Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson has stood by his attack on the Church of England after its top clergyman criticised his immigration policy.The Archbishop of Cantebury criticised the prime minister’s plan to deport refugees to Rwanda in a sermon on Easter Sunday, warning that it could not “stand the judgement of God”.But at a private meeting of Tory MPs on Tuesday afternoon Mr Johnson tried to deflect the criticism by claiming the clergy had been been somehow soft on criticising the Russian invasion of Ukraine.The attack was branded a “disgraceful slur” by Lambeth Palace on Thursday evening – which pointed to statements by Justin Welby and other condemning the invasion in the strongest terms.But on Wednesday in parliament the prime minister declined to apologise when challenged over his apparently false claim.Labour Leader Keir Starmer asked the PM whether he would “take this opportunity to apologise for slandering the Archbishop and the Church of England”.But the prime minister replied: “I was slightly taken aback for the government to be criticised over the policy that we have devised to end the deaths at sea in the Channel as a result of cruel criminal gangs. “I was surprised that we were attacked for that – and it turns out, do you know who proposed that policy in 2004? It was David Blunket, who said it was a 21st century solution to the problems of illegal asylum seeking and immigration.”But Sir Keir hit back, asking later in the session: “How can the prime minister claim to be a patriot when he deliberately attacks and degrades the institution of our great country?”he said the prime minister appeared comfortable “slandering people in a private room” without “the backbone to repeat it in public”.The government’s policy will see refugees arriving in Britain relocated to Rwanda, which has a poor human rights record and which the UK has granted people asylum from as recently as last year. More

The Conservative MP who criticised the idea of women taking traditionally male screen roles has called on Boris Johnson to set up a new ministerial post for men.Nick Fletcher MP – a leading backer of International Men’s Day – said it was time for a dedicated minister looking out for the particular health issues faced by men.“Men are dying so much younger than they should,” said Mr Fletcher at PMQs on Wednesday.The MP for Don Valley said: “So will the PM meet with me to discuss the merits of having a minister for men, and the benefits of a men’s health strategy?”The PM did not take up the call for a mens’ minister, but replied: “We are determined to tackle all the health conditions he describes and cares about – particularly mental health and suicide prevention.”Mr Fletcher was previously mocked for his complaints about women taking on traditionally male TV and film roles – saying it left young men vulnerable to “committing crime”.He claimed the lack of male role models – citing actresses taking the lead in Doctor Who and the all-female Ghostbusters reboot – had left young men idolising violent anti-heroes.“In recent years we’ve seen Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Luke Skywalker … all replaced by women,” he said during the International Men’s Day debate.Mr Fletcher added: “Men are left with the Krays and Tommy Shelby. Is it any wonder we are seeing so many young men committing crime?”The Tory backbencher also told parliament that he wanted “men to have their own identity and masculinity to be celebrated at times – rather than vilified”.Meanwhile, Mr Johnson stood by his attack on the Church of England at PMQs, after the Achbishop of Canterbury and other senior clergy criticised his plan to send migrants to Rwanda.At a private meeting of Tory MPs on Tuesday evening, Mr Johnson tried to deflect the criticism by claiming the clergy had been “less vociferous” in criticising the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Labour Leader Keir Starmer asked the PM whether he would “take this opportunity to apologise for slandering the Archbishop and the Church of England”.But the prime minister replied: “I was slightly taken aback for the government to be criticised over the policy that we have devised to end the deaths at sea in the Channel as a result of cruel criminal gangs.” More

Boris Johnson is today jetting out to India on a long-planned trade trip, missing a crucial House of Commons vote on Thursday on whether he should face a fresh parliamentary investigation into law-breaking parties at 10 Downing Street.Conservative MPs are expected to be placed under a three-line whip to vote down a Labour motion calling for an inquiry by the Commons Privileges Committee into whether the prime minister’s earlier claims that no rules were broken at No 10 amounted to a contempt of parliament.But some are disgruntled at being asked to put their reputations on the line for the PM when he is not himself going to be present, just weeks before local government elections at which Labour is expected to accuse any Tory backing Johnson of voting for a cover-up.It is understood that suggestions of calling off or cutting back the long-planned trip for talks with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi were swiftly dismissed at Downing Street on Tuesday, with sources saying the visit will “definitely” go ahead. Chancellor Rishi Sunak will also be out of the country at IMF meetings in the US.Mr Johnson will depart for India after what promises to be a gruelling session of prime minister’s questions in the Commons, following his two-hour ordeal on Tuesday at which he repeatedly apologised to MPs for a Downing Street birthday party which breached lockdown rules and resulted in fines for both Johnson and Sunak.The trip has already been cancelled twice – once because of the winter wave of Covid cases in the UK in January 2021 and then again in April last year, when Mr Johnson was accused of delaying the introduction of new restrictions in the hope of travelling to India, which was then suffering from a new variant of the disease.No breakthrough is expected on the UK/India trade deal which both sides have said they want to conclude by the end of 2022.The government believes a deal could provide a boost to UK sectors from services to cars, manufacturing, food and drink. But as ever, progress could founder on Delhi’s demands for enhanced access to visas for its nationals to work and settle in the UK.The PM’s official spokesperson today said that any increase in the number of visas offered to India would have to be consistent with the UK’s post-Brexit points-based immigration policy, which favours those with in-demand skills.He pointed to the fact that India remains the top nationality for “skilled work” visas, accounting for 64,839 – more than two-fifths – of the total granted in 2021, compared 6,923 for US nationals.The initial goal of boosting trade with India in the wake of Brexit threatens to be overshadowed by rows over Ukraine.Delhi has been resisting pressure from the West to ditch its neutral stance over Russia’s invasion.Despite sending humanitarian and medical aid to Ukraine, Mr Modi has yet to condemn Moscow’s actions and has stressed the need for dialogue to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.Moscow is Delhi’s biggest military supplier, and India has been snapping up millions of barrels of Russian oil since sanctions made its price more competitive in recent months.Downing Street today said the PM will not seek to “lecture” Modi over the need to isolate Russia, but will instead offer “constructive” proposals for the south Asian sub-continent to diversify its energy and military supplies.“We are not seeking to lecture Modi or India,” said Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson.“We recognise that different countries, be it India or others in Europe, are taking slightly different approaches to how they respond to Putin’s aggression.“We see our role to be not to seek to lecture them or point fingers from the sidelines, but to engage constructively – as we have done in recent years – and talk to them about potential possible alternatives on things like energy and security and defence, not necessarily provided by the UK but globally.”As well as his trip to New Delhi for talks with Mr Modi, Mr Johnson will visit the western state of Gujarat, where around half of the UK’s 1.4m residents of Indian origin trace their roots.Downing Street said he expects to seal “significant new investment and jobs announcements and science partnerships” during the trip. More

Asylum seekers in France should stay there if they want to avoid being sent to Rwanda by the UK, a government minister has warned.Home secretary Priti Patel’s plan to fly migrants arriving on small boats to east Africa has sparked outrage from opposition parties, migrant groups, senior bishops and some senior Tories.Business minister Paul Scully defended the controversial move by suggesting it would help discourage people in Calais from making the crossing across the English Channel.“Where they are in France, they are in a safe country. They can – if they don’t want to go to Rwanda – can claim [asylum] in France,” he told LBC.He added: “It’s not right that people should be feeding on this misery – the human traffickers, that is. We do not want to see people drowning in the Channel … we need to tackle this head on.”Ms Patel has claimed the plan will help “disrupt the business model of organised crime gangs” and “deter migrants from putting their lives at risk”.Those who are deemed by the government to have entered Britain by unlawful means since 1 January may be sent to Rwanda, where they will be permitted to apply for asylum in the east African country.Former prime minister Theresa May became the most high-profile Tory to attack the plan when she questioned its “egality, practicality and efficacy” in the Commons on Tuesday.She challenged Ms Patel: “If it is the case that families will not be broken up, where is her evidence that this will not simply lead to an increase in the trafficking of women and children?”Ms Patel insisted the deal complied with international laws, but did not give parliament any more details of eligibility requirements or the costs involved.The Home Office has also yet to provide any evidence that Rwanda deal will act as a deterrent to migrants or organised crime gangs when it comes to small boat crossings.Mr Scully said the government would still offer “generous” help to refugees through existing visa and humanitarian schemes – though campaigners have criticised these routes as too slow unambitious.“There will be routes for people coming from places of conflict zones, like Afghanistan, like Syria, like Ukraine,” the minister said.Mr Scully also denied the idea families could be split up. “We’re not splitting up families, we’re not sending unaccompanied children for processing anywhere in a third country,” he said.It comes as the Church of England accused Boris Johnson of a “disgraceful slur” against the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, following his criticism of the radical immigration policy.The prime minister claimed at a private meeting of Tory MPs on Tuesday evening that the clergy had been less outspoken on the Russian invasion of Ukraine than on his plan to deport refugees to Rwanda.John Bingham, head of media at the Church of England, said in a post on social media that if the reports from the meeting were true then they were “a disgraceful slur”.He pointed to a statement issued by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York on the morning of the invasion immediately condemning the Russian attack on Ukraine as “horrific and unprovoked” as well as “an act of great evil”. More

Boris Johnson will today face calls for a law requiring politicians to tell the truth, as a new poll shows trust in the political system has plummeted in the past 12 months.The survey for think tank Compassion in Politics found that almost half of voters (47 per cent) said their trust in politicians to tell the truth had decreased in the past year, compared to just 3 per cent who said it had increased. A further 32 per cent said they did not trust politicians previously and still do not now.An overwhelming 73 per cent said they would back a new law requiring all politicians to ensure that all public statements they make are, to the best of their knowledge, truthful and accurate – with penalties who are repeatedly shown to have lied.Plaid Cymru leader in Westminster Liz Saville Roberts will today challenge Mr Johnson at prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons to give her support to a Lying in Politics Bill.The move comes after Mr Johnson became the first sitting prime minister to be found to have broken the law, and a day after he told MPs that he did not deliberately mislead the Commons when he said last December that Covid lockdown rules had been followed at No 10.The poll lays bare the extent to which the revelation of a series of parties during lockdown in Downing Street and elsewhere in Whitehall has dealt a body-blow to voter trust in politicians’ truthfulness.Just 3 per cent of those taking part in the survey said their trust had increased over the past year, and a further 11 per cent said they trusted politicians to tell the truth before and still do now.Lack of trust was widespread across all parts of society, with 31 per cent of Conservatives saying they have lost trust, compared to 6 per cent who said it had increased. Some 56 per cent of Labour supporters and 58 per cent of Liberal Democrats said their trust in politics had declined over the period.And there were high levels of lost trust among Remainers (53 per cent) and Leavers (45), men and women (both 47 per cent) and all age-groups and areas of the UK.Some 14 per cent of those questioned said they trusted Conservatives to tell the truth more than other political parties, compared to 20 per cent who trusted Labour most and 32 per cent who said they did not trust any party.A “lying in politics bill” was backed by 71 per cent of Tory voters, 79 per cent of Labour supporters and 77 per cent of Liberal Democrats.Ms Saville Roberts said: “A constant low-level hum of mistrust has been present in Westminster politics for decades. But under Boris Johnson, it has drowned out all voices of reason, with cabinet ministers and the prime minister himself not merely spouting half-truths and white lies, but also committing to entire false narratives that we all know to contradict reality.“The public are not stupid. We all know that Boris Johnson knowingly attended parties at Downing Street. We all know he drank wine and laughed with colleagues while the rest of us were denied the same privilege.Yet cabinet ministers are wheeled out to defend the indefensible – smearing their own reputations in the process.“Plaid Cymru has long called for legislation making it illegal to intentionally deceive the public. With parliament stymied from holding the government to account for lying – even if only to point out that mere fact – a law against lying in politics is more necessary than ever.”The co-director of Compassion in Politics, Jennifer Nadel, said that more than 200,000 Britons have now signed a petition backing a law against lying in politics.“We need politicians who are open, honest, and transparent,” said Ms Nadel. “Politicians who respect the public and are committed to serving them.“If the current system is not producing that level of leadership, the system needs to change.“Our proposal – to make it a requirement that politicians are honest with the public – would apply the same rules to Westminster that already exist for businesses, doctors, teachers, and many other workplaces.“Why should there be one rule for us and another for politicians? Our politics has already sunk as low as it can go thanks to the repeated use of lies, mistruths, and misrepresentation – it’s time someone threw it a lifejacket.”Pollsters Opinium questioned 2,004 UK adults, weighted to be nationally representative, between 6 and 8 April More

The Church of England has accused Boris Johnson of a “disgraceful slur” against the Archbishop of Canterbury, following his criticism of the government’s immigration policy.The prime minister claimed at a private meeting of Tory MPs on Tuesday afternoon that the clergy had been less outspoken on the Russian invasion of Ukraine than on his plan to deport refugees to Rwanda.But on Tuesday evening Lambeth Palace pushed back at Mr Johnson’s apparent attempt to delegitimise the Archbishop’s Easter Sunday criticism of the government.John Bingham, head of media at the Church of England, said in a post on social media that if the reports from the meeting were true they were “a disgraceful slur”. He pointed to a statement issued by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York on the morning of the invasion immediately condemning the Russian attack on Ukraine as “horrific and unprovoked” as well as “an act of great evil”.Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell had also urged Christians to make “a special day of prayer for Ukraine, Russia and for peace as well as supporting a global day of “prayer and fasting for peace” on Ash Wednesday.Sources close to the prime minister used the meeting of Tory MPs on Tuesday to accuse the senior clergy of being “less vociferous” in condemning Vladimir Putin.The prime minister announced last week that some people arriving in Britain would be resettled in Rwanda. The announcement provoked strong criticism from across the political spectrum, including the Archbishop of Canterbury Mr Welby who raised “serious ethical questions” about the policy in his Easter Sunday address.In the sermon, the archbishop said the policy could not “stand the judgment of God” and that “sub-contracting out our responsibilities, even to a country that seeks to do well, like Rwanda, is the opposite of the nature of God who himself took responsibility for our failures”.The Rwanda announcement comes after a string of damaging news stories about the prime minister’s lawbreaking behaviour during the Covid lockdown – and the policy is being interpreted in Westminster as an attempt to move the news agenda onto other matters. More

Boris Johnson’s law-breaking birthday party was viewed as a “positive story” by the media in 2020 and was merely “respite” from his hard work, a government minister has claimed.The PM is under renewed pressure after he was told to resign by former chief whip Mark Harper, despite apologising dozens of times for the fine received for his birthday bash at No 10.However, business minister Paul Scully defended the July 2020 event – and pointed out it had been mentioned in The Times the day after.“The newspapers … didn’t think he broke the law,” he told Sky News. “The prevailing view at the time was that the prime minister’s birthday, and he had a few moments of respite.”The minister told Times Radio: “At the time it was literally covered in the newspaper, in a diary piece, as a bit of respite from hard work. At the time, that was the view he took – that it was a pause out of his workplace.”Mr Scully added: “You’re looking at things two years on with a different prism. He was under the belief that what he did was acceptable … but the police have come to a different conclusion, and he absolutely respects that.”The business minister told BBC Breakfast the birthday party “was seen as a positive story”, adding. “In the context of what’s happened over the last couple of years a different view is taken.”Mr Scully also said the PM had attended the birthday event “in the heat of the moment, but he’s accepted he’s done wrong, he’s accepted he’s made a mistake”.The Times reported the day after the law-breaking bash that Mr Johnson had celebrated his 56th birthday “with a small gathering in the cabinet room”.The PM is preparing to depart for the official trip to India on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s Labour motion calling for the privilege committee to determine whether he misled parliament with his Partygate denials.Conservative party whips have told all MPs to vote against the Labour motion, with several Tory MP reportedly ready to abstain over fears it could be used against them at the general election.Mr Scully defended the prime minister over his comments to MPs in December that Covid rules were followed at No 10. “I don’t believe he did knowingly misled parliament,” said the minister.Pressed on whether he accepted that Mr Johnson broke the law, the minister said: “The police have found that”.Mr Scully also said the PM also “accepts that the police have found him to have broken the law” – though Mr Johnson has yet to say he does accept he broke the law.Tory MP Craig Whittaker, one of the Conservatives to call for Mr Johnson’s resignation, urged him to refer himself to avoid taking colleagues to “the brink”.Noting Mr Johnson denies intentionally misleading the House, Mr Whittaker told BBC Newsnight: “What I would like to see is the prime minister referring himself to the privileges committee so that he doesn’t take all of my colleagues, including myself, to the brink on Thursday evening.”One rebel Tory did challenge him at Tuesday night’s meeting to agree to a privileges committee probe if he had “nothing to hide”. But the PM repeatedly challenged his MPs to consider whether they would “rather have Labour”.Another Tory MP told The Independent the PM was “not brilliantly contrite” at last night’s meeting, but he appeared to have done enough to keep existing backers onside.The backbencher added: “The mood in the party is not great. I think everyone expects more fines, and that will make things more difficult. If the local elections are really bad, some will change their minds on the idea that he’s a vote winner.” More

Boris Johnson has accused the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby of having “misconstrued” the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.Sources close to the prime minister said he accused the senior clergyman of being “less vociferous” in his condemnation of Vladimir Putin than he was in his attack on the policy – which will potentially see thousands of asylum seekers deemed to have arrived in the UK “illegally” sent to Rwanda.Mr Johnson appeared before Tory MPs on Tuesday evening after apologising in the House of Commons for breaking lockdown rules.He received loud cheers and banging on the tables from the largely supportive parliamentary party at the meeting of backbenchers, where he spoke for around 40 minutes.After defending himself over Partygate, Mr Johnson went on to hit out at “senior members of the clergy” and the BBC over criticism of the plan to send migrants to Rwanda, following condemnation by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops.Mr Welby raised “serious ethical questions” about the policy in his Easter Sunday address and said it cannot “stand the judgment of God”. More