Politics

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says he did not watch all of Dominic Cummings’ testimony to MPs today because he was dealing with the vaccination rollout and “saving lives”. Mr Hancock came in for repeated attacks by the prime minister’s former adviser during a seven-hour-long committee hearing. Analysis: Hancock fighting for his political life after brutal

Matt Hancock is fighting for his political life after a brutal demolition job on the health secretary by Dominic Cummings. Amid a series of bitter barbs that sounded like a calculated political assassination, Mr Cummings accused Mr Hancock of “criminal, disgraceful behaviour that caused serious harm”. At Prime Minister’s Questions, while Mr Cummings was still

Former Conservative chair Baroness Warsi says a report into Tory Islamophobia shows the party is “institutionally racist” – despite the findings saying otherwise. She told Sky News: “I think the findings of this report show clearly that the Conservative Party is institutionally racist, that’s based upon the definition of what is institutional racism. “The way

An MP has had the Conservative whip removed after a complaints panel found that he broke Parliament’s sexual misconduct policy. Rob Roberts made repeated and unwanted sexual advances towards a male former member of staff, an Independent Expert Panel (IEP) found, as it recommended he face a six-week suspension. Following the publishing of the panel’s

Aircraft have been told by the British government to avoid Belarusian airspace after the alleged state-sponsored hijack of a Ryanair flight so one of President Lukashenko’s critics could be arrested. The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has suspended all foreign permits held by Belarusian carriers, including state-owned airline Belavia, following the fallout from Sunday’s controversial

The public will likely have to wait longer for details of the government’s review of social distancing rules and its proposals for COVID certification due to the growth in cases of the Indian variant. Downing Street signalled Boris Johnson would wait longer to unveil the plans, despite the prime minister having previously promised to provide

Campaigners in favour of legalising assisted dying have welcomed a cross-party attempt to change the law due to begin this week. A private member’s bill will have its first reading in the House of Lords on Wednesday. It proposes legalising assisted dying in England and Wales for adults who are terminally ill, mentally competent and

The sister of murdered MP Jo Cox is to be Labour’s candidate in the Batley and Spen by-election, a poll that could determine whether Sir Keir Starmer survives as party leader. Kim Leadbeater, 44, who only joined the Labour Party recently, will defend the seat once held by Ms Cox. Until recently it was held

The UK’s border will become “fully digital” so the government is able to measure immigration levels, the home secretary will announce on Monday. Priti Patel is set to announce what the government is calling “sweeping changes” to the UK’s immigration policy to “streamline” the way in which people come into the country. The changes include

The director-general of the BBC has written to staff saying lessons must be learnt following the damning report into the circumstances surrounding the Panorama interview with Princess Diana. In an internal email, Tim Davie said people across the BBC felt “deeply let down” by the contents of Lord Dyson’s 127-page report, which found the corporation

A cabinet minister has told Sky News it would make “sense” for many people to carry on wearing masks even after lockdown rules are lifted. Justice Secretary Robert Buckland suggested continuing the practice would help curb the spread of the common cold. He also said “caution has been the watchword” when it came to lifting

The Met Police says it will assess the contents of the inquiry into the BBC’s Martin Bashir interview with Princess Diana to ensure there is no “significant new evidence” to support a criminal investigation. In March this year, the force said it was “not appropriate” to launch a criminal investigation into “unlawful activity” in connection

The prime minister has declared that the world “must never be caught unawares” by another pandemic, as he backed a new global surveillance network to detect emerging diseases. A “global pandemic radar” is being developed by the World Health Organisation to monitor and track new infections and variants in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Downing Street has said there was a short delay in England’s test-and-trace system asking some people who tested positive to provide details of individuals they had been in contact with. It comes after a BBC report claimed failures in test-and-trace were partly responsible for a surge in the Indian variant in one of the worst

The health secretary has defended the government’s messaging on international travel, insisting the advice on holidays has been “crystal clear”. Since the ban on foreign holidays was lifted on Monday as part of the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, people have been able to enjoy quarantine-free travel to a dozen destinations on the green list. Live

There are now almost 3,000 cases of the Indian variant in the UK, the health secretary has told MPs. Matt Hancock said 2,967 cases of the COVID-19 variant have now been recorded, having stood at more than 2,300 on Monday. Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world As a result, surge testing