Tag: Boris Johnson

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Rishi Sunak launches bid to replace Boris Johnson

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak on his way to brief members of the cabinet at the weekly Cabinet meeting inside No10 Downing Street, on the day the Chancellor delivers his summer statement to the House during the coronavirus. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

Sunak shot from relative obscurity to fame when the just-ousted Prime Minister Boris Johnson fast-tracked him to the powerful post of Chancellor in 2020, a report by Ashis Ray

Indian-origin former Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British government Rishi Sunak on Friday formally launched his bid to become leader of the Conservative Party. If he succeeds, he will automatically become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

He tweeted: “I’m standing to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and your prime minister.” He added: “Let’s restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country.” He also launched a website ready4rishi.com

Sunak posted along with the tweet a three-minute video setting out his intentions. He said: “I got into politics because I want everyone in this country to have those same opportunities, to be able to give their children a better future.”

He continued: “Our country faces huge challenges, the most serious for a generation. And the decisions we make today will decide whether the next generation of British people will also have the chance of a better future.”

Sunak shot from relative obscurity to fame when the just-ousted Prime Minister Boris Johnson fast-tracked him to the powerful post of Chancellor in 2020. He had been a Member of Parliament for less than five years. He became quite popular within months by providing financial support during the Covid pandemic, including furloughs to employees and soft loans to employers.

But the public liking for him was dented when this year he introduced taxes to reduce the government’s heavy borrowings. This was followed by controversy over his wife avoiding paying taxes in Britain and instead doing so at a lower rate in India from her dividends from shares in Infosys, the Bangalore-based software giant founded by her father N.R. Narayana Murthy. Sunak was then accused of retaining his Green Card in the US, where he had studied and worked.

It will not be surprising if his opponents in the upcoming competition cite his wife’s matter and the Green Card issue against him.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is joined by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak as they make their way up the staircase of No10 Downing Street to give a press conference on the Coronavirus. (Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street)

The son of a medical practitioner is, however, still one of the favourites in the contest, with probably Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, the current favourite.

Sunak resigned as chancellor on Tuesday, highlighting ideological and policy differences with Johnson. But also saying in his resignation letter that “the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously”.

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Who will succeed Boris Johnson?

The |Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Number 10 for prime Minister's Questions. 10 Downing Street. Picture by Tim Hammond / No 10 Downing Street

Mordaunt is Minister of State for International Trade in the outgoing government. Her name has, though, been doing the rounds for some time. …writes Ashis Ray

Ben Wallace, who was the Secretary of State for Defence in underfire British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government and is still holding the portfolio as a caretaker, has emerged as a possible favourite in an opinion poll to succeed Johnson.

Bowing to the inevitable after mass resignations across his government, including that of top Cabinet ministers, Johnson on Thursday announced he is stepping down as leader of the Conservative Party, but will remain the UK Prime Minister till his replacement is chosen.

The BBC reported: “A YouGov poll of 716 Conservative party members placed Ben Wallace just ahead of Penny Mordaunt, who was followed by Rishi Sunak.”

The sample was small and therefore the response is not entirely reliable. At the same time, the findings are not unexpected.

Wallace did his prospects no harm in handling the situation arising out of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mordaunt is Minister of State for International Trade in the outgoing government. Her name has, though, been doing the rounds for some time. She is said to have support among a section of the rank and file as well as Members of Parliament.

Sunak, who is of Indian origin, was in surveys earlier in the year being touted as a front-runner for the PM’s post.

But after he introduced taxes to reduce the borrowings caused by bailing out lives and livelihoods during the Covid-19 pandemic, his popularity was dented. A controversy over his Indian wife’s tax affairs further damaged his reputation. There is no certainty that he will put himself up for the test.

The YouGov poll put Wallace’s support at 13 per cent, Mordaunt’s at 12 per cent and Sunak’s at 10 per cent. They are followed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at 8 per cent; Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab at 7 per cent; Tom Tugendhat, Chair of the House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee, at 6 per cent; Jeremy Hunt, former Foreign and Health Secretary who lost the leadership contest to Johnson three years ago, at 6 per cent; Nadhim Zahawi, who took over as Chancellor of Exchequer after Sunak’s resignation and is of Kurdish background, at 5 per cent; former Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who is of Pakistani descent, at 4 per cent; Priti Patel, who is of East African Indian extraction, at 3 per cent; and Steve Barclay, who was Johnson’s Chief of Staff, at 1 per cent.

Twelve per cent of the respondents said ‘None of the above’, while 9 per cent reacted by saying ‘Don’t know’.

Interestingly, Suella Fernandes Braverman, who is also of Indian heritage and had announced she would throw her hat into the ring on BBC Radio, did not elicit any support.

The intentions of others were until Thursday afternoon not officially known. However, Truss, who was in Indonesia attending the G20 foreign ministers’ conference, decided to cut short her participation and rush back to, reportedly, organise her campaign.

Under Conservative Party rules, a candidate needs the support of at least eight fellow MPs to contest. If there are more than two candidates, the Conservative parliamentary party holds elimination votes until just two runners remains. At that point, a ballot among the entire Conservative Party membership decides the winner.

ALSO READ: Finally Boris quits, will be PM till October

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It would be disgusting to see Boris ‘naked’: Putin

As they sat down for talks amid tensions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Johnson jested that G7 leaders could take their clothes off to “show that we’re tougher than Putin”….reports Asian Lite News

Vladimir Putin has hit back at western leaders who mocked his athletic exploits, saying it would be ‘disgusting’ if Britain’s Boris Johnson tried to emulate his topless appearances in front of the camera, media reports said.

Speaking during a visit to Turkmenistan, the Russian President also taunted his advisories over their ‘lack of machismo’ — when asked about western leaders joking about him at the G7 summit on Sunday.

As they sat down for talks amid tensions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Johnson jested that G7 leaders could take their clothes off to “show that we’re tougher than Putin”.

“Jackets on? Jackets off? Shall we take our clothes off�?” the British leader said while bantering with the other leaders.

“We all have to show that we’re tougher than Putin,” he said, Daily Mail reported.

Canadian premier Justin Trudeau joked that the Western leaders should emulate the Kremlin leader’s naked torso pictures with a “bare-chested horseback riding display”.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen replied: “Oh yes. Horseback riding is the best.”

Putin, 69, hit back during the summit, body shaming his foes and telling reporters: “I don’t know exactly how far they wanted to get undressed, above or below the waist. But I think, either way, it would be a disgusting sight.”

He claimed that, unlike him, the Western leaders abused alcohol and did not do sports to keep in shape.

Putin, who claims to be a martial arts black-belt and fitness fanatic, said: “Recall Pushkin�who said: ‘One might be all about business, yet still take care of the beauty of one’s nails.’ I certainly agree with that.”

ALSO READ: Boris urges NATO allies to boost military spending

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LAME DUCK PM

The result of the confidence vote means Johnson secured the backing of 59% of his lawmakers, lower than the support given to his predecessor Theresa May in a confidence vote she faced in 2018…reports Asian Lite News

Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a confidence vote on Monday but a rebellion by 148 of his 359 Conservative Party lawmakers dealt a serious blow to his authority.

A majority of the Conservatives’ lawmakers – at least 180 – would have had to vote against Johnson for him to be removed.

The result means Johnson secured the backing of 59% of his lawmakers, lower than the support given to his predecessor Theresa May in a confidence vote she faced in 2018.

Having scored a sweeping election victory in 2019, the prime minister has been under mounting pressure after he and staff held alcohol-fuelled parties in his Downing Street office and residence when Britain was under strict Covid-19 lockdowns.

Such is the anger that the party triggered a challenge, forcing an anonymous vote of confidence in a leader who had once seemed unassailable.

The move led to lawmakers from different wings of the party revealing that they had turned against their leader. One former ally accused the prime minister of insulting both the electorate and the party by staying in power.

“You have presided over a culture of casual law-breaking at 10 Downing Street in relation to Covid,” Jesse Norman, a former junior minister, said before the vote.

Johnson’s anti-corruption chief John Penrose also quit.

Dozens of Conservative lawmakers have voiced concern that Johnson, 57, could be losing his authority to govern Britain, which is facing the risk of recession, rising fuel and food prices and strike-inflicted travel chaos in the capital London.

But his cabinet of leading ministers rallied around him and highlighted what they said were the successes of the government: a quick rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations and Britain’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I think it’s an extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result which enables us to move on, to unite and to focus on delivery and that is exactly what we are going to do,” said Johnson shortly after the result was out.

“What this means tonight is that we can focus on what we’re doing to help people on the cost of living, with what we are doing to keep streets and communities safer,” he said.

“It gives us the chance to unite, strengthen and level up our economy. What we are going to do now is to take the opportunity to unite and deliver,” he added.

Despite Johnson’s survival in the vote, his political rivals took a shot at the turmoil within the Conservative Party as the 148 votes against him meant more than 40 percent of the Conservative lawmakers wanted him to go.

“The choice is clearer than ever before. Divided Tories propping up Boris Johnson with no plan to tackle the issues you are facing. Or a united Labour Party with a plan to fix the cost of living crisis and restore trust in politics. Labour will get Britain back on track,” tweeted Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “Whilst Boris Johnson has clung on today – make no mistake, his reputation is in tatters and his authority is now totally shot.”

“Every Conservative MP who cares about integrity and decency must do the right thing, resign the whip and sit as an independent. For the sake of our country, this failing Prime Minister cannot be propped up any longer,” he said.

ALSO READ-Boris Survives Trust Vote

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UK MP quits, admits to watching porn in Parliament

UK MP quits, admits to watching porn in Parliament

The Conservatives suspended Neil Parish on Friday after he reported himself to parliament’s standards commissioner…reports Asian Lite News

A British lawmaker who had been suspended from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party said on Saturday he had resigned after admitting he twice viewed pornography on his phone in the House of Commons “in a moment of madness.”

The Conservatives suspended Neil Parish on Friday after he reported himself to parliament’s standards commissioner.

Parish resigned on Saturday, having previously said he would continue as a member of parliament while an investigation was carried out.

“In the end I could see that the furore and the damage I was causing my family and my constituency association, it just wasn’t worth carrying on,” a tearful Parish told the BBC in an interview on Saturday.

Parish, a farmer, said the first time he had viewed the explicit material he had stumbled across it by accident when looking for tractors on a website with a similar name, and had then “watched it for a bit which I shouldn’t have done”.

“But my crime, most biggest crime is that on another occasion I went in a second time and that was deliberate. That was sitting waiting to vote on the side of the chamber.” Asked what had been going through his mind, he described it as “a moment of madness”.

Earlier this week British media had reported that a female minister said she had seen a male colleague viewing pornographic material while sitting beside her in the Commons chamber and the same lawmaker watching pornography during a committee hearing.

“I was not proud of what I was doing,” Parish said, adding that he had not intended those around him would see it.

ALSO READ: Putin plans ‘all-out war’ on Ukraine ‘within days’

“I am not going to defend what I did. What I did was absolutely, totally wrong … I think I must have taken complete leave of my senses.”

In an interview with The Times newspaper published before his resignation, Parish’s wife said she was not aware of her husband having done anything similar before and that her husband was “a lovely person”.

“It was all very embarrassing,” the newspaper quoted Sue Parish as saying. “My breath was taken away, frankly.”

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Boris looking forward to working with Shehbaz

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson views a static display of cross agency aircraft and then gives speech on small boats and immigration. Lydd Airport. Picture by Tim Hammond / No 10 Downing Street

British PM wrote a letter to PM Sharif, noting that the UK and Pakistan enjoyed deep ties supported by strong people-to-people links….reports Asian Lite News

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulated the new Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and said that he is looking forward to continuing to work on global challenges.

According to the statement issued by the Ministry, “PM Johnson looked forward to continuing working together including in addressing global challenges.”

“He also recalled their meeting in 2016 during his visit to Pakistan and the discussions held on a number of shared interests including girls’ education, health, economics and trade relations,” the statement issued by the Ministry read, Geo TV reported.

Shehbaz: Imran Khan sold Toshakhana gifts in Dubai

According to the Spokesperson of Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, the British PM wrote a letter to PM Sharif, noting that the UK and Pakistan enjoyed deep ties supported by strong people-to-people links.

Citing the letter, the spokesperson said that PM Johnson conveyed best wishes to PM Shehbaz and the people of Pakistan on the 75th anniversary and hoped to meet PM Sharif in person soon.

Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif took oath as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan on April 11 evening hours after being elected by the National Assembly of the country.

Prime Minister-elect Shehbaz Sharif was administered the oath by the Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani after President Arif Alvi fell ill. (ANI)

ALSO READ: ‘Over half of US howitzers are in Ukraine’

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Another political storm hits Boris

Boris Johnson contacted Rayner on Sunday to convey that he considered claims about her misogynistic…reports Ashis Ray

 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “basic instinct” is under a scanner as a new, full-blown sexism controversy enveloped the United Kingdoms parliament.

A sensational piece in the right-wing Mail on Sunday newspaper headlined: “Tories (Conservative party members) accuse Angela Rayner (Deputy Leader of the Opposition Labour party) of Basic Instinct ploy to distract Boris” – a reference to the steamy 1992 film starring Sharon Stone. It further captioned: “MPs claim Labour deputy leader likes to put PM ‘off his stride’ by crossing and uncrossing her legs at PMQs (prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons)”.

The paper quoted a spokesman for Rayner, 41, as saying the suggestion was “categorically untrue”. She does wear short skirts while sitting on the front bench next to the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer during PMQs, but this is generally considered in the western world today as smart rather than sexy dressing.

Johnson contacted Rayner on Sunday to convey that he considered claims about her misogynistic. Referring to the newspaper article, he tweeted: “As much as I disagree with Angela Rayner on almost every political issue, I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her anonymously today.”

On Monday, The Guardian daily reported: “Johnson is also understood to have written directly to Rayner. The contents of the letter have not been shared, except for one quote reported by the Telegraph (a pro-Johnson broadsheet) that stated: ‘The comments were not in my name’.”

On BBC Radio, the shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “I am sick and tired of the way that female MPs and women are treated in parliament.” She described the incident as an “outrageous slur on Angela”.

Pic credits Twitter

Thereafter appearing on the TV programme BBC Breakfast, she added: “She (Rayner)doesn’t need to use her sex to win an argument or put the Prime Minister off, or whatever was suggested in that article. She does it by the strength of her argument.”

Chris Philip, Technology Minister in Johnson’s government, told Sky News he expected government whips would investigate who had made the comments, and if their identity emerged he would “imagine they would be subject to discipline”.

Glen Owen, political editor of Mail on Sunday, who wrote the story is facing questions over whether his Lobby pass should be withdrawn, the Press Gazette claimed. The UK’s Independent Press Standards Organisation is said to have received 5,500 complaints within 24 hours about the article, which penned: “All is fair in love, war and Commons duels with Boris Johnson, if the claims of Tory MPs are to be believed.”

ALSO READ: Boris’ Indian trip in vain? 

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Boris Johnson in India

Boris Johnson visits Sabarmati Ashram Pic credits Pallav Paliwal

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who landed on Thursday, visited Sabarmati Ashram. Johnson landed in Gujarat earlier today for his two-day India visit. He was accorded a grand welcome at the airport in Ahmedabad and received by Gujarat CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel at Airport. This is the first time a UK Prime Minister is in Gujarat, India’s fifth-largest state and the ancestral home of around half of the British-Indian population in the UK.

ALSO READ: Boris Johnson visits Sabarmati Ashram

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Boris Johnson sorry over Partygate

UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer termed Johnson’s apology as a Joke and asked to resign as Prime Minister….reports Asian Lite News

UK Prime minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday apologised to the House of Commons after he was fined for breaking law.

During his address, Boris Johnson reiterated that he did not think that he was breaking law when he attended the birthday party in Downing street in 2020, BBC reported.

According BBC reports, opposition has asked Johnson to quit over his controversial actions.

UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer termed Johnson’s apology as a Joke and asked to resign as Prime Minister.

MPs will hold a vote on Thursday whether he misled the Parliament as the misleading Parliament is a resigning offence in UK, the BBC reported.

But the motion is unlikely to succeed because the majority is standing by the PM, and they are instructed to counter the Labour move.

ALSO READ: The day of reckoning for Boris

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The day of reckoning for Boris

©UK Parliament_Jessica Taylor (1)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will apologise for breaking his own lockdown laws when he makes his first statement to MPs since being fined by police. Mr Johnson has vowed to “set the record straight” when he speaks to MPs at about 3.30pm.

Opposition parties have accused him of lying to Parliament after he previously told them no rules had been broken.

The prime minister will appeal to the MPs to focus instead on issues such as rising prices and the war in Ukraine.

There is no immediate threat to the Prime Minister as the country is going to poll on May 5. Conservatives are facing defeat at many councils and that will prompt more to join the anti-Boris brigade. But the opposition is planning to unseat the prime minister through a trust vote or a censure motion. Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will decide the next course of action today.

“He’s not just broken the rules, he’s lied to the public and he’s lied to Parliament about it,” Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told ITV News.

He also accused the prime minister of using the conflict in Ukraine as a “shield” to keep his job, adding that he finds such a tactic “pretty offensive”.

“For millions of people, complying with the rules really, really hurt,” he added. “This is why it has gone so deep – we’ve all heard of terrible cases of funerals that people couldn’t attend.”

He dismissed the argument put forward by some of the Prime Minister’s allies like Transport Secretary Grant Shapps that Mr Johnson’s punishment was “like a speeding fine”.

“I have never had anybody break down in front of me because they couldn’t drive at 35mph in a 30mph zone; I have had no end of people in tears – in real bits – about complying with rules that really, really hurt them. There has been a pathetic display of Tory MPs going out to defend the indefensible” and it is “something they all ought to be ashamed of.

“I don’t really buy into this idea, by the way, that Johnson is the only person of any importance in the Ukraine crisis,” the Labour leader said. “He is using that, really, as a shield and I think that’s pretty offensive. I understand the argument that the Conservative Party is making, which is ‘we are not going to bring him down, we are prepared to go out and parrot his ridiculous defences’. I think for the public it is different, I think people still talk about this, they really hurt about it. I think any Conservative MP that thinks this is just going to go away is making a huge mistake.”

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks at the House of Commons. (Credit: UK Parliament_Jessica Taylor)

Mr Johnson became the first serving UK prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law when, along with his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, he was fined last week for attending the birthday event held for him in the Cabinet Room in June 2020. The PM is also facing accusations of lying to MPs because he initially told them Covid rules had been followed in No 10 after the first reports of parties emerged last year.

Under government rules, ministers are expected to resign for knowingly misleading MPs – and correct the record as soon as possible if they inadvertently tell Parliament something false.

Mr Johnson has since said it “did not occur” to him at the time of the gathering that it could be in

Opposition parties strongly believe the prime minister deliberately misled parliament and are looking at various mechanisms to hold him to account.

ALSO READ: Boris faces new ‘partygate’ claims ahead of India visit