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The lockdown-breaking boss of one of England’s biggest councils will remain in her £200,000-a-year post after six months on full-paid leave while she was investigated for throwing an illegal party at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.Kate Josephs, who is now chief executive of Sheffield City Council, was head of the government’s Covid-19 taskforce when she hosted illegal leaving drinks in December 2020.When revelations emerged in January this year, she was granted discretionary leave by the Labour-run authority in South Yorkshire while a cross-party committee investigated.The council has now said Ms Josephs has received a written warning but no other action will be taken. It has also been confirmed for the first time she received a police fine over the party, at which 30 people enjoyed prosecco, beer and take-away pizzas over five hours.In a statement, Ms Josephs apologised for hosting the paty and promised to “work harder than ever for our city”.But the authority’s decision to keep the chief executive in her post sparked anger in a city where 1,400 people have died from coronavirus.“It’s ludicrous that she can stay on,” said Lord Paul Scriven, a former Lib Dem leader of the council. “She is now renowned for two things, both in Sheffield and outside: breaking the law and then not telling the full truth about it when first asked. And so now we have a situation where the city is hampered for years to come by trying to rebuild trust in one individual who has shown a complete lack of personal integrity.”Ms Josephs said: “I am so very sorry that for too many people – including those I serve in Sheffield and the colleagues I am proud to work alongside – my actions brought back personal pain and suffering experienced during the Covid pandemic.“Knowing this is something that will stay with me forever, I cannot and will not brush that hurt under the carpet; all I can offer is my sincere apology and my promise to work harder than ever for our city.”She added that she had not admitted to the party when asked about it by local journalists long before the revelations came to light because government officials had “asked [me] to respect the confidentiality of the Cabinet Office’s independent investigation”.Council leader Terry Fox said that the decision had been made in the interests of the city.“I am here to deliver for Sheffield, and that is what matters the most to me now,” he said. “The chief executive’s work to rebuild trust across the city and organisation begins now.”In a show of support, several councillors said they were pleased Ms Josephs would be kept on.“She is dynamic and forward-thinking,” Green Party councillor Paul Turpin said. “She has come in and changed the culture here to one where things get done. She made one mistake in her previous job so I don’t see the good of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” More

A former president of the country that has the world’s biggest elephant population has issued a heartfelt plea to Boris Johnson’s government to finally outlaw imports of body parts from hunted animals, after an outcry when ministers postponed a ban.Ian Khama, who criminalised trophy-hunting in 2014 during his decade as president of Botswana, warned that every day without a ban on hunting trophy imports took elephants nearer to extinction.“I hope very much that this time they will stick to it because every day that we lose, we are losing many animals out there in different parts of the world,” he said.“So it’s very important that this is addressed sooner rather than later because the rate of decline of wild species means we’re going to see more and more of these animals becoming endangered and going extinct.”The former president, officially known as Seretse Khama Ian Khama, spoke to The Independent before the launch of a heavyweight report by cross-party MPs and peers with testimony from experts in support of a trophy ban.Renowned conservationist Jane Goodall, who is also at the Westminster launch on Wednesday, said: “The hunting lobby will work hard to preserve the status quo. If we want to maintain our reputation as an animal-loving nation, all hunting trophies should be banned. Time is of the essence.”According to the all-party parliamentary group on trophy-hunting, the report is the most comprehensive inquiry into the practice ever produced in the world. Published just before the seventh anniversary of the killing of Cecil the lion by Walter Palmer, the 278-page document includes “confessions” from British trophy-hunters about shooting monkeys and cats out of trees for “fun”, and carries harrowing descriptions of injuries inflicted on “big game” animals by British hunters. The report, the result of a six-month parliamentary inquiry, carries some previously-unseen photos of British trophy-hunters with lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos and other animals.Trophy-hunting, which unlike poaching is legal, is almost always carried out by wealthy shooters from richer countries who pay large sums, often under guidance, to kill popular species.The new report also identifies British firms that offer hunting holidays to shoot endangered animals and reproduces their price lists.After many years of being lobbied by conservationists, ministers last year drew up the Animals Abroad Bill, which included a ban on imports of trophies, such as heads, tails, ivory and even entire carcases.But the bill was dropped from this year’s Queen’s speech, to the dismay of supporters.Conservative MP Henry Smith has introduced a private member’s bill with a ban, which has government support so stands a good chance of becoming law when it goes to parliament in November.It was very disappointing when the UK government postponed its bill containing a ban, the former president said.He is locked in a fierce war of words with his successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi, who lifted Botswana’s trophy-hunting ban in 2019.Asked whether the onus should be on the new president to ban trophy-hunting rather than rely on UK action, Lt Gen Khama said: “It’s a two-pronged approach. When I was president, I believed it was my responsibility to contribute towards the conservation of nature by banning hunting, and it’s also the responsibility of others, like in the UK, to ban imports of hunting trophies.“And if we all work together, we will achieve a healthy planet. Global Britain means leading the world by example.”The Animals Abroad Bill, which would also have outlawed fur and foie gras imports, was reported to have been vetoed by cabinet members claiming it was not a serious issue.In response, the Botswanan former leader said: “Would you say global warming is a soft, cuddly issue because people don’t think about it every day walking around?“The ceiling is sinking lower and lower and eventually we’re going to be engulfed by polluted air and loss of rainforest. We are slowly strangling ourselves to death.“Nature affects our own livelihoods so it’s not soft and cuddly – it’s very urgent.“The rate at which animals are being slaughtered, we’re heading for a situation when there will be very few left and they’ll be seen only in zoos.”Environment secretary George Eustice assured the lobbyists that the government would do everything it could to ensure the private member’s bill passed, and Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner also pledged her party’s supported, according to Eduardo Goncalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting.Lt Gen Khama said controversial attempts by Botswana’s wildlife authorities to hold a sale of ivory stockpiles were driven by “greed and corruption”.The country is a founder member of Africa’s Elephant Protection Initiative, which opposes ivory stockpiles from “leaking” onto the illegal market, fuelling further killing.Last year’s quota for trophy hunting animals in Botswana was around 2,279.A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to banning the import of hunting trophies from thousands of endangered and threatened species.“This ban will be among the strongest in the world, leading the way in protecting endangered animals – and we welcome the private member’s bill that will deliver this crucial step forward.” More

Patients who have been waiting more than two years for treatment will be given the choice of travelling to another area to get it more quickly under plans to clear NHS clear up waiting lists.Health service bosses described the move as a “final push” to “virtually eliminate” the number of people who have been waiting 24 months to be seen by a medic, the number of which has fallen from a peak of 22,500 in January to 6,700 after the Covid-19 pandemic caused waiting lists to mount.Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said the plan was “ambitious” but staff were “on track” to meet the target by the end of next month. More

Health secretary Sajid Javid has said he wondered whether he “could have made a difference” had he been aware of his older brother’s physical health problem before he committed suicide.Mr Javid’s brother, Tariq, a 51-year-old supermarket chain boss, took his own life while the Tory minister was serving as home secretary. Opening up about his brother’s death, Mr Javid said he still wonders “maybe I could have made a difference”, adding: “I guess I will never know the answer to that.”In July 2018, Mr Javid’s brother Tariq took his own life at a hotel in Horsham, West Sussex. He had left two suicide notes, including one that told Sylvia, his partner of 15 years, that she should “carry on and enjoy life”. Speaking as he visited the London headquarters of suicide prevention charity Papyrus on Friday, the health secretary said: “This is something that is deeply personal to me – there are too many families that are left incomplete and too much potential has gone unfulfilled.” More

An emotional portrait of the child Boris Johnson painted by the prime minister’s mother is to star in a new exhibition about mental health. The painting called Where is Mama? by the prime minister’s late mother, Charlotte Johnson Wahl, will hang in the exhibition, A way from home: Bethlem artists on longing and belonging, at Bethlem Museum of the Mind. The museum’s galleries sit in the world’s oldest psychiatric hospital. The painting tells a story of the difficult time the Johnsons’ experienced when Ms Johnson was separated from her four young children – Boris, Rachel, Leo and Jo. More

Britain is braced for a summer of “massive disruption” after British Airways workers voted in favour of strike action on the same day that railways were all but shut down by industrial action.Ground staff at the carrier’s Heathrow hub overwhelmingly backed a walkout in their fight to reverse pay cuts imposed during the Covid pandemic.Up to 1,000 workers will be involved in the strike, which the GMB Union said was “likely to be during the peak summer holiday period”. “Holidaymakers face massive disruption thanks to the pig-headedness of British Airways,” it said.Downing Street said further strikes will “only add to the misery being faced by passengers at airports”. A spokesman promised “to look at what contingency measures BA could put in place” to get around the action.It comes as passengers faced a second full day of strikes by transport workers, while Britain’s biggest education union, the National Education Union (NEU), and junior doctors have also warned they may pursue industrial action later this year or next if the government fails to meet demands for improved pay and conditions. Ministers and business leaders are now weighing the potential fallout from a summer of discontent if workers across public and private services strike and win better pay offers.The government is set to push through laws that allow companies to replace strikers’ labour with agency workers as soon as Monday. However, using casual labour to replace striking workers is unlikely to succeed except against the lowest-paid or less skilled workers. The deepening cost of living crisis could provoke further industrial disputes in the coming months, said Yael Selfin, chief economist at accountancy firm KPMG. If this leads to higher pay offers it would “worry” policymakers who set interest rates at the central bank, she added.“The risk of a recession has increased,” Ms Selfin said, adding that higher energy costs and supply chain disruption due to Russia’s war in Ukraine had piled pressure on UK households.Strike action which triggers higher pay settlements “is going to worry the Bank of England” she said.“It’s likely to increase costs and see interest rates going up further and faster. That would spell even deeper weakening, as higher interest rates slow the economy,” Ms Selfin said.Rocketing prices of basic goods and services drove inflation to a fresh 40-year high of 9.1 per cent in the 12 months to May, according to official figures released this week.Wages, meanwhile, grew at around 4 per cent in the three months to April.The pain for households is set to worsen with the Bank of England estimating inflation could reach around 11 per cent later this year.The Heathrow strike involves British Airways ground staff, predominantly low-paid women. Members of the GMB union voted, with 95 per cent in favour of a strike. The turnout was 80 per cent. Members of the Unite union in the same group of workers are also expected to vote for strike action.Insiders have suggested that a first bout of strike action could take place as soon as the weekend of 9 and 10 July, coinciding with the first weekend of summer holidays for many schools in England.”BA have tried to offer our members crumbs from the table in the form of a 10 per cent one-off bonus payment, but this doesn’t cut the mustard,” said Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer. They are demanding that BA reinstates a 10 per cent cut taken from them during the pandemic. They claim “bosses pay has returned to pre-pandemic levels”, with Luis Gallego – chief executive for BA’s parent company IAG – in line for a £4.9m payout this year.”Our members need to be reinstated the 10 per cent they had stolen from them last year with full back pay and the 10 per cent bonus which other colleagues have been paid,” said Ms Houghton.”It’s not too late to save the summer holidays – other BA workers have had their pay cuts reversed,” she said, adding: “Do the same for ground and check-in staff and this industrial action can be nipped in the bud.”Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, whose west London seat is home to many Heathrow workers, told The Independent: “BA used the pandemic to cut wages and so it’s no surprise the workers are seeking to recoup that loss now that operations at the airport are returning to normal and they are facing a cost of living crisis.“The possible use of agency staff will exacerbate this type of dispute and prompt the broadening of any action.”Meanwhile, there was little sign of progress in the rail dispute. “Our members are leading the way in standing up for all working people trying to get a pay rise and some job security,” said RMT general secretary Mick Lynch.”In a modern economy workers need to be properly rewarded for their work, enjoy good conditions and have the peace of mind that their job will not be taken away from them.”It was followed by an announcement that more railway workers are to vote on strikes, threatening fresh disruption in the industry.The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) served notice to ballot dozens of members at TransPennine Express (TPE) for strike action and action short of a strike in a dispute over pay, conditions and job security.The ballot opens on 29 June and closes in mid-July, so the earliest that industrial action could be taken is 27 July.The TSSA is also balloting its members in Network Rail, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains, Avanti West Coast, Northern, LNER, C2C and Great Western Railway (GWR) in an escalating dispute across the railway.A spokesperson for the TUC said: “Working people are at breaking point after the longest and harshest pay squeeze in 200 years. “Despite the cost of living emergency, ministers are determined to hold down workers’ pay – while they turn a blind eye to shocking City excess. “This is the same government that promised us a high wage economy. Holding down pay and attacking unions isn’t going to achieve that. “With the prospect of a severe decline in living standards, it’s only right that workers come together to defend their pay and conditions.”A spokesperson for British Airways said: “We’re extremely disappointed with the result and that the unions have chosen to take this course of action.“Despite the extremely challenging environment and losses of more than £4bn, we made an offer of a 10 per cent payment which was accepted by the majority of other colleagues.“We are fully committed to work together to find a solution, because to deliver for our customers and rebuild our business we have to work as a team. We will of course keep our customers updated about what this means for them as the situation evolves.”The Independent understands that the 10 per cent offered by BA was a one-off payment that would not be consolidated into basic pay. More

Millions of rail passengers across Britain face fresh disruption on Thursday after the RMT union accused the government of “wrecking” negotiations.Rail services are being severely disrupted this week after around 40,000 members of the union, working for Network Rail and 13 train operators, voted to stage walkouts in a row over jobs, pay and conditions. Talks were held on Wednesday between the union and industry bosses in a bid to break the deadlock, but they ended without agreement.Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, said: “Grant Shapps has wrecked these negotiations by not allowing Network Rail to withdraw their letter threatening redundancy for 2,900 of our members.“Until the government unshackle Network Rail and the train operating companies, it is not going to be possible for a negotiated settlement to be agreed.”He added: “We will continue with our industrial campaign until we get a negotiated settlement that delivers job security and a pay rise for our members that deals with the escalating cost of living crisis.”Just 60 per cent of trains are running on Wednesday, and some operators will wind down services earlier than normal ahead of the next round of action.The third and final strike of the week is planned for Saturday.However, in a breakthrough, members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association working for Merseyrail have accepted a pay offer that the union’s leaders say is worth 7.1 per cent.General secretary Manuel Cortes described it as “a sensible outcome to a reasonable offer”.A survey of more than 2,300 people by Savanta ComRes showed that more than half (58 per cent) thought the industrial action was justified. More

New asylum seekers are being locked up in order to be deported to Rwanda even after court challenges raised questions about whether the controversial removal flights would ever be able to begin.Campaigners accused ministers of being “untethered from any sense of morality or legality” after it emerged that people seeking refuge in Britain have been placed in detention centres following the grounding of last week’s planned flight.The Rwanda policy will be subject to a judicial review hearing on 18 July, where a High Court judge will assess whether it is lawful.On Wednesday, the most senior civil servant in the Home Office admitted that the policy may even fail in its stated aim of deterring migrants from attempting the dangerous journey across the Channel by small boat.It comes as Boris Johnson flew to Rwanda to attend a commonwealth summit. He is set to meet Prince Charles in Kigali for the first time since it was revealed that the heir to the throne had described the deportation plan as “appalling” in private remarks.The first planned flight in support of the policy, under which the government hopes to “relocate” asylum seekers to the central African country in a bid to deter them from using small boats to cross the Channel, was thwarted last week following an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).A total of 979 people have crossed the Channel since the flight was cancelled at the last minute, according to Home Office data.The government had detained around 130 asylum seekers ahead of the flight, but only issued removal tickets to 47 of them. The majority of the 130 are thought to remain in detention, and detainees are only being released upon submitting a successful bail application to the court.Despite no further flights being scheduled at this stage, new asylum seekers have continued to be detained and informed that they may be removed to Rwanda. The Independent is aware of at least 18 such cases.Clare Mosely, founder of Care4Calais, said the charity was in touch with a number of people in this situation. She said: “[The government is] ploughing ahead with this plan while totally ignoring the human consequences.“I imagine it just wants to deport some people as soon as possible. They don’t care how they do it, but they want the headline. I think they’re just hedging their bets.”Steve Crawshaw, director of policy and advocacy at Freedom from Torture, said it was “deeply disturbing” that the government was continuing to detain refugees and threaten them with removal to Rwanda.“We know from our work with torture survivors how traumatising the experience of detention can be. Given the ECHR’s ruling blocked removals until outstanding legal challenges can be heard, this seems to be a cruel attempt to intimidate vulnerable people by a government untethered from any sense of morality or legality,” he added. More