Boris johnson

Boris Johnson was always dubbed the ‘Heineken Tory’ – the man who could always reach parts of the country which other Conservatives couldn’t. But now it seems that appeal hasn’t extended as far as, er, his own backyard ahead of next month’s local elections. For Hillingdon Tories appear to have removed any trace of the Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP from their election literature, following his recent woes over Partygate and the cost of living crisis. Local elections are of course a matter for local candidates but political parties haven’t hesitated to put their leaders onto past leaflets when they think they’re onto a winner. The Prime Minister was also not mentioned in

Prime Minister’s Questions took a rather bizarre twist this afternoon when the Labour leader ended up demanding Boris Johnson apologise to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Prime Minister reportedly complained to Tory MPs last night about Justin Welby’s criticism of the government’s Rwanda asylum policy. Sources at the meeting said Johnson had claimed Welby was ‘less vociferous’ about Vladimir Putin than he had about this policy – something the Church of England has already condemned as a ‘disgraceful slur’. Johnson did not apologise, instead saying:  I was slightly taken aback for the government to be criticised over the policy that we have devised to end the deaths at sea in the Channel as

After Boris Johnson faced a hostile response in the chamber from opposition MPs over his partygate fine, on Tuesday evening the Prime Minister addressed his own MPs in a meeting organised by the government whips. Ahead of the meeting, Johnson had been dealt a blow when former chief whip Mark Harper said he no longer had confidence in his ability to lead the government. Johnson’s meeting was notable for what it missed: no mention of partygate. ‘It was more like an election rally speech,’ says an attendee. The Prime Minister embarked on a call and command as he asked MPs who they would trust more with the economy – Rishi Sunak

Since her appointment as Culture Secretary in September, Nadine Dorries hasn’t been shy about making the odd enemy or two. Whether it’s the BBC, Channel 4, Facebook or Ofcom, the former nurse has shown no compunction in dishing out the harsh medicine during her seven months in office. And now it seems the Bedfordshire MP can add another name to her growing list of foes: Vladimir Putin’s kleptocratic Russian regime. For Dorries is one of the more surprising additions on a list of 13 British politicians who have today been banned by Moscow over the UK’s ‘hostile’ stance on the war in Ukraine. While some of the names like Prime Minister Boris Johnson,

Is the Prime Minister’s plan to divert some asylum seekers to Rwanda racist? Is it inhumane? Is it a dead cat to distract from his fixed-penalty notice for breaching Covid rules? These are the questions fixating the political-media-activist class today and while they are not necessarily unimportant, they neglect a question that might be of more immediate concern to the average voter concerned about border integrity and abuse of the asylum system. Namely, will the Prime Minister’s plan work? To answer this, we must acknowledge its provenance in Australia’s policy of offshore processing, detention and turn backs, introduced in 2001 as John Howard’s Pacific Solution and reintroduced by Tony Abbott

This is an edited version of Lord Wolfson’s resignation letter, following the Met’s decision to fine Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak over Downing Street parties which broke Covid restrictions in 2020. Dear Prime Minister, Everyone in a state, and indeed the state itself, is subject to the law It was a great honour to be invited to join your government as a justice minister. In my maiden speech, I twice used the phrase ‘justice and the rule of law’. Justice may often be a matter of courts and procedure, but the rule of law is something else – a constitutional principle which, at its root, means that everyone in a

‘I was very busy. The party was crap. I’m sorry you’re angry. Now leave me alone.’ That was the gist of Boris’s statement about being fined for attending an event in Downing Street to celebrate his birthday.  A flustered-looking Prime Minister delivered the Partygate Declaration in a small, wood-panelled room with a nicely-lit painting behind him. Not a bad setting. It looked homely, low-key, reassuringly domestic. If he’d sat at a varnished desk flanked by a Union Jack and a Nato flag he’d have sent the wrong signal. And he delivered his mea culpa in a standing position, as if he were dealing with a minor office problem while hurrying