Downing Street

Boris Johnson risks losing his election gains against Labour if he does not clean up the “shameful” Westminster lobbying controversy, a Conservative grandee has warned. Sir Bernard Jenkin, chair of the Commons Liaison Committee – made up of senior MPs, has urged the prime minister to get a grip on the lobbying system following a […]

Boris Johnson has been urged to act after an Indian Covid variant with potentially harmful mutations was discovered in the UK. Scientists said the appearance of the ‘double mutant strain was a “disaster” and branded the prime minister “crazy” for still considering a trade trip to India later this month. Questions have been raised as […]

Further links have emerged between Whitehall and Greensill Capital, the collapsed lender that David Cameron lobbied for. David Brierwood combined a role as a crown representative in the Cabinet Office with being a director at Greensill for three and a half years. The Cabinet Office stressed that Brierwood’s role was nothing to do with supply […]

Peers have defeated the government in demanding help for an estimated 250,000 “mortgage prisoners”. The House of Lords backed by 273 votes to 235, majority 38, a change to the Financial Services Bill, which would require the regulator to introduce an interest rate cap for affected households. It would also ensure in some cases access […]

Boris Johnson intervened after a Saudi bid to buy Newcastle United ran into difficulties, it has been reported. The Daily Mail said the prime minister asked one of his top aides to investigate after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned a row over the sale of the Premier League club could damage relations between […]

Conservative MPs have voted down a proposal for a parliamentary inquiry into the Greensill lobbying scandal. MPs rejected Labour’s bid to establish a committee to investigate the lobbying of government by 357 votes to 262, with a majority of 95. Under the proposal, ministers would be forced before parliament to give evidence and the government would […]

The government’s LGBT panel has been scrapped after three members quit last month. A government spokesperson said a replacement panel “will be set out in due course”, the BBC has revealed. Some members told the national broadcaster they were willing to stay on when their terms ended on March 31. Panellists have also said they […]

The former head of Whitehall procurement became an adviser to Greensill Capital while still working as a civil servant in a move approved by the Cabinet Office, it has emerged. Downing Street has announced an independent review into how the failed firm secured government contracts, following a series of reports on former prime minister David […]

The Department for Education has still not fulfilled its pledge to provide 1.3 million laptops and tablets to disadvantaged pupils, figures have suggested. A school leaders’ union has criticised the government’s “painfully slow” progress one month after all pupils in England returned to the classroom. Data from the Department for Education (DfE) shows 1,295,752 laptops […]

A scathing new report has accused Boris Johnson of “speaking for England alone” and having “considerable indifference” to the devolved nations. Research from the University of Cambridge’s Bennett Institute for Public Policy accuses Westminster of treating devolved administrations with contempt and handling the maintaining of the Union as “someone else’s problem”. The “Union at the Crossroads” document comes […]

Significant differences remain between the government and the European Union over the operation of the Brexit deal in Northern Ireland, No 10 has said. Talks have continued between the two sides, with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic and Brexit minister Lord Frost picking up the phone last week. But Downing Street said there are still […]

The government has been accused of rewriting chunks of its reports on racial disparities, an expert has claimed. Significant sections of the report published on March 31 – which has been widely criticised – were not written by the 12 commission appointed by Boris Johnson last July, the Observer reported. It also said none of the […]

David Cameron has accepted he should have communicated with the government “through only the most formal of channels” as he acknowledged he made mis-steps over the Greensill Capital lobbying controversy. Breaking his weeks of silence, the former prime minister said in a statement that having “reflected on this at length” he accepts there are “important […]

Downing Street has deleted a blog that talks up the economic prospects of Scottish independence, sparking concerns it was actively stifling freedom of speech. The SNP condemned the move and said it showed the government was “terrified” of the growing support for a Yes vote. It comes after a high-profile scientist warned the removal of the article, co-authored […]

The apparent indifference of many in the UK to allegations facing the prime minister is not shared elsewhere. Especially in Ireland, which has a recent history of indulging political corruption. 

Labour is calling for an investigation into Boris Johnson’s verbal attack on London mayor Sadiq Khan during a televised government press conference on coronavirus. The prime minister accused the Labour incumbent of “blowing” Transport for London (TfL) finances through an “irresponsible fares policy”, claims which have been rejected by Khan. The remarks were made from Downing […]

Downing Street has been accused of “abusing BBC neutrality” by hosting daily coronavirus briefings which attack opponents during the election period. The BBC has held urgent talks over the briefings after opposition parties including the SNP accused the prime minister of going on a “political rant” at the latest event. During Monday’s briefing, the prime minister […]

The London Labour party is considering making a formal complaint to the BBC and the head of the civil service about Boris Johnson’s verbal attack on Sadiq Khan during a government press conference on coronavirus. Johnson accused Khan of “blowing” Transport for London’s (TfL) finances through an “irresponsible fares policy” after he had left them […]

Legal campaigners are taking the government to court contending the £4.8billion Levelling Up Fund is unlawful as 40 out of 45 scheme to be approved had at least one Tory MP. The Good Law Project claim Rishi Sunak and Robert Jenrick’s constituencies are among the areas to have benefitted from that a funding formula that […]

Boris Johnson’s former deputy at the Foreign Office has claimed the prime minister is an “embarrassing buffoon” in a new book. Sir Alan Duncan, who was MP for Rutland and Melton from 1992 until the last election and who served on the Conservative front bench over a period of 18 years, also criticises former PMs […]

While wealthier newspapers with larger readerships bowed the knee to the prime minister, this proud regional broadsheet refused to toe the line. Few in academia will profess ignorance of “no-platforming”. This expression of ideological zealotry seeks to restrict debate to orthodoxies with which its supporters sympathise. It restricts freedom of speech upon which, since the […]

Tony Blair has said he did not enjoy being the UK prime minister due to the huge responsibility it entailed. Blair, who was prime minister between 1997 and 2007, also said it was “crazy” that the experience required for the role is so “nugatory”. The comments were made during an interview with BBC Radio 4 […]

The chairman of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities has defended it against accusations of putting a “positive spin on slavery and empire”, saying that to suggest it was “trying to downplay the evil of the slave trade” is “absurd”. The commission’s report into racial disparities in Britain, published on Wednesday, was hit by […]

Boris Johnson’s most senior black adviser has resigned as ministers face a backlash after a government-backed review concluded there is no evidence of institutional racism in the UK. Samuel Kasumu has quit his role as a special adviser to the prime minister on civil society but will stay in post until May to continue work […]

Labour has ratcheted up pressure on Boris Johnson over the £200,000 renovation of his Downing Street flat by calling on the Electoral Commission to launch an investigation into the funding. Cat Smith, a shadow cabinet office minister, instructed solicitors at Edwards Duthie Shamash to write to the Electoral Commission. In a letter sent by the […]

A race equality think tank has questioned the suitability of Tony Sewell as chairman of the racial disparity commission after the academic previously claimed that evidence of the existence of institutional racism was “flimsy”. Dr Sewell, chairman of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, said there was evidence of overt racism in Britain but […]

David Cameron “did absolutely nothing wrong” in his dealings with Greensill Capital, according to a senior government minister. Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng indicated his belief that “everything was above board” with the former prime minister’s connection to the financial services company which collapsed earlier this month. Speaking on Sky News, Kwarteng said that, with Cameron […]

A lobbying watchdog has concluded that David Cameron’s activities “do not fall within the criteria” that requires registration on the Register of Consultant Lobbyists. The Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists said that the former prime minister was an employee at Greensill and so not required to register, following an investigation into whether he […]