Boris Johnson news: PM accused of ‘spectacular’ failure on climate change, as David Cameron rejects summit role offer
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Boris Johnson has been accused of “failing so spectacularly to measure up to the scale of the climate crisis” by Jeremy Corbyn amid confusion over the UK’s preparations for the crucial COP26 climate summit.
Former PM David Cameron turned down an offer to head up the summit after Claire Perry O’Neill was sacked last week, leaving no-one in charge of the gathering in Glasgow. Mr Corbyn suggested ex-Labour leader Ed Miliband would be “suitable”.
Elsewhere, culture secretary Baroness Morgan has denied a review into licence fee evasion was an “attack on the BBC”. And Labour’s Diane Abbott has been criticised for claiming former speaker John Bercow’s alleged bullying of an ex-military officer was “unlikely”.
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BBC ‘could end up like Blockbuster’, says culture secretary
Nicky Morgan has begun her speech on the BBC license fee at the Policy Exchange think tank with a warning.
She said she did not want the public broadcaster “ending up like Blockbuster” – an irrelevance in the 21st century.
The culture secretary the licence fee will remain in place until the end of the charter period in 2027 – but suggested the BBC could be funded some other way thereafter.
Baroness Morgan said the government was “open-minded” about the potential funding arrangement.
Culture secretary clashes with former BBC director-general, as she denies ‘attack’ on the broadcaster
Nicky Morgan has denied that a government consultation on evasion of the licence fee should be seen as “any kind of attack on the BBC” as she answered questions at the Policy Exchange event.
Lord Birt, the broadcaster’s former director general, stood up at and said the idea of mid-charter review would be “seen an attack on the BBC” since it was “pretty much unprecedented” to do it any more than once a decade.
Baroness Morgan explained the consultation means the public be asked for their views on whether criminal sanctions for the non-payment of the licence fee should be replaced by an alternative enforcement scheme.
Parts of health service ‘financially unstable’, says NAO
Parts of the NHS have been made “seriously financially unstable” by short-term fixes, watchdogs have stated.
The National Audit Office (NAO) said extra money brought in by government to stabilise the finances of individual NHS bodies has not been fully effective.
The study found the health service was treating more patients, but has failed to achieve “the fundamental transformation in services and finance regime needed to meet rising demand”.
It added: “Short-term fixes have made some parts of the NHS seriously financially unstable.”
The financial watchdog said that NHS provider trusts reported a combined deficit of £827m.
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Boris Johnson accused of 'lack of leadership' over climate change
Both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn pay tribute to the bravery of police, security services and emergency services after the Streatham terror attack on Sunday.
Britain's place in the world is at a crossroads after Brexit, Corbyn says, and nothing is more crucial than climate change. He quotes sacked minister Claire O'Neill, who accused the PM of a 'lack of leadership' on the upcoming COP26 climate conference.
Johnson says his accusations are 'nothing but hot air'.
Corbyn says both David Cameron and William Hague turned down the job of heading up COP26. Does other Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith want a chance, he jokes. Why is the PM failing to measure up to spectacularly to the challenge of climate change?
Johnson dismisses the accusations as 'beyond satire' and says the UK has ambitious targets for meeting net zero.
Corbyn says Johnson cut the number of climate attachés in embassies when he was foreign secretary. He says until 2015 Johnson denied climate science.
PM says Corbyn wants to prevent people having foreign holidays.
Boris Johnson claims 'I'm a journalist, I love journalists' despite row with political correspondents
Jeremy Corbyn accuses the PM of shutting newspapers out of No 10. The prime minister hit back, saying: "I'm a journalist, I love journalism".
It comes after a row between No10 and the parliamentary lobby over attempts to bar selected publications from briefings.
PM accused of impersonating Donald Trump
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford says the PM has "sacked an official [Claire O’Neill from COP26], taken an isolationist approach to trade and banned the press from No10 briefing. Is he intentionally trying to impersonate Donald Trump?"
Johnson says his speech on Monday was internationalist. There is only one party here with nationalist in its name - the SNP.
Blackford says Johnson does not even know the name of his party (which is the Scottish National party, not Scottish Nationalist party.)
He then turns to the NHS and asks if Johnson will support the SNP’s NHS protection bill.
But the PM accuses the SNP of wanting to rejoin the EU, put up a border at Berwick, and give up control of fishing waters.
Labour MP raises deportations of Caribbean nationals
Nadia Whittome, the youngest MP in the Commons, raised the case of dozens of Caribbean nationals, who are set to be deported on the first charter flight to Jamaica since the Windrush scandal erupted.
First revealed by The Independent, around 50 people are set to be removed to the island in the coming days, in what campaigners say is a “slap in the face” for Britain’s Caribbean community following the revelation last April that many among them had been wrongly detained and deported.
A number of men currently detained in Harmondsworth immigration centre told The Independent they had been told by staff that they will be placed on a flight to Jamaica on 6 February. A Home Office spokesperson confirmed that a charter flight would be departing in the “coming weeks”.
Tory MPs continue to criticise Huawei decision
Ex-Tory cabinet ministers Damian Green and David Davis both raise the decision to allow Chinese firm Huawei to build part of the 5G network. While the PM gave the move the green light, the opposition on his own benches is clearly not going away.
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