Tag: Gavin Williamson

7.16pm MPs back the amendment by 312 votes to 308, defeating the government. 7.42pm Tory whips attempt to force MPs to vote against the amended motion they had effectively already backed. 8.09pm Sarah Newton, a junior pensions minister, resigns after defying the whip to vote against the government. And then a separate group of cabinet ministers, David Mundell, Greg Clark, Amber Rudd and David Gauke, abstained in the face of a three-line whip, rather than vote against the amended motion taking no deal off the table. One MP described the prime minister’s deal during Tuesday’s debate as a “turd”. Which Tory MPs defied the government on the no-deal Brexit vote? Parliament just said we are not going to leave, effectively. We have got to the point where if cabinet ministers can’t vote for a long-term government position on Brexit on a three-line whip they have to go, frankly. If May doesn’t [sack them] I think we are in total freefall.” Bradley added: “The prime minister needs to lead, frankly and show that there are consequences for defying the whip.” Simon Clarke, another Brexiter, said he was “angry and bewildered at having a gun to my head for a wretched deal. Brexit chaos in the Commons: what just happened?

The defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, was at the centre of a growing cabinet row on Saturday night as senior government sources blamed him for offending the Chinese and causing the cancellation of a crucial trade visit to Beijing by the chancellor, Philip Hammond. Senior Conservatives said it was time to rein in Williamson, who has earned the nickname Private Pike in Whitehall after a series of gaffes. Treasury insiders said comments the defence secretary had made in a speech last week about sending the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific had caused such “clear irritation” in Beijing that the trip scheduled for this weekend could not take place. But sources confirmed that Williamson’s clumsy and undiplomatic language had caused real upset that had been relayed back to London by the Chinese authorities. The result was that a visit that been planned for many weeks – and that would have focused on opening up Chinese markets to UK exports – has been put off until the diplomatic damage is repaired. The remarks incensed the Chinese just days before Hammond was due to arrive for a series of meetings, including one with the Chinese vice premier, Hu Chunhua. Williamson said in his speech that the UK was prepared to use lethal force to deter countries that flout international law – an apparent reference to China’s expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea. Lord Patten said China should be welcomed to the global economic community, although it should play by the same rules as everyone else. He stressed that a careful diplomatic balance had to be struck: “You don’t win deals by cowering whenever China gets cross, nor on the other hand does stamping a foot persuade the Chinese that we are more important than we are.” Another senior Tory said Theresa May should issue an order to “pipe down, Private Pike”. The chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on China, the Tory MP Richard Graham, said: “The crucial thing is that we do need to engage with China, and we do need to be sensitive with the tone, and I suspect that is where the issue is at the moment.” Steve Tsang, the director of the School of Oriental and African Studies’ China Institute, said: “It is a silly thing for Gavin Williamson to have said, particularly when there is no compelling reason to say it now and the ship he was referring to is not even ready to send.” But he added that there was nothing wrong, in principle, with a navy vessel sailing in the South China Sea.

Brexit represents an opportunity for Britain to boost its global military standing in response to the threats posed by Russia and China, the defence secretary will say in a notably combative address at a defence thinktank. Gavin Williamson intends to argue in a speech at the Royal United Services Institute on Monday that a post-Brexit UK should redefine its role as a global power prepared to intervene against countries that “flout international law”, backed up by new military technologies and capabilities. The cabinet minister, who is increasingly keen to talk up Brexit at a time when a deal is elusive, is expected to say leaving the EU will allow the UK “to consider how we not only project but maximise our influence around the world in the months and years to come”. Japanese PM implores Britain not to leave EU without a deal Read more Williamson is expected to conclude: “Brexit has brought us to a great moment in our history. The defence secretary wants the UK to step up its presence in Asia with a new military base – a generation after Harold Wilson retreated from “east of Suez” – and will confirm that the first of Britain’s next-generation aircraft carriers, the Queen Elizabeth, will tour the Pacific as part of its maiden voyage in around 2021. Last September a British warship, the HMS Albion, sailed close to islands claimed by China in an attempt to demonstrate that the UK does not recognise claims beyond the internationally agreed 12-mile limit. China described the action as provocative. “This is why ‘global Britain’ needs to be much more than a pithy phrase. “And our armed forces represent the best of global Britain in action: action to oppose those who flout international law; and action, on occasion, that may lead to us intervene ourselves.” The minister will confirm that cash – understood to be in the tens of millions – will be set aside for investment in offensive and defence cyberwarfare capability to contend with a threat associated with Russia and China, confirming reports from last September that the number of specialist hackers will increase from 500 to 2,000. “Instead of simply engaging in yet more sabre-rattling, Gavin Williamson should get to grips with the crisis in defence funding that is happening on his watch,” she said.

It gives the party’s chief whip an automatic seat at the top table in Downing Street because Theresa May has to rely him to steer Brexit through an increasingly hostile House of Commons. With 94 Tories claiming they will vote down May’s final deal, the scale of the task ahead of Smith in the run up to the meaningful final vote on 11 December is, colleagues acknowledge, considerable. In the short time since, “the chief”, as his staff call him, has become one of May’s most important advisers, alongside Gavin Barwell, her chief of staff, and Peter Hill, her private secretary, helping with not just keeping the party’s 315 MPs in line but shaping wider political strategy. Chief whips are meant to be seen but not heard, but a fortnight ago, as the first phase of the Brexit deal was concluded and ministers were threatening to resign, the loyal Smith was in Downing Street telling reporters that May had “worked day in and day out” and “stuck with it through a really, really tough year or two”. When it comes to the party’s rebellious backbenchers, however, Smith has yet to get stuck in, although some say this is reflective of an attempt to take a “softly softly” approach. A key tactic for the Brexit vote is to allow all the other options to be voted on via MPs submitting amendments, and let them fail first, forcing MPs to consider May’s deal as the only realistic option on the table. The Smith argument is that none of the various alternatives command a majority in the Commons. The job of the government whips is to get the prime minister’s business through the Commons, monitoring the mood of backbenchers, picking up concerns early, soothing, persuading and threatening where necessary to ensure MPs troop through the division lobbies behind the party leader. There are also two actual whips on Smith’s Downing Street office mantelpiece – one with a bone handle and the other black leather with metal studs. The Yorkshire MP entered the government as a junior whip in 2015 and was promoted to become deputy a year later, where he caught the eye of the new prime minister.

But a source familiar with the negotiations said there is no chance of the Treasury, faced with a promised rise in NHS spending and other demands on the budget, conceding any more cash to the Ministry of Defence. The Financial Times reported on Thursday that May, at a Downing Street meeting, had asked Williamson to justify the UK being a “tier-one” country. Despite denials from Downing Street, a source familiar with the meeting said on Thursday that May had questioned whether the UK needed all these capabilities. “We will continue to spend 2% of our GDP on defence. We will continue to contribute in a whole variety of ways across conventional, cyber and nuclear capabilities.” May hinted she was content with the status quo on defence spending. The MoD is still hoping to secure some more money in the next few weeks, and, failing that, in the autumn. However, the source said the best the MoD could hope for was a token rise in spending in autumn or early next year, though nothing close to the billions Williamson was seeking. While the Treasury is reported to be sympathetic to a rise for the military, it is concerned about the impact of pay rises across the public sector and looking for a compromise from Williamson. Stoltenberg, speaking in London, said he wanted the UK to maintain at least its current spending level on defence, 2.1% of GDP, just above the 2% Nato minimum. Faced with a £20bn funding shortfall over the next decade, the MoD claims it can make savings through efficiency.

I look forward to working with her as we strive to create a city that leaves no Londoner behind https://t.co/GkRZSWEiUG The Press Association has helpfully written up a transcript of the Richard Madeley interview with Gavin Williamson. GW: I’d like to pay tribute to the health service personnel who did an amazing job... RM: No sorry, could you answer the question? Could you answer that question, please? Do you regret telling Russia to shut up and go away’? Mr Williamson, please answer the question. Mr Williamson, you are just not answering the question. Could you please answer that question? GW: Well, I think that what everyone saw is Russia’s actions against our citizens in a city here in the United Kingdom... RM: Yes, you’re telling us what we know. We know what happened in Salisbury, we know how atrocious it was, we know how close these people came to death. The question is - I’ll try it one more time - do you regret using very casual Trump-esque language like ‘shut up and go away’?

(@BBCNewsNI) Sinn Féin's Barry McElduff resigns as MP for West Tyrone over Kingsmill Twitter video: https://t.co/Kaak0EWkZ3 pic.twitter.com/9bpC5qXQoD January 15, 2018 Good morning. The Guardian print edition relaunches today as a tabloid and the website has been redesigned too. There have been two breaking news stories on the go this morning. Bolton has been doing a round of interviews this morning, and on the Today programme found himself answering a series of very un-Today questions about quite when he shacked up with the racist text messages model and when his estranged wife first found out about it. 10.30am: Nicola Sturgeon gives a speech on Brexit as her government publishes its Brexit impact analysis. 2.30pm: Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, takes questions in the Commons. 3.30pm: A minister is expected to make a Commons statement about Carillion. 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. Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all.