Category Archives: UK news

Penny Mordaunt says she took painkillers before sword-carrying role

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Lord president of privy council says coronation was ‘humbling day’ and democracy ‘is about dissent’

Penny Mordaunt has revealed how she took painkillers before her role of carrying the ceremonial sword during King Charles’s coronation.

Mordaunt, wearing a custom-made teal outfit with a matching cape and headband with gold feather embroidery, was the first woman to perform the role as lord president of the council. She was responsible for bearing the sword of the state and presenting the jewelled sword of offering to the king. They were two of four swords used during the ceremony, and it is a practice that dates back to the coronation of Richard the Lionheart in 1189.

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Liz Truss’s plan to visit Taiwan called ‘worst kind of Instagram diplomacy’

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Alicia Kearns, foreign affairs select committee chair, launches blistering attack on former prime minister

The Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee has launched a blistering attack on Liz Truss over the former prime minister’s planned trip to Taiwan, calling it “the worst kind of Instagram diplomacy”.

Alicia Kearns said she thought Truss’s trip planned for next week was little more than a vanity project aimed at keeping her profile high after her brief spell as prime minister last year.

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Son of jailed Hong Kong media tycoon condemns UK government ‘weakness’

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Sebastien Lai, son of Jimmy, also criticises Vatican over failure to hold China to account over human rights abuses

The British son of the jailed Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai has criticised Britain and the Vatican for failing to speak out strongly against the crackdown on dissent in the Chinese territory.

At a Washington event about the human rights situation in Hong Kong, Sebastien Lai said self-censorship in the former British colony was the anticipated result of the national security crackdown there, but the “hypocrisy” of some governments trying to trade with China was unexpected.

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Sheku Bayoh’s struggle in restraint may have played role in death, inquiry told

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Pathologist says struggle ‘has to be considered as being important’ in 2015 death in custody in Fife

Sheku Bayoh’s struggle while being restrained by at least six police officers should be considered a major part of what caused his death, according to the pathologist who examined his body.

The inquiry into Bayoh’s death in custody heard from Dr Kerryanne Shearer that the 31-year-old had taken ecstasy and another stimulant drug before being restrained by officers in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on 3 May 2015.

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Man remanded in custody after ‘gimp suit’ incidents in Somerset

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Joshua Hunt, 31, arrested after motorist reported someone in black latex suit jumped out in front of her

A man has appeared in court over a series of incidents in which he allegedly frightened people while wearing a black “gimp” suit.

Joshua Hunt, 31, has been accused of two counts of affray and one count each of possession of a bladed article and committing an act of outraging public decency, all of which are said to have taken place in Somerset.

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Number of adults living with parents in England and Wales rises by 700,000 in a decade

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A large majority of those returning to the roost – or who never left it – are men, census data reveals

It is enough to make parents wonder: whatever happened to the bachelor pad?

At least 620,000 more grown-up children are now living with their parents than a decade ago – and most of those doing so are young men, census figures reveal.

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Archbishop of Canterbury’s attack on illegal migration bill ‘wrong on both counts’, says minister – as it happened

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Justin Welby says bill is ‘morally unacceptable’ and rules on protection of refugees are not ‘inconvenient obstructions’. This live blog is closed

In the House of Lords peers are just starting to debate the second reading of the illegal migration bill.

Simon Murray, aka Lord Murray of Blidworth, is opening the debate. He is a lawyer who was made a Home Office minister, and a peer, when Liz Truss was PM.

We now face a perfect storm of factors driving more people into homelessness while giving us fewer good options to help them when they do. These factors include soaring private rents (above the benefit cap), private landlords leaving the sector, a national shortage of affordable housing, and a backlog of court cases after Covid-relating housing support was removed. At the same time, we have a cost-of-living crisis which is reducing real-term incomes and putting further strain on relationships.

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Scotland Yard admits failing to hand over documents to Daniel Morgan inquiry

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Met left dozens of documents in locked cabinet instead of passing to inquiry into its own corruption

Dozens of documents that Scotland Yard should have handed over to an official inquiry into its corruption were instead left in a locked cabinet located on the same floor as its commissioner, the Guardian has learned.

The revelation relates to 95 pages of documents the force now accepts it should have given to the Daniel Morgan inquiry, investigating the unsolved murder of the private detective and the role corruption played in shielding his killers.

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Risk of cyber-attack is main Eurovision worry, says BBC executive

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Cybersecurity experts drafted in to help thwart any sabotage attempt as UK stands in as host for Ukraine

The risk of a cyber-attack by pro-Russian hackers is the “main worry” for broadcasters staging the Eurovision song contest on behalf of war-torn Ukraine, a BBC executive has said.

Experts from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre have been drafted in to help thwart any attempts to sabotage the competition’s public vote on Saturday.

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UK MPs urge minister to do more to free Hongkongers’ trapped savings

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First British ministerial visit to Hong Kong since Chinese crackdown focused on attracting investment

The first British ministerial visit to Hong Kong since the introduction of draconian Chinese security laws five years ago was a chance to demand that China unlock more than £2bn in pensions belonging to British overseas passport holders who fled for the UK, former cabinet ministers have told the Foreign Office.

A letter signed by more than 90 MPs, including 10 former ministers, urges the trade minister Dominic Johnson to do more to release frozen savings belonging to thousands of Hongkongers.

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Archbishop of Canterbury to criticise small boats bill in House of Lords

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Justin Welby to join peers condemning measures that seek to criminalise people seeking refuge in UK

The archbishop of Canterbury will make a rare intervention in the House of Lords to join dozens of peers condemning the government’s flagship asylum bill.

Justin Welby will argue against measures championed by Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman that seek to criminalise people seeking refuge in the UK if they arrive on small boats.

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Parts of England battered by hailstorms amid weather warning for UK

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Somerset experiences ‘different scale’ of rain as flood warning issued for England

Parts of England have been battered by hailstorms among a deluge of rain as well as thunder, as a yellow weather warning remains in place for the UK until 10pm.

Basingstoke was hit by an onslaught of hail on Tuesday, with one resident describing his worry over the storm damaging his car – while Somerset experienced a “different scale” of rain.

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John Lewis boss faces confidence vote as business considers ways to seek new funds

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Sharon White wants to bring in investors to build flats above stores, potentially leading to the sale of stake in the business

The boss of John Lewis will face a confidence vote by staff members on Wednesday as the business considers the option of bringing in outside investment in a change that could threaten the decades-old employee-owned model.

Chairman Sharon White is considering radical ways to bring in up to £2bn to help secure the future of the John Lewis Partnership, including diversifying into building flats for rent above shops, after reporting hefty losses from its chain of department stores and Waitrose supermarkets.

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Tory MPs voice unease over Sunak’s flying pharmacy visit

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PM’s costly helicopter trip to Southampton to announce prescription reforms underlines fears of some he is out of touch

Rishi Sunak flew to the south coast and back by helicopter to announce a new government health policy on Tuesday as he tried to calm Conservative jitters after a disastrous set of local election results.

In the latest example of the prime minister’s fondness for short-distance air travel, the prime minister visited Southampton to set out plans for pharmacists to provide prescriptions for millions of patients in England to help ease the GP crisis.

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Pledge to reduce NHS backlog has been broken, Steve Barclay admits

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NHS in England missed target that patients waiting 18 months for an operation would be treated by April

A key government pledge to reduce the size of the NHS’s record-breaking care backlog has been broken, the health secretary has admitted.

Steve Barclay slipped out the news in a Commons statement on Tuesday about a totally unrelated area of NHS policy – his new plan to improve access to GP care.

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Pharmacist at former Sunak family chemist wary of PM’s health plans

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Jithender Ballepu says more staff and funding would be needed and has concerns about passing antibiotics over the counter

There is no plaque outside Bassett Pharmacy in Southampton to indicate this was once run by the prime minister’s mother but there is a sign round the back that gives the game away: “Parking for Sunak Pharmacy customers.”

Inside, the pharmacist Jithender Ballepu was expressing reservations about Rishi Sunak’s plans for chemist shops to provide prescriptions for millions of patients in England.

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British-led coalition hopes to supply longer-range missiles to Ukraine

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UK opens tender for rockets akin to those denied by US, which could enable strikes deep into Crimea

Britain and a group of European allies are hoping to supply long-distance cruise missiles to Ukraine, similar in range to those the US has so far refused to supply Kyiv, which could allow its army to strike deep into Russian-occupied Crimea.

A tender document quietly released by the UK calls for western arms makers to offer “missiles or rockets with a range 100-300km” (62 to 186 miles) to the International Fund for Ukraine, run jointly with Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

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Liz Truss to visit Taiwan and give speech that could upset UK’s China strategy

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Ex-PM, who is trying to revive career, says she will ‘show solidarity’ with Taiwan after Nancy Pelosi visit sparked furore

Liz Truss is to visit Taiwan next week, where she will deliver a speech likely to anger Beijing and potentially upset the UK government’s careful approach to China relations.

The former prime minister said on Tuesday: “Taiwan is a beacon of freedom and democracy. I’m looking forward to showing solidarity with the Taiwanese people in person in the face of increasingly aggressive behaviour and rhetoric from the regime in Beijing.”

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NHS disruption warning as ambulance staff strike in south-east England

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Hospitals chief says action ‘will pile even more pressure’ on already overstretched services and calls for talks

Ambulance staff in the south-east of England are to strike over pay for the second time on Tuesday, prompting warnings from hospital bosses of further pressure on overstretched emergency services.

Members of the Unite trade union employed by two ambulance trusts are striking after rejecting the government’s pay offer of a lump sum cash payment for 2022-23 and a below inflation increase of 5% for 2023-24.

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