UK Politics

Ministers who oppose Boris Johnson should have the courage to resign, a senior Tory MP says – arguing that would provide the “momentum” to force him from power.Tim Loughton lashed out at his colleagues who secretly voted against the prime minister in the no-confidence vote, yet remain in office, calling their position “untenable”.The former minister said he opposes changing the rules, to allow a second vote, but called for ministers who have remained silent to “stand up for their principles”.“We haven’t seen, as we did under previous prime ministers, the resignation of other ministers, particularly within the cabinet,” Mr Loughton said.“If we did start to see some ministerial resignations – by people who I think must have voted no confidence in the prime minister to justify the figures that we had – then that might get some momentum going.”The call came as Mr Loughton branded Mr Johnson “a little arrogant” for saying he wants to serve three terms in power, saying he should “concentrate on getting the first term back on track”.He said he decided in January that the prime minister’s position had “become untenable and that he should resign”, telling Times Radio: “Nothing has happened since then to change that view.”The comments come after Mr Johnson fuelled Conservative anger that he is leading them to electoral disaster by rejecting calls to change style, while insisting criticism of him “doesn’t matter”.He mocked the idea of him undergoing a “psychological transformation” to recover from disastrous by-election defeats, saying: “That’s not going to happen.”However, no further resignations have followed the shock walkout of Oliver Dowden, the party chair, hours after last week’s disastrous byelection defeats.Mr Loughton said: “I’d like to see some ministers stand up to the prime minister, stand up for their own principles and stand up for the Conservative Party and the government.”On ministers who secretly voted against Mr Johnson, he said: “If they’re in government, their position is untenable. So they should have stood down as well.:And he added: “What I want to see in the cabinet is fewer people who say, ‘Yes, prime minister’ and rather more who are much more prepared to say, ‘Are you mad, Boris, if you’re thinking about doing that’.”Mr Loughton said: “We need to have a proper debate within government, behind closed doors – rather than people who are there because they want to agree with the prime minister.”On Mr Johnson’s hopes of staying in No 10 until 2030, he pointed out: “I seem to recall Mrs Thatcher, when she was slightly on the ropes, talking about going on and on and on” – not long before Tory MPs ousted her. More

Labour is on course to win the next general election “with a comfortable majority” after Boris Johnson’s byelection thumpings, David Lammy says.The shadow foreign secretary argued the results in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton showed there was no need for an electoral pact with the Liberal Democrats – because Labour will win outright.The Conservatives are seeking to provoke a public backlash against an informal agreement between the parties which sees each focus on seats where they are stronger, describing it is a backstairs pact.But Mr Lammy denied it and said of Labour’s win in Wakefield: “If that result was replicated across the country, I would be foreign secretary and Labour would, in fact, be forming the government.”He added: “On that result in Wakefield, and indeed Tiverton, we would be forming the next government with a comfortable majority – that’s what that result tells us.”Speaking on the BBC, he added: “There will be no pact with the SNP, there will be no pact with the Liberal Democrats, there will be no pact with the Greens.”The shadow foreign secretary declined to say what punishment will be imposed on Labour frontbenchers who defied Keir Starmer by joining RMT picket lines – and hinted the order will be repeated for future strikes.Mr Lammy said the party’s chief whip would speak to the rebels in the coming days and be “making it very clear that a serious party of government does not join picket lines”.He acknowledged “further disputes” are likely – with teachers, NHS staff and legal aid solicitors all contemplating strike action – and warned the rebels: “I don’t think it’s helpful to stand on picket lines.”But Mr Lammy denied Sir Keir had “lost control of his own MPs”, adding: “The Labour party is not divided.”He declined to say whether Labour supports the striking rail workers demand for a seven per cent pay rise – arguing it is not the opposition’s job to “pretend we can negotiate”.And he urged Labour supporters to drop their hopes of rejoining the EU, pointing to the referendum result and saying: “The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again.”Later, Mr Lammy said he “categorically” does not support GMB and Unite staging a strike of BA check-in staff.“All of us are feeling the pinch with inflation. Many of us might want a [pay] rise of 10 per cent in truth, most people understand it’s unlikely that you’re going to get that,” he said.“It absolutely would not be right, it would not be responsible opposition, if I suggested yes to every strike.”Asked if he supports the proposed strike by check-in staff, he said: “No, I don’t. No I don’t – it is a no, it’s a categorical no.”Asked why, he said: “Because I’m serious about the business of being in government and the business of being in government is that you support negotiation.” More

It is “fine” for Prince Charles to have accepted a suitcase containing €1m in cash from a controversial Qatari politician, a Cabinet minister says.Brandon Lewis backed the heir to the throne amid a gathering row over the money he accepted the former prime minister of the Middle East state.However, the Northern Ireland secretary avoided a question about whether the Prince of Wales’ actions threw “his judgement” into doubt – arguing it was not “appropriate” for a government minister to answer.The Sunday Times revealed that the €1m was one of three lots of cash, totalling €3m, which Prince Charles personally received from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.Clarence House said the money was “passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities who carried out the appropriate governance and assured us that all the correct processes were followed”.Asked if the prince should have accepted the cash, Mr Lewis said he was “confident” from his dealing with the Palace that it “will have gone through proper due process”.“As long as it’s following the law and it goes through proper due process. I think that’s fine,” he told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme.Mr Lewis also lashed out at Tory MPs seeking to topple Boris Johnson by changing party rules to allow another no-confidence vote, probably in the autumn.“We shouldn’t even really be talking about it,” he said, ahead of crucial elections to the executive of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers next month.“We have had a vote, had a decision made,’ Mr Lewis told Times Radio, adding: “We all get on, we come together, we focus on delivering for people across all these policy areas where we are all in agreement.”The Northern Ireland Secretary also argued it is “absurd” for the EU to threaten a trade war with the UK over London’s plans to collapse the Northern Ireland Protocol – because sanctions on Russia have not been implemented fully.Both the Irish prime minister, Micheal Martin, and the European Commission vice president, Maros Sefcovic, have stepped up the war of words in recent days.But Mr Lewis said: “It’s absurd for people and Europe to be talking about that kind of language of a trade war, particularly when we’ve not yet seen Europe fully putting sanctions on Putin for an invasion of Ukraine.”He claimed: “What we’re talking about is fixing here some of the issues in terms of the implementation of the Protocol that is so detrimentally affecting Northern Ireland.”Mr Lewis also alleged that “the Jewish community can’t technically practise their religion” – reheating a previous row over the threat to imports of kosher food.And he said: “We have seen Stormont collapse. That means the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in all three strands is either under pressure or not functioning at the moment.”The Bill to override the Protocol, which Mr Johnson hailed as “fantastic” when he signed it in 2019, returns to the Commons on Monday. More

Boris Johnson appeared to backtrack on his pledge to cling onto power until the 2030s, as the prime minister faced claim he is “completely delusional” about winning three terms.Speaking in Rwanda about leading the Conservatives into the next election, he said: “Will I win? Yes,” before adding: “At the moment I’m actively thinking about the third term.”Asked at the G7 summit if he was being “delusional” about staying at No 10 until the next decade, the PM played down his remarks – suggesting he had been talking about the long-term ambitions of government.“What I’m saying is this is a government that is getting on with delivering for the people of this country and we’ve got a huge amount to do,” he told reporters as the summit in Germany got under way.No 10 had suggested the prime minister may have been joking with his remarks about a third term, but cabinet minister Brandon Lewis said on Sunday that the PM was serious.The Northern Ireland secretary said Mr Johnson’s desire to look “long term” when it comes to his own leadership “has got to be a good thing” – praising the PM’s “zest”.But Tory MPs hoping to see him ousted him before the next elections were scathing. One former supporter of the PM described his remarks as “completely delusional”.Another MP from a “red wall” seat also told The Observer that he was “showing increasing signs of a bunker mentality, and that never ends well”.Mr Johnson urged Tory MPs plotting to oust him not to focus on the issues he has “stuffed up” after his authority was further diminished by a Cabinet resignation.And he insisted questions over his leadership were now settled after the loss of Wakefield and Tiverton, claiming that the “endless churn” of claims against him were “driving people nuts”.But the attacks keep on coming. Damian Green, who chairs the One Nation caucus of Tory MPs, saying the government had to change “its style and content” – and called on cabinet members with leadership hopes to show their stripes.Former minister David Davis also lashed out at the PM’s claim the only argument of “substance” from his critics was for the UK to return to the EU single market – arguing this is “plainly not true of me, or many others”.Oliver Dowden resigned as Tory party co-chairman, saying he and Tory supporters were “distressed and disappointed by recent events” and telling the PM that “someone must take responsibility”.Speaking ahead of a bilateral meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron on Sunday morning, Mr Johnson said the “golden rule” was to “focus on what we are doing”.He said the immediate priorities were addressing the cost of living and “making sure that the UK continues to offer the kind of leadership around the world that I know our people want”. More

Government plans to protect a small number of veterans from prosecution will effectively hand an amnesty to IRA terrorists who murdered of hundreds of armed forces personnel, opponents say. They will drive the point home by sending a letter to every MP in Britain, including Boris Johnson, detailing how many people from their own constituency were killed by republican terrorists during the Troubles.The list includes the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings and Tim Parry and Jonathan Ball, the two children killed in Warrington in 1993. New analysis by the House of Common Library suggests those affected by the plans in England, Scotland and Wales will predominantly be the families of servicemen and women killed by the IRA. Of the 567 victims it identified as from mainland Britain, 480 were members of the armed forces, it shows. The government is pushing ahead with plans for an amnesty in a bid to keep its manifesto promise to also protect ex-soldiers from Troubles-era prosecutions.A previous attempt had to be abandoned after lawyers warned a statute of limitations on court cases would also have to apply to IRA members. Instead, ministers last month announced plans for a new ‘truth clause’. Soldiers and terrorists would only be offered immunity from prosecution if they offered details of their crimes. Ministers claim the move will help families discover more about what happened to their loved ones and offer many in Northern Ireland a chance to heal. But a former Conservative Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is among many senior Tories with concerns about the plans. Julian Smith has urged his own government to “pause” the proposals.The effective amnesty has also run into serious opposition in Northern Ireland, where the families of Troubles victims have told Mr Johnson the legislation would be “an affront to all modern standards of decency”. More

Boris Johnson has said he is planning to be prime minister into the 2030s despite Conservative critics plotting to oust him after voters rejected the Tories in a double by-election defeat.The prime minister insisted he was “thinking actively” about fighting the next two general elections to become the longest-serving post-war leader.He urged Tory MPs plotting to oust him not to focus on the issues he has “stuffed up” after his authority was further diminished by a Cabinet resignation.And he insisted questions over his leadership were now settled after the loss of Wakefield and former stronghold Tiverton and Honiton triggered a Cabinet resignation. More