Matthew Taylor

Penny Mordaunt – I’m being smeared over self-ID claims No Conservative party leadership race is ever without drama. With the first TV debate now under their belt, the five candidates are fending off scrutiny not just from the opposition and the media, but from each other. One of the biggest rifts from Friday’s debate was when Penny Mordaunt denied that she had ever been in favour of self-identification for transgender people while she was equalities minister. Her rivals, Kemi Badenoch and Liz Truss, suggested this was not true, and leaked documents reported in the Sunday Times today appear to back this up. Speaking to the BBC's Sophie Raworth, Mordaunt sought to defend her record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Sajid Javid – I gave Boris the benefit of the doubt again and again The starting gun has been fired in the race for the next Prime Minister. Ten Conservatives have already thrown their hat into the ring, with Penny Mordaunt becoming the latest to declare as of this morning. Sophie Raworth spoke to the man who kicked off this process – the now former Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who resigned his post on Tuesday, being shortly followed by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak. She asked him if their resignations had been co-ordinated in order to bring the ‘Big Dog’ down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Thérèse Coffey – PM did not know of ‘specific allegations’ about Pincher There was only one question for the government to answer while in the hotseat this morning, and that related to the conduct of the deputy chief whip Christopher Pincher. Pincher resigned following a complaint which alleged that he had groped two men while drunk at the Carlton Club on Thursday. Sophie Raworth asked the Work & Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey if the Prime Minister had been aware of any untoward behaviour before appointing Pincher to his role: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0kP0zm57s4 ‘I’m not part of the Westminster rumour mill’ Coffey’s answer to Raworth followed a difficult interview with Sophy Ridge on Sky News.

Brandon Lewis – ‘We all have responsibility’ for historic defeat Thursday saw a double defeat for the Conservatives that will not be forgotten any time soon. In Tiverton and Honiton, the Liberal Democrats managed to overturn a majority of over 24,000 votes, making it the biggest by-election defeat in British history. However, even that does not seem to have dampened the Prime Minister’s spirits, and he has claimed to have his sights already set on a third term in office. Sophie Raworth asked the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis about whether this was a realistic goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

The political focus this morning was centred around the three days’ worth of railway disruption due to begin on Tuesday. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps joined Sophy Ridge to make the case against strike action, taking aim at the leadership of the RMT union: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1538425932326834177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Union calls for government meeting are ‘a stunt’ Sophie Raworth also interviewed Shapps, and asked him about last week’s call from the RMT to get around the negotiating table with government: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQgW0BFlOgw Mick Lynch – ‘We’re facing a crisis’ RMT leader Mick Lynch also joined Ridge to put forward the case for industrial action.

Brandon Lewis: Conservatives are now ‘united behind the PM’ Mounting dissatisfaction with Boris Johnson’s leadership came to a head last Monday when he survived a vote of confidence amongst Conservative MPs by 211 to 148. The party’s rules as they stand mean that his position is now notionally safe for a year. The Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis spoke to Sophie Raworth about what this result meant for his leadership https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0guA_zVE-o CMA will review petrol stations’ practices Raworth asked Lewis about how the government would ensure the cut in fuel duty would be passed on to motorists at the petrol pumps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Out to bat for the government this morning was Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. The BBC's Sophie Raworth asked Shapps about Boris Johnson’s St Paul's visit as part of the Jubilee weekend Friday. As the Prime Minister and his wife ascended the steps to the cathedral, they were met with a chorus of boos from the awaiting crowd. Raworth asked Shapps for his reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5-t2eSQI6w PM would win a vote of confidence Raworth questioned what the personal unpopularity of the Prime Minister might mean, firstly for the upcoming by-elections in Tiverton and Wakefield, and secondly, if that could mean a vote of confidence was on the cards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Andrei Kelin – Russian war crimes allegations are ‘a fabrication’ Clive Myrie took the reins of the BBC’s Sunday Morning show, and the centrepiece was a pre-recorded interview with the Russian ambassador Andrei Kelin. Myrie confronted Kelin with evidence of war crimes by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, as in the town of Bucha and the razing of Mariupol. Kelin spent the interview stonewalling most of Myrie’s claims: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGIN1qtMhrg Brandon Lewis – If we don’t stand up to Russia now, what’s next? Myrie went on to interview the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis. He asked Lewis if the UK government was prepared to ask Ukraine to cede territory to Russia in order to end the war: https://www.youtube.

This week the minister doing the morning media round was Nadhim Zahawi, who faced questions over the probe into Partygate, school bullying and the possibility of a 'windfall tax.' Nadhim Zahawi – Boris Johnson ‘did not interfere’ in the Sue Gray report The Education Secretary spoke to Jo Coburn about the long-awaited Sue Gray report. Coburn asked Zahawi to explain why the Prime Minister had had a meeting with Gray, and if there was a risk of undue influence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo6GS99zB3Y A windfall tax ‘is not off the table’ Sophy Ridge asked Zahawi about whether the government was moving towards a potential windfall tax on oil and gas companies: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1528283515527249920?

Boris Johnson is set to pay a visit to Northern Ireland tomorrow to try and smooth things over following the Assembly elections earlier this month. With Sinn Fein securing the most seats for the first time, and the DUP threatening not to form part of the government at all, it does not promise to be a particularly stress-free day at the office. The issue at the top of the Prime Minister’s in-tray is what to do about the Northern Ireland Protocol – the part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement that creates regulatory barriers with Great Britain. The Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng joined Sophy Ridge this morning. She asked Kwarteng if the government would be prepared to tear up parts of the Protocol, in the face of pressure from the European Union: https://twitter.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab was tasked with the government’s media round this morning, and he used the opportunity to take aim at the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, accusing him of hypocrisy after Durham Police said they will re-investigate the so-called ‘Beergate’ affair. A leaked Labour party document appears to suggest that Starmer and his colleagues did not return to working after a scheduled dinner, which lasted for over an hour. Raab stopped short of calling for Starmer to resign, but piled on the pressure for him to account for exactly what happened on that night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Large parts of the UK vote in local council elections on Thursday. In Westminster, however, the focus is on the so-called ‘pestminster’ scandal after the revelation that as many as 56 MPs are under investigation for some form of sexual misconduct. The case that has most recently sparked headlines is that of the Conservative MP Neil Parish, who has admitted watching pornography while on the parliamentary estate. Sophy Ridge spoke to the Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng about the culture in parliament, asking him if the environment was a safe workplace for women: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1520668894205292546?

Sir Keir Starmer was back on the BBC this morning, to be interviewed once again by Sophie Raworth. The Labour party is calling for an ‘emergency budget’ in order to help ease pressure on the cost of living. However, Raworth pulled Starmer up on why, when presented with opportunities to challenge the government on rising prices, he was still relying on the partygate scandal to hammer away at the Prime Minister’s authority: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1518179654393335810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw …‘I don’t accept’ I broke the law in Durham… During Keir Starmer’s last appearance with Raworth, she brought up a photo of him drinking beer in an MP’s constituency office during the 2021 Hartlepool by-election campaign.

How quickly political fortunes can change. Rishi Sunak's Covid boost was always likely to fade once the purse strings were retightened. Is this the end of his prime ministerial ambitions? Just as the National Insurance rise begins to kick in, the Sunak family’s tax affairs have been bought under serious scrutiny. On Sky News, Trevor Phillips resumed the interviewer’s chair once more to question the policing minister Kit Malthouse. He asked him about the Chancellor’s wife Akshata Murty, who, as an Indian national, does not have to pay UK taxes on her income earned abroad. Murty has since announced that she will do so, but will not give up her non-domiciled status: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1513068585408770051?

Sergey Nikiforov – Russian troops’ actions ‘look exactly like war crimes’ The pressure on Kyiv has been easing recently, with Russian soldiers apparently withdrawing from the area around the capital. President Zelenskyy has said that he believes it is part of a tactical retreat so that the Russian army can refocus their efforts on the south of Ukraine instead. Ukrainian forces now claim to have retaken at least 29 northern towns and cities, and found utter devastation awaiting them on their return. A spokesman for Zelensky, Sergey Nikiforov, appeared on Sunday Morning with Clive Myrie, and described the carnage in detail: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1510538088589713410?

Nadhim Zahawi – Regime change is Russia ‘is up to the Russian people’ President Biden’s visit to Poland yesterday has caused more than a few ripples in the international community. Referring to Vladimir Putin, Biden declared ‘For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power’. In the BBC studios this morning, Sophie Raworth spoke to the Education Secretary about these remarks, asking if they represented a wider escalation of the war in Ukraine: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1508016774402514948?

Rishi Sunak – Brexit vote and Ukraine resistance 'are not analogous' The Chancellor was in the TV studios this morning, ahead of the Spring Statement that he will deliver on Wednesday. Economic issues, like much else, have been cast into the shadows over recent weeks as the spotlight has inevitably focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Even today was no exception, as in his interview with the BBC's Sophie Raworth, Rishi Sunak was first asked to address a stir caused by the Prime Minister’s remarks at the Conservative’s spring conference yesterday in Blackpool: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1505486969094168581?

Sir Keir Starmer – Refugees numbers should be ‘uncapped’ The Leader of the Opposition Sir Keir Starmer returned to the hot seat this week, this time with Sophy Ridge. Starmer echoed the Prime Minister’s description of Putin as a ‘war criminal’, and derided the government’s efforts to accommodate refugees as ‘too slow, too narrow, too mean’. Ridge asked for his blueprint for what a Labour government would do in this situation: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1502936355910955011?

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab joined Sophie Raworth this morning to address the continuing developments in Ukraine. It is widely believed that the Russian army has failed to meet most of its key objectives since the invasion began on the 24 February. Within the first few days, Russian president Vladimir Putin had already given the command to place Russia’s vast nuclear deterrence forces on ‘high alert’. Raab suggested that Putin was just sabre-rattling: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1500432498899226624?

Liz Truss – War in Ukraine could last ‘a number of years’ The Foreign Secretary conducted the government’s media round this morning, in the week which saw Russia invade Ukraine. The capital of Kiev remains under siege from Russian forces, and, as of this morning, the country’s second largest city Kharkiv is also seeing fighting on its streets. Speaking to Trevor Phillips, Liz Truss said that everyone should be prepared for ‘a very long haul: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1497855239097049088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw The UK ‘does welcome refugees’ Keir Starmer and the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called on the government to remove barriers for fleeing Ukrainians to come to the UK.