Is Rishi Sunak turning into Boris Johnson?
Is this the week in which it could be claimed that Rishi Sunak has become a prime minister like Boris Johnson?
On Monday, Mr Sunak faced allegations of dodgy declarations of financial interests.
On Wednesday, he hurled Johnson-style insults at Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions and caved in to right-wing Tory MPs on small boats and migration.
And now, after delaying a decision on the report on bullying allegations against Dominic Raab until a second day, Mr Sunak faces claims that he’s attempting to cling on to a close ally in trouble and defy calls to sack him.
It all sounds a bit familiar.
Mr Sunak’s week began with the re-announcement of a maths policy that was overshadowed by the Commons sleaze watchdog suggesting the PM’s declarations of his wife’s financial interests didn’t add up.
The new Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, announced an inquiry into why Mr Sunak failed to mention his wife’s shareholding in a childcare company which could benefit from measures in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s March Budget.
The omission came when Mr Sunak was quizzed by MPs on the Liaison Committee about Koru Kids and specifically asked by Labour’s Catherine McKinnell if he had anything to declare. He giggled and mumbled: “No, all my disclosures are declared in the normal way.”
Sunak failed to make his expected decision on Dominic Raab’s future on Thursday
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It was a very Johnsonian answer. And his interests weren’t declared in the normal way, because the register of ministers’ interests hadn’t been published for over a year. And, don’t forget, Mr Sunak didn’t appoint an ethics adviser for months.
Mr Greenberg pointed out that the MPs’ code of conduct says they “must always be open and frank in declaring any relevant interest in any proceeding of the house or its committees”.
In other words, while speaking in the Commons chamber or in a committee.
And even when Number 10 published the PM’s full list of interests on Wednesday they didn’t include details of the shareholdings held by his heiress wife Akshata Murty.
Mr Johnson regularly clashed with the Standards Commissioner: on earnings, property income and holidays. In one report, he was accused of an “over-careless attitude towards observing the rules of the house”.
At PMQs, meanwhile, Mr Sunak was no more Mr Nice Guy as he unleashed a barrage of Johnson-style attacks on the Labour leader, branding him “Sir Softie” on crime during his time as Director of Prosecutions and denouncing him as a “leftie lawyer”.
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The Labour leader also asks the prime minister to explain why ‘nothing works’ after 13 years of Conservative government.
Tory MPs loved it, yelping and howling with delight, as Labour MPs sat-grim faced. It was all a reminder of Mr Johnson’s jibes against Sir Keir, when he regularly called him “Captain Hindsight” and “Crasheroonie Snoozefest” at PMQs.
Later, Mr Sunak delighted the Tory right by bowing to their demands for amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman will get new powers to ignore so-called “pyjama injunctions” by judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, blocking migrant deportation flights to Rwanda.
The cave-in followed a bacon sandwiches breakfast in Downing Street for MPs on the Common Sense Group of right-wingers on Tuesday morning. Remember how Mr Johnson regularly used to host the pro-Brexit European Research Group in Number 10?
Then, shortly before the Commons rose for the weekend, it emerged that there would be no Raab decision on Thursday, prompting allegations of “dither and delay” from Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
The word from inside Number 10 was that the PM, however, was taking time to go through Adam Tolley’s report thoroughly and consider it.
And the longer the wait for the PM’s decision on Mr Raab, the more it looks like he’s attempting to save one of his closest allies.
To be fair to Mr Sunak, cabinet ministers Sir Gavin Williamson and Nadhim Zahawi went quickly when they were in trouble. But Mr Raab lives to fight another day.
Mr Johnson was always determined not to hand his opponents a scalp. Is Mr Sunak now doing the same?
A Gaza deal is “on the brink”, President Joe Biden has said in his final foreign policy address.
The outgoing US leader said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve
peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Pic: Reuters
The US president also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” he said.
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Mr Biden was delivering his final foreign policy address before he leaves office next week.
Monday’s address will be the penultimate time he speaks to the country before the end of his presidency. He is due to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
US and Arab mediators made significant progress overnight toward brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of scores of hostages held in the Gaza Strip – but a deal has not been reached yet, officials said.
A round of ceasefire talks will be held in Doha on Tuesday to finalise remaining details related to a ceasefire deal in Gaza – including over the release of up to 33 hostages – officials added.
Mr Biden went on to claim America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
World
IDF admits ‘serious offence’ after using vehicle marked ambulance in raid in which a grandmother was killed
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has admitted to a “serious offence” after a Sky News investigation analysed CCTV footage showing the moment an 80-year-old Palestinian grandmother was shot in the West Bank.
Halima Abu Leil was shot during a raid in Nablus. The grandmother died soon after.
During the course of the investigation, we noted that a blue vehicle marked as an ambulance and with a red light on its roof was used by IDF troops to enter the West Bank.
Our investigation stated: “Figures who appear to be Israeli military forces exit the ambulance in the foreground. They are equipped with helmets, backpacks, rifles, and other gear.”
The use of a marked medical vehicle for a security operation could be a contravention of the Geneva Convention and a war crime – as well as Halima’s killing.
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CCTV shows Palestinian grandmother shot in IDF raid
The IDF has subsequently told Sky News: “On December 19, 2024, soldiers from the ‘Duvdevan’ unit took part in an operational mission to detain terrorists in Nablus.
“During the operation, an ambulance-like vehicle was used for operational purposes, without authorisation and without the relevant commanders’ approval.”
It added: “The use of the ambulance-like vehicle during the operation was a serious offence, exceeding authority, and a violation of existing orders and procedures.”
It also said the commander of the ‘Duvdevan’ unit was “reprimanded”.
However, it gave no update into the death of Halima, saying “the circumstances of the incident are being examined”.
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The United Nations Special Rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese watched the CCTV video and told Sky News her death could be a “war crime”.
She said: “When I look at the footage, what emerges prima facie is that there were no precautions taken – within these operations whose legality is debatable – to avoid or spare civilian life.
“No principle of proportionality because there was wildfire directed at the identified target and ultimately no respect for the principle of distinction.
“So this was a murder in cold blood and could be a war crime as an extrajudicial killing.”
According to the United Nations Office Of Human Rights in occupied Palestinian territory, Israeli security forces and settlers have killed at least 813 mostly unarmed Palestinians, including 15 women and 177 children, since 7 October 2023.
Ukraine’s president is offering a prisoner swap with North Korean soldiers it has captured, in exchange for Ukrainians held by Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a direct appeal to leader Kim Jong Un after seizing two North Koreans in Russia’s Kursk region.
“In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others,” he said in a video posted on X.
His video also included an offer of help to officials in California fighting the ongoing fires there.
It is the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers since their entry into the nearly three-year-old war last autumn.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia‘s ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow’s forces, although Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un met in Pyongyang to sign a ‘military pact’ in June 2024. Pic: Kremlin Photo/AP
Mr Zelenskyy has said Russian and North Korean forces had suffered heavy losses.
“Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organise their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” Mr Zelenskyy added.
He posted a short video showing the interrogation of two men, presented as North Korean soldiers.
One of them is lying on a bed with bandaged hands, the other is sitting with a bandage on his jaw.
Ukraine said on Saturday it had captured two North Korean soldiers. Pic: Volodymyr Zelenskyy/X
One of the men said through an interpreter that he did not know he was fighting against Ukraine and had been told he was on a training exercise. He said he hid in a shelter during the offensive and was found a couple of days later.
He said that if he was ordered to return to North Korea, he would, but he was ready to stay in Ukraine if given the chance.
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Sky News has not been able to verify the video.
“One of them (soldiers) expressed a desire to stay in Ukraine, the other to return to Korea,” said Mr Zelenskyy, adding that for North Korean soldiers who did not wish to return home, there may be other options available.
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