Labour forces final humiliation on Johnson as Sunak looks weak and feeble

Published

2 years ago

June 19, 2023

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To the very end, Boris Johnson and his dwindling band of supporters – and Rishi Sunak and the Tory high command – were outwitted by the Labour Party in the parliamentary battle over partygate.

At the beginning of the Privileges Committee process, back in April 2022, the Tories failed to spot the trap being laid when an Opposition motion to launch the inquiry was allowed to go through unopposed, “on the nod”.

And at the end, after Mr Johnson “called off the dogs” last Friday and ordered his supporters to abstain at the end of the marathon debate on the committee’s report, Labour sprang another trap.

Mr Sunak – who now looks weak and feeble after skipping the debate and the vote – had desperately wanted the report to go through “on the nod” as well, in a bid to conceal the bitter Tory divisions.

But as Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle called the vote after more than five hours of acrimonious debate, Labour’s wily chief whip Sir Alan Campbell bellowed “No! No! No” in Sir Lindsay’s ear to make sure there was a division.

Then he and his deputy, Lilian Greenwood, acted as tellers so the division would go ahead.

And Mr Johnson’s humiliation was complete when just seven Conservative MPs voted against the committee’s damning report.

It was just the outcome Mr Johnson and his close allies didn’t want.

An overwhelming majority backs the report

It was after The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday that only seven MPs were set to vote against the report that he “called off the dogs”.

And indeed there were just seven votes in Mr Johnson’s defence when it came to the vote. No wonder Mr Johnson asked his allies to stay away.

But 118 Conservative MPs voted to damn him, including several government ministers and senior backbenchers, led by former PM Theresa May and including 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady.

Cabinet ministers and those who attend cabinet voting for the largely symbolic punishment of denying Mr Johnson a Commons pass available to ex-MPs were Alex Chalk, David TC Davies, Simon Hart, Gillian Keegan, Chloe Smith, Penny Mordaunt, Andrew Mitchell and Tom Tugendhat.

The Johnson diehards were Sir Bill Cash, Nick Fletcher, Adam Holloway, Karl McCartney, Joy Morrissey, Sir Desmond Swayne and Heather Wheeler. But many of the former PM’s cheerleaders did indeed abstain.

Johnson’s reputation shredded

The marathon debate saw speaker after speaker – mostly opposition MPs, it must be said, but including several Tories – trash Mr Johnson’s reputation even more than it has been already.

Now he’s out of parliament and has been condemned by a report by a senior Commons committee, they were free to call him a liar. No worries about unparliamentary language. And they did, at every opportunity.

The stars of the debate were Mrs May and Harriet Harman, who made towering, blockbuster speeches early on.

Mrs May made the statesmanlike speech about the public’s trust in politics that Mr Sunak should have made.

The case for the defence was later led by knights of the shires Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and Sir Bill Cash, but their attacks on the committee were too lawyerly and got bogged down in detail.

And a red wall backlash backfired after Lia Nici, MP for Great Grimsby, made a defiant speech in which she said she would vote against the report and then didn’t. Who nobbled her?

At least fellow red waller Nick Fletcher, from Don Valley – who made a good speech defending Mr Johnson, pointing out that he almost died from COVID – was true to his word and voted against.

While the drama was unfolding in the Commons chamber, in the VIP gallery for the early part of the debate was screen and stage legend Sir Ian McKellen, best known for his role of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

That story is, of course, a fantasy.

Now Boris Johnson has paid the price for his fantasy claims about no lockdown rules being broken in Downing Street during the COVID pandemic.

World

Musk sued over buying Twitter shares at artificially low prices by US finance regulator

Published

21 hours ago

January 15, 2025

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Musk sued over buying Twitter shares at artificially low prices by US finance regulator

Elon Musk is being sued for failing to disclose his purchase of more than 5% of Twitter stock in a timely fashion.

The world’s richest man bought the stock in March 2022 and the complaint by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the delay allowed him to continue buying Twitter stock at artificially low prices.

In papers filed in Washington DC federal court, the SEC said the move allowed Mr Musk to underpay by at least $150m (£123m).

The commission wants Mr Musk to pay a civil fine and give up profits he was not entitled to.

In response to the lawsuit a lawyer for the multi-billionaire said: “Mr Musk has done nothing wrong and everyone sees this sham for what it is.”

An SEC rule requires investors to disclose within 10 calendar days when they cross a 5% ownership threshold.

The SEC said Mr Musk did not disclose his state until 4 April 2022, 11 days after the deadline – by which point he owned more than 9% of Twitter’s shares.

Twitter’s share price rose by more than 27% following Mr Musk’s disclosure, the SEC added.

Mr Musk later purchased Twitter for $44bn (£36bn) in October 2022 and renamed the social media site X.

Since the election of Donald Trump, Mr Musk has been put in charge of leading a newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

The president-elect said the department would work to reduce government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.

World

Hamas accepts Gaza peace deal as Israeli official says agreement is close but ‘not there yet’

Published

21 hours ago

January 15, 2025

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Hamas accepts Gaza peace deal as Israeli official says agreement is close but 'not there yet'

US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.

Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.

A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.

Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.

Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.

An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.

More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Read more:
What’s in the proposed deal?

Biden hails possibility of agreement

President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.

“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.”

Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.

Analysis:
Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions

Trump: ‘We’re very close’

President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.

“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.

“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.

“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”

Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal

Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.

They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.

“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.

Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.

Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.

Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’

Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.

“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.

Mr Biden claimed 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.”

The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.

World

Gaza ceasefire: What does the draft agreement say and how many hostages would be released?

Published

21 hours ago

January 15, 2025

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Gaza ceasefire: What does the draft agreement say and how many hostages would be released?

A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.

President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.

The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.

It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.

Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Hostages to be returned

In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.

These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.

Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.

In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.

An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.

Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza

The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.

Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.

The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.

Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.

“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.

What will happen to Gaza in the future?

There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.

“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.

“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”

The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.

In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.

Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.