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After 73 years of waiting, Prince Charles today delivered his first speech from the throne in the House of Lords to mark the State Opening of Parliament – watched on by Her Majesty in Windsor via television. Charles was escorted by Prince William, after the Yeoman Warders concluded their traditional search of the Palace of Westminster. The Palace of Westminster was fully owned by the sovereign until 1965 when the Queen agreed to hand over control of the Commons and the Lords. The Crown still retains technical ownership of some parts, such as the robing room, with the last monarch to live there being Henry VIII. Some 21 bills were announced by Prince Charles. These were the following: 1.

Boris Johnson last night addressed the 1922 committee, ahead of Thursday's crunch vote on whether to conduct a parliamentary investigation into his handling of partygate. The Prime Minister received a warm reception from Tory MPs but many are still refusing him to back him publicly. Of the 357 Conservative MPs in the House, fewer than a third have spoken out in support of Johnson.  Nine MPs calling for him to go: 1. Nigel Mills: 'He’s been fined, I don’t think his position is tenable.' 2. Anthony Mangnall: 'Horrified by the conduct of the PM.' 3.Caroline Nokes: 'I have not withdrawn the letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson that I wrote months ago to Sir Graham Brady...

Note: This article was written in advance of Tuesday's vote. For a full list of those who actually did – or didn't – rebel to vote against vaccine passports, please click here. On Tuesday, a vote will be held on Boris Johnson's new Covid restrictions to tackle the Omicron variant. They will include vaccine passports for large gatherings, compulsory face masks in more places,  and people being asked to work from home when they can (but told they can still go to parties). When the health secretary Sajid Javid introduced the measures in the Commons this week, he was greeted with jeers and calls for him to ‘resign’ from his own party members.

Boris Johnson's long-awaited cabinet reshuffle is over (at least for today). After weeks of rumours that the Prime Minister would shake up his top team, today Boris finally made his move. Here are the changes to his top team: Dominic Raab has been demoted from Foreign Secretary to Justice Secretary, replaced by Liz Truss.Gavin Williamson has been sacked as Education Secretary. Nadhim Zahawi will take on the job (the new vaccine minister is yet to be appointed).Michael Gove has been appointed Housing Secretary. Steve Barclay is his replacement as Cabinet Secretary.Anne Marie-Trevelyan has been appointed Trade Secretary, replacing Liz Truss who becomes Foreign Secretary.Robert Jenrick and Robert Buckland have been sacked. 6.25 p.m.

Dominic Cummings has given evidence to a joint meeting of the science and technology select committees about the government's response to Covid-19. Below is how the bombshell session unfolded. The top lines:  Cummings said the government's response to Covid-19 meant that 'tens of thousands of people died who didn't need to die'. (14:12)Matt Hancock 'categorically told' No. 10 he would test those discharged from hospital into care homes. Hancock failed to do so, according to Cummings: 'It was complete nonsense'. (13:15) Boris Johnson initially dismissed Covid as a 'scare story', comparing it to swine flu. (09:53)Cummings said he moved his family to Durham because of security threats.

The UK’s digital economy represents nearly one third of the UK economy, and if nurtured properly, it could transform government, society and culture. But are we doing enough to secure Britain’s digital future – and if not, what more can be done? This was the topic discussed by politicians and financial and technology experts at a recent Spectator dinner, hosted by Mastercard. One of the main topics of conversation was around British start-ups and the investment opportunities available in the UK. Jeremy Silver, CEO of the Digital Catapult, has built and sold two technology businesses in the past fifteen years – selling both of them to American tech companies. That’s not through choice, however.

Isabel Hardman has been investigating the social care issue in Surrey for the Spectator in recent days. Yesterday, she spoke to the man whose texts Jeremy Corbyn quoted at PMQs today, the leader of Surrey County Council, David Hodge. Isabel and Hodge spoke just after Tory-run Surrey County Council had made the decision not to hold a referendum on a 15 per cent council tax increase to pay for social care. He told Isabel that ‘we have always believed that there was a way forward which wouldn’t involve a council tax referendum and I genuinely believe that the government now understands the scale of the crisis’.