Boris Johnson will apply to a county court to “strike out” a claim against him for a £535 unpaid debt because it is “totally without merit”, Downing Street has said.
Private Eye reported on Wednesday that the official register for county court judgments (CCJs) in England and Wales shows the prime minister was served with a notice of the judgment in October 26, 2020.
A search of the county court judgments database shows the “unsatisfied record” registered to Johnson at “10 Downing Street”.
The official court records do not state who the creditor is, nor the nature of the debt.
County court judgments can be issued if someone takes court action against an individual and they do not respond.
The judgment means the court has formally decided the money is owed, according to the government site.
But HuffPost UK understands that No.10 regards the claim as not genuine.
Responding later on Wednesday, a No.10 spokesperson said: “An application will be made for an order to set aside the default judgment, to strike out the claim and for a declaration that the claim is totally without merit.”
PAA trade union has slammed a train company after it promised employees a bonus in what was actually a cybersecurity test.
A train company has come under fire for emailling 2,500 staff to say they were in line for a bonus – only to reveal later it was actually a cybersecurity test.
West Midlands Trains (WMT) told staff they would receive a financial reward thanks to their “hard work” during the coronavirus pandemic.
Recipients were invited to click on a link for “information of your one-off payment”.
But the company sent a further email to those who opened the link, explaining that “this was a test designed by our IT team”.
The original message was designed to “closely mimic the tactics that, sadly, are being used on a daily basis by expert criminal organisations to try to gain access to company data”, the follow-up message stated.
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) trade union claimed the promise of a bonus was sent to 2,500 members of staff, and condemned the the move as a “cynical and shocking stunt”.
Manuel Cortes, the union’s general secretary, said: “This was a cynical and shocking stunt by West Midlands Trains, designed to trick employees who have been on the front line throughout this terrible pandemic, ensuring essential workers were able to travel.
“The company must now account for their totally crass and reprehensible behaviour.
“They could and should have used any other pretext to test their internet security.
“It’s almost beyond belief that they chose to falsely offer a bonus to workers who have done so much in the fight against this virus.
“Our members have made real sacrifices these past 12 months and more.
“Some WMT staff have caught the disease at work, one has tragically died, and others have placed family members at great risk.
“We need to know who sanctioned this email and we need an apology.
“Moreover, having fraudulently held out the prospect of a payment to staff, WMT must now be as good as their word and stump up a bonus to each and every worker.
“In that way the company can begin to right a wrong which has needlessly caused so much hurt.”
A spokesman for WMT, the parent company of West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway, said: “We take cybersecurity very seriously, providing regular training on the subject and we run exercises to test our resilience.
“Fraud cost the transport industry billions of pounds every year.
“This important test was deliberately designed with the sort of language used by real cyber criminals but without the damaging consequences.”
The man appointed by Boris Johnson to probe David Cameron’s lobbying has cleared the government of “favouritism” in the award of £17bn in Covid contracts.
City lawyer Nigel Boardman admitted that some government practices, such as a fast-track “VIP” priority system for firms known to MPs and ministers, gave rise to the “suspicion” of bias.
But he found no evidence of favouritism in the award of the contracts.
The review covered five key areas of the government’s response to the Covid crisis, taking in spending on PPE (personal protective equipment), ventilators, vaccines, test and trace and food parcels for the clinically vulnerable.
Most of the contracts were awarded without usual competitive tenders, a process that ministers defended on grounds of the urgent need to get new equipment.
Boardman, who is overseeing a separate review the Greensill Capital lobbying affair, has already been accused by Labour of being “a close friend of the Conservative government”.
In his latest report, Boardman concluded there was no evidence of favouritism but there were big holes in processes that increased risk.
“I have not seen evidence that any contract within the scope of the review was awarded on grounds of favouritism. In my view there are, however, factors which may have encouraged such a suspicion,” he said.
These “factors” included the so-called “VIP lane” for PPE, a fast track email address system available to MPs and others, as well as “certain counterparties being associated with the governing party”.
Other factors included delays in publishing contracts, the time taken to publish contracts awarded during the crisis and high prices paid.
Boardman made 28 separate recommendations for change.
“Given the amounts of money spent on these programmes, and the importance of the programmes to the national recovery, it is imperative that there is proper scrutiny of the procurement actions taken by the Government,” he said.
Shadow minister Rachel Reeves, who has already predicted that Boardman’s lobbying probe will end in a “whitewash”, was scathing about the new review.
She told HuffPost UK: “This barely scratches the surface of the conflicts of interest in government procurement, and the deep and troubling pattern of taxpayers’ money being sunk into crony contracts.
“We need a complete overhaul to tackle cronyism, and an urgent end to emergency procurement measures.”
Boris Johnson and health secretary Matt Hancock have come under intense pressure over the award of billions of pounds of public money, not least over the government’s “VIP lane” for PPE.
A court case brought by the campaign group the Good Law Project heard last month that civil servants were “drowning” in bids that lacked credibility. The group has also exposed a lack of transparency in the registering of many contracts.
In a previous review of the award of communications contracts by the Cabinet office, he called for better “management of actual or perceived conflicts of interest in a procurement context”.
The NAO watchdog issued a withering report last year, concluding that a lack adequate documentation “means we cannot give assurance that government has adequately mitigated the increased risks” from its emergency procurement.
The Commons Public Account Committee was even more scathing about Test and Trace, saying its “unimaginable” £25bn cost had failed to deliver its central promise of averting another lockdown.
In response to the Boardman report, the Cabinet Office said it was accepting all 28 recommendations in full and its permanent secretary would write to the PAC setting out how he would implement them.
Kim PillingPAA police cordon in place at Walker Avenue in Bolton where a 15-year-old boy was stabbed several times.
A 15-year-old boy has died after being stabbed several times in Bolton.
The teenager, named locally as Reece Tansey, knocked on the door of a nearby house to ask for help after he was attacked in Walker Avenue shortly before 4.45am on Tuesday.
Greater Manchester Police said he had suffered several stab wounds and was taken to hospital but died from his injuries.
The force said a murder inquiry has been launched and no arrests have yet been made.
A cordon is in place covering a large section of Walker Avenue in Great Lever, with a forensic tent in the front garden of one address.
The victim was a pupil at Harper Green School in Farnworth.
In a message to parents on its website, the school said: “The school community is shocked and saddened by this terrible news and our thoughts are with the student’s family and friends at this difficult time.
“For a life to be ended at such a young age is a total tragedy.
“We will ensure any students who need it receive support and advice through our pastoral system.
“Harper Green is a close-knit community, we will work together over the coming days and weeks in supporting all those affected.”
Several hundred well-wishers later gathered at nearby Harper Green playing fields in pouring rain and released balloons in Reece’s memory.
Appealing for information, detective superintendent Chris Bridge said: “This incident will understandably be a huge shock to the community and our thoughts are with the boy’s family at this awful time.
“These are very early stages of our investigation but we would like to reassure the public that we are doing all we can to piece together what happened and find those responsible.
“There will be an increased police presence in the area whilst we carry out a number of lines of inquiry and anyone concerned in the local neighbourhood can speak to our officers.
“I would urge anyone who may have information or witnessed anything in the area to come forward.
“Even the smallest information may be crucial to our investigation.”
Anyone with information can call police on 101 quoting incident 359 of 04/05/2021 or report online at gmp.police.uk; or to remain anonymous contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Hopes have been raised that the UK could move a step closer to pre-pandemic normality if the one-metre plus rule for social distancing is relaxed next month.
The government has been targeting June 21 as the earliest date on which the vast majority of coronavirus restrictions can be lifted as part of its four-step “roadmap” out of lockdown.
With around 50 million doses of a vaccine in people’s arms, the UK’s successful inoculation programme appears to be influencing the government’s thinking on how far it can go with re-opening.
While post-weekend reporting of Covid cases tends to be lower than the average, official figures on Monday showed the UK has recorded just one death in the latest 24-hour period.
What could happen?
The Times reported social distancing rules will be lifted to allow pubs, restaurants and theatres to open to full capacity for the first time in more than a year.
One-way systems, screens and mask-wearing while moving around might remain for hospitality venues but customer numbers will no longer be limited, the newspaper said.
Audiences in theatres and cinemas will have to wear face coverings during performances, while there will be strict guidance on ventilation and staggered entry, The Times reported.
A government insider told The Times: “The evidence we’ve got so far from the pilots is very positive and the general background on data is hugely encouraging in terms of numbers, falling deaths and hospitalisations.
“The pilots have shown us that mitigations have worked sufficiently to allow us to remove social distancing at least in the settings that we really need to in order to get them in a viable position again.
“The kind of thing we’re looking at is keeping in place mask wearing, extra ventilation, staggered entry — all of that has been shown to have worked so far.”
What has the government said?
Responding to the report, Boris Johnson said there was a “good chance” the one-metre plus rule for social distancing can be ditched next month.
The final decision on whether the change can be brought in from June 21 will depend on the data, the prime minister added.
Johnson said he feels like the next stage of reopening on May 17 – which covers indoor hospitality, entertainment and possibly foreign travel – “is going to be good”.
Speaking during a campaign visit to Hartlepool, Johnson told reporters: “As things stand, and the way things are going, with the vaccine rollout going the way that it is – we have done 50 million jabs as I speak to you today, quarter of the adult population, one in four have had two jabs.
“You are seeing the results of that really starting to show up in the epidemiology.
“I think that we will be able to go ahead, feels like May 17 is going to be good.
“But it also looks to me as though June 21 we’ll be able to say social distancing as we currently have to do it, the one-metre plus, I think we have got a good chance of being able to dispense with the one-metre plus from June 21.
“That is still dependent on the data, we can’t say it categorically yet, we have got to look at the epidemiology as we progress, we have got to look at where we get to with the disease. But that’s what it feels like to me right now.”
WPA Pool via Getty ImagesBoris Johnson poses for a ‘selfie’ photograph as he meets members of the public while campaigning in Hartlepool.
A Cabinet Office spokesman pointed back to the wording of the road map out of lockdown, which states that the government “will complete a review of social distancing measures and other long-term measures that have been put in place to limit transmission”.
The review’s findings “will help inform decisions on the timing and circumstances under which rules on one-metre-plus, face masks and other measures may be lifted”.
What does the hospitality industry say?
One industry chief has said a return to unrestricted trading for hospitality from June 21 is “critical” and will mean firms can “come off life support”.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UKHospitality, said: “These reports are very welcome if true.
“However, we must wait to see the full detail of plans as any restrictions in venues will continue to impact revenue and business viability.
“A return to unrestricted trading on June 21 is critical and will mean hospitality businesses (can) come off life support and be viable for the first time in almost 16 months.
“We urge the government to confirm reopening dates and these plans at the earliest opportunity, which will boost confidence and allow companies to step up planning and bring staff back.”
A spokesman for the UK Cinema Association indicated that the organisation hopes face coverings will not be a continued requirement.
He said: “We strongly believe that our exemplary record on safety – with not a single case of Covid traced back to a UK venue – and our ability to manage the movement of cinema-goers in modern, highly ventilated indoor environments offer ample evidence that any relaxation from June 21 can be undertaken safely without the need for further ongoing restrictions, including any requirement for face coverings.”
Do scientists agree?
Last month, government scientific advisers said the public should be able to remove face masks over the summer as vaccines do the heavy lifting in controlling Covid-19 – but they cautioned that masks and possibly other measures may be needed next autumn and winter if cases surge.
But there is a fierce debate within the scientific community.
In an open letter, one group of scientists said last month “a good society cannot be created by obsessive focus on a single cause of ill-health” and that Covid-19 “no longer requires exceptional measures of control in everyday life”.
The 22 signatories – who include Professor Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at University of Oxford and Professor Karol Sikora from the medicine school at the University of Buckingham – say mandatory face coverings, physical distancing and mass community testing should end no later than June 21.
The letter states: “It is more than time for citizens to take back control of their own lives.”
But others were less optimistic.
Professor Stephen Reicher, from the University of St Andrews and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours, which advises ministers, said calls from scientists and academics to end coronavirus restrictions are “wrong” and “remarkably insular”.
He said: “We have heard from these people before, arguing that Covid isn’t a risk and that restrictions should be lifted.
“They were wrong then and they are wrong now.”
Prof Reicher said the irony of saying “it’s all over” makes such measures less likely, makes increased infections more likely and therefore makes lockdown restrictions “a real possibility”.
What other measures have been relaxed?
And the last sign of progress being made, the government announced the limit on the number of mourners who can attend funerals is to be lifted in England.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the legal restriction of a maximum of 30 mourners will be removed as part of the next stage of lockdown easing, expected on May 17.
The capacity will be determined by how many people venues, such as places of worship or funeral homes, can safely accommodate while maintaining social distancing, the department added.
PAUL ELLIS via Getty ImagesFans watch Blossoms perform at a live music concert hosted by Festival Republic in Sefton Park in Liverpool.
Meanwhile, thousands of revellers without face coverings danced shoulder to shoulder to live music for the first time in more than a year at a pilot music festival.
Around 5,000 people packed into Sefton Park in Liverpool on Sunday for the outdoor gig which included performances from Blossoms, The Lathums and Liverpool singer-songwriter Zuzu.
Pictures and videos showed people packed together, arms in the air, dancing to the music at the event which has been hailed as a milestone towards getting live events running again.
Everyone had to produce negative coronavirus tests to enter the event but did not have to wear face coverings or follow social distancing rules.
It is hoped that test events like this will pave the way for festivals and venues across the country to reopen for mass gatherings again.
What about foreign holidays?
The ban on foreign holidays is expected to be lifted for people in England from May 17 as part of the next easing of coronavirus restrictions.
But Johnson cautioned that while there will be “some openings up” from that date, the approach must be “sensible” to avoid an “influx of disease” when international travel resumes.
Johnson’s cautious tone came as some MPs called for restrictions on foreign holidays to be maintained to protect the country from Covid-19 variants, and Labour leader Keir Starmer urged a “careful” approach.
Johnson told reporters during a campaign visit to Hartlepool: “We do want to do some opening up on May 17 but I don’t think that the people of this country want to see an influx of disease from anywhere else.
“I certainly don’t and we have got to be very, very tough, and we have got to be as cautious as we can, whilst we continue to open up.”
Asked if people should be planning foreign holidays, he told reporters: “We will be saying more as soon as we can.
“I think that there will be some openings up on the 17th, but we have got to be cautious and we have got to be sensible and we have got to make sure that we don’t see the virus coming back in.”
Starmer criticised the “chopping and changing” of the travel corridors list introduced last year and said such a situation should be avoided this holiday season.
Questions have been raised over the accountability of the Metropolitan Police after it emerged the force was facing 63 active investigations from the independent watchdog – with some going back years.
The figure was provided by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after a request from HuffPost UK following a series of complaints about the UK’s largest police force in recent months.
Our data request initially revealed one investigation still ongoing that was first opened in March 2015, and four cases still active for each of 2018/19 and 2019/20. One of these, involving an officer who hit a vulnerable teenager 34 times with a baton and sprayed her up close with CS gas, was finally concluded on Friday as we published this story.
The watchdog, set up out the ashes of the Independent Police Complaints Commission in 2018 toensure “greater accountability to public”, has an annual budget of around £73m and last year received around 4,300 referrals nationally.
Forces must refer the worst incidents to the IOPC – such as if someone dies or is seriously injured following police action – and if they receive a complaint it considers legitimate. The IPOC can also “call in” smaller investigations being carried out by forces into themselves, if they consider incidents to be serious enough.
But there are warnings “the system is broken” as the IOPC’s probes into the Met have come into sharp focus this year.
In March, the watchdog announced it was launching two separate investigations relating to Sarah Everard, whose death put a global spotlight onto violence against women and girls. One is examining how Wayne Couzens, the serving officer charged with Everard’s murder, came to sustain serious injuries while in custody. The other investigation is examining an “inappropriate” graphic that was allegedly shared by an officer who took part in search operations.
Hannah Mckay via REUTERSPolice detain Patsy Stevenson as people gather at a memorial site in Clapham Common Bandstand following the murder of Sarah Everard.
In the last week, the IOPC’s investigations of the Met led to two more developments.
On Monday, it announced the Met would face scrutiny over how it handled the disappearance of 19-year-old Richard Okorogheye, whose body was found in Epping Forest, Essex, in April. The watchdog is investigating whether racism played a part in the search following complaints from Okorogheye’s mother, Evidence Joel.
“Maybe it’s the culture, my language barrier,” Joel told Channel 4 News, adding that she believed officers considered her to be “one of those African women who was being frantic” and did not immediate take action to find her son.
On Wednesday, the Crown Prosecution Service announced two police officers had been charged with misconduct following an IOPC investigation into the circulation of inappropriate photographs of sisters Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, who had been stabbed to death in a north London park. The watchdog carried out a criminal investigation into allegations that the officers, Pc Deniz Jaffer, 47, and Pc Jamie Lewis, 32, took “non-official and inappropriate photographs” of the crime scene before sharing them on WhatsApp.
PABibaa Henry (left) and Nicole Smallman, who were stabbed to death at Fryent Country Park in Wembley in the early hours of June 6.
But the investigations go back a number of years.
The longest-running, HuffPost UK understands, relates to the death of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence. In 2015, the Independent Police Complaints Commission announced former Scotland Yard commissioner Lord Stevens would be investigated into claims that documents were not passed to the 1998 Stephen Lawrence public inquiry led by Sir William Macpherson.
A referral followed a complaint to the force on behalf of Neville Lawrence, Stephen’s father, that there was a “failure of top rank or very senior officers, including but not limited to the deputy commissioner Sir John Stevens, to provide full, frank and truthful information to the Macpherson Inquiry on the issue of corruption”.
It focused on two letters sent by Lord Stevens, but was halted while four former Met officers were investigated over their work on the initial murder investigation. The CPS is still to decide if the four are to be charged, six years after the complaint was opened.
Another still ongoing investigation began following British sprinter Bianca Williams accusing the Met of “racial profiling” after she and her partner were stopped and searched by officers in west London in July last year. The European and Commonwealth gold medallist and Ricardo dos Santos, 25, the Portuguese record holder over 400m, were stopped and handcuffed while with their three-month-old baby in Maida Vale.
Video footage shared widely on social media showed the pair – who are both Black – being aggressively pulled out of a car by officers. The distressed athlete is heard repeatedly saying: “My son is in the car.”
— Linford Christie (@ChristieLinford) July 4, 2020
Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick later apologised and launched a review into the use of handcuffs pre-arrest after the vehicle stop.
Last year, the watchdog said it made 11 recommendations for the Met to improve its use of stop and search powers after a review of cases found the “legitimacy of stop and searches was being undermined” by a number of issues, including a lack of understanding about the impact of disproportionality and poor communication.
In one investigation, a Black man in possession of someone else’s credit card was suspected of having stolen it even after providing a credible explanation. In another case, officers used stop and search powers after brothers Liam and Dijon Joseph, who are Black, fist-bumped, claiming they believed they had been exchanging drugs.
Family HandoutPAThe family of Richard Okorogheye have questioned the force’s handling of the investigation into his disappearance.
Not all the outstanding cases are so well-known. On Friday, a probe that had only appeared to prompt two write-ups in local media based on an IOPC press release saw a police officer dismissed for hitting a vulnerable teenager 34 times with a baton.
The Met said Pc Benjamin Kemp used force that was “utterly inappropriate” on a 17-year-old girl, who was on escorted leave from a mental health unit and had become separated from a group in Newham, east London, in May 2019. CS spray and handcuffs were used on the girl, as well as the baton strikes. Kemp was sacked following a misconduct panel that came after complaints were made by an NHS trust staff member and the girl’s mother.
The number of cases has raised concern among politicians. Jenny Jones, a Green party peer and ex-member of the London Police Authority, revealed in 2014 she had been recorded on a database of “domestic extremists” by the Met Police and that officers had been tracking her political movements since 2001.
Asked about our findings, she told HuffPost UK: “It is extremely difficult for people to hold the Met Police accountable for their wrongdoing. My own personal experience of being spied on by the Met Police and taking complaints to the IOPC confirms that the system is broken.
“The IOPC is massively underfunded and under-resourced. It took them nearly three years to investigate a complaint I brought against multiple police officers, and if I hadn’t been assisted by an excellent legal team then it probably would have taken even longer.
“The IOPC is so heavily reliant on gathering witness statements from police officers that unless there is some massively compelling external evidence, it is very hard for the IOPC to actually uphold any complaints.
“Unless people obtain justice for legitimate complaints against the police then not only will we have a second rate and potentially corrupt police service with officers regarding themselves as above the law, we will also have a groundswell of public opinion that is alienated from the police and mistrustful of them.”
Former police officer Lord Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on home affairs in House of Lords, said: “Liberal Democrats have had concerns for some time about what is happening in the Metropolitan Police, particularly around culture and diversity.
“Persistent disproportionate focus of stop and search on Black Londoners, particularly when section 60 [a temporary power that lowers the bar for police to be allowed to search people] authorises searches without suspicion, together with a disproportionate focus of internal misconduct on ethnic minority officers and staff, raise serious questions about the culture inside the Met.
“The police must foster trust and confidence with all communities if they are to be effective in tackling crime, particularly knife crime.”
An IOPC spokesperson said: “We investigate the most serious and sensitive incidents and allegations involving the police in England and Wales. Most complaints about the police are dealt with by the relevant police force.”
Jessica TaylorPALabour MP Tan Dhesi in the Commons
Labour shadow minister Tan Dhesi has been warned to “pay people what they are worth” after trying to recruit unpaid volunteers to carry out “long term” work in his office.
A job advert on Working For An MP asked for “committed” people “passionate about helping others” and who “take satisfaction from getting stuff done” to volunteer for the Slough MP for no pay.
Tasks for the role included answering the phone, opening post, updating Dhesi’s website, writing to constituents, monitoring media coverage and other basic admin.
Most are jobs which would normally be carried out by a caseworker or parliamentary assistant, positions which would attract a salary of around £30,000.
The ad was removed minutes after HuffPost UK contacted the Labour Party.
A source close to Dhesi said the advert was placed due to an administration error and the Slough MP had been unaware. It is said Dhesi’s staff have been overwhelmed with casework due to the impact of the pandemic.
Zamzam Ibrahim, vice president of the European Students’ Union, warned Dhesi that “nobody should work for free”, adding: “Unpaid labour is far too often masked as volunteering and used to exploit young people. And far too often those unpaid volunteers are given same responsibility as salaried staff.
“Everybody from staff to interns to those on temporary contracts have a right to a living wage and a full array of employment benefits such as sick pay and holiday pay.”
One Labour staff member, who asked not to be named, told HuffPost UK: “It’s a shame really that a Labour MP would try to offer what is quite clearly a proper job role under the guise of ‘volunteering’, and even worse that it’s for long term.
“I’d like to think that MPs from our party would pay people what they are worth, even more so in this current economic climate.”
A note on the ad penned by W4MP, not Dhesi’s office, warned the work was voluntary, saying: “As such, there are no set hours and responsibilities and you should be free to come and go as you wish.
“If the post demands set hours and/or has a specific job description you may be deemed to be a ‘worker’ and be covered by national minimum wage/national living wage legislation.”
The ad said the MP was “looking for committed volunteers to assist his team over the coming months, and perhaps on a longer-term basis”.
It added: “If you’ve ever wanted to volunteer your time to help people in need, to support a fantastic local community and its elected MP, or experience what it’s like to be part of an MP’s busy team, then this volunteer role might be just for you.”
But the ad underlined “this is not an internship position or a job, and should not be viewed as such”, and said: “This position is very unlikely to lead to paid employment with Tan Dhesi MP and is not suitable for anyone seeking more than a voluntary role.”
HuffPost UK has approached Dhesi for comment but he has not responded.
The Labour Party, which backs a number of campaigns for fair pay, declined to comment and it was not clear if Dhesi had received any sanction.
TOLGA AKMEN via Getty ImagesFounder and former leader of the anti-Islam English Defence League (EDL), Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka Tommy Robinson, arrives at the Old Bailey, London’s Central Criminal Court, in central London on July 5, 2019
The Conservatives have been urged to expel a local election candidate who “endorsed” far-right leader Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, on social media.
The Tories were also asked to explain whether it was “incompetence or malice” that led to the candidate being readmitted to the party after reportedly resigning in 2018 when the post was first flagged with the party’s central office.
In the Facebook post first reported by the Lancashire Telegraph, Andrew Walker, a Tory candidate for Blackburn with Darwen Council, appeared to share a “meme” featuring a photo of Robinson which was headlined: “Tommy Robinson has done nothing but expose the truth behind radical Islam.”
Above the post, Walker wrote: “Cant be easy preaching what we all think !!!” [sic]
The Lancashire Telegraph also published screenshots showing Walker had once said on Facebook that “stabbing [Jeremy] Corbyn would get you knighted in my book”.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner urged the Conservatives to “reassure the public” that far-right supporters are not standing for the party in local elections.
“The Conservatives must explain whether it was incompetence or malice that led them to not only readmit this person into the party but then to select him as a candidate,” she told HuffPost UK.
“They must also set out what steps they are taking to reassure the public that no other far right […] supporters are standing for them in the local elections.”
Rayner said the Tories were facing “serious questions” over a “failure to tackle racism in their party”, pointing out that its inquiry into Islamophobia has still not published a report and in any case was “watered down before it even began”.
Anti-racism campaigners Hope Not Hate also raised concerns over the Islamophobia report and said there was no doubt that “endorsing” a convicted criminal like Yaxley-Lennon was “utterly unacceptable”.
The English Defence League (EDL) founder is currently being sued for libel by a Syrian teenager Jamal Hijazi, 17, over comments he made when the boy was attacked at his Huddersfield school in October 2018.
In 2019, Robinson was jailed for contempt of court after live-streaming on Facebook a video that featured defendants in a sexual exploitation trial and put the case at risk of collapse.
In the past, he has been convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, mortgage fraud and travelling on another man’s passport to the United States, among other offences.
A Hope Not Hate spokesperson said: “During the Conservative Party leadership contest, Boris Johnson and all other candidates committed to holding a specific inquiry into Islamophobia affecting the party. Many months later and that commitment has been watered down, we’re still waiting for the results of the resulting Singh inquiry, and we still have Conservative Party candidates sharing far-right memes and hatred against Muslims.
“In this day and age, no one can be in any doubt about the far-right rabble rouser ‘Tommy Robinson’, a multiply convicted violent criminal and fraudster, and it’s utterly unacceptable for any member of a political party – yet alone the party of government – to be enthusiastically endorsing his extremism.
“The Conservative Party must remove this candidate immediately, and expedite publishing the results of the inquiry into prejudice in the party.”
Walker’s election agent for the Darwen South seat said they could not comment as the matter is under investigation by Tory central office.
HuffPost UK has contacted Tory central office for comment.
PABibaa Henry (left) and Nicole Smallman, who were stabbed to death at Fryent Country Park in Wembley in the early hours of June 6.
Two Met Police officers have been charged with misconduct over the circulation of inappropriate photographs of two sisters who had been stabbed to death in a north-west London park.
Pc Deniz Jaffer, 47, and Pc Jamie Lewis, 32, of the Metropolitan Police, have been charged after an investigation into pictures of sisters Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46.
The two women were stabbed to death at Fryent Country Park in Wembley in the early hours of June 6 last year.
Social worker Henry, from Brent in north-west London, and photographer Smallman, from Harrow in north-west London, had met friends the previous evening to celebrate Henry’s birthday.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) watchdog carried out a criminal investigation into allegations that the officers took “non-official and inappropriate photographs” of the crime scene before sharing them on WhatsApp.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Wednesday that both men would appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 27, charged with one count each of misconduct in public office.
Following their arrest in June, both officers were suspended from duty.
Commander Paul Betts, of the Metropolitan Police’s directorate of professional standards (DPS), said: “These are extremely serious charges and we thank the IOPC for their work to get to this point.
“Throughout their investigation we have remained resolute in our efforts to provide every support to their inquiries.
“Our thoughts go out to the families of Bibaa and Nicole, as we recognise the renewed grief and pain this development will bring.
“We know the public will share our outrage, but I would ask that space is now given to allow the judicial process to run its proper course.
“It is not appropriate for us to initiate any internal investigations against the officers at this stage as this could impact on that process.”
After the incident came to light, the Met said the IOPC made recommendations to ensure all officers within a police station in the North East Command – where the two officers were based – conformed to the code of ethics and “are aware that failure to do so could severely damage the public’s confidence in policing”.
It also called on the force to review whether supervisors and senior management at that police station are taking personal responsibility “to identify and eliminate patterns of inappropriate behaviour”.
Work is under way to enforce these recommendations throughout the force, the Met said.
The IOPC also launched a separate investigation last year into six other officers who allegedly knew about, received, or viewed the photos.
Five other officers were told their conduct is under investigation over allegations stemming from the original probe, including that an officer took a picture at the scene of a sudden death before sharing it.
The watchdog is also carrying a separate inquiry into how the Met handled calls from worried relatives and friends of missing Smallman and Henry before their bodies were discovered on June 7.
One officer was told their conduct is under investigation over potentially failing to progress the reports properly.
Danyal Hussein, 18, of Guy Barnett Grove, Blackheath, south-east London, is facing trial in June, accused of the sisters’ murders.
The police watchdog is to investigate whether racism played a role in the way the Met handled Richard Okorogheye’s disappearance.
On Monday, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it would investigate complaints made by Okorogheye’s mother, Evidence Joel.
She has said she was “disappointed” about the way she was initially treated by police, and how her reports about her son’s disappearance were handled.
Joel told Sky News that police had asked her: “If you can’t find your son, how do you expect police officers to find your son for you?”
“Maybe it’s the culture, my language barrier,” Joel told Channel 4 News, adding that she believed officers considered her to be “one of those African women who was being frantic” and did not immediate take action to find her son.
The 19-year-old, who had sickle cell disease, went missing from his home in Ladbroke Grove, west London, on the evening of March 22.
His mother contacted police the following day, but he was not officially recorded as missing until 8am on March 24.
Okorogheye’s body was found in Epping Forest, Essex, on April 5.
The IOPC will also look at the Met Police’s overall handling of the missing person report.
IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: “Our thoughts are with Richard’s family and friends and all those affected by this tragic loss. We have spoken to his family and explained our role.
“Our investigation will establish whether the police responded appropriately to the concerns raised that Richard was missing.
“We will examine whether the force appropriately risk assessed those reports, and if the amount of resources the Metropolitan Police dedicated to its enquiries were suitable based on the information known by the police and the risks posed.
“As there is a mandatory requirement for police forces to refer to us incidents which result in a death or serious injury, we will examine the actions and decisions of the police when dealing with the missing person report made in respect of a vulnerable young man.
“We will also consider whether Richard’s or his mother’s ethnicity played a part in the way the initial reports of his disappearance were handled.”
Okorogheye left his family home at around 8.30pm on March 22 and headed in the direction of Ladbroke Grove.
Police said further inquiries have established that he then took a taxi journey from the W2 area of London to a residential street in Loughton, Essex.
He was last seen on CCTV in Loughton, walking alone on Smarts Lane towards Epping Forest at 12.39am on March 23.
