Under-fire Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be hoping the found-day Jubilee Bank Holiday will provide him some respite from the ongoing fall-out of the partygate scandal. Members of his own party - some of who are pushing for his exit - have appeared to have agreed on a truce over the break.
Home Secretary Priti Patel told Tory MPs pushing for the Prime Minister to resign to “forget it”. Ms Patel said writing letters of no-confidence in Mr Johnson was a “sideshow” and the party should be focused on “real challenges that we have to find solutions to”.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: “This isn’t about a parade (of leadership candidates) or a contest of letters. We need to concentrate on doing our jobs. Look at what is going on in the world right now, look at the challenges that we face domestically. We can’t ignore those.
“Our job is to deliver on the people’s priorities. They won’t thank the Conservative Party for talking about itself at a time when people have anxieties, concerns, apprehensions.”
Bank Holidays often see governments try to off-load any bad news in the hope that attentions are elsewhere. It's a long-standing political tactic and this time around it has proved no differen, reports the MIrror.
Here are some things were slipped that you might have missed...
PM's ethics chief's damaging report
Boris Johnson's ethics chief suggested the PM's Partygate fine may have broken the ministerial code in a report slipped out this week. Lord Geidt said there was a “legitimate question” about whether Mr Johnson's lockdown birthday do in June 2020 broke the ethics rules governing politicians.
In a damning annual report slipped out by No10 on Tuesday night, Lord Geidt demanded Boris Johnson explain himself to the public over whether he thought he had broken the Code. He said he had repeatedly the Prime Minister to publicly explain why he thought incurring a fixed penalty notice would not be in breach of the code of conduct for ministers - but said: "That advice has not been heeded." But in a letter to Lord Geidt, Mr Johnson replied: “Taking account of all the circumstances, I did not breach the code."
Ministerial code 'watered down'
The PM was accused of watering down the ministerial code after he quietly issued a new version of the rules governing the top politicians' conduct. In his introduction to the previous edition of the code, Mr Johnson said ministers must "uphold the very highest standards of propriety".
The new introduction says the code should "guide my ministers on how they should act and arrange their affairs". But these words have been stripped from the new edition. The foreword no longer explicitly mentions the seven Nolan principles of public life - integrity, objectivity, accountability, transparency, honesty and leadership in the public interest.
Tory minister Chris Philp insisted these principles were still contained in the code. The PM also dismissed calls from his ethics advisor Lord Geidt to be granted power to launch independent investigations.
Rwanda deportations to start
The Home Office started informing asylum seekers they will be sent to Rwanda this week, with the first flight expected to leave on June 14. Notices, known as 'removal directions', were issued to an unknown number of people seeking sanctuary in Britain, informing them of the date of their forced departure.
It is not known how many people will be on the first flight or what countries they have come from, Boris Johnson announced the plan to ship asylum seekers to Rwanda in April in a bid to clamp down on the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats. Any migrants who have arrived 'illegally' in dinghies since January 1 will be detained and forced onto charter flights.
Going back to coal
The Government has ordered Britain's last coal-fired power plants to remain open this winter amid internal warnings over blackouts this winter. Grim Government modelling warned up to six million households could be affected by power cuts this winter in a "reasonable" worst case scenario triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Downing Street confirmed a request had been made to keep coal power plants running, which had been scheduled to wind down operations by the autumn. The move raised questions about whether plans to slash carbon emissions were still on track, as the heavily polluting fuel source had been due to be phased out. A Government spokesman said the request had been made due to the impact of the war in Ukraine and it was still committed to ending coal power use by 2024.
