#CovidInquiry
Analysis: Boris Johnson was “bamboozled” by the science, but Rishi Sunak should have grasped the data and risks. Patrick Vallance poses some serious questions for the current PM
Exclusive footage of Rishi Sunak challenged this morning by a former health worker on the state of the NHS, - captured by an off duty
@skynews
camera operator
Former special adviser Claire Pearsall tells
@SkyNews
a private secretary is unlikely to have organised such a drinks unless “the instruction came from the top… the private secretary works on behalf of the PM in this case”
🔥 Tobias Ellwood tells
@KayBurley
he will be submitting a no confidence letter to the 1922 committee today.
He says the PM does not appreciate the depths of concern among his colleagues about having to defend these stories
Exclusive
After years of delays, I understand laws to introduce a register, which would unmask the owners of properties owned by Russian politicians and oligarchs in the UK via offshore companies, will be brought forward as soon as next week.
More on
@skynews
shortly
Former head of the foreign office Sir Peter Ricketts
@skynews
says Boris Johnson should withdraw his Brexit/Ukraine remark, saying it was "seen as desperately insulting and insensitive all of Europe... we should be trying to heal wounds with the EU not doubling down on them"
Hard hitting report by MPs today says the
#Afghanistan
withdrawal was “a disaster and a betrayal of our allies that will damage the UK’s interests for years to come.”
The absence of ministers & civil servants on holiday was “a grave indictment” of the FCO & “likely cost lives”
Centrist Tory MP tells me has received **800 emails** in past 48 hrs about Cummings: "I've never seen anything like it".
About 10 in support. Not many of the negative ones from people who hate Boris/ Brexit.
It's why they've privately made case that Cummings position untenable
First footage of the PM at controls of a Typhoon last week.
In a speech this morning he'll compare the flight to
to his leadership of the Tory party:
"I hauled the joystick right the way back and we did a loop the loop..."
Rishi Sunak sacked Suella Braverman by phone this morning.
And Downing Street say there won’t be any exchange of letters between the two - almost unheard of.
NEW Explosive testimony from a senior FCDO whistleblower about the evacuation of Afghanistan - saying she is speaking out because civil servants have a duty to dos o when "the public and Parliament has been deliberately misled by the government"
Exclusive
The minister for Afghanistan Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon was also on leave last week, as Kabul fell.
He was on a staycation and not back at his desk until Monday.
Although he knew Afghan FM Haneef Atmar, he was not asked to make the call on Friday.
More on
@SkyNews
now
NEW Senior Tory William Wragg accuses Conservative party whips & no10 staff of "blackmail" of MPs who want a vote of confidence.
He says his colleagues have been threatened with withdrawal of funding from constituencies - and encourages to contact police!
In other news, emails just published by
@CommonsForeign
re the Afghan evacuation refer to the PM giving personal authorisation for the Nowzad animals to be evacuated.
This was denied by No10 spokesman.
Tory backbencher Robert Halfon - who is shielding - hits out at the “stern, unbending” attitude of Govt to electronic voting...
“If you can’t swing through the division lobby like Tarzan beating your chest...they think you’re not doing your job properly” 🔥
Former scientific adviser Sir David King - who is setting up an independent rival to SAGE, which will hold its meetings on Youtube in interests of transparency, tells
@KayBurley
"I’m a little worried ministers are setting up the scientists to be the fall guys"
I understand a number of the ex-Tory rebels who were going to abstain on having a recess for party conference are now going to vote against - after what they heard last night.
To those tweeting me that the animals were in the hold…
The controversy here is about the *considerable* official and ministerial time diverted to this (Pen could have got an RAF ✈️ alone last week), and about the soldiers waiting on tarmac at personal risk for his charter.
Jeremy Corbyn claimimg his
@SkyNews
interview was “hostile” because he was asked a lot of questions about why 9 MPs left the party this week. Otherwise known as
@lewis_goodall
doing a great job holding him to account
Corbyn: As you may have noticed, the MSM can be hostile. I did an interview for Sky and they kept asking me about racism and why people were leaving the party, rather than things I wanted to talk about.
No Tory MPs have broken cover yet but some seething in private and think it’s cutting through.
One senior MP tells me its a disgrace and that constituent emails today have been v bad. When their whip called to encourage supportive tweet, they admitted their emails bad too.
Tobias Ellwood, vocal critic of the PM, tells
@KayBurley
says his party is on track to lose next election.
He says he "absolutely" has more support than Tory MPs are letting on publicly, and "we are now going to get a steady drumbeat" of MPs losing confidence in the PM
Boom. David Gauke tells
@KayBurley
the policy Boris Johnson is pursuing is "reckless and irresponsible" and a majority Cons government "would be detrimental to people's jobs and livelihoods"
Text messages related to the alleged party on 19 June are expected to be requested by the Privileges Committee.
The messages, revealed by
@HarryYorke1
, are seen as relevant evidence as to whether Boris Johnson misled parliament over
#Partygate
.
30 Tories, led by the Chancellor, are discussing how to stop a no deal Brexit, by securing a date in October for MPs to take control of Parliament.
More on
@SkyNews
shortly
Breaking: Tom Watson thinks Chris Williamson should have the whip suspended for bringing
@UKLabour
into disrepute. He’s writing to the chief whip today, a source tells me
Will May's move break the Tory party ?
Steve Baker tells me this morning: "I think it may unite it - against her".
Says he's receiving "amazing support" for his stance against the deal.
Mike Gapes sounds devastated. He’s been a Labour member for more than 50 years and an MP since 1992. Says Labour is now a “racist” party, which is “complicit” in facilitating Brexit and Corbyn Government will “threaten our national security”
Two weeks ago, the Cabinet Office said Whatsapp threads - even those "with a title or purpose which concerns Covid 19" contain material "unambiguously irrelevant to the inquiry".
It turns out they haven't got Johnson Whatsapps or written diaries.
Morning,
“One of the worst public health failures the UK has ever experienced” is the verdict of a major
#Covid
report by MPs.
Thousands of deaths could have been prevented with an earlier lockdown and deaths in care homes were “among the worst in Europe”.
Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach calls the sacking threat “staggering hypocritical” as Boris Johnson wouldn’t have been able to stand as PM if Theresa May had made such a threat
The MP is prepared to “put my job on the line” to stop no deal, speaking on
@SkyNews
Far from universal excitement in Tory ranks. One former cabinet minister tells me election is a “suicide mission” and they’ll end up with fewer seats...
What about those newly elected Tory MPs who make up 1/3 of the party?
Publicly quiet, but talking to some tonight, I understand their Whatsapp conversations post press conference have been pretty angry, with many telling whips they want answers from the PM.
Well... Boris Johnson says “one way or another we will leave with this deal”.
So the PM accepts October 31 is off.
And does not call for an election. Was all bluff.
Email Helen McNamara sent in Apr 2020 listing the issue that were ignored due to lack of women making decisions:
Pregnancy, fertility treatment, childcare and domestic abuse…
Disproportionate focus on football.
Boris Johnson’s answers to all these questions about the Conservatives’ record over the last nine years is to say he’s only been in power for 3-4 months.
(The MP and foreign secretary years don’t seem to count)
#Marr
Boris Johnson denies making the “spaffed up the wall” comments about police money spent on historic child abuse inquiries, during Q&A in Rotherham.
This is what he said on LBC in March.
A tale of two scientists on 10 March 2020.
Jeremy Farrar, on left, says the “chilling” Italy pictures of health service collapsing “focused minds”
Jenny Harries emailed colleagues to say the Italians were in a “rubbish position” as they had a less centralised health service.
Meanwhile at the PLP I’m told Jeremy Corbyn has just reiterated his view that “when people voted to leave the EU they voted to leave the single market” and said "single market membership requires us to be members of the EU"
Morning,
Cressida Dick on the front pages, amid calls for her to resign.
Extra 650 police officers to patrol busy areas of London, as part of measures to support women.
750 Met police & staff have faced sexual misconduct allegations since 2010, and just 83 sacked (
@ithepaper
)
Talks on a US trade deal get underway today and the government has been warned by consumer group Which? that prospect of letting in products such as chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef would pose biggest risk to UK food standards since BSE in the 1990s.
Keir Starmer says the PM's judgement on Afghanistan "has been appalling".
Says Boris Johnson should have rallied international support through the UN, G7 or Nato, to stabilise Afghanistan over t past 18 months.
Instead he chose to cut the aid budget which helped "resilience".
Morning from the Covid inquiry
-Helen McNamara on the stand - 2nd most senior civil servant
- Dominic Cummings said in messages he wanted to “ handcuff” and get her “ out of our hair”
- she wrote a report on govt dysfunction in 2020 saying no10 “always at war with someone”
Rebecca Long-Bailey: "We certainly can't justify the opening of coal mines...it can't have a role in our future energy mix".
But she says the one just approved in Whitehaven, Cumbria is ok because it's linked to steel production
@skynews
Exc: Labour MPs have been told that Laura Murray is now *acting head of complaints* for the party.
Far cry from admin support.
Confirmed by Jenny Formby’s representative to the parliamentary committee meeting which is ongoing.
MPs are furious.
Ellwood also very unhappy about the Savile slur, telling
@SkyNews
:
“The attacking this week of Keir Starmer with Jimmy Savile. I mean who advised the Prime Minister to say this? We’re better than this. We must seek to improve our standards and rise above where we are today.”
Eye-opening story from
@Annaisaac
@PippaCrerar
- sources tell them Sunak was informed about the probe into Zahawi's tax affairs, when he was chancellor back in June. And that a penalty may be levied.
Downing Street categorically deny the story.
This is an extract from the letter to the PM from the Greater London Authority Monitoring Officer who is an independent official. It explains why the threshold has been met:
There was a jet on standby to take Raab to Brussels last night to stand alongside Barnier, but he refused to go and was angry at only seeing the final wording of the deal at the last minute, reveals
@KateEMcCann
from friends of Raab
Tobias Ellwood says: “I don’t think the Prime Minister realises how worried colleagues are in every corner of the Party, backbenchers and ministers alike that this is all only going one way... I will be submitting my letter today to the 1922 committee.”
New:
Government has lost its bid to relax rules around the pollution of waterway to build more houses.
Lords rejected it 156-203
Opposition peer heard shouting: “we’ve won the war!”
That’s a wrap!
After 5 years on the
@skynews
Breakfast show with I’m switching off my 3:45 alarm.
I’ll be on TV in the daytime/evenings covering politics in depth as we ramp up for the election.
Thanks to the brilliant team and of course
@KayBurley
Starmer calls for general election klaxon.
“No-one voted for this shambles, no-one voted for him. How much more do the British public have to put up before he’ll give them a say?”, he says.
Sounds like “inaction man” will be on the leaflets
#pmqs
Boris Johnson’s team were “sitting there and saying it was great and laughing at the Italians” as Covid hit, McNamara tells the inquiry.
The PM was “unbelievably bullish” she says.
As Michelle Mone claims “they all knew”, her spokesman told
@skynews
there are more than 1,000 individual pieces of correspondence between her, the Cabinet Office, DHSC and Michael Gove in relation to the procurement of PPE.
Liam Fox slaps down the WTO only option: “if WTO was so good, people wouldn’t be looking to have trade agreements and customs unions to improve on those WTO rules”. Says he thinks it’s “strange” people say we don’t need a trade deal with Europe but want one with the US
#Ridge
Josie Stewart, who has 15 years experience including two years at the embassy in Kabul says:
"I feel a strong sense of moral injury for having been part of something so badly managed, and so focused on managing reputational risk & political fallout rather than the actual crisis"
Sir Alan Duncan, Boris Johnson's deputy at the Foreign Office, who described him as a "circus act", of having thrown the Washington ambassador "under the bus" and told in an interview how a fellow foreign minister described him as Boris's "pooper scooper" has now resigned...
@KayBurley
Philip Lee makes striking (and maybe coincidental) point that there are a lot of recent former justice ministers: David Gauke, Sam Gyimah, himself, and Rory Stewart, who are no longer Conservatives.
Nick Gibb concedes to
@SkyNews
that "of course, we put in a bid for 200" schools in 2021.
But the Treasury has to look at all the other costs - and Rishi Sunak's decision to build 50 a year was in line with previous [austerity] years, he says.
Blistering message to Jeremy Corbyn from 64 Labour peers:
“You have failed to defend our party’s anti-racist values. You have therefore failed the test of leadership”.
Advert in today’s
@guardian
saying he hasn’t “told the whole truth”
NEW Ministers ignored warning 8 months ago that the US withdrawal would destabilise Afghan government and cannot say that “no one foresaw or predicted the consequences” - by me and
@RaynerSkyNews
NEW
London’s City Hall will be lit up in white and blue tonight, the Mayor’s office confirm.
Follows displays for 🇮🇱 in Germany, Italy and the European Union.
Register of beneficial overseas entities is expected to be brought forward, as No10 now see it as a " top priority", I'm told.
MPs and campaign groups have warned for years that Kremlin-linked wealth is being hidden in London.
John McDonnell on
@SkyNews
on research showing 48 of 151 billionaires in the UK donate to Conservatives.
McDonnell: “It demonstrates an unhealthy relationship between the richest people society and the Conservatives”
A Tory MP has shown me this leaflet sent in by a voter - who initially thought he was being told NOT to vote for the Conservatives in the European elections. It’s all going terribly well.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson denies the allegation that he prioritised the evacuation of Pen Farthing's animals over people during Britain's evacuation from Afghanistan.
Read more here:
Gauke says he (and likely other ex Tories) will insist on delay even if there’s a deal.
Doesn’t want to but says there’s a risk that we “crash out” if a deal gets through Parliament on Saturday but the legislation - votes on all the detail - proves controversial
NEW The PM will NOT chair today's Cobra meeting on the heatwave, Kit Malthouse will do it again.
The PM is attending a planned appearance at the Farnborough air show and then opening the confidence debate the govt has called in itself.
On the reports in September that 5,000 emails from desperate Afghans went unread, she accuses Dominic Raab, the former foreign secretary, of being “inaccurate” when he wrote to MPs to say they were being urgently worked through.
Former aide to Theresa May has told me she won’t rebel tonight as she’s loyal and feels very strongly that MPs taking control of the order paper is a “constitutional outrage”
I’m going to be working from home for the foreseeable, but still very much on duty - and hope to pop up on
@SkyNews
via Skype soon.
Wishing everyone well over this difficult period 😷 😷
Close of polls: Tamworth
A Labour win here is a real possibility, in the 57th safest Tory seat, according to those who’ve been campaigning here.
We’re ready for a long night!
Detail about this hack which is alleged to have happened during the leadership contest:
“Her phone was reportedly compromised when Ms Truss was Foreign Secretary, but the details were suppressed by Johnson and the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who ordered a news blackout”
Matt Hancock tells
@SophyRidgeSky
that sunbathing in parks is not allowed, it’s “against the rules”.
The 4 reasons for going out are:
- medical reasons
- groceries
- work
- exercise
On Nowzad, Stewart backs up the testimony of previous FCDO whistleblower Raphael Marshall saying it was “widespread knowledge” that it was the Prime Minister’s decision to evacuate the charity staff - something No10 has denied.
The evacuation of the 67 staff - now in the UK - was “not in line with policy” about who should be prioritised and it was “against the previous judgement of officials”.
She believes the top civil servant at the FCDO Philip Barton “intentionally lied to the committee” about it🔥
.
@IanAustinMP
: "The Labour party has been my life, so this has been the hardest decision I have ever had to take but I have to be honest and the truth is I have become ashamed of the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn"