Month: May 2022

Mr Blunt, who is MP for Reigate, made the announcement on Twitter.

In a statement, he said: “After seven increasingly tumultuous parliaments, this will be my last.”

He apologised last month for “significant upset and concern” caused by his defence of MP Imran Ahmad Khan, following his conviction for sexually assaulting a teenage boy.

In a statement, on his website Mr Blunt said: “This statement is not the place for the tale of the ensuing 25 years.

“But its purpose is to use this 25th anniversary to make public, what those closest to me have known privately for some time, that after seven increasingly tumultuous parliaments, this will be my last.”

The former justice minister removed a post from his website and Twitter feed last month in which he had claimed Khan was the victim of a “dreadful miscarriage of justice”, after the Wakefield MP was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008.

Khan was thrown out of the Tory Party following the verdict and Mr Blunt had come under pressure from the Conservative hierarchy to withdraw his initial statement.

Mr Blunt later said he had decided to retract his statement and insisted: “I do not condone any form of abuse and I strongly believe in the independence and integrity of the justice system.”

He also offered his resignation as chairman of an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on LGBT issues, following protests from MPs about his comments.

Mr Blunt was elected as Conservative MP for Reigate, Surrey, in the general election of May 1997, defeating the incumbent Sir George Gardiner, who had switched from the Tories to the Referendum Party.

He served as a justice minister from 2010 to 2012, as a whip when the Conservatives were in opposition and on several committees.

In a submission to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Germany says Italy continues to allow cases in its domestic courts despite a 2012 ruling that such claims were inadmissible.

It says that, since that ruling, over 25 new cases have been filed in Italy.

In some of those, the courts have ruled that Germany should pay compensation.

Berlin says it is bringing the complaint now because of two ongoing cases that could see properties in Rome owned by the German state seized to finance compensation payments.

A court in Italy says it will decide by 25 May whether to force the sale of certain buildings, some of which house German cultural, historical, and educational institutions.

The dispute dates back to 2008, when Italy’s highest court ruled that Germany should pay around €1m (£840,000) to relatives of nine people who were among 203 killed by German forces in Tuscany in 1944.

Germany argues it has already paid out billions of euros to countries impacted by World War II since the conflict ended in 1945.

Its filing cites a part of the 2012 ruling that says that, by allowing the claims in its courts, Italy had “violated its obligation to respect the immunity which the Federal Republic of Germany enjoys under international law”.

It can take years for the ICJ to issue rulings, but Germany has asked the court to take measures to stop Italy auctioning off any property while its broader case is being considered.

The ICJ, based in The Hague, the Netherlands, is the principal judicial body of the UN, with one of its primary roles being the resolution of legal disputes between states.

He is the first leader to speak at the event, where the president faces friendly mocking in front of an audience of journalists, since 2016.

It was cancelled for two years due to the pandemic and was boycotted by Donald Trump when he was in office.

Comedian and The Daily Show host Trevor Noah headlined the event.

Celebrities joined renowned journalists and high-ranking US officials for the gala – an American press tradition dating back to 1921.

Kim Kardashian, Pete Davidson, Drew Barrymore and Chris Tucker were among the celebrity guests.

Mr Biden addressed the fact that he is the first president to attend the event since 2016 with a barb aimed at Donald Trump.

“This is the first time a president has attended this dinner in six years. It’s understandable, we had a horrible plague followed by two years of Covid,” he said.

When he took to the stage later, Noah added: “It’s actually nice to, once again, have a president who is not afraid to come to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and hear jokes about himself.”

The president also faced his share of roasts.

Noah told Mr Biden: “Ever since you’ve come into office, things are really looking up. Gas is up, rent is up, food is up. Everything.”

“President Biden’s lack of a filter does get him into hot water sometimes,” he added. Last month he caused a huge international incident saying that Vladimir Putin should be removed from power.

“It was very, very upsetting to Russia. Until someone explained to them that none of the stuff Biden wants actually gets done.”

Covid-19 cases in Washington have risen in recent weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Organisers have required that guests be tested for the virus, and some top officials, including infectious disease expert Dr Antony Fauci, 81, dropped out.

The president skipped the dinner portion of the evening and attended only the speakers program.

In recent weeks, Mr Biden has mostly not worn a mask at crowded White House events. However, those occasions had lower attendance than Saturday’s dinner, which was expected to seat about 2,600 people.

He poked fun at Fox News hosts in attendance – many of whom have shared scepticism of vaccines on air – by pointing out they had to prove their vaccination status in order to attend.

He could also not resist a jab at Russian President Vladimir Putin in his closing remarks, before handing over to host Trevor Noah.

“Trevor, the really good news is, now you get to roast the president of the United States. And unlike in Moscow, you won’t go to jail.”

“I wasn’t sure I’d make it back to Kyiv so coming back is an extraordinary thing,” Melinda Simmons said in an interview with the Observer.

“It absolutely feels like the right place to be,” she said, although she acknowledged the potential risks.

Russia has previously made threats against diplomats based in Kyiv.

Earlier this week, a Russian statement said forces were primed to carry out strikes against “decision-making centres in Kyiv”. It added that the presence of foreign advisers in those sites “will not necessarily be a problem to Russia deciding to take retaliatory action”.

Britain started withdrawing some embassy staff from Kyiv in January, shortly before the war started. Ms Simmons left Kyiv in late February, although stayed in Ukraine for a little while longer before returning to London.

But Boris Johnson announced last month that the British embassy in Kyiv would be reopening.

Ms Simmons told the newspaper that as she drove into the city on Friday she got “a real sense of what was going on… and it’s truly shocking”.

“But what is equally extraordinary is to see how Ukraine kept Russia out of Kyiv. Every way in which Ukraine has been able to do that is a thing to celebrate and to treasure,” she said.

Russian forces withdrew from around Kyiv after failing to seize the city, and is now instead focusing its assault on the eastern Donbas region.

Ms Simmons said she expected the war would likely last “certainly through this year and probably through next year”, which chimes with other warnings from the West that they must be prepared for the long haul.

And she made clear she was not minimising the risk facing her, adding: “I am here with a heightened level of security protection and bearing in mind that potential risk, but for now I feel comfortable working under those circumstances.”

Although the PM said the embassy was reopening soon, Ms Simmons said the Kyiv embassy had not yet reopened and they were not running a consular service.

She also repeated the British government’s advice that UK citizens should not travel to Ukraine. Earlier this week, the Foreign Office announced one British national was killed and another was missing.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the phone on Saturday, and was given an update on the fighting in eastern Ukraine, as well as the situation in the southern port city of Mariupol.

Mr Johnson confirmed the UK would continue to provide additional military aid for Ukraine to defend themselves, Downing Street said.

“The leaders also discussed progress of the UN-led effort to evacuate Mariupol and concern for the injured there. The prime minister offered the UK’s continued economic and humanitarian support,” a Downing Street spokesperson added.

Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle said “radical action” and a review of working practices was needed.

Meanwhile, former leader of the house Dame Andrea Leadsom backed setting up a human resources department.

The calls for reform come amid reports more than 50 MPs are facing allegations of sexual misconduct.

Multiple claims of bullying and sexual misconduct by MPs have emerged in recent weeks, culminating on Saturday in the resignation of MP Neil Parish – after he admitted to having twice watched pornography in Parliament.

Mr Parish told the BBC it had been a “moment of madness” and what he did “was absolutely totally wrong”.

His resignation will now trigger a by-election in his constituency of Tiverton and Honiton in Devon, which is a safe Conservative seat.

Among those calling for change is Ms Leadsom, the former leader of the Commons, who in 2018 spearheaded the creation of the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme which looks into claims of bullying and sexual harassment. Mr Parish’s case had also been referred to the ICGS.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, she said she believes the ICGS is still fit for purpose, but one key problem the scheme faces is it has not been able to employ a sufficient number of specialist investigators.

She said: “Things haven’t changed and that’s because there aren’t enough cases coming through and it’s taking too long for investigations to come to and end.

“It’s only when you see people being blind drunk and subject to the appropriate sanctions that people will start to think twice about their behaviour”.

She said Parliament should have a human resources department for staff.

Meanwhile, writing in the Observer, Sir Lindsay said he wanted to ensure Parliament was a “safe and inclusive” place to work and people felt supported and the serious allegations which have emerged must be addressed as a “matter of urgency”.

He also questioned whether MPs should be employers of their own staff and asked whether an outside body or other alternative could act as employer, as long as the MP was able to choose their staff.

This proposal for staff not to be employed by parliamentarians would mean new staff being “employed on standard terms and conditions”, he said.

Sir Lindsay wrote: “In my opinion, it is time to consider radical action, and review structures and processes that could make a difference.

“Some serious allegations have been made, and we must address them as a matter of urgency. It is imperative we do the right thing by staff and MPs as well.”

He added that work was under way to establish a “Speaker’s Conference” as soon as possible to consider these issues and suggested looking at practices in other parliaments around the world.

Meanwhile Oliver Dowden, the Conservative Party chairman, repeated a commitment from Boris Johnson to ensure half of Conservative candidates standing in the next election are women.

He told the Sunday Telegraph the Tories needed to ensure their candidate list “reflects the fact that half the population are women”. About a quarter of Conservative candidates at the 2019 election were women, while more than half of Labour candidates were women.

It has been a turbulent few weeks in Westminster, with three cabinet ministers reportedly among the 56 MPs facing allegations of sexual misconduct that have been referred to the ICGS.

As the beginning of April, Conservative MP David Warburton was suspended from the party pending an investigation into alleged sexual harassment.

A few weeks later it emerged Labour MP Liam Byrne is due to be suspended for two days from the Commons for bullying a former staff member.

And Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan resigned from parliament after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.