Politics

It seems that the spirit of COP26 is still alive and well in Edinburgh. For the SNP’s parliamentarians have begun recycling their speeches at Holyrood, regardless of the occasion. Amid claims that the Scottish nationalists are nothing but a bunch of unthinking, zombie–like drones, blindly following the latest directive from Bute House, backbencher Willie Coffey MSP has decided to, er, conform exactly to type.  For the Kilmarnock MSP caused laughter in the Scottish parliament yesterday by delivering a concluding speech when standing up to introduce a debate. Coffey opened his closing remarks by saying:  Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thought that I was closing the debate, so this is a closing speech, as

On Tuesday night, after apologising again to the House of Commons for breaking lockdown rules, Boris Johnson addressed a private meeting of Tory MPs. He had a message for his critics: ‘This is the beginning of the end.’ ‘For a minute, I thought he was talking about himself,’ says one MP. In fact, the Prime Minister was referring to his belief that the biggest political scandal of his premiership is reaching its finale – one in which he comes out on top. Some of the MPs in attendance struggled to see much to be optimistic about. Johnson subjected the country to draconian lockdown rules which the police have found he

I don’t know. Three words rarely uttered by commentators seeking a paid berth on a television studio sofa or a cruise ship. In this lucrative royal world of certainty, the Queen walks on water; Prince William is sinned against, Prince Harry is the sinner; and Andrew’s transgressions are the fault of no one other than a prince who perspires no more. Viewed through this lens, any jubilee balcony appearance in June by Meghan and Harry would teeter on the edge of being treasonable. Such clarity defies the reality. The Windsors inhabit a world of grey, where obfuscation trumps transparency and ‘sources’ or ‘royal insiders’ fill the void left by the

This is a short story about Mark Harper MP, who is making headlines. These days Harper is probably best known as a backbench critic of Covid restrictions, but he once had a promising career as a minister, including a spell in David Cameron’s cabinet between 2015 to 2016. But that career hit a bump in early 2014 when he quit his post as immigration minister. I was running the Telegraph’s political team at the time. Many ministerial resignations are unmemorable, but Harper’s sticks in the memory. He quit because he learned that a cleaner he paid to look after his London flat did not have legal permission to live and

Nearly every Tory MP I have spoken to this morning has used the word ‘exhausted’ to describe their mood. They are tired of this scandal and worried about how long it may have to run. Their general view on yesterday was that Boris Johnson did ‘enough to get through’. But there are, as Katy notes, increasing nerves about tomorrow’s vote on whether to refer Johnson to the privileges committee over his Commons statements that no rules were broken in Downing Street. They know how Labour will use the vote against them and they worry that Starmer might bring this motion again once the Sue Gray report is out. One senior

Boris Johnson last night addressed the 1922 committee, ahead of Thursday’s crunch vote on whether to conduct a parliamentary investigation into his handling of partygate. The Prime Minister received a warm reception from Tory MPs but many are still refusing him to back him publicly. Of the 357 Conservative MPs in the House, fewer than a third have spoken out in support of Johnson.  Nine MPs calling for him to go: 1. Nigel Mills: ‘He’s been fined, I don’t think his position is tenable.’ 2. Anthony Mangnall: ‘Horrified by the conduct of the PM.’ 3.Caroline Nokes: ‘I have not withdrawn the letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson that I wrote