Category Archives: Boris Johnson

Afghanistan: what does each nation hope to get out of the G7 meeting?

Posted on by

Analysis: Tuesday’s meeting called by Boris Johnson may include postmortem on Joe Biden’s handling of crisis

The emergency meeting of G7 nations on Tuesday – called by Boris Johnson as this year’s chair of the G7 – is in essence a gathering of the vanquished but faces a threefold agenda: how to ensure as many Afghans as possible can leave Kabul, and whether the US is prepared to stay beyond the original 31 August deadline for the withdrawal of all US forces; how a resettlement programme can be coordinated for the medium term; and finally, how to encourage the Taliban to form an inclusive government, including by threatening sanctions or withholding recognition.

But each country will bring its own concerns and an ugly postmortem on Joe Biden’s handling of the crisis cannot be ruled out.

Continue reading...

UK scrambles to complete Kabul airlift as envoy flags risk of provoking Taliban

Posted on by

Exclusive: Britain’s ambassador to Afghanistan says continuing evacuations after 31 August could spark reaction from militants

Britain has begun a last-ditch scramble to get people out of Kabul amid warnings from the senior diplomat on the ground that staying past the current 31 August deadline may not be realistic and risks provoking the Taliban.

Speaking to MPs from Kabul, Sir Laurie Bristow, Britain’s ambassador to Afghanistan, said trying to hold Kabul’s airport any longer would be fraught with risk. He was speaking before Tuesday’s G7 meeting, which is expected to discuss a request from the prime minister, Boris Johnson, to the US president, Joe Biden, to stay longer.

Continue reading...

Trump team thought UK officials ‘out of their minds’ aiming for herd immunity, book says

Posted on by

Trump officials tried to convince him to take threat seriously and British experts ‘oddly pessimistic’ on defeating virus, says book

US officials thought their British counterparts “were out of their minds” in aiming for herd immunity as part of Boris Johnson’s initial policy on dealing with the coronavirus, according to a new book about the global response to the pandemic.

As the scale of the threat became increasingly clear in January and February 2020, officials in Donald Trump’s administration were trying to convince him to take the threat seriously, despite personal reassurances he had been given by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, that it was under control.

Continue reading...

The Afghanistan debate showed that Boris Johnson’s flaws lead directly to tragedy | Zoe Williams

Posted on by

For Starmer, the point was ‘what are the human consequences when power is held by someone so unfit?’

The initial shock of a packed House of Commons, recalled in recess for an emergency debate on Afghanistan, was how unfamiliar the packed green benches now look. Even before the pandemic, arguably since the prorogation of parliament, there’s been a question mark over the point of it all; does a debate have to end in a vote, in order to have meaning? Is it otherwise just theatre, and if so, what democratic purpose does it serve?

The answer used to be very simple: it was to test and challenge the policy of the executive. It may have been ritualistic, but the ritual was dense with significance, indicating that no prime minister had the power simply to announce, every one must persuade.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson struggles to justify Afghanistan stance to hostile MPs

Posted on by

Analysis: PM fails to make convincing defence of foreign policy amid criticism from across the Commons

Other leaders have had the luxury of being able to deliver an uninterrupted televised address. But Boris Johnson had to justify the ignominious retreat from Afghanistan in front of a testy, and at times hostile, House of Commons – dominated by critics from his own side asking if Britain could have been better prepared and if the collapse of the Kabul government could have been averted.

It was an occasion the UK prime minister struggled to rise to, not helped by the format that Downing Street had opted for: a general debate, which meant MPs were allowed to rise and seek to intervene as Johnson spoke, generating a crescendo of background noise after he had completed a line or two.

Continue reading...

‘I wouldn’t stay on holiday whilst Kabul was falling’: Starmer slams Johnson in Commons – video

Posted on by

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has castigated the government over its reaction to events unfolding in Afghanistan, saying the prime minister's response to the Taliban 'arriving at the gates of Kabul' was 'to go on holiday', and that the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, could not 'coordinate international response from the beach'. 

Continue reading...

‘Where is global Britain on streets of Kabul?’: Theresa May blasts UK failure in Afghanistan – video

Posted on by

The former prime minister Theresa May has suggested her successor, Boris Johnson, had hoped 'on a wing and a prayer it’d be all right on the night' once the US and its allies had withdrawn from Afghanistan.

Johnson has faced anger from MPs about the UK’s failure to prepare for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, as he made the case in parliament that Britain could not have stayed in the country 'without American might'

Continue reading...

Swift Taliban takeover proves US and UK analysis badly wrong

Posted on by

Analysis: Joe Biden and Boris Johnson five weeks ago claimed Afghan government would not fall so easily

Joe Biden could not have been clearer: a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was “not inevitable”, the US president said on 8 July. Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, was equally confident – “there is no military path to victory for the Taliban” – he told MPs earlier that day, five weeks ago.

The president said he trusted “the capacity of the Afghan military”, who were better trained, better equipped and “more competent in terms of conducting war”. The prime minister agreed: “I do not believe that the Taliban are guaranteed the kind of victory that we sometimes read about.”

Continue reading...

Kabul falls to the Taliban as thousands of Afghans try to flee – video report

Posted on by

The Taliban has declared that Afghanistan is under their control after they took over the presidential palace just hours after president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The Islamist militants encountered no resistance as they took back power two decades after they were overthrown by a US-led invasion. Chaotic scenes erupted at Hamid Karzai International Airport with thousands flooding the tarmac desperate the get a flight out of the country.

Continue reading...

Gordon Brown hits out at EU’s ‘neocolonial approach’ to Covid vaccine supplies

Posted on by

Former UK prime minister calls on western leaders to convene summit to address Africa’s vaccine deficit

Gordon Brown has accused the EU of adopting a “neocolonial approach” to the supply of Covid-19 vaccines and demanded rich western nations relinquish their stranglehold on pandemic treatments.

The former UK prime minister has called on Joe Biden, Boris Johnson and Mario Draghi to convene a special summit to coincide with next month’s UN general assembly in New York to address Africa’s vaccine deficit.

Continue reading...

Afghanistan: western leaders react to Taliban takeover of Kabul – video

Posted on by

Leaders from the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have reacted to the news that the Taliban has begun taking control of Kabul after a 20-year mission to Afghanistan led by western countries. UK prime minister Boris Johnsons said, ‘we don't want anybody bilaterally recognising the Taliban’, while New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern said conversations over how the new regime is treated will be for some time in the future. US secretary of state Antony Blinken blamed ‘the inability of Afghan security forces to defend their country’ for the quick takeover while Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said he was ‘heartbroken’ at the news. Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said that fighting for freedom is ‘always worth it whatever the outcome.’ 

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s approval rating slips to lowest level since he became prime minister

Posted on by

Bad news for the Tories does not necessarily lead to good news for Labour: backing for Keir Starmer is also down

Boris Johnson’s personal approval rating has slipped to its lowest level since he became prime minister, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

His overall approval rating has fallen to -16, down from the -13 he recorded two weeks ago and -8 a fortnight before that. It is even lower than the -15 he recorded back in January, when Britain was in the grip of a Covid peak, lockdown measures were in place and the NHS was under severe pressure.

Continue reading...

Dear Gavin Williamson, if Latin is about levelling up, I have other ideas | Michael Rosen

Posted on by

Why not emulate private schools with class sizes, playing fields, music facilities and modern languages?

Just as many of us are thinking ahead to winter and a possible next wave of Covid, worrying about whether schools have proper ventilation and what emergency measures you might have up your sleeve if a major outbreak occurs, you choose to put Latin at the top of your agenda. Well, not quite top because you also managed to signal the end of BTecs (a disaster in the making). Perhaps you were using your Latin splash to hide that announcement.

You’re also keeping very quiet about what is happening with the GCSE marking – the results only days away for my offspring. I can’t work out which is going to be more exciting: hearing his results or listening to your convoluted explanations as to why a) this year’s teacher assessment method was perfect and b) why – even though it’s been perfect – we’ll all have to go back next year to the one-off, high-stakes, unnecessary obstacle of GCSEs.

Continue reading...

Johnson’s travel policy in chaos, Labour says, after ‘amber watchlist’ ditched

Posted on by

Ministers need to get a grip on ‘reckless U-turns and confusion’, shadow transport secretary says

No 10 is facing claims that its international travel policy is in chaos after Boris Johnson ditched a plan for an “amber watchlist” that would have created a five-tier warning system for England.

After a revolt in the cabinet and a backlash from the travel industry, government sources said on Monday night that Boris Johnson would not be going ahead with proposals for an amber watchlist tier to warn travellers which countries were at risk of turning red.

Continue reading...

Johnson dumps ‘amber watchlist’ plan as it emerges top adviser has quit

Posted on by

Proposals for tougher quarantine rules for some holidaymakers killed off after cabinet revolt

Boris Johnson has ditched plans for tougher quarantine restrictions for some holidaymakers after days of chaos, as it emerged the chief of the Joint Biosecurity Centre that advises on travel rules has departed the job leaving it “rudderless”.

After a revolt in the cabinet and a backlash from the travel industry, government sources said the prime minister would not be going ahead with proposals for a new “amber watchlist” to warn travellers which countries were at risk of turning red.

Cabinet sources said the plans were killed off by the Treasury and Department for Transport, as ministers grow in confidence about the drop in cases, which fell to 21,052 on Monday.

Continue reading...

Johnson: Iran must face consequences of ‘outrageous’ ship attack – video

Posted on by

Boris Johnson has said Iran must face up to the consequences of its 'outrageous' attack on an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea that killed two crew, including a British national. The Liberian-flagged Mercer Street, which is linked to an Israeli tycoon, was hit off the coast of Oman late on 29 July in what is thought to have been a swarm attack involving multiple drones

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: UK chancellor ‘pushes PM to relax holiday rules’; mass testing amid China outbreak

Posted on by

Latest updates: Rishi Sunak says restrictions ‘out of step’ with international rivals, according to media reports; China battling worst caseload in months

As cases of the Delta coronavirus variant have risen and vaccination rates slowed, several US businesses and institutions have announced they will now require vaccinations from employees.

Major companies like Walmart and Disney said this week all employees must be vaccinated, while Joe Biden said all federal employees must be vaccinated or face masking, testing and distancing requirements.

Related: America mulls vaccine mandates – will they work?

Hackers have attacked and shut down the IT systems of the company that manages Covid-19 vaccination appointments for the Lazio region surrounding Rome, the regional government said on Sunday.

“A powerful hacker attack on the region’s CED (database) is under way,” the region said in a Facebook posting.

It is a very powerful hacker attack, very serious... everything is out. The whole regional CED is under attack.

Continue reading...

Boris and Carrie Johnson expecting their second child

Posted on by

In a message on Instagram, prime minister’s wife also reveals she had miscarriage at start of the year

Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie, are expecting their second child, as the prime minister’s wife revealed she had a miscarriage at the start of this year.

The couple, who married in secret at Westminster Cathedral in May, had their son, Wilfred, in April 2020.

Continue reading...

UK Covid live: 689,313 people in England and Wales pinged by NHS Covid app last week

Posted on by

Latest updates: latest figures show increase of more than 70,000 compared to previous week

Here are the main points from the Downing Street lobby briefing.

The chancellor has said previously that the triple lock is government policy. But we recognise people’s concerns. We’ve got to ensure fairness for both taxpayers an pensioners.

Thank you @RNLI for all that you do. https://t.co/MkdOU1IHaP

Just made a donation. If you’d like to too - and help save lives - please visit https://t.co/TnJtqXeXbg pic.twitter.com/tk6a8Zky3k

These are from Torsten Bell, the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, a thinktank focusing on pay and inequality, on today’s furlough figures. (See 11.44am.)

Two big take-aways from today's furlough stats. 1. almost 2 million workers still furloughed as the scheme's phase out started. That's more than I expected and the rate of decline halved in June from May (lesson = labour market chat has become too complacent) pic.twitter.com/xZgxG1AmAp

2. Furlough is now an older workers story. The young (who were most likely to have been furloughed) are flowing off the scheme much faster. Older workers are more likely to be parked on it and as a result, for the first time, they have the highest furlough rates pic.twitter.com/Ot6ThssfJa

Continue reading...

Sajid Javid admits UK Covid rates unpredictable as cases rise again

Posted on by

Health secretary’s comments came after a week of declining cases ended with 4,000 increase in one day

Sajid Javid has said “no one really knows” what trajectory the Covid pandemic will take in the weeks ahead, as new cases across the UK rose after seven days of consecutive declines.

The latest Covid data, published on Wednesday, showed 27,734 people testing positive across the UK – up by 4,000 from a day earlier.

Continue reading...