Boris Johnson news – live: ‘Shameful and crass’ PM refuses to apologise after blaming care homes for coronavirus deaths, as UK resumes arms sales to Saudi Arabia
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Your support makes all the difference.No 10 has said Boris Johnson won’t be offering an apology to the care sector after provoking anger with his claim “too many” care homes didn’t “properly follow procedures” during the coronavirus crisis. Care sector chiefs condemned his remarks as “cowardly”.
"Care homes across the country were dealing with an extraordinary amount of different guidance that was coming out from Government on an almost daily basis.", Vic Rayner, executive director of the National Care Forum, told the BBC "So for the suggestion that they were not following procedures as laid out is totally inappropriate and, frankly, hugely insulting."
It comes as the government announced Britain will resume selling arms to Saudi Arabia despite assessing the country could be using them to commit war crimes. Meanwhile, Russia said it would hit back at UK sanctions against 25 Russian officials with reciprocal measures.
Elsewhere, Huawei has denied targeting members of the British elite for support. It follows claims made in a new dossier – reportedly compiled with the help of former MI6 spy Christopher Steele – that the firm tried to persuade high-profile figures in the UK to act as “useful idiots”.
Tory MP jokes about ‘more Tory cuts’ in haircut tweet
The Tory MP for Redcar has been criticised for joking about “more Tory cuts” in a tweet that celebrated having his hair trimmed. Jacob Young posted before and after photos of a post-lockdown trip to the barbers. “We can safely go back to getting our mops chopped,” he wrote.
Andy McDonald, the Labour MP for neighbouring Middlesbrough responded. “It was a crass and insensitive comment and far from being funny for thousands of people in Redcar and across the Tees Valley who have suffered as a direct result of the political choice of his Tory party to impose austerity.”
Sue Jeffrey, former Redcar and Cleveland Council leader, added: “Did he really think it is okay to joke about Tory austerity policies that have ruined so many lives and left our NHS and care services so ill equipped to deal with the Covid-19 crisis?”
Nobody wants ‘frozen relations’ with China, says leading Tory MP
Tory MP Alicia Kearns said holding concerns over China’s behaviour did not equate with being against continued trade with the Asian powerhouse.
She made her comments after ex-chancellor Philip Hammond warned of an “alarming” rise in anti-Chinese sentiment in the Conservative Party.
The Commons foreign affairs committee member told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “Unfortunately, it is just not something I accept.
“There is a lot of concern about China and I think it is very interesting how during the Covid-19 pandemic that awareness and concern has actually filtered through to the general public,” added the member of the China Research Group, a band of Tory MPs.
“But when I speak to my colleagues, none of us want to enter into an era of frozen relations with China, that’s just not what we want or are trying to seek to achieve.”
Explaining her concerns about how China operates, she added: “China is an autocratic regime with a president who is increasingly flexing his muscle internationally and at home and also China is now seeing a UK that is standing by our moral and legal responsibilities and it will also need time to adapt to that Britain which it possibly is not as used to because we haven’t had to take those actions.”
What the chancellor’s ‘mini-Budget’ could mean for you
What might Rishi Sunak reveal tomorrow when he delivers his “summer economic update” to the Commons? There has been speculation about a £500 giveaway for all, a VAT cut and a stamp duty holiday – as well as heavily trailed announcements on support for jobseekers and green investments.
Felicity Hannah has taken a loser look:
One in seven UK workers could be unemployed this year, OECD warns
Five million people could be unemployed in the UK by the end of this year if a second wave of coronavirus hits, economists have forecast.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicts that more than one in seven of the workforce (14.8 per cent) may be out of a job.
Even if the virus is contained and the UK avoids a second spike, the OECD forecasts unemployment will hit 11.7 per cent, a rate that would mean almost 4 million people out of work.
“The war has to be won and it has to be won fast,” said OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria, who has consistently argued that economies cannot be protected without first getting the virus under control.
Our business correspondent Ben Chapman has more:
EU forecasts deeper economic hit from coronavirus pandemic
The EU’s executive arm has forecast that the bloc’s economy will contract more than previously expected because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 27-nation EU economy will contract by 8.3 per cent this year, before growing 5.8 per cent in 2021, according to the latest predictions released by the European Commission.
EU economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said: “The road to recovery is still paved with uncertainty. This is mostly linked to the epidemiological uncertainty.”
The European Commission said the impact on economic activity in 2020 will be worse than expected because “the lifting of lockdown measures is proceeding at a more gradual pace than assumed in our spring forecast”.
Woman describes alleged sexual assault by former Tory MP
A woman has described being chased around former Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke’s home after he groped her while he chanted, ”I’m a naughty Tory”.
The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told a jury it felt as though Mr Elphicke was “racing” her around his home in central London in 2007, while trying to grab her bottom.
The alleged victim had rejected Mr Elphicke’s advances moments earlier as they shared a £40 bottle of wine, as the politician’s children slept upstairs and his wife, Natalie Elphicke, was away on business, Southwark Crown Court heard.
More below:
Vince Cable: I don’t trust this government to do what's needed over unemployment
Governments are under pressure to think big- former Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable writes for The Independent.
He adds: "The template of good policy is Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1930s America. The European Commission and Joe Biden in the USA have adopted a Green New Deal as their economic mantra. More improbable New Deal devotees now include Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, who claim Roosevelt as an inspiration for their version of post-Brexit and post-Covid Conservatism.
"The problem with this new New Deal cult is that it references a programme which dealt with a different problem in different circumstances."
More below:
Conservative Party conference cancelled
The Conservatives have abandoned hopes of staging their party conference this year, axing the autumn event planned for Birmingham.
Boris Johnson’s party had tried to save its conference – even after Labour and the Liberal Democrats scrapped theirs because of coronavirus – but will now hold a “virtual” event.
“We know that many people will be disappointed,” party chairman Amanda Milling told members.
More below:
Rishi Sunak's mug draws scrutiny
The photo of the chancellor preparing his statement is a slightly odd tradition.
However while an image of the chancellor staring down at the final draft of his text offers little excitement, a trend is emerging - the scrutiny of the office holder's hot drink receptacle.
In 2018 many picked up on Philip Hammond's mug emblazoned with his name and the symbol of his office. Today the focus turn's to Rishi Sunak's electric version which keeps his tea hot for three hours at a time.
Here is Labour's Louise Haigh:
And Conservative Tracey Crouch with a potential policy suggestion:
Boris Johnson care homes comments are 'shameful', Keir Starmer says
Keir Starmer has denounced as "shameful" Boris Johnson's apparent attempt to blame care home operators for deaths of residents and staff from coronavirus.
The Labour leader demanded an apology from the prime minister a a day after Mr Johnson suggested that the 20,000 fatalities in care homes during the pandemic could in part be explained by the failure of many to "follow the procedures" to protect residents and staff.
Amid a furious outcry from home operators and unions, Downing Street made clear that the prime minister was not saying sorry for his remarks.
More below:
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