Boris Johnson has ordered his aides to launch an urgent review into decriminalising the BBC license fee in the wake of his election triumph.

The move, which is bound to trigger a showdown with the corporation, comes as Downing Street has decided to impose an effective boycott of Radio 4's flagship news programme over allegations of pro-Remain bias.

The Telegraph understands that Downing Street is preparing to launch a formal consultation on whether television viewers should face prosecution for failing to pay the £154.50 annual cost for watching live television or iPlayer, the broadcaster's catch-up service.   

They were the lifelong Labour voters on whom Jeremy Corbyn was supposed to be able to rely - even if he failed to sell his vision to a new market.

But to Dominic Cummings and Isaac Levido, the masterminds of Boris Johnson's landslide victory, they became known as "persuasion ones": a category of voter whose allegiance to Labour had been profoundly shaken by Mr Corbyn's leadership and his party's involvement in blocking Brexit.

Ultimately, the identification and targeting of those voters helped caused an electoral upset that shocked even some of the Conservatives' most senior figures.

The phrase emerged from some of the most intensive use of focus groups and polling ever seen in a UK election...

Annunziata Rees-Mogg has warned Nigel Farage faces going “from hero to zero” over Brexit because leavers will blame him if there is a hung parliament next week.

The Brexit Party MEP, who resigned the whip with three colleagues on Thursday, urged her supporters to vote for the Conservatives, accusing Mr Farage of splitting the leave vote. 

“The only option now is a Tory government, led by Boris Johnson, with Boris Johnson’s deal or remain,” she told The Telegraph.

“I’ve got respect for the Brexit Party but I can't stand by and watch their strategy risk Brexit.”

Criticising the Brexit Party leadership as “politically naive and lacking in strategic awareness” the 40-year-old former Conservative...

She was the new kid on the block who reversed the Scottish Conservatives’ fortunes and was hailed as a future PM. But in August, Ruth Davidson shocked the political world by announcing  her resignation. Here, she talks to Kate Bussmann about life after politics and becoming a mother

Low-skilled migrants will face sweeping new restrictions on moving to Britain, under a radical post-Brexit immigration shake-up planned by ­Boris Johnson.

The Prime Minister will announce on Sunday that he is planning to prevent lower-skilled workers moving to the UK unless there is a “specific shortage” of staff in their sector, such as construction. Those who arrive will only be able to stay in the UK temporarily.

The plan, made public in the final days of the general election campaign, forms the centrepiece of Mr Johnson’s proposals for an Australian-style points-based immigration system after the UK’s planned exit from the EU next year. Immigration was a key factor of the 2016 Brexit vote...

There is a "powerful case" that Jeremy Corbyn could be anti-Semitic, the country's former most senior civil judge has said as he revealed that he was "disturbed" by elements within the Labour party.

Lord Dyson, who was Master of the Rolls, the second most senior judicial position in England and Wales, questioned why it took Mr Corbyn "so long" to apologise for the way his party has handled anti-Semitism allegations.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Lord Dyson said it is "deeply concerning" that Jewish MPs have left the Labour party.

Asked whether he believes that Mr Corbyn is anti-Semitic, Lord Dyson, who is Jewish, said: “I think all I can say is - I don’t want to say positively that...

The Conservatives' lead has fallen back down to eight points over the last week, according to a poll which puts the party on course for a majority of 14.

A Savanta ComRes poll for The Telegraph suggests the gap between the Tories and Labour has narrowed to match the lead Boris Johnson enjoyed shortly after the formal start of the General Election campaign.

However half of those surveyed (46 per cent) said they would feel worried if they woke up on Friday to find that Jeremy Corbyn was the new prime minister. Some 38 per cent said they would feel worried to find that Mr Johnson was to remain in Downing Street.

The poll put the Conservatives on 41 per cent and Labour on 33 per cent, matching The...