Boris Johnson news: More than half of Britons ‘think Tories made wrong decision keeping PM’

One in four 2019 Conservative voters says he should have stepped down

Boris Johnson isn't a good role model for children, says social mobility tsar

More than half of Britons think the Conservative party made the wrong decision in backing Boris Johnson’s premiership in the confidence vote earlier this week, a poll has found.

Mr Johnson described his victory as “decisive”, despite winning the ballot by 211 votes to 148.

But critics say the prime minister has found himself in the eye of a revolt against his positon, the scale of which far surpassed the expectations of his allies - failing to put to bed questions over his leadership.

On Friday, an Ipsos poll found that 51 per cent of Britons think MPs slipped up in retaining the prime minister, a number which includes one in four 2019 Conservative voters.

And, overall, 36 per cent said they made the right decision.

Earlier, the government’s top social mobility chief dubbed Mr Johnson “not a good role model” for children.

Katherine Birbalsingh, chair of the Social Mobility Commission, suggested that, even though she liked the prime minister, his personal life made her “raise an eyebrow”, and questioned whether he looked professional enough.

See below for how our coverage developed:

Key points

[10 June 2022 13:03 · Jane Dalton]

Labour will vote against Protocol Bill

Labour will vote against a government bill that would give powers to ministers to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, Sir Keir Starmer says.

Speaking in Belfast after talks with political leaders, the party leader said: “We will vote against the legislation the government is putting before parliament. We think it is the wrong approach.

“I’m not pretending there aren’t issues and challenges with the protocol, of course there are.

“We have been listening to the political parties here, to communities, to business groups. I think those challenges can be overcome around the negotiating table with statecraft, with high levels of trust.

“It is that high level of trust that is missing with this Prime Minister, and I think he is making a mistake by going down the route of legislation which will breach international law and, actually, I think, be an impediment to the negotiations that, in the end, are going to resolve these difficult issues.”

Sir Keir confirmed that, if in power, Labour would scrap the proposed legislation to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

He also called for “give and take” from both EU and UK negotiators.

“We would scrap the legislation, and I think there has been an impasse in the negotiations because we haven’t seen the high levels of trust that we need for negotiations like this, not least from our prime minister.

“But also we need give and take on both sides. The EU, as well as the UK, to give and take, to be flexible about the approach.

“I do not think that the remaining issues of the protocol cannot be resolved with a different approach, with that high level of trust, with an honest broker prime minister getting people around the table and negotiating what needs to be negotiated.”

[10 June 2022 13:10 · Jane Dalton]

No 10 slates claim Sunak wasted £11bn

Downing Street has attacked a think tank’s allegation that Rishi Sunak wasted £11 billion of taxpayers’ money by paying too much interest servicing government debt.

A No 10 spokesman said: “It’s simply not true, and the measures that are proposed would’ve come with huge economic risks and would have undermined the Bank of England’s independence.

“Specifically, forcing commercial banks to swap reserves for gilts undermines the independence of the Bank of England and would be an act of financial repression.

“And the £11 billion figure itself is based on an implausible assumption.

“Getting to that figure requires perfect foresight of market prices. It essentially says that two years ago you would’ve known exactly where the Bank’s rate and bond yields would have been now.”

[10 June 2022 13:25 · Jane Dalton]

Labour will oppose Troubles legislation

Sir Keir Starmer says Labour will oppose controversial legislation to address the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

“We will vote against that legislation because it doesn’t have the support of any of the political parties here in Northern Ireland. It doesn’t have the support of victims’ groups here in Northern Ireland, some of whom have told me themselves they haven’t even been consulted,” he said.

“And it hasn’t got the support of the Irish government.”

[10 June 2022 14:15 · Jane Dalton]

Johnson condemns ‘sham sentencing’ of Britons facing death penalty

Boris Johnson has condemned the “sham” trial of two Britons sentenced to death by the Russian authorities for fighting in Ukraine, as the government comes under pressure to ensure their release.

Downing Street said the prime minister was “appalled” at the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, write Ashley Cowburn and Adam Forrest.

Sir Keir Starmer condemned the sentences, sayig he agrees with the Government’s approach to securing their release.

“I utterly condemn the action that’s been taken in relation to the two Britons involved and they should be treated as prisoners of war.

“The Government is right on this and I think it’s very important that we say there’s no party politics in this - we stand as one in condemning what is happening here and demanding in the strongest possible terms that they be treated as prisoners of war,” he said.

[10 June 2022 14:30 · Jane Dalton]

Rwanda policy a chaotic diversion, says Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has called the government’s Rwanda plan a “chaotic diversion” and said Labour instead would form “a proper plan with the French authorities” to tackle people-smuggling.

When asked what Labour’s alternative to the policy would be, he said: “I think it’s very important that we all say, loud and clear, that we don’t want anybody making that dangerous crossing across the Channel.

“We don’t want these people-smugglers to make profit from their business and we need to go after them hard.

“That includes working with the French authorities, working upstream to tackle the criminals that are behind this.

“The Government’s Rwanda scheme is a chaotic diversion, not-thought-through scheme which isn’t going to solve the problem.”

[10 June 2022 14:54 · Jane Dalton]

Brexit ‘largely to blame’ for £31bn loss to UK economy

Brexit is largely to blame for billions being lost in trade and tax revenues in recent years, according to a study by top economists.

The Centre for European Reform said that by the end of last year, Britain’s economy was 5.2 per cent – or £31bn – smaller than it would have been without Brexit and the Covid pandemic, writes Adam Forrest:

[10 June 2022 15:25 · Jane Dalton]

David Frost ‘thinking’ about standing as Tory MP

Tory peer David Frost – the former Brexit minister who quite government at the end of last year – has said he is “thinking” about standing as an MP.

“We’ll see if the opportunity arises and it might and it might not, we’ll see … I am thinking about it,” he told LBC.

[10 June 2022 15:55 · Jane Dalton]

What ever happened to the notorious ‘Ed Stone’?

Five days before the May 2015 general election, then Labour Party leader Ed Miliband unveiled a giant monument bearing a handful of policy pledges.

Telegraph columnist and sometime London mayor Boris Johnson called it a “weird commie slab”.

But what happened to it? Joe Sommerlad investigates:

[10 June 2022 16:05 · Jane Dalton]

PM taunted by ‘having a party?’ calls

Members of the public called out to the PM asking whether he was having a party, as he arrived at the Royal Cornwall Show.

Making an unannounced visit to the show, Mr Johnson was photographed alongside farm animals.

He said there were fantastic opportunities for development on brown-field sites in the county, and the government needed to use the tax system to ensure local people had the right to buy property locally.

[10 June 2022 16:20 · Jane Dalton]

PM set to join Devon by-election campaign trail

Boris Johnson is expected to join the campaign trail in Tiverton and Honiton later today ahead of a crucial by-election fight in just under a fortnight, reports Ashley Cowburn: