UK Politics

A delegation from the European Union election observers on Monday wrapped up a six-day visit to Lebanon during which they discussed the deployment of observers ahead of the upcoming May 15 parliamentary elections in the crisis-hit country. The observer mission said it will start deploying 30 observers throughout Lebanon later this week, with their numbers reaching more than 150 from 27 EU member states, Switzerland and Norway on the day of the vote. During the visit, Gyorgy Holvenyi, head of the mission, discussed its work with top Lebanese officials, politicians and religious leaders. The May 15 elections will be the first in Lebanon since the country’s economic meltdown began in October 2019. A massive Aug. 4, 2020 explosion in Beirut’s port that killed more than 200 people, injured over 6,000 and caused wide damage in the Lebanese capital, precipitated the country’s crisis. The militant Hezbollah group and its allies control the majority of seats in the current parliament. Their opponents are hoping to deprive them of this majority in the next month’s vote.A total of 103 lists with 1,044 candidates are vying for the 128-seat legislature that is equally divided between Christians and Muslims. Parliamentary elections are held once every four years in Lebanon.Holvenyi, a Hungarian politician currently serving as a member of the European Parliament, highlighted that the EU Election Observation Mission is impartial and independent, adding that it does not judge the electoral outcome or validate the results. He said it will evaluate the electoral process and its compliance with regional and international commitments on political participation and democratic elections.“We are not here to interfere in the process. We are not investigators,” Holvenyi said. More

Environment secretary George Eustice has insisted he’s not “the accountant for cabinet colleagues” as he was quizzed on whether fellow ministers had ever held non-dom status.It comes after Rishi Sunak has faced days of intense pressure following The Independent‘s revelation that his wife, Akshata Murty, whose father is one of India’s richest men, has been claiming non-domicile status.In an attempt to draw a line under the controversy, and after Ms Murty said she would revise her tax affairs, the chancellor requested on Sunday evening that Lord Geidt, Boris Johnson’s independent adviser on ministerial interests, review all his declarations since 2018.Over the weekend Sajid Javid, the health secretary, also admitted to The Times that he held non-dom status between 2000 and 2006 — before he became an MP and while he was working for Deutsche bank.The cabinet minister said he had qualified for the scheme, which enables an individual not to pay UK tax on their overseas income, because his father was born in Pakistan.Asked whether he could anticipate anyone else in the cabinet coming forward after the health secretary’s admission, Mr Eustice told Sky News: “Well I don’t — all I can tell you is I’m not the accountant for my ministerial colleagues in cabinet.“I don’t know anyone who may or may not have had non-dom status. I can tell you I never have, and would never seek to have one”.Pressed on the chancellor’s controverisal admission on Friday that he held a US green card — granting him permanent residency in America — Mr Eustice said he got “rid of it a couple of years ago”.After being corrected by presenter Kay Burley, who pointed out Mr Sunak only returned the green card in October 2021, 19 months after he was appointed chancellor, he added: “Well, he’s got rid of the green card now.“All I’m saying is he worked in the United States for a while, during that period he had a green, he kept that green card for a period after that but as I understand it, it hasn’t affected the tax he’s paid here in the UK.”Mr Eustice also said he was not “an expert” on the green card system, saying: “I’ve never had one myself, nor would I ever seek to have one to be honest”.The cabinet minister also dodged questions over whether he understood public anger over the revelations, pointing out Ms Murty was changing her tax arrangements in order to pay UK tax on overseas income.“Rishi himself has written to the prime minister and asked the adviser on ministerial standards to look at this case,” he said. “He’s very clear, he’s declared everything that should have been declared at the right time. “There is a process that you have as a minister — you declare all your interests to the permanent secretary in your department and the Cabinet Office then decide which bits should be made public.”Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed, however, claimed the chancellor had broken the ministerial code, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Absolutely. But it’s not an isolated incident, there are other failures here as well.The Labour frontbencher added: “He also failed to declare his wife’s £690-million share-hold in Infosys, an IT company based in India, which has had, according to what we’ve been able to find out, 15 different one-to-one meetings with senior ministers, including the prime minister, and has been awarded multimillion-pound government contracts.“Now, if the chancellor’s household is benefiting from contracts of that kind that should have been something that he declared in the register of interest, but he didn’t.“There’s a whole list of areas where the chancellor appears to have failed to declare things he should have declared.” More

Rishi Sunak has requested that Boris Johnson refers him for an investigation into his ministerial interests, despite insisting that he has “always followed the rules”.The chancellor has written to the prime minister to ask that his declarations are submitted to Lord Geidt, the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests, because of growing scrutiny over his tax affairs.It comes as a Whitehall probe was launched in an attempt to find out if officials shared details of Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty’s tax arrangements, after The Independent revealed she was claiming non-domicile status.In a statement posted on Twitter, Mr Sunak said: “I have always followed the rules and I hope such a review will provide further clarity.”In his letter to Mr Johnson, the chancellor said his “overriding concern” was to retain public confidence in the answers that were given, recommending that “Lord Geidt makes all his conclusions public”. Mr Sunak requested that Lord Geidt review each of the declarations of interest which he had made since becoming a minister and reach a judgement on whether they were properly declared “without bias or favour”. Earlier on Sunday, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner wrote to both Mr Johnson and Lord Geidt – providing a detailed series of questions about Mr Sunak which, she said, needed to be answered.They included whether Mr Sunak had ever benefited from the use of tax havens – particularly when he ran hedge funds before he was an MP – and whether he had received any updates on his blind trust since becoming chancellor.Labour also questioned whether Mr Sunak had made a legal promise to the US when he received his green card that it was his permanent residence, and, if so, whether he was legally a permanent US resident when he entered parliament and became a minister.And Ms Rayner sought an assurance that the chancellor and his family would provide “full transparency” on all their overseas income, and where they pay tax on it.“The chaos caused by the Conservatives over the last week must be brought to an end,” said Ms Rayner.The Labour deputy added: “A fish rots from the head. It is the prime minister’s responsibility to bring this debacle to a close by ensuring that standards are upheld across his cabinet.”Meanwhile, Mr Sunak is facing a separate opposition move aimed at “forcing” him to come clean about his family’s tax affairs, as the chancellor ordered a hunt for the source of any leaks.The Liberal Democrats have now drawn up draft legislation which would compel all ministers to reveal whether they or their spouses claim non-dom status – and if they have holdings in overseas tax havens.It comes after The Independent also revealed claims that Mr Sunak was listed as a beneficiary of tax haven trusts in the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, created to manage the financial affairs of his wife’s family’s interests.Earlier on Sunday, Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said Mr Sunak should be fully transparent about his family’s tax status.She told BBC’s Sunday Morning programme: “The lack of transparency does raise questions about conflict of interest but also it is about basic fairness. I don’t think the chancellor gets that. That raises real questions about his judgement.”There is no suggestion that either Mr Sunak or Ms Murty have broken any laws through their tax arrangements.But the chancellor’s standing among Tory MPs has been rocked by the details, and by his admission that he held a US green card during his first 19 months in Downing Street.Home Office minister Kit Malthouse came to the chancellor’s defence on Sunday, but said that it was “not a brilliant time” for Ms Murty’s tax status to be revealed when millions of people are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis.Mr Malthouse told Sky News: “People’s tax affair are private and should be private and should not be revealed unless they want them to be revealed.”The policing minister added: “I think he would naturally want to understand how their personal confidential information was accessed. We need to think about the integrity of our tax system.”Mr Sunak’s team is said to believe that it is a Labour-supporting official dubbed “red throat” leaking information, as it also emerged that the chancellor’s family is moving out of Downing Street to their west London mews home.Sources close to Mr Sunak played down reports that he was moving his wife and two daughters out to escape the media spotlight, after a photo showed removal vans arriving to take belongings away.But one source said the Sunaks had always intended to spend more time in their west London home to be closer to their daughter’s school. Mr Sunak is now expected to stay in Downing Street during the week while joining them at weekends. More

Beer flowed at incumbent Emmanuel Macron’s celebration of his first-round victory in the French presidential election, while Champagne corks popped across town to mark far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s second-place showing.It was a night of effervescence for both contenders and their supporters ahead of a showdown in two weeks to see who will become France’s chief of state for the next five years. The two will be revisiting their 2017 match when centrist Macron, then an upstart never before elected to office, won by a landslide. Flags, the national anthem and cheers — fueled with drinks as different as the programs of the two contenders — marked the end of a campaign that left 10 other candidates on the sidelines.Macron was expected to capture a healthy first-round lead of around 28% support, ahead of Le Pen’s 23%-24%, according to projections. Final official results were not yet available.“One, two, five more years,” Marcon’s supporters cried out. “Marine president” and “We will win,” the hundreds of guests at Le Pen’s electoral party chanted.“Now, everything is possible,” said Aurélien Lopez Liguori, a municipal councilor for Le Pen’s National Rally party, in the southern town of Sete. Macron “will finally answer to the French people” for his “bad record.”He credited Le Pen’s mostly quiet, close-to-the-people campaign, far from TV cameras, for her showing. “The French thanked us tonight.”It was anything but quiet at Le Pen’s electoral venue in a park in eastern Paris. Cheers drowned out parts of her speech when poll projections were announced.Le Pen, 53, a solid nationalist, has revamped her program and her style, campaigning on buying power and going decidedly people-friendly, to further distance herself from the far-right image that has haunted her anti-immigration party, work she began when she took over a decade ago. She has campaigned since September, longer than any other candidate, and as the campaign wound down took off in opinion polls.In contrast, Macron, 44, came late to the campaign trail, occupied with affairs of state, including his active role in trying to stop the war in Ukraine. He has dominated polls from the start, but some in his entourage worried aloud about Le Pen’s steady advance. Supporter Julien Bon said he was joyful with Sunday night’s results. “It’s better than what we had expected,” he said, referring to recent opinion polls. “We are well on track. Now we must fight.” Le Pen’s supporters at her electoral party came from around France and beyond. “I couldn’t support Marine Le Pen with my vote, but I would if I were French,” said Hungarian guest Agnes Zsofia Magyar, who met Le Pen during the French politician’s visit to Budapest to support leader Victor Orban and his nationalist Fidesz party. She works in Brussels with the party-linked Foundation for a Civil Hungary. “I am sure that the French have decided to change systems,” Magyar said, anticipating a Le Pen victory in the April 24 runoff and alluding to the drastic differences that populist Le Pen and pro-European Union Macron represent. Macron cheered losing candidates who called on their supporters to vote for him in the second round. Supporters applauded far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon when he said, “We must not give a single vote to Le Pen.”“I think Marine Le Pen has a big chance of winning,” said Gilles Lebreton, a European Parliament lawmaker for the far-right party. Her party counts on winning over supporters of Eric Zemmour, a far-right pundit whose decision to enter the race divided Le Pen’s support base.For Le Pen’s National Rally, the second round begins Monday when Lebreton said party officials would meet to plan strategy for the second round. More

Rishi Sunak is facing an opposition move aimed at “forcing” him to come clean about his family’s tax affairs, as the chancellor ordered a hunt for the source of any leaks.A Whitehall probe has been launched in an attempt to find out if officials shared details of his wife Akshata Murty’s tax affairs, after The Independent revealed she was claiming non-domicile status.The Liberal Democrats have now drawn up draft legislation which would compel all ministers to reveal whether they or their spouses claim non-dom status – and if they have holdings in overseas tax havens.The bill set to be tabled when MPs return after easter would force ministers to disclose what overseas territories they pay tax in, and if they are listed as the beneficiaries of trusts in those jurisdictions.“We have a draft law ready and waiting for when parliament returns, to force Sunak and other ministers to reveal if their households are not paying their fair share by using tax havens,” said Lib Dems’ Treasury spokesperson Christine Jardine.It comes after The Independent also revealed claims that Mr Sunak was listed as a beneficiary of tax haven trusts in the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands created to manage the financial affairs of his wife’s family’s interests.The opposition move comes as Mr Sunak’s cabinet colleague Sajid Javid revealed that he had also claimed non-dom tax status between 2000 and 2006 in his previous life as a banker.The health secretary also revealed that he had also benefited from an offshore trust during his time in the financial sector – defending it as “an entirely legitimate arrangement”.In a statement to the Sunday Times, he said: “On becoming a minister in 2012, I decided to voluntarily collapse that trust, repatriate all assets to the UK and pay 50 per cent income tax on those assets.”Labour accused Mr Javid of “hypocrisy” after the health secretary said last week that Britons had a “moral duty” to pay the levy to fund the NHS and social care.Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary, said: “The luxury of being able to choose how much tax you pay, where you pay it, and when you pay it, is not one that is enjoyed by most people in this country.”Meanwhile, Labour pressed Mr Sunak to urgently clarify whether he helped “shape” tax rules through the recent Finance Act 2022 to benefit wealthy investors with non-dom status.Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, told Sky News on Sunday: “We don’t know, for example, whether the chancellor declared a conflict of interest when he was making decisions on policies – there are some policies reported that do affect non-dom people.”Mr Sunak’s team is said to believe that it is a Labour-supporting official dubbed “red throat” is leaking information, as it also emerged that the chancellor’s family is moving out of Downing Street to their west London mews home.Sources close to Mr Sunak played down reports that he was moving his wife and two daughters out to escape the media spotlight, after a photo showed removal vans arriving to take the family’s belongings away.But one source said the Sunaks had always intended to spend more time in their west London home to be closer to their daughter’s school. Mr Sunak is now expected to stay in Downing Street during the week while joining them at weekends.There is no suggestion that either Mr Sunak or Ms Murty have broken any laws through their tax arrangements. But the chancellor’s standing among Tory MPs has been rocked by details, and by Mr Sunak’s admission he held US green card during his first 19 months in Downing Street. More

Liz Truss has begun to pull out in front of Rishi Sunak as the bookmakers’ favourite Tory MP to replace Boris Johnson, after a series of revelations about the chancellor and his wife’s tax affairs.Until recently, Mr Sunak had been the clear frontrunner within his party, and outrage over the Partygate scandal prompted widespread expectations that his promotion could be imminent.While Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine appears to have dampened appetites for an imminent leadership change among Tory MPs, a drubbing in the upcoming local elections could harden attitudes, and the possibility remains that Mr Johnson could be forced to resign if issued a fine by police for Downing Street parties.Sir Keir Starmer remains the favourite to become the next prime minister, with comparison site Oddschecker putting the Labour leader’s chances at 6/1.Within the Conservative Party, the foreign secretary is now out in front of the chancellor, with odds of 9/1 for Ms Truss and 21/10 for Mr Sunak.The odds offered on William Hill and Betfair Exchange, where bettors wage against each other, also suggest that Ms Truss has replaced Mr Sunak as the Conservative frontrunner.“For years, the betting suggested it was a case of when and not if Sunak got the top job but the latest shake up shows the odds have moved dramatically against him in the last week, with Truss and Tom Tugenhadt emerging as new front-runners,” said Sam Rosbottom of Betfair.With the foreign secretary having “surged past” Mr Sunak, “the chancellor’s prospect of leading his party seeming to diminish by the day”, Mr Rosbottom said.Nevertheless, Paddy Power still places Mr Sunak in front, while he is neck-and-neck with Ms Truss on the Sky Bet website.However, his popularity among the Tory grassroots also appears to have plunged, with a Conservative Home poll – which until last year he had topped – suggesting on Monday that the chancellor had the lowest popularity rating of any Cabinet minister save for Ben Elliot and Priti Patel.The poll came after the chancellor had faced criticism even among Tory MPs for not doing enough to help poorer households weather the cost-of-living crisis in his spring statement – but was prior to the series of revelations in recent days about Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty’s financial affairs.On Wednesday, The Independent revealed that Ms Murty was claiming non-domicile status, meaning she faced no UK tax on her vast foreign earnings. The following day, Mr Sunak also admitted to holding a US green card for some 19 months while chancellor, prompting questions among colleagues over his political judgement.While Mr Sunak had denounced the scrutiny of his wife’s tax affairs as “smears”, Ms Murty announced on Friday that she had decided to pay UK tax on her overseas earnings, backdated to last year, saying: “I do not wish my tax status to be a distraction for my husband or to affect my family.” More

New details have emerged of Boris Johnson’s secret journey to Ukraine, where he held surprise talks and walked around the streets of Kyiv with president Volodymyr Zelensky.Video and photos have emerged showing Mr Johnson travelling on a train from Poland into Ukraine ahead of Saturday’s meeting.In the clip shared by Ukrainian Railways online, the PM said: “I am travelling on a fantastic train through to Kyiv from Poland – I just want to say a massive thank you to all the staff of Ukrainian Railways for what you’re doing.”Mr Johnson added: “I gathered you’re called the iron people … I think it also reflects the sprit you’re showing and the spirit of Ukraine in standing up to the appalling aggression we’re seeing. We in the UK stand in sympathy and solidarity with you.”In a statement on the Ukrainian Railways website, the service praised the “iron character” of the prime minister and thanked him for his “courage and support”.The UK government pledged 120 armoured vehicles as well as new anti-ship missile systems, with the PM promising that the equipment would help ensure the country “can never be bullied again”.Appearing alongside Mr Zelensky, Mr Johnson said: “I think that the Ukrainians have shown the courage of a lion, and you Volodymyr have given the roar of that lion,” he said.Downing Street had declined to discuss details of Mr Johnson’s travel to Kyiv, or his walk through the streets, citing security reasons.His visit however coincided with the arrival of Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer, who also held talks with Mr Zelensky, while EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was in the city on Friday.Zelensky’s chief diplomatic adviser said it was “very important” for Ukrainians to see leaders like Mr Johnson come to their homeland – saying “every visit, every phone call, every act of support counts and brings us to victory”Igor Zhovkva told Sunday Morning on BBC One: “It might be a surprise for you but it is not a surprise for us. We were preparing for a while. This visit was very timely and very important in terms of war.”Mr Johnson did not arrive “empty handed”, Mr Zhovkhva said on anti-ship missiles promised by the UK, but also said Ukraine needs more. “We need a lot more weapons – weapons, weapons and weapons.”The adviser suggested that more western leaders were expected next week, with Mr Zelensky is determined to meet leaders in the capital.Boris Johnson walks Kyiv streets with ZelenskyMeanwhile, Home Office minister Kit Malthouse said Britain could impose sanctions on Russian troops and generals suspected of committing war crimes in Ukraine.Mr Malthouse told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme that it was important that evidence of atrocities was gathered as “assiduously as possible”.He said: “While that is ongoing we can take action domestically around sanctions we are able to put on individuals, including combatants, leading generals and others involved in it, to signal our recognition of their part in this dreadful, dreadful assault.”Mr Malthouse said Mr Johnson’s walkabout with president Zelensky through the streets of Kyiv on Saturday had been “quite a remarkable moment”. More

Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has lashed out at critics of the decision to privatise Channel 4 – saying the “lefty luvvie lynch mob” were obsessed with a personal vendetta against her.The culture secretary said former Tory PM Margaret Thatcher – who set up Channel 4 in the early 1980s – wanted it to be “free from the constraints of the state” by the end of the decade.Ms Dorries also appeared to suggest that a “streak” of fascism had “always existed in and around Channel 4” in a piece for the Mail on Sunday.She referenced remarks made by left-wing Labour MP Claudia Webbe, who has said the privatisation was “the seedbed of fascism”.Ms Dorries wrote: “One Labour MP claimed a Channel 4 sale would be ‘the seedbed of fascism’. I shouldn’t be surprised. This streak has always existed in and around Channel 4.”The minister added: “Its former head of news, Dorothy Byrne, who has been defending the station, is the same person who in a lecture compared our prime minister to Vladimir Putin.”Ms Byrne, who has condemned the decision to sell-off the channel, said in 2019 that Mr Johnson was “known liar” who was aping Putin’s approach to the media.She said the prime minister’s move towards online videos over regular sit-down interviews with journalists reminded her of the Russian leader who “likes to talk directly to the nation”.The contentious decision to sell off the public-owned broadcaster has sparked outrage from opposition parties, some top Tory backbenchers and leading media figures.Ms Byrne claimed Ms Dorries “doesn’t know very much about the broadcasting sector” – and pointed out that said Ms Thatcher “invented Channel 4” in 1982 to spark investment in the independent TV sector.But the culture secretary insisted that she had “a truly Conservative and Thatcherite vision for Channel 4” – arguing that privatisation would allow the channel to grow and invest in better technology.Attacking the “lazy, overwrought and ill-informed rhetoric from the Leftie luvvie lynch mob”, Ms Dorries wrote: “They’re happier sneering, accusing me of not being ‘smart enough’ to understand Channel 4 or descending into full-on abusive hysteria.”In her memoirs, Ms Thatcher said that by 1988 she had decided that Channel 4 would be better off privatised, but said she was defeated by “the monopolistic grip” of the broadcasting establishment.“In 1988, Margaret Thatcher was right,” said Ms Dorries. “She could see that Channel 4 would only ever reach its full potential when it was free from the constraints of the State – and that is the vision and the outcome we will deliver.” Labour described the plan as “cultural vandalism” and warned it would cost the sector jobs in the north of England.Baroness Davidson, the former Scottish Tory party leader, has also suggested it will damaging jobs in the independent sector outside of London. “This is the opposite of levelling up,” the Tory peer said of the plan.The sell-off is expected to form part of a draft Media Bill to be unveiled at the Queen’s speech – setting out the forthcoming agenda for Boris Johnson’s government – next month.Defeat in the Commons appears unlikely, given Boris Johnson’s working majority of 77, but it might be a different story in the Lords as there is no Tory majority in the upper chamber.Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley, who said he opposes the sale “because I am a Conservative” said peers will rebel. “The House of Lords will take out any clause that privatises Channel 4,” he said. More