GCHQ: MI5 to appoint first female spy chief in its 100-year history April 11, 2023 A woman will become the boss of GCHQ for the first time in its more than 100-year history when the current director steps down next month. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced that Anne Keast-Butler has been appointed to succeed Sir Jeremy Fleming as head of the government’s intelligence organisation. Keast-Butler, currently MI5’s deputy director-general, will [...]
Home Office boss quits and will sue government over Priti Patel feud February 29, 2020 The Home Office’s most senior civil servant has resigned and intends to sue the government after being the “target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign”. In a resignation statement, Sir Philip Rutnam confirmed reports of a bitter feud with Home Secretary Priti Patel whose behaviour has “created fear”, he said. Rutnam and Patel previously [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Energy strategy won’t push prices down for years to come April 11, 2022 When asked about the effect the newly unveiled energy strategy would have on prices, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng replied“the impact could be very soon”. By very soon, he specified, he meant three or four years. Now, we know a transition to sustainable energy produced here takes time. No government could simply do some magic and [...]
Kwarteng says ‘help is coming’ as energy price cap looks set to exceed £6,000 next year August 21, 2022 Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said that more support for households to cope with rising energy bills is on its way, as forecasters predict the energy price cap will exceed £6,000 in April next year. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Kwarteng said: “Russia is the world’s largest natural gas producer. By deliberately restricting exports, [...]
Only two new onshore wind turbines were built in England last year, reigniting calls for planning reform February 6, 2023 Just two onshore wind turbines were installed in England last year, as the industry awaits pledged planning reforms for new projects.
Brexit: UK confirms plans for Kent ‘passport’ for lorry drivers October 8, 2020 The government has confirmed today that lorries entering Kent from other parts of Great Britain will need a special ID from 1 January 2021 and that EU citizens entering the country will need to use a passport when coming to the UK from October. The new “Kent access permit” will be needed for lorry drivers [...]
Truss has 32-point lead over Sunak in latest poll of Tory members August 17, 2022 Liz Truss is still leading Rishi Sunak by 32 points in the latest poll of Tory members as the foreign secretary inches closer to becoming Prime Minister. The ConservativeHome poll, out today, showed Truss was on 60 per cent and Sunak was on 28 per cent. The latest result is consistent with a string of [...]
UK arrivals face £1,000 fine if they break two-week quarantine rule May 22, 2020 People arriving in the UK will be fined £1,000 if they refuse to obey a new two-week quarantine rule that will be rolled out to help halt the spread of coronavirus. Home secretary Priti Patel today confirmed that from 8 June anyone arriving in the country will be told to self-isolate for 14 days. Passengers [...]
UK civil servants to have computers monitored to get people back to office September 13, 2022 Whitehall civil servants will have their computers monitored in a bid to get people back to the office permanently post-Covid. Civil servants in the Cabinet Office, which has around 2,700 staff, have been told that management will monitor how often they log on to their computers to track how much they work from home. It [...]
Women’s World Cup final: ‘We wouldn’t think twice for the men’ so open pubs early for Lionesses, councils urged August 18, 2023 Pubs across England are hoping a minister’s letter to councils across England means venues can open early for the World Cup final on Sunday. 4.6m people tuned in on a working day to watch the Lionesses progress to their first World Cup final with the win being the most-watched game of the tournament so far. [...]