Politics

A proportion of Conservative members feel “disconnected” from the party as they were “denied a vote” when Rishi Sunak became prime minister, a former Tory chairman said. Sir Jake Berry, who was chair under Liz Truss, said Mr Sunak should have held an “endorsement vote” to show he had the support of the membership. Instead,

Matt Hancock gave £10,000 of his £320,000 fee from I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! to two charities, he has revealed. The former health secretary’s earnings from his 18-day appearance on the ITV show last year were published in the MPs register of interests on Thursday. On Friday, his spokesman told Sky News

Nicola Sturgeon has accused some opponents of Scotland’s gender recognition reform of using women’s rights as a “cloak of acceptability”. Scotland’s first minister was careful to stress not all opponents of her government’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill hold this view. Her government approved the bill at the end of last year – not without opposition

Sir Keir Starmer has said Sir Rod Stewart “reflected the mood across the country” when he told Sky News live on air the current government needs to go and Labour should step in. The Maggie May singer called into the Your Say segment of Sarah-Jane Mee’s show on Thursday to discuss the ongoing crisis in

Those worried about the health of British politics have diagnosed a new disease at Westminster. Chris Patten, a grandee from the Conservative establishment, spotted what he called “Long Boris” last summer. Weeks after Boris Johnson announced his resignation as prime minister, Lord Patten, a former party chairman and former BBC chairman, lamented the persistent “corrupting

The NHS is in the worst crisis in its 75 years, say health experts. And you only had to listen to the heart-wrenching stories of the audience during a live Sky News programme on the NHS at Coventry Hospital for the reality of that to be laid bare. There was James, whose wife died after

Boris Johnson has earned nearly £1m in a month to bring his earnings this parliament up to £2.3m. His latest update to the MPs’ register of interests showed the former prime minister received £510,000 as an advance on his upcoming book. Mr Johnson also earned £200,892.86 for a speech to Aditya Birla Management, an Indian

Rishi Sunak has refused to place his full confidence behind Nadhim Zahawi as the Tory party chairman faces an investigation into whether he breached the ministerial code over an HMRC tax settlement. The prime minister, speaking from his grace and favour Buckinghamshire home Chequers during an awayday with his cabinet, said he believes “in due

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is under fire for rowing back on reforms designed to prevent another Windrush scandal, with Labour’s David Lammy saying victims were being “once again spat on”. Ms Braverman has confirmed she will not be implementing all of the accepted recommendations from a review into how the scandal unfolded, including establishing a

The government could spend more than £222,000 of public money on legal advice for Boris Johnson as he faces an investigation into whether he deliberately misled parliament over what he knew about partygate, a senior civil servant has confirmed. The Privileges Committee is looking into the former prime minister after his repeated denials to the

Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked as Tory party chairman after an ethics inquiry into the handling of his tax affairs found a “serious breach” of the ministerial code. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had resisted earlier calls from opposition parties to fire Mr Zahawi following reports that he had paid a penalty as part of an

Two dozen MPs since 2016 have been paid for second jobs through personal service companies they have set up, a Sky News investigation has found. It means these MPs can exploit the fact that tax rates on companies differ from those on employment, enabling them to reduce their tax bills on second jobs. This practice

The “scandal” of MPs’ earnings from second jobs and donations exposed by Sky News’ Westminster Accounts project “needs to end” through “root-and-branch” reform, the SNP has said. The party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn told Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates that the findings of the investigation should “ring alarm bells for everyone” and demonstrate

Prominent backbencher Andrew Bridgen is no longer a Conservative MP after he compared the COVID vaccine to the Holocaust. Mr Bridgen claimed COVID vaccines “are causing serious harms” and said the programme was “the biggest crime against humanity since the holocaust”. Tory Chief Whip Simon Hart said: “Andrew Bridgen has crossed a line, causing great

Ambulance unions placed people’s lives at risk when they refused to introduce countrywide minimum levels of service during strikes last month, the business secretary has said. Grant Shapps hit out at ambulance workers for only agreeing on a local level to minimum service levels after he earlier told Sky News it was a “regional or