🚨 Give me until end of 2023 before you judge me, Liz Truss tells public

Asked for deadline by which voters can judge her programme, PM tells @TimesRadio her priorities are helping Britons through this winter and getting economy moving. ‘I’d expect that to happen during 2023.’ PM distances herself from Chx’s hint of more to come re tax cuts

Does she agree with Andrew Griffith that she’d like to cut inheritance tax?

‘We have been clear about our tax plans - keeping corp tax low & reversing the NI increase… We have no more plans on that front.’

NEW: Boris Johnson accused of 'breaking promise' to protect Troubles veterans from vexatious prosecutions.

Tory MPs fear safeguard proposals will be shelved, after legislation pledged in last Queen's Speech failed to materialise.

thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-… 100+ veterans of Northern Ireland fear investigation, say MPs.

Tories are angry at failure to act, after Johnson made personal vow to end 'unfair' prosecutions in 2019 leadership bid.

A promise to 'give veterans the protections they deserve' was then included in Tory manifesto

Exc: Ministers have raised concerns about Ireland’s open-door policy to Ukrainian refugees, arguing it creates UK security risk.

Dublin joined EU-wide scheme welcoming refugees for 3 years, via which Ukrainians can travel to UK (Common Travel Area) without biometric checks

1/3 Govt source: “Ireland has basically opened the door to everyone in Ukraine, which creates a problem due to the CTA.

“We've seen before with migrants from Albania that they hv come through Dublin, into Belfast & across to the mainland to L'pool. That's created a drug cartel route

Exc: Ukraine war has curbed PM's ability to trigger Article 16 before Stormont elections in May, Govt sources tell @Telegraph.

Johnson is now “unlikely” to deploy the safeguard mechanism this side of the ballot

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telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/… Invasion has reduced both ministerial bandwidth & appetite for major political row with EU before purdah starts on March 26

Gvt source says momentum had been growing for "narrow" triggering of A16 on food, as "v difficult for the EU to argue against without looking unreasonable"

Excl: A senior British banker is set to become NHS England's chairman.

Richard Meddings, ex-chair of TSB Bank & non-exec director of Treasury, is Govt’s preferred candidate.

Whitehall source says he'll bring an "outsider's eye" to NHS & help make health service more accountable It's understood Sajid Javid was personally impressed with Meddings during selection process.

A heavyweight from private sector had been sought for the position to help deliver NHS reform.

Health & Social Care select cmtte will now assess suitability of appointment.

Chancellor insists the Budget “does not draw any lines under Covid - we have challenging months ahead”.

He adds, however, that it is “does begin the work of preparing for an economy post-Covid”. Chancellor draws attention to inflationary pressures right at the start of Budget.

Inflation is currently 3.1%, set to rise to 4% next year, with increase caused by supply chain issues & energy prices that “will take months to ease”.

Govt is “ready & willing to act”, says Sunak

NEW: Afghan evacuees have arrived at Heathrow in past 48 hours with forged papers & with no documentation, a border officer on ground told @Telegraph.

Home Sec Priti Patel insisted security checks were 'vigorous' & 'digital identities' of all Afghans without docs were assured. Ian Denison, Border Force assistant director, said some Afghans 'tell us they’ve lost the documents they had...

'We're not going to have an argument with the ppl that have been through the process they’ve been through... You see people with their life belongings in plastic bags'

NEW Stranded Afghans should consider fleeing over land borders, not waiting for RAF airlifts out of Kabul airport, warns Ben Wallace.

Defence Sec told MPs tonight that Afghan translators should now “explore another route” out, ahead of UK troop drawdown.

telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202… Wallace said: “I wouldn't go forward [to Kabul airport] if you haven't been called...

“It is higher profile going to the airport. That is where the Taliban will be focussing their efforts at the moment.”

Revealed average wait at Abbey Gate is currently 16 hours (US is 24 hours)

NEW Liz Truss prepares for showdown with Aussie trade minister in London this week.

Her allies says trade deal progress is “glacially slow” under Dan Tehan.

“He is inexperienced compared to Liz. He needs to show that he can play at this level,” they add

telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/… Allies of Truss say she plans to sit Aussie trade minister Tehan “in the Locarno Room [in Foreign Office] in an uncomfortable chair, so he has to deal with her directly for 9 hours”.

They add “Australia need to show us the colour of their money” and match “words with action”.

💥EXCL: Govt is set to increase the number of nuclear warheads that Britain can stockpile, Telegraph understands.

Announcement expected in Integrated Review on Tues, in change of direction on non-proliferation. UK has around 180 warheads stockpiled.

More on @Telegraph at 21.30 The last strategic defence review in 2015 set out a cap of 180 nuclear weapons by mid-2020s.

BUT... it left wriggle room: "We will continue to keep our nuclear posture under constant review in the light of the intl security environment & the actions of potential adversaries."

EXCL: Northern Research Group has moved to cement its power base in the Tory party by securing pledges for £1 million

Red Wall Tories have struck out on their own, declaring CCHQ needs a "kicking" for failing to provide enough cash ahead of local polls

telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/… In a warning to No 10 & CCHQ, chairman Jake Berry said: “The NRG is now a political hydra - cut one head off, and two grow back.

“I believe we’re the best-funded backbench organisation in Parliament, & absolutely focussed on driving forward ‘levelling up’ and the North’s agenda”

EXCL: Attempts by far-left activists to “hijack” movements including Black Lives Matter & Extinction Rebellion are being investigated in a review ordered by Govt

Lord Walney is leading the new probe on violence & disruption on the hard left and far right

telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/… Lord Walney warns in an interview with @Telegraph that the UK must heed the growth of the far right in US, following storming of Capitol.

But he also cautions against a "blind spot" in Britain over "progressive extremism" in the name of fighting climate change & racial injustice

NEW - The Army aims to become a force of “boots and bots” with soldiers fielding teams of robots on the battlefield, the service chief has said today.

Gen Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, said human-machine teaming should be “commonplace” in the force by 2025

1/n CGS said that in conflict Armoured Fighting Vehicles should become "motherships – commanding teams of robots & thereby generating a new form of combat mass.

"They will be supported by longer range and more powerful artillery... firing on targets identified by swarms of drones"

The British military is fending off 60 significant cyberattacks a day, commander of @UKStratCom has revealed.

Up to 10 of these on average originate from hostile states, it is understood.

Gen Sir Patrick Sanders warned digital warfare is the new Blitz.

thetimes.co.uk/article/milita… General Sanders also confirmed the UK has developed offensive cyber weapons that can "degrade, disrupt & even destroy" the critical infrastructure of adversaries.

These tools can hit both strategic & tactical targets, he said.

Decorated Army veteran finally cleared over death of young Iraqi man following 8 probes during a 17-year ordeal.

Latest investigation finds no evidence against Major Robert Campbell, but instead clear evidence of collusion & possible conspiracy by Iraqi civilians.

1/n Maj Campbell told me the "witch hunt" drove him to two suicide attempts in 2012, and to contemplate taking his life again in 2016.

He said of the ordeal: "It finished me, it finished my
career."

Ben Wallace asserted yesterday that Britain has fought “illegal wars”, drawing fierce criticism from former military commanders & Tory MPs

thetimes.co.uk/article/minist… Gen Lord Dannatt said Wallace’s language was “somewhat disappointing” & “quite unfortunate... because we lost 179 people in Iraq & I wouldn’t want their families to think they lost their lives doing something that was illegal. The gvt of the day thought it was right thing to do.”

British soldiers and airmen are being forced to back military retention bonuses worth up to £1,900 after being told they were ineligible to receive them.

MoD has apologised for making the payments that it said were processed in error, but insists cash must be clawed back.

1/n Commitments bonuses were intro'd to curb early exit of personnel from forces, incentivising them to serve an extra 2 years.

However, the 2015 strategic defence & security review scrapped the bonuses for new joiners from April 2016

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🚨 Britain is set to slash its order of early-warning radar jets, redrawing a controversial contract awarded without competition in bid to save money

MoD has drawn up plans to revise order for E-7 Wedgetail jets from five to three, I'm told

US figures unhappy with move

1/n Officials reopened discussions with Boeing about the £2.1bn programme over the summer with a view to achieving better value for money.

Wedgetail is designed to rapidly identify airborne & maritime threats, and guide combat jets to targets in bombing raids.

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Excl: Bill aimed at curbing vexatious claims against troops is “dangerous & harmful” to the reputation of UK’s armed forces and safety of personnel, PM warned.

Military, political & legal grandees urge Boris Johnson to rethink Overseas Ops Bill.

thetimes.co.uk/article/law-to… The critics who have written to PM include
• Field Marshal Charles Guthrie
• Gen Sir Nick Parker
• Sir Malcolm Rifkind, ex-defence sec
• Dominic Grieve QC, ex-attorney general
• Bruce Houlder QC, ex-director of service prosecutions

Excl: UK could descope F-35 programme and buy as few as half its target for 138 jets, say sources close to integrated review.

Military chiefs are understood to have discussed 70 jets as a minimum credible F-35 fleet. UK only committed to buy 48 so far.

thetimes.co.uk/article/britai… Discussions are said to be ongoing about how to balance investment in American-designed F-35s with investment in the UK-led Tempest programme to build a next-generation fighter jet (which could have industrial benefits for Britain). Ongoing Typhoon jet upgrades also need funding

EXCL: US mounts pressure campaign on Britain to back its move at the UN today to reimpose sanctions on Iran.

Kelly Craft, US ambo to UN, last night asked if "Britain supports allowing the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism to buy & sell weapons".

thetimes.co.uk/article/mike-p… Mike Pompeo is set to try and trigger the "snapback" mechanism in the Iran nuclear deal that would reimpose suspended sanctions, complaining to UN that Tehran has not complied with terms of accord.

EU, Iran & others claim US cannot invoke mechanism since it quit the deal in 2018