A senior Conservative MP has suggested that the government’s move to privatise Channel 4 was done in “revenge” for the station’s “biased” coverage of Brexit.
Writing on Twitter, Mr Knight said: “Is this being done for revenge for Channel 4’s biased coverage of the likes of Brexit and personal attacks on the PM?
“Undoubtedly, across much of the party – there is a feeling of payback time and the word privatisation tickles the ivories of many.”
However Mr Knight said he would support the Media Bill as a way of reforming public service broadcasting – saying Channel 4 “will have greater freedom to compete once privatised and if managed well”.
The government is facing a growing backlash from Conservatives MPs over the plan, announced by Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, last night.
Meanwhile, Labour has stretched its lead over the Tories to seven points, according to a new poll. Savanta ComRes has the opposition on 40 per cent (+1) versus the Conservatives 33 per cent (-2).
The polling company surveyed 2,220 people between 1 and 3 April.
Liz Truss wants Russian economy pushed ‘back to Soviet era’ as 60% of Putin war chest frozen
Foreign secretary Liz Truss vowed to push Russia’s economy “back into the Soviet era”, as she urged European allies to go further on sanctions and end dependence on Moscow’s oil and gas.
Our politics reporter Adam Forrest has more details below:
We must ensure Ukraine doesn’t lose war, former Tory leader says
The West must ensure Ukraine does not lose the war, Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said.
In a speech on the threats posed to the free world by dictatorial regimes, including China and Russia, hosted by the Heritage Foundation, senior Conservative MP Sir Iain argued that since the ending of the Cold War, there has been “every reason to doubt the West’s resolve”.
He said: “They must win and we must help them do it. What defines winning the war is much more difficult but they mustn’t now lose.
“Sadly, I suspect as Putin heads east it will become a protracted process, a war of attrition. But we must stay the course.”
Fracking not the answer to energy crisis, says business secretary, as he orders review
The business secretary says fracking is not the answer to the UK’s energy crisis, as he orders a quickfire review into the danger of earthquakes.
The British Geological Survey will investigate whether the risks have altered since the government was forced to slap a moratorium on drilling for shale gas in 2019.
But Kwasi Kwarteng made clear his clash with Tory MPs demanding the ban is lifted, saying “the pause will remain in place” unless the scientific evidence has changed.
Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick reports:
What is behind the Tory backlash against Channel 4 privatisation?
If the government is to get its way, it will have to work hard to assure MPs that jobs – especially those outside of London – will somehow be protected during the process, writes Adam Forrest.
Read more of his analysis here:
Government’s LGBT business champion resigns
The Government’s LGBT business champion, Iain Anderson, has resigned in a letter to Boris Johnson, criticising the “deeply damaging” move to exclude trans people from protection from conversion therapy.
Mr Anderson wrote: “It has been the honour of my life to serve as the UKs first-ever LGBT+ business champion. However, I feel I have no choice but to tender my resignation from this role.
“I do this with a very heavy heart. As a young gay man I lived through fear and oppression under the backdrop of Section 28. I could never have dreamt then that a government – any government -would appoint an LGBT+ champion later in my lifetime.
“However the recent leaking of a plan to drop the Government’s flagship legislation protecting LGBT+ people from conversion therapy was devastating. Conversion therapy is abhorrent.
“Only hours later to see this plan retracted but briefing take place that trans people would be excluded from the legislation and therefore not have the same immediate protections from this practice was deeply damaging to my work.”
We need more defence aircraft, Ukraine MP says
Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian MP representing Odesa, said his country’s armed forces need weapons that can help defend against Russian air and battleship attacks.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, he said: “We need air defence, aircraft – that is the most important.
“We also need anti-ship missiles – we are thankful of the UK Government for Harpoons, but we need more.”
The politician said he thought it was Moscow’s mission to take the south of the country and cut Ukraine off from the Black Sea.
He added: “They still want to attack Odesa, to take Odesa, to cut Ukraine from the sea and to go to the border of the European Union, because Romania is already there – and (there are) Russians in Transnistria, an occupied part of the Moldovan republic.
“That is their strategic aim to go there. For the moment, they are unsuccessful but they will try again.”
Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian MP representing Odesa, said his country’s armed forces need weapons that can help defend against Russian air and battleship attacks.
The French elections are a test for Emmanuel Macron – and his politics of moderation
Reactivating his centrist base and reconnecting with ‘left behind’ voters will be vital if the success of ‘Macronisme’ is to survive Macron himself, writes Vince Cable
Read his full piece here:
ICYMI: Stonewall and 80 LGBTQ groups pull out of government conference over trans conversion U-turn
LGBTQ charity Stonewall and 80 other organisations have pulled out of a UK government conference over its transgender conversion therapy U-turn.
The LGBT+ Consortium, an umbrella body for charities working in the UK, said the government’s plans to scrap planned legislation to outlaw conversion practices was “abhorrent”.
My colleague Joe Middleton reports:
ICYMI: Leaving drinks for official who wrote Covid rules sees ‘more fines issued’
Metropolitan Police fines are believed to have been issued to staff who attended a leaving drinks party for the top government official who helped write Covid rules.
Staff who joined Kate Josephs’ “boozy” farewell bash at the Cabinet Office on 17 December 2020 have been handed Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs), according to The Telegraph.
Our politics reporter Adam Forrest has more details below:
Expel Russian ambassador and set up tribunal to prosecute Putin for war crimes, Labour says
Boris Johnson is being urged to toughen his stance amid worldwide revulsion at the brutality unleashed by Russian forces, revealed as its troops pull back from around Kyiv.
Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick has more details below:
