Politics

A leaked version of the government’s new food strategy advises people to eat wild venison as a low-carbon alternative to beef and grow their own cucumbers to save the planet, reports claim. The 27-page document, due to be officially released on Monday, follows two reports carried out by the co-founder of restaurant chain Leon, Henry

As Westminster lurches to the end of the worst week so far for the prime minister, there is only one clear winner evident as the fog of war subsides. It’s not Sir Keir Starmer – Labour folk are fretting about their lack of impact at the moment. Nor is it the 148 Tory rebels who

Boris Johnson has until the autumn to save his premiership, his former Brexit minister Lord Frost has warned. The prime minister must set out a clear Conservative vision of the future or face being ousted by his own MPs, he said. Mr Johnson narrowly survived a confidence vote on Monday, with 41% of his own

Boris Johnson is not a good role model for children, according to a top government adviser who is known as Britain’s strictest headmistress. Katharine Birbalsingh, chair of the social mobility commission, told Sky News’s Beth Rigby Interviews that from his personal life to his messy hairstyle, the three-times married prime minister causes her to “raise

Michael Gove has said he would not run against Boris Johnson for leader of the Conservative Party after admitting he “made a mistake” when he scuppered the prime minister’s chances in 2016. The levelling up secretary told Sky News he “enthusiastically” voted for the prime minister to stay as party leader in Monday night’s confidence

Boris Johnson will announce new measures to help people to get on to the property ladder during a speech in which he pledges to hard-pressed UK households that “things will get better”. The prime minister will set out the plans during a speech in Lancashire on Thursday that will also commit him to reforms in

Conservative MPs should not change the rules to allow another confidence vote in the prime minister within a year, Sajid Javid has said. The health secretary said it was a “clear and decisive result” on Monday night when Boris Johnson won a confidence vote among his MPs – although 148 voted against him. There have

Boris Johnson has sought to draw a line under a bruising confidence vote by urging Cabinet ministers to focus on tax cutting and levelling up. The prime minister won the backing of Tory MPs by 211 votes to 148 – leaving allies to say it is now time to move on from questions about his

It was a vote the PM was desperate to avoid. And when it came, one that Boris Johnson was keen to put behind him quickly, calling the vote as soon as possible after the trigger threshold (54 letters of no confidence) had been reached, and then declaring the result “decisive” and “convincing” once it was

The prime minister’s anti-corruption tsar has resigned over Boris Johnson’s response to the Sue Gray report into partygate – and will vote for him to go tonight. John Penrose has sent his resignation letter to the PM just hours after it was announced a confidence vote in Mr Johnson’s leadership will take place between 6pm

His supporters say he got Brexit done and saved the country by making the vaccine rollout happen before any other developed nation. His opponents say his record was marred by allegations of sleaze and mismanagement and that he was unfit for top office. Here are the main events – the highs and lows – of

A new law prohibiting the sale of ivory goods in the UK from today is a “landmark moment” in the protection of elephants, according to the government. But despite being widely welcomed by conservationists, there are concerns it doesn’t go far enough to protect other species. It has taken four years for the Ivory Act

Boris Johnson will make the NHS a key feature of a series of expected policy announcements in the coming days, as the PM bids to move on from a bruising week which reignited reports of an impending confidence vote. More than 40 Conservative MPs have publicly called on the prime minister to resign over the

A government consultation that could mean greater use of imperial measurements will be launched on Friday. In 2000, the EU weights and measures directive forced traders to use metric when selling packaged or loose goods such as fruit and veg. They can still use pounds and ounces but must also list grammes and kilos, except

Boris Johnson has said he was “very, very surprised” to receive a fine for attending a lockdown-breaking gathering in Downing Street. The prime minister, talking to Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts, was questioned on issues from partygate and Northern Ireland to nappies and his favourite book to read to his children. Asked by a teacher why

Syrian and Afghan refugees are believed to be on the list of people set to be deported to Rwanda in a fortnight, charities have said. Zoe Gardner, head of policy and advocacy at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), said 15 Syrians have been told they will be sent to Rwanda in

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s own ethics adviser has asked him to explain why he believes he has not broken the ministerial code after being fined for a lockdown breach. Lord Geidt said there was a “legitimate question” over whether the code has been broken – which would normally mean a minister would have to resign.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner have both received questionnaires from Durham Constabulary in relation to a potential breach of lockdown rules in April 2021. Sir Keir has come under pressure over an event in Durham in April 2021 with party colleagues when he was filmed having a drink and a

Another Conservative MP has submitted a letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson, making him the 28th Tory to publicly call for him to go over the partygate scandal. John Stevenson, MP for Carlisle, said he has been “deeply disappointed” in the rule-breaking parties at Number 10 and Mr Johnson’s response to parliament. He said

The trickle of MPs publicly calling for Boris Johnson to resign is now a modest stream and gathering pace. And the dangerous thing is, the rebellion feels uncoordinated and therefore unpredictable. With the number of MPs openly questioning the prime minister‘s authority at 40, senior Conservatives are braced for the possibility of a vote of

The former cabinet minister Dame Andrea Leadsom has blamed Boris Johnson for “unacceptable failings of leadership” over the partygate scandal. The former business secretary is the 40th Conservative MP to have publicly voiced their displeasure with the prime minister since he was fined by the Met for breaching lockdown rules in Downing Street, according to

One of the youngest MPs in the Conservative Party has become the 26th Tory to publicly call for Boris Johnson to resign over the partygate scandal. Elliot Colburn emailed his constituents to say that nothing within the Sue Gray report or the Met Police investigation has “convinced me that my decision to submit a letter

A minister has said it is “not immediately obvious” an investigation is needed into allegations that Carrie Johnson held a lockdown party that was not part of the Sue Gray inquiry. Chris Philp, the technology and digital economy minister, told Sky News’ Kay Burley that there has been an “unbelievably comprehensive set of investigations” over

Boris Johnson is facing twin allegations of a partygate cover-up, with opposition leaders accusing him of “behaving like a tinpot despot”. The Liberal Democrats claim reports that Downing Street put pressure on Sue Gray to dilute her report reveal an attempt to cover up “lies and law-breaking”. And Labour is to force a Commons vote

Boris Johnson is poised to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with a post-Brexit pledge to bring back pounds and ounces in Britain’s shops. Whitehall sources have told Sky News he will announce on Friday that imperial measurements are to be revived as part of a bonfire of EU regulations. His promise of legislation will be

A drip feed of no confidence letters in Boris Johnson has continued as pressure grows following the Sue Gray report into partygate. There has been a steady trickle of Conservative MPs publicly calling for the PM to go after senior civil servant Ms Gray published her findings into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.

Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said he will not be silenced by the far right after a “vile racist” was found guilty of sending the MP a death threat. Glenn Broadbent sent the Labour Tottenham MP a Twitter message that said: “Are you hanging off a tree monkey boy? You will hang from a

Ministers who are found to have breached the ministerial code will no longer have to resign or face the sack. Revisions to the ministerial code, which sets out standards of conduct for government ministers, were published on Friday. The changes come following recommendations by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, as well as discussions

Sky’s Beth Rigby speaks to Conservative minister Jacob Rees-Mogg about the cost of living crisis, partygate, and not being able to cook. Plus, Beth’s analysis of the week’s big stories and more of your emails with producer Mollie Malone. Follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts,  Google Podcasts,  Spotify, Spreaker Advertisement

Rishi Sunak, a devotee of Nigel Lawson, believes in a smaller state, curbing borrowing, lower taxes and combating inflation.  Yet again, he delivered a major fiscal announcement where he did the opposite. Today’s £15 billion spending splurge expanded the role of the state with the advent of one-off financial transfers, could stoke inflation, add to

Boris Johnson’s chief of staff has brushed off the suggestion that a new package of cost of living help is timed to deflect attention from Sue Gray’s partygate report. Steve Barclay said that the government did not control when the report – laying bare drunkenness and partying in Downing Street – was published and that

The senior leadership at Downing Street – both political and official – must “bear responsibility” for the culture of partying during COVID lockdowns, according to a report from senior civil servant Sue Gray. The report added that “while there is no excuse for some of the behaviour set out here it is important to acknowledge

MPs should be banned from giving paid parliamentary advice or consultancy services, a long-awaited report into MP standards has recommended. It is understood up to 35 MPs would be impacted by a crackdown on second jobs. MPs must now have a written contract for any outside work, which makes explicit that their duties cannot include