United Kingdom

    A top aide to the home secretary was escorted out of a bar in the Houses of Parliament by armed police on Tuesday night, just as MPs were voting on an election that Boris Johnson wants to make about law and order. Two people who witnessed the incident said Priti Patel’s chief of staff, James Starkie, was ordered out of Strangers Bar, which is frequented by MPs, after swearing loudly in the vicinity of the Conservative MP Bob Stewart, being refused service and appearing to punch a door. As he was escorted out by police, witnesses said he apologised for his behaviour. The incident came as MPs finally resolved to break the Brexit deadlock by voting for a general election which is is expected to be held on 12 December. Starkie is a familiar face around Westminster as a...

    The wife of jailed former Veracruz state Gov. Javier Duarte has been detained in London, Mexican authorities said Tuesday. A Mexican official who was not authorized to speak about the case said that Karime Macias was detained Tuesday. Duarte was arrested in Guatemala in 2017 after six months on the run and is awaiting trial on charges of money laundering and embezzlement. Macias had been with him at the time. Macias ran Veracruz's children's and families agency during his term. Mexico had sought her extradition on state fraud charges. Local media have depicted her life in London in surreptitiously shot photos and videos. Macias' lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment. The official said Macias would appear before a judge in London. During the extradi...

    Just when you thought it was safe to drink mulled wine ... they’re back. The same politicians who ruined most of 2019 with Brexit chaos are determined to wreck Christmas by calling a snap general election on December 12. But before, in the name of your sanity/human rights/Strictly Come Dancing, you tune out completely, you should know just how important the election is for the future of Brexit. If you care about when, how or if the UK leaves the EU, you should vote and here’s why. It won’t have escaped your notice that Leavers and Remainers have been at war since the 2016 referendum result. Boris Johnson surprised everyone by agreeing a fresh withdrawal deal with Brussels earlier this month. Reminder: this ‘stage one’ deal only sets out the terms on which the UK ...

    The latest Brexit delay to 31 January 2020 may be the last one, an outgoing EU chief has warned. Donald Tusk, who is stepping down as EU Council president at the end of November, intervened as MPs appear close to agreeing a pre-Christmas election. Please make the best use of this time, he tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. I also want to say goodbye to you as my mission here is coming to an end, the former Polish prime minister wrote in a message addressed to my British friends. He added the formal decision to offer a three-month delay to avoid no-deal had been rubber stamped. Mr Tusk has been a major figure in the Brexit negotiations, in charge of convening all major summits of EU leaders to sign off on delays requested by Britain and the deals secured with Theresa M...

    Boris Johnson looks set to secure a pre-Christmas general election as MPs prepare to vote on a bill paving the way for a December poll. The prime minister avoided a potential obstacle when the House of Commons deputy speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, refused to allow votes on Labour amendments calling for the vote to be given to EU citizens and 16- and 17-year olds. The government had said it would pull the bill if either of the amendments passed. Earlier, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would back an early election after its condition that a no-deal Brexit be taken “off the table” was met.

    Downing Street has indicated it would back a plan by the Liberal Democrats to change the law in order to hold a December election if Labour refuses to back Boris Johnson’s motion on Monday for an early poll. A No 10 source attempted to put pressure on Labour to back its motion under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act for an election on 12 December, saying the government would turn to the Lib Dem plan as an alternative. Johnson needs Labour support to get a two-thirds majority for an election under current legislation, but Jeremy Corbyn is refusing to back one while the possibility of a no-deal Brexit is still alive. Over the weekend, the Lib Dems offered to help Johnson change the law to allow an election on 9 December, which would need only a simple majority in parlia...

    Boris Johnson's do or die pledge to leave the European Union this week was dead in a ditch today as EU leaders ruled on a Brexit extension until January 31. Following a meeting of ambassadors, European Council President Donald Tusk announced that EU leaders were accepting the delay of up to three months that was ordered by Parliament against the Prime Minister’s wishes. It could be shortened to November 30 or New Year’s Eve if a deal is passed before January. Downing Street responded by repeating Mr Johnson’s call for a general election on December 12 and called for a new Parliament willing to put his Brexit deal on the statute books. A No 10 source told the Evening Standard: We are going full-on for an election on December 12. The source said there was a brief w...

    Many years ago, I spent some time following Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall around, including on a tour of Pakistan. It was a weird experience, not least for the dynamic between us journalists and the royals. There are two types of royal press coverage: the official type, governed by rules set down in more deferential times, compels reporters to cover the royal family while abiding by a strict set of protocols; the unofficial type, often written by the same people in the same publications, serves as a kind of release mechanism for resentment generated by the former. The country’s entire push-me-pull-you relationship with the royals is contained within these modes of discourse, co-dependent and neither acknowledging the other. I thought about this last we...

    Deliberations in Brussels over a Brexit delay have continued into the weekend, as a leaked document indicates the UK could deviate away from EU employee and environmental rights after exit day. After a meeting of European Union ambassadors on Friday, a Brussels source said there was full agreement on the need for an extension and that work will continue over the weekend. A final decision on whether they will opt for an extension until January or a shorter November delay thought to be favoured by French President Emmanuel Macron is not expected until Monday or Tuesday. The weekend talks among the EU27’s teams are likely to be coloured by a leaked document, seen by the Financial Times, that indicates the Government could look to diverge away from the bloc’s rules on ...

    British ISIS bride Shamima Begum has told how she is terrified she is going to die while she remains in a refugee camp on the war-torn border between Turkey and Syria. The now 20-year-old is living in the al-Roj camp nine miles from the border in Turkey's 'safe zone' which they began attacking with artillery earlier this month. Begum, who is from Bethnal Green in east London, said she had a bag packed at all times and was ready to move fast if things change "like the earlier days in time of Isis". The teen is reported to no longer be wearing the black hijab she was pictured in when news of her still being alive emerged in the press but now wears an open-faced maroon cloak, nose stud and trainers. “I am scared, really scared,” she told The Times. "I am afraid I cou...