Markus Andrews

A decisive, second round of voting in France’s regional elections on Sunday is being scrutinized as a litmus test of whether the anti-immigration far right is gaining in acceptability before the French presidential election next year.Marine Le Pen leader of the far-right National Rally has spent a decade trying to cast off the extremist reputation that made the party anathema to many French voters in its previous guise as the National Front. A failure to win control of a region Sunday would mark a stinging setback for the rebranded party.A record-low turnout of 33% in the first round of voting on June 20 proved particularly damaging for the National Rally and Le Pen’s hopes of securing a regional breakthrough to bolster her 2022 presidential campaign. The party has not previously won a region.Polls had suggested that Le Pen’s party had the wind in its sails, with legitimate ambitions to win control of leadership councils in one or more of France’s 12 mainland regions.But the apathy last week also infected National Rally voters. Only in one region, in the southeast, did the party finish ahead. Its candidates elsewhere were all relegated into second place or lower, with some openly abandoning all hope of winning in round two.A major question in the runoff is whether voters will band together to keep Le Pen’s party out of power as they have in the past, repulsed by her anti-immigration and anti-European Union populism and the anti-Semitic and racist image that clung to the National Front, founded by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. The party dominated the first round of the last regional elections in 2015, but collapsed in the runoff as parties and voters joined together against it.The National Rally’s best chance of a first-time regional victory is in the southeastern Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. Its candidate there, Thierry Mariani, is in a tight race with a mainstream conservative incumbent, Renaud Muselier.Results are expected after the last polls close at 8 p.m. The left currently heads five of the 12 mainland regions while the mainstream right runs seven. More

Matt Hancock announces resignation from government after admitting breaking Covid rulesMatt Hancock has quit over his lockdown-breaching ‘clinch’ with taxpayer-funded aide Gina Coladangelo. His resignation, which was announced at 6.15pm, came after at least two Tory MPs went on the record to call for him to go. Sajid Javid will return to the cabinet after being named as Hancock’s replacement.Barely an hour after his appoinment, arch-enemy Dominic Cummings attacked him as ‘useless’ and said he would be ‘awful for the NHS’.Mr Hancock is believed to be staying at the couple’s constituency home in Suffolk and is reported to have left his wife, who remains at their London home with their children.Show latest update

1624749300Hancock ’shameless to the very end’ says RaynerLabour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Hancock was resigning “because of what would have been in the Sunday papers, not for breaking the Ministerial Code, breaking the law, breaking his own rules, handing out taxpayers’ money to his mates or causing tens of thousands of avoidable deaths.”Alastair Jamieson27 June 2021 00:151624747646Hancock’s position was untenable and his legal ‘shameful’ Matt Hancock’s legacy is “shameful,” writes Sean O’Grady.“Hancock’s position was untenable, as is the idea of him standing up at that Downing Street podium, flanked by Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, dishing out the rules he had failed to follow himself.“It’s said he will make a comeback before long, but the Tory party can’t be that short of talent. Can they?”Alastair Jamieson26 June 2021 23:471624743879Javid ‘honoured’ to be back in cabinet Sajid Javid said he is “honoured” to have been asked to serve as health secretary after Matt Hancock’s resignation.“I look forward to contributing to our fight against the pandemic, and serving my country from the cabinet once again,” he tweeted.Alastair Jamieson26 June 2021 22:441624742623Javid warned he must tackle ‘substantial backlog’ in NHS careSaffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers – which represents NHS trusts, said Sajid Javid’s “immediate challenge” was to steer the NHS through the Covid-19 pandemic while supporting the health sector to “clear the substantial backlog of care”.“More than five million patients are now waiting for treatment, demand for mental health and emergency services is rising fast and we face a potentially difficult winter on the horizon. These are significant tasks. This is all alongside making plans to live with Covid-19 over the longer-term,” she said.“Workforce pressures will also be top of the in-tray for the new Secretary of State. We have asked so much of our staff during the past year and they need rest and reward to tackle burnout, boost morale and prepare for the challenges ahead,” she added.Alastair Jamieson26 June 2021 22:231624739461Matt Hancock ‘has left his wife for aide’ Matt Hancock’s relationship with Gina Coladelangelo is ‘recent but serious’ and he has left his wife for her, according to Sky News’ Beth Rigby.Matha Hancock, who has been married to the MP for 15 years, is thought to be at their family home in London this weekend.Alastair Jamieson26 June 2021 21:311624738960Dominic Cummings demands ‘regime change’ Perhaps more ominously than calling the new health secretary useless is Mr Cummings’ call for “regime change.”The extraordinary demand suggets his relentless attacks on his former ally Boris Johnson are likely to continue or even escalate.Alastair Jamieson26 June 2021 21:221624738645Dominic Cummings suggests Javid is ‘useless’ and chosen by Johnson’s wifeDominic Cummings has charged into Saturday night Twitter with an attack on just about everyone at No10.“So Carrie appoints Saj!” he posted, suggesting the prime minister’s wife has chosen the new health secretary.“Saj = bog standard = chasing headlines + failing = awful for NHS,” he added — a description Mr Javid is likely to regard as a badge of honour, given the source.The two men were at loggerheads after Mr Johnson demanded Mr Javid remove his special advisers, apparently at the behest of Mr Cummings.Alastair Jamieson26 June 2021 21:171624737343Hunt welcomes ‘decent’ Javid with dig at HancockAnother former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, described the appointment of Sajid Javid to replace Matt Hancock as an “excellent choice.”In a veiled dig at Mr Hancock, he described the Mr Javid as “decent and (perhaps rarely in the trade) 100% full of integrity.”Mr Hunt, who ran against Boris Johnson in the 2019 Tory leadership race, has emerged as a critic of the present government.Alastair Jamieson26 June 2021 20:551624735249Corbyn: Hancock should have quit over care home deathsThe health secretary should have quit over his handling of the pandemic, says Jeremy Corbyn. “Matt Hancock should have resigned over the Serco contract, the Care Home deaths, the PPE disaster and the treatment of NHS workers and carers,” he wrote.Alastair Jamieson26 June 2021 20:201624733673Sajid Javid appointed health secretaryFormer chancellor Sajid Javid is to return to the cabinet as health secretary replacing Matt Hancock, Downing Street has announced.Mr Javid is also a former home secretary, but has been on the backbenches since being forced out by Boris Johnson in a resuffle.Alastair Jamieson26 June 2021 19:54 More

Sajid Javid is the new health secretary, in a dramatic return to the cabinet for the former chancellor who quit in a clash with Dominic Cummings.Boris Johnson moved quickly to fill the post – with the pandemic ongoing – after the resignation of Matt Hancock for breaking Covid rules.Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove were tipped to replace Mr Hancock, but the prime minister has instead turned to Mr Javid after a healing of relations between the pair, following Mr Cummings’s departure last year.The appointment of a backbencher avoids the need for a wider reshuffle.Mr Javid said late on Saturday he was “honoured” to be back around the cabinet table.“I look forward to contributing to our fight against the pandemic, and serving my country from the cabinet once again,” he tweeted.Mr Javid resigned in February 2020, in protest at Mr Cummings demand for him to sack his advisers to end a briefing war in Downing Street – making him the shortest-serving chancellor for more than 50 years.Tensions had risen between Mr Johnson and Mr Javid over spending plans and the power of the two offices, reaching a tipping point with a demand for him to accept advisers picked by No 10.As well as Covid, his new job hands Mr Javid the task of bringing down a terrifying surge in NHS waiting lists, which stand at more than 5 million people, with staff burnout and shortages a major problem.He must also help thrash out a solution to the social care crisis – promised by the autumn – after a decade of inaction by the government.Mr Hancock was known to favour a German-style insurance scheme to cover care costs, but this would involve some form of tax rise to pay for those near the end of their working lives.He bowed to the seemingly inevitable by resigning the day after video footage emerged of him kissing an aide in his ministerial office, in a breach of coronavirus restrictions.The departure raises fresh questions about Mr Johnson’s judgement – after the prime minister accepted his apology for the breach and tried to declare the matter closed.On Saturday, Conservative MPs began to break ranks to call for Mr Hancock to go, veteran Tory Christopher Chope saying his constituents were “seething”.Duncan Baker, a Norfolk MP, said: “In my view people in high public office and great positions of responsibility should act with the appropriate morals and ethics that come with that role.”In a video posted on Twitter, Mr Hancock said: “I understand the enormous sacrifices that everybody in this country has made, you have made. And those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them and that’s why I’ve got to resign.”In response, the prime minister wrote: “You should leave office very proud of what you have achieved – not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before Covid-19 struck us.” More

Matt Hancock has dramatically quit as health secretary after admitting breaking Covid rules during an alleged affair with an aide in his departmental office.The minister’s resignation statement came amid growing clamour for Boris Johnson to remove him from the cabinet or risk jeopardising vital public health messages, as the government continues to respond to the Covid-19 crisis.The prime minister also announced that Sajid Javid, who quit as chancellor in February 2020 after a standoff with No 10 over an attempt to curtail his power at the Treasury, would return to government as health secretary.A key face of the government’s response to the pandemic, who signed off the coronavirus regulations, Mr Hancock apologised on Friday for breaching the rules after stills of a CCTV recording showed him in his Whitehall office embracing a longtime friend who is on the government payroll.Mr Johnson had stood by the beleaguered health secretary, however, with No 10 insisting it had full confidence in him just over 24 hours ago, despite a growing backlash from across the political divide, including backbench Conservatives, who concluded his position was “untenable”.But in an exchange of letters with the prime minister – released on Saturday evening – Mr Hancock announced his resignation and reiterated his apology for breaking the guidance, saying he owed it to the public to “be honest when we have let them down as I have done”.He also apologised to his family “and loved ones for putting them through this”, as questions continued to mount over the recruitment of Gina Coladangelo – a friend of Mr Hancock’s from Oxford University – to the position of non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).A video published by The Sun newspaper on Friday evening showed Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo kissing in his private Whitehall office, despite the cabinet minister repeatedly urging the public not to hug those they do not live with to control the spread of Covid-19.Legal experts said the cabinet minister may have also broken coronavirus laws, as indoor meetings between people who did not live together or have a legal exemption were banned on the date that video was filmed.Alongside Mr Hancock’s departure, it was also reported Ms Coladangelo would leave her £15,000 per year part-time position on the board at DHSC.“We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance,” Mr Hancock added in his correspondence with the prime minister.In his response, Mr Johnson said he was “sorry” to receive Mr Hancock’s letter, adding: “You should leave office very proud of what you have achieved – not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before Covid-19 struck us.”“Above all, it has been your task to deal with a challenge greater than that faced by any of your predecessors, and in fighting Covid you have risen to that challenge – with the abundant energy, intelligence and determination that are your hallmark.”Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth, who has shadowed Mr Hancock in the Commons during the pandemic, said: “It is right that Matt Hancock has resigned. But why didn’t Boris Johnson have the guts to sack him and why did he say the matter was closed?“Boris Johnson has demonstrated that he has none of the leadership qualities required of a prime minister. Hancock’s replacement cannot carry on business as usual. On Hancock’s watch waiting times soared, care homes were left exposed to Covid and NHS staff were badly let down. Our NHS deserves much better.”The move to appoint Mr Javid was immediately seized upon by Mr Johnson’s former senior aide Dominic Cummings, who claimed his elevation from the backbenches back into government as health secretary would be “awful for NHS”, as he suggested the prime minister’s wife Carrie Johnson, who was a former adviser to Mr Javid, had a role in his appointment.“If I hadn’t tricked PM into firing Saj, we’d have a HMT with useless SoS/spads, no furlough scheme, total chaos instead of joint 10/11 team which was a big success,” he added. “Sad = bog standard = chasing headlines + failing = awful for NHS.”The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, a group fighting for a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic, said it was “clear Matt Hancock needs to go and it’s absolutely right that he’s gone”.Jo Goodman, a co-founder of the group, said: “While this government was preaching social distancing, the health secretary was acting like it was one rule for him and another rule for everyone else. It’s a pattern of behaviour we’ve seen across government over this period and it cuts deep with bereaved families who’ve been doing everything we can to follow the rules and protect others.“But in all honesty, many of us have been wondering why a health secretary who presided over one of the worst Covid-19 death tolls in the world needed a personal scandal to resign.“150,000 Covid-19 deaths. Bungled test and trace. Inadequate protective equipment for health staff and key workers. Covid-positive patients pushed into care homes. We know that Boris Johnson thought Hancock was hopeless from the beginning, so why did he allow him to oversee the loss of so many lives? He should have resigned a long time ago.” More

Gina Coladangelo, the adviser caught kissing Matt Hancock, is leaving her £15,000-a-year public position on the board of the Department for Health and Social Care following his resignation, it is reported.The longtime friends were pictured embracing in his office at the department in breach of Covid rules.Ms Coladangelo, a friend from Mr Hancock’s days at Oxford University, was brought into DHSC as an unpaid adviser last year before being given the £15,000-a-year role of non-executive director in the department.Concerns were raised about Mrs Coldangelo’s appointment in November when Mr Hancock was accused of secretly handing her the adviser role.She did not appear on the list of the department’s special advisers – also known as SpAds. These are political appointees who support ministers outside of the civil service, and who are governed by a code of conduct with a defined role.There was no immediate confirmation of her departure from the DHSC on Saturday, which was reported by the BBC and the Sunday Times.More follows… More

Dear Prime MinisterI am writing to resign as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. We have worked so hard as a country to fight the pandemic. The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis. I want to reiterate my apology for breaking the guidance, and apologise to my family and loved ones for putting them through this. I also need be with my children at this time.We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance.The NHS is the best gift a nation has ever given itself, and the dedication and courage of the NHS staff and the ceaseless work of the officials in the Department is something we should all be proud of. We didn’t get every decision right but I know people understand how hard it is to deal with the unknown, making the difficult trade-offs between freedom, prosperity and health that we have faced. I am so proud that Britain avoided the catastrophe of an overwhelmed NHS and that through foresight and brilliant science we have led the world in the vaccination effort, so we stand on the brink of a return to normality.The reforms we have started in the health system will ensure it continues to provide even better care for people in years to come. We are building a better NHS which makes smarter use of technology and data, forming a new UK Health Security Agency, delivering positive changes to mental health care and will fix the problems in social care once and for all.Many times I stood at the podium in Downing Street and thanked the team – my own team, the NHS, the volunteers, the Armed Services, our pharmacists GPS, the pharmaceutical industry and the whole British public who have made such sacrifices to help others. Those thanks are heartfelt and sincere and so I must resign.It has been the honour of my life to serve in your Cabinet as Secretary of State and I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved. I will of course continue to support you in whatever way I can from the back benches, and I would like to thank you for your unwavering support, your leadership and your optimism, particularly as we worked together to overcome this awful disease.Yours,Matt********************************************************Dear Matt,Thank you for your letter this evening, tendering your resignation as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. I am sorry to receive it.You should leave office very proud of what you have achieved – not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before Covid-19 struck us. Under your leadership, the Department has led fundamental reforms to the provision of care in this country. The NHS Long Term Plan was a major milestone in the history of that great institution. Your work on the Health and Care Bill will support our NHS and deliver greater integration between health and social care. And your efforts mean that we have a record numbers of doctors and over 14,800 more nurses working in our NHS than last year.Above all, it has been your task to deal with a challenge greater than that faced by any of your predecessors, and in fighting Covid you have risen to that challenge – with the abundant energy, intelligence and determination that are your hallmark. Under your leadership, the Department for Health and Social Care has identified and deployed critical life-saving treatments such as Dexamethasone, rapidly increased hospital capacity through the Nightingale programme, and provided 11.7 billion items of PPE to the frontline at record speed. In March 2020, we had the capacity to test 2,000 people a day, now, we have built the largest diagnostic network in British history and have administered over 200 million tests. The vaccine procurement and deployment programme – in my view one of the greatest successes of the modern state – is now forging our path out of the pandemic.Through the establishment of the United Kingdom Health Security Agency, you have also built the foundations to ensure that the UK is better prepared for any future pandemic.You made a considerable contribution to Government before becoming Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. I know that previous Prime Ministers were grateful for your work in ministerial positions in the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills, the Cabinet Office, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. You have, across these roles, been a consistent and vigorous champion of the power of digital transformation.You should be immensely proud of your service. I am grateful for your support and believe that your contribution to public service is far from over.Best wishes, Boris Johnson More

U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned Saturday, a day after apologizing for breaching social distancing rules with an aide with whom he was he was allegedly having an affair.The tabloid Sun newspaper had run images showing Hancock who is married, and senior aide Gina Coladangelo kissing in an office at the Department of Health. The Sun said the closed circuit television images were taken May 6 — 11 days before lockdown rules were eased to allow hugs and other physical contact with people outside one’s own household.In a resignation letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson Hancock said the government owed “it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down.”Johnson said he was “sorry” to receive Hancock’s resignation and that he “should leave office very proud of what you have achieved — not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before COVID-19 struck us.”Johnson had been facing widespread calls to fire Hancock, who has led the country’s response to the pandemic. The Sun late Friday also published a video of the embrace, which had prompted the main opposition Labour Party to deem his position “hopelessly untenable.” Some Conservative lawmakers had also called on Hancock to quit because he wasn’t practicing what he has been preaching during the pandemic.“The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis,” Hancock said in his letter of resignation.“I want to reiterate my apology for breaking the guidance, and apologize to my family and loved ones for putting them through this,” he said. “I also need (to) be with my children at this time.”Hancock is the latest in a string of British officials to be accused of breaching restrictions they imposed on the rest of the population to curb the spread of the coronavirus.The government is also facing questions about the circumstances in which Hancock hired Coladangelo, a university friend who was appointed to his department last year. She was initially employed as an unpaid adviser and this year became a non-executive director at the Department of Health, a role that pays about 15,000 pounds ($21,000) a year.Johnson’s Conservative government has been branded a “chumocracy” by critics for hiring special advisers and contractors from outside the civil service without long-customary levels of scrutiny.Hancock’s department has been accused of waiving procurement rules to award lucrative contracts for protective equipment and other medical essentials, often to personal contacts. Hancock has said he was driven by the need to secure essential supplies quickly at the height of the outbreak.Hancock has faced weeks of pressure since the prime minister’s former top aide, Dominic Cummings, accused him of botching the government’s response to the pandemic. Cummings, now a bitter critic of the government he once served, told lawmakers last month that Hancock “should have been fired” for alleged lies and errors. He also published a WhatsApp message in which Johnson branded Hancock “totally (expletive) hopeless.”Cummings himself was accused of breaking the rules and undermining the government’s “stay home” message when he drove 250 miles (400 kilometers) across England to his parents’ home during the spring 2020 lockdown. Johnson resisted pressure to fire him, but Cummings left his job in November amid a power struggle in the prime minister’s office. More

Leaked CCTV shows Matt Hancock kissing aide Gina ColadangeloA Tory MP has become the first to go on record and call for Matt Hancock to resign for his lockdown-breaching relationship with Gina Coladangelo. Duncan Baker, the MP for North Norfolk, who was elected in 2019, told his local newspaper the Eastern Daily Press that “people in high public office and great positions of responsibility should act with the appropriate morals and ethics that come with that role”. “Standards and integrity matter to me,” he said, adding: “I will not in any shape condone this behaviour and I have in the strongest possible terms told the government what I think.”Meanwhile, flowers have been delivered to the house Mr Hancock shares with his wife, Martha. Pink peonies in a glass vase were placed on the front doorstep by a florist delivery man who arrived just after 10am. He is believed to be staying at their house in Suffolk at the moment while Mrs Hancock has remained at the home in London with their children.Show latest update

1624719047Demonstrators gather outside No 10Demonstrators have gathered on the streets outside Downing Street as part of the anti-lockdown protests going on in central London today. Flares are being set off, and loud chanting, whistling and music continues.People have started shouting “Shame on you” and pointing towards No 10, followed by prolonged booing.Sam Hancock26 June 2021 15:501624718447Govt told to accept ‘warts and all’ school lessons about empireThe government has been urged to accept “warts and all” lessons about the British empire and its role in the slave trade”, after it refused to make teaching of the subjects compulsory.MPs will debate a petition, signed by more than 268,000 people, demanding “a far more inclusive curriculum” – rather than leaving it up to head teachers to decide whether the legacy of “colonisation” is taught.Ahead of the clash, a survey by the think tank British Future has found strong public support for the move, with 63 per cent of people believing children must learn about all its “controversies and complexity”.Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports:Sam Hancock26 June 2021 15:401624717547London hit by anti-lockdown protestsThousands of anti-lockdown protesters are walking down Northumberland Avenue in central London carrying placards and flags.Drums, whistling and chanting can be heard for some distance around, with people young and old taking part.“We are here to take our freedom back,” one speaker stood on a plinth near Embankment Station told crowds.Participant Iain McCausland travelled to London from Devon to attend the rally. He said: “The main reason I’m here is because I feel this lockdown has come at the cost of our liberty and rights. Our freedom to assemble, our freedom to travel, and work. I’m really quite angry with the government, so are everyone here.”Sam Hancock26 June 2021 15:251624716732Who leaked it? A Q&A about Hancock CCTV footageThe PA news agency has put together a Q&A about the CTV footage of Matt Hancock, and how the images may have become public.What are the rules on CCTV usage?Users of CCTV must ensure they comply with strict rules covering personal privacy rights and data protection. A principle piece of law is the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) which controls how personal information is used by organisations, businesses or the Government.Companies must tell people they may be recorded, usually through signage, control who sees recordings and ensure the system is only used for its intended purpose – for example to detect crime. Monitoring of staff without their knowledge is only allowed in exceptional circumstances, such as if they are suspected to be breaking the law, and can only be done as part of a specific investigation.Who can see CCTV footage?Under the DPA’s principles those responsible for using personal data must ensure it is used fairly, lawfully and transparently, for specific purposes, in a way that is relevant and limited to what is necessary, kept for no longer than is necessary and handled in a way that ensures appropriate security.Anyone can request to see images recorded of them and businesses usually must provide the footage free of charge within one calendar month. Police may also request to see CCTV footage.What rules cover the media’s use of recorded footage?The Sun has attributed its report of Mr Hancock’s affair to whistleblowers. It is not clear how the footage of the Health Secretary kissing his aide was recorded and shared.The newspaper’s political editor Harry Cole told the BBC’s PM programme on Radio 4 that the outlet was confident of its sources, and said the images had come from “a concerned Whitehall whistleblower who thought they deserved a wider audience”.Did Mr Hancock know there was a camera in his office?The Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Hancock had no idea the camera in his office existed, with a Government source telling the newspaper it was “unheard of” to have cameras inside ministerial offices. Concerns over security have also been raised if footage could be leaked from within private offices.Should there be an investigation?The Cabinet Office said it would never comment on security issues but it is understood that no cross-government probe has been launched so far.The Metropolitan Police said: “No criminal investigation has been launched. At this time this remains a matter for the relevant government department.”What has No 10 said?The PM’s deputy spokesman would not be drawn, when asked on Friday, over whether an investigation would be launched.However, the Guardian reported that neither Downing Street nor the Department of Health and Social Care think launching an official probe is a good idea, suggesting the government already believes it knows who could have leaked the footage and they would be able to claim protection as a whistleblower exposing wrongdoing.Sam Hancock26 June 2021 15:121624715966Irish government must stop ‘cheerleading’ Protocol, says DUPSir Jeffrey Donaldson has warned the Irish government to stop “cheerleading” for the Northern Ireland Protocol, saying north-south relationships would be impacted if ministers in Dublin did not change stance.“The Irish government has to step away from being a cheerleader for one part of the community. If the Irish government is genuine about the peace process, is genuine about protecting political stability in Northern Ireland, then they too need to listen to unionist concerns,” he said.“It’s not just London, Dublin also need to understand that if we’re going to move forward and have co-operation, if they’re intent on harming our relationship with Great Britain, they cannot expect that it will be business as usual on the north-south relationship.”Sir Jeffrey added: “The Belfast agreement is very clear – the three sets of relationships are interlocking and interdependent. If you harm one element, one relationship, you harm all of them. If the Irish government continues to support the imposition of a protocol that harms our relationship with Great Britain then, by implication, it harms the relationship between Dublin and Belfast.Sam Hancock26 June 2021 14:591624714847The moment Hancock embraces his married aideA minute-long CCTV footage of Matt Hancock embracing his alleged married lover has been released, prompting one of the biggest political scandals of the year. Gina Coladangelo walks towards the health secretary before they become entwined together in a passionate embrace in the corridors of power at Whitehall.Mr Hancock said he was “very sorry” for letting people down and breaching social distancing guidelines, but made clear in his statement he would not resign.Read our full report here:Sam Hancock26 June 2021 14:401624713720Covid rules create atmosphere of ‘finger-wagging and hypocrisy,’ says MPTory MP William Wragg appears to have jumped to his colleague Matt Hancock’s defence with this tweet.Mr Wragg argues coronavirus regulations are “arbitrary” and should end. Sam Hancock26 June 2021 14:221624713278Sir Jeffrey discusses Irish language legislation and ‘harmful’ ProtocolSpeaking about the UK government’s move to legislate for Irish language at Westminster, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson was asked whether he would seek to revisit the issue.The new leader of the DUP said he was “very clear” that if the government proceeds to concede to Sinn Fein demands and goes over the head of the Assembly on these issues and, at the same time, fails to address unionist concerns on the Protocol, that is not a sustainable position that it would “not be a tenable position”. He said: “I don’t want to see things imposed on the people of Northern Ireland that they can’t support. I don’t want to see Westminster acting over the heads of the people of Northern Ireland. The people here elected their representatives to do a job. They have a mandate and they should be allowed to do that job.”Sir Jeffrey added the “Protocol is doing enormous harm to our economy” and said it was time to “find another way of doing things”. Sam Hancock26 June 2021 14:141624711558150 million meals a year thrown away rather than given to hungry, reports suggestSupermarkets, farmers and manufacturers are being incentivised to dump good-to-eat surplus food as waste rather than donating it to feed the hungry as a result of a £600m government subsidy scheme, The Independent has revealed.Three programmes pay public money to waste operators that use anaerobic digestion (AD) to create biogas from food waste – with a fourth due to start in the autumn for a further £150m, taking the total subsidisation to £750m.As a result, the equivalent of 150 million meals in edible food is sent to AD plants each year, at a time when research from the Food Foundation shows that 30 per cent of parents are worried about feeding their children this summer, reports David Cohen.Sam Hancock26 June 2021 13:451624709758McVey: ‘If it had been me, I would have resigned’Former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey tells GB News she hopes Matt Hancock “comes forward” and resigns.Sam Hancock26 June 2021 13:15 More