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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Politics
Benjamin Kentish

Downing Street launches investigation after Boris Johnson fooled by Russian pranksters - as it happened

Downing Street has launched an investigation into how Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, spent 18 minutes speaking on the phone to two Russian pranksters pretending to be the Armenian prime minister.

Earlier in the day, the Commons' Brexit committee warned that the UK remaining in the customs union well into the next decade is likely to be the "only viable option".

The commitee's report was endorsed by all committee members, including prominent Brexiteers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg.

It comes as Jeremy Corbyn warned that Tory 'fantasists' risk undermining peace in Northern Ireland.

Delivering a speech in Belfast, the Labour leader said the Conservatives' "reckless" approach to Brexit "risks undermining and destabilising the cooperation and relative harmony of recent years".

The speech took place amid controversy over Mr Corbyn's renewed calls for a united Ireland.

Elsewhere, the UK and the EU were again at loggerheads - this time over Brussels' plan to exclude Britain from the Galileo satellite project.

As it happened...

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