Coffee House

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin breaks his silence

The leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has released an 11-minute audio message after leading a march on Moscow. Here is an edited transcript of what he said: The Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) is probably the most experienced and combat-ready unit in Russia, and possibly in the world. (It is made up

Prigozhin leaves Rostov

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, has left Rostov-on-Don and ended the armed insurrection against Vladimir Putin. After one of the most extraordinary days in Russian history, he said he marched within 125 miles of Moscow but said he decided to go no further to avoid bloodshed. Putin, who had ordered his

Full list: how will Tory MPs vote on the partygate report?

Today, MPs will get the chance to debate and vote on the Privileges Committee report on Boris Johnson. This will not be whipped by the government, allowing Tory MPs to vote how they wish. So far more than a dozen of Johnson’s supporters in parliament have expressed public criticism of the report but some stop

Full text: Carla Foster’s sentencing remarks

On 12 June, Carla Foster, 44, was sentenced to 28 months’ imprisonment at Stoke on Trent crown court for aborting her unborn baby using abortion pills after the legal cut-off point of 24 weeks. Here are the remarks made by the judge, the Hon. Mr Justice Pepperall, during her sentencing:

MPs react to Boris’s resignation

Boris Johnson has announced that he is resigning from Parliament ‘at least for now’, after the Privileges Committee recommended his suspension as an MP for ten days. The Committee had been investigating whether the former PM misled the Commons about parties in Downing Street. Now that he has stepped down, Boris will trigger a by-election in

Full list: Boris Johnson’s resignation honours

Nine months after Boris Johnson left Downing Street, his list of resignation honours has today finally been finally published. Here is the full list of those who have received honours: Order of the Companions of Honour. Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Sir William Nigel Paul CashChair of the European Scrutiny Committee.

Full text: Prince Harry’s tabloid hacking witness statement

Prince Harry is in the High Court today, being cross-examined as he sues the publisher of the Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking (you can follow proceedings throughout this afternoon here). Here is his witness statement: I, PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX, of [address available to the trial judge] WILL STATE AS FOLLOWS: My Background My Relationship

The trial of Boris Johnson – as it happened

Boris Johnson has faced a three-hour grilling in front of the Privileges Committee, where he was quizzed about parties in Downing Street during the pandemic. The former PM is accused of lying to parliament when he told MPs that ‘the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times’. The cross-party committee, led by

Budget 2023: the main takeaways

Jeremy Hunt is today unveiling his first Budget. He has told the Commons that his Budget will help deliver on Rishi Sunak’s five priorities that the Prime Minister set out in January: namely halving inflation, reducing the national debt and increasing growth. Hunt has reprised much of his Bloomberg speech from January with championing the

Full text: Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech

Below is an edited transcript of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech, made this morning at Bute House. Coffee House readers may be interested to note that the words ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘my’ are used 153 times in the speech. ‘Scotland’ is only mentioned 11 times. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming along. I’m sorry to

Revealed: Liz Truss’s unpublished growth agenda

In this week’s issue of The Spectator, Katy Balls reveals what Liz Truss would have done in her quest for growth had her mini-Budget not blown up. She would have gone on to launch an eight-point ‘autumn of action’. There were to be eight ‘follow-up moments’ revealing Truss and her Chancellor’s plans for supply-side reforms

Liz Truss speaks exclusively to The Spectator

Liz Truss has broken her three-month long silence since leaving No. 10 at the end of October. In a 4,000 word article for the Sunday Telegraph, she reflects for the first time on the mini-Budget, the challenges she faced within government and the mistakes she made in her 49-day premiership which made her the shortest-serving

Latest: More than half of Tory MPs back Sunak

More than half of Tory MPs now back Rishi Sunak in the race to become prime minister. Penny Mordaunt remains in the contest, but she has until 2 p.m. to persuade 100 Tory MPs to support her leadership bid. Here is who is backing whom: Rishi Sunak (197) 1. Crispin Blunt 2. Julie Marson 3. Richard

Who’s left to declare?

With nominations to be the Tory leader closing tomorrow afternoon, there are still just over 100 MPs to publicly say who they want to take over from Liz Truss. Here’s the list of those left to declare: Adam Afriyie, Windsor (2005) Adam Holloway, Gravesham (2005) Alberto Costa, South Leicestershire (2015) Alec Shelbrooke, Elmet and Rothwell

Full list: the Tory MPs calling for Truss to go

Following the disaster of last month’s mini-Budget, Liz Truss’s premiership is now hanging by a thread. The sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng and his replacement by Jeremy Hunt appears to have not placated many of Truss’s critics on the Tory benches. Veteran backbencher Crispin Blunt became the first elected member of her party to call for