Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson is taking a four-day working break with his family in the West of England, Downing Street has said.The prime minister’s official spokesperson insisted that the trip – believed to be to Somerset – was not a holiday and that Mr Johnson was working full-time while he was away from Downing Street.The PM cut short his planned summer holiday in Somerset with pregnant wife Carrie and son Wilfred after just one day to return to London as the Taliban seized Kabul on 15 August, while foreign secretary Dominic Raab came under fire after delaying his return from Crete a few days longer.Mr Johnson’s return to the West Country came shortly after it was confirmed that the last UK troops had left Afghanistan following an evacuation effort which saw 15,000 people removed in two weeks, but thousands left behind.Downing Street today insisted that the PM continues to have “full confidence” in Mr Raab, amid reports that his cabinet post is under threat. There are “no plans” for a reshuffle, said Mr Johnson’s spokesperson.The spokesperson said Mr Johnson was “continuing to work” while away from London until Wednesday.“The Prime Minister is away for the next two days in the west of England but is continuing to work and will be back in the office in Downing Street on Thursday,” he said.“He left on Sunday, I believe.”The prime minister always has an entourage of support staff, including office staff, with him on travels and this is understood to be the case during the present trip. More

The government will answer all unread emails about people with ties to Britain who remain trapped in Afghanistan “within days”, foreign secretary Dominic Raab has promised.Although the UK evacuated 17,000 people from Kabul since mid-August, reports suggest around 9,000 people who may have been eligible to escape due to their work with British officials were not able to leave.Thousands of emails from MPs and charities highlighting potentially eligible cases went unread by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), according to weekend reports.“We will go over all of those emails [and] make sure they’re properly answered in days,” Mr Raab told Sky News – insisting officials had been focused on the Kabul evacuation before the western military presence came to an end on Monday night.The cabinet minister added: “We’ll go back and answer all of those emails, but I think people would expect us to have been focused on evacuating individuals, contacting individuals on the ground.”A whistleblower told The Observer that a FCDO inbox used to receive potential Afghan evacuation cases from MPs and others regularly had an unread backlog of 5,000 emails, with messages from government ministers going unopened.Mr Raab said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had been leading the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), while the Home Office had been looking at special cases while opening up the resettlement scheme.“We’re getting a lot of cases coming through that needed to be sifted and triaged on – we did that as best we could,” said the foreign secretary. “The two email accounts people are taking about are the Arap cases led by the MoD, not by the FDCO, and also the special cases which are ultimately was the Home Office responsibility.”Although defence secretary Ben Wallace said last week that he believed somewhere between 800 and 1,100 Afghans eligible for evacuation would be left behind, the weekend saw claims that up to 9,000 people who may have been eligible were left behind.Data from a group of 50 Labour MPs shows they are trying to help more than 7,000 constituents and family members trapped in Afghanistan, according to The Guardian – suggesting the number of people making a claim for help is far higher.The foreign secretary admitted it would be a “challenge” to help people now trying to escape Afghanistan by fleeing to a neighbouring country.He said the government would hold the Taliban to its promise of safe passage, and was working with neighbouring countries on a “workable route through” for UK nationals to escape.“We are holding very squarely the Taliban to their explicit assurances – they have made them bilaterally to us, they have made them to other countries and we have now firmed this up with a UN security council resolution – that they must allow safe passage, not just for our nationals but for Afghans, particularly vulnerable ones, who wish to leave.”Mr Raab said 5,000 Britons had been brought home from Afghanistan in the evacuation operation and the number of UK residents still there is in the “low hundreds”.He added: “We lament the fact that anyone would be left behind. I know that the number of UK nationals – the particular responsibility of the Foreign Office – is now down at a very low level.”Labour’s shadow Middle East minister Wayne David said he is “not full of confidence” that “every conceivable effort” is being made to help everyone with ties to the UK flee the country.“I was shocked to learn that many of these emails have not been acted – had not even been read,” he said. “It’s an appalling dereliction of responsibility by the Foreign Office and Dominic Raab has to take responsibility for that.”Mr Raab also insisted that UK officials did not push to their US counterparts to keep a gate open at Kabul airport before the deadly bomb attack in the area.American forces decided to keep the gate open longer than they wanted to allow British officials to continue evacuating personnel, according to leaked claims from the Pentagon. But Mr Raab said it was “just not true” to suggest Britain called for the airport’s Abbey Gate to be left open. More

The bulk of the government’s new £8.6bn “affordable homes programme” will be directed at helping homebuyers rather than renters, housing secretary Robert Jenrick announced on Tuesday.Out of the 119,000 new homes being built, 57,000 will be for ownership, and just 29,600 will be for social rent. Meanwhile, 6,250 are set to be rural affordable homes. Mr  Jenrick said: “Creating more opportunities for homeownership is central to this government. This £9bn funding is a landmark moment for our affordable homes programme and will ensure good quality housing for all as we build back better after the pandemic.“This huge funding package will make the ambition of owning a home a reality for families by making it realistic and affordable.”But some so-called “affordable homeownership” schemes have required prospective homeowners to have saved a deposit with a stable income to be considered for a mortgage. In London, “affordable” shared ownership properties can be open to people earning as much as £90,000, while outside the capital they can be open to people on an £80,000 salary.The housing secretary added:  “We are also ensuring tens of thousands of new homes for rent are built in the years ahead, including social rent, so those on the lowest incomes can enjoy good quality, secure, rented homes, built and managed by reputable providers.”  Housing tenure is considered a large predictor of how a person votes, with renters typically supporting Labour and owners backing the Tories. The government has pledged to build up to 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s but is set to miss this target by a decade. In 2019, UK housebuilding fell to its lowest quarterly rate for three years, and in 2020, housebuilding output dropped by a fifth. More

A Labour MP is temporarily stepping back from his role on Keir Starmer’s front bench following shootings in his local constituency.Luke Pollard, who represents Plymouth, will take a break from his job as shadow environment secretary in order to “support his community” after the attack.On August 12 Jake Davison, 22, killed his mother, Maxine Davison, 51, at her home before going outside and shooting dead four others in a 12-minute attack.In a statement on Monday Mr Pollard said the events in the Keyham area of the city had “shaken our community and have hit us all hard”.”Over the past fortnight our community, local councillors, the city council, the police and many more have stepped up to help,” he said.”It’s my job as Keyham’s MP to be focused on the community at this difficult time. We will get through this and will get through it together.”Sir Keir said he had “agreed a request” for the MP’s portfolio to be taken over by Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner for the next month.Mr Pollard is expected to return to the role in time for the party’s conference in late September. Mr Zeichner said it was “an honour to be asked to keep my hand on the tiller” as the COP26 climate conference approached. A Labour spokesman said: “Following the shootings in his Plymouth Sutton and Devonport constituency, Keir Starmer has agreed to a request by Luke Pollard MP to temporarily step back from his role as shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs for the next month to focus on supporting the victims, their families and the wider Plymouth community.” More

Parents have a responsibility to help prevent a fourth wave of Covid-19 when schools reopen next week, Gavin Williamson has said.The Education Secretary said schools might have to close again if parents did not regularly test their children for coronavirus. In the previous school year from March pupils were tested en masse with at-home testing kits and told to self-isolate if they tested positive. Schools were closed early in the year due to the winter wave of coronavirus but reopened as cases subsidied. There some evidence that school closures has damaged attainment, particularly among disadvantaged pupils. “School communities still need to follow Covid precautions, especially regular testing for pupils, families and staff. But it is not just a matter for schools,” Mr Williamson said in an article for the Daily Mail newspaper. “Parents too have a responsibility to make sure that their children are tested regularly.”I know that there are many things people would rather be doing than testing but it’s really important to make time for it.”The last thing we want is for schools to partially close again, or for whole classes of pupils to be at home self-isolating. That should only ever be the last resort.”Cases are rising steadily in all four nations of the UK with fears mounting of a possible winter wave. Another tranche of vaccinations for children 12 to 15 is expected to begin around 6 September, though this is yet to be confirmed. Jabs for over-12s could start from “early September”.But the Joint committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) which will advise the government on whether to go ahead is still assessing the benefits for the jab for children. With schools returning over the next week children will be mixing in classrooms and playgrounds against well before a significant portion of vaccinated. More

Estonia’s Parliament on Monday failed to elect a new president to the Baltic country after lawmakers rejected the only candidate in the first round of voting Monday.Alar Karis, director of the Estonian National Museum, received support from 63 lawmakers with 16 blank votes and the rest either absent or abstaining in the 101-seat Riigikogu legislature. He needed a two-thirds majority, or 68 votes, to be elected in the secret ballot.The result means that further rounds of voting will be held on Tuesday.The 63-year-old Karis, a former state auditor and university head, was the only candidate running in the election to succeed Kersti Kaljulaid, Estonia’s first female president. She couldn’t seek another five-year term in office because she failed to obtain the support of 21 lawmakers to nominate her as a candidate.“Tomorrow’s another day,” Karis told reporters immediately after election officials had announced the official results. Under Estonia’s complex presidential election system, another two voting rounds are scheduled for Tuesday. If that fails to yield a result, the election will be transferred to a special 208-member electoral college consisting of lawmakers and representatives of municipalities who would vote on a new head of state in September. Should even that body fail to elect the head of state, the vote would move back to Parliament and the process would start all over again. That’s what happened in 2016 when Kaljulaid was eventually elected by lawmakers after even the special electoral body couldn’t come up with a result. The prime minister holds most the power in Estonia, a European Union and NATO member of 1.3 million people, while the role of the president is largely ceremonial — including representing the nation abroad and acting as a domestic opinion leader.But the president’s powers include being the supreme commander of Estonia’s armed forces, formally appointing government members, signing laws to make them valid. The president also has the authority to veto laws. More

Britain and France are to put forward an emergency UN resolution calling for a safe zone at Kabul airport so people can continue to fly out of Afghanistan, Emmanuel Macron has said.The comments by the French president come after the UK airlift evacuation operation ended at the weekend, leaving at least 1,000 Afghans eligible to come to Britain stuck in Kabul and the surrounding country.Plans to have the would-be evacuees travel overland to neighbouring countries for processing were today branded “half-baked” by former child refugee Lord Dubs, while ex-head of the army General Lord Dannatt has accused ministers of being “asleep on watch”.But under the new plan to be put forward at the UN security council in concert with France, the evacuees would still be able to leave by air – as long as the Taliban cooperates.It comes as the Foreign Office released a joint statement alongside dozens of other countries’ foreign ministries saying they had “received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorisation from our countries will be allowed to proceed in a safe and orderly manner to points of departure and travel outside the country”.The countries, which include the US, Britain, and most European states, say they are “committed to ensuring that our citizens, nationals and residents, employees, Afghans who have worked with us and those who are at risk can continue to travel freely to destinations outside Afghanistan”.They add: “We will continue issuing travel documentation to designated Afghans, and we have the clear expectation of and commitment from the Taliban that they can travel to our respective countries. We note the public statements of the Taliban confirming this understanding.”Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, who was widely criticised for being on holiday during the early part of the crisis, is meanwhile set to hold diplomatic meetings over the coming days on how to deal with the Taliban. He is expected to echo the prime minister’s call over the weekend that the international response will be based on the de fact Afghan government’s actions rather than words – with assurances sought on education for women and girls, safe passage for refugees, and a rejection of international terror groups. But it is the issue of how to help those who missed the last flight RAF out that is likely to be the most urgent priority. The Foreign Office overnight on Sunday confirmed that the UN proposal outlined by Mr Macron was being pursued. The UK’s UN ambassador is expected to raise the safe zone proposal with her counterparts from the four other permanent member countries of the UN Security Council, China, France, Russia, and the United States. Diplomatic sources say that meeting is expected to take place late on Monday evening in New York.Back in Westminster Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy has written to Foreign Secretary Mr Raab to explain how Labour MPs alone had 5,000 cases of Afghans potentially elegible to come to Britain in their inboxes – amid reports that the FCO had been ignoring emails from those trying to get out.She warned the Government was working with a “serious underestimate” when it suggests that just 1,000 people were eligible to come.She said: “My office is currently tracking cases related to 5,000 people from Labour MPs alone, including British nationals, high-profile public figures, people with serious disabilities and children separated from their families, which may give a sense of the complexity of evacuation.”Foreign Office minister James Cleverly on Monday morning acknowledged for the first time that emails from Afghans desperate to leave the country may not have been read by officials. Asked if he had unread emails in his own inbox, Mr Clevely told the BBC on Monday: “I suspect everybody has.”He said the government had received a “huge number of emails directly from Afghanistan and from third parties” after announcing it would help people at risk of reprisals from the Taliban.”Obviously we had a limited time window and limited flight availability in Kabul airport. We of course were prioritising getting people who had been processed, who were at the airport, on to planes and out of the country,” he said.”We will continue to work with those Afghans in other parts of Afghanistan who had not been processed when the airport closed and we will continue working to get them out of the country.”We have been and will continue to work through the significant number of emails that we have received to try to get as many other people out of Afghanistan as possible.”Speaking to French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, Mr Macron said: “Our resolution proposal aims to define a safe zone in Kabul, under UN control, which would allow humanitarian operations to continue. Mr Macron added that the plan was “about protecting these threatened Afghans and getting them out of the country in the coming days or weeks. We will see if this can be done through the capital’s civilian airport or through neighbouring countries.” More

Plans being devised by UK ministers to use processing hubs in third countries for Afghans eligible to come to Britain have been labelled a “half-baked idea” by the peer and former child refugee Alf Dubs.Lord Dubs, who fled the Nazis as a child via the Kindertransport rescue mission, told The Independent there were “so many unknowns” about the potential plans, as Conservative MPs also demanded that more details be published.The last civilian evacuation flight left the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, but ministers estimate that over 1,000 people thought to be eligible for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) did not make it onto a flight.These people – who have worked in roles such as interpreting for the British mission in the country over the last 20 years – have been told not to travel directly to Europe, and instead to head for as yet unidentified processing centres in neighbouring countries to apply for assistance.Lord Dubs said: “First of all, people have got to get out of the country, they’ve got to find some way out, and presumably where they get out to is Pakistan, Iraq, Iran or Uzbekistan – one of the border countries.“I’m being a bit worried about this because the countries have to agree to have processing centres, and secondly what happens if someone is processed and deemed not to be a refugee under the Geneva convention? What happens to him or her then?“It sounds to me a very half-baked idea which hasn’t been properly thought out,” he added.“You either process them with the view to accepting them, which is fine, or you process them with a view to refusing them, in which case what would happen to them?”It comes after the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, insisted the scheme to evacuate Afghans eligible to come to the UK was not “time limited” – despite this weekend’s ending of the UK evacuation mission at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai international airport.Mr Wallace suggested that a series of “processing hubs” would be established across the region outside Afghanistan for those the government had been unable to airlift to safety out of the Afghan capital, Kabul.Preparatory talks are understood to have begun with countries bordering Afghanistan, and the “hubs” are expected to involve small units deployed to UN refugee camps or based at local embassies and consulates.But senior Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Independent that ministers must publish further details as soon as possible.“We do require clarity of the movement corridors, which need to be approved by the Taliban, and it would be wise to get this information out as soon as possible to avoid panic,” he said ahead of the end of the mission this weekend.Mr Ellwood, a former soldier and defence minister, said a lack of information could “endanger” lives.“We really need to recognise the mission does not end with the departure of the British and Americans. We must endeavour to have a process, a programme, which goes on for months,” he said.Another senior Tory said: “Lots of people are already looking towards the scheme and lots of Afghans in the UK are contacting their members of parliament, they are asking them for help to identify the way that their family can apply to the scheme, and there is no detail. There’s no mechanism.“People are desperately worried about their families, they are scared, they know the Taliban are going door to door,” they added.Ministers in Britain and other European countries have long toyed with the concept of processing hubs outside Europe – also sometimes called “disembarkation platforms” – as a way of dealing with people who want to come to the UK, usually to claim asylum. The aim of such offshore centres has traditionally been to prevent a person from physically arriving on UK territory before their application is dealt with. This helps the host country avoid strict obligations under international refugee treaties, and also reduces the likelihood of the applicant absconding in the event that their application is rejected. Organisational difficulties have meant that the hubs are yet to be in serious use anywhere for general asylum seekers, although the UK and Denmark both say they are progressing with plans. Steve Valdez-Symonds – UK refugee and migrant rights director at Amnesty International – raised a series of unanswered questions over the use of processing hubs in countries bordering Afghanistan. “The first big issue in terms of practicalities is what will be the situation, in whatever third countries you’re talking about, for the people who it’s proposed could have claims processed,” he told The Independent.“Who is going to look after them? Who is going to be willing to receive them to begin with? What accommodation will be provided? How will they therefore be able to access any scheme the UK may be operating, in a place that is not within control of the UK?” He added: “There’s a real question of whether some people are going to be able to get out of Afghanistan at all, and how dangerous it will be to do so.“Of course many people will try, not least because they will be making choices of what’s the relative danger between staying and trying to leave. Those are already the decisions being made by some people who are in Kabul now, who might be eligible to get on a plane if only they can reach an airport.“They are having to ask themselves what’s the relative risk: should I stay and lie low, or try and get to the airport and risk being identified by the Taliban at a checkpoint and not knowing what may happen to me. Exactly that sort of question will apply to anyone trying to leave Afghanistan from wherever.” More