Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson’s government is mired in sleaze claims after No 10 tried to save Conservative Party MP Owen Paterson from suspension while seeking to rip up the Commons disciplinary process.On Thursday Mr Paterson dramatically resigned as an MP after Mr Johnson U-turned and allowed a fresh vote on his suspension over a breach in lobbying rules, and retreated on plans to rewrite conduct rules. So what was the Tory MP found to have done wrong? Why did the government U-turn? And how do the parties now agree on a disciplinary procedure following the saga described by Labour as a “sleazy mess”?What did Owen Paterson do?Kathyrn Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, last week recommended a Commons ban of 30 sitting days for Mr Paterson in a report subsequently approved by a group of cross-party group of MPs on the standards committee.Ms Stone’s inquiry found Mr Paterson repeatedly lobbied on behalf of two companies paying him more than £100,000 per year – Randox and Lynn’s Country Foods – in what the investigation report described as an “egregious case of paid advocacy”.Mr Paterson argued that most of his approaches to officials fell within the “serious wrong” exemption in the lobbying rules, which permit an MP to approach officials with evidence of a “serious wrong or substantial injustice”.But with the exception of one meeting about concerns over milk testing, the committee did not accept that Mr Paterson’s approaches fell within the exemption.Why did Tory MPs vote to save Paterson? What did they vote for?On Wednesday Conservative MPs were ordered by the party whips not to back the standards committee’s call for Mr Paterson to be suspended for 30 days – a ban which could have seen him face a recall petition from his constituents.A planned yes-no vote on Mr Paterson’s suspension was superseded by Tory MP Dame Andrea Leadsom’s amendment to establish a new, Tory-led, committee to reconsider both Mr Paterson’s case and whether a new standards system is needed.Backed by Downing Street, Tory MPs were told to vote for Dame Andrea’s amendment, a vote the government won 250 to 232 votes.Some 13 Tories rebelled and dozens more abstained. As the backlash from Tory abstainers mounted on Thursday, Tobias Ellwood, chair of the defence select committee, said: “We’ve lost the argument and indeed some of the moral high ground.”So what exactly did the government want to change?The amendment approved the set-up of a new oversight committee, which will be led by former Tory minister John Whittingdale. Although the idea is to have four Tory MPs and four opposition MPs look at the standards system, Whittingdale would have the deciding vote.The plan was immediately thrown into chaos as Labour, the SNP and Liberal Democrats vowed to boycott it – depriving the new panel of any real cross-party authority.The government has also been accused of trying to “bully” the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner – the independent investigator of cases of alleged misconduct – out of her job after a senior minister suggested Ms Stone “consider her position”.Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “I think it’s difficult to see what the future of the commissioner is, given the fact that we’re reviewing the process, and we’re overturning and trying to reform this whole process.”Why did the government U-turn on its plan?In an apparent climbdown on plans for a Tory-dominated committee to rewrite the conduct rules, Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs on Thursday morning that he would now seek cross-party talks on reform.Mr Rees-Mogg conceded that the link between Mr Paterson’s case and need for wider reform “needs to be broken”, adding: “We will bring forward more detailed proposals once there have been cross-party discussions.”No 10 then made clear at lunchtime that Mr Paterson will now have to face a fresh vote on the 30-day suspension.A vote had been expected next Tuesday to reopen the MP’s case, with the same vote asking MPs if they wish to overturn the decision to establish the new committee.The government’s thinking may have changed after a furious backlash from dozens of Tories. Jill Mortimer, one of the red wall Tories who rebelled, said: “This was a colossal misjudgement.”Labour had also reportedly prepared adverts highlighting every Tory MP who voted in favour of the Leadsom amendment.Why did Owen Paterson resign?Mr Paterson announced on Thursday afternoon that he would resign as the MP after the government announced its U-turn and allowed a fresh vote on his lobbying activities.The Tory MP had reportedly not been informed about Downing Street’s change of heart – only finding out from reporters while out shopping at a supermarket on Thursday.Rather than face defeat and receive a 30-day suspension next week – which would have left him open to a recall petition – he decided to quit as the Tory MP for North Shropshire.The man at the centre of the storm said he wanted to leave “the cruel world of politics”. Unrepentant, he said he was “unable to clear my name under the current system” and accused people of mocking his wife’s recent death. More

Boris Johnson was not interested in launching a “pre-emptive strike” on parliament’s sleaze watchdog chief during the Owen Paterson debacle, a cabinet minister has claimed.It is “absolutely not true” that prime minister wanted to reduce the power of Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone ahead of a potential probe into his flat refurbishment, said education secretary Nadhim Zahawi.The allegation had been made by Mr Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings – who claimed No 10 was keen to land blows against Ms Stone’s office and the Electoral Commission.But the education secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “That is absolutely not true, and Kathryn Stone and her duties are the responsibility of the House of Commons, and the Speaker of the House.”Mr Zahawi added: “And I think the important thing to remember is that parliament as the legislative chamber of our country has absolutely the right to look at and improve the system.”Mr Johnson has been investigated by the standards commissioner three times. Most recently, the PM was found by Ms Stone’s office to have broken the rules over declaring his luxury stay in Mustique – but the cross-party standards committee chose not to endorse the finding and cleared him of wrongdoing.Potentially the PM faces a fourth investigation into the initial financing of the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat. Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge has reported Mr Johnson to the standards commissioner over the matter – but Ms Stone’s office has not yet announced whether it will look into allegations of misconduct.Mr Zahawi said the issue of the flat had already been looked at by Mr Johnson’s own ministerial standards adviser Lord Geidt “and the prime minister was found not to have broken any ministerial code”.He added: “I think it was looked at by Lord Geidt, it’s a ministerial declaration and I think that’s the correct way of doing this. We have very good robust processes, we always want to improve them, but I think that’s the correct way of doing it.”On Thursday, Mr Cummings claimed that the failed attempt to save Mr Paterson from suspension by pushing an amendment to rewrite conduct rules was a deliberate move by No 10 to cut watchdogs down to size.“Yesterday was a pre-emptive strike by PM on EC [Electoral Commission] and [Kathryn] Stone. Tory MPs are just expendable cannon fodder,” he tweeted.Mr Cummings added: “This is about trying to keep secret the coverup earlier this year on his illegal donations and lies to Geidt and the Cabinet Secretary about it all.”It comes as Labour called for an investigation into business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng’s public speculation about about Ms Stone’s future. The cabinet minister suggested she should “consider her position”.In a letter to Lord Geidt, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner suggested Mr Kwarteng’s comments amounted to bullying. “For the business secretary to use this entirely corrupt process to bully the independent Parliamentary Commissioner is disgusting.”Asked about Mr Kwarteng’s comments, Mr Zahawi told BBC Breakfast: “Kwasi [Kwarteng] agrees that Kathryn Stone and her position is up to parliament.”Meanwhile, the education secretary said Mr Johnson’s astonishing U-turn in the Mr Paterson saga on Thursday showed “character”.Admitting it was a “mistake” for the government to conflate the Tory MP’s case with an attempt to change conduct rules – he claimed the PM was wise not to “plough on ahead regardless”.Mr Zahawi told LBC: “When you make a mistake, I’d much rather have a government and a prime minister and the chief whip who says, ‘Hold on a second, let’s go back, because I think we’ve made a mistake here’.He added: “That makes me much more confident of the character of the people leading this country than people who would have just ploughed on ahead regardless.”He also admitted he did not read the full report which found Mr Paterson found he broke lobbying rules in an “egregious case of paid advocacy” – despite voting to save him on Wednesday. More

Brexit swiped £17bn from UK trade with the EU in just three months as new costs and red tape punished businesses, a spending watchdog has found.Firms also filled in an extraordinary 48 million customs declarations and 140,000 export health certificates in the eight months after the UK left the single market and customs union, the National Audit Office (NAO) finds.Its report raises the alarm over the government shelving import controls, warning it could face action for not “complying with international trading rules” – while UK exporters are put at a “disadvantage”.But it also warns some of 41 ports needing upgrades might not have been ready if the controls had been introduced this year and that traders will still face “significant risks” when they are.The verdict comes as the economic damage from leaving the EU becomes clearer – after the Office for Budget Responsibility said GDP will fall by 4 per cent, twice the loss from the Covid pandemic.Since what Boris Johnson called his “excellent” trade deal came into force on 1 January, exporters have protested that the absence of tariffs is masking huge costs and barriers.The NAO report agrees that – far from being “teething problems”, as ministers claimed – there are “extra burdens” both at the border and “elsewhere in the supply chain”.The watchdog acknowledges it is impossible to fully “disentangle” the impacts of Brexit and Covid, but concludes EU withdrawal explains the crash in cross-Channel trade in quarter 2 of 2021, between April and June.“Total trade in goods between the UK and EU was 15 per cent (£17bn) less in Q2 when compared with the equivalent quarter in 2018,” – the “comparator year” used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), its report states.In stark contrast, it notes that “UK trade with the rest of the world was up 1 per cent (£1bn),” over that three-month period.On form-filling – after the Leave campaign promised red tape would be eased – the report warns traders face “additional declarations and additional checks” once import controls are fully phased in by July next year.And it states: “Between January and August 2021, traders have made around 48 million simplified and full customs declarations on goods movements between GB and the EU and between the UK and the rest of the world.“Between January and June 2021, certifying officers have signed off 140,000 Export Health Certificates (EHCs) for the movement of goods from the UK to the EU.”Hilary Benn, the Labour MP who co-heads the cross-party UK Trade and Business Commission, said: “This report confirms what we have been hearing this year from businesses.“Far from creating opportunities, Brexit has burdened firms with increased costs and labour shortages, as well as mountains of red tape and pointless form-filling.“Lost trade means less business, fewer jobs and lower incomes across the UK, so what is the government going to do to remove the barriers to trade with our closest neighbours and biggest market that they have imposed?”Tim Morris, chief executive of the UK Major Ports Group, called for “an immediate stop” to any other changes “so ports can complete facilities”.“Without a common playing field of approach for cost recovery at border control posts, trade flows will be potentially distorted, risking overloading some routes and leaving new capacity underused,” he warned.The ONS reported the slump in quarter 2 trade in August, but this is the first time the cost – £17bn – has been calculated.The NAO concludes border preparations were “largely successful” in avoiding the predicted queuing chaos in Kent, but says this was partly due to pre-Brexit stockpiling, reduced trade because of Covid and the import control delays.Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, said: “Much more work is needed to put in place a model for the border that reduces the risk of non-compliance with international trading rules, does not require any temporary fixes, and is less complicated and burdensome for border users.” More

Boris Johnson was today facing anger from his own benches after a humiliating U-turn over parliamentary sleaze prompted the resignation of one of the party’s longest-serving MPs.Supporters of Owen Paterson said the rug had been pulled from under his feet by the abrupt announcement that the government was ditching plans for a new Tory-dominated committee to rewrite Commons standards procedures, which would have granted him a stay of execution after he was found guilty of paid lobbying.And many backbenchers were furious to have been whipped to support the controversial plans in a Commons vote on Wednesday, only to be told to do the opposite next week after the government took fright at headlines blaring “Tory sleaze”.One former minister branded No 10’s handling of the situation “incoherent”, while ex-chief whip Mark Harper said that the three-line whip ordered by Mr Johnson amounted to “one of the most unedifying episodes I have seen in my 16 years as a member of parliament”.Another ex-minister told The Independent that MPs – particularly the younger 2019 intake in marginal red wall seats in the Midlands and the north – were “apoplectic with rage” at being ordered to vote in a way which gave the impression they were bending the rules to save their colleague.“Some really new colleagues with wafer-thin majorities just cannot believe the ineptitude with which this has been handled,” said the MP. “It’s been awful, cr*p, useless.“They feel they have been made to look stupid, they feel misled. A lot of people were unhappy before the vote but felt they had to follow the whip. Now people are saying their names have been tainted with the ‘sleaze’ tag as if it was 1992 all over again.”There were questions raised over the apparent failure of chief whip Mark Spencer to warn the prime minister that his plans would only scrape through the Commons by a much-reduced majority, though No 10 insisted that the PM retained full confidence in his parliamentary fixer. MPs privately questioned Downing Street’s failure to foresee the boycott of its proposed committee by opposition parties, which left them in the impossible position of trying to impose changes to standards regulation on a single-party basis.One MP told The Independent: “I hold the prime minister, chief whip and leader of the Commons [Jacob Rees-Mogg] jointly culpable. If I was the chief whip, I would hang my head in shame and resign. He was so bombastic on Wednesday morning about how essential it was to do this, telling anyone on the payroll that if they didn’t vote with the government they’d lose their jobs.”Mr Paterson dramatically quit after 24 years as an MP after Mr Rees-Mogg unexpectedly announced that the government was tearing up plans approved by the house the previous night and instead seeking cross-party talks on changes to the way MPs accused of wrongdoing are investigated and punished.It is understood that the North Shropshire MP was informed in advance of the climbdown, which left him again facing a 30-day suspension just 19 hours after he had claimed an early victory in his fight to overturn what he regarded as an unfair investigation which found that he lobbied ministers and regulators on behalf of private companies paying him more than £100,000 a year.It is believed that Mr Paterson lost support in Mr Johnson’s inner circle after a provocative interview with TheDaily Telegraph, in which he portrayed himself as the victim of a travesty of justice and said that not only standards commissioner Kathryn Stone but also the cross-party standards committee of MPs and lay members “have to go”.However, a source insisted that the decision to quit was made by the former minister and he was not pushed by No 10.Announcing his resignation, Mr Paterson insisted he was “totally innocent” but said he had decided to leave “the cruel world of politics” because of the “indescribable nightmare” which he and his family had experienced over the two-year investigation, during which his wife Rose committed suicide.Mr Johnson said he was “very sad”, but added: “I can understand why – after the tragic circumstances in which he lost his beloved wife Rose – he has decided to put his family first.”Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on Mr Johnson to apologise to the nation for a “grubby attempt to cover up for the misdemeanour of his friend” after an “unbelievable 24 hours even by this government’s chaotic standards”. Sir Keir said his party would have “nothing to do” with the cross-party talks proposed by Mr Rees-Mogg, saying the government simply wanted to remove the independent commissioner and replace her with a panel of MPs to pass judgement on their colleagues’ behaviour.The FDA union, which represents civil servants, accused the government of an “orchestrated and deliberate” attempt to undermine Ms Stone, after business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng suggested it was “difficult to see what [her] future is” after the Paterson investigation.Veteran Tory backbencher Peter Bone, whose constituency office was vandalised after Wednesday’s vote to put Mr Paterson’s suspension on hold, told The Independent that the government’s handling of the issue was “a gift to the opposition”.It was a “major cock-up” to allow necessary reforms to introduce the right of appeal in standards investigations to be mixed up with an individual case, said Mr Bone.“The problem is sometimes that when people in government try to be clever and interfere in house business, it backfires on them,” he said.Another long-standing Tory MP, Michael Fabricant, said: “It is such a shame and so contrary to natural justice that the issues of Owen Paterson and reform of House of Commons procedures were conflated in the way they were.”The chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, former MI5 chief Lord Evans, said that the plan which Mr Johnson forced through the Commons on Wednesday was “deeply at odds with the best traditions of British democracy” and branded the vote a “very serious and damaging moment for parliament and for public standards in this country”. Former cabinet minister Stephen Crabb voiced the frustration and anger felt by his red wall colleagues.“They came in as Boris’s people, wanting to show that they were part of a new generation in politics, post-Brexit, flying the flag for levelling up and all of those really noble and important things,” Mr Crabb told Times Radio.“They looked on in previous years at the expenses stuff and other stuff that’s gone on. And they wanted never ever to be sullied with that kind of phenomenon. And some of those new MPs, relatively new MPs, the ones that were elected in 2019, do feel very cross that they’ve been dragged into this whole sleaze agenda.” More

Claudia Webbe MP has been handed a 10-week suspended sentence for harassing a female friend of her boyfriend. The 56-year-old, who sits as an independent MP after being suspended by Labour, was also given 200 hours’ of community service by Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday. Webbe was convicted of harassment last month. The court heard she had made a string of threatening calls to Michelle Merritt, a friend of her partner, Lester Thomas, in the space of around a year and a half. In one of them, she threatened to throw acid over the 59-year-old and share naked images of her. Following the sentencing, Webbe said in a statement: “I am very disappointed by the decision of the magistrate and want to strongly reiterate that I am innocent.“I am lodging an appeal and despite today’s sentence I fully expect the appeal to be granted and that, ultimately, it will be successful.She added: “Throughout this process I have received numerous threats to my life and vile racist abuse. The cowards responsible for these attacks will not deter me from clearing my name.”In his ruling on Thursday, Paul Goldspring, the chief magistrate, said Webbe’s behaviour was “callous and intimidatory”. “You were jealous of the relationship between Lester Thomas and Michelle Merritt, and probably felt in some way threatened by it,” he said. Mr Goldspring said Webbe “showed little remorse or contrition” and would have been jailed immediately were it not for her previous good character.The outcome means the 56-year-old gets to automatically keep her seat in parliament. MPs who receive a jail sentence of a year and more lose their seat. But the sentence means Webbe will face a recall petition, which could trigger a by-election if at least 10 per cent of her constituents support it.The process must wait until the outcome of any appeal by Webbe against her conviction.As well as the suspended sentence and community service, the MP was ordered to pay £3,128 in costs and surchages. Her counsel, Paul Hynes QC, said his client was “in significant personal debt” predating her time as an MP and offered to pay the fine in £100 increments every 28 days.The chief magistrate said that was “not going to cut it” for someone on Webbe‘s salary and ordered it be paid within six months.Before the sentencing, the prosecution told the court Webbe’s offending was “persistent” and took place “over a prolonged period”.Susannah Stevens said her client, Ms Merritt, had to “make changes to her life” – including commuting by taxi – as she felt unsafe. The defendant also thought about moving house, the court was told.Meanwhile, Ms Merritt told the court: “I am so very proud I have had the strength to continue because no woman should be threatened or harassed the way she has to me over the years, least of all a politician.”Mr Goldspring said he found it “odd and concerning” that the probation service report said Webbe felt like a victim herself and counted several occassions when she referred to herself as “the victim” in the witness box during the trial. Webbe has been the MP for Leicester East since 2019, when she won the seat in the December general election. Additional reporting by Press Association More

The risk of “fish wars” breaking out in the Channel has receded after France agreed to further talks with the UK to settle the dispute over post-Brexit licences.Clement Beaune, France’s European Union affairs minister, described his meeting with David Frost, the Brexit minister, as “useful and positive” and said the pair would speak again next week.Downing Street insisted it had given no ground, but said Paris had agreed not to press ahead with its “previous threats” before those further discussions.France had vowed to snarl up cross-Channel trade with port restrictions and border checks unless more licences were issued, before Emmanuel Macron pulled back earlier this week.After the meeting, Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said: “The French government have been clear they’re not looking to proceed with those threats in breach of the TCA [trade and cooperation agreement] in the coming days.”In Paris, Mr Beaune told reporters: “The discussion was useful and positive. We are giving the chance to dialogue and keeping options open, without naivety and with European coordination.”But the French minister said there were still “significant differences” with Britain, insisting reprisals remained possible and adding: “Today we did not resolve the question of fishing licences.”Meanwhile, Lord Frost will meet Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice-president, in Brussels on Friday over the second dispute centring on the Northern Ireland protocol.Mr Beaune and the Brexit minister had clashed on Twitter over the weekend, each accusing the other of having breached the post-Brexit trade agreement.Since Brexit, about 98 per cent of applications for licences have been granted – but just 19 of 50 put forward by small French vessels, seeking to continue to fish between six and 12 miles off the UK coast.The UK government says it accepts GPS data as evidence of past fishing that should continue, but the French government has protested that many smaller boats do not have that technology.Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said: “We’ve worked extensively with the French government and fishing fleet to help them provide that requisite evidence.“We’re obviously happy to talk to the French government on a wide range of issues, and we’ll continue to do so, but I’d emphasise that we’re not negotiating on how the licences are granted.”Tensions have been eased a little by a French court ruling that a British scallop dredger seized last week could leave Le Havre port with no requirement to pay a €150,000 (£128,000) deposit. More

Boris Johnson was forced into an extraordinary U-turn during yet another “sleaze” storm following his attempt to save a Conservative MP from suspension while trying to rip up conduct rules.Owen Paterson resigned as Tory MP after No 10 promised the Commons a fresh vote on his suspension over a breach in lobbying rules – as well a retreating on plans to overhaul the disciplinary system.It is not this government’s first big climbdown. The Independent took a closer look at Mr Johnson’s major reversals on everything from Brexit plans to Covid rules since taking charge of the country in 2019.Owen Paterson and the ‘sleazy mess’ – November 2021Boris Johnson’s government performed a screeching over its move to block Mr Paterson’s suspension by pushing its own plan to create a Tory-led committee to rewrite standards rules.Faced with an almighty 24-hour backlash over Wednesday’s successful vote – Tory MPs spoke out and Labour decried the “sleazy mess” – No 10 said there would be a fresh vote on the matter, accepting it could not push ahead without cross-party support.Mr Paterson was reportedly told of the PM’s change of heart by reporters while out at a supermarket on Thursday. Rather than facing defeat, he decided to quit as the Tory MP for North Shropshire, saying he wanted to leave “the cruel world of politics”.Matt Hancock resignation – June 2021Mr Johnson initially accepted an apology from Matt Hancock after his health secretary was revealed to have kissed an aide in his departmental office. On 26 June Downing Street said the prime minister considered the matter “closed”.But only a day later – following a huge public backlash – Mr Hancock had announced his resignation and was replaced by Sajid Javid. The minister said he come to accept that he had breached social distancing guidance by kissing his colleague.Replacing the protocol – July 2021Boris Johnson signed up to the Northern Ireland protocol – which featured a series of checks on GB-NI trade designed to avoid a hard border in Ireland – as part of the withdrawal agreement finally done with the EU in January 2020.But in July 2021, his Brexit minister Lord Frost announced that the UK government did not want to stick to the protocol and put forward “significant changes” it wanted to make to the deal.Lord Frost later claimed the protocol was always “a little bit provisional”, and senior DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr said Mr Johnson had made him a personal promise to “tear up” the protocol once a Brexit deal with the EU was agreed.National lockdown measures – October 2020Mr Johnson repeatedly ruled out the “misery” of a second national lockdown for England, claiming in mid-October that Sir Keir Starmer’s support for a shutdown was “the height of absurdity”.However, less than two weeks later Mr Johnson was forced to accept a major change, announcing on 31 October that England would go into a month-long lockdown, closing venues and telling people to leave home only for specific reasons.Speaking at a hastily-assembled address on a Saturday, he said: “Models now suggest that unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day, a peak of mortality, alas, bigger than the one we saw in April.”Working from home – September 2020Mr Johnson was forced to abandon his government’s drive to get Britons back in the workplace following the first wave of coronavirus.Cabinet minister Michael Gove admitted the government’s call for people to return to the workplace – a measure deemed critical for the survival of cafes and other businesses which rely on commuters – had been dropped.He said there was a “shift in emphasis”, telling Sky News: “If it is possible for people to work from home then we would encourage them to do so.”A-levels and the algorithm – August 2020With just one day to go before A-level results based on a controversial system using an algorithm were published, Mr Johnson’s government announced a partial U-turn.But the initial U-turn, which allowed pupils to use their mock results as the basis for appeals, also descended into confusion when the exams regulator admitted it could not clarify how the new system would work.Mr Johnson insisted that the exam results would be “dependable”. But under intense pressure, the government said results would be based on teachers’ predictions after all. Education secretary Gavin Williamson apologised for the distress the fiasco had caused pupils.Huawei and 5G – July 2020Only six months after approving the involvement of Chinese tech giant Huawei in the development of Britain’s 5G network, Mr Johnson U-turned and slapped a ban on UK operators purchasing any of the company’s equipment after the end of 2020.No 10 insisted it was a purely technical decision forced by US sanctions, but it followed intense pressure from Sino-sceptic Conservative backbenchers – including former party leader Iain Duncan Smith.Free school meals – June 2020The first of two big free school meals reversal came after a summer campaign launched by the footballer Marcus Rashford gained momentum with MPs and the public.Downing Street had rejected the England star’s plea for the government to keep paying for the £15-a-week vouchers over the summer, sending ministers out to defend the plan. Only 24 hours later, the government decided it would, in fact, extend the free school meals scheme.Mr Johnson called the England striker to congratulate him on changing polic. “I thank him for what he’s done,” he said. But the PM failed the learn his lesson. The pattern repeated itself in November when the government U-turned on Rashford’s demand that low-income families were supported during the winter holidays. More

Owen Paterson has resigned as the Conservative MP for North Shropshire after Boris Johnson U-turned to allow a fresh vote on his suspension after being found to have breached lobbying rules.The former cabinet minister announced his resignation on Thursday after the prime minister was forced into a retreat over plans to prevent his immediate suspension by launching a review of the entire disciplinary system.Rather than face a fresh vote on a possible six-week ban, Mr Paterson said he would resign as an MP, triggering a by-election in North Shropshire – a constituency he has represented for 24 years.Read his resignation statement in full:“I have today, after consultation with my family, and with much sadness decided to resign as the MP for North Shropshire.“The last two years have been an indescribable nightmare for my family and me.“My integrity, which I hold very dear, has been repeatedly and publicly questioned.“I maintain that I am totally innocent of what I have been accused of and I acted at all times in the interests of public health and safety.“I, my family and those closest to me know the same. I am unable to clear my name under the current system.“Far, far worse than having my honesty questioned was, of course, the suicide of my beloved and wonderful wife, Rose.“She was everything to my children and me.“We miss her everyday and the world will always be grey, sad and ultimately meaningless without her.“The last few days have been intolerable for us. Worst of all was seeing people, including MPs, publicly mock and deride Rose’s death and belittle our pain.“My children have therefore asked me to leave politics altogether, for my sake as well as theirs.“I agree with them. I do not want my wife’s memory and reputation to become a political football.“Above all, I always put my family first.“This is a painful decision but I believe the right one. I have loved being the MP for North Shropshire and have considered it a privilege to have been elected to serve my constituents for 24 years.“I would like to thank my staff who have worked for me so loyally over many years.“I also want to thank those who have stood by me so staunchly. I wish them all the best in that difficult but vital job of being a Member of Parliament.“I will remain a public servant but outside the cruel world of politics. I intend to devote myself to public service in whatever ways I can but especially in the world of suicide prevention.“At this incredibly difficult time for my family, we ask that the media respects our privacy and lets us grieve my beloved Rose, the best person I ever met.” More