Politics

Boris Johnson has said voters are fed up of hearing about things he had “stuffed up” as he played down a bruising double by-election defeat as a “safety valve”. The prime minister, who has faced a barrage of criticism over lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street and over his own conduct, argued people had not been

In the end, it wasn’t a double blow, but a triple one. Boris Johnson lost not just two by-elections but his party chairman too, who became the first of his cabinet to publicly express misgivings over the PM’s leadership, saying volunteers and staffers “deserve better than this”. The by-election losses he was reluctantly expecting, but

Boris Johnson has acknowledged that the government’s defeat in two by-elections were not “brilliant results” – but insisted he was not worried about Conservative MPs plotting to replace him while he’s abroad. The prime minister was speaking at a press conference in Rwanda hours after the Liberal Democrats overturned the Tories’ 24,000 majority to win

Boris Johnson has suffered a double blow as the Tories crashed to two by-election defeats in his first test at the ballot box since a bruising no-confidence vote. The Conservatives saw a majority of 24,000, or 40.6%, in the Devon seat of Tiverton and Honiton evaporate – a record reverse for the party – as

The source of the polio virus discovered in a London sewage works could be narrowed down to a house or street, a health minister has said. Lord Kamall said relevant agencies were now using “world-beating” tools to work out how to “go along the pipe” to locate where the virus came from. “In theory, it

Voters will head to the polls this morning in two crucial by-elections that are seen as a key test for Boris Johnson’s leadership. In Wakefield, a former industrial area in West Yorkshire, the election was triggered by the resignation of Imran Ahmad Khan. Wakefield was one of the so-called Red Wall seats won by the

Sir Keir Starmer has attacked the prime minister for failing to hold meetings with unions to stop the national rail strike this week. During Prime Minister’s Questions, the Labour leader said Boris Johnson had not “held a conversation or lifted a finger” to stop the industrial action that brought the network to a halt on

The deputy prime minister wants to introduce a Bill of Rights to ignore European Court of Human Rights judgments blocking removal flights to Rwanda. Dominic Raab is introducing the proposed legislation, which would also increase deportations of foreign criminals, to parliament on Wednesday after the court in Strasbourg disputed the government’s heavily-criticised policy of sending

Commuters must be prepared to “stay the course” in the face of the “unnecessary aggravation” caused by rail strikes, Boris Johnson has warned. He made the remarks came at the start of a Cabinet meeting on the first day of walk-outs across the network that are the biggest for three decades, leaving millions facing inconvenience.

Downing Street has confirmed it was in conversation with The Times around the time the newspaper dropped a report claiming Boris Johnson tried to appoint his now wife to a government role when he was foreign secretary. In a story published on Saturday morning, the paper reported that Mr Johnson attempted to hire Carrie Johnson,

The biggest rail strike in three decades is expected go ahead after last-ditch talks failed, the RMT union said. A walk-out by 40,000 workers on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday will cause “total misery” according to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. Mr Shapps said the walk-out was “totally wrong” and would inconvenience millions – including those like

Tearing up post-Brexit trade arrangements in Northern Ireland would inflict “economic vandalism”, the Irish prime minister has warned. Micheal Martin said it would be a “very serious situation” if the UK Government pressed ahead with legislation to ditch key parts the Northern Ireland Protocol. He insisted the European Union wanted to avoid a trade war

Cabinet minister Grant Shapps has revealed  he predicted to within one vote the scale of the recent revolt by Tory MPs against Boris Johnson. In doing do so, the transport secretary was far more accurate in forecasting the scale of opposition against the prime minister’s leadership than the Conservative whips. The backroom fixers were taken

The RMT’s decision to proceed with train strikes next week will “punish millions of people”, the transport secretary has said. Grant Shapps warned the UK is “now on the cusp of major disruption which will cause misery for people right across the country”. He also claimed the RMT union had been repeatedly urged not to

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the world against letting “Ukraine-fatigue” set in as he returned from a surprise visit to the war-torn country. Mr Johnson had pulled out of a planned appearance at conference of northern Tories on Friday in order to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Asked if he had timed the visit

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has returned a questionnaire to police investigating the so-called “beergate” episode. Sir Keir has been under pressure over the event in Durham in April 2021, when he was filmed having a drink and a takeaway curry with party colleagues. He has pledged to resign as party leader if he is