Robert Halfon and James Heappey join exodus of Tory MPs from Commons as party languishes in polls
Two Tory ministers have quit the government in a double blow to Rishi Sunak, who has been forced to carry out a mini-reshuffle of the junior ranks.
The veteran MP Robert Halfon unexpectedly announced he would step down as education minister and would be leaving the Commons at the next general election.
Continue reading...Details of Chris O’Shea’s ballooning package emerge in Centrica’s annual report after company reports bumper profits
The boss of the British Gas owner, Centrica, has seen his earnings nearly double to £8.2m, despite having admitted that his smaller pay packet the previous year was “impossible to justify”.
Chris O’Shea earned a basic salary of £903,000, which was topped up by cash and share bonuses worth an extra £7.3m.
Continue reading...Ministers condemn allegedly racist remarks and say they knew about them only after signing deal
The Jamaican government has joined widespread condemnation of comments by the Conservative’s party’s biggest donor, Frank Hester, amid concerns about a contract it signed with his digital health company.
Earlier in March, the Guardian revealed that during a meeting in 2019 Hester had said Diane Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP, made you “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”, remarks that are now subject of an investigation by West Yorkshire police.
Continue reading...Johnny Mercer given 10 days to reveal source of claims British troops engaged in war crimes
The minister for veterans’ affairs, Johnny Mercer, has been given 10 days to reveal the source of allegations British troops engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan, or face a potential prison sentence.
Mercer in effect admitted last month in front of the public inquiry into the claims that he believed members of the SAS had engaged in dozens of unlawful killings of Afghan civilians between 2010 and 2013.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Information about 40 million UK voters was stolen by Chinese spies in a hack that also targeted elected officials. A cybersecurity experts walks us through whether these are isolated incidents, or the tip of a digital iceberg
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Good morning. You’re probably not an MP or peer on the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), so that part of yesterday’s cyber-attack revelations needn’t concern you excessively. If you are among the 40 million UK voters included on a register held by the Electoral Commission, though, I have bad news: the Chinese government has your personal details.
Yesterday afternoon, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden laid out sanctions in response to the attacks – in the case of the Electoral Commission hack, more than three years after it happened. In co-ordinated announcements, the US announced sanctions over a years-long campaign involving 10,000 malicious emails sent to politicians, journalists and businesses, and New Zealand said it had raised concerns with Beijing over an attack on its parliament in 2021.
Israel-Gaza war | The UN security council has voted to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the first time after the US dropped a threat to veto, bringing Israel to near total isolation on the world stage. Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned White House visit by two ministers, while the Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, called the result a belated “vote for humanity to prevail”.
US news | A New York court has handed Donald Trump a lifeline, reducing his $454m bond to $175m over the judgment against him in a huge fraud case. Separately, the judge overseeing the hush-money case against Trump involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels refused to delay the trial, setting a date for jury selection of 15 April.
Garrick club | At least four senior judges, Sir Keith Lindblom, Sir Nicholas Cusworth, Sir Nicholas Lavender and Sir Ian Dove, have resigned from the men-only Garrick Club, the Judicial Office has said, as men in the legal profession come under increasing pressure over their close association with an organisation that has repeatedly blocked attempts to allow women to join.
US news | Federal agents have raided properties in Los Angeles, Miami and New York that local news outlets have reported are tied to rapper and mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. US media reported that the searches were part of a sex trafficking investigation, though the exact reason for the raids remained unclear.
Conservatives | Rishi Sunak is to face another tricky byelection after former Conservative backbencher Scott Benton resigned before the conclusion of a recall petition among his constituents. The Blackpool South MP was facing likely ejection from the Commons after being suspended for 35 days over his role in a lobbying scandal.
Continue reading...Creation of a ‘cohesion and conflict unit’ in England is among recommendations in government-commissioned review
School leaders have welcomed proposals for the creation of “a cohesion and conflict unit” to support teachers who face “freedom-restricting” threats and harassment during the course of their work.
It is one of a number of recommendations in a government-commissioned review into threats to social cohesion in England, which highlights the case of a religious studies teacher at a school in West Yorkshire who was forced into hiding after accusations of blasphemy.
Continue reading...Footage of people panicking, designed to attack the London mayor’s record on crime, was filmed in a New York subway station
The Conservatives have deleted an online video that used scenes of a panicked crowd at a New York subway station to criticise Sadiq Khan’s record on crime in London.
The attack ad, posted on X in support of Susan Hall – Khan’s rival for the London mayoralty, showed people panicking and rushing through New York’s Penn station after false reports of gunfire in 2017.
Continue reading...Imogen Wade’s The Time I Was Mugged in New York City impresses judges for ‘lyricism in the account of an abduction’
• Scroll down to read the winning poem
A poem inspired by the author’s experience of being mugged has won the first prize of £5,000 in the National Poetry Competition.
The Time I Was Mugged in New York City by Imogen Wade tells the story of being locked in a van at JFK airport by a man dressed in black, driven to Grand Central station and made to give the man money.
Continue reading...Senior Tories say ministers not holding China to account after Beijing targeted elections watchdog and politicians
Tory MPs have urged ministers to take a tougher approach towards China after the security services confirmed Beijing-backed hackers were responsible for a cyber-attack targeting the UK elections watchdog and a surveillance operation on British politicians.
The Chinese ambassador will be summoned to explain his country’s actions, which resulted in Beijing allegedly accessing the personal details of about 40 million voters, held by the Electoral Commission.
Continue reading...With the Electoral Commission the latest target on a list that includes the economy and supply chains, experts warn of data-gathering ‘on an industrial scale’
In March last year an integrated review of the UK’s defence and foreign policy said it would protect the country’s “democratic freedoms” from Chinese state attacks.
A few months later the Electoral Commission confirmed why democratic institutions and processes were on the threat list as it revealed that a cyber-attack – by a then unidentified assailant – had accessed the data of 40 million voters.
Continue reading...Deputy PM, who didn’t really sign up for this, seemed reluctant to declare war on a superpower
The deputy prime minister’s statement on cybersecurity and China-backed attempts to undermine UK democracy had been briefed far enough in advance that MPs had had time to sharpen their insults. Iain Duncan Smith said Oliver Dowden’s announcement was like watching an elephant giving birth to a mouse. The SNP member Stuart C McDonald accused Dowden of taking a wooden spoon to a gunfight. Labour’s Chris Bryant called him “wilfully blind, and therefore dangerous”.
The inattentive observer might come away from the statement unclear on who posed the greater threat to our national security, Oliver Dowden or the Chinese.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Warning came at party’s first public meeting with Chinese government since Keir Starmer became Labour leader
Labour has warned China that it will respond to any interference in UK democracy after the government announced fresh sanctions against hackers linked to Beijing.
The warning came at the party’s first public meeting with the Chinese government since Keir Starmer became Labour leader.
Continue reading...Technology groups face hefty fines if they are found guilty of breaching Digital Markets Act
Apple, Google’s parent company and Meta are being investigated by the EU for potential breaches of the bloc’s new laws designed to police anti-competitive behaviour by big technology companies.
The trio face significant fines if they are found guilty of breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of regulation that came into force on 7 March and is aimed at increasing choice for online consumers.
Continue reading...Spectacular aurora borealis caused by geomagnetic storms on sun’s surface may be visible in North America as far south as the midwest
Solar eruptions are sending a stream of particles towards Earth, creating spectacular auroras in both hemispheres.
The aurora borealis – in the northern hemisphere – will be potentially visible on Monday night in the US as far south as the midwest. The northern lights, more commonly associated with northern Europe, could also be visible in northern United Kingdom.
Continue reading...National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme aims to understand why population has declined
Artificial intelligence will be used for the first time to track hedgehog populations as part of a pioneering project aimed at understanding how many of them are left in the UK and why they have suffered a decline.
Images of the prickly mammals snuffling around urban parks, private gardens, woodlands and farmland will be captured by cameras and filtered by AI trained to differentiate between wildlife and humans.
Continue reading...National Audit Office says merging DfID with Foreign Office has led to loss of dedicated senior roles
Britain’s capability and expertise on foreign aid has been diminished since international development was merged into the Foreign Office, the UK’s public spending watchdog has found.
The National Audit Office, which reports to parliament on public spending, said the transfer of the department to the Foreign Office, overseen by Boris Johnson, had caused a loss of dedicated senior roles in development.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Surge in nurses originally from outside the EU moving overseas prompts concern Britain is a ‘staging post’ in their careers
Almost 9,000 foreign nurses a year are leaving the UK to work abroad, amid a sudden surge in nurses quitting the already understaffed NHS for better-paid jobs elsewhere.
The rise in nurses originally from outside the EU moving to take up new posts abroad has prompted concerns that Britain is increasingly becoming “a staging post” in their careers.
Continue reading...Bank holiday weekend and start of school holidays take place at same time, with high traffic volumes expected
Drivers are being warned to expect long delays over Easter as millions of getaway trips lead to soaring traffic volumes and congested motorways.
The RAC said that more than 14m journeys on some popular routes could take twice as long as normal, as the first bank holiday weekend of the spring coincides with the start of a two-week holiday for many schools.
Continue reading...Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden to update MPs on cyber-attacks by Beijing, some of whom may also have been targets
The personal details of millions of voters are believed to have been accessed in an attack by China on Britain’s democratic process, ministers will say.
MPs and peers are thought to be among 43 people who the government looks set to confirm have been targeted by cyber-attacks backed by the Chinese state. The UK could impose sanctions on individuals believed to be involved in these acts of state-backed interference, one of which was a separate attack on the Electoral Commission in which Beijing accessed the personal details of about 40 million voters.
Continue reading...Average monthly donations rose by nearly 40% to £65, with poorest areas among the most generous
The British public donated a record £13.9bn to charity in 2023, with people in some of the country’s least affluent areas among the most generous, a report reveals.
The total marks a 9% increase on the 2022 figure – which stood at £12.7bn – as average monthly donations increased by nearly 40% to reach £65.
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