Category Archives: Kemi Badenoch

It’s too late to replace Sunak so Tories must ‘march towards the sound of the guns’, Ben Wallace says – as it happened

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Former defence secretary tells colleagues there is no alternative to Rishi Sunak and to ‘get on with’ preparing for an election. This live blog is closed

Ofcom has ruled today that GB News broke impartiality rules on five occasions by using Tory MPs as news presenters.

But it has not imposed sanctions on the broadaster. It says these count as first offence, and that there may be sanctions if it happens again.

Under the Broadcasting Code, news, in whatever form, must be presented with due impartiality. Additionally, a politician cannot be a newsreader, news interviewer or news reporter unless, exceptionally, there is editorial justification.

In line with the right to freedom of expression, broadcasters have editorial freedom to offer audiences a wide range of programme formats, including using politicians to present current affairs or other non-news programmes. Politicians may also appear in broadcast news content as an interviewee or any other type of guest.

These are the first breaches of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 recorded against GB News. Since opening these investigations, there has only been one further programme which has raised issues warranting investigation under these rules. We are clear, however, that GB News is put on notice that any repeated breaches of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 may result in the imposition of a statutory sanction.

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Frank Hester racism row: how key figures reacted to Diane Abbott remarks

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Tory donor has been widely condemned over racist and misogynistic comments about prominent black MP

It has been four days since the Guardian reported on the extraordinary remarks by the Tory donor Frank Hester about Diane Abott. They elicited widespread condemnation for being racist and misogynistic. Here are some of the key voices – and what they have said:

Diane Abbott MP

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Tory and SNP anger as speaker allows Labour’s amendment on Gaza ceasefire vote – UK politics live

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Move will help Keir Starmer head off threatened rebellion from his MPs

New 20mph limits are helping cut speeds and will save lives, the Welsh government has insisted. PA Media says:

Drivers are travelling on average 4mph slower on main roads in Wales since the rollout of a new lower speed limit for built-up areas, data collected by Transport for Wales (TfW) shows.

The Welsh Labour government, which implemented the change in September last year, insists the lower speeds will lead to fewer collisions and people injured.

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UK officials recommend extending post-Brexit steel quotas

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Kemi Badenoch to make final decision on protections amid British industry fears of possible flood of imports

Whitehall officials have recommended extending post-Brexit steel quotas – a development that will come as a relief to the British steel industry, which had feared a rise in imports.

The “steel safeguards”, which were due to expire at the end of June, were first brought in by the EU in 2018, which feared that countries such as China would dump excess steel on the market after sales to the US were blocked by Donald Trump.

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Minister says government working on sanction options for those involved in Alexei Navalny’s death – UK politics live

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Leo Docherty, Foreign Office minister, says government ‘working at pace’ to hold those responsible for Russian opposition leader’s death to account

No 10 has declined to repeat Kemi Badenoch’s claim that the former chair of the Post Office gave an interview “full of lies” about the conversation she had when she sacked him.

At the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson would not adopt the language used by Badenoch in a post on X yesterday and instead claimed that Badenoch believes that the account of what she said given by Henry Staunton is a “misrepresentation”.

Obviously this referred to a conversation that she had with Henry Staunton, and you’ll have seen her words on this; she’s very clear that the interview that he gave was a misrepresentation of her conversation with him and the reasons for his dismissal.

And the government has being clear, and will refute the allegations [that it wanted to slow down compensation to victims]. The government has taken action to speed up the compensation to victims, and we’ve consistently encouraged postmasters to come forward with their claims. Any suggestions otherwise [are] not correct.

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Kemi Badenoch accuses Post Office chair she sacked of seeking revenge

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Business minister criticises Henry Staunton after he claimed the government wanted to stall payouts to scandal victims

Kemi Badenoch has accused the Post Office chair she sacked of a “blatant attempt to seek revenge” after he made explosive allegations about the government’s handling of the Horizon scandal.

The business secretary launched an extended attack on Henry Staunton in the Commons on Monday, and claimed that he was under investigation for bullying when she fired him.

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UK anti-dumping body recommends lifting limits on steel imports

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Proposal to suspend safeguarding measures on certain products follows news of Tata’s Port Talbot closure plans

The government’s anti-dumping body has recommended that measures limiting the import of certain steel products be lifted after the decision to close the blast furnaces at Port Talbot.

The Trade Remedies Authority, which is charged with protecting UK industry from dumped or subsidised imports, said its preliminary view was to advise the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, to suspend safeguarding measures on imports of hot-rolled flat and coil steel for a temporary period of nine months.

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‘It’s all a bit marginal’: claims of Brexit trade perks don’t add up, say firms

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A business department report trumpeting the four-year benefits of leaving the EU does not match the reality faced by companies

On the four-year anniversary of Brexit last Wednesday, business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch trumpeted its successes. “The British people’s conviction that the UK would excel as masters of our own fate has paid dividends,” she said, launching a report detailing the benefits.

Among the top achievements listed were booming sales of honey to Saudi Arabia, surging pet food exports to India, a rush of UK pork, worth £18m over five years, heading into Mexico’s restaurants and homes, and UK beauty products sales leaping in China, thanks to barriers being smashed.

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Kemi Badenoch is member of ‘Evil Plotters’ Tory WhatsApp group

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Exclusive: Business secretary who has told party rebels to stop ‘stirring’ and back PM is in group along with Michael Gove

Kemi Badenoch is a member of a Conservative WhatsApp group called “Evil Plotters” despite telling party rebels to “stop messing around” and get behind Rishi Sunak, the Guardian can reveal.

The business secretary, who consistently comes out as the favourite cabinet minister in polls of Tory members, has criticised party colleagues for “stirring” up suggestions that she could replace the prime minister.

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Grant Shapps dismisses significance of Tory-backed poll suggesting Labour on course for landslide election win – UK politics live

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Defence secretary dismisses poll, saying things will change by time general election takes place

And here is some more comment on the YouGov poll on X from experts and commentators.

From Will Jennings, an academic and psephologist

At last, details of the @YouGov MRP. Bad for the Conservatives (unsurprisingly), but this is curious to say the least: “In constituencies across England and Wales, the Labour vote is up by an average of just four per cent compared to 2019”.

These results are actually *way better* for the government than the most recent standard YouGov poll, which would produce a 334 seat Labour majority according to Electoral Calculus. So something quite peculiar is going on...

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Andy Burnham claims government note shows Covid tier 3 restrictions imposed on Manchester as ‘punishment beating’ – as it happened

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Covid tier system introduced in October 2020 and imposed different restrictions on English regions in effort to contain spread of virus. This live blog is closed

At the Covid inquiry Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said that he was not getting information from the government in February about Covid. He said he was “disappointed” by that.

In late February and early March he was getting information from other cities around the world instead, he said. He said this happened even though his foreign affairs team consisted of just three people.

The government generally does give us information about a variety of things happening. I’m disappointed the government weren’t giving us information in February about what they knew then.

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UK’s flagship post-Brexit trade deal worth even less than previously thought, OBR says

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Office for Budget Responsibility says UK entry into the Indo-Pacific agreement will add just 0.04% to GDP in the long run

The UK’s flagship trans-Pacific trade deal, which was presented as a cornerstone of post-Brexit “global Britain”, will deliver even less benefit to the economy than the tiny uplift that was previously predicted, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

In a report accompanying last week’s autumn statement, the OBR said the UK’s entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would add just 0.04% to GDP in the “long run”, which it defines as after 15 years of membership.

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Kemi Badenoch claims Stonewall has been taken over by ‘leftist’ ideas

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Equalities minister says LGBTQ+ charity ‘overreached’ and ‘more extreme ideas’ about trans rights have been defeated

Kemi Badenoch has launched an attack on the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, describing it as an example of an organisation taken over by “leftist” ideas.

Speaking on stage at an international gathering of conservatives, the business secretary and minister for women and equalities, agreed with the suggestion that the “more extreme ideas” about the rights of trans people had been defeated.

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UK business secretary Kemi Badenoch turns down CBI invitation

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Latest blow leaves scandal-hit lobby group without a high-profile speaker at annual conference

The business secretary Kemi Badenoch has reportedly dealt another blow to the scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry (CBI) by turning down an invite to speak at the lobby group’s annual conference.

Badenoch’s team have told the CBI that she would not be able to address the conference due to scheduling clashes leading up to the chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement on 22 November, according to Sky News.

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Kemi Badenoch failed to declare meeting with Rupert Murdoch

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Business secretary privately met media mogul in apparent breach of ministerial code of conduct

Kemi Badenoch failed to declare a meeting that she held with Rupert Murdoch days after she was appointed to the cabinet – in a breach of transparency rules.

The business and trade secretary reacted angrily on Monday on social media after it was revealed that she had privately met the media mogul and other executives from his News Corp company in New York in September 2022.

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Sunak U-turn on net zero policy makes legal goals ‘even harder to hit’, says head of body advising UK on climate change – politics live

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Climate Change Committee head says ‘we’ve moved backwards’ after PM defends decision to delay ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars

Robinson quotes from Sunak’s resignation letter as chancellor, in which he said if something sounded too good to be true, it probably wasn’t true. Weren’t you doing that in the speech yesterday?

Sunak does not accept that. He says in his speech he accepted change was needed. He just want a “realistic approach”.

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Rishi Sunak says he told China actions to undermine British democracy are ‘completely unacceptable’

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Prime minister says he told Li Qiang, the Chinese prime minister, at G20 that Chinese interference with the work of parliament will ‘never be tolerated’

Simon Clarke, who was the levelling up secretary during the Liz Truss premiership, has defended the government’s decision not to explicitly label China as a threat. In posts on X, or Twitter as many of us still call it, he said:

There are legitimate reasons why it is difficult for ministers to say China is a threat – that’s the nature of international relations. What matters more than words is that our policy choices change to reflect the undoubted danger of China’s actions.

Here I think the Government’s record stands up pretty well. You have the soft power of our new Pacific trade bloc membership in the CPTPP (which notably does not include China) and you have the hard power of the new AUKUS alliance - itself a response to Chinese aggression.

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Kemi Badenoch casts doubt on electric car targets over job loss fears

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Mandate for carmakers to sell increasing number of zero-emissions vehicles could be weakened, business secretary hints

Kemi Badenoch has suggested electric vehicle mandates could hamper investment in Britain and lead to job losses, in a sign that another of the government’s green pledges is in doubt.

The business secretary was discussing the automotive industry’s concerns about a rule to be introduced in January that will require manufacturers to ensure at least 22% of new sales in the UK are of emissions-free models, rising each year to reach 80% by 2030.

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Tory MPs condemn delay to ban on LGBTQ+ conversion practices

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Letter from cross-party MPs and campaigners says slow progress on legislation is a ‘moral failing’

Senior Conservative MPs have accused the government of a “moral failing” for delaying the long-promised ban on conversion practices that they say damage the lives of LGBT+ people.

In a letter to Rishi Sunak, a cross-party group of politicians and campaigners criticised the slow progress in bringing forward new legislation since the pledge was made five years ago.

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Ford, Vauxhall owner and JLR call for UK to renegotiate Brexit deal

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Carmakers call on Britain to change rules on batteries that they say threaten electric vehicle production

Three big global carmakers have called on the UK government to renegotiate the Brexit deal, saying rules on where parts are sourced from threaten the future of the British automotive industry.

Ford and Jaguar Land Rover have joined Stellantis, which owns the Vauxhall, Peugeot and Citroën brands, to warn the transition to electric vehicles will be knocked off course unless the UK and EU delay stricter “rules of origin”, due to kick in next year, that could add tariffs on car exports.

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