By Andrew Sparrow (now); Patrick Greenfield (earlier)
The prime minister has told his cabinet he is a liberal Tory running a one nation government
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2.19pm BST
At the weekend there was speculation that Matt Hancock, the health secretary, might follow Amber Rudd in resigning from the cabinet. He is another remain-voting centrist thought to be suffering from extreme buyer’s remorse following his decision to back Boris Johnson for leader. During the leadership campaign Hancock endorsed Johnson, only for Johnson to then criticise a plan for a sugar levy on milkshakes that Hancock was promoting. Then Johnson decided to prorogue parliament for five weeks – even though Hancock, during the leadership campaign, said such a move would dishonour everything people fought and died for at D-day.
But, if anything, Hancock’s enthusiasm for Johnson is growing. This morning after cabinet he put this on Twitter.
1. I’ve now attended Cabinet, off & on, for five years. Today’s Cabinet on the domestic agenda and Queen’s Speech, was the most energising I can remember. #LetsMoveForward
2.08pm BST
Theresa May made sure her cricketing hero Geoffrey Boycott got a knighthood in her resignation honours list. This was controversial, because Boycott was convicted for assaulting his then girlfriend 21 years ago. Boycott did not do his case any good with the patronising and dismissive approach when asked about this by Martha Kearney on the Today programme this morning. My colleague Maya Wolfe-Robinson has written it up here.
Related: Geoffrey Boycott: ‘I don’t give a toss’ about criticism of knighthood
Celebrating a man convicted of assaulting his partner by giving him a knighthood is an insult to victims and survivors of domestic violence.
Honouring a perpetrator of domestic violence just because he is the former prime minister’s favourite sportsman shows how out of touch and nepotistic the honours list is.
Source: Brexit: Boris Johnson rejects claim he is making Conservative party extreme – live news
