The prime minister told reporters that while Russia had announced it had withdrawn some troops from the Ukrainian border, intelligence showed that it was still making preparations to invade. Johnson said that while these 'mixed signals' meant UK sanctions on Russia needed to be ready to go, the government had decided to keep its embassy open in Kyiv as 'an important symbol'
Continue reading...Category Archives: Boris Johnson
Ukraine crisis: Biden warns that Russia invasion ‘still very much a possibility’ – live
Update from president comes after Putin says western assurances Ukraine will not join Nato anytime soon are not good enough
- German Chancellor welcomes pull back of some troops
- Boris Johnson says Russia is sending ‘mixed signals’ on Ukraine
- Russia confirms ‘partial’ withdrawal of troops from Ukraine border
- Duma manoeuvre points to Kremlin impatience in Ukraine standoff
- Kyiv starts to breathe a little easier as Russian troops pull back
- Video: What exactly does Putin want in Ukraine?
Australia’s prime minister has urged China to denounce Russian threats against Ukraine.
Scott Morrison noted that Beijing and Moscow had announced they were pursuing closer relations since more than 100,000 Russian troops were sent to the Ukrainian border.
We would expect all nations, all governments around the world, to be denouncing what is taking place with the threats of violence against Ukraine.
I do note that the Chinese government, together with the Russian government, have been banding together on this issue and that the Chinese government has not denounced what is occurring in Ukraine.”
In January-February, the entire Russian Navy fleet announced that it would conduct military exercises in the waters around the base, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean.
It is thought that the intention is to show off the ability to operate in the east and west in response to the recent movement of the Russian army around Ukraine.”
Continue reading...Russia sending thousands more troops to Ukraine border
Move suggests Putin could extend crisis for weeks as Johnson and Biden agree ‘crucial window for diplomacy’ still exists
Russia is sending thousands more troops to its border with Ukraine in a sign that Vladimir Putin could extend the crisis for weeks, as Boris Johnson warned the situation had become “very, very dangerous”.
British officials estimate that a further 14 Russian battalions are heading towards Ukraine, each numbering about 800 troops, on top of the 100 battalions massed on the borders – a force already believed capable of launching an invasion.
Continue reading...Plans to delay Covid jabs for UK children aged five to 11 criticised
JCVI advised vaccinating the age group last week, but government is still ‘reviewing’ the evidence
Plans to offer Covid vaccinations to all children aged five to 11 have been delayed by the government because the jabs have not been deemed urgent.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decided more than a week ago to expand the vaccination programme to all that age group and handed its advice to ministers.
Continue reading...UK and Scottish government agree deal on freeports in Scotland
Plan proposes two ‘green freeports’ based around low-emission industries
UK ministers and the Scottish government have reached a deal over proposed freeports in Scotland, after months of disagreement over what No 10 has billed as one of the main economic benefits of Brexit.
The Scottish government had resisted the idea of freeports – specific areas that offer tax breaks and other incentives to investors – which are intended to revitalise deprived areas but have been accused of encouraging tax avoidance and lower regulation.
Continue reading...Next Covid strain could kill many more, warn scientists ahead of England restrictions ending
Demands grow for government science chiefs to reveal evidence backing move to lift last protective measures
A future variant of Covid-19 could be much more dangerous and cause far higher numbers of deaths and cases of serious illness than Omicron, leading UK scientists have warned.
As a result, many of them say that caution needs to be taken in lifting the last Covid restrictions in England, as Boris Johnson plans to do next week.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson should be ashamed of Savile slur, says bishop
Paul Bayes, retiring bishop of Liverpool, calls for an end to ‘rancid and dangerous’ political culture in Britain
Today’s political culture is “rancid and dangerous” and Boris Johnson should be ashamed of telling a lie that led to street violence, a senior Church of England bishop has said.
Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, said the UK was facing a “struggle between those in whose interest it is to fragment society and those who want to sustain the common good”.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson’s position ‘difficult’ if Met fines him, warns Iain Duncan Smith
Another former Conservative leader piles pressure on prime minister over Partygate allegations
The former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has warned Boris Johnson it will be hard to cling to power if the Metropolitan police finds he breached Covid rules.
The comments from the senior Tory will ratchet up pressure on the prime minister to resign if he broke the law, after Johnson received a questionnaire from the Met on Friday regarding alleged parties in Downing Street.
Continue reading...PM sent Downing Street lockdown party questionnaire by Met police
Boris Johnson contacted over alleged parties that took place while the UK was under strict Covid curbs
Boris Johnson has been sent a questionnaire by Scotland Yard over alleged parties in Downing Street, in a move that could raise fresh concerns among Tory MPs about his leadership.
No 10 confirmed late on Friday night that the prime minister received the document, and vowed he would respond to it “as required”.
Continue reading...‘Things could go crazy quickly,’ Biden warns on Ukraine as talks in Berlin fail
US president urges all Americans to leave Ukraine immediately, while British defence secretary heads to Moscow
US president Joe Biden has warned that “things could go crazy quickly” in Ukraine and again urged American citizens to leave immediately, as the UK’s defence secretary headed to Moscow in the latest round of diplomacy.
“American citizens should leave, should leave now,” Biden said in an interview with NBC News. “We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. This is a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly.”
Continue reading...Has Boris Johnson done enough to avoid a no-confidence vote?
Analysis: The letters have seemingly stopped but MPs may be keeping their pens dry for strategic reasons
As MPs wheeled their suitcases on to trains for a short recess, those with lingering doubts about Boris Johnson’s leadership tucked their letter-writing pens back into their pockets.
They seem unlikely to come out again until the Metropolitan police determine whether the prime minister committed any criminal offence by attending a number of Downing Street gatherings.
Continue reading...‘Most dangerous moment’ in Ukraine crisis, says Johnson meeting with Nato chief – video
Boris Johnson has said the Ukraine crisis has entered 'the most dangerous moment' on a visit to Nato’s headquarters as Russia continues its military buildup on the borders of its southern neighbour.
Military analysts estimate Moscow has massed more than 135,000 troops on the borders of Ukraine, both in Russia and in Belarus – and some now believe nearly all the necessary elements are in place if Putin wanted to attack.
Nato's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said a political solution was still possible but warned Russia would 'pay a high price' if it chose confrontation
Continue reading...John Major says Boris Johnson broke lockdown laws and is creating mistrust
Former Tory PM fiercely attacks Johnson and issues barely veiled challenge to MPs to remove him
Boris Johnson broke lockdown laws, appears to believe rules do not apply to him and is creating an atmosphere of mistrust in politics that threatens the long-term democratic future of the UK, Sir John Major has said.
In a fierce and wide-ranging attack, Major said Johnson had regularly sent ministers out to “defend the indefensible”, with the truth seen as “optional”, and was badly tarnishing the UK’s reputation overseas with populist-style “megaphone diplomacy”.
Continue reading...More than 50 people to face police questions on Downing Street parties
Those identified as part of Operation Hillman will be sent questionnaire asking for their account of events
More than 50 people must answer police questions about alleged parties in Downing Street and Whitehall that may have breached strict Covid rules, Scotland Yard has said.
In a sign of the scale of the “partygate” criminal inquiry, the Metropolitan police revealed on Wednesday they would this week start contacting more than 50 people as part of “Operation Hillman”, an investigation into events on eight dates between May 2020 to April 2021.
Continue reading...Billionaire Tory donor calls for Boris Johnson to resign
John Armitage, who has given £3.1m to the Conservatives, says PM has gone ’past the point of no return’
A billionaire donor to the Conservative party has suggested that Boris Johnson should resign, saying that the prime minister was “past the point of no return”.
John Armitage, co-founder of the hedge fund firm Egerton Capital, who has given £3.1m to the Conservatives, including more than £500,000 since Boris Johnson entered No 10, told the BBC he thought leaders should leave if they lose their moral authority.
Continue reading...Cultivating conspiracy: how Boris Johnson amplified the far right
Prime minister follows Donald Trump playbook by tacitly endorsing wild conspiracy theory to score points
What started out as a conspiracy meme on the outer reaches of the internet has, with the help of Boris Johnson, swiftly established itself amid the cocktail of ideas and conspiracies that define the new extreme right.
The protesters who surrounded Keir Starmer on Monday night mostly shouted the word “traitor” – once a term of abuse against pro-EU MPs during the Brexit crisis – as well as “paedophile protector”, a reference to false claims about the Labour leader’s links to the Jimmy Savile case.
Continue reading...Rees-Mogg becomes minister for Brexit opportunities in Boris Johnson reshuffle
Chris Heaton-Harris takes over as chief whip in shake-up as PM seeks to reassure mutinous Tories
Boris Johnson has made Jacob Rees-Mogg the new minister for “Brexit opportunities” and installed a key loyalist as his chief whip in a reshuffle intended to shore up his position after weeks of terrible headlines.
Rees-Mogg, who was Commons leader, is moved to the Cabinet Office to take on a newly created role as Brexit opportunities minister, a cabinet-level job that also includes “government efficiency”.
Continue reading...Senior Tory and Labour figures speak out over media focus on Carrie Johnson
MPs defend PM’s wife after criticism of her in extracts from book by Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft
Senior political figures, from Keir Starmer to Sajid Javid, have criticised negative briefings that suggest Carrie Johnson is partly to blame for the troubles of her husband’s premiership.
MPs came to the defence of the prime minister’s wife after the publication of extracts from a new book by the Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft which suggested her “behaviour is preventing [Boris Johnson] from leading Britain as effectively as the voters deserve”.
Continue reading...Johnson allies insist ‘grownups’ in charge of new team at No 10
Prime minister may still face more letters of no confidence and revelations from Dominic Cummings
Allies of Boris Johnson have insisted that “grownups” are now in charge of his operation as he heads into critical week for his beleaguered premiership that could see him face a confidence vote and the threat of further damaging revelations.
Tory MPs said Johnson may have bought some time by bringing a new team into No 10. One major Conservative donor, Alexander Temerko, told the Guardian that the prime minister should now take the opportunity to “purge” the cabinet of disloyal leadership rivals.
Continue reading...Biden rattles his sabre at Putin … but it’s Xi he really wants to scare
Tub-thumping talk of all-out war in Ukraine seems overblown but the White House knows the fledgling Sino-Russian axis is a real threat, in Taiwan and elsewhere
If, as seems increasingly probable, Russia decides not to launch an all-out invasion of Ukraine, tub-thumping US and British politicians who have spent weeks scaring the public with loose talk of looming Armageddon will have some explaining to do.
The military build-up directed by Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, is real enough. But suspicion grows that the actual as opposed to the hypothetical threat of a large-scale conventional attack is being mis-read, misinterpreted, over-estimated or deliberately exaggerated.
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