Boris Johnson

It has not even been five months since the end of the Brexit transition period and there have been armed patrol vessels in the Channel. The sad thing is: this is only the latest stage in a development that began with the Brexit referendum and saw a significant decline in Britain’s role on the diplomatic […]

Boris Johnson is being investigated for two possible breaches of Commons rules, the parliamentary commissioner for standards has announced. The prime minister is being probed over his Downing Street flat makeover and a Christmas holiday he took in the Caribbean. Johnson was among a list of MPs under investigation that was kept under wraps during the […]

Financial scandals are never fatal for PMs, but they do lasting damage There is a familiar sequence. Another allegation about the misconduct of Boris Johnson erupts on the front pages. Those that despair of Johnson’s leadership say to themselves or aloud that “surely this one will get him”. A poll is published a day later […]

It would be little surprise if Boris Johnson turned out to be the ‘chatty rat’ the leak inquiry has yet to identify. Anyone who knows me also knows that I have something of an addiction to my phone. Nor is this a new thing. As far back as 1997, journalist John Williams, who was with […]

Boris Johnson met a 30ft inflatable version of himself during a victorious visit to Hartlepool after his party won a historic by-election. The PM said the £2,000 replica reminded him of Superintendent Ted Hastings from Line Of Duty, while a member of the press asked if he thought it looked like TV host Chris Tarrant. […]

Boris Johnson has described the early election results as “very encouraging” after hopes of a Labour revival were dealt a crushing blow when the Conservatives won the Hartlepool by-election. Speaking to reporters in Coventry, the prime minister said: “I know that the results have been coming in since this morning and there’s clearly a lot […]

TIM WALKER on Michael Gove’s reverse Midas touch. Michael Gove – the man who assured British fishermen that Brexit would make them rich – appears not to have lost his reverse Midas touch. Since joining the board of trustees of Dorneywood, Rishi Sunak’s grace and favour country retreat in Buckinghamshire, the value of its investments has plummeted […]

Diplomatic efforts with France will be stepped up to prevent a repeat of the Jersey fishing dispute. The Royal Navy will continue to keep a watch on events but the two vessels deployed to the Channel Island were ordered back to port after the French protest ended. The UK government will now work with France […]

Hopes of a Labour revival under Sir Keir Starmer have suffered a blow after the Conservative Party comfortably won the Hartlepool by-election. The Leave-supporting North East constituency went blue for the first time in its 47-year-old history, as Boris Johnson demolished another brick in Labour’s so-called “red wall”. Voters in the town backed Tory candidate […]

Labour has all but conceded defeat in the Hartlepool by-election after a shadow cabinet member admitted the party was “not close to winning this”. Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon, who led the opposition party’s campaign to hold the North East town, said it looked clear that Labour had not “got over the line”. Such a […]

The prime minister and his fiancee have got it badly wrong over their reported disdain for John Lewis. On contemplating the national orgy of curtain-twitching that’s accompanied Dominic Cummings’s revelations regarding the refurbishment of the prime minister’s flat in Number 11, Downing Street, Oscar Wilde’s valedictory bon mot comes to mind: days before expiring in […]

Boris Johnson has not said whether key social care proposals, as promised when he was elected, will be detailed in next week’s Queen’s Speech. The prime minister said proposals for the long-term reform of the sector and its funding will be brought forward in the “next few months”. Care groups, charities and politicians have been […]

Britain’s Brexit trade deal with the EU was determined by “quarrels, low blows, [and] multiple betrayals” by self-aggrandizing Tory MPs, Michel Barnier has written in his long-awaited memoirs. The UK’s problem, writes Barnier in The Great Illusion, was that it began negotiations by “talking to themselves,” leading its negotiating team to “underestimate the legal complexity of this divorce, […]

Party leaders are preparing for a frantic last day of campaigning in the run-up to “super Thursday” as they bid to sway undecided voters before a bumper crop of elections. The prime minister is expected to make a final pitch to the electorate in England with time running out before polls open, while Labour leader […]

A former aide to Boris Johnson advised him on new planning laws while being employed by two major property firms, a report claims. Industry insiders told the Mirror that Eddie Lister, who stepped down from No 10 over a conflict of interest, had been advising on the proposals. Whitehall sources suggested that Lord Udny-Lister had been […]

A new poll has revealed the Tories could be on course to win the Hartlepool by-election after its candidate polled 17 points ahead of Labour. Tory candidate Jill Mortimer could win 50% of the vote with Labour GP Dr Paul Williams on 33%, if undecideds were removed, according to Survation. Independents Thelma Walker and Sam Lee […]

There's reason for opponents of this Tory government to feel optimistic about Boris Johnson's changing fortunes

Boris Johnson has insisted he is a fan of retailer John Lewis after the leader of the opposition mocked the scandal surrounding the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat. The prime minister was asked about reports he and his fiancee Carrie Symonds had rejected furnishings by the department store left in the Number 11 flat […]

Boris Johnson’s mobile phone number was freely available on the internet for the last 15 years, according to reports. A contact number for Johnson was listed on the bottom of a press release when he was still shadow higher education minister in 2006 – a document which was still available online in 2021. Reports earlier […]

Alba Party leader Alex Salmond has said a “puff of wind” could currently blow Boris Johnson over, and has said he is not even sure if the prime minister will remain in place after the May elections. Johnson has been under fire in recent weeks over a number of issues, including the recent announcement by […]

Keir Starmer has claimed an investigation into the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat could be “over in five minutes” if he revealed “who paid for it in the first place”. The PM has insisted he has not broken any laws over renovations of his Number 11 residence after the Electoral Commission launched a […]

Department store John Lewis appeared to mock Boris Johnson as he faced a probe into the controversial refurbishment of his Downing Street flat. The lavish update of the Downing Street decor was reportedly inspired by a desire to get rid of the “John Lewis furniture nightmare” left over by Theresa May. As the Electoral Commission […]

A cross-party panel of MPs will be asked to consider how misleading comments in the Commons should be corrected over concerns from opposition MPs that Boris Johnson is consistently dishonest. Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle backed a proposal for the Commons Procedure Committee to look into “how perceived inaccuracies could be corrected” in a bid to […]

Boris Johnson “certainly won’t be resigning” amid accusations of sleaze against him and his government, a minister has insisted. Scottish secretary Alister Jack was peppered with questions about the PM, including over the controversial refurbishment of his Downing Street flat and why he is not due to visit Scotland ahead of next week’s Holyrood elections. SNP […]

Matt Kelly on how media saw Boris Johnson as one of their own… and gave the shyster a free ride. Only once have I encountered Boris Johnson in the flesh. It was an illuminating experience, shedding as much sunlight on my industry as it did on this man who, as Ted Hastings would simmer, we’ve […]

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “sleaze, cronyism and scandal” after the Electoral Commission launched an investigation into the refurb of the prime minister’s Downing Street flat. Sir Keir used Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) to grill Johnson over the Commission’s announcement. “Who initially, and prime minister, initially is the key word here, who initially […]

The Electoral Commission has announced it will investigate the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat, saying it was “satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence or offences may have occurred”. The election and donations watchdog said it had been in contact with the Conservative Party on the matter since March. […]

Michael Gove’s wife has come to the defence of Boris Johnson over allegations surrounding his flat refurbishment, by claiming that he “can’t be expected to live in a skip”. Sarah Vine, who is married to the Cabinet Office minister, said the prime minister must live “to a certain standard” and that it is “perfectly reasonable” for […]