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The final version of Sue Gray’s long-awaited report felt a bit like being presented with a birthday cake only to find some of it had already been eaten. Six months on from reports of partygate first surfacing – and coming after the senior civil servant had already published her interim findings in January – it seemed as stale as a week-old sponge. A leak ensured that we had already seen the best photograph, showing Boris Johnson toasting staff at Lee Cain’s leaving do, while the key finding that there were “failures of leadership” at the heart of Number 10 and that those who broke the rules they’d set should have known better rang as familiar as the tune to Happy Birthday. Some of the events should never have taken place; staff should never have been so drunk at “ Wine Time Friday ” that they vomited; “There is significant learning to be drawn from these events which must be addressed immediately across Government”. It was nothing that we didn’t know already. Just as … [Read more...] about Sue Gray report seemed stale as a week-old sponge, leaving Boris Johnson to fight another day

It may have won the best show garden at the Chelsea Flower Show , but Monty Don has questioned whether Rewilding Britain’s beaver-themed exhibit was a “real garden”. The installation - designed by Adam Hunt and Lulu Urquhart, first-time Chelsea exhibitors - was an unexpected winner of the top prize on Tuesday, beating long-time show garden designers including Andy Sturgeon and Sarah Eberle. The decision has divided audiences at the prestigious flower show, including Joe Swift and Monty Don, presenters of the BBC’s Gardeners’ World programme . Referring to Mr Sturgeon’s more traditional mental health-themed Mind Garden, Mr Don said: “I think they’re both fantastic. The question it raises to me - Rewilding Britain was beautifully done - was it a garden? “It is a show garden and therefore has a right to win, whether it is a real garden or not, I’m not sure.” Mr Swift added: “Andy Sturgeon’s is a beautiful garden. The other one - to me it’s a landscape, a recreation. … [Read more...] about Monty Don asks: Was Chelsea Flower Show winner a ‘real garden’?

Former Labour MP Claudia Webbe has lost her appeal against her conviction for harassing a love rival. Webbe, who represents her Leicester East constituency as an independent after being expelled from the party, targeted Michelle Merritt, 59, between September 2018 and April 2020. Prosecutors said the 18-month harassment campaign was driven by "obsession" and "jealousy" over her boyfriend Lester Thomas's relationship with executive assistant Ms Merritt. The victim told how Webbe branded her a "slag" who "should be acid" and threatened to reveal naked photographs to her family in a string of phone calls. Webbe, a former adviser to the National Police Chiefs' Council on firearms, was found guilty of harassment by Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring and handed a 10-week suspended jail sentence following a trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court last year. On Thursday, following an appeal hearing at Southwark Crown Court, she was again found guilty by Judge Deborah Taylor and two … [Read more...] about MP Claudia Webbe loses appeal against conviction for harassing partner’s ex-girlfriend

As the head of the civil service, Simon Case is the highest ranking public official to be implicated in the partygate scandal . Aged 43 and with a PhD in political history, the civil servant’s roles have included director of strategy for GCHQ and principal private secretary to David Cameron and Theresa May. He left Government in 2018 to take up a role as private secretary to the Duke of Cambridge but was drafted back into Whitehall in April 2020 to help with the Government’s pandemic response efforts. His deployment to the Cabinet Office at the height of the first national lockdown - which was initially intended as a temporary secondment from his royal duties - led to his rapid promotion through the ranks of the civil service high command. In June 2020, just three months after his return to Government, he was promoted to the role of permanent secretary to run 10 Downing Street. And in September of the same year he was appointed to lead the civil service, becoming the … [Read more...] about Meet Simon Case: The highest ranking public official to be implicated in the partygate scandal

Boris Johnson raises a glass of wine and toasts the departure of his director of communications. The glass of fizz (possibly champagne) is gripped in his right hand, a smile on the Prime Minister’s face as he and at least seven members of his Downing Street press team say their farewells to Lee Cain, his departing official spokesman who had fallen out with Mr Johnson’s young fiancee Carrie Symonds (now his wife). Yet eight days before this incriminating photograph was taken on November 13 2020, the Prime Minister had plunged England into a second national lockdown. Pubs were shut, travel banned and socialising indoors or even in back gardens prohibited. On the table in the photograph’s foreground appears prima facie evidence of what could only best be described as a party. There are two bottles of bubbly, four bottles of wine (two red and two white) and half a bottle of gin. Most of the booze has been drunk bar one bottle of unopened fizz, visible at the very edge of the picture. … [Read more...] about The incriminating new images of Boris Johnson that could put the fizz back into partygate

There is a vein of disdain that runs through the harrumphing about Downing Street parties. And I’m not talking about hypocrisy or lying. It’s more serious than that. It’s something that marks a generational and cultural shift in the zeitgeist and it’s about alcohol. Newspapers manifest it in their headlines. Members of Parliament scoff at the idea of it in the House of Commons. Now we see it in actual photos, attached to the Sue Gray report. There in full gory detail in photo after photo: Boris Johnson in a government building, glass in hand, booze in glass in hand. Doesn’t he know he’s got a country to run? Isn’t he aware of the new unspoken rule of the early 21st century? Don’t dare drink in any workplace, and, when in Downing Street, don't drink and rule! There were times, of course, when drinking in Whitehall was virtually compulsory. Winston Churchill, as is often recounted, was a fairly big sipper, reputed to consume two bottles of Pol Roger per day. Indeed records of his … [Read more...] about There’s nothing wrong with drinking at work

Boris Johnson has opened the door for Heathrow to build its third runway as ministers commit to support necessary airport expansion. Mr Johnson once pledged to “lie down in front of the bulldozers” to prevent construction going ahead. missed a Commons vote on Heathrow’s expansion in 2018 that rubber-stamped the project. Last year Robert Jenrick, the then housing secretary, backed London Mayor Sadiq Khan ’s building plan for the capital that opposed expansion at Heathrow airport. Taking aviation back to the skies By Robert Courts MP, aviation minister For over 100 years, aviation has been at the very centre of British life, from the famous military aircraft which helped us win two world wars, to commercial flight connecting us with the rest of the world. Today, we are explaining how this vital industry will move into the future; a future which is greener, but a future that is one of flying nonetheless With every take-off, every world leading airport or … [Read more...] about Boris Johnson revives hopes for Heathrow’s third runway

Technology companies are living through a market rout not seen since the embers of the dotcom crash. The Nasdaq has fallen for seven consecutive weeks, the longest losing streak since 2002, and is down 30pc this year. Investment bankers who were busier than ever this time last year during the Spac frenzy are twiddling their thumbs. Bitcoin, once marketed as a hedge against inflation, has crashed too. Elon Musk’s $44bn (£35bn) agreement to buy Twitter a month ago is looking more ill-timed by the day . The superstars at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week are not youthful internet entrepreneurs but nonagenarian diplomats and financiers. A combination of a global inflationary crisis and the subsequent rise in interest rates has been a sharp rejoinder to any tech worker under the age of 35, who has only ever experienced their employers becoming richer and more powerful. Such an environment is starting to take its toll on most. This week, Snapchat’s parent company warned … [Read more...] about Inflation crisis will give tech titans even more power

Britain risks losing the next potential Paul McCartney or David Bowie because it is too expensive for many children to get a foothold in the music industry, a superstar record producer has warned. Paul Epworth , who has worked with stars such as Adele , Rihanna and McCartney, said youngsters without either financial backing or existing connections in the industry are being excluded from a career in music. He has now thrown his weight behind a new two-year diploma in Creative Entrepreneurship for students aged 19 years and over launched this week by the Ivors Academy. The diploma will offer means-tested bursaries for students from modest and underprivileged backgrounds and few formal qualifications to study all aspects of the industry, including music, technology and culture; live music; personal development; entrepreneurship and branding. Mr Epworth, who won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for ‘Skyfall’, along with seven Grammys, and will be a tutor and mentor … [Read more...] about Adele producer: Poor children have ‘no hope’ of breaking into music industry

As we adjust to life outside the EU, the government is busy positioning the UK as an outward-looking nation, creating international products and selling them around the world. Britain's music industry is already a genuine global leader – the world’s second biggest exporter of music, a major plank in our cultural identity and economy. The pandemic has devastated many musicians' livelihoods, particularly those heavily reliant on live performance. But for the industry’s sake the UK’s resilient recorded music sector must continue growing and punching above its weight on the world stage. Supplying one in 10 songs streamed worldwide, British artists are already overrepresented in music streaming, with a market share four times greater than the UK's overall share of global GDP. Stars like Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, Adele, Harry Styles, Dua Lipa and Stormzy contributed to the 155 million albums (or their equivalent) streamed or bought in 2020 in the UK. The 139 billion individual audio … [Read more...] about We need British music to thrive after the pandemic – now is not the time to regulate success