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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Watchdog rejects Johnson’s suggestion Sue Gray’s Labour job meant she was not impartial investigating Partygate – as it happened

Zac Goldsmith ​​Rishi Sunak United Nations United Kingdom Rupert Murdoch Boris Johnson Carrie Johnson Environment NHS G7
Sue Gray in a parliamentary committee in 2022
Sue Gray in a parliamentary committee in 2022. Acoba has recommended a six-month cooling-off period before she starts her new job with Labour. Photograph: PRU/AFP/Getty Images

Afternoon summary

It’s not enough just to have more doctors and nurses. We need to change the way they work so that they can deliver better care for patients.

Partly, this is about seizing the opportunities of new technologies like AI.

Or just look at virtual wards, which use technology to allow patients to recover at home, providing a better service at lower cost.

But we’re also going to expand new roles like ‘nurse associates and physician associates’, so that the most qualified staff can focus on patients with the most complex needs.

We’re going to drive the biggest ever expansion of apprenticeships in the NHS so that one fifth of all clinical training will be offered through degree apprenticeships, helping to bring staff into the NHS from a much wider range of backgrounds.

Rishi Sunak at his press conference today.
Rishi Sunak at his press conference today. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images

Updated

Cabinet Office lawyer tells court it would be 'absurd' to let Covid inquiry see all government WhatsApps, even if irrelevant

Government lawyers have told the high court that the challenge over the UK Covid inquiry chair’s request for the former prime minister Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, notebooks and diaries “raises an important point of principle”, PA Media reports. PA says:

Lady Hallett, who is chairing the public inquiry, requested unredacted WhatsApps between Johnson, his then-adviser Henry Cook and 40 named individuals involved in the central government response to the pandemic between January 2020 and February 2022 – including group chats where they were used to communicate about the response to Covid-19.

She also asked for Johnson’s diaries and his 24 notebooks from the same period of time.

The Cabinet Office has launched a judicial review of her request, and her subsequent ruling in May refusing its challenge to her request, which is being heard in London on Friday.

Sir James Eadie KC, representing the Cabinet Office, said in written arguments: “These proceedings raise an important point of principle.”

He added that the power to demand evidence, contained in section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005, is “expressly limited to documents ‘that relate to a matter in question at the inquiry’”.

Eadie told the court the Cabinet Office brought the challenge with “reluctance” and said in written arguments that it was mounted “on the basis that the inquiry’s powers do not extend to requiring the provision of documents that are irrelevant to the inquiry’s work”.

He said: “It was made clear to the inquiry that, following careful review by solicitors and counsel, there was in fact a significant quantity of irrelevant material purportedly covered by the notice.

“The broad nature of the material so characterised was described by the Cabinet Office in its application – it included ‘references to personal and family information, including illness and disciplinary matters’, ‘comments of a personal nature about identified or identifiable individuals which are unrelated to Covid-19 or that individual’s role in connection with the response to it’ and ‘discussions of entirely separate policy areas with which the inquiry is not concerned’.”

Eadie also said it would be “absurd” if the inquiry was entitled to call for all communications between ministers in the two-year period on the basis the chair may be “interested at some point in seeing whether they were focusing inappropriately on other policy areas”.

He said: “Compelling the provision of every WhatsApp over a two-year period, without any subject matter qualification, is absurd.”

The hearing, before Lord Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice Garnham, is due to conclude on Monday.

Updated

Helena Horton, a Guardian environment reporter, has considered whether Zac Goldsmith is right to say Rishi Sunak is not interested in green issues. He is, she concludes. Here is her article.

And here is an extract.

While it would be difficult to accuse Sunak of being a climate denier, the evidence suggests he does not care about the subject, which has resulted in a lack of climate action and risks the UK helping push the planet towards an uninhabitable condition.

Though the prime minister is always keen to regale audiences with how his young daughters are champions for the environment, he is certainly not one. When he was chancellor, ministers in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Foreign Office frequently described him as a “block” on funding for climate and nature, and said that at the cabinet table he argued for trade deals with countries that had lower environmental standards, rather than using Britain’s power on the world stage to push for change.

The lawyer Adam Wagner says if the written ministerial statement about Sue Gray expected to be published on Monday does refer to a “prima facie” breach of the ministerial code, it may in fact conclude that she did not break it after all.

As James Heale from the Spectator points out, Rishi Sunak and Zac Goldsmith have not been the only Tories attacking each other today.

Yesterday Greg Hands, the Conservative party chair, posted this on Twitter.

This morning the Tory MP Justin Tomlinson said this was embarrassing.

And yesterday Sir Jake Berry, a former Tory chair, said “the establishment” was to blame for the Rwanda policy not being implemented.

Daniel Finkelstein, a Tory peer and Times columnist, says this sort of populism is “ridiculous” and “dangerous”.

Updated

The Cabinet Office will not investigate allegations that the former Conservative mayoral hopeful Daniel Korski groped a woman when he worked in Downing Street 10 years ago, Ben Quinn reports.

Ione Wells from the BBC has more on the government statement about Sue Gray, and claims that she broke the ministerial code, expected on Monday. She says Labour is making the point employees generally aren’t expected to tell their bosses when they get a job offer from a rival organisation.

This is what the Acoba report says about how Labour approached Sue Gray with its job offer.

Ms Gray said that in late October 2022 she received a call from the Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP, the leader of the opposition. He said they were preparing for government and raised the idea that she might serve the team in a senior capacity – possibly as chief of staff. She said she might be open to such a possibility if she were to leave the civil service. In addition, she had subsequent brief informal conversations (with his team, not Sir Keir) where she was updated on their developing plans, including a potential role for preparing for government were she to leave the civil service.

Ms Gray does not believe there was a conflict with the specifics of her work. Ms Gray told the committee that there was no formal offer of employment until 2 March 2023. In the meantime she said any discussions were high-level, short and she did not discuss: 1) terms; 2) government policy or business; 3) nor was she asked to indicate when she might leave the civil service.

In addition Ms Gray noted she was exploring other civil service roles as well as thinking about other options external to government. In November 2022, Ms Gray applied for an internal competition for the post of permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade, for which she was unsuccessful.

Updated

In its submission to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), the government said it did not think that Sue Gray’s work as a civil servant was biased because she was hoping to get a job with Labour. Summarising what it was told, Acoba says in its report:

The departments noted the appointment could be (and had been) perceived by some as a reward – ‘For example, there have been suggestions by some commentators that certain decisions the applicant has taken in the past have been part of a widespread effort to support her proposed employer.’ When asked, the departments confirmed they did not support this view and there was no evidence Ms Gray made any decisions in expectation of this role. The departments also confirmed that the Partygate report was not material to this application in their view.

Updated

According to Sky’s Beth Rigby, the government is expected to issue a written ministerial statement on Monday saying that, in discussing a potential job with the opposition and not telling her bosses, she broke the civil service code.

Acoba rejects Boris Johnson's suggestion Sue Gray's Labour job means she was not impartial investigating Partygate

Boris Johnson and his supporters have claimed that Sue Gray’s decision to accept a job from Keir Starmer implied that she was biased when investigating Partygate. Johnson repeated this suggestion in his statement earlier this month announcing his resignation as an MP. He said:

I am not alone in thinking that there is a witch-hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result.

My removal is the necessary first step, and I believe there has been a concerted attempt to bring it about. I am afraid I no longer believe that it is any coincidence that Sue Gray – who investigated gatherings in No 10 – is now the chief of staff designate of the Labour leader.

In its report today, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) rejects this claim. Explaining its decision to recommend a six-month cooling off period before Gray starts her job with Keir Starmer, it says:

There has been media speculation about whether Ms Gray has breached the civil service code. Any breach of the civil service code would be a matter for the government. In relation to the rules, no evidence has been provided by the departments to demonstrate Ms Gray made decisions or took action in office which favoured the employer in expectation of this role. This includes her role in the ‘Partygate’ investigation …

There has been no evidence provided to the committee that Ms Gray’s decision-making or ability to remain impartial was impaired whilst she remained in her civil service role. Given the lack of commercial risk, and the limited scope for undue influence, the committee determined that twice the standard waiting period would be proportionate to mitigate the risks identified, providing a clear break of six months before Ms Gray takes up the role. The committee considered a period of three times, or four times the normal waiting period to be disproportionate.

Updated

Sue Gray to start work as Starmer's chief of staff in September after Acoba recommends six-month cooling off period

Sue Gray, the former senior civil servant who carried out an inquiry into Partygate, has been cleared to take up her new post as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff in the autumn.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), the government body that advises former ministers and former senior officials on what outside jobs it might be appropriate to accept, and when, recommended a six-month cooling off period. That means she will be free to start in September.

Acoba revealed its recommendation in a report published this afternoon.

Commenting on the news, Starmer said he was delighted Gray was joining his team. He said:

Sue will lead our work preparing for a mission-led Labour government. She brings unrivalled experience on how the machinery of government works and is a woman of great integrity.

After 13 years of the Tories, we know there is much to do to tackle the cost of living crisis, grow our economy and rebuild our public services.

Should we be privileged enough to be elected, Sue will ensure we’re able to hit the ground running. I look forward to her starting.

I’m also grateful to Acoba for their work. We have followed the process and accept their advice.

Updated

Hunt rejects Goldsmith's claim that, under Sunak, UK is no longer a global leader on climate issues

In an interview on Radio 4’s World at One, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, said he did not accept Zac Goldsmith’s claim that, under Rishi Sunak, the UK is no longer a global leader on climate issues. Hunt said:

I know the prime minister is as proud as I am that the UK has reduced our emissions by more than any other advanced economy. We have led the way when it comes to climate issues internationally.

But Hunt also said that, in order to have the sums available to invest in the transition to net zero, it was vital to “get the economy back on track”.

Updated

Goldsmith says No 10 told him he would not be sacked if he apologised over privileges committee comment

Zac Goldsmith has now put out a fuller version of his response to Rishi Sunak. It largely echoes what he told the Guardian (see 12.36pm) and the BBC (see 1.28pm), but it includes a line saying No 10 made it clear to him that there was “no question of my being sacked” if he accepted he was wrong to comment publicly on the privileges committee inquiry into Boris Johnson.

This implies that there was some sort of threat he might be sacked if he did not issue an apology.

The media consensus on Zac Goldsmith seems to be that, although its timing was almost certainly connected to an awkward telephone call from No 10 about the privileges committee, that does not mean that he had not been planning to go anyway, and that he has a point about Rishi Sunak not being very interested in the environment. But the FT’s Stephen Bush wins the prize for the best tweet on this for his erudite use of the word “orthogonal”.

Updated

Environmentalists pay tribute to Zac Goldsmith

Environmentalists from around the world have been paying tribute to Zak Goldsmith’s work on nature and the climate while he was a UK government minister.

Lord Goldsmith played important roles in negotiating a global deal to halt deforestation announced at Cop26 and pushing for a target to protect 30% of Earth, the headline target agreed at last December’s biodiversity Cop15 summit in Montreal.

“He was instrumental in raising the profile of biodiversity in the climate agenda at Cop26 and made valuable contributions to Cop15,” said the interim UN biodiversity chief David Cooper.

“[Goldsmith] has been a passionate advocate for the Congo-Ogooué basin forests and for climate and biodiversity issues globally. I am sure he will continue in whatever role he takes on next,” said Gabon’s environment minister Lee White.

Goldsmith helped facilitate a $500m deal to better protect the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s section of the rainforest, which was announced at Cop26, and has pushed for forested countries such as Gabon to receive payments for maintaining critical ecosystems.

Catherine McKenna, the former Canadian environment minister and UN greenwashing tsar, quote-tweeted parts of his resignation statement on the urgency of action.

“It’s a huge loss for the nature agenda. His visionary leadership was ahead of many others internationally. But he’s done a huge amount to create the long-term conditions for success,” said a UK government source who works on international environmental affairs.

“I hope that this serves as a serious message to every party ahead of the election that nature and climate matters – to voters at home and to countries around the world,” they added.

Alastair Driver, director for Rewilding Britain, said:

Irrespective of your political views (and I for one am a typical floating voter), Zac Goldsmith has been a rare species in parliamentary circles who truly understood the magnitude of what’s needed to reverse biodiversity decline and tackle climate change. The task just got harder.

Updated

Goldsmith says he is 'happy to apologise' for commenting on privileges committee, and that Sunak was 'wrong' about this

Zac Goldsmith has told the BBC that Rishi Sunak was “wrong” and that he was “happy to apologise” for what he said in public about the privileges committee’s inquiry into Boris Johnson. The BBC’s Denis Doherty has posted the quote on Twitter.

Updated

Sunak suggests he is confident supreme court won't block Rwanda policy

Q: What is your plan B for dealing with small boats if the supreme court refuses to allow flights to Rwanda?

Sunak says the government is “confident”. It has a strong case.

The high court agreed with us, the lord chief justice agreed with us. Rwanda doesn’t even have returns agreements with other countries [the appeal court raised concerns that Rwanda would send refugees to other countries where they would not be safe] and they provided a set of safeguards and assurances to us about the treatment of refugees that will be sent there that we believe are strong …

We will seek permission to appeal this case to the supreme court and we remain entirely confident that what we’re doing is right.

He also says the agreements reached with France and Albania have made a difference to small boat crossing numbers.

Some Tories want the government to commit to leaving the European convention on human rights if the courts continue to block the Rwanda plan, and the questioner was inviting Sunak to speculate about that as an option. But he was not going to touch that topic at all.

Updated

Sunak claims NHS not being affected as badly as reports say by newly trained staff going abroad

Q: Are you going to do anything to stop people being trained as doctors in the UK and then leaving soon after to go and work in Australia?

Sunak says he has looked at the figures and this practice is “not as widespread … as people assume it is”.

If the situation was different, the government might consider restrictions, he says.

He says there is an issue with dentistry. That is why the government is considering a “tie-in” condition, he says.

Updated

Q: Are you confident that you can win your case about the Rwanda policy in the supreme court?

Sunak says he respects the court of appeal, but profoundly disagrees with its judgment yesterday.

He says the lord chief justice backed the government’s case.

The government should decide who comes to the UK, not criminal gangs. He will do what is necessary to ensure that happens.

(This is more or less word for word the statement he issued yesterday.)

Q: Will patients notice a difference from this plan within the next 12 months?

Pritchard says some new roles will come onstream more quickly, because training times are being reduced. And the plan should give staff confidence that things are improving.

Beyond the workforce plan, she says there are many other things happening to improve the patient experience now. Two-year hospital waits have gone, and 18-month waits have been virtually reduced. Cancer checks are at record levels. And that is having an impact on survival rates, she says.

She says patients should already be seeing some of these benefits.

Sunak says the NHS is now doing more than it has ever done. That is because of the investment that has gone in. People are waiting longer than government would like, he says. But they know why – it is due to the pandemic.

More resources are going into the NHS, he says. That is why he is confident waiting lists will go down.

Powis says surveys show that people firmly support the principles of the NHS, and like the treatment they get when they get seen. But they want to cut waiting times.

He says cloud telephony has been transformational.

Sunak agrees with what Powis said about cloud telephony. He cites the “pharmacy first” approach as another reform that will make a big difference to patients.

Updated

Goldsmith claims he did not resign because he was asked by No 10 to apologise for privileges committee comment

Zac Goldsmith claims he did not resign because he was asked to apologise for his attack on the privileges committee, Helena Horton reports. He says his resignation had been “a long time coming”. He says he accepts he should not have commented publicly on the privileges committee’s inquiry. No 10 asked him to acknowledge that, he says, and he says he was and is happy to do so.

UPDATE: Goldsmith said:

Our parliamentary democracy can only be strengthened by robust exchange and self-criticism and parliamentarians should absolutely be free to be critical of its reports & proceedings. But as a minister it is true to say that I shouldn’t have commented publicly. No 10 asked me to acknowledge that and I was and am happy to do so.

My decision to step down has been a long time coming. When I compare what I and my amazing team were able to do before the current PM took office with the slow progress today, it seems to me I can no longer justify being in government.

Updated

Q: Do you accept that pay hits morale in the NHS?

Sunak says everyone would like to be paid more. But people recognise the economic context. The government has to bring down inflation, he says.

He says he was “really pleased” that the NHS staff council accepted the government’s pay offer.

On the workforce plan, he says he and Jeremy Hunt have wanted to do this for a long time. In fact, Hunt wrote a book about this.

Governments have to prioritise. He says they have chosen to prioritise this.

He cites training support for people after they qualify – nurses can access a budget of £1,000 – as an example of how non-pay factors can improve the experience for staff.

Q: How worried are you about the doctors’ strikes?

Pritchard says the NHS is under enormous pressure. That is why it is important to have a long-term plan, she says.

On pay, she says that is a matter for the government.

Powis says the NHS will be planning for the forthcoming strikes.

Sunak says he sits down with Pritchard and Powis almost every week. Despite the strikes, they are still making progress on getting waiting times down, he says.

Updated

Sunak is now taking questions.

Q: [From Hugh Pym, the BBC’s health editor] Why did it take so long to produce this?

Sunak says it was important to get this right. It will set the NHS up for decades to come.

There are three strands to the plan – train, retain and reform. (See 11.16am.) Record sums are going into the NHS, but the money needs to be spent properly.

He says it was also important to listen and engage with people. The government has been talking to 60-odd organisation, and 100-odd experts.

Powis says people in the NHS are “up for it”. They want change. It will be challenging, he says. And it is “entirely doable”, he says.

Q: What is your reaction to Lord Goldsmith’s resignation?

Sunak says Goldsmith was asked to apologise for his comments about the privileges committee. Goldsmith took a different course. Sunak says he accepts that, he says.

This does not go beyond what he says in his letter responding to Goldsmith, that was published as the press conference started. (See 12.08pm.)

Prof Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, is speaking at the press conference now.

He says this is a landmark day for the NHS.

From ITV’s Anushka Asthana

Rishi Sunak opened his press conference by saying the NHS was fundamental to his family. His father was a GP, and his mother was a pharmacist.

Sunak says Goldsmith resigned after refusing to apologise for unacceptable attack on privileges committee

Downing Street has published Rishi Sunak’s response to Zac Goldsmith’s resignation letter. In it, Sunak starts by saying that Goldsmith’s attack on the privileges committee was “incompatible” with his position as a minister. He says:

You were asked to apologise for your comments about the privileges committee as we felt they were incompatible with your position as a minister of the crown. You have decided to take a different course.

In the rest of the letter Sunak commends Goldsmith for his work as a minister, and defends the government’s environmental record.

Sunak’s comment implies he thinks Goldsmith put loyalty to Boris Johnson, who was being investigated by the privileges committee, ahead of loyalty to him.

But that “we felt” is curious. Who is the “we”? It should be a decision for the PM personally.

Updated

From Lawrence Dunhill from the Health Service Journal

Rishi Sunak to hold press conference on NHS long-term workforce plan

Rishi Sunak is about to hold is press conference in Downing Street on the long-term workforce plan for the NHS published this morning.

He will be joined by Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, and Prof Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England.

Andrea Leadsom says Goldsmith is 'flat wrong' in claiming Sunak does not care about environment

Dame Andrea Leadsom, the former cabinet minister, has criticised Zac Goldsmith for his resignation in an interview with Times Radio. Adopting what sounded like a Sunak loyalist position, she made a series of points.

  • Leadsom said that resignation was the “easy” option and that Goldsmith was throwing his toys “out of the pram”. She said:

It’s much easier to protest than it is to govern ... It’s much easier to throw your toys out the pram and become a protester than it is to actually be inside the tent finding solutions …

It’s all very well to sort of throw stones at someone else. But actually somebody, and that does fall to government, has to pick up the pieces and decide actually what to do. And it’s much better if people are constructively engaged rather than just, you know, having a tantrum.

  • She said she was not persuaded by Goldsmith’s claim that the shelving of the kept animals bill was grounds for resignation. She said the government has said it will legislate for the measures that were in the bill in other ways (through secondary legislation, or via other government bills). She said:

I would have thought that a minister with Zac’s experience would understand that in order to bring in kept animals legislation, you do not have to have a bill called, kept animals bill. And so I just find that extraordinary. I don’t know why on earth he’s doing that.

  • She said it was “flat wrong” to say Rishi Sunak was not interested in the environment. She said:

That is just flat wrong, you know, the prime minister is passionate about both the environment, and really importantly, the net zero transition and the opportunity for jobs and growth right across the UK. So I completely disagree with him.

Yesterday a reader asked whether Zac Goldsmith, and the two other peers accused by the Commons privileges committee of undermining its Boris Johnson inquiry, could face sanctions in the House of Lords for a contempt of parliament relating to the House of Commons.

The answer is complicated because, according to a parliamentary official briefed on this, there is no such thing as contempt of parliament. You are either in contempt of the House of Commons, or in contempt of the House of Lords.

Erskine May, the bible of parliamentary procedure, says if there is a privileges complaint against a member of one house relating to the privileges of the other house, “the appropriate course of action is to examine the facts and deal with the matter according to the procedures of the house to which the Member or staff member belongs”.

MPs will debate the privileges committee report on Monday week. If the Commons were to apply sanctions to the MPs accused of undermining the Johnson inquiry, the Lords would be under pressure to do something similar to Goldsmith and Lords Cruddas and Greenhalgh (the other peers named in the report), but at the moment no one is proposing sanctions against the MPs.

Updated

Steve Barclay claims it's 'laughable' for Labour to say government's NHS workforce plan inspired by theirs

In interviews this morning about the NHS’s long-term workforce plan, Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, argued that it was essentially a lift of the plan that Labour announced at its conference last autumn. He told Times Radio:

To be fair to the government, it looks like they’re about to adopt our plan, and that’s important because having had an understaffed NHS for more than a decade, and knowing how long it takes to train new doctors, new nurses, new midwives, it’s really important that we get our skates on as a country. And if the government have swallowed their pride and adopted our plan, why wouldn’t I welcome that?

But Steve Barclay, the health secretary, said Streeting did not appreciate to what extent reform was a feature of the plan. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

Just to pick up Wes’s point, the idea that it is their plan is laughable. Their plan doesn’t touch on any of the reform.

One of the key things we are setting out today is how we deliver workforce training in different ways, offering many more apprenticeships which, I think, for many people they want the offer of apprenticeships, they want to be able to develop their career within the NHS, so we’re opening up new roles.

It is twice the number, 50,000 additional roles a year compared with the 23,000 he set out.

Rishi Sunak has been visiting Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge this morning. As he left, he refused to answer questions about Zac Goldsmith’s resignation.

Rishi Sunak being given a demonstration of CPR, (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) while visiting the NHS's Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge this morning.
Rishi Sunak being given a demonstration of CPR, (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) while visiting the NHS's Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge this morning. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

NHS England publishes its long-term workforce plan in full

NHS England has just published its 150-page long-term workforce plan. It’s here.

The government is keen to present it as an NHS plan, not a government plan, and at the moment you cannot find it prominently on the No 10 or Department of Health and Social Care websites.

Although its publication has been dominating the news all morning (or mostly dominating the news – the Zac Goldsmith resignation has been a glitch, from No 10’s point of view), until now reporters have been covering it on the basis of selective briefings. The full document was not being sent out last night under embargo.

Rishi Sunak has published on the No 10 website a summary in his own words of what it will do. This is what it says.

This is our longer-term, strategic approach to workforce planning. In a nutshell we will:

1. Train more staff

We will fund the largest ever expansion in domestic education and training places, significantly increasing the number of training places across the NHS workforce.

By 2031 we will:

-Double the number of medical school training places, with more places in areas of the country with the greatest shortages

-Increase the number of GP training places by 50%

-Almost double the number of adult nurse training places, with 24,000 more nurse and midwife training places a year

-Expand dental training places by 40%

2. Retain staff

A renewed focus on retention should mean that up to 130,000 staff stay working in NHS settings longer. We will take action to improve culture, leadership and wellbeing of NHS staff, including:

-Modernising the NHS pension scheme through new retirement flexibilities to help retain our most experienced staff, whilst making it easier and attractive for retired staff to return

-Support for continuing professional development;

-Occupational health services for NHS staff; and

-Additional childcare – as announced at the Spring Budget

3. Reform the way staff work

The Plan sets out actions to modernise how people work and train:

-Expanding the training of new roles, such as nursing associates, physician associates and anaesthesia associates, which will support and free up other clinical colleagues

-Growing the number of staff in advanced, and enhanced clinical and consultant practice roles

-Increasing the number of degree-level apprenticeship routes to enter the nursing, medical and other professions

-Streamlining training to get professionals from the classroom to the clinic more quickly

-Harnessing the use of new technologies including artificial intelligence and remote monitoring to free up clinical time

Goldsmith resigned after being told to apologise for attacking privileges committee inquiry into Boris Johnson, sources claim

Zac Goldsmith resigned after being told to apologise for the tweet he sent which the Commons privileges committee described as being part of a campaign to undermine its investigation into Boris Johnson (see 9.56am), Sam Blewett from PA Media reports.

This seems to be based on a background briefing, rather than an on-the-record comment. We will find out later if Rishi Sunak is willing to confirm this on the record.

Goldsmith's resignation a 'devastating indictment' of Sunak's environmental record, says Labour

Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary for climate change and net zero, has described Zac Goldsmith’s resignation letter as a “devastating indictment” of Rishi Sunak’s environmental record.

Updated

Natalie Bennett, the former Green party leader, has praised Zac Goldsmith for his resignation over Rishi Sunak’s “apathy” about the environment.

But Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister, thinks that, if the government is focusing less on climate issues, that’s a good thing.

Updated

Full text of Zac Goldsmith's resignation letter

Here is the full text of Zac Goldsmith’s resignation letter.

The Liberal Democrats have criticised Rishi Sunak for not sacking Zac Goldsmith yesterday, after he was criticised by the Commons privileges committee (see 9.56am), instead of letting him resign today. The Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney said:

This Conservative chaos is never-ending. Every day brings more more resignations and scandal in this depressing Westminster soap opera.

Rishi Sunak should have had the guts to sack Zac Goldsmith yesterday when he was brutally criticised by the partygate watchdog. Sunak is clearly too weak to control his own party.

Humane Society International/UK, an animal protection organisation, has paid tribute to Zac Goldsmith. Clare Bass, its director of campaigns and public affairs, said:

Animals have lost a true champion in parliament today. We’re grateful to Lord Goldsmith for everything he’s done as a minister to protect animals and the environment. We hope this loss serves as a major wake-up call for the prime minister that there are only so many broken promises the country, and his own party, will take.

Yesterday Zac Goldsmith was named by the privileges committee as one of three peers, as well as seven MPs, it accused of taking part in what it called a “coordinated campaign” to undermine its inquiry into Boris Johnson. It highlighted the fact that, on the day Boris Johnson announced he was resigning as an MP, Goldsmith retweeted a tweet calling the inquiry investigating him a witch-hunt and a kangaroo court. Goldsmith added his own message saying:

Exactly this. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.

Goldsmith was the only serving minister named in the report, which led to No 10 being asked if Rishi Sunak supported what he had done. No 10 said Sunak still had confidence in Goldsmith, but also stressed that Sunak supported the work of the committee.

Updated

Goldsmith criticises Sunak in resignation letter for going to Rupert Murdoch's party instead of Paris climate summit

Here is an extract from Zac Goldsmith’s resignation letter explaining why he quit.

We also made progress on animal welfare. The government signed off an ambitious Action Plan for Animal Welfare, which would have represented the biggest shake up of animal welfare in living memory. As minister responsible I was able to translate it, bit by bit, into law. We increased sentencing for cruelty from 6 months to 5 years, we recognised in law the sentience of animals, enacted and extended the ivory trade ban, introduced measures to break the pet smuggling trade and banned glue traps. Before you took office, you assured party members, via me, that you would continue implementing the action plan, including the kept animals bill and measures like ending the live export of animals for slaughter, banning keeping primates as pets, preventing the import of shark fins and hunting trophies from vulnerable species.

But I have been horrified as, bit by bit, we have abandoned these commitments - domestically and on the world stage. The kept animals bill has been ditched, despite your promises. Our efforts on a wide range of domestic environmental issues have simply ground to a standstill.

More worrying, the UK has visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature. Too often we are simply absent from key international fora. Only last week you seemingly chose to attend the party of a media baron rather than attend a critically important environment summit in Paris that ordinarily the UK would have co-led.

Worse still, we have effectively abandoned one of the most widely reported and solemn promises we have made on this issue; our pledge to spend £11.6bn of our aid on climate and environment. Indeed the only reason the government has not had to come clean on the broken promise is because the final year of expenditure falls after the next general election and will therefore be the problem for the next government, not this one.

This is a promise, remember, that has been consistently repeated by prime ministers in the past four years, including by you, and for good reason. It is the single most important signal of intent for the dozens of small island and climate vulnerable states on an issue that is existential for them. These states, remember, have equal sway in the UN where we routinely seek their support on other issues.

That same promise was also used successfully by the UK as leverage to persuade G7 countries to follow suit, and breaking it would not only infuriate them, along with those small island states in the commonwealth and beyond - it would shred any reputation we have for being a reliable partner.

Prime Minister, having been able to get so much done previously, I have struggled even to hold the line in recent months. The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our prime minister, are simply uninterested. That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.

I will never understand how, with all the knowledge we now have about our fundamental reliance on the natural world and the speed with which we are destroying it, anyone can be uninterested. But even if this existential challenge leaves you personally unmoved, there is a world of people who do care very much. And you will need their votes.

The “media baron” Goldsmith is referring to is Rupert Murdoch. Last week Rishi Sunak attended Murdoch’s summer party in London when he could have attended a summit in Paris on adapting the global financial system to meet the challenge posed by the climate crisis. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, was hosting the event, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was there too. But, like Sunak, other G7 leaders were criticised for not attending.

Updated

Zac Goldsmith resigns as minister, blaming Sunak for UK abandoning global leadership role on climate and nature

Good morning. Rishi Sunak is holding a press conference later to give details of his new NHS long-term workforce plan – one of the biggest policy initiatives of his premiership. He probably wasn’t expecting to be dealing with a resignation today. But Zac Goldsmith has just announced he is resigning as a minister at the Foreign Office, saying that he can no longer carry on because of the government’s “apathy” on issues relating to climate and the environment.

In his long resignation letter, posted on Twitter, he says he is “horrified” by how the government has abandoned commitments on animal welfare. He says the UK has “withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature”. And he says that Sunak personally is to blame.

The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our prime minister, are simply uninterested. That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.

Goldsmith is close to Carrie Johnson, the former PM’s wife, and his resignation could be seen as the departure of yet another member of the Johnson faction who have a grudge against Sunak for the role he played in bringing down Boris Johnson. But Goldsmith does not refer to this at all in his letter, which is all about environmental issues, his political passion.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: The government publishes its NHS long-term workforce plan

Morning: Rishi Sunak is on a visit in Cambridge.

10.30am: The high court hears the government’s legal challenge against the Covid inquiry over its demand to see unredacted WhatsApp messages that the government claims are irrelevant to the inquiry.

11.30am: Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, gives a speech to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.

12pm: Sunak holds a press conference at No 10 about the NHS long-term workforce plan with Amanda Pritchard, the NHS England chief executive, and Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director.

If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a PC or a laptop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.

Updated

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