Markus Andrews

After this month’s botched attempt to remove Boris Johnson in a confidence vote Conservative rebels will hold their fire until his position is “irrecoverable”, a former minister has said.The senior backbencher told The Independent that MPs will act “lightning fast” to oust the prime minister when a powerful Commons committee publishes its findings on whether he lied to parliament over Partygate.The prediction came as Mr Johnson insisted he will not give up the “privilege” of being PM – and claimed that the ballot in which 40 per cent of his MPs voted to remove him amounted to a “new mandate” to lead.But despite Mr Johnson’s bullishness, the ex-minister said he did not believe fellow-MPs would allow the PM to lead them into the next election – no matter how determined he is to carry on.“How deep in the gutter are we willing to dive?” he asked. “How degraded are we willing to allow the Conservative Party to become?“It’s a pretty poor state of affairs, after two elections where half of the main opposition’s candidates didn’t want their leader on their leaflets, if we go into the next election not wanting our leader’s face on ours.”Last week’s by-election defeats in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton have sparked demands for a second vote on Mr Johnson’s leadership, with some Tory MPs understood to have resubmitted letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee.Rebels are pushing for change to the committee’s rules to allow an early re-run by slashing the 12-month grace period granted to Mr Johnson after he secured his position by a vote of 211-148 on 6 June.But the former minister said that it would be better to finish Mr Johnson off cleanly than risk another ballot that he could once again survive.With only backbenchers allowed to vote in next month’s election to the executive of the ’22, there was no doubt that the body will soon have a majority of members keen to dispatch the PM, he said.But he cautioned: “If we did it now, who’s to say we’d even win?“When it happens, it has to be lightning-fast and it has to be at a moment when his position is irrecoverable.”He said that the moment was likely to come with the publication, expected in early autumn, of the report from the privileges committee, chaired by veteran Labour MP Harriet Harman.Despite intense pressure on the committee’s majority of Conservative MPs to clear the PM, it was difficult to see how their findings could do anything other than confirm that Mr Johnson misled parliament when he said all social distancing rules were observed at No 10, said the backbencher.If the PM tried to cling on, in defiance of convention that would suggest automatic resignation, “that is when the ‘22 will act, that’s when the rules will be changed and he will be out”.The comments came as cabinet ministers faced growing calls to follow Oliver Dowden, who quit his government post and the chairmanship of the Tory Party after the devastating byelection defeats.Senior Tory MP William Wragg, a leading critic of Mr Johnson, called on ministers to “show a bit of backbone” and take action against the PM.There was a “palpable” sense of disappointment on the backbenches at ministers’ silence, said Mr Wragg, who suggested that inaction now might damage their chances in an eventual battle for the succession.“Any of them with leadership aspirations might wish to consider this and do something about it,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour.Fellow backbench critic Damian Green said it was “no secret that many of the people in the cabinet are setting up potential leadership campaigns”.The former Tory minister told Channel 4: “If this long agony … is to be brought to a head … then maybe somebody in the cabinet might wish to take some action.”The prime minister insisted questions over his leadership had been “settled” by this month’s confidence vote.Asked at the G7 summit in Germany if he had considered walking away from No 10, Mr Johnson told the BBC: “I’m focused on what I’m doing as a leader of the country.“That is a huge, huge privilege to do, nobody abandons a privilege like that.”Challenged over whether he still had the authority to lead, an irritated Mr Johnson – who angered critics at the weekend by suggesting he would remain into the 2030s – replied: “I not only have the authority, I’ve got a new mandate from my party which I’m absolutely delighted about.”Environment secretary George Eustice insisted the rest of the cabinet continued to back their leader.“We have the support of the prime minister, the prime minister has our support, we work together and we stick together through difficult times,” he told Sky News. More

Boris Johnson and other western leaders condemned the “appalling” Russian missile attack on a shopping centre in Ukraine feared to have left scores of civilians dead or wounded.Two Russian missiles struck the shopping complex in the city of Kremenchuk, southeast of Kyiv, on Monday killing at least 10 people and wounding 40, senior Ukrainian officials said.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky – who had earlier urged G7 leaders to provide more weapons to help his military pushback against Vladimir Putin’s forces – described the toll of the attack as “unimaginable” and cited reports that more than 1,000 people were inside.The UN condemned the attack as “deplorable”, while Mr Johnson said it showed “the depths of cruelty and barbarism to which the Russian leader will sink”.It comes as British troops are set to be part of a massive expansion of Nato forces aimed at boosting defences on the alliance’s flank in Eastern Europe in response to the ongoing Russian attacks.Nato will hugely increase the number of troops placed on “high readiness” in its rapid response force from 40,000 to over 300,000, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday.The Independent understands that the UK will boost the number of troops committed to Nato’s response force, though British units will be part of a “high alert” standby force rather than deployed immediately to eastern Europe.Mr Johnson’s spokesman said there would be further talks on British involvement at the Nato summit in Madrid on Wednesday. “Obviously we’re one of the largest contributions to [Nato] … there will be further discussions at the summit itself.”Mr Stoltenberg indicated that a radically expanded response force would see Nato partners such as the UK, UK and France pledge more troops, ships and warplanes to be ready to deploy to territories on the alliance’s eastern borders.Mr Stoltenberg said the surge to 300,000 troops would help Nato “significantly reinforce” its defences in eastern Europe, with more battlegroups set to be deployed in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.“These troops will exercise together,” Mr Stoltenberg said. “And they will become familiar with local terrain, facilities, and our new pre-positioned stocks. So that they can respond smoothly and swiftly to any emergency.”Nato battlegroups are already active in several countries on Russia’s border, including Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Estonia. About 8,000 British troops have been taking part in exercises across Eastern European countries since April.The Nato chief said the shake-up set to be finalised this week was part of the “biggest overhaul of collective defence and deterrence since the Cold War”.Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky told G7 leaders on Monday that he wants the war with Vladimir Putin’s forces over by the end of 2022, telling allies not to let the conflict “drag on” through the winter.But in a sign that he was not willing to accept a peace deal that gave up swathes of Ukraine, the president said he would “only negotiate from a position of strength” as he urged allies to provide more military support.Mr Zelensky said he was focused on securing an “advantageous position” in a matter of months rather than years as part of pushback against Russian forces, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said after the session. More

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 UN has warned that 49 million people are now at risk of famine as a Russian blockade of grain from Ukraine pushes up prices around the globe. 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 fertiliser shortages.Bond, an umbrella group representing 70 UK 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”.It comes as Oxfam called on the G7 to boost aid and deliver on its promises to tackle global hunger made at last year’s summit ahead of fresh talks on food security in Bavaria on Monday.Oxfam GB also highlighted the swingeing cuts recently made to the government’s international aid budget following Mr Johnson’s pledge.The charity said deep cuts meant that UK aid to the four African countries hit hardest by hunger – Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan – was just £288m, only around a third of the sum provided during the region’s last major hunger crisis.“The UK’s failure to step up and help people in east Africa and around the world who don’t have enough to eat is not just a broken promise, it is a dereliction of duty,” said Danny Sriskandarajah, Oxfam GB chief executive.Oxfam called on G7 leaders to provide more debt relief to developing economies and tax corporations on excess profits, amid a growing number of workers’ strikes and protests around the world.The charity said the group of wealthy must double the amount of aid they provide for agriculture, food security and nutrition, amounting to an additional £11bn per year.“This isn’t just a standalone crisis – it’s coming off the back of an appalling pandemic that fuelled increased inequality worldwide,” said Matt Grainger, head of inequality policy at Oxfam. “I think we will see more and more protests.”Aid charities have pointed to a £30bn global shortfall in the money promised for appeals with large parts of east Africa, west Africa, the Middle East and Latin America suffering rapid increases in the number of hungry people. More

A cross-party group of MPs has urged the government to think again after it U-turned on human rights safeguards in a new trade deal with the Gulf states.The Independent revealed over the weekend that the government had ditched plans to make upholding human rights and the rule of law key objectives in its negotiations with the six-member bloc.MPs from the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green, and Scottish National parties said the UK government risked “facilitating” human rights abuses by pushing ahead without the protections.The safeguards were consulted on in October but dropped from a final list of objectives published last week.In a letter to Anne-Marie Trevelyan the MPs said the new policy “presents a clear U-turn in UK policy” and that the launch of talk was “in direct contradiction to the former Foreign Secretary’s assertion that the UK ‘shouldn’t be engaged in free-trade negotiations with countries abusing human rights'”.The MPs noted that the government had “failed to even mention human rights in its public statements regarding” the planned free trade agreement and that meetings with top officials from the countries “were held during parliamentary recess, thus limiting their potential to be scrutinised by this House”.They added: “The lack of any demonstrable considerations of human rights or democratisation in the build up to this agreement is extremely concerning and we urge you, in the strongest of terms, to reconsider your approach and ensure that human rights are placed as an important part of any trade agreement with the GCC. “To avoid the risk of facilitating abuse, any agreement must feature clear human rights commitments and must be strictly contingent upon the Gulf states’ compliance with international human rights law and humanitarian law.”In conclusion, we request a meeting with you in order to ascertain where negotiations currently stand and discuss what plans there are to incorporate questions of human rights into the upcoming agreement.”The UK government’s trade policy with Europe has inflicted serious economic damage on British imports and exports – and ministers want to boost trade with regions such as the Gulf to close the gap.International trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan last week met representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh to begin negotiations with the six-nation bloc, which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the UAE.MPs to sign the letter include Peter Bottomley, Conservative MP and Father of the House, Caroline Lucas the former Green Party leader, Drew Hendry, SNP trade spokesperson, and Brendan O’Hara, the chair of the APPG on Human Rights in the Gulf.It was also signed by Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat trade spokesperson, and campaigning Labour MPs Nadia Whittome, Diane Abbott, Richard Burgon, and Bell Ribeiro-Addy. In the Lords the letter was signed by Lord Scriven, the APPG’s vice chair.Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), told The Independent: “That the UK government is about to strike a free trade deal with some of the most repressive dictatorial regimes on earth represents a U-turn from its commitment not to enter into trade agreements with countries abusing human rights. “This trade deal marks the government’s broken promise and sets an extremely low bar for the UK’s respect of human rights. Failure to centre human rights in this agreement will have a catastrophic impact and will be seen by Gulf regimes as a green light for continued repression.”Liberal Democrat trade spokesperson Sarah Only said: “After failing to guarantee British standards on animal welfare and environmental protection in the FTA with Australia, the Government are now sinking even lower by negotiating a trade deal with Gulf Cooperation Council countries that appears to make no reference to their abysmal record on human rights.”This Conservative Government has shown time and time again that they are not committed to upholding human rights, after announcing plans to scrap the Human Rights Act earlier last week.” She said there should be “minimum standards for benchmarking future trade agreements; to include human rights, conflict and oppression, environmental, labour and safety standards, where they can be negotiated, based on a UK Trade and Human Rights Policy”.A Department for International Trade spokesperson said: “The UK is a leading advocate for human rights around the world and the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] lead on our efforts to promote universal human rights.“It is our experience that secure and growing trade relationships can increase UK influence and help us to open conversations with partners on a range of issues, including human rights.” More

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has told G7 leaders that he wants the war with Russia over by the end of 2022.Mr Zelensky addressed the leaders of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan by video link on Monday, urging them to give him more weapons for the struggle against Vladimir Putin’s forces.The Ukraine leader also said he was keen to see the war to end this year – telling G7 allies not to let the conflict “drag on” through the winter, The Independent understands.But in a sign that he was not willing to back down and accept a peace deal that gave up swathes of Ukraine to Russia, the president said: “We will only negotiate from a position of strength.”Mr Zelensky told the G7 he was focused on securing an “advantageous position” in a matter of months rather than years, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said after the session.The G7 released a statement after discussions with Mr Zelensky saying it would continue to provide financial, military and political support for Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.It comes as NATO will increase the number of its forces at high readiness massively – from around 40,000 to over 300,000 troops, secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday.“We will transform the NATO response force and increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000,” he said ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid later this week.The G7 statement on Ukraine said it was up to Ukraine to decide on a possible future peace deal. It said Kyiv must decide on any settlement “free from external pressure or influence”.Boris Johnson’s team had been keen to see language about a long-term commitment to Ukraine amid fears France and some other countries were suffering from “fatigue”.French president Macron was criticised for negotiating with Mr Putin at the start of the invasion and saying Russia must not be “humiliated”, raising fears Ukraine could be pushed into giving up territory.But a French official told AP that Mr Zelensky had indicated he wanted to negotiate an end to the war – so long as he can gain a stronger military position.“His goal is to end the war as quickly as possible and to get out of it in the best possible position, so that he can negotiate from a position of strength,” the diplomat said. “He will negotiate when he will be in a position to do so.” More

Patients who have been waiting more than two years for treatment will be given the choice of travelling to another area to get it more quickly under plans to clear NHS clear up waiting lists.Health service bosses described the move as a “final push” to “virtually eliminate” the number of people who have been waiting 24 months to be seen by a medic, the number of which has fallen from a peak of 22,500 in January to 6,700 after the Covid-19 pandemic caused waiting lists to mount.Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said the plan was “ambitious” but staff were “on track” to meet the target by the end of next month. More

A former Tory cabinet minister has said that high taxes are preventing hard-pressed families paying their bills, as he warned voters consider Boris Johnson’s government unConservative. David Davis also called for tax cuts to stimulate the economy and prevent the UK sinking into ‘stagflation’. Mr Johnson is under increasing pressure from his own backbenchers to bring forward promised tax cuts to save his premiership. But the chancellor Rishi Sunak, who today released a video designed to publicise the help that is already available for those struggling with the cost of living crisis, has warned these cannot happen immediately. More

The government’s failure to impose full import controls on food coming from the EU since Brexit has exposed the UK to increased risk of sub-standard products reaching the shelves, a new report has warned.The report by the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland said the implementation of full checks by the end of 2023 at the latest should be a “priority” for ministers.Prior to Brexit, food imported from the EU was certified for safety by European authorities, but thanks to EU withdrawal the job now falls on the UK.Britain was not ready to carry out checks at the border when post-Brexit rules came into force in January 2021, and implementation was put off to July this year.But Cabinet Office minister Jacob Rees-Mogg announced in April that he was postponing the “complex and costly” move again, putting off the introduction of checks to the end of next year as af cost-cutting measure. The imposition of controls resulting from the Brexit deal would have been “an act of self-harm”, costing UK businesses £1bn annually, he said.FSA chair Professor Susan Jebb today cautioned that the delay had reduced her watchdog’s ability to prevent the entry of unsafe products into the UK market.Although the FSA and FSS report found no evidence of “meaningful change” in the standard of imported food from the EU since Brexit, it warned that the lack of import controls means “we are not receiving official assurance from the exporting country that imports meet the UK’s high food and feed safety standards”. Uncertainty would increase as EU and UK standards diverge as a result of Brexit.The failure to impose controls “could also affect how we identify and respond to safety risks in future, with additional resource required by the UK to maintain levels of food safety assurance for these imports”, the report added.Prof Jebb said ministers should ensure full checks are in place by the end of 2023, when Mr Rees-Mogg has promised a “controls regime which will deliver on our promise to create the world’s best border on our shores”.She said: “The longer the UK operates without assurance that products from the EU meet our high food and feed safety standards, the less confident we can be that we can effectively identify potential safety incidents.”The report identified the impostion of post-Brexit controls as one of two “significant” risks to food standards, alongside a fall in the number of inspections of food businesses resulting from budget pressures on local councils.Nearly half of the UK’s food – 40 million tonnes annually – comes from abroad, and two-thirds of that has in recent years come from the EUThe EU remains by far the biggest supplier, accounting for over 90 per cent of all beef, dairy, eggs and pork products imported into the UK and nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of all food and feed not of animal origin. More