Former health secretary Matt Hancock did not comply with a public sector equality duty when appointing Conservative peer Baroness Dido Harding and Mike Coupe to posts in 2020.
Lord Justice Singh and Mr Justice Swift granted a declaration to the Runnymede Trust on Tuesday after considering arguments at a High Court hearing in December.
Campaign group the Good Law Project joined the trust in making complaints – arguing that the Government had not adopted an “open” process when making appointments to posts “critical to the pandemic response” – but their claim was dismissed.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is expected to deny any wrongdoing in relation to the partygate scandal and argue that his presence at the No10 gatherings during lockdown was part of his working day.
The prime minister has until Friday to answer a questionnaire sent by Met Police who are investigating parties in Downing Street while the country was under strict Covid curbs.
Elsewhere, Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden has denounced what he claimed was a “painful woke psychodrama” sweeping the West as he gave a speech on so-called “cancel culture” hosted by a right-wing think tank.
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Influential Tory MP warns of ‘lies’ over Russian withdrawal
People should not pretend “we can believe anything that is coming out of Moscow”, the Tory chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee has said.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme whether he thinks a de-escalation is possible, Tom Tugendhat said: “Well, I think it’s far too early to tell … Don’t forget he’s announced the withdrawal of 10,000 troops just before Christmas.
“None of them went anywhere. And the build-up continued so, you know, let’s not pretend that we can believe anything that’s coming out of Moscow. They have lied and lied and lied, and surprisingly, are continuing to lie.”
Mr Tugendhat also suggested people should be “cautious” when listening to the Russian Foreign Ministry, saying: “It’s basically an irrelevance today, it ceased to have the importance that it did in the Soviet period, and is now simply the barking dog outside a house of a Mafia don.
“In that sense, it’s just there to make a noise. If it ever shuts up, it’ll be cut loose, but nobody really cares what it says, least of all the Kremlin.”
PM and Scottish Tories in ‘absurd’ position, says SNP
Kirsten Oswald MP, the SNP’s deputy Westminster leader has said it is “utterly absurd that Boris Johnson and Douglas Ross believe that they can both remain in office”, Adam Forrest reports.
It follows Mr Johnson’s claim that “of course” both he and Mr Ross can lead the Tories into the next election – despite the Scottish Conservatives leader’s call for him to resign.
“How can Ross and the Scottish Tories possibly fight an election under a leader they think is unfit for office and should resign,” said Ms Oswald.
Ms Oswald added: “If Boris Johnson refuses to do the right thing and resign, then people will rightly question if they can take Douglas Ross seriously if he continues to limp on.”
Tory MP claims she criticised Boris Johnson for damaging UK’s reputation by ‘mistake’
Joy Morrissey, the Conservative MP who was appointed to be Boris Johnson’s parliamentary private secretary in last week’s reshuffle, has said she wrote a letter criticising him for damaging the UK’s international reputation “in error”.
The MP had argued in a letter to a concerned constituent that the government’s cuts to international aid were “a mere drop in ocean compared with what the government is currently borrowing, and will do little to alleviate the current domestic economic crisis” but will “have a massive impact on the world’s most vulnerable people”.
When approached about the letter, in which she she says the cuts send “completely the wrong message”, Ms Morrissey initially told the Daily Mail that it was a fake – before U-turning and admitting to writing the missive, but insisting it had been sent by “mistake”.
Our policy correspondent Jon Stone has the full report here:
New laws to tackle ‘dirty money’ will be brought forward, Boris Johnson says
The government’s Economic Crime Bill will be brought forward in the next Queen’s speech, Boris Johnson has said in the wake of today’s Cobra meeting on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Asked about reported concerns from some of his Conservative colleagues that the government has not done enough to stop the flow of dirty money into the UK, he said: “I don’t think that it’s fair to say the UK hasn’t done a huge amount on dirty money, whether it’s from Russia or anywhere else.”
He added: “What we want to do is strengthen now the package that we have, strengthen the measures we have against potential ill-gotten Russian money, whether here or anywhere for … which we have responsibility with new measures that will hit the companies and concerns that I’ve talked about.
“But also open up the Matryoshka doll, if you like – you know what I’m talking about – so that we see … who really owns the companies that we’re talking about, who really owns the properties that we’re talking about, and those measures, yes, we will be bringing forward from the Economic Crime Bill.”
Exclusive: Delay in toughening up air pollution laws ‘costing lives’, government warned
It is nine months and counting since a coroner said the UK needed to toughen up limits on air pollution to prevent deaths such as nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah’s in the future.
The government is yet to do this – and this delay “will cost lives”, her mother told The Independent.
Rosamund Kissi-Debrah accused the government of kicking the issue “into the long grass” by promising to launch a consultation – that has not yet opened – on new legal targets for an air pollutant instead.
Ella, who lived in Lewisham in south London, died exactly nine years ago from an asthma attack. In 2020, a coroner ruled exposure to air pollution contributed to this, making her the first person in the UK to have this listed as a cause of death.
My colleague Zoe Tidman has the full, exclusive report here:
Boris Johnson warns of ‘mixed signals’ from Russia
Following today’s Cobra meeting, Boris Johnson has described “mixed signals” over the crisis at Ukraine’s border with Russia.
After US and UK officials said they feared Vladimir Putin could invade Ukraine this week, the Kremlin claimed that it was pulling some troops away from the border.
Mr Johnson said: “Last night going into today, clearly there are signs of a diplomatic opening.”
But he added that the “intelligence that we are seeing today is still not encouraging”, with Russian field hospitals being built close to Belarus’s border with Ukraine.
That could only be “construed as preparation for an invasion”, the PM said, adding that – despite Russia’s claims about troop withdrawals – “you have got more battalion tactical groups being brought closer to the border”.
“We think they have a huge preparation ready to go virtually at any moment,” Mr Johnson said. “130,000 troops or more, a huge number of battalions – more than 90 battalions, tactical groups – and they are stationed around the Ukrainian border.”
“So, mixed signals, I think, at the moment,” Mr Johnson said.
Labour’s deputy leader has shared the letter she has written to the Cabinet Office and the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments regarding Boris Johnson’s newly-appointed No 10 spin doctor, Guto Harri – after it was alleged that he lobbied the government for controversial Chinese tech firm Huawei.
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has more details on Mr Harri’s alleged work for the consultancy firm Hawthorn Advisers, here:
Stormont cannot introduce three-year budget due to Brexit crisis, minister announces
The power-sharing crisis at Stormont – sparked by discontent over the Brexit trade deal – means that a draft three-year budget for Northern Ireland cannot be introduced, the finance minister has announced.
After seeking legal advice from the attorney general on whether he could bring the draft budget for 2022 to 2025 to the Assembly despite ministers having not signed off on it, Conor Murphy announced that single-year budget for 2022/23 could also not be set, with departments instead forced to operate on emergency funding arrangements until the impasse is resolved.
The spending plan had been out for public consultation when the DUP withdrew first minister Paul Givan from the administration as part of its protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The draft budget had proposed a 10 per cent increase in health spending in Northern Ireland, with £21bn earmarked for services over the next three years.
PM: Of course I can still lead the Tories in the next general election
Boris Johnson has insisted that “of course” he can lead the Tories in the next general election, despite ongoing questions over his leadership linked to lockdown parties in Downing Street.
Revelations about events in Downing Street during coronavirus lockdowns have resulted in Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, calling for the Prime Minister to quit, claiming his position is no longer tenable.
But Mr Johnson, who did not meet with the Scottish Conservative leader on a trip north of the border on Monday, insisted Mr Ross was doing a “very good job”.
And he insisted they could both still be in post as party leaders at the next general election – despite Mr Ross’s demands for him to go.
Asked whether he believed they will both lead the Conservatives into the next general election, Mr Johnson said: “Of course.”
His comments came as he again made clear his view that Scottish independence is “just not going to happen”.
The Prime Minister told the Daily Mail newspaper that over the course of the Covid pandemic, “Scotland and the whole of the UK has benefited massively from the might of the UK Exchequer”, highlighting the impact of schemes such as furlough.
He declared: “I think most people could see that it would be an economic disaster to split up our country. That is why it is just not going to happen.”
