Jeremy Hunt is now an all-powerful back seat driver, MPs believe
After his crisis talks with Liz Truss at Chequers, Jeremy Hunt was photographed being driven from the PM’s country retreat sitting in the back of a government car.
Earlier, when the new chancellor was asked in a TV interview who was in charge, him or the PM, he insisted it was her. But MPs believe Mr Hunt is now an all-powerful back seat driver.
Mr Hunt wasn’t even being driven from Chequers in a top-of-the-range Range Rover as befits his new status as a senior cabinet minister, but a humble and less conspicuous people carrier.
And the embattled PM will be hoping her new chancellor can carry the British people with him, as he embarks on more U-turns designed to steady the nerves of markets, Tory MPs and voters.
The latest verdict of the markets will come early on Monday morning, hours before MPs return to Westminster after taking soundings in their constituencies over the weekend. Those soundings are likely to have been brutal.
The voters’ latest verdict will come in the next snap opinion polls. And while jittery Tory MPs will hope the polls can’t get any worse for their party, it’s possible they will.
A poll of polls analysed by Sky News confirms the findings of recent surveys suggesting Labour’s average lead is nudging 30 points, the biggest since Tony Blair’s honeymoon period after his 1997 landslide.
After the turmoil and chaos of the past week, the mood of Conservative MPs is mutinous. One senior backbencher, Sir Crispin Blunt, was first to declare publicly that the game is up.
Truss loyalists will claim, with some justification, that Sir Crispin is not the most reliable witness. He defended former Tory MP Imran Khan, who was convicted of sexual assault, though he later apologised.
But the Reigate MP, who is now quitting at the next election, was only saying publicly what many Conservative MPs are saying privately.
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‘Blindingly obvious Liz Truss must go’
He was closely followed by serial rebel Andrew Bridgen, who claimed the PM has run out of friends. He expects “fireworks” this week and predicts a general election if the situation is not resolved quickly.
In issuing his call, Mr Bridgen has set some kind of record. Ms Truss is the fourth leader he has called to go since he was elected in 2010, after David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. At least he’s consistent.
Next came Jamie Wallis, a 2019-er, who declared “enough is enough” and announced he’s written to the prime minister, asking her to stand down as she no longer holds the confidence of the country.
There was much talk over the weekend of Tory MPs rallying behind a “unity candidate” to replace Ms Truss. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, defeated leadership candidate Rishi Sunak and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt have been touted to succeed the PM.
Read more:
Who could replace Liz Truss as prime minister?
How could Lizz Truss be removed?
But a senior defence source told Sky News: “The defence secretary is focused on our support for Ukraine and the security of Britain and our allies. Our future as a government and as a Conservative Party lies in demonstrating and providing stability.
“Anything other than that will lead to a deserved spell in opposition.”
In other words, Mr Wallace is telling his more excitable backbenchers to calm down and the veteran plotters – a group of embittered ex-ministers who have been both king-makers and assassins of Tory leaders over the years – to back off.
For now.
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Expect more no-confidence letters
Mr Wallace didn’t entirely rule out putting himself forward at some point in the future. And he remains the favourite among party activists, regularly topping polls of party members in highly unscientific popularity contests.
It’s likely Mr Hunt will have to face MPs in the Commons on Monday afternoon to explain the U-turns so far, either in a statement or by answering an urgent question from Labour’s Rachel Reeves, which Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle would be certain to grant.
But as he proved in his weekend interviews, Mr Hunt is an experienced and accomplished public performer who has already displayed a reassuring tone in his first few days in his new job.
The same cannot be said of Ms Truss, whose brief news conference in Downing Street on Friday afternoon was a public relations disaster that left even many of her most loyal supporters in despair.
Not surprisingly, Labour want the PM and not Mr Hunt to come to the Commons. Good luck, as they say, with that.
Mr Hunt is now on a rescue mission to save Ms Truss’s premiership. He’s also suddenly back in the running to become the next prime minister, along with Mr Wallace, Mr Sunak, Ms Mordaunt and – his diehard supporters hope – Boris Johnson.
To be fair, he did say in his latest interview: “Having run two leadership campaigns, and by the way failed in both of them, the desire to be leader has been clinically excised from me.”
Liz Truss’s news conference on Friday left some of her supporters in ‘despair’
He went on to say: “I want to be a good chancellor. It’s going to be very, very difficult. But that’s what I’m focusing on.”
Difficult indeed. Many MPs would see his appointment as chancellor as a poisoned chalice. And there have been suggestions that he wasn’t the PM’s first choice and she sounded out Sajid Javid first.
That’s strongly denied by Number 10 insiders, one of whom took the opportunity to denigrate Mr Javid to Sunday newspapers in most unpleasant terms, provoking understandable protests from Tory MPs.
Mr Hunt is now undeniably the man of the moment. How long he remains in that position will depend on how long Ms Truss survives.
Given the extremely brief tenure of his two immediate predecessors, Kwasi Kwarteng and Nadhim Zahawi, he’ll have to weigh up whether it’s worth moving his wife and three young children into the Downing Street flat.
But he could be forgiven for hoping he gets to be driven around in a better government car than the rather down-market people carrier that sped him away from Chequers.
Given the PM’s vulnerability and weakness, the back seat driver tag will be difficult for Mr Hunt to shake off.
A woman who accused Conor McGregor of raping her has said “justice has been served” after she won her civil case against the Irish mixed martial arts fighter.
Nikita Hand has been awarded €248,603 (£206,000) in damages after a jury at Dublin’s High Court found McGregor assaulted her in a Dublin hotel in 2018.
McGregor, 36, made no comment as he swiftly left court following the decision on Friday evening.
He had previously told the court he had consensual sex with Ms Hand in a penthouse at the Beacon Hotel in December 2018.
Speaking outside court after the decision, an emotional Ms Hand said the weeks of her civil case against the fighter have been a “nightmare” and has impacted not only her life but her daughter’s, friends and loved ones.
“I would like to start off by saying I’m overwhelmed and touched by the support I have received from everybody,” the mother-of-one said.
Ms Hand said the civil case had been a ‘nightmare’. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA
“It’s something that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.
“Now that justice has been served, I can now try and move on and look forward to the future with my family and friends and daughter.”
Addressing other victims of sexual assault, Ms Hand continued: “I hope my story is a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be: Speak up, you have a voice and keep on fighting for justice.
“You can stand up for yourself if something happens to you – no matter who the person is – and justice will be served.”
McGregor and partner Dee Devlin leave the High Court. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA
Ms Hand told the court McGregor pinned her to a bed, choked her three times and “brutally raped and battered” her.
The civil court jury was told she was left with extensive injuries, including purple and blue bruising along her hands and wrists, a bloodied scratch to her breast and tenderness to her neck.
But lawyers for the fighter contested the lawsuit and accused her of attempted “extortion”.
They pointed to CCTV footage of Ms Hand arriving at and leaving the hotel with McGregor and a second man, James Lawrence, whom she also accused of sexual assault.
Both McGregor and Lawrence denied any wrongdoing. While Ms Hand won her case against McGregor, she lost her claim against Lawrence.
On Monday, McGregor’s legal team told jurors it did not matter if they did not like or even loathed the famous fighter, urging them to look at the evidence and not his character.
McGregor and Ms Hand knew each other and had occasionally been in contact on social media, the civil trial heard.
Before the assault, Ms Hand had contacted the fighter, who picked up her and a friend in his car.
McGregor “came on to her”, but she did not want to have sexual intercourse with him as she was on her period, the court heard.
World
Arrest warrants issued for Israeli PM Netanyahu and former defence secretary Gallant and senior Hamas commander over alleged war crimes
Arrest warrants have been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence secretary Yoav Gallant and a senior Hamas commander by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The warrants against the senior Israeli figures are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza that Israel launched following the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
The prime minister’s office said the warrants against him and Gallant were “anti-semitic” and said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions”.
Another warrant was issued for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Al Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, was the mastermind behind the 7 October attacks. It is unclear if he is still alive, following an airstrike that Israel claimed killed him earlier this year.
Neither Israel nor the US are members of the ICC. Israel has rejected the court’s jurisdiction and denies committing war crimes in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden described the warrants against Israeli leaders as “outrageous”, adding “whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas”.
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were a “mark of shame” for the ICC.
The court originally said it was seeking arrest warrants for the three men in May for the alleged crimes and today announced that it had rejected challenges by Israel and issued warrants of arrest.
The new UK Labour government said in the summer it would not oppose the ICC’s right to issue the warrants.
Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN general assembly. Pic: Reuters
Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
In its update, the ICC said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged crimes.
These, the court said, include “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
Netanyahu previously spoke of his “disgust” at the suggestion the ICC would seek an arrest warrant for him.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the ICC’s decision sent a “terrible message”.
“The court has minimised how Hamas fights – deliberately from within civilian infrastructure and cruelly using Palestinian civilians as human shields, tragically leading to many casualties,” the board said.
“Democratic governments, and people around the world, should consider how they would have responded to an October 7th perpetrated against their country, involving mass murder, rape, and hostage-taking.
“We should all be focused on defeating the Hamas terrorists, liberating the hostages, ensuring that civilians in Gaza receive all necessary aid and working towards a sustainable peace for Israelis and Palestinians to prevent these horrible conflicts in the future.
“The decision of the ICC is counter-productive in all these respects.”
Read more:
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A video released by Hamas in 2005 shows a man identified as Mohammed Deif. Pic: AP
Warrant for Hamas leader
The ICC also said it has issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Al Masri, saying it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that he is responsible for crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, torture, rape, as well as war crimes including taking hostages.
Discussing the 7 October attacks, the court said: “In light of the coordinated killings of members of civilians at several separate locations, the Chamber also found that the conduct took place as part of a mass killing of members of the civilian population, and it therefore concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of extermination was committed.”
In its statement, the ICC said the prosecution was not in a position to determine whether Al Masri is dead or alive, so was issuing the arrest warrant.
The court previously said it was seeking an arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas who was subsequently killed in July.
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