UK politics news: Bullying probe ‘finds Priti Patel broke rules’ as Brexit talks paused after EU official catches Covid

The advances in technology Boris Johnson has promised to make available to UK armed forces is being used "here and now", according to the country's most senior military commander.  

The PM made the case to MPs for an additional £16.5bn for the Ministry of Defence - over and above the government's manifesto commitment of a 0.5% real terms increase for every year until 2024 - to be spent on technological advances that would include allowing soldiers to order a "swarm attack by drones" on enemies in the future.  

General Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of the Defence Staff, said such scenes were already playing out on foreign battlefields.  

He told PA: "If you study the way in which drones are being used in Libya, and for that matter in Azerbaijan and Armenia at the moment, the plain fact is that swarms of drones are undoubtedly here and now, and here for the future I would guess."  

Sir Nick welcomed the cash injection, which will also go towards developing artificial intelligence (AI) technology, predicting AI would help “speed up” decision-making on the ground and allow British forces to “outmanoeuvre” their opponents. 

Labour has warned there is a "chasm" between the government's 10-point green plan and the action needed to meet climate targets in the next decade.

Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband also criticised the news that only £3bn of the public money highlighted in the plan, which aims to create green jobs and drive emissions cuts towards net zero by 2050, was new investment.

The 10-point plan unveiled this week by Boris Johnson included phasing out new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, boosting offshore wind and hydrogen production, planting trees and making homes cosier and greener.

The government estimates the measures will save 180 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the decade from 2023 - but previous official projections for the emissions cuts that will be achieved between 2023 and 2032 show the UK is set to miss its climate targets for that period by a much greater margin.

An inquiry into allegations home secretary Priti Patel bullied staff has concluded she broke rules on ministers’ behaviour, according to reports.  

The draft report has not yet been published, but sources told the BBC it had concluded Ms Patel “had not met the requirements of the ministerial code to treat civil servants with consideration and respect".  

The probe into the home secretary’s conduct came after Sir Philip Rutnam, the most senior Home Office official, resigned in February. 

Four Tory MPs and a peer who gave disgraced MP Charlie Elphicke character references for his court case have written to senior judges calling for them not to release the statements of others.

The five politicians have opted to publish their own testimonies in order to publicly challenge a media request for all the character references submitted during the former Dover MP’s case to be released.

Elphicke was described by a judge as a "sexual predator" who "told a pack of lies" when he was jailed in September for two years for sexually assaulting two women, nearly a decade apart.

Ms Justice Whipple took into account a series of character references before issuing the 49-year-old's sentence at Southwark Crown Court and the Guardian newspaper, according to a spokesman for the Tory figures involved, has requested sight of the letters.

Labour MP David Lammy has also claimed there appears to have been a “cover up” following reports an inquiry into home secretary Priti Patel’s conduct found she “breached the ministerial code” with her behaviour.

He wrote on Twitter: “This stinks of a cover up. Bullying in the workplace must never be condoned.”

Dave Penman, general secretary of senior civil servants' union the FDA, has claimed the prime minister has “already undermined confidence" in the inquiry into Priti Patel’s conduct “being a fair and impartial process”.

He said: "In his foreword to the ministerial code, Boris Johnson said: 'There must be no bullying and no harassment'.

"If, as is being suggested, substance has been found in some of the allegations against the Home Secretary, then the prime minister should have no choice but to conclude that the code has been breached.

"As prime minister, he is the sole arbiter of the ministerial code but he is also minister for the Civil Service.

"Having pledged his support for the home secretary when the investigation began, and now sat on the report since the summer, he has already undermined confidence in this being a fair and impartial process."

Labour was consumed by infighting over the fate of Jeremy Corbyn today, following Keir Starmer's decision to ban him from the party's parliamentary group.

MPs and unions from the party's left criticised the "divisive" move, while supporters of the leadership said it was inevitable - and a poll found the party’s supporters are also split on the issue.

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone has more details: