UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Partygate investigator Sue Gray gave evidence to the Covid inquiry in Belfast on Thursday, 16 May.The former senior civil servant, now Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, authored a report looking into Boris Johnson over lockdown breaches in Downing Street during the pandemic.It was launched after media reports of gatherings in the locale of the British prime minister.Ms Gray concluded there were “failures of leadership and judgment in No 10 and the Cabinet Office” for which “the senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility”.“The events that I investigated were attended by leaders in government. Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen,” she added.Ms Gray found that leaving dos and other boozy gatherings, including drinking until the early hours of the morning, were held while restrictions were in place.The findings were widely viewed as hastening Mr Johnson’s departure from the top job.The Metropolitan Police conducted a probe, named Operation Hillman, into rule breaches in Downing Street and Whitehall.Officers said a total of 126 fines were issued to 83 people in the scandal.Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie, and Rishi Sunak all received fixed penalty notices for attending a birthday gathering for the then-PM in No 10.After writing the report, Ms Gray joined the Labour leader’s team,A government investigation found she breached the civil service code by talking to Sir Keir about a job four months before leaving Whitehall.A Labour spokesperson said the finding by the Cabinet Office was “Mickey Mouse nonsense” and a “political stunt” by the Tories, adding: “All rules were complied with.”Ms Gray began working as Labour leader’s chief of staff after a six-month cooling off period from when she quit as a senior civil servant in March 2023. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Sir Keir Starmer launched Labour’s six “first steps” in a pre-election pitch to voters on Thursday, 16 May. The opposition leader outlined the party’s doorstep offer at a potential electoral battleground in Essex.Sir Keir spoke to build on the missions for what Labour has branded a “decade of national renewal” should they win when voters go to the polls.The politician has pledged to deliver economic stability, cut NHS waiting times, launch a new border security command, set up publicly-owned energy firm Great British Energy, crack down on antisocial behaviour and recruit 6,500 new teachers.Though the proposals will be give to voters in physical form, Labour has steered away from directly comparing this to the pledge card given out by Sir Tony Blair ahead of the landslide 1997 general election.The Labour leader has insisted the “six steps” are not all the party has to offer, remarking: “I would remind you for example… the national minimum wage was not on the pledge card in 1997, but it was one of the most important achievements of the Labour government, and in a similar vein, our manifesto will be our full offering.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe chief executive of Boots has endorsed Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party in a major blow to Rishi Sunak.Sebastian James, an Old Etonian friend of Boris Johnson and David Cameron, praised Sir Keir’s focus on economic growth and Britain’s high streets.And he welcomed Labour’s plans to “put more money in people’s pockets” to help address the cost of living crisis, which he said Boots customers still complain about daily.The Boots chief is the latest business leader to get behind Labour ahead of the looming general election, four years after industry shunned the party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.But his endorsement is especially significant due to his close relationship to foreign secretary Lord Cameron. Mr James is pictured alongside Lord Cameron and former PM Mr Johnson in the infamous black and white 1987 Bullingdon Club photo.In 2011 it was reported that Lord Cameron and Mr James stayed together in the businessman’s £10,000 a week 15-bedroom luxury Italian villa before having to return early and deal with the London riots. Lord Cameron as PM also appointed Mr James to a panel to decide how money was spent on new schools in 2012. Sebastian James, the Boots chief executive and Old Etonian friend of David Cameron, has endorsed Labour More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailMortgage possession claims have hit a five year high in the aftermath of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget. New figures show they soared by more than a quarter in just three months and are now at their highest level since 2019. Experts warn millions of households across the country are struggling with huge mortgage bills after the average two-year fixed rate jumped to more than 6 per cent, although it has since fallen.Ms Truss has refused to take the blame for the higher rates that hit homeowners following her October 2022 mini-Budget. The subsequent fallout saw her ousted from office by her own MPs after less than six weeks as prime minister. High mortgage rates are hitting cash-strapped households across the UK (Peter Byrne/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailGordon Brown has warned that the West may never be forgiven for not offering African countries urgent relief during the worst debt crisis in a generation. The former prime minister’s rallying call comes as a poll shows nearly half of Britons think the UK should wipe the debts of lower income countries so the money can be used to fund hospitals, schools and tackle the climate crisis. It follows a report which shows many African countries spent more on debt payments than on health or education last year. Mr Brown said the findings showed the urgent need for action. “The scale of this inequality between Africans and the rest of the world is so great that I am not sure the world will ever forgive us for failing to deliver urgent debt restructuring,” he writes in a foreword to the Christian Aid report. The study found that 34 African countries spent more on external debt payments than they did on health or education last year. In Sudan, where millions are facing hunger, more than 10 times more is spent on external debt than on healthcare, according to the charity. The former PM says ‘debt restructuring is a matter of life and death’ More