UK politics live: Boris Johnson calls for referendum on UK’s ECHR membership
Ex-prime minister also brands Rishi Sunak’s ideas ‘zany’ and blames him for election drubbing
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Britain should hold a referendum on its membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, Boris Johnson has said.
The ex-prime minister told The Daily Telegraph there was a strong case to give voters a say on the ECHR, which critics say prevents Britain from having full control of immigration.
Mr Johnson suggested the ECHR did not “provide people with protections that they wouldn’t otherwise have”.
The UK’s membership is a key Tory leadership issue with Robert Jenrick saying the party must back an exit to survive. Earlier this week he also said he was open to Mr Johnson being in his shadow cabinet.
Mr Johnson’s comments come ahead of the publication of his memoir, Unleashed, in which he brands Rishi Sunak’s ideas in government as “zany” and laid the blame for the drubbing suffered by the Tories at this year’s general election at his feet.
He also writes that he regrets not sacking then-political adviser Dominic Cummings over the Barnard Castle row, dismissing the furore as “lefty journalists angry over Brexit”.
Mr Johnson will be questioned about the revelations in his memoir during an appearance on ITV set to air on Friday evening.
The BBC was forced to cancel its interview with him after presenter Laura Kuenssberg accidentally sent the former prime minister her briefing notes.
Chagossians ‘deplore’ UK-Mauritius deal for being excluded from negotiations
Chagos islanders have criticised Labour’s deal to return most territory of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending a long-standing dispute.
They have slammed the governments for being “excluded” from the negotiating table during the deal.
In a statement, Chagossian Voices said: “[We] deplore the exclusion of the Chagossian community from the negotiations which have produced this statement of intent concerning the sovereignty of our homeland.
“Chagossians have learned this outcome from the media and remain powerless and voiceless in determining our own future and the future of our homeland.
“The views of Chagossians, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, have been consistently and deliberately ignored and we demand full inclusion in the drafting of the treaty.”
Britain treated Chagossians ‘shamefully’, says envoy
The envoy behind the Chagos Islands-Mauritius deal has said Chagossians were treated “shamefully” when they were removed from the islands in the 1960s.
Jonathan Powell told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “What we did in the 60s, what Britain did, was wrong. We treated them shamefully.
“And that’s why previous governments have given them British nationality, British citizenship, and so on.
“So we setting up a fund that will be administered by the Mauritian government because this is now Mauritian territory, so we can’t say who goes back.”
But under the deal, Chagossians are not able to return to Diego Garcia, the UK-US military base in the Pacific Ocean.
He added: “Many of Chagossians are either Mauritian citizens or have the right to Mauritian citizenship.
“Going back to the islands … it’s going to be difficult. They’re very remote and very hard to live on, and the life there before was very difficult.
“But yes, we are committing ourselves to help on visits, and we’re committing to a fund to help on resettlement if that’s possible.”
We inherited ‘legal car crash’ with Chagos Islands
A Labour source has hit back at the Tories’ after the fierce criticism from leadership candidates over the government’s decision to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
They said: “Labour inherited a legal car crash that could have left this vital military base in the hands of the court, damaging the UK and the US’ national security.”
In 2021, the Conservative government was urged to end its “unlawful occupation” of the Chagos Islands by the prime minister of Mauritius after Britain’s claim to sovereignty was rejected by the UN court.
But the Foreign Office argued it had not been party of the court proceedings so it was under no obligation to comply with the ruling.
The UK then underwent a long period of negotiations with Mauritius to settle the issue.
The source added: “James Cleverly and the Tories tried and failed in 11 rounds of negotiations, putting our national security interests at risk.
“The new government did the deal to secure the base and shut off a potential illegal migration route.
“You wouldn’t get the US President applauding the deal if it put US interests at risk.”
COMMENT | Laura Kuenssberg’s Boris Johnson gaffe was bad – but these are worse
The BBC presenter accidentally sent the former PM her notes: cue, cancelled interview. And Ryan Coogan has a few confessions of his own…
Laura Kuenssberg’s Boris Johnson gaffe was bad – but these are even worse
The BBC presenter accidentally sent the former PM her notes: cue, cancelled interview. And Ryan Coogan has a few confessions of his own…
ICYMI: Boris Johnson regrets not sacking ‘homicidal robot’ Dominic Cummings over Barnard Castle debacle
Boris Johnson has branded his former chief of staff Dominic Cummings as “weird” and compared him to a “homicidal robot” as he blamed him for his downfall as prime minister.
In his new autobiography Unleashed, the Mr Johnson charted the collapse of his relationship with Cummings from the high point of them working to win the EU referendum in 2016.
But he has alleged that Cummings lack of gratitude for his efforts to defend him over potentially breaking lockdown rules with an infamous trip to Barnard Castle in 2020 led to the former chief of staff using Partygate as a form of revenge.
Our political editor David Maddox has the full story below:
Boris regrets not sacking ‘homicidal robot’ Cummings over Barnard Castle debacle
Boris Johnson had a blazing row with one of his closest former advisers over not sacking Cummings over alleged lockdown breaches and claims after that things got ‘weirder’
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Chagos Islands envoy brands Tory criticism ‘silly’ and ‘ludicrous'
Jonathan Powell, who was appointed only a month ago, has been at the forefront of the Chagos Islands’ negotiations.
The former Tony Blair’s chief of staff was also a key figure in negotiating the Good Friday agreement.
Mr Powell said the securing the deal was “genuinely historic” and he had negotiated “intensively”.
Asked about the criticism from Tory leadership candidates on the deal, he said: “I do think these comments from the Tory leadership candidates are a bit silly.
“James Cleverly was leading these negotiations not that many months ago with the Mauritian government [when he was foreign secretary].”
He added: “What this government has done has been able to conclude it, because that government managed to lose the trust of the Mauritian government during the process.
“So for the people who were involved in that negotiation to start criticising the outcome of something they couldn’t achieve is absolutely ludicrous.”
Nigel Farage says ‘giving up Chagos Islands is strategic disaster’
The Reform UK leader told The Telegraph: “Giving up the Chagos Islands is a strategic disaster.
“Our American allies will be furious and Beijing delighted. Labour are making the world a more dangerous place.”
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