Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
US president’s behaviour seemed tame in comparison with disastrous visit last year
He insulted London’s mayor, abused an American actor on Twitter at 1.20am, turned Brexit into a threat to the National Health Service, described Meghan Markle as nasty, and behaved as if he was a kingmaker offering audiences to aspirants from the 51st state, and yet to Whitehall’s diplomats Donald Trump’s state visit was by no means the worst in living memory.
It may be that the bar had been set vertiginously low, or that Trump, as a repeat visitor, has lost some of his capacity for shock and awe. Somehow, it seemed tame and normalised in comparison with his previous disastrous visit a year ago. Even the protests felt familiar, and like Trump’s insults aimed at Sadiq Khan, heartfelt but formulaic.
Donald Trump has started his visit to Ireland by comparing the country's post-Brexit border with Northern Ireland to the US border with Mexico, along which the US president wants to build a permanent wall. The Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, who looked visibly uncomfortable at the joint press conference, responded by saying that 'the main thing we want to avoid, of course, is a wall or a border'
Party loyalty is a thing of the past, writes Alan Taylor, while Peter Muchlinski says that the political future requires replacing the residual elements of the ‘growth society’, with the ‘sustainable society’.Plus lettersfrom Andrew Graystone and William Wallace
So, Boris Johnson fears that the Conservatives may face extinction if they delay Brexit (Report, 5 June). He may be right, on this at least, but for the wrong reasons. The fact is that the decline of the Conservatives, and of Labour, is a long-term process which began 60 years ago and may only now have reached its culmination. Both main parties have underestimated the consequences of this decline. The result is that the transformation in party voting seen in the Euro elections and since may be permanent.
British politics has long been seen as dominated by two big parties, each with a block of loyal supporters, and a small number of “floating” voters between them. This was an accurate picture of elections in the early 1950s, when over 80% of the electorate voted Labour or Tory. But this two-party domination began to weaken from the late 50s, a trend that has continued ever since. Turnout fell as fewer people were enthused by the main parties. The growth of this pool of unattached electors gave space for Liberal and Liberal/SDP “revivals”, the growth of nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales, and now the rise of the Green party and the Ukip/Farage phenomenon.
Defence secretary says UK has ‘an obligation to innocents’ as Syrian civil war subsides
Britain has an obligation to take back “innocent” children born to Islamic State fighters in Syria, the defence secretary has said, arguing that the UK needs to resolve its failure to repatriate minors caught up in the Syrian civil war.
Penny Mordaunt said she wanted to “build up a very clear picture” of where children have been taken into camps as Syria’s violent conflict has subsided and be prepared to allow them to come to the UK.
Donald Trump has declared he wants the NHS to be on the table in any US-UK trade deal and refused to meet the “negative” Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who pledged to oppose US corporations taking over the health service with every breath in his body.
On the second day of his state visit, during which he has been hosted by the Queen and Theresa May, the US president set out his ambitions for a “phenomenal” post-Brexit trade deal with the UK.
The US president criticises Sadiq Khan and Jeremy Corbyn while backing Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt as candidates to be next prime minister. Speaking at a joint press conference with May, Trump said she deserved 'a lot of credit' for her work on Brexit
European parliament summons Brexit party leader over failure to declare expenses
Nigel Farage has been given 24 hours by the European parliament to explain in person his failure to declare lavish expenses funded by Arron Banks, an insurance tycoon under investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency.
The summons came just two hours before the Brexit party leader was spotted arriving at the US ambassador’s residence in London for a meeting with Donald Trump during the US president’s state visit to the UK.
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the second day of President Trump’s state visit to Britain and his press conference with Theresa May
Judging by the interview that President Trump gave to the Sun and the Sunday Times before he came to the UK, his view of people tends to be shaped to a considerable extent by whether or not they have praised him. (“I think [Boris Johnson would be excellent. I like him. I have always liked him ... He has been very positive about me and our country.”)
Ever since a Virginia farmer called George Washington launched his bid for glory, the British have had a tendency to underestimate American presidents. Especially Republicans. When Abraham Lincoln was in the White House, our government sympathised with the Confederacy. When Ronald Reagan was commander-in-chief, the British foreign policy establishment derided him as a trigger-happy cowboy who was in danger of pitching us into a third world war.
But no Republican, indeed no president, has come to office facing anything like the level of scorn and condescension from British politicians and commentators as Mr Trump. When we talked last Friday, however, he had nothing but kind words and generous sentiments for a nation he believes will be his strongest ally ...
More from my colleague Damien Gayle on why people are protesting against Trump.
The US president, accompanied by the first lady, is greeted by the prime minister and her husband in Downing Street. Trump shakes hands with Philip May while Melania Trump shakes hands with the prime minister, before they all pose in front of No 10
US president attends Buckingham Palace banquet after starting state visit with angry tweets
Follow all the latest on Trump’s visit with our live blog
Donald Trump breezed into Britain by launching an attack on London’s mayor and berating so-called fake news before being honoured with a glittering banquet hosted by the Queen.
Buckingham Palace provided the sumptuous backdrop for the US president, who had long desired the endorsement of an official state visit, and took the opportunity to bring four of his five children with him.
The louder the calls for democracy have become in Sudan, the tighter the junta clings to power. Outside powers need to back a democratic transition and tell autocratic allies to accept non-violent change
The shooting dead of peaceful demonstrators in the Sudanese capital Khartoum is an outrage that deserves to be condemned. A denunciation of the governing transitional military council, which was almost certainly behind the bloody act, is required urgently. This needs to be reinforced by a message that the international community cannot normalise relations with Sudan, designated by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism, until power is ceded to democratically elected politicians. The generals ought to be disabused of the idea that they can use months of peaceful demonstrations to entrench their own rule. Only elections and civilian government offer a chance to shake off Sudan’s status as an international pariah after decades of isolation.
For months, protesters have been demanding that a civilian government take over the running of the country. The killing of those who had been staging a sit-in in front of the army headquarters for two months is only the most bloody act of terror by the authorities in a series of atrocities against peaceful demonstrators. Today’s violence saw a total lockdown in Khartoum. The revolt had led to the ousting of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s president since 1989, in April, and his successor, Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, a day later. Yet the louder the calls for democracy have become, the tighter the junta clings to power.
The party that was once derided for its plans for a meat-free “veggie day” at nationwide canteens is developing a taste for their opponents’ blood: pushing other parties to adopt their policies, laying down red lines for coalition talks and even hatching plans to slay the country’s holy cows on fiscal policy.
The mayor of London has recorded a video message to the US president as Donald Trump spent his first day in the UK. Earlier on Monday, Trump tweeted that 'Kahn [sic] reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, [Bill] de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job'. Trump is only the third US president to have had a state visit to the UK
The US president, accompanied by the first lady, Melania Trump, arrived at Buckingham Palace on Monday. He was greeted by Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Queen. A protest against the visit is planned in central London on Tuesday, with the 'Trump baby' blimp made for his visit last year expected to put in an appearance
The US president, accompanied by the first lady, Melania Trump, touches down at Stansted airport on Monday morning for a three-day official state visit. He was greeted by Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK, and Jeremy Hunt, the UK foreign secretary. A protest against the visit is planned in central London on Tuesday, with the ‘Trump baby’ blimp made for his visit last year expected to put in an appearance
A decade ago it was the UK’s fastest growing city, but hit by cuts and buy-to-let, support for Nigel Farage’s party is high
On Thursday, voters in Peterborough will take part in one of the most intriguing parliamentary byelections in recent memory. The constituency saw a knife-edge duel between Labour and the Conservatives at the 2017 general election and at last month’s European poll, 38% of voters in the city backed the Brexit party. A first seat in the House of Commons for Nigel Farage’s party is a distinct possibility. If that happens, it will send tremors through middle England, of which Peterborough is typical in many ways, not just geographically.
Economically, Peterborough performs averagely amid struggles with productivity. Wages are stagnant and it has been reshaped by migration, with foreigners arriving to work in the surrounding farmlands and distribution depots, contributing to a decade as the UK’s fastest growing city between 2001 and 2011.
US president makes second intervention in British politics, saying UK should ‘walk away’
Donald Trump has called on Britain to leave the European Union without a deal if Brussels refuses to meet its demands, as he urged the government to send Nigel Farage into the negotiations.
In his second extraordinary intervention into British politics ahead of this week’s state visit, the US president suggested the UK should “walk away” from talks and refuse to pay the £39bn divorce bill if its requests were not met.