Category Archives: UK news

Tory MPs hit back at ‘treacherous’ Rishi Sunak as leadership race begins

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Conservative MPs fear the race to replace Boris Johnson risks becoming a drawn-out, bitter battle

The race to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister was already slipping into acrimony on Saturday as Conservative factions briefed against Rishi Sunak, the early favourite, while one senior MP called for “no hope” candidates to drop out.

With four candidates confirmed, but predictions that up to 15 could put themselves forward as the next Conservative leader, Tory MPs expressed concern at the potential timetable for the race, and the prospect of bitter infighting.

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Ukrainian soldiers arrive in UK for training with British forces

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Up to 10,000 new recruits will train for several weeks to help in their country’s fight against Russia

British forces have begun training Ukrainian soldiers in a new programme to help in their fight against Russia.

Up to 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers will arrive in the UK for specialist military training lasting several weeks. The first cohort met the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed.

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Met police officer charged with rape after incident in Shropshire

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Special constable Paul Hoile, 40, will appear in court on Saturday after he was arrested earlier this week

A serving Metropolitan police officer has been charged with rape after an incident near Newport, Shropshire.

Special constable Paul Hoile, 40, based on the force’s north-west command unit, was arrested in Benfleet, Essex, at about 10.30pm on Wednesday on suspicion of rape and was charged on Friday.

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Pheasant shoots scaled back across UK after bird flu import bans

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RSPB calls for greater regulation of industry to avoid putting native wildlife at risk

Pheasant shoots across the UK are being shut down or dramatically scaled back this year because of import bans on the birds after an outbreak of bird flu.

A huge number of the gamebirds shot in the country are imported from factory farms in Europe. Experts have said this practice should stop or be reduced because it risks spreading disease and has troubling implications for native nature and biodiversity.

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Fears environment bills could be sidelined amid Tory leadership race

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Campaigners warn crucial legislation must not be abandoned while the UK government is distracted

Crucial environment legislation must not be allowed to be sidelined or abandoned amid the distraction of a Tory leadership race, campaigners have warned.

Ministers openly admit they do not know what is going on with much of the legislation, but those who remain in government are working with skeleton teams to get bills in shape to be passed.

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Rishi Sunak launches bid to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative leader – live

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Former chancellor says it it time to restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country

More now from the 1922 Committee’s Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who says that while in an “ideal world” deputy PM Dominic Raab would have been made caretaker prime minister after Johnson’s speech yesterday, “that ship has sailed”.

I think in an ideal world, Dominic Raab, as deputy prime minister, should have been the caretaker prime minister, but that ship I think has sailed and we must we must now live with the fact that Boris Johnson will be prime minister until a successor can be voted on.

[Johnson] has said very clearly that he won’t be making any major changes during that period. And I think that is a good thing.

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Hummus supplies to dip as weather and Ukraine war cause chickpea shortage

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Drop in chickpea crop could have serious impact on countries such as India, Bangladesh and Pakistan

Growers are warning of a global chickpea shortage, endangering supplies of hummus just as barbecue season gets into gear, in a development which could have serious consequences for countries that rely on the pulses as an essential source of protein.

Supplies of chickpeas could drop as much as 20% this year, according to the Global Pulse Confederation, as difficult weather conditions and the war in Ukraine hit production.

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Rishi Sunak to stand for Conservative party leader

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Former chancellor throws his hat into the ring in race to succeed Boris Johnson

Rishi Sunak, who resigned as chancellor this week, has formally announced he is standing to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative party leader, joining the race as one of the favourites.

The announcement came in a slickly edited three-minute video posted on Twitter that emphasised the story of his parents, who emigrated to the UK from India.

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Nick Kyrgios says Australian tennis greats have ‘sick obsession’ with tearing him down

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Remarks come after Pat Cash accused Kyrgios of ‘cheating, manipulation and abuse’ at this year’s championships

The Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios has said that Australia’s tennis legends have a “sick obsession with tearing [him] down”.

The 27-year-old claimed he was “the outcast” of his compatriots before describing himself as an inspiration to others who have been surrounded by “negative headlines and clouds”.

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Boris Johnson has left the UK economy in a parlous state

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Analysis: If Johnsonomics stands for anything, it is a lack of plan or vision to address Britain’s economic woes

Boris Johnson entered Downing Street in July 2019 with a promise. The doubters, doomsters and gloomsters were going to get it wrong again: his leadership would make Brexit a success, re-igniting an economy stalled by the divisions over Europe.

Three years later, almost to the day, he prepares to leave with the country reeling from a political implosion of his own making, and an economy teetering on the brink of recession.

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Mark Rowley appointed new commissioner of Met police

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Former counter-terrorism chief takes over as force is embroiled in crises over women, race and homophobia

Sir Mark Rowley is to become the new commissioner of the Metropolitan police, after winning the top job in British law enforcement by promising “urgent reforms” to lead the country’s biggest force out of crisis.

Rowley, 57, a former head of counter-terrorism, left the Met in 2018 and returns after time in the private sector. He was selected over the Met assistant commissioner Nick Ephgrave, the other candidate to reach the final shortlist of two.

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Tory faithful are male and grey but choice of leader is less clear cut

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Analysis: Research indicates party members are over 60, male and white, yet do not like the same candidates

The final decision on the next Tory leader ultimately falls to the party membership, after MPs vote to narrow the candidates down to two.

This means the decision on the identity of Britain’s future prime minister will be voted on by 200,000 people, more or less. And they are not just ordinary members of the public, they are fee-paying members of the party’s grassroots with their own sets of beliefs.

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Victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster to get day in UK courts

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Court of appeal judgment allows £5bn lawsuit against mining giant BHP by more than 200,000 victims of 2015 Mariana dam disaster

More than 200,000 victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster will have their case heard in a UK court, making it the largest group claim in English legal history.

The lawsuit is against the Anglo-Australian mining company BHP – one of the biggest companies in the world – for their involvement in the collapse of the Mariana dam in 2015, which released toxic mining waste down 400 miles (640km) of waterways along the Doce River. Claimants are seeking at least £5bn ($6bn) in compensation.

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Boris Johnson resigns and says no new policies until next prime minister announced – live

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Boris Johnson says all major fiscal decisions will be left to his replacement

Last night Braverman said she would stand in the Tory leadership contest when Boris Johnson goes.

When it was put to her that she did not have enough experience, Braverman did not accept that. She said she had run a government department, the attorney general’s department.

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Race to replace Boris Johnson slow to take shape amid resignation chaos

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Analysis: Suella Braverman is lone frontbencher to voice leadership plan as Rishi Sunak, Sajid Javid and others hang back

Even before Boris Johnson delivered his ill-tempered exit speech, Conservative MPs’ focus had already switched to who might succeed him – and unlike in 2019, when he had been the prince across the water for months, this time there is no obvious successor.

Rishi Sunak, who walked out of the Treasury on Tuesday within minutes of Sajid Javid quitting, had been widely seen as the frontrunner until a series of missteps, including the botched spring statement.

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No new policies under my leadership, Boris Johnson confirms

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Outgoing PM confirms no big changes of direction, including about taxation, during race to succeed him

Boris Johnson’s government will not try to implement new policies while the Conservatives choose a new leader, the prime minister has told his cabinet, deepening concerns over paralysis in the aftermath of his resignation announcement.

The prime minister, who has pledged to step aside, said he will not introduce “major changes of direction” including tax decisions over the coming weeks as Tory MPs and party members run an election for his replacement.

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Cancer spending threatened if NHS staff given 3% pay rise without extra funds

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NHS England says Treasury must cover cost as health service faces first real-terms cut in funding ‘since possibly the mid-1950s’

The NHS will have to cut investment in cancer care if ministers award frontline staff a pay rise above 3% but refuse to provide extra money to cover it, health service bosses have warned.

The NHS England chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, and Julian Kelly, its chief financial officer, made clear their belief that soaring inflation means the service’s 1.3 million staff deserve a pay award of more than the 3% the government has already given the organisation funding to cover.

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Glee in Russia and sadness in Ukraine as Boris Johnson quits

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Kremlin gloats as oligarch Oleg Deripaska welcomes end of ‘stupid clown’ but Zelenskiy pays tribute to ‘true friend’

Boris Johnson’s downfall has been met with delight and ridicule in Moscow, while in Kyiv Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed sadness at the resignation of his key ally.

Johnson, who championed weapons transfers to Ukraine in the early stages of the war and was the first leader of a G7 country to visit Kyiv in April, has emerged as a much-loved figure in Ukraine. “We all heard this news [of Johnson’s resignation] with sadness,” Zelenskiy said in a statement after the two leaders spoke by phone. “Not only me, but also the entire Ukrainian society, which is very sympathetic to you.

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