Politics

In leafy South West Surrey, traditional Tory ground, we are taking the public temperature. “It’s very hard to vote Conservative at the moment”, 49-year-old Penny tells us. “You just can’t ignore the last two years”. This is the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s seat (8,800 majority). Voters here are affluent, home-owning, traditional Conservatives, the sort of people

Halving inflation by the end of year is “hard but not impossible”, the prime minister has said, in a comment on his pledge earlier in the year to do so. The prime minister was speaking to the Times CEO summit shortly after the surprise hiking of interest rates by the Bank of England on Thursday

Labour has unveiled a five-point plan to tackle the mortgage crisis – but Rishi Sunak is insisting that “beating inflation has to be the priority”. The Opposition and the prime minister were speaking ahead of the Bank of England preparing to hike interests rate yet again after inflation in the UK defied expectations and failed

Another of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s five key priorities for 2023 is in doubt as national debt reached 100% of GDP. The third of the government’s five targets is to reduce the national debt but official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed it increased in May to the highest in more than

Rishi Sunak is facing a by-election triple threat after the Somerton and Frome vote was scheduled for 20 July. The announcement comes after David Warburton formally left the House of Commons on Monday. The election will take place on the same day as Boris Johnson’s vacated Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat, and Nigel Adams’ Selby

The chancellor has ruled out mortgage bill support for fear it would increase inflation. Answering questions in the House of Commons, Jeremy Hunt told MPs that “schemes which involve injecting large amounts of cash into the economy, right now will be inflationary”. Despite expressing sympathy for people with higher mortgage costs he said, “we won’t

To the very end, Boris Johnson and his dwindling band of supporters – and Rishi Sunak and the Tory high command – were outwitted by the Labour Party in the parliamentary battle over partygate. At the beginning of the Privileges Committee process, back in April 2022, the Tories failed to spot the trap being laid

David Cameron was heckled with shouts of “shame on you” as he left the COVID inquiry after giving evidence. The former prime minister was questioned for more than two hours on Monday on how prepared the government was for a pandemic during his time in office. But as he left the hearing in London and

MPs will today decide whether to sanction Boris Johnson after the privileges committee found he repeatedly misled the House of Commons. The committee’s damning report found the breaches were serious enough to recommend a suspension of 90 days – a sanction long enough to trigger a potential by-election. However, Mr Johnson’s decision to stand down

A video showing Conservative Party workers at a Christmas party during lockdown in 2020 is “terrible” and “completely out of order”, Michael Gove has said. The Levelling Up Secretary was reacting to the video, obtained by the Mirror, which showed people dancing and drinking at a gathering – ignoring strict social distancing rules imposed by

Conservative Party staff were filmed celebrating at their London headquarters during the height of the COVID lockdown. New footage, obtained by The Mirror, shows Tory Party staff at a Christmas party dancing, drinking and joking about Covid restrictions while lockdown rules were in place in December 2020. Two of those at the party were among

Jeremy Corbyn’s wife is part of a group set up to unseat Sir Keir Starmer at the next general election that is also discussing standing independent candidates against Labour in coming by-elections. Screenshots leaked to Sky News show an account belonging to Laura Alvarez is a member of the Organise Corbyn Inspired Socialist Alliance (OCISA)

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

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

Rishi Sunak is facing a potentially acrimonious vote on the Boris Johnson partygate report at the start of next week. A debate and vote on the report, published by the House of Commons Privileges Committee on Thursday, will take place on Monday – Mr Johnson‘s 59th birthday. But it will not be a gathering Mr

A parliamentary inquiry has concluded that Boris Johnson knowingly misled parliament multiple times with his statements about parties in Downing Street that breached COVID rules. The privileges committee of MPs found Mr Johnson’s breaches serious enough to recommend a suspension of 90 days, if he were still an MP – far exceeding the period needed

Boris Johnson has been accused of using a “distraction tactic” after calling for an MP on the Privileges Committee to resign over allegations of lockdown rule-breaking. A fresh row erupted on the eve of a long-awaited report that is poised to find the former prime minister misled parliament over partygate. Politics Live: Tories ‘arguing about

Rishi Sunak has cancelled plans to hold a second round of Boris Johnson’s £3.6bn towns fund in a move that could anger Tory MPs. Sky News can reveal that the £300m set aside for a further competition will instead be transferred to the levelling up fund, which has been criticised for slow delivery. The towns

Boris Johnson has made eleventh-hour representations to the privileges committee before it publishes a report which is expected to find that he deliberately misled parliament. A spokesman for the inquiry said it was “dealing with” further submissions received from the former prime minister at 11.57pm on Monday. It came as the panel of MPs examining

Nadine Dorries has suggested “sinister forces” were behind the decision not to include her on Boris Johnson’s controversial resignation honours list amid an increasingly bitter war of words with the prime minister. The former culture secretary used a combative column in the Daily Mail to suggest she was deliberately blocked from receiving a peerage in