Minister Has ‘No Idea’ When Register Of Ministers’ Interests Will Be Published

Posted on 25/04/2021 by Boris Clair

A cabinet minister has said she has no idea when the latest register of ministers’ interests will be published, amid a row over how Boris Johnson paid for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, international trade secretary Liz Truss said the prime minister had paid for the refit himself.

But she was unable to say where he got the money.

Labour has demanded the government publish the register before the local elections on May 6.

The register, which sets out the financial interests of ministers, was last published in July 2020 despite the ministerial code requiring it to be released “twice yearly”.

Asked when the latest version would be released, Truss said: “I’m sure it will be published.”

Marr asked Truss: “You could go back after this programme, literally press the send button and publish it. Why not?”

She said: “I’m sure it will be published in line with the rules.”

Pressed on if she had “any idea why it’s not been published”, Truss said: “No, I haven’t.”

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said there was a “real stench” around the government and called on Johnson to go to parliament on Monday to explain what happened.

Rayner said the commission should now launch a full inquiry and she called on the prime minister to publish the latest register of ministers’ interests which was now eight months overdue.

“These are serious allegations,” she told Marr. “Why are they hiding the fact that ministers have to declare these donations and they’ve not done that? That’s serious. This is a real stench around what (the) government is about.”

The Electoral Commission – which first raised the issue with the Conservative Party more than a month ago – has said it is still looking into whether any of the sums relating to the work on the flat should have been declared under the rules on political donations.

No.10 Launches Leak Inquiry Into Boris Johnson’s Texts With James Dyson

Posted on 22/04/2021 by Boris Clair

Downing Street has announced an internal inquiry into the leak of private text messages between Boris Johnson and billionaire James Dyson over the tax status of his employees.

The prime minister promised the businessman he would “fix” the issue after personal lobbying from Dyson via texts.

Dyson was seeking assurances before he agreed to build ventilators at the height of the coronavirus crisis. In the end, Dyson never supplied any ventilators to the NHS.

Labour has demanded an urgent investigation be conducted by parliament’s liaison committee, which is made of up senior MPs.

Speaking during PMQs on Wednesday, Labour leader Keir Starmer suggested it was “one rule for those that have got the prime minister’s phone number, another for everybody else”.

The text messages were obtained by the BBC. Asked if there would be a leak inquiry, the prime minister’s spokesperson said on Thursday: “I can confirm that, yes, we have instructed the Cabinet Office to look into this.”

Downing Street also said it will publish correspondence between Johnson and Dyson “shortly”.

“The prime minister said in the House he’s happy to share all the details with the House, as he shared them with his officials,” the spokesperson said.

“That’s what we’re working on, we’re pulling together that information.”

No.10 also did not deny reports, including in The Times, that cabinet secretary Simon Case advised Johnson to change his phone number because of concerns over the ease with which lobbyists and others from the business world were able to contact him.

The spokesperson said: “We don’t get into details of the advice provided between a cabinet secretary and a prime minister ,and so I’m not going to do that in this instance.”

‘Pervasive Racism’ Meant Black And Asian WWI Troops Were Not Commemorated

Posted on 22/04/2021 by Boris Clair

“Pervasive racism” underpinned a failure to properly commemorate potentially hundreds of thousands of predominantly Black and Asian service personnel who died fighting for the British Empire, an investigation has found.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) apologised after its investigation found those individuals were not formally remembered in the same way as their white comrades.

Defence secretary Ben Wallace on Thursday morning told the Commons: “The number of casualties commemorated unequally, the number commemorated without names and the number otherwise entirely unaccounted for is not excusable.” He accepted that “prejudice” had played a part.

The investigation discovered at least 116,000 predominantly African and Middle Eastern First World War casualties “were not commemorated by name or possibly not commemorated at all”.

Graves of British soldiers who fought at the Somme in the First World War, who are buried at the Connaught... — Graves of British soldiers who fought at the Somme in the First World War, who are buried at the Connaught Cemetery near the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in northern France

The figure could be as high as 350,000, according to the report obtained by the PA news agency after it was first reported by the Guardian.

Most of the men were commemorated by memorials that did not carry their names.

When war broke out in 1914, King George V called for “men of every class, creed and colour” to join the fight. What was then the British West Indies is thought to have sent 16,000 soldiers to join the English forces, plus some 4,500 volunteers, who arrived in special contingents.

In 1915, the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR) was formed, comprising two thirds of its men from Jamaica and the rest hailing from the Bahamas to then British Guiana.

But Caribbean soldiers were not permitted to fight as equals against their white compatriots, with most serving for lower pay in the Labour Corps, according to the BBC.

One who was commemorated however was Walter Tull, who was a footballer and the first Black Army officer to command troops in a regular unit.

He died aged 29 while leading an attack on the Western Front during the second Battle of the Somme on March 25, 1918.

This #blackhistorymonth we remember Black personnel who paved the way. Walter Tull is known for being the first black @BritishArmy Officer. He joined the Footballer’s Battalion in the First World War and lost his life heroically leading an attack across No Man’s Land in 1918. pic.twitter.com/VdiyWvdM8W

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 11, 2020

Tull served as a second lieutenant, leading men into battle at a time when the Army forbade a person of non-European descent becoming an officer.

As well as being one of the most celebrated Black British soldiers of the Great War, Tull was also one of the first Black professional football players in England, playing for Tottenham Hotspur while overcoming racial discrimination.

The investigation also estimated that between 45,000 and 54,000 Asian and African casualties were “commemorated unequally”.

Some were commemorated collectively on memorials, unlike those in Europe, and others, who were missing, were only recorded in registers rather than in stone.

In 2018 a war memorial featuring a Sikh soldier to honour the many from the Indian subcontinent who fought in both world wars was unveiled in Smethwick, Birmingham.

The special committee behind the investigation was established by the CWGC in 2019 after a critical documentary on the issue, titled Unremembered and presented by Labour MP David Lammy.

Originally named the Imperial War Graves Commission, it was founded in 1917 to commemorate those who died in the war.

Soldiers of the British West Indies Regiment in camp on the Albert to Amiens Road, France, World War... — Soldiers of the British West Indies Regiment in camp on the Albert to Amiens Road, France, World War I, September 1916

The investigation found that the failure to properly commemorate the individuals was “influenced by a scarcity of information, errors inherited from other organisations and the opinions of colonial administrators”.

“Underpinning all these decisions, however, were the entrenched prejudices, preconceptions and pervasive racism of contemporary imperial attitudes,” it added.

One example given is based on communications in 1923 between F.G. Guggisberg, the governor of the Gold Coast colony, now Ghana, and Arthur Browne, from the commission.

At a meeting in London, it was said that the governor said “the average native of the Gold Coast would not understand or appreciate a headstone” as he argued for collective memorials.

A response from Arthur Browne showed “what he may have considered foresight, but one that was explicitly framed by contemporary racial prejudice”, according to the report.

“In perhaps two or three hundred years’ time, when the native population had reached a higher stage of civilisation, they might then be glad to see that headstones had been erected on the native graves and that the native soldiers had received precisely the same treatment as their white comrades,” he said.

In its response to the report, the CWGC says it “acknowledges that the Commission failed to fully carry out its responsibilities at the time and accepts the findings and failings identified in this report and we apologise unreservedly for them”.

In a statement CWGC director general Claire Horton said: “The events of a century ago were wrong then and are wrong now.

“We recognise the wrongs of the past and are deeply sorry and will be acting immediately to correct them.”

Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, said: “No apology can ever make up for the indignity suffered by the unremembered.

“However, this apology does offer the opportunity for us as a nation to work through this ugly part of our history – and properly pay our respects to every soldier who has sacrificed their life for us.”

Johnny Mercer Brands Westminster A ‘Cesspit’ Full Of Liars

Posted on 21/04/2021 by Boris Clair

Kirsty O’Connor – PA Images via Getty Images

Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer

Sacked veterans minister Johnny Mercer has said Westminster politics is a “cesspit” and Boris Johnson’s government “the most distrustful, awful” place he has ever worked.

Mercer left the government on Tuesday expressing frustration at a lack of progress over legislation to protect British soldiers who served in the Troubles.

Ministers have since promised to bring forward legislation to protect from historical prosecutions veterans who served in Northern Ireland, which the Tories promised in their 2019 election manifesto.

But Mercer said “the truth is that nothing has been done” as he said of ministers: “Shooting straight is not one of their finest qualities.”

The former Army officer said he thought Johnson is “deeply committed” to the manifesto promise but said the prime minister “should expect” his ministers to show the same level of responsibility.

Speaking to Times Radio, the former Army officer said: “This is the most distrustful, awful environment I’ve ever worked in, in government.

“Almost nobody tells the truth is what I’ve worked out over the last 36 hours.

“And, you know, so so I don’t think anyone really can get on their high horse about trust and ethics and all the rest of it in politics, because as far as I’m concerned, most of it is a bit of a cesspit, I think we do have a clear commitment to follow through on our promises and do right by those who serve.”

Mercer also accused the government of leaking his plans to resign and then lying about it.

“It’s pretty clear that not everyone tells the truth up here do they.

“I mean, I told people, I was resigning as a courtesy to government.

“Three hours later, it’s in the press.

“And an hour later, there’s someone following me around London with a camera.

“And, of course, they all denied they ever leaked it.

“It’s ridiculous.

The Plymouth Moor View MP said the government was guilty of “gross betrayal of people who signed up to serve in the military” by failing to protect UK soldiers.

“The reality is that for these people, their experiences after having served this nation, 50 years later, they are constantly being dragged over to Northern Ireland, and asked to relive their experiences, it is people are drinking themselves to death. It is breaking up families, it is ruining our finest people,” he said.

“And all they did was serve at the behest of this government at the behest of the House of Commons, to uphold the rule of law on the peace in Northern Ireland.”

Mercer’s replacement Leo Docherty told the Commons on Wednesday: “A bill will soon come forward from the Northern Ireland Office that will protect our Northern Ireland veterans of Operation Banner and address the legacy of the Troubles.”

Johnson also told MPs that the government would be “bringing forward further measures in due course” when challenged by the DUP to protect Northern Ireland veterans from “vexatious” prosecutions.

Downing Street said details of the new legislation would be confirmed in the Queen’s Speech on May 11.

South Africa Variant: Surge Testing For Parts Of Birmingham After Cases Found

Posted on 21/04/2021 by Boris Clair

Kirsty O’ConnorPA

People take part in coronavirus surge testing on Clapham Common, south London.

Surge testing is to begin in parts of Birmingham after a case of the Covid-19 variant first identified in South Africa was confirmed there.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the patient had “self-isolated and their contacts have been identified”.

Health officials added in a statement: “Initial investigations indicate that this case is not linked to a case previously identified in the Birmingham and Sandwell areas.”

The testing will be targeted at households in the city’s Alum Rock, Glebe Farm and Tile Cross areas.

Officially, 600 people in the UK have contracted the South African coronavirus variant according to the government website – but that was based on figures up to April 14.

This is unlikely to be an accurate portrayal of how far the mutation has spread since hundreds of thousands of people have been swabbed during previous rounds of surge testing elsewhere in the country, on top of which it can take days for samples to have genomic sequencing carried out. The process is the only way to detect which variant of coronavirus someone is infected with.

Other areas where cases of the South Africa variant have been found include the London boroughs of Barnet, Harrow, Hillingdon, Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth.

The South Africa strain is classed as a “variant of concern” – the most serious classification issued by Public Health England – because there are fears it may be less susceptible to vaccines and could spread more easily.

The DHSC said everybody aged 16 years and over who is contacted from the new areas would be “strongly encouraged to take a Covid-19 PCR test”, whether or not they are symptomatic.

For anyone testing positive for a key variant, enhanced contact tracing – looking back over an extended period in order to determine the route of transmission – will be used.

Meanwhile, anyone with symptoms is urged to book a free test online or by phone.

And the government is asking people to continue using twice-weekly rapid lateral flow testing alongside any PCR surge testing they do.

Last week surge testing was introduced in the city’s Ladywood, Jewellery Quarter and Soho ward, after a single positive case of the same variant.

Speaking at the time, the city’s public health director Dr Justin Varney said: “Testing is an important part of containing the spread of the virus.

“This new variant from South Africa presents a new risk so it is essential that all adults in the affected areas take up this offer of PCR testing to help us contain the spread quickly and identify any further local cases.

“There is financial and practical support available for those who test positive and have to isolate, and their contacts, and it is vital we all play our part in controlling this new challenge.”

Viruses by their nature mutate often, with more than 18,000 mutations discovered over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, the overwhelming majority of which have no effect on the behaviour of the virus.

Boris Johnson Announces Plan To Find Covid-19 Tablets You Can Take At Home

Posted on 20/04/2021 by Boris Clair

Boris Johnson has announced a new taskforce designed to identify tablets people can take at home to help them recover from Covid-19.

The prime minister said on Tuesday it would be modelled on the “success of our vaccination programme”.

Johnson said medicines could be available as early as the autumn, designed to stop the infection spreading and speed up recovery time.

“Our new antivirals taskforce will seek to develop innovative treatments you can take at home to stop Covid-19 in its tracks,” he said.

“These could provide another vital defence against any future increase in infections and save more lives.”

Antiviral drugs are a type of medication used specifically for treating viral infections, and act by killing or preventing the growth of viruses.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the taskforce’s aim was to have at least two effective treatments this year, a tablet or a capsule, which people can take following a positive test or exposure to someone with the virus.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said medicines were a “vital weapon” in combating the disease.

“The UK is leading the world in finding and rolling out effective treatments for Covid-19, having identified dexamethasone, which has saved over a million lives worldwide, and tocilizumab,” he said.

“I am committed to boosting the UK’s position as a life science superpower and this new taskforce will help us beat Covid-19 and build back better.”

Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said tablets would be a “key tool”.

“They could help protect those not protected by or ineligible for vaccines. They could also be another layer of defence in the face of new variants of concern,” he said.

“The taskforce will help ensure the most promising antivirals are available for deployment as quickly as possible.”

A chair of the new taskforce has yet to be identified, but a recruitment process will start shortly, DHSC said.

Government Refuses To Reject ‘Incoherent’ Race Report

Posted on 20/04/2021 by Boris Clair

The government has refused to reject the controversial race report, which has been described as “incoherent, divisive and offensive”.

Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said she was “very proud” of the “independent” report and criticised the “appalling abuse” suffered by members of the commission on race and ethnic disparities.

She rejected calls to reject the review from Labour, which described it as a “shoddy, point-scoring polemic which ignores evidence and does not represent the country”.

The shadow equalities minister Marsa De Cordova said the report had been “discredited” by the British Medical Association, public health expert Sir Michael Marmot, trade unions, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and human rights experts at the United Nations.

On Monday, the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent said the “reprehensible” report attempts to “normalise white supremacy” and could “fuel racism” in the UK.

But Badenoch told the Commons: “I’m very proud of it and of course we will not be withdrawing the report.

The equalities minister also said it was wrong to accuse people who argue for a different approach on how to address racial inequality as being “racism deniers” or “race traitors”.

She added: “The government even more firmly condemns the deeply personal and racialised attacks against the commissioners, which have included death threats.

“And in fact one member from the opposition benches presented commissioners as members of the Ku Klux Klan, an example of the very online racial hatred and abuse on which the report itself recommended more action be taken by government.”

House of Commons – PA Images via Getty Images

Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch

Badenoch also claimed the report does not deny institutional racism despite a government briefing on the eve of its publication making clear that “the well-meaning ‘idealism’ of many young people who claim the country is still institutionally racist is not borne out by the evidence”.

She told the Commons: “The report does not deny that institutional racism exists in the UK, rather the report did not find conclusive evidence of it in the specific areas it examined.”

The equalities minister also insisted the commissioners did not want to “put a positive spin on the atrocities of slavery”, despite chair Tony Sewell writing in the report’s foreword that schools should teach a “new story” about African people and that the slave period was “not only… about profit and suffering”.

De Cordova hit back: “If left unchallenged, this report will undo decades of progress made towards race equality in the UK. Since publication, this report has completely unravelled.

“Its cherry-picking of data is misleading and incoherent, its conclusions are ideologically motivated and divisive, it is absolutely clear to all of us on this side of the House and across civil society that this report has no credibility.”

She added: “It is reprehensible and I hope the minister will reject it today so that we can get on with the task of tackling institutional and structural racism which is the lived experience of many.”

Badenoch said the government would respond formally to the report by the summer.

She and the prime minister have established a new, inter-ministerial group to review the report’s 24 recommendations, which will be chaired by Michael Gove.

Government Pledges To Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ To Stop Football ‘Super League’

Posted on 19/04/2021 by Boris Clair

The government has promised to do “whatever it takes” to stop six English football clubs breaking away from mainstream competition for form a so-called European “super league”.

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden condemned the clubs as “tone deaf” and said he would not stand by and “watch football be cravenly stripped” of what the fans love about it.

He said the government would give “full backing” to the Premier League and other football bodies, which are considering sanctions to stop the clubs breaking away.

But he made clear: “If they can’t act we will.

“We will put everything on the table to prevent this from happening.

“We are examining every option, from governance to competition law and mechanisms that allow football to take place.”

He added: “I want to reassure this House of a very robust response.

“We will do whatever it takes to protect our national game.”

Dowden also said he was “formally triggering” a fans-led review of football promised by the Tories in the party’s 2019 election manifesto, which will be led by former sport minister Tracey Crouch.

He also hinted that the government could change the law to allow the football authorities to take strong action, and that a windfall tax on the clubs involved was under consideration.

“We will do whatever it takes to protect our national game.”@OliverDowden says the government is “examining every option” – including governance reform and competition law – following the announcement of plans for a European Super League.

Latest: https://t.co/n5EMbPOGyR pic.twitter.com/P2cT3UIgkx

— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 19, 2021

It came after Conservative Damian Collins warned that under existing powers for the Premier League and FA “there’s nothing that can be done to stop these six clubs joining the ‘super league’”.

He went on: “Is the government prepared to consider amendments to the law in order to give those bodies the powers they need – in particular to prevent clubs joining competitions that have not been sanctioned by either the FA or Uefa?”

Dowden replied: “On competition law, we’re already engaging with Beis (department for business, energy and industrial strategy) in terms of our response to it. We rule out absolutely nothing.

“I know from my conversations with the Premier League and with Uefa they’re already proposing to take some pretty draconian steps to stop this, but we stand ready and we will not allow anything to stop us from doing this in terms of timing, we’ll get on with it as soon as we need to.”

The decision of Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs to create a “closed shop” European competition without promotion or relegation has been met with a fierce backlash from fans, players, politicians and the football authorities.

Critics believe it would fundamentally distort competition in Europe for the benefit of the richest few clubs.

Among the sanctions under consideration by the football bodies are kicking the teams out of the Premier League and banning their players from playing for international teams.

Downing Street earlier said a “range of options” were being considered by the government in response, with a German-style system of fan ownership of clubs and clawing back coronavirus support loans included as possibilities.

Football fans opposing the European Super League outside Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium on — Football fans opposing the European Super League outside Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium on Monday

The European Super League plans also involve Spanish sides Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona and Italian clubs AC Milan, Juventus and Inter Milan.

German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, as well as French champions Paris St Germain have refused to join the league.

The proposal has support from investment bank JP Morgan, which will provide around £4.3bn in debt financing for the competition.

Shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens called this “a watershed moment for our national game” and said Dowden’s statement was “short on detail and the urgency that this situation merits”.

The Labour frontbencher went on: “Football governance is broken, football finance is broken, and football fans whichever club we support, are ignored.

“The hedge-fund owners and billionaires who treat football clubs like any other of their commodities have no care for history of our football, for the role it plays in villages, towns and cities up and down our country and especially for the fans who are the beating heart of it.

“They should understand their role as custodians rather than cartel chiefs.The future of our national game and all our clubs depend on it.”

India Added To UK’s Covid Travel ‘Red List’, Announces Matt Hancock

Posted on 19/04/2021 by Boris Clair

India will be added to the UK’s “red list” for travel, Matt Hancock has announced.

It means from 4am on Friday April 23, only British, Irish and third-country nationals with residency rights travelling from India can enter England.

Anyone arriving in the country will be required to self-isolate in a government-approved hotel for ten days.

Hancock told the Commons on Monday: “We’ve recently seen a new variant first identified in India.

“We’ve now detected 103 cases of this variant, of which again the vast majority have links to international travel and have been picked up by our testing at the border.”

The health secretary said the samples have been analysed to see if the new variant has any “concerning characteristics” such as greater transmissibility or resistance to treatments and vaccines.

He added: “After studying the data, and on a precautionary basis, we’ve made the difficult but vital decision to add India to the red list.”

Boris Johnson cancelled his visit to India next week, as the coronavirus crisis deepened in India and concerns grew over the new variant.

The already-curtailed trip was postponed indefinitely on Monday, but the prime minister said he planned to hold a call with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi ahead of a rescheduling “as and when circumstances allow”.

Johnson had until that point resisted demands to hold the talks, aimed at fostering closer ties with the nation, on a virtual basis amid calls to impose greater restrictions on travel to and from India.

The cancellation came as New Delhi entered a week-long lockdown to tackle a surge in cases and prevent a collapse of the capital’s health system, as India reported 273,810 new infections – the highest daily rise since pandemic began.

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Top Official Stonewalls Questions On Cummings Leak Row And PM’s Flat Refurb