Boris Johnson news – live: Only 15% of people believe PM fully ‘got Brexit done’, poll finds as Trump ‘livid over Huawei decision’
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson is struggling to convince the public Brexit is over, as a new poll shows only 15 per cent of people believe he has fully fulfilled his promise to “get Brexit done”.
It comes as the Mr Johnson faces a cronyism row by preparing to give a peerage to billionaire Brexit backer and Tory party donor Peter Cruddas. One of the City’s richest people, he is reportedly on No 10’s list of nominees for the controversial dissolution honours.
Meanwhile Donald Trump blasted Mr Johnson with “apoplectic” rage during a heated phone call – turning “livid” over the decision to allow Huawei into Britain’s 5G network, according to a report.
‘Don’t keep on someone you don’t think is very good’: PM prepares for reshuffle
Boris Johnson is holding his reshuffle ahead of Valentine’s Day on 13 February, with No 10 apparently worried about the impact of getting rid of too many female ministers at once.
Business secretary Andrea Leadsom and work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey among those said to be at risk of the chop.
Our correspondent Ashley Cowburn has taken a look at what to expect next week. Lance Price, a former deputy comms director under Tony Blair tells him: “If you keep on somebody that you don’t think is very good … don’t ever do that,” he adds.
‘Collective failure’: Scottish Tory leader blasts SNP over Mackay scandal
Jackson Carlaw claimed there had been “collective failure of leadership” from Nicola Sturgeon and SNP business convener Kirsten Oswald over the Derek Mackay scandal.
On Friday, a report in the Daily Record said SNP activist Shaun Cameron, 25, claimed to have been sent dozens of unwanted messages by Mackay over a period of four years. It follows his resignation as finance minister came after The Scottish Sun reported he had sent 270 messages to a 16-year-old boy he befriended on Facebook and Instagram.
The interim Scottish Tory leader said: “Nicola Sturgeon, when asked yesterday in the Scottish parliament if she had sought assurances from Derek Mackay that the story reported was an isolated incident, replied merely that she was unaware of any other potential victims.
“It is now clear that no such assurances were sought from Mr Mackay by the first minister, given there are other people coming forward.
“From the start, it seems the SNP Government has been more interested in protecting its own reputation than in the welfare of potential and actual victims.”
Derek Mackay and Nicola Sturgeon in 2016 (Reuters)
PM enjoys poll bounce – but only 15 per cent think he’s completely ‘got Brexit done’
New Ipsos MORI polling shows Boris Johnson enjoying a post-election, post-Brexit honeymoon with the public. But there’s a string in the tail – most people believe there’s more work to be done to fully “get Brexit done”.
Some 47 per cent say they are satisfied with the PM doing his job – an increase of 11 points since December.
Less than a third of the electorate – 29 per cent – think the PM has at least “mostly” fulfilled his promise to get Brexit done, and only 15 per cent say he’s fulfilled it completely.
More than a third – 36 per cent – say he has “to some extent” fulfilled his promise. While 9 per cent say he has hardly fulfilled the promise, another 8 per cent say he has not fulfilled it at all.
Liz Truss cleared over breaches of ban on UK arms sales
An internal inquiry into breaches of the ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia linked to the Yemen conflict has cleared ministers of personal responsibility.
International trade secretary Liz Truss had faced calls to resign. But the report blames “shortcomings in the processes” for overseeing weapons licences.
Last June, the Court of Appeal ruled it was unlawful for the UK to sanction arms exports without assessing whether the war being waged by a Saudi-led coalition had broken international law – and ordered a freeze on sales
Three months later, Truss was forced into two Commons appearances to admit the “inadvertent” breach blunders.
More details here:
Tory MP calls for an end to season of ‘BBC-bashing’
Damian Green, chair of the Tories’ “one nation” caucus, has issued a strong defence of the BBC on the ConservativeHome website.
“We have clearly entered another season of BBC-bashing, and this one seems particularly ill-timed,” he wrote. “If Conservatives are to be held as a truly One Nation party, an essential part of that is a belief in the enduring value of Britain’s national institutions.
“You can find the BBC at times enraging, arrogant and extravagant. But a weaker BBC would mean a weaker British culture – and no Conservative can seriously want that.”
BBC headquarters (AP)
Tory MP defends giving reference to activist jailed over Yvette Cooper threat
A Conservative MP has defended giving a character reference to an activist who went on to be jailed for sending a message claiming he would pay “crackheads” to harm Labour’s Yvette Cooper.
Former Tory council candidate Joshua Spencer was sentenced to nine weeks’ imprisonment and handed a 10-year restraining order at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The 25-year-old constituent of the senior Labour MP wrote in April that he was working to get Cooper “hurt” over her opposition to a no-deal Brexit, The Guardian reported.
Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns released a statement insisting she stands by her decision to give the reference read in court. “I have known Joshua for a number of years. I stand by my decision to have given him a personal reference,” the MP for Morley and Outwood said.
“Josh has bipolar and had mental health issues since his father’s suicide in 2015 and I was, and remain, concerned about his emotional and mental well-being and wanted to make absolutely sure it was taken into consideration as part of the judicial process.
“I will be seeking assurances that he will get the support he clearly needs as part of his rehabilitation.”
Cooper has tweeted about the sentencing: “There’s been something very sad as well as very grim about having to deal with this. Politics should be better than this. All of us from PMs/party leaders to MPs to local candidates and activists have a responsibility to make it so.”
Rosena Allin-Khan and Dawn Butler come out top in poll of Labour deputy leadership candidates
Survation has some new polling today on Labour’s candidates for deputy leader which has found the party’s two BAME candidates performed most favourably with members of the public.
After respondents were shown video clips of the MPs, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan was the candidate who was most often described as “normal” (77 per cent), “in-touch with ordinary people” (70 per cent) and “intelligent” (69 per cent).
Meanwhile, Dawn Butler was the candidate who was most often described as “charismatic” (60 per cent) and “trustworthy” (47 per cent).
Ms Butler also came joint-top for the description of “tough” (46 per cent) with Ian Murray, Labour’s only MP in Scotland.
When it came to which candidates were most likely to make respondents vote for Labour in the next general election, Ms Butler and Dr Allin-Khan came in first and second place respectively.
The full data for the poll can be found here.
Suicides of welfare claimants ‘could be far high than number investigated by DWP’
The 69 suicides of welfare claimants which have been investigated by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) may not represent the true scale of such deaths, a watchdog has warned.
“It is highly unlikely that the 69 cases the Department has investigated represents the number of cases it could have investigated in the past six years,” a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) said.
A failure to keep a robust record of investigations in the past, and now failing to give clear guidance on when investigations should be launched, were highlighted as potential issues by the NAO.
Only nine internal process reviews (IPRs) arose from communications with coroners, 19 were prompted by media reports while others were triggered by claimants' families.
“The department has only recently taken a more proactive approach to conducting IPRs into suicides of benefits claimants,” the report said.
“This is partly a result of investigating more cases where information received from the media was the trigger.”
A DWP spokesperson said the department was taking the findings “extremely seriously”.
“We are urgently working to drive forward improvements and learn the lessons from these tragic cases,” they added.
“We will now carefully consider the NAO's findings as part of our ongoing work.”
Additional reporting by PA
‘We’ll see’: US VP casts doubt on trade deal with UK over Huawei decision
Mike Pence, the US vice president, has suggested the UK’s decision to let the Chinese technology company Huawei have a limited role in its 5G network could be an issue for a post-Brexit trade deal between the two traditional allies.
In an interview with CNBC, Mr Pence was asked if the UK’s use of Huawei was a possible deal breaker in future trade negotiations.
He replied: “We’ll see.”
Donald Trump was reportedly “apoplectic” in a phone call with Boris Johnson over the prime minister's decision on the Chinese firm.
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