Labour says GMB interview shows "narcissistic" PM "out of touch" Labour has said that Boris Johnson’s Good Morning Britain interview showed just how “out of touch” he is. It has issued this statement from Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary. It is utterly shameful that pensioners have no choice but to sit on the bus all day to avoid racking up heating bills at home, or are left shivering in blankets and only eating one meal a day. For Boris Johnson to respond by boasting about the London bus pass reveals just how out of touch this narcissistic prime minister is. The simple truth is Boris Johnson has just imposed the biggest real-terms cut to the pension in 50 years and charities like Age UK are warning this will be a year of hell for Britain’s retirees. Afternoon summary Boris Johnson has used a major TV interview to signal that he is opposed to bringing forward benefit rises to help people with the cost of living because it could be inflationary. (See 10.26am.) He conceded that the government had not yet done enough to provide people with the help they needed, but, although he said “there is more that we can do”, he said nothing to indicate what this might involve, or when further support might be provided. Labour said that in the interview Johnson came across as narcissistic and out of touch. (See 11.36am.) Johnson has told the Ukrainian parliament that there should never be a peace settlement imposed against the will of the Ukrainian people, calling the fight to hold back Russian forces “Ukraine’s finest hour”. Legal challenges to the policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda could be a reason why the plan has not yet, as intended, started to deter unofficial Channel crossings, Downing Street has said. Keir Starmer has accused the Conservatives of “mud-slinging” over allegations he broke lockdown rules after a photograph emerged of him drinking a beer with staff in a constituency office last year. BP’s profits more than doubled to $6.2bn (£5bn) in the first three months of the year, adding to pressure on ministers to impose a windfall tax to aid households struggling with soaring energy and fuel bills. Boris Johnson is now being interviewed on BBC Radio Solent. Q: Will you help councils down here? I was told by a councillor recently they cannot look for money down the back of the sofa, because they have sold the sofa. Johnson says that Conservative councils provide better value for money. Q: Conservative councillors are worried they will lose their seats because of what is happening nationally. Johnson says voters should think of the hard work put in by Conservative councillors. Q: But people are mad on the doorsteps. Councillors say, when they knock on doors, people are talking about what is happening nationally. Johnson says the government is delivering “a relentless focus on ensuring that we come strongly through the pandemic”. The Daily Mail has been aggressively running stories about the Tory attempts to bounce the police into reopening an investigation into claims that Keir Starmer drinking beer with Labour staff while campaigning in Durham in April last year amounted to a breach of lockdown rules. The police have already decided that it didn’t, but the Tories are keen to imply some sort of equivalence with Partygate, and the Mail has been pushing this agenda too. After several days splashing on the story, the paper has today found another lead news item, but the story still gets a splash on the cover. Robert Hayward, a Conservative peer and elections expert, told the paper that the story could have an impact. He said: Beergate is dissipating the impact of Partygate. Two or three days ago, not many people knew about it but now there’s no question that they do. Keir Starmer has had a tough time from the broadcasters and was unable to say whether it was an error after bashing Boris for making errors. There is no question that southern England’s Waitrose Radio 4 Tories have been more angry about Partygate. But the existence of Beergate will have an impact to the extent that the anger will be aimed across all parties. But new polling from YouGov today suggests the coverage of this story has not had a significant impact on public opinion. In January only 28% of people said they thought Starmer generally did not follow lockdown rules, while almost three-quarters of people said Boris Johnson generally did not follow the rules. YouGov has repeated the polling, and the proportion of people saying Starmer generally did not obey the rules has not changed: it is still 28%. Johnson’s numbers have improved, but only marginally. Now 70% of people say he generally did not follow the rules, down from 73% in January. Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, has written an interesting blog about Boris Johnson’s claims in his Good Morning Britain interview this morning about the risk of benefit increases pushing up inflation. (See 10.26am.) Peston says it is unlikely that, if the government were to increase benefits, that would push the country into an “inflationary spiral”. And if the government does favour an incomes policy, it should apply to private sector wages, which are pushing up inflation, Peston argues. He goes on: Boris Johnson was explicit that if benefits were raised in line with inflation, that would lead directly to high mortgage payments. As I said, that is questionable. But even if Johnson is on to something, those higher mortgage payments are neither here nor there for millions of people on benefits and universal credit - because they don’t own their own homes. So he is in essence saying that the incomes of those who are poorest need to be suppressed to protect the disposable incomes of homeowners.Which seems a slightly eccentric policy for a prime minister who calls himself a One Nation Tory - and it is precisely the opposite of his beloved “levelling up”. Johnson claims economy "bursting with high-wage jobs" and levelling up could make UK "most prosperous" place in Europe" Boris Johnson is now being interviewed by BBC Radio Wiltshire. Graham Rogers is presenting. Q: People are having problems with the cost of living. Why should they trust you to deal with it? Johnson says Conservative councils deliver better value for money. Q: But you have cut funding to our local councils during your time as PM. That is all the more reason to have councils that spend money wisely, Johnson says. He says he knows it is tough for people. The government needs to help people in the short term. It has done that, with £150 off council tax and £200 off bills. Q: That has to be paid back (the £200). Yes, says Johnson. But he says the money is helpful anyway. He claims the economy is “absolutely bursting with high-wage, high-skill jobs”. That is different from the past, he claims. Q: We have long waiting times in Wiltshire for ambulances. What will you do about it? Johnson says the government is investing in the NHS. He says hospitals not being able to discharge patients is a problem. Q: That is because of lack of care beds. What are you doing about that? Johnson says he is glad Rogers asked. The government has a plan for care. People won’t face catastrophic bills for care. This is a government that delivers big things, he says. Q: Why do you want to carry on as PM? “Because I have a massive mandate to deliver,” says Johnson. He says if he can get on with his agenda, in investing in infrastructure, skills and technology, that will deliver growth and prosperity for people, he says. He says he wants to level up. If he can do that, “we will have the most prosperous economy in Europe”, he claims. (As a quick glance at the statistics will show, to achieve that within the next half century - let alone within the lifetime of the government - would take nothing short of a miracle.) Q: You want to level up. But the money coming to the Manchester area won’t compensate for what was cut during austerity? Johnson says he does not accept this. He rattles off some investment decisions affecting Manchester. He claims four new hospitals are being built in the north-west. And more diagnostic centres are being built. Q: HS2 is being cut back. Johnson does not accept that. Journey times from London to Manchester are being cut. Levelling up is about unleashing the potential of the whole country, he says. If it were levelled up like other countries, like France or Germany, which are more balanced, the economy would be stronger, he implies. And that’s it. Boris Johnson is being interviewed now on BBC Radio Manchester. Stacey Copeland is presenting. She asks Johnson if his behaviour is going to cost the Tories votes. Johnson says he hopes people will vote on the issues that matter to people. Q: Are you doing enough to help people with the cost of living? Johnson says Tory councils deliver better value for money than Labour ones. On bills, he says the government is helping people with £150 off their council tax, and the rebate (a repayable loan) on bills. Q: Will you allow the clean air zone in Manchester? Johnson says this is for local people to decide. In London they had a similar proposal. But it was badly thought out, and coming in too fast. Q: What decisions will the government take to help people? Johnson says the current plan is not the right one. The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, should deal with it, he says. A Conservative police and crime commissioner who pledged to crack down on speeding has been caught breaking a 30mph limit five times within a 12-week period, PA Media reports. PA says: The PCC for Nottinghamshire police, Caroline Henry, admitted the offences, including two committed on consecutive days, at a previous hearing in February at Nottingham magistrates court. Magistrates were told Henry, who is the wife of Broxtowe MP Darren Henry, had written a letter to the court saying she was “very sorry, embarrassed and ashamed”. Speed cameras clocked the PCC’s speed as high as 40mph in a 30mph zone, with other excess speeds recorded at 35mph and 38mph. The case was adjourned until 19 July, where Henry is expected to argue two of the five offences were due to “emergencies”, with one being when she was “very concerned for one of her children”. Henry did not respond to questions over whether she would resign from her position. Imran Ahmad Khan finally resigns as MP after child sexual assault conviction Imran Ahmad Khan, who was expelled from the Conservative party after being convicted of child sexual assault, has finally resigned as an MP - almost three weeks after he first announced that he would quit parliament. The announcement came from the Treasury, which announced that he had been appointed be steward and bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern. This procedure is used because MPs theoretically cannot resign, and so the only way they can cease being an MP is by accepting a so-called “office of profit” under the crown. The Chiltern Hundreds is one; the other is the Manor of Northstead. These offices do not involve any profit (there is no pay), and there are no duties at all of any kind - which is why someone convicted of child sexual assault can qualify. But Khan will have profited from delaying his resignation by more than a fortnight, enabling him to collect a salary until the end of April. He said when he first announced his resignation that he would appeal against his conviction, but that was because this would take months he would quit parliament, so that his constituents could get proper representation in the meantime. Starmer refuses to rule out disciplinary action against anti-Nato Labour MPs Under Keir Starmer, the Labour party has removed the whip from Jeremy Corbyn and, because the Ukraine war has drawn attention to Corbyn’s opposition to Nato, it seems increasingly unlikely that the whip will be restored in time for Corbyn to stand for the party as a candidate at the next election. According to an article by Henry Zeffman in the Times today, some of Starmer’s supporters think that the Labour leader should go further, and purge Corbyn’s leftwing allies in the parties. Zeffman reports: A fear among Labour strategists is that at the next election Boris Johnson will argue that the parliamentary arithmetic means a Starmer government would be beholden to a small number of left-wing MPs. “At the next election the Tories won’t make it about Ed Miliband in Alex Salmond’s pocket, it’ll be Keir Starmer in Richard Burgon’s pocket. We can’t run that risk,” a source said. A shadow cabinet minister separately made the same case — except with McDonnell’s name in Burgon’s place — adding: “There’s no chance of even a minority government if the Tories make that argument. We know what the public thinks about the prospect of these people being in charge of our security because they told us in 2019.” Zeffman also quotes one source claiming Starmer “intellectually accepts” the case for expelling prominent supporters of Stop the War, but other sources told him Starmer was reluctant to pick a fight with the left at the moment. In an interview with Times Radio this morning, when asked about this story, Starmer certainly did not rule out further action against the left. Instead of dismissing the story, he stressed (not for the first time) that he has been “very clear” about Labour’s “unshakeable support for Nato”. He said he had been firm to MPs about that. He also said that he objected in particular to the “false equivalence” between Russian aggression and the conduct of Nato (Starmer’s characterisation of Stop the War’s thinking). When asked again if he was prepared to act against anti-Nato MPs, Starmer said yes - but also hinted that voters might see that as a distraction. He replied: Yes, these are principles that are absolutely the root of the Labour party, the centre of the Labour party, and I’m determined that the Labour party will face the electorate and not the sort of internal machinations and arguments that we have had too much of in the past. Momentum, the group set up to promote Corbyn and his agenda when Corbyn was leader, says a purge of leftwingers would mark “the end of the Labour party as we know it”. The Foreign Office has released more details of the armoured vehicles being supplied by the UK to Ukraine to protect officials. Boris Johnson mentioned them in his speech to the Ukrainian parliament. The Foreign Office says: The steel-plated vehicles will be sent following a direct request from the Ukraine government for safe and resilient transport for civilians. They will also be used to transport officials from Ukrainian ministries to temporary command posts set up for government work and the rebuilding of key infrastructure, such as energy supplies, in besieged areas. The Ukrainian police and the National Guard will also utilise the fleet to rebuild vital railway lines in the east of Ukraine. The Guardian’s Politics Weekly is hosting a live event tonight. My colleague John Harris, the podcast’s presenter, is joined by Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, our colleague Gaby Hinsliff, and Gavin Barwell, chief of staff to Theresa May when she was PM, for a livestreamed event discussing Partygate, the upcoming local elections, the cost of living crisis and more. It starts at 8pm (BST) and you can book tickets here. Here is the full text of Boris Johnson’s virtual address to the Ukrainian parliament. Johnson said that he was confident that Ukraine would win this war. He said: They will say that Ukrainians proved by their tenacity and sacrifice that tanks and guns cannot suppress a nation fighting for its independence, and that is why I believe that Ukraine will win. You have proved the old saying – it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog – which is an old English saying, I’m not sure how well that translates in Ukrainian but you get what I’m trying to say. He confirmed that the UK is sending Ukraine a new package of military aid worth £300m, including Brimstone anti-ship missiles and Stormer anti-aircraft systems. He said the long-term aim was to fortify Ukraine so that “no one will ever dare to attack you again”. He admitted that the west were “too slow” to respond to Russia robustly when it invaded Crimea in 2014. He said: The truth is that we were too slow to grasp what was really happening and we collectively failed to impose the sanctions then that we should have put on Vladimir Putin. We cannot make the same mistake again. He said that, from last year, when he was warned that Russia was planning to invade, he was convinced that Vladimir Putin had made a “fundamental miscalculation” because Ukrainians would fight. He said Ukrainians had already “exploded the myth” of Russian invincibility and that this was Ukraine’s “finest hour”. He said You have exploded the myth of Putin’s invincibility and you have written one of the most glorious chapters in military history and in the life of your country. The so-called irresistible force of Putin’s war machine has broken on the immoveable object of Ukrainian patriotism and love of country. This is Ukraine’s finest hour, that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come. Johnson said Putin would lose because autocracies were inherently flawed. He argued: When a leader rules by fear, rigs elections, jails critics, gags the media, and listens just to sycophants, when there is no limit on his power – that is when he makes catastrophic mistakes. And it is precisely because we understand this danger in Britain and in Ukraine – precisely because we are democracies, and because we have a free media, the rule of law, free elections and robust parliaments, such as your own, we know that these are the best protections against the perils of arbitrary power. When an autocrat deliberately destroys these institutions, he might look as though he is strong and some people might even believe it, but he is sowing the seeds of catastrophe, for himself and for his country, because there will be nothing to prevent him committing another terrible mistake. Putin’s mistake was to invade Ukraine, and the carcasses of Russian armour littering your fields and streets are monuments not only to his folly, but to the dangers of autocracy itself. What he has done is an advertisement for democracy. At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning the PM’s spokesperson was asked if Boris Johnson knew who Lorraine Kelly was. (See 9.21am.) The spokesperson said Johnson “wasn’t fully across the ITV daytime line-up this morning” (implying that Johnson might still know who Kelly is, but just did not realise she was on at 9am, immediately after his interview). The spokesperson went on: “As you’ll appreciate, he has a number of issues to deal with.”