Boris Johnson news - live: Fresh Partygate fines ‘issued’ as PM warned no-confidence vote ‘inevitable’
Polling expert says party MPs will have say within months
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Your support makes all the difference.At least two Downing Street staffers have received police fines for attending a ‘bring your own booze’ event on 20 May, 2020, sources told The Independent.
This is the second event that Boris Johnson is known to have attended at which revellers have been given fixed penalty notices.
It comes as senior Conservatives have warned the prime minister that a no-confidence vote on him is now inevitable over the Partygate scandal, with one warning the mood had “turned against him”.
Tory peer Lord Hayward, the party’s influential polling expert, predicted a vote within months, and former defence minister Tobias Ellwood said a ballot on Boris Johnson’s future was a matter of “when not if”.
Polling guru Sir John Curtice says Partygate is set to be a major problem for the Tories at the May local elections, after MPs voted for the Privileges Committee to investigate whether the prime minister misled Parliament.
‘More Metropolitan Police Partygate fines received,’ reports say
More Partygate fines have been received by Downing Street staff, ITV’s deputy political editor has reported.
It comes after the Metropolitan Police said it would not be updating its investigation into the parties until after the local elections next month.
“Hearing that police fines are landing into people’s inboxes relating to the garden event on May 20th 2020 - the BYOB event - that Boris Johnson did go to. Met police say they won’t update until end of election period,” ITV deputy political editor Anushka Asthana wrote on Twitter on Friday.
EU parliament votes to mandate one standard charger for all phones
An EU plan to force phone manufacturers to use one common standard charger has moved a step closer after it was approved by the European Parliament this week.
The European Union hopes that mandating USB-C ports on all smartphones will cut waste, make devices more interoperable, and promote consumer competition.
MEPs on the parliament’s influential Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection adopted the position on Wednesday by 43 votes in favour and two against, with support from the parliament’s main political groups.
Our policy correspondent, Jon Stone, has the full story below:
EU parliament votes to mandate one standard charger for all phones
Proprietary cables could soon be a thing of the past as European Union pushes for standardisation
Reaction to reports of more Metropolitan Police Covid fines
According to reports more staff involved in Downing Street Covid parties have received Covid fines while the Metropolitan Police confirmed it will not provide updates on the investigation until after the local elections next month.
The Mail on Sunday’s deputy political editor, Anna Mikhailova added that Boris Johnson told members of the 1922 committee that the 20 May 2020 'BYOB' garden drinks was a work event.
NEW: Downing Street staff receive fresh Covid fines, according to reports
At least two Downing Street staffers have received police fines for attending a ‘bring your own booze’ event on 20 May, 2020, sources told The Independent.
This is the second event which the prime minister is known to have attended at which revellers have been given fixed penalty notices.
In January Boris Johnson admitted he attended the event which took place when the nation was in lockdown, however he claimed he believed it was a work event. Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, is said to have invited up to 100 people to the “socially distanced” evening drinks.
Read the full story below:
Fresh partygate fines issued over lockdown event Boris Johnson attended, sources say
The fines are reportedly related to a 20 May 2020 ‘bring your own booze’ lockdown event
NEW: Downing Street confirms Boris Johnson has not yet been issued with another Covid fine
The prime minister has not yet been issued with a fine over a No 10 lockdown drinks party, amid reports that police have started dishing out fixed-penalty notices in relation to the event.
Security guarantees will make Ukraine ‘impregnable’ to Russian attack, Boris Johnson says
Western allies are preparing to offer Ukraine a series of "security guarantees" which should make the country "impregnable" to a future Russian invasion, Boris Johnson has said.
The prime minister said it is essential to step up immediate military support to Kyiv, as he warned there is a "realistic possibility" that the conflict could drag on for a "long period".
He said Britain is looking to send tanks to "backfill" in Poland so Soviet-era T-72s - with which Ukrainian crews are familiar - can be released to the government in Kyiv.
A defence source said sending Challenger 2 battle tanks to Poland was being "looked at".
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) later confirmed that Britain is "exploring" sending the tanks to Poland, tweeting: "While no decisions have been taken, these would be deployed on a short-term basis and operated by UK personnel to bridge the gap between Poland donating tanks to Ukraine and replacements arriving."
Partygate: Timeline of government gatherings as more fines issued
Boris Johnson is under intense pressure over Partygate again, after sources claim Downing Street staff have been hit by fresh Covid fines over a lockdown event on 20 May 2020.
Scotland Yard announced more than 50 fines for government staff members over law-breaking events held at Downing Street and Whitehall during the Covid pandemic.
Having initially said in December he was “sickened” at the idea of No 10 staff flouting rules, Mr Johnson found himself forced to admit that he too had attended an event on 20 May 2020.
Read the full timeline of events below:
Partygate: Timeline of government gatherings as more fines issued
Downing Street: Timeline of alleged gatherings across government during Covid restrictions
ICYMI: PM promises Rishi Sunak ‘will still be Chancellor in the autumn’
Boris Johnson has promised that Rishi Sunak will still be Chancellor in the autumn, but refused to guarantee a job for Home Secretary Priti Patel.
The prime minister did not rule out carrying out a reshuffle of his Cabinet in June, as he battles to remain in No 10 after being fined over breaching his coronavirus laws.
He gave a clear guarantee that Mr Sunak, who was also fined over the 56th birthday party for the Prime Minister, would still be in the Treasury come the autumn.
Read the full report below:
PM promises Rishi Sunak ‘will still be Chancellor in the autumn’
The Prime Minister did not rule out carrying out a reshuffle of his Cabinet in June.
Russian captors tell mum of captured British soldier to ‘press Boris Johnson for a swap deal’
The mum of captured British soldier Aiden Aslin has spoken with her son for the first time since his capture in Mariupol with captors telling her to "press Boris Johnson for a swap deal".
Ang Wood said she was called by the Russian captors telling her to be available for a video call over Facebook messenger on Thursday morning.
It was pushed back and back, leading her to believe it had been a cruel hoax before it came through at lunchtime as a phone call instead.
She said they pressed Aiden, 28, to tell her to personally pressure the Prime Minister for him to be freed in exchange for pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk.
Voices | We’ve reached the moment when many Tories will no longer defend Boris Johnson
“Politics has taught me one thing,” Boris Johnson said during his visit to India, “which is you’re better off talking and focusing on the things that matter, the things that make a real difference to the electorate and not about politicians themselves.” He also said investigations into Partygate should not “go on and on and on”.
Thankfully, MPs drew a different lesson from the controversy, which eclipsed the prime minister’s visit. They realised they did need to talk about themselves – or, at least, the PM’s conduct – and rightly insisted on a Commons inquiry into whether Johnson misled parliament over Downing Street parties during lockdown.
Read the full Voices pieces by Andrew Grice below:
We’ve reached the moment when many Tories will no longer defend the PM | Andrew Grice
Parliament’s whole purpose of holding the government to account rests on ministers telling the truth, writes Andrew Grice
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