Today we’ll have Simon Ridley, former head of the Cabinet office Covid 19 taskforce in the morning.
Then Lord Udny-Lister (Eddie Lister) former chief of staff to Boris Johnson.
Follow for the key developments 👇
Ministerial meeting on 22 March on discharges from people from hospitals to care homes.
Ridley agrees there was no policy at this stage that people who are asymptomatic should have a Covid test before going to care homes.
Nov 1, 2023 • 29 tweets • 6 min read
Morning from the Covid inquiry
-Helen McNamara on the stand - 2nd most senior civil servant
- Dominic Cummings said in messages he wanted to “ handcuff” and get her “ out of our hair”
- she wrote a report on govt dysfunction in 2020 saying no10 “always at war with someone”
McNamara returned her phone to the cabinet office when she left govt in 2021.
She says they told her the material held on it was destroyed which she said is “frustrating”.
Mar 30, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
MPs on the Standards Committee recommend 30 day suspension for Margaret Ferrier - if agreed by a vote in the Commons, triggers automatic recall petition and opens up possibly of by-election in a seat Labour won in 2017.
The Standards Committee was split on the sanction - I believe for the first time. The Tory MPs didn’t back it…
Mar 29, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Morning,
Immigration minister set to announce the controversial use of 2 RAF bases to house asylum seekers today.
Barges & ferries have also been looked into by Home Office.
It comes as a report finds £3.5bn spent on accommodation in 2023 - blaming the asylum backlog.
It's understood these sites will be for new asylum seekers - not those currently in hotels.
And that the aim is to act as a deterrent.
"It doesn't sound as nice as a hotel does it", a government source says.
Mar 21, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
NEW Explosive testimony from a senior FCDO whistleblower about the evacuation of Afghanistan - saying she is speaking out because civil servants have a duty to dos o when "the public and Parliament has been deliberately misled by the government"
Josie Stewart, who has 15 years experience including two years at the embassy in Kabul says:
"I feel a strong sense of moral injury for having been part of something so badly managed, and so focused on managing reputational risk & political fallout rather than the actual crisis"
Mar 16, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Morning,
PM lands in Abu Dhabi & will head to Riyadh later for energy talks, defending the trip saying the West needs to ditch Russian oil
Hope for #Nazanin… is the UK about to settle the £400mil tank debt?
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says his country won’t become a NATO member
Truss says she’s “working with hard” to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe-Ratcliffe and two other dual nationals.
She says it’s clear the UK government consider the £400million tank debt legitimate and is “looking for ways to pay it”.
Mar 15, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Morning,
The West "made a terrible mistake" by continuing to buy Russian oil & gas after Crimea invasion, Boris Johnson says today.
PM set to travel to Saudi Arabia to see if it can make up the shortfall... but bill rises will be "painful"
More oligarch sanctions coming today
PM will travel to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, leaving tonight and back on Thursday.
He hopes if they pump more oil - as already the world's biggest exporters - it will bring down the price and help with cost of living.
Human rights concerns will be raised.
Mar 14, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Morning,
The war reaches Nato's doorstep, as a Russian strike hits base 15 miles from Poland killing 35.
Homes for Ukraine scheme will be announced today to help UK families put up Ukrainian refugees in spare rooms.
Emergency flights bring 20 children with cancer to UK.
Sajid Javid @SkyNews says the attack on the Mariupol hospital - where the woman on stretcher & her baby have died - is a war crime.
He says there have been 31 attacks on hospitals in Ukraine, according to the World Health Organisation.
Aug 21, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Exclusive
The minister for Afghanistan Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon was also on leave last week, as Kabul fell.
He was on a staycation and not back at his desk until Monday.
Although he knew Afghan FM Haneef Atmar, he was not asked to make the call on Friday.
"Lord Ahmad has been working closely with the Foreign Secretary and the FCDO team throughout the response to events in Afghanistan, including engaging with international partners."
Aug 19, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
NEW Ministers ignored warning 8 months ago that the US withdrawal would destabilise Afghan government and cannot say that “no one foresaw or predicted the consequences” - by me and @RaynerSkyNews news.sky.com/story/afghanis…
A report presented to the government in January called for an urgent assessment of the risks of withdrawal.
Ministers, it said, had “shown little inclination to exert an independent voice on policy in Afghanistan”
Aug 19, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Morning
The PM faces scathing criticism from Tory MPs over the pullout from Afghanistan in recall debate.
As the rush to escape continues, the British ambassador says we have "days, not weeks".
Horrifying pictures emerge of people passing children over airport fence in Kabul
This scoop by @johnestevens that Dominic Raab ignored advise to call the Afghan foreign minister last Friday - losing precious hours.
The FCO tell us he was "engaged on a range of other calls" and delegated it to a junior minister
UK will resettle 5,000 vulnerable Afghans this year, rising to 20,000 in future.
Priority for women, girls, religious minorities at risk from the Taliban.
Separate from ARAP scheme for locally employed staff which is set to relocate 5,000 people this year.
Boris Johnson will tell MPs today, as Parliament debates Afghanistan:
"We owe a debt of gratitude to all those who have worked with us to make a Afghanistan a better place over the last 20 years.
"Many of them, particularly women, are now in urgent need of our help"
Aug 18, 2020 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
We saw him on Thursday promising no U-turn...
The education secretary is back on with @skynewsniall at 7:10 to talk about yesterday's decision - do tune in.
Williamson tells @SkyNews his department held an extensive consultation on the grading system in April with unions etc - and there was consensus on it and "we had every confidence that what had been developed by Ofqual would withstand scrutiny".
Labour call for recall of Parliament after #OperationYellowhammer docs set out disruption to food, fuel and medicines and hard border in NI
- Cabinet minister triggers row by saying Leave voters think judges are biased
- PM rejects demand to publish advisers' messages
#OperationYellowhammer key questions this morning:
1/ What can Government do to “turbocharge” preparations given the documents say public and business readiness for low deal will remain at a low level due to uncertainty about what they’re preparing for:
