Markus Andrews

Nurses have described Boris Johnson as “out-of-touch” after he claimed the government was looking after their wellbeing despite cutting their wages in real terms. The Royal College of Nursing accused Mr Johnson of being “blase” after he told reporters the government was on a recruitment drive.But sector leaders warned that there would be no way the government could keep additional nurses in the profession if it kept running down their pay and conditions.Nursing groups and managers have warned that many nurses could quit and do something else if the government sticks with its approach.The government had indicated that it is minded to increase the pay of nurses and other healthcare staff pay by just 1 per cent – effectively a cut because it is below inflation.The suggestion has provoked anger from across the NHS, with unions describing it as a “kick in the teeth” and “pitiful” after workers put their lives on the line during the pandemic. Ministers say other public sector worker are getting an even worse deal.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayMr Johnson told reporters at the press conference : “I would stress first of all the gratitude that I think everybody feels towards the nursing profession and all health and social care workers. “One of the most important things that nurses tell me they want to see is more nurses to help them on the wards, to help them cope with the pandemic and everything else. “There are 10,000 more now this year than there were last year and that’s a good thing. There’s also a big increase in recruitment, I think it’s up something like 36 per cent and I understand of course that the whole sector has been under massive pressure, and that’s why we are investing colossally on top of the £140bn annually that we give to the NHS an extra £62bn to help boost the NHS and above all to help boost that recruitment drive that I think is really crucial for the wellbeing of nurses across the country, in addition to the 12.8 per cent pay increase that they got in the most recent round. So that’s where we are on that.”But Dame Donna Kinnair, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “The prime minister is sounding increasingly out of touch with the impact of his own proposal.
UK news in picturesShow all 50 More

Boris Johnson has failed to deny private donors have contributed towards the costly renovations to his Downing Street flat, as he sidestepped questions on the issue.His remarks came after reports that Conservative Party funds had met a large part of the bill for the makeover the residence Mr Johnson shares with his fiancée, Carrie Symonds, which is said to be in the region of £200,000. It was added the scheme could be based on one used by the White House to raise millions of dollars for interior design, antiques and art.But in his first public comments on the renovations during a No 10 briefing, Mr Johnson refused to answer whether any costs for the flat had been settled by either Conservative HQ or private donors, and whether now was the “right moment” for the expensive makeover.“All I can say is all such inquiries will be answered with normal declarations in the normal way,” the prime minister replied.Earlier, the prime minister’s press secretary Allegra Stratton, however, told reporters during a briefing that Conservative Party funds “are not being used to pay for any refurbishments of the Downing Street estate”.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayShe said the Conservative HQ “supports the leader of the Tory party in their political activities but not in the way it is being accused of”.Pressed on whether the party had encouraged private donors to contributed towards the costs of the renovations, Ms Stratton said any donations would be declared through the Electoral Commission, the House of Commons’ register of members’ interests, or in ministerial transparency declarations.“At every twist and turn of this there will be records and reports,” she said.Ms Stratton added on Monday that details of the Downing Street works will be included in the Cabinet Office annual report which is due to be published in July.“It will have the relevant level of information to make it clear what refurbishment and what renovations took place in the last year on Downing Street.”She would not confirm that donations or gifts had contributed to the refurbishment, but told reporters: “I’m saying that all donations, gifts and benefits will be declared in transparency returns that you – we – will all get and be able to pore over in the fullness of time.” More

However, the sheer scale of the television audience and the gravity of some of the claims being levelled against the palace are so serious that he may yet have to furnish his advice to the Queen on the current crisis. Constitutionally, she is obliged to take it, even when it relates to members of her own family and her staff. She might feel doubly dubious about doing so, given that Johnson wasn’t entirely frank with her about the prorogation of parliament last August. That was soon ruled unlawful and void by the Supreme Court, and she might well feel ill-used by her prime minister. Yet she knows the rules of the game and will follow them.What though could Johnson advise her to do? He has plenty of personal experience of family rifts, embarrassing racist remarks and no doubt knows the personalities involved. However, presentation isn’t necessarily his strong point, and he’s hardly the most woke personality in public life. His advice, if sought or offered, is likely to be non-committal. More

Boris Johnson has refused to be drawn on allegations of racism related to the royal family’s treatment of Meghan Markle.The prime minister said he had no comment to make on the claims made by the Duchess of Sussex in an interview with US broadcaster Oprah Winfrey.She said a member of the family had quizzed her over her unborn son’s skin colour and had been left feeling suicidal by her treatment.Labour has called for an inquiry into the claims, and opposition leader Keir Starmer has said they should be taken “seriously”.But Mr Johnson said when asked about the claims at a press conference on Monday evening: “Perhaps the best thing I can say is that I’ve always had the highest admiration for the Queen and the unifying role that she plays in our country and across the Commonwealth.“As for all the other matters to do with the royal family, I’ve spent a long time now not commenting on royal family matters and I don’t intend to depart from that today.”The prime minister has however in fact weighted in on royal family matters on a number of occasions. In August 2019 he defended Prince Andrew in light of allegations of his associations with Jeffrey Epstein.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayIn November that year he suggested again that the monarchy was “beyond reproach” in light of further allegations about Prince Andrew. In January 2020 he said he thought the royal rift over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relationship could be healed.The prime minister’s spokesperson had told reporters in Westminster earlier in the day to expect a response from the prime minister on the issue. More

Sir Keir Starmer has backed away from a Labour call for Buckingham Palace to “fully investigate” allegations of racism after the Duchess of Sussex claimed that a member of the royal family raised “concerns” about the likely skin colour of her son Archie. The Labour leader said Meghan’s claims, which also included an allegation that she was told not to seek help when feeling suicidal, should be taken “very, very seriously”.But asked repeatedly in a TV interview whether he backed shadow education secretary Kate Green’s call for a Palace investigation, Starmer sidestepped the issue.Meanwhile, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman told reporters that the prime minister had not watched the interview when it was aired in the early hours of the morning, UK time, and declined to discuss his views on the Duchess’s allegations.In the long-awaited TV interview broadcast in the US on Sunday, Meghan told interviewer Oprah Winfrey that the unnamed royal voiced “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”.Meghan said there had been “several conversations” with her husband Prince Harry about Archie’s likely skin tone, and “what that would mean or look like”.Asked by Winfrey whether the implication was that there were worries her child would be “too brown”, Meghan replied: “If that is the assumption you are making, that is a pretty safe one.”Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayLabour frontbencher Ms Green described the comment as “really distressing – shocking”.Ms Green told Sky News: “If there are allegations of racism, I would expect them to be treated by the Palace with the utmost seriousness and fully investigated.”She added: “There’s never any excuse in any circumstances for racism and I think it is important that action is taken to investigate what are really shocking allegations.”Asked if the royal family needed to respond to the claims, Ms Green said: “I’m sure that the Palace will be thinking very carefully about that, and I certainly think people will be wondering what is going to be said.”But Sir Keir notably declined to repeat her call when asked four times whether there should be an investigation in an interview later in the day during a visit to a school.“I think they need to be taken very, very seriously,” he said. “They are allegations in relation to race and to mental health. “For too many years – this is bigger than the Royal Family – we’ve been too dismissive. We can’t do that.“It’s a reminder there’s a lot more to do. Nobody, but nobody, should be prejudiced because of the colour of their skin or because of their mental health issues.”Asked whether the institution of the monarchy is fit for purpose, Starmer said: “Well they’re serious allegations and we’ll have to see how the institution reacts to this. It’s bigger in a sense than just the royal family because that experience of racism, I’m sad to say, is too prevalent still in 21st century Britain and we all have to take that seriously and redouble our efforts.” More

Today’s daily politics briefingFirst minister of Wales Mark Drakeford said he felt a “sense of despair” and was “wringing” his hands after a crisis Covid meeting with Boris Johnson in December. A TV documentary crew caught the Welsh Labour leader saying: “Dear me, he really, really is awful.”It comes as Mr Johnson’s top Brexit adviser Lord David Frost has been accused of “playing games” with the EU over the protocol. The civil servant in charge of the Brexit department between 2017 and 2019 said the protocol remained the “least-worst option” and has to work.Meanwhile, the EU has rejected Lord Frost’s claim that Brussels’ approach to talks on Northern Ireland was driven by “ill-will” towards the UK. The EU Commission’s spokesperson stated: “We never sulk.”Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayShow latest update
1615215247Johnson getting a big ‘vaccine bounce’, says StarmerBoris Johnson’s widening lead over the Labour party in the polls is down to a “vaccine bounce” boosting support for the Tories, Keir Starmer has said.In a rare comment on the polls the opposition leader said his party was behind because voters tended to “gravitate” towards the government during a time of crisis and felt good after getting their jabs.“There is undoubtedly a vaccine bounce going on,” the Labour leader told BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show on Monday afternoon. “But let’s be honest, we’ve got to do better as a Labour Party I’ve got to do better, we’ve got a job and a half to do.”Starmer told the programme that he “never thought for a moment” that Labour could reverse its bad election result from 2019 in the space of a year.Adam Forrest8 March 2021 14:541615214235‘Dear me, he really, really is awful’Mark Drakeford said he felt a “sense of despair” and was “wringing” his hands after a crisis meeting with the PM following France’s travel ban.On the Zoom call, Johnson said he wanted to “urgently look at the implications of the travel bans that some of our European friends have imposed”.A S4C TV documentary crew cuts away from most of the meeting – which cannot be recorded for security reasons – but Drakeford is then heard to say: “Dear me, he really, really is awful.“Imagine that some deadly new variant of the virus had been discovered in France and they were trying to persuade us that there was no need to take any action to stop French lorry drivers from driving across the continent.”Adam Forrest8 March 2021 14:371615214017Ross: Scottish independence would be ‘immensely worse’ than BrexitMore now from Scottish Tory party leader Douglas Ross’ remarks to the Onward think tank. Ross has suggested negotiations to break up the UK would be far, far messier than the process we’ve all just lived through.“What the process would be if we had an independent Scotland negotiating leaving the United Kingdom – well, it would be immensely worse than the difficulties that were experienced in leaving the European Union.”“We would be leaving a country that we remain part of, that we have been the proud and strong member of for centuries, rather than for the European Union for just over four decades.” More

Boris Johnson’s widening lead over the Labour party in the polls is down to a “vaccine bounce” boosting support for the Tories, Keir Starmer has said.In a rare comment on the polls the opposition leader said his party was behind because voters tended to “gravitate” towards the government during a time of crisis and felt good after getting their jabs.Sir Keir’s analysis comes amid sliding leadership ratings and a growing lead for the Tories, despite the UK having one of the worst death and economic tolls in the world from Covid-19.”There is undoubtedly a vaccine bounce going on,” the Labour leader told BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show on Monday afternoon.”The vaccine rollout is going very well, all tribute to those on the ground. I’ve been in vaccine centre a number of times, including this morning and the NHS, those on the front line doing an incredible job. “And of course, you can feel it: you go into the vaccine centre with anxiety written over your face, and then you see people coming out the other end with a smile, it is an incredible feeling and of course that leads to a bounce I think at the polls.”He added: “I also think in a pandemic, something like this, people tend to gravitate, to pull towards their government because they want the government to get it right because they themselves and their family depend on it. So, there are factors there, but let’s be honest, we’ve got to do better as a Labour Party I’ve got to do better, we’ve got a job and a half to do.”Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdaySir Keir told the programme that he “never thought for a moment” that Labour could reverse its bad election result from 2019 in the space of a year, suggesting the idea was “unrealistic”. At that election Labour won the lowest number of seats on record since 1935, though its share of the vote was higher than in 2010 and 2015. That result, at an election dominated by Brexit, came after a surprise strong showing in 2017 where the party won 40 per cent of the vote.Admitting it was a “big ask” to win the election scheduled for 2024, Sir Keir added: “I’m determined we could do it. I think we can do it. I think we’ve got to rebuild the party, deal with antisemitism – we’ve done some of that, we’ve got to do more on that – rebuild trust with voters, and be much more connected with voters.””It is going to take every day, every week, every month and every year to the next general election to do it. I’m going to sweat blood to do that, but I never thought that we could turn around.”
UK news in picturesShow all 50 More

The first minister of Wales branded Boris Johnson “really, really awful” over his response to the more aggressive variant of Covid-19 being found in December.On the Zoom call, Mr Johnson said he wanted to “urgently look at the implications of the travel bans that some of our European friends have imposed”.A TV documentary cuts away from most of the meeting – which cannot be recorded for security reasons – but Mr Drakeford is then heard to say: “Dear me, he really, really is awful.“Imagine that some deadly new variant of the virus had been discovered in France and they were trying to persuade us that there was no need to take any action to stop French lorry drivers from driving across the continent.”The pre-Christmas ban on passengers and freight entering from the UK sparked chaos in Kent, triggering many miles of queues for lorries and travellers.France later eased the crackdown after an agreement was struck to have lorry drivers tested and allowed to cross if they returned negative results.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayAsked by an adviser whether he wanted any minutes from the meeting, Mr Drakeford said: “No, I don’t think there is anything at all, other than wringing our hands, a sense of despair. Difficult to understand.”The comments are revealed after Mr Drakeford lashed out at Mr Johnson for putting the Union at threat by failing to create effective working by the devolved administrations.“The Union, as it is, is over,” he told a committee of MPs last week. “There is no institutional architecture to make the United Kingdom work. It is all ad-hoc, random and made up as we go along.”In the S4C documentary, the first minister said he and Mr Johnson are “very different people – despite both studying Latin – adding: “It’s hard to find anything else that’s common between us as people.“The world through Boris Johnson’s eyes is so different to the world that people in Wales see. It’s difficult sometimes to understand where he’s coming from and why he’s doing what he’s doing.”Amid confusion over whether that would be guidance or law, Mr Drakeford said of the media: “Let’s hope nobody is bright enough to ask, ‘is that ‘should’ as in regulation or ‘should’ as in advice’?“They are asking already”, an official tells him – prompting the first minister to say “shit” in response.A later cabinet meeting shows ministers were split over whether to make the rule legally enforceable, but Mr Drakeford decided to go ahead, putting the guidance into law. More