/1 chance of becoming prime minister within the next decade. In an interview with The […]

A review of worker’s rights post-Brexit, which unions feared would lower standards, will no longer be going ahead says business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in an abrupt U-turn. The move has come as a huge surprise after he confirmed to MPs just last week that the government would be investigating how EU employment rights protections might change […]

The government has withdrawn a “stay home, save lives” poster following backlash over its apparently sexist depiction of women. The poster showed one picture of a woman reclining in a man’s arms on the sofa followed by three images of women looking after children and doing housework. Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “It has been […]

A Tory MP has told Nicola Sturgeon to “grow up” after she questioned the necessity of Boris Johnson’s trip to Scotland. Steve Brine said the first minister was acting “childish” and said she should focus on “better things to do than worry about Boris Johnson” visiting Scotland. Speaking on BBC 2’s Politics Live, Brine said: “To […]

Boris Johnson has been accused of “misleading” MPs by claiming a Labour frontbencher’s 200-day-old comments on quarantine measures were recent. The prime minister told the Commons that shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon had “only recently” said quarantine measures should be eased. His remark was made during Prime Minister’s Questions as he criticised Labour for repeatedly […]

Samantha Cameron has said her fashion label has faced “challenging and difficult” times since Britain left the EU on January 1. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Cameron said her company had experienced “teething issues” in trading with the EU and urged No 10 to speak with small businesses. “[We] definitely deal with having […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg has branded Nicola Sturgeon “Mrs Moan-a-lot” after she suggested Boris Johnson’s trip to Scotland this week would break coronavirus guidelines. Instead, Rees-Mogg said the first minister should be “proud” of the prime minister’s visit to a vaccine facility in Livingstone. Responding to the SNP’s Tommy Sheppard’s question on the matter, the Commons leader said: […]

The Labour Party has attacked Jeremy Corbyn for “wasting time and money” after he lost a court battle to release documents relating to his suspension from the parliamentary party. On Wednesday, a judge dismissed Corbyn’s case, saying he had “sufficient evidence” to fight a High Court battle over the suspension. In a direct attack at Corbyn’s […]

Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne has refused to apologise for telling vaccine sceptics to “persist” with their campaign against lockdown restrictions, arguing he was unaware of their position on jabs. After being told to apologise by Cabinet minister Michael Gove, the New Forest West MP told the PA news agency: “I have always had a […]

Cabinet minister Michael Gove has said there is “an opportunity to look back” at government decisions made during the pandemic as he dismissed concerns it should not have allowed households to mix over Christmas. Gove suggested the government was not to blame for a spike in infections after Christmas during an interview on Good Morning Britain (GMB). No […]

A Tory minister has refused to say if one of their MPs should lose the whip for “completely out of order” comments about Covid-19 statistics. Swayne was interviewed by a US anti-vaccine campaigner and urged an anti-lockdown group to persist with their efforts, suggesting official data should not be trusted. He said he is a […]

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has claimed that Boris Johnson is a ‘huge asset’ to Scotland. Gove was interviewed by BBC Breakfast after they pointed out that a rise in support for Scottish independence was down to Johnson’s Brexit project and his handling of the pandemic. Asked if he thought he was an “asset” or […]

Michael Gove has insisted it is safe for Boris Johnson to visit Scotland. The senior Cabinet minister told BBC Radio Scotland: “It is the case that the prime minister will be operating in a Covid-secure way. “There will be no danger to anyone’s health as a result, in fact quite the opposite, what the prime […]

Tory Brexiteer Sir Desmond Swayne has been accused of spreading “dangerous misinformation” about the coronavirus after he reportedly said that the infection and mortality figures had been “manipulated”. In comments reportedly made in November, the lockdown-sceptic Tory MP told the group Save Our Rights UK that the UK was “bouncing round at the typical level of […]

An SNP MP is proposing a bill to parliament which he hopes would end the “growing culture of secrecy and cronyism at the heart of government”. Owen Thompson says that the Ministerial Interests (Emergency Powers) Bill would “force government ministers to answer questions about any personal, political or financial connections they may have to a […]

Jeremy Corbyn has lost a bid for disclosure of documents from the Labour Party ahead of an anticipated High Court claim over his suspension. The former leader of the opposition is considering legal action over his suspension from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), which could see him seek “an injunction to restore the whip immediately”. […]

Boris Johnson is “the worst PM” and must resign soon, Alastair Campbell has suggested in an article savaging the prime minister’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Campbell, The New European‘s editor-at-large and former Downing Street director of communications, said it was “hard to overstate the scale of the catastrophe” over which Johnson presides. In an opinion piece […]

TV host Piers Morgan has been priced at 6/1 to become an MP by the end of 2031 – and 10/1 of becoming one by the end of 2021. The Good Morning Britain (GMB) presenter made headlines this week after a minister abruptly left the show mid-interview. Work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey terminated an interview […]

What an odd and, in many ways, sombre prime minister’s questions this was. Odd because Keir Starmer was appearing virtually from home again having been forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with a Covid carrier (Boris Johnson managed this time to suppress his guffaw at the fact that Starmer lives in – ha ha! […]

The UK government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been “defined by a lack of leadership, last-minute U-turns, mixed messaging and devastating policies”, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has claimed. He said: “Last night the PM claimed we truly did everything we could to avoid the deaths of 100,000 people across the UK from Covid-19, […]

Boris Johnson has used Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) to call for Sir Keir Starmer to apologise over his coronavirus stances. Sir Keir said he would be speaking to bereaved families on Wednesday and asked the prime minister what message he would like to send to them. Johnson responded: “The message I would give those families is […]

The Home Office has launched a voluntary repatriation scheme for EU nationals living in the UK. The Guardian has learned EU citizens are being offered financial incentives to leave the UK, months before the deadline to apply for settled status. Since January 1, EU citizens have been added to the government scheme which promises to pay […]

An expert has warned that Brexit negotiations with the EU could continue for half a century – as Britain tries to improve the existing deal it has agreed. Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, told the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change that the UK could end up like Switzerland – a […]

A Tory former minister broke the ministerial code when he began working for a PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) firm shortly after leaving government, the UK’s anti-corruption watchdog has said. George Freeman MP, who was a former health minister and member of Boris Johnson and David Cameron’s government, failed to register with the watchdog before accepting a […]

Boris Johnson is “gaslighting the nation” when he says No 10 has done all it could to minimise coronavirus deaths, a Sky News presenter has said. Niall Paterson also accused the prime minister of being tone-deaf. Interviewing housing minister Robert Jenrick, Paterson said: “The words of a prime minister when 100,000 people have died with […]