Month: May 2022

John Baron, David Simmonds, Stephen Hammond and Julian Sturdy have joined a list of Conservative MPs urging the prime minister to resign.

Mr Hammond said he “cannot and will not defend the indefensible”.

Mr Johnson has said he is “humbled” by Ms Gray’s findings, but did not lie to MPs and is not going to quit.

In a news conference on Wednesday, he said he wanted to “keep moving forward” and focus on the “people’s priorities”.

Labour’s shadow levelling-up secretary, Lisa Nandy, accused the prime minister of “passing off responsibility” for Partygate to junior staff, telling the BBC: “He’s not sorry that he did it, he’s sorry that he was caught.”

But Downing Street’s chief of staff, Stephen Barclay, said the prime minister had made a “significant change” to No 10 by shaking up his team and apologising for the lockdown-busting events.

Mr Johnson’s cabinet colleagues have rallied to his defence, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak telling the BBC he trusted the prime minister “100%”.

“Not only has he apologised and taken responsibility, he’s acted and learnt the lessons,” he added.

Conservative MPs can force a leadership contest if enough of them write letters of no confidence – the BBC is aware of about 18 who have done so, well short of the 54 needed.

But some may keep their letters private. Only the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, Sir Graham Brady, knows the precise number.

Mr Baron and Mr Simmonds went public with calls for the PM to resign on Thursday morning.

They released statements hours before Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled a new package of measures to help households with rising living costs.

Veteran Brexiteer Mr Baron said “the most serious charge” against the PM was the allegation that he knowingly misled Parliament about parties in Downing Street.

“Given the scale of rule-breaking in No 10, I can not accept that the prime minister was unaware,” Mr Baron said.

“Therefore, his repeated assurances in Parliament that there was no rule-breaking is simply not credible.”

The prime minister faces an inquiry by the Commons Privileges Committee about whether he lied to MPs. Under government guidelines, ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament are expected to resign.

In his statement, Tory MP David Simmonds said he had reflected on what the prime minister had said about Ms Gray’s report, and taken on board the views of his constituents.

He said it was “clear that while the government and our policies enjoy the confidence of the public, the Prime Minister does not”.

The latest MP to announce his move was Mr Hammond, a former minister, who indicated he had sent a letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson to the 1922 Committee.

The Wimbledon MP said since December he had been “critical of the prime minister’s behaviour and the culture that existed in Number 10”.

Sue Gray’s conclusions were “damning ” for the PM and the Civil Service, he added.

Mr Hammond said the Conservative party “cannot move on without regaining public trust and I am not sure that’s possible in the current situation”.

“All I can do as a backbencher is speak out and submit a letter.”

Earlier another Conservative MP, John Stevenson, told the BBC that he and his colleagues would make “final judgements” on Mr Johnson’s future in the next two to three weeks.

Mr Stevenson suggested that Tory MPs were asking themselves: “Can he change? Can he regain the public’s trust? Is he the right person to lead?”.

On Wednesday evening, backbencher Julian Sturdy said Ms Gray’s report showed Mr Johnson “has presided over a widespread culture of disregard for the coronavirus regulations”.

The long-awaited report by senior civil servant Sue Gray detailed examples of excessive drinking, mistreatment of cleaners and security staff and repeated Covid rule-breaking during the pandemic.

Addressing MPs on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said he took “full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch”.

He told MPs that when he had previously said “the rules and guidance had been followed at all times”, it had been “what I believed to be true”.

He said he had also apologised personally to Downing Street cleaners and custodians for the “unacceptable” behaviour of some of his officials.

Ms Gray’s report followed the conclusion of a separate Metropolitan Police investigation into lockdown parties in Downing Street and on other government offices.

The force handed out 126 fixed penalty notices for rule breaches, with the prime minister receiving a single fine for attending a birthday party in the Cabinet Room in June 2020.

He was found guilty of participating in and funding terrorist acts and involvement in criminal conspiracy.

Malik told the court he gave up arms in the 1990s. He was convicted last week.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Muslim-majority Kashmir since an armed revolt against rule by India, which is mostly Hindu, erupted in 1989.

The court in the capital Delhi gave Malik, 56, two life sentences and five 10-year jail terms, all to be served concurrently, NDTV reported.

“Verdict in minutes by Indian kangaroo courts,” Malik’s wife Mushaal Hussein wrote on Twitter, saying he would never surrender.

Shops in some areas of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir, were shut and police fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing protesters outside Malik’s residence. Mobile internet has been suspended in the region as a security precaution.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif of Pakistan, which disputes India’s claim to Kashmir, called it “a black day for Indian democracy”.

“India can imprison Yasin Malik physically but it can never imprison [the] idea of freedom he symbolises,” he tweeted.

India’s National Investigating Agency (NIA), which deals with anti-terror crimes, had demanded the death penalty for Malik, the leader of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmiri Liberation Front (JKLF). The defence had asked for life imprisonment.

Ahead of sentencing, he was escorted into the court surrounded by security forces.

Malik was arrested shortly after the JKLF was banned in 2019.

He did not contest the charges brought against him under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), as well as sedition and criminal conspiracy charges.

But a statement released by the JKLF after he was convicted last week called the charges “fabricated and politically motivated”.

“If seeking azadi [freedom] is a crime, then I am ready to accept this crime and its consequences,” it quoted Malik telling the judge.

He also told the court that after giving up weapons in 1994, he had “followed the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. Since then, I have been following non-violent politics in Kashmir.”

He challenged the Indian intelligence agencies to prove that he had been involved in any terror activity since then. The acts for which he was convicted took place in 2010 and 2016, prosecutors alleged.

The JKLF – which has sought independence for Kashmir from both India and neighbouring Muslim-majority Pakistan – was formed in 1977 with Amanullah Khan as its head.

He and Malik organised resistance to Indian rule with help from the then Pakistani military regime of General Zia-ul Haq.

Kashmir has been a flashpoint between the nuclear-armed neighbours for decades. Both India and Pakistan claim the entire valley, but control only parts of it.

India accuses Pakistan of backing militant groups based in Kashmir, which Pakistan denies.

It was a bomb attack by the JKLF in Srinagar on 31 July 1988 which in effect marked the start of the separatist insurgency against Indian rule in the region that has raged for more than three decades.

However, once the insurgency was successfully launched, correspondents say Pakistan withdrew support from the JKLF and instead backed groups that wanted Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan.

As a result, the JKLF found itself sandwiched between Indian security forces and pro-Pakistan militants. By 1990, much of its cadres had either been dispersed, destroyed or absorbed into other groups. Its leadership also split into factions, and some of them renounced militancy.

In August 2019, India’s BJP-led government stripped the state of Jammu and Kashmir of the limited autonomy it had had for seven decades, characterising it as the correction of a “historical blunder”.

Mr Trump recruited David Perdue, an ex-senator, to challenge incumbent Brian Kemp in the Republican primaries.

Mr Kemp had rejected Mr Trump’s pleas to overturn the 2020 Georgia election results.

But as ballots were counted, Mr Perdue was so far behind that he was defeated before half the votes were in.

The primary was being closely watched as a test of Mr Trump’s hold over the Republican party, as voters decide who will be the party’s official candidate in the midterm elections in November.

The midterms will decide who controls the two chambers which make up Congress – the Senate and the House of Representatives – and fall halfway through President Joe Biden’s term in office.

The result in Georgia sets up a general election rematch between Mr Kemp and Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams, who had accused the Republican of suppressing votes in her previous tilt at the governor’s seat in 2018.

In a speech after the results, Mr Kemp said: “Our battle is far from over. Tonight the fight for the soul of our state begins to make sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be our governor”.

Allegations of unfair voting practices are likely to emerge again in the crucial state, where a highly competitive Senate race is also due to take place in November.

Democrats wrested the state’s two Senate seats from Republicans in 2021 – including one from Mr Perdue – to gain a slim majority in the upper chamber of the US Congress.

However, one senator, Raphael Warnock, must now defend his post against Herschel Walker, a well-known former American football player, who is also backed by Mr Trump.

But the governor’s race was seen as the bigger test of the former president’s clout.

Mr Kemp, a staunch conservative, drew the former president’s ire after he certified that his state had been won by Joe Biden in 2020. Mr Trump had alleged that there were 11,000 votes for him to be found which would reverse the result, but the governor disagreed.

Georgia’s top election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who also refused Mr Trump’s entreaties at the time, won his bid for re-election on Tuesday.

Mr Trump’s claims that the election had been “stolen” from him has become a divisive issue within the party, splitting “establishment” Republicans from Trump populists, even dividing the former president’s own administration members.

In the primary, Mr Kemp was backed by Mr Trump’s former deputy, Vice President Mike Pence.

Separately, Mr Trump’s preferred candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania is also facing the prospect of defeat.

The Republican primary race between Mehmet Oz, a celebrity doctor backed by the ex-president, and David McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO is so tight that ballots are to be recounted, state officials said.

Tallies show the two candidates separated by just 902 votes, or approximately 0.1%.

Under state law, a recount must take place if the candidates are separated by 0.5% or less.

David Malpass told a US business event on Wednesday that it is difficult to “see how we avoid a recession”.

He also said a series of coronavirus lockdowns in China are adding to concerns about a slowdown.

His comments are the latest warning over the rising risk that the world economy may be set to contract.

“As we look at the global GDP… it’s hard right now to see how we avoid a recession,” Mr Malpass said, without giving a specific forecast.

“The idea of energy prices doubling is enough to trigger a recession by itself,” he added.

Last month, the World Bank cut its global economic growth forecast for this year by almost a full percentage point, to 3.2%.

GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, is a measure of economic growth. It is one of the most important ways of measuring how well, or badly, an economy is performing and is closely watched by economists and central banks.

It helps businesses to judge when to expand and recruit more workers or invest less and cut their workforces.

Governments also use it to guide decisions on everything from tax and spending. It is a key gauge, along with inflation, for central banks when considering whether or not to raise or lower interest rates.

Mr Malpass also said that many European countries were still too dependent on Russia for oil and gas.

That’s even as Western nations push ahead with plans to reduce their dependence on Russian energy.

He also told a virtual event organised by the US Chamber of Commerce that moves by Russia to cut gas supplies could cause a “substantial slowdown” in the region.

He said higher energy prices were already weighing on Germany, which is the biggest economy in Europe and the fourth largest in the world.

Developing countries are also being affected by shortages of fertiliser, food and energy, Mr Malpass said.

Mr Malpass also raised concerns about lockdowns in some of China’s major cities – including the financial, manufacturing and shipping hub of Shanghai – which he said are “still having ramifications or slowdown impacts on the world”.

“China was already going through some contraction of real estate, so the forecast of China’s growth before Russia’s invasion had already softened substantially for 2022,” he said.

“Then the waves of Covid caused lockdowns which further reduced growth expectations for China,” he added.

Also on Wednesday, China’s premier Li Keqiang said the world’s second largest economy had been hit harder by the latest round of lockdowns than it had been at the start of the pandemic in 2020.

He also called for more action by officials to restart factories after lockdowns.

“Progress is not satisfactory,” Mr Li said. “Some provinces are reporting that only 30% of businesses have reopened… the ratio must be raised to 80% within a short period of time.”

Full or partial lockdowns were imposed in dozens of Chinese cities in March and April, including a long shutdown of Shanghai.

The measures have led to a sharp slowdown in economic activity across the country.

In recent weeks, official figures have shown that large parts of economy have been impacted, from manufacturers to retailers.

Excessive drinking, mistreatment of cleaners and security staff and Covid rule-breaking was highlighted in civil servant Sue Gray’s report.

She said the leadership in No 10 “must bear responsibility” for its culture.

Some opponents have repeated their calls for Mr Johnson to quit.

However in a press conference on Wednesday, the prime minister ruled out resigning, saying: “I’ve got to keep moving forward.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had earlier called on Conservative MPs to remove him, saying it was time for Mr Johnson “to pack his bags”.

Addressing the Commons, Mr Johnson said he took “full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch”, had been “humbled” and learned lessons.

He told MPs that when he had previously said “the rules and guidance had been followed at all times”, it had been “what I believed to be true”.

He said he had attended events to wish staff who were leaving farewell and his attendance had not been found to be outside the rules.

“But clearly this was not the case for some of those gatherings after I had left and at other gatherings when I was not even in the building,” he added.

Mr Johnson said he had been “shocked” and “appalled” by some of Ms Gray’s findings, especially over the treatment of security and cleaning staff.

At the press conference later on Wednesday, he said a lot of the report which he had only seen for the first time on Wednesday had been “news to me”.

So where does all this leave the prime minister?

He apologised and, pointedly, went out of his way to explain why he believed he had not knowingly misled the Commons in his previous accounts of what happened.

This is crucial, because being proven to have intentionally lied to the House would cost him his job.

But the prime minister added that he didn’t think, at the time, he’d done anything wrong at the event that led to him being fined by police.

There is deep anger and embarrassment among many Tory MPs over what has happened. They know much of this can’t be easily excused or wished away.

But plenty of cabinet ministers have publicly expressed their loyalty to the prime minister.

You can read Chris’s full blog here.

In her 37-page report, Ms Gray was critical of what was going on in No 10 during Covid restrictions, including a “bring-your-own-booze” party in May 2020 and a surprise birthday celebration for Mr Johnson the following month.

She found:

One gathering not fully investigated by Ms Gray, was a reported party in the prime minister’s flat which she said she was only able to gather “limited” evidence about.

She stopped her inquiry into the 13 November 2020 gathering, which took place after the departures of aides Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings, after the police started its investigations. But once the police investigation finished Ms Gray “concluded it was not appropriate or proportionate” to carry out further inquiries.

Speaking in the Commons, Labour’s Sir Keir, who is himself being investigated by police over his own lockdown event, said the report “laid bare the rot” in No 10 and called on Tory MPs to tell Mr Johnson that the “game is up.”

Senior Tory backbencher Tobias Ellwood, a prominent critic of Mr Johnson, challenged him over the “damning report” which he said revealed an “absence of leadership, focus and discipline in No 10”.

He asked fellow Conservative MPs: “Are you willing day in and day out to defend this behaviour publicly?”

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford branded the Gray report “damning” and called the prime minister to resign for “orchestrating” the scenes in Downing Street.

And Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Any other PM would be forced to resign by a report as damaging as this, yet still Conservative MPs defend Johnson and allow him to cling on.”

But at the press conference the prime minister said: “I understand why people are indignant and why people have been angry at what took place.”

Pressed on whether he had ever considered resigning, he responded: “I overwhelmingly feel it is my job to get on and deliver.

“No matter how bitter and painful that the conclusions of this may be – and they are – and no matter how humbling they are, I have got to keep moving forward and the government has got to keep moving. And we are.”

According to a Tory source, at a meeting of the Conservative backbench group the 1922 Committee the prime minister later ruled out imposing a drinking ban in Downing Street, saying that “decompressing” at the end of a long working day should not mean “checking out at 4am absolutely legless, having been rude to a member of staff, having thrown up over a sofa”.

Mr Johnson told MPs he had already brought in senior Downing Street management changes recommended by Ms Gray.

He denied lying to Parliament over lockdown parties but admitted he had not been correct when saying the rules had been followed at all times.

The publication of Ms Gray’s findings follows the conclusion last week of a separate Metropolitan Police investigation last week into lockdown parties in Downing Street and on other government premises.

Eighty-three people were given a total of 126 fines for breaking Covid laws, including Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The prime minister is also under investigation by the Commons Privileges Committee over claims he misled Parliament over lockdown parties.

The government is to scrap a plan to give people £200 off bills from October which would be repaid over five years.

Instead, the BBC understands that sum will be increased and possibly doubled, and will not need to be paid back.

One-off payments to some vulnerable households and another cut in VAT on fuel could also be announced.

The support, to be announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak later, is expected to be largely funded by a windfall tax on oil and gas firms that could raise £7bn.

It comes a day after Sue Gray’s critical report into lockdown parties in Downing Street and follows intense pressure on the government to do more to help people with the cost of living crisis.

Labour has repeatedly called for a windfall tax on energy companies that have made bumper profits, in large part because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But until now the government had resisted calls to impose the one-off levy, with some senior members of the cabinet arguing it could deter energy firms from investing in the UK.

However, it is understood the prime minister has now sided with Mr Sunak who had been pushing for the tax.

But proposals to tax income from other electricity producers, such as some older windfarms and nuclear plants which have also seen windfall gains, have been shelved.

And companies that increase investment in the UK could earn a discount on the additional tax.

The Treasury said the government understood “that people are struggling with rising prices” and that Mr Sunak had been “clear that as the situation evolves, so will our response”.

The announcement of more support comes after the UK’s energy regulator Ofgem warned this week that the typical household energy bill was set to rise by £800 in October, bringing the typical household bill to £2,800 a year. Bills had already risen on average by £700 in April.

Ofgem warned it meant 12 million households could be placed into fuel poverty.

Most people living in homes in England in council tax bands A-D have already received a £150 rebate on their bills.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said it was important most of the government support was targeted at those on the lowest incomes.

He told the BBC offering a universal payment would mean a lot of the money would go to households who “don’t desperately need it”.

He also warned putting billions of pounds into the economy at a time when prices were rising quickly “could stoke additional demand and make the inflation much more permanent”.

Energy firms have made huge profits following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Shell reported a record £7bn profit in the first three months of this year while BP made £5bn, the highest for 10 years.

But Offshore Energies UK, which represents the offshore oil and gas industry, said a windfall tax on energy firms would see higher prices and do long-term damage to the oil and gas industry.

Deirdre Michie, chief executive of the body, said: “This is an industry that thinks and plans long-term, so sudden new costs, like this proposed tax, will disrupt planning and investment and, above all, undermine investor confidence.”

Higher energy bills are pushing prices to rise at the fastest rate for 40 years, with fuel and food costs also biting into household budgets.

Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said conditions in the global gas market had worsened after Russia’s invasion and warned that the price cap could rise beyond £2,800 if Moscow decided to disrupt supplies.

Europe gets about 40% of its natural gas from Russia, so sudden supply cuts could have a huge economic impact.

While the UK would not be directly impacted by supply disruption – as it imports less than 5% of its gas from Russia – it would be affected by prices rising on global markets as demand in Europe increased.

Mr Brearley told MPs price rises in the gas market were “a once-in-a-generation event not seen since the oil crisis of the 1970s”.