Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Rishi Sunak faces Sir Keir Starmer in Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 8 May.It will be the first time the two leaders go head-to-head since last week’s local election results.The Conservatives suffered a mauling from the electorate, losing nearly 500 council seats, the West Midlands mayoral race and the Blackpool South by-election.Sir Keir has urged the prime minister to call a general election “as quickly as possible” as he welcomed Labour’s newest MP to Parliament yesterday.Chris Webb took his seat in the House of Commons five days after winning the Blackpool South by-election with almost 60 per cent of the vote.Welcoming Mr Webb to parliament’s Westminster Hall, Sir Keir praised his “phenomenal victory” and hailed him as “the first born-and-bred Blackpool MP for 60 years”.The Labour leader joked that the party was “making a habit of this”, with Mr Webb making last Thursday’s by-election the eighth of the parliament to see Labour gain a seat. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailTory MP Natalie Elphicke has defected to Labour, hitting out at the “broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic Government”.The Dover MP crossed the floor in the Commons just moments before Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.Here is the statement she released in full following her defection:“When I was elected in 2019, the Conservative Party occupied the centre ground of British politics. The party was about building the future and making the most of the opportunities that lay ahead for our country.“Since then, many things have changed. The elected Prime Minister was ousted in a coup led by the unelected Rishi Sunak. Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division. The centre ground has been abandoned and key pledges of the 2019 manifesto have been ditched.“Meanwhile the Labour Party has changed out of all recognition. Since 2019, it has moved on from Jeremy Corbyn and now, under Keir Starmer, occupies the centre ground of British politics. It has accepted Brexit and its economic policies and defence policies are responsible and can be trusted.“Most significantly for me, the modern Labour Party looks to the future – to building a Britain of hope, optimism, opportunity and fairness. A Britain everyone can be part of.“I have carefully considered this decision. The change has been dramatic and cannot be ignored. For me key deciding factors have been housing and the safety and security of our borders.Natalie Elphicke with then-Home Office minister Robert Jenrick during a visit to meet residents in Dover in November 2022 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailFormer England cricketer Monty Panesar has stood down as a candidate for George Galloway’s Workers Party of Great Britain after just one week.Mr Panesar was to contest the Ealing, Southall seat in west London, currently held by Labour with a majority of 16,084.But after a series of disastrous media interviews, he has said he will no longer contest the seat and instead will “take some time to mature and find my political feet”.Monty Panesar said he was ‘still learning about how politics can help people’ More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailPenny Mordaunt gave a speech in central London last night warning Tory MPs that their factionalism is the main reason Labour is expected to win the general election.The leader of the House of Commons recently dismissed claims that she is positioning herself as a unity candidate to replace Rishi Sunak as leader.However, questions have been asked about Mr Sunak’s future after a drubbing at a local elections. He is due to meet Tory MPs in a briefing this afternoon to try to persuade them a win is still possible.In what was her 86th fundraiser event for the party since Mr Sunak became prime minister, Ms Mordaunt told the Westminster Conservative Association that a general election win for the party is “not impossible” if the factions end their civil war.Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt has dispelled rumours of a leadership bid (Danny Lawson/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Voters in North Macedonia were casting ballots on Wednesday in a parliamentary election and a presidential runoff dominated by issues including the country’s path toward European Union membership, corruption and the economy.The 61-year-old incumbent in the presidential election, Stevo Pendarovski, faces Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, 70. Pendarovski is supported by the ruling center-left coalition, while Siljanovska-Davkova is backed by the center-right opposition.Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova squared off in the last election, in 2019, and Pendarovski had won with 53.8% of the vote.The first round of the latest presidential election, on April 24, was seen as a barometer for the parliamentary election. It gave a clear lead to Siljanovska-Davkova, who garnered 41.2%, compared to 20.5% for Pendarovski. Turnout must be at least 40% in the runoff for the result to be valid.With the presidency being a largely ceremonial post, the parliamentary election is considered the more important one.More than 1,700 candidates are vying for the 120 seats in the unicameral assembly. There are also three seats reserved for expatriates, but last time around, in 2020, turnout was too low for them to be filled. Voters will be heading to 3,400 polling stations across the country.Polls have consistently shown the center-right VMRO-DPMNE party, at the head of a 22-party coalition called “Your Macedonia,” with a double-digit lead over the coalition “For A European Future” led by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, or SDSM.There are also two coalitions representing ethnic Albanians, who account for a quarter of North Macedonia’s population: European Front is led by the Democratic Union of Integration (DUI), which has been the coalition partner of all governments of the past 20 years, whether center-right or center left. But VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski has expressed the desire to ally with the VLEN (“Worth”) four-party coalition, which has positioned itself to the right of DUI.The month-long campaign focused on North Macedonia’s progress toward joining the 27-nation EU, the rule of law, corruption, fighting poverty and tackling the country’s sluggish economy.North Macedonia’s path to the EU is being blocked by neighboring Bulgaria, which demands that the constitution be amended to recognize a Bulgarian minority. And while the center-left has agreed to the demand, VMRO DPMNE has denounced the government’s “capitulation (to) Bulgarian dictates.”Just over 3,500 people out of nearly 1.84 million identified themselves as Bulgarians in North Macedonia’s latest census, in 2021.North Macedonia has been a candidate to join the EU since 2005, but was blocked for years by neighboring Greece in a dispute over the country’s name. That was resolved in 2018, but Bulgaria is now the one blocking the process — it has said it will only lift its veto once the constitution is amended.EU membership negotiations with North Macedonia — and fellow-candidate Albania — began in 2022 and the process is expected to take years.Corruption is the other hot-button issue.A European Commission report last year said that corruption “remains prevalent in many areas” of North Macedonia. In December, U.S. Ambassador Angela Aggeler said there was “an epidemic of corruption in this country that has affected every sector, every organization, and only by exposing the corrupt actors can we begin to help the country address these issues.”Mickoski has accused the ruling SDSM and DUI of a “corruption pandemic.” Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski has said he is “aware that people are not satisfied” and promised anti-corruption measures.The State Electoral commission expects that more than 2,300 domestic and international observers will monitor the elections.Preliminary results weren’t expected earlier than Thursday. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailGrant Shapps has said that “state involvement” in the large-scale cyber attack on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) cannot be ruled out amid speculation China carried out the hack.The Defence Secretary said there is evidence of “potential failings” of the contractor operating the payroll system that was hacked, “which may have made it easier for the malign actor” to gain access to the bank details of service personnel and veterans.Labour’s shadow defence secretary John Healey named the contractor as SSCL.The firm says it provides business process services to 22 government departments and agencies and is responsible for paying 550,000 public servants.Confirming the contractor was SSCL, Mr Shapps said he had asked for a review of the company’s work across government.Up to 272,000 service personnel may have been hit by the data breach, Mr Shapps told MPs.He set out an eight-point plan to support and protect those potentially affected.The Cabinet minister declined to identify the culprit, telling the Commons: “For reasons of national security, we can’t release further details of the suspected cyber activity behind this incident.“However, I can confirm to the House that we do have indications that this was the suspected work of a malign actor and we cannot rule out state involvement.”He also said: “We’ve launched a full investigation, drawing on Cabinet Office support and specialist external expertise to examine the potential failings of the contractor and to minimise the risk of similar incidents in the future.”Initial investigations have found no evidence that any data has been removed, but affected armed forces personnel have been alerted as a precaution.The payment network is “an external system completely separate to the MoD’s core network”, Mr Shapps stressed.The system holds personal data – including names, bank details and some addresses – of regular reserve personnel and some recently retired veterans.Changes are being made to the system to ensure it is secure before payments are recommenced, the Defence Secretary said.The senior Tory apologised “to the men and women who are affected by this”, adding “it should not have happened”.SSCL says on its website that it plays a “central role in delivering the MoD’s vision to transform core payroll, HR and pension services” for 230,000 military personnel and reservists and two million veterans.The firm, a subsidiary of the Paris-based tech company Sopra Steria, says it processes more than £363 billion in payments each year, 6.77 million transactions and 1.5 million invoices.The company, which says its “vision is to empower the UK public sector with digital solutions and innovative services”, also processes 1.2 million recruitment applications a year.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier also declined to say who was behind the cyber attack, but said the UK is taking the powers necessary “to protect ourselves against the risk that China and other countries pose to us”.Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said he was “concerned” the Government was not able to point the finger at China.“I think the Government is a bit conflicted about this,” he told Sky News, claiming the Foreign Office did not want to “upset China”.“The truth is we know that China is the malign actor they’re referring to.”A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said claims Beijing was behind the attack were “completely fabricated and malicious slanders”.They said: “China has neither the interest nor the need to meddle in the internal affairs of the UK.“We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop spreading false information, stop fabricating so-called China threat narratives, and stop their anti-China political farce.”Labour’s Mr Healey said: “The MoD’s data security record is getting worse while threats against the UK rise – with a three-fold increase in MoD data breaches over the last five years.“Such flaws in our cybersecurity must be fixed.”The revelation of the MoD data breach comes after the UK and the US in March accused China of a global campaign of “malicious” cyber attacks in an unprecedented joint operation to reveal Beijing’s espionage.Britain blamed Beijing for targeting the Electoral Commission watchdog in 2021 and for being behind a campaign of online “reconnaissance” aimed at the email accounts of MPs and peers.The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) also uses SSCL as payroll network provider.The Met said: “There is currently no evidence to suggest that there has been any compromise of the MPS payroll service.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA senior EU politician who survived a shocking assassination attempt last year has asked parliamentarians to tell foreign secretary Lord Cameron to end Britain’s “appeasement of Iran”.Spanish politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras, the former first vice president of the European Parliament, was in London today to talk to MPs and peers about the need to proscribe Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).But attempts for him to meet a minister fell on deaf ears.Professor Vidal-Quadras describes himself as “lucky” after surviving an assassination attempt on 9 November last year which saw a bullet miss his jugular and pass through his jaw.He was in London with “a simple message” to “end the appeasement” of the regime in Iran and call on the UK to join the US in proscribing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.Alejo Vidal-Quadras was shot in an assassination attempt More