Lord Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice Garnham have dismissed the government's claim for judicial review.

Cabinet Office lawyers argued the inquiry did not have the legal power to force ministers to release documents and messages it says aren't relevant to its proceedings.

But the lawyer representing the inquiry said the government's stance "would emasculate this and future inquiries".

Boris Johnson had sided with the inquiry, and his representative said there was a "real danger" of undermining public confidence in the process if the department won its bid.

While the Cabinet Office has lost this challenge, the High Court judges said they could choose to make a different application to Lady Hallett.

The Cabinet Office has lost its legal challenge over the UK Covid-19 inquiry chairwoman's request for Boris Johnson's unredacted WhatsApp messages, notebooks and diaries.

The Cabinet Office says some of the messages are "unambiguously irrelevant" to the inquiry, and include details of ministers and officials' private lives.

But Baroness Hallett, who is leading the inquiry, said it should be up to her to decide what is relevant.

Johnson said he was "perfectly content" for the inquiry to have WhatsApp messages sent after May 2021.

Johnson says his earlier messages are not available because his mobile phone was involved in a security breach and has not been used since.

In the next 10 minutes, we're due to find out whether the government has won its legal challenge to the Covid inquiry's request for Boris Johnson's unredacted WhatsApp messages, notebooks and diaries.

High Court judges are set to hand down their decision in the Cabinet Office's judicial review of inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett's order.

So far, the Cabinet Office has refused to provide the documents, arguing the request is "so broad" that it is "bound to catch" a large amount of irrelevant material.

Hugo Keith KC, for Baroness Hallett, has argued the idea the Cabinet Office can decide which documents are relevant "would emasculate this and future inquiries".

The former prime minister is backing Baroness Hallett. He handed over his unredacted WhatsApp messages, diaries and 24 notebooks to the Cabinet Office in late May.

Social mobility campaigners have welcomed Keir Starmer’s plans to reform the education system a step in the right direction.

In a statement, Sarah Atkinson, chief executive of the Social Mobility Foundation, said: “We know that in the UK, right now, it pays to be privileged and that ambitious young people face barriers in education and work because of where they grew up, went to school or the occupation of their parents or guardians."

Atkinson also called on employers, universities and “all aspects of government” to help build a society where “talent from all backgrounds is nurtured.”

Image source, UK Parliament

Shadow leader of the House of Commons Thangam Debbonaire says she is “shocked and saddened” by the findings in the report on Chris Pincher’s misconduct.

Speaking at Business Questions, the Labour MP called it “shameful” that the Conservative Party had “protected and even promoted him despite a previous investigation into his conduct.”

She also urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to “show some backbone” and condemn Pincher’s actions.

If there is a by-election in Chris Pincher's Tamworth constituency, Labour would need a swing of just over 21.3% to take the seat. In the 2019 general election, Pincher had a majority of 19,634.

That's bigger than the swing the party needs to win Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire on 20 July (18%), and bigger than it has achieved in other by-elections during this parliament.

But it is similar to the swing Labour achieved in South East Staffordshire in 1996 (22.1%) - the year before Tony Blair entered Downing Street. And that constituency was replaced by the current Tamworth seat in 1997.

Sir Keir Starmer's pledge to improve children's speaking skills in order to break down class barriers is "borderline offensive", says Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.

Posting on Twitter, external, she insists it's Starmer that "needs speaking lessons", adding: "Think about what you say, stick to it and stop changing your mind.

"The 5 missions will go the same way as the 10 pledges – you can’t believe a word he says".

Keegan says Labour are offering "gimmicks that don’t help children or working class children".

Image source, PA Media

A little reminder about the man at the centre of one of the major political stories today, Chris Pincher.

He is still the MP for Tamworth, but sits as an independent rather than as a Conservative, following the allegations of groping at a London club a year ago.

Before that, Pincher was deputy chief whip in Boris Johnson’s government - a job which involves telling the party’s MPs which way to vote to support the government, as well as providing help and support.

He was elected to Parliament in 2010, having stood for Tamworth unsuccessfully in 2005. He was re-elected in 2019 with a 19,634 majority.

He’s worked as a whip and has also been a minister for housing and the Foreign Office.

Pincher is not married and before becoming an MP, he worked for an IT management consultancy firm.

If you're just joining us, here's a recap of events this morning:

• Sir Keir Starmer's speech pledging to smash the "class ceiling" by boosting poorer children's education was interrupted by protesters accusing him of making a U-turn on green policies, before they were led off by security staff

• Starmer was making a speech on Labour's education policy in which he set out a goal of half a million more children reaching their early learning targets by 2030, as part of Labour's plans to improve teaching for the under-fives

• He also pledged to improve children's speaking skills and to level vocational and academic learning, in a drive to break down class barriers to opportunity

• Meanwhile, former government whip Chris Pincher is facing an eight-week suspension from the Commons after Parliament's Standards Committee found he had groped two men at a London private members' club last year. It described his behaviour as "completely inappropriate" and an "abuse of power"

• The sanction will have to be endorsed by the whole House of Commons, which could trigger a by-election in his Tamworth constituency

• In a statement, Pincher said he wanted to "reflect" on the report's conclusions, but did not intend to comment further at this time. He said he wanted to "apologise sincerely" for his conduct, adding that he had sought professional medical help

Earlier, Chris Pincher issued a response after Parliament's Standards Committee recommended he be suspended for eight weeks for drunkenly groping two men at the Carlton Club in London last year.

He said: "I apologise sincerely again for my behaviour", and reiterated he would not stand again to be MP for Tamworth at the next general election.

"I have sought professional medical help, which is ongoing and has been beneficial to me, for which I am grateful," his statement continues.

"I only saw the report at 8am this morning so I want to read it carefully and reflect on it properly. I do not intend to comment further at this time," he adds.

Downing Street has said the Chris Pincher report raises "serious issues".

The Prime Minister's spokesman said Rishi Sunak had talked about the importance of integrity and accountability at every level, but said sanctions were a matter for the House.

He added that normal parliamentary processes would be followed on the Commons voting on the report.

The PM's spokesman said the issues raised in the report were a matter for Pincher and pointed out he was no longer a member of the government.

Back now to the parliamentary standards watchdog's recommendation to suspend MP Chris Pincher over groping allegations which we reported on earlier.

In the Commons, Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt has said the Tamworth MP has 10 days to appeal against the Standards Committee's recommendation that he be suspended for eight weeks.

She says "due process" must take its course, so a date for MPs to consider the report will be announced "in the usual way" - in other words, not yet.

Green New Deal Rising, external, the climate group behind the protest during Starmer's speech, has threatened to "escalate" their tactics in the lead-up to the Labour conference in the autumn unless the party leader meets them face to face.

Co-director Fatima Ibrahim said: "We'll be escalating our tactics and actions from now to the conference. A core part of what we've asked is for [Shadow Chancellor] Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer to meet with us.

"If we don't hear back, we'll be forced to escalation."

Ibrahim added the two protesters who disrupted Starmer's speech were students who had been invited by the party to stand behind him as he spoke: "If you're going to use young people as props, you should be interested to hear what they have to say," she added.

Will taxing private schools raise over £1bn?published at 11:50 British Summer Time 6 July 2023

11:50 BST 6 July 2023

During his speech, Keir Starmer said: “Getting rid of the tax breaks for private schools and VAT does yield over £1bn."

That’s a lower figure than Labour was using at the end of last year, when they said it would raise £1.7bn.

Of that, £1.6bn was supposed to come from stopping independent school fees being exempt from VAT of 20%, set out in this report, external from the Resolution Foundation.

The rest comes from, external requiring independent schools to pay business rates.

There have been questions about how much the amount raised would be hit by having to fund state school places for children whose families could no longer afford private schools.

A report, external from the think tank EDSK said that to raise £1bn from VAT you would have to assume that no more than 5% of pupils would switch from private to state schools.

We asked Labour how they had worked out this new lower figure, but have not yet heard back.

The Just Stop Oil protest group should "just stop" interrupting causing mass disruption, Sir Keir Starmer has said, not long after his speech was derailed by climate protesters.

Yesterday, protesters from the group interrupted play twice at Wimbledon by throwing orange-coloured confetti and jigsaw pieces on to one of the courts. It was the latest in a string of demonstrations targeting major sporting events.

"There's a huge arrogance involved that they're the only people that understand the argument," Starmer said to a round of applause.

"When I put what they're doing against what we [Labour] set out in our mission about clean energy and Net Zero - you can see the difference between protest and power."

Last month, Starmer was lambasted by the Tory Party over major Labour donor Dale Vince, who has donated more than £1.4m to Labour since 2014, as well as given money to Just Stop Oil.

Speaking to reporters in June, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said "eco-zealots" from the protest group were "writing Keir Starmer's energy policy".

The speech and questions session has now finished.

We heard a fair bit of policy in there, including more on the main announcement about communication education in primary schools.

Keir Starmer said a Labour government would review the national curriculum, immediately change the rules to get pupils studying a creative subject or sport until 16, and also talked about how the UK teaches digital skills.

Starmer also said Labour would reform Ofsted, with safeguarding reviews for schools once a year and more information from inspections made available to parents.

On training for older teenagers, he said there would be a "new skills and growth levy" to fund apprenticeships, a new national skills strategy and a target to increase post-19 training places to an all-time high.

On young children, he set a future Labour government the target of getting half a million more children hitting their early learning targets by 2030.

Chris Mason
Political editor

Never mind opinion poll leads.

Keir Starmer is taking questions. The usual suspects, me included, stick up our hands.

But when Grazia magazine turn up at political press conferences you know a general election is pretty close and the political leader they are asking a question of is seen as a potential winner.

Slowly but surely, the build-up to the election is gathering pace.

Starmer says there’s a “barrier in our collective minds, that narrows our ambitions for working class children”.

"Some people call it the 'class ceiling'”, he says.

“It's about economic insecurity, structural and racial injustice - of course it is. But it's also about a fundamental lack of respect.

"A snobbery that too often extends into adulthood. Raising its ugly head when it comes to inequalities at work - in pay, promotions, opportunities.”

Labour will change the curriculum so pupils study a creative art subject or sport until the age of 16, Starmer announces.

He says we have an outdated curriculum which “cleaves to a comfort zone" while countries around the world are rethinking theirs to put creativity front and centre.

A Labour government will launch a wider review of the national curriculum, he says, referencing digital skills as another area which needs to be strengthened.

Starmer also announces he'd set up a new body called Skills England which would develop a "national skills plan" geared towards the "jobs of the future".