Politics

People in government tell me they think the governor of the Bank of England is failing in his job, but cannot do anything about it.  That Andrew Bailey is under pressure is not in doubt. Today’s 8.7% year-on-year inflation rise is a painfully long way from the governor’s 2% target – meaning tomorrow, the Bank

Another of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s five key priorities for 2023 is in doubt as national debt reached 100% of GDP. The third of the government’s five targets is to reduce the national debt but official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed it increased in May to the highest in more than

Rishi Sunak is facing a by-election triple threat after the Somerton and Frome vote was scheduled for 20 July. The announcement comes after David Warburton formally left the House of Commons on Monday. The election will take place on the same day as Boris Johnson’s vacated Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat, and Nigel Adams’ Selby

To the very end, Boris Johnson and his dwindling band of supporters – and Rishi Sunak and the Tory high command – were outwitted by the Labour Party in the parliamentary battle over partygate. At the beginning of the Privileges Committee process, back in April 2022, the Tories failed to spot the trap being laid

David Cameron was heckled with shouts of “shame on you” as he left the COVID inquiry after giving evidence. The former prime minister was questioned for more than two hours on Monday on how prepared the government was for a pandemic during his time in office. But as he left the hearing in London and

Sir Keir Starmer has said Boris Johnson should be banned from parliament over the partygate scandal, as he challenged the prime minister to “show leadership” on the matter. The Labour leader said it’s “important to know” where Rishi Sunak stands ahead of a vote on the report of the Commons’ Privileges Committee, which last week

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has called a new leaked partygate video “terrible” – and says the fact the event went ahead is “indefensible”. The footage appears to show Tory staff drinking, dancing and joking about “bending” COVID lockdown rules in December 2020. On this week’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday podcast, hear Mr Gove’s reaction

A Conservative MP embroiled in a scandal has announced he will stand down – triggering a by-election in his Somerton and Frome constituency. David Warburton was suspended from the party in April 2022 pending the outcome of an Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) investigation into allegations of harassment and drug abuse. Speaking to the

Conservative Party staff were filmed celebrating at their London headquarters during the height of the COVID lockdown. New footage, obtained by The Mirror, shows Tory Party staff at a Christmas party dancing, drinking and joking about Covid restrictions while lockdown rules were in place in December 2020. Two of those at the party were among

Boris Johnson has dramatically made a double retreat from all-out verbal war with Rishi Sunak over the damning report which concluded he lied to MPs over partygate. First, he has ordered his closest allies in the Commons not to vote against the privileges committee report that proposed a 90-day suspension if he had still been

Rishi Sunak is facing a potentially acrimonious vote on the Boris Johnson partygate report at the start of next week. A debate and vote on the report, published by the House of Commons Privileges Committee on Thursday, will take place on Monday – Mr Johnson‘s 59th birthday. But it will not be a gathering Mr

Boris Johnson lied to parliament over partygate allegations, according to a report from MPs. The House of Commons privileges committee recommended a 90-day suspension, but as the former prime minister has already resigned as an MP, the Commons could now vote for his right to enter the parliamentary estate to be revoked. Mr Johnson has

In the end, it was excoriating, damning and unanimous: Boris Johnson was found not only to have deliberately misled the House of Commons over events in Number 10 during COVID lockdowns, but had attacked the fabric of our democracy itself by seeking to undermine the committee and investigation. The conclusion of the 14-month privileges committee

After months of investigation, the report into whether Boris Johnson lied to parliament over Partygate has finally been published. Mr Johnson sensationally resigned as a Conservative MP on Friday with immediate effect. He furiously claimed a “witch-hunt” was “under way to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result”. Mr Johnson’s

Boris Johnson has been accused of using a “distraction tactic” after calling for an MP on the Privileges Committee to resign over allegations of lockdown rule-breaking. A fresh row erupted on the eve of a long-awaited report that is poised to find the former prime minister misled parliament over partygate. Politics Live: Tories ‘arguing about

Boris Johnson has made eleventh-hour representations to the privileges committee before it publishes a report which is expected to find that he deliberately misled parliament. A spokesman for the inquiry said it was “dealing with” further submissions received from the former prime minister at 11.57pm on Monday. It came as the panel of MPs examining

Rishi Sunak has cancelled plans to hold a second round of Boris Johnson’s £3.6bn towns fund in a move that could anger Tory MPs. Sky News can reveal that the £300m set aside for a further competition will instead be transferred to the levelling up fund, which has been criticised for slow delivery. The towns

A defiant Boris Johnson vowed “I’ll be back” as he called on the Tories to deliver on Brexit and the promises of the 2019 manifesto. The former prime minister hinted at a political comeback on the day he formally resigned as an MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. In a message in the Daily Express

Rishi Sunak has launched a broadside at Boris Johnson after the former prime minister resigned from the House of Commons last week. Mr Johnson was left furious after some of his political allies – Nadine Dorries, Alok Sharma and Nigel Adams – were not given the places in the House of Lords he nominated them

Sky News political correspondent Rob Powell and chief political correspondent Jon Craig discuss the fallout from Boris Johnson’s decision to step down as an MP. He’s forced one of three by-elections after close Conservative colleagues Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams also decided to leave the Commons immediately. Rob and Jon consider how Rishi Sunak and

Rishi Sunak and the Tory high command are nervously waiting to see if more Boris Johnson allies quit as MPs – amid fears that the feud is set to plunge the party into civil war. Johnson supporters claim two more MPs are on “resignation watch” after Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams joined the former prime

Boris Johnson ally Nigel Adams has said he is standing down as an MP with “immediate effect”, triggering another by-election. The move, which follows the former prime minister’s resignation on Friday, will leave Prime Minister Rishi Sunak facing a third by-election – this time in Mr Adams’s Selby and Ainsty constituency. He previously said he

It reads like a declaration of war – but in reality, Friday’s resignation statement matters because Boris Johnson is throwing in the towel on his political career. Yes, there are hints of a third political comeback in his kinetic resignation statement. “Never write him off,” say the pundits in the cheap seats. Yes, there will

Political aides who worked with Boris Johnson during the partygate scandal are among those who have been nominated for honours in his resignation list. The former prime minister’s highly anticipated resignation honours list has been published and includes Martin Reynolds, his former principal private secretary, who later earned the nickname “party Marty” for his role

The prime minister leaves Washington with some progress on two of his goals on this trip: to get his foot in the door on the global response to the risks of artificial intelligence, and deepen economic ties with our biggest trading partner. The announcement of the first global AI summit to discuss how the world

Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden have agreed a new partnership to bolster economic security in response to the growing threat of China. Brushing off his failure to deliver on the Tory manifesto promise to land a full-fat free trade deal with the US, the prime minister and US president announced the Atlantic Declaration during a

Members of the public have been urged to share their experiences of how the coronavirus pandemic affected them to help shape the COVID-19 Inquiry’s recommendations. Every Story Matters aims to aid understanding of the full picture of what happened and what more needs to be done to ensure the UK is better prepared in the

Rishi Sunak will take personal responsibility if inflation in the UK has not halved by the end of the year. The prime minister was speaking to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby during a visit to Washington DC where he will meet President Biden. Mr Sunak has made a significant amount of noise about his

The prime minister said Russia would have hit “new lows” if it turns out that Moscow is responsible for what he described as the largest attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the start of the war, following the destruction of a critical dam. Speaking en route to Washington, Rishi Sunak told reporters that the

Ian Blackford, the former leader of the SNP in Westminster, has told Sky News he will be standing down at the next election. Mr Blackford was replaced as leader of the independence-backing party’s Commons delegation at the end of last year by Stephen Flynn. The outgoing MP said he had been thinking “long and hard”

The government is still being “too slow” to recover taxpayer money lost to fraud and error over the pandemic, MPs have said. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also said Whitehall needs a “step change” in its approach to risk in order to prevent a similar “panic response” in the future. In a wide-ranging report,

Conservative MP Bob Stewart has been charged with public order offences relating to a “racially aggravated” incident in December last year. Police say the 73-year-old has been charged with using threatening or abusive words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour and that the offence was racially aggravated. He was also charged with using threatening or abusive

The majority of the British public thinks Rishi Sunak is doing a bad job in delivering on his five priorities, a new poll has found. Almost half a year after the prime minister set out his five key aims – including halving inflation, growing the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists, reducing the national debt and