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.
Nicola Sturgeon accused of ‘failure of leadership’ over Mackay scandal
Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of a failure of leadership over the resignation of Derek Mackay, the Scottish finance secretary, who resigned over reports that he had sent 270 messages to a 16-year-old boy.
Mr Mackay, who has now been suspended from the SNP pending investigation, quit as finance secretary on Thursday morning, hours before he was due to deliver the Scottish Budget to Holyrood.
It has been reported that the MSP called the boy “cute” and offered to take him out to dinner.
Interim Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw has claimed there has been a “collective failure of leadership” from Ms Sturgeon, the first minister, and SNP business convener Kirsten Oswald after the story emerged.
“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,” Mr Carlaw said.
Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of a failure of leadership over the resignation of Derek Mackay, the Scottish finance secretary, who resigned over reports that he had sent 270 messages to a 16-year-old boy.
Mr Mackay, who has now been suspended from the SNP pending investigation, quit as finance secretary on Thursday morning, hours before he was due to deliver the Scottish Budget to Holyrood.
It has been reported that the MSP called the boy “cute” and offered to take him out to dinner.
Interim Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw has claimed there has been a “collective failure of leadership” from Ms Sturgeon, the first minister, and SNP business convener Kirsten Oswald after the story emerged.
“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,” Mr Carlaw said.
“It is now clear that no such assurances were sought from Mr Mackay by the first minister, given there are other people coming forward.”
He added: “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.”
Mr Mackay accepted in his resignation statement that he had “behaved foolishly” and apologised unreservedly to the teenage boy and his family.
“I take full responsibility for my actions. I have behaved foolishly and I am truly sorry,” he said.
Ms Sturgeon said the MSP had recognised that his conduct was “unacceptable and falls seriously below the standard required of a minister.”
An SNP spokesperson said: “Derek Mackay has been suspended from both the parliamentary group and the party while further investigation takes place.
“In the interests of due process, no further comment will be made.”
Additional reporting by PA
Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more details on the Huawei story below:
‘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.
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
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.
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.”
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.”
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 minister cleared over breaches of ban on Saudi arms sales linked to Yemen war
Internal report blames ‘shortcomings’ in processes set up – and warns of ‘potential’ for further violations of court-ordered freezePM 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.
‘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.”
‘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.
What to expect from Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle
Nervous ministers will be waiting to find out who’s up, down and out next weekTory MP gives thumbs-up to French conspiracy theorists
A Conservative MP has endorsed a conspiracist group on the fringes of French politics.
Andrea Jenkyns approvingly shared an article in TheDaily Express celebrating the Union Populaire Républicaine’s campaign for France to leave the EU, and asked “Is Frexit next?” before posting a thumbs-up emoji.
The Union Populaire Républicaine is a hard-right outfit founded in 2007 by conspiracy theorist politician François Asselineau. He has claimed that the hand of the CIA can be seen in the founding of the common market and that its founding fathers like Robert Schuman were likely CIA agents.
It follows criticism of another Tory MP, Daniel Kawczynski, for speaking at a conference of far-right parties in Rome earlier this week.
Our Europe correspondent Jon Stone has the details:
Tory links to far-right in spotlight as MP gives thumbs-up to French conspiracy theorists
Andrea Jenkyns celebrates campaign by Union Populaire Républicaine whose leader believes Front National was founded by CIAEverything you need to know about the election in Ireland
Ireland heads to the polls at the weekend for what looks like a fascinating election. The Independent's Ben Kelly has all the details on what to look out for - and is running our liveblog here.
No 10 declines to comment on claims on angry phone call between PM and Trump
Asked whether the new US ambassador’s first job would be to smooth relations with the White House following Donald Trump’s reportedly “apoplectic” response to Mr Johnson’s decision to allow Huawei a role in the UK’s 5G network, a No 10 spokesman said: “The UK has an excellent relationship with the US and I think Dame Karen’s ability as a diplomat is proven by her career.”
The spokesman declined to comment on reports that Trump slammed down the phone on his conversation with Johnson, instead referring reporters to Downing Street’s official account of the call, which made no mention of any disagreement.
New ambassador to US will ‘drive forward’ special relationship, says PM
Boris Johnson said Dame Karen Pierce was “an outstanding and accomplished diplomat” and said she would “drive forward our hugely important relationship with the United States at this time”.
Her appointment comes amid reports that the president was “apoplectic” at Johnson’s decision last week to give Huawei a role in building the UK's 5G network.
The Financial Times reported that British officials were taken aback by the force of Trump’s language when the Prime Minister telephoned to explain the move.
PM chats with Rebekah Brooks – and surprises his dad by turning up at awards
Boris Johnson was joined by celebrities and members of the armed forces at The Sun’s awards ceremony recognising the contributions of the British military last night.
His father Stanley Johnson said he was “delighted” that his son would be joining him at the event, after initially having “no idea” that the PM would be attending.
Johnson was also spotted speaking to News UK chief executive Rebekah Brooks.
‘British politics is more corrupt than many like to think’
More reaction to the possible peerage for billionaire Tory donor and Brexit-backer Peter Cruddas.
Boris Johnson is understood to have nominated the former Tory party treasurer – despite the fact he quit the role in 2012 after cash-for-access allegations (it was alleged by The Sunday Times he had offered access to the-PM David Cameron).
Labour peer Andrew Adonis said: “Johnson is packing the Lords with Tories”, while columnist Ian Birrell commented: “British politics is more corrupt than many like to think.”
UK sending ‘outstanding diplomat’ to US, says Dominic Raab
Reacting to appointment of Dame Karen Pierce as Britain’s new Washington envoy, the foreign secretary said: “We’re proud to be sending to Washington such an outstanding diplomat, and I warmly congratulate her on her appointment.”
PM appoints UK’s first ever female ambassador to Washington
Boris Johnson has announced Sir Kim Darroch successor as the UK’s ambassador in Washington.
Dame Karen Pierce – currently ambassador to the United Nations – will become the country’s first ever female ambassador to the US.
Downing Street described Pierce as “one of the UK’s most experienced senior diplomats”.
A spokesperson said: “The prime minister is clear that she is an outstanding and accomplished diplomat and he is delighted that she will be representing us in Washington.”
Dame Karen will take up her post once her appointment has been formally agreed by Washington.
Women get more scrutiny over appearance than men, says Rebecca Long-Bailey
The Labour leadership candidate was on BBC Breakfast earlier and was asked about the online flak received by Tracy Brabin for her over-the-shoulder dress.
“After this morning there will be comments about what I’ve wore,” said Long-Bailey. “Some people tend to talk about my eyebrows – because I’ve got quite expressive eyebrows. And women tend to get that scrutiny far more than men.
“It’s routine for women in politics and in public life unfortunately … I don’t read it, I’m not bothered about it – but it’s not acceptable.”
Asked about how her ideas differed those put forward under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Long-Bailey said she would “add to our portfolio of policies”.
