Tag: Featured

    Theresa May is under intense pressure to sack Boris Johnson amid fears that his latest diplomatic blunder could add an extra five years to the jail term of a British-Iranian charity worker. Already reeling from the Westminster sex harassment scandal, the PM tried to declare full confidence in both Johnson and International Development Secretary Priti Patel, who was dragged into a separate row involving Israel. The Prime Minister defended both her Cabinet ministers for doing a good job despite calls for both of them to be fired. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was on a family holiday in Iran last year when she was arrested for spying in Tehran, a claim vigorously denied by the British government and her family. But Johnson told MPs last week that the 38-year-old had been teaching...

    Jeremy Corbyn has implied that the Queen should apologise if her private estate invested £10m of her fortune in an offshore tax haven to avoid paying tax in Britain. Asked whether the monarch should say sorry over her investments, the Labour leader said anyone putting money offshore to avoid tax should do so and also “recognise what it does to our society”. It comes after a major leak of 13.4 million documents dubbed the Paradise Papers – which reveal the financial affairs of the global elite. The Duchy of Lancaster, the private estate of the Queen, was found to have millions of pounds invested in offshore arrangements in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda between 2004 and 2005. There is no suggestion that those involved acted illegally. The papers also traced a small portion ...

    A new controversy engulfed Westminster today when a woman accused House of Commons authorities of ignoring her claim that she was raped by a Conservative Party figure. I was raped by someone senior to me in the Conservative Party, alleged the woman, who is a Tory activist. Tory whip Chris Pincher resigns and refers himself to police over behaviour allegations It was violent. It wasn’t in Westminster, it was in my own home. And it shouldn’t have happened. The case raised questions of whether the House of Commons has done enough to protect victims after it emerged that a warning given to the authorities about the man allegedly responsible was not passed on. Theresa May was due to meet other party leaders this afternoon to try to hammer out protection for MPs’ staff who fall ...

    Millions of pounds from the Queen’s private estate has been invested in a Cayman Islands fund as part of an offshore portfolio that has never before been disclosed, according to documents revealed in an investigation into offshore tax havens. Files from a substantial leak show for the first time how the Queen, through the Duchy of Lancaster, has held and still holds investments via funds that have put money into an array of businesses, including the off-licence chain Threshers, and the retailer BrightHouse, which has been criticised for exploiting thousands of poor families and vulnerable people. The duchy admitted it had no idea about its 12-year investment in BrightHouse until approached by the Guardian and other partners in an international project called the Paradise P...

    Households face increases of up to £930 in their annual shopping bills if Britain walks away from Brexit talks without a trade deal, according to new research which reveals a disproportionate impact on poorer families and the unemployed. Meat, vegetables, dairy products, clothing and footwear would be subject to the largest consumer price rises under a no-deal scenario, according to a study published in the authoritative National Institute Economic Review, adding to inflationary pressures that have already forced the first interest rate rise in a decade this week. Stalled negotiations resume next week in Brussels, but the government is also about to publish a trade bill which would result in Britain being required to apply swingeing new tariffs on European imports if it fa...