In April 2022, the UK reached a deal with Rwanda, under which illegal immigrants and asylum seekers would be sent to the east African country to have their claims processed there…reports Asian Lite News
Two deputy chairmen of the British ruling Conservative Party have resigned as the lawmakers in the UK voted on amendments to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s emergency legislation on immigration.
Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith announced their resignations on Tuesday evening after voting in favour of an amendment to the legislation, Xinhua news agency reported.
They wrote in a joint letter to the Prime Minister regarding the amendments that “whilst our main wish is to strengthen the legislation, this means that in order to vote for amendments we will therefore need to offer you our resignations”.
In April 2022, the UK reached a deal with Rwanda, under which illegal immigrants and asylum seekers would be sent to the east African country to have their claims processed there. If successful, they would be granted permanent residency in Rwanda rather than being allowed to return to the UK.
However, the scheme has met with resistance. The first flight scheduled to take seven migrants to Rwanda in June 2022 was cancelled after an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights. Two months ago, the UK’s Supreme Court ruled that the government’s scheme was unlawful.
The British government later introduced emergency legislation that would override domestic and international human rights law, and Members of Parliament (MPs) voted in favour of the new bill last month.
On Tuesday, British lawmakers rejected amendments to the bill proposed by the Labour Party by 336 votes to 262. A main vote on the bill is expected on Wednesday.
Jane Stevenson, another Conservative MP, also offered her resignation as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) over the vote on Tuesday evening.
YouGov survey predicts Conservatives will lose almost every seat in the north of England, more than 70% of their seats in Yorkshire and more than half their seats in Midlands…reports Asian Lite News
The Conservatives are heading for an electoral wipeout on the scale of their 1997 defeat by Labour, the most authoritative opinion poll in five years has predicted.
The YouGov survey of 14,000 people forecasts that the Tories will retain just 169 seats, while Labour will sweep to power with 385 – giving Sir Keir Starmer a 120-seat majority.
Every Red Wall seat won from Labour by Boris Johnson in 2019 will be lost, the poll indicates, and the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, will be one of 11 Cabinet ministers to lose their seats.
The Tories will win 196 fewer seats than in 2019, more than the 178 Sir John Major lost in 1997.
The poll exposes the huge influence that Reform UK is set to have on the election result. The Right-wing party would not win any seats, but support for it would be the decisive factor in 96 Tory losses – the difference between a Labour majority and a hung Parliament.
The result would be the biggest collapse in support for a governing party since 1906, with an 11.5 per cent swing to Labour.
It would all but guarantee Sir Keir’s party at least a decade in government, as no party with such a sizeable majority has ever lost the subsequent election.
There is also bad news for the Scottish National Party, which is predicted to lose almost half of its seats to Labour, retaining only 25.
The poll – obtained using the same method that has accurately predicted the results of several recent elections – will add to pressure on Rishi Sunak to pivot to a far more conservative agenda as he faces a crucial vote on his Rwanda policy this week.
It will also be studied closely by Tory MPs who believe a change of leader before this year’s election is the only way to avoid disaster.
James Johnson, a former Number 10 pollster, said the figures suggested any possible path to victory for the Conservatives had “all but vanished”. He said the data showed the Tories were haemorrhaging the votes of Leave supporters who backed them in 2019 and would be punished by those voters “if they do not get tough on migration – fast”.
The poll was commissioned by a group of Conservative donors called the Conservative Britain Alliance and carried out by YouGov, working with Lord Frost.
It surveyed 14,000 respondents over the course of New Year – around seven times as many people as a typical poll.
Such a big sample size enabled YouGov to break down results by the constituencies in which the election will be fought using its Multi-Level Regression and Poststratification (MRP) method, which successfully forecast the 2017 and 2019 UK elections and more recently votes in Australia and Spain.
Unlike recent polls, which have given Labour an average lead of around 18 points across the electorate as a whole, the MRP poll predicts which seats will go to which party, giving a forecast of the actual election result.
It also factors in the large number of undecided voters and which way they are most likely to vote, known as electoral tightening.
The results are therefore the most credible forecast of what would actually happen if there was an election tomorrow or early this year, based on current public opinion.
The 169 seats the Conservatives are predicted to win is four more than the 165 they won in 1997. This time, however, the scale of losses would be bigger because they have more seats than in 1997.
The poll suggests the Tories are on course to hold 196 fewer seats than Boris Johnson won in 2019. Sir John Major lost 178 seats in 1997, when Sir Tony Blair won 418, giving him a majority of 179 at the start of 13 years of Labour government.
A majority of 120 for Sir Keir would be larger than any in the last two decades and comparable to those secured by Margaret Thatcher in 1983 and 1987. The Liberal Democrats are set to win 48 seats, recovering their pre-2015 size.
The Conservatives will lose seats across the country, the poll forecasts. Labour will rebuild its Red Wall by winning back the seats taken by the Tories in the North and Midlands in 2017 and 2019.
Sunak’s party will lose almost every seat in the north of England, more than 70 per cent of their seats in Yorkshire and more than half their seats in the Midlands.
The Conservatives are also predicted to suffer heavy losses, mainly to the Liberal Democrats, in Blue Wall seats in the South of England they have held for decades.
Horsham, which the Conservatives won by 21,000 votes in 2019, and which has only ever been represented by a Tory since 1880, is expected to go to the Liberal Democrats.
The results are primarily driven by a collapse in the Conservative vote rather than a surge in Labour’s. In constituencies across England and Wales, the Labour vote is up by an average of just four per cent compared to 2019, whereas the Conservative vote is down by an average of 18 per cent.
Labour’s Alistair Strathern and Sarah Edwards cruised to victory in the seats of Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth, overturning Tory majorities of nearly 25,000 and 20,000, respectively…reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservative Party has lost two safe parliamentary seats in a bellwether vote ahead of the next general election.
The centre-left Labour Party easily won the two central England seats up for grabs in by-elections held on Thursday, in an ominous sign for the Conservatives’ prospects in national elections expected next year.
Labour’s Alistair Strathern and Sarah Edwards cruised to victory in the seats of Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth, overturning Tory majorities of nearly 25,000 and 20,000, respectively.
The governing Tories had held Mid Bedfordshire since 1931, and Tamworth since 1996.
George Osborne, a former Conservative chancellor, earlier warned that the loss of Mid-Bedfordshire would mean “Armageddon” for the centre-right party.
Labour leader Keir Starmer hailed the wins as proof of the public’s desire for new leadership.
“These are phenomenal results. Winning in these Tory strongholds shows that people overwhelmingly want change and they’re ready to put their faith in our changed Labour Party to deliver it,” Starmer said.
Labour has enjoyed a double-digit polling lead over the Conservatives for more than a year as voters fume over high inflation, a weak economy and long waiting times to use the state-run health service.
Facing flagging support in the polls, Sunak has announced a number of major policy shifts, including scrapping part of a costly high-speed rail link and watering down measures aimed at helping the UK achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The policy announcements have done little to improve the Tories’ standing in the polls, although Sunak’s personal approval has improved slightly.
During their more than 13 years in power, the Conservatives have led the UK through some of its most significant events in decades, including Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sunak, the fifth Tory leader since 2010, was not in the UK for the by-election results after travelling to Israel to express support for the country in its war with the armed Palestinian group Hamas.
Speaking specifically about the Tamworth result to the BBC, British election wizard John Curtice said “no government has hitherto lost to the principal opposition party in a by-election a seat as safe as Tamworth.”
Speaking on both the results, Curtice told the BBC that we are seeing the “top 10 of worst Conservative performances against the Labour Party.”
With a general election predicted at some point late next year, Curtice warned against taking these results as a direct temperature check. “This isn’t destiny, but it is a pointer … Unless the Conservatives can fairly dramatically and radically turn things around, then they are in truth staring defeat in the face in 12 months’ time,” he said.
Former Theresa May pollster James Johnson, of JL Partners, said London Playbook it is “close to the worst case” for the Conservatives.
Following the results, Sir Keir said: “These are phenomenal results that show Labour is back in the service of working people and redrawing the political map.
“Winning in these Tory strongholds shows that people overwhelmingly want change and they’re ready to put their faith in our changed Labour Party to deliver it.”
Shadow minister Peter Kyle, who ran Labour’s campaign in Mid Bedfordshire, said the party had delivered a “political earthquake” for Sunak and the Conservatives.
And Tory peer Lord Cruddas, an ally of former PM Boris Johnson, said “clearly Rishi Sunak isn’t working as leader of our party”. The ex-party treasurer said, “Local council elections, by-elections defeats everywhere. Rishi’s record is dire and Tories are heading for electoral disaster under Sunak. Things need to change starting at the top.”
But despite the scale of the defeats, one minister denied his party had to change tack. Andrew Bowie told Sky News there was “always room for improvement” but the government was “on the right course”.
The shock by-election results saw Labour win Mid Bedfordshire for the first time after an unusually long contest sparked by the resignation of Nadine Dorries.
The former culture secretary quit in protest after not being awarded a peerage in ally Boris Johnson’s resignation honours, but delayed the formal process of resigning for 12 weeks.
Strathern was announced as Labour’s candidate just days later and has been campaigning in the seat ever since. He said his victory in the Mid Bedfordshire by-election had “made history” and sent a “resounding message”.
Giving his victory speech, the newest Labour MP said: “Tonight residents across Mid Bedfordshire have made history, after decades of being taken for granted, feeling left behind, being under-represented, they made a decision it was time for a change. Nowhere is off limits for this Labour Party and tonight’s result proves it.”
Speaking after her victory in Tamworth, Edwards called on Rishi Sunak to “do the decent thing and call a general election”. She said: “The people of Tamworth have voted for Labour’s positive vision and a fresh start. They’ve sent a clear message to Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives that they have had enough of this failed Government, which has crashed the economy and destroyed our public services.”
Former PMs Cameron and Johnson say the decision showed the country was heading in the wrong direction…reports Asian Lite News
Rishi Sunak unleashed a Tory civil war on Wednesday by announcing the scrapping of the northern leg of HS2 as the former prime minister David Cameron said the decision showed the country was heading in the wrong direction.
After days of frenzied speculation over the future of the flagship levelling-up project, Sunak confirmed he was axing the Birmingham to Manchester line and would use the £36bn of savings to fund a number of other transport schemes, described as “Network North”.
Cameron led a torrent of criticism of the announcement, which it emerged was made without consulting the cabinet, parliament, local councils or Network Rail, saying it passed up a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
“It will help to fuel the views of those who argue that we can no longer think or act for the long-term as a country; that we are heading in the wrong direction,” he warned.
Cameron said the announcement threw away “15 years of cross-party consensus, sustained over six administrations, and would make it much harder to build consensus for any future long-term projects”.
However, Sunak told Tory activists in Manchester that he was focused on the long term as he presented himself – the fifth Tory prime minister in 13 unbroken years of the party’s rule – as the change candidate at the next election.
“At the next election the choice that people face is bigger than party politics,” he said.
“Do we want a government committed to making long-term decisions, prepared to be radical in the face of challenges and to take on vested interests, or do we want to stand still and quietly accept more of the same? You either think this country needs to change, or you don’t. And if you do, you should stand with me and every person in this hall, you should stand with the Conservatives.”
He directly challenged critics of his HS2 plans including former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May, as well as the West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, who pulled back from the brink of quitting the Tory party.
“I say to those who backed the project in the first place, the facts have changed. The right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction,” he said.
Cameron was joined by Johnson, who replied to his post on X, formerly known as Twitter, criticising the announcement simply with: “I agree.”
Sunak was accused of the “biggest and most damaging U-turn in the history of UK infrastructure” by the rail industry despite a promise to divert funds into transport schemes in the Midlands and north, including some already under way, as well as projects previously paused or cancelled by the government.
Sunak had insisted all week that no final decision had been made on scrapping the Manchester leg. However, he later posted a video online – outlining why he had made the decision – that had been recorded in No 10 at least three days before the conference.
Sunak’s speech was peppered with references to the future. However, Sunak glossed over the Tories’ 13 years in power and Truss’s disastrous 49-day premiership in particular. “I came into office in difficult circumstances, and I don’t want to waste time debating the past because what matters is the future,” he said.
Despite speculation that Sunak could offer tax cuts before the election, as Tory MPs have repeatedly urged him to do, he refused to do so in his speech. “I know you want tax cuts, I want them too – and we will deliver them,” he said. “But the best tax cut we can give people right now is to halve inflation and ease the cost of living.”
The speech otherwise stuck to largely familiar Conservative themes such as immigration, crime, the unions and the benefits system, in addition to a section on culture wars that included a strong attack on trans rights.
“We shouldn’t be bullied into thinking people can be any sex they want to be. A man is a man and a woman is a woman and that’s just common sense,” he said.
Sunak told the Tory right, who have been urging withdrawal from the European convention on human rights, that while he was “confident” his hardline Rwanda policy would not breach international law, he would do “whatever is necessary” to stop Channel crossings.
The European Political Community meets in Spain on Thursday, where Sunak will co-chair an event with Italy’s hardline leader, Giorgia Meloni, on illegal migration. The two prime ministers are expected to call for more coordinated action.
Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt gave Sunak’s warm-up speech, framing the battle against Labour as a return to the 1980s.
She paid tribute to Tory former cabinet minister Norman Tebbit and described Labour as “the sons and daughters of [Arthur] Scargill”, adding: “They want to return us to the 1980s. We are not for returning.”
She concluded by channelling US senator John McCain’s 2008 Republican presidential nomination acceptance speech to “stand up, stand up, stand up and fight”. McCain later lost the US election to Barack Obama.
In a recent keynote speech, Sunak announced his plan to change the deadline for the phasing out of petrol and diesel-fueled vehicles from 2030 to 2035…reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a delay to the phasing out of petrol-driven vehicles has been criticised by a committee of lawmakers in the House of Commons, who called the move “disappointing”.
Philip Dunne, chair of the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee, wrote a lengthy letter to Sunak on Monday, saying: “The transition to net zero is one of the greatest challenges facing the UK. The decision to delay some targets, such as the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, is disappointing,” Xinhua news agency reported.
In a recent keynote speech, Sunak announced his plan to change the deadline for the phasing out of petrol and diesel-fueled vehicles from 2030 to 2035.
Dunne said the committee was concerned that the announcement was not accompanied by a clear plan setting out how the UK’s decarbonisation commitments will now be met.
The committee has called for a revised Carbon Budget Delivery Plan to be urgently produced, he added.
The lawmaker underlined that government ministers had previously supported the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars, citing an estimated boost to the economy of around 4.2 billion pounds, as well as the creation of up to 40,000 jobs.
He called on Sunak to set out the government’s latest projections for the impact on the economy and employment levels of postponing the ban to 2035.
The security service advised the Tory Party in 2021 and 2022 that the two would-be MPs should not be included on its central list of candidates…reports Asian Lite News
The Conservatives are understood to have dropped two potential candidates to become MPs after MI5 warned that they could be Chinese spies.
It comes as a former national security said that the China spy scandal is a “wake-up call” for wider British society. Ministers continue to face questions about allegations of espionage in Westminster after the arrest of a parliamentary researcher on suspicion of spying for Beijing.
The security service advised the Tory Party in 2021 and 2022 that the two would-be MPs should not be included on its central list of candidates, according to The Times.
The Independent cited an unnamed source as saying: “It was made very clear that they posed a risk. They were subsequently blocked from the candidates list. They weren’t told why.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “When we receive credible information regarding security concerns over potential candidates we act upon them.”
The two Tories – who had made it onto CCHQ’s central list of candidates – allegedly had links to the United Front Work Department, the part of the Chinese Communist Party which aims to exert influence in other countries.
Tory minister Maria Caulfield said the party took “swift action” to drop two potential candidates. “They were removed from the list. They are not standing for election. Any intelligence that comes forward, it just shows that we will take that very seriously; the same with the researcher in parliament,” she told Times Radio.
There are fears of a potential network of Chinese operatives in Westminster, after the arrest of the parliamentary researcher. The revelation prompted Rishi Sunak to confront the Chinese premier Li Qiang at the recent G20 summit over “unacceptable” interference.
Sunak was told of the arrest of the Tory researcher suspected of spying for Beijing back in March, according to the Financial Times, but continued to pursue a policy of engagement and refused to designate China a “threat”.
Lord Ricketts, the former national security adviser, urged organisations including universities, businesses and think tanks to exercise “transparency and vigilance”, saying those were the “best defences” against foreign infiltration.
But Lord Ricketts warned it was “not just politicians” who should be on their guard against countries like China and Russia.
Lord Ricketts said, “It is not just politicians, because I think the kind of influencing operation, to get inside the British system – both to feed in arguments but also to harvest information – that’s probably going on in other places, not just in parliament. It’s probably going on obviously in academia, in universities and think tanks. If you take a broad-gauge approach to trying to penetrate and possibly subvert democracy in the UK and other Western countries, then you would regard all those sorts of areas of public life as of interest… I think it is all areas of political life.”
Lord Ricketts said it included places that had access to information that was not classified but was “sensitive” or where there was “privileged access to the way people are thinking and talking about China” and Russia.
It also included businesses with “intellectual property of interest to China”, he added. “I think it has long been clear that they are on the lookout to help themselves to commercial secrets,” he said.
The problem had been highlighted in a number of reports, including by parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), he said.
But Lord Ricketts said the message “somehow hadn’t quite come home” and that the spy row has “acted as a wake-up call”.
“Whereas people might not have asked questions about someone, say, who seemed to have a lot of money to help them promote the causes that they were promoting… now I think there is going to be more transparency, there is going to be more vigilance about it, which is a good thing,” he said.
When it comes to tackling the problem, “people need to pay attention”, he said. “And if you’re giving someone access to activities that are not classified, but still sensitive… then you probably do need to do some due diligence on their background.”
But he warned against going too far and having a culture “where everybody is suspected”.
“I think people just need to be aware and to be ready to ask themselves questions. There’s no magic solution. Spies have been a fact of life for centuries… but transparency and vigilance and awareness, I think are the best defences,” he said.
The Briton was arrested along with another man by officers on 13 March on suspicion of spying for Beijing. One of the men, in his thirties, was detained in Oxfordshire, while the other, in his twenties, was arrested in Edinburgh, Scotland Yard said.
The researcher at the centre of the row had links with senior Tories, including security minister Tom Tugendhat and foreign affairs committee chair Alicia Kearns. In a statement through his lawyers, he has insisted he is innocent.
The poll suggests that Labour is on course to beat that record, given that Dorries’ 24,664 majority is even higher than the Tories’ previous majority in Tiverton…reports Asian Lite News
The Conservatives are on course for the biggest by-election defeat in British history in Mid Bedfordshire, according to a poll that will cause panic among Tory MPs.
A survey by Opinium found that Labour would overturn Nadine Dorries’ 24,664 majority in a seat that has been held by the Tories since 1931.
The defeat would shock many Conservative MPs, raising the prospect that other seats thought to be “safe” may now be at risk. Recent national polls have given Labour a lead of more than 20 points, amid soaring inflation and a cost-of-living crisis.
Sunak said he had inherited “the worst-possible in-tray for a new job that anyone could imagine”. While many MPs had factored in by-election defeats in seats with smaller majorities, such as Boris Johnson’s former Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency, senior party figures expected to hold Mid Bedfordshire, which has been represented by Ms Dorries since 2005.
Last week, Dorries confirmed that she will be “gone long before the next election”, having announced on June 9 that she planned to trigger a by-election. Labour commissioned the Opinium poll last month following anecdotal reports by canvassers that voters appeared to be deserting the Conservatives in vast numbers.
Peter Kyle, the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, who won Hove from the Conservatives in 2015 and is running Labour’s campaign in Mid Bedfordshire, said: “The community here is fleeing the Tories but they haven’t fully chosen their destination yet. There’s no complacency here for Labour but it’s just a massive, unprecedented and historic opportunity.”
The Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats have all selected candidates who began campaigning in the seat last month, along with Gareth Mackey, a prominent independent councillor on Central Bedfordshire Council.
The poll put the Conservative candidate Festus Akinbusoye on 24 per cent, Labour on 28 per cent, and the Lib Dems on 15 per cent. Mackey picked up 19 per cent among those who selected a candidate, while Reform UK’s candidate, David Holland, was on 10 per cent.
Last year, Boris Johnson was subjected to the biggest by-election defeat in British history as the Lib Dems overturned the Tories 24,239 majority in Tiverton and Honiton. The loss led to a chain of events beginning with the resignation of Oliver Dowden from the government and ending with Johnson’s resignation a fortnight later.
The poll suggests that Labour is on course to beat that record, given that Dorries’ 24,664 majority is even higher than the Tories’ previous majority in Tiverton.
Adam Drumming, an associate director of Opinium, said: “The Conservatives are holding onto just under half of their 2019 vote and losing big chunks to a mix of Labour, Lib Dems, Reform and the local independent while Labour gains some from the Tories and Lib Dems to just put them ahead.”
The poll shows that there is “all to play for” once Dorries formally triggers the by-election, he added.
Dorries’ majority in Mid Bedfordshire represents the largest of those the Conservatives are defending in by-elections over the coming months.
Johnson held Uxbridge by 7,210 votes and Nigel Adams held Selby and Ainsty by 20,137 votes. By-elections for both seats will take place on July 20.
Akinbusoye was seen as a good prospect for the Conservatives, having served as Bedfordshire’s police and crime commissioner since 2021. Labour’s candidate, Alistair Strathern, is a climate expert at the Bank of England.
The former PM has branded the Privileges Committee’s findings “deranged” – and his most loyal supporters are set to vote against it…reports Asian Lite News
Conservative MPs are split over whether or not to approve a report condemning Boris Johnson for misleading Parliament over Covid rule-breaking.
The former PM has branded the Privileges Committee’s findings “deranged” – and his most loyal supporters are set to vote against it.
But other Tory MPs are torn about what to do, as Johnson remains popular with many party members. No 10 has not said if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will attend the vote.
His official spokesman said he would “take the time” to fully consider its findings before Monday, when MPs will vote on its recommendations. The report, which was published on Thursday morning, said the former PM had deliberately misled Parliament over lockdown parties and had committed repeated offences with his denials.
If Johnson had still been in Parliament, MPs would be voting on whether to suspend him for 90 days.
But since he has already stood down, the main punishment available to the committee is to strip him of the parliamentary pass former MPs are normally entitled to hold.
Nevertheless, many Conservatives face a dilemma.
Voting against the recommendations risks alienating local party activists who want Johnson gone – but voting for it risks angering his fans, who believe he has been hounded out of Parliament.
Some MPs may well choose to abstain to keep their distance from the vote.
One former minister told the BBC they were planning to vote for the report but, in a sign of the febrile mood, did not want to say so publicly yet in case “something happens” over the weekend.
Another said: “I think I’m hovering between voting for the report and abstaining, the latter solely because voting for it will rile members.”
One senior party figure said: “The report speaks for itself.” They described the 90-day suspension as “a bit tough, but hey-ho”.
Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, said he was likely to support the report, describing the committee as “legitimate” and their conclusions “damning”.
Asked if most Conservatives would follow suit, he said he expected it to pass easily with some abstentions, adding “there will be some of [Johnson’s] dwindling band of loyalists who want to repeat some of the barbs he has thrown at the committee”.
So far 12 Conservatives have publicly criticised the committee
Johnson ally Nadine Dorries suggested Tories who vote for the report should be kicked out of the party
Sir James Duddridge tweeted: “Why not go the full way, put Boris in the stocks and provide rotten food to throw at him?”
Liz Truss told GB News she would not question the integrity of the committee, but added their decision seemed “very harsh”.
Jacob Rees-Mogg said he would “probably” vote against the report, but added that MPs as a whole would be likely to vote in favour. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP are all expected to support the committee’s findings.
MPs will be able to amend the motion when it comes before the House of Commons on 19 June, which is also Johnson’s 59th birthday.
Lord Caine, who was appointed as a Northern Ireland minister by Boris Johnson in 2019, said he could understand why people might feel angry about Johnson’s conduct, and spoke about his mother’s funeral during the pandemic.
“I had to deliver a eulogy to the nine other people in the chapel and then go home, sit on my own, in her house for the rest of the afternoon,” he said.
“I have never felt so lonely in my life. So I think people might draw their own conclusions about how I feel and I imagine a great many people up and down the country will share those feelings.”
Following a year-long investigation, the seven-person Privileges Committee found Johnson had had “personal knowledge” of Covid-rule breaches in Downing Street but had repeatedly failed to “pro-actively investigate” the facts.
The committee said officials had not advised Johnson that social distancing guidelines were followed at all times, contrary to what he said in the House of Commons at the time.
In key evidence, Martin Reynolds – one of Johnson’s most senior officials – said he had advised the PM against making the claim, questioning whether it was “realistic”.
Johnson announced last Friday that he was standing down as an MP with immediate effect after being shown a draft of the report. A by-election will be held on 20 July in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.
In an eviscerating statement he branded the committee a “kangaroo court” and its findings “deranged”, accusing Harriet Harman, the Labour chairwoman of the committee, of bias.
The committee said the initial proposed sanction was increased “in light of Mr Johnson’s conduct” in recent days – including breaching confidentiality rules and “being complicit in the campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the committee”.
Johnson’s statement was “completely unacceptable”, they said. Responding to the report, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said Mr Johnson had “disgraced himself”, and the Liberal Democrats’ Daisy Cooper said he had treated Parliament with “total disdain”. SNP leader Humza Yousaf called it a “dark day” for Westminster.
The enforcement directorate in India, which is part of the country’s finance ministry, said it conducted search operations on May 2 at 21 locations in India connected to Chanana, the Indian company Amira Pure Foods and other parties…reports Asian Lite News
The Conservative Party is facing calls this weekend to freeze the money donated by Indian rice tycoon Karan Chanana, pending an inquiry, a media report said.
The allegations come as the UK government faces mounting pressure to tighten up rules on foreign donations and improve diligence checks.
Chanana has reportedly given more than 2,20,000 pounds to the party.
Chanana, head of the global rice brand Amira, is being investigated in India over claims that tens of millions of pounds of bank loans were unlawfully diverted into shell entities. Chanana has not responded to the claims, The Guardian reported.
Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP and chair of the all-party group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, said the Conservative party should now establish the source of the funds donated by Amira and freeze the money until the inquiries are completed, The Guardian reported.
The enforcement directorate in India, which is part of the country’s finance ministry, said it conducted search operations on May 2 at 21 locations in India connected to Chanana, the Indian company Amira Pure Foods and other parties.
Nearly 100,000 pounds in Indian currency was seized in the searches, which were conducted under India’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act, said the directorate. No charges have been filed to date, The Guardian reported.
In a statement, the enforcement directorate said: “Investigations revealed that the accused entities in connivance with each other as well as other related/unrelated entities have illegally diverted loan funds sanctioned by the consortium of banks by way of transferring loan funds into the accounts of various shell entities under the guise of genuine business transactions.
“It was also known that Karan Chanana had donated to a political party of [the] United Kingdom since 2019 …. while the accused entity had itself defaulted on repayment loans.”
Chanana, its chairman and chief executive, operated the business from its headquarters in the 35-storey Gold Tower in Dubai, while its official company registration was in the British Virgin Islands.
Its subsidiaries included Amira Pure Foods in India, now under investigation, and Amira G Foods in the UK, according to corporate filings.
Amira G Foods, controlled by Chanana, donated 222,104 Pounds to the Conservative party between September 2019 and December 2021. The latest accounts for the UK company show net liabilities of 5.96 million pounds, with its parent company in the British Virgin Islands providing financial support, The Guardian reported.
Amira Nature Foods was delisted from the New York stock exchange in August 2020 after it missed deadlines for filing financial information, The Guardian reported.
A consortium of banks, headed by India’s Canara Bank, filed an information report with India’s Central Bureau of Investigation in November 2020 alleging bank fraud.
It accused New Delhi-based Amira Pure Foods, Chanana and his fellow directors of “wrongfully and dishonestly” transferring loans into “paper companies” between 2009 and 2018, causing wrongful bank losses of more than 116 million pounds. Amira Pure Foods in India is now under liquidation, The Guardian reported.
The enforcement directorate said it initiated its investigation based on the information report filed by the banks.
On 2 April, when outlining government measures to tackle grooming gangs, Braverman singled out British-Pakistani men as a major source of concern…reports Asian Lite News
A senior Conservative peer has urged Rishi Sunak to distance the party from Suella Braverman’s “racist rhetoric” or risk ruining his legacy as the first Asian prime minister.
Sayeeda Warsi, the first Asian person to chair the Tory party, said Braverman’s ethnic origin has “shielded her from criticism for too long”, claiming Conservatives had been “hesitant to hold an ethnic minority MP to account in the same way they would a white MP”.
Lady Warsi said it was time for the party to realise that “black and brown people can be racist too”, adding how “painfully disappointing” it had been to hear the home secretary single out British-Pakistani men as being of special concern in relation to child sexual cases, as part of the most diverse cabinet in history.
This is an important read from the bold and brave “British Pakistani Male” who prosecuted the so called “grooming gangs”@nazirafzalhttps://t.co/jTqxcXEZrs
Warsi told Gurdian, “I do not believe Sunak shares Braverman’s extreme views. In his own statement on government plans to tackle child sexual exploitation, he did not use the same language as Braverman and looked uncomfortable when questioned about it. But as head of the party, the responsibility stops with him. As the first prime minister from an ethnic minority background, he should not want to be remembered for presiding over a government that engaged in racist rhetoric. The prime minister must now reach out to the people who have been harmed by Braverman’s comments – those diverse communities who are suffering the direct impact of her inaccuracy. He must address the concerns raised by those diverse and varied leaders and organisations who have written him letters in their hundreds calling for an end to this irresponsible and divisive language. His legacy depends on him having the strength to stamp out this rhetoric, and stop it becoming a part of this government’s identity.”
Warsi admitted she had found it difficult criticising Braverman because she was a party colleague but also because she was a woman of colour.
“I am cautious about the language I use in speaking about Braverman’s comments,” she added. “As someone who’s faced racism all my life, I recognise it when I see it. And however difficult it may be, I will not let cultural sensitivity and the colour of the home secretary’s skin stop me from speaking out.”
Albie Amankona, a Tory campaigner who co-founded the race relations group Conservatives Against Racism For Equality, said on Twitter: “I don’t understand how it’s possible for one person, Suella Braverman, to find themselves almost weekly at the centre of so much racial insensitivity. I’ve said it before, there is something not right there.”
Warsi’s comments follow letters sent to Sunak calling for him to act over Braverman’s rhetoric, including from the British Pakistan Foundation, which accused the home secretary of seeking to portray all British-Pakistani men in a “divisive and dangerous way”.
On 2 April, when outlining government measures to tackle grooming gangs, Braverman singled out British-Pakistani men as a major source of concern.
