Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer clashed in fierce exchanges on Wednesday at the last Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) before the start of the summer recess.
The pair largely spoke about issues relating to national security following the release of the Russia report on Tuesday, with the Labour leader accusing the prime minister of failing to answer his question about why the government sat on the study for 10 months.
In response to criticism aimed at the government over its handling of the report, Downing Street announced on Wednesday afternoon that it would modernise existing offences included under legislation such as the Espionage Act and would consider bringing in new powers.
Catch-up: PM acccused of giving green light to Moscow meddling
Boris Johnson has been accused of giving the Kremlin the green light to meddle in UK politics after throwing out the recommendations of a long-suppressed report which found it is “the new normal”, writes Rob Merrick.
Security experts, campaigners and politicians united in criticism after the Russia report’s findings – including of “potential” interference in the Brexit referendum – were dismissed within hours.
The government refused to hold an investigation into the 2016 vote, while also rejecting warnings of dirty Russian money and power infiltrating the “London laundromat” and the House of Lords.
Boris Johnson accused of giving Kremlin green light to meddle in UK politics
The Independent‘We have identified the problem, we now need to fix it. If we don’t fix it, they will do more of it’Labour accuses government of “chronic failure of strategic leadership’ over Russia report
Labour has accused the government of failing to protect British democracy from the security threat posed by Russia following the release of the Russia report.
On Tuesday, shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy tweeted that the report showed the government had "underestimated the response required to Russia".
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, said that the government took no action because of a “chronic failure of strategic leadership”.
"There was no single minister, no single Government department responsible for the protection of our democracy and our democratic discourse and that absolutely has to change,” he added.
The Labour MP said the government should adopt the recommendations of the ISC report.
‘No secret’ that UK has “issues” with Russia and China, minister says
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has told Sky News that it is “no secret” that the UK has “issues” with Russia and China.
He gave Russia a message to “play by the international rule book and everybody can get on well”.
Mr Shapps added that the same applies to China's actions in Hong Kong, after Beijing imposed a controversial new security law on the city last month.
The minister added that it is “right and proportionate” for the UK government to review its extradition treaty with Hong Kong as a result of the new law.
Maitlis calls Tory MP out for blaming media over Brexit and Russia report
The BBC journalist Emily Maitlis has clashed with a Tory MP after he blamed the media for “rehashing the stale debate” about the Brexit referendum , writes Adam Forrest.
Bob Seely MP, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, made his comments following the release of a report into possible Russian interference in the Brexit referendum and other votes in the UK.
“On the debate about Brexit, I can understand why the media is going for this, but I do think this is rehashing a rather stale debate about Brexit,” the Conservative MP said.
The Newsnight host fired back: “Hang on a second … the media is not having that debate – you heard it raised by the ISC, who called for an inquiry to be opened.”
Former national security adviser calls lack of Russian investigation 'serious failure'
Lord Peter Ricketts told the Today programme that the decision not to investigate Russian influence during the Brexit referendum constituted a "serious failure".
The former national security adviser said: "Even after the revelations of the massive Russian attack on the US Democratic Party, which came a month or two after the referendum, the government of the day didn't ask for a rapid assessment of whether there had been any similar effort to hack and leak documents and try to influence the referendum campaign, and I think that was a serious failure."
The peer added that MI5 had put counter-terrorism efforts above hostile state activity for the past two decades, since the September 11 attacks were carried out in the US.
He also said he did not think the British security services needed "a lot of further powers", arguing that 'the story of the ISC report is more about using the powers they already have".
Boris Johnson could give security services greater powers
The prime minister is considering moves to give British security services extra powers after the publication of the damning Russia report, writes Kate Devlin.
This comes as the government faces growing pressure to launch an investigation into possible Russian interference in the run-up to the Brexit referendum in 2016.
Mr Johnson is likely to be heavily criticised for his handling of the issue at Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) later today.
Labour to pay 'substantial damages' to antisemitism whistleblowers
Labour will pay "substantial damages'' to seven whistleblowers over "defamatory and false allegations'' it made in a press release, writes Kate Devlin.
The party's comments came in relation to a BBC Panorama investigation into antisemitism in July 2019.
As well as apologising to the whistleblowers "for the distress, embarrassment and hurt" caused by "all allegations of bad faith, malice and lying", Labour issued an unreserved apology to John Ware, the journalist who presented the BBC programme.
Former Labour MP says apology to antisemitism whistleblowers 'long time coming'
Former Labour MP Ruth Smeeth has said the party's apology to the Panorama whistleblowers was "right" but had been a "long time coming".
Shortly after Labour gave an unreserved apology to the antisemitism whistleblowers on Wednesday, Ms Smeeth tweeted that they had been "relentlessly attacked for simply being honest".
In a follow-up message, she described them as "heroes".
After losing her seat at last year's election, Ms Smeeth described Labour as a "nasty party" because of Jeremy Corbyn's handling of anti-semitism.
UK close to abandoning post-Brexit trade deal with EU
Ministers are working on the understanding that a post-Brexit trade deal between the UK government and the EU will not be reached, a report has said.
Citing government sources, The Daily Telegraph reported that the UK will most likely fail to sign a deal with the EU, adding that the government expects to be trading on World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms when the transition period finishes.
This comes only a few days before Boris Johnson's July deadline for an outline of the deal.
The UK and US agree to end 'anomaly' of diplomatic immunity agreements
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said on Wednesday that the UK and the US have agreed to change their arrangements over diplomatic immunity, following the death of motorcyclist Harry Dunn near RAF Croughton in August 2019.
Dunn's alleged killer Anne Sacoolas, who is thought to have driven into the 19-year-old while she was on the wrong side of the road, was able to claim diplomatic immunity as the wife of a US staff member at the Croughton Annex.
Mr Raab said the "anomaly" would end, allowing family members of US staff to face criminal prosecution.
Charlotte Charles, the mother of Harry Dunn, described Wednesday's announcement as a "huge step forward" and expressed the family's wish that it "never happen to another family again".
She added that her family would continue to call for Ms Sacoolas' return to the UK from the US, where she is currently living.
Keir Starmer asks PM 'why on earth' he sat on Russia report
The Labour leader has asked Boris Johnson "why on earth" the government did not respond to the "immediate and urgent threat" outlined in the Russian report, which it received 10 months ago but failed to publish.
Mr Starmer added that while he was the party's leader national security would always be the "top priority for Labour".
Boris Johnson says Labour leader 'parroted' Kremlin
The prime minister has responded to criticism over the government's failure to act on the Russian report by claiming Keir Starmer had "parroted" Moscow in the past.
Mr Johnson alleged that the Labour leader had not called Russia out for the Salisbury poisonings in 2018, which targeted the former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
Mr Starmer replied by telling the prime minister to "check the record" and withdraw his comment, saying he had publicly denounced Russia's action at the time.
Leaders exchange blows in heated debate
In the last PMQs before the summer recess, Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer took it in turns to deliver withering personal attacks on each other.
The prime minister accused Mr Starmer of repeatedly changing his stance over issues like Brexit, saying he has "more flip-flops than Bournemouth beach".
The Labour leader retorted: "Pre-prepared gags on flip-flops, this is the former columnist who wrote two versions of every article he ever published".
Mr Starmer also reminded Mr Johnson that the Labour party was "under new management".
In fierce Commons clashes, the prime minister said it was "absolutely absurd" to suggest that his government was slow to counter the threat posed by Russia.
Turning on Keir Starmer, he said: “These criticisms are motivated by a desire to undermine the referendum on the European Union that took place in 2016.”
SNP says majority of people in Scotland oppose UK government measures
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader in the House of Commons, has struck out at measures brought forward by Boris Johnson's government.
Mr Blackford said the overwhelming majority in Scotland opposed the UK government.
"Scotland's powers grabbed by Westminster, workers' rights attacked, the rape clause and the bedroom tax, our NHS up for sale. The overwhelming majority in Scotland's parliament, its MPs and its people, oppose all these measures," he said.
Tory MP raises issue of obesity
Caroline Nokes, the Conservative chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, raised the topic of obesity during PMQs.
She said the prime minister "knows better than most that Covid has an unequal impact on the BAME community, on the elderly, on men and indeed on the overweight".
Ms Nokes went to ask Mr Johnson what the government was doing to prevent fat-shaming and to allow people to take control of their wellbeing, after the country's over-reliance on the "inaccurate measure" of BMI.
The prime minister said the government would announce a strategy to tackle obesity but did not give any further details.
He also said Britons were "considerably fatter than most other European nations, apart from the Maltese".
Government rejects suggestion UK 'actively avoided' investigating Russia
Home Office minister James Brokenshire has told parliament that the government "categorically" rejects the claim that the UK "actively avoided" investigating Russia over the possibility it interfered with British democracy.
His comments came in response to an urgent question posed by the shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds.
In response, Mr Brokenshire said: "We recognise and have always recognised the enduring and significant threat posed by Russia, and Russia remains a top national security priority for this country."
Mr Thomas-Symonds earlier said that the government's decision to delay the publication of the Russia report was "a dereliction of duty".
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has criticised his successor Keir Starmer’s decision to apologise over a Panorama investigation into antisemitism in the party.
Mr Corbyn described the decision to settle in court as “disappointing” and said it risked giving credibility to “misleading and inaccurate allegations” about Labour’s actions.
Julian Lewis, who was kicked out of the Tory party after being voted in to chair the Intelligence and Security Committee, called for a commitment that no party political special advisers will be allowed "anywhere near" the ISC.
He said: "The Russia report could not have been produced to this high standard without the dedication, the expertise and above all the objectivity of the ISC's brilliant staff, some of whom I've worked with previously.
"Yet according to the journalist, Tim Walker, some people within Government tried to sack the secretariat and make political appointments.
"Will my right honourable friend (James Brokenshire), as I still regard him, resist the temptation to fob us off with cliches about not believing everything you read in the media and give this House now a categorical commitment that no party political special advisers will be allowed anywhere the Intelligence and Security Committee?"
Mr Brokenshire responded: "He can certainly have my assurances to the weight and the support that I give to his committee. I commend the work of the previous committee that has produced this report which is subject to this urgent question.
"I'd also commend all members of the committee for the work, the robust and rigorous work, that I know that they will do during the course of this Parliament."
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