EXC: Effort to get Germany to unlock sale of 48 Typhoons to Saudi “going nowhere” with ministers warned UK production faces closure — French now line for multibillion deal instead

UK facing lost decade of fighter jet assembly with 6k direct jobs on line

thesun.co.uk/news/politics/… Berlin blocking multi-billion deal to sell 48 more Typhoons to Saudis - with ministers warned BAE production lines “will close” immediately if the order is blocked.

Sources say diplomatic battle to “unstick” led by National Security Adviser Sir Tim Barrow “is going nowhere.”

JUST IN: Tim Davie tells Tory 1922 Committee he needs their “help and support” to make sure BBC stays “strong”.

DG adds that it “hurts” when people say the corporation is “not patriotic”. Looks like Davie trying to hit some Tory talking points before expected mauling in Q&A.

Says headcount is down 5% since he took over and he’s helped “level up” with 200 news roles dispersed outside of London.

Says he serves licence fee payer not the “institution of the BBC.”

Rishi the candidate: “China is the biggest-long term threat to Britain and the world’s economic and national security." (24 July 2022)

Rishi the PM: "It means standing up to our competitors, not with grand rhetoric but with robust pragmatism.” (28 Nov 2022) Rishi in July: “Enough is enough. For too long, politicians in Britain and across the West have rolled out the red carpet and turned a blind eye to China’s nefarious activity and ambitions..

EXC: @Nigel_Farage threatens return to frontline to “crush” Tory plot to try to reverse Brexit and seek closer ties with Brussels

Leave chief warned he “was not ruling anything out” after a “senior Government figure” told the Press of secret Swiss plan:

thesun.co.uk/news/20489299/… Furious Tory MPs pointing finger at Jeremy Hunt for pushing the move toward the new closer relationship that would mean a return to EU judges, contributions to the EU budget and closer alignment on rules.

Sunak was forced to scotch the toxic claim

thesun.co.uk/news/20489299/…

Kwarteng in DC on u-turn:

"My total focus is on delivering on the mini budget" KK: "I speak to No10, the PM all the time, and we are totally focussed on delivering the growth plan."

🚨 LIZ Truss is considering raising Corporation Tax next year in spectacular mini-Budget u-turn

Her vow to cancel Rishi Sunak's hike from 19 to 25 per cent tax next April was the centrepiece of her campaign to be PM - but that promise could now be junked
thesun.co.uk/news/politics/… Truss and Kwarteng have been warned they have a £60billion black hole in their tax and spending plans - with source confirming "a rise in CT is on the table."

Another Downing Street insider insisted "it will not go all the way up to 25 per cent".

thesun.co.uk/news/politics/…

EXC: China will be declared an official “threat” in a new strategic review of Britain's enemies, @TheSun can reveal: thesun.co.uk/news/politics/… Ex-PM Boris Johnson's landmark 2021 Integrated Defence and Security Review classed China a “systemic competitor” but stopped short of saying they were actively hostile to the UK.

But now Liz Truss is preparing to toughen that stance after announcing a review last month.

IMF: “In the United Kingdom, the announcement in September of large debt-financed fiscal loosening, including tax cuts *and measures to deal with the high energy prices*, was associated with a rise in gilt yields and a sharp currency depreciation that was later reversed.." "The fiscal package is expected to lift growth somewhat above the forecast in the near term, while complicating the fight against inflation.."

EXC Modi planning to visit UK as soon as this month to sign trade deal, Sun can reveal.

Negotiations at "final hardest yards", with Truss preparing to give ground on more visas

Cheaper rice and clothes imports swap for scotch and British-made car boom

thesun.co.uk/news/20041408/… But the potential terms of the free trade agreement risks a fresh Cabinet row over immigration numbers.

Sun can reveal Home Secretary Suella Braverman and the PM are at loggerheads over immigration just three weeks into power

thesun.co.uk/news/20041408/…

💥Astonishing row brewing tonight over whether Rishi Sunak tried to block counter terrorism spending hike just days before an attack in London in 2019.

thesun.co.uk/news/19455561/… Multiple Tory sources say Mr Sunak — now running for Prime Minister — “fought tooth and nail” against a £90million cash hike for counter terrorism policing in late 2019 while chief secretary to the Treasury…

EXCL: Boris Johnson urges G7 leaders to back ‘SURGE’ strategy to help Ukraine beat Putin...

PM said more heavy arms, intelligence and training were needed to help Zelensky “score a goal before half time”.

Told Macron: “We should think of it as a surge.”

thesun.co.uk/news/19006869/… US General David Petraeus coined the “surge” tactic to break deadlock in the war in Iraq in 2008 with a massive influx of arms and troops to tackle insurgency.

PM telling G7 leaders similar push needed to break the stalemate in Ukraine.

thesun.co.uk/news/19006869/…

EXC: Liz Truss is fighting weakened Boris Johnson's attempts to slash the bloated civil service, The Sun can reveal.

Asked to cut 900 staff, the Foreign Secretary is demanding an extra £100million to hire 1,000 more officials instead...

thesun.co.uk/news/politics/… Potential leadership contender has spent years campaigning for lower taxes and recently attacked ministers for “inexorably growing the size of the state”.

But in fiery letter she rejects orders to reduce her department’s headcount by 5% - and demands a 1% increase instead.

New powers for Lord Geidt finally published: “the Independent Adviser is able to provide independent advice on the initiation of an investigation.”

Final say on triggering remains with PM but Geidt can say if he gets blocked.

And he gets a proper office and website. Also seems ministerial code watered down.

Breaking it no longer a hanging offence - codifying reality.

Sanctions “could include requiring some form of public apology, remedial action or removal of ministerial salary for a period” determined by PM on advice of Geidt.

No cost of living crisis at UK Borders and Enforcement... staff stuck a £660 meal at La Pont de La Tour on a Home Office credit card... And £1,275 at Happy Hotdogs...

Which appears to be a boutique provider of "Premier Products for Dogs & their Owners"

NEW: PM complained most of his Cabinet are too young to remember the pain of the 1970s...
thesun.co.uk/news/politics/… PM, 56, used Tuesday’s meeting to warn Brits will not forgive a return to the days of high inflation as well as soaring unemployment.

But when met with blank faces from his youthful top team, BoJo quipped: “how many of you actually remember the 1970s?”

thesun.co.uk/news/politics/…

PM responds to Steve Baker to @BethRigby “I understand people’s feelings. I don’t think that is the right thing to do”.

Is the situation is serious? “Of course, I think it is serious. But I also think we have massive issues that people expect us to address." PM insists he has "nothing to hide" after days trying to block another probe...

"People were saying it looks like we are trying to stop stuff. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want people to be able say that. I don’t want this thing to endlessly go on."

NEW: PM says Russia and Ukraine peace talks doomed as “crocodile” Putin can’t be trusted and Zelensky wants to drive Russians from Donbas - but less concerned about retaking Crimea… PM: “I just don’t see how Putin can be taken to be a valid interlocutor.”
“It’s for the Ukrainians to decide their future, but I think it’s very hard to see how the Ukrainians can negotiate with Putin now given his manifest lack of good faith…

Plot twist.. PM blasts Partygate critics saying it Is time to talk about issues that matter to voters - as he vows to win the next Election…

Latest from trip to India as Johnson turns fire on plotters back at home…. Just hours after repeating his apology to the Commons over his £50 fixed penalty notice, Bojo declared it was time to move on to more important issues.

He says “if politics has taught me one thing: it is that you’re better off taking and focussing on the things that matter…”

Wallace tells Commons:
3615 NLAWS to Ukraine, and rising
Anti tank Javelins on way now too. NEW: govt exploring sending sky streak anti aircraft missiles to Ukraine - Wallace tells commons

"he ordered me to stay seated, so he was standing over me, and then threw the mobile phone right in front of me on my desk and it burst into hundreds of bits and I could feel them hitting me. It was the most violent, extraordinary display of temper…" parliament.uk/globalassets/m… P32: ‘what the fuck! Nothing surprises me about
you – it’s your job – don’t you understand you (are stupid) – fuck! It’s your job you are to do this despite what Clerk has said – you are to find out.’ The notes
record ‘further rage’. parliament.uk/globalassets/m…

EXC: Priti Patel preparing to offer any desperate Ukrainian refugee fleeing Putin a “humanitarian route” to UK, Sun can reveal.

So far only those with a family member in Britain have been offered sanctuary, sparking calls for the Govt to go further.

thesun.co.uk/news/17864334/… Home Sec to Sun: “In response to the desperation I saw with my own eyes at the Polish border two days ago, I’m urgently escalating our response to the growing humanitarian crisis.

“I am now investigating the legal options to create a humanitarian route.”

thesun.co.uk/news/17864334/…