Minister dodges questions on PM’s flat refit as pressure mounts – follow live updates

On Labour’s push for an urgent question in parliament on Monday, Angela Rayner said: “They should do, they should do, not because the Labour Party demands it but because the public deserve it, it’s taxpayers’ money at a time of a pandemic where … three million self-employed were not supported.

“Many of our businesses are worried about what they’re going to be able to do over the next couple of months and what support they’ll get, they demand it and they deserve it. The government have to answer (as) to why they’ve given out billions of pounds of money to their cronies and their friends, and they won’t even declare it through the current rules.

“Publish the members’ interests and ministers’ interests and publish who’s on that VIP list, and tell us about where you’re getting this money from, Boris, to do up your flat.” 

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has said “many people are starting to realise that Labour has changed, we’ve got new leadership and we are listening” as she was asked about her party’s fortunes in the upcoming elections.

She told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “When you see this level of cronyism coming from the Tories at the moment, it shows that – we’ve got Keir Starmer as our leader now, he was the head of Public Prosecutions, he’s got a huge amount of integrity, way more than Boris Johnson has.”

Trade secretary Liz Truss was sent out to face broadcasters and was unable to deny that her boss had been given a loan for the work by Tory donors.

In excruciating Sunday morning interviews the cabinet minister kept repeating carefully-worded lines that the prime minister had “met the cost of the flat refurbishment” and had not broken the rules.

But she repeatedly deflected questions about whether the PM had been given a loan from political donors, and when he had paid. She also refused to say when details about what money had changed hands would be released.

There are so many strands to the current cronyism allegations engulfing Downing Street that it can be difficult to keep track.

Here is a quick guide to some of the lesser-known key figures whose names have been mentioned in the course of the story.

Liz Truss has refused to answer questions on whether the lavish refubishment of his Downing Street flat was funded through a loan from a Tory donor before being paid back by the PM.

Asked repeatedly by Andrew Marr whether the money was loaned to Boris Johnson, she said that he had met the cost of the flat personally without commenting further.

The questions followed an incendiary blog post in which Mr Cummings accused his former boss of plotting an “unethical, foolish, possibly illegal” plan to get Tory donors to secretly fund the refurbishment.

She also dismissed further claims of turmoil at the heart of government as “Westminster tittle tattle”.

Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has criticised the governemnt for “hiding” from a full investigation into claims of cronyism and questions over the funding of the prime minister’s Downing Street residence.

She said Boris Johnson had “no standards or ethics” and confirmed the party would be seeking an urgent question on the issue.

“Tell us about where you are getting this money from to do up your flat,” she told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

A new Opinium survey released on Saturday revealed almost 37 per cent of Britons described Boris Johnson as mostly or completely corrupt, compared with just 16 per cent for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

The poll, conducted for The Observer, found 38 per cent described the Conservative party as corrupt, while just 31 per cent said it was clean and honest.

Labour’s Jess Phillips has called for a “root and branch” independent inquiry into the use of taxpayers’ money under Boris Johnson’s government.

The shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “The truth of the matter is we don’t know the truth and we’ve got scrapping between two very powerful men who seem more interested in who’s lying about what and who’s leaking what than the substantive of the issue.

“That is whether contracts get given out by text messages, whether tax breaks get given out by text messages or whether the prime minister uses his pals to get money to have his flat done up.

“Whether I back Dominic Cummings’ view or Boris Johnson’s view, what we need is a proper independent inquiry where it isn’t about two boys fighting and is about taxpayers in our country.”

Ms Phillips indicated Labour would be seeking an urgent question in Parliament on the issue, adding: “Integrity really, really matters.” 

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has urged the UK to restore its overseas aid budget as soon as possible, saying it is of “critical importance” in getting vaccines to the developing world.

The Microsoft founder said British voters should be “very proud” of the role their country had played in supporting Gavi – the international vaccine alliance.

However he said its impact would be diminished unless the commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on aid – which has been cut by the government, who blamed the economic effects of the pandemic – was restored.

The government has put up Liz Truss to answer questions about the Cummings row among other topics, on both Sky News’ Ridge on Sunday and the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

Ridge’s other guests include Jess Phillips, Anas Sarwar and Lorna Slater.

Marr’s guests include Nicola Sturgeon, Anas Sarwar and Mark Carney.