Boris Johnson has addressed his new intake of 109 new Conservative MPs after his landslide victory, and was expected to urge them to vote for his Brexit deal so the UK can leave the EU by the end of January.
Mr Johnson’s reported plans to create a new immigration system, separate from the Home Office, has experts fearing an expansion of the “hostile environment” policy. It comes as senior Tories and more than 100 charities attack the PM’s plan to axe the department delivering Britain’s foreign aid.
The prime minister has also launched a mini-reshuffle of his cabinet, with Simon Hart appointed Welsh secretary and Nicky Morgan - who stepped down as an MP at the election - handed a life peerage to enable her to continue as culture secretary.
With Labour figures jockeying over who should succeed Jeremy Corbyn, shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald accused the BBC of “playing a part” in the party’s defeat. Emily Thornberry said she is taking legal action against Caroline Flint over the claim she called Leave voters “stupid”.
Here's how we covered the day's development as they happened:
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the post-election fall-out, as Boris Johnson assembles his new cabinet and Labour party squabbles over the leadership succession contest.
Caroline Flint claims Emily Thornberry said Labour Leave voters were ‘stupid’
The defeated candidate Caroline Flint, who lost her seat on Thursday, claimed potential Labour leadership candidate Emily Thornberry said that party supporters who voted Leave were “stupid”.
The claim was rejected as “a total and utter lie” by Thornberry. But Ms Flint told The Independent that she stood by her story.
Flint said: “I don’t believe there’s any credibility for these people. Keir Starmer led us to a policy that did not listen to Labour Leave voices who urged caution, he led us down the path of a second referendum.
“And I’m afraid Emily Thornberry did as well – she said to one of my colleagues: ‘I’m glad my constituents aren’t as stupid as yours’.”
Emily Thornberry said that Labour supporters who voted Leave were ‘stupid’, former MP claims
New Labour leader cannot be Remainer, says Caroline FlintLabour frontbencher accuses BBC of ‘playing a part’ in defeat
Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald has accused the BBC of “playing a part” in Labour’s defeat at the general election.
The BBC Radio 4 Today host Justin Webb asked McDonald about Labour’s heavy losses and whether the party’s leader played a part in that.
McDonald said: “Don’t get me started on the media Justin, I’m very worried about our public service broadcaster.”
“Are you saying that the BBC was in part responsible for Mr Corbyn’s loss?” Webb then asked.
McDonald replied: “I am saying that they played a part. I’m really worried about the drift. You’ve seen the catalogue of criticisms that we’re making.
“We’ve accepted that the print media are rained against us, but my goodness me ... if the BBC are going to hold themselves out as somehow having conducted themselves in an impartial manner I think they’ve really got to have a look in the mirror. We’ve got a lot to say about this.”
Asked if the BBC “consciously” played a part, McDonald replied, “consciously, yes.”
He added: “When you have a BBC presenter standing in front of a television camera saying ‘and Boris Johnson is on his way to a richly-deserved victory’.”
Webb said: “Oh it’s a slip of the tongue. That’s absolute madness, isn’t it?”
McDonald said: “How many slips of the tongue are we going to make until you accept it?”
PM’s ‘new immigration department’ plan could expand hostile environment, experts warn
Boris Johnson’s reported plans to create an immigration and visa system separate from the Home Office has experts fearing that the reach of the hostile environment will be expanded.
Johnson is said to be formulating proposals to create a new department for borders and immigration to improve security and the operation of the visa system after Brexit, along with a number of other “big changes” to the structure of government.
There is little detail on how this move would take effect, but lawyers and campaigners cautioned that while it had the potential to present an opportunity to make the system “fairer”, the focus was more likely to be on tightening control of the borders.
Johnson's plans to create new immigration department could expand hostile environment, experts warn
‘The culture of a department is driven partly by its aims and objects, and driving numbers down is quite clearly going to be the focus of this immigration department,’ says director of Runnymede TrustPM to address new Tory MPs on Brexit deal
Boris Johnson is to address his new intake of Tory MPs as they prepare to vote on his Brexit deal.
The PM will welcome the 109 newly-elected colleagues, many of them from former Labour areas across the north and Midlands, to the House of Commons on Monday.
Johnson will use his majority of 80 to get his Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) to implement Brexit approved so the UK can formally leave the EU by the end of January.
The PM has pledged to bring the Bill back before the Commons before Christmas but it is not yet known when MPs will begin voting on it.
Johnson is also understood to be preparing to start a minor cabinet reshuffle on Monday to fill gaps left by departures before making more radical changes in February.
Ahead of the private speech, a No 10 source said: “This election and the new generation of MPs that have resulted from Labour towns turning blue will help change our politics for the better.
“The PM has been very clear that we have a responsibility to deliver a better future for our country and that we must repay the public's trust by getting Brexit done. That’s why the first piece of legislation new MPs will vote on will be the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.”
‘Still hasn’t sunk in’: new Toy MPs arrive in Westminster
Several newly-elected Tory MPs tweeted about their early starts as they made their way to Westminster for their first day on the job.
Bury's new representative Christian Wakeford tweeted: “Reality with a bump, 5:33 train down to £Westminster not a morning person at all but couldn't be happier to be on this train.”
And Aaron Bell, now MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, tweeted a picture of himself smiling in front of the Palace of Westminster, adding: “Good morning Newcastle. A new dawn has broken, has it not?"
Jonathan Gullis, the new MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke, tweeted a picture of himself with “some of the other newbies from the Conservative Party” as they undertook training in one of parliament’s committee rooms.
“Still hasn’t sunk in,” he added.
Rebecca Long-Bailey emerges as ‘continuity Corbyn’ figure
Senior figures on the Labour left coalescing around Rebecca Long-Bailey as the candidate to take the Corbyn project forward.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said any likely contenders for the top job would be signed up to the policy programme put forward in the manifesto for this month’s election.
McDonnell said he believed that the shadow business secretary would make a “brilliant leader”, namechecking her alongside shadow cabinet leftists such as Angela Rayner, Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler.
Labour leadership race threatens party civil war as MPs fear ‘continuity Corbyn’ figure
Rebecca Long-Bailey makes early running in the succession raceGavin And Stacey star sorry for calling Kuenssberg ‘disingenuous plopcarpet’
The Gavin & Stacey actor Mathew Horne has apologised after calling for the resignation of BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg.
The morning after the election, the actor published a series of tweets, which have since been deleted, in which he referred to Kuenssberg as a “disingenuous plopcarpet” and requested that she resign.
“I really wish I loved myself as much as you, Laura,” Horne tweeted. “I think, although deeply selfish, I’d probably be happier. For a bit. Lucky you.”
Anyway, he says he’s sorry for doing that.
Gavin And Stacey star apologises for calling Laura Kuenssberg 'disingenuous plopcarpet' and demanding she resign
‘No-one wins when we scream and shout rather than talk,’ BBC political editor saidTory minister: Brexit bill is top priority
The housing secretary Robert Jenrick has said the government’s top priority is bringing back the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to parliament in order to “get Brexit done”.
“Boris Johnson wants to lead an inclusive, one-nation Conservative government that runs this country for everyone in all parts of the country and all communities,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
It’s set to be an eventful week in Westminster. The swearing-in of MPs to begin on Tuesday before the Queen formally opens parliament on Thursday when she sets out the government’s legislative programme during a slimmed-down state opening.
And the government could bring forward a second reading debate on the WAB on Friday.
Approving the WAB will not mean the Brexit saga is over. The UK will remain in the EU until at least the end of 2020 during the implementation period. This time will be used by Brussels and London to hammer out a trade deal and decide on their future relationship on subjects such as security.
‘Media filled with lies’ about Labour and antisemitism, says Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone, a man who appears to upset plenty of people every time he appears on TV, has been on TV this morning. And he has made remarks now upsetting plenty of people.
He told Good Morning Britain that “the media was filled with all these lies” that Labour was institutionally antisemitic.
The former mayor of London said: “All my Jewish friends who are in the Labour party – not a single one of them can remember in their entire time in the party an antisemitic incident.”
Failure in Northern Ireland is ‘shame on all politicians,’ says DUP leader
The ongoing failure to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland is a shame on all the region’s politicians, Arlene Foster has said.
The DUP leader urged rivals to come together to strike a deal to resurrect the devolved executive ahead of another round of talks in Belfast.
Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith will hold a round of bilateral meetings with the DUP, Sinn Fein, UUP, SDLP and Alliance Party at Stormont House on Monday morning, with a roundtable session with all the party leaders due later in the week.
Ahead of the meetings on Monday, Foster said: “It is a shame on all politicians in Northern Ireland that we have not been able to have the institutions up and running again, but we have to now.”
She told BBC Radio Ulster: “I fundamentally believe that if there’s a will there is a way, and the issues have been talked about now for three years, so there is nothing new on the table - therefore there is every chance we can come to an agreement but there has to be a willingness across the piece.
“For my part there is certainly a willingness from the Democratic Unionist Party.”
Sajid Javid claims Tories forming ‘people’s government’
The chancellor Sajid Javid declared “welcome to the people’s government” as he left 11 Downing Street clutching a ministerial red box on Monday morning.
Boris Johnson is also expected to carry out a “mini” cabinet reshuffle today, to be followed by a much bigger one in February already dubbed the “Valentine’s Day massacre”. Jacob Rees-Mogg, Liz Truss and Andrea Leadsom are all reportedly at risk.
Labour frontbencher: We can’t blame the media for defeat
Plenty of reaction to shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald’s comments about the BBC “consciously” playing a part in Labour’s election defeat.
Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, tweeted: “The media can be frustrating, and some of the tabloids at times just embarrassing, but blaming them for last Thursday is an abdication of responsibility.”
He also claimed there were “some policy areas we actually got a pretty easy ride from the media”.
The broadcaster’s head of newsgathering has also responded by pointing out some Tories say the BBC is “left leaning and irrelevant”.
‘Appetite for progressive politics still there,’ says Lib Dem frontrunner
It’s fair to say Layla Moran is one of the frontrunners to succeed Jo Swinson as Lib Dem leader.
In her latest comment piece for The Independent, Moran argues opposition parties need to stop this squabbling, and become a cooperative force to defeat the now-united right.
History will give ‘good account’ of Jeremy Corbyn, says Andy McDonald
Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald has more to say defending Jeremy Corbyn and his treatment by the BBC and political rivals.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I have never in my life known an individual so demonised and vilified, so grotesquely and so unfairly. It even came to it in the last few days of the campaign where there were posters in my locality portraying Jeremy Corbyn as a paedophile – saying, ‘Would you trust your children to this man?’
“I know him to be a good man. To see him abused in that way, I find it to be incredibly cruel.”
McDonald repeated his criticisms of the BBC, and added: “I think history will look back and give a good account of Jeremy Corbyn.”
Clive Lewis on Labour leadership contest: ‘I’m thinking about’
Labour MP Clive Lewis, who held onto his seat in Norwich South, has said he is “thinking about” standing in the looming leadership contest.
“We’ll see if I stand,” he told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme.
Lewis suggested backing a second referendum and Remain position shouldn’t rule anyone out of the contest. “I think one of the things [the new leader is] going to need to be able to do is reach out to both sides of this discussion.”
Rod Stewart told to ‘f*** off’ by Celtic fans
We reported on Saturday that Sir Rod Stewart had come under fire from supporters of his beloved club Celtic after congratulating the PM with a “well done Boris”.
On Sunday Celtic’s Green Brigade fan group unveiled two large banners directed at the singer and the Conservatives during the club’s 2-0 win over Hibernian on Sunday.
One told Sir Rod to “f**k off” while the other read: “Tories not welcome.”
Rod Stewart told to 'f*** off' by Celtic fans after he congratulated Boris Johnson
Supporters of Glasgow-based club unveil banner during match on Sunday‘She made up s*** about me’: Thornberry taking ‘legal action’ over Flint claim
Potential Labour leadership hopeful Emily Thornberry has had more to say about Caroline Flint’s claim that she had said that party supporters who voted Leave were “stupid”.
Thornberry said: “Caroline Flint was told by somebody else that I had spoken to somebody else – that person unknown and where unknown and when unknown, she still won’t tell us – that [I said] people were supposed to be stupid.
“I would never even think that let alone say it – it’s a complete lie. So I’ve said to Caroline ... withdraw it and I’ll give you to the end of the day and she refused to. So I have to go through all the hassle of instructing solicitors and that’s what we’re doing – we’re having to take legal action.”
She also said: “People can slag me off, as long as it’s true, I can take it on the chin. But they can’t make up s*** about me. And if they do, I have to take it to the courts ... she made up s*** about me.”
‘I don’t want to join any blame game, says Sir Keir Starmer
“We’re talking to lots of colleagues,” Sir Keir Starmer said when asked earlier this morning whether he was standing to be Labour leader.
Asked whether Jeremy Corbyn had been to blame for the election defeat, he said: “I don’t want to join any blame game. We need to reflect mutually and together about what happened, and decide where we go next.”
PM approves release of Russian interference report
Boris Johnson has cleared a controversial report into alleged Russian interference in UK politics for publication, Downing Street has announced.
Although release has been approved, it’s understood for the report to published requires the formation of the new Commons Intelligence and Security Committee (ICS) when parliament returns.
