Boris Johnson latest news: Not a ‘chance in hell’ PM will step down

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries has landed in Saudi Arabia, she announced on Twitter.

She said: “Delighted to have landed in Saudi Arabia.

“I’m here to discuss how we can use culture, tourism and sports to strengthen our shared relationship.

“Looking forward to an exciting visit”.

An e-petition against animal testing will be heard in Parliament after tens of thousands of people signed it.

It will be debated in Westminster Hall after 110,276 people signed the petition that calls for alternatives to testing on live animals.

It calls on the government to “change the law so laboratory animals are included in the Animal Welfare Act”.

It adds: “Laboratory animals are currently not protected by the Act and are therefore victims of ‘unnecessary suffering’.”

Tim Phillips, vice-president of the National Anti-Vivisection Society, told The Mirror: “Animal researchers are permitted to do things to animals that would otherwise see the person responsible prosecuted for cruelty.”

The Royal Society – which says it is the “world’s oldest independent scientific academy dedicated to promoting scientific excellence” at 361-years-old – backs animal testing with safeguards.

It said that “at present, the use of animals remains the only way for some areas of research to progress.”

Niko Omilana has posted a video in which he serves PM Boris Johnson an eviction notice from “Clowning Street”.

The former independent candidate for Mayor of London – who calls himself the “people’s Mayor of London” – has rocked up to Downing Street with a circus troupe.

It’s time for you to leave 10 Downing Street. You are officially evicted.

“You and your criminal colleagues have made a joke of this country – so I have decided to replace you with people more serious.”

The circus gang – clowns, jugglers, and cheers.

He continues: “You’ve been running this country like a circus. So we might as well make it official – yeah?”

Former BBC journalist Guto Harri has confirmed that he accepted the job of Boris Johnson’s director of communications.

He posted a photo of himself with his “distinguished predecessor” Peter Capaldi – the actor who plays Malcolm Tucker, the Downing Street director of communications in political satire The Thick of It.

Mr Harri wrote: “Joining a formidable team to focus on the things that matter and deliver what [Mr Johnson] promised to the people.”

The SNP have challenged Scottish Tory MPs to “come out of hiding” and submit letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson’s leadership over Partygate.

The prime minister could face a confidence vote as soon as this week.

Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has already called on him to quit.

Kirsten Oswald, SNP Westminster deputy leader, urged Scottish Tory MPs to submit their letters of no confidence to the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs.

She said, TheCourier newspaper reported: “They are snubbing Douglas Ross and undermining his position, by siding with Boris Johnson.

“Despite being repeatedly overlooked for promotion, humiliated by the prime minister, and their Scottish Tory leader being dismissed as a ‘lightweight’ by their Westminster bosses, it seems they are still clinging to the hope of being given a ministerial job if they remain loyal.

“It’s time they showed some backbone and stood up for their constituents, instead of always putting their own careerist ambitions first.”

Three quarters of people in Scotland believe that Mr Johnson should quit over Downing Street’s breach of lockdown rules, according to a new Panelbase poll for The Sunday Times.

Kwasi Kwarteng’s suggestion that voters don’t think fraud counts as a crime affecting their “day-to-day lives” has been criticised by a former chief prosecutor.

Nazir Afzal accused the Cabinet minister of “downplaying the impact of crime on ordinary citizens whilst trying to defend his lying” prime minister.

The business secretary made the comments while seeking to defend Boris Johnson’s claim in the Commons this week – later branded “misleading” by the statistics watchdog – that crime had fallen 14 per cent under his leadership, which according to the Office for National Statistics is only true when excluding fraud and computer misuse.

In fact, data published by the ONS last week stated that overall crime levels had actually risen by 14 per cent.

Adam Forrest has more details here:

Felicity Cornelius-Mercer has issued this update today after tweeting an image of her husband, the MP for Plymouth, asleep on the sofa, writing that he had got “so p****d” while watching sports yesterday afternoon that he couldn’t remember what he’d said with the prime minister, who called him last night.

“We appreciated Boris’ call,” Ms Cornelius Mercer wrote.

Here’s the tweet which sparked the “hysteria”:

Boris Johnson’s newly-hired director of communications Guto Harri has responded to criticism of his appointment supposedly sent to Dominic Cummings – which the PM’s nemesis published on Twitter – by linking to a GQ article from February 2020, in which he had predicted Mr Johnson’s then chief political aide would be “gone by the summer”.

He had written of Mr Cummings: “With an aide like that who needs an opposition? Who needs the Labour Party to undermine Conservative morale when an unelected advisor, who boasts of having never been a party member, is gratuitously offensive to many of its senior statesmen and damn right abusive to the young crack troops who devote themselves to promoting its cause?”

My colleague Adam Forrest has more details and context on business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng’s denial that Carrie Johnson has “undue” influence at No 1 – as details from Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft’s upcoming biography of the prime minister’s wife appear in the press.

According to details from the book published in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, Mr Johnson allegedly voiced frustration at the way his wife tried to exert influence over the running of No 10.

Downing Street has rejected claims contained within the book, titled First Lady: Intrigue at the Court of Carrie and Boris Johnson, while culture secretary Nadine Dorries also condemned the attacks on Ms Johnson.

The UK providing weapons and training to Ukrainian forces shows to Russian president Vladimir Putin that war “won’t be such an easy ride”, a former oligarch has said.

Asked on Sky News whether putting more pressure on the assets of Mr Putin’s allies in the UK would deter Moscow from launching an invasion, exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky said: “The pressure on the assets and the properties of the Russians in Britain has two sides.

“Putin’s clique illegally pressurise the British political system, it’s done in numerous ways. There are legal firms who work for them, sometimes it’s direct influence on British governing bodies. It’s really important to fight this, it’s a dangerous thing for Britain.

“That’s one part of it – the influence of Putin’s clique. The other thing is an ethical issue, it’s a question for British society whether it’s happy and whether the system is happy to have dirty money on the British territory. As far as Putin is concerned these assets are in enemy territory, he sees this as a betrayal unless these people are influencing the British system.”

But Mr Khodorkovsky added: “More important is supplying weapons and training Ukrainians – that shows to Putin that the war won’t be such an easy ride if he’s planning one.”