Radical reforms needed to tackle waiting times, says former health secretary
Patients should be charged for GP appointments and A&E visits, Sajid Javid has said, as he called the present model of the NHS “unsustainable”.
The former health secretary said “extending the contributory principle” should be part of radical reforms to tackle growing waiting times.
Continue reading...Home Office argues people trafficked to Syria were exposed to extreme violence which poses ‘almighty problem’
People trafficked to Syria and radicalised remain threats to national security as they may be desensitised after exposure to extreme violence, the Home Office has argued, in contesting Shamima Begum’s appeal against the removal of her British citizenship.
Begum was 15 when she travelled from her home in Bethnal Green, east London, through Turkey and into territory controlled by Islamic State (IS). After she was found, nine months pregnant in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019, the then home secretary, Sajid Javid, revoked her British citizenship on national security grounds.
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...Analysis: Kwasi Kwarteng and Thérèse Coffey could be among the big winners if Truss becomes PM
Liz Truss has three weeks before she is likely to walk through No 10’s black door as prime minister, facing a difficult in-tray. Here we take a look at how senior roles could shape up.
Continue reading...Tory hopefuls face questions from party members and are interviewed by Kay Burley as interest rates go up sharply. This blog is now closed.
The NHS has been “absent” from the Conservative leadership contest, the former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said at a time when “staff shortages and morale have never been worse” in the health service.
Hunt, who is backing Sunak in the race, warned that “after energy bills the biggest issue facing the new prime minister will be a looming winter crisis”.
If the NHS continues this spiral of decline with ambulances, A&Es & GP surgeries all in serious crisis, we’ll see avoidable deaths mount up this winter. Staff know there’s no silver bullet, but they need to know there’s a plan.
Make flexible working automatic across the NHS so we don’t drive staff with young families to become locums or agency nurses, which is often the only way they can juggle work and home life.
Continue reading...Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat and Nadhim Zahawi garner enough support
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister, and Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, have just told Sky News that they are backing Liz Truss for the Tory leadership.
Rees-Mogg says Truss had been his strongest supporter in cabinet in terms of seeking Brexit opportunities. He went on:
When we discussed taxation, Liz was always opposed to Rishi’s higher taxes. That again is proper Conservatism. And I think she’s got the character to lead the party and the nation.
Liz Truss is the best candidate. She’s a proper Eurosceptic. She will deliver for the voters. She’ll deliver for the voters. She believes in low taxation.
Continue reading...Follow all the political developments as more candidates join the race to succeed Boris Johnson as Tory party leader and prime minister
Sajid Javid, who resigned as health secretary five days ago, is on BBC’s Sunday Morning discussing his leadership bid.
He says he didn’t want to give up the “very important” post and denies that his resignation was a move coordinated with former chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...A number of senior Tory MPs are preparing leadership bids as Johnson’s hold on power weakens
Leadership jostling kicked off among leading Conservative MPs as Boris Johnson clung to power, with departing cabinet ministers Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid the favourites, and Eurosceptic Steve Baker publicly saying he would “reflect seriously on whether to run”.
Baker, a former chair of the European Research Group who was one of the “Spartan” holdouts against Theresa May’s Brexit deal, was the second to go on the record with leadership ambitions, saying it was “accurate” that he was thinking about a bid.
Continue reading...Levelling up secretary had told PM to step down in face-to-face meeting as Simon Hart says it is too late to ‘turn the ship around’
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Hamish Mackay.
Tory MPs critical of Boris Johnson claim that a majority of their colleagues are now in favour of replacing him.
I think there is a majority in the party that wants to see change.
I personally have lost confidence in the prime minister now and I’m very sorry to say that. I think he does need to go.
We are regarded as rebels. We’re not. Well over half the parliamentary party now now want Boris Johnson to leave office. That means we’re the mainstream …
About a month ago we had the no confidence vote. Since then there’s been a lot of buyer’s remorse from those who backed him and it’s only been one-way traffic. I haven’t heard anybody who voted no confidence in the prime minister has changed their mind since then.
Continue reading...Former health secretary calls on colleagues to consider following his lead after resigning from cabinet
Sajid Javid has called on cabinet ministers to consider resigning from Boris Johnson’s government to help oust him as prime minister, saying he quit as health secretary after deciding “enough is enough” over issues of truth and credibility.
Giving a damning personal statement in the Commons on Wednesday after his resignation on Tuesday evening, Javid made it plain he believed other ministers should follow suit.
Continue reading...Health secretary and chancellor resign in what appears to be coordinated move
Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid have dramatically resigned from the cabinet in what appeared to be a coordinated move, throwing the prime minister’s future in doubt.
Boris Johnson apologised on Tuesday evening, for appointing Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip, despite belatedly admitting having known that Pincher was found to have behaved inappropriately in 2019.
Continue reading...Analysis: PM is stubborn but if Tory MPs believe he is a liability that may prove decisive
With Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid gone from the cabinet, it could all be over for Boris Johnson – although quite how long it will take his enemies to finish him off is not at all clear and his defenestration does not look immediate.
The two byelection defeats almost two weeks ago prompted calls for cabinet ministers to mount a coup against the prime minister, and in the wake of the Chris Pincher scandal it finally seems to be happening.
Continue reading...Health secretary urges men to discuss mental health and to ‘seek help’ when they need to
Sajid Javid has urged men to speak out about their mental health as he spoke publicly for the first time about the loss of his brother, who took his own life.
The health secretary said he still wonders if he could have acted to prevent his brother’s death, and spoke of his “deeply personal” mission to prevent suicides. Javid’s brother, Tariq, 51, took his own life in a hotel in Horsham, West Sussex, in July 2018.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
Continue reading...Department of Health and Social Care press release cited negative behaviours but not findings of political pressure
Bullying, discrimination and shifting the blame when things go wrong are rife in the NHS, a government-commissioned inquiry into health service leadership has found.
But NHS England bosses are fearful that Sajid Javid will use the report’s findings selectively to paint an unfair picture of the behaviour of senior managers.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Boris Johnson says ministers should focus on ‘cutting costs of government’ after William Hague says his position is ‘untenable’
In a speech to the Royal College of Nursing annual congress in Glasgow, Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, said it was “almost unbelievable” that nurses were having to use food banks. They deserved better pay, he said.
Two years ago the NHS was deservedly awarded the George Cross for its work during the pandemic, but the reward for individual nurses has been pay settlements well below inflation, leaving nurses much worse off.
Now, as part of the Platinum Jubilee, members of the armed forces and emergency services are rightly receiving Jubilee medals.
Douglas has been consistent in terms of the principle – he made it clear from the outset that he had huge doubts about the conduct of the prime minister ...
It was only when circumstances changed with the Russian invasion of Ukraine that he said there are some things right now we need to set aside.
Continue reading...Total donated to parties by financial firms and individuals tied to the sector over two years, report says
Concerns have been raised over the City’s influence on Westminster, after a report found financial firms and individuals tied to the sector donated £15m to political parties and gave £2m to MPs during the pandemic.
The campaign group Positive Money tallied the gifts, expenses and donations handed to MPs, peers and their parties, as well as the value of income from politicians’ second jobs, saying it contributed to finance’s “oversized influence” on policymaking.
Continue reading...The health secretary is planning an overhaul of services offered to young people who question their gender identity, the Times reports
An inquiry into the impact on under-18s of NHS treatment for gender dysphoria is to be launched by the UK government, according to reports.
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, is said to be concerned that vulnerable children are being given gender hormone treatment before alternatives have been explored, according to the Times, and is planning an overhaul of services.
Continue reading...Tory MPs want ministers to follow health bill amendment banning goods from regions with ‘risk of genocide’
Ministers are looking “sympathetically” at plans to stop the government buying health goods made in China’s Xinjiang province when the health and social care bill returns to the Commons later this month. The move would be a first sign that the government is willing to toughen its approach to authoritarian regimes in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
In an interview at the weekend, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said the west still needed to apply pressure on the Chinese government not to support the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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