Markus Andrews

A row has broken out at the top of Boris Johnson’s reshuffled cabinet over who should have access to the elegant Chevening country house in Kent.The 17th-century manor is traditionally used as the country retreat for the foreign secretary, in a similar way to the prime minister’s Chequers getaway in Buckinghamshire.But reports suggest that outgoing foreign secretary Dominic Raab is refusing to hand it over to his successor Liz Truss, arguing that his new title of deputy prime minister entitles him to hold on to it.The final decision rests with Mr Johnson, and the prime minister’s official spokesperson today confirmed that he has not yet decided who will get to use the 15-bedroom property, which sits in extensive parkland near Sevenoaks.Asked if Raab or Truss would get the house, or whether they would be asked to share it, the spokesperson said: “There is a long-standing process in place for nominating occupants of Chevening House and we will update in due course.“We will conclude the reshuffle, then we will get into the long-standing processes around residences.”The home of the earls of Stanhope for generations, the property was passed on to a trust in 1959 to serve as a country residence for a royal or a cabinet member nominated by the PM.Since the 1970s, the house has almost always been occupied by the foreign secretary, though Nick Clegg shared it with William Hague, the then foreign secretary, during his time as deputy prime minister from 2010-15.During his own stint as foreign secretary, Mr Johnson was required by the then prime minister Theresa May to share occupancy with international trade secretary Liam Fox and Brexit secretary David Davis, on the premise that each may have to host foreign visitors and leaders.Ms Truss replaced Mr Raab as foreign secretary in Wednesday’s reshuffle, but Mr Raab was granted the rank of deputy prime minister as a consolation, alongside his other titles of justice secretary and lord chancellor. More

Michael Gove’s decision to review controversial planning reforms has been greeted with horror by campaigners for affordable housing, who warn that delays in removing obstacles to home-building will consign ever more young people to overpriced rented homes.But the pause was welcomed by countryside campaigners as a chance to make a “fresh start” after the fury sparked by the “deeply unpopular” proposals drawn up by Mr Gove’s predecessor as housing secretary.Robert Jenrick was sacked in Wednesday’s reshuffle just a day after telling cabinet that he was stepping back from plans to impose mandatory house-building targets on local councils and restrict residents’ rights to object to new homes.Within hours of his arrival at his new department, Mr Gove ordered a pause on legislation which had been due to be published next week and had been billed as the biggest shake-up of the planning system for 70 years.He told officials he wanted to review the proposals – which included a new “zonal system” designating each area as slated for growth, development or protection – and “engage constructively” with colleagues and key stakeholders.The move sparked concern that Mr Gove’s arrival may signal waning determination on the part of the prime minister to overturn the bureaucratic obstacles standing in the way of his target of 300,000 new homes a year in England.Anya Martin, director of the Priced Out campaign for affordable house prices, said: “We are horrified that government is U-turning on planning reforms.“Renters have faced decades of rising costs because of our failure to build enough homes, and our planning system is at the heart of this failure.“Every month that reforms are delayed is another month that renters are paying hundreds of pounds more than they should be. Every month that we fail to build enough homes, more people are forced to live with their parents into their 30s, or to delay their dreams of homeownership.” But it was welcomed by Tory MPs who saw the shock by-election defeat in leafy Chesham and Amersham in June as a warning of the potential for revolt in the True Blue shires by voters worried that green spaces would be concreted over.Countryside charity CPRE said that the pause would allow ministers to give more say to local voices in the way in which their areas are developed.Deputy chief executive Tom Fyans said: “This reported pause to the government’s deeply unpopular changes to planning says one thing – you simply can’t cut out local voices when trying to decide what gets built where.“Today could be a key turning point for the future of our countryside and rural communities in desperate need of genuine affordable housing.”He added: “While we wait for the formal announcement, we will continue to work with concerned MPs on positive changes to the planning system that are long overdue. Nothing could be more urgent than empowering local communities to protect their precious green spaces, while delivering the affordable homes they desperately need and, at the same time, responding to the climate emergency by regenerating the countryside.“As Michael Gove grapples with his new in-tray, we urge the government to take a fresh look at how to grasp this golden opportunity of creating a planning system fit for the 21st century that has people and nature at its heart.”News of the review emerged as the Housing Secretary faced calls to return £100,000 of donations he recently received from a property developer.The MPs’ register of financial interests shows Mr Gove accepted two donations of £50,000 on August 6 from Zachariasz Gertler.Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Conservative planning reforms are already handing more powers to developers, and now it seems the new Housing Secretary is accepting donations from them too.“To avoid any conflict of interest, Michael Gove must return this money.”The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has defended the donations.A spokesman said: “All donations made to the Secretary of State have been declared publicly and the proper process followed.“The department has robust processes in place to ensure any potential conflicts of interest are managed appropriately.” More

Watch live as new UK cabinet arrives at Number 10 following Boris Johnson’s reshuffleSenior Conservatives will stage a Commons showdown in a last-gasp bid to force ministers to rethink the looming reversal of the £20-a-week universal credit uplift, tabling an amendment to block the annual uprating of pensions unless funds are diverted to stop the cut.Elsewhere, ministers are eyeing a post-Brexit return to imperial measurements, with shops to be again allowed to sell products in pounds and ounces only, some 55 years after the UK first moved to adopt the metric system. Other new “freedoms” contained under the proposals are plans to permit the voluntary printing of the crown stamp on pint glasses and the introduction of digital driving licences.It came as former Sainsbury’s boss Justin King warned Brexit will ultimately have a bigger impact on the food and drink industry – which he described as “mid-crisis” – than the Covid pandemic, suggesting that rising prices and the supply chain woes currently triggering shortages as are part of “the new normal.”Meanwhile, Boris Johnson’s new Cabinet met for the first time on Friday morning following the reshuffle. The prime minister is reported to have told them to “spit out the orange peel” in a rugby-themed “half-time pep talk” and joked about having seen a lot of delivery rooms, appearing to compare the “delivery” of his government’s agenda with the “superhuman effort” of giving birth.Show latest update

1631889948Responding to our chief political commentator’s analysis that Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey is “needlessly giving up bargaining power” by ruling out a pact with the Tories likely years ahead of an election, The Mirror’s Whitehall correspondent recalls a similar statement made by Nick Clegg.Read John Rentoul’s analysis here:Andy Gregory17 September 2021 15:451631889696Voices: Imperial weights and measures – what next, stone tablets in the classroom?In response to the news that the government plans to remove EU laws stating goods cannot only be priced in pounds and ounces, Victoria Richards, senior commissioning editor for Independent Voices, writes:“At last, a way to bring joy to the people after the past 18 months of pandemic hell; a way to really make them smile. Forget empty supermarket shelves, lorry driver shortages, unemployment and the continued health crisis, and let’s focus on what really matters: the imperial system! “Give the people what they want, what they demand, what they’ve not been able to sleep for thinking about – a proper set of scales and the crown stamp on a pint glass! There. We can all breathe easy now.”Andy Gregory17 September 2021 15:411631888224Gove’s delay to planning reforms ‘will mean more young people in overpriced rented homes’Michael Gove’s decision to review a radical overhaul of the planning system has been greeted with horror by campaigners for affordable housing, who warn that delays in removing obstacles to home-building will consign ever more young people to overpriced rented homes.But the pause was welcomed by countryside campaigners as a chance to make a “fresh start” after the fury sparked by the “deeply unpopular” proposals drawn up by Mr Gove’s predecessor. Our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports:Andy Gregory17 September 2021 15:171631887317Michael Gove to consult Tory backbenchers over paused planning reformsIn one of his first moves as the government’s new housing secretary, Michael Gove is expected to pause his predecessor’s “radical” overhaul of the planning system in order to consult with critics on the Tory backbenches.It was reported last week that Robert Jenrick had decided to water down proposals to scrap the planning application process and replace it with a zonal system, denoting land either “for growth, for renewal or for protection”, which he insisted would “provide secure housing for the vulnerable, bridge the generational divide and recreate an ownership society”.It followed Tory concerns that the proposed reforms played a role in the party’s shock defeat at the hands of the Liberal Democrats in the Chesham and Amersham by-election in June, described by then Conservative Party co-chair Amanda Milling as a “warning shot” from voters.Andy Gregory17 September 2021 15:011631886682Tory rebels seek to hijack formality vote on pensions to force halt to universal credit cutAs promised earlier, our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has more on the last-ditch Tory bid to stop the looming cut to universal credit:MPs have tabled an amendment to the annual uprating of pensions, which would block the increase unless funds are diverted to stop the benefit reduction.A defeat would not bind the government to abandon the cut – but Iain Duncan Smith and Damian Green, who are behind the move, hope it would nevertheless force ministers to act.The vote on Monday is crucial, to uprate pensions and other benefits next April, and is normally considered a formality with little drama. The amendment would prevent that uprating going ahead if they can persuade more than about 40 fellow Tories back them – a formidable task.Read more details on what is currently our headline story here:Andy Gregory17 September 2021 14:511631885791UK and UAE strike deal to target people financing terrorismThe UK and the UAE have struck a deal to target people financing terrorists and serious organised crime gangs, with the agreement signed by Priti Patel and her counterpart Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh billed as the first of its kind.The pact will work to identify and stop transfers of dirty money by “enhancing intelligence sharing” and carrying out joint operations between the two countries, the Home Office said, focusing on “high risk sectors” like dealers of precious metals and real-estate, and looking into cryptocurrencies.The home secretary said the agreement “bolsters both our countries’ efforts in going after the terrorists and serious and organised crime gangs that seek to do us harm”.Andy Gregory17 September 2021 14:361631885540Downing Street has announced a slew of junior ministerial appointments as Boris Johnson continues to rearrange his frontbench.James Cartlidge has been appointed parliamentary under secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice and as an assistant government whip.Tom Pursglove has been handed the job of parliamentary under secretary of state jointly at the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice while former nurse Maria Caulfield takes up the same position at the Department of Health and Social Care.David Rutley has taken up a position as junior minister at the Department for Work and Pensions.Andy Gregory17 September 2021 14:321631885212Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is hosting the G7 Speakers summit this weekend.It will take place in Astley Hall near Chorley, where he has been MP since 1997.Andy Gregory17 September 2021 14:261631883330ICYMI: Boris Johnson jokes he has as many children as Jacob Rees-Mogg, in first meeting of new CabinetBoris Johnson joked about the number of children he has, at the first meeting of his new cabinet – suggesting he has as many as Jacob Rees-Mogg.The prime minister has consistently refused to confirm he has a second child out of wedlock, which would mean he has 7 and will reach 8 when his pregnant wife Carrie gives birth.Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick has more details below: Matt Mathers17 September 2021 13:551631882522Full report: Rabb and Truss in row over home secretary’s grace and favour country houseA row has broken out at the top of Boris Johnson’s reshuffled cabinet over who should have access to the elegant Chevening country house in Kent.The 17th-century manor is traditionally used as the country retreat for the foreign secretary, in a similar way to the prime minister’s Chequers getaway in Buckinghamshire.Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock reports: Matt Mathers17 September 2021 13:42 More

Senior Tories are making a last-gasp bid to block the £20-a-week cut to universal credit, by staging a Commons showdown on Monday.They have tabled an amendment to the annual uprating of pensions, which would block the increase unless funds are diverted to stop the benefit reduction.A defeat would not bind the government to abandon the cut – but Iain Duncan Smith and Damian Green, who are behind the move, hope it would nevertheless force ministers to act.The reduction – which will kick in next month – is predicted to plunge half million more people into poverty, including 200,000 children.An internal Whitehall analysis warned of a “catastrophic” impact from removing the support, including rising homelessness, poverty and foodbank use.But, despite the mounting unease on the Tory benches, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have vowed to plough ahead, in the hunt for spending cuts after Covid sparked a massive budget deficit.Mr Johnson came under fire when he refused to explain how universal credit claimants should recoup the £20-a-week and criticised putting taxes “into benefits”.The vote on Monday is crucial, to uprate pensions and other benefits next April, and is normally considered a formality with little drama.The amendment tabled by Mr Duncan Smith and Mr Green would prevent that uprating going ahead if they can persuade more than about 40 fellow Tories back them – a formidable task.One rebel told The Independent: “It cannot be a straight vote on the universal credit cut, but we want to force the government to put money into keeping the uplift.“We expect there to be a large rebellion and it does at least give Conservative MPs the chance to have a say on this. The whips will be furious.”Labour staged a Commons vote on the universal credit cut last Wednesday, but it was non-binding and Tory MPs were told to abstain, allowing the motion to pass.Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, sparked anger as she got her sums badly wrong by arguing claimants should find more work because “£20 a week is about two hours’ extra work”.It was quickly pointed out that Universal Credit is deliberately “tapered”, so a huge chunk of the payment is taken back as earnings rise.The respected Resolution Foundation think-tank said claimants take home as little as £2.24 per for every hour worked on the national minimum wage of £8.91, after travel and childcare costs.They would need to work an extra six hours a week to make up the £20 cut in support – rising to nine hours if they pay tax and National Insurance, it found. More

The man who could oust Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from power advertised himself a year ago as a “true-blue conservative.” He became Conservative Party leader with a pledge to “take back Canada” – and almost immediately started working to modernize the party by pushing it toward the political center. Erin O’Toole, a military veteran and a member of Parliament for nine years, has only quickened his pace while campaigning for Canada’s snap federal election. Despite criticism that the former lawyer would say and do anything to get elected, polls show O’Toole’s Conservatives could defeat Trudeau’s Liberal Party on Monday. O’Toole’s strategy, which has included disavowing positions held dear by his party’s base on issues such as climate change, guns and balanced budgets, is designed to appeal to a broader cross-section of voters in a country that tends to be far more liberal than its southern neighbor. Whether moderate Canadians believe O’Toole is the progressive conservative he claims to be has become a central question of the election campaign. “O’Toole tells Conservative friends what he’s really going to do and pretending to Canadians something completely different,” Trudeau said during a campaign stop in Montreal on Thursday. “Whether it’s been on guns, on the environment or whether its been on vaccines, Mr. O’Toole has been misleading Canadians, not leading.” A Conservative win would represent a rebuke of Trudeau, 49, who called the election despite the pandemic in hopes of shoring up his minority government but now is at risk of losing office to the head of the opposition, a politician with a fraction of the name recognition. John Baird, a former Conservative foreign minister, said O’Toole is the opposite of Trudeau, who has made the cover of Rolling Stone and been featured in Vogue magazine. “He’s not the sizzle, he’s the steak,” Baird said of the Conservative Party chief. O’Toole calls himself a Conservative leader with a new style and says he rejects the politics of celebrity and division. He describes his views as pro-abortion rights and pro-LGBTQ rights. He told the crowd at a Quebec campaign event: “You’ve been let down by all parties of all stripes, mine included, at times.”“From the first day of my leadership, my priority has been to a build a Conservative movement where every Canadian can feel at home: inclusive, diverse, forward-looking, progressive, worker-friendly,” O’Toole said Wednesday. “We’re not your dad’s Conservative Party anymore.” That’s dramatically different language from what O’Toole used during his bid to become Conservative Party leader last year. O’Toole won the post with the support of social conservatives and gun enthusiasts, and by disparaging a centrist opponent’s Conservative credentials. Since then, many of his actions more closely resemble those of the leadership candidate he beat than of a right-wing standard-bearer. For example, he reversed the party’s position on guns at the beginning of the month, contradicting the Conservative platform he put out in August by pledging to maintain Trudeau’s list of prohibited firearms. O’Toole also now favors a carbon tax to fight climate change, a policy of Trudeau’s which his party vehemently opposed for years and O’Toole had promised to overturn. He also tempered his support for allowing health care workers to exercise so-called “conscience rights” by refusing to participate in abortions, assisted suicide or other procedures on moral or religious grounds.Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto said an O’Toole victory would give moderate Republicans in the United States evidence to argue that a more centrist, big tent party can win elections. “”This is an indication that if you run to the center, which the Republicans always used to do, it works,” Bothwell said. “If I were a moderate conservative, I’d be pleased, and I would point to it as much as I could.”Ian Brodie, a University of Calgary professor who served as chief of staff to former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he thinks hatred of Trudeau will prevent the most conservative voters from abandoning O’Toole on Monday. Brodie said many Conservatives in Western Canada think Trudeau, who has talked about a day when oil is not needed, has a condescending view of the oil industry that is central to Alberta’s economic vitality. “I can’t overstate how much people want to get rid of Trudeau here, so it’s all hands on deck,” he said. Political observers have been quick to note O’Toole’s new stripes. Robyn Urback, a columnist for the Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, wrote, “If there are still those who don’t like Mr. O’Toole’s position on something, well, all they have to do is wait a few minutes.”University of Toronto political science professor Nelson Wiseman described O’Toole as “two faced” but said the party leader’s policy reversals do not seem to have registered with voters even though “everyone is calling him out on it.” But Wiseman thinks that O’Toole not requiring Conservative candidates to get vaccinated against the coronavirus and refusing to say how many of them are not could cost him Monday, especially after a provincial Conservative government in Alberta apologized this week for mishandling the pandemic.“The Conservative position on vaccinations is hurting the party and O’Toole because growing numbers of the vaccinated are becoming increasingly upset with those who refuse to get vaccinated,” the political scientist said. Like Trudeau, the son of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, O’Toole was born in Montreal and is the son of a longtime politician. His father served as a Conservative member of Ontario’s provincial legislature for almost 20 years. O’Toole’s mother died of breast cancer when he was 9. After his father remarried, he grew up the oldest in a blended family with five children. Influenced by his father’s public service, he entered the military at 18 and went on to attend the Royal Military College of Canada.One of his professors there, Lubomyr Luciuk, said O’Toole impressed him. “Was he my most intelligent student? No,” Luciuk said. “But he was one who asked good questions and listened and learned. He wasn’t afraid to put himself forward and say, ‘What should I read about this?’” After graduating in 1995, O’Toole was commissioned as a Canadian Air Force officer. He flew on a Sea King helicopter as a navigator for naval search and rescues, and eventually left military service for law school.After earning his degree, O’Toole worked on Canada’s version of Wall Street in Toronto. He first was elected to Parliament in 2012, representing a suburban district outside Toronto, and three years later joined Harper’s Cabinet as minister of veteran affairs. He lost a bid to become party leader in 2017 but won last year with help from the ranked-choice voting system the Conservative Party uses. Longtime friends say the married father of two is neither an ideologue nor a Trump-style populist.Luciuk said he thinks his former student’s lack of celebrity appeals to Canadians after more than five years of Trudeau’s leadership. “He’s not debonair. You don’t say, ‘Oh wow, what a handsome man.’ He’s not,” the professor said. “I see a pretty ordinary guy, but most of us are. He’s resonating with people because he’s got commonsense, he’s pragmatic. He’s not doctrinaire. He’s not beholden to some of the wingnuts, frankly, who are in the Conservative Party.” More

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned Britain on Friday that there will be no U.S.-U.K. trade deal unless the British government solves post-Brexit disagreements with the European Union that risk destabilizing Northern Ireland’s peace.Britain and the EU are at odds over trade arrangements that have imposed checks on goods coming to Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. They were agreed by both sides in their divorce deal, to keep an open land border between the north and EU member Ireland — a key pillar of Northern Ireland’s peace process.Britain says the new checks are onerous and wants to rewrite the agreement, but the EU says it will not renegotiate.The United States, which played a key role in securing Northern Ireland’s 1998 Good Friday peace accord, has cautioned Britain against doing anything to undermine the peace settlement.Pelosi, who is visiting the U.K., met Prime Minister Boris Johnson at his 10 Downing St. residence on Thursday. Johnson’s office said the prime minister “outlined the U.K.’s concerns with the way the (Northern Ireland) Protocol is being implemented and the impact it is having on the people of Northern Ireland.”Pelosi told an audience at the Chatham House think-tank that a trans-Atlantic trade deal was “very unlikely” if the Good Friday Accord was destroyed. She said “this is not a threat, it’s a prediction.”Pelosi welcomed the fact that Britain and the EU have agreed to keep talking in an attempt to resolve their differences.“I’m so glad that more time has been given for the negotiations and the discussion, because they have to reach an agreement,” she said. More

Dominic Raab said “I don’t support the Human Rights Act”, it has been revealed, having now been handed control of an overhaul in Boris Johnson’s reshuffle.Footage has emerged of the new justice secretary attacking the landmark Labour legislation as a backbench Conservative MP, in 2009.Mr Raab now has responsibility for a review of the HRA and the requirement for it to weigh up judgments from the European Court of Human Rights, after being demoted from foreign secretary.Back in 2009, he said: “I don’t support the Human Rights Act and I don’t believe in economic and social rights,” the clip unearthed by Labour shows.And, in a book authored by Mr Raab in the same year, entitled ‘The Assault on Liberty: What Went Wrong’, he argued the 1998 legislation had led to a slew of new claims in the courts.“The spread of rights has become contagious and, since the Human Rights Act, opened the door to vast new categories of claims, which can be judicially enforced against the government through the courts.The Act had allowed UK law to be trumped by the European courts, Mr Raab claimed, while the boundaries between parliament, government and the judiciary had been blurred.Both Labour and senior legal figures have raised fears that Mr Raab’s appointment is to allow him to drive through more dramatic changes to the HRA than planned by his sacked predecessor, Robert Buckland.“We will do all we can to defend the fundamental rights the public depends on from attacks by the Conservatives,” said David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary.The legal blogger David Allen Green said: “One would not be surprised that one stipulation made by Raab in accepting the position as lord chancellor is that he gets another crack at repealing the Human Rights Act.”And Bob Neill, the Conservative chair of the justice select committee, criticised the way Mr Buckland had been sacked by the prime minister to “make way” for Mr Raab.“The position of lord chancellor is crucial. It is not some sort of sweetie to be handed out by the PM,” Sir Bob said.There has been criticism of the high turnover in the role of lord chancellor over such a turbulent period for the justice system, hit by huge spending cuts.It was also reported that Mr Raab responded to Mr Buckland seeking views on the government’s proposals for the HRA shake-up, earlier this year.His officials suggested that ministers should be “more ambitious”, a source told The Guardian. More

Boris Johnson joked about the number for children he has, at the first meeting of his new cabinet – suggesting he has as many as Jacob Rees-Mogg.The prime minister has consistently refused to confirm he has a second child out of wedlock, which would mean he has 7 and will reach 8 when his pregnant wife Carrie gives birth.But, briefing his new-look cabinet with what he called a “half-time pep talk”, Mr Johnson turned to the subject, saying: “I’m just thinking about delivery.“I’ve seen a few delivery rooms, probably seen as many delivery rooms as anybody in this … with the possible exception of Jacob.“I know that delivery normally involves a superhuman effort by at least one person in the room. But there are plenty of other people in that room who are absolutely indispensable to that successful outcome.”Mr Rees-Mogg, the Commons Leader, has six children, all of them boys – provoking mirth in 2017 when he named the sixth one Sixtus.Mr Johnson has four children with his ex-wife Marina Wheeler and a boy, Wilfred, with Carrie Johnson, who is pregnant with their second child, it was announced in JulyHe has a daughter from an affair while Mayor of London, but he is also believed to have fathered another child outside of marriage.It prompted criticism when an old magazine column emerged where he branded the children of single mothers “ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate”.But, during the 2019 general election campaign, he refused to discuss the issue, telling LBC Radio: “I love my children very much but they are not standing at this election. I’m not therefore going to comment on them.”In the power struggle for the best seats around the cabinet table, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak sat to the prime minister’s left.Dominic Raab, demoted to justice secretary – but handed the consolation title of deputy prime minister – sat opposite Mr Johnson, alongside Liz Truss, his replacement as foreign secretary, and Michael Gove, the new housing secretary.The prime minister told them: “To mix my metaphors, this is, if you like, the half-time pep talk. This is the moment when we spit out the orange peel, we adjust our gum shields and our scrum caps.“We get out on to the pitch in the knowledge that we’re going to have to do it together and we’re going to have to do it as a team.”They key absentees were Gavin Williamson, sacked as education secretary, and Robert Jenrick and Robert Buckland, who were also dispatched to the backbenches having served as housing secretary and justice secretary. More