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Deal or no-deal Brexit? Boris playing with fire

Charles Marquand — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 21:58:02 +0000

Boris Johnson undertook a reshuffle of his Cabinet, more vicious and spiteful than any seen before.

Britain’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes a statement in the House of Commons in London on Thursday. (Photo: AFP)

On Tuesday last week, Boris Johnson won the second round of the Conservative Party leadership election against Jeremy Hunt. He won convincingly, with 66 percent of the vote of the membership. In the early afternoon of Wednesday, Theresa May tendered her resignation as prime minister to the Queen. Later that afternoon the Queen invited Boris Johnson, as leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, to become the 14th to hold that office in her reign. Constitutional decorum having been observed, savagery then followed.

Boris Johnson undertook a reshuffle of his Cabinet, more vicious and spiteful than any seen before. More Cabinet ministers were sacked than had ever been sacked in any previous reshuffle — by far. The main criterion for dismissal appears to have been support for Jeremy Hunt. The main criterion for elevation appears to have been loyalty to Boris Johnson.

The whole process has more resembled a display of pique by a spoilt brat than the assembly of a competent government. To give some examples — the home secretary is now Priti Patel. She had been dismissed from her previous Cabinet position — secretary of state for international development — for pursuing her own foreign policy, in private and unauthorized meetings with Israeli officials while ostensibly on holiday. Dominic Raab is now foreign secretary. Previously, as Cabinet minister for Brexit, it had been revealed that he didn’t appreciate that most of the UK’s trade with the European Union — by far the UK’s largest trading partner — goes through the port of Dover. To top it all, Dominic Cummings, the previous chief strategist for the Leave campaign during the referendum, has been appointed to be Boris Johnson’s chief adviser. The fact he had also been found to be in contempt of Parliament for refusing to answer questions on the use of fake news by the Leave campaign was clearly irrelevant.

The net result of the process has been a takeover of the government by fundamentalist Brexiters, who believe as articles of faith the slogans deployed by Boris Johnson during the leadership election — Brexit on October 31 — “deal or no deal”, “do or die”. Whether Boris Johnson actually believes them, though, is uncertain.

Posing as a hard Brexiter certainly won Boris Johnson the Conservative leadership election. Painting the Conservative Party as a hard Brexit party also makes tactical sense — at least in the short term. The Conservative Party faces an existential threat from the Brexit Party. It was founded only a few months ago by the highly effective and populist Nigel Farage as the party of a “hard” Brexit. By a hard Brexit it means a Brexit with minimal links to the EU, and above all one shorn of the hated “backstop”. The “backstop” is a device which was inserted into the deal with the EU negotiated by Ms. May. In the event that the EU and the UK fail to reach a new free trade deal, the UK will remain in the EU customs union. This is necessary to preserve the soft border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, a foundational pillar of the Northern Irish peace process. This uncompromising stance has been frighteningly attractive to large swathes of Conservative voters.

By repositioning the Conservative Party as a party of hard Brexit, Boris Johnson can hope to blunt the Brexit Party’s appeal. If he delivers a hard Brexit, the Brexit Party’s raison d’être disappears. He is unlikely to do so since the EU has already explicitly refused to remove the backstop from the deal. The next step would then be to present a hard Brexit to Parliament. If Parliament refuses to endorse it, Boris Johnson can challenge Parliament to vote him out of office and trigger a general election. In the election, Boris Johnson can campaign for a hard Brexit, crowd out the Brexit Party and win a majority. In the short term, then, that tactic leads to victory. In the longer term, though, it is playing with fire.

A few weeks ago, I put this scenario to a senior Conservative MP and brave supporter of the cause of remaining in the EU. He didn’t think a general election would necessarily follow a defeat for Boris Johnson. Labour votes would be necessary to call one, but the Labour Party is in no state to fight a general election. Its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is deeply unpopular with the public and its Brexit policy is a masterpiece of casuistry and obfuscation. It, too, is leaching votes — to the explicitly pro-EU Liberal Democrats and Green Party. It probably does not want an early general election. So while Parliament might vote down a hard Brexit, it might not vote for a general election. Instead, it could put in office a government of national unity, supported by a coalition of moderate Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the bulk of the Labour Party. That government could then negotiate a soft Brexit or even call a referendum.

Even if the moves to install a national unity government were to fail and a general election was to ensue, the result is not a given. Recent opinion polls suggest that Boris Johnson has had some success in attracting away Conservative voters from the Brexit Party, but the dynamics of a campaign could change that. The delays and arguments in Parliament have allowed Mr. Farage to propagate a false, but persuasive, narrative of a self-serving elite thwarting the people’s will. Further delays and arguments will only make it easier for Mr. Farage to peddle that myth.

If a general election produces another hung Parliament, it will be no more willing to pass a hard Brexit than the present one. Boris Johnson will then have failed. If on the other hand, Boris Johnson wins a majority, he will face a monumental decision. A hard Brexit will certainly wreak massive economic devastation and will probably lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom. The Scots and Northern Irish had both voted convincingly to remain in the EU and would be likely to secede. The Welsh could follow soon after. At that point then Boris Johnson will be put to the test: If he sticks to his word, he destroys the country. If he goes back on it, he destroys himself.

Source: https://www.asianage.com/opinion/oped/010819/deal-or-no-deal-brexit-boris-playing-with-fire.html

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Merkel ally calls for Europe to go it alone in the Gulf

Justin Huggler and Josie Ensor - The Telegraph — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 19:57:05 +0000

Britain has already deployed the destroyer, HMS Duncan, to protect shipping from seizure by Iran – CREDIT: LA(PHOTO) BEN SUTTON/MOD/PA

A key ally of Angela Merkel has called for Europe to set up its own naval task force in the Persian Gulf independent of the US.

Amid a widening divide between Western allies over how to deal with Iran, Norbert Röttgen called on Thursday for France and Germany to lead a European mission to protect shipping from Iran.

The UK has sought to build consensus for an international task force following the seizure of a British-flagged tanker by Iran.

But France and Germany have rejected calls to contribute warships to a US-led mission over concerns at Donald Trump’s aggressive stance towards Iran.

Mr. Röttgen, who is chairman of the German parliament’s powerful foreign affairs committee, called on Thursday for Europe to go it alone.

“The reasons for a European mission in the Gulf remain, even if Britain should decide on a joint mission with the US,” he said.

“It’s about European interests, not specific British ones, so a European mission should be made up of a group of European states, to which France and Germany must belong.”

Jeremy Hunt, the former foreign secretary, initially called for a European-led taskforce in response to the seizure of the Stena Impero last month.

But Boris Johnson’s government has shifted the UK position, with Dominic Raab, the new foreign secretary, suggesting a European mission may not be “viable” without US support.

Mr. Röttgen’s comments come amid signs of a rift in Mrs. Merkel’s coalition government over the issue.

Olaf Scholz, the vice-chancellor, appeared to rule out German contributing to a US-led task force on Wednesday, only to be contradicted by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the defense minister, who said the proposal was still being considered.

But despite Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer’s comments, German involvement remains unlikely. Any military deployment needs parliamentary approval in Germany, and with Mr. Scholz’s centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) opposed, there is no majority in favor.

Mohammed Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, faces new US sanctions CREDIT: EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA /REUTERS

German and French concerns are understood to center on the Trump administration’s increasingly belligerent tone towards Iran, amid fears any incident could be seized on by US hardliners as a pretext for war.

The European Union spoke out yesterday against a decision by the US to impose sanctions on Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

“We regret this decision,” a spokesman for Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said.

“From our side, we will continue to work with Mr. Zarif as Iran’s most senior diplomat, and in view of the importance of maintaining diplomatic channels.”

The decision means Iran’s chief negotiator will now have to seek special permission to enter the US to attend the United Nations.

Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, accused the US of “resorting to childish behavior” over the sanctions.

“They were claiming every day, ‘We want to talk, with no preconditions’ and then they sanction the foreign minister,” Mr. Rouhani said.

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/01/merkel-ally-calls-europe-go-alone-gulf/

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Boris Johnson elected British prime minister, Tory Party leader

Nicholas Sakelaris — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 13:34:03 +0000

British Prime Minister-elect Boris Johnson speaks to supporters in London Tuesday after he was announced as the winner to take over for Theresa May. Photo by Neil Hall/EPA-EFE

July 23 (UPI) — Tens of thousands of Conservative Party members voted Tuesday to select Boris Johnson as their leader and Britain’s new prime minister — defeating Jeremy Hunt in his bid to succeed Theresa May in the post.

More than 150,000 party voters cast ballots to choose the new leader in London. Nearly 60 percent — more than 92,000 votes — favored Johnson. Hunt won about 46,000 votes. Johnson will officially take office Wednesday.

“We are going to unite this amazing country,” Johnson said after he was formally declared the winner. “I will work flat-out from now on, with my team that I hope to build over the next few days, to repay your confidence. In the meantime, the campaign is over and the work begins.”

“It is now paramount that we come together,” Conservative Party Chairman Brandon Lewis said, “to get behind our new leader and out next prime minister.”

As the new prime minister, Johnson will lead a country divided by its planned departure from the European Union this fall and growing threats from the Middle East. Johnson has made no secret his intention to leave the EU on the Oct. 31 deadline, with or without an agreement.

Johnson said Tuesday he knows he won’t have universal support.

“No one person, no one party has a monopoly on wisdom,” he said. “It is we Conservatives who have had the best insights into human nature.”

Johnson said the EU plan has divided Britain into “two noble sets of instincts” — one with free trade, friendship and mutual support of the European Union, and one with Democratic self-government.

“Deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn and that’s what we’re going to do,” Johnson pledged, promising better infrastructure, more police officers and faster broadband Internet in more houses.

“We are going to energize the country.”

In the end, Hunt simply didn’t have sufficient support to win the leadership post after nearly two months of campaigning — and he could also be out as foreign secretary by the end of next week, depending on who Johnson appoints to Cabinet posts. Hunt replaced Johnson as Britain’s chief diplomat a year ago.

Tuesday’s election finishes at least part of the political turmoil that’s divided Britain for months and follows pledges by May to give up her position after she failed three times to sell her negotiated exit agreement to lawmakers. Like May, Johnson will have a narrow two-seat majority in British Parliament.

Several lawmakers in recent weeks have already quit or announced they will resign amid the uncertainty over the EU exit — including Chancellor Philip Hammond.

Lawmaker Anne Milton, Britain’s former education minister, resigned even before Johnson declared victory, saying she has “grave concerns” about leaving the EU without an agreement.

Source: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2019/07/23/Boris-Johnson-elected-British-prime-minister-Tory-Party-leader/8931563876528/

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Boris Johnson expected to be announced as Britain’s new Prime Minister today

Joe Roberts — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 11:42:09 +0000

Boris Johnson is the frontrunner to be the next Prime Minister (Picture: George Cracknell Wright/LNP)

Britain is about to learn who its next prime minister will be later this morning.

The winner of the Tory leadership contest is expected to be announced at 11.40am.

Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will take over as prime minister tomorrow after Theresa May’s final PMQs in the House of Commons.

Mrs. May will then head to Buckingham Palace to formally resign and recommend Johnson as her successor.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is running against Johnson in the race to Downing St (Picture: Getty)

The outgoing prime minister sparked a Tory leadership election in May when she emotionally announced her resignation outside 10 Downing Street, saying it had been ‘the honour of my life’ to ‘serve the country that I love.’

No less than 13 Tory MPs entered the race, with contenders such as Sajid Javid, Michael Gove and Rory Stewart knocked out during several rounds of votes by other Tory MPs.

Jeremy Corbyn called for a general election following Mrs. May’s resignation and will likely make a fresh demand for a public vote later today.

But so long as the next Tory leader has the support from most MPs, they do not have to hold a general election.

It’s not the first time a prime minister has been decided without a general election.

Labour did it in 2007 when Gordon Brown took over as prime minister from Tony Blair.

He waited three years until 2010 before holding an election.

Source: https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/23/boris-johnson-expected-announced-britains-new-prime-minister-today-10443106/

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Remainer demands Britain ‘immediately’ leaves EU as he pledges support to Brexit Party

Charlotte David — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 05:34:41 +0000

A REMAIN voter has demanded Britain “immediately” leaves the European Union as he ridiculed the Labour Party for “ignoring” constituents in the party’s heartlands.

Lee from Cardiff, a self-titled “reluctant Remainer”, said he will now be supporting the Brexit Party because the democratic vote of 17.4 million people should be respected. Speaking to Wales’ Brexit Party MEP James Wells, the Cardiff resident said: “I actually voted to Remain, reluctantly. I had been researching the European Union for a long time and was a reluctant Remainer. When the result came out, I thought ‘fair enough – that is the majority’.

“We should now leave on the terms that Cameron said we would leave.

“We should leave the customs union, we should leave the single market, and we should do it immediately.”

Lastly, the Remainer” said he would now be supporting the Brexit Party, despite previously being a Labour Party member.

He added: “I’d just like to say that until November 2017 I was a Labour Party member and I am equally dissatisfied with the response from the Labour Party.

“In its heartlands in south Wales, the West Midlands, the northwest and the northeast, the real Labour voters wanted to leave the European Union, and I’m afraid the Labour Party has just ignored its constituents.

“I shall be voting for the Brexit Party.”

The comments come after Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice criticized Theresa May and Tory leadership contenders Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt for ignoring his party’s letter outlining plans for a no deal Brexit.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage and chairman Richard Tice delivered a letter to Number 10 earlier this month demanding to be brought in as part of the negotiating team for Brexit and no deal preparations.

At the party’s press conference on Monday, Mr. Tice took aim at Theresa May for ignoring the invitation as there were only four months left to go until October 31, the Brexit deadline.

The entrepreneur and MEP also said he had received no word from Tory leadership contest finalists Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt over any involvement with no deal preparations.

During the press conference, Mr. Tice said: “It is over two weeks now since we delivered a letter to the current Prime Minister Theresa May asking that we should be allowed in to look at the state of no deal preparations.

“It is pretty shocking that we have had no reply either from the Prime Minister or from any of the candidates.

“When you think there is still another four months to go, are we really inferring that nothing going on.

Brexit news: Tory leadership hopefuls to hold a series of hustings up and down the UK (Image: Express.co.uk)

“There is no one better than ourselves and some of our elected MEPs, given that we had a direct democratic mandate to be involved in the negotiations.

“We should be allowed in to look at the state of these preparations so that we know what is going on.

“This way we can give confidence to the people on leaving with a WTO Brexit and that should happen now.”

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has also been vocal on his skepticism of Tory leadership frontrunner Boris Johnson – warning the former London mayor could delay Brexit past 31 October.

Mr. Farage has claimed Mr. Johnson has already won the leadership contest but has said he will remain untrusting of the former foreign secretary until he delivers on his promise of delivering Brexit.

Both Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Mr. Johnson have said they would be prepared to take the UK out of the EU by October 31 with or without a deal.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1145529/Brexit-news-latest-UK-BBC-EU-no-deal-today-Boris-Johnson-no-deal-Brexit-Party-Nigel-Farage

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Brexit tears through UK’s political landscape

Tom McTague - Politico — Fri, 03 May 2019 16:55:20 +0000

LONDON — The perpetual Brexit revolution rolls on.

After yet another night of unexpected electoral drama, each and every side of the never-ending Brexit debate — leave now, leave somehow or leave never — was quick out of the blocks to claim validation for their position Friday.

What is needed, everyone declared, is the bravery to do exactly as they said before.

Voters could be forgiven for spontaneously self-combusting.

The Conservatives, unable to assemble a majority in parliament for any form of Brexit, suffered significant losses in the elections to town councils across the country. With almost all of the ballots declared, the party has lost control of almost 40 councils and over 1,000 seats: A bad night.

“The results carry a “simple message” for both parties, said Prime Minister Theresa May”

Labour, meanwhile, having hedged its bets on Brexit in an attempt to appeal to Leave and Remain voters, also suffered, though not as badly, losing four councils and more than 100 seats. This was, undeniably, also a bad night.

The results were, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt declared, “a slap in the face for both the main parties.” Few Labour MPs felt confident enough to demure much from this analysis.

Easy conclusions as to why were, however, illusive.

In Sunderland — the caricature Leave city in Northern England — Labour suffered heavy losses, but almost half were to Remain parties. In Swindon, a key town Jeremy Corbyn needs to win at a general election, Labour failed to make any significant gains — yet saw its vote share jump to neck-and-neck with the Tories.

Even the surge of Lib Dem councillors offered no easy answer, the polling guru John Curtice said. “We cannot find much of a relationship between whether the area was particularly pro-Remain or particularly pro-Leave and how much the Liberal Democrat vote has gone up,” he told the BBC. The party was, it seemed, just a “useful vehicle of protest.”

With no obvious conclusions to fall back on, both parties offered soundbites. The results carry a “simple message” for both parties, said Prime Minister Theresa May: “Just get on and deliver Brexit.” But she did not give any indication of how they might deliver it.

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“The strongest possible message from voters today is that we need to come together and get on with it and do it,” the Conservative Party’s Deputy Chair Helen Whately said Friday. Labour Chairman Ian Lavery agreed. “The two parties need to get on and get Brexit sorted,” he said. The reaction is understandable.

With the margins of defeat and victory so small — the two parties controlled more than 80 percent of the vote at the last general election — no block of voters within each side’s coalition of support can be ignored.

The leaders of both main parties have little choice but to try to hold their support together by appealing to both Remain and Leave voters. The alternative strategy is too risky for either leader — to redraw the electoral map entirely.

May and Corbyn now have until June 30 to vote through the Withdrawal Agreement to stop new British MEPs taking their seats in the next European Parliament, potentially delaying Brexit until October 31. This would push Brexit beyond both sides’ party conferences, giving their members the opportunity to kill the prospect of compromise, further radicalizing the electorate along Brexit lines.

The hope of those around both leaders is that if Brexit can be dealt with, politics might be able to return to “normal.”

In Swindon, where Labour failed to make any gains, the party’s council leader, Jim Grant, said ordinary politics is impossible while Brexit dominates. “The Tories campaigned on local issues, we campaigned on local issues, but it was drowned out by Brexit,” he said.

“The fear expressed by MPs from both sides throughout Friday morning was that Brexit may simply be too powerful.”

Over in Essex, another key region for both parties, the Tories suffered heavy losses to the Lib Dems. Tory voters were “staying at home frustrated at the uncertainty over Brexit,” the Conservative MP Vicky Ford said.

Yet can Brexit be “sorted?”

Labour and Tory MPs appeared no more willing to compromise Friday than they did 24 hours earlier.

Sunderland MP Bridget Phillipson rejected claims Labour was losing votes because it was blocking Brexit. “Too often, places that voted for Brexit back in 2016 like Sunderland get caricatured by the media as if everyone voted Leave,” she said. “The majority of Labour voters now want a people’s vote on Brexit and would vote to stay in the EU given the chance.”

Wes Streeting, the Labour MP for Ilford North, East London, said he would not vote for a compromise deal until “hell freezes over” adding: “And I’m not alone in that.”

On the Tory side, there seems to be little evidence of a softening of mood. Brexiteer former Cabinet minister Priti Patel was quick out of the traps to call for May to go and a new “direction of travel.”

“We need a change of leadership, perhaps the time has now come for that,” she said.

The fear expressed by MPs from both sides throughout Friday morning was that Brexit may simply be too powerful. It may have changed British politics permanently, it’s just the two main parties have not been able to accept it yet.

The Labour MP Lisa Nandy detected the trend, citing two councils in the North West that changed hands in ways that would appear to be counterintuitive.

“What does Labour losing control of Bolton, but gaining control of Trafford tell us?” she asked. Bolton is a working-class town on the outer edges of Manchester, while Trafford is a more prosperous neighborhood much closer into the city center.

It was, Nandy said, proof that “the same trends we saw in 2017 and 2018 are holding — we’re gaining amongst graduates, often in cities, and losing our core vote elsewhere.”

The same trend was at work during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Graduates voted Remain and now, increasingly, back Labour. The working classes and old outside the big cities voted Leave and are now backing the Tories.

The electoral map is changing, but the parties are not.

This article has been updated to reflect new electoral information.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-local-elections-brexit-tories-labour-political-landscape/

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Evidence suggests crown prince ordered Khashoggi killing, says ex-MI6 chief

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 16:59:40 +0000

Sir John Sawers says theory that rogue Saudi military officers were responsible is ‘blatant fiction’

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Photograph: Cliff Owen/AP

A former head of MI6 has said all the evidence suggests Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and that the theory that rogue elements in the Saudi military were responsible was “blatant fiction”.

Sir John Sawers told the BBC his assessment was based on conversations with senior Whitehall sources and his knowledge of the Turkish intelligence services.

The comments came after Donald Trump said he presumed Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was dead and that the consequences for Saudi Arabia would be “very severe” if its leaders were found to have ordered the dissident journalist’s killing.

Sawers, who was head of the British secret intelligence service until 2014, also claimed that the crown prince would only have acted if he believed he had licence from the White House to behave as he wished.

“I think President Trump and his ministerial team are waking up to just how dangerous it is to have people acting with a sense that they have impunity in their relationship with the United States,” Sawers said.

“If it is proven, and it looks very likely to be the case, that [Prince Mohammed] ordered the killing of the journalist it is a step too far – one that the UK, the EU and the US are going to have to respond to.”

He said the “rogue elements” theory of Khashoggi’s death “simply doesn’t hold water” and that it“further undermines respect for America when it panders to such a blatant fiction”.

Sawers said he respected the thoroughness and professionalism of the Turkish intelligence services: “The level of detail that is coming out from Turkish security sources is so clear that some form of tape must exist.”

He suggested the tensions between Turkey and Saudi Arabia over the past decade would mean Turkey “will be monitoring very closely what goes on inside Saudi offices. They may well have had the consulate general bugged in some way, or there may have been other devices carried out by the squad that carried out the assassination that they were able to intercept.

“The level of detail is very damning of the hit squad, and [their reported identities] show how close are they are to the crown prince”.

Sawers’ remarks are likely to be treated as incendiary in Washington.

Armed guards have been placed outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Photograph: Arnaud Andrieu/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock

He predicted that members of the Saudi royal family, business community and conservative religious clerics will take advantage of the crown prince’s involvement to undermine him. “There will be a reaction inside Saudi Arabia to this dreadful killing and there will be some correction.”

Reports in Turkey say Khashoggi was brutally murdered and dismembered inside the consulate by members of an assassination squad with ties to the crown prince. The Saudis have dismissed those reports as baseless but have yet to explain what happened to Khashoggi, a contributing columnist for the Washington Post who wrote critically of Prince Mohammed’s rise to power.

According to British sources Saudi Arabia may take as long as week to receive and respond to a Turkish government report expected to detail how Khashoggi was killed by a 15-strong Saudi hit squad.

Turkey is trying to use the covert intelligence it has already gathered, possibly by bugging, to gather more conventional evidence that it can share with the world to prove its theory. A search is under way in woods on the outskirts of Istanbul and to another Turkish city near the Sea of Mamara, 56 miles (90km) south of Istanbul.

Turkey has been leaking details of Khashoggi’s gruesome death based on intelligence reports, but the country’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said the raw intelligence including any audio recordings has not been given to any foreign power, such as Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state.

The UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, told LBC there would be “very, very serious consequences” for UK-Saudi relations if reports of Khashoggi’s murder were true, but appeared to steer away from ending arms sales, pointing out that Saudi Arabia was a strategic partner in the battle to constrain Iran.

Hunt said the scale of the British response would depend on how Saudi Arabia responded to the Turkish findings, but it is hard to know if definitive evidence will be published showing Prince Mohammed’s complicity.

A man reads the Sabah newspaper, which has led with coverage of the apparent assassination of Jamal Khashoggi all week. Photograph: Burhan Ozbilici/AP

It is thought that Turkey may possess as-yet unreported intelligence that could go further in revealing the individuals responsible for ordering a gang of senior officials to travel to Istanbul to murder Khashoggi. There have been rumours that the crown prince would be required to step aside as the price for restoring confidence of overseas investors, but the US has been told Saudis were preparing to pin the blame on Major General Ahmed al-Assiri for either over-stepping or misunderstanding orders given by Prince Mohammed.

The senior army officer has been a frequent visitor to London in order to explain the rationale behind the Saudi war to save the UN recognised government from Houthi rebels.

The UK Foreign Office confirmed that the UK trade commissioner for the Middle East, Simon Penney, and the UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Simon Collis, would both attend the controversial Riyadh investment conference next week. A host of politicians, bankers, and media chiefs have withdrawn from the event.

Liam Fox, the UK trade secretary, pulled out on Thursday in light of the Khashoggi case. The continued attendance of Penney and Collis, underlining the UK’s reluctance to damage its entire relationship with Saudi Arabia, was confirmed in a written answer to the Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards.

Edwards said: “Spinelessly sending the British ambassador to this ‘Davos in the desert’ shows just how desperate the Westminster government is to appease despots. Agents of the British state – be they ministers or diplomats – should not be affording the rogue Saudi regime the legitimacy of their presence.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/19/crown-prince-mohammed-jamal-khashoggi-killing-mi6-sir-john-sawers

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EU WARNED: Hunt says Brussels to suffer ‘TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES’ in event of no deal

Aurora Bosotti — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 05:34:56 +0000

JEREMY Hunt warned the European Union that failing to secure a Brexit deal with Britain will have “terrible consequences for the European project” ahead of his maiden speech as Foreign Secretary.

Jeremy Hunt warned the European Union they would risk facing “terrible consequences” if they failed to agree to a Brexit deal with Britain.

The Foreign Secretary suggested the bloc should unite the diverging feelings in their “heads and hearts” and agree to a mutually favourable agreement before the March 2019 deadline.

Speaking to the Today programme, Mr Hunt said: “In their hearts, they want to give Britain a good deal because they know how important we have been for the security and prosperity of Europe in the post-war period. But in their heads, they are worried that if they give us a good deal, other countries will follow suit.

“What I say to them is if you are thinking about this logically with your head as opposed as your heart then also recognise that the consequences of an acrimonious, messy divorce, would be terrible for the EU project as well.”

Mr Hunt, who is expected to give his maiden speech as Foreign Secretary on Tuesday, also said it would be a “geo-strategic” mistake for Brussels not to strike a new deal with the UK.

He pointed out the important role played by Britain in the aftermath of the Second World War to strengthen the defences of the European continent.

He continued: “I made it clear that I think Britain would survive, would prosper, whatever the outcome of these talks. But it would also be a geo-strategic mistake for the continent of Europe.

“I was in Latvia last week and 30 years ago Latvia was part of the Soviet Union. Now they are a modern European democracy, a member of the EU, a member of Nato. No country has done more to transform Europe over that period than the UK.

Brexit news: Jeremy Hunt warned a no deal would be “terrible for the EU project” (Image: BBC•EbS)

“That’s why I think it would be a terrible tragedy if we failed to recognise that Europe has prospered when the UK and continental Europe countries were friends and worked together.”

His intervention comes as ministers attempt to step up the pace of negotiations in the hope of hammering out a deal in time for an EU summit in Brussels in October.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is expected to deliver a major speech on the negotiations later this week and the Government is scheduled to begin releasing a series of more than 80 technical documents setting out preparations needed in case the talks collapse without a deal.

EU Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein, speaking ahead of Mr Raab’s visit to Brussels, told journalists that officials were working “at full speed, 24/7” to reach an exit agreement.

He said: “We are working constructively and at full speed 24/7, seven days a week to reach an agreement.

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Jeremy Hunt warned the EU of the “geo-strategic mistake” of no deal (Image: GETTY)

“Our chief negotiator has been engaging constructively as he has always done with his British counterpart and it’s in that spirit that the meeting tomorrow will take place.”

A new Brexit-backing alliance of campaign groups and think tanks is being launched on Tuesday in a fresh attempt to force the Prime Minister into delivering a full break with Brussels.

The Brexit Advance Coalition will unite 10 organisations including several with close links to the Conservative Party.

Get Britain Out, the Bow Group and the Campaign for Conservative Democracy are among those backing a joint declaration of principles.

Supporters are planning a series of high-profile meetings and other campaign events over the coming months to raise the call for shift in Government policy towards a more decisive break with the EU than that promised by the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan agreed by ministers last month at her Chequers country retreat.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1006187/Brexit-news-Jeremy-Hunt-UK-EU-withdrawal-warning-Brussels-negotiation-latest

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Is Theresa May’s government in peril over Brexit?

PBS NewsHour — Sat, 14 Jul 2018 21:50:20 +0000

The post Is Theresa May’s government in peril over Brexit? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.