Political news

• Ben Jennings on Donald Trump and Charlottesville – cartoon

  13-08-2017 22:38 via theguardian.com
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• Abusive Brexit debate insults our intelligence | Letters

  13-08-2017 20:29 via theguardian.com
  Both leavers and remainers seem to be descending into hyperbole and emotional invective against those they disagree with, readers sayGina Miller’s success in winning a parliamentary vote for whatever deal is finally struck between Britain and the EU was admirable, but it is obscene to invoke the India-Pakistan partition in 1947 in discussing Brexit (Britain must ask for more time to negotiate Brexit, 12 August). Others have compared the Brexit vote with Munich in 1938. Both the partition a
  
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• Hammond accused of giving ground to pro-hard Brexit Tories

  13-08-2017 18:49 via theguardian.com
  Chancellor criticised after signing article saying UK would be outside customs union during post-Brexit transition periodPhilip Hammond has been accused of ceding ground to cabinet Brexiters on Sunday after adding his signature to an article saying the UK would not remain in the customs union framework during the transitional period after Brexit.The chancellor clarified the government’s position in a statement jointly written with Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, saying that th
  
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• Charlottesville Protests: 15 Things Donald Trump Has Condemned In The Past

  13-08-2017 18:44
  
  Donald Trump has refused to outright denounce white supremacy, Nazis and racism after a far-right rally turned violent in the US city of Charlottesville.
  Three people died - one 32-year-old woman, who was hit when a car ploughed into a crowd and two state troopers, whose helicopter crashed outside the city while responding to the situation ― and at least 35 others were injured in the Virginia city on Saturday.
  But rather than specifically speaking out in criticism of member
  
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• Rail union plans protest as fares set for biggest rise in 5 years

  13-08-2017 18:36 via ft.com
  Ticket prices forecast to increase 3.5% in line with July retail prices index
  
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• Salmond's first Fringe show guest is Brexit minister David Davis

  13-08-2017 18:16 via bbc.co.uk
  The former first minister described David Davis as his "good pal" as he welcomed him to the stage.
  
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• Liam Fox And Philip Hammond Spell Out Brexit Vision In Joint Article

  13-08-2017 17:40
  
  Liam Fox and Philip Hammond have presented a united front to declare the UK will not stay in the EU by a “back door” after Brexit.
  The International Trade Secretary and Chancellor had seemed to be on a collision course in recent months over the length and details of a transition period for the UK’s new relationship with the EU after March 2019.
  Hammond suggested a transitional deal could last four years, whereas Fox wanted any arrangement to end within three.
  Hammond’s s
  
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• Ukip split over anti-Islam leadership candidate Anne Marie Waters

  13-08-2017 17:23 via ft.com
  Senior party figures threaten to quit if the Sharia Watch director is elected head
  
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• Ivanka Trump Condemns White Supremacy - But Still No Such Statement From Donald

  13-08-2017 17:18
  
  As Donald Trump continues to face strong criticism for failing to specifically condemn white supremacy, his daughter has finally said what her father won’t - but it seems like it’s too little, too late.
  A far-right rally in the US city of Charlottesville turned violent on Saturday, when the demonstration descended into violence after neo-Nazis, white supremacists and members of the Ku Klux Klan clashed with anti-fascist protestors.Three people died - one 32-year-old woman,
  
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• Publishing salacious material as public interest besmirches press freedom

  13-08-2017 17:03 via theguardian.com
  Seedy legal plea to name couple filmed having sex by police officer Adrian Pogmore is anything but a matter of high principleOne of the recurrent justifications by certain newspapers for intrusions into privacy is the public’s right to know. All too often this apparently high-minded ambition amounts to nothing more than a desire to publish salacious material that besmirches the concept of press freedom. A classic example occurred last week following the trial of a former police officer who
  
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• Charlottesville Protests And 7 Terrifying Things That Happened

  13-08-2017 17:01
  
  A day of violence in Charlottesville, Virginia has left three people dead, dozens injured and laid bare the increasingly roiling racial and political divisions.It's pretty bad when having your country at the brink of nuclear war isn't the worst thing that happened this week. #Charlottesville— Wendy Tweezerhands (@wendue) August 13, 2017
  The largest gathering of white supremacists on American soil in over a decade was ostensibly to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gene
  
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• Charlottesville Prostests And 7 Terrifying Things That Happened

  13-08-2017 17:01
  
  A day of violence in Charlottesville, Virginia has left three people dead, dozens injured and laid bare the increasingly roiling racial and political divisions.It's pretty bad when having your country at the brink of nuclear war isn't the worst thing that happened this week. #Charlottesville— Wendy Tweezerhands (@wendue) August 13, 2017
  The largest gathering of white supremacists on American soil in over a decade was ostensibly to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gene
  
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• Jacob Rees-Mogg brushes off leadership talk – but does not rule out bid

  13-08-2017 16:34 via theguardian.com
  Conservative backbencher says reports he will stand as next party leader are part of media’s silly seasonJacob Rees-Mogg, the backbench Tory traditionalist, has dismissed reports that he could be the next Conservative party leader as products of the August “silly season”.“I wouldn’t put any money on it,” he told Radio 4’s Broadcasting House on Sunday, when asked why two Sunday newspapers were running stories, separately sourced, saying he would like to s
  
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• Philip Hammond and Liam Fox in post-Brexit deal call

  13-08-2017 16:27 via bbc.co.uk
  Philip Hammond and Liam Fox put on a show of unity as they agree on a post-Brexit transition period.
  
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• Brexit: UK retirees rushing to settle in Europe, say financial advisers

  13-08-2017 16:23 via theguardian.com
  One company says monthly inquiries to its website have doubled in a year amid fears moving to Europe will become more difficultBritish retirees are rushing to settle in European countries such as Spain, Portugal and France before the Brexit deadline, according to financial advisers, believing that such a move will become significantly more difficult in the future.One company that supports those moving to mainland Europe after they finish working revealed that the number of monthly inquiries to i
  
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• Letter: Mary Turner held my hand in the Blackpool ballroom

  13-08-2017 15:21 via theguardian.com
  I met Mary Turner once, as a delegate to a Labour party conference in the late 1980s in Blackpool. I was at the social in the evening, in the ballroom, and didn’t know anyone there, so I thought I would drink up and go. She obviously spotted that. She came over and chatted, and made me feel at home. She literally and metaphorically took my hand that evening, got me on the dance floor, and made sure I was in the fold. She knew everybody.She was so strong in her political beliefs, and a real
  
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• Hard Brexit could split Tory party, says Anna Soubry

  13-08-2017 14:40 via theguardian.com
  Former business minister says she would be willing to resign to join with ‘like-minded people’ if Theresa May opts for destructive dealThe Conservative party could split if Theresa May insists on pursuing a “hard Brexit”, the former business minister Anna Soubry claimed on Sunday.The MP also said she would be willing to resign from the Tories and join up with “like-minded people” equally opposed to this outcome if the government opted for a Brexit outcome that
  
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• Jacob Rees-Mogg Distances Himself From Claims Of Tory Leadership Bid

  13-08-2017 13:52
  
  Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has distanced himself from suggestions that he is considering a bid for the Conservative leadership.
  There has been much speculation that the MP for North East Somerset might consider the leadership, egged on by supporters who have dubbed themselves the “Moggmentum” movement.
  The Sunday Times said the Old Etonian, who has seen a sudden upsurge in popularity, was “sounding out” friends about a possible challenge.Anglo-US academic Ted Malloch, meanwh
  
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• Jacob Rees-Mogg plays down Conservative leadership bid reports

  13-08-2017 13:32 via bbc.co.uk
  The Tory MP says he "wouldn't put any money" on reports that he is considering a leadership bid.
  
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• Hammond and Fox seek to show unity ahead of key Brexit talks

  13-08-2017 13:21 via ft.com
  Ministers say transition deal cannot be ‘back door’ to remaining in EU
  
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• EU should welcome the UK back from Brexit like the prodigal son

  13-08-2017 12:51 via ft.com
  Pro-Europeans ought to exploit May’s problems to drive change in public opinion
  
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• Nigel Farage's Tweet About Nazi Salutes At Charlottesville Rally Goes Down Particularly Badly

  13-08-2017 12:41
  
  Nigel Farage was among those giving his opinion on a far-right rally in the US city of Charlottesville - but his tweet did not exactly go down well.
  The rally descended into violence after neo-Nazis, white supremacists and members of the Ku Klux Klan clashed with anti-fascist protestors.Three people died - one 32-year-old woman, who was hit when a car ploughed into a crowd and two state troopers, whose helicopter crashed outside the city while responding to the situation ― and at
  
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• Tory MP Anna Soubry Warns She Could Quit Party Over Hard Brexit

  13-08-2017 12:19
  
  One of the Tories most high-profile Remain MPs today admitted she would be prepared to join a new party to stop a hard Brexit.
  Anna Soubry, a former Business Minister, said her “country must come before her party” as she set out why she would be prepared to walk away from the Tories.
  Writing in the Mail On Sunday, the Broxtowe MP warned Theresa May that she should side with “wise owls” such as Chancellor Philip Hammond to stop Brexiteers “plunging this country head
  
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• Charlottesville Violence Sees Donald Trump Pressured To Condemn White Supremacy

  13-08-2017 11:07
  
  Donald Trump is facing repeated calls to outright denounce white supremacy and racism after a far-right rally turned violent in the US city of Charlottesville.
  Three people died - one 32-year-old woman, who was hit when a car ploughed into a crowd and two state troopers, whose helicopter crashed outside the city while responding to the situation ― and at least 35 others were injured in the Virginia city on Saturday.
  But rather than specifically speaking out in criticism of member
  
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• Crucial Brexit week looms as Theresa May returns from holiday

  13-08-2017 10:53 via ft.com
  Papers fleshing out UK’s position to be published before August 21
  
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• Crucial Brexit week looms as May returns from holiday

  13-08-2017 10:53 via ft.com
  Papers fleshing out UK’s position to be published before August 21
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn tells Trump and Kim to stop the 'war of rhetoric'

  13-08-2017 09:41 via theguardian.com
  Labour leader also urges Theresa May to keep British armed forces out of any military action over North Korea crisisJeremy Corbyn has called on the US president, Donald Trump, and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, to “wind down the war of rhetoric”.The world leaders have been engaged in a war of words, with Trump threatening to rain “fire and fury” on the communist state after Pyongyang said it was “carefully examining” a plan to hit Guam with missiles. Co
  
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• UK diesel car sales fall as air quality concerns gain traction

  13-08-2017 09:28 via ft.com
  Minister told motorists to ‘think hard’ before buying a diesel car earlier this year
  
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• Diesel car sales fall amid growing fears over air quality

  13-08-2017 09:28 via ft.com
  Petrol purchases accelerate while carmakers hit back with cleaner models
  
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• We helped save Europe: now Europe could save us from Brexit

  13-08-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  We are fond of remembering our role as wartime liberators. But now it is we who need help, in the form of an offer to protect us from our folly‘A visitor from Mars would assume that the UK is under attack from a hostile power seeking to destroy our economy and many of our national institutions … But there is no hostile foreign power. The threatened damage is entirely self-inflicted.”This forceful reflection on the state of the nation comes from Sir Brian Unwin, former presiden
  
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• Hammond and Fox: We will leave customs union during Brexit transition

  13-08-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Ministers’ joint declaration means UK could strike trade deals with non-EU countries from moment it leaves in March 2019Britain will not remain in the customs union during the transitional period planned for immediately after it leaves the European Union, two leading cabinet ministers declared on Sunday.Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, and Philip Hammond, the chancellor, made the declaration in a joint article for the Sunday Telegraph intended to quash speculation that the cabi
  
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• We could all learn something from the royal touch | Kevin McKenna

  13-08-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  Crossing social classes can be done, even in GlasgowThe tale was buried deep inside the Scottish satellite edition of a London newspaper, but it startled me all the same: “Britons afraid to talk politics with those from another class or race.” It wasn’t the revelation that we were queasy about the subject of politics that jolted me, you understand, but the casual use of the word “class”.The analysis, by the British election survey, was based on interviews with more
  
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• Remainers will get nowhere by continuing to shout: ‘Told you so’ | Anne McElvoy

  13-08-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  There is a strong case against Brexit, but it must be made without condescending to those who voted for itIf liberals are so right, why are so many electorates finding us unpalatable? Progressive sorts, who believe that openness – to ideas, migration and trade – brings more benefits than closing off minds and borders are popular with each other. Sometimes they win power – Emmanuel Macron in France, Angela Merkel, most likely again in Germany next month. But they are not in the
  
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• North Korea, Trump and dangerous bluster – cartoon

  13-08-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  Chris Riddell on the US president’s bellicose response to Kim Jong-un Continue reading...
  
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• Rightwing Tories would never let May adopt Labour policies | The big issue

  13-08-2017 01:04 via theguardian.com
  Vested interests will always prevent the party championing fairnessI enjoyed Will Tanner’s recommendations for the Tory party to avoid “Jeremy Corbyn’s back to the future socialism [which] would be ruinous for Britain” (“To win again, the Tories must become radical champions of fairness”, Comment).The former deputy head of the Downing Street policy unit lists a string of proposals for Theresa May’s government: spend more on the NHS; regulate markets more
  
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• Theresa May Has 'No Idea' How Much Time And Money Is Being Thrown At Brexit

  13-08-2017 01:01
  
  The Government has “no idea” how many civil servants and how much cash are being exclusively devoted to Brexit.
  Fifteen of the UK Government’s 20 departments don’t know or were not prepared to say how many staff are working on Britain’s exit from the EU, according to parliamentary questions (PQs) submitted by Plaid Cymru.
  Theresa May’s Cabinet Office even conceded in one response it was “not possible to give an accurate figure” for the time and mon
  
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