No follow up Q today, nor did the PM allow Vallence or Whitty to answer question about whether they were worried about example being set by Cummings' behaviour
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So far... in these elections the combined tally for the two parties in favour of no deal, the Brexit Party and UKIP amounts to 35% - combined tally for the pro Second Referendum parties is 40%.
Bercow weighs in - 'this move represents a constitutional outrage. However it is dressed up it is blindingly obvious that the purpose of prorogation now would be to stop Parliament debating Brexit and performing its duty'
Tony Hall has overturned the decision about Naga Munchetty - he's looked personally at the decision and says her words did not merit a complaint being upheld against her
After nearly 7 years, in April I'm moving on from best daily reporting job + the most wonderful team in the business. It's been an honour and an amazing ride - more to come in 2022! With love + thanks to all at
Millions of TV viewers hearing about misadventures in Downing Street without even watching the news...
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And on today of all days - Electoral Commission has just announced it's fined the Tory Party because it broke the rules over declaring the cash for the Downing Street flat...
I normally try very, very, hard not to say things like this, but have never actually seen anything like what's happened tonight
Former PM no 2 deeply unhappy about govt plan - Sir John Major says 'Our signature on any Treaty or Agreement has been sacrosanct... If we lose our reputation for honouring the promises we make, we will have lost something beyond price that may never be regained.'
PM repeats 'I thought it was a work event' - hard for that to tally when there were around 30 people there, the event was organised as a drinks do
Gray wants it out in full, No 10 has previously said it will be out in full, so if PM decides not to, expect political onslaught from opposition to force it out
Labour- “If accurate, the Prime Minister’s chief adviser appears to have breached the lockdown rules. Govts guidance was very clear: stay at home and no non-essential travel. The British people do not expect there to be one rule for them and another rule for Dominic Cummings”
PM kept saying no one knew about asymptomatic transmission of corona virus.. but govt scientists were looking at it as earlier as January....
Mr Stop Brexit is outside shouting Bollocks to Boris and can be heard in the room
Plenty of MPs, including some Tories, are making it obvious in the Commons they don't think the UK sanctions match the PM's rhetoric and don't go far enough
Right then twitter, that’s it from me til next year - Happy Christmas one and all ... see you on the other side (follow and if you want to keep up, or sit on your sofa and eat Quality Street and come back in 2020)
The Prime Minister has tested positive for Corona virus. He has mild symptoms and will self-isolate in Downing Street. but he will still be in charge of the government's handling of the crisis.
Trump says he has already won and that there is ‘a fraud’ going on - remember millions of votes have not yet been counted - it is just not credible to make that claim, there is no evidence of such a ‘fraud’ and it is incredible such claims being made from the White House
Number of Tory council seat losses is now at 482 - pattern for them looking worse as the day has gone on
Senior tory tells me Brexiteer anger so high that seems likely there will be a call for no confidence vote tomorrow - letters going in -
Prime Minister, Chancellor, and Carrie Johnson are all to be fined over events that broke the law during lockdown - could have enormous consequences, and all happening during Easter holidays when MPs are away
I'm extremely happy to say that I'll be in the BBC politics chair on Sunday mornings from September - it's a genuine honour and real thrill to be working with an amazing team on the show, can't wait to get started!
PM repeated his defence of his adviser and didn't take 2nd question, so I couldn't ask if he still believes Cummings acted 'entirely legally' as he had said, when police say they would have sent him home if they had stopped him in Barnard Castle
EU court advocate general rules that UK CAN unilaterally revoke article 50 - in other words, in theory, we could just say - stop the Brexit bus, we want to get off (long running case and european Advocate General has just released ruling)
Not sure govt's day of launching what is meant to be biggest mission, to 'level up', was meant to start with former minister, Tobias Ellwood, telling our Sky colleagues he's putting in a letter of no confidence to the PM
Quite the achievement to get three former PM's out - Blair, Brown and Johnson's old rival, David Cameron, all criticising his decision to fold DFID into FCO
Not sure it really flies to say it's a 'gotcha' question to expect govt ministers to know what the rules are that they are asking millions of people to follow
this is fascinating - Russians on the streets protesting against the war tonight..
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People marching through central Moscow this evening chanting “No to War!”
Like last week, Johnson suffers when he doesn't have rowdy backbench cheerleaders behind him
Despite all those loyal Tory MP tweets this is how some in govt feel about all this - one minister says ‘this is appalling, and makes me feel ashamed
Govt plans for breaching the Withdrawal Agreement getting an absolute roasting in the Lords, inc from former Tory leader, Michael Howard
for someone who keeps her cards close to her chest, this is the former PM properly furious
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"Why then, is the new national security adviser a political appointee with no proven expertise in national security?" asks former prime minister Theresa May
Michael Gove says not all national security advisers have been "steeped in the security world"
bbc.in/3dJhzhO
On No 10 position tonight, govt source says 'this line won’t hold. As bad as Cummings road trip for sure.'
Attendee of the party says they were asked to go by both political and civil service staff -even tho briefing earlier this week claimed it'd been arranged by civil servants...
This is one of the best political stills I’ve ever seen....
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This Incredible Photo Of Trump Surrounded By G7 Leaders Is Like A Renaissance Painting buzzfeed.com/davidmack/trum via @davidmackau
When COP organisers conceived the conference they can't have imagined they'd have had the PM feeling the need to stand on a platform and make it clear that the UK is not a corrupt country
Initial report finds
- 'failure of leadership in No 10 and Cabinet office'
- 'serious failure to observe high standards expected'
- 'excessive consumption of alcohol'
- 'behaviour difficult to justify'
but crucially, Gray herself writes, this is not yet the 'meaningful report'
Starmer accuses the PM of 'leading his troops through the sewer' - says what's happened in the last 24 hours is 'corruption, and corruption from the very top'
Tory insider - 'Munira was Boris’ brain and longest serving adviser. For her to depart at such a difficult time and in such a publicly critical way is simply devastating for the PM. It sends a strong signal to the Tory party that even those closest to the PM have now lost faith'
Ouch - Minister on PM’s decision to ask only for short delay - ‘Weak, weak, weak. Substantially increases the risk of no deal. Her most craven surrender to the hardliners yet. She knows this is the wrong choice for the country but she’s putting her short term interests first.’
When MPs have been talking a LOT about how its terrible they have no time to talk about important matters of state, not sure it's a great look to then spend an hour and a half (so far) saying how marvellous the Speaker is
Whatever you think of these seven leaving Labour it is clear it’s been a huge decision for them all - you can see it on their faces, no joy in it for them and they know the abuse they will get and are already receiving
David Davis has just as good as called for PM to go in the Commons - wow
The problem with the PM saying he is confident the UK can drive down the virus because 'we did it before' is that we did it before when govt introduced a national lockdown when nearly everything ground to a halt
Sturgeon says right now 'dropping the stay at home message could be catastrophic'
Labour chair, Annelise Dodds is writing to Boris Johnson to demand he decides if Geoffrey Cox is a 'Caribbean based barrister or a Conservative MP', saying it's a 'question of leadership' for the PM
Riot coming - Bercow allowing MPs a vote on holding another referendum, doesn’t choose to allow a vote on ruling one out
Just spoken to Keir Starmer on PPE problems - 'what we’re seeing here is an increasing gap between what the government says or thinks is happening and what the frontline are telling us'
Julian Lewis has been chucked out of the Tory Parliamentary Party for working with Labour MPs to get himself elected as chair of the Intelligence Committee, beating Chris Grayling
‘Are you supposed to look as if you are enjoying yourselves?’ - the Queen makes the leaders laugh tonight, taking centre stage
This is too awful to describe as a gaffe
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Fears for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after Boris Johnson remark bbc.in/2AnJ8KY
'The court is bound to conclude the decision to advise her Majesty to prorogue Parliament was unlawful' - wow
Darroch’s position was probably impossible after Johnson didn’t back him last night but British ambassadors around the world are not politicians, nor are they chosen by foreign govts - it matters a lot if we just chuck this convention out of the window without a backwards glance
Strangest 2 things of the night - Steve Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, voted against the plan he had been arguing for minutes before, and the chief whip who is in charge of getting MP s to back the govt, abstained
Crucial detail in this as spotted by - PM previously said he didn't know about payments until Feb 21, Elect Commission says he whatsapped about cash in Nov 2020 - how will No 10 explain that contradiction?
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Conservative Party fined over PM's Downing Street flat refurbishment bbc.in/3dzelzB
Senior Downing St source says “there is a lot of concern inside the building about the PM....It’s just not working. Cabinet needs to wake up and demand serious changes otherwise it’ll keep getting worse. If they don’t insist, he just won’t do anything about it."
Hearing that SirGraham Brady has asked to see the PM after #pmqs tmrw, and multiple sources, including senior tories and a cabinet minister, telling us tonight they believe the threshold of 48 letters has been reached - v unlikely to be any confirmation until tomorrow
Leader of Scottish Tories, Douglas Ross, is calling for Boris Johnson to resign
Have seen more hours of the Commons than I care to remember + that was one of most brutal + mad I have ever seen - no shred of remorse from the PM ruled to have broken law yesterday, paltry attempt at answering Corbyn's Qs, a few Labour MPs screaming, 'you should be in jail'
Hearing Christian Wakeford, Bury MP, is defecting to Labour Party, just as PM leaves No 10 for PMQs
Scotland Yard has said they have more than 300 photographs of events handed to Sue Gray
Blowback to yesterday is intense - one tory insider says ‘people are going absolutely mad’ at what looks to many like a terrible calculation
Another Tory MP told me that in the tearoom the PM told him and colleagues 'it's not his fault and he's bravely taking the blame for others' - 'caused much consternation among colleagues' given that he'd just given a public apology
What's also very obvious is that some staffers thought it was a v bad idea at the time - a flavour of messages shared with us from when Reynold's email was sent - 'Um. Why is Martin encouraging a mass gathering in the garden?', another says, 'Is this for real?'
New personal edge to Starmer's attack on the PM -
'while he was writing about bendy bananas, I was defending victims and prosecuting terrorists'
Met Police confirms it's in touch with Cabinet Office tonight after Reynolds' email
Ouch! 👇🏼 from the scientist the PM quoted in his defence today
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Polite request to PM and others: please stop using my Guardian article to claim we cannot make any international comparisons yet. I refer only to detailed league tables-of course we should now use other countries to try and learn why our numbers are high theguardian.com/commentisfree/
BBC seat projection for a General Election based on today's results ...
Lab 291
Con 253
LD 31
Others 75
Jack Doyle, current Director of Comms in No 10 made a speech + handed out awards on the eve of 18th Dec last year to the press team of 20-30 people, we understand - sources say there was a party with food, drinks + games - Doyle was also attending Covid meetings that night
Fittingly, after that very non stiff upper lip 8pm lovely experience, the number of volunteers to help through the crisis has just gone up to 670,663
Replying to
The lawyer beating the showman hands down this week
Happy to apologiSe for earlier confusion about the punch that wasn’t a punch outside Leeds General - 2 sources suggested it had happened but clear from video that was wrong
The outcome here is very, very messy and it's unlikely that the opposition will let things rest here - the ministerial code, signed by the PM clearly says there must be no bullying
Govt source says Hancock did not announce a review of fines of people in lockdown - just meant that he would pass concern raised by Martin the vicar on to his colleagues - 2020 everyone
That showed why Prime Ministers don't exactly clamour to appear in front of the liaison committee
Some MPs deeply concerned that Mark Spencer has been made leader of House when he is under investigation for what happened to Nus Ghani, having confirmed himself online that he was subject of her claims, altho denied them
Morrisons have announced they'll ban shoppers who won't wear a mask unless they are medically exempt - govt reluctant right now to make any further changes to lockdown laws... wouldn't be surprising however to see more of this kind of thing with individual biz taking own action
And another thing for No 10, a minister, Lord Agnew, has just resigned IN the Lords over govt's record on combatting fraud in Covid financial schemes
The lawyer versus the showman...
Justine Greening tells she is going to stand down at next election as she reckons she can make bigger difference outside - whatever your politics it’s sad that someone widely respected and experienced thinks they can do more outside Parliament to make change
Ok, I m not the person who has noticed this, but potentially new customs transition time, Customs and Regulatory Alignment Period, is an unfortunate acronym
That was quick - PM and Chancellor will now isolate and won’t take part in the pilot
Former minister says this morning ‘The PM ignored all the warnings over months and months. She will try to blame others but it is her who is at fault.’
Amber Rudd referred to Diane Abbott as a 'coloured woman' in interview on Jeremy Vine - pretty gobsmacking in 2019
Goodness me - if you are in my nerd world this is a really, really big deal - like throwing your drink over all of your mates in the pub cos you don't like the tone of the conversation, and smashing all the glasses
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Dominic Cummings has now decided to leave Number 10 today for good - (subtle hint walking out with a box - Lee Cain also now out from today
Senior Tory MP this morning - ‘Every lie just compounds the problem. But lying eventually catches people out. Another awful mess created out of Downing St. Question now in tea room is Boris reaching a tipping point - where he is becoming a liability and no longer an asset?’
Prof Whitty sounding EXTREMELY cautious about the changes - and making plain 'if people hear a distorted version of what is said...and start behaving in ways they would have before this all happened we will get an uptick' - should still stick to 2m where you can
A senior Labour MP has just said Jeremy Corbyn told him tonight he would NOT allow Boris Johnson to have an election before 31st October
Gary Streeter becomes 3rd Tory MP today to say he's submitted letter to try to trigger a vote of no confidence in the PM
PM has managed to persuade a few dozen on his own side that it would be ok to override an existing treaty as long as he asks them nicely first .... but look who just got involved - this is hardly going away
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We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.
Any trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period. twitter.com/HouseForeign/s…
Body language btw the two is absolutely extraordinary- Corbyn looks seething
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PM Boris Johnson & Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn head to the House of Lords to hear the #QueensSpeech
Follow ongoing coverage: bbc.in/2EuTk7I
Hearing Dominic Grieve is about to present a bill that would put another referendum on the table
And a return to the front bench, confirmed as Shadow Home Secretary - she'll line up against Priti Patel
‘She’s deluded. She never changes her mind and cannot conceive others might. Or they may not agree with her.’ - ouch, from one former minister who used to stand up for May
Have never seen Johnson so rattled and angry at the despatch box in his final answer to Starmer - red faced and ranting at the end ... denied his ‘bodies’ quote again and still didn’t answer the central Q about No 10 flat - who picked up the bill at the start
Tories seem pretty sure that they have lost iconic Wandsworth council in SW London, and Barnet in North London, and even Westminster council looking at risk