Closing summary
The blog is closing for the day and will be back on Sunday morning. Here is what you might have missed:
Simon McDonald has denied Dominic Raab’s claims there were civil service “activists” in the Foreign Office and said those who worked under the former minister “worked very hard for him”. Lord McDonald was permanent under-secretary under Raab when he was foreign secretary and worked closely with the former deputy prime minister. McDonald told the BBC’s Today programme that he disagreed with his former boss and said there was no “separate civil service agenda” and he saw no evidence of a “group of activists trying to undermine a minister”.
The general secretary of the FDA has said Raab is setting a “dangerous” precedent by accusing civil servants involved in his bullying investigation of acting on political grounds, and called on the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to “intervene”.
Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, has described Raab’s claims that “activist civil servants” blocked his work as “absurd”. He added that the resignation letter was “pretty graceless” and “in some instances malevolent”.
Munira Wilson, MP for the Liberal Democrats, had said Raab is “unfit to be a minister” and has called for him to stand down as an MP. The party’s education spokesperson added that a byelection should take place so that constituents in Raab’s current seat of Esher and Walton can elect someone “who treats people with respect”.
Hugo Swire, a Tory peer, said he thought Raab was “too big a talent” not to be back “in some capacity” following his resignation over bullying accusations. Lord Swire told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think to lose somebody who has been a justice secretary, a lord chancellor, deputy prime minister and foreign secretary at this stage is very unwise.”
Labour MP Andrew Gwynne has said it is never acceptable for ministers to “bully”, “intimidate” or “harass” members of the civil service. He told BBC Breakfast that if Raab was having issues with “activist” civil servants, he should have raised it with the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office.
Rishi Sunak has chaired a meeting of Cobra today after the head of the Sudanese army said the UK would evacuate diplomats and nationals currently trapped in Sudan by the outbreak of fighting. The prime minister held the meeting this morning, with the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, and Africa minister, Andrew Mitchell, also in attendance, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) confirmed.
Former US president Donald Trump is to visit Ireland next month. It will come just weeks after his successor Joe Biden took part in a four-day visit to the island of Ireland. There is speculation the two men who went head to head in the 2020 US presidential election could again be candidates in 2024.
SNP MP Stuart McDonald has been appointed as party treasurer after the resignation of Colin Beattie. Beattie stepped down on Tuesday after he was arrested and released without charge pending further investigation into the party’s finances. McDonald, MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East, is a former lawyer.
Updated
Doreen Lawrence has said her son Stephen’s “story remains as important and relevant as ever”, at a central London memorial service to mark the 30th anniversary of the teenager’s killing.
The murder victim’s family gathered for the anniversary at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square on Saturday, with the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, also in attendance.
Lady Lawrence said she was “filled with immense pride to witness all that has been achieved in his name”.
Read more: Doreen Lawrence: Stephen’s story ‘as important and relevant as ever’
