Politics

A sitting Labour MP has filed a complaint against Geraint Davies after he was suspended over allegations of inappropriate behaviour, Sky News understands. It means Labour has now received two formal complaints after a woman also contacted the party yesterday. The 63-year-old has been “administratively suspended” from the party pending an investigation into reports of

Boris Johnson is giving all the WhatsApp messages and diaries available to him directly to the COVID inquiry, Sky News understands. The former prime minister had originally given the information to the Cabinet Office, but it had refused to comply with the inquiry’s order to hand over all the material in unredacted form. Friday’s move

The Cabinet Office is seeking a judicial review of Baroness Hallett’s order to release Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, diaries and notebooks, it has said in a letter to the COVID inquiry. The Cabinet Office, in a letter to the inquiry, said it was bringing a judicial review challenge “with regret” – but added that there

Labour MP Geraint Davies has been “administratively suspended” from the party pending an investigation into reports of “incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour”. The allegations came to light in a report by Politico published on Thursday. Mr Davies, 63, was first elected as an MP in 1997, but was out of parliament between 2005

All of Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and notebooks that have been requested by the COVID inquiry have been handed to the Cabinet Office in “full and in unredacted form”, his spokesman has said. The spokesman said the former prime minister wanted the Cabinet Office to “urgently” disclose the material to the inquiry. A statement from

Families on benefits will be able to claim hundreds of pounds more in childcare payments from the end of June, the government has announced. People on Universal Credit will see their maximum childcare payments rise by nearly 50% from 28 June as the government tries to get more people back into work. Parents eligible for

The Cabinet Office has reiterated its refusal to hand over some of Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages to the COVID inquiry, arguing part of the material is of a “private” and “personal” nature. In a fresh statement issued on Tuesday evening, the Cabinet Office said it was “fully committed to our obligations to the COVID-19 inquiry”

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are preparing to launch a legal battle over COVID secrets, just hours before a deadline for handing over sensitive material to the official pandemic inquiry. Mr Johnson, prime minister during the pandemic, is battling to prevent the Cabinet Office releasing all his unedited WhatsApp messages and diaries to the inquiry’s

A Tory minister and three other MPs claimed hundreds of pounds of driving fines on expenses – despite it being against the rules.  They are now being contacted and asked to repay the money. Amanda Solloway, a minister in the energy department who used to serve under Suella Braverman at the Home Office, was one

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick is visiting Mediterranean countries this week as part of a government focus on tackling illegal migration.  He will be visiting Algeria, Tunisia and Italy, before heading to France. The Times reports the Italian government is expecting 400,000 people to enter the country from North Africa this year – in forecasts prepared

New oil and gas developments in the North Sea would be blocked under a Labour government, it has been reported. Granting new licenses for oil and gas in the North Sea “will do nothing to cut bills”, according to a Labour source. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce the block in Scotland

The Home Office is launching an ad campaign in Albania aimed at deterring people from crossing the English Channel illegally. Posters bear the message that people “face being detained and removed” if they make the journey. The department would not say how much the publicity drive is expected to cost but announced it will also

The “doorstep”. It’s an often necessary but rarely tidy journalistic exercise – locating and asking pertinent questions of an unwilling participant who has gone to some effort to avoid them. Boris Johnson had been on a lengthy US trip, through Texas to Las Vegas in the west and Washington DC in the east. Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has insisted the fresh claims he broke lockdown rules are “total nonsense” and that elements of his ministerial diary were “cherry picked and handed to police”. The former prime minister was confronted by Sky News about the allegations as he made his way through the Dulles International Airport in Washington following a brief

As a sullen Conservative party resumed its favourite displacement activities this week – arguing over the entrails of Boris Johnson’s political career while taking chunks out of the civil service – few were paying attention to the only graph that matters in British politics The cost of government borrowing – a measure of whether global

Jeremy Hunt has told Sky News he is comfortable with Britain being plunged into recession if that’s what it takes to bring down inflation. The chancellor said that he would fully support the Bank of England raising interest rates higher, potentially towards 5.5%, as it battled higher-than-expected prices. Asked by Sky News whether he was

One person has been arrested after a car hit the main gates of Downing Street. Police said there were no injuries. Pictures broadcast on television showed cordons in place along Whitehall. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 1:08 Car that crashed into Downing Street gates “At around 4.20hrs a car collided

Net migration rose to 606,000 in the year to December 2022, official statistics show. The figure smashes the previous post-war high of 504,000 in the year to June last year – and comes despite a Tory 2019 manifesto commitment to “bring overall numbers down”. Net migration is the annual number of people arriving in the

Suella Braverman is to remain in her post as home secretary after the prime minister said “further investigation is not necessary” into her handling of a speeding offence. In his letter to the home secretary, the prime minister said he had consulted with his independent ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, who advised that “on this

In Las Vegas, they have paid more than $4,000 (£3,220) a head. It’s safe to assume attendees at the Scale Global Summit didn’t part with their cash to listen to tales of COVID lockdown.   There are a couple of UK police forces for that. In the Bellagio Hotel & Casino, this is a gathering