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Andrew ‘impolite, boastful and entitled man’ who couldn’t distinguish between public and private curiosity, says Bryant
Bryant turned to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Colleagues and lots of civil servants have advised me their very own tales of their interactions with Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, they usually all betray the identical sample: a person on a continuing self-aggrandising and self-enriching hustle, a impolite, boastful and entitled man who couldn’t distinguish between the general public curiosity which he mentioned he served, and his personal non-public curiosity.
He mentioned he recalled Mountbatten-Windsor visiting Tonypandy to fulfill sea cadets.
They had been completely delighted and excited to fulfill a member of the Royal household, however he insisted on coming by helicopter, not like his mom, who got here twice to the Rhondda and all the time got here by automobile. He left early and he confirmed subsequent to no real interest in the younger folks.
Bryant mentioned that was not a criminal offense, “neither is conceitedness – fortuitously, I suppose”, he added, in a self-deprecating joke.
Key occasions
Alex Burghart, the shadow Cupboard Workplace minister, adopted Chris Bryant within the debate. He mentioned that this was the second time just lately the federal government was being pressured to conform to the publication of inside papers due to a humble tackle movement tabled by an oppostion occasion, and he mentioned the federal government was solely doing the appropriate factor as a result of it was being “pushed each step of the best way”.
Bryant mentioned the work that Mountbatten-Windsor did as a commerce envoy was fairly totally different from the work being executed by commerce envoys now. He mentioned they had been all MPs or friends, they usually had been below the identical obligations as ministers of their commerce envoy duties.
He mentioned he was “enormously grateful” to them for the work they did.
And he ended his speech saying:
One of many core ideas of our constitutional system is the rule of legislation. That implies that everyone seems to be equal below the legislation and no one is above the legislation.
I share the anger, the disgust, expressed by many on the alleged behaviour of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
What we’re seeing now’s a full, truthful and correct course of by which this situation is investigated by the police and in that investigation they’ll, in fact, have the federal government’s unwavering cooperation and help.
In direction of the tip of his speech Bryant returned to his level concerning the authorities backing the Lib Dem movement. However he mentioned nothing ought to be printed till the police investigation is over if it’d prejudice the police investigation.
The federal government will, in fact, adjust to the phrases of the standard tackle in full. As I say, we help the movement.
However because the Home will know, there’s a stay police investigation into the previous Duke of York after his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace …
Because the police have rightly mentioned, it’s completely essential that the integrity of their investigation is protected and, now these proceedings are below means, it might be improper of me to say something which may prejudice them, nor will the federal government be capable to put into the general public area something that’s required by the police for them to conduct their inquiries until and till the police are happy.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem chief, intervened when Bryant was talking to answer his level about folks defending Andrew in 2011. (See 1.49pm.) He mentioned that he had apologised. And he mentioned that different folks in authorities on the time (Davey was a junior minister within the coalition then) may need recognized greater than he did.
Bryant says Tory ministers and outstanding journalists had been defending Andrew in 2011 when warning indicators already clear
In a reference to Ed Davey (see 9.06am), Bryant mentioned that there have been some folks now saying, close to Mountbatten-Windsor, “if solely we had recognized then what we all know now”. He went on:
However I’m afraid that with me that doesn’t wash. We did even have loads of warning.
I known as on the then prime minister, David Cameron, to dispense with the companies of the then Duke of York on this chamber on 28 February 2011 due to his shut friendship with Saif Gaddafi, as has simply been referred to, and [a] convicted Libyan gun smuggler. I used to be rebuked by Speaker Bercow then for doing so as a result of references to members of the royal household ought to be very uncommon, very sparing and really respectful.
(Bryant is true to say he was warning about Andrew 15 years in the past. I coated this on the time on the stay weblog.)
Bryant mentioned he repeatedly known as for Andrew to lose his commerce envoy job, over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the mysteriously extreme fee he obtained for the sale of his house, amongst different causes.
However he mentioned David Cameron, the then PM, Theresa Might, the then house secretary, and lots of others defended Andrew.
He mentioned that John Humphrys, the broadcaster, advised him on the Right this moment programme on the time that Epstein “wasn’t fairly a paedophile, drawing a distinction between sexual abuse of prepubescent and different kids”. And he mentioned that Dominic Lawson additionally defended Andrew in his Sunday Occasions column, making “the identical distinction between Epstein’s involvement with teenage ladies and paedophilia since, as he put it, not one of the ladies was prepubescent”. However Lawson “did at the least admit that each had been sordid and exploitative”, Bryant mentioned.
Bryant mentioned this was taking place after the {photograph} of Andrew together with his arm round Virginia Giuffre was printed.
Andrew ‘impolite, boastful and entitled man’ who couldn’t distinguish between public and private curiosity, says Bryant
Bryant turned to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Colleagues and lots of civil servants have advised me their very own tales of their interactions with Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, they usually all betray the identical sample: a person on a continuing self-aggrandising and self-enriching hustle, a impolite, boastful and entitled man who couldn’t distinguish between the general public curiosity which he mentioned he served, and his personal non-public curiosity.
He mentioned he recalled Mountbatten-Windsor visiting Tonypandy to fulfill sea cadets.
They had been completely delighted and excited to fulfill a member of the Royal household, however he insisted on coming by helicopter, not like his mom, who got here twice to the Rhondda and all the time got here by automobile. He left early and he confirmed subsequent to no real interest in the younger folks.
Bryant mentioned that was not a criminal offense, “neither is conceitedness – fortuitously, I suppose”, he added, in a self-deprecating joke.
Bryant says those that turned blind eye to Epstein ‘out of greed, familiarity or deference’ had been complict in his crimes
Bryant opened his speech by saying that abuse suffered by Epstein’s victims was horrific. He mentioned:
The abuse that was enabled, aided and abetted by a really in depth group of boastful, entitled, and infrequently very rich people on this nation and elsewhere.
It’s not simply the individuals who participated within the abuse, it’s the numerous, many extra who turned a blind eye out of greed, familiarity or deference. To my thoughts, they too had been complicit. Simply as complicit. And I welcome the reckoning that’s coming to them now.
I doubt there may be anybody on this Home who will not be shocked and appalled by the latest allegations.
Commerce minister Chris Bryant tells MPs authorities will help Lib Dem movement for publication of Andrew commerce envoy papers
Chris Bryant, the commerce minister, is responding for the federal government.
He began by saying that the federal government will help the movement.
Later in his speech he mentioned that was topic to the caveat that it might not publish something which may prejudice the police inquiry till it was over.
Davey says Epstein tried to make use of Andrew’s commerce envoy job ‘to counterpoint himself’
Davey gave an instance of how Mountbatten-Windsor’s work as a commerce envoy helped his buddy, Jeffrey Epstein.
I wish to spotlight one instance of how Jeffrey Epstein sought to make use of Andrew’s position as commerce envoy to counterpoint himself.
Channel 4 uncovered emails within the Epstein information through which Epstein was making an attempt to fulfill the Libyan dictator Gaddafi within the dying months of the Gaddafi regime, to assist him discover someplace to place his cash.
In different phrases, Epstein seemed on the lethal disaster in Libya and noticed an opportunity to make some cash. And he thought his buddy Andrew might assist.
And that is what it says in one of many emails: “I puzzled if PA might make the intro.”
A couple of weeks later, Andrew wrote again: “Libya mounted.”
Although the Epstein Gaddafi assembly doesn’t seem to have occurred, it does present clearly what these relationships had been all about.
Davey mentioned that the relationships that Andrew and Mandelson had with Epstein had been “a stain” on the fame of the nation. “We should start to scrub away that stain with the disinfectant of transparency,” he mentioned. He urged MPs to debate the movement.
Davey says publication of Andrew paperwork below humble tackle mustn’t jeopardise police inquiry
Davey mentioned he accepted that, if MPs go the standard tackle, nothing ought to be printed which may jeopardise the police investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor.
We don’t need to jeopardise that investigation with something we are saying at the moment. We should let the police get on with their work, particularly for Epstein’s victims, survivors and their households.
Davey mentioned that it has been reported that Peter Mandelson known as for the then Prince Andrew to be made a commerce envoy. He went on:
One buddy of Epstein lobbying for a job for an additional buddy of Epstein, a job which may assist Epstein enrich himself. So we clearly have to resolve that appointment and the position Mandelson himself performed in it. And solely the papers demanded by this emotion will enable us to do this. We want them printed as quickly as potential.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem chief, is opening the controversy for his occasion.
He began by condemning Jeffrey Epstein.
The appalling crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and his associates have rightly shocked the entire world. The size of Epstein’s operation was surprising. Promoting human beings for intercourse, turning a whole lot of younger girls and ladies into victims and survivors. And is these girls who’re on the entrance of our minds at the moment as we lastly search transparency, reality and accountability.
And he complained about the truth that for too lengthy MPs weren’t in a position to criticise members of the royal household within the Commons. He mentioned he got here throughout this in 2011 when he took half in a debate on Andrew. (See 8.38am.) He mentioned that Paul Flynn needed to criticise Andrew, however was not allowed to. Davey mentioned that he was obliged to provide the federal government’s view when he was talking in that debate.
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle urges MPs to train ‘restraint’ in Andrew debate given police investigation
MPs are actually debating the Lib Dem movement on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Initially Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, mentioned it has all the time been potential for MPs to debate the roles topic to sure situations (that they’re debating a substantive movement about them).
He additionally urged MPs to train “a level of restraint” provided that a few of the elements of Mountbatten-Windsor’s work as a commerce envoy are sub judice following his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace.
UK affected by ‘completely unregulated sexual economic system’, says Reform UK’s Danny Kruger, arguing for pro-family coverage
Danny Kruger, the Reform UK MP in control of making ready the occasion for presidency, has complained that Britain has a “completely unregulated sexual economic system”, in an interview highlighting his events help for households.
Kruger, a social conservative and evangelical Christian who defected to Reform from the Tories final 12 months, made the remark in an interview with Politics Residence.
Requested if he thought political events had a task in undoing the sexual revolution, he replied: “A restricted however essential one.” He mentioned that each authorities coverage was “critically essential to the best way households type”.
Kruger defined:
Marriage historically was the means by which sexual relations between women and men had been regulated, and I feel we’re affected by having a very unregulated sexual economic system.
I’m not serious about your love life, or something about your private life – that’s your corporation. However I’m within the framework through which you make your selections, and I’d just like the framework to be extra pro-social. If you need – most individuals do need – to calm down with one individual to have kids, we must always make that simpler.
Within the interview, Kruger gave few particulars of what this would possibly imply. He mentioned Reform was “pronatalist” and that it needed folks to have extra kids. “We predict the federal government ought to get behind that want.”
This might imply extra assist with childcare, he mentioned.
Clearly, the [childcare] system is completely dysfunctional. There’s an enormous disincentive for folks to have the ability to organise their funds round their precise lives. It’s damaged.
Kruger orginallly set out a few of his views on the “sexual economic system” in his ebook Covenant, printed in 2023. Within the ebook he mentioned intercourse was “a public act as a result of it’s the foundation of human regeneration and the bonding agent of the couple relationship on which society relies upon”. He mentioned:
To get intercourse again to the place it belongs, behind closed doorways, we have to restore its standing as a public act executed in non-public – reasonably than, as at present, a personal act executed (or all however executed, and positively explicitly celebrated) in public.
Whether or not or not Nigel Farage, the Reform UK chief, additionally has considerations concerning the “unregulated sexual economic system” stays unclear. Farage is divorced from his first spouse, and seperated from his second, and is distinctly extra libertarian than Kruger.
Within the interview Kruger additionally mentioned that Reform was taking a look at switching the tax system again to being primarily based on households, not people. That will reverse the impartial taxation of married girls, a coverage solely launched within the UK in 1990.
Reform UK accused of declaring battle on employees and renters after Tice says he would repeal Labour’s jobs and housing legal guidelines
Richard Tice has been accused of declaring battle on employees and renters in his first speech in his new position as Reform UK’s enterprise spokesperson.
In his speech this morning, Tice known as for a “nice repeal invoice” that might undo a few of the most important laws handed by Labour in authorities.
In keeping with the extracts briefed upfront, Tice mentioned:
Let’s have an ideal repeal invoice that ditches daft rules: scrap internet zero, scrap ZEV mandates, scrap new employment rights guidelines, scrap new property rental guidelines – all nicely intentioned however kill jobs, hinder progress, funding and prosperity. It will all assist decrease inflation and produce down payments for customers.
He mentioned Reform would give extra “trusted planning companions” freedom to construct – topic to “harder fines in the event that they breach the federal government’s belief”
Tice additionally known as for the creation of a British sovereign wealth fund, with property price £575bn from the native authorities pension scheme invested in listed shares with the purpose of accelerating UK progress; a brand new commerce coverage, with an emphasis on defending “strategic nationwide industries”, with heavy tariffs and tighter quotas for Chinese language vehicles; and an enormous improve in oil and fuel manufacturing.
In response, a Labour spokesperson mentioned the proposed nice repeal invoice would weaken employees’ rights. The spokesperson mentioned:
Reform have formally declared battle on British employees. Nigel Farage and his cronies need to rip up hard-won employees’ rights on parental depart, sick pay, and would lower as much as one million clear power jobs within the course of.
Reform have revealed whose facet they’re on – and it’s not working folks. And it’s households up and down the nation who’d be left paying a really heavy value.
And, referring particularly to the dedication to repeal the Renters’ Rights Act, Ben Twomey, chief government of Technology Hire, mentioned:
Forcing folks again into insecure and unsafe properties will not be a promise, it’s a menace levelled at England’s 11 million non-public renters. Our properties are the foundations of our lives, so it’s disgraceful to see Reform UK pledging to roll again new and important protections that might enhance the standard of our properties and assist us to remain in them for longer.
Twomey additionally mentioned Reform MPs has “nothing to say” concerning the invoice because it was going by means of parliament.
Badenoch cites Roblox as downside for kids as she says teen social media ban has to take account of how platforms work
Q: Would your proposed ban on social media cowl explicit platforms? Would it not cowl AI chatbots and Roblox? And wouldn’t it cowl WhatsApp?
Badenoch says she doesn’t regard WhatsApp as social media. She sees it as “not that a lot distinction from texting”.
On Roblox, she says she recenty allowed her nine-year-old son to make use of it – and now needs she hadn’t.
I just lately allowed my nine-year-old son to get Roblox. I’m now preventing to get him off it. And one of many issues that I needed to shut down was chats coming in, which I didn’t realise had been a part of Roblox. And there’s nonetheless methods – regardless of me shutting it down, the chats nonetheless preserve showing, and he now is aware of that this can be a downside. So proper now he has been banned from Roblox.
She says that highlights the best way any ban on under-16s accessing social media has to take account of what platforms are literally doing.
If we outline what it’s doing, then we’ll be capable to seize precisely the platforms which might be inflicting the issue.
One of many mother and father on the platform agrees with Badenoch’s level about Roblox, saying he thinks no youngster ought to be on it.
Badenoch says she expects Lib Dem movement demanding launch of Andrew commerce envoy paperwork to go with out want for vote
Q: Are you going to again the Lib Dem movement calling for the discharge of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor paperwork?
Badenoch says she doesn’t suppose there shall be a vote, as a result of she thinks all MPs agree with this.
However she goes on to criticise the second Lib Dem opposition day movement at the moment, which is the one saying on Monday 9 March the Lib Dems ought to have management of the parliamentary timetable to allow them to go a invoice a web based companies (age restrictions) invoice. She says there is no such thing as a want for this as a result of there’s a stay invoice going by means of parliament (the one Laura Trott was speaking a couple of second in the past) with a social media ban for under-16s modification in it.
She says:
I feel that that is there’s quite a lot of messing round that’s taking place. There’s already an modification for a stay invoice. It’s essential that we get all events to work collectively reasonably than all people making an attempt to personal the win. This isn’t about proudly owning the win. That is actually about getting this situation sorted.
(This can be a bit wealthy; just a few minutes in the past, Badenoch was demaning a U-turn from Keir Starmer on a social media ban for under-16s. She is making an attempt to personal the win simply as a lot as anybody.)
Kemi Badenoch is now taking questions.
The primary reporter, from GB Information, asks if Badenoch agrees it’s time to desk a vote of no confidence in Keir Starmer. In her reply, Badenoch ignores this level, however she says is hoping to get him to conform to a social media ban.
On the Tory press convention, Laura Trott, the shadow schooling secretary, is talking now. She says there shall be a vote within the Commons within the subsequent two weeks on the Tory proposal for a ban on under-16s accessing social media.
She says it’s onerous to police the content material of social media posts, however it’s potential to police the age at which individuals entry it.
Trott was referring to a Commons vote on the modification handed within the Lords.
She didn’t point out the truth that the Liberal Democrats are holding a vote on this situation this afternoon.