Boris Johnson news - live: PM ‘misled public’, says Starmer as ethics chief apologises for Partygate fine
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says prime minister presided over ‘widespread criminality’
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A former government ethics chief has said she is “sorry for the error of judgement I have shown” after being fined as part of a police investigation into No 10 parties.
Helen MacNamara said she has paid the fine she was handed reportedly in connection with a leaving do held in the Cabinet Office on June 18 2020 to mark the departure of a private secretary.
Downing Street has confirmed that Boris Johnson has not yet been informed whether he is to be fined over lockdown-breaking parties he allegedly attended.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer said Boris Johnson has “misled the public” and presided over “widespread criminality” at No 10 – saying again that PM is “unfit for office”.
He also called for the names of all senior officials fined for Downing Street parties to be made public.
However, Downing Street continues to refuse to accept the law had been broken, despite the Met issuing 20 FPNs.
“We did everything we could to protect the economy as well as public health,” Welsh secretary on the government’s response to Covid-19
MP Simon Hart tells Sky News that he thinks the UK and Welsh government will be “judged better” than what people expect, saying: “We reacted very fast to a very rapidly changing situation.”
See the full clip here:
Shadow education secretary says childcare costs are higher than rent or mortgage
Speaking on Good Morning Britain Labour’s Bridget Phillipson said: “The last thing you should be doing is putting up taxes on working families who are in such a difficult position.
“We’ve also seen the cost of childcare continuing to go up.
“That’s why Labour has set up a children’s recovery plan that would deliver extra funding to children who need it, most of those on free school meals and plug that funding gap.
“Because for many parents, [...] they’ll be aware that the cost of childcare is actually more than you would spend on your rent or mortgage.
“What Labour is saying is that we need action to tackle that now because prices are just continuing to soar.
“That means that many parents, and it’s usually women, are having to cut back their hours and it’s not what they want and it’s completely counter productive as well.
Watch the full clip here:
Fines issued for No 10 party on eve of Prince Philip’s funeral – but minister says world has ‘moved on’
Cabinet minister has defended Boris Johnson and warns against ‘self-indulgent leadership contest’. My colleague Adam Forrest has more:
Fines issued for No 10 party on eve of Prince Philip’s funeral
Cabinet minister defends PM and warns against ‘self-indulgent leadership contest’
Labour MP Bridget Phillipson says Boris Johnson thinks ‘we’re all fools’
Shadow education secretary tells Sky News that the prime minister “knew what was going on” at Downing Street parties and is making the UK “an international laughing stock” in the international arena.
Watch the full clip here:
David Warburton’s wife ‘standing by’ him as Tory MP accused of misconduct admitted to hospital
It comes as the MP was admitted to a psychiatric hospital on Sunday, after a report emerged that a parliamentary watchdog is probing alleged sexual harassment and drug use claims.
My colleague Adam Forrest has more:
Wife of Tory MP David Warburton ‘standing by’ him amid misconduct claims
Politician’s wife believes ‘he’s not done anything wrong’
'The Tories have made poverty our new normal’
“From benefits recipients and blue-collar workers to students and the middle class, no one will be immune to the price hikes set to bring this country to breaking point.”
Read our digital editor Alice Murphy’s take on the cost of living crisis.
Opinion: Even Martin Lewis is out of ideas – poverty is our new normal
In the space of a decade, the Money Saving Expert founder has gone from the man who shouts about two-for-one deals online to an accidental national saviour who tells desperate people how to avoid starvation and death by exposure
The war in Ukraine has helped to "contextualise" the partygate saga, Welsh Secretary Simon Hart said.
Speaking on TalkRadio, he said: “Looking at how this interview started and what we’re seeing in Ukraine, that helps contextualise all of this in my head.
“And I think we’re now dealing with something of such seriousness and such horror that what went on maybe two years ago clearly needs to be dealt with, and should be - it’s a source of irritation for a lot of people still - but I’m glad that this thing is now coming to a conclusion.”
Earlier, Mr Hart told Sky News “the world has moved on a considerable distance”.
Rishi Sunak topples to bottom of Cabinet League table amidst soaring cost of living prices
The chancellor has fallen to third from bottom of the Cabinet League table in the wake of his Spring Statement which was overwhelmingly criticised for not going far enough to help the poorest households.
Parliament does appear to have a problem with drug-taking, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said.
Asked how rife cocaine abuse is in Parliament and if she has seen it, the Labour MP told Times Radio: “I don’t know how rife it is. I personally have never witnessed that, but it would appear that there is a problem that it is taking place.
“I think that what troubles me the most is the ongoing issues where it comes to sexual harassment.
“We do have an independent process now in Parliament and I think that is a welcome step. I think it is vital that people who have concerns and who have complaints to make do come forward, that those complaints are taken seriously and action is taken.
“Those who want to make complaints can be confident there will be a proper process now and that action will arise out of it when complaints are upheld.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg defends his description of partygate as “fluff” and “fundamentally trivial”
Speaking to LBC this morning, the minister said: “I think those words in the context of what is going on in Ukraine is completely reasonable.
“I don’t think the issue of what may or may not have happened in Downing Street is fundamental.
“What is fundamental is that we look in the enquiry at how those rules were devised and the effect that they had because I think some of those rules were inhuman.”
He added: “What we should learn from this is not in relation to parties, but was it ever right to say that you weren’t allowed to be with people as they were dying and I think it is so important that the enquiry that is about to take place looks to whether the restrictions were proportionate.”
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