UK Politics

John Major says it is clear that Boris Johnson broke lockdown rules at No 10 parties and is calling for him to be forced from office if he is found to have lied.In a fierce attack, the former Conservative prime minister has condemned the “unbelievable” excuses used to deny that rules were flouted – warning they are shattering the public’s trust in politics.In a speech in London, Sir John argued that “deliberate lies to parliament have been fatal to political careers – and must always be so”.And he said: “At No10, the prime minister and officials broke lockdown laws. Brazen excuses were dreamed up. Day after day the public was asked to believe the unbelievable.“The lack of trust in the elected portion of our democracy cannot be brushed aside. Parliament has a duty to correct this. If it does not, and trust is lost at home, our politics is broken.”The call comes as Tory MPs await the full Sue Gray report and Met investigation into No 10 lawbreaking, before deciding whether to demand a no-confidence vote in Mr Johnson’s leadership.The crisis deepened for the prime minister overnight, when the police sent out 50 questionnaires to people believed to have broken rules – including to him, it is believed.In a speech to the Institute for Government, Sir John also:* Appeared to blame Mr Johnson for the hounding of Keir Starmer over the Jimmy Savile smear – saying: “Lies can become accepted as fact, as the Speaker has pointed out.”* Attacked the Borders Bill for planning four-year jail terms for asylum seekers reaching the UK by an “unsanctioned route” – calling it “punishment without compassion”.* Attacked moves to “allow the police to impose conditions on protest marches likely to be ‘noisy’”.* On the BBC, warned “undermining it and starving it of funds is self-defeating for UK interests”.* Warned the UK’s reputation abroad is being “shredded” because of the government’s “conduct” – saying: “We are weakening our influence in the world.”Sir John said: “We should be wary.  Even a casual glance at overseas comment shows our reputation is being shredded.  A nation that loses friends and allies becomes a weaker nation.”On Mr Johnson’s conduct, he said: “When ministers respond to legitimate questions with pre-prepared soundbites, or half-truths, or misdirection, or wild exaggeration, then respect for government and politics dies a little more.“Misleading replies to questions invite disillusion. Outright lies breed contempt.”And he added: “The prime minister and our present government not only challenge the Law, but also seem to believe that they – and they alone – need not obey the rules, traditions, conventions – call them what you will – of public life.” More

Jacob Rees-Mogg has issued a plea to readers of a tabloid newspaper to write to him if they can identify any possible benefits of Brexit.The Tory MP, who was recently appointed Minister for Brexit Opportunities, published a letter in Thursday’s edition of The Sun asking for suggestions.Mr Rees-Mogg was appointed as Minister for Brexit Opportunities by Boris Johnson this week and has said he wants to use the post to scrap EU regulations.But the minister, who has long been a staunch Brexiteer, said he was unable to identify regulations that needed scrapping by himself.In his “appeal to Sun readers” he quoted right-wing US president Ronald Regan on the benefits of cutting back the state and said: “To do my job, I need your wisdom … I implore you to write to me with the regulations you want abolished – those which make life harder for business businesses, which shut out competition, or simply increase the cost of operating.”The government has previously launched reviews of red tape to much fanfare but come back with little to show.Mr Rees-Mogg has previously argued that the UK could go “a very long way” to rolling back high EU standards and said regulations that were “good enough for India” could be good enough for the UK.“We could, if we wanted, accept emissions standards from India, America, and Europe. There’d be no contradiction with that,” Mr Rees-Mogg told a parliamentary committee in 2016 a few months after the EU referendum.“We could say, if it’s good enough in India, it’s good enough for here. There’s nothing to stop that.“We could take it a very long way. American emission standards are fine – probably in some cases higher.“I accept that we’re not going to allow dangerous toys to come in from China, we don’t want to see those kind of risks. But there’s a very long way you can go.”In his new job he is expected to work with the government’s Brexit Opportunities Unit in the Cabinet Office and come up with regulations he wants scrapped and other opportunities he believes could be exploited.The unit was announced last summer but has yet to produce any high-profile pieces of work. More

Boris Johnson will not receive personal legal advice from government lawyers in relation to the Metropolitan Police probe into allegations of rule-busting parties, No 10 has said.The prime minister’s official spokesperson also confirmed that Mr Johnson had not yet been contacted as part of the force’s Operation Hillman investigation into a dozen events held during Covid restrictions.However, they added: “We would look to confirm contact of this sort as relates to the prime minister given the significant public interest”.It comes after Scotland Yard revealed last night that officers would be contacting more than 50 people, who will be sent questionnaires with “formal legal status” over the dozen events held in No 10 and Whitehall buildings during Covid restrictions.“The document, which asks for an account and explanation of the recipient’s participation in an events, has formal legal status and must be answered truthfully,” the Met police said.On Thursday, commissioner Cressida Dick suggested that “some, but probably not all of those people” involved in the events “may very well end up with… a fixed penalty notice”.Questioned on whether the prime minister would receive personal legal advice of the party-gate allegations, the official spokesperson said: “With regards to the prime minister, he won’t be receiving bespoke personal legal advice from the government legal department in that regard.“When it comes to the civil service there are processes in place in terms of general broad support for civil servants, but I think the approach will broadly remain.”However, they declined to say whether the prime minister would seek privately funded legal advice, saying: “I’m not getting into advice individuals may or may not receive”.Earlier, during a press conference alongside the Nato secretary-general in Brussels, the prime minister refused to say whether he would resign if police issue him with a fix penalty notice for a breach of the Covid regulations.Pressed on whether he would quit No 10, he sidestepped the question, telling reporters: “On what’s gong on at home — that process must be completed.”“I’m looking forward to it being completed,” he added. “That’s the time to say more on that”.But some Tory MPs have suggested such an outcome would be the end for the prime minister. Asked on ITV’s Peston if the PM would have to go if fine, Treasury minister Simon Clarke refused to say.“The prime minister has been very clear that if there is any action taken against him by the police, then he will make it public,” said Mr Clarke. “I’m not going to get drawn into hypotheticals on what he would need to do.” More

“Human review” of decisions made by computer algorithms will be quietly axed under a bonfire of EU laws, MPs have been warned – risking a repeat of the 2020 “A-levels fiasco”.A former government lawyer has raised the alarm over plans to dilute GDPR data rules, following Brexit, suggesting the change will be slipped through without scrutiny in the Commons.A single Bill will remove all unwanted “retained law” – using backstage regulations, behind MPs’ backs – with arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg now in charge of the process.Eleonor Duhs, head of data privacy at the law firm Bates Wells and a lawyer who worked on the 2018 EU Withdrawal Act, branded the idea “dangerous” and criticised the likely lack of scrutiny.“Changing data protection law is very central to the government’s post-Brexit policy,” she told the Commons European Scrutiny committee.She added: “We all remember the A-levels fiasco in 2020, when an algorithm decided what A-level students’ results should be and research showed that the poorest students received worse marks.”Ms Duhs said: “These sorts of decisions are really quite dangerous, potentially, and the Information Commissioner’s Office said it didn’t agree that this human review of automated decision making should be removed.”Ministers could claim it was “minor and technical”, but, the data protection lawyer warned: “It isn’t minor in technical – it’s really important that parliament is able to scrutinise it, able to debate this change.”Fears are growing over the use of a single Bill to delete retained law, to prevent the need for different legislation that “would take years”, No 10 has admitted.Tearing it up could come at a price, if divergence triggers disputes under the Brexit trade deal – potentially allowing Brussels to curb access to EU markets for British firms.This week’s mini-reshuffle gives responsibility to Mr Rees-Mogg – who has suggested EU safety standards cut be cut to levels in India – as minister “for Brexit opportunities”.Article 22 of GDPR guarantees that people can seek a human review of an algorithmic decision, such as whether to award a loan, or of a recruitment aptitude test to filter job candidates.The proposal to remove it was made in a consultation last September, having first been put forward by a deregulatory task force led by Iain Duncan Smith, another hard Brexit supporter.The document notes “the use of automated decision making is likely to increase greatly in many industries in the coming years”.It then adds: “The need to maintain a capability to provide human review may, in future, not be practicable or proportionate, and it is important to assess when this safeguard is needed.”Jonathan Jones, the government’s former legal chief who quit over Brexit policy, echoed the criticism that MPs must be allowed to scrutinise the removal of long-standing laws.He warned of “hundreds of other” examples of legal protections that could be quietly ditched, calling for “meaningful democratic input”.“I’m a bit suspicious of references to special mechanisms, or changes being made easier or faster,” he warned, adding: “Secondary legislation typically gets minimal scrutiny by parliament.” More

Liz Truss has urged Russia to dial down the “Cold War rhetoric”, as the British foreign secretary used a meeting with her counterpart in Moscow to warn that an invasion of Ukraine would be “disastrous”.The foreign secretary told Sergei Lavrov it was still possible to avoid war in Ukraine, but warned that Nato allies would not “ignore” the build-up of Russian forces on the border.“The reality is we cannot ignore the build-up of over 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and the attempts to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Ms Truss said.She added: “Fundamentally, a war in Ukraine would be disastrous for the Russian and Ukrainian people, and for European security. And, together, Nato has made it clear that any incursion into Ukraine would have massive consequences and carry severe costs.”The foreign secretary urged Vladimir Putin’s administration to respect the Budapest memorandum signed in 1994, which committed the UK, US and Russia to respect and uphold Ukrainian independence.“If these principles are respected, I believe that, in today’s talks, we can make progress to strengthen security for all,” she told Mr Lavrov.Mr Lavrov said Moscow was open to improving dire relations between Britain and Russia – but criticised “morality lectures”.He said: “Of course we can only normalise relations through mutually respectful dialogue … Ideological approaches, ultimatums, threats, morality lectures are a road to nowhere.”It comes as Boris Johnson offered a grim warning for the immediate days ahead, as he spoke in Brussels alongside Nato’s chief before heading to Poland to offer support to eastern European allies.The prime minister did not rule out going further in giving Ukraine military support in the event of an invasion by Russia. He said: “We will consider what more we can conceivably offer.”Mr Johnson warned that the next few days were “probably the most dangerous moment … in what is the biggest security crisis Europe has faced for decades”.Asked if a Russian invasion was inevitable, the PM replied: “I honestly don’t think a decision has yet been taken, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible that something absolutely disastrous could happen very soon indeed. Our intelligence … remains grim.”The UK has put another 1,000 troops on standby in case of a humanitarian crisis in the east if the current Russian military build-up leads to war.Additional troops are being placed on readiness to provide a humanitarian response if required, although they could also be used to provide further support to allies in the region.Around 350 Royal Marines from 45 Commando are to begin deploying to Poland as part of a further strengthening of UK support to the country announced earlier this week.Sir Keir Starmer will also meet Mr Stoltenberg on Thursday as the Labour leader strives to break with the party’s perceived weak stance on defence under his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.In an interview with The Times, Sir Keir said “we are firm and united in our support for Nato”, and he argued Mr Johnson’s standing on the world stage has been weakened by the Partygate scandal.“His authority has been diminished because of the various activities over the last few months,” Sir Keir said.Russia currently has an estimated 130,000 troops massed along the border with Ukraine, prompting fears that it is preparing for a full-scale invasion.French president Emmanuel Macron, who met Mr Putin in Moscow earlier this week, said the Russian president had told him he is not seeking to escalate the situation.However, with large-scale Russian military exercises about to begin in Belarus, which also borders Ukraine, there are fears they could be cover for an attack.While there is no appetite among Western powers for direct military intervention in Ukraine, which is not a Nato member, they have warned of crippling sanctions in the event of any Russian incursion.Defence secretary Ben Wallace, set to visit Moscow on Friday, said the 1,000 extra troops could be sent to any Nato country where there are consequences of an invasion of Ukraine, including the Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Nordic nations.“Should Russia invade Ukraine I think we can expect very large movements of people as refugees and that in itself can be very destabilising to small and medium-sized states,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. More

Boris Johnson has refused to say whether he will resign if he is fined by police for breaking lockdown restrictions, as Partygate dogged his appearance at a Nato press conference on the Ukraine crisis.The prime minister was speaking alongside Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, but continued to be asked about the Metropolitan Police probe into Downing Street parties.Asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg if he would quit if found to have broken the law, the PM said: “On what’s going on at home – that process must be completed.”He added: “I’m looking forward to it being completed. That’s the time to say more on that.”Asked again if he would consider stepping down if fined, Mr Johnson said: “We’re going to wait for that process to be completed.”According to reports, Mr Johnson will not resign even if he received a fixed penalty fine for any breach of lockdown rules at the end of the Scotland Yard investigation.But some Tory MPs have suggested such an outcome would be the end for the prime minister. Asked on ITV’s Peston if the PM would have to go if fine, Treasury minister Simon Clarke refused to say.“The prime minister has been very clear that if there is any action taken against him by the police, then he will make it public,” said Mr Clarke. “I’m not going to get drawn into hypotheticals on what he would need to do.”The PM is under more pressure after the Metropolitan Police said inquiries would be widened to cover a No 10 quiz night, after a photo emerged of Mr Johnson and colleagues near a bottle of bubbly.Metropolitan Police chief Dame Cressida Dick has told BBC London on Thursday that “some, but probably not all of those people” at No 10 and Whitehall departments “may very well end up with … a fixed penalty notice”.Defence secretary Ben Wallace suggested that Mr Johnson’s enemies are plotting to bring him down with a “constant” leak of Downing Street party photos.“The constant leaking is clearly designed for a purpose,” Mr Wallace told Times Radio, suggesting some were conspiring against Mr Johnson by sharing photos. “There could be a photograph tomorrow, the next day or the day after – that’s clearly what’s behind some of the people’s motives.”The government’s top legal adviser has refused to disclose whether she approved Mr Johnson’s initial denials over Downing Street party allegations.Attorney general Suella Braverman told MPs the law officers’ convention prevented her from commenting on the “fact or content” of any legal advice provided to members of the government.It comes as former Tory prime minister Sir John Major launched an astonishing attack on Mr Johnson over the saga – saying it is clear he broke Covid rules at No 10 parties.Sir John condemned the “unbelievable” excuses used to deny that rules were flouted, arguing that “deliberate lies to parliament have been fatal to political careers – and must always be so”.Meanwhile, Mr Johnson did not rule out going further in giving Ukraine military support in the event of an invasion by Russia. He said: “We will consider what more we can conceivably offer.”The prime minister warned that the next few days were “probably the most dangerous moment … in what is the biggest security crisis Europe has faced for decades”. More

Senior Conservative peer Ruth Davidson has attacked the “absolutely fanciful” government claim that ordinary people do not care about Downing Street parties during the pandemic.It follows a claim by cabinet minister Mark Spencer, moved from chief whip to Commons leader, that people in the “real world” don’t care about Boris Johnson’s Partygate scandal.Baroness Davidson said many people perceive Mr Johnson to have been “laughing” at their sacrifices by appearing to break Covid rules – claiming No 10 still “don’t understand”.“The idea is absolutely fanciful that people don’t care about this,” Ms Davidson told ITV’s Peston. “This is exactly about their lives, because it’s what they gave up because they thought they were doing the right thing.”The former Scottish Tory leader said: “They didn’t go and visit their mum in the care home, they didn’t go and sit by a dying friend or loved one, and they didn’t get to go to a funeral of someone they’ve known their whole life.She added: “And people feel guilty about the fact they didn’t do these things, but they didn’t do it for the right reasons.”The PM is under more pressure after the Metropolitan Police said inquiries would be widened to cover a No 10 quiz night, after a photo emerged of Mr Johnson and colleagues near a bottle of bubbly.Ms Davidson said the public “see what they think is the prime minister and the people around him laughing at them and breaking the rules”, adding: “Now they’re wondering about the decisions that they made and that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives.”The Tory peer, who has called on Mr Johnson to resign, added: “I think there’s where Downing Street don’t understand. This isn’t something you can just time out, kick the can down the road and people will forget about it.”Treasury minister Simon Clarke said on Peston that Mr Spencer had only been suggesting that “there are many things which matter much more in the real world”.Meanwhile, defence secretary Ben Wallace has suggested that Mr Johnson’s enemies are plotting to bring him down with a “constant” leak of Downing Street party photos.“The constant leaking is clearly designed for a purpose,” Mr Wallace told Times Radio, suggesting some were conspiring against Mr Johnson by sharing photos.He said: “Yes, there could be a photograph tomorrow, the next day or the day after – that’s clearly what’s behind some of the people’s motives.” More