Reinstalled levelling up secretary says he understands public anger at party’s choice of Truss and her tax cuts for the rich
Michael Gove has said the Conservative party owes the public an apology for installing Liz Truss as leader.
Gove, who was reinstated as levelling up secretary by Rishi Sunak this week, acknowledged that the Tories “made the wrong choice this summer about the path we should take”.
Continue reading...Civil servants say there was ‘significant disquiet’ over home secretary Suella Braverman’s dealings with Tory rightwinger John Hayes
Home Office officials raised concerns over a series of secretive meetings Suella Braverman held with an influential rightwing backbench MP weeks before she was forced to resign over leaking sensitive information to him, the Observer has been told.
In addition, sources have claimed that the home secretary appears to have instructed officials to look at potentially implementing hardline proposals cooked up by a rightwing thinktank that would in effect prohibit “genuine refugees” from settling in the UK, a move that threatens an even more uncompromising approach to asylum seekers.
Continue reading...Breach discovered during Tory leadership in summer but details suppressed, the Mail on Sunday reports
The government has been urged to launch an urgent investigation after reports that Liz Truss’s phone was hacked.
The breach was discovered when Truss, then the foreign secretary, was running for the Tory leadership in the summer, but details were suppressed by the then-prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, the Mail on Sunday reported.
Continue reading...Ex-PM’s Cop27 visit is seen as snub to Rishi Sunak as Labour attacks government’s policy failures on environmental crisis
A row over prime minister Rishi Sunak’s refusal to attend the Cop27 climate summit took an extraordinary twist on Saturday night as the Observer was informed that his predecessor but one – Boris Johnson – is planning to attend the event.
Several sources said they had been told that Johnson is intending to go to the crucial meeting of world leaders in Egypt to show his solidarity with the battle against the climate crisis.
Continue reading...MPs who received gifts later appeared to speak favourably about Qatar in parliamentary debates
Qatar has spent more money on gifts and trips for British MPs in the past year than any other country, according to Observer analysis that reveals the Gulf state’s lobbying efforts ahead of next month’s football World Cup.
The Qatari government made gifts to members of parliament worth £251,208 in the 12 months to October 2022, including luxury hotel stays, business-class flights and tickets to horse-racing events.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary was speaking at memorial ceremony for victims of 2008 attacks in Mumbai
Countries must work together to deprive terrorists of funding in order to prevent deadly attacks, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said.
Cleverly is in India for a two-day meeting of the UN security council’s counter-terrorism committee, which is being held in Mumbai and Delhi.
Continue reading...Former DPP Starmer tried to send head of News UK Rebekah Brooks to prison for phone hacking 10 years ago
Ten years ago Keir Starmer attempted to send Rebekah Brooks to prison for phone hacking.
Now Starmer could cause another headache for the boss of Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire. She has to work out how her Tory-backing newspapers – which include the Sun and the Times – handle the growing popularity of the man who is favourite to become the next prime minister.
Continue reading...Catherine Poole tells prime minister to pay staff more, raising a finger and saying: ‘You need to try harder’
Rishi Sunak got a tase of how the “difficult decisions” he has said will guide spending cuts may go down with the public, when he was challenged by a hospital patient about nurses’ pay.
During a tour of Croydon University Hospital in south London, Sunak met NHS workers and posed for smiling selfies with them, but was confronted by 77-year old Catherine Poole.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak needs to clarify whether his home secretary’s security breach contained market sensitive data, Labour says
Rishi Sunak needs to clarify whether Suella Braverman leaked market-sensitive data before she resigned and then was reappointed as home secretary, Labour said on Friday.
Amid further warnings that her re-appointment was a mistake, Pat McFadden, a shadow Treasury minister, said the prime minister needed to clarify urgently whether companies or individuals could have benefited financially from her security breach.
Continue reading...Authors and politicians have accused the US comedian of projecting an American cultural context on to the UK
The row began with a single call to a UK radio station, was stoked by one of America’s best-known comedians and ended with former Cabinet ministers wading in – and Downing Street, too.
At the heart of the furore: a claim that Rishi Sunak had experienced a racist “backlash” after becoming the UK’s first British-Asian prime minister.
Continue reading...EU commissioner says Elon Musk’s platform must ‘fly by our rules’ as UK minister raises concerns over content moderation
Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition has been polarizing, sparking reactions from politicians, regulators and non-profits across different continents.
Some have expressed concerns about potential changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies now that it’s in the hands of the Tesla billionaire, while others celebrated how they expect the platform’s newly minted leader will handle content and speech on Twitter.
Continue reading...Now is not the right time to take this policy forward, says prime minister’s spokesperson
Rishi Sunak has dropped his Conservative leadership campaign pledge to fine patients £10 if they miss a GP or hospital appointment.
The prime minister had told Tory members in August it was “wrong” that there are “15m missed appointments every year NHS” at GPs and hospitals, as he justified the fine as a “tough” measure to change people’s behaviour.
Continue reading...Draft deal includes targets and staff bonuses for tackling the number of asylum seekers in the UK
Rishi Sunak is aiming to reach an agreement with France to address the unprecedented number of Channel crossings by asylum seekers which could include new targets and bonuses, according to reports.
Ministers and officials are expected to review a draft deal that was previously close to being signed with France, which encompasses targets for how many boats are stopped from reaching the UK and a minimum number of French officers patrolling the beaches at any one time, sources told the Times.
Continue reading...One minister resigned to vote against making it easier for transgender people in Scotland to change their legal sex
The Scottish National party suffered its largest backbench revolt in its 15 years in power over the vote on its bill making it easier for transgender people to change their legal sex, with one minister resigning in order to vote against the plans.
The community safety minister, Ash Regan, quit, prompting Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, to accuse her of failing to raise her concerns with colleagues. Seven SNP members voted against the party whip and two abstained.
Continue reading...Former intelligence select committee chief warns issue threatens to undermine confidence in sharing sensitive information
Suella Braverman is under pressure to answer fresh questions about alleged “security breaches”, as a former head of parliament’s intelligence and security committee warned the row threatened to undermine officials’ confidence in sharing sensitive information with her.
The account given by the home secretary and backed up by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, when he defended reappointing her just six days after she was found to have broken the ministerial code were challenged by government insiders and a senior Conservative MP.
Continue reading...Government considering proposals so that officials could ‘quickly’ remove migrants from country if they are unsuccessful
Albanians could be given a “bespoke route” to have their immigration cases heard upon arrival in Britain so officials can “quickly” remove them from the country if they are unsuccessful, MPs have been told.
Government figures circulated earlier this year claimed about 60% of migrants making Channel crossings every day were from Albania, although officials noted the numbers fluctuate.
Continue reading...MPs and peers say Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s life is seriously at risk and his sister is being ignored
The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been accused by MPs and peers of ignoring the case of jailed British-Egyptian hunger striker Alaa Abd El-Fattah.
He has also been accused of failing to engage with the activist’s sister, Sanaa Seif, who has camped outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office for 10 days in an effort to force the British government to act.
Continue reading...IPPR says extra £62bn a year needed to match global leader Israel after sharp decline since 2014
Britain’s plan to become a post-Brexit “science and technology superpower” has suffered a significant setback after a fall in research and development investment of almost a fifth since 2014, according to a report.
The Institute for Public Policy Research said the UK’s share of global investment in R&D projects – including in health and life sciences – had fallen sharply from 4.2% eight years ago to 3.4% in 2019 immediately before the Covid pandemic struck.
Continue reading...With fiscal statement deferred and mixed government messaging on tax and spending the BoE has little to go on
The Bank of England will next week consider how much to raise interest rates without having received any guidance from the government about its tax and spending policies, after Jeremy Hunt pushed back the date for this year’s “autumn statement”.
Its policymakers meet on 3 November to decide the increase in the cost of borrowing required to tackle a rate of inflation that climbed above 10% in September.
Continue reading...PM says he will act to protect vulnerable people; Sunak also tells MPs he ‘stands by’ fracking ban after it was lifted by Liz Truss
The first pictures have arrived showing Rishi Sunak with members of his cabinet at their first meeting in Downing Street.
The Liberal Democrats have called for a Cabinet Office inquiry into Rishi Sunak’s reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary six days after she was sacked for a serious security breach.
Suella Braverman’s appointment makes a mockery of Rishi Sunak’s claims to be bringing integrity to Number 10. There must be a full independent inquiry by the Cabinet Office into her appointment, including any promises Sunak made to her behind closed doors.
If it is confirmed that Suella Braverman repeatedly broke the ministerial code and threatened national security, she must be sacked.
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