Foreign secretary says he agrees 150% with sentiment of tweet which quoted Katie Hopkins
Jeremy Hunt has vigorously defended Donald Trump for quoting the far-right commentator Katie Hopkins in an attack on the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, as Downing Street declined to condemn the US president’s words.
The foreign secretary said that while he would not have used the same words as Trump he would “150% agree” with the overall sentiment.
Continue reading...I was a little surprised by Larry Elliott’s suggestion that the republican movement has rarely been weaker (How the House of Windsor saw off British republicanism, 13 June). In his analysis he ignores opinion polling, which shows no growth in support for the monarchy, and he ignores the perilous and imminent succession of King Charles.
A YouGov poll commissioned by Republic at the time of Prince Harry’s wedding last year showed widespread indifference to the royals. As expected, a clear majority (60%) said they liked the Queen, but only a third said they liked her “a great deal”. Meanwhile, only 37% wanted Charles to succeed the Queen; 46% said they would prefer “someone else”.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary says it is wrong to commit rigidly to leaving the EU by 31 October
Jeremy Hunt has said the Brexit deadline of 31 October should not be a “hard stop” and that Boris Johnson is posing a “stark choice”, between leaving the EU without a deal and a general election.
As the five remaining rivals to Boris Johnson prepare for a televised debate on Sunday evening, Hunt warned it would be wrong to commit now to leave the EU by Halloween, come what may.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson’s attempts to appease hardline Tory Brexiters will tilt the party into a “disastrous general election” that could be just months away, senior Conservatives are warning.
The runaway favourite to replace Theresa May is being told that the coalition of support set to deliver him Downing Street “won’t survive the autumn”, when he will have to decide whether to accept a deal with the EU or try to force a no-deal Brexit – a move likely to precipitate an election.
Continue reading...Taoiseach wants to keep a guarantee there will be no return to hard borders
Leo Varadkar has said that removing the border backstop would be as bad for Ireland as a no-deal Brexit.
Some contenders to replace Theresa May as prime minister, including frontrunner Boris Johnson, have proposed changes to the policy.
Continue reading...Labour leader urges UK to ease tensions in Gulf after Foreign Office links blasts to Tehran
Jeremy Corbyn has called for the government to abstain from escalating tensions with Iran without “credible evidence” that Tehran was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers.
The Labour leader said Britain risked increasing the threat of war after the Foreign Office (FCO) said it was “almost certain” in its assessment that “a branch of the Iranian military … attacked the two tankers on 13 June”.
Continue reading...Facing a Boris Johnson premiership, Labour shadow cabinet to debate its stance
Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet is set to debate Brexit on Monday, as the prospect of a Boris Johnson premiership accelerates Labour’s drift towards supporting a second referendum.
Corbyn is coming under renewed pressure to set out his backing for a fresh public vote more clearly, as the shockwaves from Labour’s catastrophic performance in the European elections continue to reverberate.
Continue reading...Frontrunner refuses invite, but will take part in a similar BBC-hosted event two days later
Boris Johnson will be represented by an empty podium in a television debate on Sunday night as his five remaining rivals to be Britain’s next prime minister fight it out for a place alongside him in the ballot of Conservative members.
The former foreign secretary declined an invitation to participate in the Channel 4 leadership debate, saying he feared it would be “cacophonous”.
Continue reading...Foreign involvement in Africa is far from unique to Russia (Leaked documents reveal Russia’s efforts to exert influence in Africa, 12 June). The new scramble for Africa involves more powers than the first round over a century ago. This time it’s in part about securing resources such as oil, gas and rare earth metals crucial for military and civilian digital technology, and denying these resources to rival powers.
The United States Africa Command (Africom) now has 7,500 American troops active in all but one African country, up from 6,000 in 2017. Apart from its huge base in Djibouti, controlling the narrow strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a vital chokepoint through which all shipping using the Suez Canal has to pass – most importantly (for the Americans) Chinese shipping – the US has constructed small “lily pad” bases, whose presence gives the US a strong military capability.
Continue reading...Decision on ‘consolidation’ imminent after former foreign secretary’s crushing victory
Conservative leadership candidates are in talks about joining forces to provide the strongest challenge to Boris Johnson, who looks all but certain to be Britain’s next prime minister after trouncing rivals in the first MPs’ ballot.
Johnson hoovered up the votes of 114 MPs, more than a third of the parliamentary Tory party, and enough backers to guarantee him a place in the final two, assuming he retains their support in later rounds.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the first round of voting in the Tory leadership contest
Here is my colleague Rafael Behr on Boris Johnson.
Related: Boris Johnson has an unfair advantage in the leadership race … there’s two of him | Rafael Behr
One of the two Johnsons served as mayor of London from 2008-2016. He has liberal, metropolitan instincts – broadly pro-immigration, old-fashioned in his use of idiom, but a moderniser at heart. Then there is 2016-2019 Johnson, figurehead of the Vote Leave campaign, the ultimate Brexit-booster. He is a more aggressive, divisive figure – a partisan of nationalistic culture wars who has consorted with Steve Bannon. Both Johnsons are dispensing wild promises to Tory MPs behind closed doors. The self-styled “One Nation” Conservatives and rightwing ultras each seem to think the other side is being taken for a ride, which suggests they all are.
Matt Hancock surpassed expectations, a spokesman for his campaign said. The spokesman went on:
MPs have responded well to Matt’s energetic and positive campaign. His pro-business message, his focus on taking the fight to Corbyn and the Lib Dems not just the Brexit party, and his argument that the Tory party “need a leader for the future, not just for now” has gone down well with colleagues.
Continue reading...European newspapers in chorus of disapproval after Tory leadership hopeful’s campaign launch
European newspapers have expressed horror at the prospect of Boris Johnson becoming the UK’s next prime minister, describing him as a scandal-proof serial promise-breaker whose arrival at No 10 would be “a calamity for his country and for Europe”.
Le Monde, in a coruscating editorial, said Johnson had shown himself to be “a stranger to logic and convictions” in a career rich in “deceits, blunders and failures”. In the run-up to the 2016 referendum he “told lies on the side of a bus, promised the UK could have its cake and eat it, and compared the EU to the Third Reich,” it said.
Continue reading...An attempt to block the UK leaving without a deal was defeated on Wednesday, so can no deal still be stopped?
Have MPs missed their last chance to block a no-deal Brexit?
Not quite. Labour seized the opportunity for action on Wednesday because they had been allotted an opposition day debate – an opportunity to decide what MPs discuss and vote on.
Continue reading...Labour-led attempt to stop the UK leaving without a deal is defeated, in move that could help Boris Johnson
Conservative leadership candidates including Boris Johnson hoping to force a “deal or no deal” Brexit in October have been handed a boost after MPs defeated a Labour-led attempt to tie the next prime minister’s hands.
Labour vowed it would not end efforts to stop no deal but the defeat bolstered Johnson’s claim at his leadership launch that MPs would not be prepared “reap the whirlwind” of halting Brexit entirely as Tory MPs prepared for the first round on votingto choose the next prime minister on Thursday.
Continue reading...UK to put down legislation but Greenpeace warns of impact on developing nations
Theresa May has sought to cement some legacy in the weeks before she steps down as prime minister by enshrining in law a commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, making Britain the first major economy to do so.
The commitment, to be made in an amendment to the Climate Change Act laid in parliament on Wednesday, would make the UK the first member of the G7 group of industrialised nations to legislate for net zero emissions, Downing Street said.
Continue reading...Tory leadership frontrunner avoids interviews and refuses to commit to TV hustings
Boris Johnson has been accused of “not having the guts to face the people” in the Conservative leadership race, coming under fire for dodging interviews and refusing to confirm his participation in a BBC debate with other candidates.
Johnson, the clear frontrunner with MPs and the Tory membership, was implicitly criticised by several of his rivals who said the race must put all the candidates under proper scrutiny.
Continue reading...MPs criticise Labour’s handling of Brexit and complaints of harassment and antisemitism
Labour MPs tore into Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit strategy at a party meeting on Monday night, with several MPs loyal to the leadership saying they felt ashamed to vote for the party at the European elections and urging a change of direction.
MPs inside the private gathering said there were surprise interventions from colleagues who had never before spoken out against Corbyn, including Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Marie Rimmer.
Continue reading...Environment secretary insists he is ‘in it to win it’ and vows to focus on overlooked families
Michael Gove has tried to claw his way back into the race to be Britain’s next prime minister with a pledge to govern for “overlooked families and undervalued communities” – and a series of personal attacks on frontrunner Boris Johnson.
The environment secretary’s campaign was blown off course at the weekend after revelations about cocaine use. But on the day the Tory leadership contest launched in earnest, Gove insisted he was still “in it to win it”.
Continue reading...Analysts to compile database to track spike in cases, with female politicians and campaigners increasingly targeted
Violence targeted against female politicians and activists will be tracked for the first time by a global database, amid indications of a recent rise in attacks.
Researchers reviewed thousands of events dating back to 1997, where political violence was targeted at women – ranging from wartime sexual violence to attacks on female civilians and crackdowns on female-led protests.
Continue reading...Environment secretary is facing calls to withdraw from Tory leadership campaign
Michael Gove’s campaign to be Conservative leader is hanging in the balance with calls for him to quit the race, as he was forced to insist that he never misled officials about his use of class A drugs.
The environment secretary gave an interview admitting he was “fortunate” to have avoided jail for possession of cocaine, after a new book revealed he had taken the drug on several occasions while a journalist around 20 years ago.
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