London politics latest news : Liz Truss backs Boris Johnson 100% as she says it is ‘time to move on’

Liz Truss has said she is giving her 100% backing to Boris Johnson after he won a confidence vote - despite a revolt by 148 of his MPs.

The Foreign Secretary urged people it is “time to move on” as she gave her full support to the Prime Minister.

She tweeted: “Pleased that colleagues have backed the Prime Minister. I support him 100%. Now’s the time to get on with the job.”

Ms Truss dismissed speculation of a leadership bid of her own as she said she was busy tackling issues including the Ukraine invasion and the Northern Ireland protocol.

20:54 , Lily Waddell

Thank you for following our coverage today.

Sir Patrick Vallance says disappointing rules weren’t followed in No 10

20:15 , Barney Davis

When asked about the partygate scandal, Chief Scientific Advisor Sir Patrick Vallance said: “It was really important at all stages that everyone stuck to the rules. It works when people stuck to them.

“It is disappointing that that wasn’t the case.”

Scottish Tories leader explains U-Turn on U-Turn

19:59 , Barney Davis

Douglas Ross has said he voted against Boris Johnson “because his actions were unacceptable” and that wanting the Prime Minister to go was his final position.

The leader of the Scottish Tories told BBC Reporting Scotland: “For those who set the rules to then break the rules, I think, is very difficult to come back from.

“So, as I say, it’s not the timing I would have chosen but, ultimately, there was a vote last night and I had to make a decision, and that’s why I went with my original thought that the Prime Minister’s actions were unacceptable and I couldn’t support him.”

Mr Ross has changed his mind on the Prime Minister’s future before, and when asked if it was his final position, he said: “Yes.”

He added: “I understand how political opponents and some journalists want to frame it like that.

“The one thing that changed throughout this several months where I’ve criticised the Prime Minister’s actions was war in Europe.”

Some 19,000 Ukrainians waiting for UK visas amid Rwanda concerns

17:26 , Barney Davis

There are around 19,000 Ukrainians waiting for a UK visa application to be completed, the refugees minister told the House of Lords, as he refused to say if those fleeing that warzone could be sent to Rwanda.

Lord Harrington of Watford told the upper chamber that 65,700 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in the UK since the start of the war in February.

However, he acknowledged some applications are taking longer than the usual two to three days.

He said: “We are now operating at about 5,000 plus applications per week.

“The applications for visas are taking between two and three days, if there are no problems attached to them, 48 hours being what I said actually in my first outing at the despatch box of this House.

“The number of visas awaiting conclusion are about 19,000, which include applications at various stages of the case working process and different levels of complexity.”

Michael Fabricant says no confidence vote went better than expected

16:05 , Sami Quadri

Conservative MP Michael Fabricant said the result of the no confidence vote went “quite some way better” than he anticipated.

He also said he believes MPs who voted against the Prime Minister will “not knife him in the back” following his win.

Mr Fabricant said: “The result turned out to be quite some way better than I anticipated. It’s never good for a Prime Minister to have a vote of no confidence against him.

“But he won, and he won by sufficient majority. We can, you know, move on from this.”

Asked how the Prime Minister can continue to govern despite over 140 MPs voting against him, he said: “He’s well aware of that, but it’s not like they’re going to knife him in the back.

“Philip Davies was very good, he said this morning on GB News that he voted against the Prime Minister, but we’ve got a result. And now we’ve got to just get on with it.”

Tory MP brands Johnson’s comments on Partygate ‘foolish'

15:46 , Sami Quadri

Conservative MP Giles Watling has criticised Boris Johnson for making “foolish” comments about Partygate.

Asked on Monday afternoon about the conduct described in the Sue Gray report, Johnson told MPs: “I’d do it again.”

In reaction to the comments, Mr Watling said: “I think that’s slightly foolish.

“I mean, we all made sacrifices during lockdown. I, for instance, I mean, it’s not a big issue nationally, but sadly I lost one of my sisters during that and I wasn’t able to see her as much as I’d liked because of lockdown.

“Now, I understand the feelings of people out there who went through quite some privation. And it looks like – it’s all to do with perception – that there were parties being held in Number 10.”

Kwarteng: It is right to demand ‘high standards’ of integrity

15:26 , Daniel Keane

Labour's Jonathan Reynolds raised Boris Johnson's confidence vote, telling Kwasi Kwarteng during business questions in the Commons: "If the Business Secretary believes integrity and honesty are important in all walks of life, he should have voted against the Prime Minister last night".

Shadow business secretary Mr Reynolds said: "If a chair or chief executive of a FTSE 100 company presided over a culture of rule-breaking, broke the law themselves and then said they'd do it again, would that person have the Business Secretary's support or would he demand better standards than in public life?

Mr Kwarteng replied it was "right to deserve and to ask actually, to demands the highest standards in any profession, across any position, in any institution."

Mr Reynolds responded: "I agree, but if the Business Secretary believes integrity and honesty are important in all walks of life, he should have voted against the Prime Minister last night."

Former minister says he voted for ‘new vision of the party’

15:05 , Daniel Keane

Former minister Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow, told BBC Radio Shropshire he had voted for "a new vision for the party and a new degree of competence at the heart of government".

"It's not going to happen for now, but we'll have to see what happens in the coming weeks and months. This is not over."

Govt has ‘drifted away from key policy aims’, says Frost

14:46 , Daniel Keane

Lord Frost has claimed the Government has “drifted away” from its key policy aims.

He told the BBC: “I think basically the problem is there isn’t a particularly recognisably Conservative proposition for people to get behind.

“The Government’s economic policy particularly, though not only that, has drifted away from where the core of the supporters and voters and membership want to go and we need to get back to it.”

Streeting attacks Javid’s NHS comments

14:22 , Daniel Keane

Wes Streeting has poured scorn on Sajid Javid's comments that the NHS is a "Blockbuster healthcare system in the age of Netflix".

Asked about the Health Secretary's comments on Tuesday, the Labour frontbencher told an audience at the Institute for Government: "So what?"

Mr Streeting said: "I think it's slightly absurd that 12 years into a Government we have government ministers who talk in the biggest generalities without plans to deliver anything."

He added: "We have have a Government that is not governing and doesn't have answers. It just has generalities."

Frost opposes tax rises

14:02 , Daniel Keane

Lord David Frost has said he opposes the tax rises planned by the Government to help pay for social care.

He told the BBC: “"It is not Conservative to be raising taxes, and it is undermining growth and prosperity.

"We need to improve productivity and investment, and not weaken it."

Lord Frost added: "I don't think it's a particularly good solution to the social care problem, and I don't think much of the money will end up going to it anyway.”

Rebel MP urges colleagues to ‘get behind the Govt’

13:45 , Daniel Keane

Nigel Mills has said he thinks that Tory MPs like himself who voted against the Prime Minister on Monday now need to accept the result and "get behind the Government".

The Amber Valley MP told BBC Radio 4's World At One programme: "I voted against the Prime Minister yesterday and I wanted to see a change made, but I accept the result that my colleagues by a majority over 60 wanted to keep the Prime Minister - effectively saying we should forgive the indiscretions of the lockdown period and move on.

"So that I think is the right approach now for the party, the Government and the country.

"We've got a lot of serious crises that need tackling, we should get behind the Government to do that."

PM to be questioned by senior MPs on July 6

13:22 , Daniel Keane

Boris Johnson will be questioned by senior MPs on July 6 when he appears before the Liaison Committee, made up of the chairs of the Commons select committees.

While the make-up of the panel that will question the Prime Minister has not been announced, Mr Johnson could face a tough time as a number of the Tory MPs that chair committees have been critical of his leadership.

Liaison Committee chairman Sir Bernard Jenkin has not disclosed how he voted, as he is also on the Privileges Committee examining whether Mr Johnson misled Parliament.

But Defence Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood and Health Committee chairman Jeremy Hunt are prominent critics of the Prime Minister, Environmental Audit Committee chairman Philip Dunne voted against Mr Johnson and Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat is seen as a potential leadership contender.

Johnson ally: Opponents need to accept confidence vote result

13:01 , Josh Salisbury

Shipley MP Philip Davies has said opponents need to accept when votes do not go their way.

"You can't have a situation whereby every time somebody loses a vote, they won't accept the result. We saw that with Brexit, and I was opposed to people not accepting that and I'm not going to fall into the same trap as they did,” he said.

When asked how Mr Johnson will be able to continue to govern when so many MPs have expressed no confidence in his leadership, Mr Davies said: "All of us should get behind him and so on and accept that he won the vote.

"When there's a leadership election not everybody votes for the person who wins, but everyone who votes for the losing candidate is rightly expected to accept the results and this is as far as I can see what happened yesterday. It's no different."

He added: "I think the Prime Minister has to start hauling back the trust of the British people. He's got to start doing that by delivering on the things that people thought they were voting for in 2019, some proper Conservative policies.”

Downing St: No plans for reshuffle

12:45 , Josh Salisbury

Downing Street officials have insisted there were "no plans currently" for a reshuffle following the confidence vote.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said that following the vote Boris Johnson "has a mandate to continue and focus on the issues that matter to the public and that's what you saw this morning".

Asked whether Mr Johnson was investigating whether any ministers voted against him, the spokesman said "not that I'm aware of", adding that it was "deliberately an anonymous process by design".

Ex-minister confirms no confidence vote

12:00 , Daniel Keane

Former cabinet minister Damian Green has confirmed that he voted no confidence in Boris Johnson’s premiership last night.

He told Kent Online: “Today’s vote was the right time to reach that conclusion, and with great sadness I voted that I had no confidence in the Prime Minister.

“The result of the vote means that the Prime Minister will continue in office, so I will continue to support the government, and argue the case for the people of Ashford, as I have always done.”

Zelensky ‘happy’ that PM won confidence vote

11:47 , Daniel Keane

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is “very happy” that Boris Johnson won the confidence vote as he is a “true friend of Ukraine”.

Speaking to the Financial Times on Tuesday, Mr Zelensky claimed that the prime minister was “an important ally” of his country and had shown support following the Russian invasion.

The pair famously met in Kyiv last month in a show of Britain’s support for Ukraine. Just hours before his confidence vote on Monday night, Mr Johnson spoke to Mr Zelensky to reiterate the UK’s commitment to arming Ukraine in its resistance against Russian aggression.

Asked for his reaction to the news that Mr Johnson had won the confidence vote, he told the FT’s Roula Khalaf: “I am very happy [he won the confidence vote]. He is a true friend of Ukraine...I am glad we have not lost a very important ally.”

Watch: Boris Johnson thanks Cabinet after confidence vote

11:39 , Daniel Keane

PM has ‘aversion to scrutiny'

11:25 , Daniel Keane

Conservative MP Julian Lewis said Boris Johnson has an "aversion to scrutiny, bordering on contempt for the Commons", adding "impropriety at the top of government is impossible to defend".

In a statement issued following Monday night's confidence vote, the chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament said: "The Prime Minister's record since 2019 has been a mixture of achievements and misadventures.

"His difficulties derive largely from a belief that he and favoured friends can disregard rules, which others must follow. This weakens trust in the integrity of Parliament.

"He has an aversion to scrutiny bordering on contempt for the Commons. Impropriety at the top of government is impossible to defend, especially when it is habitual.”

Johnson has suffered ‘moral defeat’, says Blackford

11:18 , Daniel Keane

The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford has said that Boris Johnson suffered a “moral defeat” in Monday’s no confidence vote.

Mr Blackford said: "He can try and argue, as he has done, that he’s won the vote, but this is a moral defeat for the Prime Minister.

“You’ve got the situation that all the opposition parties and now 140 Tory MPs want this Prime Minister gone, he’s not going to be able to run away from this.”

He added: “Whether he goes today or whether it’s some months down the line this is a dead man walking, this is a man that will pay a price for his behaviour."

Pictured: Boris Johnson speaks to Cabinet

11:08 , Daniel Keane

PM to ask ministers to ‘come forward’ with cost cutting ideas

10:48 , Daniel Keane

Mr Johnson asked ministers to “come forward” with ways to cut costs.

"Over the course of the next few weeks, I'm going to ask everybody to come forward with ways in which we can, as I say, cut costs, drive reform and make sure that we understand that in the end, it is people who have the best feel for how to spend their own money rather than the government or the state," he said.

“And that is our fundamental, Conservative instinct and that way, I think we will be able to get on with our agenda, making this the most prosperous, the most successful economy in Europe.”

I will deliver tax cuts, says PM

10:37 , Daniel Keane

Boris Johnson told his Cabinet the Government will deliver tax cuts to help with economic growth, as well as speaking with them about issues with waiting times for passports and health services.

Speaking at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said such issues are "really uppermost in people's mind" and that they "want Government to be helping them to get services they need promptly".

He said: "I think in particular people deserve to get their passport and their driving licence just as much as they deserve to get their test, their scan or their screen on time, promptly and we've got to focus on that.

"We've got to make sure that as we spend - make these colossal investments, which I repeat I think is the morally economically the right thing to do, we've got to get value out of it.

“We've got to make sure people see that they are getting the services they need when they want."

PM: We are going to get on with ‘massive agenda’

10:22 , Daniel Keane

Boris Johnson opened the Cabinet meeting by highlighting what his Government has been doing to help the Covid recovery, economy and cost-of-living crisis.

He told ministers gathered in the Cabinet room: “We are going to get on with the massive agenda that we were elected to deliver in 2019

“It is a huge, huge thing that we are all part off, to really transform infrastructure, skills and technology, uniting and levelling up across the country, unleashing potential across the whole of the UK.

“It is the totally morally, socially, economically, politically the right thing to do and we should be proud, proud, proud of what we’re doing.”

Tory MP brands leadership challenge ‘nonsense’

10:10 , Daniel Keane

Asked about speculation that Boris Johnson may call an early general election, Conservative MP Lee Anderson called it "a lot of nonsense".

"It's just speculation, and it's probably a lot of nonsense, and the press have been on a bit of a witch hunt for the boss since day one.

"All this speculation, who's saying it? I've not had anybody say it in my party, so that's probably just nonsense," the MP for Ashfield added.

Health secretary Sajid Javid arrives for Cabinet meeting

09:53 , Daniel Keane

Raab all smiles as he arrives for Cabinet meeting

09:39 , Daniel Keane

Tory MPs ‘know Johnson has done a disgraceful thing’, says Rayner

09:28 , Daniel Keane

Speaking outside parliament, Ms Rayner added: “When you lie to the public and when you break your own laws, then the minimum standard you should expect is the Prime Minister to resign.”

She added: "I've heard ministers out today saying, 'Oh we've got to move on, this draws a line under it.' It really doesn't.

"Number 10 was the most heavily fined property in the whole of the United Kingdom. That is a damning indictment and Boris Johnson should be ashamed of himself to think he can continue when other people lost loved ones and were not able to say goodbye to them.

"It was a damning indictment of his own peers and many MPs within the Conservative Party were pretty clear that they think he's done a disgraceful thing.”

Rayner says Johnson would get ‘hammered’ in election

09:18 , Daniel Keane

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has said Boris Johnson would get “hammered” were he to call a general election.

She told PA: “We’ve got the answers to the problems that the country faces at the moment, but the country will not move on while Boris Johnson the liar, the cheat and the law breaker is continuing as Prime Minister, because it sets the standard for the future of our democracy.

“If we allow a prime minister to continue in office when he smirks and laughs and has taken the public for fools and lied and broken his own laws, well there has to be a line that is drawn, and I think the public won’t move on until Boris Johnson is gone.”

She added: “"The public have the power to remove Boris Johnson. He may think that he's bought himself a bit of time, but people never forget that they didn't get to say goodbye to their loved ones. The British public do not like liars, cheats and people that break the law.

"And I think that he is going to get absolutely hammered if he tries to have another general election on that basis."

Workers take down bunting from outside of 10 Downing Street

09:05 , Daniel Keane

NI Protocol must not be ‘price of supporting Johnson’, says Irish minister

08:56 , Daniel Keane

Mr Coveney said that he hoped planned legislation to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol would not become the "price" of Tory support for Boris Johnson.

He said the UK Government was instead "threatening to publish legislation this week which would effectively be using British domestic law to breach international law by setting aside elements of their treaty obligations".

Mr Coveney added: "That would be a big mistake I think politically, because I think it'll cause an awful lot more problems than it solves.

"I certainly hope that's not the price of the British Prime Minister maintaining majority support within his own party."

Concern that divisions in Westminster could impact Northern Ireland Protocol

08:50 , Daniel Keane

The Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney has expressed his concern that divisions within the Conservative Party could impact on UK-EU negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

He told RTE Radio: "If those divisions within the Conservative Party impact on Ireland, because the Prime Minister or the British Government decides in order to maintain support within the party that they have to take a tougher line on Brexit, or on the Northern Ireland Protocol, well then obviously divisions in the Conservative Party and in the British Government impact on Ireland.

"And of course, that's where we have a concern.”

Lib Dems to table no confidence vote in Commons

08:37 , Daniel Keane

The leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey has said his party will put forward a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News, Sir Ed said: "If it can be debated, I hope a lot of those 148 MPs who don't have confidence in the Prime Minister will vote with the Liberal Democrats and other opposition parties so we can remove this Prime Minister.

"There are millions of people out there, families and pensioners, who are suffering, they are facing a summer of discontent with rising prices, cost-of-living crisis, energy crisis and now the travel and holiday crisis, we need to see this Prime Minister gone and that is why Liberal Democrats will put forward a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister today."

Rayner: PM is ‘arrogant and dismissive’

08:32 , Daniel Keane

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has said that Boris Johnson is “arrogant, dismissive, a liar” and is “mortally wounded” following the confidence vote last night.

Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News, Ms Rayner said: "No I don't want Boris Johnson to stay in post because as you know many of the public see politicians in general as untrustworthy - Boris Johnson is pulling down standards in public life which is why we've got the motion today to uphold them.

"I think he is doing a disservice to the country and it is pretty clear now that the British public have lost all confidence in Boris Johnson.

"I don't think it is a good day. I think he is mortally wounded now and I think he has only got an 80-odd majority within Parliament and therefore he is pretty clear 70-odd percent of his backbenchers didn't back him so I think he should have done the right thing by now and resigned already, but this Prime Minister doesn't really consider himself to follow rules."

Raab denies that by-election defeats will foreshadow General Election

08:24 , Daniel Keane

Dominic Raab said potential losses for the Conservative Party at two upcoming by-elections in Wakefield, West Yorkshire and Devon's Tiverton and Honiton, would have little effect on a general election result the following year.

Speaking on LBC, he said: "By-elections are often an opportunity for a protest vote in a way that a general election isn't.

"Governments of the day often lose by-elections to go on to win them at a general election.

"But we'll do everything we can do win both of those seats and support both of those great candidates up there."

Raab: Party must ‘draw a line’ after vote

08:16 , Daniel Keane

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has said the Conservatives should "draw a line in the sand" following the confidence vote in the Prime Minister on Monday.

He told LBC radio: "I think we draw a line in the sand after this vote, it was clearly and decisively won.

"We move forward to deliver for the people of the country and that is the way we do the right thing by our constituents."

When asked whether he could count on rebellious colleagues to support policies going forward, Mr Raab added: "There's a huge amount, when you look at our policy agenda that binds us together, that's the way it is in the Conservative Party.

"And I think the best forward - momentum - will be to focus on that, because that's the stuff that the people in the country, from the towns to the shires and the suburbs and everywhere in between, want us focused on."

Pictured: PM leaves Downing St

08:11 , Daniel Keane

Tory rebel calls for change of Cabinet ministers

08:06 , Daniel Keane

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has called for a change of ministers in the Cabinet in lieu of a change in Prime Minister, adding that he believes Boris Johnson has "a matter of months" left in his post.

He told Sky News: "A lot of work to be done: a reshuffle is now required - bring in fresh talent, and actually start to focus on the big issues, make the Cabinet construct actually work.

"Let's do things that appeal to the country and not just to our base - more exciting policies than the privatisation of Channel 4 and bringing back imperial measurements, but a real economic strategy that's actually going to help tackle the cost of living crisis."

When asked how long he believes Mr Johnson will remain as Prime Minister, he added: "I think we're talking a matter of months, up to party conference."

Good morning

08:02 , Daniel Keane

Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog, where we’ll be bringing you the latest from Westminster.

Boris Johnson has emerged wounded following a confidence vote last night, securing the backing of just over 60 per cent of his MPs.

A string of rebel MPs have repeated calls for the PM to resign this morning, including Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, who said Mr Johnson should now leave Downing Street.

He tweeted: “Last night’s vote is worse in percentage terms than that suffered by Mrs May and on a par with Heseltine’s challenge against Mrs Thatcher.

“The Prime Minister should now leave with honour and residual affection for what he has achieved.”