Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson has been branded a “disgrace” after he falsely accused Sir Keir Starmer of being behind a failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile.A former chief prosecutor said it was “not true” that the Labour leader failed to prosecute Savile – a claim made by the prime minister in the Commons on Monday.The suggestion, made by the PM while he was on the ropes during an exchange about lockdown parties, is also contrary to the findings of an independent fact-checking organisation.During a debate about the Sue Gray report Mr Johnson said that “the report does absolutely nothing to substantiate the tissue of nonsense that he has said”. But he added: “Instead this leader of the opposition, a former director of public prosecution – who used his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can see – he chose to use this moment to continually pre-judge a police inquiry.“He has reached his conclusions about it. I am not going to reach any conclusions and he would be entirely wrong to do so.“I have complete confidence in the police, I hope that they will be allowed simply to get on with their job and don’t propose to offer any more commentary about it and I don’t believe that he should either.”Sir Keir reacted to Mr Johnson’s attempted smear with a stony glare.Nazir Afzal, a former chief Crown prosecutor for the North West, responded to the PM’s claim about Sir Keir and Savile by branding it “a disgrace to parliament and office of prime minister”.“Its not true. I was there. Keir Starmer had nothing to do with the decisions taken. On the contrary, He supported me in bringing 100s of child sex abusers to justice,” Mr Afzal said in a post on social media:.In 2020, fact-checking charity Full Fact also looked into the claim that Sir Keir had stopped Savile being charged in 2009 – a claim which has also been perpetuated by far-right groups on social media.Full Fact said that while Sir Keir was head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) when the decision not to prosecute Savile was made on the grounds of “insufficient evidence”, he was not central to the decision.“The allegations against Savile were dealt with by local police and a reviewing lawyer for the CPS,” the charity said.“A later investigation criticised the actions of both the CPS and the police in their handling of the situation.“It did not suggest that Mr Starmer was personally involved in the decisions made.”The independent fact-checking organisation concluded: “Mr Starmer was head of the CPS when the decision was made not to prosecute Savile but he was not the reviewing lawyer for the case.“An official investigation commissioned later by Starmer criticised both prosecutors and police for their handling of the allegations.”The comments also provoked anger in Mr Johnson’s own party. A senior Tory MP told The Independent that they were “deeply disappointed and disgusted” that Mr Johnson repeated a slur against Mr Starmer regarding the Saville case.Savile died in 2011 aged 84 having never been brought to justice for his litany of sex crimes. The entertainer is now believed to be one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.A 2016 report into his abuse found staff at the BBC missed numerous opportunities to stop him. More

Deputy minister Dominic Raab has claimed Conservative MPs are “overwhelmingly” behind Boris Johnson, despite anger over the partygate scandal from the Tory backbenches.Mr Johnson endured a gruelling appearance in the Commons, in which former PM Theresa May launched a devastating attack on her successor’s failure to abide by Covid rules following the censored “update” report from Sue Gray.Furious Tory MPs demanded the publication of the full Gray report once the Metropolitan Police investigation into parties concludes – after Mr Johnson repeatedly refused to give MPs a firm commitment.Stung by the backlash, No 10 confirmed on Monday night that the PM would ask Ms Gray to produce a second report after the police investigation concludes, and committed to publishing it.Mr Raab said there would be “full transparency” over Ms Gray’s findings. “If Sue Gray sends a further report following the [police] investigation, the PM’s been very clear it will be published.”Asked if Ms Gray might publish emails and some of the 300 photos of social events handed to Scotland Yard, Mr Raab said: “It depends on what Sue Gray puts in her report.”The cabinet minister told Times Radio addressed questions raised in the Gray report “in a fulsome way”, adding: “At the political level, my experiences in the chamber but also at the meeting of Conservative MPs – overwhelmingly MPs backing him, wanting to see us getting on with the job.”Asked if Mr Johnson should quit if he is found to have breached Covid laws, Mr Raab said: “Let’s wait and see … Allow the police to conduct their investigation and see, when they have ascertained the facts, quite what they conclude.”Asked if he would go for the leadership if a vacancy arose, Mr Raab said: “No – I’m supportive of this prime minister, and I’m confident he will go on and win the next election.”Mr Raab also defended Mr Johnson’s use of a completely discredited claim that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile – dismissing it as “part of the cut and thrust in the chamber”.Mr Johnson insisted he was “making changes” to Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, including by creating an office of the Prime Minister with a permanent secretary to lead No 10.Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed the “mood was positive” among Conservatives after Mr Johnson faced down his MPs at an evening meeting on the parliamentary estate.However, former Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell told Mr Johnson he “no longer enjoys my support”. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the PM was running the government like a “medieval court”.On Monday evening Tory MP Angela Richardson announced she had quit as a ministerial aide to Michael Gove, sharing her “deep disappointment” at the handling of the partygate row.And Aaron Bell, part of the 2019 intake of Red Wall MPs, recalled abiding by Covid restrictions for his grandmother’s May 2020 funeral before asking Mr Johnson: “Does the prime minister think I’m a fool?”Former Conservative leader William Hague has said the PM “should be very worried” and criticised his apology to the Commons.Writing in The Times, Mr Hague said the PM had plenty of time to craft a comprehensive and substantial response which gave his critics “pause for thought” but instead “decided to do the minimum”.“The prime minister could have got on the front foot … yet this very intuitive politician decided to do the minimum in responding to the report rather than go further in his apology and his proposals. Instead of reinforcing the momentum in his favour, he quite possibly stalled it.”A No 10 statement released last night said: “At the end of the process, the prime minister will ask Sue Gray to update her work in light of what is found. He will publish that update.”Polling on Monday night from Opinium said 62 per cent of UK adults wanted the PM to resign, and 64 per cent believed Tory MPs should make him go. More

Ministers are looking into the environmental impact of all new post-Brexit trade deals, the government has confirmed.They will also explore the possibility of applying a policy of net gain – which aims to leave the natural environment in a better state than before – to trade, according to a response to recommendations from MPs. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) made a host of suggestions last year in a report which said there were concerns over the potential impact of UK trade agreements on international levels of biodiversity.The MPs called on ministers to use “sustainability impact assessments” for future deals, after a minister told the committee last January he was in favour of the idea but could not make committments on behalf of the government. The government response – published on Monday – said it carried out impact assessments for post-Brexit trade deals that look at “several aspects of the environment” – including greenhouse gas emissions, air and water quality and biodiversity. “The Secretary of State for International Trade will work closely with other government departments to assess the environmental impacts of new FTAs, and to improve their coverage and approach,” it added. While the government agreed to look into the possibility of embedding environmental net gain into trade decisions, it rejected another EAC suggestion to evaluate all tax changes against environmental goals. The government said it would not be “practical, cost effective or beneficial” to look into the “detailed environmental impacts for every tax change” – such as to personal allowances for income tax.Philip Dunne, the Tory chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said he was “very pleased” to see the government accepting some of the suggestions made in the report on the UK’s footprint on global biodiversity.“Embedding nature protection in trade agreements not only safeguards biodiversity, but it sends a striking message to trading partners that this must be prioritised,” he said.Katie White from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) welcomed confirmation the government was “giving greater consideration to the impact of trade on the environment”.But she added: “Vague commitments about environmental assessments won’t be enough – ministers need to go further to use trade to drive the transition to greener farming. “That means establishing core standards, including environmental standards, for all foods sold in the UK, and a new legally-binding target to slash the UK’s global environmental footprint by 2030.” More

The leader of Canada’s Conservative party is facing a revolt by his party’s lawmakers and could be ousted as soon as Wednesday. If successful it would be the third main political rival that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has helped bring down. Garnett Genuis, a Conservative member of Parliament, tweeted late Monday that one-third of the Conservative lawmakers have signed a letter calling for the end of Erin O’Toole’s leadership. Genuis went public after many news organizations reported on the revolt. He accused O’Toole’s team of attacking members of his own party. O’Toole lost the election last fall to Trudeau. He tried to move his party to the center, but alienated his party’s base and was accused of being two-faced. Whether O’Toole remains Conservative leader has big implications for the conservative movement in Canada. If removed, the party could swing back further right. One of the leading candidates to replace him, Pierre Poilievre, met with anti-vaccine truckers who are taking part in a protest in Ottawa Many Canadians were outraged by images over the weekend of protesters urinating on the National War Memorial and dancing on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A number carried signs and flags with swastikas and other Nazi symbols. “Just talked with hundreds of cheerful, salt-of-the-earth, give-you-the-shirt-off-their-back Canadians at the trucker protest. They choose freedom over fear,” Poilievre tweeted. O’Toole advertised himself a year ago as a “true-blue Conservative.” He became Conservative Party leader with a pledge to “take back Canada,” but immediately started working to push the party toward the political center.O’Toole’s strategy, which included disavowing positions held dear by his party’s base on climate change, guns and balanced budgets, was designed to appeal to a broader cross section of voters in a country that tends to be far more liberal than the United States.Whether moderate Canadians believed O’Toole is the progressive conservative he claims to be and whether he alienated traditional Conservatives became central questions of the campaign. O’Toole failed to win more seats in and around vote-rich liberal Toronto Canada’s largest city. Trudeau bet Canadians didn’t want a Conservative government during a pandemic and voiced the concerns of Canadians who were upset with those who refuse to get vaccinated. After last year’s election loss, the Conservative members of Parliament gave themselves the power to vote on O’Toole’s leadership. In correspondence to Conservative lawmakers Monday evening, Scott Reid, chair of the Conservative party caucus, said the notice he received was valid and more details would follow on when a leadership vote would happen.Conservative lawmakers are next set to meet Wednesday. A vote on the leadership of O’Toole, whose office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, would happen by secret ballot.Alberta Conservative lawmaker Bob Benzen, who supported O’Toole previously, said that the leader has flip-flopped on party policy and that it is time for party lawmakers to decide his fate.“Mr. O’Toole campaigned in in the leadership contest as a principled conservative voice that unite the party, However, since Mr. O’Toole assumed the position of Leader, there have been numerous instances of flip-flops and questionable judgement,” Benzen wrote. He listed O’Toole’s failure to stand up for the rights of Canadians during the pandemic as one of the problems. “I feel that the Conservative caucus has given Mr. O’Toole more than enough chances for a course correction to resolve the concerns of many of the grassroots members of our party,” Benzen wrote. “In consideration of Mr. O’Toole’s record as leader, I believe a caucus leadership review is the only way to avoid a dangerous split in the Conservative party that may not be repairable.” More

Boris Johnson is to hold discussions with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a visit to the country on Tuesday.The prime minister, who will be accompanied by foreign secretary Liz Truss, will promise to “uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty” amid mounting tensions with Russia.But he may turn up without having spoken to Vladimir Putin after the domestic scandal over illegal parties forced him to reschedule a planned phone call with the Russian leader.The tele-meeting had originally been scheduled for Monday afternoon but as the evening the Kremlin was unable to offer Mr Johnson another spot in Mr Putin’s diary.Mr Johnson was too busy on the domestic front dealing with the fallout from the Sue Gray inquiry to honour the original planned time.As news of the PM’s trip to Ukraine emerged prime minister also faced speculation and criticism that he was fleeing the country to escape bad news about lockdown rule breaking.Ahead of the meeting, Mr Johnson said: “It is the right of every Ukrainian to determine how they are governed. As a friend and a democratic partner, the UK will continue to uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty in the face of those who seek to destroy it.“We urge Russia to step back and engage in dialogue to find a diplomatic resolution and avoid further bloodshed.”Russia has placed around 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s border but denies it has plans to invade the country.The PM has previously said the UK could deploy troops to protect Nato allies if Russia invades Ukraine.Ukraine is however not a part of Nato, and Russia wants the alliance to promise it will never be allowed to join.Russia views Nato as a threat to its security and is concerned about increasing Western influence over Ukraine, which it was in political and economic union with until the 1990s.But Ukraine’s leaders say its future lies in closer ties with Western Europe and that it should be able to choose its own destiny. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 and has backed rebels who have seized large parts of the eastern Donbas region. More

Boris Johnson was forced into a humiliating apology in the House of Commons after a damning report into allegations of lockdown-busting parties blasted “failures of leadership and judgement” at 10 Downing Street.The heavily abridged report by senior civil servant Sue Gray revealed that the Metropolitan Police are conducting a criminal investigation into 12 separate events in No 10 and other government departments, including at least three believed to have been attended by the prime minister.It stated that some of gatherings represented “a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time”.Sir Keir Starmer branded the PM a “man without shame” as Mr Johnson brushed off demands for his resignation and promised to “fix” the problem with a shake-up of No 10 staff and a review of codes of conduct for civil servants and advisers.Tory MP Angela Richardson announced she had quit her job as parliamentary private secretary to cabinet minister Michael Gove, citing “deep disappointment” with Johnson’s handling of the scandal. And a minister told The Independent he was “considering his position” after the PM’s disappointing response.A snap poll by Opinium found 64 per cent of voters think Tory MPs should remove Johnson through a confidence vote, 83 per cent believe he broke lockdown rules and 75 per cent think he is not telling the truth.SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford was ejected from the Commons for refusing to retract his use of the word “liar” to describe Johnson. And Tory former chief whip Andrew Mitchell told the PM he no longer had his support.Tory MP Aaron Bell – a member of the red wall group of Conservatives in traditionally Labour seats in the Midlands and north – asked if the PM regarded him as “a fool” for obeying social distancing rules at his grandmother’s funeral.But there was no immediate sign of the flood of confidence letters to Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee, which would trigger a vote on Johnson’s future as Tory leader if they pass the threshold of 54.Mr Johnson was subjected to a withering putdown in the Commons by predecessor Theresa May, who demanded to know if he had failed to understand the rules which he imposed on the country or whether he thought they did not apply to him.And he was forced into a hasty U-turn after MPs responded with outrage to his suggestion that Ms Gray’s full report might never be published. After initially saying the PM would consider whether to release it following the completion of the Met investigation, Downing Street issued a statement to say it would be published in full.The 12-page “update” released by the senior civil servant today contained none of the extensive factual information which she has gathered from interviews with more than 70 people, as well as analysis of emails, WhatsApp and text messages, photographs and Downing Street entry logs.Police said they had received more than 300 photos and 500 pages of information, but Ms Gray said it was impossible for her to produce a “meaningful” report while Scotland Yard imposes limits on what she can say about the most serious alleged offences.Instead, her report gave a scathing assessment of the culture inside government departments which saw alcohol-fuelled gatherings of staff at a time when members of the public faced fines for meetings outside their householdsThese included the ”bring your own booze” party on 20 May 2020 when Mr Johnson joined around 40 No 10 staff to drink alcohol and eat picnic food from trestle tables in the Downing Street rose garden, as well as his birthday celebrations with cake in the cabinet room and an alleged party in the PM’s flat on the evening of the resignation of former aide Dominic Cummings on 13 November 2020.In the Commons, Mr Johnson refused to withdraw his previous statement to parliament that the 13 November event did not take place, but his press secretary later said that he “stands by” his earlier comment.The Gray report stated: “At times it seems there was too little thought given to what was happening across the country in considering the appropriateness of some of these gatherings, the risks they presented to public health and how they might appear to the public.“There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times.”And she concluded: “A number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did.”Sir Keir Starmer said that the report had shown Mr Johnson to be “unfit for office” and called on him to step down.Citing Margaret Thatcher’s dictum that ministers cannot “bob and weave and duck” around the laws they make, he said Tory MPs had a “duty” to remove Johnson from No 10.“They can go on degrading themselves, eroding trust in politics and insulting the sacrifice of the British public,” said Starmer. “They can heap their reputations, the reputation of their party, and the reputation of this country, on the bonfire that is his leadership.“Or they can spare the country from a prime minister totally unworthy of his responsibilities.“It is only they who can end this farce. The eyes of the country are upon them. They will be judged on the decisions they take now.”Insisting that he would show his government could be trusted, Mr Johnson announced plans to reshape No 10 as an Office of the Prime Minister led by a permanent secretary, as well as to enforce codes of conduct for civil servants and special advisers more stringently.He attempted to kick off a fightback with a behind-closed-doors address to the Tory parliamentary party which one MP described as “barnstorming”. Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg said he had not heard any calls for Johnson to go, telling reporters the PM had “managed to maintain the support of the party pretty much throughout”.The mood among officials at the Cabinet Office and No 10 was grim, with one saying they were preparing for a week of “shuffle and slaughter”.Three sources told The Independent that the report’s trimmed state had made it easier for the prime minister to blame staff and officials.The Cabinet Office does not reveal details of individual disciplinary action against government employees. However, The Independent understands that steps could be taken to reprimand or punish staff found to be at fault by the report immediately. But in some cases, this may not be possible until the police have completed their separate investigation. More

Jacob Rees-Mogg has launched a spirited defence of Boris Johnson’s leadership in the wake of Sue Gray’s No 10 party report.The prime minister gathered a meeting of Tory MPs on Monday night in parliament – in a bid to head off a leadership challenge by rebels.Speaking to reporters outside the meeting Mr Rees Mogg, the Commons leader, said the PM retained the confidence of his party.“I’ve never been in a room where everyone’s agreed with me but I thought support for the prime minister was very strong,” he said.“I don’t think there were that many wavering backbenchers, I think he’s managed to maintain the support of the party pretty much throughout.”The senior Tory also warned off potential leadership contenders, stating: “The thing about throwing your hat in the ring is often that you find it’s thrown straight back at you.”Asked about the prime minister’s leadership Mr Rees-Mogg described the PM as a “very strong and effective leader””The prime minister has a very strong idea of what he wants to do and where he wants to to go. He is a proper leader, I don’t know what else you could want in a leader,” he added.Rebels laid low or stayed away from the Monday night meeting, with most accounts from inside suggesting the PM received a positive reception.Another Tory MP said the prime minister’s performance in the room was “quite barnstorming”, and “full of energy”.Mr Johnson is said to have banged the table in emphasis during the discussion in what was described as “a very strong performance”.Meanwhile Peterborough MP Paul Bristow acknowledged that the report’s release been a “difficult day” but said there was support for Boris Johnson.Mr Bristow said he left the meeting “absolutely pumped” in his support for the PM and added that nobody in the meeting had called for the PM to quit.Mr Rees-Mogg gave a similar account. When asked whether anyone had called for the PM to quit, he said: “Nobody’s said that. He’s got huge support and he’s got a mandate from the British people.”Polls suggest the PM is now a drag on his party’s fortunes; Labour has opened up a 10-point lead over the government. Sue Gray’s report into rule-breaking at Downing Street was released on Monday afternoon. It found that many of the parties held at Downing Street should not have taken place within the rules, and revealed that the Metropolitan Police were investigating around a dozen events.The prime minister was also accused of misleading parliament over the issue. More

A Conservative backbencher asked the prime minister if he thought him a “fool” after recounting how he closely adhered to the government’s Covid restrictions during his grandmother’s lockdown funeral.Aaron Bell, MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, was among several Tory parliamentarians who criticised the conduct within No 10 following the publication of Sue Gray’s partial report into a number of lockdown parties held in the heart of government.The civil servant’s report concluded “a number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did.”Ms Gray added there is “significant learning” to be drawn from her findings, and that government need not wait its reckoning from the Met Police, after the force demanded that certain details be excluded from the report.Mr Bell told the Commons: “It seems a lot of people attended events in May 2020 – the one I recall attending was my grandmother’s funeral.“She was a wonderful woman. As well as a love for her family she served her community as a councillor and she served Dartford Conservative Association loyally for many years.He added: “I drove for three hours from Staffordshire to Kent, there were only 10 at the funeral, many people who loved her had to watch online.“I didn’t hug my siblings, I didn’t hug my parents, I gave the eulogy and then afterwards I didn’t even go to her house for a cup of tea. I drove back three hours from Kent to Staffordshire.“Does the prime minister think I’m a fool?”Mr Johnson replied: “No, and I want to thank (Mr Bell) and I want to say how deeply I sympathise with him and his family for their loss, and all I can say is again that I’m very, very sorry for misjudgments that may have been made by me or anybody else in No 10 and the Cabinet Office.”Meanwhile, a Conservative MP announced on Monday evening she had quit her government job, citing “deep disappointment” with Boris Johnson’s handling of the Partygate scandal.Guildford MP Angela Richardson said she had stood down as parliamentary private secretary to Michael Gove in order to be able to “hold the government to account as a critical friend”.In a statement released this evening, she said: “Sue Gray’s report published today clearly states that there were failings at No 10 Downing Street that let us all down. The prime minister again apologised for those.“I share the deep disappointment that it has taken so long to get to this stage when there could have been an early acknowledgement and apology.” More