United Kingdom

Priti Patel visiting the scene of this week's Liverpool shooting in Knotty Ash. The Home Secretary might lose her job if Liz Truss becomes prime minister. Priti Patel is set to be the most high-profile casualty in a cull of Tory big beasts from the Cabinet if Liz Truss becomes prime minister. The Home Secretary does not currently figure in Ms Truss’s plans for government, along with another nine of the Conservative Party’s most senior figures. Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister, will also be exiled to the back benches, and there will be no roles for, among others, Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary; George Eustice, the Environment Secretary; and Mark Spencer, Leader of the House of Commons. Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove will not be invited back into the Cabinet, and Grant Shapps’...

Two female prison workers have been accused of having affairs with the same inmate, a court has heard. Elyse Hibbs, a nurse, and Ruth Shmylo, a custody officer, both 25, face misconduct charges over the alleged inappropriate relationships while working in jail. The two have been allegedly involved with the same inmate at the category B Parc Prison in Bridgend, Wales. He has not been named in court charges. Ms Shmylo’s alleged five-month relationship is said to have taken place between December and April last year, before Ms Hibbs’s allegedly followed between May and July. Ms Hibbs is accused of misconduct while working at two prisons, HMP Parc and HMP Manchester, known as Strangeways, 210 miles away. The two women will appear together at Cardiff Crown Court next month for a plea and...

The number of European Union citizens moving to the UK has plunge by up to 90 percent since Brexit, according to Office for National Statistics estimates. In 2021, 43,000 received a visa for work, study or family purposes compared with up to 430,000 in the six years to March 2020. Hospitality, support services and low paid jobs are thought to be the worst affected sectors. Commentators have noted that there are causes beyond the UK’s departure from the European Union. However, the end of free movement is said to have exacerbated the problem with EU employment 30 per cent down in 2021 in London alone compared to earlier years. The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford and ReWage, a think tank, have said other factors of causation for the rising vacancy rate include a trend ...

British motorists are paying higher petrol prices than anywhere else in Europe except Finland, the RAC claimed as it attacked the Government’s failure to reduce fuel duties. Prices are at least 20p per litre cheaper in the eurozone’s big four economies of Germany, France, Italy and Spain, while many countries made much bigger cuts to fuel taxes, according to the motoring group. Drivers were handed a 5p per litre cut to fuel duty by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor, a £2.4bn giveaway. But it is dwarfed by the action taken by many European countries, including Germany, Italy and Ireland. The RAC found that the average petrol price in the UK is 186p per litre, higher than all 27 EU countries bar 190p in Finland. It also revealed that the UK ranks 12th out of the 13 countries that cut f...

UK doctors less likely to resuscitate the most seriously ill patients since Covid, a survey suggests. Covid-19 may have changed doctors’ decision-making regarding end of life, making them more willing not to resuscitate very sick or frail patients and raising the threshold for referral to intensive care, according to the results of the research published in the Journal of Medical Ethics. However, the pandemic has not changed their views on euthanasia and doctor-assisted dying, with about a third of respondents still strongly opposed to these policies, the survey responses reveal. The Covid-19 pandemic transformed many aspects of clinical medicine, including end-of-life care, prompted by millions more patients than usual requiring it around the world, say the researchers. The survey...

Liz Truss has fast become the bookies favourite to become Britain’s next Prime Minister. The foreign secretary has a ‘significant lead’ according to the YouGov poll. New polling from YouGov revealed a ‘significant lead’ by the foreign secretary. Of the Conservative Party members questioned, 62% were backing Ms Truss as opposed to just 38% in Rishi Sunak’s corner. The results put the foreign secretary ahead by 24 points. Both candidates were grilled on various issues yesterday as their race to No 10 gathers pace. Ms Truss was forced to defend comments made while she was a Liberal Democrat at university in 1994. As a teenager she said her party did not believe people are born to rule. She defected to the Conservatives two years after making the speech. Questioned on when she realised s...

Liz Truss has kicked off the final leg of her Tory leadership campaign with an embarrassing tweet she was forced to take down. The foreign secretary will battle it out with rival Rishi Sunak over the coming weeks to become prime minister after Penny Mordaunt was eliminated from the race on Wednesday. But Truss will be hoping her campaign goes more smoothly after being forced to delete a tweet she sent immediately after getting through because it contained an error. Truss wrote "I'll hit ground from day 1", presumably meaning "I'll hit the ground running" before quickly taking down the message when someone noticed the mistake. She had included an image of her election poster and also thanked Tory MPs for “putting your trust in me”. Bookmakers have made Truss the favourite...

The public has been warned that it will not be safe next week to go outside and “play in the sun”, as the Met Office issued an unprecedented warning about the imminent heatwave. A “red warning” has been declared across England as the forecaster said national temperature records would likely be broken on Monday or Tuesday next week. While such warnings have previously been issued for storms, one has never been declared over heat. There is a 50 per cent chance that temperatures of more than 40C will be seen, forecasters said, the first time this has been predicted for the UK. The heat is expected to put more pressure on already overstretched emergency services, disrupt daily routines and lead to travel delays as experts warned of “unprecedented” weather conditions. The UK’s first ever ...

Boris Johnson embracing his family after making his resignation speech. On Thursday Downing Street shared pictures of Boris Johnson sharing a behind-closed-doors moment with his family and loyal ministers after giving a speech confirming he was stepping down as prime minister. The mood of the photos looked happy if not a little sombre but this is a stark change from the reportedly bitter and angry Johnson the night before. In his resignation speech, he appeared to show his resentment at being abandoned by his party accusing Westminster of herd instincts despite only being slightly behind in the polls. On Friday morning, it appeared that he was fighting on till the very end to maintain his premiership even if those around him knew he was doomed - and that the final blow was delivered ...

Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak have both quit as ministers in a devastating blow to Boris Johnson. Javid turned on the PM first, announcing: I have spoken to the prime minister to tender my resignation as secretary of state for health and social care. It has been an enormous privilege to serve in this role, but I regret that I can no longer continue in good conscience. Sunak confirmed he was resigning as Chancellor moments later, saying: I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning. Steve Barclay will be promoted to health secretary and replace Javid, it was later confirmed. Nadhim Zahawi formerly the education secretary was announced as the new chancellor of the exchequer, Downing Street said. A n...