What now? This week’s trio of parliamentary by-elections are bound to be the biggest sampling of voter opinion in an election for Westminster this side of the next general election. That election is most likely more than a year away. November 2024 is currently the favoured date, although the prime minister could run all the
Politics
Boris Johnson and Liz Truss both received £18,660 as severance payments after they stood down as prime minister, annual accounts have shown. Both leaders quit amid mounting pressure from their own MPs, but were still entitled to the payout – with Mr Johnson having served just over three years in the job and Ms Truss
Boris Johnson has called for NATO to set out a clear timetable for Ukraine to join the alliance – and claimed some member nations still want to negotiate a peace deal with Vladimir Putin. The former prime minister made the intervention following the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, earlier in the week. At the meeting,
The government has “no strategy” to tackle the threat from China and has left the UK “severely handicapped” due to its “short-termist approach”, a new report has claimed. The Intelligence and Security Committee has published its work on the threat the country poses, saying China has managed to “successfully penetrate every sector of the UK’s
A Cabinet minister has suggested the BBC presenter who has been suspended for allegedly paying for sexually explicit images of a teenager should only be named once a “full” investigation has taken place. Justice Secretary Alex Chalk agreed there was a “public interest” in the broadcaster being named but said it would not be appropriate
The Home Office will today launch an appeal after a court ruled its policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful. The government wants to send tens of thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles away to Rwanda as part of a £120m deal agreed with the government in Kigali last year. Politics live:
The UK’s special forces are the focus of an inquiry into allegations of unlawful activity in Afghanistan, the defence secretary has confirmed. An independent inquiry, commissioned by Ben Wallace last December, is set to focus on alleged illegal activity by British armed forces in the war-torn nation between 2010 and 2013. The probe will also
Campaigners and asylum seekers have won a Court of Appeal challenge over the government’s planned Rwanda deportation scheme. Three judges have overturned a High Court ruling that previously said the east African nation could be considered a “safe third country” for migrants to be sent to. It is the latest court verdict in a long-running
With the Bank of England trying to bring down inflation, interest rates have been raised to 5% – the highest level since April 2008. The government is now urging people to “hold their nerve”, as Rishi Sunak put it. But Britain may be headed for another “summer of discontent”, with one Treasury minister unable to
Disgraced Scottish MP Margaret Ferrier has urged her constituents not to trigger a by-election in a last-ditch attempt to avoid losing her job. The former SNP MP, who is now an independent, was convicted of putting people at risk after travelling by train to a debate at Westminster while suffering from coronavirus in 2020. She
Boris Johnson has dramatically made a double retreat from all-out verbal war with Rishi Sunak over the damning report which concluded he lied to MPs over partygate. First, he has ordered his closest allies in the Commons not to vote against the privileges committee report that proposed a 90-day suspension if he had still been
The live poll tracker from Sky News collates the results of opinion surveys carried out by all the main polling organisations – and allows you to see how the political parties are performing in the run-up to a general election. If you can’t see the latest polls, tap here for the full version of this
In the end, it was excoriating, damning and unanimous: Boris Johnson was found not only to have deliberately misled the House of Commons over events in Number 10 during COVID lockdowns, but had attacked the fabric of our democracy itself by seeking to undermine the committee and investigation. The conclusion of the 14-month privileges committee
A defiant Boris Johnson vowed “I’ll be back” as he called on the Tories to deliver on Brexit and the promises of the 2019 manifesto. The former prime minister hinted at a political comeback on the day he formally resigned as an MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. In a message in the Daily Express
Rishi Sunak has launched a broadside at Boris Johnson after the former prime minister resigned from the House of Commons last week. Mr Johnson was left furious after some of his political allies – Nadine Dorries, Alok Sharma and Nigel Adams – were not given the places in the House of Lords he nominated them
After an explosive weekend, former prime minister Boris Johnson has resigned as an MP, taking supporters Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams with him in exiting the Commons, with whispers that more may follow. It’s left his successor, Rishi Sunak, with an almighty by-election-related headache, as Westminster rolls towards the summer break. Sir Keir Starmer says
Plans for a giant cruise ship to house asylum seekers near Liverpool have been scrapped after being declined by port officials. A government source has told Sky News the vessel was due to house 500 men seeking asylum in Birkenhead, but that will no longer happen following objections from Peel Ports. Politics Live: Boris Johnson’s
It reads like a declaration of war but in reality, today’s resignation statement matters because Boris Johnson is simply throwing in the towel on his political career. Ever since he was slung out as prime minister, Mr Johnson has been a ghost at the Tory feast. Politics latest: Boris Johnson quits He sucked the oxygen out
The Chinese embassy has been told running overseas police stations in the UK is “unacceptable” and that “they must not operate in any form”. Security minister Tom Tugendhat has set out the findings of an investigation into claims of unofficial stations being used to monitor dispersed communities and coerce people to return to China. Politics
The chair of the COVID inquiry has been warned the “only logical response” if she lost the WhatsApp battle with the government would be for her to resign. Solicitor Elkan Abrahamson, who represents the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign group, spoke following the government’s decision to launch a judicial review into Baroness Hallett’s bid