Day: February 23, 2018

    Police say they are treating as a racist hate crime a letter containing white powder sent to Meghan Markle, which sparked an anthrax scare. The letter was received this month at St James’s Palace in central London. The powder inside was found to be harmless after being examined by experts. It is understood the package contained a racist note and was received on February 12. The force added: The matter is being investigated by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command. Markle, a successful actress, is from a mixed-race background. The couple are due to be married in May. The letter was received at the palace shortly before a package containing white powder also prompted a scare at the Palace of Westminster. Prince Harry has acknowledged dating American ac...

    The Foreign Secretary told Parliament on Tuesday that the launch event for the Institute for Free Trade (IFT) which is run by Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan, a prominent Brexiteer was held as no cost to the public purse in one of the Government's most prestigious venues. Yet internal government emails, obtained by Greenpeace, have now revealed that Mr Johnson allowed the think tank to use an FCO suite for free for the event in September, which meant waiving the £6,000 commercial fee to hire the venue. It also emerged that Sue Gray, the government's head of ethics, raised concerns two days after the event and said the IFT should pay the full commercial rate for using the Map Room, which, as state property, should only be used for official government business. Despit...

    Jeremy Corbyn could use a key Brexit speech on Monday to pave the way for Labour to inflict a Commons defeat on the government, by backing a rebel Tory amendment seeking to keep Britain in a customs union. With Theresa May expected to unveil her vision for departure from the EU next week, following eight hours of talks with key ministers at the prime minister’s Chequers country retreat, she now faces the prospect of Labour sabotaging the carefully choreographed process. In what will be a closely watched speech, Corbyn is expected to signal that Labour is prepared to back the UK staying in a customs union with the EU. The party has said for some months that customs union membership is a viable outcome but a series of interventions from shadow cabinet members in rece...