Politics

Boris Johnson says he believed “implicitly” that he was following COVID rules after a committee of MPs said it would have been “obvious” they were being broken around him at Downing Street gatherings. He also suggested that Sue Gray, who led an earlier civil service report into parties and has just been appointed Sir Keir Starmer’s

Sue Gray has been appointed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to serve as his chief of staff. The senior civil servant became a household name during the partygate scandal, authoring the report which found “a failure of leadership and judgement” in Number 10 during Boris Johnson’s premiership. Conservative MPs and former cabinet ministers have

Sir Gavin Williamson accused teachers of looking for an “excuse” not to work during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to leaked messages from Matt Hancock published by The Daily Telegraph. In May 2020, as teachers prepared for classrooms to reopen, the then education secretary had messaged Mr Hancock asking for help in securing personal protective equipment

Boris Johnson has said China will be making an “historic mistake” if it supplies Russia with weapons – as he urged the UK to “break the ice” by becoming the first country to supply Ukraine with fighter jets. Speaking to Sky News’ Mark Austin as the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches, the former prime

Boris Johnson has said Rishi Sunak’s attempts to renegotiate Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland may create additional problems rather than solve them. Speaking exclusively to Sky’s Mark Austin on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, the former prime minister refused to say he would back any deal negotiated by his

The Royal College of Nursing says it will pause strike action as it enters “intensive talks” with ministers over pay. RCN members in England were set to walk out for 48 hours from 1-3 March, including by emergency departments for the first time, as part of the long-running dispute with the government over pay and

Iran’s most senior diplomat has again been summoned by the Foreign Office after a UK-based Iranian broadcaster was forced to move out of the UK due to assassination threats from Tehran. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in the UK, Mehdi Hosseini Matin, “to make clear we will not tolerate

Scotland’s largest teaching union has rejected the latest pay offer, with strikes set to continue across the country. The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) union has been embroiled in a wage dispute with the Scottish government and Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) over the past year. Under the plans announced by Education Secretary Shirley-Anne

Further teachers’ strikes are now “inevitable”, a union has said, after a meeting with the Department for Education did not result in a new pay offer for its members. Teachers are set to stage walkouts in England later this month and into March in a dispute over pay and working conditions. Union bosses met Education

The Chinese governor of Xinjiang has pulled out of a trip to London after senior MPs protested over the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in his province. Downing Street confirmed on Monday that Erkin Tuniyaz was set to meet officials in the Foreign Office, saying they would “make clear the UK’s abhorrence to Uyghur people’s treatment”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak still supports BBC chairman Richard Sharp, despite revelations about the part he played in securing an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson, his spokesman has said. Mr Sharp took the role in January 2021 after being recommended by then-PM Mr Johnson and having his appointment approved by a committee of MPs. But

As the death toll from the earthquake in Syria and Turkey continues to rise, development minister Andrew Mitchell defends the government’s cuts to the international aid budget as Conservative MP John Redwood calls for tax cuts at home. Plus, SNP MP John Nicolson and member of the DCMS select committee says Richard Sharp’s position is

The corporate vice president of Xbox has told Sky News “there’s no silver bullet” to protect women and minority groups on the internet who experience online harassment and abuse. Dave McCarthy said it takes just one toxic experience on a platform and “your trust in an online space dissipates immediately, as it should”. In an

BBC chairman Richard Sharp made “significant errors of judgement” by facilitating an £800,000 loan guarantee for Boris Johnson, a cross-party committee of MPs has found. The committee said Mr Sharp should “consider the impact his omissions will have” on public trust in the broadcaster after he failed to declare his role as a go-between for

Labour have held on to their seat in West Lancashire after a by-election victory which saw Ashley Dalton become the country’s newest MP. Ms Dalton secured a majority of 8,321 over Conservative candidate Mike Prendergast, with a 10.52% swing from the Tories to Labour. In her victory speech, she said the people of her constituency

Teachers in Wales have postponed strikes set to take place next week after a new offer on pay. Members of the National Education Union (NEU) and National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) unions will not be pushing ahead with planned strikes on Tuesday after a revised pay offer from the Welsh government. Wales’s education minister, Jeremy