12 January 2017
Week in Brief: UK
DIPLOMATIC: The Ambassador to Brussels, Sir Ivan Rogers, has resigned in protest at what he has described as “muddled thinking” in Whitehall over the negotiating stance to be adopted by the UK in its discussions with the EU over the terms of disengagement. Retired civil servants have expressed sympathy with his frustration. Theresa May moved quickly to appoint Sir Tim Barrow, a former Ambassador to Russia, as a replacement.
ROYAL NAVY: The Royal Navy has been criticised for wasting £500 million. 3 offshore patrol vessels were ordered in 2014, with a view to keeping shipyards in Scotland open, even though ships were not being constructed.
FRACKING: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has reprimanded Friends of the Earth twice after the charity tried to deny that it had not made false claims about the supposed dangers of fracking. There was a conflict between accounts of what had been agreed between the charity and the ASA following a meeting between the two. The ASA said that Friends of the Earth had undertaken not to repeat the allegations and so the case had been closed without a ruling being handed down. A representative of the charity said that it had simply agreed not to circulate an old leaflet, but stood by the claims made. Friends of the Earth said that the ASA had dropped the case and denied that it had given any undertaking. The ASA said that this was not an accurate account of the meeting.
PRESS: Newspapers have intensified their campaign against section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. The official press regulator, Impress, has been criticised as being funded by Max Moseley whose private life was the subject of press reports some years ago. The News Media Association has revealed that the founder and chief executive of Impress has, in the past, been critical of the BBC and the general press and has called for an advertising boycott of the Daily Mail. Another director alleged in 2015 that the press was controlled by banks. A third director published an article in 2012 co-written with Tom Watson (deputy leader of the Labour Party) in which he attacked Rupert Murdoch and linked him to the corruption of the UK.
USA: Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, has flown to New York to meet Donald Trump’s advisers, namely the future President’s chief strategist, his national security adviser and another adviser who is his son-in-law. It is not thought that Boris Johnson will meet Donald Trump himself.
NHS: Doctors have warned that many A&E departments are dangerously overcrowded, especially after being very busy on 27 December 2016. It was more difficult to arrange an appointment with a doctor over the Christmas and New Year break, which might have led to more people attending A&E units.
LABOUR: The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has agreed that managed migration should be introduced after the UK leaves the EU. His change of mind was apparently brought about following pressure put on him by Labour MPs and the unions.
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