Politics

Rishi Sunak has been accused of failing to rein in a “culture of lavish spending” across government departments as Labour published details of thousands of purchases over the past two years on taxpayer-funded debit cards. The opposition party’s report on Government Procurement Cards (GPCs) showed 14 departments spent at least £145.5m in 2021 compared with

BBC chairman Richard Sharp made “significant errors of judgement” by facilitating an £800,000 loan guarantee for Boris Johnson, a cross-party committee of MPs has found. The committee said Mr Sharp should “consider the impact his omissions will have” on public trust in the broadcaster after he failed to declare his role as a go-between for

The BBC chairman’s position is becoming “increasingly untenable” after a committee of MPs found he made “significant errors of judgement” by facilitating a loan guarantee for Boris Johnson, a frontbench Labour MP has said. Lisa Nandy made the remarks on Sky News after it emerged Richard Sharp, who helped Mr Johnson secure an £800,000 loan,

The new Conservative Party chairman has said he believes a Russian spy tried to recruit him over a pint of beer in a London pub. The cabinet minister said he met the man who he now believes was a secret agent at the Seven Stars pub in Fulham, while he had been seeking election as

Tory MPs have stepped up calls for the government to cut taxes after pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca overlooked Britain for a new £320m drug factory. Sir Pascal Soriot, the firm’s chief executive, said it wanted to build a new plant close to its existing sites in northwest England but “because the tax rate was discouraging” chose

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has not ruled out increasing pay offers to public sector workers, but warned that giving more money to teachers and nurses could entrench high inflation. Speaking as it was revealed the UK economy narrowly avoided recession in 2022, Mr Hunt also indicated he would resist pressure to cancel a planned cut to

A couple of hours before the result of the West Lancashire by-election was declared shortly before 2am, senior Tories at the count were prepared for the worst. Privately, they were predicting a 60% share of the vote for Labour and 25% for the Conservatives. They weren’t far wrong. The Tory vote has indeed slumped from

Former Labour MP Jared O’Mara has been jailed for four years for making fraudulent expenses claims to fund an “extensive” cocaine habit while in office. O’Mara, who represented Sheffield Hallam from 2017 to 2019, was on trial at Leeds Crown Court for submitting “dishonest” invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. The 41-year-old was convicted

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is heading to Brussels as he continues to lobby European leaders for more weapons in the fight against Russia. The Ukrainian leader is due to attend an EU summit and address the European Parliament in what will be his third stop on a surprise trip across the continent. While Mr Zelenskyy is unlikely

A former Labour MP who submitted fake expenses to fund a cocaine habit while in office has been convicted of fraud. Jared O’Mara, who represented Sheffield Hallam from 2017 to 2019, was on trial at Leeds Crown Court for submitting “dishonest” invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa). He was accused of trying to

Reshuffle day, and as we watched familiar names slot into slightly less familiar job titles with, let’s be honest, limited short-term real-world consequences, we did learn one big and important thing: That Rishi Sunak has yet more personal priorities. Just to recap for those not quite across the full list: The prime minister regularly tells

Greg Hands has replaced Nadhim Zahawi as Conservative Party chairman and two new departments have been created in Rishi Sunak’s first cabinet reshuffle. Former trade policy minister Mr Hands, MP for Chelsea and Fulham, takes over the role that will involve leading the Tories through the next election, which polls suggest they could lose to

Liz Truss has said she would never want to be prime minister again but “doesn’t regret” her time in Downing Street. In an interview with The Spectator, the former PM ruled out a future bid at the top job after her tumultuous 44 days in the position last year. Asked whether she would want to

Widespread NHS strikes are “a badge of shame for the government”, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The Labour leader made the comment as tens of thousands of NHS staff – including nurses and ambulance workers – staged the biggest walkout in the organisation’s history in England and Wales. Unions are demanding pay rises amid the

A nursing union leader is calling on the prime minister to intervene as the biggest NHS walkout in history gets under way. Royal College of Nursing’s director for England, Patricia Marquis, told Sky News that so far there has been no “direct contact” with Rishi Sunak despite four previous strike days. “It’s a cry out

Grant Shapps has said Liz Truss had the right priorities but failed as she did not try to deal with the “big structural issues” first. The business secretary said he agreed the UK should have a low-tax economy, as the short-lived prime minister advocated, but inflation and debt needed to be dealt with first. He

Former prime minister Liz Truss has said she was never given a “realistic chance” to implement her radical tax-cutting agenda and blamed what she called a “powerful economic establishment” for removing her from Downing Street. In her first detailed comments since she was ousted from Number 10, Ms Truss said she had not appreciated the

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab should be suspended while he is investigated over bullying allegations, a former Conservative chairman has said. Mr Raab, who is also the justice secretary, is the subject of an inquiry after several civil servants made complaints, which Sir Jake Berry believes is enough for him to step aside from his

The prime minister is looking to ban people arriving in the UK via small boats from appealing against deportation, Sky News understands. Rishi Sunak has made stopping Channel migrant crossings one of his five priorities in office, promising to introduce new laws to “make sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are

“It’s not who you are but who you know” is a saying often used to explain why those with family connections to successful people seem to have a head start doing well in the next generation. In the US this phenomenon has led Gen Z to coin a new tag “nepo babies” as they list