UK Politics

Conservative MP Will Quince has agreed to return to his old job as children’s minister only one day after resigning in protest at having to defend Boris Johnson over the Chris Pincher scandal.The MP for Colchester quit the government on Wednesday – angry at being given assurances that the PM did not know specific sexual misconduct claims which were then “found to be inaccurate”.But on Thursday Mr Quince was again named children’s minister at the Department for Education, as No 10 moved to fill vacant ministerial positions in a bid to show government could still function with a caretaker PM.Having finally announced his resignation at lunchtime, Mr Johnson bowed to cabinet pressure and promised no major policy shifts in his dying days in office, amid Tory unease at his interim period in charge over the summer.In a further bid to show stability, the PM has appointed Johnny Mercer MP as minister for veterans’, while Edward Timpson becomes the new solicitor general following Alex Chalk’s resignation.Stephen McPartland was named minister for security at the Home Office, Graham Stuart becomes a Foreign Office minister and Marcus Jones is a minister at the Department for Levelling Up.RecommendedEarlier on Thursday, Mr Johnson named Greg Clark as levelling up secretary, Robert Buckland as Welsh secretary, and James Cleverly as education secretary as he filled major vacant cabinet posts.Shailesh Vara became the new Northern Ireland secretary after Brandon Lewis quit, while Kit Malthouse will be the new Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster after Steve Barclay was moved to cover departing health secretary Sajid Javid.Amid the merry-go-round, former Tory MP John Major led demands for Mr Johnson to be forced out immediately to avoid further damage to the country.Sir John said he was worried that Mr Johnson would still have the power to make vital domestic and foreign policy decisions, and suggested deputy prime minister Dominic Raab could be made an acting PM.A No 10 readout of Thursday’s cabinet meeting stated he had “made clear the government would not seek to implement new policies or make major changes of direction”.Senior Tory MP Nus Ghani, deputy chair of the 1922 Committee, said Mr Raab should take over from Mr Johnson on an interim basis. George Freeman, who quit as science minister, and rebel MP Aaron Bell also both called for a caretaker PM.However, one senior Tory figure ridiculed Sir John’s “not very wise” idea, and said people should accept a leadership contest should be complete by early September.“Over August very little happens in government – in some ways it couldn’t fall at a better time,” they told The Independent. “Calm down and get on with the process of a replacement.”Despite frustration about Mr Johnson’s messy exit, another red wall MP told The Independent there was no real “appetite” among backbenchers to push for Mr Raab to take over.RecommendedSir Bob Neill said in the Commons there is a “serious question mark” over how long a caretaker PM could remain if there were concerns about effective government, adding: “Might it be in everybody’s interests to speed up the transition?”Despite several vacant junior ministerial posts remaining, Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis told MPs: “Government business will continue to function … Other secretaries of state can deal with the issues for other departments.” More

Boris Johnson has bowed to cabinet pressure and promised no major policy shifts in his dying days in office, after Tory alarm at his two-month caretaker period.He pledged that “major changes of direction” – including tax cuts – should be left to his successor, even as he rejected demands to leave No 10 immediately.Within minutes of Mr Johnson confirming he will eventually step down, concern grew over what Dominic Cummings warned could be “carnage” to come.Sir John Major led demands for him to be forced out to avoid further damage to the country after what some Tory MPs called a Trump-style attempt to cling to power.In a Downing Street speech criticised for a lack of humility or apology, Mr Johnson vowed to stay in power “until a new leader is in place”, which is likely to be early September.RecommendedBut at a cabinet meeting later on Thursday, he abandoned hopes of ripping up policy, including by slashing income tax in the wake of Rishi Sunak’s resignation as chancellor.A No 10 readout of the meeting stated he had “made clear the government would not seek to implement new policies or make major changes of direction”.Instead, it would “focus on delivering the agenda on which the government was elected”, adding Mr Johnson “said major fiscal decisions should be left for the next prime minister”.One cabinet minister told The Independent that some members had agreed to serve Mr Johnson only after securing “conditions” from the prime minister, in particular on the economy.“We made clear there were conditions to us joining his cabinet, that he does not try anything in the time he has left. Especially no tax cuts,” the minister said.Theresa May also warned Mr Johnson to behave, noting she had observed convention by passing only the cross-party net zero climate legislation after announcing her resignation.“I was still there as prime minister, able to do some things, but, crucially you have to restrict yourself what you do during that period of time for several reasons,” she told an event.Even with the apparent “conditions” imposed on Mr Johnson, and a new cabinet formed within hours, the government faces a huge struggle to function effectively in the weeks to come.Dozens of ministerial posts remain unfilled, as the country remains mired in a cost of living crisis and a legal fight with the EU over the Northern Ireland Brexit deal, and as war grinds on in Ukraine.“The government is not functioning at the moment. Basic things are not happening,” said Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, adding: “They are not able to get the machinery of government running.”Delivering his resignation speech, Mr Johnson fuelled fears of what he will do in his remaining months in power, as he protested that the party’s decision to remove him was “eccentric”.“The herd is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves,” he said of Tory MPs – adding he would give his successor “as much support as I can”.Andrea Jenkyns, an MP and arch-Johnson supporter, told TV cameras as she left Downing Street: “They’ll regret it like they did with Thatcher. This will be a mistake.”George Freeman, who had quit as science minister earlier, pleaded with his colleagues to recognise Mr Johnson would not “govern for three months in quiet humility and contrition”.“The prime minister has to accept that it’s over and hand in the seals of office this weekend,” he argued – warning of “insecurity and chaos” if he did not.Sir John called leaving Mr Johnson in post “unwise and maybe unsustainable”, pointing to his retained power over domestic and foreign policy, and suggesting Dominic Raab be the caretaker.Keir Starmer vowed to stage a Commons vote to try to force out the prime minister immediately, if Conservative MPs failed to “get rid of him”, saying: “He can’t cling on in this way.”But it would take several dozen rebel Tories for the vote to succeed – and the party’s newly elected 1922 Committee is not expected to move against him, when it is formed on Monday.RecommendedIt will set the leadership election timetable, with a rapid first round of voting by Tory MPs to start whittling down around a dozen expected candidates to just two.The party’s members then pick the next prime minister from that shortlist, after hustings in August. More

Conservative candidates at local by-elections are trying to boost their fortunes by boasting about Boris Johnson’s resignation on their leafletsThe prime minister has for months been regarded as a drag on Tory support in some parts of the country and activists have wasted no time in capitalising on his resignation.One leaflet, apparently for a by-election this week in a ward in north London, carries a picture of the prime minister with “He’s out!” written in large letters.The campaigning literature, apparently produced just hours after the news in Westminster broke says: “Last May many of you told us you couldn’t vote Conservative while Boris Johnson was prime minister.”We Camden Conservatives took up your call. It took longer than we wanted by MESSAGE RECEIVED!” Recommended”The Conservatives have listened and Boris Johnson has resigned as PM. WE now ask you to come back to us and give us another change. It’s ok to vote Conservative again, starting today in Hampstead Town.”Tulip Siddiq, the local Labour MP for the area, described the campaigning tactic as “absolutely shameless”.”I initially thought this was a Labour leaflet when I saw the photo and the caption,” she said. “This is actually the Tory leaflet that the local Conservative Party are putting out in the Hampstead by-election today.”She shared a picture of the leaflet, which carries the legally protected text indicating that it is official Tory election literature. The leaflet is unlikely to have been produced centrally and appears to have been put together by local candidates.Hampstead Town is a marginal ward on Camden London Borough Council and in May 2022 Labour took one of the two seats – narrowly missing out on the second. In 2018 it returned three Conservatives before being reduced to a two-member seat.The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the elected Labour councillor just months after May’s election. RecommendedAt the May local elections, in which Mr Johnson’s party received a drubbing, many local Tory candidates described themselves as “Local Conservatives” in apparent bids to distance themselves from the unpopular occupant in No 10.The approach was in stark contrasts to other campaigns, such as 2017, where Tory central office repeatedly referred to candidates as “Theresa May’s team”. More

Ben Wallace has declined to say whether he will run for the Conservative Party leadership, insisting that he will continue to focus on his job as defence secretary.Mr Wallace, coming top among poll of Tory members to succeed Boris Johnson as leader after his resignation on Thursday, spoke during a visit to a training centre for Ukrainian troops in north of England.The defence secretary said he was convinced that the political turmoil in the Britain would not lead to any lessening of support for Ukraine, stressing that he had built up a cross-party consensus on the issue.“I don’t think there is a risk of that at all. I have strived throughout this process to build a cross-party consensus on Ukraine. I’ve been very lucky that I’ve been supported by everyone from the SNP [Scottish National Party] and the Labour leader, the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats in our policy towards Ukraine.“Not a week goes by when I don’t reach out to them or talk to those parties. Also we have agreed that it is important to continue the efforts for Ukraine as it strives to defend itself from its awful illegal invasion”, he said.RecommendedAn ally of Mr Wallace pointed out that while the defence decretary was visiting Ukrainian troops being trained, Liz Truss, viewed as one of his main rivals from the Tory leadership, failed to take a chance to confront Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, about the invasion at a G20 meeting. More

Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie are to host a lavish wedding party at the prime minister’s grace and favour mansion while he clings on to office, it has been reported.The 16th century Buckingham country house had been planning the celebration for July 30 to celebrate with their friends, the Daily Mirror revealed.On Thursday Mr Johnson said he would step down when a new Tory leader had been elected and that he would hang on as a caretaker until the autumn.But some Tory MPs say he should go immediately and be replaced by a deputy because of the controversial way he tried to hang on after 50 Tory MPs walked out of government. The pair tied the knot in May 2021 with a handful of guests because only 30 people were allowed in the Downing Street garden under Covid rules.RecommendedThe wedding was the marriage for Mr Johnson, who has two children with Carrie, who previously worked in Conservative central office, where she was known as Carrie Symonds.The plan for a further celebration is likely to raise eyebrows because rule-breaking bashes at Downing Street contributed to a loss in public trust in the prime minister.The newspaper cited two sources who said the party was planned for that date and that the couple were keen to go ahead with it.”It beggars belief that even after all the criticism Johnson has faced regarding integrity and probity, one of the reasons he is staying is to have his wedding party at Chequers,” one Tory source told the Mirror.”It’s a national asset not his personal home. The Johnsons should do the decent thing and find a different venue. And Boris should do the decent thing and leave No 10 immediately”.Chequers features a heated indoor swimming pool, putting green and 1,500 acres of grounds – an idyllic location for a wedding party.The mansion appeared to be on the PM’s mind as he thanked staff outside Downing Street.RecommendedAs he made his round of thank yous to his family, the civil service and the NHS, Mr Johnson appeared to forget where he was, saying “I want to thank the wonderful staff here at Chequers” before correcting himself.Allies of the prime minister have said the PM wants to stay on in office out of a sense of duty, rejecting suggestions the decision has anything to do with the party. More