United Kingdom

    American financial services giant Citigroup, which bases its London office in Canary Wharf, sent out a note to its clients urging them to prepare for the PM's fall from the leadership and another general election within a year. According to the Times, the bank said Mrs May’s current position was unsustainable as she faced attack from both hardline Brexit supporters and Remainers. It comes after Mrs May agreed a deal with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party to prop up the Conservative Government after the Tories failed to win a majority in the General Election. Mrs May promised an extra £1 billion for Northern Ireland in exchange for the DUP’s backing on key Parliament votes which, if lost, could see the Government brought down. In the note to clients, Citigroup sa...

    The National Crime Agency has said it is increasingly concerned about violent Albanian criminal gangs, which have considerable control over the illegal cocaine market. In its annual assessment of organised crime, the NCA warns that Albanian gangs have established a high-profile influence within UK organised crime. Their main focus is the often violent trade in trafficking cocaine to London, the report warned. It said: Criminals from the Balkans are increasingly expanding their network of influence, forming direct relationships with cocaine suppliers in Latin America. The threat faced from Albanian crime groups is significant. London is their primary hub, but they are established across the UK. The report says that Albanians make up just 0.8% of organised criminals in the U...

    Labour will seek to exploit government division on Brexit today in the final round of House of Commons votes on the Queen's Speech. Jeremy Corbyn will call for MPs to back a jobs first Brexit that delivers the exact same benefits as the single market and customs union. He will hope his amendment to the Government's legislative programme can exploit apparent Tory divisions on whether to prioritise the economy or immigration in the Brexit negotiations. Labour's wide-ranging amendment also reproduces many of the policies in its manifesto and Mr Corbyn urged MPs of all sides to support it, claiming Mrs May had no mandate for continued austerity. Mr Corbyn said: I'm hoping that some Conservatives would recognise that the writing is on the wall for the economics of austerity and...

    The Duke of Cambridge and David Cameron have become embroiled in a row over corruption in football as the full extent of England’s failed attempt to stage the 2018 World Cup was made public. The former prime minister and Prince William were at a meeting during which a vote-swapping deal between England and South Korea was discussed, according to an official report released Tuesday night. The long-awaited Fifa report has disclosed the lengths to which England’s football bosses went to court Fifa executives, many of them now discredited, as they sought to secure votes for England's 2018 bid. At one point officials discussed the possibility of arranging a meeting with the Queen for one Fifa representative whose vote could have helped England. The Fifa report reveals how Mr Ca...

    Britain could launch military retaliation such as air strikes against a future cyber attack, the Defence Secretary has suggested. Sir Michael Fallon warned potential attackers that a strike on UK systems could invite a response from any domain air, land, sea or cyberspace. The Defence Secretary said the UK's ability to carry out its own cyber attacks against Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isil), also known as Daesh, had saved lives during the battle for Mosul in Iraq and the capability was also being used in the fight for Raqqa in Syria. Meanwhile the head of the US Army said governments are relying too much on overstretched elite special forces such as the SAS and Delta Force to try to win conflicts. Gen Mark Milley said it was a myth that special forces can do it all ...

    Meghan Markle has been keeping quiet since word of her romance with Prince Harry broke last summer. The actress has been keeping busy with filming for US hit show Suits, as well as flying to the UK to see her Royal beau, ensuring that she has no time for the spotlight. But before Meghan was marked as marriage material for a royal, the brunette beauty wasn’t afraid to put herself in the limelight. Maria Ponce Old photographs of Meghan, posing for a fashion shoot have emerged this week, and the images prove that actress was princess material long before Prince Harry deemed her worthy. Showing off her fashion skills, the LA-born actress posed for the camera in an array of clothing as part of a fashion shoot for Splash magazine back in 2014.brands such as Stella McCartney, Dol...

    One third of non-British workers are considering leaving the UK, with highly skilled workers from the EU most likely to go, according to new research into the impact of Brexit on the jobs market. The consultancy firm Deloitte found 47% of highly skilled workers from the EU were considering leaving the UK in the next five years. In a report on Tuesday, it warns of serious implications for employers, raising the pressure on ministers to come up with sensible immigration plans and to find ways to improve the skills of UK workers and make better use of robots in the workplace. Overall, 36% of non-British workers in the UK said they were thinking of leaving within the same period, representing 1.2m jobs out of 3.4 million migrant workers in the UK. Just more than quarter (26%) ...

    Theresa May has been warned that her ‘grubby £1.5bn deal’ with the DUP could threaten the peace process. The Prime Minister struck a deal with DUP leader Arlene Foster earlier today to prop up her minority Government. The deal struck in 10 Downing Street 18 days after the June 8 General Election also saw the Conservatives formally ditch plans to abolish the triple-lock protection for state pensions and means-test the winter fuel payment during this Parliament. The agreement has been greeted with widespread anger, with Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, warning it will threaten the Good Friday agreement. The price of today’s DUP-Tory deal is DUP support for continued Tory austerity and cuts to public services, he said. It provides a blank cheque for a Tory Brexit which t...

    Echo WS The Mayor of Liverpool has explained what he said to Theresa May to provoke this grimacing reaction. The Prime Minister was pictured pulling a disgusted face and looking to the skies during a visit to the city for Armed Forces Day. The funny snap was widely shared on social media and many people saw it as an opportunity to take part in an impromptu caption competition. But one plucky twitter user just decided to ask Mayor Joe what he had said to elicit the gurning response, the Liverpool Echo reported. Joe Anderson tweeted a message, suggesting that the cause of the PM’s discomfort may have been his mentioning her Labour rival Jeremy Corbyn , or merely just that she didn’t like his sense of humour. He said: Thousands singing Oh, Jeremy Corbyn at Glastonbury, but ca...

    Jeremy Corbyn has said he will be Prime Minister in six months, according to the founder of Glastonbury Festival. Michael Eavis also said the Labour leader suggested he would scrap Britain's Trident nuclear defence as soon as I can. Somerset Live quoted Mr Eavis telling festival-goers at a Q and A what Mr Corbyn said to him backstage, before delivering a speech on the Pyramid Stage to rapturous applause. He said Mr Corbyn told him he would be PM in six months. Mr Eavis said he then asked the Labour leader when he was going to get rid of Trident, and Mr Corbyn replied: As soon as I can. But a Labour source said Mr Eavis appeared to be paraphrasing a conversation with Mr Corbyn. The future of Trident has been a major source of tension within Labour since Mr Corbyn assumed th...