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Dominic Raab is facing new calls to quit after claims that he defied a call to return from his luxury holiday in Crete to deal with the Afghanistan crisis and stayed for two more days.

It is reported that the beleaguered foreign secretary was told by a senior Downing Street official to return to London immediately on Friday 13 August as the Taliban advanced on Kabul.

But it is claimed he “nobbled” Boris Johnson and was assured by the prime minister that he could remain at his five-star beach holiday until Sunday and eventually returned in the early hours of Monday morning.

Responding to the reports, in The Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford tweeted: “This makes it impossible for Dominic Raab to stay in office.

“What we thought was a grave error of judgement is now seen as obstinacy and pig headedness when faced with demands to return to work. He must be sacked by Boris Johnson this evening. This is unforgivable.

And Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds tweeted: “This is shameful. A vacuum of leadership at the heart of government.

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Minister for Afghanistan was also on holiday

“To knowingly stay on holiday in the grips of an international crisis – when our troops are putting their lives at risk – is unforgivable.

More on Dominic Raab

According to The Sunday Times, a senior government official said: “Raab was told to come back on Friday. On Sunday there was a sense of disbelief among everyone at the most senior levels in No 10 that he wasn’t there.

“He seems to have nobbled Boris after he was told to come back.”

But the Sunday Times reports that Mr Raab’s allies say he was told to “begin the process of coming home”. One ally added: “In discussions with the prime minister it was agreed he would come back on Sunday.”

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People crushed to death outside Kabul airport

The Mail on Sunday quotes a source saying: “There is no doubt that Raab was told to come back on that Friday. There was then a significant amount of surprise when he appeared on the Cobra on the Sunday down the line from Crete. He must have nobbled Boris and asked for permission to finish his holiday.”

The Mail on Sunday also quotes a close ally of Mr Raab insisting that No 10 had not ordered him to return on the Friday.

The ally told the paper: “The suggestion was that he should make plans to come back. They said that if things get worse then he needed to be ready to come back at a moment’s notice. He then talked it through with the PM and it was agreed that he would come back on Sunday.”

The same ally also strongly denied reports that Mr Raab had spent most of last Sunday on the beach at the five-star Amirandes Hotel, which boasts on its website: “A unique hotel built around water allures you at every turn.”

The ally told the Mail on Sunday: “That is just not true. He based his family on the beach in a gazebo precisely so that he could go back and work at the hotel, while checking in on them every now and again.”

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Afghanistan: British family flee the Taliban

As he faced further calls to quit, a defiant Mr Raab told the Mail on Sunday he had enjoyed support from Conservative MPs and denied that there was pressure from within his party to resign.

“I’ve not heard any of my Conservative colleagues call for me to resign, but I have had a wave of support,” he told the paper. “There is no doubt that, like all countries, there is a measure of surprise at the rapidity of the Taliban takeover.

“But as the foreign secretary travelling around the world, whether I am on leave or I’m travelling for work purposes, I am always set up to be able to grip things.”

Asked about the reports, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on private conversations”.

Sky News has also approached the Foreign Office for comment.

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Crypto’s path to legitimacy runs through the CARF regulation

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Crypto’s path to legitimacy runs through the CARF regulation

Crypto’s path to legitimacy runs through the CARF regulation

The CARF regulation, which brings crypto under global tax reporting standards akin to traditional finance, marks a crucial turning point.

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Tokenized equity still in regulatory grey zone — Attorneys

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Tokenized equity still in regulatory grey zone — Attorneys

Tokenized equity still in regulatory grey zone — Attorneys

The nascent real-world tokenized assets track prices but do not provide investors the same legal rights as holding the underlying instruments.

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.

MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.

Read more:
Yet another fiscal ‘black hole’? Here’s why this one matters

Success or failure: One year of Keir in nine charts

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Rachel Reeves’s fiscal dilemma

In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.

“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.

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“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.

“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”

Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.

The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.

It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.

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Why was the chancellor crying at PMQs?

Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.

“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”

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Reeves is ‘totally’ up for the job

Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.

“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”

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