Northern Ireland power-sharing in doubt after Foster quits “Northern Ireland’s first minister resigned abruptly yesterday in the face of a revolt by hardliners in the Democratic Unionist Party, throwing power-sharing in the province into doubt. Arlene Foster, the party’s leader since 2015, announced that she would quit after 85 per cent of the DUP’s parliamentarians […]
40m people in England live in areas almost free from Covid “More than 38 million people in England live in areas that are recording virtually no new cases of Covid, an analysis by The Times has shown. Seven in ten people live in areas where a maximum of two infections were reported during the most recent […]
Johnson fights to move on from leaks row “Boris Johnson will on Tuesday tell his Cabinet to be “totally focused on the public’s priorities” in an attempt to move on from a series of Downing Street leak controversies. The Prime Minister was on Monday night embroiled in a row over whether he had said he […]
Cummings still in frame as lockdown leaks ‘rat’ – as Case due to give evidence to MPs today “Britain’s most senior civil servant is still investigating Dominic Cummings as part of the inquiry into who leaked sensitive details of the government’s lockdown plans. Senior Whitehall sources said that Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, had not […]
Number Ten fears Dominic Cummings bombshell dossier “Downing Street insiders are increasingly fearful that a devastating “treasure trove” of internal memos and emails from Dominic Cummings will paint the Government in the worst possible light at the height of the Covid crisis. Mr Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, is appearing before a joint committee of MPs investigating […]
Cummings declares war on Johnson over lockdown leak… “Dominic Cummings launched a personal attack on Boris Johnson last night, accusing the prime minister of being “unethical” and falling “below the standards of competence and integrity the country deserves”. The former chief adviser used a 1,000-word blog post to condemn Johnson’s conduct, alleging he tried to stop a […]
Covid pandemic ‘over in Britain’, say experts “Britain is no longer in a pandemic, experts have said, as new data showed the vaccination programme is reducing symptomatic Covid infections by up to 90 per cent. In the first large real-world study of the impact of vaccination on the general population, researchers found that the rollout is […]
Covid passports proving vaccine status will be available for summer holidays “Covid passports will be made available to prove people have been vaccinated as early as next month, in time for summer holidays, the travel industry has been told. The Department for Transport wants an official certification scheme that gives British travellers a document they can […]
Mercer sacked as Defence Minister “Tory MP Johnny Mercer says he was “forced” to resign as a defence minister over the treatment of veterans who served in Northern Ireland. No 10 confirmed his exit on Tuesday – ahead of the Overseas Operations Bill returning to the Commons on Wednesday. The new law is designed to […]
Football 1) Johnson vows to block European Super League “Boris Johnson has said he will work with the football authorities to block plans for a controversial breakaway European Super League involving some of England’s biggest football teams. The Prime Minister said he will work with the game’s administrators “to make sure that this doesn’t go […]
Queen’s Speech “will include new laws to counter hostile states”… “Foreign spies operating in Britain face being prosecuted and deported under new laws to protect the nation from hostile states such as China and Russia. Boris Johnson will use the Queen’s Speech on May 11 to announce a bill to counter hostile states, including a […]
Sublime, humble and witty to the last: Prince Philip’s funeral saluted a man like no other “For a man like no other, it was a funeral like no other. From the Land Rover that carried his coffin, to the sounding of Action Stations as he was lowered into the crypt, there was no mistaking the Duke […]
Now peers are dragged into the lobbying storm: Cameron’s top aide works for firm “A top aide to David Cameron is one of several members of the House of Lords who also work for major lobbying firms. Baroness Fall was deputy chief of staff to the former prime minister, now embroiled in a scandal over his […]
Pickles calls for ‘urgent reform’ of Whitehall second job rules “An anti-sleaze chief has called for “immediate” reform of rules governing civil servants’ second jobs, warning there not do not seem to be “any boundaries at all” between Whitehall and the private sector. Lord Pickles, chairman of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) which vets […]
Six inquiries into Greensill, as Johnson pledges probe will get ‘maximum possible access’ “Boris Johnson vowed today that the probe into David Cameron’s lobbying for Greensill would get the “maximum possible access” to get to the bottom of the row. Yesterday The Sun revealed how the PM has launched an investigation into access to contracts […]