✕ Close Angela Rayner says ‘sexist’ and ‘classist’ Mail article implied she was ‘thick’Boris Johnson threatened to “privatise the arse” off the Passport Office, as he lashed out at the organisation over huge delays putting holidays at risk. The prime minister is said to be “horrified” by repeated breaches of a new 10-week target for processing applications, branded an “absolute shambles” by MPs. There has been an unprecedented surge in demand after the lifting of Covid restrictions, because 5 million people delayed renewing their passports during the pandemic. A Home Office minister warned people hoping to travel abroad this Summer to renew their passports “as soon as possible” as one million passport applications were received in the last month alone. Meanwhile the leader of the House of Commons said anonymous Tory MPs who made controversial remarks about Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner to The Mail on Sunday was “inappropriate” but did not break Commons rules.

Source: The Times April 26, 2022 02:53 UTC