ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY JUSTIN WELBY HAS RESIGNED
His statement reads:
Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.
When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.
It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.
It is my duty to honour my Constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion.
I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church. As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse.
The last few days have renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England.
For nearly twelve years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.
In the meantime, I will follow through on my commitment to meet victims. I will delegate all my other current responsibilities for safeguarding until the necessary risk assessment process is complete.
I ask everyone to keep my wife Caroline and my children in their prayers. They have been my most important support throughout my ministry, and I am eternally grateful for their sacrifice. Caroline led the spouses’ programme during the Lambeth Conference and has travelled tirelessly in areas of conflict supporting the most vulnerable, the women, and those who care for them locally.
I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honoured to serve. I pray that this decision points us back towards the love that Jesus Christ has for every one of us.
For above all else, my deepest commitment is to the person of Jesus Christ, my saviour and my God; the bearer of the sins and burdens of the world, and the hope of every person.
Finding support
If you or anyone you are in contact with are affected by the publication of this report and want to talk to someone independently please call the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 or visit safespacesenglandandwales.org.uk.
CANTERBURY MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party, criticising Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer – now labelled Free Gear Keir – for accepting thousands of pounds worth of personal items while at the same time removing Winter Fuel Payments from thousands of struggling pensioners.
Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care Michael Matheson has tendered his resignation to the First Minister.
Accepting his resignation, the First Minister thanked Mr Matheson for all he achieved during government, including securing £100 million of new annual funding for NHS Scotland to help reduce inpatient and day-case waiting lists, passing the Domestic Abuse Act to strengthen powers to tackle psychological abuse, passing the Transport Scotland Act to ensure Scotland’s transport system was more accessible for the future and introducing the Historical Offenses Bill to pardon gay men convinced under historical discriminatory laws.
MICHAEL MATHESON STATEMENT:
Odd timing, given he hasn’t seen the final report yet. And not a word of apology …
The Scottish Conservatives have been calling for the Health Secretary’s head for some time – and not only over his failure to fully explain the Ipad issue:
‘Waiting times in Scotland’s A&E departments continue to get worse under the SNP’s shameful mismanagement of our NHS.
‘The SNP have not met their target waiting time since July 2020, yet still Michael Matheson refuses to tackle this growing problem – he needs to go.’
Drugs and Alcohol Policy Minister Elena Whitham has tendered her resignation to the First Minister and stepped down from her ministerial post for health reasons.
Ms Whitham was appointed to the post in March last year, after previously serving as Minister for Community Safety.
Accepting her resignation, the First Minister thanked her for her service and said that he greatly valued her efforts to tackle alcohol and drug-related deaths, particularly her work to take forward proposals for reviewing drug laws.
Elena Whitham’s letter to the First Minister:
Dear Humza,
Over the last year I experienced a series of events leading to post traumatic stress which has impacted my wellbeing greatly and for which I am receiving treatment. I have sought to undertake my role in your government diligently and with the passion and focus that it requires. Sadly, after much soul searching, it is apparent to me that I must regrettably resign from my ministerial role so that I am able to look after my wellbeing and ensure my constituents of Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley continue to be represented assiduously.
It has been the greatest honour to be first the Minister for Community Safety and latterly the Minister for Drug and Alcohol Policy. Both of these roles are areas I am passionate about having been a Women’s Aid worker and someone who supported people dealing with multiple and complex needs including problematic substance use. I have been privileged to meet folk up and down the country who are working collectively to address the great harm Scotland is experiencing due to alcohol and other drugs…none more so than those with lived and living experience who have sought to speak truth to power. I am grateful to them and to all of the family members and organisations who took time to speak with me this last year.
I will continue to support the aims of the National Mission from the backbenches and in my constituency work. It is imperative that we strive with all of our might to continue our efforts to save and improve lives as we have lost far too many of our folk to wholly preventable deaths. Your government’s efforts to tackle poverty and inequality also play an integral role in the National Mission and the cross government plan set out last year continues to be vital to delivery.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the opportunity bestowed upon me, it truly has been an honour.
Yours sincerely
Elena Whitham MSP
First Minister’s letter to Elena Whitham:
I write to thank you for your service as Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy over the past year. I am greatly saddened to hear that due to your personal ill-health you feel you cannot continue to give the role the focus that you would wish to.
I wanted you to be aware of how greatly I have valued your efforts to tackle alcohol and drug-related deaths – not least the work to take forward proposals for reviewing drug laws.
Similarly, I know the dedication that you brought to your previous role of Minister for Community Safety.
I believe our government has been enriched by your efforts and the experience that you have brought into public life.
I know that the people of Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley have in you a dedicated and conscientious public servant and I know you will continue to stand up for them to the very best of your ability.
‘they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament’
Former Prime Minster Boris Johnson has announced that he is standing down as an MP, with immediate effect.
The announcement came this evening after Johnson received a report from the House of Commons Privileges Committee into whether he misled Parliament over lockdown parties at Downing Street.
THIS IS JOHNSON’s STATEMENT:
I have received a letter from the Privileges Committee making it clear – much to my amazement – that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament.
They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons.
They know perfectly well that when I spoke in the Commons, I was saying what I believed sincerely to be true and what I had been briefed to say, like any other minister. They know that I corrected the record as soon as possible; and they know that I and every other senior official and minister – including the current Prime Minister and then occupant of the same building, Rishi Sunak – believed that we were working lawfully together.
I have been an MP since 2001. I take my responsibilities seriously. I did not lie, and I believe that in their hearts, the Committee know it. But they have wilfully chosen to ignore the truth, because from the outset, their purpose has not been to discover the truth, or genuinely to understand what was in my mind when I spoke in the Commons.
Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts. This is the very definition of a kangaroo court.
Most members of the Committee – especially the chair – had already expressed deeply prejudicial remarks about my guilt before they had even seen the evidence. They should have recused themselves.
In retrospect, it was naïve and trusting of me to think that these proceedings could be remotely useful or fair. But I was determined to believe in the system, and in justice, and to vindicate what I knew to be the truth.
It was the same faith in the impartiality of our systems that led me to commission Sue Gray. It is clear that my faith has been misplaced. Of course, it suits the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP to do whatever they can to remove me from Parliament.
Sadly, as we saw in July last year, there are currently some Tory MPs who share that view.
I am not alone in thinking that there is a witch hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result.
My removal is the necessary first step, and I believe there has been a concerted attempt to bring it about. I am afraid I no longer believe that it is any coincidence that Sue Gray – who investigated gatherings in Number 10 – is now the chief of staff designate of the Labour leader.
Nor do I believe that it is any coincidence that her supposedly impartial chief counsel, Daniel Stilitz KC, turned out to be a strong Labour supporter who repeatedly tweeted personal attacks on me and the government.
When I left office last year, the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened.
Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk.
Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do.
We need to show how we are making the most of Brexit and we need in the next months to be setting out a pro-growth and pro-investment agenda. We need to cut business and personal taxes – and not just as pre-election gimmicks – rather than endlessly putting them up.
We must not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government.
Why have we so passively abandoned the prospect of a Free Trade Deal with the US? Why have we junked measures to help people into housing or to scrap EU directives or to promote animal welfare?
We need to deliver on the 2019 manifesto, which was endorsed by 14 million people. We should remember that more than 17 million voted for Brexit.
I am now being forced out of Parliament by a tiny handful of people, with no evidence to back up their assertions, and without the approval even of Conservative party members, let alone the wider electorate.
I believe that a dangerous and unsettling precedent is being set.
The Conservative Party has the time to recover its mojo and its ambition and to win the next election. I had looked forward to providing enthusiastic support as a backbench MP. Harriet Harman’s committee has set out to make that objective completely untenable.
The Committee’s report is riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice, but under their absurd and unjust process, I have no formal ability to challenge anything they say.
The Privileges Committee is there to protect the privileges of Parliament. That is a very important job. They should not be using their powers – which have only been very recently designed – to mount what is plainly a political hit job on someone they oppose.
It is in no one’s interest, however, that the process the Committee has launched should continue for a single day further.
So I have today written to my Association in Uxbridge and South Ruislip to say that I am stepping down forthwith and triggering an immediate by-election.
I am very sorry to leave my wonderful constituency. It has been a huge honour to serve them, both as Mayor and MP.
But I am proud that after what is cumulatively a 15-year stint, I have helped to deliver, among other things, a vast new railway in the Elizabeth Line and full funding for a wonderful new state of the art hospital for Hillingdon, where enabling works have already begun.
I also remain hugely proud of all that we achieved in my time in office as prime minister: getting Brexit done, winning the biggest majority for 40 years and delivering the fastest vaccine roll out of any major European country, as well as leading global support for Ukraine.
It is very sad to be leaving Parliament – at least for now – but above all, I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias.
ONE of Johnson’s last acts – a final two-fingered salute to the British people – was to reward his cronies with peerages and other ‘honours’.
Some of Boris Johnson’s closest allies – including Priti Patel and Jacob Rees-Mogg – were awarded peerages in the former PM’s honours list, published just hours before Johnson stepped down as an MP.
Former secretaries of state Simon Clarke and Mr Rees-Mogg were knighted, while Ms Patel was made a dame.
Controversial Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen and London Assembly member Shaun Bailey are among seven new peers.
No serving MPs were given peerages, thus avoiding tricky by-elections for the Tories. But there will now be one in Mr Johnson’s own constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip and another one in Nadine Dorries’ constituency.
Johnson devotee Nadine Dorries was not put forward for the House of Lords, despite widespread speculation she would be on the published list.
Ms Dorries stood down as an MP “with immediate effect” just an hour before the honours list was released, oddly enough.
PRIME Minister Liz Truss has resigned after just six weeks in post.
Truss, who yesterday declared she was ‘a fighter, not a quitter’, has, well, quit after just 45 days in the job.
Her resignation statement was equally short:
I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability.
Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills.
Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent.
And our country had been held back for too long by low economic growth.
I was elected by the Conservative Party with a mandate to change this.
We delivered on energy bills and on cutting national insurance.
And we set out a vision for a low tax, high growth economy – that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit.
I recognise though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.
I have therefore spoken to His Majesty The King to notify him that I am resigning as Leader of the Conservative Party.
This morning I met the Chair of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady.
We have agreed there will be a leadership election to be completed in the next week.
This will ensure we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plans and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security.
I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen.
Thank you.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted:”There are no words to describe this utter shambles adequately. It’s beyond hyperbole – & parody. Reality tho(ugh) is that ordinary people are paying the price.
“The interests of the Tory party should concern no-one right now. A General Election is now a democratic imperative.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “After 12 years of Tory failure, the British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos. We need a general election, now.”
His full statement:
Truss will remain as PM until her successor is elected – not by the people of Great Britain, but by Tory MPs.
CHAOTIC TORY GOVERNMENT LURCHES FROM CRISIS TO CRISIS
HOME SECRETARY RESIGNS
DEFIANT TRUSS CLINGS ON – FOR NOW
Suella Braveman’s scathing resignation letter:
Prime Minister’s response:
If the resignation of another senior government minister was serious enough, worse was to follow on a chaotic evening at Westminster as Tory whips were accused of bullying and physically manhandling MPs over a crucial vote on fracking.
Both the Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip resigned – or maybe they didn’t.
Chaos. Utter chaos.
At time of writing Liz Truss remains in post as Prime Minister, clinging on despite her authority collapsing around her. Whether she will still be there this evening is anyone’s guess.
Boris Johnson ‘gets on with the job’ as his government collapses around him
IT was perhaps the most remarkable day in British political history. Seldom, if ever, has so much drama been packed into twenty-four hours.
What happened yesterday? In summary:
New Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi does the early morning round of media calls: business as usual, getting on with the job, etc. etc.
An uncomfortable Prime Minister’s Questions sees Boris Johnson ridiculed by Opposition party leaders and attacked by members of his own party
PMQs is followed by a damning statement to parliament by outgoing Education secretary Sajid Javid
Boris Johnson leaves Westminster to attempt to appoint new ministers. This proves impossible as there is a steady stream of resignations – more than 40 by the end of the day – as well as new flood of letters of no confidence.
If PMQs was painful. an appearance in front of the high-powered Liaison Committee later in the afternoon was excruciating, with politicians from all sides taking the opportunity to heap further misery on a clearly flustered Prime Minister.
Asked by a committee member how his week was going, Boris Johnson replied: ‘Terrific’. I assume he was joking – but then, with this Prime Minister, you can never be really sure …
You might have thought the Prime Minister’s ‘terrific’ day couldn’t have got any worse … but this was no ordinary day.
Awaiting the PM at Downing Street was a group of Cabinet ministers, including newly-appointed Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi-, the vast majority of whom urged him to stand down.
The chairman of the Tory Party’s 1922 committee also patiently awaited his audience with the PM – and it’s not breaking any confidences to say that Sir Graham Brady was not the bearer of glad tidings of great joy either …
Johnson met each of them individually, but rather than heed their considered advice that the game was up, the Prime Minister instead sided with the views of arch-loyalists Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg and decided instead to fight on … and as a parting shot for the evening fired arch-conspirator Michael Gove!
Putting all those internal difficulties aside, The Prime Minister found time to ‘get on with the job’ and fired off a letter to Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to confirm that no, I won’t be agreeing to another referendum …
A busy day at the office indeed, and a day on which Wimbledon really couldn’t match Westminster for excitement and drama.
Who knows what surprises today will bring as the Prime Minister attempts to salvage his government from the remnants of his deeply divided party?
Can his ‘terrific’ week really get any worse? Resignation looks inevitable but could this serial survivor really escape once again?
Exchange of letters spells end of the road for hapless Health Secretary … for now at least
Hancock’s replacement is the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP. The former Chancellor has been appointed as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “I’m incredibly honoured to take up the post of Health and Social Care Secretary, particularly during such an important moment in our recovery from COVID-19. This position comes with a huge responsibility and I will do everything I can to deliver for the people of this great country.
“Thanks to the fantastic efforts of our NHS and social care staff who work tirelessly every day, and our phenomenal vaccination programme, we have made enormous progress in the battle against this dreadful disease. I want our country to get out of this pandemic and that will be my most immediate priority.”
Statement delivered on Wednesday afternoon (28 April) by DUP Leader and First Minister of Northern Ireland Rt. Hon. Arlene Foster MLA:
A short time ago I called the Party Chairman to inform him that I intend to step down as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party on the twenty-eighth of May and as First Minister of Northern Ireland at the end of June.
It is important to give space over the next few weeks for the Party Officers to make arrangements for the election of a new leader. When elected I will work with the new leader on transition arrangements.
As First Minister it is important that I complete work on a number of important issues for Northern Ireland alongside other Executive colleagues. Northern Ireland and its people have been heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and there remains more work to be done to steer us thorough the pandemic and to lessen its impact on the lives of everyone.
It has been the privilege of my life to serve the people of Northern Ireland as their First Minister and to represent my home constituency of Fermanagh/South Tyrone. I first entered the Assembly in 2003 and undoubtedly the journey of the last eighteen years has been memorable. There are many people who have helped and supported me throughout that period and I will always been grateful for the kindness and support shown to me by them.
Whilst there have been many difficult and testing times for the Executive it remains my firm view that Northern Ireland has been better served having local Ministers at this time. It is unthinkable that we could have faced into the Coronavirus pandemic without our own devolved Ministers in place and no Ministerial direction for Departments.
As I prepare to depart the political stage it is my view that if Northern Ireland is to prosper then it will only do so built on the foundations of successful and durable devolution. That will require continued hard work and real determination and courage on all sides.
Whilst the focus is on me today I recognise that will pass. For me my decision to enter politics was never about party or person, it was about speaking up for the voiceless and building a Northern Ireland which could prosper and be at peace within the United Kingdom.
I am the first to recognise there have been ups and downs over the last five and a half years.
The 2016 Assembly election result and our Party’s best ever Westminster result in 2017 stand out amongst the high points when the electorate sent a clear message that they wanted to keep Northern Ireland moving forward.
The Confidence and Supply Agreement was able to bring one billion pounds of extra spending for everyone in Northern Ireland. Our priorities were not narrow but based on more investment in mental health and hospitals, bringing broadband to rural communities, improving our roads and ensuring funding to encourage more shared housing and education.
For our innocent victims, I am proud we battled together and whilst too late for some, we finally secured a truly deserved pension for you.
For our armed forces, the Veterans’ Commissioner is in place. You have an advocate to stand up for you and ensure your voice is heard at the heart of government.
Of course as with highs there were lows along the way.
The three years without devolution caused untold harm to our public services and the RHI Inquiry was a difficult period. The Protocol being foisted upon Northern Ireland against the will of unionists has served to destabilise Northern Ireland in more recent times.
Whilst there is still a job of work to do, I am proud that there is a young generation of Democratic Unionists getting involved in politics and trying to shape Northern Ireland for the better.
Over the last twelve months, I have been holding online meetings every week with young people mainly from working class communities and encouraging them especially the young women to get involved.
I echo that encouragement today. Politics and debate is the only path to effect change in society. You will and can be the MPs, MLAs and Councillors of tomorrow.
My election as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party broke a glass ceiling and I am glad inspired other women to enter politics and spurred them on to take up elected office.
I understand the misogynistic criticisms that female public figures have to take and sadly it’s the same for all women in public life.I want to encourage you to keep going and don’t let the online lynch mobs get you down.
To the hundreds of Party supporters who have been in touch over the last few days, I say a sincere thank you for the opportunities to serve you and the support you have given me. For almost five and a half years I have been incredibly humbled to have the opportunity to lead the Democratic Unionist Party.
I have sought to lead the Party and Northern Ireland away from division and towards a better path.
There are people in Northern Ireland with a British identity, others are Irish, others are Northern Irish, others are a mixture of all three and some are new and emerging. We must all learn to be generous to each other, live together and share this wonderful country.
The future of unionism and Northern Ireland will not be found in division, it will only be found in sharing this place we all are privileged to call home.
