Category Archives: Politics

Anxious unionists in little mood to celebrate Northern Ireland centenary

Posted on by

In Enniskillen for a long time, the unionists kept winning. Now the feeling is of Britishness being lost

Covered up and boxed in a storage vault in the town of Enniskillen, two historic oil paintings gathered dust. King William III commissioned the portraits of himself and Queen Mary after he routed Catholic forces in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, a turning point in Irish history that established Protestant ascendance.

Unionists revere King Billy, also known as William of Orange, as a hero who saved their settler ancestors. The portraits used to gaze down from Enniskillen town hall, a reminder of their link to the crown, until the council voted to remove them in 2002.

Continue reading...

Carrie Symonds’ influence at No 10 extends much further than the decor

Posted on by

Analysis: Boris Johnson’s fiancee has no official role, but has helped shape the personnel and vision of the PM’s office

“She’s buying gold wallpaper,” Boris Johnson is said to have told panicked aides last February of his fiancee Carrie Symonds’ interior decorating plans for their No 11 flat. The costs far exceeded the £30,000 allowance for prime ministers, and apparent attempts last year to cover them by other means – Conservative party funds, a charitable trust and Tory donors – seem to have failed.

As well as Dominic Cummings’ diatribe over the “unethical, foolish and possibly illegal” refurbishment spending saga, Helen MacNamara, the Cabinet Office’s director general of propriety and ethics, was also reported to be strongly opposed.

Continue reading...

Body with power to suspend MPs could investigate Boris Johnson flat refurb

Posted on by

Exclusive: Labour asks parliamentary commissioner for standards to investigate any potential breach of MPs’ code of conduct

Boris Johnson’s refurbishment of his Downing Street residence could be investigated by parliament’s sleaze watchdog, a move that would mean the prime minister could be personally sanctioned if found to have breached conduct rules.

The Guardian understands an extensive complaint has been submitted to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Kathryn Stone, with powers that can lead to suspensions of MPs or even byelections if serious breaches have occurred.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s night-time visit to memorial angers Covid bereaved

Posted on by

PM makes solo visit to memorial wall despite families asking him for weeks to meet them there

Boris Johnson has made a solo visit under cover of darkness to the National Covid Memorial Wall, infuriating bereaved families who have been asking for weeks for him to “walk the wall” and meet them there.

Johnson was spotted at the wall on Tuesday night, a day after allegations – which he denies – that he made remarks to the effect he would rather let “bodies pile high” than announce another lockdown.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson furious as inquiry launched into ‘cash for curtains’

Posted on by

Electoral Commission believes there are ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect offences around renovation of 11 Downing Street

The Electoral Commission has launched an inquiry that has the potential to imperil Boris Johnson’s premiership as the “cash for curtains” row increasingly engulfed the prime minister.

With sweeping powers to call witnesses and refer matters to the police, the watchdog said its probe was necessary because it already believed there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect that payments for expensive renovations to Johnson’s Downing Street flat could constitute several offences.

Continue reading...

UK sends oxygen concentrators and ventilators to India – but no Covid vaccines

Posted on by

Foreign Office says Britain ‘first out of the blocks’ with help but Labour calls it a drop in the ocean

The UK has been “the first out of the blocks” with help for India, but will not send vaccines to the Covid-ravaged country until Britain has surplus supplies, the Foreign Office minister Nigel Adams has told MPs.

He said the UK was responding to the Indian government’s needs, and had been the first country to provide practical support “in the face of heartbreaking scenes that had shocked us all”. He said he had friends of Indian heritage who were “at their wit’s end”, and vowed the UK would be at the forefront in providing aid.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer attacks ‘Major Sleaze’ Boris Johnson over ‘cash for curtains’ row

Posted on by

Labour leader’s attack on PM came an hour after Electoral Commission launched inquiry into No 11 refurbishment

A furious Boris Johnson tried to fight off allegations he broke donation reporting rules, as Sir Keir Starmer branded him “Major Sleaze” in the “cash for curtains” row increasingly engulfing the prime minister.

An hour after the Electoral Commission launched an investigation and said there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect payments for renovations to Johnson’s Downing Street flat could constitute several offences, the prime minister was accused of focusing on petty personal issues instead of the pandemic.

Continue reading...

UK to slash funding for overseas water and sanitation projects by 80%

Posted on by

Scale of aid cut emerges in leaked FCDO memo, prompting experts to describe it as ‘a national shame’

The UK is to slash funding for lifesaving water, sanitation and hygiene projects in developing nations by more than 80%, according to a leaked memo.

The cuts have been described as “savage”, “incredible” and “a national shame” by experts highlighting that sanitation and handwashing is a key line of defence during the coronavirus pandemic. The reduction to the bilateral aid budget was revealed as details emerged of cuts in the foreign aid budget.

Continue reading...

European parliament votes through Brexit deal with big majority

Posted on by

UK and EU senior figures hail moment as a ‘new chapter’ of friendly relations after four years of division

The European parliament has given its overwhelming backing to the Brexit trade and security deal, prompting senior figures on both sides to speak of hope for a “new chapter” of friendly relations after four years of division.

Five MEPs voted against the deal, with 660 in favour and 32 abstentions, although in an accompanying resolution the chamber described the referendum result of 23 June 2016 as a “historic mistake”.

Continue reading...

Senior Tories urge PM to come clean on funding of Downing Street refurb

Posted on by

Johnson faces growing disquiet after allegations he was loaned £58,000 from party funds while being seen to personally foot the bill

Boris Johnson is being urged by senior Tories to come clean about the funding of his flat refurbishment as it emerged that a former Labour chancellor refused to join a trust overseeing Downing Street upkeep out of concerns it could lead to a cash-for-access scandal.

The prime minister faced growing disquiet from within his own party on Tuesday over allegations that he was loaned £58,000 from Conservative party funds while being seen to personally foot the bill for renovations of his Downing Street residence.

Continue reading...

Dominic Raab is challenged to admit 40% cuts to foreign aid for girls’ education

Posted on by

Former minister Lady Sugg also accuses Foreign Office of cutting key sexual health programmes

Lady Sugg, a former Foreign Office minister, has challenged her onetime boss Dominic Raab to admit he is cutting the UK aid budget for girls’ education by more than 40% as the foreign secretary also suggested UK bilateral aid to Africa would be reduced to a third of what it was two years ago.

She also claimed the government was planning to close its flagship Women’s Integrated Sexual Health programme and impose cuts of about 70-80% to spending on the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson was at odds with advisers as he battled to keep England open

Posted on by

Fresh picture is emerging of government infighting as Covid-19 cases ticked upwards in the autumn

It is a well-worn tale in Westminster that Boris Johnson used to joke that his political hero was the mayor in the film Jaws, who defied advice and kept the beaches open, despite a shark attack and the risk of further attacks.

It is that metaphor that seems particularly apt as sources recall the events in the run-up to England’s second lockdown. A different picture is now emerging of the battles that went on within government as Covid-19 cases ticked upwards in the autumn.

Continue reading...

Partner in Saudi bid to buy Newcastle United is major Tory donor

Posted on by

Jamie Reuben’s involvement in bid supported by Boris Johnson raises more cronyism questions

An investor in the planned takeover of Newcastle United that received high-level support from Boris Johnson last year is a major Conservative party donor who has personally funded the prime minister’s constituency office and leadership campaign.

Jamie Reuben, 34, his father, David, and uncle Simon, who own the Reuben Brothers property development empire, were co-investors with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), and the financier Amanda Staveley, in the £300m bid to buy the Premier League club from Mike Ashley.

Continue reading...

UK accused of stranding vulnerable refugees after Brexit

Posted on by

Exclusive: Torture survivors and lone children stuck in Greece and Italy after Home Office ‘deliberately’ ends cooperation on family reunions

The Home Office has been accused of failing to reunite vulnerable refugees who have the right to join family in the UK under EU law, leaving lone children and torture survivors stranded.

The government faced widespread criticism when it announced that family reunion law would no longer apply after the UK left the EU, and it promised that cases under way on that date would be allowed to proceed.

Continue reading...

Minister seeks to play down growing accusations of Tory sleaze

Posted on by

Thérèse Coffey says public does not care about makeover of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat

Soon-to-be-published annual accounts will “tidy up” the controversy over the funding of the refurbishment of the prime minister’s Downing Street flat, according to a government minister.

In an interview with Sky News, the work and pensions secretary, Thérèse Coffey, sought to play down growing accusations of sleaze, and claimed the public did not care about the makeover of the apartment after the prime minister said he would foot the £58,000 bill himself.

Continue reading...

‘Shortsighted’: UK cuts aid to project preparing cities for natural disaster

Posted on by

From Quito to Kathmandu, millions will be endangered by cuts affecting planning for floods, earthquakes and fires, experts say


UK aid cuts to a programme working to reduce the disaster risk to poor communities around the world could endanger millions of lives and slam shut a brief window of opportunity to build safer cities for centuries to come, experts have warned.

Professor John McCloskey, from Edinburgh University, said the 70% cut to this year’s budget for the Tomorrow’s Cities project was an act of “vandalism” that had wrecked the past two years of collaboration with scientists, NGOs, authorities and communities in Ecuador’s capital Quito, Nairobi, Kathmandu and Istanbul.

Continue reading...

Johnson must push G7 to pay billions more in climate aid, say experts

Posted on by

Rich countries urged to stump up to help developing nations cut greenhouse gas emissions

Boris Johnson must push rich countries meeting in Cornwall in June to come up with tens of billions of dollars more in aid for poor countries to deal with climate breakdown, or face the failure of vital UN climate talks to be hosted by the UK in Glasgow in November, according to leading climate experts.

The UK holds the presidency this year both of the annual meeting of the G7 group of the world’s economic superpowers, and of the Cop26 climate summit.

Continue reading...

Trident could be forced overseas or halted if Scotland gains independence

Posted on by

Continuing UK’s nuclear deterrent would probably require help of an allied country, defence expert says

Trident could be forced to the US or possibly France if Scotland became independent because there is no alternative port immediately available elsewhere in the UK, according to a retired admiral responsible for Britain’s nuclear policy.

Unless Scotland were to agree to lease back the Faslane submarine base to the rest of the UK, continuing Trident would probably require the help of an allied country or the nuclear deterrent would have to be halted completely, the expert said.

Continue reading...

Johnson denies saying he would rather see ‘bodies piled high’ than third Covid lockdown

Posted on by

Bereaved families call PM’s alleged comment ‘a punch in the stomach to all those grieving’

Boris Johnson has denied he said he would rather see bodies piled “high in their thousands” than order a third lockdown, an alleged comment that bereaved relatives described as “a punch in the stomach to all those grieving”.

Johnson said it was “total, total rubbish” that he had said those words. He said: “What I certainly think is that this country has done an amazing job with the lockdowns. And they’ve been very difficult. And they’ve been very tough for people. And there’s no question about that.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson is warned of ‘dangerous political vacuum’ in Northern Ireland

Posted on by

Letter from four former secretaries of state says Brexit’s damage to peace process must be addressed

Northern Ireland is in a dangerous political vacuum and could “fall over” unless the UK government acts swiftly, according to a cross-party group of former cabinet ministers with experience in the region.

Boris Johnson needs to show more urgency and focus to ameliorate Brexit’s damage to the peace process, the group tells the prime minister in an open letter published on Monday.

Continue reading...