Boris Johnson news – live: PM threatens to privatise Passport Office over long delays

Opposition MPs raised concerns over human rights in India after the Prime Minister said on a visit last week that the UK hopes to have a trade deal worked out with the country by October.

One Labour told the House of Commons that the UK would be “dancing on the human rights and civil liberties” of communities across India if it signed a free-trade deal with the country.

Labour MP Zarah Sultana, Coventry South, criticised the Prime Minister for visiting a JCB factory the day after reports its vehicles were used to “destroy and demolish Muslim homes and businesses in Delhi”.

She said visiting the factory was a “mistake”.

Responding, Foreign Office minister Vicky Ford said: “We do not pursue trade at the exclusion of human rights.

“We regard both as an important part of a deep, mature and wide-ranging relationship with our partners.”

She said both countries wanted to conclude the “majority” of the talks on the “comprehensive and balanced” agreement “by the end of October”, adding: “We condemn any instance of discrimination because of freedom of religion or belief.

During Boris Johnson’s visit last week the UK and India signed a pledge for stronger tade and defence ties.

Boris Johnson threatened to “privatise the arse” off the Passport Office, as he lashed out at the organisation over huge delays putting holidays at risk (Rob Merrick writes).

The prime minister put other quangos on notice to improve at a cabinet meeting to discuss the cost-of-living crisis – but at which ministers were told there will be no extra spending.

Mr Johnson is said to be “horrified” at the Passport Office repeatedly breaching a new 10-week target for processing applications, branded an “absolute shambles” by MPs.

There has been an unprecedented surge in demand after the lifting of Covid restrictions, because 5 million people delayed renewing their passports during the pandemic.

But Brexit is also a factor, because Britons must now have at least three months left on their passports in order to travel to the EU, putting more strain on the system.

Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted to see “an emergency budget, not a cabinet meeting” to address the cost-of-living crisis, after Boris Johnson said a cabinet meeting earlier today bred productive ideas on ways to support struggling households.

The Labour leader told reporters in Stevenage: “The cost of living crisis has been staring us in the face for six months now … the cabinet meeting this morning isn’t going to change any of that.”

Mr Starmer played down reports that shadow cabinet minister Lisa Nandy had urged Sir Keir to stop focusing on Partygate and instead make the cost-of-living crisis the centre of local election.

The Labour leader said: “When we started the campaign we had a laser-like focus on the cost of living and we’ve maintained that throughout the campaign.”

Mr Starmer also hit out at the “disgusting” treatment of Angela Rayner, adding: “I think all of us have got a responsibility not just to call this out but to renew our determination to change the culture in parliament.”

The Ministry of Defence posted a photo on Twitter of defence minister Jeremy Quin and Britain’s Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Tony Radakin meeting with Indian officials.

The meeting aimed to further talks between Boris Johnson and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the former’s visit to Delhi last week.

The two leaders pledged stronger cooperation on security and defence between Britain and India, with a particular focus on cybersecurity.

Priti Patel declared hospitality tickets to the James Bond premier in her role as home secretary as the movie is “connected to the executive functions”, a minister has suggested (Ashley Cowburn writes).

The comment from Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis, which prompted laughter, came amid a grilling by the Commons Standards Committee on the difference in the publication dates of gifts and hospitality received by MPs and ministers.

Chris Bryant, the chair of the committee, referenced Ms Patel’s gift to the premier of the latest James Bond film – No Time To Die – on 28 September 2021, which was registed via the Home Office.

The hospitality – courtesy of the Jamaica Tourist Board – was then made public in February 2022 through transparency data released by the department on a quartely basis.

Foreign secretary Liz Truss said the government has concerns over Russia’s permanent member status of the United Nations security council.

Ms Truss went on to accuse Russia of using its power to veto decisions of the body as a “green light for barbarism” in Ukraine.

Russia’s position as one of five veto-wielding members has limited the security council’s ability to censure Vladimir Putin’s regime.

In the House of Commons, Conservative MP Nickie Aiken asked Ms Truss whether, considering the UN’s commitment to upholding international peace and security, “perhaps it is time that the international community questioned whether Russia should remain a permanent member of the security council?”

Ms Truss replied: “The security council does have a role to play, under our presidency we have used it to call out Russia’s lies.

“We have also hosted President Zelensky to speak to the council.

“But she is also right that we do have concerns about an international security architecture that has Russia as one of the permanent members of the security council and they have used their veto as a green light for barbarism and part of our response has been working more closely with allies like the G7, allies like Nato because we simply haven’t seen enough taking place at a UN level.”

Students are being done a “disservice” over trigger warnings placed on books such as Harry Potter at universities, a minister has said.

Universities minister Michelle Donelan told PA there was a need for “common sense” over warnings on set texts for students as “there are no trigger warnings in real life”.

“To say that we need to protect some of our brightest and our best from the likes of Harry Potter is to not only do our universities a disservice but to do our students a disservice,” she said.

“And it’s not the way to ensure that they can enter the world having those skills at their fingertips – the ability to challenge, to be critically astute – and that’s certainly not the interpretation that I’d had talking to students, that they want or they need this from their universities,” she added.

Ms Donelan said “students have to be able to live in the real world once they graduate university”.

She said trigger warnings “are not the issues that students are bringing up to me – they’re bringing up sexual harassment, they’re bringing up antisemitism.”

There is “an undeniable link” between academic quality and free speech, she said, noting that 86 per cent of Nobel Prize winners come from countries with the highest rating for academic freedom while just 1 per cent are from countries with the lowest rating.

Responding to the news that Twitter will be sold to Elon Musk, Downing Street said “regardless of ownership, all social media platforms must be responsible”.

“That includes protecting users from harm on their sites,” the prime minister’s official spokesman said.

“It is too early to say what – if any – changes will be made to how Twitter operates.

“It remains an important tool, it’s used by world leaders, and we will continue to work with them to make sure it continues to improve.”

Mr Musk, listed by Forbes as the world’s richest man with an estimated wealth of $259bn (£205bn), said in a statement after the takeover deal was reached that he was planning to “increase trust” in the platform. He also listed aims of “defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans”.

The Tesla founder had previously criticised Twitter for stifling free speech.

The culture secretary said she could intervene over local newspaper group Newsquest’s takeover of rival Archant.

Last month, Newsquest, which publishes 178 titles including the Northern Echo and Lancashire Telegraph, sealed the deal to buy the East Anglia-based competitor.

Archant, which was being sold by private equity firm RCapital, owns a number of local newspaper brands in southern England including the Eastern Daily Press and Barking and Dagenham Post, alongside a portfolio of regional Country Life magazines, and employs 760 staff.

Nadine Dorries said today she was “minded” to issue an intervention notice, which would lead to the move being blocked.

Her department said in a letter to Newsquest and Archant that Ms Dorries is worried about the merger’s impact on competition in East Anglia, where many of the two firms’ titles cover.

Ms Dorries has asked for reports by two watchdogs – the CMA and Ofcom – before deciding whether a full probe is needed by the CMA.

Former Tory leader William Hague has said that defending Boris Johnson over Partygate has become “very hard”, and said many MPs had retreated into “embarrassed silence”.

“More than any other Tory leaders in my lifetime, Johnson also does things that make defending him very hard,” he wrote in The Times.

Mr Hauge also warned against his tendency to try to “cheer up” Tory MPs, rather than stick to a consistent tone, was damaging support.

He said: “The desire to lift the morale of those around him, irrespective of the wider message, is probably how the whole parties saga started for Johnson. If he is not careful it will be how it ends.”