United Kingdom

    Theresa May has dismissed leaked audio recordings of a speech by Boris Johnson in which he openly criticised her handling of Brexit. Asked whether she expected an apology from the foreign secretary for undermining her position, the prime minister said: The foreign secretary has strong views on Brexit, but so do I. That's why I'm getting on with delivering Brexit. Speaking to Sky News at the G7 summit in Canada, Mrs May dodged a question about whether Mr Johnson had become unsackable, but hit back at his assertion that the Irish border issue was a folly and that the tail was wagging the dog. I have been very clear, and the government is very clear, that we want to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, that is an important border for th...

    Adams Bundles of decaying Second World War bank notes stashed away in case of Nazi invasion have been discovered under the floorboards of an old clothes store. Shopfitters found the cash on the site of what was once Bradley Gowns now a Cotswold Outdoor store in Brighton. The hoard of £1 and £5 notes adds up to about £30,000, which is the equivalent of more than £1m today. Bradley Gowns - which had a flagship store in Chepstow Place, London had a number of famous clientele, including members of the royal family and Winston Churchill. All of the money was covered in dirt and debris when it was pulled from beneath the floorboards and is now in the possession of Sussex Police for safekeeping. Howard Bradley - the sole surviving heir of the family that ran the chain o...

    Boris Johnson has warned that Britain could end up locked in orbit around the EU in his most critical comments to date of the Prime Minister’s handling of Brexit. The Foreign Secretary told Tory donors that the UK could end up effectively in the customs union and to a large extent still in the single market unless the Government had the guts to pursue the right policies. He even joked that if Donald Trump was in charge of Brexit actually you might get somewhere. He said it was beyond belief that the Northern Ireland border issue had been allowed to dictate policy, describing it as allowing the tail to wag the dog. He also described Philip Hammond’s Treasury as basically the heart of Remain. Mr Johnson made the comments at a private dinner with Tory donors which w...

    Vladimir Putin on Thursday demanded that Russian officials be given consular access to Yulia Skripal and that Russian law enforcement take part in the investigation into her poisoning with a military-grade nerve agent. Skripal and her father, a former double agent who was released from Russian prison in a spy swap with the UK in 2010, were poisoned with a novichok nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury in March. British officials have blamed Russia for the attack, calling it the first use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe since the second world war. We would very much like to be given access to our citizens, to Yulia in this case, and to be given the opportunity to take part in the investigation, Putin said during a nationally televised question-and-a...

    The baby would not legally have a mother if the transgender man wins the case. A baby could become the first person born in England or Wales who will not legally have a mother if a transgender man wins a historic human rights battle. The youngster is the child of a single parent who was born a woman but now lives as a man after undergoing surgery. Lawyers have told a judge that he had been biologically able to get pregnant and give birth but had legally become a man when the child was born. They say the man wants to be identified as the child’s father or parent on a birth certificate. But they said a birth registrar has told the man the law requires people who give birth to children to be registered as mothers. The man has taken legal action against the body set...

    The government expects a Brexit backstop solution to the Irish border issue to end before 2022, after Theresa May acted to ease the concerns of her Leave-supporting ministers. The prime minister appeared to have avoided a full-blown Brexit crisis and an explosive cabinet resignation after a constructive discussion with David Davis on Thursday morning. It followed speculation her Brexit secretary was ready to quit the government over the details of the backstop proposal. Mrs May also held separate face-to-face meetings in her parliamentary office with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox. The government later published its proposal for a backstop plan to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, with an ambition for it to e...

    An overwhelming majority of voters back a tax rise to fund the NHS, a Mirror poll has found. The ComRes survey reveals a staggering 82% would be willing to pay 1p more in National Insurance contributions if the money went directly to the health service. The findings will pile pressure on Theresa May to pump more money into the cash-strapped NHS. In a warning to the Prime Minister, the poll also shows voters are more likely to back the party at the next election which pledges extra funds for health and social care. Four in five adults (82%) said they supported the 1p increase if the money raised - as much as £11billion - was ring fenced to fund the NHS. Almost as many Tory voters (81%) as Labour voters (86%) supported the tax rise. The poll also shows a third of ...

    Melania Trump has made her first public appearance in nearly a month but blink and you’ll miss her brief showing. On Monday, the First Lady finally was spotted at a White House event for the families of US Army veterans, marking her first engagement since May 10. Concern for the Slovenian-born former model grew after being absent from the public gaze for over 24 days. The unusual saga promoted a flurry of rumours amongst the Washington DC commentators. White House staff said on May 14 that Melania had undergone surgery for a kidney condition that typically requires just 24 hours of recuperation. However, some of that speculation has now been put to bed after footage of her and the back of her head - emerged on social media. A leaked video shows Melania as she ma...

    Police have named the man they are hunting after a 32 year old woman and an 11 month old boy were stabbed in west London. Officers want to speak to Rehan Khan, 25, who is known to frequent the Hounslow and Isleworth areas and has links to Newham, Slough, Hammersmith and Fulham. He is wanted on suspicion of attempted murder. Police were called to Swinfield Close in Feltham at 7.12pm on Monday. The Metropolitan Police said the boy remains in a critical condition, while the woman's injuries are not life threatening. An air ambulance took the pair to a nearby hospital for treatment, while officers and police dog handlers scoured the crime scene. One witness, June Heart, told Sky News: I had just got home from work, and parked the car when I heard a lot of shouting. ...