United Kingdom

    Theresa May’s allies are determined to keep her in power until 2021 as support for her Brexit plans grows, according to The Times . Those close to the prime minister say there is growing confidence that she will succeed with her Brexit agreement, and that she should stay in power to see the deal through. Just a week ago Mrs May’s senior colleagues were preparing for a second referendum without her knowledge, and now, according to those close to the party, there are a number of MPs preparing to support her withdrawal agreement. It’s thought that Mrs May herself might have been involved in discussions, and would see her ride through two more reshuffles between now and 2021. This would allow her to slay the old guard and create a new strata of loyal ministers. There ...

    Amber Rudd has slammed European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker as ghastly adding that his grotesque behaviour towards women should be officially investigated. The Work and Pensions Secretary hit out over footage from last week's European Council meeting in Brussels which showed him playing with a woman's hair. Ms Rudd told The Telegraph he would probably have been subject to an official complaint if it happened in the UK. In a wide-ranging interview, which will fuel speculation she has leadership ambitions, she said: It's grotesque. I mean, if that happened in our Parliament I hope there would be a formal complaint. When I used to go the EU for meetings, I often had a terrible cold to insist that I didn't get enveloped in a bear hug. All the EU commissio...

    A man and a woman are being held on suspicion of disrupting an airport after the drone activity which caused chaos at Gatwick. The 47-year-old man and 54-year-old woman, from Crawley in West Sussex, were arrested in the town around five miles from the airport – at about 10pm on Friday. Sussex Police said the pair are being held on suspicion of “disrupting services of civil aviation aerodrome to endanger or likely to endanger safety of operations or persons”. Superintendent James Collis said: “Our investigations are still ongoing and our activities at the airport continue to build resilience to detect and mitigate further incursions from drones, by deploying a range of tactics. Flights were briefly grounded at the airport on Friday evening after a fresh sighting at...

    The first plane to take off in 36 hours left for Lapland at 6.33 on Friday morning, after the airport announced that the runway was open and flights would be arriving and departing. However, delays and disruption will continue and those travelling have been advised to check with their airline before leaving for the airport. Pilots' union BALPA says it remains extremely concerned that flights have resumed while the threat of drones reappearing remains. Gatwick's Chief Operating Officer Chris Woodroofe said: A number of mitigating measures in place provided by a number of government agencies and the military to ensure that I have the confidence to be able to reopen by airport. Its website says the range of sensors and their detection techniques ensure a high probabi...

    Jeremy Corbyn appeared to say stupid woman towards Theresa May at Prime Minister's Questions. The Labour leader appeared to mouth the words at the end of their PMQs clash, where Mr Corbyn had accused Mrs May of dithering over her Brexit plan. While audio of Mr Corbyn's comment was not recorded on the House of Commons' microphone system, he was in full view of TV cameras at the time. Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis said on Twitter: Will jeremycorbyn apologise or clarify exactly what he was saying? Looks shocking on the film, unacceptable in any environment. Mrs May replied: I think that everybody in this house, particularly in this 100th year anniversary of women getting the vote, should be aiming to encourage women to come in to this chamber and to stand...

    The EU has unveiled a raft of measures to protect its vital interests in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The European Commission on Wednesday recommended 14 measures in a number of area including financial services, air transport, customs and climate policy. Among the plans are emergencies policies to avoid avoid full interruption of air traffic between the EU and the UK in the event of no deal. He told reporters in Brussels that the contingencies cannot replicate the benefits of the EU withdrawal agreement and certainly cannot replicate the benefits of EU membership. The measures unveiled by the Commission are all short-term and it says they should in principle not go beyond the end of 2019. A no-deal Brexit will happen if Theresa May is unable to get her Brexit ...

    Emergency no-deal Brexit contingency plans must now be implemented across government, cabinet ministers have agreed, including reserving ferry space for supplies and putting 3,500 armed forces personnel on standby to deal with any disruption. No 10 confirmed on Tuesday that cabinet ministers would “ramp up” no-deal planning, and that the departments would be expected to make it their main priority. Downing Street said it would send advice on preparing for no deal to all UK businesses and suggested they should begin implementing their own contingency plans as they saw fit. Theresa May’s spokesman said the cabinet “agreed that delivering the deal that the prime minister agreed with Brussels remains the government’s top priority and our best no-deal mitigation”. The ...

    Britain must downgrade its bedrock reliance on the US and recognise that the Trump administration is seeking to undermine British efforts to tackle the most critical challenges facing the world, a committee of peers has said. The Lords international relations committee said the Trump administration’s actions on issues including the Paris climate change deal, the Iran nuclear accord and steel tariffs had been contrary to the interests of the UK. After taking evidence over the past year from some of the country’s most senior diplomats, national security experts and foreign policy specialists, the committee says the UK needs to develop alliances elsewhere around the globe, including within Europe, to maintain reformed multilateral institutions. If it does not it will r...

    MPs should be invited to say what Brexit option they would agree if the Commons votes down Theresa May’s deal, the business secretary, Greg Clark, has said, becoming the latest cabinet minister to suggest this as a potential way out of the impasse. With numerous members of May’s cabinet pushing their competing Brexit plans in the final week of parliament before Christmas, Clark said it was time for MPs to be more proactive. One way or another, parliament has got to move from essentially being critics of the agreement, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. It is obviously easy to find things you don’t like. But I think every MP now needs to regard themselves as responsible participants. May will brief the Commons on Monday about her failed efforts to win new conces...

    The salaries of some London Tube drivers have broken the £100,000 barrier more than most airline pilots despite their jobs getting easier as many now only have to open and close the doors. The eye-watering figures, which include overtime, bonuses and employer pension contributions, show the highest paid driver in the year to November received £103,374 - 69% more than in 2012 while nine were paid upwards of £100,000. It comes before a wave of strikes that will bring misery to travellers during the Christmas period and lead to an estimated £8million in lost sales for struggling high street shops. The basic salary of an average Tube driver is now double that of a London nurse, reported The Sunday Times. They received another 4% boost this year despite five out of 11 l...