Markus Andrews

A Tory environmental group is making internal inquiries about the allegations made against ambassador Stanley Johnson after a senior MP and a journalist both accused him of inappropriately touching them.Tory MP Caroline Nokes has claimed the prime minister’s father forcefully smacked her on the backside at in 2003, and political journalist Ailbhe Rea claimed she was “groped” by him in 2019.The Conservative Environment Network (CEN) – an independent forum of campaigners linked to the party, which boasts Mr Johnson as its international ambassador – has condemned the alleged conduct.The group said in a statement: “We take all allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously. We have clear internal processes for managing allegations of this nature, and these are currently being followed. The alleged behaviour is not acceptable to CEN.”The network is a forum independent of the Conservative Party, but is also made up of a parliamentary caucus, claiming to have 120 Tory MPs and peers “driving the green conservative agenda in Westminster”.The group did not say whether Mr Johnson had been suspended from his role on the steering committee while its internal inquiries into the allegations are made, or whether he could be asked to resign if the claims are substantiated.The right-wing commentator Isabel Oakeshott appeared to back up the claims made Ms Nokes and Ms Rea on Wednesday – describing the PM’s father as “handsy”, while advising the police stay out of the matter.Sharing a picture of herself with Mr Johnson, Ms Oakeshott tweeted: “The charming Stanley Johnson can be a little over-friendly – indeed handsy – but I don’t believe this is one for the police. Officers should focus their limited resources on investigating real crimes.”Mr Johnson, 81, has said he has “no recollection of Caroline Nokes at all”. The Conservative Party is yet to say whether a probe will be launched and No 10 declined to comment on the allegations against the “private individual”.Earlier on Wednesday, cabinet minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan has said she probably would have “slapped” Mr Johnson if he inappropriately touched her in the way alleged by her Tory colleague Ms Nokes.Asked if Mr Johnson will be investigated, the international trade secretary told Sky News: “I will leave Caroline to work with the party on that. But we have a robust system in place and I hope very much she’ll be able to work that through with the party machine.”And asked what she would have done in response to the alleged touching, Ms Trevelyan said: “At the time, I would have probably slapped him.“Which arguably isn’t a better response either but it would’ve been an instinctive response from me and I think Caroline would’ve shown great personal restraint if she quietly moved away.”Ms Nokes, chair of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, suggested the prime minister’s father inappropriately touched her during the 2003 conference in Blackpool.At the time, she was preparing for the campaign to represent the Hampshire constituency of Romsey during the 2005 election. “I can remember a really prominent man smacking me on the backside about as hard as he could and going, ‘Oh, Romsey, you’ve got a lovely seat’,” she told Sky News.On Tuesday, following widespread support for speaking out, Ms Nokes tweeted: “Just wanted to thank the sisterhood for the solidarity and support today. You know who you are and you’re amazing.”Labour has urged the Tory Party to launch an investigation. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer praised Ms Nokes’ “bravery” for speaking out, adding: “The allegations are serious and they need to be fully investigated.” More

The suspect in the suicide bombing in Liverpool was able to exploit Britain’s “dysfunctional” asylum system to remain in the UK, Priti Patel has said.The home secretary linked the case to the “complete merry-go-round” of the system, claiming that a “whole industry” was devoted to defending the rights of individuals intent on causing harm.Emad Al Swealmeen, 32, reportedly arrived from the Middle East in 2014 and had an application for asylum rejected the following year, but remained in the UK.Al Swealmeen died in the blast in a taxi outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital shortly before 11am on Remembrance Sunday.According newspaper reports, Ms Patel told reporters on her flight to Washington DC that the case showed why the government was right to reform the asylum system.“The case in Liverpool was a complete reflection of how dysfunctional, how broken, the system has been in the past, and why I want to bring changes forward,” she was quoted as saying.Ms Patel said: “It’s a complete merry-go-round and it has been exploited. A whole sort of professional legal services industry has based itself on rights of appeal, going to the courts day-in day-out at the expense of the taxpayers through legal aid. That is effectively what we need to change.”Speaking on her trip to Washington DC, the cabinet minister added: “These people have come to our country and abused British values, abused the values of the fabric of our country and our society.“And as a result of that, there’s a whole industry that thinks it’s right to defend these individuals that cause the most appalling crimes against British citizens, devastating their lives, blighting communities – and that is completely wrong.”Al Swealmeen is thought to have been a Christian convert and reports have claimed that there was growing concern within the Home Office at the role on the Church of England in converting asylum seekers.Asked about Ms Patel’s comments on Friday, international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “I trust that her judgement of that situation, and the timeframe in which the bomber in question came to the UK … was at a time when the system didn’t work as effectively as it does now under her leadership.”However, a couple who took him in after his appeal against the asylum ruling was initially rejected insisted that he had been an “absolutely genuine” Christian with a “real passion for Jesus Christ”.Malcolm and Elizabeth Hitchcott said they had been contacted by Al Swealmeen in 2017 when he was “desperate” for somewhere to stay.Mr Hitchcott told BBC Radio Merseyside: “He was absolutely genuine, as far as I could tell. I was in no doubt by the time that he left us at the end of that eight months that he was a Christian.”The incident has been declared a terrorist attack and the UK terror threat level has since been raised from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is “highly likely” rather than “likely”.It is understood however that an Islamist plot is one line of inquiry being considered by police although investigators are keeping an open mind and the motivation is yet to be established.Assistant chief constable Russ Jackson, from Counter-Terrorism Police North West, previously told journalists the explosive device had been “manufactured” and the force’s assumption was that it was built by Al Swealmeen.The inquiry is examining, among other possibilities, whether the main charge on the device failed to explode and if the homemade explosive TATP was used.Searches have been carried out at an address in Rutland Avenue, where detectives said Al Swealmeen was picked up by the taxi, and at a second property in Sutcliffe Street, where officers believe he previously lived.Four men arrested under terrorism laws in the Kensington area of Liverpool – three aged 21, 26 and 29, who were held on Sunday, and a man aged 20 who was detained on Monday – have now been released from police custody following interviews. More

Lord Frost has been told the Northern Irish public do not back him in negotiations with the EU as he seeks to tear up the Brexit agreement.In an interview on BBC Radio Ulster it was put to the Brexit minister that “poll after poll” showed the public backed keeping the protocol as it was.And it was pointed out that a majority of parties in the Northern Ireland assembly supported keeping the protocol – which the UK government has threatened to scrap.The latest poll conducted for Queen’s University Belfast last month shows support for the protocol growing, with 52 per cent of respondents saying the post-Brexit arrangements are a “good thing” – up from 43 per cent in June.But when it was suggested there was no “widespread antipathy” towards agreement he was out to change, Lord Frost denied this was the case.”I don’t think it’s true from the polls I’ve seen that there’s widespread support for the way the protocol is working,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.”There is a division of opinion on the subject and I think one of the things we have learned in Northern Ireland is that it is very important, if you can, to try and proceed by consensus, with cross-community support with the maximum possible of buy-in to solutions and that appears not to be the situation with the protocol at the moment, and we would like to design, to negotiate, to agree something that everybody can get behind.”We have said, we repeat, that there always have to be some sort of treaty arrangement between the UK and the EU covering Northern Ireland but it’s got to be an arrangement that everybody can get behind.”Lord Frost used the interview to re-state his longstanding the position that triggering Article 16 of the protocol and effectively suspending it was a “very real option” and “legitimate”. Triggering Article 16 would not require a vote in parliament under the terms of the treaty.Asked about Irish Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney’s assessment that a deal would be done on the protocol before Christmas, Lord Frost told the broadcaster: “I would like to progress this as fast as we possibly can, I’m glad there’s ambition on the EU side … I think it can be done.The Brexit minister also against declined to talk about his “detailed negotiating position” – which he has refused to release for scrutiny to either MPs or the public.The UK is concerned that the protocol, which Lord Frost negotiated just two years ago, is disrupting trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It was designed to keep the border open between Northern Ireland and the Republic, in order to support the Good Friday Agreement. More

A Conservative councillor has been suspended after he tweeted a faked picture of Jeremy Corbyn laying a poppy wreath by the burning taxi used in the Liverpool bombing.Paul Nickerson shared the image on Twitter on Monday evening, just one day after asylum seeker Emad al-Swealmeen died in a blast outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital.Counter-terror police believe the 32-year-old’s improvised explosive device detonated just as the taxi he was a passenger in drew up outside the hospital.Mr Nickerson, who sits on the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, did apologise for the tweet after coming under heavy criticism online, but has now been suspended by the Tory group leader on the council.Jonathan Owen, the Tory leader in East Riding, said Mr Nickerson’s doctored image was “inappropriate and offensive” and therefore had had suspended him while an investigation was underway.”All people in public life, irrespective of politics, should be united in condemning the terrorist attack that took place outside the Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday.”It is not the time for inappropriate remarks, however intended, and they will not be tolerated in this Conservative Group. Residents should expect their elected representatives to act in an appropriate manner at all times.”Mr Nickerson posted the image of Mr Corbyn with the words “Unsurprisingly”.Although Mr Corbyn has yet to make any public remarks about the Liverpool bombing, it is believed the councillor was attempting to reference a controversy from 2018 when the then-Labour leader was attacked for laying a wreath in Tunisia at a cemetery which also contains the graves of those involved in the Munich Olympic massacre.Following the backlash to his photoshopped image, Mr Nickerson deleted the post and tweeted an apology, which has since also been deleted: “I would like to apologies [sic] for a political tweet sent from my account yesterday which has been upsetting for some people and I unreservedly apologise to all concerned.”He also claimed someone had hacked his Twitter account and sent “inappropriate direct messages” to others.Local Labour MP Karl Turner said he was “disgusted” by Mr Nickerson’s attempt to make a political point out of the Liverpool bombing.The Hull East MP said: “Anybody would be utterly disgusted that any elected member of any political party would make light of a terror attack on mainland Britain on the very day that our Home Secretary has had to raise the threat level.”The police investigation into the bombing continues, while the UK terror threat level has since been raised to “severe”, which means another attack is believed to be “highly likely”. More

The government has been accused of having “strange ideas” on education catch-up priorities after Ofsted was told to accelerate school inspections.The watchdog has received a funding boost of nearly £24m in a bid to speed up visits to all schools and colleges in England, saying it should now take a year less to cover all settings. The government said all schools and colleges should be inspected by 2025 in order to “give a quicker assessment of how well education is recovering” from the Covid pandemic.But the boost for school inspections has been criticised by headteachers, who have cast doubt over whether it is the best way to support pupils in bouncing back from Covid’s disruption. “We have to say that the government has some strange ideas about the priority for education recovery,” Julie McCulloch from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said.“It isn’t Ofsted inspections that will help children to catch up with lost learning caused by the pandemic but ensuring that schools and colleges have sufficient funding from the government to deliver recovery programmes at the scale required.”The union’s director of policy added: “At the moment, many schools and colleges are still dealing with the disruption caused by the pandemic, and the prospect of also having to deal with a visit from an inspection team isn’t particularly helpful.”Nick Brook, the deputy general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said the announcement felt “completely tone-deaf” given the “pressure” schools are facing and calls to pause inspections this term. “We are still a very long way from business as usual in schools,” he added. Figures from the Department for Education (DfE) estimated 130,000 pupils in England were off school for a Covid-related reason last week, with over half of these pupils having tested positive for the virus. Speaking after the Ofsted announcement, Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: “Government ministers are showing, yet again, that they have no understanding of the exhaustion and stress felt by teachers and leaders.“Inspection adds hugely to the stress they face coping with high rates of Covid infection in schools and college.”A former national schools commissioner said on Tuesday he was “worried about the strain being placed” on headteachers, amid pressure from anti-vaxxers, Covid absences and Ofsted. “We need these people more than ever and I fear if we don’t look out for them we may lose some brilliant leaders in 2022,” Sir David Carter tweeted. Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of Ofsted, said: “Everyone working in education must do everything they can to give this generation the best possible chance to fulfil its potential.”She added: “Ofsted will play its part – by giving parents and learners up-to-date information, and by helping schools and colleges shape their plans.”Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, said: “Nobody underestimates the scale of the challenge schools, colleges and other education providers have experienced through the pandemic.”He said: “Accelerating the rate of Ofsted inspections over the coming years will provide parents with an up-to-date picture and swifter recognition of the hard work of leaders and teachers.”Additional reporting by PA More

Cabinet minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan has said she probably would have “slapped” Stanley Johnson if he inappropriately touched her in the way alleged by Conservative colleague Caroline Nokes.Labour has urged the Conservative Party to launch an investigation after a senior Tory MP and a journalist both accused Boris Johnson’s father of inappropriately touching them.Caroline Nokes, who is the chair of the parliamentary women and equalities committee, said he forcefully smacked her on the backside at the Conservative Party conference in 2003.Her allegation prompted political journalist Ailbhe Rea to say she was “groped” by the former MEP at the party conference in 2019.Ms Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, said on Wednesday that she hoped Ms Nokes would be able to “work” with the Tory party on her allegation.Asked on Sky News what she would have done in response to the alleged touching, Ms Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “At the time, I would have probably slapped him.”She added: “Which arguably isn’t a better response either, but it would’ve been an instinctive response from me and I think Caroline would’ve shown great personal restraint if she quietly moved away.”Mr Johnson, 81, has said he has “no recollection of Caroline Nokes at all”. The Tory Party is yet to say whether a probe will be launched and No 10 declined to comment on the allegations against the “private individual”.Asked if Mr Johnson should be investigated, Ms Trevelyan said: “I will leave Caroline to work with the party on that. But we have a robust system in place and I hope very much she’ll be able to work that through with the party machine.”The trade minister also revealed that she had been subjected to inappropriate touching in the past. “I’m of an age where you’d sit down at dinner and a hand would suddenly appear on my knee,” she said.“You’d be like, ‘Excuse me, gentleman on my left who I don’t know – could you remove your hand from my knee?’ That sort of casual sexism was not uncommon. It is much less common know, thank goodness.”Ms Trevelyan: “Anyone woman who receives that sort of abusive behaviour, absolutely should feel confident she can stand up and both face them down and also have the support of those around her to make sure the abuser in question does not do that. It is not acceptable.”Ms Nokes, chair of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, suggested the prime minister’s father inappropriately touched her during the 2003 conference in Blackpool.At the time, she was preparing for the campaign to represent the Hampshire constituency of Romsey during the 2005 election. “I can remember a really prominent man smacking me on the backside about as hard as he could and going, ‘Oh, Romsey, you’ve got a lovely seat’,” she told Sky News.On Tuesday, following widespread support for speaking out, Ms Nokes tweeted: “Just wanted to thank the sisterhood for the solidarity and support today. You know who you are and you’re amazing.”Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has praised Ms Nokes’ “bravery” for speaking out, and suggested an investigation should be carried out.“The allegations are serious and they need to be fully investigated, I don’t think at this stage it’s for me to say what should happen as a result,” Sir Keir said at a press conference on tackling sleaze in politics.Boris Johnson’s spokesman said: “I’m not going to be drawn into specific allegations against a private individual. Of course we would want anyone in any circumstance who feels they have been a victim of any kind of harassment to come forward and report them to the appropriate authorities.” More

There is a “clear risk” that joining a major Pacific trading agreement will raise drug prices for Britain’s NHS, peers have warned.Ministers have said they want Britain to joint the so-called trans-pacific partnership (CPTPP) – a major trading bloc that includes countries like Vietnam, Australia, and Mexico.But a report by the cross-party House of Lords International Agreement Committee found that there were “limited” economic benefits from joining CPTPP.While peers accept that there could be unknown upsides down the line to joining the bloc, they warned that its possible “marginal economic benefits” also had downsides.Chiefly, the peers said there was evidence that the terms of joining the agreement would make it harder for the NHS to use cheap generic drugs. “Throughout the Negotiating Objectives, [the government] makes clear that ‘the NHS, its services and the cost of medicine are not on the table’,” the report says.”Yet we received evidence of a potential conflict between Article 18.53 and the UK’s current system of market authorisation of generic and biosimilar drugs.”We find that two CPTPP provisions on intellectual property are particularly problematic, raising the possibility of significant economic damage to the UK’s patent industry, and higher prices paid by the NHS for generic medicines and biosimilars.”They add: “While the Negotiating Objectives make clear that the Government will ensure that the terms of UK accession are consistent with the UK’s IP interests, and the price the NHS pays for medicines are not on the table, we have not yet been given an indication of how this could be achieved.”The peers also warn that joining CPTPP will make it harder for the UK to set its own regulations in the future, in contrast with government claims.And they took evidence suggesting it could make it harder to “justify bans of certain products and measures based on the precautionary principle for agriculture and food standards”. Labour shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry said: “At some stage, the government will need to stop its reckless, headlong pursuit of CPTPP accession, and deal with some of the entirely sensible and reasonable concerns that have been raised about what signing up to that treaty will mean, including this latest report from the Lords committee. “As things stand, the government is not planning to make any demands or seek any exemptions to reflect the UK’s interests during the accession process, and that surely cannot be the right way to approach any negotiation, let alone one as significant as this.”Since hopes of a US trade deal faded last year the government has increasingly talked up the prospect of joining the trans-Pacific partnership to try and undo some of the damage caused by Brexit.The Independent revealed earlier this month that all the trade deals signed by Boris Johnson since Brexit would make up for just one part in 178 of the economic damage government policy has inflicted in UK trade.But the government is desperate for a win on trade, with supposed Brexit benefits so far few and far between.Asked about the Lords report, a spokesperson for the Department for International Trade said: “We will not make changes to our intellectual property regime that would lead to increased medicines costs for the NHS, or sign trade deals that compromise the UK’s world leading IP regime.“With a joint GDP of £8.4 trillion and 500 million customers, the CPTPP is one of the biggest economies in the world and will open up unparalleled opportunities for British businesses.“The UK is a global leader in environmental and animal welfare standards and acceding to CPTPP will not undermine our high standards.”But Baroness Hayter, chair of the House of Lords International Agreements Committee, said: “Overall, we found that immediate economic benefits of CPTPP membership are limited, but the agreement may open opportunities for collaboration and deeper relations in the Asia-Pacific region.“The marginal economic benefits in the medium term must be set against some clear risks to UK interests within the existing agreement.”She added: “In particular, there are significant concerns in relation Intellectual Property protections, where CPTPP clauses clash with existing UK law. Accepting these could force the UK out of the European Patent Convention, from which our companies benefit, and increase costs to the NHS of generic medicines.“There are similar concerns over food standards, given the contradictions between the UK’s precautionary approach and CPTPP’s science-based approach to regulation.“If we cannot negotiate safeguards in these areas, then the economic gains from CPTPP accession could be severely curtailed, or disappear entirely. The biggest question, which the Government must answer, is whether carve-outs from any obligations at odds with UK interests will be on the table.” More

Up to 2.4 million more British taxpayers have fallen into debt to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) since early months of the Covid pandemic, a spending watchdog has discovered.The UK’s tax debt burden ballooned from £16bn to £42bn between January 2020 and September 2021, a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found.The taxman paused most debt collection activity as Britain went into its first Covid lockdown in March 2020, with payments of VAT and self-assessment income tax also deferred for several months.The watchdog said HMRC faces “significant challenge” clearing the post-Covid backlog, warning that staffing levels are unlikely to be enough to manage the hugely-increased workload.As the UK emerges from the pandemic, tax officials will need to strike a balance between pursuing debt while continuing to give individuals and businesses time to recover their finances, the NAO added.The tax authority has forecast that it will have twice the usual level of debt to manage at the end of March 2022, with “several years” of higher-than-usual tax debts ahead.It predicts total tax debt will shrink to £33bn by March 2022, but this assumes the pandemic has not changed repayment behaviour, according to the NAO.It said that up to 2.4 million more UK taxpayers are in debt to HMRC when comparing September 2021 with January 2020.The average amount taxpayers owe has increased to £6,800. The tax authority has prioritised which debts to chase based on the likely impact of the pandemic on the ability to pay.The NAO suggested that HMRC should develop a revised strategy for recovering tax debt, which would consider the varying impacts of the pandemic on different taxpayers, and identify which are more able to pay and those most severely affected.Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, said: “HMRC faces several years of managing a far greater level of tax debt than it has seen in recent times, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.“Some debtors have already been able to repay their tax debt quickly, but an unknown number of taxpayers have been badly affected and will struggle to do so. HMRC needs to significantly increase its capacity if it is to meet the changed scale and nature of the challenge.”Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said the HMRC now faces a “careful balancing act”, adding: “It must quickly recover the unpaid taxes from those that can afford it, yet support those who are struggling to pay.”A HMRC spokesperson said the body had offered extensive support for businesses and individuals during the pandemic through debt support schemes such as Time to Pay and VAT deferrals.“The debt balance is reducing as the economy recovers and we re-engage with customers to understand their circumstances and agree Time to Pay arrangements where appropriate – and we expect it to fall further,” the spokesperson said.“We have taken, and will continue to take, an understanding and supportive approach to dealing with those who have tax debts or are concerned about their ability to pay their tax.” More