UK Politics

The European Parliament’s far-right group has tried to stop MEPs from discussing the British government’s breaches of international law on Wednesday. MEPs are due to discuss Boris Johnson’s overriding of the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol later in the week – with the prime minister expected to be blasted from across the EU political spectrum. But the ID group, which represents parties like French National Rally, Italy’s Lega, and the German AfD appears to have come to the UK’s aid and tried to get the debate postponed. In a request submitted this week the MEPs said the debate, which is planned to take centre stage in the parliament on Wednesday, should be postponed and relegated to an unspecified “later part session”.They want the discussion replaced with a debate about the bloc’s aviation industry.The parliament’s presidency is not expected to accede to the demands and the ID group does not have the numbers to force the agenda change through.It is not the first time EU far-right parties have cooperated with the UK government in Strasbourg in recent years.In 2018 Tory MEPs voted to protect Hungary’s right right Orban regime from EU sanctions – putting them up at odds with mainstream centre-right opinion in the parliament. That episode provoked condemnation from Hillary Clinton, who said the Tories had “come a long way from the party of Churchill and Thatcher”.The debate on Wednesday will feature statements from the European Commission and European Council, who are expected to strongly criticise the UK.Brussels is pushing ahead with legal action against the UK, which appears to be disregarding parts of the treaty it signed up to.Boris Johnson is pushing domestic legislation through parliament which will give British ministers powers to effectively override the agreement. But the UK says the changes are necessary because the arrangements it signed up to are disrupting trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. More

Russian leader Vladimir Putin would welcome Scottish independence, the leader of the Scottish Labour party has suggested.Anas Sarwar said it was “pretty obvious” that the Russian president would be pleased at the break-up of Britain – saying the dictator “would support anything which is damaging to his enemies”.The senior Labour figure also claimed SNP chief Nicola Sturgeon “wants to pit Scot against Scot for her own obsession” as he set out his alternatives to independence in a speech on Monday.Asked if the Russian president would welcome the break-up of the UK, Mr Sarwar said: “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? Vladimir Putin wants to damage our role and who he regards as his enemies in the world.”The Scottish Labour leader told reporters: “He wants to damage the institutions that stand up to him, he wants to damage the institutions that help to keep global peace and justice, yes, in Ukraine, but also in the wider world.”He added: “I think he would support anything which is damaging to his enemies.”Speaking at a Fabian Society event in London, Mr Sarwar said he wanted to see the House of Lords scrapped and replaced with an elected senate of nations and regions.Outlining Scottish Labour’s proposed reforms as part of a paper on constitutional change, he said a new, elected chamber would have a mandate to ensure the smallest regions around the UK are not marginalised.Mr Sarwar said Lords “has no place in 21st-century politics” – arguing that it should be replaced with “an institution which better reflects the make-up and the identity of the United Kingdom”.The Scottish labour chief said Sir Keir Starmer agreed with the proposal for a replacement body. Abolishing the Lords was one of the 10 pledges Starmer made at the outset of his campaign to become leader.Elections for the senate would take place at a different time to general elections and votes for the devolved parliaments, with term times being longer than those for MPs, according to the Scottish Labour plan.The Scottish Labour paper on constitutional change also set out plans for “joint governance councils” between UK and devolved ministers with a legal duty to co-operate. More

Tory MP Jeremy Hunt has not ruled out a second run at the leadership of the Conservative Party, saying: “We’ll have to see what the circumstances are.”The former cabinet minister also stood by his view that the Tories will lose the next general election if Boris Johnson remains leader, but stressed that the result would be decided on the economy rather than the Partygate scandal.It comes after the prime minister narrowly survived a confidence vote in June, which severely weakened his authority in the Tory party, and soon after suffered a double defeat in the Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton by-elections.Mr Hunt, who ran against Mr Johnson for the leadership of the party in 2019, has previously hinted he would stand again for the position should Mr Johnson resign or be forced from No 10.Asked again whether he would stand in a future Tory leadership contest, Mr Hunt told an Institute for Government event on Monday: “I think we have to see what the circumstances are and then make a decision on that one.”The former health secretary and foreign secretary under Theresa May also swerved questions on whether he would a win a leadership contest, declining to engage in “hypothetical questions”.Pressed on Mr Johnson’s electoral chances should he remain in position as Tory leader, Mr Hunt said the next general election “won’t be decided on whether or not there were inappropriate parties in Downing Street during the pandemic”.He added: “I think the next election will be decided on the economy. And the core reason that ordinary voters vote Conservative is because they think that we will look after the economy better, and therefore there’ll be better prospects for them and their families.“But at the moment, because of all the global shocks that we’ve had, people don’t feel that confidence. So I think that the biggest single challenge is to get the economy growing again.”Asked about whether Mr Johnson’s government got the “big calls right” during the Covid pandemic – a claim often made by ministers and loyal Tory MPs – Mr Hunt said some things went “badly wrong” in 2020.“And then we got some things spectacularly right,” he added. “In the first half of the pandemic we didn’t follow what they were doing in Korea, in Taiwan, which were so successful in containing the virus.“We ended up having to have a lockdown. Having got ourselves in that position, we took too long to implement it – the virus had really taken hold.“At the very same time, Boris was ordering 400 million doses of vaccines without actually knowing if they would work.“And that meant that we had the best vaccine programme, and the MHRA-approved vaccines, before any other regulator in the world. Unfortunately it’s one of those things it’s impossible to give a clean view on.” More

Boris Johnson “was aware” of previous allegations of sexual misconduct against Chris Pincher when he promoted him this year, No 10 has admitted.The prime minister’s spokesman also did not deny he used the phrase “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” against the former deputy chief whip – who quit and is now being investigated for alleged groping.Last week, No 10 insisted Mr Johnson was unaware of any specific allegations against the MP – but its story has shifted, deepening the latest scandal to engulf Mr Johnson.The spokesman acknowledged he “was aware of media reports” and of “allegations that were either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint”, when Mr Pincher was appointed in February.However, he continued to insist that – in the absence of any formal complaint against him – it would not have been “appropriate” to block promotion to a role with responsibility for MPs’ welfare.The spokesman was also unable to say what efforts were made to establish if allegations could be substantiated – and indicated Mr Pincher was not asked about them directly.He also said No 10 has no plan to investigate the process that led to his appointment, amid reports that Downing Street was specifically warned against it.Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s former chief aide, has alleged that the prime minister referred to the former deputy chief whip as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” long before the appointment in February.But the spokesman said: “I’m simply not going to comment on content of what was or wasn’t said in private conversations” – revealing he had not asked Mr Johnson if the claim is true.Mr Pincher was stripped of the Conservative whip after he was accused of drunkenly groping two men at a Conservative private members’ club in London, last Wednesday.But he remains under pressure to resign as an MP – and is facing the possibility of a police investigation, after several alleged victims of previous assaults came forward.An investigation is underway by parliament’s independent complaints service, which No 10 should proceed rather than any inquiry by Downing Street into warnings apparently not heeded.Asked what advice was sought about the swirling allegations, the spokesman said it would have come from both political colleagues and the civil service.“It was deemed not appropriate to stop an appointment simply because of unsubstantiated allegations,” he said.The spokesman said: “The prime minister was aware of media reports that others had seen over the years and some allegations that were either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint.”Asked if he regretted appointing Mr Pincher, he said only: “Clearly, we wouldn’t want anyone working in the government to behave in the manner as he is alleged to have done so. That is not the behaviour that you’d want to see in any walk of life.” More

Boris Johnson’s government has been accused of offering only “pathetic” changes to childcare in a bid to bring down costs for parents and boost availability.A consultation will look at increasing the number of children that can be looked after by each staff member – with proposals to change staff-to-child ratios from 1:4 to 1:5 for two-year-olds.The government had estimated that the changes could potentially save parents £40 a month, based on a family paying £265 a week for a child under two.But junior minister Will Quince has admitted the ratio change is “not going to significantly change costs” for parents.“The ratio change in itself is no silver bullet or panacea or magic bullet, it is not going to significantly change costs, because what we don’t expect is settings to routinely or religiously go to one to five,” the children and families minister told Sky News.Ministers say the plan to change staff-to-child ratios will give providers more flexibility in how they run their businesses while maintaining safety and quality of care.The government has said this could “potentially” and “eventually” reduce the cost of this form of childcare by up to 15 per cent, if providers adopt the changes and pass all the savings on to parents.But the Early Years Alliance – the largest early years membership organisation in England has criticised the plan – saying it was “beyond frustrating that the government is wasting its time consulting on relaxing ratios”.Neil Leitch, chief executive of the charity, said the government should admit “that if we want to have affordable, quality, sustainable care … we need to invest substantially more into the sector than we are doing at the moment”.Early Years Alliance research shows that the proposal to relax ratios for two-year-olds in nurseries and pre-schools from 1:4 to 1:5 would “fail to lower the cost” as well as driving down quality and worsen the “catastrophic recruitment and retention crisis”.TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady also said the government proposals “won’t help”, saying: “Cutting staffing ratios will just put more pressure on underpaid and undervalued childcare workers.”The union leader added: “Instead of making policy on the hoof, ministers should listen to childcare workers. It’s time for a proper funding settlement for childcare.”Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, described the announcement as “pathetic” and said it “fails to deliver the ambition families need to tackle spiralling childcare costs”.She added: “Tweaking ratios is not the answer parents want and not the answer children need. The vast majority of providers have made clear this would make no difference to costs for parents.”The government said it will also support more people to become childminders, streamline the Ofsted registration process for providers and encourage the growth of Childminder Agencies.Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said the proposed reforms “prove again that this government is on the side of working families”.The cabinet minister said he was “determined” to support the child care sector “by giving them greater flexibility in how they run their services”.Defending the plans on Monday, Mr Quince argued that countries with cheaper childcare provision pay more in tax.“We currently invest around £4bn to £5bn a year on childcare and early years’ education… there are other countries – France, Sweden the Netherlands– who do put far more money into early years’ education,” the junior minister said.The minister also said the government was running a campaign to raise awareness that families are entitled to up to £2,000 per year towards childcare costs tax-free, while those on Universal Credit could recover 85 percent of their childcare costs from government funding. More

Conservative party rebels have said Boris Johnson’s handling of allegations that MP Chris Pincher groped two men has made it more likely he will face a fresh confidence vote in the months ahead.One Tory backbencher said the row had “100 per cent” bolstered efforts to oust Mr Johnson, while another said: “We’ve got the votes now to get rid of him.”Current 1922 Committee rules dictate that another challenge cannot be held for a year after last month’s confidence vote, which Mr Johnson won despite 148 Tory MPs voting against him.But rebels believe this month’s elections for the 1922 Committee’s executive could focus on a compromise proposal to allow another vote, amid serious questions about Mr Johnson’s judgment in appointing Mr Pincher.The change would mean a second confidence vote could be held immediately if 25 per cent of Tories in the Commons – 90 MPs – submit letters to the 1922 leadership, double the current amount required to trigger an initial vote.“This is a unifying manifesto point,” one MP told The Times on the idea of a 25 per cent requirement. “It unites those chomping at the bit to get him out and those who are reserved about rules changes.”Another rebel backbencher told the newspaper that Mr Johnson’s handling of the Pincher row “has certainly sharpened minds to act because it all goes back to the prime minister”.Rebels are said to believe they now have the 180 votes to get rid of the PM if they can force a confidence in the weeks ahead, if they can win a “clean slate” at the 1922 Committee set toOne senior backbencher told The Telegraph: “We’ve got the votes now to get rid of the PM”, but added: “It would be wrong to just run another election on the same rules.”Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Friday following claims that he groped two men at the Tories’ Carlton Club on Wednesday. He admitted that he had “embarrassed myself and other people” while being drunk, but denies sexual harassment allegations.The PM was criticised for failing to suspend the whip from the MP until late on Friday. Mr Pincher has faced a series of fresh allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies, over the past few days.Mr Johnson is now facing demands to set out what he knew about allegations of inappropriate behaviour centring on Mr Pincher before appointing him to the Tory whips’ office in February.The PM is alleged to have referred to the MP as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” before making him deputy chief whip.Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds has written to Mr Johnson demanding to know what No 10 knew of the allegations before his second appointment as a whip. “This prime minister is clearly happy to sweep sexual misconduct under the carpet in order to save his own skin,” she said.Meanwhile, in a new allegation, one man told The Sun that Mr Pincher said “inappropriate things” before touching the top of his thigh in a meeting in the MP’s constituency office in 2018.It follows a series of allegations over the weekend. A Tory MP told The Independent he was groped on two occasions by Mr Pincher, first in December 2021 and again last month.The Mail on Sunday alleged Mr Pincher threatened to report a parliamentary researcher to her boss after she tried to stop his “lecherous” advances to a young man at a Conservative Party conference.The Sunday Times reported allegations that Mr Pincher had groped a male Tory MP in 2017, made unwanted advances towards a different Tory MP in 2018, and did the same towards a Tory activist in Tamworth in 2019.Mr Pincher denies all such allegations. He said in a statement on Saturday that he is seeking “professional medical support” and would co-operate fully with the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme inquiry into his alleged behaviour.The allegations follow his first resignation in 2017 as a whip over claims he made unwanted advances to Olympic rower Alex Story. After a Tory party investigation into the incident, he was cleared of any breach of its code of conduct.Junior minister Will Quince defended Mr Johnson over the deepening row. “I have been given categorical assurance that the prime minister was not aware of any serious specific allegation,” he told Sky News on Monday.Mr Quince said that he cannot imagine the PM would refer to Chris Pincher as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” long before appointing him in February. “I think that quote came from Dominic Cummings, who’s not someone who I give a huge amount of credibility to,” he told LBC.Meanwhile, sources close to three cabinet ministers say they are dismayed at having to publicly answer questions about what Mr Johnson knew of claims, according to The Telegraph. More

Tory party staff working in parliament have criticised Boris Johnson for a “failure to act” on claims of sexual misconduct, as the PM faces growing calls to explain what he knew about allegations against Chris Pincher.Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Friday following claims that he groped two men at the Tories’ Carlton Club. A series of new misconduct claims, denied by the MP, have since emerged.Conservative Staffers for Change said they were “disappointed” at the failure to suspend Mr Pincher earlier, and said the PM had “serious questions” to answer about what he knew of the MP’s alleged behaviour.A spokesman for the staff members, a group of young people working for MPs, told The Times that the allegations “come as no surprise” since claims made about Mr Pincher’s behaviour were “an open secret” in Westminster.“We are disappointed not only by how long it took to remove the whip from Pincher, but also at the continued lack of clarity about what the PM knew,” the spokesman added.In May, Conservative Staffers for Change wrote open letters to Mr Johnson and then-chairman Oliver Dowden, urging them to address “the toleration and acceptance of abuse [in parliament]”. Although the group received a response from Mr Dowden, Mr Johnson did not reply.“We wrote the letter to the PM raising concerns about illegal sexual misconduct in May yet received no response. This is not simply about the culture in Westminster, it is about the PM’s failure to act.”Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Friday following claims that he groped two men at the Tories’ Carlton Club on Wednesday. He admitted that he had “embarrassed myself and other people” while being drunk, but denies sexual harassment allegations. Mr Johnson is now facing growing demands to set out what he knew about allegations of inappropriate behaviour centring on Mr Pincher before appointing him to the Tory whips’ office in February.Former No 10 strategist Dominic Cummings has claimed that Mr Johnson referred to the MP as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” before making him deputy chief whip.Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds has written to Mr Johnson demanding to know what No 10 knew about Mr Pincher prior to the appointment.“Only Boris Johnson could have looked at this guy’s record and thought ‘he deserves a promotion’,” she added in a statement. “This prime minister is clearly happy to sweep sexual misconduct under the carpet in order to save his own skin.”Labour peer Baroness Jenny Chapman, shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: “I don’t think anybody in Westminster believes that Boris Johnson did not know about the allegations about Mr Pincher.”Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain laid the blame for the “sleazy toxic government” with Mr Johnson. “He must now be forced to reveal what he knew.” More

Tory party staff working in parliament have criticised Boris Johnson for a “failure to act” on claims of sexual misconduct, as the PM faces growing calls to explain what he knew about allegations against Chris Pincher.Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Friday following claims that he groped two men at the Tories’ Carlton Club. A series of new misconduct claims, denied by the MP, have since emerged.Conservative Staffers for Change said they were “disappointed” at the failure to suspend Mr Pincher earlier, and said the PM had “serious questions” to answer about what he knew of the MP’s alleged behaviour.A spokesman for the staff members, a group of young people working for MPs, told The Times that the allegations “come as no surprise” since claims made about Mr Pincher’s behaviour were “an open secret” in Westminster.“We are disappointed not only by how long it took to remove the whip from Pincher, but also at the continued lack of clarity about what the PM knew,” the spokesman added.In May, Conservative Staffers for Change wrote open letters to Mr Johnson and then-chairman Oliver Dowden, urging them to address “the toleration and acceptance of abuse [in parliament]”. Although the group received a response from Mr Dowden, Mr Johnson did not reply.“We wrote the letter to the PM raising concerns about illegal sexual misconduct in May yet received no response. This is not simply about the culture in Westminster, it is about the PM’s failure to act.”Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Friday following claims that he groped two men at the Tories’ Carlton Club on Wednesday. He admitted that he had “embarrassed myself and other people” while being drunk, but denies sexual harassment allegations. Mr Johnson is now facing growing demands to set out what he knew about allegations of inappropriate behaviour centring on Mr Pincher before appointing him to the Tory whips’ office in February.Former No 10 strategist Dominic Cummings has claimed that Mr Johnson referred to the MP as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” before making him deputy chief whip.Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds has written to Mr Johnson demanding to know what No 10 knew about Mr Pincher prior to the appointment.“Only Boris Johnson could have looked at this guy’s record and thought ‘he deserves a promotion’,” she added in a statement. “This prime minister is clearly happy to sweep sexual misconduct under the carpet in order to save his own skin.”Labour peer Baroness Jenny Chapman, shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: “I don’t think anybody in Westminster believes that Boris Johnson did not know about the allegations about Mr Pincher.”Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain laid the blame for the “sleazy toxic government” with Mr Johnson. “He must now be forced to reveal what he knew.” More