Category Archives: James Cleverly

Labour and Starmer suffer sharp fall in popularity since election, poll suggests – UK politics live

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Labour still more popular with voters than Conservative party but those saying they view party and leaders unfavourably has risen

The government’s defence review should consider the importance of Britain being able to “wage peace” as well as war, Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, told peers.

In a debate in the House of Lords on Sudan this morning, Welby said the strategic defence review (SDR) announced by Labour should include a “peace-building option”, to stop conflict before it happens.

A peace-building option, well developed and acting in areas of fragility, would extend our influence, protect our interests and guard against fresh waves of migration …

In other words, the SDR should be full spectrum, preparing this nation not only to wage war but to wage peace as well. I fear that may not be the case …

No, absolutely not

And let’s just try to quash this now. The budget is on October 30. So, between now and then, you are all going to ask me questions, as you did before the election, ‘will you rule out X, Y, Z?

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Priti Patel knocked out of Tory leadership contest in first round

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Former home secretary got two fewer votes than Mel Stride, while Robert Jenrick leads race to succeed Rishi Sunak

Priti Patel has been knocked out of the race to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative party leader in the first round of voting by Tory MPs.

The former home secretary received 14 votes from her colleagues, leaving her two behind the fifth-placed candidate, Mel Stride.

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Starmer rejects Badenoch’s claim Labour is ‘clueless’ and urges Tories to apologise for the ‘mess they made’ – as it happened

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PM says he will not take lectures from previous government as Kemi Badenoch launches Tory leadership campaign

Kemi Badenoch is speaking now. She says she wants to talk about the future.

She was born in the UK, but “grew up under socialism”, she says (referring to her childhood in Nigeria).

Labour have no ideas. At best, they are announcing things we have already done, and at their worst, they are clueless, irresponsible and dishonest.

They are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public about the state of Britain’s finances, placing political donors into civil service jobs, pretending that they have no plans to cut pensioner benefits before the election and then doing exactly that to cover the cost of pay rises for the unions with no promise of reform, But their model of spend, spend, spend is broken, and they don’t know what to do, and this will only lead to even more cynicism in politics.

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Kemi Badenoch to urge Conservatives to do more than criticise Labour

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Shadow minister will launch leadership campaign with call to think afresh and move on from landslide election defeat

Kemi Badenoch will say the Conservatives must do more than criticise Labour in order to win the next general election, as she launches her campaign to lead the party.

Potential dividing lines with her leadership rivals already appear to be forming, after Robert Jenrick said on Sunday he would oppose Labour’s “declaration of war on the middle classes”.

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‘The race is wide open’: MPs’ vote looms for six Tory leadership hopefuls

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Badenoch and Jenrick are the bookies’ favourites but the party’s reduced ranks make the numbers extremely tight

When the Conservative MPs who remain return to Westminster, they will briefly seem like some of the most popular people in SW1. With the party so reduced in numbers, over the next few days there will be a furious wooing of those who have not yet declared for one of the six leadership candidates.

“The race is wide open,” one senior Tory said. “There are barely any public endorsements so no one can tell who is the favourite. The public polling has been all over the place. Often they seem to be just based on who has paid for it.”

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Who are the six leadership candidates to be voted on by Conservative MPs?

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Tory MPs will vote next week in a series of ballots to narrow the field down to four candidates

Conservative MPs will start whittling down the leadership candidates to four next week, the first stage in a long contest from which a winner will not emerge until 2 November. Here are the six candidates in the running to replace Rishi Sunak.

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James Cleverly first to declare run for Conservative leadership

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Shadow home secretary says he is ‘best placed’ to unite party and that he aims to become prime minister

James Cleverly has become the first candidate to throw his hat into the ring for the leadership for the Conservative party.

The shadow home secretary said he was “best placed” to unite the Tories and overturn Keir Starmer’s “loveless landslide” to re-enter government.

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Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen warns against protracted Tory leadership race

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Houchen says party must avoid seeming self-indulgent as other Conservatives attack Liz Truss over new intervention

The Conservatives should not have a protracted leadership debate as it would be a “waste of time” and could risk appearing self-indulgent, the Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has said.

His comments came as former Conservative parliamentary candidates rounded on the former prime minister Liz Truss, who has attacked the leadership of Rishi Sunak in the failed general election campaign by saying he had trashed her legacy in office.

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Tories must not descend into ‘bitter infighting’, says James Cleverly

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Shadow home secretary calls for unity in opposition, after comments from Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch

James Cleverly has called for the Conservative party to unite in opposition, as the party heads into what is likely to be a bitter leadership campaign.

The shadow home secretary warned his party not to descend into infighting, after explosive interventions from his fellow leadership contenders Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman.

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Rishi Sunak hints he might not quit as Tory leader immediately if he loses election – as it happened

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PM says he ‘loves this party dearly’ and would always put himself at the service of it’

Rishi Sunak is speaking at a campaign event in Staffordshire. As the advance briefing predicted, he has just told his audience.

I tell you this: once you have handed Keir Starmer and Labour a blank cheque, you won’t be able to get it back.

We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after six o’clock, pretty well come what may.

There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.

[In politics] some people think, if you fill your diary 24/7 and don’t do anything else, that makes you a much better decision maker. I don’t agree with that, I think you’ve got to make space, so we do it …

Actually, it helps me, it takes me away from the pressure, it relaxes me, and I think, actually, not only is it what I want to do as a dad, it is better.

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Surrey police face criticism after using car to ram escaped cow

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Home secretary demands ‘urgent explanation’ over ‘heavy-handed’ attempt to capture wandering animal

The home secretary has asked Surrey police to provide a “full, urgent explanation” after footage showed officers using a car to ram an escaped cow.

James Cleverly made the comments after footage posted online showed officers ramming the cow twice with their police car, while an onlooker is heard shouting: “What are you doing that for?”

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UK to expel Russian defence attache as sanctions escalate

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Home secretary announces closure of Russian diplomatic premises after pattern of ‘malign activity’ in Britain and Europe

Russia’s defence attache is an “undeclared military intelligence officer” who will be expelled from the UK amid an escalation of sanctions, the home secretary has said.

James Cleverly also announced on Wednesday the removal of diplomatic status for several Russian-owned premises and told MPs the moves followed a pattern of “malign activity” across Britain and Europe.

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Rwanda flights will deport asylum seekers ‘indefinitely’, says Cleverly

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Home secretary visits Lampedusa in Italy as National Audit Office says scheme could surpass £580m by 2030

Several flights a month will deport asylum seekers to Rwanda “indefinitely”, the home secretary has said, as he argued that the £1.8m a person cost of the scheme was justified.

James Cleverly, in his first interview since the government’s plan was approved by parliament on Monday, said he had booked a succession of initial flights and was preparing to order the detention of people seeking refuge in the UK so they could be sent to east Africa.

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Rwanda bill further delayed after Lords again votes for changes

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Legislation to go back to Commons after peers stand up for rights of Afghans and scrutiny of refugees’ treatment

The parliamentary battle over Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation bill will spill into next week after the Lords refused to budge over the rights of Afghans and scrutiny of the treatment of refugees in east Africa.

The move prompted an immediate backlash from the home secretary, James Cleverly, who blamed Labour for blocking the bill and being “terrified” that the Rwanda plan would stop asylum seekers from travelling to the UK in small boats.

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Changing Tory leader could result in even larger Labour landslide, new poll shows

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Labour lead would soar to 24 points if Kemi Badenoch or Suella Braverman became leader, according to Opinium poll

Three out of the four Tory MPs seen as the most likely replacements for Rishi Sunak would fare even worse than the current prime minister in a general election battle against Keir Starmer, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

The Conservatives have been involved in a fresh bout of leadership speculation over the past week, after rumours surfaced of a plot to dump Sunak and replace him with Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House, before the next election.

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James Cleverly spent £165,000 on flight to Rwanda to sign deportation deal

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Home secretary chartered a private jet to make the one-day round trip to Kigali in December

James Cleverly, the home secretary, spent £165,561 chartering a private jet for a one-day round trip to Rwanda to sign Rishi Sunak’s deportation deal in Kigali.

The trip took place on 4 December to sign the new deal with the east African state after the supreme court’s finding that Rwanda was an “unsafe country”.

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UK’s enemies could use AI deepfakes to try to rig election, says James Cleverly

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Home secretary, who is due to meet US tech bosses, says states such as Russia and Iran could target other countries as well

Criminals and “malign actors” working on behalf of malicious states could use AI-generated “deepfakes” to hijack the general election, the home secretary has said.

James Cleverly was speaking before meetings with social media bosses and said the rapid advancement of technology could pose a serious threat to elections across the globe.

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Teachers in England could face ban for failing to report evidence of sexual abuse of children

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Home secretary’s mandatory reporting legislation plan already covered by statutory duties, say school leaders

Teachers in England face being banned if they fail to report evidence of children being subjected to sexual abuse under plans for new legislation announced by the home secretary, James Cleverly.

The new law would make it a legal requirement for healthcare professionals, teachers and others who work with children and young people to identify and pass on cases of possible sexual abuse.

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UK home secretary apologises over unlawful detention of Bahraini activist

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Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei receives compensation from government after being stopped at Gatwick

The home secretary, James Cleverly, has apologised and arranged for compensation to be paid to a human rights activist after officials unlawfully detained him at Gatwick airport on his return to the UK from a UN meeting in Switzerland.

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, a prominent Bahraini human rights activist and advocacy director of the London-based NGO Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, is a torture survivor who was granted asylum in the UK in 2012 after he fled persecution at the hands of Bahraini authorities.

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Dublin not expecting EU objections to new trade rules for Northern Ireland – UK politics live

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Irish foreign minister says he does ‘not anticipate any particular difficulties in respect of the EU side’

Back at the home affairs committee James Daly (Con) asks why so few police investigations end up in people being charged.

James Cleverly, the home secretary, says the Crown Prosecution Service is independent. He wants to make sure investigations are as professional as possible.

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