Markus Andrews

Farage returns to GB News after jungle appearance Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailReform UK leader Richard Tice said Nigel Farage was still assessing his political return but was “very confident” the party’s founder would play some role in the general election campaign.Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday morning to launch Reform’s election campaign, Mr Tice also claimed a Labour government would usher in “Starmergeddon”. He claimed Sir Keir Starmer would drag Britain back toward the EU as he branded the opposition and the Tories as both part of the same “socialist coin”.Earlier, there was speculation over whether Nigel Farage would appear at the press conference. Mr Farage recently took part in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and rumours about his return to frontline politics have abounded ever since.In the end, Mr Farage did not appear but Mr Tice said he was “very confident” that his predecessors would play some role in the general election campaign in the future.Show latest update
1704293598Junior doctors start longest strike in NHS historyThe longest strike in NHS history “couldn’t come at a worse time”, experts said as they warned that elderly patients could put off seeking medical help due to the walkouts.Hospital bosses said the health service is “in the grip of peak winter pressure” as junior doctors in England take to picket lines for six days.NHS Providers said the “unprecedented” action will lead to delays in care for thousands of patients.Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 January 2024 14:531704292235 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe former boss of the Post Office should hand back her CBE over the scandal which saw postmasters wrongly jailed, a Tory minister has said.Paula Vennells, who was chief executive of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, should give up the honour voluntarily, Kevin Hollinrake told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.The business minister, whose brief includes postal services, said: “Paula Vennells got a CBE for services to the Post Office.“Ultimately you’ve got responsibility for what happened here, you’re the chief executive, if I was Paula Vennells I would seriously consider handing that back voluntarily at this point in time.”Errors made by Horizon software, which was made by tech firm Fujitsu and used by the Post Office, led to the wrongful conviction of more than 700 people over false accounting and theft between 1999 and 2015.Amid a grilling over the scandal, Mr Hollinrake said he “absolutely” supported criminal prosecutions for those responsible where there is evidence of criminality.He added that an ongoing inquiry should determine “who is responsible” in the Post Office and Fujitsu and “wherever possible those people should be held to account”.Retired high court judge Sir Wyn Williams is chairing an inquiry into the Post Office scandal, considered the worst miscarriage of justice in recent British history.The renewed focus on the scandal comes amid a new ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office.Alan Bates, played by Toby Jones, has spent two decades of his life fighting for justice after hundreds of fellow postmasters and postmistresses were accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting due to faulty computers.In 1999, Horizon, a defective Fujitsu IT system, began incorrectly reporting cash shortfalls at branches across the country. The accusations tore people’s lives apart, with many losing their jobs and homes.Several people took their own lives due to the stress.To this day, not a single Post Office or Fujitsu employee has been held to account over the scandal, much less faced criminal investigation. Sixty of the victims have died before finding any justice at all.Ms Vennells was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) “for services to the Post Office and to charity” in the 2019 new year honours list.Previous calls for her to be stripped of the title include from the Communication Workers Union. More

Sunak claims Cummings would have ‘nothing to do’ with his government in campaign speechSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has refused to back his home secretary’s target to bring the number of small boats crossing the channel to zero this year.No 10 said the prime minister would not set a deadline for delivering his pledge to stop the boats.Earlier James Cleverly was asked what his target was for crossings this year and told LBC Radio: “Well, my target is to bring it down to zero. I mean, I’m completely committed…”Asked if he was referring specifically to 2024, he said: “That’s my target. My target is to reduce it to zero, to stop the boats. And I’m unambiguous about that.”The prime minister’s official spokesman said the two men were united in wanting to stop the crossings.But he would not repeat Mr Cleverly’s target. Pushed on the 2024 target, the spokesman said the PM wanted to “stop the boats as soon as possible” but he would not “set out a deadline”.Show latest update
1704211556We’re finishing up our live politics coverage for today.Thanks for reading and join us again soon for all the latest news from Westminster and elsewhere.Have a good evening.Matt Mathers2 January 2024 16:051704187496Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live politics coverage.Rishi Sunak is facing calls for an inquiry into secret meetings he held with Dominic Cummings.The Lib Dems want the prime minister’s independent ethics adviser to probe whether the talks, which were not logged on official records, broke the ministerial code.We’ll have updates on this story and others from Westminster and elsewhere throughout the day.Stay tuned for all the latest updates.Matt Mathers2 January 2024 09:241704187718What are the meetings all about?The PM reportedly asked Boris Johnson’s ex-chief aide for advice on winning over the public as he pushed for a “secret deal” with Mr Cummings to help the Tories “smash” Labour in 2024.Full report: Matt Mathers2 January 2024 09:281704187774ICYMI: Tory MPs share horror over Sunak’s ‘secret election talks’ with CummingsConservative MPs have expressed their horror at claims that Rishi Sunak held secret talks with Dominic Cummings about the former senior adviser to Boris Johnson making a return to government.Adam Forrest reports: Matt Mathers2 January 2024 09:291704187868Watch: Sunak claims Cummings would have ‘nothing to do’ with his government in campaign speechSunak claims Cummings would have ‘nothing to do’ with his government in campaign speechMatt Mathers2 January 2024 09:311704189398James Cleverly apologises for joking about spiking his wife with date rape drugArchie Mitchell reports: Matt Mathers2 January 2024 09:561704189992Sunak claims to have cleared backlog of legacy asylum claimsRishi Sunak has claimed to have cleared the backlog of older legacy asylum claims but figures reveal that 4,500 cases are still waiting for a decision, Holly Bancroft reports.New data released by the Home Office shows that all cases in the legacy backlog have now been reviewed, with 86,800 decisions made, but thousands of more complex cases are still waiting for the additional checks or investigation needed for a final decision.The government have also processed around 25,300 newer asylum claims, in addition to the legacy cases, taking the total number of decisions made in the past year to over 112,000.Government data published on Tuesday showed that the legacy backlog was drastically cut in the last few months of last year. There were 33,253 decisions left to make in October, but this fell to 4,537 by 28 December. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailJames Cleverly said he regrets making a joke about spiking his wife’s drink with a date rape drug and should never have said it.The home secretarymade the joke last month just hours after announcing plans to crack down on the issue.Mr Cleverly talked about putting “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night,” adding that it was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”. His comments, made during what he thought was a private conversation in Downing Street, sparked a furious backlash, with calls for him to resign or be sacked. Pressed on the comment, Mr Cleverly said: “It was a joke that I made and of course you know I regret it and I apologised immediately, and that apology is heartfelt.”Home Secretary James Cleverly is under fire for joking about spiking his wife’s drink He quickly went on to defend himself and the Home Office’s work on spiking: “But the point that I’ve made is that as home secretary I was the first home secretary to put forward legislation to toughen our ability to deal with spiking.“My first visit as home secretary was to an investigation team investigating violence against women and girls, when I was foreign secretary I set a target that 80 per cent of our aid has got to demonstrably have a positive effect for women and girls. I shouldn’t have said it and I apologised immediately.”He added in the Sky News interview: “I’m sorry because it clearly caused hurt, it’s potentially distracted from the work we were doing to tackle spiking to help predominantly women who are the victims of spiking and I regret that. But I’m absolutely determined to continue the work that I’ve been doing for years.”The home secretary went on to say he hopes to be judged on his actions rather than his words following his “awful joke” about spiking.Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, James Cleverly said: “I made a joke, it was an awful joke and I apologised immediately, but I’m absolutely committed and have been throughout my political career to the protection of women and girls.“I’m absolutely undeterred from that focus and you know the people that work with me know my focus on this and I hope to be judged on my actions rather than my words, but I remain absolutely committed to the protection of women and girls.”The apology came after women’s rights group the Fawcett Society said the comments were “sickening” and called for Mr Cleverly to resign.Chief executive Jemima Olchawski said: “It’s sickening that the senior minister in charge of keeping women safe thinks that something as terrifying as drugging women is a laughing matter.“No wonder women don’t feel safe. We know that ‘banter’ is the excuse under which misogyny is allowed to thrive.“How can we trust him to seriously address violence against women and girls? We deserve better than this from our lawmakers and Cleverly should resign.”Conversations at Downing Street receptions are usually understood to be “off the record” but the Sunday Mirror decided to break that convention because of Mr Cleverly’s position and the subject matter.It is just the latest controversy surrounding the home secretary since he replaced Suella Braverman last month.He has repeatedly refused to deny calling Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda deportation policy “bats***”, a claim made by Ms Cooper.And he denied claims that he called a Labour MP’s northeast constituency a “s***hole”. He admitted using the expletive in the House of Commons, but said instead he had described Alex Cunningham as a “s*** MP”, not his constituency as a “s***hole”.Questioned about the series of controversial remarks by the Today programme, Mr Cleverly lashed out at presenter Mishal Husain. Ms Husain aked the home secretary “what’s going on” and why “so often in a short space of time” he had made embarassing gaffes. But a testy Mr Cleverly hit back at her questions, saying “you need to do better research”. And amid a grilling over whether he had called Stockton North a “s***hole” or Mr Cunningham a “s*** MP”, Mr Cleverly said “I know what I said… other people couldn’t have [heard something else] because I only said one thing… that’s not how science works”. More