Watch live as Remembrance Sunday marked at Cenotaph
The Prime Minister’s former mistress Jennifer Arcuri has claimed that he had allegedly overruled advice of his staff in 2013 to promote her business and make her “happy”.
The American entrepreneur wrote handwritten diary entries that have now been published by The Observer.
According to one entry, Boris Johnson – the then Mayor of London – had asked Ms Arcuri, who was about 27 at the time: “How can I be the thrust – the throttle – your mere footstep as you make your career? Tell me: how I can help you?”
The newspaper reported that the claims could reopen the possibility of Mr Johnson facing a potential criminal investigation into misconduct allegations.
In 2019, it had been revealed that Ms Arcuri’s ethical hacking business Hacker House received a £100,000 government business grant that was later deemed “appropriate” after a government investigation.
Responding to the latest revelations, a government spokesperson said that Mr Johnson “followed all the legal requirements” when mayor.
It came amid more than a week of constant sleaze allegations made against a number of Tory MPs.
The latest Opinium poll for the Observer shows Labour now holding a one-point lead over the Tories for the first time since January this year.
Yesterday, a ComRes Savanta poll for The Daily Mail showed Labour with a six-point lead over the Tories.
Party leaders hold poppy wreaths alongside former PMs
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and PM Boris Johnson at the Cenotaph for the Remembrance Day event to remember those who lost their lives in world wars.
Behind the party leaders stood former PMs David Cameron, Gordon Brown, and Tony Blair. Also present were Theresa May and Sir John Major.
On a signed card attached to Mr Johnson’s poppy wreath that he laid at the foot of the Cenotaph, he wrote: “We will always remember them.”
Sir Keir wrote on the card on his poppy wreath: “For those who sacrificed their lives for our country and freedom. With eternal gratitude, we will never forget.”
Lamiat Sabin14 November 2021 11:42
Tory corruption ‘not same’ as Starmer doing legal work
Angela Rayner insists that corruption in government is “not the same” as Sir Keir Starmer QC doing some legal work in his office when he first became an MP.
Sir Keir was paid almost £26,000 for work carried out while he was an MP but before he became Labour leader in 2020.
Deputy Labour leader Ms Rayner was asked on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr show about Sir Keir having advised the Government of Gibraltar.
She said: “I do not accept the premise that what (Sir) Geoffrey Cox was doing, advising a tax haven which is described by the Government as corrupt and using his office to do that, in any way, shape or form the same as Keir Starmer doing some legal work when he was first an MP, that is not the same.”
Ms Rayner added: “We’ve said that we’d set up a commission for integrity and ethics to make sure that it’s fit for purpose so that we’re always working in the interests of the British public.
“We’ve said that we’d ban second jobs but there will be some areas like where we’ve got an A&E doctor that’s practising at the moment, so that they can continue to do that because they need that for their professional practice.”
Lamiat Sabin14 November 2021 11:21
Two minutes’ silence on Remembrance Day
Heads of state are observing two minutes’ silence at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph on Whitehall.
Lamiat Sabin14 November 2021 11:02
Johnson breaks rules and allows others to, says Rayner
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said PM Boris Johnson “does not play by the rules”.
She was asked on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show if Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer using his Commons office for Zoom calls with the public was inside the rules.
Ms Rayner she said: “This Prime Minister has allowed corruption and sleaze to enter our politics.
“£3.5 billion has been given in contracts to Tory donors and Tory friends, and a cost of £9 million of donorship to the Conservative Party, this has to be cleaned up.”
When asked about Sir Keir earning £100,000 in legal fees since becoming an MP, she said as part of her response: “The British public value the fairness and playing by the rules.
“Boris Johnson does not play by the rules, has broke(n) the rules on numerous occasions and allowed his ministers to, this has undermined our democracy and he needs to clean up the act.”
Lamiat Sabin14 November 2021 10:58
Boris leaves Downing Street for Remembrance Day event
Lamiat Sabin14 November 2021 10:37
Commons leader did not declare ‘taxable benefits’ – report
Jacob Rees-Mogg has been found to have not declared £6 million of cheap personal loans from his Cayman Islands-linked company.
The Mail on Sunday is reporting that he may be the first Cabinet minister that may have breached parliamentary rules on external interests.
The House of Commons leader had led the government’s aborted attempt to soften parliamentary rules – which then saw embattled Owen Paterson quit as a Tory MP after he was found in breach of lobbying regulations.
Mr Rees-Mogg has reportedly borrowed up to £2.94m a year in director’s loans from his UK-based property firm Saliston Ltd between 2018 and 2020.
Although it does not explicitly cover director’s loans, the code of conduct requires directors to declare “taxable expenses, allowances and benefits”.
The government classes the loans to be taxable benefits as they enable borrowing large sums of money at very low interest rates.
Mr Rees-Mogg told the Mail on Sunday that as the loans were not earnings, he was not required to declare them to Parliament and he had not broken any rules. He said the 2018 loan was mainly used to buy and refurbish his £5.6m house near Parliament.
Lamiat Sabin14 November 2021 10:12
Queen not attending Remembrance Day event
The Queen will not be joining other heads of state for a Remembrance Day service today because she has sprained her back.
Buckingham Palace said she was “disappointed” to miss the event that will be attended by political leaders and the Royal Family.
The statement added: “As in previous years, a wreath will be laid on Her Majesty’s behalf by The Prince of Wales.
“His Royal Highness, along with the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra will be present at the Cenotaph today as planned.”
Lamiat Sabin14 November 2021 09:40
1.5C global warming pledge ‘in intenstive care’ – Miliband
Shadow business and energy secretary Ed Miliband warned that after the Cop26 summit in Glasgow that “keeping 1.5 degrees alive is frankly in intensive care”.
The former Labour leader added that “it’s our job in the next 12 months to show that we can save it”.
He told Sky News’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday: “The task of the world is to halve global emissions over the coming decade, that’s by 2030, that’s what the scientists tell us is necessary to keep 1.5 degrees alive and the truth about Glasgow, despite some progress, is that the world is only probably about 20% or 25% of the way to that goal.
“So, there is a chasm now between where we need to be in halving global emissions and all major countries have to step up and play their part in that, and where we are.”
Lamiat Sabin14 November 2021 09:22
Truss calls on Putin to intervene in migrant stand-off
The UK government is urging Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to intervene in the “shameful manufactured migrant crisis” unfolding at the border between Belarus and Poland.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, foreign secretary Liz Truss says Russia has a “responsibility” to end the escalating migrant stand-off.
A large number of migrants are in a makeshift camp on the Belarusian side of the border, with Polish authorities reporting daily new attempts by the migrants to cross the divide.
Ms Truss has called on the Kremlin to intervene in the crisis, writing: “Russia has a clear responsibility here. It must press the Belarusian authorities to end the crisis and enter into dialogue.”
Ms Truss accused Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko of “using desperate migrants as pawns in his bid to create instability and cling on to power, regardless of the human cost.”
On Thursday, a small team of British armed forces personnel was deployed to Poland to provide “engineering support” amid growing tension at the border.
Lamiat Sabin14 November 2021 09:01
‘No cover up’ of Kenyan woman’s murder, says MoD
Defence secretary Ben Wallace has insisted that there is “no cover up” of the death of a Kenyan woman whose body was found in a septic tank close to a British army base.
Kenyan police confirmed earlier this month that they are looking to reopen an investigation into what happened to Agnes Wanjiru after the 21-year-old went missing in the town on Nanyuki in 2012.
Mr Wallace said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had aided the investigation into the alleged murder of the sex worker after a soldier, according to reports, confessed to killing her.
Speaking to Parliament’s House magazine, the Cabinet minister said: “It’s a deeply concerning murder and story and there is no one in the MoD standing in the way of (an investigation).
“There’s no cover up, there’s no blockade.”
A post-mortem examination found Ms Wanjiru died as a result of stab wounds to her chest and abdomen. There was also evidence she had been beaten.
Lamiat Sabin14 November 2021 08:40