Markus Andrews

A 15-year-old boy was left feeling “scared, vulnerable, numb and shocked” after he was allegedly groped in his bunkbed by a Tory MP, a court was told on Wednesday. Imran Ahmad Khan, 48, MP for Wakefield, is on trial for sexually assaulting the then-teenager at a house in Staffordshire in January 2008. The complainant, now 29, detailed how he ran “as fast as I could” to his mother after the alleged assault and told her “that guy was trying to touch me”.The Conservative MP had been at the house for a family party and was staying in a bed in the same room as the 15-year-old and his brother, the court was told. The alleged victim described how he had been in his bunk bed in a sleeping bag and under a duvet because it was cold in the room at the top of the house. Around the top-bunk there was a wooden bar to prevent whoever was sleeping there from failing, the court heard. When the two boys turned the lights out and went to bed, the teenager could hear Khan’s “heavy breathing”. “He started off at the end of my bed where the bookcase was,” he told the police in a video interview that was played to jurors at Southwark Crown Court. “He would put his hand through the bar and try and touch my feet. I was in my bed I had… my duvet on top of me. Also had a sleeping bad that I was in.“He kept trying to get in to feel my feet and he couldn’t get to them because of the sleeping bag and he started working his way around the bed to my left and kept sort of trying to get in and was feeling up my leg and kept sort of going in.”The complainant told officers how he had been “leaning all the way over the other side of the bed” to try and get away from Imran Khan’s probing hands.“I kept sort of pushing his hand away pushing it back and it kept, sort of kept coming. “And then he went over the bar and I thought as long as it doesn’t get to my groin it’s okay.”He continued: “There were pockets where [the sleeping bag] opened up and there was quite a big pocket and he managed to get in one at that point I kind of froze and I didn’t really know what to do. “He went into the sleeping bag… lifted his arm up over the bar.. and then got to my groin and I freaked out really and I jumped out of bed.“I ran as fast as I could. I ran to my mum and I just told her that that guy was trying to touch me.” More

A Tory MP has demanded easier access to the UK for rich Qataris as the “right” type of immigrant – and a crackdown on refugees arriving in “rubber boats”.Bill Wiggin demanded an explanation for the hold-up in removing the need for visas for super-rich visitors from the Middle East country, long condemned for its human right record.“The only people who are turning up, turn up in rubber boats,” he told Boris Johnson, asking: “Why can’t we get the right people through our immigration system’ instead of the wrong ones?”The comments came during a Commons committee meeting, in which the former shadow minister appeared frustrated at the focus on help for refugees from Ukraine.He urged the prime minister to look at the other “end of the spectrum,” telling him: “We have, on at least three occasions, promised the Qataris visa-free access.“These are very wealthy people who are unlikely to stay. And yet, despite saying we do it three times, we still haven’t delivered.”Mr Wiggin – who recently declared a Qatar-funded £2,740 trip to the country, in the Commons register – then added: “We want Qataris. We don’t want people in rubber boats.”In response, Mr Johnson said the current Borders Bill – which will criminalise refugees crossing the Channel – would help stop what he called “the cruel trading of people”.He also revealed he had spoken recently with the Emir of Qatar about removing the need for visas, saying: “We are likely to see progress very soon.”The comments came as the prime minister admitted the under-fire Homes for Ukraine scheme could be “abused” by traffickers or sex offenders.He again claimed he did not know how many refugees have arrived in the UK through the sponsorship route, despite being asked the same question three hours earlier.Mr Johnson was then alerted to fears that it “risked operating as Tinder for sex traffickers”, without monitoring of attempts to match up refuges with host families online.Asked whether the National Crime Agency should investigate adverts on social media, he told the Commons liaison committee: “Certainly.”The prime minister added: “The Homes for Ukrainians scheme has got to be something we’re very generous [with], we open our arms.“But we also make sure that that scheme is not itself being abused – and not by the Ukrainians, but by people who maybe have bad motives.”Mr Johnson defended the issuing of just 2,700 visas under the sponsorship scheme – from just under 60,000 applications – with an unknown number of arrivals.“The numbers are going up quite steeply. I think they’ll continue to rise for a while to come. I think it’s going to be a great thing,” he said. More

Transport secretary Grant Shapps has urged a government regulator to disqualify P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite on the basis he is “unfit to lead a British company”.The cabinet minister said he had written to the Insolvency Service “conveying my firm belief” that Mr Hebblethwaite should longer be in charge of the under-fire ferry operator.“I have asked them to consider his disqualification,” said Mr Shapps told the Commons on Wednesday as he set out his nine-point plan to crack down on “sharp” practices after P&O sacked 800 workers without warning.Mr Shapps said he had asked British ports to immediately refuse access to ferry services paying below the existing minimum wage – saying the government would consult on legislative changes to make it a legal requirement.“I want to see British ports refusing access to ferry companies who don’t pay a fair wage, as soon as practical,” Mr Shapps told parliament.P&O’s decision to layoff hundreds of workers and replace them with cheaper agency staff, paid at rates below the minimum wage, has provoked widespread anger among MPs and trade unions.Mr Shapps announced several measure in response to the P&O decision – including efforts to seek international “minimum wage corridors” with allies such as France, and extra resources for the HMRC to enforce the minimum wage.He said the government would bring in a new “statutory code of practice” to discourage firms from “hire and refire” tactics and boost compensation – but stopped short of the complete ban called for by Labour.The transport secretary also vowed to “take action” on the loophole which saw P&O Ferries fail to give notice to ministers on mass redundancies because of an exemption on ships registered overseas.Mr Shapps said the government would reform tonnage tax so more maritime businesses would have red tape removed and be “set up in the UK” – thus bringing bring more ships under UK control. More

Boris Johnson has told MPs that Britain is looking at “going up a gear” in its military assistance to Ukraine, potentially supplying armoured vehicles to help relieve the besieged city of Mariupol.And the prime minister said that in the long term, the UK and its Western allies need to undertake a “total rethink” of the way that Ukraine and other former Soviet states are protected from Russian aggression, ensuring that they are so fortified with Nato weapons that Moscow would not dare invade.Mr Johnson indicated that Ukraine cannot expect to receive full Nato membership, with the guarantee of military protection offered by Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty. But he suggested that Nato weaponry could ensure – like the quills on a porcupine – that the country is “indigestible” to any invading army.Speaking to the House of Commons Liaison Committee, Mr Johnson again cautioned allies against easing sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime in response to a Russian ceasefire, insisting that a full withdrawal of troops is required before any relaxation of measures can be contemplated.And he appeared to agree with Tory MP Tom Tugendhat that this should include withdrawal from the Crimea and Donbas regions occupied since 2014, telling him it meant sanctions should not be stepped down “until every single one of his troops is out of Ukraine”.Asked what immediate help the UK can offer to Ukraine now, Mr Johnson said: “We are certainly looking at going up a gear now in our support for the Ukrainians as they defend themselves. “In Mariupol, the issue is that Ukrainian defenders are now pretty much encircled and there’s a humanitarian catastrophe. The question is, can we help the Ukrainians relieve Mariupol, if that were possible? Would armour, would APCs (armoured personnel carriers) be useful for them (or) armoured Land Rovers? We are certainly looking at that.”Mr Johnson said he was also ready to consider supplying armoured ambulances, though they had not yet been requested by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.Over the longer term, Mr Johnson said it was necessary to “have a total rethink about the support that we offer countries such as Georgia and Ukraine”.He said: “What we are evolving towards is, I think, a new way of looking at Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union.“Because of the sheer quantity of Nato-compatible materiel and the weapons that we are now supplying, we’re changing the dynamic and we’re changing the security architecture of the situation, bit by bit.“There’s going to come a point where I think we should recognise that this has happened and that we, I hope, will be in a position with willing partners to offer not an Article 5 security guarantee to Ukraine, but a different kind of future, a differen kinds of commitment, based on the idea of deterrence by denial.“So that Ukraine is so fortified and so protected – the quills of the porcupine have become so stiff – that it is ever after indigestible to Putin. That is that is the path that we are now and I think that’s a very productive way of thinking about something that has been a problem we have been unable to solve, which is the homelessness of Ukraine and other countries in Europe’s security architecture.” More

Boris Johnson has been told he’s “toast” as prime minister as he repeatedly dodged questions over No 10 lockdown parties during Covid restrictions.Under a grilling from MPs, Mr Johnson said he was unable to provide a “running commentary” when quizzed on the episode that led to calls for his resignation.On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police revealed it would issue an initial batch of 20 fixed penalty notices as part of its investigation into 12 events held in Downing Street during severe Covid restrictions.Police have not confirmed the size of the fines, which ranged between £100 and £10,000 in the period covered, depending the law in place at the time, the size of the gathering and the person’s role.Despite dodging questions, the prime minister indicated he was not, so far, among the the individuals who have been issued with a fixed-penalty notice over breaches of the Covid laws.Asked whether he had received a fixed penalty notice, the prime minister told MPs: “I’m sure you’d know if I were, but I think… I’ve been several times to the House to talk about this, explain, and apologise.“But what I also said repeatedly is I won’t give a running commentary on an investigation that is underway — it would be wrong of me to deviate from that”.The SNP MP Pete Wishart replied: “Prime minister we’re not expecting you to give a running commentary, quite obviously, but if you have… you’re pretty much toast aren’t you?”Mr Wishart also asked the prime minister accept that “there has been criminality committed”, given Scotland Yard’s decision to issue 20 fixed-penalty notices.Earlier Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, accepted the issuing of fines meant the law had been breached – a view Downing Street refused to endorse on Wednesday.But Mr Johnson told Mr Wishart: “I have been, I hope, very frank with the House about where I think we have gone wrong and the things that I regret, that I apologise for.“But there is an ongoing investigation… I am going to camp pretty firmly on my position. I won’t give a running commentary on an ongoing investigation.”Asked by a second MP how he would respond to a petition signed by more than 130,000 who wanted to make lying in the Commons a criminal offence, Mr Johnson went on: “I’ve tried to be as clear as I can about my understanding of events.“I’ve been back repeatedly to… before the Commons to explain, to apologise for the things that I think we’ve got wrong, and I’ve no doubt that I will be back again.” More

A fresh delay to post-Brexit checks on EU imports will open the door to African Swine Fever and “wreak havoc” on disease prevention, vets are warning.The threatened deferral of promised controls – revealed by The Independent – has been attacked for weakening the “first line of defence of biosecurity” at the UK’s borders.“It will be the fourth delay and open the door even further to the potential incursion of African Swine Fever, which is spreading rapidly,” the British Veterinary Association warned.James Russell, the BVA’s senior vice president, said it’s work had become even more vital since Brexit shut the UK out of the EU’s biosecurity and assurance systems.“It would be deeply misguided to push back the need for these vital checks even further and in so doing weaken this layer of protection for both animal and public health,” he told ministers.The comments come after No 10 revealed it is exploring a further delay to the checks – promised for July – on consignments from the EU of products of animal and plant origin.The rethink is being considered because of growing alarm that they will add to the growing cost of living crisis, by imposing an estimated £1bn to the costs of cross-Channel trade.Fears have also been raised that EU suppliers will choose to shun the UK as the mountain of Brexit red tape grows, leading to some foods disappearing from shop and further price hikes.Now the BVA has raised the alarm over disease outbreaks, including African Swine Fever which affects all pigs and which is common in many EU countries. It does not affect humans, but is spread by them.Mr Russell called the disease “devastating”, adding: “If this extension is allowed to go ahead it will be the fourth delay.“Official veterinarians working at the border act as the country’s first line of defence of biosecurity, and we feel it would be deeply misguided to push back the need for these vital checks.”He said his profession also needed “certainty”, warning: “Given the ongoing capacity challenges in the workforce it’s really important that we can prepare and allocate resource where it’s most needed.”The government is also risking a legal challenge under World Trade Organisation rules, if it continues to treat EU imports more preferably than those from the rest of the world. More

Watch live as Boris Johnson faces Keir Starmer at PMQsFollowing his showdown with Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs, Boris Johnson is now facing a further grilling from senior MPs on the Commons liaison committee.Earlier, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford accused the Tories of “partying through the cost of living emergency” by attending a “champagne bash” on Tuesday night, days before an energy price hike hits millions of families.The bereaved families of Covid victims chanted “shame on you” as Conservative MPs entered the dinner party at the Park Plaza hotel, which came as the Metropolitan Police confirmed an initial 20 Partygate fines, prompting renewed calls for Boris Johnson to resign.Dominic Raab insisted on Wednesday morning that Mr Johnson acted in “good faith” and did not intentionally mislead parliament when he told MPs no rules had been broken, but suggested he may have said things that “turned out not to be true”.The PM has not yet been informed whether he will receive a fine, his official spokesperson said, but added that they are “committed” to ensuring the public is informed if he does.Show latest update

1648652056Boris Johnson says he hopes Nato support can make Ukraine ‘indigestible’ to PutinBoris Johnson has said he believes that we are evolving towards “a new way of looking at Ukraine” and other former Soviet countries.“Because of the sheer quantity of Nato-compatible materiel and the weapons we’re now supplying, we’re changing the dynamic, and we’re changing the security architecture of the situation bit by bit,” he told MPs on the Commons liaison committee.The prime minister said that he hopes Nato will be able to offer, not an Article 5-style protection to Ukraine, but “a different kind of commitment based on the idea of deterrence by denial so that Ukraine is so fortified, so protected with weaponry – the quills of the porcupine have become so stiffened – so that it is ever-after indigestible to Putin. And that is the path that we are now on.”Andy Gregory30 March 2022 15:541648651371Britain looking at ‘going up a gear’ in military assistance to Ukraine, Boris Johnson saysBritain is looking at “going up a gear” in its military assistance to Ukraine, Boris Johnson has told MPs.“We’re certainly looking at going up a gear now in our support for the Ukrainians as they defend themselves,” the prime minister said. “In Mariupol, the issue is that Ukrainian defenders are now pretty much encircled and there’s a humanitarian catastrophe. The question is – can we help the Ukrainians relieve Mariupol, if that were possible.”Asked by Tom Tugendhat about the “civilian assistance” the UK could provide, such as armoured ambulances to help in areas around Kyiv, Mr Johnson said: “It’s a very interesting suggestion. It’s not something that Volodymyr Zelensky has requested so far from me personally, but that doesn’t mean that the Ukrainians haven’t reached out and asked for it through other channels.”Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more on this breaking story:Andy Gregory30 March 2022 15:421648650974Boris Johnson says he ‘understands’ Biden’s comments about PutinAsked whether he agrees with comments by Joe Biden suggesting that “the end state should be not only Russians out of Ukraine, but Putin gone from the Kremlin”, Boris Johnson said: “Look, I understand why Joe Biden said that.“And I understand the frustrations that people feel about Putin, and to desire a change of government in itself is not an ignoble thing. I think there are probably plenty of people around this horseshoe who perhaps would like a change in this government and that’s the objective of a lot of democratic politics.“But let’s be absolutely clear – it is not the objective of the UK government.”Andy Gregory30 March 2022 15:361648650733Putin is ‘plainly not to be trusted’, Boris Johnson saysMoving on to Ukraine now, Tory MP Tom Tugendhat has asked Boris Johnson whether France’s Emmanuel Macron “has been speaking to Putin for too long?”The prime minister said “I think it’s very important that the unity of the west and the unity of Nato should be prioritised, and that’s what we’re doing. I think the question of negotiation with Vladimir Putin, of the value of those negotiations, is an open one. “My own view is that Putin is plainly not to be trusted.”Andy Gregory30 March 2022 15:321648650516Boris Johnson pressed on ‘dreadful optics’ of Tory dinner partyPete Wishart asked Boris Johnson, in light of reports that he had quoted Gloria Gaynor in saying “I will survive” in response to the Partygate scandal, whether he still believed this was the case, adding: “We can always have a duet after this.”The prime minister said he was “always only too happy to have a drink with my friends from the SNP”.Pressed on whether he thought he had “got away with it”, and on the “dreadful optics” of “parading your MPs in front of the Covid bereaved to go and party the day that you received fixed penalty notices”, the PM said: “You are entitled to your characterisation of events. I have no wish to engage with you in dispute about how you choose to see things. That’s not the way I see things.”Andy Gregory30 March 2022 15:281648650090Confronted with a list of his own previous and altering positions on the Partygate scandal, Boris Johnson said: “There will come a point when I will be able to talk about the investigation and the conclusions of the investigation, and that is when the investigation has concluded.”Asked if he will resign if he has broken the ministerial code, he says: “With great respect, Pete, I think you’re going to have to hold your horses and wait until the conclusion of the investigation.”Andy Gregory30 March 2022 15:211648649894Boris Johnson told he is ‘pretty much toast’ if handed Partygate fineThe liaison committee has started its questioning of Boris Johnson by focusing on the Partygate scandal.Asked by SNP MP Pete Wishart whether he had received one of the 20 fixed penalty notices the Met Police announced last night would be handed out, the PM said: “I’m sure you’d know if I were.”He added that he would not “give a running commentary on an investigation that is underway”.Mr Wishart responded: “Absolutely, prime minister, we’re not expecting you to give a running commentary, quite obviously. But if you are served with one of them, you’re pretty much toast, aren’t you?“No prime minister could possibly survive being found of criminality for the very rules that that prime minister set. You’d be finished if you got one.”Mr Johnson replied: “With deepest respect to you, Pete, I don’t wish to minimise the importance of the issue and your point, but … that would come under the category of running commentary, in my view.”Andy Gregory30 March 2022 15:181648648889Grant Shapps tells regulator to disqualify ‘unfit to lead’ P&O Ferries bossGrant Shapps has told MPs that he has urged a government regulator to disqualify P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite on the basis he is “unfit to lead a British company”, Adam Forrest reports.The transport secretary said he had written to the Insolvency Service “conveying my firm belief” that Mr Hebblethwaite should longer be in charge of the under-fire ferry operator.“I have asked them to consider his disqualification,” said Mr Shapps told the Commons as he set out his nine-point plan to crack down on “sharp” practices after P&O sacked 800 workers without warning.Mr Shapps said he asked British ports to immediately refuse access to ferry services paying below the existing minimum wage – saying the government would legislate soon to protect them in doing so.Andy Gregory30 March 2022 15:011648648755The Commons liaison committee is due to start grilling Boris Johnson in just a few moments.The first half of the three-hour session is billed to focus on Ukraine, while the second will see the PM asked about the cost of living crisis.Andy Gregory30 March 2022 14:591648647391We will make points to China over Hong Kong, says PMThe government will continue to make its points to China, the Prime Minister says, following the withdrawal of British judges from Hong Kong’s courts system.At Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland said: “Today’s announcement by our serving United Kingdom judges of their withdrawal from the Hong Kong court of final appeal is now the right decision and I support it, as does my right honourable friend.“Does he agree with me that on this sad day for the people of Hong Kong and at a time when the international rule of law is under unprecedented challenge, it is for us here in Britain to stand up for what is right, to be resolute in the face of tyranny and to make sure that the international rules-based order is defended at every opportunity?”Boris Johnson replied: “I want to thank the judges in Hong Kong’s court for everything that they have been doing but I think that they have evidently concluded that the constraints of the national security law make it impossible for them to continue to serve in the way that they would want.“I appreciate and I understand their decision.“It is vital that we all continue to make our points to the Chinese as I did in my conversation with President Xi (Jinping) the other day about freedom in Hong Kong and about the treatment of the Uighurs, and we will continue to do that.”Jane Dalton30 March 2022 14:36 More

Boris Johnson has publicly mocked the weight of a Scottish National Party MP for a second time in two months – after having previously being accused of “body-shaming” the same politician.Speaking at prime minister’s questions Mr Johnson said Ian Blackford was “a living testament to the benefits of moderation in all things” The prime minister’s apparent reference to to Mr Blackford figure prompted laughter from his own MPs.At a previous PMQs in January Mr Johnson also used the dispatch box to mock Mr Blackford’s appearance, suggesting that his political rival had been “eating more cake” than he had.Wednesday’s exchange at prime minister’s questions saw the prime minister invoke Mr Blackford’s size in response to the SNP’s Westminster chief’s criticism of the government’s Spring statement.In the earlier comments at the end of January Mr Blackford had referred to the consumption of cake at a lockdown-breaking Downing Street birthday party for Mr Johnson.But the prime minister fired back: “I don’t know who has been eating more cake?”After Mr Johnson’s earlier comments Kirsten Oswald, the SNP’s equalities spokesperson, said the PM’s remarks were evidence he is “is completely unfit for office”.“Whether it’s his body-shaming jokes, his racism, his homophobia, or his wider misconduct in public office, Mr Johnson is giving people another telling insight into his odious character,” Ms Oswald had said.Responding to the latest exchange on Wednesday, an SNP spokesperson said: “It’s telling that Boris Johnson was more interested in making these snide remarks rather than being able to answer Ian Blackford’s question on the Tory cost-of-living crisis hammering households and pushing people into poverty. “Despite these personal insults, Ian Blackford and the SNP will keep our focus on what really matters to people right now – the cost-of-living emergency which the Prime Minister and his Chancellor are failing to fix.” More