Politics

The government has not ruled out leaving Europe’s human rights framework after last-ditch legal rulings blocked the first scheduled deportation flight on Tuesday evening. Downing Street said on Wednesday that all options were on the table and did not rule out withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It comes after last-minute interventions

Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin has claimed the UK government does not “fully get” the Good Friday Agreement following Britain’s decision to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Speaking in the Dail, the taoiseach described the UK government’s plans as “economically incoherent” and warned that changing parts of the post-Brexit deal the country secured

SNP MP Patrick Grady is facing suspension from the House of Commons after an allegation of sexual misconduct was upheld by a parliamentary probe. The independent expert panel recommended that Mr Grady should be suspended from the House for two days for making an “unwanted sexual advance” to a member of party staff at a

Boris Johnson has said it would be “preposterous” for Brussels to launch a trade war over “trivial” planned changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol – as senior EU figures warned of the damage they could cause. The government is preparing to table legislation to override parts of the deal, which governs Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading

Boris Johnson has been told that the majority of Northern Ireland assembly members reject the government’s “reckless new protocol legislation”. A letter on behalf of 52 of the 90 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) said the proposal “flies in the face of the expressed wishes of not just most businesses, but most people in

For a leader on the backfoot, offence can be the best form of defence. For Boris Johnson, there’s no better way to try and move the conversation on from his own political woes than picking a big fight with the EU. But when the prime minister unveils controversial legislation on the Northern Ireland Protocol that

The House of Commons is to become a “menopause-friendly” workplace with a range of new measures including better-ventilated rooms and flexible working. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will sign a Menopause Workplace Pledge on Monday in the presence of campaigners Penny Lancaster, Lisa Snowdon, Liz Earle and Mariella Frostrup. He said he wanted to “break

A government minister has been accused of showing “utter contempt for voters” after appearing to suggest Blackpool and Birmingham are “godawful”. Tory MP Heather Wheeler – no stranger to a vocal faux pas – reportedly made the remark in London on Thursday while trying to recall where she had recently visited. According to technology journalist

Controversial legislation overriding parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol will be tabled at the start of next week, Downing Street has confirmed. The plan to alter the Protocol, which governs Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements, will inflame a row with the European Union. It could also prove a key test of Boris Johnson’s authority after

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

Three of four asylum seekers fighting their deportation from the UK to Rwanda will not be sent to the African country, the Home Office has said. The news came as part of written submissions by Home Office lawyers to the High Court ahead of a bid today to block a deportation flight to the African

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 may have been addressing the opposition benches at PMQ’s on Wednesday when he told the Commons that “absolutely nothing and no-one” was going to stop him from getting on with his job, but his real audience was his own MPs. In his first public appearance since the bruising vote of confidence on Monday,

The health secretary has said “biological sex matters” after the NHS removed a reference to women in its information about ovarian cancer. On the NHS website, it now says: “Ovarian cancer affects the two small organs (ovaries) that store the eggs needed to make babies.” Sajid Javid told Sky News’ Kay Burley: “I don’t think

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

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

Boris Johnson needed 180 of his 359 MPs to vote for him in order to stay on as party leader and prime minister. He got 211. That’s better than Margaret Thatcher in percentage terms, who was forced out just two days after winning the first round of a vote, but not as good as either

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

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