Afternoon summary
- Theresa May has ordered a full public inquiry into the devastating fire in Grenfell Tower in west London, as the death toll continues to rise. She announced the inquiry as Labour said the government had some “very serious questions” to answer about how the fire was allowed to happen.
- Sinn Fein has accused May of not honouring the Good Friday agreement. Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, made the claim after meeting May to discuss the resumption of power-sharing in Northern Ireland and his party’s concerns about the Tories’ proposed deal with the DUP. (See 5.18am.) Earlier, after his meeting with May, the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood also expressed doubts about the Tory/DUP deal. He said:
The prime minister will have to do a lot more, however, to convince us that the DUP tail isn’t wagging the Tory dog.
Their influence on the British government is a cause for deep concern that must be addressed to assure the public and political parties of the independence of the talks process [intended to lead to the restoration of power sharing]. The Irish government will be critical to that and they should reassert their role as co-guarantors of our agreements.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Sinn Fein accuses May of not honouring Good Friday agreement
This is what Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, said as he left No 10.
We have just finished a meeting with the British prime minister and her secretary of state. And we told her very directly that she was in breach of the Good Friday agreement and we itemised those matters in which she was dilatory or in default in relation to that agreement.
Adams also said that he and his colleagues handed over the resignation letter written by the late Martin McGuinness when he stood down as Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister. Adams said that set out the problems that were holding up the restoration of power-sharing in Northern Ireland.
Sinn Fein says Tory/DUP deal would be in breach of Good Friday agreement
Gerry Adams, the Sinn Féin president, is speaking alongside his Sinn Féin colleagues after their meeting with Theresa May.
He says they told May that a deal with the DUP would be in breach of the Good Friday agreement.
Adam says this is the first time he has been to No 10 without Martin McGuinness.
Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Fein leader in Northern Ireland, is speaking now. She says the British government must continue its role as co-guarantor of the Good Friday agreement.
She says the British government has taken away £1bn from Northern Ireland. That has made making power-sharing work much harder, she says.
Adams makes the same point. The Northern Ireland institutions have been “undermined by austerity”, he says.
Q: Would you ever take your seats at Westminster?
Adams says the Sinn Féin MPs are republicans. They were elected on a mandate not to get involved in British affairs. They will not swear allegiance to the Queen. The British can decide their own affairs and make their own mess of it, he says.
Gerry Adams and the Sinn Fein team coming out of No10. pic.twitter.com/V6AURq5yFl
— Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) June 15, 2017
Updated
The Ulster Unionists also raised the transparency of any Tory/DUP deal in their talks with Theresa May. As ITV’s Carl Dinnen reports, the UUP leader Robin Swann said he was assured the deal would be published.
NEW Robin Swann, Ulster Unionist Party leader, says the Prime Minister has promised to make the whole deal with the DUP public.
— Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) June 15, 2017
At first minister’s questions in Edinburgh Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, criticised the prospective deal between the Tories and the DUP. She told MSPs:
I want to record my deep-seated concern and, I believe, the deep-seated concern of many, not just in Scotland but across the UK right now, at the prospect of some sort of grubby deal between the Tories and the DUP to allow Theresa May to cling to office.
I don’t think that kind of deal, particularly if it is not completely and utterly transparent, is in the national interest in any way, shape or form.
I say that not just because of some of the views of the DUP that, perhaps not all of us, but many of us feel deeply uncomfortable about, but I also say that because of a real concern about the disregard that is being shown for the Northern Irish peace process.
I think one of the most shameful aspects of the whole Brexit process from the beginning to now has been the disregard shown by many for that peace process.
Updated
David Laws accuses Farron of having 'fundamentally illiberal and prejudiced views'
David Laws, the former Lib Dem minister, has welcomed Tim Farron’s decision to resign as party leader, saying that Farron’s views on homosexuality were “fundamentally illiberal and prejudiced”. In an article for the i, Laws said:
You cannot be a leader of a liberal party while holding fundamentally illiberal and prejudiced views which fail to respect our party’s great traditions of promoting equality for all our citizens.
Many of us have despaired over the last few weeks in seeing all the good work of Liberal Democrats such as Lynne Featherstone, who drove through the equal marriage legislation under the coalition, undermined by Tim’s failure to be able to give direct and liberal responses on his own attitudes to homosexuality.
A Liberal Democrat election campaign, which should have appealed to liberal voters of all ages, has been undermined by the outdated opinions and views which Tim clearly holds …
As a gay man, I do not wish to be ‘tolerated’. I wish to be respected for who I am. And I want a party leader whose respect for human equality comes before outdated and frankly offensive religious views.
During the election campaign Farron, an evangelical Christian, was repeatedly asked if he regarded gay sex as a sin. Eventually he said that he did not, although later he was reluctant to make that statement again when pressed in an LBC phone-in.
Updated
Tories received more than twice as much as other parties combined in registrable election donations, Electoral Commission says
The Conservatives enjoyed a significant financial advantage during the general election campaign, taking in more than £2 in large donations for every pound received by other parties, the Press Association reports.
Electoral Commission figures covering donations worth more than £7,500 for all but the last two days of the campaign showed that the Tories added almost £12.5m to their battle chest compared with £6.1m by all the others combined.
The Conservatives took in £12,488,791, while Labour received £4,537,416, Liberal Democrats £1,215,594, the Women’s Equality party £152,960, Ukip £99,300, the Scottish National party £63,000, the Greens £52,866 and the Socialist party £10,000.
These figures only cover registrable donations, the ones worth more than £7,500. Labour may have done better with small donations. During the campaign the party said it had received more than 100,000 online donations, worth £22 on average.
Updated
The Democratic Unionist leader and now Westminster kingmaker, Arlene Foster, will travel to Dublin tomorrow to meet Ireland’s new taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.
The Irish prime minister is hosting the leaders of all the main political parties in Northern Ireland as he weighs in on efforts to push them towards agreement to restore power sharing in the region by the end of this month.
Senior Irish sources said they were optimistic that a deal on devolution was still possible and believe that today’s meetings between Theresa May and the Northern Irish parties is part of “choreography” designed to build trust before the main talks next week.
The Irish sources said they expected there would be some “transparency” about the looming deal between the DUP and the Conservatives over putting the Tories back into power.
Crucially, they told the Guardian that, contrary to some reports, they expect the DUP will vote for the Queen’s speech next Wednesday rather than simply abstain.
The Irish government believes May will stress in her meetings today that the British are still committed to the “rigorous impartiality” enshrined in the Good Friday agreement.
As for the delay in revealing the DUP-Tory deal, the Irish say that up to 90% of the agreement is probably finalised but that some of the economic dividends the DUP are seeking from the arrangement are currently being evaluated by the Treasury.
Updated
Alliance party expresses concerns about Tory/DUP deal after talks with May
Apologies for the lack of posts here while I have been covering the ministerial briefing for the Grenfell Tower fire blog.
Meanwhile, Theresa May has started her talks with the Northern Ireland parties. These are about restoring power-sharing at Stormont, not specifically about the Tory/DUP deal.
First in were the Alliance party. And their leader, Naomi Long, came out saying she was concerned about the prospect of the DUP doing a deal with the Tories. These are from Sky’s Faisal Islam.
Naomi Long of NI Alliance party has come out of No 10 after PM talks saying she's "not reassured" by UK Govt neutrality post DUP-Tory deal.
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) June 15, 2017
Long: "its the DUP having leverage over the UK Government" not the other way round... and she raises the issue of party funding arrangements
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) June 15, 2017
Nick Hurd, the fire minister, is going to speak to MPs in Westminster Hall at 1.30pm about the Grenfell Tower fire.
But it is not a proceeding of parliament, and it will not be televised. I’m heading off there now to cover it in person. I will be blogging about it in the Grenfell Tower blog.
Here is the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn on the Tory briefing about the Queen’s speech.
Theresa now challenging DUP not to vote down her Govt, with potentially no deal agreed at all. Highest possible stakes brinkmanship. https://t.co/2EJOFz6IWr
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) June 15, 2017
The senior Conservative source who briefed journalists said Theresa May was “confident” that the Queen’s speech would be passed but he did not say the DUP would definitely vote for it. He implied that they would, because he said that the the Tories and the DUP were committed to a four-point agenda involving “strengthening the union, combating terrorism, delivering Brexit and delivering prosperity”, but it sounded as if the DUP has not yet given a cast-iron commitment to vote in favour.
But May does seem confident that the DUP would not vote against. The DUP has said it would not act in such a way as to allow Jeremy Corbyn to become prime minister. And as long as the DUP at least abstains, the Tories will definitely win the vote.
May announces full public inquiry into Grenfell Tower fire
Theresa May has announced a full public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire.
And Philip Hammond, the chancellor, has announced that he is cancelling his Mansion House speech because of the tragedy. There was speculation that he was going to use the speech to announce a shift in Brexit policy. (See 10.35am.)
In view of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, I have withdrawn from giving the Mansion House speech tonight. My thoughts are with local community.
— Philip Hammond (@PhilipHammondUK) June 15, 2017
Tory source won't rule out Theresa May trying to run minority government without formal deal with DUP
We’ve just had a briefing in the Commons from a senior Conservative source about the talks with the DUP and the Queen’s speech. The source said:
Following the prime minister’s regular audience with the Queen, we can confirm that the Queen’s speech will be held on 21 June.
Talks with the DUP are progressing well and there is broad agreement on the principles of the Queen’s speech. Both parties are committed to strengthening the union, combating terrorism, delivering Brexit and delivering prosperity across the whole country.
However, whilst talks are ongoing, it is important the government gets on with its business and we are confident there will be sufficient support across the house for passing the Queen’s speech.
And here is the key takeaway.
- Theresa May will try to pass the Queen’s speech even if her deal with the DUP has not by then been finalised, a Tory source has revealed. May is assuming that the DUP will not vote against the Queen’s speech, even if it does not, as she hopes, vote in favour. That is almost certainly a sound assumption (because of what the DUP has said about not wanting the Sinn Féin-supporting Jeremy Corbyn to become prime minister.) But it does suggest that a Tory/DUP deal is less of a certainty than many people assumed, and the source would not rule out May trying to run a minority government without a formal deal with the DUP.
I will post more from the briefing soon.
Updated
The Press Association has more on the ministerial statement that Nick Hurd, the fire minister, is giving to MPs later today.
Special arrangements have been made for MPs to question a government minister on the Grenfell Tower fire on Thursday afternoon.
MPs would normally expect to hear a ministerial statement on a tragedy of this scale in the House of Commons, but this is not possible because parliament has not yet formally reopened following the snap election.
But Speaker John Bercow announced on Wednesday that a meeting with a minister would be arranged. It is due to take place at 1.30pm in the Commons’ secondary chamber, Westminster Hall.
Fire minister Nick Hurd is expected to make a statement and take questions from MPs.
Bercow said on Wednesday that the meeting could be attended by ‘colleagues gravely concerned about this matter’, but that it would not be an official proceeding of parliament. It was not immediately clear whether the session would be televised.
Updated
Here is my colleague Heather Stewart on the announcement that the Queen’s speech will take place on Wednesday.
So I understand DUP have signed off on stripped down Queens Speech; but details of confidence and supply deal still being negotiated.
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) June 15, 2017
SNP's new Westminster leader suggests party backtracking on second independence referendum
The Scottish National party’s new Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, has indicated thelikelihood of a second independence referendum is receding because there is now a greater chance of stopping a hard Brexit.
With a new Survation poll in the Daily Record showing 60% of Scottish voters opposed a second referendum and only 27% backed one, Blackford was asked on BBC Radio Scotland whether the SNP was “between a rock and a hard place”. It had to placate its core vote by keeping their independence hopes alive while not alienating the wider electorate, who opposed one. He replied:
Nicola Sturgeon has made it very clear that we would reflect on the results of the election last week. What we asked the Scottish people to do at the 2016 Scottish election was vote for us on the basis that if there were a change in circumstances, the [Scottish] government and the [Holyrood] parliament would have the right to seek a referendum if that were appropriate.
What we now see is a situation where I think it’s more likely we can achieve compromise while protecting the people of Scotland who have been dragged out of the single market against our will. So that’s the immediate priority.
Blackford, an investment banker elected in May 2015 in Charles Kennedy’s former seat of Ross, Skye and Lochaber, was elected the SNP’s Westminster leader on Wednesday. His language reinforces a marked change of strategy by Sturgeon, who has now dropped her demands for a second independence vote by spring 2019.
Blackford was not asked what Brexit demands the SNP would drop to reach a deal with other parties – Sturgeon has insisted on membership of the single market and the customs union for Scotland, if not the UK; a Scotland-specific immigration policy and guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens.
But he stressed several times on Good Morning Scotland he wanted to “work with other parties” at Westminster to build a pro-EU coalition. He said the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), now in the closing stages of a deal to support May’s minority government, wanted a softer Brexit too.
We will be seeking to work with others that may share our views that there are consequences of a hard Brexit, I think that’s something we want to try to make sure we can stop.
Updated
Nick Hurd, the fire minister, will make a statement to MPs in a Commons committee room at 1.30pm, the BBC is reporting.
Fire minister Nick Hurd will make Govt statement on #GrenfellTower at 1.30 in commons Grand Committee room
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) June 15, 2017
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg says No 10 could also be trying to call the Treasury’s bluff. It has been reportedly raising reservations about the proposed Tory/DUP deal. (See 10.55am.)
Govt sources say tories and DUP all committed to getting on with the deal- trying to call Foster's bluff ?
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) June 15, 2017
Or indeed, Number 10 trying to get Treasury to hurry up with the sums
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) June 15, 2017
Updated
According to the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn, the Queen’s speech will go ahead even if the Tory/DUP deal has not been finalised. He says Theresa May is calling the DUP leader, Arlene Foster’s, bluff.
Queen's Speech announced for Weds June 21, with or without a DUP deal. PM is calling Arlene's hand.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) June 15, 2017
If the DUP and all the other opposition parties were to vote against the Queen’s speech, the Conservatives would lose. But the DUP have said they would not do anything that might make Jeremy Corbyn prime minister (because of his support for Sinn Féin and his sympathetic approach to the IRA during the Troubles) and, even if the DUP abstained, the other parties combined would not be able to outvote the Tories (unless Sinn Féin’s seven MPs took their seats, which they are adamant they won’t.)
Updated
The Queen’s speech was originally meant to take place on Monday.
So it is coming two days late.
The Queen won’t be happy. It is Royal Ascot from next Tuesday, and having the state opening of parliament on the Wednesday might interrupt her plans to attend that day.
Updated
Queen's speech to take place on Wednesday next week, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom announces
The government has announced that the Queen’s speech will take place on Wednesday next week. The Press Association has just snapped this.
The state opening of parliament and Queen’s speech will take place on Wednesday June 21, the leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom has announced.
That suggests the government must be confident of finalising its deal with the DUP.
You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.
As for the rest of the papers, here is the PoliticsHome list of top 10 must reads, and here is the ConservativeHome round-up of today’s politics stories.
And here are four stories that are particularly interesting.
Theresa May’s hopes of securing the support of the Democratic Unionist party for her minority government were faltering last night as the Treasury dug in against the costs of a deal ..
Mrs May faces an internal battle over “bribes” to Northern Ireland. One stumbling block is the “Barnett consequentials” — the system supposed to ensure fair funding for all four nations of the UK.
Downing Street figures want to give funds directly to Northern Ireland as a part of a deal to secure the support of the DUP’s 10 MPs. However, the Treasury has warned that higher spending in the province must normally go through the Barnett formula, requiring additional funds for England, Wales and Scotland as well. This makes funding projects in Northern Ireland very expensive, since for every £1 spent there, an additional £35 must be found for the other nations. Although the Barnett formula can be worked round – the government once gave funds direct to Glasgow city council – senior officials and Tory politicians warn that this could create imbalances and cause resentment in Scotland and England.
One source said: “The Treasury feels like it is being bypassed in these discussions. This deal risks failing the smell test and looking like it is nakedly bribing the electorate.”
After months of arguments and occasional humiliation at the hands of Mrs May and her team of advisers in No 10, Mr Hammond is determined to reassert his authority on the Brexit process.
The chancellor wants Mrs May to push for a significant transition period to allow British business to adapt to leaving the customs union and single market after Brexit in 2019 and to soften her stance on immigration controls.
Mr Hammond has been huddled with advisers in the Treasury for the last 48 hours debating whether to make his differences with Mrs May explicit in the speech, by deviating from her 12-point Brexit plan set out in January.
The alternative would be to give a more coded warning, repeating his previous view that people did not vote for Brexit “to become poorer or less secure”, to avoid further weakening the prime minister.
The bolder version, advocated by some in the Treasury, would fire a missile directly at No 10 because it would show divisions in the Brexit strategy at the heart of government only a few days before negotiations are due to start.
Theresa May will face Cabinet resignations if she gives in to demands from Philip Hammond to water down Brexit, senior Tories warned last night …
A senior Tory source said at least three cabinet ministers were prepared to quit if the prime minister bowed to the demands of her chancellor. International trade secretary Liam Fox has told friends his job would be pointless if the UK stayed inside the customs union.
The source said: ‘There is a co-ordinated operation going on, led by Philip Hammond, that is designed to destabilise the Prime Minister.
‘What they are risking now is creating open warfare in the Tory Party. If Hammond gets his way then you will get Cabinet resignations.’
Top Cabinet ministers today fought a major Brexit dust up with Theresa May in a bid to force her to rejig her negotiating strategy.
Chancellor Philip Hammond joined forces with Home Secretary Amber Rudd to demand the weakened PM prioritise jobs over tough immigration controls
With just five days to go before exit talks formally begin, the senior ministers – who backed Remain – also insisted Mrs May take account of last week’s disastrous general election result to shift to “a more pragmatic approach” to them ...
A senior government source said of the meeting: “Philip expressed some strong views, and Amber backed him all the way.
“Nobody is trying to reverse the EU referendum - we are leaving and everyone is fully committed to that.
“But this election has changed an awful lot, so Philip believes we need to fundamentally reassess where we are.”
Updated
There will be a ministerial statement in parliament on the Grenfell Tower fire in parliament this afternoon, the BBC’s Norman Smith is reporting.
Govt Statement on #grenfelltower tragedy in Parliament this afternoon
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) June 15, 2017
Govt statement on #grenfelltower likely take place in Commons committee room
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) June 15, 2017
Theresa May is expected to visit Grenfell Tower this morning, according to the BBC’s Katy Searle.
Sources have told the BBC the PM will visit the scene at Grenfell fire this morning
— Katy Searle (@KatySearle) June 15, 2017
Parliament is not sitting at the moment - MPs are still being sworn in - but yesterday John Bercow suggested that a minister would hold a meeting with MPs somewhere on the precincts of parliament to take questions about the fire. But the Home Office, which is responsible for fire service matters, is not sure that a meeting will take place. A source said that Nick Hurd, the fire minister, did speak with some MPs yesterday, and that Bercow might have referring to that when he made his comments.
John Healey, the shadow housing minister, has said a minister should make a statement to MPs today. My colleague Matthew Weaver has more on Healey’s comments here on the Grenfell Tower fire live blog.
Labour MP David Lammy says Grenfell Tower fire amounts to 'corporate manslaughter'
Mostly I won’t be writing about the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy on Politics Live because we are covering it on a separate live blog, which you can read here.
But the catastrophe has already generated a political argument about who might be to blame, and on the Today programme a few minutes ago the Labour MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, said that what happened amounted to “corporate manslaughter”
Lammy said that a close friend of his family, Khadija Saye, and her mother Mary were missing in Grenfell Tower. Saye, a 24-year-old artist, worked for Lammy’s wife, who is also an artist. Lammy said she was “a beautiful young woman with an amazing career ahead of her”. He had heard nothing from her, he said. “Obviously as the seconds pass we grow more sad and bleak at every second,” he said.
He was hoping she was in hospital, he said, “and not perished in the building as I suspect hundreds will have done by the end of this count”.
He also that the fact that those living in the tower block were predominantly poor was a factor in what happened.
This is the richest borough in our country treating its citizens in this way and we should call it what it is. It is corporate manslaughter. That’s what it is. And there should be arrests made, frankly. It is an outrage.
Many of use across the country have been caught up in an election knocking on housing estate doors, travelling up to the top floors of tower blocks, and we know as politicians that the conditions in this country are unacceptable.
We build buildings in the 70s. Those 70s buildings, many of them should be demolished. They have not got easy fire escapes. They have got no sprinklers. It is totally, totally unacceptable in Britain that this is allowed to happen and that people lose their lives in this way. People should be held to account.
Updated
Good morning. I’m taking over from Graham.
It had been thought that the main candidates in the Lib Dem leadership contest would be Jo Swinson and Sir Vince Cable. But the BBC’s Norman Smith has been told they might not stand.
Am told likely contenders in @LibDems leadership will be @normanlamb and Ed Davey
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) June 15, 2017
Am told @vincecable cd takeover leadership of @LibDems on temporary basis as caretaker leader
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) June 15, 2017
Our colleague Jessica Elgot has analysed Farron’s leadership here and those questions about his faith that kept cropping up. Here’s a bit of it:
In the crucial first week of the general election campaign however, Farron’s real chance to make an impression on the public was dogged with questions over his attitude to gay sex. Initially he attempted to deflect the question by insisting he was not a religious philosopher. When he finally sat down with the BBC’s Eleanor Garnier in an intervention to clarify he did not believe gay sex was a sin, the damage had been done.
He later faced questions too on his attitude to abortion, faced with a copy of an old interview he gave with a Salvation army magazine where he said the procedure was “wrong”. He acted far more decisively, insisting he was “pro-choice” and the time limit on abortion should be set by science.
Meanwhile the shockwaves in Liberal Democrat circles over the resignation of leader Tim Farron are still being felt.
As you will see from our round up below Farron quit yesterday saying: “The consequences of the focus on my faith is that I have found myself torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader.
“To be a political leader - especially of a progressive, liberal party in 2017 - and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible for me.”
Former Lib Dem deputy leader Sir Simon Hughes has been on Radio 4’s Today programme and called Farron’s statement “brave and honourable”.
“He said very clearly he had become the subject of suspicion because of what I believe or what my faith is ... and it would be the same for people of other faiths who have strong faith views.
“Where there are issues which are very controversial within that faith community it became unfairly difficult that Tim was put in the firing line and felt that he couldn’t adequately do justice to his faith while upholding the liberal values which he has argued for all his life.”
No room for politics on the front pages of the papers today. They all lead on the Grenfell Tower fire so all Brexit and post-election headlines have been, for a day at least, shelved.
The Telegraph though has an interesting enough Brexit story snuck away on its website. It’s behind a premium paywall but basically says that Theresa May is considering offering a ‘sweetener’ to Brussels as talks with the EU negotiator are set to start.
That sweetener is that EU citizens already in the UK may be able to keep the right to bring their non-EU spouses into Britain after Brexit - something which not even UK citizens can do. Apparently this forms “part of a generous package of measures that aim to kick-start Brexit negotiations in Brussels on Monday,” the paper says.
Good morning and welcome to politics live on a day when the goings-on in Westminster will inevitably be overshadowed by the grim aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.
Here is where we stand in the political world:
The Conservatives and the DUP have been holding back their expected announcement of a minority government deal due to the tragic events in west London. Theresa May also wants time for talks with Sinn Féin and other Northern Ireland parties because of potential implications for power-sharing in Stormont. She is expected to meet parties today at Downing Street.
The Queen’s speech also looks set to be put back from Monday. Jeremy Corbyn has said it was a “nonsense situation” for the country not to know when it will have a functioning government and parliament.
The Liberal Democrats are looking for a new leader after Tim Farron said yesterday he will step down because of persistent questioning over his Christian beliefs. “I am passionate about defending the rights and liberties of people who believe very different things to me,” said Farron, adding that he had never sought to impose his faith on people through politics but it had nonetheless made him the subject of suspicion. Successors are being discussed as a leadership election looms during the summer recess.
Corbyn meanwhile has carried out a light-touch reshuffle of his Labour shadow cabinet, including adding former critic Owen Smith in the Northern Ireland portfolio. Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, loses the job of party chair, which goes to ex-miner Ian Lavery who co-chaired the election campaign.
And later tonight Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to lay out this vision of a business-friendly Brexit at a speech at the Mansion House.
Updated
