Day: September 21, 2018

    During the summit Donald Tusk ushered the Prime Minister over to a strategically positioned tray of cakes and offered her a morsel to eat. It was only after the closing of proceedings that it became clear that the former Polish prime minister had something else in mind than Ms May’s appetite. He posted a picture on Instagram of the prime minister and himself at the cake stand with the caption: A piece of cake, perhaps? Sorry, no cherries. The rinsing is a reference to a running joke in Brussels that Britain wants to “have its cake and eat it in talks. The UK has also been accused of cherrypicking because it wants to stay in the parts of the single market it likes but not the parts it doesn’t like. The EU insists that its single market can only be taken as a packag...

    Britain has dramatically increased arms sales to foreign governments despite warnings that controversial deals to allies including Saudi Arabia are costing the UK its reputation as a force for good. Documents seen by i weekend show that Britain almost doubled the value of defence equipment, including fighter jets and munitions, it cleared for export in 2017, as it vies with Vladimir Putin’s Russia to be the world’s second largest weapons supplier. The £6.6bn of UK arms licences represents an 83 per cent rise on the previous year. Senior ministers have promised to grow defence exports ahead of Brexit and manufacturers have been boosted by a succession of lucrative deals, particularly in the Middle East. In a year when public concern has risen to new heights about Sa...

    Khalid Masood made handwritten notes where he called his terror attack on Westminster Bridge an exciting opportunity days before the atrocity, an inquest has heard. The 52-year-old, who was shot dead after his rampage which claimed the lives of five victims, scrawled the lines on a map of the UK. This was found in a road atlas in the rented 4x4 he used in the incident on March 22, 2017. Masood wrote previous examples followed by this life right time and all outcomes are good so go ahead, in what are believed to be some of his final thoughts ahead of the tragedy. He drew a hand-drawn line to the word sheikh. Dominic Adamson, representing the widows of murdered Pc Keith Palmer, 48, and American tourist Keith Cochran, 54, said: Under that word, chillingly, 'exciting o...