Tory peer Baroness Warsi backs Dave after grime star called Boris Johnson ‘racist’ during Brits performance Ex-chairwoman welcomes ‘necessary wake-up call’ after ‘shameful’ appointment of No 10 aide Andrew Sabisky
A former Conservative Party chairwoman has backed grime star Dave after he branded Boris Johnson a “racist”, calling it “a necessary wake-up call”. Baroness Warsi spoke out as Downing Street refused to comment on the high-profile attack at the Brit Awards – while Priti Patel, the home secretary, insisted the prime minister was misunderstood.
The Tory peer tweeted her support for Dave after he added a surprise verse to his track “Black”, which said: “It is racist, whether or not it feels racist, the truth is our prime minister’s a real racist.”
The artist also backed the Grenfell survivors, who have alleged Mr Johnson has downgraded the importance of the disaster and is “out of touch” with what they are still going through.
This Government just doesn't seem to understand what Brexit means.
Having chlorinated chicken imported into this country will mean that EVERY UK farmer will be unable to sell their chickens in the EU. Because every single chicken would have to be checked to ensure it wasn't a chlorinated one being bounced on from the USA.
We can all have our own opinions on Brexit. But there needs to be perspective on how best to protect British industry.
We are probably closer to no deal than ever before.
Boris Johnson 'has confirmed plan to sell off Channel 4' after boycotting the 'left-wing' broadcaster, senior Tory MPs claim
Boris Johnson has been refusing to appear on the channel since its head of news said he was a 'proven liar'. He was also replaced by an ice sculpture on its climate change debate last yea
'It's going to be tense': Emmanuel Macron casts doubt on Boris Johnson's hopes of striking a Brexit trade deal by December and sets stage for showdown over fisheries
Emmanuel Macron has cast doubt on whether Boris Johnson (right with the new blue passport) can secure a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU by December. The French President predicted fisheries to be a sticking point when negotiators from Whitehall and Brussels lock horns next month. He added that tough talk from Downing Street, which has promised to rip up any arrangement which shackles the UK to the bloc's rule book, could scupper a deal being reached in the tight time-frame. Speaking at a fishing and farmers market in Paris today (pictured left and inset), Macron said: 'It's going to be tense because they are very tough.'
The Metro front page headlines what it calls a "coronavirus race assault". It explains that a woman was knocked unconscious after standing up for her Chinese friend who was being racially abused about the outbreak.
The Daily Mail leads on a plan to train nurses to perform surgical procedures under what it describes as "a radical NHS drive to slash waiting times". It says nurses will be urged to take a two-year course to help ease the workload of surgeons. Once qualified, the nurses will be able to remove hernias, benign cysts and some skin cancers. The Mail says critics have called it "a sticking-plaster solution" to a very serious staffing problem.
Buzzfeed reports the civil service is rewriting its HR rules to "rein in" No 10 and the prime minister's chief aide, Dominic Cummings.
It says the move follows a claim from Mr Cummings that anyone suffering from "personal crises" such as stress or a bereavement should leave their jobs. The website reproduces a job advert for the lead official on special advisers' HR policy. Buzzfeed says it has been told by a senior Whitehall official that the role was created in response to "high-level concerns" about the treatment of special advisers by No 10. The article does not include any response from Mr Cummings or Downing Street.
The Daily Mirror's front page shows its reporter surrounded by chickens in a packed shed in Georgia in the US.
It describes the conditions the birds are reared in as "horrifying", even before they are killed and washed in chlorine. The paper is one of several to report that Environment Secretary George Eustice has refused to rule out the import of US chicken in a future trade deal.
This Government just doesn't seem to understand what Brexit means.
Having chlorinated chicken imported into this country will mean that EVERY UK farmer will be unable to sell their chickens in the EU. Because every single chicken would have to be checked to ensure it wasn't a chlorinated one being bounced on from the USA.
We can all have our own opinions on Brexit. But there needs to be perspective on how best to protect British industry.
Brexit: UK reneging on Northern Ireland pledges risks trade deals with US and EU Concerns raised after reports negotiating team told to devise plans to ‘get around’ protocol in withdrawal agreement
Reneging on the special Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland will risk trade deals with both the EU and the US, experts have warned. Concern has been raised after Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiating team has reportedly been ordered to come up with plans to “get around” the Northern Ireland protocol in the withdrawal agreement, which includes checks on goods and food going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Former Irish ambassador to the EU Bobby McDonagh said reneging on it would have serious consequences, including posing a risk to a future deal with Washington, where there is considerable support for Ireland. “If UK gov were to renege on its legal obligations under Brexit withdrawal agreement to protect Good Friday agreement, it would have many consequences. One would be the end of any prospect of a UK-US trade deal,” he said in a tweet.
If UK Gov were to renege on its legal obligations under Brexit Withdrawal Agreement to protect Good Friday Agreement it would have many consequences. One would the end of any prospect of a trade deal
And Catherine Barnard, professor of EU law at Cambridge University, said there would be immediate consequences if the UK did not show good faith both legally and reputationally. “If we renege on the terms of the withdrawal agreement, that will trigger the dispute resolution arrangements in the withdrawal agreement.
“But it is not just the legal issue. It would also damage Britain’s reputation in other trade negotiations because it would raise the matter of whether Britain can be trusted. “If, as some comments suggest, it were to renege on its legal obligations to carry our checks on goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland, it is hard to see what value the EU, or indeed any country, would see in a future trade deal with the UK. If the UK were to walk away from the binding provisions designed to preserve the balances of the Good Friday agreement, which it agreed to after lengthy negotiations, there would seem in particular to be no prospect of any UK/US trade deal being ratified by Congress,” McDonagh said.
A formal dispute could see elements of the Brexit deal, such as fisheries or tariff-free trade taken off the table in a tit-for-tat that could poison the next five months of critical talks on the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU.
Johnson’s Brexit flunkey sums up all that’s wrong with his master’s trade fantasies
David Frost should drag himself out of the 18th century and address our perilous future
In Frost’s romanticised view of Britain, Leave voters represented a populace unanimously anxious to recover the power of constitutional institutions sanctified by centuries of tradition and now threatened by the dark intentions of continental Europeans. We so love the royal prerogative, the Lords, the first post the past voting system and the monarchical powers of the prime minister that we would rip up our relationships with the EU. He continued: “We bring to the negotiations not some clever tactical positioning but the fundamentals of what it means to be an independent country. It is central to our vision that we must have the ability to set laws that suit us – to claim the right that every other non-EU country in the world has.”
But this is bunk, even allowing for the posturing that inevitably frames the beginnings of any such major negotiation. To interpret the Leave vote as vast affection for the feudal trappings of an unwritten constitution to the degree that we want to stand in belligerent opposition to Europe, and make ourselves poorer in the process, is to descend into fantasy. It is a bewildering misreading of contemporary reality.
It may be true that loyalty to a Burkean vision of the British state existed among conservative Eurosceptic intellectuals. But it hardly describes the motives of the over-50s throughout Britain, in particular in the marginalised English coastal and former industrial communities characterised by declining life expectancy, low wages and low skills, who provided much of the Leave vote. Theirs was a justified cri de coeur about a stagnating present. A generalised nostalgia about the Britain that stood alone in 1940 and went on to create the soothing certainties of the 1950s, coupled with dislike of mass immigration, completed the Brexit mindset. But those under 50, especially in large conurbations dependent on openness and liberal exchange, thought the mindset baleful nonsense. They understand today’s world. Frost speaks at best for part of Britain, a fact a wise public official would acknowledge.
Nor in 2020 has any state the independence and freedom to make its own laws, especially over trade. He may not have noticed but the exchange of goods and services has always been attended by concerns about standards and quality. The more countries try to gain from trade, the greater the concern to ensure common rules apply.
This necessarily inhibits the capacity to make independent law; a country may decide it only wants to meet certain environmental standards by 2050, but if it wants to sell its goods in countries that have set a target of 2030 it has to fall into line. A better option is for a group of countries to agree a common date in a trade agreement. An even better option is to establish a treaty framework in which such considerations – across as many goods and services as possible – are under constant appraisal to achieve common standards, so maximising trade. You could call such an arrangement the EU’s customs union and single market, if you like, but Burke would have disapproved, so obviously Britain can’t be a member. But Burke’s world of independent national sovereignty in which Britain could send a gunboat to force China to import opium and sequester Hong Kong has disappeared. We now have two aircraft carriers, but they are dependent on US planes and in any case could not be deployed independently in war.
Every major current challenge – from taxing big tech to protocols for autonomous vehicles – requires international collaboration, joint action and common regulations. Creating them is painful and involves many compromises, as Britain will learn again at the Cop26 climate change talks it is hosting later this year. Canadians are keenly aware of the difference between their trade agreement with the EU and the one they have been bullied into by the US. They yearn for the kind of power the countries of the EU have developed.
The task in the decades ahead is to sustain and develop such structures and so allow citizens in every country to be better governed. It may stick in Frost’s 19th-century craw, but the EU, under tremendous strain intensified by Britain’s withdrawal, is precisely such a structure. The British political debate is not helped by part of Britain’s left being obsessed by similarly 19th-century constructs – the notion that it is possible and desirable to use a wholly sovereign nation state to build a socialism whose statist structures require no compromise either internally or internationally. The British left may or may not succeed int devising a philosophy for the 21st century that marries values and policy with the actual interdependencies of our times but for the moment it is irrelevant. What counts is the thinking in the court of King Boris. The musings of one of his most obsequious courtiers last week were not comforting. Prepare for a very hard Brexit and careless insouciance from those delivering it.
That Guardian article fails to understand the mood in this country.
We have voted to "take our Country back". Yes, it is perfectly possible that this will involve us taking our country back to the Middle Ages, but that is what people want.
Sometimes you have to give the people what they want, in order that they can see exactly what that entails. Because it won't be as bad as some say. And then people can evaluate whether it is a price worth paying. I do not see us ever rejoining the EU. But EFTA is another story.
The 9:04 article is similar. It tries to prevent the options as purely binary-follow 100% or 0%. In the real world, mature nations come to sensible compromises in private, while turning blind eyes where appropriate. That was always the biggest problem with us in the EU-we were the only nation that didn't understand this. Look at our ridiculous posturing about migrant workers and benefits as an example.
That Guardian article fails to understand the mood in this country.
We have voted to "take our Country back". Yes, it is perfectly possible that this will involve us taking our country back to the Middle Ages, but that is what people want.
Sometimes you have to give the people what they want, in order that they can see exactly what that entails. Because it won't be as bad as some say. And then people can evaluate whether it is a price worth paying. I do not see us ever rejoining the EU. But EFTA is another story.
The 9:04 article is similar. It tries to prevent the options as purely binary-follow 100% or 0%. In the real world, mature nations come to sensible compromises in private, while turning blind eyes where appropriate. That was always the biggest problem with us in the EU-we were the only nation that didn't understand this. Look at our ridiculous posturing about migrant workers and benefits as an example.
Just sticking to the facts, and keeping my opinions to myself.
The referendum was a vote on whether to stay in the EU or leave.
The arguments about this have been done to death.
Once we have decided to leave there is a clear choice on whether we remain closely aligned, and cause little damage to trade, or to diverge and do the opposite.
Theresa Mays plan was to remain closely aligned.
Boris has chosen the opposite.
I believe he has done this without making clear to the public, the full effects of this change of plan.
In fact he has lied about this many times.
The only way the Boris version could take effect is if the EU was prepared to overlook all their current rules.
Good luck with that Boris.
He has completely shied away from all the implications that his plan will involve.
"I will never accept an Irish Sea border".
His current plan seems to be that we can retain all the benefits that we want from the EU, but will not be held to any of the obligations that the EU have previously insisted on.
Why would a Prime Minister with any sense, see a deadline as more important than the outcome of the trade talks?
You all call me by my first name but I'm not your pal I won't think twice about having a fling with the lady in your life. I'll gladly arrange for someone to give you a kicking. I've got lots of kids but deny being the father I love to lie & cheat but I'm also charming
You all call me by my first name but I'm not your pal I won't think twice about having a fling with the lady in your life. I'll gladly arrange for someone to give you a kicking. I've got lots of kids but deny being the father I love to lie & cheat but I'm also charming
Brexit: 'No border between NI and GB' - NI secretary
The Brexit deal will not mean a new border between NI and the rest of the UK, the NI secretary has insisted. Brandon Lewis said: "We always said there will not be a border down the Irish Sea, there'll be unfettered access for business."
Last month the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said new checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from GB were an "indispensable" consequence of the Brexit deal. Speaking in Belfast, he added: "In agreeing to the protocol, the UK has agreed to a system of reinforced checks and controls for goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain. "I understand the fears of negative economic fallout expressed by some about these checks. "But Brexit unfortunately has consequences that we must manage."
That Guardian article fails to understand the mood in this country.
We have voted to "take our Country back". Yes, it is perfectly possible that this will involve us taking our country back to the Middle Ages, but that is what people want.
Sometimes you have to give the people what they want, in order that they can see exactly what that entails. Because it won't be as bad as some say. And then people can evaluate whether it is a price worth paying. I do not see us ever rejoining the EU. But EFTA is another story.
The 9:04 article is similar. It tries to prevent the options as purely binary-follow 100% or 0%. In the real world, mature nations come to sensible compromises in private, while turning blind eyes where appropriate. That was always the biggest problem with us in the EU-we were the only nation that didn't understand this. Look at our ridiculous posturing about migrant workers and benefits as an example.
'Clean break' Brexit The Daily Express applauds Boris Johnson for demanding a "clean break" from the European Union at the end of this year. It speaks of the prime minister laying down the law in upcoming trade talks - and refusing to accept any deal that compromises the UK's political or economic independence. The FT says business groups are continuing to push for a deal which keeps Britain as closely aligned with the EU as possible, to minimise barriers to trade. But the Sun declares that Brussels still doesn't get it: Downing Street has made it clear that its one "red line" is Britain having full control of its laws - and if that means no trade deal, "so be it".
EU demands UK keeps chlorinated chicken ban to get trade deal Exclusive: clause in negotiating mandate for Michel Barnier will create hurdle to US-UK deal
The EU will demand the UK maintains a ban on chlorinated chicken as the price for a trade agreement with Brussels, in a move that protects European meat exports and creates an obstacle to a deal with Donald Trump. On the recommendation of France, a clause has been inserted into the EU’s negotiating mandate to insist that both sides maintain “health and product sanitary quality in the food and agriculture sector”, according to a copy leaked to the Guardian.
Inside Boris Johnson's Whitehall: 'A poisonous, horrible atmosphere' With briefings, sackings and bullying, No 10’s war with the civil service is being played out in public
Plans drawn up by Boris Johnson’s government to remove senior civil servants from key ministries has resulted in a “poisonous” atmosphere across Whitehall, according to union leaders. Amid reports that the prime minister is targeting three permanent secretaries who have previously offered unwanted advice, the FDA and Prospect unions said unattributable briefings from No 10 had damaged the government’s machinery. It has followed a series of threats by Dominic Cummings to radically shake up Whitehall, as well as the high-profile sacking of a special adviser, or Spad, who is taking No 10 to an employment tribunal. The home secretary, Priti Patel, had last week sought to oust her most senior civil servant, Sir Philip Rutnam, government sources have confirmed. The Sunday Telegraph reported that the prime minister’s aide would also like to remove Sir Tom Scholar from the Treasury and Sir Simon McDonald from the Foreign Office.
Austerity blamed for life expectancy stalling for first time in century Landmark England review says policy causing unprecedented damage to health and life chances
How deprivation in the north has led to a health crisis
Life expectancy has stalled for the first time in more than 100 years and even reversed for the most deprived women in society, according to a landmark review which shows the gap in health inequalities is yawning even wider than it did a decade ago, in large part due to the impact of cuts linked to the government’s austerity policies. Sir Michael Marmot’s review, 10 years after he warned that growing inequalities in society would lead to worse health, reveals a shocking picture across England, which he says is no different to the rest of the UK and could have been prevented.
Life expectancy is falling among the poorest people in certain English regions
News > UK > UK Politics Brexit: Sidestepping agreement on Northern Ireland could put trade deal with US at risk, Johnson warned
Belfast port. The Withdrawal Agreement was designed to prevent checks cannot be carried on goods near the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland ( PA Archive/PA Images ) Bypassing agreed checks on goods in the Irish Sea could mark the end of any hopes of US-UK trade deal, Boris Johnson’s government has been warned amid claims it will renege on its commitments in the Withdrawal Agreement. The prime minister is reported to have ordered his Brexit team to find ways to “get around” agreed protocol on Northern Ireland that would see goods checked as they are transported to Great Britain following the end of the transition period.
Inside Politics: Boris Johnson warned against Brexit ‘blackmail’
The Queen likes difficult things tidied up quickly and quietly. Elizabeth II is eager to get Megxit “over and done” with and is reluctant to talk about the subject anymore, a royal source has told Vanity Fair. Boris Johnson remains reluctant to talk about Brexit and believes a trade deal with the EU can be done quickly (if not quietly) to get the B-word process over and done with. But as the PM signs off on his negotiation mandate today, he has been warned he cannot “blackmail” Brussels into rushing into an agreement. Her Majesty may wish to look away – it’s about to get messy.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak 'will have to raise taxes' to meet Tory spending pledges The Rookie Chancellor will have no option in Budget 2020 but to increase taxes to pay for Boris Johnson's election promises, experts have warned
Rookie Chancellor Rishi Sunak will be forced to hike taxes to meet Tory spending promises, experts warn today.
This Government just doesn't seem to understand what Brexit means.
Having chlorinated chicken imported into this country will mean that EVERY UK farmer will be unable to sell their chickens in the EU. Because every single chicken would have to be checked to ensure it wasn't a chlorinated one being bounced on from the USA.
We can all have our own opinions on Brexit. But there needs to be perspective on how best to protect British industry.
Boris Johnson faces angry backlash from farmers after dismissing post-Brexit food fears as ‘mumbo jumbo’
Britain’s farmers have taken a swipe at Boris Johnson, warning that slashing standards would be “the work of the insane”, after the prime minister attacked resistance to US food as “mumbo jumbo”. The president of the National Farmers’ Union insisted that nothing is more important than what people will eat after Brexit. “This is not hysteria. This is not mumbo jumbo,” she said. The comments are a direct response to the prime minister championing US food in a speech earlier this month, when he insisted “pretty well-nourished” Americans disproved “hysterical fears”. Related: EU demands UK keeps chlorinated chicken ban to get trade deal And they come after George Eustice, the environment secretary, hinted that acid-washed chicken – if not chlorine-washed – would be allowed on sale in the UK after its departure from the EU. “To sign up to a trade deal which results in opening our ports, shelves and fridges to food which would be illegal to produce here would not only be morally bankrupt, it would be the work of the insane,” said Minette Batters, the NFU president.
It’s good to see Boris and the Government not rising to the media bait, after they got their nose put out of joint. Deflecting all this media tosh will just make him a stronger PM. The media are sinking to new lows,poor souls.
I remember as a young boy, my Father asked me what I thought of something, and I replied "rubbish". He then pointed out to me that just to criticise something as being rubbish, was inadequate, and nobody would take me seriously. He explained that to have my opinion respected, I would need to be much more specific, and explain the reasons for my criticism. He was right of course.
You have reminded me of this conversation. You continually do this by criticising the media as if it was a single organisation, that was always completely out of touch, and had decided to publish slurs about Boris and The Government at every opportunity, and ignore any good deeds. They even have a single nose that has been put out of joint? You also blame Tony Blair for everything under the sun, despite the fact he no longer plays a part in day to day politics.
Yet you never explain anything.
Why is the media nose out of joint?
Which media tosh?
What media bait?
Which new lows?
Wouldn't you think that having a free press is fundamental to any democracy?
How do you hide behind freedom of the press?
Why would you describe the media as poor souls?
Why is Tony Blair responsible for all our terrorism?
Why is Tony Blair responsible for Islamophobia?
Is he responsible for all the terrorism, and Islamophobia throughout the world, or just in this country?
You have previous convictions for an unwillingness to answer questions, so I wont hold my breath.
There’s many a well know star from this country who know exactly what I mean when I’m referring to our press.Thats why they’re leaving or have already left. They are just so wrong with their facts, far too often. There’s always plenty of gullible readers ready to pay their wages though.
Our Press can be horrible. It is very easy to blame them. The reality is they are in the business of selling stories. If we weren't so keen to buy such tittle-tattle, they wouldn't do it. And for every 10 stars who claims they left the country because of the Press, 3 of them left for better pay, and 6 to avoid paying UK tax.
I detest people who bang on about this country while not contributing by paying tax. and to every single person who says "if Labour/Tories/Monster Raving Loonies win the next election, I'm off", just leave quietly.
Rant over
Better than listening to people banging on about Brexit
Obviously I couldn't agree about Brexit, which is about to take a turn for the worse, and feature more prominently on our front pages once again.
It will have countless twists and turns, but it will probably be 2 years before the picture becomes clearer.
2 more years of people using Brexit as an excuse for their xenophobia, or their failed businesses. Meanwhile, our country will become worse. Not particularly because of Brexit itself, but our Island mentality towards what will be the most important economic discussions since at least 1973.
It will not be as bad as the doomsayers say. But it won't be great....
Ms Batters also appeared to question the honesty of ministers who have promised to protect standards in the UK, but left doubts about what will be allowed in trade deals.
“If you raise the bar at home but refuse to legislate in imports then I can only wonder, was the motive ever really about improving global standards in welfare or the environment at all,” she asked. “This isn’t just about chlorinated chicken. This is about a wider principle. “We must not tie the hands of British farmers to the highest rung of the standards ladder while waving through food imports which may not even reach the bottom rung.”
Meanwhile, Carolyn Fairbairn, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, attacked Mr Johnson for saying he would settle for “Australia-style” trading arrangements, without a formal deal. “We ought to do an awful lot better than that,” she said. Ms Batters called the Australia-style option “catastrophic” and a “code” for a no-deal Brexit, adding that US officials “mouths dropped” when she brought it up. On Sunday, Mr Eustice said the government had “no plans” to change the law on chlorinated chicken, but failed to give a categorical assurance.
Comments
Ex-chairwoman welcomes ‘necessary wake-up call’ after ‘shameful’ appointment of No 10 aide Andrew Sabisky
A former Conservative Party chairwoman has backed grime star Dave after he branded Boris Johnson a “racist”, calling it “a necessary wake-up call”.
Baroness Warsi spoke out as Downing Street refused to comment on the high-profile attack at the Brit Awards – while Priti Patel, the home secretary, insisted the prime minister was misunderstood.
The Tory peer tweeted her support for Dave after he added a surprise verse to his track “Black”, which said: “It is racist, whether or not it feels racist, the truth is our prime minister’s a real racist.”
The artist also backed the Grenfell survivors, who have alleged Mr Johnson has downgraded the importance of the disaster and is “out of touch” with what they are still going through.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/baroness-warsi-dave-brit-awards-2020-tory-boris-johnson-racist-a9343496.html
Boris Johnson has been refusing to appear on the channel since its head of news said he was a 'proven liar'. He was also replaced by an ice sculpture on its climate change debate last yea
Emmanuel Macron has cast doubt on whether Boris Johnson (right with the new blue passport) can secure a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU by December. The French President predicted fisheries to be a sticking point when negotiators from Whitehall and Brussels lock horns next month. He added that tough talk from Downing Street, which has promised to rip up any arrangement which shackles the UK to the bloc's rule book, could scupper a deal being reached in the tight time-frame. Speaking at a fishing and farmers market in Paris today (pictured left and inset), Macron said: 'It's going to be tense because they are very tough.'
The Metro front page headlines what it calls a "coronavirus race assault". It explains that a woman was knocked unconscious after standing up for her Chinese friend who was being racially abused about the outbreak.
The Daily Mail leads on a plan to train nurses to perform surgical procedures under what it describes as "a radical NHS drive to slash waiting times".
It says nurses will be urged to take a two-year course to help ease the workload of surgeons. Once qualified, the nurses will be able to remove hernias, benign cysts and some skin cancers.
The Mail says critics have called it "a sticking-plaster solution" to a very serious staffing problem.
Buzzfeed reports the civil service is rewriting its HR rules to "rein in" No 10 and the prime minister's chief aide, Dominic Cummings.
It says the move follows a claim from Mr Cummings that anyone suffering from "personal crises" such as stress or a bereavement should leave their jobs.
The website reproduces a job advert for the lead official on special advisers' HR policy.
Buzzfeed says it has been told by a senior Whitehall official that the role was created in response to "high-level concerns" about the treatment of special advisers by No 10. The article does not include any response from Mr Cummings or Downing Street.
The Daily Mirror's front page shows its reporter surrounded by chickens in a packed shed in Georgia in the US.
It describes the conditions the birds are reared in as "horrifying", even before they are killed and washed in chlorine.
The paper is one of several to report that Environment Secretary George Eustice has refused to rule out the import of US chicken in a future trade deal.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-51608759
Brexit: UK reneging on Northern Ireland pledges risks trade deals with US and EU
Concerns raised after reports negotiating team told to devise plans to ‘get around’ protocol in withdrawal agreement
Reneging on the special Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland will risk trade deals with both the EU and the US, experts have warned.
Concern has been raised after Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiating team has reportedly been ordered to come up with plans to “get around” the Northern Ireland protocol in the withdrawal agreement, which includes checks on goods and food going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Former Irish ambassador to the EU Bobby McDonagh said reneging on it would have serious consequences, including posing a risk to a future deal with Washington, where there is considerable support for Ireland.
“If UK gov were to renege on its legal obligations under Brexit withdrawal agreement to protect Good Friday agreement, it would have many consequences. One would be the end of any prospect of a UK-US trade deal,” he said in a tweet.
Bobby McDonagh
@BobbyMcDonagh1
If UK Gov were to renege on its legal obligations under Brexit Withdrawal Agreement to protect Good Friday Agreement it would have many consequences. One would the end of any prospect of a trade deal
And Catherine Barnard, professor of EU law at Cambridge University, said there would be immediate consequences if the UK did not show good faith both legally and reputationally. “If we renege on the terms of the withdrawal agreement, that will trigger the dispute resolution arrangements in the withdrawal agreement.
“But it is not just the legal issue. It would also damage Britain’s reputation in other trade negotiations because it would raise the matter of whether Britain can be trusted.
“If, as some comments suggest, it were to renege on its legal obligations to carry our checks on goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland, it is hard to see what value the EU, or indeed any country, would see in a future trade deal with the UK. If the UK were to walk away from the binding provisions designed to preserve the balances of the Good Friday agreement, which it agreed to after lengthy negotiations, there would seem in particular to be no prospect of any UK/US trade deal being ratified by Congress,” McDonagh said.
A formal dispute could see elements of the Brexit deal, such as fisheries or tariff-free trade taken off the table in a tit-for-tat that could poison the next five months of critical talks on the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/23/brexit-uk-reneging-on-northern-ireland-pledges-risks-trade-deals-with-us-and-eu
David Frost should drag himself out of the 18th century and address our perilous
future
In Frost’s romanticised view of Britain, Leave voters represented a populace unanimously anxious to recover the power of constitutional institutions sanctified by centuries of tradition and now threatened by the dark intentions of continental Europeans. We so love the royal prerogative, the Lords, the first post the past voting system and the monarchical powers of the prime minister that we would rip up our relationships with the EU. He continued: “We bring to the negotiations not some clever tactical positioning but the fundamentals of what it means to be an independent country. It is central to our vision that we must have the ability to set laws that suit us – to claim the right that every other non-EU country in the world has.”
But this is bunk, even allowing for the posturing that inevitably frames the beginnings of any such major negotiation. To interpret the Leave vote as vast affection for the feudal trappings of an unwritten constitution to the degree that we want to stand in belligerent opposition to Europe, and make ourselves poorer in the process, is to descend into fantasy. It is a bewildering misreading of contemporary reality.
It may be true that loyalty to a Burkean vision of the British state existed among conservative Eurosceptic intellectuals. But it hardly describes the motives of the over-50s throughout Britain, in particular in the marginalised English coastal and former industrial communities characterised by declining life expectancy, low wages and low skills, who provided much of the Leave vote. Theirs was a justified cri de coeur about a stagnating present. A generalised nostalgia about the Britain that stood alone in 1940 and went on to create the soothing certainties of the 1950s, coupled with dislike of mass immigration, completed the Brexit mindset. But those under 50, especially in large conurbations dependent on openness and liberal exchange, thought the mindset baleful nonsense. They understand today’s world. Frost speaks at best for part of Britain, a fact a wise public official would acknowledge.
Nor in 2020 has any state the independence and freedom to make its own laws, especially over trade. He may not have noticed but the exchange of goods and services has always been attended by concerns about standards and quality. The more countries try to gain from trade, the greater the concern to ensure common rules apply.
This necessarily inhibits the capacity to make independent law; a country may decide it only wants to meet certain environmental standards by 2050, but if it wants to sell its goods in countries that have set a target of 2030 it has to fall into line. A better option is for a group of countries to agree a common date in a trade agreement. An even better option is to establish a treaty framework in which such considerations – across as many goods and services as possible – are under constant appraisal to achieve common standards, so maximising trade. You could call such an arrangement the EU’s customs union and single market, if you like, but Burke would have disapproved, so obviously Britain can’t be a member.
But Burke’s world of independent national sovereignty in which Britain could send a gunboat to force China to import opium and sequester Hong Kong has disappeared. We now have two aircraft carriers, but they are dependent on US planes and in any case could not be deployed independently in war.
Every major current challenge – from taxing big tech to protocols for autonomous vehicles – requires international collaboration, joint action and common regulations. Creating them is painful and involves many compromises, as Britain will learn again at the Cop26 climate change talks it is hosting later this year. Canadians are keenly aware of the difference between their trade agreement with the EU and the one they have been bullied into by the US. They yearn for the kind of power the countries of the EU have developed.
The task in the decades ahead is to sustain and develop such structures and so allow citizens in every country to be better governed. It may stick in Frost’s 19th-century craw, but the EU, under tremendous strain intensified by Britain’s withdrawal, is precisely such a structure.
The British political debate is not helped by part of Britain’s left being obsessed by similarly 19th-century constructs – the notion that it is possible and desirable to use a wholly sovereign nation state to build a socialism whose statist structures require no compromise either internally or internationally. The British left may or may not succeed int devising a philosophy for the 21st century that marries values and policy with the actual interdependencies of our times but for the moment it is irrelevant.
What counts is the thinking in the court of King Boris. The musings of one of his most obsequious courtiers last week were not comforting. Prepare for a very hard Brexit and careless insouciance from those delivering it.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/23/johnson-brexit-flunkey-sums-up-all-thats-wrong-with-his-masters-trade-fantasies-david-frost
We have voted to "take our Country back". Yes, it is perfectly possible that this will involve us taking our country back to the Middle Ages, but that is what people want.
Sometimes you have to give the people what they want, in order that they can see exactly what that entails. Because it won't be as bad as some say. And then people can evaluate whether it is a price worth paying. I do not see us ever rejoining the EU. But EFTA is another story.
The 9:04 article is similar. It tries to prevent the options as purely binary-follow 100% or 0%. In the real world, mature nations come to sensible compromises in private, while turning blind eyes where appropriate. That was always the biggest problem with us in the EU-we were the only nation that didn't understand this. Look at our ridiculous posturing about migrant workers and benefits as an example.
The referendum was a vote on whether to stay in the EU or leave.
The arguments about this have been done to death.
Once we have decided to leave there is a clear choice on whether we remain closely aligned, and cause little damage to trade, or to diverge and do the opposite.
Theresa Mays plan was to remain closely aligned.
Boris has chosen the opposite.
I believe he has done this without making clear to the public, the full effects of this change of plan.
In fact he has lied about this many times.
The only way the Boris version could take effect is if the EU was prepared to overlook all their current rules.
Good luck with that Boris.
He has completely shied away from all the implications that his plan will involve.
"I will never accept an Irish Sea border".
His current plan seems to be that we can retain all the benefits that we want from the EU, but will not be held to any of the obligations that the EU have previously insisted on.
Why would a Prime Minister with any sense, see a deadline as more important than the outcome of the trade talks?
You all call me by my first name but I'm not your pal
I won't think twice about having a fling with the lady in your life.
I'll gladly arrange for someone to give you a kicking.
I've got lots of kids but deny being the father
I love to lie & cheat but I'm also charming
Who am I?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ERaU2jpXsAIy2vx?format=jpg&name=large
The Brexit deal will not mean a new border between NI and the rest of the UK, the NI secretary has insisted.
Brandon Lewis said: "We always said there will not be a border down the Irish Sea, there'll be unfettered access for business."
Last month the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said new checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from GB were an "indispensable" consequence of the Brexit deal.
Speaking in Belfast, he added: "In agreeing to the protocol, the UK has agreed to a system of reinforced checks and controls for goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
"I understand the fears of negative economic fallout expressed by some about these checks.
"But Brexit unfortunately has consequences that we must manage."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-51612028?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/uk_leaves_the_eu&link_location=live-reporting-story
The Daily Express applauds Boris Johnson for demanding a "clean break" from the European Union at the end of this year.
It speaks of the prime minister laying down the law in upcoming trade talks - and refusing to accept any deal that compromises the UK's political or economic independence.
The FT says business groups are continuing to push for a deal which keeps Britain as closely aligned with the EU as possible, to minimise barriers to trade.
But the Sun declares that Brussels still doesn't get it: Downing Street has made it clear that its one "red line" is Britain having full control of its laws - and if that means no trade deal, "so be it".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-51623430
EU demands UK keeps chlorinated chicken ban to get trade deal
Exclusive: clause in negotiating mandate for Michel Barnier will create hurdle to US-UK deal
The EU will demand the UK maintains a ban on chlorinated chicken as the price for a trade agreement with Brussels, in a move that protects European meat exports and creates an obstacle to a deal with Donald Trump.
On the recommendation of France, a clause has been inserted into the EU’s negotiating mandate to insist that both sides maintain “health and product sanitary quality in the food and agriculture sector”, according to a copy leaked to the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/25/keep-chlorinated-chicken-ban-to-win-trade-deal-eu-tells-uk
Inside Boris Johnson's Whitehall: 'A poisonous, horrible atmosphere'
With briefings, sackings and bullying, No 10’s war with the civil service is being played out in public
Plans drawn up by Boris Johnson’s government to remove senior civil servants from key ministries has resulted in a “poisonous” atmosphere across Whitehall, according to union leaders.
Amid reports that the prime minister is targeting three permanent secretaries who have previously offered unwanted advice, the FDA and Prospect unions said unattributable briefings from No 10 had damaged the government’s machinery.
It has followed a series of threats by Dominic Cummings to radically shake up Whitehall, as well as the high-profile sacking of a special adviser, or Spad, who is taking No 10 to an employment tribunal.
The home secretary, Priti Patel, had last week sought to oust her most senior civil servant, Sir Philip Rutnam, government sources have confirmed. The Sunday Telegraph reported that the prime minister’s aide would also like to remove Sir Tom Scholar from the Treasury and Sir Simon McDonald from the Foreign Office.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/25/inside-boris-johnsons-whitehall-a-poisonous-horrible-atmosphere
Austerity blamed for life expectancy stalling for first time in century
Landmark England review says policy causing unprecedented damage to health and life chances
How deprivation in the north has led to a health crisis
Life expectancy has stalled for the first time in more than 100 years and even reversed for the most deprived women in society, according to a landmark review which shows the gap in health inequalities is yawning even wider than it did a decade ago, in large part due to the impact of cuts linked to the government’s austerity policies.
Sir Michael Marmot’s review, 10 years after he warned that growing inequalities in society would lead to worse health, reveals a shocking picture across England, which he says is no different to the rest of the UK and could have been prevented.
Life expectancy is falling among the poorest people in certain English regions
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/24/austerity-blamed-for-life-expectancy-stalling-for-first-time-in-century
Dear Gavin Williamson, you need to make clear that teaching ‘British values’ doesn’t mean racism
The Andrew Sabisky affair is a chance for the education secretary to speak up
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/25/teaching-british-values-doesnt-mean-racism-andrew-sabisky
News > UK > UK Politics
Brexit: Sidestepping agreement on Northern Ireland could put trade deal with US at risk, Johnson warned
Belfast port. The Withdrawal Agreement was designed to prevent checks cannot be carried on goods near the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland ( PA Archive/PA Images )
Bypassing agreed checks on goods in the Irish Sea could mark the end of any hopes of US-UK trade deal, Boris Johnson’s government has been warned amid claims it will renege on its commitments in the Withdrawal Agreement.
The prime minister is reported to have ordered his Brexit team to find ways to “get around” agreed protocol on Northern Ireland that would see goods checked as they are transported to Great Britain following the end of the transition period.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-northern-ireland-irish-sea-checks-boris-johnson-us-trade-deal-trump-a9353631.html
Inside Politics: Boris Johnson warned against Brexit ‘blackmail’
The Queen likes difficult things tidied up quickly and quietly. Elizabeth II is eager to get Megxit “over and done” with and is reluctant to talk about the subject anymore, a royal source has told Vanity Fair. Boris Johnson remains reluctant to talk about Brexit and believes a trade deal with the EU can be done quickly (if not quietly) to get the B-word process over and done with. But as the PM signs off on his negotiation mandate today, he has been warned he cannot “blackmail” Brussels into rushing into an agreement. Her Majesty may wish to look away – it’s about to get messy.
https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/boris-johnson-brexit-eu-trade-deal-priti-patel-labour-leadership-a9356316.html
Chancellor Rishi Sunak 'will have to raise taxes' to meet Tory spending pledges
The Rookie Chancellor will have no option in Budget 2020 but to increase taxes to pay for Boris Johnson's election promises, experts have warned
Rookie Chancellor Rishi Sunak will be forced to hike taxes to meet Tory spending promises, experts warn today.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/chancellor-rishi-sunak-will-raise-21560936
Britain’s farmers have taken a swipe at Boris Johnson, warning that slashing standards would be “the work of the insane”, after the prime minister attacked resistance to US food as “mumbo jumbo”.
The president of the National Farmers’ Union insisted that nothing is more important than what people will eat after Brexit. “This is not hysteria. This is not mumbo jumbo,” she said.
The comments are a direct response to the prime minister championing US food in a speech earlier this month, when he insisted “pretty well-nourished” Americans disproved “hysterical fears”.
Related: EU demands UK keeps chlorinated chicken ban to get trade deal
And they come after George Eustice, the environment secretary, hinted that acid-washed chicken – if not chlorine-washed – would be allowed on sale in the UK after its departure from the EU.
“To sign up to a trade deal which results in opening our ports, shelves and fridges to food which would be illegal to produce here would not only be morally bankrupt, it would be the work of the insane,” said Minette Batters, the NFU president.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/brexit/boris-johnson-faces-angry-backlash-from-farmers-after-dismissing-post-brexit-food-fears-as-mumbo-jumbo/ar-BB10mqNp?ocid=spartanntp
“If you raise the bar at home but refuse to legislate in imports then I can only wonder, was the motive ever really about improving global standards in welfare or the environment at all,” she asked.
“This isn’t just about chlorinated chicken. This is about a wider principle.
“We must not tie the hands of British farmers to the highest rung of the standards ladder while waving through food imports which may not even reach the bottom rung.”
Meanwhile, Carolyn Fairbairn, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, attacked Mr Johnson for saying he would settle for “Australia-style” trading arrangements, without a formal deal. “We ought to do an awful lot better than that,” she said.
Ms Batters called the Australia-style option “catastrophic” and a “code” for a no-deal Brexit, adding that US officials “mouths dropped” when she brought it up.
On Sunday, Mr Eustice said the government had “no plans” to change the law on chlorinated chicken, but failed to give a categorical assurance.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/brexit/boris-johnson-faces-angry-backlash-from-farmers-after-dismissing-post-brexit-food-fears-as-mumbo-jumbo/ar-BB10mqNp?ocid=spartanntp