Boris Johnson news – live: PM’s Bullingdon Club ‘chum’ picked for sleaze watchdog from 173 candidates

Prime minister Boris Johnson has said that Iran should “face up to the consequences of what they have done” and called on the country to “respect the freedoms of navigation”.

His comments were made to reporters who asked whether the UK would consider military action as part of its response to the attack on the Mercer Street oil tanker off the coast of Oman that killed on Briton and one Romanian last week.

Mr Johnson said: “I think that Iran should face up to the consequences of what they have done, accept the attribution that the foreign secretary has made.

“This was clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping, a UK national died. It is absolutely vital that Iran and every other country respects the freedoms of navigation around the world, and the UK will continue to insist on that.”

The government passed over 171 candidates to pick a Bullingdon Club “chum” of Boris Johnson’s to act as sleaze watchdog, ministers have revealed.

Ewen Fergusson, a member of Oxford’s infamous dining club at the same time as the prime minister, was given the role last month.

In an answer to a written parliamentary question from Labour, Cabinet office minister Chloe Smith said that the government had received 173 applications for the two vacancies on the committee; the applications were “carefully considered” and ultimately Mr Fergusson was appointed.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner told The Independent: “Being Boris Johnson’s chum from the Bullingdon Club does not qualify you to sit on the watchdog that is supposed to crack down on sleaze and cronyism in our politics. In fact, it should disqualify you”.

She said that Mr Fergusson’s appointment was “an utter joke”.

She added: “Instead of the prime minister appointing his mates to committees we need a fully independent integrity and ethics commission to oversee and stamp out the rampant sleaze and cronyism coming from Downing Street that has polluted our democracy”.

Policy correspondent Jon Stone reports.

Speaking on LBC radio this afternoon, Jim McMahon said: “Right from the start we’ve been calling for a simplified system that is easy to understand and gives people a very clear message if a country is risky and people shouldn’t be going there. And a very clear message of confidence” for when countries are considered safe for travel.

He said that when the government’s traffic light system first came out, the ambiguity around the “amber” in the traffic light system just “doesn’t make sense”.

He said that the number of categories was a “confused mess”, adding that he understood why the industry was “tearing its hair out”.

The co-chairman of the Conservative party has said that government policy “is in no way influenced by the donations the party receives – they are entirely separate” amid fresh concerns over “sleaze” from Labour.

Amanda Milling responded to Labour party chair Anneliese Dodd’s letter – which called on the Tories to “come clean” and publish a list of ministers who met with financial backers through a secretive “advisory board” – with a letter of her own.

Ms Milling wrote: “All political parties raise money and accept donations in order to pay their staff and campaign in elections.

“Indeed in the past year the Labour Party has taken just over £1.2 mn from Unite. Due to Labour infighting, this has fallen by over £4.5mn since August 2019.

“Over the weekend I read that the Labour Party is now seeking donations from billionaire businessmen, such as Lord Sainsbury and Sir Trevor Chinn.

“I would also like to remind you that the Labour party runs its own Chair Circle Membership group and the Rose Network whose members can pay a fee to get access to Sir Keir Starmer, yourself, and other senior Labour party shadow cabinet ministers.

“Government policy is in no way influenced by the donations the party receives – they are entirely separate. Any donation made to the Conservative Party is properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission and published by them.”

The Scottish government is being urged to “lead the way” by introducing a four-day work week, a move that nearly nine out of ten of its employees support.

The PCS union urged the government to make the change and show that the future “can be better for workers”.

Union leaders made the plea after a poll of more than 2,000 Scottish government employees found that 87 per cent were in favour of piloting a four-day work week across all areas of the government.

PCS national officer Cat Boyd said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that we are able to work in ways many employers told us weren’t possible before.

“Through this project, Scottish government staff are making it clear that the future can be different, that it can be better for workers, employers, the economy and the environment.

“The Scottish government should now lead the way on the four-day week by working with PCS to make these possibilities into realities.”

The poll was conducted by think-tank Autonomy, which also found that the Scottish government would benefit from improved recruitment and retention of staff, with a happier and healthier workforce, if it were to take up the shorter work week.

Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has invited Boris Johnson to a meeting at Bute House when he visits Scotland later this week.

Ms Sturgeon tweeted that she had written to the prime minister to invite him to meet about the current Covid situation and respective plans for recovery.

She said: “I understand the PM will visit Scotland later this week. Since this would be our first opportunity to meet in person for a while, I’ve invited him to Bute House to discuss Covid/recovery.

“We differ politically, but our governments must work together where we can.”

The Iranian ambassador to the UK has been summoned to the Foreign Office following a drone strike on a petrol tanker that killed a Briton and a Romanian off the coast of Oman last week.

A foreign office spokesperson said: “The Iranian ambassador to the UK, Mohsen Baharvand, was summoned today to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office by the minister for the Middle East, James Cleverly, in response to the unlawful attack committed on … 29 July”.

Mr Cleverly told the Iranian diplomat that Tehran must “immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security”.

Tehran has warned of a strong response if its security is threatened.

Andy Gregory reports.

Labour has accused the government of failing to get behind business ambitions to bring offshored jobs back to the UK, after a scheme to support “reshoring” was quietly shelved.

Reshore UK was launched by David Cameron in 2014 as a “one-stop shop” for companies hoping to shift business activities back to Britain. Mr Cameron said it would offer “dedicated support for businesses that want to capitalise on the opportunities of reshoring, creating new jobs and ensuring that hard-working people can reap the benefits of globalisation”. And Matt Hancock, business minister at the time, said the following year that it was forecast to create more than 6,500 jobs.

Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock reports:

Giving up the football and cowering in a breezy Scarborough is not my ideal ‘summer of fun’, but as I have no intention of learning to live with Covid, it’ll have to do, writes Sean O’Grady:

Lawyers expect a wave of legal action against UK companies over attempts to make sure staff are double-vaccinated against Covid, amid growing fears of draconian “no jab, no job” policies in the workplace.

My colleague Adam Forrest has more details below: