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Boris Johnson’s old political ‘frenemy’ Michael Gove is looking increasingly isolated today after the resignation of Dominic Cummings, one of his closest and oldest allies. Mr Cummings and the Cabinet Office Minister have a long history of working together across Government and, perhaps most crucially, as the brains behind the Vote Leave Campaign in 2016. … Read more
Matt Hancock today revealed the PM has been in touch with Marcus Rashford as he fuelled expectations of a climbdown on the free school meals row. The Health Secretary said Boris Johnson and the England star had been ‘communicating’, insisting it was time for ‘everybody to come together’ over the need to feed poorer children. … Read more
Boris Johnson’s allies blamed ‘gotcha’ questions for the PM bungling his own coronavirus lockdown policies today. The PM faced a welter of ridicule after embarrassingly getting muddled yesterday about the draconian rules imposed on households mixing in the North East. The blunder elicited a rare apology from Mr Johnson, who admitted he had ‘misspoken’ by … Read more
Boris Johnson gathered Cabinet for crisis talks today as allies blamed ‘gotcha’ questions for the PM bungling his own coronavirus lockdown policies. The PM is meeting his senior ministers as he struggles to get back on the front foot after embarrassingly getting muddled about the draconian rules imposed on households mixing in the North East. … Read more
Boris Johnson is now a man with ‘misery etched on his face’ as Covid and money troubles wear down the formally ‘ebullient’ and ‘cajoling’ figure of old. A deeply unflattering portrait published yesterday suggested that the combination of his own brush with death, dealing with the pandemic and personal financial concerns had taken a terrible … Read more
Two allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navanly won local parliament seats Monday in the Siberian city of Tomsk where he was allegedly poisoned last month, according to early poll results. Andrei Fateev and Ksenia Fadeeva came out on top in two constituencies, while the ruling United Russia party topped the polls overall in Tomsk … Read more
HISTORY SICILY ’43 by James Holland (Bantam £25, 640 pp) Sicily was a tough nut to crack for the Allied forces from Britain, Canada and the U.S., who landed on the enemy-occupied Mediterranean island in the blistering summer of 1943. They came from fighting Rommel’s tanks on the wide open deserts of North Africa to … Read more
Britain is in ‘panicked’ discussions with Five Eyes allies to revive a 2012 initiative to combat the West’s reliance on China for its critical infrastructure Critical 5 was set up in 2012 for a multilateral approach to critical infrastructure It is made up of the 5 Eyes alliance countries, including the UK, the US, Australia, … Read more
‘Londongrad laundromat’: Oligarch allies of Vladimir Putin have used London to wash illicit Russian money, report warns Britain welcomed Putin’s cronies ‘with open arms’ because of the cash they brought with them, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said Oligarchs penetrated UK democracy by donating to political parties, it said Concluded Russian elites had made … Read more
Allies of Theresa May have rejected explosive claims that Donald Trump ‘humiliated and bullied’ her during official phone calls. Sources close to the former prime minister said a report Mrs May had been left ‘flustered’ during conversations with the US President were ‘utter nonsense’. However, they conceded that the calls were ‘not always easy, because … Read more