Politics

The legal team argues that to ensure value for money and guard against cronyism "one must put public contracts out to tender".

"The Government has rushed through immigration legislation with very little detail in the middle of a global pandemic" - Nick Thomas-Symonds.

Public First - a small London-based policy and research firm - is run by James Frayne, who worked on Eurosceptic campaigns with Cummings as long as 20 years ago, and Rachel Wolf, an ex-Gove advisor who co-wrote the Tory election manifesto last year

“The whole point about this committee is it is non-partisan. The Prime Minister nor anybody should be seeking to tell the committee who should be the chair."

Peter Stefanovic accused the PM of "normalising lying to Parliament" following the revelation.

Michel Barnier has hit back at firebrand Brexiteer Mark Francois, reminding the Tory MP that he voted for the very agreement he was criticising in a viral letter sent to the EU’s Brexit negotiator.

Labour say the Treasury has "slipped out" the announcement amid a slew of coronavirus relief schemes.

His first challenge will be to decide when – and if – to release the long-awaited report into alleged Russian interference in UK politics.

Meetings will continue in Brussels next week and the next round of negotiations will take place in the week of July 20 in London.