Category Archives: UK news

Anne Sacoolas refuses to return to face Harry Dunn charges

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Potential 14-year term for killing 19-year-old is ‘not proportionate’, says US woman’s lawyer

The wife of a US intelligence officer charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of the 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn, will not return to the UK voluntarily, her lawyer has announced.

A statement from the lawyer for Anne Sacoolas came after the Crown Prosecution Service announced it was bringing charges over Dunn’s death in August. Amy Jeffress said the potential 14-year sentence was “not proportionate” for what was “a terrible but unintentional accident”.

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Prince Philip treated in hospital for pre-existing condition

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Ninety-eight-year-old moved from Norfolk to the King Edward VII hospital in London

The Duke of Edinburgh has been admitted to hospital for observation and treatment in relation to a pre-existing condition, Buckingham Palace said.

In a statement, the palace said: “The Duke of Edinburgh travelled from Norfolk this morning to the King Edward VII hospital in London for observation and treatment in relation to a pre-existing condition. The admission is a precautionary measure, on the advice of his royal highness’s doctor.”

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Queen’s speech: PM points to harder Brexit and 10-year rule

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Johnson government outlines tougher laws on sentencing and constitutional reform

Boris Johnson has set out his vision for the Tories to govern for the next decade as he published a Queen’s speech that points the way towards a harder Brexit and sweeping constitutional reforms.

The prime minister claimed that he wanted his programme for government to last for more than one parliament, describing it as a “blueprint for the future of Britain”.

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Racist incidents on rise in British army, warns ombudsman

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Nicola Williams urges MoD to do more to tackle ‘depressingly frequent’ racism

Incidents of racism in the armed forces are happening with “increasing and depressing frequency”, its official ombudsman has warned.

Nicola Williams, the service complaints ombudsman for the armed forces, called on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to do more to tackle racism among service personnel.

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Queen’s speech: NHS at heart of Johnson’s plans, says minister

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Rishi Sunak highlights £34bn health spending, but appears to water down social care pledge

Boris Johnson will try to use the Queen’s speech to refocus attention away from Brexit and on to the NHS, the government has confirmed.

The prime minister intends to put the health service at the centre of the legislative programme, according to the chief secretary to the Treasury, Rishi Sunak.

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Aid groups warn Boris Johnson against combining DfID with Foreign Office

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Charities caution that ‘UK aid risks becoming a vehicle for UK foreign policy’ if post-Brexit merger comes to fruition

A coalition of aid groups including the British Red Cross, Cafod and Oxfam GB has warned Boris Johnson that to abolish the Department for International Development would suggest Britain is “turning our backs on the world’s poorest people”.

One climate diplomacy expert said it would be “political suicide” to merge DfID with the Foreign Office in 2020, the same year the UK is hosting the UN climate summit, since the move would tie up senior civil servants when they were most needed to tackle the response to the climate crisis.

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Emily Maitlis: ‘Prince Andrew was unleashed. He wanted to tell me everything’

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Newsnight was granted a rare audience with the royal ... and after a decade of silence, he was unstoppable. Its presenter shares the secrets of the interview of the century

Series 3, episode 4: The Crown. A BBC van pulls up at Buckingham Palace to record a royal documentary.

As in life, so with television: timing is everything. Had The Crown aired its new series one week earlier … Had the fictional Queen been spotted squirming at the TV crews in her midst … Had the distant memories of a now-banned palace interview been fresher in our minds … It is entirely possible, and more than probable, that the Prince Andrew interview would never have happened.

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British Airways slumps to near bottom in passenger survey

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Which? finds BA ranks badly for both long and short haul, but Ryanair still props up table

British Airways has taken a nosedive in UK passengers’ opinions and is now rated just above Ryanair at the bottom end of the airline rankings.

The flag carrier was among the worst rated for food, seat comfort and value for money on both short and long-haul services in the annual Which? poll.

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Labour party staff angry at handling of possible redundancies

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Corbyn aides Seumas Milne and Karie Murphy moved to permanent contracts, unlike others

Labour party staff who are angry that they face losing their jobs while senior aides to Jeremy Corbyn remain on the payroll have been called in to meetings to discuss possible redundancies.

A leaked email sent on Wednesday shows that workers and advisers from the offices of the Labour leader and shadow ministers have been invited to meetings with their line managers following Thursday’s catastrophic election result.

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IRA man John Downey participated in Hyde Park bombing, judge rules

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Civil court decision opens way for relatives of four killed soldiers to obtain damages

A convicted IRA member in jail on separate murder charges was an “active participant” in the 1982 Hyde Park bombing, the high court has ruled in a civil action taken by the victims’ families.

Relatives of four soldiers who died in the IRA blast were told that John Downey was liable for the explosion that killed their loved ones.

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China cuts ‘freedom of thought’ from top university charters

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Inclusion of pledge to follow Communist party leadership sparks rare defiance at Fudan

Changes to the charter of one of China’s top universities, including dropping the phrase “freedom of thought” and the inclusion of a pledge to follow the Communist party’s leadership, has sparked fierce debate and a rare act of student defiance.

The changes to the charter of Fudan University in Shanghai, considered one of China’s more liberal institutions, emerged on Tuesday when the education ministry said it had approved the revisions for three universities.

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‘Extra pathos’: belongings of ex- Labour MP who lost seat incinerated

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Commons staff mistakenly destroy some of Graham Jones’s files and favourite outfits

A former Labour whip who lost his seat in the general election has had his clothes and private documents mistakenly incinerated by parliamentary staff.

Graham Jones, the ousted parliamentary candidate for Hyndburn in last Thursday’s general election, returned to Westminster this week to clear his office, which is close to the House of Commons chamber and Strangers bar.

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Ilhan Omar writes to US Syria envoy over Turkish white phosphorus allegations

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Congresswoman calls on US Syria envoy to give full briefing on October incident in border town

Four US congressional Democrats have written to Donald Trump’s Syria envoy asking him to spell out what information the US has about the alleged use of white phosphorus by Turkey against Syrian Kurdish civilians in October.

Ilhan Omar and three of her colleagues in the House of Representatives called on Jim Jeffrey to provide a full briefing – in private if necessary – into whether it believes the incident during the Turkish invasion two months ago amounts to a war crime.

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Emily Thornberry throws her hat into ring for Labour leadership

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Exclusive: shadow foreign secretary says she warned party leaders going to polls would be ‘act of catastrophic political folly’

Emily Thornberry has declared she is entering the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, revealing she warned the Labour leadership that backing a Brexit election would be an “act of catastrophic political folly”.

The shadow foreign secretary set out her pitch to be the next Labour leader in an article for the Guardian, arguing she has already “pummelled” Boris Johnson across the dispatch box and knows how to exploit his failings.

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Cliff-edge Brexit will hurt UK more than EU, says Von der Leyen

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EU president warns of time running out in the expected 11 months available to strike deal

Ursula von der Leyen has warned that a cliff-edge Brexit at the end of 2020 will hurt the UK more than the EU as she laid out her intentions to “make the most” out of the “extremely challenging” 11 months available to strike a trade deal.

The European commission president acknowledged the danger of time running out during the negotiations, a risk many fear has been amplified by Boris Johnson’s symbolic decision to legislate to block an extension of the transition period.

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Calls to reform bail terms after lawyer stabbed to death

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Ewan Ireland, 17, had been released under investigation over an affray offence when he attacked Peter Duncan

The case of a teenager jailed for life after stabbing a lawyer to death has raised fresh alarm about the practice of releasing violent suspects without strict bail conditions.

Ewan Ireland was 17 when he attacked Peter Duncan in August. The sentencing judge said on Tuesday that it was the 52-year-old’s bad luck to accidentally bump into Ireland while trying to get home after work in Newcastle city centre.

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Keir Starmer lays out case for ‘radical Labour government’

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Exclusive: shadow Brexit secretary calls for end to party infighting and return to being a ‘broad church’

Keir Starmer has set out his pitch for the Labour leadership with a call for his party not to lurch to the right as a result of last week’s devastating election result.

While the leadership race has not yet formally been launched, the shadow Brexit secretary confirmed to the Guardian that, as widely expected in Westminster, he was “seriously considering” running to succeed Jeremy Corbyn.

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Now Britain’s navel-gazing has to end. It’s time to keep our aid pledge to the world

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DfID must remain independent to safeguard aid commitments and our global reputation, says former minister

We are standing at a pivotal moment in the UK’s relationship with the rest of the world.

As parliament reassembles post-election, nations around the world, both within the EU and beyond, are waiting to see what direction the UK will take.

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Boris Johnson’s Brexit extension block ‘will limit UK options’

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Brussels prepares to restrict scope of talks in light of British PM’s ‘strange’ move

Boris Johnson’s plan to make it illegal for the government to extend the Brexit transition period beyond 11 months has been described as “strange” by Ireland’s deputy prime minister, as Brussels prepared to limit the scope of the coming negotiations.

Simon Coveney said it amounted to the “UK deciding to tie itself in terms of options” while the director general for trade in the European commission, Sabine Weyand, said the ambition of any deal would need to be pared back.

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Caroline Flack quits as Love Island host after assault charge

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TV presenter says she does not want to ‘detract attention from the upcoming series’

Caroline Flack has stepped down as host of the hit ITV2 show Love Island after she was charged with assaulting her boyfriend, in a major blow to one of the channel’s most important programmes ahead of its return next month.

The presenter has fronted the programme since it was relaunched in 2015, helping to turn it into a cultural phenomenon which achieved the seemingly impossible task of convincing young viewers to watch live television – turning it into a much-needed cash cow for ITV.

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