Friday 17 June 2022 11:13 PM Boris Johnson will bolster a bid to oust Commonwealth secretary general Lady ... trends now

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Boris Johnson will next week lead a bid to oust former Labour minister Baroness Scotland as head of the Commonwealth.

The Prime Minister will use a summit in Rwanda to push for member states to remove the peer, according to Whitehall sources.

Lady Scotland has served as the organisation’s secretary-general since 2016. She has been dubbed ‘Baroness Brazen’ over her lavish spending in the role – a characterisation she says is ‘unfair’.

Her original term of office was due to end in 2020 but has been repeatedly extended because of the pandemic.

Commonwealth sources confirmed that Lady Scotland is seeking to secure a second term when Commonwealth leaders gather in the Rwandan capital Kigali next Friday.

But, in a highly unusual move, Mr Johnson has publicly backed a rival candidate from another country.