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PM has clashed publicly with predecessor over failed attempts to elevate several close allies to LordsRishi Sunak would block Boris Johnson from standing again as a Conservative MP before the next election, sources have told the Guardian, as the two men engaged in an extraordinary war of words.The prime minister clashed publicly with Johnson over his failed attempts to elevate several close allies to the House of Lords, accusing him of having lobbied to overturn due process to appoint the three Tory MPs. Johnson dismissed his claims as “rubbish”. Continue reading...

Jamie Barrow ‘walked casually away’ as Fatoumatta Hydara and her children screamed from inside the flat he had set alightA mother and her two young daughters were murdered by a neighbour who set their flat on fire over a row about rubbish bags being left behind their building, a court has heard.The prosecution said the defendant, Jamie Barrow, “walked casually away” despite screams being heard from inside the flat. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson accepts post of crown steward and bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds after accusing PM of talking ‘rubbish’. This live blog is now closedFull story: Boris Johnson formally steps down as MPThe EU has dashed UK hopes of an early review of the Brexit trade deal saying is unlikely to re-open talks until 2026.European commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič, who leads for the EU on Brexit matters, said the deal was only in force for two years and it would be pointless re-opening it until its full potential was realised.If the decision is just to simply go for more divergence … some of the fundamentals of the withdrawal agreement and the TCA would be thrown into the shredder.Rishi secretly blocked the peerages for Nadine and others. He refused to ask for them to undergo basic checks that could have taken only a few weeks or even days. That is how he kept them off the list – without telling Boris Johnson. Continue reading...

Scottish first minister says he sees no reason to take action after his predecessor’s arrest on SundayHumza Yousaf has rejected growing calls from across the political spectrum to suspend Nicola Sturgeon from the Scottish National party after her arrest on Sunday.The first minister has been under pressure to suspend his predecessor and mentor after SNP parliamentarians and opposition leaders urged the party to take action or for Sturgeon to stand down voluntarily. Continue reading...

Helen Whately declines to endorse former health secretary’s 2020 assertion as pandemic public inquiry begins in earnestThe care minister, Helen Whately, has declined to back Matt Hancock’s claim that the government threw a “protective ring around care homes” at the start of the pandemic.Whately worked under the former health secretary in the first 18 months of Covid, but she avoided endorsing her former boss’s assertion, which will be tested at the public inquiry which starts in earnest this week. Continue reading...

Georgie Bilham, who is accused of sexual assault, says woman she had sex with knew she was femaleA young woman has told a court she got trapped in a “web of lies” after posing as a boy to meet girls online, but insisted that a woman she had sex with knew she was female.Georgia Bilham, 21, from Chester, said she created a male alter ego called George as “an escape” from her unhappy life, saying her mum would not have approved of her being in a lesbian relationship. Continue reading...

Confirmation of former PM’s departure from parliament fires starting gun on byelection in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip seatBoris Johnson has formally stepped down as an MP, parliamentary authorities announced, bringing down the curtain on a tumultuous second stint in the Commons.Johnson has accepted the post of crown steward and bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, a statement said, the slightly convoluted process under which MPs resign. Continue reading...

Party leader Anas Sarwar senses a shift in attitudes while knocking on doors for a potential byelection

Health of flamboyant media tycoon who led three Italian governments had deteriorated in recent years

More than 14,000 remain under evacuation as nearly 450 fires burned across the country on Sunday, with 220 out of controlOverdue rains and cooler temperatures have given Quebec fire crews a chance to launch their assault on dozens of wildfires, but the reprieve for one part of Canada comes as fires in the west of the country have once again forced residents to flee their homes.The country has been struggling with an “unprecedented” wildfire season, with nearly 450 forest fires across the country on Sunday, 220 of which were burning out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Continue reading...

Johnson accuses Sunak of ‘talking rubbish’ after PM said predecessor lobbied him to overturn due process

Housing minister says work for social and affordable homes can begin as soon as future fund is established but Greens say it should begin now

Move to buy £75m of shares in UK’s biggest seller of large domestic appliancesMike Ashley’s Frasers Group has taken an 18.9% stake in the online electricals retailer AO World in a £75m deal involving buying out shares held by crisis-hit Odey Asset Management.Frasers Group, the parent of brands from Sports Direct to Evans Cycles, said the deal was part of a strategic partnership that the two companies have been in talks about forming for two years. Continue reading...

Police investigate after footage apparently shows three men assaulting a man and a womanPolice are investigating after footage emerged apparently showing pro-Hong Kong demonstrators being violently attacked by a group of Chinese activists in Southampton.The alleged incident occurred after a rally to mark the anniversary of the 2019 protests for democratic changes in Hong Kong. Continue reading...

Woman had pleaded guilty to procuring drugs under ‘pills by post’ scheme in pandemicA woman has been sentenced to 28 months in prison after pleading guilty to procuring drugs to induce an abortion after the legal limit.The mother-of-three, 44, received the medication under the “pills by post” scheme which was introduced during the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...

Three were among group of diving enthusiasts reportedly on six-day stay onboard boat when fire broke outThree British tourists have been confirmed dead after a fire onboard a diving boat off Egypt’s Red Sea coast, a day after they were declared missing after a frantic search by the captain and crew.Twelve other divers and 14 crew, including the captain of the Hurricane, were rescued after abandoning the ship on Sunday morning. The group had sailed out to Elphinstone reef, a famed diving spot roughly 12km offshore and 30km from the resort town of Marsa Alam. Continue reading...

About 15,000 passengers affected by Sunday cancellations and knock-on effects on MondayThousands of easyJet passengers flying to and from Gatwick have had their flights cancelled due to storms in the last 24 hours.More than 54 of the budget carrier’s flights scheduled for Sunday evening did not operate due to what the airport described as “intense thunderstorms” in the area after the weekend heat. Continue reading...

Man identified locally as George King-Thompson, who was previously jailed after free-climbing London’s ShardA British man, previously jailed after free-climbing the Shard in London, has reportedly been arrested in South Korea after attempting to climb the country’s tallest skyscraper without equipment, police said.The man was scaling the 123-storey Lotte World Tower in southern Seoul early on Monday when staff spotted him, forcing him to stop his ascent as he reached the 73rd floor. Continue reading...

Scientists aim to analyse remains of 128 people recovered from basilica where thousands were buriedForensic scientists are beginning efforts to exhume the remains of 128 people from the huge basilica outside Madrid where 34,000 dead from both sides of the Spanish civil war were buried, and where the body of Gen Francisco Franco also lay for almost half a century.The exhumations at the Valley of Cuelgamuros – known until last year as the Valley of the Fallen – come after the families of some of those interred there spent almost two decades fighting for their loved ones to receive a dignified burial. Continue reading...

Return of US ends decade-long dispute sparked by agency’s move to admit Palestine as a memberThe UN’s cultural and scientific agency, Unesco, has announced that the US plans to rejoin – and pay more than $600m (£477m) in back dues – after a decade-long dispute sparked by the organisation’s move to include Palestine as a member.US officials say the decision to return was motivated by concern that China is filling the gap left by Washington in Unesco policymaking, notably in setting standards for artificial intelligence and technology education around the world. Continue reading...

Chief inspector says up to government to change system despite outcry over suicide of head whose school was downgradedScrapping single-word gradings for schools would not alleviate the “underlying discomfort” teachers feel, Ofsted’s chief inspector has said, as she came under increasing pressure to reform the system after a headteacher’s suicide.Amanda Spielman has announced a series of changes in response to Ruth Perry’s death, but has been criticised for not going far enough. Perry, the head of a primary in Reading, killed herself earlier this year after learning an Ofsted inspection was to lower her school’s grade from “outstanding” to “inadequate”.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

One of European politics’ most controversial figures, his career was marked by tawdry sex and corruption scandals

This blog is now closed.

A 58-year-old Hunter Valley man will face court in Cessnock on Tuesday after crash that left 10 dead after wedding at Wandin Estate

Minister stresses Johnson’s ‘significant contributions’ as Tories seek to move on from ex-PM’s resignation

Soldiers filmed raising Ukrainian flag and banner in villages, a week after launch of counteroffensive

Met Office issues new weather warning for thunderstorms and rain on Sunday and MondayAlmost a month’s rain could fall over parts of the UK in the next 12 hours – but the country will still be hotter than Monaco.New weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office for thunderstorms and rain on Sunday and Monday. Continue reading...

Man, 26, charged with murder and a 34-year-old with assisting offenders after Mitchell went missing in County AntrimTwo men have been charged in connection with the murder and disappearance of Chloe Mitchell, from Country Antrim, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said.Detectives from PSNI’s major investigation team have charged a 26-year-old man with murder and a 34-year-old man with assisting offenders. Continue reading...

Mitchell Gaffney and Maddy Edsell had a ‘beautiful ceremony’, hours before a bus carrying guests overturned on the Hunter expressway

In today’s newsletter: A weekend of chaos has left Rishi Sunak facing three byelections and the Conservative party mired in division yet again

Secondary legislation in parliament this week will lower the threshold for serious disruption, says barrister Adam WagnerPolice will have “near total discretion” over which protests to ban if lawmakers approve the government’s latest changes to Great Britain’s public order regime, a leading human rights lawyer has said.Secondary legislation in parliament this week will empower police to impose conditions – including changing timings, locations and routes, and imposing noise restrictions – on protests they believe “may” cause “more than minor” disruption. Continue reading...

Emails to producers reveal a dealer warned piece attributed to Banksy was being billed as not genuine by a firm involved in its restorationChannel 4 is facing questions over TV show The Greatest Auction after emails revealed a dealer warned producers that art tentatively attributed to Banksy and sold for £250,000 was being billed as not genuine by a company involved in its restoration.Jeff Salmon, an art collector who has appeared on a number of Channel 4 shows, was told he was not required at the filming of the relevant auction scenes on the primetime show after he pointed programme producers to the testimony of a firm that had managed the piece. Continue reading...

73% of surveyed women say they received no information on bonding in first weeks after giving birthMore than one in 10 women struggle to bond with their baby, with the majority saying they are given no support from healthcare staff, a survey has found.Nearly three-quarters (73%) of women said they received no information or advice on bonding with their baby in the first few weeks after birth, despite guidance for doctors and nurses recommending that they assist with emotional attachment to encourage healthy child development. Continue reading...

Jodie Comer and Tom Stoppard led a big night for Brits, while J Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell triumphed in a ceremony affected by the writers’ strikeLeopoldstadt and Kimberly Akimbo won big at this year’s history-making Tony awards, with the writers strike affecting the format and content of the ceremony.Tom Stoppard’s sprawling family drama Leopoldstadt was named best play, winning against Cost of Living and Fat Ham. Producer Sonia Friedman called it Stoppard’s “most personal masterwork”, and Stoppard said that throughout his career he has noticed “the theatre writer getting decreasingly devalued in the food chain”. Continue reading...

Pickett granted bail after being held in custody in Perth overnight charged with 12 offences including stealing and criminal damage

Annastacia Palaszczuk says the government is ‘pulling every lever possible’ amid a housing shortage

Police say 25 others were taken to hospital by helicopter and road after the coach rolled on Wine Country Drive just after 11.30pm on Sunday

IAEA head Rafael Grossi, who will visit Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says there is a difference of about 2 metres from the reservoir that cools the plantThe UN atomic watchdog has said it needs wider access around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to check “a significant discrepancy” in water level data at the breached Kakhovka dam used for cooling the plant’s reactors.International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi, who is to visit the plant this week, said that measurements the agency received from the inlet of the plant showed that the dam’s water levels were stable for about a day over the weekend. Continue reading...

Seven people have been killed by dogs in the UK so far this year. Simon Usborne reports on the worrying increase in attacksDeaths and serious injuries sustained in dog attacks are rising rapidly in the UK. So far this year seven people have been killed in such incidents. For years the average was stable, at about three deaths a year, but something has changed recently. During the Covid pandemic, dog ownership rose sharply as people took on pets as companions. But that’s only part of the story.The reporter Simon Usborne tells Nosheen Iqbal the increase in demand for dogs allowed unscrupulous dealers to enter the market and sell to unsuitable owners. There are also new breeds to contend with: the American bully, a type of bulldog, has become notorious for a seemingly disproportionate involvement in serious incidents. There are calls for the breed to be banned. Continue reading...

Constable Anthony Woods, 28, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday night, three days after he was run over by a car allegedly bearing stolen plates

The late performer was remembered for ‘eminent service to the arts’ and is one of six Australians to be made a Companion of the Order of Australia

Russian forces open fire on boat carrying flood evacuees, killing three; Ukraine claims to have liberated three frontline villages in western Donetsk

Effort is being stepped up to rebuild relations after the spy ballon incident led to Blinken’s original visit being cancelledIn the clearest sign yet that president Joe Biden’s predicted “thaw” in US-China relations may actually come to pass, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is expected to visit Beijing on 18 June.But after several months in which tensions between the two countries have only increased, both sides will need to overcome a mutual mistrust that has been allowed to build following a number of recent incidents.Guardian Newsroom: Is China ushering in a new world order? Join a panel of Guardian journalists for a livestreamed event on Wednesday 14 June 2023, 8pm BST | 9pm CEST | 12pm PDT | 3pm EDT. A video recording will also be available for ticket-holders. Book here Continue reading...

Former high court judge Michael Kirby among experts calling for a criminal cases review commission in Australia

This year’s big winners including who picked up best actor in a play, best actress in a musical and best revivalBest performance by an actress in a featured role in a play

Eruption began on Sunday and has forced more than 12,000 people to leave their homesThe Philippines’ most active volcano began spewing lava on Sunday, putting thousands of people on heightened alert for the possibility of a violent explosion that would force them to suddenly evacuate from their homes.More than 12,000 villagers have left their homes so far in mandatory evacuations from the mostly poor farming communities within a 6km radius of the Mayon volcano’s crater in north-eastern Albay province. The evacuations began after the volcano begun showing signs of renewed restlessness last week. Continue reading...

Sister of Ruth Perry, who killed herself after her primary was downgraded, ‘disappointed’ single-word judgments not removedChanges by Ofsted to the way it inspects schools have been criticised as “nowhere near enough” to reduce the resulting high levels of stress involved, which were linked to the recent death of a popular headteacher.The reforms announced by Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, are intended to ease the burden felt by school leaders such as Ruth Perry, 53, the head of a primary in Reading who killed herself earlier this year after an Ofsted inspection lowered her school’s grade from “outstanding” to “inadequate”. Continue reading...

Nearly 70% of office workers say their firms have not increased number of black, Asian or ethnic minority leadersThe number of senior business leaders from ethnically diverse backgrounds has not significantly increased since the death of George Floyd sparked global protests and $50bn (£40bn) of corporate pledges to address racial inequality in the workplace.Three years on from the killing of Floyd at the hands of US police officers, which prompted chief executives including Apple’s Tim Cook and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs to declare that leaders also need to do more to address racial disparities in their own companies, nearly 70% of office workers say their firms have not increased the number of black, Asian or ethnic minority leaders. Continue reading...

There are now an estimated 12,512 warheads across the globe, with most of the new ones in military stockpiles said to be China’sThe number of operational nuclear weapons in the arsenals of the major military powers is on the rise again according to a leading thinktank, whose analysts warn the world is “drifting into one of the most dangerous periods in human history”.At a time of both deteriorating international relations and the escalation of nuclear sabre-rattling, there are now said to be an estimated 12,512 warheads globally, of which 9,576 are in military stockpiles ready for potential use, up 86 on a year ago. Continue reading...

People who flee to seek sanctuary in UK should not routinely be granted asylum, home affairs select committee report saysAlbania is a “safe” country and people who flee from there to seek sanctuary in the UK should not routinely be granted asylum, according to a report published on Monday from a cross-party group of MPs.The report from the home affairs select committee found little evidence to indicate significant numbers of Albanian nationals are at risk in their own country but accepted that some Albanians making asylum claims, mainly women, have been trafficked. It recommends that this group should be returned to Albania only if appropriate safeguards are in place. Continue reading...