Boris Johnson newest information: Jacob Rees-Mogg denies 90,000 job cuts mark return to austerity

The prime minister’s unpopularity is about to be introduced dwelling to Conservative MPs in dramatic trend, writes John Rentoul.

Learn John’s full piece right here:

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe will meet with Boris Johnson right this moment and demand solutions as to why it took the federal government so lengthy to safe her launch from detention in Iran.

She will probably be joined by her native Tulip Siddiq. Ms Siddiq stated her constituent “deserves to listen to straight” from the prime minister.

She stated: “We are going to use the assembly as a chance to lift the plight of British residents like Morad Tahbaz who’re nonetheless being held hostage in Iran and push the Prime Minister to do way more to safe their launch.

“He has a duty to make sure that others should not have to endure the six years of torment that Nazanin was put by means of.

She added: “I may also be submitting proof to the Overseas Affairs Committee’s inquiry on hostage taking, which I hope will get the underside of the Authorities’s abject failure in dealing with instances like Nazanin’s.

“By no means once more should the federal government enable British residents to be taken hostage with so little executed to safe their launch and so few reprisals for these accountable.”

Former Tory MP Neil Parish who admitted watching pornography within the Commons chamber is taking “soundings” on standing in a by-election triggered by his personal resignation.

It comes after Mr Parish stood apart within the Tiverton and Honiton constituency in April after turning into the main focus of a political storm when two feminine MPs reported him to occasion whips.

Our politics correspondent Ashley Cowburn studies:

The Overseas Workplace has introduced additional Russian sanctions, with President Vladimir Putin’s ex-wife, members of the family and internal circle hit within the newest tranche of measures designed to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

Overseas secretary Liz Truss stated: “We’re exposing and concentrating on the shady community propping up Putin’s luxurious way of life and tightening the vice on his internal circle.

“We are going to preserve going with sanctions on all these aiding and abetting Putin’s aggression till Ukraine prevails.”

Mr Putin’s official property are modest, in accordance with the Overseas Workplace, along with his way of life “funded by a cabal of household, buddies and elites”.

The minister for presidency effectivity has rejected strategies of a return to austerity after Boris Johnson tasked his cupboard with chopping round 90,000 Civil Service jobs.

The prime minister informed ministers on Thursday that the service ought to be slashed by a fifth, as he moved to liberate money for measures to ease the price of residing disaster with attainable tax cuts.

Jacob Rees-Mogg defended the plan on Friday, saying the job cuts would carry numbers again to 2016 ranges after further employees have been introduced in to assist take care of the pandemic and the “aftermath of Brexit”.

He informed Sky Information: “I do know it sounds eye-catching but it surely’s simply getting again to the civil service we had in 2016 … since then, we’ve needed to tackle folks for particular duties.

“So coping with the aftermath of Brexit and coping with Covid, so there’s been a purpose for that improve, however we’re now making an attempt to get again to regular.”

Rishi Sunak is beneath hearth after a rare declare that “pc says no” compelled him to impose real-terms advantages cuts in his spring mini-budget.

The chancellor has been strongly criticised for rising funds to struggling folks by solely 3.1 per cent final month – far under the inflation price of seven per cent and rising.

Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick has extra particulars:

Boris Johnson’s favoured candidate to supervise the civil service has hit out at Jacob Rees-Mogg’s assaults on employees, saying his efforts to pressure them again to the workplace full-time is “counterproductive.”

Baroness Stuart, who’s accountable for sustaining impartiality within the civil service stated briefings towards employees have been “improper”

She informed The Occasions: “We must always all converse up once we see integrity and professionalism being undermined,” she stated.

“To my thoughts briefings and nameless assaults, they’re not simply improper, they’re additionally counterproductive,” she stated, arguing that they “stop individuals who wish to be part of the civil service … from desirous to be a part of that system”.

A champagne bottle signed by Boris Johnson was auctioned off at a charity occasion “as a memento of partygate”.

Meals critic Jay Rayner tweeted a picture displaying an outline of the bottle from what seemed to be the web page of an public sale catalogue.

My colleague Chiara Giordano studies:

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has warned that Brussels is not going to give in to threats or blackmail, because the livid row over the Northern Irish border took a step nearer in the direction of sparking a commerce warfare.

Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock has the story:

In case you have been questioning – this isn’t some form of unofficial Jacob-Rees Mogg day.

Labour does not seem to have put any shadow ministers up for interview this morning, which means the cupboard minister has been free to refill the airwaves.

Chatting with BBC Radio 4 At the moment earlier, he warned his boss Boris Johnson towards tax cuts or further spending to ease the price of residing squeeze.

He says such strikes may worsen the UK’s spiralling inflation downside.

Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick has the story: