Conservative Party

Boris Johnson is set to publish economic impact papers related to the coronavirus lockdown in a bid to attempt to assure Tory MPs. The prime minister will publish an impact assessment of the restrictions ahead of a crunch Commons vote on Tuesday in an attempt to win over would-be rebels. Scores of Tory MPs have […]

Former Tory minister and Boris Johnson critic ALISTAIR BURT presents a pro-European, Conservative vision for post-Brexit Britain. During the 2016 referendum, I made the case that UK’s interests – both foreign and domestic – were best served by remaining a member of the EU. However, being a pragmatist and a democrat are core conservative values and […]

Boris Johnson faces a large-scale backlash from Conservative backbenchers after placing 99% of England into tier two or three lockdown measures. Tory MP Steve Baker described the measures as “authoritarian”, while others demanded the publication of a cost-benefit analysis of the restrictions. The government placed more than 23 million people into tier three restrictions on Thursday, […]

A Tory peer has resigned from her ministerial post in protest against a cut to the government’s foreign aid budget. Baroness Liz Sugg tendered her resignation as junior minister for sustainable development shortly after the chancellor announced a temporary reduction of the UK’s foreign aid budget to 0.5% on Wednesday. In her resignation letter to prime minister […]

Tory MP Ben Bradley has been schooled by Martin Luther King Jr’s daughter following a tweet he posted quoting the civil rights preacher. Bradley has been called a “global embarrassment” after incorrectly adapting a speech by Martin Luther King Jr on Twitter to support his opinions on race relations. MORE: Tory MP complaining about ‘snowflake’ National Trust […]

Campaigners have launched legal proceedings against the government claiming it handed out top jobs in the coronavirus pandemic to “cronies” without proper competition. The Good Law Project and race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust said they had filed for judicial review at the High Court claiming that prime minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary […]

Boris Johnson is facing a fresh revolt from his own backbenches after the government was expected to detail a new tougher three-tier system for England when its national lockdown ends on December 2. Johnson will detail the strengthened tiered system in a statement to the House of Commons, where he will appear virtually from Downing Street […]

The Tories in Scotland have won a by-election to hold on to a seat – and increased their vote share in the process. Clackmannanshire East will remain with the Tories after candidate Denis Coyne won 51% of the vote – up 10 percentage points from the previous election. Due to be held in March, the […]

Four Tory Brexiteer MPs and a peer who gave a disgraced former colleague character references for his court case have written to senior judges calling for them not to release the statements of others. The five politicians have opted to publish their own testimonies in order to publicly challenge a media request for all the […]

There has been an outpouring of rage after Michael Fabricant, a Tory MP accused of sending Islamophobic tweets, will no longer face disciplinary action. Fabricant has been acquitted of inciting Islamophobia after tweeting a message suggesting Muslims were not English. In a now-deleted message, the MP for Lichfield tweeted: “Nationality and religion are not the same thing.” Fabricant had […]

Robert Jenrick has “something to hide” if he does not publish minutes and correspondence linked to decisions around a £3.6 billion funding pot to help struggling towns. It comes as Commons spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee warned that a “lack of transparency” over how money has been awarded could “fuel accusations of political bias” […]

A Labour MP has been left in “shock” following claims by a Tory MP that his party does not have an issue with racism. Labour’s Clive Lewis and Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell exchanged barbs over how each party has reacted to internal issues of racism and ethnic and religious discrimination. The row comes on the back of […]

A Tory minister has been cautioned after calling Labour MPs “children” during a debate in the Commons. Health and social care minister Jo Churchill was told to retract her statement by the Commons speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle. Responding to Labour’s questions over links between the Tory Party and companies hired to supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Churchill […]

The head of a Brexiteer think tank says a Vote Leave mastermind leaving Downing Street “makes post-Brexit Britain more likely to be very similar to a Britain inside the EU, and possibly worse”. Ben Harris-Quinney, chairman of the Bow Group, said that without Boris Johnson’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings the government will see more “adherence […]

A former aide to then chancellor Sajid Javid who was escorted out of Downing Street by police officers has settled an employment tribunal claim with the Treasury, reportedly for a five-figure sum. Former Treasury special adviser Sonia Khan was fired by Boris Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings last year. The settlement means Cummings no longer […]

Boris Johnson has been urged to get rid of the second “Kray Brother” running Downing Street in a warning about his senior aide Dominic Cummings. The prime minister has been told by senior Tories to “get a grip” after being left weakened by war in No 10 in the middle of the second Covid wave […]

This week, former prime minister Sir John Major made a piercing, patriotic speech on Brexit Britain and its place in the world, identifying the problems and suggesting solutions. The future of ‘the state we’re in’ requires plain speaking if we are to be honest with our nation. And, of course, with ourselves. The great powers […]

Geoffrey Howe – the story behind the greatest Commons speech ever made. The most memorable thing about Sir Geoffrey Howe was how unmemorable he was. Margaret Thatcher’s most decorated cabinet colleague – he was her chancellor, foreign secretary and deputy prime minister – had many qualities but charisma wasn’t one of them. Hence Denis Healey’s […]

MPs have hit out at the lack of transparency behind a process of distributing billions of taxpayers’ money to towns across England, fuelling fears of “political bias”. The cross-party Commons Public Accounts Committee said the process for selecting communities to benefit from the £3.6 billion Towns Fund was “not impartial” and risked undermining the integrity […]

A Conservative MP has been criticised for suggesting ballet and opera is enjoyed by many people in the south of England while northerners prefer football, as he warned “northern culture” is being hit by Covid-19. Former minister Jake Berry, whose previous government position included the northern powerhouse brief, compared Accrington Stanley to the Royal Ballet as he […]

A minister has hit out at the “politicisation” around questions about contracts and public funding being handed to associates of the Tory party. Alex Chalk, a justice minister, was forced to defend the government over allegations of “cronyism” from a Labour shadow minister on Politics Live. Labour’s Jo Stevens explained: “It raises another issue… the amount of […]

An adviser to Boris Johnson has called for the report into allegations of bullying by Priti Patel should be made public. Lord Evans of Weardale, the former head of MI5 and now adviser on standards in public life, said not revealing the report risks undermining voters’ trusts and would suggest the issue was “brushed over”. […]

A group of Conservative MPs have launched a group to resist calls for an extended national lockdown, in a bid to prevent Nigel Farage’s new party gaining influence. Some 32 Conservatives rebelled against the government when the Commons approved the second lockdown for England which lasts until December 2. The prime minister said he expects […]

Brexiteer Tory MPs are hatching a plan to topple Boris Johnson if he does not resign in the spring before local elections. Opponents of Johnson, including Iain Duncan Smith, John Redwood and Esther McVey, have created a Whatsapp group entitled “Lockdown Loons” and are plotting against the government, the Mirror reports. At least one is […]

Under-fire vaccines tsar Kate Bingham is expected to leave her post at the end of the year after amassing a £670,000 bill over a contract for public relations support. Downing Street insisted Boris Johnson had full confidence in Bingham, a venture capitalist married to the Conservative minister Jesse Norman, and praised her work in securing […]

England footballer Marcus Rashford has hailed the power of “kindness and compassion” after reporting that Boris Johnson had U-turned over providing free meals to disadvantaged children during the Christmas holidays. The prime minister personally phoned the Manchester United star on Saturday to alert him to the decision to lay on £170 million of extra funding for […]

The latest voter intention polling by YouGov shows that Labour has jumped five points ahead of the Conservative Party. A survey by YouGov over November 4 and 5 shows Labour holding 40% of the vote compared to the Tory Party’s 35%. Latest Westminster voting intention (fieldwork 4-5 Nov) Lab – 40%Con – 35%Lib Dem – 7%Brexit […]

So what have we learnt this week in the dystopian Covid Brexit land that the UK seems to have become? That forecasts are just that and even a “reasonable worst-case scenario” might start looking optimistic. That you can only disregard the advice of experts, be they scientists or economists, for so long – the facts […]

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL on how the UK government shows contempt of near Trumpian levels. Needless to say, the government’s fabled miscommunications team got itself into all sorts of muddles over its reaction to the Sunday Times’ revelation that the chair of the UK’s ‘vaccine task force’ briefed American venture capitalists on details of which projects the government was […]

Suella Braverman has defended Priti Patel’s attack on “activist lawyers” after reports they have faced physical and verbal attacks following criticism from the government. The attorney general was questioned by MPs about a Home Office video which accused them of epresenting migrants of trying to disrupt the asylum system. Labour’s Andy Slaughter also told the Commons: […]

A Brexiteer has been met with criticism for saying he will be voting against a second lockdown in the House of Commons. Peter Bone said that the government’s scientific and medical advisers had provided “dubious modelling”. There are lies, damned lies & then there are the likes of @PeterBoneUK, whose formal education clearly did not […]

Crispin Odey, one of the best-known UK hedge fund managers, has stepped down as chief executive of the company he founded 29 years ago. The 61-year-old – who donated to Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign – said he will now focus on managing his own funds, handing over the reins of Odey Asset Management to co-chief […]