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For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The UK and Ukraine have kicked off talks on a “landmark” digital trade agreement, aimed at providing support for Ukrainian jobs, livelihoods, and families after Russia’s invasion. The […] More
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the west for arming Ukraine, arguing that its military support will prolong the war. Countries including the UK and the […] More
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Labour leader Keir Starmer is on a list of British politicians, journalists and business leaders barred from entering Russia in sanctions announced by Moscow on Monday. Mr Starmer […] More
“The clown is going,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s parliament after the fall of Boris Johnson. “He is one of the main ideologues of the war against Russia until the last Ukrainian. European leaders should think about where such a policy leads.”Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry in the Kremlin, declared: “The moral of the story is: do not seek to destroy Russia: it cannot be destroyed. You can break your teeth on it – and then choke on them.”Mr Johnson may regard these insults as badges of honour. He certainly will not object to being called the leader in the support of Ukraine against Russian aggression: although the volume of America’s military and financial support to Kyiv outweighs those from other Western states.But the UK is now leaderless, without a prime minister who wields any authority. To continue with the Russian theme, Boris Johnson is now the head of a Potemkin government – a false and hollow structure. This could continue for months, and it is a vulnerable place for the country to be in these uncertain times.Recommended More
A French government minister has lashed out at Boris Johnson claiming that his resignation demonstrates populism and Brexit were not a good mix.Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, also added that the outgoing prime minister’s legacy amounted to very little and, for good measure, that he personally would not miss Johnson.Scandal-ridden Johnson announced on Thursday he would quit as Prime Minister after he dramatically lost the support of his ministers and most Conservative lawmakers, but said he would stay on until his successor was chosen.Asked for his reaction to Johnson’s decision, Le Maire told France Info radio: “It proves, in any case, that Brexit mixed up with populism does not make for a good cocktail for a nation.”“Personally, I won’t miss him,” added Le Maire.Recommended“What Boris Johnson will leave behind him, I do not think it will be particularly brilliant,” Le Maire also said.The UK and France had a testy relationship with Boris Johnson as prime minister, mostly centered on the fallout from Brexit.Mr Johnson has been accused in France of “making a mockery” of London-Paris relations over his handling of the ongoing migrant crisis, and he also oversaw a stand-off over fishing rights.Most significantly, relations have soured over the UK’s threat and dangled to break international law by triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol. More
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
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
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
