Month: July 2022

Only Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, and Liz Truss remain in the race after Kemi Badenoch was eliminated on Tuesday.

Mr Sunak is still the frontrunner, with Ms Mordaunt and Ms Truss vying for the second spot in the final round.

Conservative Party members will vote over the summer, with a result to be announced on 5 September.

Tuesday’s vote saw Mr Sunak gain the support of three MPs to bring his total to 118, just short of the 120 he needs to qualify for the run-off.

Who could be the next prime minister?
BBC to host TV debate for last two Tory candidates
Kemi Badenoch fails to make final three in Tory leadership contest
Ms Mordaunt gained 10 votes to bring her total to 92, while Ms Truss gained 15 to close the gap and bring her total to 86.

Ms Badenoch gained one vote to reach 59 overall, but remained in last place and was knocked out of the contest.

Which of Ms Mordaunt and Ms Truss makes it to the final two is now likely to depend on who can attract the most support from those MPs who supported Ms Badenoch.

One of them, Ben Bradley, said he thought Ms Badenoch’s voters could go “in all directions” and that he had not yet decided who to back on Wednesday.

Graphic showing the result of the fourth round
IMAGE SOURCE,.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who is backing Ms Truss, said Tuesday’s result showed she “has the momentum” and had gained the support of a wide range of Conservative MPs.

Former Culture Secretary Maria Miller, a Mordaunt supporter, said she would offer the membership a “fresh choice” and the campaign was now focused on winning over Badenoch supporters.

The campaigns have also accused one another of transferring votes to their rivals as part of a strategy to improve their own position.

Speaking to LBC Radio, former cabinet minister David Davis, who is backing Ms Mordaunt, said it was the “dirtiest campaign” he had ever seen.

“Rishi [Sunak] just reallocated some… He wants to fight Liz, because she’s the person who will lose the debate with him,” he said.

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Analysis box by Chris Mason, political editor
There has been day after day of smiles and visions, promises and hustings.

But it now boils down to a final vote of Conservative MPs here, between 1pm and 3pm this afternoon, to decide which two of the three remaining candidates get a golden ticket to the run off vote among Tory party members.

Right now, the final realignment is underway.

Votes are fluid. Even if a candidate’s numbers don’t appear to move much between votes, they can still have gained some and lost others.

Chris Mason: Real jeopardy as Tories pick final two
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It is hard to judge who is most likely to win the run-off vote because participation in existing polling is low, but a YouGov survey of 725 party members on Monday and Tuesday suggested Mr Sunak would lose to either Ms Mordaunt or Ms Truss in a head-to-head.

The poll had Ms Mordaunt beating Ms Sunak by 51% to 37% and Ms Truss beating him by 54% to 35%.

The current size of the Tory party membership is not known for certain, but at the last leadership election in 2019 it was around 160,000, and is thought to have grown since.

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday renewed his threat to “freeze” the NATO membership bids of both Sweden and Finland unless the military alliance complies with Ankara´s conditions.

At a NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June, Erdogan called on the two countries to “do their part” in the fight against terrorism, and accused them of providing a haven for outlawed Kurdish militants.

Speaking Monday, the eve of three-way summit with Russia and Iran, Erdogan told reporters; “I want to reiterate once again that we will freeze the process if these countries do not take the necessary steps to fulfil our conditions”.

“We particularly note that Sweden does not have a good image on this issue,” the Turkish leader added.

Earlier this month NATO kicked off the accession procedures for Sweden and Finland after a deal was struck with Turkey, which had blocked the Nordic nations from joining.

Erdogan has accused both countries of being havens for Kurdish militants, specifically highlighting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers´ Party (PKK) he has sought to crush, and for promoting “terrorism”.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price did not respond directly when asked about Erdogan´s remarks but referred to Turkey´s green light during the NATO summit to the Nordic nations´ NATO membership.

“Turkey, Finland, Sweden — they signed a trilateral memorandum in Madrid to set this process in motion,” Price told reporters.

“The United States will continue to work with those three countries to see to it that this accession process and ratification — here and around the world — is as swift and efficient as it can possibly be,” he said.

Erdogan is due to board a plane to Tehran on Monday evening for talks on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi, from whom he hopes to get the green light for armed intervention in northwest Syria.

Ankara has been threatening since late May to launch an operation to create a 30-kilometre (19-mile) “security zone” along its border to tackle Kurdish fighters waging an insurgency against the Turkish state.

Both Tehran and Moscow have already expressed their opposition to such an offensive.

Russia, Turkey and Iran are all major players in the war that has ravaged Syria since 2011, with Moscow and Tehran supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad and Ankara supporting rebels.

The ruling party PML-N has decided not to hold early polls in the country after the party suffered a heavy defeat from rival PTI in the Punjab by-elections on May 17,

The recent development came late Monday, a day after PTI’s landslide victory in the Punjab by-polls that has paved the way for PTI to elect its chief minister for the province as it has a clear majority in the provincial assembly after winning 15 seats.

After losing the by-polls by a heavy margin, it was speculated that the PML-N leadership was mulling over an early election in the country, which was subsequently endorsed by Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah.

“The idea of early election is on the cards but the final decision in this regard will be mutually made by the coalition parties. The decision will be made after we present the matter before the parties,” the interior minister had said.

 

According to sources, however, the PML-N held a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair, during which the defeat in the Punjab by-polls and other political matters were discussed.

Sources said that during the meeting, it was decided that the government will complete its constitutional term, but that PML-N will inform the coalition partners about its decision today.

Meanwhile, PM Shehbaz has summoned a coalition partners meeting today to deliberate over the political situation.

PTI turns the tables on PML-N, snatches Punjab back in by-polls

Celebrations in the PTI camp were in full swing Sunday night as preliminary, unofficial results in the by-election on 20 constituencies of Punjab showed the party had decimated its rival, the PML-N, in the contest to snatch back control of the province.

According to the unofficial final count from Sunday’s polls, the PTI won 15 seats, while the PML-N managed to clinch victory in only four, and an independent candidate grabbed one.

Nawaz, Zardari, Fazl talk strategy after PML-N loses Punjab

After PML-N’s humiliating defeat in the Punjab by-elections, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had spoken over the phone to discuss the country’s political situation a day earlier.

The three leaders had reportedly agreed that a detailed plan of action will be adopted in consultation with other allies.

According to the sources, Nawaz, Zardari and Maulana Fazl reviewed the results of the Punjab by-elections and discussed the future strategy of the coalition government in Punjab and the centre.

PARIS: The governments of France and the United Arab Emirates signed on Monday a strategic agreement to cooperate in the energy sector, the French government said.

The partnership aimed to identify joint investment projects in France, the UAE or elsewhere in the sectors of hydrogen, renewable and nuclear energy, the French government said in a statement.

“In the currently uncertain energy context, this agreement will pave the way for a stable long-term framework for cooperation, opening the way for new industrial contracts,” it added.

 

 

The deal coincides with the visit to Paris of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan between July 17-19, his first overseas state visit since taking over from his half-brother in May.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile appointed an acting security chief, having announced the suspension of senior law enforcement officials late on Sunday.

Rescue workers in blue helmets were digging through debris and clearing rubble from a collapsed two-storey building in Toretsk in the industrial east that was struck by Russian artillery early on Monday.Emergency services said five people had been pulled dead from the rubble, while a sixth, seriously wounded, had died in hospital.

Toretsk, a town of around 30,000 residents, lies 50 kilometres south of Kramatorsk, a key target for Russian forces, who invaded Ukraine in late February. Russia’s troops have made gains in the eastern region of Donbas recently, capturing the sister cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.

On Monday, pro-Moscow rebels claimed that their next target in Donbas — the town of Siversk — was under their control, an announcement that could not be independently verified.

Grain supply talks

Kyiv, Zelensky appointed 39-year-old Vasyl Malyuk — first deputy head of the SBU security services since March — as acting chief after pulling Ivan Bakanov from the post.

Andriy Smirnov, a deputy head of the presidential administration told Ukrainian television Monday that Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and Bakanov had been suspended to prevent them “potentially influencing criminal proceedings against employees of the Security Service of Ukraine”.

The night before, Zelensky said security officials were investigating more than 650 cases of suspected treason and aiding and abetting Russia, including 60 cases of officials in Russian-occupied territories working against Ukraine.

In Brussels, the EU’s foreign policy chief warned that Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports was threatening grain supplies to tens of thousands of people vulnerable to starvation and said it must end.

“It’s an issue of life and death for many human beings. And the question is that Russia has to de-block and allow Ukrainian grain to be exported,” Josep Borrell told reporters.

Zelensky tweeted that he had had talks with Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. “Discussed the importance of resuming Ukrainian grain exports to prevent a global food crisis provoked by Russia,” he wrote.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are due to meet UN and Turkish diplomats in Istanbul Wednesday to try to agree an end to the months-long blockade of Ukraine’s ports.

Kremlin advisor Yury Ushakov meanwhile said the impasse would feature in talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan Tuesday in Tehran.

Stay with sanctions: Borrell

Borrell urged the EU not to falter on sanctions against Russia, insisting that they were working, days after Hungarian leader Viktor Orban said the penalties were harming Europe more than Russia. “It is what we had to do, and we will continue doing,” Borrell said.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned against “backing down and bowing to” Putin’s demands “will not work, it has never worked.” “This is a trap,” he said.

Aviv Kohavi’s three-day trip is the first official visit of an Israeli army chief to the North African kingdom.

Kohavi will meet Morocco’s minister delegate in charge of defence administration, Abdellatif Loudiyi, as well as the Inspector General of the Royal Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Belkhir El Farouk, and senior defence officials, an Israeli spokesman said.

Morocco had cut relations with Israel in 2000 following the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada, but re-established ties two decades later in a deal that saw Washington recognise Rabat’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara.

Since then, a steady stream of Moroccan and Israeli officials have visited each others’ countries and signed cooperation deals in various fields.

They have included Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz, who on a visit to the kingdom in November last year signed a security agreement making it easier for Rabat to acquire high-tech exports from Israel’s defence industry.

Last month, Israeli military observers for the first time attended the annual “African Lion” military exercise — vast drills involving thousands of personnel from several nations, co-organised by Morocco and the United States.

And in March, an Israeli army delegation met with Moroccan officers in Rabat, in the first visit of its kind since the 2020 normalisation deal, signing a military cooperation agreement.

The North African kingdom’s mending of relations with Israel re-ignited its long-standing rivalry with Algeria, which in August last year cut diplomatic ties with Rabat.

Algiers cited “hostile acts” and Morocco’s relations — including on military and security issues — with “the Zionist entity”, referring to Israel.

Morocco considers the Western Sahara an integral part of the kingdom, while the Algeria-backed Polisario Front has long demanded an independence referendum there.

LAHORE: Following the PML-N’s thumping defeat at the hands of PTI in the Punjab by-elections, the party’s supremo, Nawaz Sharif, blamed the “difficult decisions” taken by the centre for its failure.

As per the preliminary and unofficial results, PTI has swept the Punjab by-polls, remaining victorious on 15 seats out of 20, while the ruling PML-N suffered a bitter defeat managing to get only four seats.

Sources close to daily Jang said that Nawaz said that his party paid the price of “difficult decisions” taken by the coalition government.

Sources privy to the development said that the PML-N leader had spoken to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz and discussed the party’s future strategy in view of the by-elections’ results. He also directed them to convene an emergency meeting of the party.

 

 

“We respect public opinion,” sources quoted the PML-N leader as saying.

‘PML-N should accept results with an open heart’

Earlier, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz took to her Twitter handle saying that the defeat should be accepted with an open heart after the unofficial results started pouring in, showing the PTI in the lead.

“The PML-N should accept the results of the by-polls with an open heart and concede to the decision of the masses,” Maryam wrote.

She added that winning and losing were part of politics, therefore, the party should now focus on its weaknesses, identify them, and then overcome them.

“God willing, everything will be fine,” she said.