Rwanda bill - live: Sunak doubles down on refusal to help Afghan heroes as no guarantee of fights by spring

The government will do “whatever we need to do” to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda, Grant Shapps has said in response to the suggestion the RAF could be used for deportation flights.

Asked whether he would allow RAF aircraft to be used, the defence secretary told Sky News: “We will do whatever we need to do to make sure that we can get these flights off, whether they are charter flights or other kinds of flights.”

He added that which aircraft took asylum seekers to Rwanda was a “secondary issue”.

Jeremy Hunt tackled the flea problem Liz Truss highlighted in Downing Street by replacing the carpets at “vast” personal expense.

In her book 10 Years To Save The West, Ms Truss – who lived in the more spacious No 11 flat rather than the accommodation above No 10 – said “the place was infested with fleas”, possibly due to Boris Johnson’s dog Dilyn although “there was no conclusive evidence”.

Ms Truss said “the entire place had to be sprayed with flea killer” and “I spent several weeks itching”.

At an event in Washington DC, Mr Hunt confirmed he had taken a more drastic, and expensive, approach.

“I actually live in the flat that Liz Truss lived in and Boris Johnson lived in before that,” he said.

“She was only there for less than 50 days. I had a little bit longer, when I knew I was going to be moving in there, and I replaced all the carpets at my own expense – vast expense because it had to be a security-cleared company that did it.

“So I’m pleased to say that the Hunt family has not had the flea problem.”

Ministers have designed legislation to get round legal objections and say flights could take off within weeks – but a potential stumbling block remains.

Jane Dalton explains:

Britain is on course to ban smoking for an entire generation after Rishi Sunak forced through a historic vote in the House of Commons.

The prime minister relied on Labour votes to see off opponents on his own benches, led by the former PM Liz Truss, winning by 383 votes to 67.

Full report:

A defiant House of Lords has refused to cave to ministers and sent Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda plan back to the Commons – with two key demands.

Peers voted on Wednesday night in favour of an amendment to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill that would exempt Afghan heroes who supported UK troops overseas from being deported.

They also insisted on a monitoring committee to assess whether Rwanda is safe before the government sends asylum seekers there.

Holly Bancroft and Kate Devlin report:

Sir Keir Starmer has accused “billionaires” Rishi Sunak and Tory peer Lord Ashcroft of “smearing a working class woman” Angela Rayner, Archie Mitchell reports.

The pair have repeatedly criticised Ms Rayner over the sale of her former council house in 2015, suggesting she may have failed to pay due capital gains tax or given false information about her address.

After Mr Sunak referenced the investigation into Ms Rayner at PMQs, Sir Keir said: “We’ve got a billionaire prime minister and a billionaire colleague both of whose families have used schemes to avoid millions of pounds in tax smearing a working class woman.”

Mark Menzies is facing allegations he made a late-night call to a 78-year-old aide asking for help because he had been locked up by “bad people” demanding thousands of pounds for his release.

The Fylde MP disputes the allegations reported by The Times but the Conservative Party is looking into the claims and taking them seriously.

According to the newspaper, £14,000 given by donors for use on Tory campaign activities was transferred to Mr Menzies’ personal bank accounts and used for private medical expenses.

The MP, who is one of Rishi Sunak’s trade envoys, is also said to have called his 78-year-old former campaign manager at 3.15am one morning in December, claiming he was locked in a flat and needed £5,000 as a matter of “life and death”.

The sum, which rose to £6,500, was eventually paid by his office manager from her personal bank account and subsequently reimbursed from funds raised from donors in an account named Fylde Westminster Group, it is alleged.

According to a source close to Mr Menzies, the MP had met a man on an online dating website and gone to the man’s flat, before subsequently going with another man to a second address where he continued drinking. He was sick at one point and several people at the address demanded £5,000, claiming it was for cleaning up and other expenses.

Home secretary James Cleverly insisted that Labour are desperate to delay or disrupt Rwanda bill in a statement issued after it was sent back to the Commons again.

James Cleverly said in a statement: “Terrified that the Rwanda scheme will work, and desperate to delay or disrupt over a hundred votes about stopping the boats, Labour have acted again to block the passage of the Rwanda Bill.

“It’s been another politically cynical effort by them, who have no alternative deterrent and no plan to tackle illegal migration, to frustrate the only solution on offer.”

He added that Labour is “uncomfortable with tackling immigration” which is why the party will “clearly stop at nothing to stop the planes”.