Joe Bedell-Brill

Sunday shows round-up: Sunak haunted by ghosts of governments past

Covid and partygate still haunt Sunak

Rishi Sunak will have wanted to use this week to sell his new Brexit deal. The ghosts of governments past had other ideas. Fresh evidence suggesting Boris Johnson might have misled parliament over partygate, and the embarrassing leak of Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages, have led to some uncomfortable questions. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris told Laura Kuenssberg he believed Johnson was an honest man:

Hancock messages suggest an ‘eat out to help out’ cover-up

Kuenssberg then asked Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth about the WhatsApp leaks, in which Hancock appears to say he attempted to keep evidence that the ‘eat out to help out’ scheme caused a rise in infections out of the news. Ashworth said it was crucial there was a full inquiry:

Where will asylum seekers go?

With Rishi Sunak announcing new laws that would prevent anyone arriving to the UK on small boats from seeking asylum, Laura Kuenssberg questioned the government’s tactics, showing Heaton-Harris a graph that showed a steady decline in the number of asylum seekers being returned since 2010 despite immigration laws being tightened.

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