Markus Andrews

A senior British official will meet with rival Northern Ireland party leaders Monday to press them to re-establish a power-sharing government amid uncertainty after Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein scored a historic victory in local elections.Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis will meet the leaders of the five parties that formed the last Executive, or devolved government, before it collapsed in February. “The people of Northern Ireland deserve a stable and accountable devolved government and I will continue to urge the leaders of Northern Ireland political parties to fulfil their responsibilities and form an Executive as soon as possible,” Lewis said.“I will remain in close contact with the party leaders but it is for the parties to agree on a way forward,” he added.Sinn Fein, which seeks union with Ireland, overtook the rival Democratic Unionist Party in last week’s Northern Ireland Assembly elections to become the first Irish nationalist party to top the voting in Northern Ireland’s history. It was a milestone for a party long associated with the paramilitary group Irish Republican Army, which sought to use violence to take Northern Ireland out of U.K. rule.But it’s unclear what role Sinn Fein will now take in government. While it has the right to the role of Northern Ireland’s first minister, a functioning Executive cannot be formed unless the DUP, as the largest unionist party, agrees to take the role of deputy minister under the region’s mandatory power-sharing rules. The DUP has maintained it will not return to government unless their demands over post-Brexit customs arrangements are met. The unionists are strongly opposed to new customs and border checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. that were introduced after Britain’s exit from the European Union. The special arrangement was meant to prevent the return of a hard land border with the Republic of Ireland. But unionists argue that the new checks have created a barrier between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. that undermines their British identity, and want them scrapped.Northern Ireland has been without a functioning government since February when the DUP’s leader quit as first minister in protest over the post-Brexit rules, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.Britain’s Conservative government is trying to get the EU to agree to major changes, but negotiations have faltered. Officials have acknowledged that they must address the post-Brexit challenges to bring stability to Northern Ireland. More

Vladimir Putin is spouting “fairytale claims” when falsely alleging that Nato is preparing for an invasion of Russian land, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said.The Russian president used a military parade in Moscow on Monday as an attempt to cast his invasion of Ukraine as a necessary response to Western policies.But Mr Wallace accused Mr Putin and his “utterly complicit” generals of “hijacking” the memory of Russian troops repelling the Nazis in the Second World War.Instead he said they are “inflicting needless suffering in the service of lowly gangsterism”.In Moscow, Mr Putin claimed that his attack on Russia’s neighbour was necessary to ward off “an absolutely unacceptable threat just next to our borders”.He reportedly added at the Victory Day celebrations that the West has been “preparing for the invasion of our land, including Crimea”.But, asked by journalists after a speech at London’s National Army Museum in Chelsea, south-west London, Mr Wallace bluntly denied that Nato and western allies have ever planned to attack Russia. More

Keir Starmer has pulled out of an event at which he would have faced questions about the police inquiry into whether he breached Covid rules with a beer and curry.Labour has declined to explain why its leader has cancelled the appearance at the Institute for Government on “meeting the challenges the country faces” ahead of Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech.The even offered Sir Keir a platform to pile further pressure on the government to show it is dealing with the cost of living crisis in the crucial unveiling of up to 30 bills for the new parliamentary session.But his attempts to build on last week’s encouraging local election results have been undermined by Durham Police looking again at the lockdown event in April last year, dubbed ‘Beergate’ by his enemies.The Labour leader was filmed drinking a beer while sharing a takeaway meal with party colleagues, at the end of a day spent campaigning for the council elections last year.He has insisted indoor gatherings, and eating and drinking during them, were allowed under the rules at the time if such meetings were “reasonably necessary for work”.The Conservatives have accused him of hypocrisy, after he called for Boris Johnson to resign for lying to parliament over the No 10 parties – which police have concluded did break Covid laws.Wes Streeting, the shadow education secretary, said he did not know why Sir Keir had cancelled his appearance, but told the BBC: “I just don’t understand the controversy.“I certainly don’t understand the comparison between that and the regular, repeated rule-breaking we saw in the heart of Downing Street.”New claims have fuelled the controversy, even as the crisis around the prime minister continues to grow with Scotland Yard handing out fines over a Christmas party in No 10 in December 2020.A leaked planning note showed Sir Keir and Mary Foy, the local MP, were scheduled to have dinner in the Labour office where he was working from 8.40pm to 10pm, and then return to his hotel.The Conservatives claimed this showed the meal was pre-planned, blowing apart the defence that around 15 people had the takeaway because there was nowhere else to eat.But Adam Wagner, a barrister specialising in lockdown rules, said the memo bolstered the chances of Sir Keir being cleared, because it made clear the purpose of the gathering was work.“I don’t really see how it could be a breach of the regulations,” he said, pointing out it was a “scheduled event as part of the leader of the opposition’s visit to Durham – during a local election campaign”.Separately, The Sunday Times quoted an unnamed source present at the event claiming Sir Keir did not return to work after his meal, as he has claimed.Tory ministers appear split on whether to call for the Labour leader to resign if he is fined, amid nervousness about how that could rebound on the prime minister’s position.Jacob Rees-Mogg said he should not – but the universities minister Michelle Donelan said he would have to “think long and hard” about quitting. More

A far-right group mocked up fake Labour and Conservative party leaflets as part of attempts to mislead voters during two parliamentary by-elections, according to a new documentary.Patriotic Alternative (PA) sought to persuade voters through their use of propaganda against voting for either the Labour Party or the Conservatives, the film claims.The group distributed thousands of fake leaflets that purported to be from Labour and published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), according to the Dispatches programme to be aired on Channel 4. More

Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested Sir Keir Starmer should not resign if he is fined by Durham Police over the beer and takeaway meal with colleagues during lockdown.Mr Rees-Mogg – who has previously dismissed the Partygate scandal as “fluff” – said the Labour leader should be left to get on with more important matters.It comes despite senior Tories’ attempts to step up pressure over the “Beergate” saga, with ministers demanding Starmer address “holes” in his account over the curry eaten at a Labour event last April.Asked by Andrew Neil on his new Channel 4 programme if he thought the Beergate row was also “fluff”, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “It must be in the same category of seriousness.”Asked if he should step down if fined, the senior Tory figure said: “I think he should pay a fine and talk about the issues of great importance.”The Brexit opportunities minister added: “The difficulty for Sir Keir is that he said, before the result of an investigation, that the prime minister should resign.”Mr Rees-Mogg said Partygate scandal was “fundamentally second tier” issue, adding: “The issue for [Starmer] is one of judgement. Did he get Partygate right? … This is the not the primary issue of our time.”The veteran interviewer joked about the saga at the start of The Andrew Neil Show. Seen eating a curry with a bottle of beer, Mr Neil said it was “not a party – it’s work event”.Durham Constabulary is now investigating claims that an event attended by Sir Keir and other senior party figures and activists while campaigning last year might have broken local Covid regulations.A leaked memo in The Mail on Sunday indicated that the takeaway meal in Durham had been planned as part of Sir Keir’s itinerary for from 8.40pm to 10pm on the day of campaigning last April.The only business listed after the dinner was for Sir Keir to walk back to his hotel, according to the report. The Labour leader has previously claimed he “paused for food” and continued working after the meal, saying “the idea that nobody works at 10 o’clock at night is absurd”.Separately, a source who was present at the event told the Sunday Times: “He did not go back to work to the best of my knowledge.” The same source said some Labour people “were just there for a jolly”.A spokesman for Starmer’s office said: “Keir was working, a takeaway was made available in the kitchen, and he ate between work demands. No rules were broken.”Deputy PM Dominic Raab accused Sir Keir of “complete hypocrisy” over the saga, telling Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News: “He needs to fess up and answer all of the holes in the account that he gave for that beer and curry event in Durham.”But Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy described Sir Keir as “Mr Rules” on Sunday, and said Tory ministers’ attacks over the Beergate saga were “frankly absurd and pretty desperate”.It comes as the Metropolitan Police are believed to have begun issuing more fines to Downing Street staff over gatherings held in government offices during Covid lockdown curbs.Scotland Yard is starting to hand out fines over a Christmas party held at No 10 on 18 December 2020, according to The Mirror.Scotland Yard would not confirm if fines had yet been issued over the event – held while London was in strict Tier 3 measures – but it is one of 12 events its Operation Hillman team is investigating.Mr Johnson was forced to address the issue of the 18 December bash after the explosive leak of a video showing staff holding a mock press conference and making jokes about a Christmas party.It led to the resignation of government aide Allegra Stratton and the announcement of an investigation by top civil servant Sue Gray’s investigation. More

Boris Johnson’s government is threatening to tear up the Northern Ireland protocol unless the EU agrees to ditch border checks soon, despite warnings the row could spark a “horrific” trade war.The Independent understands that foreign secretary Liz Truss is pushing for unilateral action unless there is a quick and significant change in stance by Brussels to remove checks on goods agreed in the Brexit withdrawal deal.A Foreign Office source said a compromise appeared unlikely after European Commission negotiator Maros Sefcovic recently made clear in a call to Ms Truss that the EU could not go beyond its existing proposals to ease only some checks.Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis – who heads to Stormont on Monday for crisis talks after Sinn Fein’s historic election victory – suggested that the government was ready to “do what we need to do” to override the protocol.Mr Lewis denied that the government was “dancing to the DUP’s tune”, with the unionist party refusing to enter into power-sharing arrangements with Sinn Fein until Downing Street scraps the protocol checks on goods coming from Great Britain into Northern Ireland.“It is really frustrating that the EU have not shown the flexibility we need to see to get that resolution,” Mr Lewis told Sky News on Sunday.On the prospect of legislation to override the protocol, Mr Lewis added: “We’ve always said we take nothing off the table, and that hasn’t changed. We will do what we need to do … There is a point we will have to make some decisions.”The Republic of Ireland government urged all parties to work together to re-establish a power-sharing executive after Sinn Fein emerged the largest party at the Stormont assembly for the first time.Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said the EU “has been willing to show a lot of flexibility over the last 12 months to try and find a basis for agreement”.Mr Coveney added: “We don’t need threats of unilateral action, unilateral legislation in Westminster. What we need is partnership and intense negotiations to try and finally settle the issues around the protocol without dismantling an international treaty.”With the EU unlikely to give into threats, UK food industry bosses told The Independent they fear that a trade war would lead to a further spike in supermarket prices, just as families are struggling to cope with soaring living costs.The EU Commission is prepared to take retaliatory trade action if No 10 tears up its commitment to uphold the protocol, say legal experts – including moves to slap tariffs on British goods.“The EU might take legal action initially, but there could be some punitive measures. If we end up with tariffs being applied on goods then that would be horrific. It will push up costs and prices,” said the British Meat Processors Association’s trade policy adviser Peter Hardwick.Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, said he expected a “ratcheting up” in the UK-EU row. “Tariffs would be a huge step backwards. They would add significant inflationary pressure to costs at all levels, through to the end consumer.” More

Senior Conservative MP Damian Green has called for an end to ministers’ “culture war” attacks on the BBC and the judiciary – saying the strategy was losing the party voters in the south of England.The former minister, influential leader of the One Nation caucus of backbenchers, said the poor local election results in so-called “blue wall” heartlands reflected distaste for an “embarrassing” government.Mr Green said he took “little consolation” from Labour’s struggle to make inroads in the north when so many traditional Tory voters were “distancing themselves” from the party in the south and in London.“They want a government that seeks to unite society, and resists the urge to declare culture wars on institutions like the judiciary or the BBC,” he said of southern Tories in an article for the Sunday Telegraph.“They believe Conservatism involves respect for institutions, not a revolutionary desire to smash them up. They also want a calm, competent government that is not embarrassing.”Culture secretary Nadine Dorries has stoked battles with the “lefty luvvie lynch mob” over the “outdated” BBC licence fee model and plans to privatise Channel 4.Mr Green’s intervention comes as the head of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) warned that the Channel 4 sell-off undermined the government’s “levelling up” agenda by risking jobs and investment in the north of England.Henri Murison, whose influential group is chaired by former Tory chancellor George Osborne, said the “incoherent” plan could be open to legal challenge.On the prospect of court action from production companies set to lose out, Mr Murison said: “When government ministers make decisions based on bad advice they shouldn’t be surprised when they are legally challenged.”Boris Johnson faces renewed pressure from his own benches to change course following Thursday’s elections, and is hoping to use Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech to show he is responding to the concerns of voters and moving on from scandals.Mr Green said the party must “rediscover the virtues that appeal to natural Conservatives in strong Conservative areas” – including reducing the tax burden to help those struggling with the rising cost of living.From the right of the party, former minister Sir John Redwood called for tax cuts and warned governments “are usually only swept from office when the economy goes into recession on their watch”.Levelling up secretary Michael Gove suggested that falling levels of home ownership were a key factor in the heavy local election losses – but insisted it would be “bonkerooney” to replace Mr Johnson over Partygate.The government’s plans to increase the supply of homes form part of its Levelling Up and Regeneration bill, set to be unveiled next week.The reforms also aim to revitalise high streets and town centres, including by giving councils extra powers to force landlords to rent out empty shops.The prime minister has also promised to deliver a “super seven” of Brexit bills that will cut red tape and “unnecessary barriers inherited from the EU”.Justice secretary Dominic Raab said “common sense” reforms to make it easier to deport foreign offenders as part of a shake-up of human rights laws are likely to feature in the Queen’s Speech.Mr Raab insisted that while the elections had been “challenging”, the PM would stay on at No 10. “I’m confident that he can and will win the next election,” he said.The deputy PM admitted the Liberal Democrat resurgence in the south of England would mean he faces a “tough fight” in his own Esher and Walton seat in Surrey.The Lib Dems say Mr Raab, Mr Redwood and Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond are among the top 10 Conservative MPs most at risk from a “blue wall backlash” at the next election. More

Boris Johnson’s strategist criticised the manner in which female Conservative MPs raised complaints about colleague Neil Parish for watching porn in parliament, it has been claimed.Deputy chief of staff David Canzini reportedly told No 10 staff that he was “shocked” that Tory MPs had chosen to raise the matter in an open forum – calling for “blue on blue” attacks to end.Mr Canzini suggested to government special advisers that such matters were best raised privately as he called for more party unity, according to the Sunday Times.“It felt really grubby. Several female spads special advisers looked uncomfortable,” one source told the newspaper about the strategist’s alleged comments at a meeting on Friday.“Dismissing the concerns of multiple female MPs as a shocking blue-on-blue attack is appalling … If this is the Conservative offering, we are screwed,” they added.Downing Street did not respond to request for comment on the story, but No 10 are said to have insisted that Mr Canzini did not explicitly single out the female MPs behind the complaint against Mr Parish.One senior female MP responded by saying there should be better “mechanism” so that MPs could raise their concerns about a colleague with the whips “with the confidence it would actually be acted upon”.She told the Sunday Times: “We do have to end the blue-on-blue attacks, but we can only do that by having proper respect for female colleagues. This epitomises the concerns about whether female colleagues are there to be tolerated or valued.”Neil Parish has resigned last weekend as the Tory MP Tiverton and Honiton after admitting watching pornography in the Commons, in what he described as a “moment of madness”.A female minister has initially raised that matter at a meeting at a meeting of Tory MPs and the chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris in Westminster the previous week, saying she had seen Mr Parish viewing adult material on his phone. Her complaint was backed up by a second female MP.It was not until after the story had broken in the press that the chief whip referred it to parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, which deals with allegations of harassment and bullying.Mr Heaton-Harris, criticised for reacting too slowly to the claim, wrote to MPs this week to acknowledge that “we need to do more to improve the culture we work in”.He said two female whips, Amanda Solloway and Rebecca Harris, would “look at how we can better respond to any welfare issues”.The chief whip also revealed that Foreign Office minister Amanda Milling had been asked to set up a “support group” for Tory colleagues dedicated to providing more guidance. More