Summary of the day so far …
UK armed forces have evacuated diplomatic staff and their families from Khartoum, in Sudan, the ministry of defence has confirmed. In a statement it said it undertook “a military operation alongside the US, France and other allies”. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, described it as “a complex and rapid evacuation” and praised “the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who carried out this difficult operation”.
In a statement from the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, the ministry of defence said the operation involved more than 1,200 service personnel from the 16th Air Assault Brigade, the Royal Marines and the RAF. Wallace said he was “grateful to all our partners”. It was launched from Cyprus.
The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said diplomatic efforts to support British nationals trapped in Sudan are currently “severely limited”. Embassy staff from Sudan would be redeployed at other missions in the area.
Labour has suspended the party whip from Diane Abbott, after the MP wrote a letter suggesting Jewish people had not experienced racism. Following a torrent of criticism from people including the energy secretary, Grant Shapps, who has spoken before about his Jewish faith, Abbott withdrew the comments.
Ministers will continue demanding high standards from civil servants in the aftermath of a report that found Dominic Raab exhibited intimidating and abrasive behaviour towards staff, the new deputy prime minister has said. Oliver Dowden, who took over the role from Raab, said those in the cabinet often worked in “highly pressured situations” and that he had experienced “frustrations” dealing with officials, too. Though he said it was right Raab had quit, Dowden called him as a “very effective” justice secretary who had offered a “huge amount” of public service to the country.
The head of Ofsted has admitted that “a culture of fear” exists around England’s school inspections but said she had no reason to doubt the system of school gradings that has been blamed for the death of a headteacher. Asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg if there was a “culture of fear around Ofsted” among teachers, Spielman said: “I certainly acknowledge that it exists,” but went on to blame it on the “tiny proportion” of schools that were rated inadequate after Ofsted inspections. Spielman also said any changes to the way schools in England are inspected would have to come from the government.
A national trial of the UK’s emergency phone system appears to have failed to send the message to everybody whose phones should have received it.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, did not rule out any potential future Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition while appearing on television on Sunday morning. He said: “The Liberal Democrats’ job is to beat Conservatives at the next election. There are one or two seats where we are up against Labour, like Sheffield Hallam, but the vast majority of seats that we can win at the next election in my judgment are against the Conservatives and I want to focus relentlessly on that.”
A new book about the Boris Johnson government has confirmed a story two years ago that the then prime minister had tried to meet the Queen in person, even though he was displaying symptoms of Covid. Iy was vehemently denied at the time by Downing Street.
Labour has cut all ties with the CBI, the shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, has told the BBC. He said the UK business organisation needed “a root and branch review and reform process”.
Public services could become “collateral damage” in Northern Ireland’s political stalemate, an ex-senior civil servant has warned. Former head of the region’s civil service Sir David Sterling said the levels of cuts expected to be asked for are undeliverable and warned of potentially irreversible damage.
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Public services could become “collateral damage” in Northern Ireland’s political stalemate, an ex-senior civil servant has warned.
The former head of the region’s civil service Sir David Sterling said the levels of cuts expected to be asked for are undeliverable and warned of potentially irreversible damage.
PA reports he also argued that a hard budget is being used to try to coax the restoration of the Stormont assembly.
While the departments of health and education are set to see their budgets protected, others are expected to make cuts of up to 10%.
Secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris has been left to set the budget in the absence of a functioning Stormont executive.
Sterling told BBC Northern Ireland’s Sunday Politics programme:
My understanding is that the civil service are expecting that the secretary of state will simply announce allocations at departmental level so he will not specify where any cuts are to fall. We know that there is a measure of protection being afforded to the big budgets in health and education, but even they will be expected to absorb some cuts, but the other departments will probably be having to absorb cuts of more than 10%, and if you take into account we have 10% inflation, in real terms it’s significantly more than that.
Sterling said the situation is “fundamentally undemocratic” and “fundamentally unconstitutional”.
Updated
The SNP’s deputy leader, Keith Brown, has said in an interview today that he did not know until recently that the party’s auditors Johnston and Carmichael had resigned, despite them doing so in October.
PA reports that on Sky News, Brown said the first minister, Humza Yousaf, only learned of the revelation after he replaced Nicola Sturgeon in the top job, but that this was normal as prior to taking the role as he was not on the party’s national executive committee where these issues were discussed.
The SNP are searching for new accountants in time for the submission of audits to the Electoral Commission in July.
In another development in the investigation into the party’s fundraising, John Ferguson and Craig Robertson have reported for the Sunday Mail that “burner phone sim cards, luxury pens and fridge freezer” are among the items police are looking for. They write:
A source said: “There is an extensive list of items that the police are interested in which will probably be surprising some people. It is mostly high value items – expensive pens, pots and pans, jewellery, but also a fridge freezer.
Another source with knowledge of the investigation said: “Something police are looking for is sim cards used in unregistered mobile phones. They want to know the numbers connected with these cards which could also contain numbers called and text messages. It’s not uncommon for people to have unregistered mobile sim cards which can be bought from any shop, there’s nothing wrong with having a so-called burner phone but police want a record of these phones in the SNP.”
Two people – Nicola Sturgeon’s former CEO husband Peter Murrell and ex-treasurer Colin Beattie – have now been arrested and interviewed under caution before being released without charge.
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Away from Sudan for a moment and back to UK politics, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, Helen Morgan is among those posting to social media to say they did not receive the national emergency system test message, which was supposed to arrive for everyone at 3pm. Alex Hern is covering that developing story for us here.
No alert for me!
— Helen Morgan MP 🔶 (@HelenMorganMP) April 23, 2023
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UK defence minister Ben Wallace: Sudan had been 'on the right path'
Defence secretary Ben Wallace said Sudan had been “on the right path” before violence broke out and called for the two warring sides to get “back to peace”.
Speaking to broadcasters, PA reports the Conservative cabinet minister said: “Our involvement is obviously limited to trying to engage for the safety of our British nationals.
“But, ultimately, what we want is peace to return.
“There was originally a peace programme where two factions, the Sudan armed forces and another military faction, were working towards integration.
“That broke down and that’s what has caused the conflict. We urge those parties very much to get back to the talks and back to peace.
“Sudan was on the right path and I think we need to continue to support that in whatever way we can, and I know the UN and the international community will be doing their best.”
Updated
Sudan’s sudden slide into conflict has stranded thousands of foreigners, including diplomats and aid workers, and countries are working to evacuate their nationals. Reuters has this list of some of the countries which have acted so far:
UK: armed forces have evacuated all British diplomats and their families from Khartoum today.
US: special forces evacuated all their government personnel and their dependents, along with a few diplomats from other countries, from the embassy on Saturday
France: the foreign ministry said on Sunday it was evacuating its diplomats and citizens.
Russia: has said 140 out of roughly 300 Russians in Sudan had said they wanted to leave, and the ambassador said evacuation plans were made but were still impossible to implement.
Egypt: has urged its citizens outside Khartoum to head to the consulates in Port Sudan and Wadi Halfa, in the north, to prepare for evacuation and urged its nationals in Khartoum to shelter at home until the situation improved.
Said Arabia: on Saturday pulled 91 Saudis and about 66 people from other countries out from Port Sudan
Kuwait: said all citizens wishing to return home had arrived in Jeddah.
Italy: said its nationals would be taken out of Sudan on Sunday night along with some people from Switzerland, Vatican City and other European countries.
South Korea: said on Friday it was sending a military aircraft to evacuate its 25 citizens in Sudan.
The Irish government has said it will send a team to Sudan to evacuate Irish citizens. Up to 12 defence forces personnel will be deployed initially to Djibouti as part of an emergency civil assistance team (Ecat) mission.
PA reports that the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said: “The Irish Defence Forces personnel and Department of Foreign Affairs officers being deployed will make every effort to provide advice and assistance to the 150 or so Irish nationals in Sudan.
“The situation on the ground in Sudan remains extremely volatile and I wish the Ecat and defence forces team every success in this mission.”
Updated
Don’t forget, if you are in the UK, your phone is going to go off in about 15 minutes time for the national phone emergency test. My colleague Alex Hern is live blogging reaction here, and there are instructions on how to switch the alert off here.
Our graphics team have produced a map that gives an idea of some of the logistics involved in evacuating embassy staff from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.
1,200 British service personnel were involved in the mission to evacuate the staff, which was carried out in conjunction with allies from the US and France. The British contingent launched their part of the mission from Cyprus.
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My colleague Pippa Crerar has tweeted that a new book about the Boris Johnson government has confirmed a story she had two years ago while working at the Mirror, that the then prime minister had tried to meet the Queen in person, even though he was displaying symptoms of Covid.
Almost two years ago I reported that Boris Johnson had tried to meet the Queen when he had Covid symptoms. I was told by No10 it was “completely untrue”.
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) April 23, 2023
Yet @AnthonySeldon and @RaymondNewell_ confirm in their new book on the former PM that it had, in fact, happened. pic.twitter.com/my8cYD88xd
Sky’s security and defence correspondent Deborah Haynes reports that the British operation to evacuate diplomats and their families from Sudan was launched from Cyrpus. In a tweet, she said:
The UK launched its high-stakes rescue operation to Sudan from RAF Akrotiri, an RAF base in Cyprus. Defence secretary Ben Wallace offered his gratitude to Cyprus when confirming the completion of the mission to evacuate UK diplomats from Khartoum.
Cleverly: efforts to support British nationals trapped in Sudan currently 'severely limited'
The foreign secretary has said diplomatic efforts to support British nationals trapped in Sudan are currently “severely limited”.
PA reports James Cleverly, asked why diplomats had been prioritised, told broadcasters: “The diplomats that were working in the British embassy in Khartoum have been unable to discharge their functions because of the violence in that city.
“So, both to fulfil our duty to protect them as their employer, we are relocating them to other embassies in the region. In order to continue to protect British nationals, we will of course be enhancing our teams in the region. This is following the pattern we have seen of our international friends and colleagues.
“We will continue on our diplomatic effort to bring this conflict to a swift conclusion because until that happens, we are severely limited in our ability to provide assistance to British nationals.”
The Irish government, meanwhile, has said it is “actively planning for assisted evacuation” of Irish citizens in Sudan with international partners. The department of foreign affairs said it “remains deeply concerned by the ongoing situation in Sudan”.
“The evacuation operation under way in Khartoum is highly sensitive. Given the volatile security situation on the ground, to protect that operation and the citizens involved we are unable to provide further comment at this time,” it said.
“We are currently in contact with more than 140 Irish citizens. Every effort is being made to assist them.”
Updated
Cleverly: embassy staff from Sudan to be redeployed at other missions in the area
Foreign secretary James Cleverly said British embassy staff from Sudan would be redeployed at other missions in the area following their evacuation from the African country.
PA reports that speaking to broadcasters, Cleverly said “specific threats” had caused the UK government to “temporarily close the British embassy in Khartoum, to evacuate the British diplomats and their dependants and relocate our diplomatic functions into a nearby diplomatic post”.
He said a “temporary lull” in the fighting had allowed UK armed forces to make their move and help get the officials out of the warring nation.
Cleverly argued that relocating embassy staff would give ministers the “best opportunity to project our diplomatic support into Sudan”.
“We have taken advantage of a temporary lull in the violence that we are seeing in Sudan but we remain absolutely committed to supporting British nationals in Sudan,” he said on Sunday.
Updated
Our political correspondent Aubrey Allegretti offers this roundup of what deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden said about future relations between ministers and senior civil servants in the wake of Dominic Raab’s resignation:
Ministers will continue demanding high standards from civil servants in the aftermath of a report that found Dominic Raab exhibited intimidating and abrasive behaviour towards staff, the new deputy prime minister has said.
Oliver Dowden, who took over the role from Raab, said those in the cabinet often worked in “highly pressured situations” and that he had experienced “frustrations” dealing with officials, too.
Though he said it was right Raab had quit, Dowden called him as a “very effective” justice secretary who had offered a “huge amount” of public service to the country.
After Raab’s resignation on Friday, prompted by a report that found he was unreasonably and persistently aggressive towards staff, some Conservative MPs have leaped to his defence and sought to suggest the bar for bullying is too low.
To reassure them, Dowden told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show: “I certainly don’t want the outcome of this to be and it certainly won’t be the case for me that there will be any letting up in the high standards I expect of civil servants.”
He added: “We all work hard to be as professional as we possibly can. But at the heart of it, I think anyone who has worked at the top level of government – and I’ve been fortunate enough to serve as a cabinet minister – knows that we’re in highly pressured situations.”
Raab has not held back since stepping down from the government, continuing to give interviews. Speaking to the Sun on Sunday, he defended his “straight talk and direct dealing” approach, and accused complainants of a “coordinated and concerted” effort that amounted to a “politicised attack”. In another interview with the Mail on Sunday, Raab argued he had left government with his “head held high” and “integrity intact”.
Read more here: High standards still expected from civil servants after Raab report, says Dowden
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Alex Thomas, the civil service lead at the Institute for Government thinktank, has said Rishi Sunak “missed an opportunity to set out the standards that civil servants and ministers should all expect of each other” in his reply to Dominic Raab’s resignation letter.
Speaking on Sky News, Thomas said:
I think civil servants will be concerned that Rishi Sunak, in his letter replying to Dominic Raab’s resignation letter, didn’t really recognise that there had been a problem. It was full of praise about Dominic Raab’s achievements, and a nod to the process perhaps not having been as good as it might have been. But no real recognition, anything went wrong here, which the Adam Tolley report found that it did.
Thomas also cautioned against the way in which the release of Raab’s letter and subsequent newspaper article preceded the actual publication of the report, and should not be allowed to set the narrative. He said:
One of the things for me that was really important was to look at all of this in the round. And actually, to look at the Tolly report that had independently investigated all of these things. And that said lots of good things about Dominic Raab as well. It’s not that it was a hatchet job.
It set out this in the context, and so I do think we shouldn’t be drawn into a narrative about activist civil servants, or using it as a Trojan horse to politicise the civil service, but actually, this is about a relationship breakdown between one minister and a relatively small set of civil servants in his department.
Updated
The Foreign Office has issued an additional statement about the situation in Sudan. It reads:
The UK has undertaken a military operation to evacuate British embassy staff and their families from Sudan due to escalating violence and threats against foreign diplomats and embassy properties.
The safety of all British nationals in Sudan continues to be our utmost priority. We recognise that this is an extremely worrying and distressing situation for those trapped by the fighting.
Our advice to British nationals is to shelter in place and contact the Foreign Office to register your location and contact details.
Updated
UK armed forces evacuate diplomats from Sudan in operation involving US and French allies
UK armed forces have evacuated diplomatic staff and their families from Khartoum Sudan, the ministry of defence has confirmed. In a statement it said that it undertook “a military operation alongside the US, France and other allies.
In a statement, the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, described it as “a complex and rapid evacuation” and praised “the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who carried out this difficult operation.”
In a statement from the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, the ministry said that the operation involved more than 1,200 service personnel from the 16th Air Assault Brigade, the Royal Marines and the RAF. Wallace said he was “grateful to all our partners”.
“A significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff” was cited as the reason for the evacuation.
Sunak said “We are continuing to pursue every avenue to end the bloodshed in Sudan and ensure the safety of British nationals remaining in the country. I urge the parties to lay down their arms and implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ensure civilians can leave conflict zones.”
The British ambassador to Sudan had not been in the country, and for some time the difficult security situation in the capital had meant that the embassy was struggling to provide consular support to British nationals there.
They are advised to stay indoors, and let the Foreign Office know of their whereabouts via its website.
Updated
Sunak: 'complex' evacuation of British diplomats from Sudan completed by UK armed forces
Rishi Sunak has said that UK armed forces have carried out “a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan”, citing “a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff”.
He posted to Twitter:
UK armed forces have completed a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan, amid a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff. I pay tribute to the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who carried out this difficult operation. We are continuing to pursue every avenue to end the bloodshed in Sudan and ensure the safety of British nationals remaining in the country. I urge the parties to lay down their arms and implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ensure civilians can leave conflict zones.
UK armed forces have completed a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan, amid a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) April 23, 2023
I pay tribute to the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who…
Updated
Cleverly: UK has evacuated embassy staff from Sudan
Foreign secretary James Cleverly has announced that the UK has evacuated embassy staff from Sudan. He wrote:
Due to escalating threats against foreign diplomats, the UK has evacuated embassy staff from Sudan. Our top priority remains the safety of British nationals. We are working around the clock to broker international support to end the bloodshed in Sudan.
Due to escalating threats against foreign diplomats, the UK has evacuated embassy staff from Sudan.
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) April 23, 2023
Our top priority remains the safety of British nationals.
We are working around the clock to broker international support to end the bloodshed in Sudan.
More details soon …
Updated
In just under two hours, if you live in the UK, you may experience the test of the national phone alert system. The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, was asked about it during his media appearances this morning.
Speaking on Sky News, Dowden said: “It is a bit irritating at the time, but in future people could be grateful for it because in a real emergency, this could be the sound that saves your life.”
Dowden also said that people who received the alert didn’t need to do anything, adding: “It’s another tool in the toolkit. I think most British people in these situations keep calm and carry on.”
Here is the video clip:
The alert is due to be sent out at 3pm today. It is a system that has been years in the making – and here is how to switch it off.
Personally I am keenly anticipating the scenes at the Vitality Stadium and St James’ Park when the test happens just as this afternoon’s Premier League fixtures are about to begin the second half.
Ofsted chief admits to ‘culture of fear’ around England’s school inspections
The Guardian’s education editor, Richard Adams, has a little more here on the appearance by Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools in England, on the BBC this morning. It was her first interview since the death of the Berkshire headteacher Ruth Perry:
The head of Ofsted has admitted that “a culture of fear” exists around England’s school inspections but said she had no reason to doubt the system of school gradings that has been blamed for the death of a headteacher.
Asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg if there was a “culture of fear around Ofsted” among teachers, Spielman said: “I certainly acknowledge that it exists,” but went on to blame it on the “tiny proportion” of schools that were rated inadequate after Ofsted inspections.
“For the vast majority of schools, I know that it’s a positive and affirming experience,” Spielman said. “It’s designed to be a constructive, professional dialogue.”
Spielman also suggested Ofsted was being blamed because of “unhappiness” in schools over ongoing funding and pay disputes with the government.
“There’s clearly a lot of bad feeling around. And when there is bad feeling around Ofsted [it] often becomes a sort of lightning rod through which the tensions and frustrations can be discharged,” Spielman said.
“We’re just one part of the system. We’re not the regulator. We don’t make decisions about what happens with school. We are just the inspectorate, going to look and see whether children are getting the experience they should in schools.”
You can read more here: Ofsted chief admits to ‘culture of fear’ around England’s school inspections
Labour MP Margaret Hodge has said Diane Abbott’s letter to the Observer was “deeply offensive” and commended the party’s move to swiftly suspend her.
“Diane Abbott’s letter was deeply offensive and deeply depressing,” she tweeted. “Keir Starmer’s response is right. No excuses. No delays. The comments will be investigated and she has been immediately suspended.”
Diane Abbott’s letter was deeply offensive and deeply depressing. Keir Starmer’s response is right. No excuses. No delays. The comments will be investigated and she has been immediately suspended.
— Margaret Hodge (@margarethodge) April 23, 2023
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The Labour MP for Huddersfield, Barry Sheerman, has tweeted to say that he agrees with the suspension of the whip from Diane Abbott, saying that Keir Starmer acted “decisively”.
Keir was right to act decisively on Diane’s letter!
— Barry Sheerman MP (@BarrySheerman) April 23, 2023
Updated
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey did not rule out any potential future Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition while appearing on television earlier today.
PA quotes him telling Sophy Ridge:
We have a positive Liberal Democrat agenda and that’s what we’ll be standing on. When I go round the country and talk to voters, they feel the Conservatives have taken them for granted.
Liberal Democrats are not going to make that mistake, we are going to work really hard to make sure we get as many Liberal Democrat MPs back after the next election and beat as many Conservative MPs as possible. I could not have been clearer.
The Liberal Democrats’ job is to beat Conservatives at the next election. There are one or two seats where we are up against Labour, like Sheffield Hallam, but the vast majority of seats that we can win at the next election in my judgment are against the Conservatives and I want to focus relentlessly on that.
Asked again about working with Labour, he said:
In many ways your question is taking voters for granted and I’m not going to do that.
I want to make sure that we earn people’s votes over the weeks and months ahead so at the next general election we can get rid of this shocking government, who are failing our country and are just so out of touch with people who can’t afford food bills, can’t afford their energy bills and are desperately trying to get that hospital treatment that they need.
Earlier today the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, said that he expected the Conservatives to lose 1,000 seats on 4 May, when more than 8,000 seats will be contested at 230 councils across England. Here is the video clip.
Mayoral elections are also taking place in Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield and Middlesbrough on the same day, while in Northern Ireland, eleven council elections have been deferred to 18 May, to avoid weekend counts clashing with the coronation of King Charles III. Wales and Scotland do not have local elections as part of this election cycle.
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Jake Wallis Simons, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, has praised the Labour party for taking swift action today against Diane Abbott, and called for her to be expelled from the party. He told Sky News viewers:
I’m glad that Keir Starmer has taken that bold move to suspend her. He did the right thing and needs to be applauded for that. They certainly did act very swiftly, and that’s to be commended. Now she is going to be investigated. I can’t really see what is to investigate. She made those comments. We all know. All the evidence is out there. She’s given her defence already. She needs to be expelled.
He was dismissive of Abbott’s statement claiming that an early draft of the letter had been sent by mistake, telling viewers:
It seems to me as if you don’t just say things like that by mistake. You say them because you think them, and then you seek to tone them down when you realise how offensive they are, belatedly, because of the outrage that you face. An apology just doesn’t make any difference to her core beliefs, which came out, I think, in the original statement.
Jewish Labour Movement says it 'regretfully' supports decision to suspend Diane Abbott
In a statement the Jewish Labour Movement has said it ‘regretfully’ supports the decision to remove the whip from Diane Abbott, while also praising her history of anti-racism activism. It said:
Regretfully, we support the party’s decision to withdraw the whip while Diane Abbott is under investigation for her offensive letter to the Observer.
Diane Abbott is one of the most respected people in the Labour party as an activist who overcame racism and prejudice to become Britain’s first Black woman MP. We should be unified in our struggle against racism, not divided against one another.
A hierarchy of racism only divides communities and assists the racists. We must not allow this. We take seriously our responsibility to unite with friends and partners across the Labour movement to fight racism together.
Here is our political correspondent Aubrey Allegretti’s report on today’s developments involving Diane Abbott:
Labour has suspended the party whip from Diane Abbott, after the MP wrote a letter suggesting Jewish people had not experienced racism.
Following a torrent of criticism from people including the energy secretary, Grant Shapps, who has spoken before about his Jewish faith, Abbott withdrew the comments.
She had been responding to a comment article published in the Observer, titled: “Racism in Britain is not a black and white issue. It’s far more complicated.”
In a letter to the newspaper, Abbott took issue with its thesis – based on a survey that found high numbers of Irish, Jewish and Traveller people had reported suffering from racism. The former shadow home secretary wrote that “they undoubtedly experience prejudice”, but added: “This is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they are interchangeable.”
Abbott continued: “It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism.”
She said Irish people, Jewish people and Travellers were not required in pre-civil rights America to sit at the back of buses, were able to vote in apartheid South Africa and were not trafficked or placed into manacles on slave ships.
Senior Conservatives swiftly called on her to apologise. Shapps urged the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, to intervene, and said that “once again, Jewish people have to wake up and see a Labour MP casually spouting hateful antisemitism”.
A Labour spokesperson said the party “completely condemns these comments”, calling them “deeply offensive and wrong”. They added that the chief whip had suspended the whip from Abbott, meaning she will sit as an independent MP “pending an investigation”.
Abbott published an apology on Twitter, saying she wanted to “wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks”. She blamed the errors on “an initial draft being sent”.
Abbott said: “There is no excuse, and I wish to apologise for any anguish caused. Racism takes many forms, and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, Travellers and many others.
“Once again, I would like to apologise publicly for the remarks and any distress caused as a result of them.”
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, has said of Diane Abbott’s letter that “minimising anti-Jewish racism as mere ‘prejudice’ is ignorant, offensive and shameful”.
Updated
The Labour Against Antisemitism group had also called for Diane Abbott to lose the whip. Spokesperson Fiona Sharpe said in a statement:
To reduce the racism faced by Jews to mere prejudice when in living memory six million Jews were systematically slaughtered in Europe for their race is grossly offensive. In the UK today one in five of all Jews have suffered a racist attack, with more than one in three Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) reporting the same. Ms Abbott is either woefully misinforned of deliberately bigoted. Neither should be tolerated.
Grant Shapps, secretary of state for energy security and net zero, earlier described the wording of Diane Abbott’s letter to the Observer as “hateful anti-semitism”, challenging Labour leader Keir Starmer to act.
Former home secretary Sajid Javid also commented, describing it as “this minimisation of racism against Jews and other groups who may not have a certain skin pigmentation” and arguing that “redefining racism in obscure ways damages the cause of tackling it”.
Updated
Diane Abbott loses Labour whip over racism letter row
The Labour party has removed the whip from Diane Abbott over a row about a letter she wrote to the Observer newspaper that appeared to compare the prejudice faced by Jewish people to that faced by people with red hair, and which also sought to set apart “prejudice” against Irish people and Travellers from the “racism” experienced by black people.
A spokesperson for the Labour party said: “The Labour party completely condemns these comments which are deeply offensive and wrong. The chief whip has suspended the Labour whip from Diane Abbott pending an investigation.”
Abbott has already tweeted to say she withdraws the remarks [see 11.36 BST] saying:
I wish to wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks and disassociate myself from them. The errors arose in an initial draft being sent. But there is no excuse, and I wish to apologise for any anguish caused. Racism takes many forms, and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, Travellers and many others. Once again, I would like to apologise publicly for the remarks and any distress caused as a result of them.
In the letter, published in the Observer and on the website today, Abbott had written:
Tomiwa Owolade claims that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people all suffer from “racism”. They undoubtedly experience prejudice. This is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they are interchangeable.
It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism. In pre-civil rights America, Irish people, Jewish people and Travellers were not required to sit at the back of the bus. In apartheid South Africa, these groups were allowed to vote. And at the height of slavery, there were no white-seeming people manacled on the slave ships.
Updated
Former Brexit secretary David Davis has defended Dominic Raab, saying that he never saw him acting like a bully when the pair worked together. Davis told Camilla Tominey on GB News:
When he worked for me, we were involved in an incredibly fierce conflict with the then Blair and Brown governments. We removed a couple of Home Secretaries and we got into huge battles. These were 18-hour days, often seven days a week in this battle. And so, there was huge pressure on him as my chief of staff. Yet not once did I see him bully anybody, not once did I see him lose his temper. And not once did I see him lose his cool or shout at an employee. So no, I don’t believe he was a bully then and actually having read the report in some detail I don’t think he was a bully now.
He said he thought Raab’s decision to resign was the wrong one, saying “The problem is that Dominic being Dominic said, you know, the rules are the rules. And, you know, I will resign if there’s any finding against me. I think it’s the wrong decision, but the simple truth is that for the Prime Minister you know, you’ve only got so much controversy you can manage, and he’s got controversy over immigration and many other areas.”
Davis also claimed the allegations against Raab were politically motivated, saying “I would urge people to read paragraph 161 of the report which says some of the people did not have any direct relationship with Raab. Some of them had never even met him. We also see that a number of complaints arrived on the day that Dominic was going to appear in front of the House of Commons standing up to Angela Rayner. It just looks too political for words.”
Paragraph 161 of the report comes in a section about a group complaint of bullying made by staff at the ministry of justice over Raab’s conduct when he was justice minister. It, and the one above it, reads:
160. The MoJ Group Complaint was prepared by a group of non-SCS policy officials and is signed collectively. It was the product of discussions within an informal network of civil servants whose number is uncertain. For the purpose of the investigation, nine individuals identified themselves as parties to the MoJ Group Complaint.
161. Only some of those individuals had any direct experience of the DPM; some had never met him at all but were seeking to support their colleagues. Each individual was entirely open about what they could or could not say. The substantive content of the MoJ Group Complaint is therefore limited but it paved the way for the MoJ Additional Complaints and so too, albeit indirectly, the FCDO Complaint and the DExEU Complaint.
While Davis appears to be correct that some of the people who formed part of the complaint referenced in paragraph 161 did not personally interact with Raab, paragraph 160 would appear to make clear the context, that the group complaint included people addressing the impact of Raab’s behaviour on their colleagues.
Diane Abbott withdraws remarks about racism she made in letter to the Observer
Labour MP Diane Abbott has tweeted that she withdraws remarks she made which were printed in the Observer letters page, regarding racism. In the letter, Abbott had sought to make a distinction between what she described as the “prejudice” that some white groups including Jewish, Irish and Travellors experience, and the “racism” that impacts on Black people.
In her statement on Twitter, Abbot said:
I am writing regarding my letter that was recently published in the Observer.
I wish to wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks and disassociate myself from them.
The errors arose in an initial draft being sent. But there is no excuse, and I wish to apologise for any anguish caused.
Racism takes many forms, and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, Travellors and many others.
Once again, I would like to apologise publicly for the remarks and any distress caused as a result of them.
The original letter, published in print and on the website today, read:
Tomiwa Owolade claims that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people all suffer from “racism” (“Racism in Britain is not a black and white issue. It’s far more complicated”, Comment). They undoubtedly experience prejudice. This is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they are interchangeable.
It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism. In pre-civil rights America, Irish people, Jewish people and Travellers were not required to sit at the back of the bus. In apartheid South Africa, these groups were allowed to vote. And at the height of slavery, there were no white-seeming people manacled on the slave ships.
Diane Abbott
House of Commons, London SW1
Also on an education theme on the Laura Kuenssberg programme, the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, was asked about teachers’ pay. He said:
What teaching unions want above all was to get around the negotiation table with the government. I’ve been quite alarmed by the government’s unwillingness to engage in negotiations.
I personally I think they need a fair deal. There’s a shortage of teachers, particularly in specialist subjects. And when I talk to headteachers in my constituency, they’re really worried about making sure they can recruit the best people to teach our children. I think they should get very near to inflation.
Davey continued:
The reason why I keep going back to negotiation is you need to make sure you’re getting a good deal, both for the taxpayer, and for our schools and our children. And the fact that government won’t even get around the table I think is the scandal. I think if you’re a parent, worried about the strikes, if you’re a headteacher trying to get staff recruited, you’ll be really disappointed.
And I think it’s partly the chaos in this government. Not only have they had three prime ministers, and four health secretaries, and five chancellors, they’ve had six education secretaries since the last general election. And that chaos and incompetence at the top is I think largely to blame for many of the problems we’re seeing.
Updated
Deputy PM: I have overall confidence in how Ofsted is run
In response to Amanda Spielman’s appearance on the show, the newly appointed deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden was asked by Laura Kuenssberg if he is was satisfied with how Ofsted was being run “more broadly”.
He told viewers: “I have, of course, overall confidence in how Ofsted is run.”
He added: “I think it is the case that if you look at this tragic case of the headteacher that took their own life, the way in which safeguarding issues are treated is very important. Of course we uphold the highest standards of safeguarding. The proportionality of that in terms of the overall rating of the school does need to be looked at, and I believe that Ofsted are committed to doing that.”
Dowden went on to say: “I think it’s important that a proportionate approach is taken. And my experience of working with teachers is they are passionately committed to supporting the children in their schools.”
“But it is also right that we do expect high standards, and Ofsted has been a pivotal part in delivering that, and if you look at what’s happened under this government, for example, 88% of schools are now good and outstanding, we have to be able to hold teachers and headteachers to account. To make sure they’re delivering for the pupils and the parents that they serve. But we don’t want to do so in a way that excessively puts focus on one issue over another.”
Updated
Ofsted head: any change of school inspections in England 'would have to be a bigger government decision'
A large portion of this morning’s Laura Kuenssberg programme on the BBC was devoted to a debate around Ofsted and schools. The Guardian’s education editor, Richard Adams, reports:
Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted, says any changes to the way schools in England are inspected would have to come from the government, in the wake of the controversy over the death of Berkshire headteacher Ruth Perry.
Appearing on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg programme on Sunday morning, in her first public interview since Perry’s death, Spielman defended the use of single judgments to grade a school. Perry’s family have blamed her death on a harshly critical Ofsted inspection that downgraded her school from “outstanding” to inadequate”.
“Yes, [inspection reports] are synthesised into an overall judgment. That’s partly to help parents, we know that parents like the clarity and simplicity of the model,” Spielman said.
“It’s also because the wider system of school accountability that government operates does use those overall judgment. So it’s not for us to say we’re going to fundamentally change the grading system, that would have to be a bigger government decision.”
Perry’s sister, Julia Waters, was also interviewed on the programme, saying: “There is no doubt in my family’s mind at all that Ruth killed herself because of that Ofsted inspection. She was fine beforehand, she was not fine during and after it. So it is a potentially dangerous system.”
Asked to respond, Spielman said: “From what I’ve seen, I don’t have any reason to doubt the inspection.”
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
Updated
A local campaign has been launched calling for the former justice secretary Dominic Raab to step down as an MP.
Raab’s political opponents in his marginal Esher and Walton seat are already using his resignation from the government to argue that he should also resign as an MP. The Liberal Democrats, his main opposition, have wasted no time in launching a petition for his removal – as well as using the claims of bullying to raise money for their local campaign.
Under parliamentary rules, Raab could be forced to resign as an MP only if the standards commissioner issued him with a serious sanction, endorsed by MPs. An official recall petition would then have to be signed by 10% of eligible registered voters in Raab’s seat.
The Observer understands that a complaint is being filed with Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, arguing that the revelations over Raab’s bullying of officials could amount to “serious breaches of the code of conduct for members of parliament”.
The independent report into Raab’s conduct released last week, overseen by Adam Tolley KC, said he had engaged in “abuse or misuse of power” to undermine or humiliate staff, as well as being “intimidating and insulting” in meetings at the Ministry of Justice. However, Raab and his allies have been adamant that he did not bully officials and that the report into his conduct set the bar for what amounts to bullying far too low.
Read more here: Dominic Raab faces campaign to sack him as MP
Updated
Ashworth: Labour has cut all ties with the CBI, which needs 'root and branch review and reform process'
Labour has cut all ties with the CBI, the shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, has told the BBC, saying the UK business organisation needed “a root and branch review and reform process”.
Asked by Laura Kuenssberg if the party would cut its links with the CBI, Ashworth said “Well, we have done”, adding that the party had ceased all contact.
Ashworth added: “I just feel for the people who have been victims, and that the CBI has really got to get its house in order.”
Questioned as to whether it should be wound down and replaced by a new organisation, Ashworth said: “This is all for the CBI to decide how they’re going to reform themselves. There’s clearly a deep-rooted problems there. And they need a root and branch review and reform process.”
Earlier, Jon Ungoed-Thomas reported for the Observer that the CBI brand is broken ‘beyond repair’ by sex attack and misconduct claims. You can read that here:
Updated
The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, has been pressed about the party’s attitude to housebuilding ahead of the local elections. He said the problem was the government’s “developer-led approach to housing”.
Challenged on Laura Kuenssberg’s BBC show over his party’s record of opposing local housing developments, he said:
I can take you to places both in my constituency in other areas controlled by the Liberal Democrats where we are building lots of houses. But here’s the key question.
The problem I have with the government’s approach is they have a developer-led approach to housing, and that has resulted in the wrong types of homes being in the wrong places. Don’t believe me? That is what Theresa May said.
What Liberal Democrats want is a community-led approach to housing, and all the evidence shows that results in more houses being built that more meet the needs of the local people. They’re in the right place. They have the social infrastructures
I’m really proud that’s the Liberal Democrat policy, and that’s the approach we’ll adopt where we’re in power. So I’d say at the next election, if you want the right sorts of homes built in your community, vote Liberal Democrat, because they’re going to listen to the community. And they’re going to make sure the local planning – with all the controls that central government put on it, and they put loads of controls that are really unfair, actually undemocratic. But with all those controls Liberal Democrat councillors will listen to local people.
Updated
Lorna Hughes, the editor of Scotland’s Sunday Mail, has been on the Laura Kuenssberg show and said the recent police investigation into the funding of the SNP had been like a “hand grenade being thrown into Holyrood”. After recapping the latest developments, she was asked what the long-term impact could be, she told viewers:
I think Labour will be able to make inroads [at the next election], but they will have to work hard to do so. If you ask me “do I think this is the end of the SNP?”. No. And it’s certainly not the end for independence. We still have half and half on that. But it is an opportunity certainly for Labour to make gains.
Updated
Daniel Johnson writes in typically restrained style for the Mail today about Dominic Raab, saying:
The felling of Dominic Raab by a lynch mob composed of malicious mandarins and mendacious sections of the media is more than just one high-powered politician losing his job.
It is chilling proof that we are living in an atmosphere of hysteria directed against the Conservatives such as has not been seen since the left’s gleeful, grave-dancing reaction to Margaret Thatcher’s death in 2013.
After a vicious and sustained pincer movement by left-wing civil servants and hostile journalists to undermine him as an elected MP and cabinet minister, he was left with no choice but to resign.
What happened was that in a ministry full of Labour-supporting civil servants, the former justice secretary found himself targeted, isolated and undermined, with even his private secretaries replaced on the orders of senior bureaucrats.
Even though Raab had been consistently loyal to successive prime ministers, standing in for them repeatedly during an exceptionally turbulent few years, Downing Street was unable to save him.
Rishi Sunak has lost three Cabinet Ministers in six months (after Nadhim Zahawi and Gavin Williamson). It is unlikely that Raab will be the last to be picked off by the Whitehall machine, which is so biased and implacable that it has come to be known as ‘the Blob’.
The Raab affair, indeed, is only the latest so-called scandal to blow the government off course. Many, including this one, have been exaggerated out of all proportion by a toxic alliance of unionised bureaucrats and biased broadcasters.
The chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Labour’s Dan Jarvis are also among MPs pounding the streets of London today to raise money.
Today is the day @LondonMarathon ! 🏃♂️If you haven’t donated but are able to, please click on the link below to help me reach £25k for the @RSCharity 🙏🏼https://t.co/g6srsFYrE8 pic.twitter.com/n4PNRPLqM6
— Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) April 23, 2023
Today, I'm running my 10th @LondonMarathon for @CR_UK!
— Dan Jarvis (@DanJarvisMP) April 23, 2023
Any support VERY gratefully received.👇🏻https://t.co/x7ypQZSvhi #LondonMarathon 🙏🏼🏃🏼😅
Oliver Dowden has been asked about Sudan, and has described it as “a complex and fluid situation” and repeats his line from earlier that British nationals in Sudan should stay indoors and make the Foreign Office aware of their location, but that he will not be drawn on specifics for security reasons.
He also says the situation is very different to Afghanistan, because the UK does not have as significant a presence on the ground in Sudan as it did there.
Updated
“We all have different working styles,” Oliver Dowden says. “We can work constructively together” with civil servants, he says.
“In the end senior civil servants and senior ministers are united in their goal of serving the British people,” Dowden says, but he concedes that there should be a look at whether a complaints process can be made simpler.
Updated
Oliver Dowden, the new deputy prime minister, is making his second TV appearance of the day, on the Laura Kuenssberg programme. Her first question is “are you confident you’ve never bullied anyone at work?”
He repeats his line that he doesn’t want the outcome of this to be “any letting up in the high standards I expect of civil servants”. He says that times have changed, and some of the behaviour ascribed to Gordon Brown when he was in office would not be allowable today. “I thought he might come up,” Kuenssberg says.
Caroline Wheeler, political editor at the Sunday Times, had this to report about the Dominic Raab bullying claims this morning, writing:
Rishi Sunak’s senior advisers wanted to save Dominic Raab’s job, fearing that if it was accepted he had bullied staff there would be complaints against other cabinet ministers.
They discussed ways to rescue his career but concluded his own promise to resign if any complaints were upheld made it impossible.
It is understood that concerns were raised that if Raab went, it could lead to complaints against other ministers.
Those involved in the No 10 discussions deny there was a “rearguard action” on Raab’s behalf but a source admitted: “People were laying out options and testing them, working out where they would lead.”
A source said: “The bar to be in breach of the ministerial code is actually lower than being found guilty of bullying, so even if time had been taken over it, Raab would still have been found to have broken the code. We would have wasted two weeks and got the same outcome.”
The Laura Kuenssberg programme is on BBC Two today because of the London marathon. At least a couple of MPs will be missing it, because they are running in the event.
🏃🏻 Tomorrow I'll run the #LondonMarathon for the fifth time, this year raising funds for incredible local charity Geeza Break.
— David Linden MP (@DavidLinden) April 22, 2023
If you are able to make a donation, please visit https://t.co/qta0W1NHOp pic.twitter.com/lL7KXEwNTG
Training for the marathon hasn't gone as well as it might. But I'm still looking to raise money for Maggie's Cancer Centres. Any last minute charitable boosts to get over the line gratefully received - https://t.co/jjWRTNcrVL pic.twitter.com/2XsgWnmohx
— Paul Scully MP (@scullyp) April 23, 2023
Updated
You get all the important updates here. Labour MP for Rotherham Sarah Champion’s missing cat has turned up.
Missing for 10 weeks, my beloved feral cat from @CatsProtection has just turned up for breakfast 😳🥰 pic.twitter.com/LLihNm7r9r
— Sarah Champion (@SarahChampionMP) April 23, 2023
The Laura Kuenssberg show has started over on the BBC, so I’ll keep an eye on that as well, and bring any new lines from Oliver Dowden and Jonathan Ashworth that emerge.
Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth said he was pleased that Dominic Raab has resigned, but it was important to remember that “not only was he a bullying minister, he was a failing minister”.
Updated
Unlike Oliver Dowden just now, who said the Tories expect to lose 1,000 seats, Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, has declined to make a prediction about the local elections results on the Sophy Ridge show.
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, has said on the Sky News Sophy Ridge show that Conservatives are more interested in headlines than solving any issues with the migration system. He said:
We don’t think that this illegal migration bill is going to resolve the problems, although we have put down amendments around those who have come to the UK via the right routes, and the channel crossings and terrorist suspects. We believe there should be a duty upon the home secretary to find those terror suspects and deport them immediately. So we’ll be interested to see if Conservative MPs vote for our amendment.
But more broadly, of course, we don’t think this legislation is going to fix the problem. To fix the problem, you really have to go after these criminal gangs and people smugglers. You need to have a very specialist agency properly resourced. That’s something that Yvette Cooper has been pushing for.
Of course, the home secretary has sent more journalists to Rwanda than actual migrants. It’s not a scheme that is going to work. We should use the resources that have been ploughed into that scheme, to invest in a specialist crime agency to really go after these criminal people trafficking gangs.
While Oliver Dowden has been on the television, Andrew Rawnsley has published his latest column, arguing that Dominic Raab is just the latest culprit, but the public have lost faith in all politicians:
[Dominic Raab’s] fall will probably merit only a small paragraph in the histories of these years. I say that because resignations have been so common. Bullying, sexual predation, cronyism, rule-busting, law-breaking, illicit lobbying for commercial interests. Name a genre of bad behaviour and these years have served it up. All political eras have their share of scandal. The distinguishing characteristic of this one is that there have been so many of them and of so many different types.
Cheerleaders for Sunak hail the removal of Raab as evidence of the prime minister’s commitment to professional standards. The opposition parties scoff at any claim that this is testimony to Sunak’s upstanding character when it was he who restored Raab to the role of DPM, knowing of the many accusations that he had bullied civil servants in three departments.
We have a crisis of public faith in politics. This did not start with Boris Johnson, though it was certainly made worse by his debauched regime, and the crisis clearly has not been ended simply by replacing him with a different face at Number 10. The most obvious culprits are trust-smashing events that fuel justifiably fierce public outrage. Partygate and, before it, the expenses scandal did terrible damage to the reputation of politics. The disintegration of respect for Westminster is also the product of the relentless accumulation of other scandals that have made parliament look like a rogues’ gallery. An unprecedentedly high number of MPs – mainly, but not entirely Tories – have been suspended or thrown out by their parties during this parliament as a result of or pending investigations into misconduct.
Read more here: Andrew Rawnsley – Dominic Raab is just the latest culprit, the public have lost faith in all politicians
Dowden: Tories expect to lose 1,000 seats at local elections
Asked on the Sky News Sophy Ridge programme about the local elections, Oliver Dowden said he expected to lose about 1,000 seats, saying:
Overall, the Conservatives are still broadly in a midterm situation. And when we previously fought those seats, we were in a different position. So there is an expectation of about 1000 or so seats lost.
But what I would say is that my experience of working with Rishi Sunak as prime minister, is he’s brought a calmness and a stability and an order to government. He’s methodically dealing with problems and I’m finding that people are responding positively to that.
Updated
Oliver Dowden is often viewed as one of the safest pairs of Conservative party hands in media performances, but he’s had a tricky couple of minutes here where Sophy Ridge has first challenged him over concerns about appointments to the BBC raised with him when he was at the DCMS, and is struggling to answer on whether he thinks it would be embarrassing if Boris Johnson appointed his own father to the House of Lords.
Updated
Sophy Ridge has pointed out to Oliver Dowden that there have been nine justice ministers in the last few years, and that the backlog in crown court cases is not diminishing. He tried to pin the backlog on Covid, to which she said: “That’s not true, the backlog started before the pandemic.”
Updated
On the issue of politicising the civil service, Oliver Dowden said he was confident that at the moment ministers were able to give civil servants instructions and get things done. Asked if he thought Raab was wrong to talk about “activist civil servants”, Dowden said “I didn’t live Dom’s experience. I’ve always found if you give clear instructions, and of course believe me, you have frustrations”, but then went on to praise his civil servants in the culture department for their work during the pandemic. But he said he did not want to see any diminution in the ability of ministers to issue instructions to civil servants.
Updated
Oliver Dowden has been asked directly “is Dominic Raab a bully”, and he has skirted around it, saying Raab gave a commitment to resign if the findings of the reports were against him, and that he has done so. Dowden praised the way “Dom” took over when Boris Johnson was ill.
Updated
The next topic in the Sophy Ridge interview with deputy PM Oliver Dowden has been about Suella Braverman and the supposed new powers to ignore judges. He said the home secretary will be given discretion to ignore section 39 rulings. He also claimed that while he was out campaigning for the local elections migration has come up a lot.
He was asked if new safe legal routes would be opened up. He cited refugees from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan arriving as a positive thing, and then claimed that if they could “stop the boats” then that would open up more capacity.
Oliver Dowden has been asked first about the situation in Sudan and whether the UK would follow others in evacuating people. He said he wouldn’t comment about the movement of people for security reasons but said the Ministry of Defence is supporting the Foreign Office.
He was then asked about the national emergency alert. He said it was the job of the government “to keep people safe”, and described it like a fire alarm test, “a bit irritating at the time” but which ultimately could save lives. He said other countries test these kind of systems all the time.
New deputy PM Oliver Dowden interviewed on Sky News
Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden is about to appear on Sophy Ridge’s programme on Sky News. I’ll bring you the key lines as they emerge.
Updated
Here is a little bit more on that Sunday Telegraph story that Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has said she is prepared to defy judges over migration policy. Charles Hymas and Tony Driver write:
In an article for the Telegraph, the home secretary says: “Last year we saw the European Court in Strasbourg issue Rule 39 interim measures, which blocked a removal flight to Rwanda.
“Our bill will now give ministers broad discretion whether to comply with interim measures in individual cases. This is a crucial power.”
The controversial powers were only introduced last week by the government as an amendment to its illegal migration bill after about 60 Eurosceptic Tory MPs demanded a tougher approach against the ECHR.
Braverman, who is known to have been sympathetic to the rebels, has now backed the new power which makes it easier for ministers to counter future attempts by Strasbourg judges to block flights. She also insists the Government’s measures are “robust to inevitable legal challenge” as ministers brace for an onslaught over the legality of the bill in the House of Lords and the ECHR.
Sunday's front pages
Here is a roundup of what is on the front pages this morning. The Observer leads with the Toby Helm and Michael Savage story that Tories are considering a controversial plan to politicise the civil service after the Dominic Raab bullying affair. You can read that here.
Tomorrow’s front page pic.twitter.com/LpHfQiJKbR
— The Observer (@ObserverUK) April 22, 2023
The Sunday Express continues to pick up on Raab’s “activist” civil servant line, claiming that Suella Braverman is their next target.
SUNDAY EXPRESS: ‘Activist’ civil servants target @SuellaBraverman #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/TTN1boWA0L
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 22, 2023
The Sunday Telegraph also features Braverman, saying that she is prepared to defy judges over migration policy.
The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph:
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 22, 2023
'Braverman: I’m ready to defy judges on migrants'#TomorrowsPapersToday
Sign up for the Front Page newsletterhttps://t.co/x8AV4Oomry pic.twitter.com/mpaleDLrWT
The Mail on Sunday is concerned about security at King Charles’s coronation, claiming there is a plot by “militant protesters” to spook horses at the parade using rape alarms, which it describes as “vile”.
MAIL ON SUNDAY: Extremists’ vile plot to spook King’s horses with rape alarms #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/YAliRcEu7O
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 22, 2023
The Sunday Times is leading with a story about an MI6 spy, but also has room for a story claiming that Rishi Sunak’s aides wanted to prevent Raab from having to resign over bullying allegations.
SUNDAY TIMES: MI6 spy sent to jihadist camp killed own child #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/xZY7ddjlwF
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 22, 2023
The Sunday Mirror has busied itself with exposing yet another freebie holiday for the former prime minister and current MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Boris Johnson.
SUNDAY MIRROR: Johnson’s £4k a night hol at loan pal’s villa #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/13gnGne0DD
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 22, 2023
In Scotland, the focus continues to be on the SNP, with the Scottish Mail on Sunday talking about a hunt for phone SIM cards.
MAIL ON SUNDAY SCOTLAND: @theSNP fraud police in hunt for phone SIM cards #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/aW9uM4vWpZ
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 22, 2023
Updated
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling live political coverage for Sunday. The main attraction first thing will be newly appointed deputy PM Oliver Dowden facing Sophy Ridge on Sky News at 8.30am, followed by Laura Kuenssberg at 9am. The latter has been bumped to BBC Two this morning because lots of people are running around London. Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow work and pensions Secretary, and Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats are also on media duties this morning.
Here are the headlines:
Radical plans to bring in more “politicisation” of Whitehall by allowing ministers greater powers to appoint their own civil servants – including some with overt political affiliations – are being considered by the government’s own adviser on the civil service.
The leader of the Royal College of Nursing has said a legal attempt by the health secretary to block next weekend’s strike in England is “frightening for democracy and very frightening for trade unionism”.
Polling stations in England will have extra staff to help voters on 4 May as the government introduces its new rules on photographic ID, the Electoral Commission has said.
Boris Johnson fell out with his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings after growing tired of being treated like a “young and inexperienced king” who needed to be kept in order, Michael Gove has revealed in a book.
If you are in the UK, your phone is going to go off at 3pm in a national emergency alarm test of a system that has been years in the making. Here is how to switch it off.
I’m Martin Belam and I’ll be here with you today.
