UK

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has confirmed the next general election will be in 2024 – ruling out the prospect of a January 2025 contest.The prime minister told a gathering of journalists in Downing Street that the UK will go to the polls next year, putting Westminster on an election war-footing.The latest date an election can be held under current rules is January 2025, and with the Tories trailing Labour by around 20 points in the polls it was rumoured Mr Sunak would cling on and hope for a turnaround.But the PM has set the stage for a showdown with Sir Keir Starmer, who has led Labour to the cusp of power four years after its worst defeat since 1935 under his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.An election is now expected in the autumn, although there is speculation one could be held as soon as next spring. Mr Sunak’s announcement comes amid a gloomy backdrop, with the PM warned he faces a “collapse” on the scale of Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide.Rishi Sunak wants to see flights to Rwanda take off before the next general election (James Manning/PA)Britain’s top pollster Professor Sir John Curtice told The Independent on Sunday that the PM faces a “very bleak situation”. The Conservatives could lose as many as 220 of their current total of 350 MPs in the election due next year, he claimed.“Sunak as a personality has failed to bring up his party,” Sir John told The Independent.Mr Sunak has also failed to deliver on four of the five key pledges to the public he set out in January.He promised to halve inflation, stop small boats crossing the channel, grow the economy, reduce the national debt and cut NHS waiting lists.Inflation has fallen from over 10 per cent at the start of this year to 4.6 per cent, still more than double the Bank of England’s target.But the PM’s other four pledges have floundered, including his promise to “stop the boats”.And he enters the new year braced for a fresh bout of Tory infighting over his beleaguered Rwanda deportation plan, which has split the party’s right and centrist wings.Sir Keir Starmer is hoping to win power after Labour faced its worst defeat since 1935 under his predecessor (Maja Smiejkowska/PA)In a bid to revive the scheme, after it was struck down by the Supreme Court, Mr Sunak is seeking to pass an emergency bill to deem the east African country a safe place to deport refugees.The PM won a crunch vote on the bill this month, but faces another battle with his MPs within weeks, with rebels on the Tory right and left threatening to scupper his plans.Prof Curtice also warned that Mr Sunak faces electoral oblivion even if his Rwanda policy gets off the ground.Asked if the Tories would do better in the election if the PM manages to start sending migrants to Rwanda, the polling guru said: “The short answer is no. Yes, some core voters are upset (about immigration). But it’s not the core vote you need to win back – it’s those who are saying they won’t vote Conservative.”Mr Sunak had blundered by not focusing on the economy and the NHS, he argued. “People are asking two main questions: ‘Can I afford to feed my kids?’ and, ‘If I fall ill, will the NHS look after me?’“Unless they come up with better answers, this government will struggle politically,” said Sir John, who is renowned for his near 100 per cent accurate predictions on polling day. More

Lying to press over PPE contract was ‘not a crime’ says Michelle MoneSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailMichelle Mone has hit out at Rishi Sunak after the prime minister said he was taking the scandal surrounding her involvement in lucrative PPE contracts “incredibly seriously”.The baroness is facing calls to be barred from the House of Lords after she admitted standing to benefit from £60m in profit over a contract signed with PPE Medpro at the height of the Covid crisis after she recommended it to ministers.The Tory peer and Ultimo bra tycoon has taken a leave of absence from the Lords for more than a year as she bids to “clear her name” over the scandal. But she is free to resume membership, piling pressure on the PM to ensure she does not return to the upper House.After Mr Sunak said he was taking the scandal “incredibly seriously”, Ms Mone said: “What is Rishi Sunak talking about? I was honest with the Cabinet Office, the government and the NHS in my dealings with them.“They all knew about my involvement from the very beginning.”Show latest update
1702941430Full report: Michelle Mone hits back at Rishi SunakMichelle Mone has hit back at Rishi Sunak over his intervention in the PPE row, insisting ministers knew about her involvement in the lucarative contract from the beginning.The peer is facing calls to be barred from the House of Lords, with the PM insisting today that Downing Street was taking the case “incredibly seriously”.Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has the full report: Andy Gregory18 December 2023 23:171702938550Watch: Michelle Mone admits she could benefit from £60m PPE contractBaroness Michelle Mone admits she could benefit from £60m PPE contractAndy Gregory18 December 2023 22:291702936090Michelle Mone hits out at ‘very biased’ Twitter community noteMichelle Mone has criticised a “community note” on Twitter/X, claiming it is “very biased and factually incorrect”.The social media service adds context brought by other readers to certain tweets, in this instance saying: “Michelle Mone helped PPE Medpro secure a £122 million contract to supply hospital gowns, later deemed defective, not sterile and unsuitable for NHS use ‘for any purpose’”.“The Government is now suing the firm – which Mone admits profiting from – to recover the money wasted.”In a later post, Ms Mone said: “This label by @CommunityNotes is biased and factually incorrect. An email sent in 2020 by the Cabinet Office to PPE Medpro said our gowns had been ‘approved by technical’. We dispute all claims by the government that the product was defective, and intend to clear our name.”Andy Gregory18 December 2023 21:481702934170Letters | Was lying really Michelle Mone’s ‘only mistake’?In a letter to The Independent, Tim Sidaway, one of our readers in Herefordshire, has written:Michelle Mone says her “only mistake” was repeatedly lying (my words, as she couldn’t bring herself to admit it as it is) by denying any benefit from the PPE deal made with her husband’s company at the height of the pandemic.What about recommending the deal in the first place, knowing that her family would benefit? What about failing to declare an interest to the Lords, against procedure? And then threatening legal action to protect her lies?At least her claims regarding government malfeasance and incompetence are believable.Andy Gregory18 December 2023 21:161702931650Michelle Mone appeared to fight back tears in Medpro-funded filmDavid Oliver, a former president of the Royal College of Physicians, told the Sunday Times he had been “used’. It was called The Interview: Baroness Mone and the PPE Scandal and presented and produced by Mark Williams-Thomas, a former detective and award-winning investigative journalist. Defending the programme he told the paper it was split into “two distinct parts”, the first on the government’s handling of PPE and the second half on PPE Medpro and Mone.Kate Devlin, Politics and Whitehall Editor18 December 2023 20:341702929790‘It’s not my yacht, it’s not my money,’ says Michelle MoneMichelle Mone has admitted that a 30 per cent profit had been made on PPE contracts, of around £60 million. But she denied to the BBC that she had bought a yacht with the money and insisted the cash was her husband’s money.“It’s not my yacht, it’s not my money,” she said. “That cash is my husband’s cash, it’s just like my dad going home with his wage packet on a Friday night and giving it to my mum. So she’s benefiting from that as well, but that cash is not my cash and is not my children’s cash. “If one day, God forbid, my husband passes away before me then I am a beneficiary as well as his children and my children.”But she insisted if he divorced her she would receive nothing.Andy Gregory18 December 2023 20:031702927810Deputy PM ‘doesn’t accept’ Michelle Mone’s claim she was ‘scapegoat’ in PPE scandalOliver Dowden has said he “doesn’t accept” Baroness Michelle Mone’s claim that she and her husband Doug Barrowman were made “scapegoats” for the government’s wider failings over PPE during the Covid pandemic.Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News, the deputy prime minister added: “There’s a limit to what I can say, but I don’t recognise that.”It came after Lady Mone apologised for denying her links to the PPE Medpro firm which was awarded government contracts worth more than £200m to supply PPE after she recommended it to ministers.Oliver Dowden ‘doesn’t accept’ Michelle Mone’s claim she was ‘scapegoat’ in PPE scandalHolly Patrick18 December 2023 19:301702926070No ‘VIP lane’ existed for PPE, says Conservative former ministerIn case you missed it, a Tory ex-Treasury minister this month denied the existence of a so-called VIP lane over personal protective equipment (PPE) as the government scrambled to find sufficient kit in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.The idea of there existing a VIP lane is “misconstrued”, Lord Agnew told BBC Newsnight, saying: “I don’t call it the VIP lane at all. We were getting hundreds of offers a day to help from largely very decent people who were as worried as we were in government.“And we had to find some way of getting the more critical ones through into the procurement triaging system. So that’s all it was. The idea of it being a VIP line is very misconstrued.”Lord Agnew resigned in January this year from his ministerial posts over what he described at the time as the “schoolboy” handling of fraudulent Covid-19 business loans.Andy Gregory18 December 2023 19:011702924090Michelle Mone says she ‘regrets’ denying links to PPE MedproBaroness Michelle Mone apologised after denying her links to the PPE Medpro firm which was awarded contracts worth more than £200m to supply personal protective equipment after she recommended it to ministers, reports my colleague Holly Patrick.The Conservative peer was questioned by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday on the controversy surrounding the firm, which is being investigated by the National Crime Agency (NCA).“I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. I regret and I’m sorry for not saying straight out ‘yes I am involved’,” Lady Mone said.Andy Gregory18 December 2023 18:281702922380Opinion | The Michelle Mone interview was the worst PR comeback since Prince AndrewIn his column on Michelle Mone’s BBC interview, our associate editor Sean O’Grady writes:“I’m not sure who’s advising Baroness (Michelle) Mone and her hubby Doug Barrowman these days.“Hannah Ingram-Moore maybe, who, during a catastrophic interview earlier this year with Piers Morgan, destroyed the charitable foundation set up in the name of Captain Sir Tom Moore, her dear old dad and national treasure?“Or maybe Lady Mone was recently at a perfectly normal shooting party and bumped into his former royal highness the Duke of York, a chap always ready with a few useful tips about getting out of a fix.“Whoever is at the ignoble lady’s elbow these days isn’t serving her interests terribly well. Presumably advised to do so as part of some PR charm offensive, the pair offered themselves up to Laura Kuenssberg for an interview to explain how they’d been scapegoated over the coronavirus personal protective equipment (PPE) affair, and how the mess (which wasn’t really a mess, because nothing was wrong anyway) was all everyone’s else’s fault and nothing to do with them.”Andy Gregory18 December 2023 17:59 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Tory minister has called for Michelle Mone to be barred from the House of Lords, after she admitted she stands to benefit from £60million in profit over a PPE contract signed at the height of the Covid pandemic.On Sunday, the Tory peer said she was “sorry” for denying her links to PPE Medpro, which was awarded government contracts worth more than £200 million to supply personal protective equipment after she recommended it to ministers.Despite the apology, a defiant Baroness Mone added: “I don’t honestly see there is a case to answer. I can’t see what we have done wrong.”Baroness Mone has been on a leave of absence from the Lords for more than a year as she bids to “clear her name” over the scandal. She claims she is being used as a scapegoat for the government’s Covid failings.Now a disastrous BBC interview has seen her face renewed criticism, with energy efficiency minister Lord Callanan calling for her not return to the House of Lords, adding he “would hope that she would see sense”.Meanwhile, ITV’s Susannah Reid said: “She thinks she is the victim because of the press intrusion… [it is] utterly remarkable she does not see how sensitive this is for people.”And amid the criticism, Labour’s Wes Streeting has hit out at those he said had wanted to “make a quick buck at someone else’s expense” during the Covid crisis.We want to know if you think Baroness Mone should be barred from the House of Lords following her latest admission.Or do you agree that there isn’t “a case to answer” and Baroness Mone is being used as a “scapegoat” for the government’s Covid failings?If you want to share your opinion then add it in the comments and we’ll highlight the most insightful ones as they come in.All you have to do is sign up and register your details – then you can then take part in the discussion. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen.Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment click here.Join the conversation with other Independent readers below or by clicking here. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Supporters of Albania’s opposition Democratic Party protested against the government Monday while a parliamentary commission discussed whether to lift the immunity from prosecution of the party’s leader, former Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Prosecutors asked lawmakers last week to strip Berisha of his parliamentary immunity because he did not abide by an order to report to them every two weeks and not travel abroad while he is being investigated for corruption.Cordons of police officers surrounded the Parliament building Monday as a commission discussed the immunity request. If granted, the full Parliament is expected to vote Thursday to clear the way for prosecutors to put Berisha under arrest of house arrest. Berisha, 79, was charged with corruption in October for allegedly abusing his post to help his son-in-law, Jamarber Malltezi, buy land in Tirana owned by both private citizens and the country’s Defense Ministry, and to build 17 apartment buildings on the property. Berisha and Malltezi both have proclaimed their innocence and alleged the case was a political move by the ruling left-wing Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama. Berisha said he considered the prosecutors’ demands on reporting regularly and remaining in Albania to be unconstitutional.Socialists hold 74 of the 140 seats in Parliament, enough to pass most of laws on their own. Since October, Democratic Party lawmakers have regularly disrupted voting sessions to protest what they say is the increasingly authoritarian rule of the Socialists. Last month, they lit flares and piled chairs on top of each other in the middle of the hall the minute Rama took his seat to vote on next year’s budget. The disruptions are an obstacle to much-needed reforms at a time when the European Union has agreed to start the process of harmonizing Albanian laws with those of the EU as part of the Balkan country’s path toward full membership in the bloc.Berisha pledged to take the protest from the Parliament into the streets.“I call on each Albanian to consider their future, the country’s future. We are in a no-return battle,” he said before joining the hundreds of protesters outside the building Monday.Berisha served as Albania’s prime minister from 2005-2013, and as president from 1992-1997. He was reelected as a lawmaker for the Democratic Party in the 2021 parliamentary elections.The United States government in May 2021 and the United Kingdom in July 2022 barred Berisha and close family members from entering their countries because of alleged involvement in corruption.___Follow Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe chairman of the Conservative Party is on the hunt for “talented” Tory candidates ahead of the next election, urging MPs to “have a think” about who they can recommend. In a sign the party may be struggling to find strong candidates to fight all 650 seats, Richard Holden has said Tory HQ is “redoubling efforts” to recruit and select candidates.“We need to identify more talented and dedicated individuals who want to serve their country and join our team,” he said.In a letter sent to Tory MPs, Mr Holden said: “Please have a think about someone… that is not already on the approved list and bring them to us. We are looking for every type of candidate.”The letter was exposed by Michael Crick, a journalist tracking how parties pick their candidates.The former Newsnight political editor said: “It looks a bit desperate.”Tory chair Richard Holden Mr Holden, promoted to be Tory chairman by Rishi Sunak last month, said the party faces a “big job” in the coming months to get on an election footing.A contest is expected next year, with the Conservatives trailing Labour in the polls by around 20 points.“We’re looking for every type of candidate,” Mr Holden said. “The local champion, the small business owner, a local activist through to a successful public figure which you may have come across in your position as a Member of Parliament”.Mr Holden added that “the majority of normal people” would never think about standing for public office “without being asked”.“So, let’s ensure we’re working together to identify that team and make the ask,” he said.Mr Holden’s letter comes just months after it was reported that the Conservative Party had fallen well short of a deadline to find 100 candidates for the next election.Former Tory chairman Greg Hands had been hoping to have 100 prospective MPs in place by the party’s annual conference in Manchester, which took place in October.But analysis by the Labour Party found that ahead of the gathering they had picked just 65 candidates.Mr Holden’s latest push for candidates to come forward comes after Rishi Sunak was warned he is heading for a landslide election defeat – even if his Rwanda policy gets off the ground.Professor Sir John Curtice said Mr Sunak’s bid to use his personal appeal to lift Tory fortunes since succeeding Liz Truss has failed.Rishi Sunak (James Manning/PA)In a grim seasonal message, Sir John said the prime minister faces a “very bleak situation”. The Conservatives could lose as many as 220 of their current total of 350 MPs in the election due next year, he claimed, warning they are heading for a “collapse” on a par with Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide.“Sunak as a personality has failed to bring up his party,” Sir John told The Independent.Asked about Mr Holden’s letter, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “We can confirm that there will be a general election and the Conservatives will be standing candidates.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailFormer Tory peer Baroness Mone has admitted she lied and lied again as she conceded she stands to benefit from £60million in profit over a PPE contract at the height of the Covid crisis. She said she was “sorry” for publicly denying her links to the firm involved, which is being investigated by the National Crime Agency.However, a defiant Baroness Mone added: “I don’t honestly see there is a case to answer. I can’t see what we have done wrong.”She claimed she was not trying to “pull the wool” over anyone’s eyes and that she and her husband had been made scapegoats on the issue. In an interview with the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, she claimed her life had been “destroyed” by allegations about their PPE profits, even though “we’ve only done one thing, which was lie to the press to say we weren’t involved”.She said that was “not a crime”, adding, “No one deserves this.”Both admitted that a 30 per cent profit had been made on the contract, around £60 million. But she denied she had bought a yacht with the money and insisted the cash was her husband’s money. “It’s not my yacht, It’s not my money,” she said. “That cash is my husband’s cash, it’s just like my dad going home with his wage packet on a Friday night and giving it to my mum. So she’s benefiting from that as well, but that cash is not my cash and is not my children’s cash. If one day, God forbid, my husband passes away before me then I am a beneficiary as well as his children and my children.”But she insisted if he divorced her she would receive nothing. The astonishing interview came days after Baroness Mone appeared to fight back tears in a film about the case – funded by the company at the centre of the scandal. Two leading experts who appeared in the film have since come forward to say they would not have taken part had they been told its focus or funding. David Oliver, a former president of the Royal College of Physicians, told the Sunday Times he had been “used’. It was called The Interview: Baroness Mone and the PPE Scandal and presented and produced by Mark Williams-Thomas, a former detective and award-winning investigative journalist. Defending the programme he told the paper it was split into “two distinct parts”, the first on the government’s handling of PPE and the second half on PPE Medpro and Mone. PPE Medpro was awarded government contracts worth more than £200 million to supply personal protective equipment after she recommended it to ministers.In response to her BBC interview, Labour’s Wes Streeting hit out at those he said had wanted to “make a quick buck at someone else’s expense” during the Covid crisis. Referring to Labour’s plans for a Covid corruption commissioner if it wins the next election, he said his party’s message is “We want our money back” – and on potential wrongdoers he said, “Don’t worry, we will find them”. Other guests on the programme also criticised Baroness Mone. Succession actor Brian Cox said: “To take advantage of a situation like that, there is something obscene about that”. ITV’s Susannah Reid referred to Ms Mone’s claim she had lied over fears of press intrusion for her family, said: “She thinks she is the victim because of the press intrusion… [it is] utterly remarkable she does not see how sensitive this is for people.”The Conservative peer and Ultimo bra tycoon has been at the centre of controversy over so-called “VIP lane” contracts. She has repeatedly denied that she had profited from the deal, which she first discussed with government ministers including Michael Gove.But she told the BBC: “If one day, if God forbid, my husband passes away before me, then I am a beneficiary, as well as his children and my children, so yes, of course.”The Department of Health and Social Care has since issued breach of contract proceedings over the 2020 deal on the supply of gowns.Millions of gowns supplied by the company were never used by health services.Baroness Mone, who was made a peer by Lord David Cameron in 2015, has claimed she is being used as a scapegoat for the government’s Covid failings.During the interview, her husband Doug Barrowman also repeated his claim he was asked by a government official if he would “pay more money for the NCA investigation to be called off”. Asked why he did not take the allegation to the police, he said: “I take the advice of my legal team, and the legal team at that point in time suggested that we park that one for now.”Scotland’s deputy first minister called for “absolute clarity” from ministers. Shona Robison said: “I think there are not just questions for Michelle Mone, but I think there are questions for UK government ministers. What they knew and when. And I think we need to hear from them absolute clarity of everything that was known. All of the interactions, what was said, what was promised, what was known. I think we need to have all of that laid out.”She added that people would be “astonished” at the £60 million profit, describing it as an “eye-watering figure”.Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden said there were “no favours or special treatment” involved in PPE procurement and said it was “categorically not the case” that cronyism was involved in the “VIP lane”.“The government’s intention in respect of that was to make sure that if legitimate claims came forward, we’d process them quickly,” he said. “There were no favours or special treatment.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak personally intervened to prevent the RAF scrapping a £40million helicopter contract that allows him to take short hops around the UK.Over the summer the Ministry of Defence announced plans to stop renting two private choppers used by the prime minister and others. The decision followed criticism over his use of the aircraft for short trips, including flying from London to Southampton, a journey that would have taken an hour and 15 minutes by train and cost £30 return.But the new defence secretary Grant Shapps has performed a U-turn – at Sunak’s request, the Royal Air Force has revealed. Writing in the RAF’s in-house magazine, Northolt Approach, Tom Woods, the leader of No 32 Squadron, said: “In mid-September 23, the new secretary of state for defence, the Rt Hon Grant Shapps, reversed the decision at the request of the prime minister.”This prompted “frenetic activity” to ensure that the service could continue, he added. He also suggested that when the temporary contract ends a new tender would be set out for a permanent replacement, thought to be a five-year deal worth £30m – £40m.The prime minister’s official spokesman has previously defended the use of a helicopter for publicly funded trips and said that they were the “most effective use of his time”.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (Jordan Pettitt/PA)Figures show Mr Sunak has taken a taxpayer-funded private flight for travel in the UK once every eight days since he secured the keys to No 10. The data shows he had already used RAF jets and helicopters for domestic journeys more frequently than any recent prime minister – after just seven months in office.He boarded 23 domestic flights on RAF jets and helicopters aircraft across 187 days, almost one flight a week on average.The frequency of his taxpayer-funded jaunts around Britain outstrips his immediate predecessors, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Theresa May.An MoD spokesperson said: “Domestic flights allow ministers to visit more parts of the UK in the time available … and reduce the need for overnight accommodation for ministers and accompanying staff. Security considerations are also taken into account.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailDeputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden did not deny reports that the UK Government is considering restricting the use of social media by under-16s.It has been reported the Government is considering launching a consultation in the new year around possible restrictions being placed on those under the age of 16 using social media platforms, in an effort to bolster UK online safety laws.According to reports, the plans could see teenagers required to gain their parents’ permission before setting up an account on sites such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.There’s a real worry from parents about how they can protect their children from the harms of social mediaOliver DowdenAsked about it on the Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News, he said: “You’ll have to wait for announcements in that area.“I don’t think we’ve actually made a formal policy announcement.”He added: “What I do think, and I saw this when I was digital secretary, and I see it speaking to my constituents and elsewhere, there’s a real worry from parents about how they can protect their children from the harms of social media.“Now, of course, as a Conservative, I don’t want to reach for a lever of banning, but we need to look at how we can protect children online, and I think any reasonable government should do that.”Science minister Andrew Griffith last week said it was about a “consultation that is rumoured to happen in the new year” and called it only “speculation”. More