Sunak’s plan to stop the boats

Another weekend, another set of stories on the chances of a Boris Johnson return. Allies of the former prime minister are on the attack over the privileges committee’s partygate inquiry following the disclosure that Sue Gray – who led the report at the time – has been hired as Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff. It’s still up in the air when Gray will be allowed to take on the role as Acoba – the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments – could take three months to come up with the terms for the appointment. Gray will need to disclose at what point her conversations with the Labour leader began.

However, the most important development this weekend relates to a different issue: small boats. At the end of last year, Rishi Sunak promised to bring forward new immigration legislation to help tackle the issue of small boat crossings, one of his five priorities.