News about Boris Johnson

Forecasts suggest the Tories could lose up to half of the council seats they are defending, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt saying the party expects to suffer 'significant losses'. Boris Johnson urged people to vote for Tory mayors Andy Street and Ben Houchen, even though they shunned their party's brand in the run-up to today's elections. Mr Street sent a letter to West Midlands voters in which the former prime minister tells them to 'forget the Government'. Most of the seats up for re-election were last contested in 2021, at the peak of Boris Johnson's popularity as the Covid-19 vaccine was rolled out.

With her model good looks, A-list friends and flair for flirty fashion, at first glance Lady Lola Bute is your typical young aristocrat.  Described by Tatler as one of the nation's 'ultimate it-girls' Lola, 24, who is the daughter of the late John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute and fashion designer Serena Bute, spends her summers in Ibiza, and is often snapped at celebrity parties. She recently wowed in an Alessandro Fran gown on the Vanity Fair Oscar's red carpet. But beneath the glitz and glamour is tremendous pain. Lola, who recently celebrated her early 25th birthday in a huge bash at her family seat Mount Stuart House, is completely sober, having witnessed first hand what can happen with a life of excess. In 2019, she lost her boyfriend Kai Schachter to suicide. Just six months later her best friend IIa Scheckter died of a suspected accidental overdose. A year later she was caught in scandal when she broken lockdown rules, and months after her father passed away from cancer.After her boyfriend died she sought help for 'unhealthy coping mechanisms'. From here, Lola cleaned up her act and set up an charity to help those struggling with mental health and addiction.

From basketball training to drama production, home cooking to public speaking, children at All Saints Catholic College will enjoy a whole host of activities when their regular classes finish at 3.15pm. The pilot project, introduced at the Notting Hill school, will see students arrive for breakfast at 7.15am and finish their day with an evening meal and games at around 6.30pm. A total of 120 Year 7 and Year 8 pupils are taking part in the non-compulsory scheme, which is currently running from Monday to Thursday. Headteacher Andrew O'Neill insisted that a 12-hour day will give pupils 'buckets full of endorphins' and aims to break the cycle of smartphone 'addiction'.

The head of the Conservative's parliamentary group has said rank-and-file Tory members should not have the ability to pick the party leader while it is in power. Sir Graham Brady, who heads the 1922 Committee, has said that MPs, rather than grassroots members, should be the ones to pick the successor to Conservative prime ministers who are booted while in office. The 56-year-old reportedly said it is 'crazy' that ordinary members could choose the next Prime Minister when it was MPs themselves who decide whether leaders are kept in place by no-confidence votes. Sir Graham said the current leadership process - which sees MPs reduce the field of leadership candidates down to two before grassroot members make the final choice - is a 'mistake'. The comments were allegedly made by the MP for Altrincham and Sale West while speaking to students at Durham University on Thursday, with a recording being passed to The Telegraph.

A Durham nightclub dubbed 'the worst in Europe' has closed down after more than 40 years of operation- as Dominic Cummings who used to work there paid tribute. Klute, known for its sticky dancefloors, cheesy tunes and packed atmosphere, reportedly shut its doors for the final time on April 20. The nightclub was previously branded the 'second worst in Europe' by FHM Magazine but claimed the top spot by default after the worst one burnt down. Cummings, Boris Johnson 's former advisor, paid tribute to Klute today - where he once worked collecting money on the door.

Alastair, of Redcar Shoe Repairs, is an old-school cobbler. 'Most people will try to sell you two brushes,' he explains scornfully. 'But all you need to do is use one end to apply the polish, then turn it round and use the other end to buff it up.' My boots have become a bit scuffed wandering up and down the front of this wind-pummelled North East seaside town in advance of Thursday's Tees Valley mayoral election. Three years ago, Conservative rising star Ben Houchen won by a landslide on the back of Boris Johnson's pledge to 'level up' Britain. But he's now engaged in a life-or-death struggle with Chris McEwen, Labour deputy leader of nearby Darlington council. And if Houchen succumbs this week, it will officially mark the collapse of the Tory Red Wall, and final implosion of Rishi Sunak and his government.

They were the secret negotiations between Nigel Farage's Brexit Party and shadowy Tory fixer Dougie Smith which sowed the seeds of the disaster facing Rishi Sunak. It can now be revealed that Mr Smith, who has been accused of plotting with Michael Gove to topple Boris Johnson, led a team of Tory power brokers who tried to 'bribe' Mr Farage into withdrawing before the 2019 election by offering him a knighthood, ten peerages for his Brexit Party members and influence over the Government's 'policy direction'. Mr Farage's response was to text a 'very rude' message to Boris.

Imagine your elation at the news. It's almost a week from now, round about midnight on Friday, and the cameras are crossing to City Hall, London , where the votes have finally been counted. The candidates are lining up on stage, and you notice a wild-eyed look, as though they have just learned something they can't quite believe. As the Returning Officer of the Greater London Authority reads out the total votes, there is a catch in her voice, the slight tremble of one who knows she is about to make history, and take the political world by storm. As she blurts it out, you give an involuntary yelp of startled ecstasy.

Harry Pitman, 16 and 6ft 3in with a shock of red, curly hair and a broad, smiling face, travelled from his North London home in Haringey to enjoy the 2024 New Year fireworks. He made for fashionable Primrose Hill, which gives a sweeping view of the capital. With 20 minutes until midnight, it was packed with revellers eagerly awaiting the display to erupt above the London Eye. But Harry got into a fight with another boy his age. It was the usual teenage argy-bargy over a girl. In the past it would have ended with words and maybe a punch thrown. But in today's London, the other boy whipped out a hunting knife and stabbed Harry. He collapsed to the ground and nearby police officers frantically tried to revive him.

The clip, seemingly taken from an infrared radar screen and shared on social media by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, appeared to show the 500lb Paveway IV slamming into its target and triggering a huge fireball. The RAF Typhoon conducted the strike as part of a routine patrol amid Operation Shader - the British armed forces' efforts to support and train allied forces in operations to eradicate ISIS and other Islamic extremist movements in Iraq. Paveway IV bombs have been used to great effect by the RAF since 2008, and were the primary weapon of choice to hit Houthi targets in Yemen earlier this year in response to the rebel attacks on international freight ships in the Red Sea. The device can home in on a target designated by a laser, but can also navigate according to GPS coordinates, making the 500lb explosive a high-precision strike weapons

The Prime Minister welcomed to Downing Street the 27-year-old from Worthing, West Sussex, who recently ran the entire length of Africa. Mr Cook then completed the London Marathon last Sunday , just two weeks after finishing his epic 10,000-mile African endurance test. And he appeared more comfortable with today's outing, in comparison to Mr Sunak who sounded a little short of breath at times while keeping up conversation. The Prime Minister shared a five-minute video of their encounter - which also included his admission he took up running to impress future wife Akshata Murthy .

Britain is on track for another referendum on whether to be in the EU, according to a polling guru. Professor Sir John Curtice pointed to the overwhelmingly anti-Brexit views of Labour voters and younger generations as he argued the issue has not been settled. At a think-tank event, Sir John said he 'would not be surprised' if there was a re-run of the ballot by 2040.

Let's not pretend, though, that it is new. Nor should we delude ourselves into believing that it's ­anything like enough. Rishi may have woken up to the threats encircling us, and we should be glad about that. The fact remains that, for all the hoopla surrounding his speech, the Government has merely re-embraced a commitment made nearly two years ago by Boris, since when the storm clouds have continued to darken.

The disconnect between the peers' rhetoric and the reality is shocking. It ­suggests to me that there is more than a whiff of prejudice at play, which is why I heartily welcomed an intervention on the subject by the Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell this week. In a radio interview, he ­suggested that the Lords have been 'patronising' and ­'bordering on racism' in their statements about the ability of the 14 million-strong ­country to run the deportation scheme. Finally! Here is a government figure daring to say what I have been feeling for months.

Nearly 80,000 migrants have arrived across the English Channel since Boris Johnson unveiled the scheme in April 2022 - with its total cost soaring past £500,000million. But with the policy finally approved, an emboldened Mr Sunak has vowed to get the first planes into the air within 10 to 12 weeks - citing a string of numbers as evidence of the preparatory work that has already been done. These include getting 200 caseworkers ready to identify asylum seekers who will be served with 'removal directions' in the coming days, and increasing spaces in detention centres to 2,200 in order to hold the deportees until they can leave.

DOMINIC LAWSON: Long after sensible readers of this newspaper are tucked up in bed, MPs and peers will late tonight, or even in the early hours of tomorrow morning, be concluding a high-stakes series of 'parliamentary ping-pong'. This is the term given for the to-and-fro when the House of Lords repeatedly rejects or amends legislation passed by the House of Commons. But convention dictates that, eventually, the Lords must recognise that the elected House's will must prevail. In this case, the ball has been ping- ponging back and forth between the two Houses over the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration Bill). After the Government's measure - to make all those coming illegally across the Channel subject to removal to Rwanda - was yet again knocked back in the Lords last week, the Prime Minister said he would 'accept no more delay' and warned that Parliament must 'sit there and vote until it's done'.

The calls come after almost 3,000 people died after receiving tainted blood transfusions - including, pictured left to right, Mike Dorricott, Colin Smith and Nicky Calder. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and London mayor Sadiq Khan are now among those calling for families to be compensated as soon as a long-awaiting public inquiry report is published within weeks. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin have also backed the campaign which follows years of agony for bereaved relatives. Up to 30,000 patients with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders were given tainted medical products in the 1970s and 1980s, with thousands infected with HIV and hepatitis C as a result.

I was in Canada the other day, and it struck me the Canadians are an enviably healthy bunch. They live about a year longer, on average, than we do - a whole year. I suppose they lead a fairly active life. They play a lot of ice hockey. They ski and they canoe. But the doctors would probably say it was their diet, so I have researched the matter. It's not just the waffles and maple syrup that distinguish the Canadian diet from our own. It's the beef. They eat almost three times as much beef as we do, in that the average Canuck gorges him or herself on 4st 6lb of beef per year. The average Brit can afford only 1st 7lb of beef per year.

The theatre writer who sparked fury after claiming a lecture by a female academic inspired a sleazy trip to a massage parlour defended his actions today, telling MailOnline: 'I don't feel like much of a sex pervert.' Lloyd Evans revealed in The Spectator that he visited a Chinese prostitute after becoming distracted by the appearance of political theory expert Lea Ypi at a talk in Cambridge . The 61-year-old claimed he had lost control of his 'lunatic libido' after seeing the London School of Economics professor's 'blonde hair spilling over her shoulders', before going on to sleep with a Chinese prostitute. The article sparked an angry response from the Albanian-born professor, as well as others on social media who called it 'horrific', 'crude' and 'appalling'. However, Evans has hit back at his critics as he spoke to MailOnline on his doorstep at his East London home. He said: 'I've had a lot of negative reaction unfortunately so I'm not going to be talking much more about it. People have been calling me 'sex pervert' and this and that on social media but I don't feel much like one. As for the notion that the woman I visited may have been trafficked - as some have suggested online - I'm not going to get into any of that.'

A top female academic has hit out at a theatre critic after he claimed one of her lectures inspired a sleazy trip to a massage parlour. Political theory expert Lea Ypi sparked a flood of social media outrage by posting a copy of Lloyd Evans' lecherous remarks after her Cambridge talk on revolutions. Evans told in a Spectator article how he lost control of his 'lunatic libido' as he listened to her lecture at the elite university's Downing College. In the piece he remarked on the London School of Economics professor's 'blonde hair spilling over her shoulders' and claimed he was so distracted her slept with a Chinese prostitute afterwards. The article sparked an angry response from the Albanian-born professor, as well as others on social media who called it 'horrific', 'crude' and 'appalling'.

IN the never-ending ­battle of the sexes, it has become the story of the week. The theatre critic of The Spectator, the high-minded political ­magazine, wrote an article about ­visiting a prostitute after becoming aroused while attending a Cambridge ­lecture given by 'a beautiful historian'. Within hours of the provocative essay appearing, writer Lloyd Evans was being denounced for his 'disgusting', 'crude' and 'revolting' column, as he found himself the target of a full-blown social media pile-on.

Today it was disclosed that Martine Croxall, 55, who has been working at the Beeb for more than three decades, was taking her employer to the London Central tribunal court on May 1. But now it has been revealed that Croxall's case will be made alongside four of her former colleagues during the two-day employment tribunal. Multiple sources told US news agency Deadline that Karin Giannone, 50, Geeta Guru-Murthy, 56, Kasia Madera, 48, and Annita McVeigh, 46, are also involved in the bombshell case. All five women, who were pictured together enjoying a drink in a pub on Christmas Eve, were left in limbo last year when the BBC's News and World News channels merged.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (left) lives with his family in the same flat above No11 that was inhabited by Liz Truss (right) during her brief spell as PM. In her book 10 Years To Save The West, Ms Truss said the accommodation added to her woes because it was 'infested with fleas' and had to be sprayed. She said she 'spent weeks itching', suggesting Boris Johnson 's dog Dilyn (inset) might have been to blame, although 'there was no conclusive evidence'. Speaking at the IMF in Washington overnight, Mr Hunt said he had taken more radical action to address the situation.

Dozens of Rishi Sunak's own rank and file, and several ministers, are set to oppose the plans to ensure anyone currently aged 15 or younger will never be able to buy a cigarette legally. Liz Truss is among the most strident critics of the 'nanny state' move, which has been branded 'absolutely nuts' by Boris Johnson. However, the PM has insisted it is right to protect children, while Chief Medical Office Chris Whitty dismissed criticism saying many people cannot give up after becoming addicted.