The key point is not that Boris Johnson received a penalty notice.
The key point is that the fine proves he has repeatedly lied to parliament about his actions during COVID.
Democracy requires - for voting for accountability - leaders who tell the truth.
He must go.
Remove the “payroll” vote - and look at the free vote from backbenchers. Almost 75% of all Tory MPs not dependent on his patronage voted against him. This is the end for Boris Johnson. The only question is how long the agony is prolonged.
@RestIsPolitics
And again Liz Truss keeps saying Levelling up and recession is personal to her because she experienced the pain or the 1980s and 90s in Paisley and Leeds. But somehow she doesn’t seem to be mentioning that was a period of conservative government.
Putin in six days has fostered unity and common values among democratic states that has been lacking for twenty years. His fabled propaganda machine has been exposed as tawdry, and his political judgement as lamentable. Ukraine will be his legacy - but not in the way he intends.
I am so moved & inspired by the support I have received over the last few weeks - it has given me a new faith in politics, a new belief in our country. I didn’t get enough MPs to believe today - but they will 🙂 I remain deeply committed to you and to this country.
#RoryWalksOn
Strange that a decision has been made to remove the whip from so many colleagues who were ministers so recently. Particularly when we voted repeatedly for a Brexit deal. I can’t think of a historical precedent. But I am not stepping down as an MP.
Every day that Boris Johnson remains tarnishes his party and the office of the Prime-Minister.
Removing him is not only the ethical thing for Conservative MPs to do.
It is also profoundly in their long-term interest.
Finally doing the right thing. It is amazing though that after everything is will be Pincher who brings Boris Johnson down - not all the constitutional outrages or breaches of the ministerial code - somehow bizarrely a fitting end
It is an honour to have been asked by the PM to serve as Director of Communications for No10 Downing Street.
I am looking forward to working with the PM, Ministers and Members of Parliament on the issues that matter most to our country
It’s unbelievable that an international coalition which could find 130BN dollars a year for Afghanistan when fighting there, cannot find 5 per cent of that amount to prevent millions of Afghans from starving.
@SkyNews
Someone who is in financial trouble to the tune of 800,000 pounds with no viable income is too vulnerable to pressure and conflicts of interest. Vetting would argue against them becoming a junior civil servant. They should certainly not be PM.
@RestIsPolitics
Very pleased that the UK government has now agreed to take the Afghan Chevening scholars who were promised places earlier this year. Thank you to everyone who campaigned on this
Acutely intelligent, sensitive to Russia as much as to Ukraine, clear about the horror of war - quietly immensely courageous -
@zelenskyyUa
is an extraordinary man. This is one of the most remarkable speeches ever made - in dignified contrast to Putin’s hysterical megalomania.
.
@ZelenskyyUa
's tv address to the Russian (!) people might be the most moving speech that I've ever seen in my entire life. The whole world needs to see, understand and share this crucial Ukrainian message.
#StandWithUkraine
#Ukraine
#Україна
#Russia
#Россия
The fact that it has had to be said repeatedly over so many incidents over so much time - does not change the fundamental truth:
Boris Johnson is manifestly unsuitable to be Prime- minister. Every day he remains further damages the country.
Speaking now on
@GMB
@RestIsPolitics
Those - who were arguing recently that no-deal Brexit would “give back control” to British courts and a British parliament - have u-turned and are now suddenly against our courts, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty and constitution. 🤔
It is not and it will never be appropriate for a British Prime-Minister to second-guess the decision of the Supreme Court. He says the Supreme Court decision was wrong. But he is wrong - wrong about the law, the constitution and the appropriate response of a PM to the Rule of Law
The British people vote for local MPs, not a President. MPs have the power + responsibility to remove their leaders. 4 out of the 5 last Conservative Prime-Ministers were replaced within parliamentary terms. We're long past the point when Boris Johnson should have been the 6th.
Trying to remove an elected PM with a huge personal mandate, mid term, is anti democratic. Those who seek to do so are subverting democracy. If you respect democracy, Mr Major, Mrs May, Mr Heseltine et al, do it through the ballot box, not by abusing your power and influence.
The Home Secretary said yesterday that a visa centre had already been set up in Calais.
This was untrue and under any normal administration that would be a resigning matter.
It’s been a great privilege to serve Penrith and The Border for the last ten years, so it is with sadness that I am announcing that I will be standing down at the next election, and that I have also resigned from the Conservative Party.
Boris Johnson is a symptom of a much broader problem in British politics - which can only be fixed with new policies, and - almost certainly - new parties and a new electoral system
There was once another tradition in the Conservative party - that talked of prudence, dignity and restraint.
Boris Johnson shames the party, and our country.
He cannot govern.
Let him go.
The world must now take the extreme measure of full sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports. That is the one thing which will truly hurt Putin and his allies. We must be ready for the cost this will impose on Germany, Italy and the global economy. But that cost is less than war.
Deeply honoured that the Downing Street attack line is now to blame
@campbellclaret
for the fall of Boris Johnson - there was I thinking BJ was the architect of his own crumbling catastrophe when all along the problem was
@campbellclaret
's analysis on
@RestIsPolitics
I have just lost my wedding ring - in Buxton Derbyshire - just after giving a talk this afternoon - dropped I think on St John’s rd - if anyone finds it I would be so grateful - it is an old gold ring with a cross on the face. V embarrassed + grateful for RTs.
This idea that “London is in the grip of Islamists” is deluded and it’s awful - an obsession that thrives among a bizarre and dangerous coalition. No conservative MP should ever be spouting this stuff.
Conservative MP Lee Anderson tells GB News that he thinks Sadiq Khan has "given our capital city away" to Islamists, who are "his mates".
"Islamists have got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London," he says.
The nature of our joint-response to Russia’s obscene aggression in Ukraine will have an immense influence on whether - and when - China attempts to annex Taiwan.
Deeply disappointing to hear - on top of everything - that Afghans who received Scholarships from the UK government to study in the UK this year have now been told they will not be granted visas due to "administration issues". Surely someone can sort this out?
It is beyond imagining that the West is now compounding the humiliation and betrayal of the Afghan surge and reckless withdrawal by allowing millions of Afghans to starve. Where on earth is our sense of humanity, purpose, or responsibility?
Boris Johnson’s idea of producing another scandal or outrage every week, refusing to ever resign + thus exhausting and bewildering your critics - was central to Donald Trump’s approach. And to the populist style worldwide. But it is vital to call it out + reject it.
#disgusting
We should commemorate the Queen’s service and commitment to Britain internationally in a way that changes lives. Let’s create a Queen’s Development Agency charged with spending at least 0.7 % of British GDP in the most practical + flexible support for the world’s very poorest.
The recent EU “negotiation” has been a sham. And no-deal is an fairy-story - rejected repeatedly by parliament and by the majority of voters. Prorogation and purges are undermining our democracy in pursuit of a an ill-judged, poorly executed, and deeply damaging fantasy.
“We must uphold the very highest standards of propriety
The precious principles of public life – integrity, objectivity, accountability, transparency, honesty + leadership in the public interest – must be honoured at all times”
Boris Johnson forward to the Ministerial Code 2019
I sometimes think this conference is simply designed to drive the last moderate Tories out. The Conservative Party was the traditional defender of small family farms and rural traditions. How is this globalised hormone-pumped rhetoric conservative?
Jacob Rees Mogg: "I want cheaper food. I want hormone injected beef from Australia. I've eaten beef in Australia, it's delicious. There's nothing wrong with it."
Would you sack your four most senior staff with no successors in place? And if you claimed you had, would people not reasonably assume that you had lied, and that they had in fact resigned?
What IS he doing? Not literally. Literally I get he is throwing a hand-grenade. Which I get is on brand. But more fundamentally What Does He Think He Is Doing?
Boris Johnson shd mark the final end of the old British system. He demonstrated ruthlessly how much damage can be done by someone refusing to respect unwritten rules. We need a written constitution. A new electoral system. And far better leaders
@RestIsPolitics
SPECIAL PODCAST: BORIS JOHNSON RESIGNS 🚨
Join
@RoryStewartUK
+
@campbellclaret
as they discuss whether Johnson will stay on as caretaker PM, the likely candidates to replace him, and what on earth happens next…
Listen👇
This is a most peculiar and misleading point - we have only so far entered a transition period - we are still in all EU regulation, trade, services, tariff and quota schemes until the end of the year - none of this - as presumably you know - would be affected.
Chief of staff to the leader of a major country is a definitional 7 day a week job. It is simply not compatible with constituency service or duties and votes in parliament. To do it properly and seriously he would have to resign as an MP. What is Boris Johnson thinking?
BREAKING: Steve Barclay has been appointed the new Downing Street chief of staff. He will remain a minister and create a new Office of the Prime Minister across No 10 and the Cabinet Office, where he is now based. Sunday Times big read coming soon!
I am horrified that when I asked the Attorney-General to confirm the principle of the sovereignty of parliament that he appears to have replied - over the shouts of the house - that “this parliament is a disgrace.” Our democracy can only be and must remain founded in parliament.
'It is not enough to apologise.'
Former International Development Secretary Rory Stewart gives Tonight with Andrew Marr his take after Boris Johnson's partygate apology in the Commons today.
@AndrewMarr9
|
@RoryStewartUK
The PM is tiptoeing onto a dangerous path - pitting Remain against Brexit, the people against Parliament. We need to speak w/ moderation, w/ truth, w/ respect for our constitution, for our opponents, and w/ dignity if we're to win back the trust of every citizen of this gt nation
Really? We’re doing this now? The language of the ERG right is beginning to take on a hypnotic paranoid intensity - unconsciously echoing dead regimes... I voted to stop a disastrous no-deal - in this country’s interests - and to push for compromise against this kind of language
It is just extraordinary- from the very start of this clip - that every element of solemnity around him - the dark clothes, the medals and the rest - will require him to take the limelight and stage a scene from Mr.Bean.
Push the UK government to
• Form an international coalition to provide routes, funding + safe-haven for millions of refugees, with homes for them in Britain and across the West
• And dramatically increase UK aid and development spend for Afghans trapped in the country
About to speak on
@GMB
to explain why this result is either the end for Boris Johnson - or if he tries to cling on - the end for the Conservative Party.
I will be speaking on
@GMB
at 735 this morning on why a habit of lying is a problem in a Prime-Minister - a problem for decision-making, and leadership, and the moral character of government. But what is staggering is that this even needs to be said.
To see how far British politics has fallen - look at Wilson 👇, his automatic respect for constitutional precedence - the lack of slogans, his fairness towards his opponent, the mature style of the whole conversation. It makes me ashamed of what we’ve become.
I admire Keir Starmer but if he is fined over breaking COVID regulations and found to have misled parliament then he must resign. The strongest card that Labour has over Boris Johnson is that they are standing for a moral integrity. They cannot afford to throw that card away.
What is so beautifully observed here is the delivery of the new MP - the apparent reasonableness - the “it’s complicated” - the “I know what you are thinking….” All leading up to the mad solution…
We are going to see a lot more of these apparently bold and dramatic announcements over the next few days. And almost all of them will then fade away into nothing. Because long-term policy is becoming impossible in the daily struggle for the PM’s survival
Here is Britain’s
new right - climate sceptical, immigration obsessed, anti human right, attacking elites. In US + Europe this has already become anti-LGBTQ and sympathetic to authoritarian states. When will conservatives finally say “not in my name”?!
?
Amidst the buffoonery, carnival and pantomime Boris Johnson is distracting us from just how serious the next five years will be for Britain: recession, fuel prices, inflation, and a more dangerous world than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
No more clowns.
Too many commentators are blaming the Afghan government/people. This is on us. We did not need to leave so recklessly and suddenly. US and NATO air support was vital, relatively low risk, and sustainable. We could and should have continued support. We are betraying Afghanistan.
"We've pulled the rug out from the Afghan people and it's a terrible tragedy."
Ex-international development secretary
@RoryStewartUK
tells
#Newsnight
the growing conflict in Afghanistan has been caused by President Biden's "reckless decision" to withdraw US troops "so suddenly"
It is tragic that the West continues to pay Putin billions for oil and gas - propping up his regime and invasion. We must now stop importing oil and gas from Russia - it is the single most concrete and effective measure we could take. (Speaking on
@bbc5live
in two minutes)
“75 per cent of the public believe that Johnson lied about breaking the law, a finding that future historians may regard as a landmark moment. Only 12 per cent think he is telling the truth, roughly the same number who think aliens walk among us.”
Congratulations
@BorisJohnson
on becoming Leader. Honour to serve in turn as Minister of Environment
@DefraGovUK
, Mid East +Asia
@DFID_UK
, Africa
@FCO
, Prisons
@MoJGovUK
+ then Development Secretary in Cabinet +NSC. Backbench tomorrow serving Cumbria. Thank you all. More walking!
Whenever unwritten rules of our constitution have checked Boris Johnson he has sought to overturn them. We have seen it in his approach to parliament, the Supreme Court, lobbying, funding, appointments and now the Ministerial code. The constitution dies the death of a 1000 cuts.
Also seems ministerial code watered down.
Breaking it no longer a hanging offence - codifying reality.
Sanctions “could include requiring some form of public apology, remedial action or removal of ministerial salary for a period” determined by PM on advice of Geidt.
The British parliamentary and party system promotes amateurism, careerism and tribalism at the expense of seriousness and good government. A change of government is not enough. We need radical system reform.
#PoliticsOnTheEdge
"You could not run a fish and chip shop the way the British government is run - it's insane"
@RoryStewartUK
says ministers should remain in a role for a minimum of two years.
#TrevorPhillips
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube
Speaking on
@BBCr4today
just after 7 - a majority voted for Brexit but there is no majority in parliament or the country for no-deal and never has been. And no amount of bullying will change that basic fact
In the end - however slow and painful - this is a great victory for sense and moderation, a repudiation of a grotesque style of politics - and a win for US democracy. Many congratulations
@JoeBiden
and
@KamalaHarris
'It is not enough to apologise.'
Former International Development Secretary Rory Stewart gives Tonight with Andrew Marr his take after Boris Johnson's partygate apology in the Commons today.
@AndrewMarr9
|
@RoryStewartUK
well done
@willquince
- we are now entering the stage where it will be almost impossible for Boris Johnson to replace and fill his ministry positions - Nadine Dorries will have to start doubling up -
Radio services the BBC is proposing to stop: Arabic, Persian, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Hindi, Bengali, Chinese, Indonesian, Tamil, Urdu.
Language services the BBC is proposing to move to digital only are: Chinese, Gujarati, Igbo, Indonesian, Pidgin, Urdu, Yoruba.
There is a good chance that only one candidate will cross the threshold of 100 supporters - which could mean
@RishiSunak
is PM on Monday
@RestIsPolitics
A deeply deeply disturbing comment from Boris Johnson - implying that he alone speaks for the “real” people against an alien elite. He has embraced the essence of populism in all its contorted contemporary forms from Hungary to Brazil.
Sunday Times claims Boris Johnson personally "despises" his opposite number. An ally says: "He genuinely does not like Keir. He sees this man as part of a privileged, metropolitan, narrow-minded elite uncomfortable with the raw instincts of the vast majority of British people."
Deeply disturbing. All you need to know about the new right wing populism in the Conservative Party summed up in a smile from a former Home Secretary + applause as she attacks “the establishment…,the Brexit-bashing, free speech deniers at the BBC”.
'The most successful, most dynamic, no nonsense news station, and the defenders of free speech'.
Watch the moment
@pritipatel
passionately defended GB News to rapturous applause this evening at the Conservative Democratic Organisation gala dinner.
“We do not believe in untrammelled free markets. We reject the cult of selfish individualism. We see rigid dogma + ideology not just as needless but dangerous. True conservatism means respect for the local +national institutions that bind us together.” Conservative manifesto 2017
Cummings here implies that he and Boris Johnson were doing reshuffles and promotions on the basis of people’s morality. In fact they promoted almost purely on the basis of loyalty. And by doing so they promoted some of the worst and excluded some of the best.
When u sit in reshuffle mtngs it's normal to go down a list like:
Pervert
Under investigation by NCA (he doesn't know)
Drunk
Sex pest
Sex pest
Dodgy donors
Yes she's ok but she's useless
Moron
Moron
He's Ok
Sex pest
She's actually good [laughter]
Dodgepot...
etc
Getting a little confused with people asking whether I’ve resigned. I made that announcement 8 weeks ago - when I said that because of our differences on Brexit and prorogation, I wouldn’t be able to serve in a Boris Johnson cabinet...🤔
I cannot imagine how Boris Johnson is going to persuade some to sign up as his next “ethics adviser” after Lord Geidt’s resignation. Surely no-one serious would consider taking the job…
Oh…wait a second…
@RestIsPolitics