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      in UK Politics

      Biden says ‘close cooperation’ with UK will continue after Johnson announces resignation

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      President Joe Biden on Thursday said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement that he would step down as the UK’s head of government once Conservative Party members choose a successor will not put a damper on the close relationship between Washington and London.In a statement to The Independent, Mr Biden did not mention Mr Johnson or his impending exit from Number 10 Downing Street, but said the US and UK remain “the closest of friends and Allies” and stressed that “the special relationship” between the American and British people “remains strong and enduring”. “I look forward to continuing our close cooperation with the government of the United Kingdom, as well as our Allies and partners around the world, on a range of important priorities,” Mr Biden said. “That includes maintaining a strong and united approach to supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Putin’s brutal war on their democracy, and holding Russia accountable for its actions”.The outgoing British leader, who was born in the US but renounced his American citizenship years ago, has had a warm relationship with Mr Biden since the American president assumed office in January 2021.At the 2021 Group of Seven summit in Cornwall — one of Mr Biden’s first trips abroad as president — Mr Johnson described his American counterpart as “a breath of fresh air” as the two men signed a “New Atlantic Charter” which “reaffirm[ed] their commitment to work together to realise our vision for a more peaceful and prosperous future” by building on the alliance cemented by Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill more than eight decades prior. Mr Johnson has also praised Mr Biden’s willingness to tackle climate change as an existential threat to humanity during a September 2021 visit to the White House.RecommendedThe two leaders have also worked closely together as they coordinated the west’s response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. They also caused a row when the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia announced last year that Australia would purchase nuclear-powered, conventionally-armed submarines made with American and British technology. The move so incensed French President Emanuel Macron that he temporarily recalled the nation’s ambassador to the United States. But despite the friendly relations between the two leaders, White House officials have declined to weigh in on Mr Johnson’s political troubles, which they’ve characterised as an internal British matter that is out-of-bounds for public comment. More

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      in UK Politics

      Trump-supporting Fox & Friends mocked over criticism of Boris Johnson for being dishonest, mishandling Covid and refusing to leave office

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      The hosts of Fox & Friends have been mocked for criticizing Boris Johnson for being dishonest and refusing to resign after the programme spent years supporting former President Donald Trump. Host Steve Doocy said on Thursday that “what happened over the last number of months and years is the British people did not trust him. He would say one thing and would do something else, and then it would pop up in the tabloids”. “It’s a question of integrity,” he added. “He has refused to go even though people have been calling for him to hit the pavement for a while, because he would say, ‘look, I had a mandate. I had an additional 14 million votes from voters who voted for me in 2019. So I’m going to stick around’ and he stuck around until he saw the writing on the wall.”Doocy noted that more than “53 government officials called it quits. The government of the United Kingdom and of England was in dire need of somebody to run different cabinet positions and things like that”. “Apparently his assistants were trying to fill the positions as quickly as people would quit, but they couldn’t. And there were people who were in charge of security, the courts, technology, education, finance, Northern Ireland, and science. So clearly, that’s a lot of the government with nobody running it and so now he’s gonna leave,” Mr Doocy said. RecommendedOne of the co-hosts said Mr Johnson’s “problems really started with Covid – he wasn’t clear how he was going to handle Covid. Then he got Covid and he almost died. He said it was really touch and go. And his reaction to his own case with Covid was that he really went in the direction of the globalist lockdown, very serious, very stringent response. And then he was caught, of course, partying it up in what is now known as Partygate”. “Fox & Friends obliviously criticizing Boris Johnson for being untrustworthy, refusing to leave office, creating chaos, and mishandling Covid — after years of running interference for you know who — is pretty rich,” journalist Aaron Ruper tweeted in reference to Mr Trump. “It’s bizarre, is what it is, seeing that Johnson was the British version of Trump and Trump-approved,” one Twitter user responded. “I love the way she just threw ‘globalist’ in there. A word that has absolutely no relevance to anything they were talking about,” Jamie Mellor wrote. Recommended“Irony was murdered, resurrected, and then killed again about five different times in this clip. A classic,” Rupar added. More

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      in UK Politics

      UK maritime insurers to play key role in slowing Putin’s oil money

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      Britain is to play a crucial role in the western strategy of preventing Russia “profiteering from its war of aggression in Ukraine” through the global sale of oil.Allies plan to cap Russian oil prices – a move they say will restrict revenue for the Kremlin while still permitting supplies to reach countries that have not imposed import bans, thus avoiding crippling energy shortages.Despite western financial penalties, Vladimir Putin’s war chest is growing. Russia is said to have made $100bn (£82bn) through the sale of oil and gas in the first 100 days of the war. It is currently earning an estimated $800m a day.Insurance companies will have a major part to play in any capping process. It would be extremely difficult for markets to receive Russian oil by sea without this service, and insurers in London, the international centre for marine insurance, must cooperate if the policy is to succeed.The International Group of Protection & Indemnity Clubs in London covers around 95 per cent of the global oil shipping fleet.IGPIC and other insurance groups have been drawn into sanctions regimes in the past; for example, they found themselves sanctioned for covering cargoes of Iranian oil during western sanctions on Tehran.Ministers are due to hold talks with the insurers on the capping scheme. Some industry figures have expressed unease about using insurance as a mechanism for enforcing political decisions, pointing out that underwriters may not necessarily know the trading price.Moscow and Beijing could set up their own marine insurance systems and, if global tanker fleets refuse to carry Russian oil, importers such as China and India – the latter now a major market for discounted supplies from Moscow – could use state-owned vessels.Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Adviser, acknowledged at the G7 summit in Bavaria that the capping plan needs work and cannot be “pulled off the shelf as a tried and true method”.However, the idea was formulated in Washington and Janet Yellen, head of the US Treasury, is a strong backer.The US Treasury reports Ms Yellen has spoken to Constantinos Petrides, finance minister of Cyprus, which has Europe’s largest ship management centre, about “the goal of placing a price limit on Russian oil to deprive the Kremlin of revenue to finance their war in Ukraine while mitigating spillover effects for the global economy”.A senior US official said in London: “Every day that goes by, we see additional revenues flying into Russia and every additional day sees Vladimir Putin’s war chest growing.“We are doing everything we can to stop Russia profiteering from its war of aggression in Ukraine. There is a need for urgency in meeting the complex technical and diplomatic challenges we are facing.” More

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      UK defence and foreign secretaries in Turkey to talk war and weapons ahead of Nato summit

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      Weapons and war were the top agenda items in a pair of high-powered diplomatic meetings between the UK and Turkey on Thursday.The visits by the UK’s foreign and defence secretaries to Ankara followed news of the possible collapse of a major fighter jet deal between Ankara and Washington and came amid a crisis in Nato over efforts to include Nordic countries in the alliance.Defence secretary Ben Wallace met his counterpart Hulusi Akar in the Turkish capital. Ahead of a summit in Madrid next Wednesday, Nato allies are seeking to convince Turkey to remove its opposition to allowing Sweden and Finland to join the alliance.They hope to present a united front against Russia as it pursues its four-month war in Ukraine.Likely topics of discussion included a proposal to build fighter engines by Turkey and UK’s BAE Systems, possible construction of a Turkish aircraft carrier modelled on the Queen Elizabeth and sales of the Eurofighter Typhoon warplane.“The defence secretary is meeting his counterpart in Turkey today for routine bilateral talks on cooperation and security issues ahead of the Nato summit next week,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in an email.Foreign secretary Liz Truss also flew to Turkey to meet senior officials, including foreign minister Melut Cavusoglu, to discuss defence industry cooperation as well as Ukraine, the Nato summit and the ongoing conflict in Syria, according to Turkish officials.The visits by the UK officials come at a time of frenetic diplomacy centred on Ankara.Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Turkey on Wednesday. Israel’s foreign minister and future premier Yair Lapid made a hurried trip to Ankara for a long-scheduled visit, even amid a government crisis in Tel Aviv. The visit came just hours after Turkish security forces arrested a number of purported Iranian operatives allegedly planning to harm or kill Israelis visiting Turkey.The Russian attack on Ukraine has transformed the balance of power in Eurasia, disrupting trade routes and energy supply lines as well as security assumptions. The years-long attempt by the US to step back from its dominant role in the Middle East has also prompted regional countries to confer and bolster ties.Talks about the possible sale to Turks of the Typhoon heated up as the US Congress appeared set to throw a spanner into plans to supply the Nato member with F-16 fighter jets. Lobbied by Armenian and Greek players and angered by Turkey’s opposition to Nato enlargement, US lawmakers have voiced concerns about selling advanced weapons to Turkey.Ankara was also removed from the programme to receive next-generation F-35 warplanes after it insisted on purchasing Russian S-400 anti-aircraft technology in violation of American restrictions.Prime minister Boris Johnson phoned Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday to discuss “cooperation in the defence industry”, as well as the Ukraine war, and the visits by the top officials came soon after. More

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      in World Politics

      Support for EU membership highest in 15 years, survey finds

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      Support for membership of the European Union is at its highest level in 15 years, according to a survey by the bloc’s parliament.Nearly two-thirds of Europeans consider membership of the EU a “good thing”, the results, published on Wednesday, revealed.Most countries showed significantly more positive attitudes towards EU membership compared to a survey conducted at the end of last year, the European Parliament said in a statement, notably in the Baltic States of Lithuania and Estonia.Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, said: “With war returning to our continent, Europeans feel reassured to be part of the European Union.”The survey showed only one in 10 respondents saw Russia positively, compared to one in three in 2018.Attitudes to China also deteriorated, though Europeans reported a more positive image of the UK and United States.Almost 60 per cent considered defence of “common European values” a priority, even if it were to affect prices and costs of living, which have further shot up since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Another EU-backed survey published last week had shown 80 per cent support for economic sanctions again Russia and a common security and defence policy.EU leaders will seek to offer support this week to six Western Balkan countries that have long been knocking at the bloc’s doors.The two-day summit starting Thursday in Brussels is expected to approve the European Commission’s proposal to give Ukraine and Moldova candidate EU membership status – the beginning of a long process that the Western Balkan Six started years ago – although Kyiv would likely take years to become a member, if at all.The EC has repeatedly told Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia that their future lies within the 27-nation bloc. But progress has stalled — for all sorts of reasons. The countries are at different levels of negotiations and fulfilling numerous membership requirements, with Montenegro leading the pack and Kosovo not even starting the talks.The European Parliament poll surveyed nearly 27,000 people across the bloc’s 27 member states between April and May.Additional reporting by Reuters More

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      in UK Politics

      ‘Countless lives will be saved’: Countries to sign first declaration imposing limits on bombing urban areas

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      The UK, the US, France, and Japan are among a slew of countries set to sign the first ever political declaration committing nations to avoid bombing and shelling populated towns and cities, a move which rights groups say will save thousands of civilian lives.Ireland presented a final draft of the declaration to the United Nations in Geneva on Friday after nearly three years of negotiations by member states and civil society organisations.The final wording – which is significantly watered down compared to initial drafts – is not legally binding. But it commits signatories to avoid using explosive weapons, like aerial bombs, rockets, artillery projectiles and missiles, in urban areas as they have such devastating effect.According to the UN more than 90 per cent of global reported civilian casualties each year are the result of the use of these weapons in populated areas.Airwairs, a UK-based monitoring group that backs the declaration and tracks the destruction caused by this globally, citing data from the Explosive Weapons Monitor say they were responsible for more than 5000 civilian deaths or injuries this year alone. Several thousand of those casualties are in Ukraine which Russian invaded in February.And so a declaration signed by countries around the world will change behaviour that will “lead to countless lives being saved”, said Airwars director Emily Tripp.“We welcome the UK’s announcement that it intends to sign the Political Declaration, we urge the UK to stick to its commitment, for other states to follow suit and for clarity on how states expect to implement it,” Ms Tripps told The Independent.“States that join this declaration will contribute to creating a new international norm around the use of explosive weapons and will require militaries and governments to review their own practices and create robust national policies.”She said many militaries, including the UK, show a “poor understanding” of the impact of their own weapons in towns and cities and that “so called precision warfare” has not improved civilian death and injury tolls.“If implemented properly, this declaration will no doubt lead to countless lives being saved,” she added.British MPs have over the years joined calls for countries in particular the UK to “show some leadership” and not only sign the declaration, but push for an outright ban.Stewart McDonald, the SNP’s spokesperson for Defence  and a member of the foreign affairs committee who has been involved in the talks, welcomed the UK’s decision to sign the declaration calling it a “positive step forward”. He said the current laws of war were falling short: even under international law explosive weapons with wide area effects can still be legally used in urban areas.He said it was important for the UK to go even further than signing the declaration, which had been “watered down”.“To continue with an architecture that doesn’t protect civilians shouldn’t be acceptable to anyone,” he said.

      To continue with an architecture that doesn’t protect civilians shouldn’t be acceptable to anyoneStewart McDonald, SNP MP“The UK, as a founding NATO member, a permanent member of the UN Security Council,  and a major European military power, should show some leadership and sign up to the original ban and help lead an international coalition to get that ratified.”Fabian Hamilton, a Labour MP and shadow minister for peace and disarmament, said President Putin’s indiscriminate bombing campaign in Ukraine had made the issue “an urgent priority”.“The scale of the death and destruction shows that the use of explosive weapons in populated areas must become an urgent priority for the international community in order to protect civilian life and those responsible must be held to account,” he told The Independent.Political declarations are not legally binding but right groups and the UN say they are an initial step in countries committing to make a change.They can help clarify what constitutes legal conduct and establish a framework for best practices and reform among states for the future. The UK signed a similar political declaration on Safe Schools in 2018, in which it pledged to strengthen the protection of education and limit the use of school facilities from use during war which has worked.Now more than ever this is vital, with the devastating Russian invasion of Ukraine that has seen urban centres be obliterated and towns littered with land mines and unexploded bombs.And this is the issue for the future of war-ravaged states, said  Najat El Hamri, Middle East Regional Director of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG).Explosive weapons not only maim and kill civilians at the time of the attack but often do not explode on impact leaving behind deadly remnants “continuing to threaten people’s lives, often for generations.” More

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      in UK Politics

      UK ‘very concerned’ about Navalny and urges Russia to release Putin critic

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      The UK’s foreign secretary Liz Truss said she is “very concerned” about the whereabouts of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and has urged Russia to release him after reports he was moved to a notorious high-security prison.Navalny, 46, an outspoken opponent of Vladimir Putin, was earlier this week apparently transferred to the maximum security IK-6 prison in the Vladimir region village of Melekhovo, about 155 miles east of Moscow.The facility is known for its strict inmate routines, which include standing at attention for hours, and has a notorious reputation within the Russian penal system, with allegations of torture and rape of inmates rife. There has not yet been any confirmation of where Mr Navalny is being held and on Wednesday said it was “not concerned” for his safety.In comments on Thursday, Ms Truss said: “We wholeheartedly support Navalny and we are very, very concerned about the reports we have heard and we urge Russia to release him as soon as possible.”Navalny wrote on the Telegram messaging app that he was confined in a “strict regime” and in quarantine, but did not elaborate further.He added: “My space travel continues. I’ve moved from ship to ship.”The opposition leader has been a target for an increased Kremlin crackdown on dissidents and critics of the Russian president in recent months.Navalny was arrested in January 2021 upon returning from Germany, where he had been recuperating from nerve-agent poisoning he blamed on Russian authorities.He received a two-and-a-half-year sentence for allegedly violating the conditions of his parole while outside Russia.In March, Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of fraud and contempt of court, allegations he rejected as a politically motivated attempt by Russian authorities to keep him behind bars for as long as possible.As well as calling for Navalny to be released, the UK government passed yet further sanctions on Putin allies and those who have brought “untold suffering to Ukraine”.The measures include the sanctioning of Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for her alleged involvement in the forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children.Lvova-Belova has been accused of enabling 2,000 vulnerable children being violently taken from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and orchestrating a new policy to facilitate their forced adoptions in Russia.Ms Truss said: “Today we are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of Putin’s war who have brought untold suffering to Ukraine, including the forced transfer and adoption of children.“We will not tire of defending freedom and democracy, and keeping up the pressure on Putin, until Ukraine succeeds.”The sanctions also hit Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Sergey Savostyanov, the deputy of the Moscow city Duma and member of Putin’s political elite, and four military colonels from the 64th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade, a unit known to have killed, raped, and tortured civilians in Bucha.Additional reporting by agenciesThe Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page. More

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      in UK Politics

      The oligarch who could hold key to fate of Britons facing death sentence

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      Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were supposed to receive the protection of the Geneva Convention as members of the armed forces of a sovereign country, Ukraine.They have been sentenced to death after a show trial in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), a “state” recognised only by Vladimir Putin’s Russia.The fact that Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner are British citizens and a third defendant at the trial, Saadoun Brahim, is a Moroccan national, does not affect their status as prisoners of war.Prosecutors in the DPR have repeatedly accused the three men of being foreign mercenaries. But all three are signed-up members of the Ukrainian armed forces, and many countries across the world have foreign nationals in the ranks.This includes Britain, where recruitment is largely restricted to those from the Commonwealth. Russia is among the most welcoming to foreigners in its forces. Citizens of any country, aged between 18 and 30 and with a knowledge of the Russian language can join and they become eligible for Russian citizenship after serving three years.DPR forces also include foreigners. During a visit there after the separatist war of 2014, I met a Scot (who advocated an independent Donbas but had voted against Scottish independence) and an American from Texas, as well as French, Finnish, Portuguese and Spanish nationals and others from eastern Europe.Russian news agency Tass reported that the men’s guilt had been proven “based on the analysis of the totality of the evidence”.What the “evidence” consists of is unknown because the trial took place behind closed doors. Mr Pinner and Mr Brahim allegedly pleaded guilty to “actions aimed at the violent seizure of power”, it was claimed, and Mr Aslin to “illegal use of weapons and explosives”.In reality, the trial and sentencing in Donetsk is a political rather than a legal issue and the two Britons will undoubtedly be regarded as bargaining counters.Boris Johnson is “appalled” by the death sentences and “has asked ministers to do everything in their power to try and reunite them with their families as soon as we can”, according to his spokesman. Britain is “prioritising” talking to Ukraine rather than Russia because “we don’t have regular interaction with the Russians”.The Kremlin holds that it is not Russia that Britain needs to talk to, but the separatists. Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova described the British reaction as “hysterical”.Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters: “The trials  are being held on the basis of the legislation of the Donetsk People’s Republic because the crimes in question were committed on the DPR’s territory. I will not comment on the Donetsk People’s Republic judiciary.”It would be astonishing if Britain were to negotiate directly with an administration it does not recognise, let alone one that is at war with an ally.  So any talks over the release of the two men will be between Volodymyr Zelenesky’s government of Ukraine and the Russians, who regularly liaise on prisoner swaps.Russian state media has reported that more than 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners who surrendered in Mariupol have been transferred to Russia for “investigation”. Politicians in Moscow and the separatist republics have threatened to carry out “Nuremberg-type” trials of prisoners from the Azov battalion, whom they accuse of being neo-Nazis and fascists.Ukraine, too, has put Russian servicemen on trial. Courts in Kyiv and near Kharkiv have handed out lengthy sentences – life imprisonment in one case – on war crimes charges. Iryna Venediktova, the country’s prosecutor general, said on Wednesday that she had filed eight more cases for trial.The Russians and their DPR allies may offer to exchange the two Britons and the Moroccan – as well as others they might put on trial and convict in the future – for detainees held in Ukraine.Moscow is in a strong position when it comes to negotiations on the exchanges. The total number of Russian soldiers being held by Ukraine has fallen to 550 from 900 in April after a series of exchanges. Russia has more than 5,600 Ukrainian troops in captivity, the figure enlarged by the surrender of 2,500 in Mariupol.However, Moscow might have someone else in mind for a swap with Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner rather than soldiers. Both the Britons appeared on the state-run Rossiya 24 channel asking Boris Johnson to get them home in exchange for Viktor Medvedchuk, an oligarch with pro-Moscow sympathies who is under arrest in Ukraine.In the footage, Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner could be seen watching a video of Mr Medvedchuk’s wife Oksana making an appeal for her husband to be exchanged for the two Britons. Mr Aslin says to camera “we look to exchange myself and Aiden Aslin for Mr Medvedchuk. Obviously I would really appreciate your help on this matter.”The Russians and their proxies had gone to some lengths to orchestrate this. But Mr Medvedchuk is no ordinary pro-Moscow oligarch. Mr Putin is godfather to his daughter Daria and the pair’s friendship goes back two decades. They have holidayed together.After Mr Medvedchuk was accused of treason and placed under house arrest, and his television station seized by authorities, Mr Putin delivered one of his most aggressive condemnations of Ukraine, accusing it of turning “slowly but steadily into an antipode of Russia, an anti-Russia”. More