Home

Boris Johnson appeared before the Privileges Committee, publishing in advance a 52-page defence of his actions while Prime Minister regarding Covid regulations. He said that ‘the House of Commons was misled by my statements’ but they were ‘not intentionally or recklessly’ misled. Before the hearing he was reselected as the Conservative candidate for the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency. The review of the behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police by Baroness Casey of Blackstock found ‘institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia’ in the force. London no longer had a ‘functioning neighbourhood policing service’, she said. Commissioner Mark Rowley of the Met said he was not willing to use the word ‘institutional’ because it had become politicised and meant ‘different things to different people’. The BBC advised staff to delete TikTok from corporate phones over fears about privacy and security. This came a week after the Chinese-owned app was banned on government phones.

Peter Murrell, the husband of Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, resigned as chief executive of the Scottish National party. A day earlier Murray Foote had resigned as the party’s media officer, citing problems with statements he had issued in ‘good faith’. The SNP admitted that it now had only 72,186 members, 32,000 fewer than two years ago. The Democratic Unionist party decided to vote in parliament against the government’s Windsor Framework affecting the Northern Ireland Protocol, its leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said. The European Research Group of MPs was advised by lawyers that the so-called Stormont brake in the framework was ‘practically useless’.

Inflation unexpectedly rose from 10.1 per cent to 10.4 per cent, partly through an increase in the price of tomatoes and alcohol served in pubs and restaurants. Government borrowing last month reached its highest recorded February level, mostly because of support for domestic energy customers. The government offered nurses, paramedics, 999 call handlers and midwives more money to avert strikes. Members of the RMT union voted to accept a pay offer from Network Rail. The train operator Avanti West Coast had its contract extended to 15 October after reducing its cancellations from 20 per cent in January to 5 per cent. The headquarters of Great British Railways, the new body owning rail infrastructure and procuring passenger services, will be in Derby. John Lewis, which is owned by its staff, considered selling a minority stake. Just Eat, the takeaway delivery company, was to cut 1,870 jobs following a decrease of 9 per cent in customers last year.

Abroad

President Xi Jinping, the ruler of China, visited Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and invited him to Beijing. On the same day, Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, visited Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Earlier the International Criminal Court in the Hague had issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin, accused of war crimes in Ukraine, including the unlawful deportation of children. Mr Putin inspected Mariupol, driving himself into the ruined city. Kalibr-NK cruise missiles, intended for use by Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, were reported to have been destroyed by drones as they were being transported by rail at Dzhankoi in Crimea. Seventeen EU countries and Norway agreed to jointly procure ammunition to replace that sent to Ukraine.

The French government narrowly survived a vote of no confidence after Elisabeth Borne, the prime minister, pushed through a measure without a parliamentary vote to raise the pensionable age from 62 to 64. In the streets people clashed with police and set fire to things. Plans were afoot to meet the state visit of King Charles and Queen Camilla with strikes. Donald Trump, the former US president, said that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday. President Gustavo Petro of Colombia suspended a ceasefire with the Gulf Clan drug trafficking cartel. UBS bought the mortally wounded Credit Suisse, with the strong encouragement of Swiss officials and the intervention of the Swiss National Bank. In response to the crisis, central banks in the United States, Britain, Japan, Canada and the European Union increased the flow of US dollars. Amazon, which employs 1.5 million people worldwide, said it would cut another 9,000 jobs in addition to 18,000 cut in January. Rupert Murdoch, aged 92, is to marry for the fifth time.