Politics

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will accuse Iran of spreading “bloodshed and destruction” around the world as he reaffirms Britain’s determination to prevent it acquiring a nuclear weapon. Addressing an international security conference in Bahrain on Saturday, Mr Cleverly will warn that Iranian-supplied weapons are threatening security in the Middle East and beyond. He will point

Rishi Sunak is to axe the daily appearance of ministers on morning breakfast shows, it is understood. Instead of being grilled on the airwaves every day, the government will now only provide a minister to be interviewed around three mornings a week. The move was first reported by the Daily Mirror, which said the appearances

The UK’s science and technology sector survived a much feared spending cut in this week’s budget – but those in the field say the government will need to do more to realise the UK’s potential as a “science superpower.” The expectation was that this was going to be a budget of cuts, with the government’s

Let’s start with a tale of two charts. Or rather, one chart. Be warned: it’s not a pretty chart. It shows how average household disposable income changed each year since 1955 and for the most part it’s a story of progress. As the years have gone on, we have seen our disposable incomes rise in

Millions more Britons will pay more tax as Jeremy Hunt cut the top-rate threshold and announced freezes on several other taxes in his autumn statement. The total amount of savings from the autumn statement has been costed at £55bn, through tax rises and cutting government spending. However, in real-term costs, UK households’ disposable incomes will

Dominic Raab has denied bullying claims and he requested an investigation into himself following two formal complaints made against him after days of allegations. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, where he was standing in for Rishi Sunak who is at the G20 in Bali, Mr Raab said he is “confident that I have behaved professionally

Rishi Sunak’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping has been called off, Downing Street has said. The prime minister was set to hold a meeting with Mr Xi at the G20 summit in Bali on Wednesday morning, UK time, in what would have been the first time a British leader had faced him in almost

Rishi Sunak has refused to apologise for the economic turmoil Liz Truss’s short-lived government caused the British people. The prime minister, who is in Bali for the G20 summit, refused six times today to say sorry for the decisions his predecessor made, which caused severe and continuing financial turbulence. He acknowledged that “mistakes were made”

Allegations of bullying against Dominic Raab are “plausible”, a former top civil servant has said following a slew of reports about the deputy PM’s behaviour. Lord Simon McDonald, who was permanent secretary at the Foreign Office between 2015 and 2020, said Mr Raab was a “tough boss” and the claims about him are believable. Numerous

Rishi Sunak has avoided sticking to his predecessor’s pledge to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP ahead of the autumn budget, set to be unveiled on Thursday. During her campaign for Number 10, Liz Truss said the figure would be reached by the end of the decade. But asked if he would standby her

Rishi Sunak has said getting a grip on illegal migration is the “absolute priority” for his government as he kicks off his G20 summit with a new joint declaration with France to try to tackle record numbers of small boat crossings. The prime minister told journalists on the flight over to Bali that illegal migration

Home Secretary Suella Braverman will travel to Paris to sign a new joint declaration with French officials to ramp up efforts to stop migrant crossings in the Channel. The home secretary will sign the agreement with French interior minister Gerald Darmanin on Monday morning. According to the Financial Times, the agreement will significantly increase the

Rishi Sunak will this week kick off his premiership for real, with an international summit in Indonesia that will give a taster of his approach to foreign policy and an economic statement back in London that will define the early months of his government – for good or ill. On Monday, Mr Sunak will arrive

Matt Hancock has been told by an I’m a Celebrity campmate that “sorry… doesn’t really cut it” over his rule-breaking during COVID. The former health secretary resigned from his post in June 2021 after pictures were leaked of him having an affair with his former aide in his office, breaking guidance about mixing with other

Dominic Raab “values” civil servants in his department, the Ministry of Justice has insisted, after bullying claims have emerged against him. Mr Raab was reappointed as justice secretary and deputy prime minister by Rishi Sunak last month, having held the roles between September 2021 and September 2022 under Boris Johnson, but having been sacked by

There is now a “window of opportunity” to fix the issues around the Northern Ireland protocol, says the Irish prime minister. Speaking after the British-Irish Council summit in Blackpool, Michael Martin said relations between the UK and EU had “improved very significantly”, and both he and British PM Rishi Sunak wanted to resolve the problems