PM said Father’s Day card would be his ‘limit’ in response to Johnson nominating his father for knighthood
Rishi Sunak has said his father would be lucky to get a card on Father’s Day, let alone a knighthood, after accusations that Boris Johnson’s honours list had discredited the system.
Sunak has come under pressure to reject Johnson’s list, in which he nominated his father, Stanley Johnson, for a knighthood, given previous allegations about his behaviour.
Continue reading...Decision taken after corporation takes its highest-paid presenter off air and his fellow broadcasters refuse to appear in solidarity
Match of the Day will be broadcast without any presenters or pundits this weekend, after the main host, Gary Lineker, was suspended from the BBC for breaching impartiality guidelines over his criticism of the government’s asylum policies.
In a dramatic and unexpected escalation of a crisis that has been brewing all week, the corporation took the decision to take its highest-paid presenter off its flagship football show after he was criticised by Tory MPs and the rightwing media.
Continue reading...Former culture secretary called into question neutrality of civil servant after her appointment as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff
The BBC has apologised for the failure to properly scrutinise claims made by Nadine Dorries on a radio show, capping a day of controversies for the corporation.
The broadcaster said in a statement on Friday that “there should have been more challenge” when the former culture secretary and Boris Johnson loyalist made allegations about Sue Gray on Radio 4’s World at One.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Decision to make episode about natural destruction available only on iPlayer angers programme-makers
The BBC has decided not to broadcast an episode of Sir David Attenborough’s flagship new series on British wildlife because of fears its themes of the destruction of nature would risk a backlash from Tory politicians and the rightwing press, the Guardian has been told.
The decision has angered the programme-makers and some insiders at the BBC, who fear the corporation has bowed to pressure from lobbying groups with “dinosaurian ways”.
Continue reading...NEU members had been due to strike for two days next week but will now consider Welsh government’s proposal
Two days of strike action by teachers in Wales next week have been called off after the Welsh government proposed a revised pay offer.
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) were due to stop work on 15-16 March in a dispute over pay.
Continue reading...Corporation is risking its reputation by making an example of its highest-paid star over his tweets on asylum policy
The BBC’s decision to take Gary Lineker off air leaves its most outspoken personality with a potentially career-defining decision, as the corporation looks to risk its reputation to make a public example of one of its biggest stars.
Lineker’s politically loaded tweets about the government’s new asylum policy – followed by a pledge to stand by his comments – had left the BBC in an almost impossible position, balancing impartiality with freedom of expression by its staff.
Continue reading...US regulators seize SVB’s assets after a run on the bank, as global institutions monitor situation closely
US regulators rushed to seize the assets of top tech lender Silicon Valley Bank on Friday after a run on the bank, marking the largest failure of such an institution since the height of the financial crisis more than a decade ago.
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the nation’s 16th largest bank, failed after depositors – mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies – hurried to withdraw their money this week as anxiety over the bank’s situation spread.
Continue reading...PM announces £500m package to stop people trying to cross Channel, after meeting Emmanuel Macron in Paris
Britain will help fund a detention centre in northern France as part of a £500m package to stop refugees trying to cross the Channel, Rishi Sunak has said, amid continuing criticism of his plans to lock up and deport those arriving in small boats.
After a meeting in Paris, Sunak and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said they had agreed joint funding for more French border patrols, including 500 additional officers and new drones.
Continue reading...Match of the Day host says he does not fear BBC suspension for comparing government language to that of 1930s Germany
Gary Lineker has said he will stand his ground after a day of attacks from ministers over tweets he posted earlier this week criticising the government’s asylum policy, and dismissed suggestions he could face suspension from his £1.35m-a-year job at the BBC.
Pressure continues to mount on Lineker, with the culture secretary, the home secretary and two former BBC directors adding to the criticism of the Match of the Day presenter’s comments on social media, in which he likened the language used to set out the government’s immigration plans to “that used by Germany in the 30s”.
Continue reading...Alternative für Deutschland leaders were among those lauding Sunak’s bill, while other EU figures raised doubts about its legality
European far-right leaders have praised Rishi Sunak’s illegal immigration bill, after a senior EU official repeated her doubts about the legality of the plans.
“Bravo,” wrote the Alternative für Deutschland party on social media. “Way to go! The current [British] government plans now to deny asylum to illegal immigrants and fly them out to Rwanda,” the party wrote on Facebook, saying Germany should follow this approach. “When will we finally have it?”
Continue reading...Health secretary said Forbes had ‘given our opponents so much ammunition’ after she criticised his track record in government
Humza Yousaf has told Kate Forbes that the Scottish Tories are “rooting for you to win so that your words are on every single leaflet”, as the first UK-wide televised debate between SNP leadership contenders saw further clashes between the frontrunners, while polling for the Channel 4 hosts suggested the contest remains too close to call.
Referring to heated exchanges at first minister’s questions earlier on Thursday, when Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross jeered that finance secretary Forbes had “torched” the Scottish government’s record, Yousaf said: “What unfortunately happened in the last TV debate, Kate, was that you essentially gave our opponents so much ammunition to attack us with.”
Continue reading...Paris gathering is first such UK-France summit in five years
Rishi Sunak and a series of his ministers are heading to Paris for a summit at which he will push Emmanuel Macron to assist him over Channel migrant crossings – but with little apparent chance of securing an immediate deal on returning people.
The gathering in Paris, the first such UK-France summit in five years, is also based around wider bilateral issues such as defence and Ukraine. However, for Sunak’s domestic focus, it seems set to be dominated by the issue of small boats.
Continue reading...Placing of media boss on resignation honours list despite previous rejection puts Rishi Sunak in difficult position
Boris Johnson has once again nominated Paul Dacre for a peerage as part of a pared-back resignation honours list despite the Daily Mail chief having previously been rejected by the appointments watchdog, the Guardian has learned.
Sources with knowledge of the list have said that Johnson has put forward Dacre’s name for a second time. He had been knocked back last autumn after reported doubts raised by the House of Lords appointments commission.
Continue reading...Mother of murdered Hull student says incidents should be treated as red flags for more serious sex offences
Just weeks before Libby Squire was raped, murdered and dumped in a river, a stranger exposed himself to her on her way home.
Her mother, Lisa Squire, said the assault left the 21-year-old University of Hull student feeling “absolutely furious”. “But I never thought to say to her, you need to report that, you need to ring the police, and she didn’t report it either,” said Squire. “We’re almost conditioned to ignore indecent exposure. I didn’t know better then, but I know better now.”
Continue reading...Joe Ucuzoglu posts 20-minute video to Deloitte’s public website
Deloitte’s chief executive has launched a thinly veiled criticism of rival EY after its controversial plans to split the business into two were thrown into turmoil.
EY initially announced plans for a radical breakup of its global operations last year, that would separate its audit and advisory businesses.
Continue reading...Kate Forbes, Ash Regan and Humza Yousaf take part in debate hosted by Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy
Lucy Frazer won’t be happy. (See 10.40am.) Interviewed by reporters leaving home this morning, Gary Lineker said that he had had a conversation with the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie. He would not reveal what was said. “We chat often,” was all Lineker said.
But Lineker did not look chastened. In fact, he was smiling like a Cheshire cat. Asked if he regretted sending his tweet, he replied “No,” and, asked if he stood by what he said, he replied, “Of course.”
Continue reading...Harbour Energy says it had to cut jobs and investment at same time as announcing new shareholder payouts taking total to $1bn
The North Sea’s biggest producer has complained that the windfall tax on oil and gas companies “all but wiped out” its profits last year, at the same time announcing new shareholder payouts which take the total to $1bn since the end of 2021.
Harbour Energy said on Thursday its pre-tax profits rose by nearly 700% in 2022 to $2.5bn (£2.1bn) on higher production and bigger margins making it the latest oil and gas company to report a huge increase in underlying profits, after the war in Ukraine pushed up wholesale gas prices and sent household bills soaring.
Continue reading...Hiring costs for presenters such as Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg balloon while advertisers stay wary of right-leaning channel
GB News made a loss of more than £30m in its first year on air, as the right-leaning news channel invested in hiring presenters to combat the launch of rival TalkTV.
The controversy-prone channel which launched in June 2021 racked up a pre-tax loss of £30.7m in the year to the end of May 2022, a period in which it hired former Ukip leader Nigel Farage to host a nightly primetime show.
Continue reading...Street in Liverpool ‘descended into chaos’ when gunman opened fire, jurors hear
A witness in the Olivia Pratt-Korbel murder trial has described hearing “the worst screaming I’ve ever heard in my life” after the nine-year-old was shot by a balaclava-clad gunman.
Several witnesses told police about hearing “terrible” screams after Olivia was shot by a masked man, alleged to be 34-year-old Thomas Cashman, at her home in Liverpool on the evening of 22 August last year.
Continue reading...MoJ guidance found to be wrong after woman trying to enforce custody agreement denied funds as son no longer lived with her
A decision to deny a single mother legal aid to enforce a child custody agreement against her abusive ex-partner was unlawful, the high court has ruled.
When Susie (not her real name) separated from her ex-partner, who would physically and verbally abuse her when he had been drinking, they initially shared custody of their son equally. But when he breached their agreement, limiting her access, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) refused her application for funds because it decided that as her son was not then living with her, he was not her dependant.
Continue reading...