UK Politics

A charity has apologised after auctioning off a champagne bottle signed by Boris Johnson “as a souvenir of partygate”.Tory MP Oliver Dowden donated the item to Hertfordshire Community Fund for an event at the Warner Bros Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter in Leavesden, Watford.An image posted on Twitter showed the bottle listed in an auction catalogue alongside the description: “A bottle of champagne signed by Boris. Hugely valuable as a souvenir of partygate and the exemplary behaviour and morality of our dear leader! Donated by: Oliver Dowden CBE.”Mr Dowden, who has been the MP for Hertsmere since 2015 and co-chairman of the Conservative Party since 2021, is said to have donated the bottle several months ago and had no knowledge of the description.Hertfordshire Community Fund has now apologised “for any offence caused”.The charity said: “Statement from HCF about our fundraising event last night: This item was donated in good faith several months ago as part of a charity auction raising funds to support some of the county’s most vulnerable residents.“The description was not drafted or seen by MP Oliver Dowden prior to the event.“On behalf of the charity, we apologise for any offence caused.”The image was originally tweeted by food critic Jay Rayner on Friday morning, who wrote: “Perhaps you thought the Conservative party took partygate seriously.“Last night a champagne bottle signed by @BorisJohnson was donated to a charity event in Hertfordshire by local MP and Tory party chairman @OliverDowden. Read the description.”A spokesperson for Mr Dowden, who has been the MP for Hertsmere since 2015 and co-chairman of the Conservative Party since 2021, confirmed he donated the item.They said: “This item was donated in good faith several months ago for a local charity auction.“Oliver Dowden had no prior knowledge of the description and this is obviously not his view.”Paul Morris, a Conservative councillor for Bushey Heath who attended the event, told The Independent he thought the charity had made an “error of judgement”.He said: “Unfortunately, what I do know, because I did actually look at the bottle as it happens at the time, if anybody has made an error I think it’s probably the charity for the wording they used in the brochure.“I’m not going to comment one way or the other on the rights or wrongs of any individual in their conduct.“I think to criticise an individual for a charitable donation that raised many, many thousands of pounds is inappropriate. “I think it was an error of judgement by the charity in the wording that they used.“It’s a charity I personally support helping those particularly in need of support in Hertfordshire. I think it’s a wonderful charity.”The Metropolitan Police on Thursday announced the number of fines handed out to government staff for law-breaking parties held during the Covid-19 pandemic had doubled to more than 100.Scotland Yard said last month that 50 referrals had been made to the criminal records office for fixed penalty notice (FPN) fines over parties in Downing Street and Whitehall when the country was under strict social-distancing rules.In an update, the Met said its Operation Hillman team had now recommended 100 fines. The force said its investigation, into 12 separate events, remained ongoing.Number 10 said Boris Johnson had not been issued with another fine, after he was punished last month over his rule-breaking birthday party in June 2020. More

Former Tory MP Neil Parish who admitted watching pornography in the Commons chamber is taking “soundings” on standing in a by-election triggered by his own resignation.It comes after Mr Parish stood aside in the Tiverton and Honiton constituency in April after becoming the focus of a political storm when two female MPs reported him to party whips.After a 12-year stint in the Commons, Mr Parish admitted at the time to looking at adult material on two ocassions, includng in the chamber, in what he described as a “moment of madness”.Speaking to The Telegraph’s Chopper’s podcast, Mr Parish, who was first elected to the seat in 2010, said it was “option” for him to stand as an independent in the by-election — expected before the summer recess.“It is an option for me and one that I could consider,” he said. “The only thing that may well stop me is the face my local party, my local activists, my local councillors, are friends. I don’t know if I want to do that to them.“Some of the hierarchy in my own party, I suppose I wouldn’t have the same problem with doing it. At the moment, I’m taking soundings”.Mr Parish suggested he could raise the funds to stand through some powerful backers within the farming community. “I don’t think I’m going there, but, it’s an option,” he said.However, he added: “I will decide before nominations close. Don’t forget I have fought five local elections, two European elections and five parliamentary elections.“I know how elections works and don’t forget, I’m a grassroots politician and I made my own way through the ranks”.Recalling his decision to resign from Parliament earlier this month, Mr Parish also described his decision to watch pornography in the Commons chamber as “immoral” and a “terrible” mistake. “I shall regret it for the rest of my life”.He also said it was a “crazy mistake” to appear on GB News — before he was identified as the MP who had watched porn — to say the issue should be treated “seriously” by the Conservative Party whips.“Perhaps I ought not to have been quite so naive having been in politics so long that they would land that on me,” he said. “Yet another mistake.”He also told the podcast: “The trouble is when you want to come clean and when you want to try it and do it in a reasonably honourable way, albeit how stupid I was and how offensive I was, the system doesn’t really work for that. It works for somebody who wants to wriggle and hide.“I just made a big mistake, and I just want to ask them to forgive what I did. I’ve done what I should have done – and that was to go and to go quickly. It is a pretty painful process, I can assure you, when you do it.” More

A delegation of senior US politicians is expected to visit the UK for talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol, amid growing signs in Washington of concerns over Boris Johnson’s threats to tear up parts of the deal.The visit comes amid growing expectation that Mr Johnson will next week unveil legislation to unilaterally suspend elements of the treaty with the EU, which he negotiated and signed in 2019, but which he now blames for disrupting trade and threatening the Good Friday Agreement.The delegation of around half a dozen Congress representatives is expected to hold meetings in Brussels, Dublin, London and Belfast over the coming days as the stand-off between the UK and EU comes to a head.It will be led by Richie Neal, the influential chair of the ways and means committee, which has significant power over future trade deals, according to The Guardian.There have already been indications of American alarm at the increasingly belligerent tone taken by foreign secretary Liz Truss in talks with the EU, with the White House this week urging both sides to “continue engaging in dialogue to resolve differences”.A pair of influential congressmen wrote to Ms Truss on Wednesday to warn her that a unilateral breach of the protocol would be “in direct violation of international law and squarely threaten the Good Friday Agreement”.In a phone conversation described as “tetchy” on Thursday morning, Ms Truss told European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič that the UK would have “no choice but to act” unless the EU accepted demands to relax checks on goods moving between the British mainland and Northern Ireland.The customs border in the Irish Sea was agreed by Mr Johnson in order to ensure an open border between the Republic and the North, but has disrupted the movement of goods – as many warned at the time that it would.The unionist DUP is refusing to re-enter power-sharing arrangements at Stormont until the protocol is removed.Mr Šefčovič said that the EU would not respond “threats and blackmail” from the UK and insisted that the protocol was not up for renegotiation.No deadline has been set by Downing Street for an EU climbdown.But attorney general Suella Braverman last night said that – while “there is a decision yet to be made” within cabinet – action was becoming “painfully, apparently necessary”.Ms Braverman has reportedly submitted evidence accusing Brussels of undermining the Good Friday Agreement by creating a trade barrier in the Irish Sea. She also warned of “societal unrest” in the region.But Ireland’s minister for European Affairs Thomas Byrne said was it “completely, completely and utterly incorrect” to pin the blame for any unrest on Brussels.The attorney general’s assessment echoed that of the prime minister, who told reporters in Stoke-on-Trent that the protocol has become a “real problem” which must be “fixed” because the “institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement aren’t functioning” and political governance in Northern Ireland has “collapsed”. More

A champagne bottle signed by Boris Johnson was auctioned off at a charity event “as a souvenir of partygate”.Food critic Jay Rayner tweeted an image showing a description of the bottle from what appeared to be the page of an auction catalogue.Beneath the title “Bottle of champagne signed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson”, the description read: “A bottle of champagne signed by Boris. Hugely valuable as a souvenir of partygate and the exemplary behaviour and morality of our dear leader! Donated by: Oliver Dowden”.Sharing the image on Twitter on Friday morning, Mr Rayner wrote: “Perhaps you thought the Conservative party took partygate seriously.“Last night a champagne bottle signed by @BorisJohnson was donated to a charity event in Hertfordshire by local MP and Tory party chairman @OliverDowden. Read the description.”Mr Dowden, who has been the MP for Hertsmere since 2015 and co-chairman of the Conservative Party since 2021, confirmed he donated the item – but had no knowledge of the description.The MP’s spokesperson said: “This item was donated in good faith several months ago for a local charity auction.“Oliver Dowden had no prior knowledge of the description and this is obviously not his view.” More

Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned Boris Johnson against early tax cuts or spending boosts to ease the cost of living crisis, lifting the lid on cabinet divisions over the issue.There are no “cheap wins” in trying to stem the fall in living standards, the Cabinet Office minister said – warning against a rush to measures that would “add fuel to the flames”.“Dealing with a cost of living issue, dealing with inflation, is a longer term rather than a shorter term question,” Mr Rees-Mogg told BBC Radio 4.“I am worried about anything that leads to increase deficit spending when you have an inflationary problem. That is a risk.”The comments come after the prime minister backtracked on earlier hints of immediate help with the cost of living, when a cabinet away-day in Stoke-on-Trent failed to shift the dial.Both Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, are inching towards imposing a windfall tax on excess energy company profits – but the Treasury has ruled out an emergency budget.A “cost of living committee” is examining a rumoured dozen possible measures, but Mr Sunak has told his colleagues they must not involve higher government spending. Many Tory backbenchers are pushing for income tax cuts to be brought forward, despite most of the benefit going to higher-earners – not to people facing poverty because of soaring fuel and food bills.In a separate interview, Mr Rees-Mogg said he tells people struggling to make ends meet to ensure they are claiming all benefits due to them and to contact their local council for emergency help.He insisted he is able to “empathise” with those in poverty despite what the interviewer called “the nanny, the Westminster town house, the manor house in the countryside, the personal wealth”.“I’m very well aware, through my postbag and through surgeries, how difficult people are finding it,” Mr Rees-Mogg told Sky News.“One of the great strengths of our political system is that, as a constituency MP, people come to see you most weeks to discuss how they are leading their lives.“You would have to be the most stone-hearted person not to be able to empathise with people.”Mr Rees-Mogg, also the minister for government efficiency, also denied that cutting around 90,000 civil service jobs means the government is returning to austerity.The prime minister plans to slash jobs by a fifth, to free up cash for measures to ease the cost-of-living crisis for pre-election tax cuts.Mr Rees-Mogg insisted the job cuts would only bring numbers back to 2016 levels, after extra staff were brought in to help deal with the pandemic and the “aftermath of Brexit”. “I know it sounds eye-catching,” he told Sky News, but added: “Dealing with the aftermath of Brexit and dealing with Covid, there’s been a reason for that increase – but we’re now trying to get back to normal.” More

Boris Johnson promises ‘compassion’ to get people through cost of living crisisThe minister for government efficiency has rejected suggestions of a return to austerity after Boris Johnson tasked his cabinet with cutting around 90,000 Civil Service jobs.The prime minister told ministers on Thursday that the service should be slashed by a fifth, as he moved to free up cash for measures to ease the cost of living crisis with possible tax cuts.Jacob Rees-Mogg defended the plan on Friday, saying the job cuts would bring numbers back to 2016 levels after extra staff were brought in to help deal with the pandemic and the “aftermath of Brexit”.He told Sky News: “I know it sounds eye-catching but it’s just getting back to the civil service we had in 2016 … since then, we’ve had to take on people for specific tasks.”So dealing with the aftermath of Brexit and dealing with Covid, so there’s been a reason for that increase, but we’re now trying to get back to normal.”Show latest update

1652442609Do MPs understand what the cost of living crisis means for people?Conservative MP Lee Anderson caused uproar this week when he claimed there wasn’t ‘this massive use’ for food banks in the UK and that people could really do with a few cooking lessons instead, writes Cathy Newman.Read Cathy’s piece here: Matt Mathers13 May 2022 12:501652441370ICYMI: Boris Johnson is heading for a double drubbing in by-electionsThe prime minister’s unpopularity is about to be brought home to Conservative MPs in dramatic fashion, writes John Rentoul.Read John’s full piece here: Matt Mathers13 May 2022 12:291652440421Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to demand answers on slow release in meeting with PMNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe will meet with Boris Johnson today and demand answers as to why it took the government so long to secure her release from detention in Iran.She will be joined by her local Tulip Siddiq. Ms Siddiq said her constituent “deserves to hear directly” from the prime minister.She said: “We will use the meeting as an opportunity to raise the plight of British citizens like Morad Tahbaz who are still being held hostage in Iran and push the Prime Minister to do much more to secure their release.”He has a responsibility to ensure that others do not have to endure the six years of torment that Nazanin was put through.She added: “I will also be submitting evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s inquiry on hostage taking, which I hope will get the bottom of the Government’s abject failure in handling cases like Nazanin’s.“Never again must the government allow British citizens to be taken hostage with so little done to secure their release and so few reprisals for those responsible.”Matt Mathers13 May 2022 12:131652439309Former MP Neil Parish could stand in by-election triggered by own resignationFormer Tory MP Neil Parish who admitted watching pornography in the Commons chamber is taking “soundings” on standing in a by-election triggered by his own resignation.It comes after Mr Parish stood aside in the Tiverton and Honiton constituency in April after becoming the focus of a political storm when two female MPs reported him to party whips.Our politics correspondent Ashley Cowburn reports: Matt Mathers13 May 2022 11:551652438441Foreign Office issues further sanctions against RussiaThe Foreign Office has announced further Russian sanctions, with President Vladimir Putin’s ex-wife, family members and inner circle hit in the latest tranche of measures designed to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.Foreign secretary Liz Truss said: “We are exposing and targeting the shady network propping up Putin’s luxury lifestyle and tightening the vice on his inner circle. More

The government could cut as many as 90,000 civil service jobs in a cost-saving exercise touted by Boris Johnson, as ministers come under increasing pressure to help ease the cost of living crisis with possible tax cuts.The prime minister was understood to have told his cabinet on Thursday that the workforce should be cut by a fifth, which a report said would save more than £3bn. The plan was discussed with cabinet colleagues on Thursday at an away-day in Stoke-on-Trent.Sources familiar with the conversations said he told ministers to return the civil service to its 2016 levels in the coming years.Staffing levels have increased since then as the impact of Brexit across government and public life increased the need for civil servants. But Mr Johnson told the Daily Mail: “We have got to cut the cost of government to reduce the cost of living.” More