Live to fight another day: Crucial week for Boris Johnson with new team on a mission to kill off backbenchers’ final concerns February 7, 2022 Boris Johnson is heading into a new week hoping changes to his top Downing Street team will ease the concerns of backbenchers who were wavering about his future. The Prime Minister made key changes over the weekend, appointing Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay as his new chief of staff and journalist and [...]
Durham police: Sir Keir Starmer in the clear over office beer during lockdown February 7, 2022 Sir Keir Starmer has been cleared of an allegation he broke lockdown rules after he was filmed drinking a beer in an office. Durham police said this morning they did not believe any offence was committed. The Labour leader was in the City of Durham MP’s office, working in the run-up to the Hartlepool by-election [...]
Truss: Russian assurances they will not invade Ukraine are ‘false’ February 6, 2022 Russia’s assurances that they have no plans to invade Ukraine are “false”, according to foreign secretary Liz Truss. Truss last night warned against Russia’s “attempts to subvert and threaten” its neighbour in the wake of new US intelligence suggesting Vladimir Putin could invade Ukraine in just days. New US intelligence assessments found Russia is close [...]
UK draws up plans for £6bn science programme if EU blocks entry to Horizon February 6, 2022 The UK will spend £6bn over the next three years on a new science fund if the EU continues to shut out Britain from the Horizon Europe research programme. Brussels agreed to let the UK join the seven-year €95bn (£80.4bn) Horizon programme post-Brexit, however its entry has been blocked in the wake of a row [...]
Labour calls on Tories to give back £5m in Russian donations February 6, 2022 Labour has called on the Conservative party to give back £5m of Russian-linked donations it has received in the past 10 years. Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves today also called on the government to crackdown on dirty money being laundered through the City of London. The government has warned President [...]
Enough is enough: Cressida Dick seeks to root out “poor conduct” from Met February 6, 2022 Met commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has said that “enough is enough” when it comes to body’s “poor conduct and nasty and inappropriate behaviour”. In a letter sent to the 43,000 police officers and staff in the Met’s payroll, Dick said the body’s reputation had been tarnished because of bad behaviour, the Sunday Telegraph reported. “If [...]
Ministers wasted £200m of taxpayers’ money on cancelled vaccine order February 6, 2022 Ministers paid more than £200m of taxpayers' money as a deposit for 100m doses of a Covid vaccine which never arrived.
Kwarteng: PM’s Savile slur against Starmer was ‘perfectly reasonable’ February 6, 2022 Boris Johnson’s attacks on Sir Keir Starmer over not prosecuting Jimmy Savile were “perfectly reasonable”, according to business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. Kwarteng said “Sir Keir himself apologised on behalf of [the Crown Prosecution Service]” for not charging the UK’s most notorious sex offender and that “the fact that he apologised suggests that he does, at [...]
Exclusive: As ‘hawkish’ Liz Truss threatens Putin with sanctions, questions emerge about UK’s enforcement agency February 6, 2022 As the West, led by President Biden, threatens Russia with far-reaching sanctions in case Putin does order an invasion of Ukraine, questions are raised about the UK’s sanctions enforcement agency. As it turns out, it has only handed out six fines in the last six years. In fact, the six fines by the agency, OFSI, [...]
Home Office ‘lacks comprehensive plan’ for Afghan evacuees in London hotel February 5, 2022 The Home Office has “a lack of a comprehensive plan” to provide Afghanistan refugees with permanent housing, according to a British evacuee. A man and his family, who were evacuated from Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US and British troops saw the Taliban capture Kabul in August, said he feels “stuck” in his London hotel [...]