Politics

The government has abandoned plans to hold White House-style televised briefings – despite spending £2.6m on a new studio. Boris Johnson’s press secretary, Allegra Stratton, who had been expected to front the new media briefings, will now become spokeswoman for the COP26 climate change summit. Ms Stratton said: “I am delighted to be starting this

A firm linked to the lawyer tasked by the prime minister with looking into the Greensill Capital lobbying scandal has been given £7m in government contracts over the last year. Boris Johnson has asked top lawyer Nigel Boardman to lead an investigation into the now-collapsed finance firm’s activities in government and the role its founder,

Former prime minister David Cameron and Chancellor Rishi Sunak are set to be hauled before MPs to answer questions over the Greensill Capital lobbying controversy. As one of seven inquiries at Westminster into the controversy, the House of Commons’ Treasury committee has announced it will seek to take oral evidence from both Mr Cameron and

The prime minister’s trip to India next week has been cancelled, Downing Street has confirmed. India is experiencing a surge in cases of COVID-19, while there are fears about the emergence of a new variant of the virus in the country. Announcing the decision, the British and Indian governments said in a joint statement: “In

David Cameron did not do anything wrong when lobbying for Greensill Capital and “meticulously observed the rules”, the environment secretary has told Sky News. George Eustice also said current rules on lobbying are “pretty good”. Asked about the former prime minister’s conduct, Mr Eustice said: “Has he done anything wrong? Well, on the face of

It will take five years for some hospitals to catch up with the backlog of patient care caused by the coronavirus pandemic, NHS Providers has warned. The trusts in England worst impacted by the crisis are between three and five years away from returning to pre-COVID levels, according to the association. It also claims that

Boris Johnson should relinquish his right to decide when possible breaches of the ministerial code warrant investigation, according to the chair of the Committee for Standards in Public Life. In a letter to the prime minister, Lord Evans argued the power to launch a probe into the behaviour of members of the government should instead

The foreign secretary is set to reveal which UK projects around the world will be axed or reduced following a decision to slash foreign aid spending by almost a third, Sky News understands. A statement to parliament was scheduled for this week but had to be postponed because of the death of the Duke of

Whitehall’s spending watchdog has launched an investigation into Greensill Capital’s involvement in government-backed COVID support schemes prior to the firm’s collapse. The National Audit Office (NAO) on Friday announced the latest Westminster inquiry into Greensill, which is at the centre of a lobbying row involving former prime minister David Cameron. In June last year, the

A government adviser became a director of Greensill Capital months after taking on his Cabinet Office role – in the latest link between the now-collapsed finance firm and Whitehall to emerge. David Brierwood, a former employee of the Morgan Stanley investment bank, was appointed as a crown representative by the Cabinet Office under David Cameron’s

Health Secretary Matt Hancock is being accused of “cronyism at the heart of government” by Labour after it was revealed he has been given shares in a family firm that has done business with the NHS. Mr Hancock has declared in the Commons register of MPs’ interests that he now owns shares in Topwood Ltd,

The chair of the watchdog which exposed how the former government chief commercial officer was able to take a job at Greensill Capital while still working in Whitehall has said he’s “not really come across anything like it before”. Lord Pickles’ Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) revealed how Bill Crothers worked as a part-time

Senior civil servants have been told they have until the end of the week to declare any other jobs they hold outside government. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case said there was “acute concern” at the top of the civil service about issues that have emerged in the David Cameron lobbying affair. On Tuesday, it was revealed

Labour has accused the Conservatives of a return to the “sleaze of the 1990s” ahead of a push for a fuller inquiry into the David Cameron lobbying controversy. Opposition MPs will today force a vote in the House of Commons in their bid to establish a new parliamentary committee to investigate allegations about Greensill Capital

A senior civil servant worked for Greensill Capital – the financial firm at the centre of the David Cameron lobbying row – while still employed in Whitehall, it has been revealed. Questions have now been asked about why Bill Crothers did not consult a Whitehall watchdog before joining Greensill as a director. He began working

Boris Johnson has warned that the reduction in coronavirus infections, hospitalisations and deaths “has not been achieved” by the rollout of COVID vaccines. The prime minister, speaking the day after the latest easing of lockdown restrictions, instead said it was the national shutdown that had been “overwhelmingly important” in driving down COVID rates. Nearly 40