Afternoon summary
- Amber Rudd’s insistence that she knew nothing of Home Office targets for immigration removals risks unravelling following the leak of a secret internal document prepared for her and other senior ministers. As Nick Hopkins reports, the six-page memo, passed to the Guardian, says the department has set “a target of achieving 12,800 enforced returns in 2017-18” and boasts that “we have exceeded our target of assisted returns”. It adds that progress has been made on a “path towards the 10% increased performance on enforced returns, which we promised the home secretary earlier this year”.
- Woody Johnson, the American ambassador to the UK, has said that President Trump is “thick-skinned” and will definitely come to London when he visits the UK, despite the threat of large protests in the capital. (See 9.02am.)
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Have a good weekend.
This is from the Labour MP Chris Bryant, referring to his private member’s bill. (See 2.47pm.)
Really pleased my #ProtectTheProtectors Bill has just passed its final hurdle in the Commons. It goes to the Lords now and with any luck should be on the statute book by this autumn.
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) April 27, 2018
Marc Wadsworth says he has been told Corbyn thinks he did nothing wrong
At his briefing with the journalists after being expelled form Labour, the activist Marc Wadwsorth said he had been told that Jeremy Corbyn thought he had done nothing wrong. Wadsworth said:
I have been in touch with [Corbyn’s] office and been in touch with the leadership, yes. You’ll see at the launch of the Chakrabarti report, we are chatting as old friends and comrades, I knew Jeremy before he was elected to parliament, when he was a trade union official and he was talking to me about a text that he’d sent me.
The first letter I got, cancelling my membership summarily, was based on an alleged verbal attack on a member of the Parliamentary Labour party which was uncomradely, brought the party into disrepute and embarrassed the leader.
Well, the leader has told mutual friends he wasn’t embarrassed because he doesn’t see that I did anything wrong.
When [Corbyn’s office] called me on the first day of the hearing, they said to me that they had been working behind the scenes, that what I said wasn’t antisemitic.
But then you have to interpose that with the fact that Jeremy did have a bit of a go at me at the launch of the Chakrabarti report and said that perhaps I could have used kinder language.
Asked who from Corbyn’s team had been in touch with him, he said: “I’m not going to get into names.”
A private member’s bill that will make assaulting an emergency worker a specific offence has been passed by the House of Commons. The assaults on emergency workers (offences) bill, which was introduced by the Labour MP Chris Bryant, passed its third reading a few minutes ago and will now go to the House of Lords.
As this briefing paper explains, in England and Wales there are already specific offences relating to assaulting on-duty police officers, prison officers, and immigration officers. The Bryant bill, which has government support, would make assaulting any emergency worker a specific offence, as well as allowing the courts to treat the fact a victim is an emergency worker as an aggravating factor in relation to general assault charges.
During today’s debate the justice minister Rory Stewart said the government would accept an amendment to the bill tabled by Bryant making being an emergency worker as an aggravating factor in cases of sexual assault.
But the government declined to accept another Bryant amendment saying spitting at emergency workers should be considered common assault. Stewart said spitting could already be prosecuted as common assault and that the Bryant proposal would make it harder to prosecute those who spit at people who are not emergency service workers.
On Fridays I normally flag up the results of local council byelections. But there weren’t any this week.
Next week, though, we’ve got the local elections.
No council by-elections today.
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) April 26, 2018
Next week we have elections with 4,425 seats up for grabs!
Previews and briefings out soon.
My colleague Jessica Elgot has more from the Marc Wadsworth press briefing.
Wadsworth claims in a press conference that Corbyn’s team were in touch with him on the first day of the hearing to offer support. Won’t go into specifics.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) April 27, 2018
Marc Wadsworth has told journalists that the complaints about him are part of a concerted campaign to undermine Jeremy Corbyn, my colleague Jessica Elgot reports.
Marc Wadsworth speaking now on College Greeen - says it is part of a concerted campaign to undermine Jeremy Corbyn pic.twitter.com/TnExm9nflW
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) April 27, 2018
Wadsworth says he is considering legal action to challenge his expulsion
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) April 27, 2018
Labour peer Lord Bassam ordered to repay £15,737 in expenses
A Labour peer who quit as the party’s chief whip in the Lords in an expense claims row has been ordered to repay £15,737 in travel claims. As the Press Association reports, Lord Bassam of Brighton referred himself to the standards watchdog after newspaper allegations that he had wrongly claimed allowances. The independent House of Lords commissioner for standards, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, found he had breached the code of conduct but had not acted dishonestly. The Lords committee for privileges and conduct backed her finding, and said Bassam should repay the money.
Here is the committee’s report (pdf), including the commissioner’s findings. And here is a summary from the committee.
The commissioner investigated the case and saw no reason why Lord Bassam should not claim Lords office-holders allowance as his home is outside London and he was therefore eligible to claim the allowance at the higher out of London rate.
The commissioner found that Lord Bassam should have used the office-holders allowance to cover some of his daily travel costs and therefore should not have claimed as much in Lords travel allowances as he did. In so claiming, Lord Bassam breached provisions in the House of Lords code of conduct requiring members to “act in accordance with any rules agreed by the House in respect of financial support for members or the facilities of the House.”
The commissioner found that there was a lack of clarity and guidance surrounding the relationship between the Lords office-holders allowance and Lords travel allowance. She concluded that although Lord Bassam broke the code of conduct by making the claims he did so mistakenly not dishonestly, and therefore did not breach provisions requiring Members to act on their personal honour.
In its report the privileges and conduct committee endorses the commissioner’s finding that Lord Bassam should repay £15,737 in overclaimed travel allowance and recommend that he should write a letter of apology to the committee. Lord Bassam has written to the committee to apologise and arrangements have been made for the money to be repaid. The committee for privileges and conduct has sought reassurance that guidance will be clarified and procedures altered to ensure no similar confusion can arise in the future.
And here is a statement on the Marc Wadsworth expulsion from Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
Marc Wadsworth's expulsion from the Labour party is a step in the right direction.
— Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) April 27, 2018
We express our full solidarity with @RuthSmeeth.
Our full statement from @BoDPres below.#EnoughisEnough#ActionsnotWords pic.twitter.com/Vod48c4kWA
The Labour MP Ruth Smeeth has tweeted her response to the expulsion of Marc Wadsworth. (See 12.31pm.)
My statement on today's NCC decision: pic.twitter.com/EY7uyhjyh7
— Ruth Smeeth MP (@RuthSmeeth) April 27, 2018
Updated
At the morning lobby briefing, the prime minister’s spokesman was asked whether Theresa May had a message for those thinking of protesting against the Trump visit. “We have a vital and strong relationship with the US; but obviously we are a free and open democracy,” he said.
He was also questioned about the US ambassador’s remarks on Trump’s Scottish roots. (See 11.38am.) He responded (with tongue firmly in cheek):
I think it’s fair to say that we recognise the excellent characteristics of the Scottish people and the contribution they make to the United Kingdom as a whole.
More seriously, there was a hint that the government could be preparing to cave in on the issue of forcing overseas tax havens to reveal more information about the ultimate ownership of companies based there.
The government has introduced a publicly-available register of “beneficial ownership”, aimed at increasing transparency and cracking down on tax evasion. But campaigners complain that Britain’s overseas territories have not been forced to follow suit - and instead have only pledged to make the information available to the UK authorities.
Margaret Hodge and Andrew Mitchell have tabled a cross-party amendment to the sanctions and money-laundering bill, currently making its way through the Commons, which would force overseas territories to comply — and appears to have broad support.
The PM’s spokesman said:
We’re looking at this amendment. We want to analyse its effectiveness. This is an important issue and one we want to get right.
He reminded journalists that overseas territories with significant financial centres had already “committed to making the information available to the UK”; but campaigners say the information should be made public, so that researchers and activists can track the origin of funds and expose corruption.
Marc Wadsworth expelled from Labour
Labour activist Marc Wadsworth has been expelled from the party, accused of bringing Labour into disrepute after a confrontation with Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth at an antisemitism inquiry launch.
The conclusion of the case comes 22 months after the first complaint was made against the activist.
Wadsworth first came to prominence after he challenged Smeeth at a the launch of Shami Chakrabati’s inquiry into antisemitism in 2016, accusing her of working “hand in hand” with a Telegraph journalist.
Smeeth has said she was reduced to tears by his remarks. Wadsworth, who was distributing flyers at the event, has said he did not know Smeeth was Jewish.
Wadsworth’s case was heard by the NCC, Labour’s highest disciplinary body which has the power to expel members.
A Labour party spokesperson said:
The NCC of the Labour party has found that two charges of a breach of the Labour Party’s rule 2.1.8 by Marc Wadsworth have been proven.
The NCC consequently determined that the sanction for this breach of Labour party rules will be expulsion from membership.
This is from my colleague Jessica Elgot.
Breaking: Marc Wadsworth expelled from the Labour Party - after his confrontation with Ruth Smeeth at the Chakrabarti anti-semitism launch
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) April 27, 2018
Updated
Trump's style explained by his Scottish ancestry, says ambassador
Here is more from the American ambassador’s interview with LBC this morning about the Trump visit. I’ve taken the quotes from the Press Association.
-
Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to London, said President Trump “really wants” to meet the Queen when he comes to the UK.
I think he really wants to meet the Queen.
I think he has a really positive view, he knows that the value-added of the royal family and what they bring to the table is enormous. You can really see it from an American perspective maybe even clearer than you can see it here.
- Johnson suggested that Trump might be able to win round the London mayor Sadiq Khan and the Commons speaker John Bercow, who have both been very critical of Trump. He said:
I think Mayor Khan and the speaker might realise he has the potential to bring so much to the table, particularly during Brexit and after Brexit, on the prosperity agenda and the military agenda, they might change their opinion.
- He said that Trump’s style could be explained by his Scottish ancestry. (Trump’s mother was Scottish.) Johnson said:
The Scots are tough and argumentative. All the things he brings to the table to the American people come from Scotland.
Updated
My colleague Heather Stewart has been at the Number 10 lobby briefing. This is what Downing Street is saying about the growth figures. (See 11.15am.)
PM’s spokesman says today’s weak GDP figures (0.1% growth in Q1) are “clearly disappointing”; but “the fundamentals of our economy are sound” (copyright G Brown).
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) April 27, 2018
Economic growth slows to just 0.1%
In the first three months of this year UK growth slowed to just 0.1%, the Office for National Statistics has announced. My colleague Graeme Wearden has much more on his business live blog.
Blunkett refuses to back calls for Rudd to resign
David Blunkett, the Labour former home secretary, told the Today programme this morning that he did not support calls for Amber Rudd to resign. Jeremy Corbyn and other senior Labour figures have said she should quit. But Blunkett told the programme:
On this occasion it would appear, and I like her a lot and I don’t think she should resign because I don’t think it is a resigning matter, but I would like to know from Amber Rudd whether she did her homework, because it is pretty basic stuff when you appear in Parliament or in front of a select committee to be able to answer the questions.
Blunkett said that “imbalancing” the Brexit balance in the cabinet “would not be in the best interests of the country”. He went on:
On a purely party political old-style jungle fight, if I thought this would actually change the government then I might consider it, but actually I don’t believe it would. I think it would be damaging to those of us who want at least some sane voices inside the cabinet.
Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London who is currently suspended from Labour over alleged antisemitism, told LBC this morning that he did not want to discuss the issue because it was “a complete diversion”. He said:
I’m not discussing anti-Semitism until after the election is all out the way because it is a complete diversion. We had this last year in the run-up to the local elections then. We had it two years ago in the run-up to the election of Sadiq Khan. It didn’t damage us at the last two local elections but it is a complete diversion. Every Labour MP should just be focused now on getting out the Labour vote and winning council seats.
Rudd's claim not to know about immigration removal targets 'disingenuous', says former border agency chief
In an interview with the Today programme this morning Rob Whiteman, chief executive of the UK Border Agency from 2011 to 2013, said that he thought Amber Rudd’s claim to have not known about immigration removal targets was “disingenuous”.
Speaking about his time at the agency, he said:
There are targets. All public services, whether immigration or education or hospitals or the criminal justice system, operate on targets in order that staff can know what’s expected to happen in a particular year.
Targets are set operationally by managers but, of course, ministers would know there are targets. They are intelligent people and they will see performance reports, bids to Treasury for resources, the departmental plan which would cover the targets that are being set for individual services.
Fair’s fair, ministers could say we don’t actually set these targets, they are being set by the operations but I think it is disingenuous, surely, to suggest that they don’t know that they exist because they will have seen them in performance reports and other internal documents.
Boris Johnson warns people not to be 'over-optimistic' about where Korea summit will lead
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary (and an enthusiast for the Trump visit), is in Brussels today for a meeting of Nato foreign ministers. In comments released in advance, he said he hoped his colleagues would use the meeting to maintain pressure on Russia after the Salisbury nerve agent attack. He said:
This is the first Nato foreign ministerial since the attempted murder in Salisbury, and the chemical weapons attack in Syria. It is a key moment to discuss Russia with foreign ministers of all 29 allies.
At the July summit Nato will take decisions on how to enhance its deterrence and defence. Nato’s ability to react quickly has already been demonstrated by the alliance’s swift response to both the attack in Salisbury and in Syria, and by its show of solidarity with the UK’s actions. We have seen similar support from the EU and the G7. We must now maintain momentum and hold Russia to account for its reckless and destabilising behaviour.
And, in comments to reporters this morning, he said he was “encouraged” by the meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea but that people should not get “over-optimistic” about where it would lead. He said:
I am very encouraged by what’s happening ...
I don’t think that anybody looking at the history of North Korea’s plans to develop a nuclear weapon would want to be over-optimistic at this point. But it is clearly good news that the two leaders are meeting. Absolutely.
We have got full coverage of the Korea summit here, in a live blog by my colleague Hannah Ellis-Petersen.
'Thick-skinned' Trump will 'definitely' visit London despite protests, says US ambassador
The White House announcement that President Trump will visit London in July has made some of the newspaper front pages and the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail are both splashing on stories saying that Trump will mostly avoid London when he comes, to stop the visit being disrupted by protests. “There won’t be anything where he can be publicly shouted out,” one minister told the Financial Times.
Friday's Daily Telegraph: "Trump to meet the Queen" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) April 26, 2018
(via @AllieHBNews)pic.twitter.com/VpGOE4Jvoo
Friday’s Daily MAIL: “Trump Faces London Ban” #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/6pFX10qapn
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) April 26, 2018
But in an interview with LBC this morning, Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK, said the president would “definitely be coming to London” and that the prospect of demonstrations would not deter him. Johnson said:
He’s very thick-skinned. He knows what he wants to do and he speaks in a very clear and unusual way from most politicians.
Most politicians don’t weigh it out the way he does and so he is going to get a lot of criticism for that as people interpret where he is taking everything.
But I think in the end, people are starting to, even now, realise that where he is going is a good direction.
It is a relatively quiet day at Westminster, but I’m sure the political news won’t dry up. As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web.
You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.
Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.
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