UK politics live: Boris Johnson calls for referendum on UK’s ECHR membership

Britain should hold a referendum on its membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, Boris Johnson has said.

The former prime minister told The Daily Telegraph there is a “strong case” to give the public a say on the ECHR, which critics say prevents Britain from having full control of its immigration policy.

Mr Johnson suggested the ECHR did not “provide people with protections that they wouldn’t otherwise have”.

Tory leadership candidates Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat have both backed the idea of leaving the ECHR.

A new survey commissioned by a rightwing thinktank has suggested that 53 per cent of Conservative Party members would support a merger with Reform UK.

A huge 70 per cent said they would want a closer relationship with Nigel Farage’s party, the survey showed.

The poll, which was conducted between September 23 and 27, spoke to 470 Tory members by the rightwing Popular Conservatism (PopCon) organisation, which founded by disgraced former prime minister Liz Truss.

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US State Department spokesman Matt Miller said of the Chacos deal: “It’s a win for a diplomacy to see a successful, successful outcome of this effort between two US partners after more than a dozen rounds of talks.

“The agreement will secure the future of our joint US-UK military facility on Diego Garcia, which plays a vital role in US efforts to establish regional and global security, respond to crises and counter some of the most challenging security threats of our time.”

A bugging device was found in Boris Johnson’s bathroom after a visit by Benjamin Netanyahu when he was foreign secretary, the former prime minister has claimed.

Mr Johnson alleged that his security team made the discovery when they did a sweep of the toilets after the Israeli premier had used them during a meeting in 2017.

Writing in his memoir Unleashed, the former Tory MP said Mr Netanyahu had excused himself during talks at his old office to use the washroom, described as “a secret annex… a bit like the gents’ in a posh London club”.

“Thither Bibi repaired for a while, and it may or may not be a coincidence but I am told that later, when they were doing a regular sweep for bugs, they found a listening device in the thunderbox,” Mr Johnson said.

It is unclear whether the Israeli government was confronted about the incident.

The Israeli embassy in London has been contacted for comment.

ITV has announced it will broadcast an interview with Boris Johnson, after the BBC cancelled an interview with the ex-prime minister because presenter Laura Kuenssberg accidentally sent him her briefing notes.

Boris Johnson: The Interview will go out on ITV1 at 7pm tomorrow. The interviewer is Tom Bradby.

A minister has claimed accepting freebies in opposition is “different” from doing so in government as she attempted to explain why Sir Keir Starmer has paid back the value of some Taylor Swift tickets, but not thousands of pounds worth of other gifts.

Industry minister Sarah Jones suggested Sir Keir and other Labour frontbenchers were taking free tickets to concerts and festivals while in opposition to “build relationships” with businesses.

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has the full story below:

Rachel Reeves needs to deliver a “relaunch Budget” following the freebies row that hit the Labour government, George Osborne has said.

The former chancellor told his Political Currency podcast: “This Budget was supposed to be the five-year plan for the Starmer government and some tough decisions early on that would reap benefits later, politically and economically.

“The truth is, it’s becoming increasingly a relaunch Budget. The government is in such trouble politically, because of all the things we’ve been talking about.

“There’s a poll out this week that says [the government] is now more unpopular with the British people than the Sunak government it replaced. So this Budget now can’t just be about the long term. It’s got to be about the short term. It’s got to be about getting the government back on track.”