Politics

Boris Johnson has been referred to the police by the Cabinet Office over new claims he broke COVID lockdown rules. The former prime minister’s ministerial diary has revealed visits by friends to Chequers during the pandemic. The visits to the grace-and-favour residence were highlighted during preparations for a public inquiry into COVID, according to The

Former justice secretary and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab will stand down at the next election, Sky News understands. It comes a month after he quit Rishi Sunak’s cabinet over claims he bullied civil servants. Mr Raab has been the Conservative MP for Esher and Walton in Surrey since 2010. He has “become increasingly concerned”

Suella Braverman has insisted “nothing untoward happened” as she faces questions over whether she asked civil servants to help her dodge a group speeding awareness course. The comments are the first made by the home secretary since The Sunday Times reported that she asked civil servants to arrange a private one-to-one speed awareness course for

What is it about politicians and driving fines? In 2012 Lib Dem minister Chris Huhne resigned from the coalition government after his then-wife took speeding points for him. They both ended up in prison for perverting the course of justice. In 2019, Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was jailed and ejected from parliament for the same

Rishi Sunak will speak to his independent ethics adviser regarding Suella Braverman’s speeding fine, Sky News understands. The prime minister will consult his adviser upon returning to London from the G7 summit in Japan. Ms Braverman, 43, had been caught speeding last summer and opted to attend a driving awareness course rather than accept a

Labour is demanding an investigation into reports Home Secretary Suella Braverman asked civil servants to help her avoid a group speeding awareness course to dodge a fine. The shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called it “shocking” that Ms Braverman had reportedly tried to bend the normal process for speeding drivers. “As Home Secretary, Suella Braverman

Rishi Sunak has said attacks on his wealth do not bother him despite the Labour Party’s attempts to make him appear out of touch. The prime minister was asked about Labour’s attack ads against him while visiting Japan for the G7 summit. He said that while he notices the attacks at Prime Minister’s Questions from

More than 23,000 died in A&E in England last year, figures obtained by Labour show. The opposition party has released data it obtained through freedom of information requests, which shows an increase in deaths compared to previous years. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine previously said 23,000 “excess patient deaths” may have occurred partly due

Rishi Sunak has vowed to bring the level of net migration down to below the 500,000 figure he “inherited” as prime minister. Mr Sunak said he was “focused” on cutting the level of net migration, which stood at 504,000 for the year to June 2022. He became prime minister in October of that year. He

Rishi Sunak has given a “straightforward” message for Vladimir Putin at the G7 summit: “We’re not going away.” Speaking to Sky News in Hiroshima, the prime minister had ready answers for his policy and position on Ukraine. Hours earlier, he had announced a ban on imports of Russian diamonds – and told me that he

A £10bn investment from water companies to stop sewage spills will be paid for by customers through “modest increases to their bills”. Ruth Kelly, chair of Water UK, told Sky News that water firms will provide a “huge multi-billion down-payment” to start “the biggest transformation project since Victorian times”. She added: “The way the system

Rishi Sunak has laid out his goals ahead of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The PM is set to touchdown in the early hours of the morning on Thursday UK time. It comes hot on the heels of his visit to Iceland for the Council of Europe summit. Politics latest:PM responds to Nigel Farage’s

Rishi Sunak has rejected Liz Truss’s calls for Taiwan to be fast-tracked into a trans-Pacific trading bloc. The UK is in the process of joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which includes countries like Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Chile and Japan. Both China and Taiwan have applied to join the bloc

Former prime minister Liz Truss will call for her successor Rishi Sunak to say China is a “threat” to UK security. Ms Truss will be speaking in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, where she is expected to say that Mr Sunak should deliver on language he used during last summer’s Conservative Party leadership contest. He had described

The government has insisted it is committed to making sure there is no “dirty money” in the UK as the Tories faced questions over business tycoon and Tory donor Javad Marandi. Mr Marandi was described as a “person of importance” in a National Crime Agency’s investigation into the so-called “Azerbaijani Laundromat” – and lost a

Rishi Sunak is calling for changes to the international law which experts think his Illegal Migration Bill will break. The prime minister is in Iceland for a Council of Europe summit on Tuesday, where he will meet with heads of European Union countries and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Mr Sunak said the

A protester has been hauled off stage after interrupting a speech by senior Tory MP Jacob Rees Mogg to warn about “fascism”. The former Business Secretary was addressing the National Conservativism conference when a man joined him at the lectern and told the audience: “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re very nice people and I’m sure you

Britain is at risk of forgetting “how to do things for ourselves”, the home secretary will warn, as she increases pressure on Rishi Sunak to cut net migration. The home secretary will use a speech at the National Conservatism Conference today to call for the Conservatives to renew their 2019 manifesto commitment, which promised “fewer

The Tories have a “great opportunity” with a mood of “steely determination”, cabinet minister Grant Shapps has told Sky News, despite a local election drubbing and party infighting. Speaking on the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, the energy secretary also said he “completely and fundamentally” disagreed that the Conservatives cannot come back and win. Former

Sir Keir Starmer is promising his planned reforms of the Labour Party will be like New Labour’s famous Clause IV “on steroids”. In a speech on Saturday, the Labour leader drew comparisons with Sir Tony Blair’s controversial 1995 decision to abandon the party’s founding commitment to nationalisation in favour of his New Labour agenda. Sir