Gary Gibbon , Political Editor

Hopes are fading that this week could see a new deal between the government and the EU on reform to the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland.

On a surprise visit to Britain, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to Rishi Sunak to give his country fighter jets, he called them “powerful English planes”, to help him defeat Russia.

Nine days after he sacked Nadhim Zahawi as Conservative Party Chairman, Rishi Sunak today promoted Greg Hands – who had been a trade minister – as his replacement. 

Rishi Sunak has insisted he acted “pretty decisively” by sacking Nadhim Zahawi for breaching the ministerial code and promised to restore “integrity” to politics. 

It took less than a week for Rishi Sunak’s ethics adviser to give him the evidence he needed to sack Nadhim Zahawi.

Rishi Sunak has held a cabinet “away day” at Chequers –  the prime minister’s country house. Perhaps awkwardly, two of the most senior ministers there face investigations that could end their careers within weeks.  

Rishi Sunak has insisted he will wait for his ethics adviser to fully investigate whether Conservative Chairman Nadhim Zahawi broke ministerial rules over his tax affairs – before deciding on his future in the Cabinet. 

Rishi Sunak was in Northampton earlier to launch a mental health policy, but instead had to use the event to announce an investigation into one of his own cabinet ministers. Revelations over Nadhim Zahawi’s HMRC penalty have raised questions over the Prime Minister’s commitment to rebuilding standards. Meanwhile, the man who oversaw their perceived collapse,…

The government says it will block a new law on gender recognition passed by the Scottish Parliament at the end of last year – in an unprecedented move that’s certain to spark a bitter constitutional row between Westminster and Holyrood.

Strikes pose a risk to patient safety, said the Government as ambulance workers declared the risk comes from the “disheartening state” of the NHS. 

The government calls it common sense – but Labour and the unions say it’s an attack on the fundamental freedoms of British workers. 

In his first major speech of the year, he condemned Rishi Sunak for offering “sticking plaster” solutions.

2023 began with strikes and crises in the NHS and with the cost of living. But, in his first major speech since entering Number 10, Rishi Sunak made five pledges that he claimed would deliver “peace of mind” to Britain. 

The year at Westminster started with a prime minister under pressure over Covid lockdown parties.

The Health Secretary Steve Barclay is holding talks with the Royal College of Nursing, although not on pay, as the union prepares to hold the first strike in its history later this week.