Picking a fight with the UK’s top cop is probably not a sensible move
Rishi Sunak has essentially told Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley that if there’s violence at the pro-Palestine march in London on Saturday, it’s his fault.
But it’s a petulant response to Sir Mark’s defiance in the face of the enormous pressure from the PM and other ministers for the Armistice Day march to be banned.
Picking a fight with the UK’s top cop is probably not the most sensible move for a prime minister or home secretary – especially for a Conservative.
Remember the Tories’ claim to be the party of law and order?
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The only targets for attack that might have been more unwise would be the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Pope, Harry Kane, David Beckham or a national treasure like Joanna Lumley.
Having said that, former England football manager Glenn Hoddle still claims Tony Blair hounded him out in 1999 after he said the disabled were being punished for sins committed in a previous life.
But once Suella Braverman had made her incendiary “hate marches” attack on pro-ceasefire protesters last week, the battlelines were drawn and the Tories declared war on Sir Mark.
The climax in this power struggle came when Mr Sunak summoned the commissioner to Downing Street on Wednesday in the hope – no doubt – of persuading him to back down and veto the march.
But he failed. Sir Mark stood his ground, and the PM – along with his fiercely combative home secretary – were forced into an embarrassing retreat.
The march goes ahead, and Mr Sunak has been outmanoeuvred.
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Braverman criticises protests
Stepping back from the current dispute for a moment, what Met commissioner is going to admit to a prime minister that he or she can’t police a big demo – however large – and protect the public?
Supporters of the demands for a ceasefire have argued that – despite some of the offensive slogans and allegations of intimidation – there are more arrests at Premier League football matches than these marches.
That’s highly debatable. But the organisers of the Armistice Day march did help Sir Mark’s defiant stand by pledging to stay away from the Cenotaph in Whitehall and wait nearly two hours until after the two-minute silence before they begin.
Even before the Downing Street showdown, Mr Sunak appeared to concede that he was losing the battle with Sir Mark.
“This is a decision that the Metropolitan Police commissioner has made,” said the PM.
“He has said that he can ensure that we safeguard remembrance for the country this weekend as well as keep the public safe.”
Then the prime minister declared: “Now, my job is to hold him accountable for that.”
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Met Police chief ‘accountable’ over protest
That sounded very much like a threat. And no doubt if there is serious violence on Saturday, Mr Sunak – and his controversial home secretary – will gloat: “Told you so!”
In a tetchy statement admitting defeat after the Downing Street meeting, Mr Sunak talked rather sheepishly about the freedom of the right to protest peacefully.
Yet at the same time, he repeated his claim that the protest was disrespectful and offensive to the memory of Britain’s war heroes.
And then, in a bizarre comment, he said the commissioner had committed to keep the Met’s “posture” under constant review based on the latest intelligence about the nature of the protests.
Posture? That’s a loaded word. Was Mr Sunak suggesting Sir Mark had been posturing in his stand-off with the government?
Despite all his talk about policing of the march being an operational matter for the Met, if the PM is indeed guilty of misjudgement in his strategy, who is to blame?
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‘We can’t enforce taste or decency’
Many MPs will point the figure at his inflammatory home secretary, accused by Sir Keir Starmer in the King’s Speech debate this week of pursuing a “divisive brand of politics … as a platform for her own ambitions”.
That was after Ms Braverman’s “lifestyle choice” slur on the homeless sleeping in tents in town centres, which came just days after her “hate marches” attack.
Plenty of Tory MPs want Mr Sunak to sack his home secretary. Some even believe she’s goading him into sack her so she can launch a Tory leadership bid.
Whatever her motives, if she’s responsible for Mr Sunak’s ill-judged attacks on Sir Mark and his force, she’s done the PM no favours.
The Met chief will obviously be desperately hoping there isn’t serious trouble at Saturday’s march. Because he knows Mr Sunak – and Ms Braverman – will blame him and say it’s his fault.
Four people have been charged after £7m of damage was caused to two Voyager aircraft at RAF Brize Norton.
The investigation into the incident early on Friday 20 June was led by counter-terror police.
They have been charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK – and conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
Two Voyager aircraft at RAF Brize Norton were damaged. PA file pic
The four charged have been identified as:
• Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, of no fixed abode
• Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 35, from London
• Jony Cink, 24, of no fixed abode
• Lewie Chiaramello, 22, from London
They will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court later today.
A 41-year-old woman arrested last week on suspicion of assisting an offender has been released on bail until 19 September.
Meanwhile, a 23-year-old man detained on Saturday was released without charge.
Last month’s incident at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire was claimed by the activist group Palestine Action.
Yesterday, MPs voted to proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation.
The legislation passed with 385 MPs voting in favour, while 26 were against.
UK
No 10 backs Chancellor Rachel Reeves and says she ‘is going nowhere’ after tearful appearance in Commons
Rachel Reeves has not offered her resignation and is “going nowhere”, Downing Street has said, following her tearful appearance in the House of Commons.
A Number 10 spokesperson said the chancellor had the “full backing” of Sir Keir Starmer, despite Ms Reeves looking visibly upset during Prime Minister’s Questions.
Politics latest: ‘A moment of intense peril’ for PM
A spokesperson for the chancellor later clarified that Ms Reeves had been affected by a “personal matter” and would be working out of Downing Street this afternoon.
Politics latest: Reeves looks visibly upset in Commons
UK government bond prices fell by the most since October 2022, and the pound tumbled after Ms Reeves’s Commons appearance, while the yield on the 10-year government bond, or gilt, rose as much as 22 basis points at one point to around 4.68%.
Downing Street’s insistence came despite Sir Keir refusing to guarantee that Ms Reeves would stay as chancellor until the next election following the fallout from the government’s recent welfare U-turn.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the chancellor the “human shield” for the prime minister’s “incompetence” just hours after he was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn over his controversial welfare bill.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Badenoch said: “This man has forgotten that his welfare bill was there to plug a black hole created by the chancellor. Instead they’re creating new ones.”
Turning to the chancellor, the Tory leader added: “[She] is pointing at me – she looks absolutely miserable.
“Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the chancellor is toast, and the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence. In January, he said that she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?”
Not fully answering the question, the prime minister replied: “[Ms Badenoch] certainly won’t.
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Welfare vote ‘a blow to the prime minister’
“I have to say, I’m always cheered up when she asks me questions or responds to a statement because she always makes a complete mess of it and shows just how unserious and irrelevant they are.”
Mrs Badenoch interjected: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
The prime minister’s watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill, aimed at saving £5bn, was backed by a majority of 75 in a tense vote on Tuesday evening.
A total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill – the largest rebellion in a prime minister’s first year in office since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair’s Lone Parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University.
After multiple concessions made due to threats of a Labour rebellion, many MPs questioned what they were voting for as the bill had been severely stripped down.
They 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.
Ms Badenoch said the climbdown was proof that Sir Keir was “too weak to get anything done”.
Read more:
The PM faced down his party on welfare and lost
Labour welfare cuts ‘Dickensian’, says rebel MP
Ms Reeves has also borne a lot of the criticism over the handling of the vote, with some MPs believing that her strict approach to fiscal rules has meant she has approached the ballooning welfare bill from the standpoint of trying to make savings, rather than getting people into work.
Experts have now warned that the welfare U-turn, on top of reversing the cut to winter fuel, means that tax rises in the autumn are more likely – with Ms Reeves now needing to find £5bn to make up for the policy U-turns.
Asked by Ms Badenoch whether he could rule out further tax rises – something Labour promised it would not do on working people in its manifesto – Sir Keir said: “She knows that no prime minister or chancellor ever stands at the despatch box and writes budgets in the future.
“But she talks about growth, for 14 years we had stagnation, and that is what caused the problem.”
Prosecutors are considering whether to bring further criminal charges against Lucy Letby over the deaths of babies at two hospitals where she worked
The Crown Prosecution Service said it had received “a full file of evidence from Cheshire Constabulary asking us to consider further allegations in relation to deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital”.
“We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought,” it added.
“As always, we will make that decision independently, based on the evidence and in line with our legal test.”
Letby, 35, was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital and is currently serving 15 whole-life orders.
Letby worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital
She is understood to have carried out two work placements at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where she trained as a student, between October and December 2012, and January and February 2015.
Police said in December that Letby was interviewed in prison as part of an investigation into more baby deaths and non-fatal collapses.
A Cheshire Constabulary spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Cheshire Constabulary has submitted a full file of evidence to the CPS for charging advice regarding the ongoing investigation into deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neo-natal units of both the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital as part of Operation Hummingbird.”
Detectives previously said the investigation was looking into the full period of time that Letby worked as a nurse, covering the period from 2012 to 2016 and including a review of 4,000 admissions of babies.
Letby’s lawyer Mark McDonald said: “The evidence of the innocence of Lucy Letby is overwhelming,” adding: “We will cross every bridge when we get to it but if Lucy is charged I know we have a whole army of internationally renowned medical experts who will totally undermine the prosecution’s unfounded allegations.”
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Three managers at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
On Tuesday, it was confirmed that three managers at the Countess of Chester hospital had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in a separate investigation.
Read more from Sky News:
‘Catastrophic failure’ that led to Heathrow power outage revealed
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Police said the suspects, who occupied senior positions at the hospital between 2015 and 2016, have all been bailed pending further inquiries.
There is also an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the hospital, which began in October 2023.
A public inquiry has also been examining the hospital’s response to concerns raised about Letby before her arrest.
In May, it was announced the inquiry’s final report into how the former nurse was able to commit her crimes will now be published early next year.
Earlier this year, Letby’s lawyers called for the suspension of the inquiry, claiming there was “overwhelming and compelling evidence” that her convictions were unsafe.
In February, an international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists told reporters that poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the collapses and deaths.
Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby’s legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal.
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