Former PMs asked princes to support bid for $5bn contract by Ayman Asfari’s firm Petrofac
Two former Conservative prime ministers lobbied a Middle Eastern royal family to award a multi-billion dollar oil contract to a company headed by a major Tory donor, the Guardian has established.
In March 2017, while in Downing Street, Theresa May wrote to the Bahraini prime minister to support the oil firm Petrofac while it was bidding to win the contract from the Gulf state.
Continue reading...The US president reportedly disputed UK’s ‘overwhelming evidence’ of Russian involvement in Salisbury attack
Donald Trump disputed that Russia was behind the attempted murder of a former Russian spy in a tense call with Theresa May, it has emerged.
Despite the widespread conclusion that Vladimir Putin’s regime was behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia last year, the US president is said to have spent 10 minutes expressing his doubts about Russian involvement.
Continue reading...Ex-PM says she would like to write novel based on ill-fated 19th century ascent of Matterhorn
He was the British mountaineer who led the first ascent of one of the most formidable mountains in the Alps. She was the prime minister who is likely to go down in history for ultimately failing to reach the summit of her own personal Matterhorn.
Yet in her first public interview since leaving Downing Street – at a book festival in where she was asked about what book she might now find the time to write – Theresa May revealed that it was the dark rumours surrounding how four of Edward Whymper’s climbing party fell to their doom that most appealed to her.
Continue reading...Charities and opposition parties highlight ex-cricketer’s conviction for domestic abuse
Boris Johnson is being urged to withdraw Geoffrey Boycott’s knighthood over his conviction for domestic violence and the former England cricketer’s response to criticism.
Women’s charities and opposition parties made the call after Boycott said he did not “give a toss” about condemnation of his knighthood from a leading domestic violence charity.
Continue reading...Decision to give CBEs to her two controversial former advisers and party donors is condemned
Theresa May has been accused of “rotten” cronyism after handing out peerages, knighthoods and other honours to her closest aides, including her controversial former advisers Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, who left office amid accusations of bullying behaviour.
May’s resignation honours list heaps rewards on those who worked in Downing Street during her three-year tenure, despite her having previously poured scorn on cronyism under David Cameron.
Continue reading...I was intrigued to read about Professor David Baker’s problems at airports and his failure to get an explanation from the Home Office (Border farce: 100 stops in seven years for scientist, 7 August).
For three or more years I was routinely rejected at the electronic entry gates at Heathrow airport and would always have to present myself and passport to an officer who would very carefully check some database. None of them would engage with me or even tell me if it was a passport chip problem that I could get fixed until, finally, one did.
Continue reading...Carl Beech and the Metropolitan police’s investigation have done a great disservice to all victims of this terrible crime (Report, 27 July). There are many problems concerning the investigation of historical child sex abuse. The gathering of facts can be almost impossible as the passage of time may have erased any evidence, and what does survive needs properly resourced and trained officers to bring it to court. I wonder if the taboo and heinousness of this subject conspire to for ever hold it in an investigative system lacking in rigour, ingenuity and the will to make change.
I also see that Beech claimed criminal injury compensation to the tune of £22,000. How was this possible? There is something seriously wrong when conviction rates are this low and innocent people have their lives shattered. Is it not time we admitted that this crime needs specialist units who are well trained and resourced, so that when a child or adult makes the brave decision to report, they can be supported by a system they can trust, and see justice done.
Sara Newman
Groombridge, East Sussex
Life is a series of ever more frequent losses; part of me will even miss the Maybot and her red lines
I had always naively imagined that parenting would get easier the older the children got. And in many mundane ways it has. I no longer have to worry so much about keeping them alive, about making sure they have done their homework or whether they are happy at university. They are now their own people, making their own decisions and sometimes even telling us what they are. Parenting has moved from practical problems to existential ones. Our daughter, who was over from Minneapolis for the first time in six months to direct a play at the Latchmere theatre in London, has gone back home. Her home. I find that hard to imagine because part of me still thinks of our home as her home. But it isn’t. She has moved on, even if I haven’t. My wife and I are no longer such key figures in her life. Not that she doesn’t love us, but we are no longer as important as we once were. Which is as it should be. If she was still living with us at 27, we’d all be driving one another mad. And for the most part, I have got used to the 4,000-mile distance between us, but having had her back for three weeks I feel bereft once more – despite the towels no longer being left on the floor. This is my new reality of getting older. A series of ever more frequent losses, each one diminishing me a little more. Until the rest is silence.
Continue reading...Tory frontrunner says former US envoy confirmed TV debate was a factor in his resignation
Boris Johnson has robustly defended his role in the resignation of Kim Darroch, claiming his remarks in a televised debate had been “misrepresented” to the former ambassador to Washington.
Darroch quit his post on Wednesday, after Donald Trump publicly expressed his fury about a series of highly critical reports that had been leaked to the Mail on Sunday.
Continue reading...In what experts called a troubling move, the agency had announced over the weekend that it was appointing a new team of lawyers
Wrapping up tonight’s live politics coverage. Here’s an updated summary of the day’s key developments from today’s bloggers, Lois Beckett and Sabrina Siddiqui.
Early today, billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer formally launched his campaign for president.
The reaction from some progressives has not been positive.
if i were a liberal billionaire with a $100 millions to burn i'd spend it on a nationwide voter registration drive instead of a vanity presidential campaign
hiring and training thousands of people to identify and register nonvoters and bring them to the polls is probably the single most effective thing you could do ahead of 2020 but then i'm not a billionaire hedge fund manager
Continue reading...US commerce secretary pulls out of trade talks as president calls envoy ‘very stupid’
Transatlantic tensions over the British ambassador’s leaked criticisms of Donald Trump have grown into a diplomatic crisis after the US president attacked Sir Kim Darroch as “a pompous fool” and his commerce secretary postponed planned trade talks with Liam Fox.
A day after Trump said he would no longer deal with Darroch following the release of UK diplomatic memos calling him “incompetent”, “inept” and “insecure”, he used his Twitter feed to attack the diplomat, who he described as “wacky” and “very stupid”.
Continue reading...Danger for Boris Johnson, if he becomes PM, is being portrayed as governor of 51st state
In normal times, the breakdown in relations between Donald Trump and the British ambassador to the US could be readily finessed. Trump would vent his anger, and gain private British assurances that Sir Kim Darroch will be replaced by someone more palatable by the end of the year.
It would create an awkward interlude in the special relationship but every family has bust-ups.
Continue reading...Pelosi attacks Trump’s 2020 citizenship question as ‘disgraceful’, while Trump says US will no longer deal with UK ambassador Kim Darroch
As House Democrats began issuing subpoenas for President Trump’s financial records, the Justice Department fought a federal judge’s decision to allow the lawsuit accusing Trump of profiting off the presidency to go forward, the Associated Press is reporting:
Justice Department lawyers want an appeals court to take the case instead.
They filed papers Monday seeking to move the case from federal court in D.C. to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. They also want to stop subpoena requests seeking Trump’s business tax returns, and documents from Trump’s D.C. and New York hotels, Mar-a-Lago Club and Trump Tower.
Our climate and environment reporter, Susie Cagle, listened in on President Trump’s speech about “maintaining a healthy environment.” Here are some choice quotes from the speech:
Related: What Trump gets wrong about wildfires, by a fire scientist
Continue reading...In latest tweets, US president also attacks Theresa May for making a mess of Brexit
Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on Theresa May and said the US would no longer deal with the British ambassador to Washington after the diplomat’s frank assessments of the president as “inept” and “dysfunctional” were leaked to the Mail on Sunday.
In a sign of the damage to the US-UK relationship, Trump hit out at Sir Kim Darroch for a second day in a row, threatening to cut ties over the memos that described him as “radiating insecurity”.
Continue reading...PM says Britain must leave EU with ‘a good deal’ in apparent rebuke to ‘do or die’ comment
Theresa May has made a thinly veiled attack on Boris Johnson’s “do or die” approach to leaving the EU on 31 October, insisting that the right approach for Britain was to leave with a deal.
Attending her last EU summit in Brussels as prime minister on Sunday, May took aim at the approach of the Tory leadership frontrunner, who has taken an increasingly hardline approach in recent days.
Continue reading...The French government on Saturday released a brief clip of a discussion at the G20 summit in Osaka involving four world leaders – and Ivanka Trump.
Related: Ivanka Trump says stepping into North Korea was 'surreal'
Continue reading...Constitutional experts say new Tory leader could be blocked from becoming prime minister without a Commons majority
Boris Johnson could be stopped from becoming prime minister even if he is elected as the new Conservative leader, two of Britain’s leading constitutional experts have said.
With Tory MPs threatening to withdraw support for the party under his stewardship, Johnson is warned that he could be prevented from ever entering Downing Street should it become clear he cannot command a majority in the House of Commons.
Continue reading...Prime minister urges open legal process over murder and raises Yemen concerns
Theresa May has raised concerns about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the humanitarian cost of the conflict in Yemen during a face-to-face meeting with the Saudi crown prince at the G20 summit in Osaka.
The prime minister held a bilateral meeting with Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday at what will be May’s final global summit before she steps down in July.
Continue reading...PM addresses Russian leader at G20 over ‘wider pattern of unacceptable behaviour’
Theresa May has upbraided Vladimir Putin for the Salisbury poisoning, calling it a “truly despicable act”, during a frosty one-to-one meeting at the G20 summit in Osaka that is likely to be their last encounter.
After exchanging a handshake, during which May appeared stern, the pair held the first half of their 80-minute meeting alone, with only translators in the room.
Continue reading...Russian president aiming to improve relations with Britain, Kremlin says
Vladimir Putin will meet Theresa May at this week’s G20 summit in Japan with a view to seeking improved relations between the countries, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
The outgoing UK prime minister’s spokesman stressed that the meeting with the Russian president did not represent a normalisation of ties.
Continue reading...