Boris Johnson denies feeling any ‘personal shame’ for lack of trust among voters
Yet more Tory rebels have urged ministers to resign in a bid to force Boris Johnson from office, piling further pressure on the prime minister after his dual by-election defeats last week.
Urging ambitious ministers to “show a little backbone and indeed leadership”, 1922 Committee vice-chair William Wragg joined a growing chorus of former Tory Party leaders, erstwhile ministers and peers demanding that senior members of Mr Johnson’s government consider their positions.
But, speaking at the G7 summit, Mr Johnson insisted he was unperturbed by potential plots to oust him and insisted questions over his leadership had been “settled” in the recent confidence vote.
Despite his claims to be preparing for his leadership to hit a third term stretching into the 2030s reportedly sparking a fresh flurry of no confidence letters over the weekend, Mr Johnson insisted he had a mandate to drive a “massive, massive agenda”, adding: “Nobody abandons a privilege like that.”
As MPs prepare to debate his plans to rip up the Northern Ireland Protocol, Mr Johnson claimed the controversial legislation could be implemented in 2022.
DUP warns House of Lords blocking Brexit bill akin to ‘wrecking’ Belfast Agreement
The House of Lords will be “wrecking the Good Friday Agreement” if peers block the passage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has claimed.
In a warning to peers ahead of MPs’ first debate on the bill – due to start shortly – the DUP leader said: “If the House of Lords seeks to wreck the Bill, then they need to understand they are wrecking the Good Friday Agreement as well.”
He also warned that Conservative MPs hostile to Boris Johnson should not use Northern Ireland as a “political football”, telling reporters outside parliament: “We know there will be some opposition from some Conservative MPs who have always opposed Brexit.
“But I think that for the vast majority of Conservative MPs the idea of playing political football with Northern Ireland, with such a sensitive issue as this, I think they recognise is not the way to deal with the internal problems in the Conservative Party.
“The prime minister is the prime minister at the moment, he continues in office, he is taking this Bill forward, we support the Bill and we want to see it going through Parliament.
“The message we will be giving today to all MPs is if they want to see political institutions restored, if they truly want to protect the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, then this Bill is the way to achieve that. I don’t see any alternative on the table at the moment.”
EU ‘showing no inclination of taking realistic approach’ to NI Protocol, DUP leader claims
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said his party would look at any solution to the protocol row offered by the EU, but added the bloc would need to show “more realism”.
“If an agreement with the EU deals with the problems that the protocol has created in Northern Ireland, then of course we will look at that, but certainly the EU shows no inclination at the moment to take a realistic approach to dealing with the protocol issues,” he said.
“What they have proposed falls way, way short and indeed, as the prime minister has said, could actually make the situation even worse than it is at the moment.”
The DUP leader added: “We certainly need to hear more pragmatism and more realism from the EU, but in the absence of that I think the Bill is the way forward.”
Irish premier rejects PM’s claims over Northern Ireland Protocol
Irish premier Micheal Martin has rejected Boris Johnson’s assertion that he does not see a major diplomatic row erupting over the Northern Ireland Protocol – warning London’s shift towards unilateralism “is not a good move”.
Speaking in Dublin on Monday, Mr Martin said: “That, in my view, doesn’t stack up in the sense that any unilateral decision to breach international law is a major serious development. There can be no getting out of that. One cannot trivialise the breaching of an international agreement between the UK government and the EU.
“My concern is a trend towards unilateralism that is emanating from the UK government. We had it on the protocol, we had it on legacy issues, we have it now in terms of the application of the decision of European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in terms of domestic British law.
“We know that the Good Friday Agreement incorporates protections under the human rights convention and that is something we will keep a close eye on. I have been in touch with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, and they are concerned about this.
“They are conscious that similar efforts were made last year but this is not a good move by the British government and it has to accept that unilateralism does not work in the context of the Good Friday Agreement, or in the context of good relationships with your neighbours and the EU.”
UK aid pledge ‘nowhere near enough’ to address hunger crisis, say charities
Boris Johnson’s commitment to help developing countries facing an unprecedented hunger crisis is “nowhere near enough”, a coalition of leading aid charities has said.
The prime minister, attending the G7 summit in Germany this week, announced a £372m support package to help countries hardest hit by soaring food costs and fertilizer shortages.
Bond – an umbrella group representing 70 UK-based charities – said the pledge was not enough, highlighting recent government cuts to the aid budget.
Stephanie Draper, chief executive of Bond, said it was “nowhere near what’s needed”, adding that the package “must be the seed of a bigger plan to address the causes and consequences of the global food crisis”.
Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has the full report here:
Opinion | We’ll never be able to stamp out sleaze at Westminster – isn’t that depressing?
In her latest Independent Voices column, Marie Le Conte looks at the responses last week to various sleaze rows in UK politics. She writes:
“Ultimately, politics is about parties – it is about teams that win and lose, and that stick together even when they shouldn’t. Until we make enough people understand that their party does not matter as much as doing the right thing, nothing will change.
“Until we make enough of them realise that winning cannot be the only prism through which to view every event, nothing will change.”
Another Tory peers calls on ministers to revolt against PM
Another Tory peer has joined the chorus of Conservatives calling for ministerial resignations in order to topple Boris Johnson’s leadership.
In a letter to The Times editor, Lord Garnier – a former solicitor general for England and Wales – wrote: “[Former Tory leader William Hague has understandably called for cabinet ministers to resign in the aftermath of the two by-election defeats.”
He added: “Of course they will not do that as most of them cannot realistically expect to be in the next prime minister’s cabinet. It therefore needs ministers of state and parliamentary under-secretaries to do what the cabinet cannot or will not do in order to bring about change at the top.
“They and several coming along behind them are the future of the Conservative Party in government and parliament. The future needs to be grasped.”
Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more on Mr Wragg’s warning for ambitious ministers to “show a bit of backbone and indeed leadership” here:
PM denies feeling any ‘personal shame’ for voters’ loss of trust
Boris Johnson has denied feeling any “personal shame” for voters’ loss of trust in him.
Asked whether this was a source of shame, Mr Johnson said: “No. Because I think actually when you look at what this government has done, it is quite exceptional.
“And I understand that people are going to want to criticise me, attack me, for all sorts of reasons, some of them good, some of them less good.”
Irish foreign minister ‘hugely disappointed’ with UK’s ‘unlawful’ protocol plans
Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs said he is “hugely disappointed” that the British government is continuing to pursue its “unlawful” unilateral approach on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Simon Coveney said: “This is not the way to find sustainable solutions to the genuine concerns of people and business in Northern Ireland and only adds to uncertainty.
“I continue to urge the British Government to return to constructive dialogue with the EU in pursuit of jointly agreed, long-lasting solutions.”
Jeremy Corbyn ‘set to give evidence’ at High Court trial after libel claim
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is due to give evidence at a three-week High Court trial after being accused of libel by a political blogger, a judge has been told.
Richard Millett has sued Mr Corbyn over remarks he made during an interview on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show in 2018, when he was leader of the opposition.
Mr Justice Nicklin considered pre-trial issues at a High Court hearing in London on Monday. Lawyers representing Mr Corbyn, who is fighting the claim, said 41 people, including Mr Corbyn and Mr Millett, could give evidence.
William McCormick QC, who is leading Mr Corbyn’s legal team, said Mr Corbyn was relying on 32 witnesses, plus himself, and Mr Millett on seven, plus himself. In a written case outline, he said Mr Corbyn was mounting a “truth defence” against allegations made by Mr Millett.
Watch: Boris Johnson compares Russia to Nazi Germany
Here is a clip of Boris Johnson’s comments on the sidelines of the G7 summit, in which he made a comparison between the situation facing western leaders over Russia’s war in Ukraine and decisions taken to “resist tyranny and aggression” and defeat Nazi Germany.
You can read more of his comments on the matter below.
