Markus Andrews

Metropolitan Police are believed to have begun issuing more fines to Downing Street staff over gatherings held in government offices during Covid lockdown curbs.Scotland Yard is starting to hand out fines over a Christmas party held at No 10 on 18 December 2020, according to The Mirror.The festive bash, details of which first emerged at the end of last year and sparked the Partygate scandal, was said to have been attended by dozens of Boris Johnson’s staff.Scotland Yard would not confirm if fines had yet been issued over the event – held while London was in strict Tier 3 measures – but it is one of 12 events its Operation Hillman team is investigating.Mr Johnson was forced to address the issue of the 18 December bash after the explosive leak of a video showing staff holding a mock press conference and making jokes about a Christmas party.It led to the resignation of government aide Allegra Stratton and the announcement of an investigation by top civil servant Sue Gray’s investigation.The report on fresh fines comes as senior Tories tried to step up pressure on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer over the so-called “Beergate” saga.A leaked memo in the Mail on Sunday indicated that the takeaway meal in Durham had been planned as part of Sir Keir’s itinerary for from 8.40pm to 10pm on the day of campaigning last April, no further work was scheduled after the dinner.The only business listed after the dinner is for Sir Keir to walk back to his hotel – he has previously claimed he “paused for food” and continued working after the meal, saying “the idea that nobody works at 10 o’clock at night is absurd”.Separately, a source who was present at the event told the Sunday Times: “He did not go back to work to the best of my knowledge.” The same source said some Labour people “were just there for a jolly”.A spokesman for Starmer’s office said: “Keir was working, a takeaway was made available in the kitchen, and he ate between work demands. No rules were broken.”Culture secretary Nadine Dorries claimed the memo showed there was “no break in a work meeting”, while Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said: “Starmer claimed it was an impromptu curry. Turns out it was pre-planned.”Deputy PM Dominic Raab accused Sir Keir of “complete hypocrisy” over the Durham beer, telling Sky News on Sunday: “He needs to fess up and answer all of the holes in the account that he gave for that beer-and-curry event in Durham.”But Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy described Sir Keir as “Mr Rules” on Sunday, and said Tory ministers’ attacks over the Beergate saga were “frankly absurd and pretty desperate”.The shadow levelling up secretary told BBC’s Sunday Morning programme: “It’s absurd to equate serial partying, lying and laughter … and a work event that people broke to eat.”She wouldn’t say whether Starmer should resign if he is fined over a takeaway. “I’m not going to get into a hypothetical because I don’t believe for one moment he broke the rules,” Ms Nandy said.Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said it would be difficult for Sir Keir to continue as Labour leader if he is fined. “No politician is above the law,” he told the BBC. “If they get a fixed-penalty notice after a police investigation, it’s extremely difficult for them to continue.”Andrew Fisher, former policy adviser to Jeremy Corbyn, said Starmer would emerge in a stronger position if he avoids a fine.“If he is cleared by police, he’ll be able to stand up in Parliament and say ‘Look, I was investigated and cleared. You [Johnson] were investigated and found guilty’,” he told LBC.Meanwhile, The Mirror reported that Mr Johnson’s deputy principal private secretary Stuart Glassborow – pictured alongside the PM at a Christmas quiz on 15 December – left his job last week. More

Sinn Fein has hailed a “new era” for Northern Ireland as the Irish nationalist party swept history aside and emerged the largest political force at Stormont assembly for the first time.Michelle O’Neill, the party’s leader north of the border, challenged the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to drop its obsession with Brexit checks and “work together” to restore the power-sharing executive which collapsed in February.“Today represents a very significant moment of change, it’s a defining moment for our politics and our people,” said Ms O’Neill after the republicans won the most votes and most seats for the first time since the country’s political institutions were set up a century ago.Sinn Fein won 27 seats and received 29 per cent of first preference votes, compared with 25 seats and 21.3 per cent of first preference votes for the DUP – putting Ms O’Neill on course to become the first-ever Irish nationalist first minister.DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would accept the outcome of the election, but insisted that the Northern Ireland protocol remained a barrier to power-sharing.“Our position remains that we need to remove the long shadow of the protocol that is inhibiting our ability to operate and function properly,” Sir Jeffrey told the BBC. “The sooner that happens, the sooner we’ll be in a position to move forward.”Asked whether failing to serve alongside Sinn Fein would be “anti-democratic”, the DUP leader said: “There are lots of parties in lots of places in the world who decide not to go into a government, but we are committed to the political institutions.”But Ms O’Neill insisted that the urgency of the cost of living crisis meant that “we must all turn up” at Stormont next week, adding: “The people can’t wait. The people have told us they expect us to work together. The people are right.”Boris Johnson’s government is drawing up legislation aimed at tearing up checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland unilaterally – a move which is sure to spark a major row with the EU.But the bill is understood to be on hold until after the 10 May Queen’s speech, with ministers hoping that the election results can persuade Brussels to agree that checks must be dropped to restore power-sharing arrangements.Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis, set to travel to Belfast on Monday to meet political leaders, responded to results by encouraging the parties to form an executive “as soon as possible”.The cabinet minister said the electorate “were clear that they want a fully functioning devolved government in Northern Ireland, they want the issues around the protocol addressed, and that they want politics to work better”.Labour urged the government to “prioritise practical solutions through negotiation with the EU and not chase headlines with empty threats”.Peter Kyle MP, shadow Northern Ireland secretary, said Sinn Fein had “earned the right to nominate a new first minister”, adding that protocol issues “should not prevent a return to the executive”.Bertie Ahern, former prime minister of Ireland, called for the UK and EU to come to a compromise over the protocol. “I think what we desperately need in the island of Ireland now is for those negotiations to come to a successful conclusion,” he said on Saturday. More

Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill hails ‘new era’ in Northern Ireland after victoryThe British deputy prime minister said stability in Northern Ireland was “imperilled” by problems with its post-Brexit agreement, following Sinn Fein’s historic election success.The unionist DUP will refuse to serve with the republican party in a power-sharing executive unless there are major changes to the NI protocol.Dominic Raab told Sky News: “It’s clear from the dynamic that we now see that we won’t get to that position of stability unless and until it is fixed.”Over in Westminster, Boris Johnson is planning to announce new laws that will “deliver on the promise of Brexit” as he looks to bounce back from a bruising set of results for the Tory party.The British prime minister said he would reveal a “super seven” of Brexit Bills which will cut red tape and “unnecessary barriers inherited from the EU” in the Queen’s Speech next week. Show latest update

1652021107Complaints over complaints in MP porn scandalBoris Johnson’s strategist criticised the manner in which female Conservative MPs raised complaints about colleague Neil Parish for watching porn in parliament, it has been claimed. Adam Forrest has the full story here:Zoe Tidman8 May 2022 15:451652020207‘We don’t need threats of unilateral action in Westminster;Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, has spoken about the Northern Ireland protocol today.“There’s a responsibility, I think, on us all to respect how the people have voted and to find a way of working with the parties to put an executive and assembly that can work back in place,” he told RTE. “We don’t need threats of unilateral action, unilateral legislation in Westminster. “What we need is partnership and intense negotiations to try and finally settle the issues around the protocol without dismantling an international treaty and international law, but by applying the maximum flexibility possible to the existing agreement, to ensure that it’s implemented in a pragmatic and sensible way.”Zoe Tidman8 May 2022 15:301652018285‘Absurd muckracking’Lisa Nandy has tweeted out a clip of her interview on “beergate” earlier today.“It seems perfectly clear to me that this seems perfectly in line with every event I’ve done with any Labour leader,” she said.The shadow foreign secretary said it was “frankly just absurd muckracking” from the government to suggest it was the same as being under investigation for a dozen gatherings – including BYOB and kareoke parties – and saying they had never even happened. Watch here:Zoe Tidman8 May 2022 14:581652016907Irish reunification poll ‘will happen’ in next decade, says Sinn Fein leaderSinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald has stepped up call for border poll – asking for all-Ireland citizens assembly to discuss the idea now.“We have consistently been calling for the meeting of a citizens’ assembly, Ireland-wide, to acknowledge and engage the change that is clearly happening in Ireland, to ensure that we have an inclusive and respectful forum where we can talk about change and, more importantly, plan for change Ireland-wide,” she said on Sunday.She told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend: “We don’t want to exclude anybody in the change that will happen … over the course of the next decade, be in no doubt about that.”Zoe Tidman8 May 2022 14:351652015707Lib Dem ‘not ruling out Labour pact to oust Tories’The Liberal Democrats would not rule out a pact with Labour to defeat the Conservatives, the party’s deputy leader has suggested.Daisy Cooper said the Lib Dems had “no interest in doing a coalition with this Conservative government at all”.Asked about Labour, she told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “The Liberal Democrats have said that we want to win as many seats as possible off the Conservatives at the next general election and one way or another we would like to play a role in ousting this Conservative government.“It is far too soon – what that might look like, how that might work, but we would want to play a role in ousting this Conservative government, that’s our number one priority.”Zoe Tidman8 May 2022 14:151652015189’Standing together for peace’The leader of Sinn Fein has been at a Ukraine war protest in Ireland today. Here is what she said:Zoe Tidman8 May 2022 14:061652014807Liz Truss condemns Russian attack on Ukrainian school Liz Truss accused Vladimir Putin’s forces of war crimes after a Russian bomb destroyed a school in Luhansk, Ukraine, where around 90 were sheltering in the basement:Zoe Tidman8 May 2022 14:001652013607Civil servant wins six-figure sum over ‘insidious’ Ministry of Justice racismIn some other news, The Independent has revealed a former civil servant received a six-figure pay-out from the government over discrimination. She says was subjected to “insidious” racism during a 12-year battle with the Ministry of Justice, our race correspondent Nadine White reports.Zoe Tidman8 May 2022 13:401652012417Tories should urged to resist desire to ‘smash up’ institutionsDamian Green has called for an end to ministers “culture war” attacks on the BBC and the judiciary.The senior Tory MP said the strategy was losing the party voters in the south of England.The former minister said the poor local election results in so-called blue wall heartlands reflected distaste for “embarrassing” government.Voters “want a government that seeks to unite society, and resists the urge to declare culture wars on institutions like the judiciary or the BBC,” he also said in an article for the Sunday Telegraph.Mr Green continued: “They believe Conservatism involves respect for institutions, not a revolutionary desire to smash them up. They also want a calm, competent government that is not embarrassing.”More on this story here by Adam ForrestLamiat Sabin8 May 2022 13:201652011217‘Frustrating’ lack of flexibility from EU over protocol – LewisNorthern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis has said he will meet with the leaders of the Stormont parties tomorrow to talk about resurrecting the Assembly.He urged DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to nominate a deputy first minister to get the executive working again, after the unionist party vowed not to restart power-sharing with Sinn Fein until the protocol checks are ditched.But Mr Lewis also said the issue of protocol needed to be “resolved” – blaming the EU for failing to agree to ditch the checks signed into law as part of the Brexit deal.“It is really frustrating that the EU have not shown the flexibility we need to see to get that resolution,” told Sky News.’Frustrating’ lack of flexibility from EU over protocol, says Northern Ireland secretaryThe NI secretary added: “It’s more frustrating to hear over the last couple of days that the EU seem to be saying they’re not willing to show any sort of flexibility to get this resolved.”On the UK government’s threat of unilateral action, Mr Lewis added: “We’ve always said we take nothing of the table, and that hasn’t changed. We will do what we need to do … There is a point we will have to make some decisions.”Put to him that the government was “dancing to the DUP’s tune”, Mr Lewis said the idea was a “misnomer” – claiming all communities had issues with the protocol.Legislation prepared with the aim of overriding the protocol is not expected to be included in next week’s Queen’s Speech, but The Independent understands it could still be introduced later in the parliamentary session.Lamiat Sabin8 May 2022 13:00 More

The UK will provide an extra £1.3bn in military support to Ukraine, in a dramatic escalation of assistance for Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces as they fight the Russian invasion.The new funding comes on top of the UK’s existing £1.5bn support to Kyiv, which included around £400m in humanitarian aid and grants to the Ukrainian government, and unlocking over £700m in additional World Bank lending through loan guarantees.It is the highest rate of UK military spending on a conflict since the height of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “The situation in Ukraine continues to cause immense suffering with every day bringing new, tragic stories of Putin’s brutality.“We are unwavering in our support for the people of Ukraine – and this extra £1.3bn will ensure we continue to provide the necessary military and operational support they need to defend themselves against Putin.“The UK is at the forefront providing economic, humanitarian and defensive support to Ukraine and we are working tirelessly to bring an end to this conflict.”The extra funding has been drawn from the UK’s reserves – funds the government has set aside for the most pressing emergencies – and includes £300m of military kit announced by Boris Johnson earlier this week. The electronic warfare equipment includes a counter-battery radar system, GPS jamming equipment and thousands of night vision devices.Boris Johnson and other G7 leaders will meet with Mr Zelensky virtually on Sunday to discuss further support on offer, as well further sanctions on Russia.The prime minister and defence secretary will also host a meeting of leading defence companies later this month to discuss increasing production in response to increased demand created by the conflict in Ukraine and a global shift away from Russian-made weaponry.Mr Johnson said: “Putin’s brutal attack is not only causing untold devastation in Ukraine – it is also threatening peace and security across Europe.“The UK was the first country to recognise the scale of the threat and send arms to help the Ukrainians defend themselves. We will stand by that endeavour, working with our allies to ensure Ukraine can continue to push back the Russian invasion and survive as a free and democratic country.“In the process, we are bolstering our own security and economy, turbocharging the development and production of cutting-edge defence equipment here in the UK.”In the US, Mr Biden has promised a package including artillery shells, radars and other military equipment.Sunday’s virtual meeting of G7 leaders on VE Day could also consider additional sanctions on Russia.The White House views the meeting as a way of displaying western unity on the eve of Moscow’s traditional 9 May victory day parade.There has been speculation that the Russian president had hoped to use the symbolically important date to highlight his success in Ukraine, but the fierce resistance put up by Kyiv’s forces has scuppered any such claim.The UK Ministry of Defence said Russia’s ability to fight with modern equipment was being damaged by losses in Ukraine and the impact of sanctions.The MoD said at least one of Russia’s most advanced T-90M tanks had been destroyed in fighting, while sanctions were restricting access to microelectronic components for sophisticated equipment. More

Michael Gove has suggested that falling levels of home ownership were a factor in the Tories’ local election losses.The levelling up and housing minister said more had to be done to get Britons on the property ladder, noting that the proportion of people living in their own homes has gone down in recent decades, while the number of those renting has risen.Home ownership has fallen from 51 per cent in 1989 to 28 per cent in 2019 among 25 to 34-year-olds.“There are people who are perfectly capable of servicing a mortgage who are paying more in rent than they would for their mortgage. That is wrong.” Mr Gove said.He added: “There is a particular challenge for us in London and I think that challenge in London relates to…homeownership.“There are other factors. But I think that for young people in London, there is a responsibility on the incumbent government to address some of the factors that have made it more difficult for them to own their own home.“That’s one lesson that I would draw at this stage. The other one is that the Labour Party doesn’t seem to have made anything like the progress outside of London, that you would expect an opposition to do if it was on course for victory.”Just last month, Mr Gove spoke at a conference hosted by the charity Shelter, where he said there had been a “failure to ensure that there are homes which are genuinely affordable for all”.The government’s plans to increase the supply of homes form part of its Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will be unveiled in the Queen’s speech next week. The reforms also aim to revitalise high streets and town centres, including by giving councils getting extra powers to force landlords to rent out empty shops.Speaking on the Bill, Boris Johnson said: “High streets up and down the country have long been blighted by derelict shopfronts, because they’ve been neglected, stripping opportunity from local areas.“We are putting that right by placing power back in the hands of local leaders and the community so our towns can be rejuvenated, levelling up opportunity and restoring neighbourhood pride.” More

After the vote and the count, the eternal existential question: what does it all mean anyway?Commentators have spent the last 36 hours wrestling with local election results that have, somehow, been a disaster for Boris Johnson without being much good for Sir Keir Starmer either.The facts are simple enough. The Tories lost almost 500 councillors, while Labour and the Lib Dems both made big gains: 261 and 189 respectively. The Greens won 82 and the Scottish National Party 61.Yet what exactly this tells us about the state of British public opinion – and how a general election might go – remains as contested as the campaigning itself.In the run up to voting day on Thursday, The Independent identified eight key council areas that may offer key clues to the direction of politics over the next two years. Now, we look at the results in those places and the lessons they (possibly) offer…Derby City CouncilWhen commentators suggest that Labour endured a difficult election despite picking up some 261 council seats, it is places like Derby they are thinking of.The city authority is historically red but has been led by a minority Tory administration since 2018 – a shift that preceded the fall of the Red Wall at the following year’s general election.If Labour is to triumph the next time the country goes to the polls, it is exactly such Midlands (and Northern) cities and towns they need to win back. Yet, despite picking up two seats in Derby on Thursday, they remain behind the Tories here with just 16 councillors compared to the blues’ 18.In a swathe of other former heartland areas – including Bolton, Dudley and Walsall – the same thing happened. Modest gains were overshadowed by the fact the Tories remained the larget party. In several areas, Labour lost seats: Newcastle-under-Lyme, Barnsley and South Shields among them.The conclusion? It may be some time yet before the Red Wall reverts back to Labour. More

Senior Conservative MP David Davis has warned that Boris Johnson’s premiership faces “death by a thousand cuts”. Heavy losses in the local elections have inflicted yet another blow on the wounded prime minister. Are we watching his slow and painful demise?Johnson appears to have survived the bruising results – close to 500 Tory seats lost – without a loud clamour for his resignation from Tory backbenchers. We have not seen a significant number of new MPs turn against him in public.But there are signs of another precarious period ahead for the PM. Tory MPs in the “blue wall” heartlands in the south of England are spooked by results that were worse than expected. They now have clear evidence of how much voters loathe the idea of law-breaking parties in Downing Street.As one senior critic says, mistrust in the prime minister over Partygate now seems “baked in” among traditional Tory voters. Some of the griping about results has come from his usual opponents. But some who have not previously spoken out against Johnson now appear to be wrestling with the leadership question.David Simmonds, the Tory MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, has wondered out loud whether “a change of leader” could be one way of restoring confidence in the party. Marcus Fysh, MP for Yeovil, said colleagues would have to discuss whether Johnson was “the right person” to lead the new approach that is needed on the economy.No 10 is pointing to the fact that the Tories fared better in the Midlands and the north of England, where Labour made precious few gains in red-wall territory, and where Brexit appears to have created a lasting problem for Keir Starmer’s party.Johnson can also take heart from Starmer’s “Beergate” problem. It may only offer a brief breathing space for the prime minister, however, if the Labour leader manages to avoid a fine over the takeaway meal enjoyed with colleagues during a campaign event in Durham last April.Regardless of Starmer’s woes, there are some huge and dangerous hurdles ahead for the PM. With the elections now over, Scotland Yard could announce fresh fines over parties. And the publication of senior civil servant Sue Gray’s report – said to be damning – awaits the conclusion of the police inquiry.There are potentially difficult by-elections in Wakefield, Tiverton and Honiton still to come in the next six weeks or so, with Labour confident of overturning the Tories’ 3,000-plus majority in the West Yorkshire seat.Would a reshuffle help? Johnson is thought to be considering a shake-up of his top team before the summer recess starts in late July. The prospect may keep ministers on their toes for a while. But with an already compliant cabinet, the real threat will continue to come from the back benches.It’s difficult to see how Johnson wins new allies in the parliamentary party in the months ahead. Even if he survives until the autumn without the threshold of 54 no-confidence letters being reached, he has the run-up to conference season to contend with.Many who are sitting on the fence could use the period to ask themselves whether he is the right person to lead them into the next general election.Once a few dozen existing rebels decide to send in their letters to the 1922 Committee chair, it takes a simple majority – around 180 MPs – to force a change of leader. If the contest took place tomorrow, the smart money would be on Johnson’s survival.But if a vote were to take place after the messy period of new fines, fresh apologies, and the full-fat Sue Gray report, more Tory MPs may be more inclined to take the long view and consider whether a new leader might have a better chance of restoring the party’s fortunes. More

Keir Starmer performed worse than Jeremy Corbyn in last night’s local elections outside London, a leading polling expert has said.Despite the party claiming historic victories in London, Professor Sir John Curtice said that, from results announced overnight, Labour’s share of the vote and numbers of seats won outside the capital were actually lower than the last time the seats were contested in 2018.There was “very little sign” of the party making progress in Brexit-backing areas of the North and Midlands which fell to Conservatives in 2019, when Boris Johnson made deep inroads into the so-called Red Wall of Labour’s traditional heartlands. More