Free Republic

Guido understands that the conversion therapy ban has finally been killed off. The government committed to a draft bill for pre-legislative scrutiny last January, though now it will not be put forward a Joint Committee, cutting it off at the first stage. Banning conversion therapy for gay and trans people has been kicked down the road since 2018, and now Rishi has let it die… Like most things, it’s an issue that polarises the Tories, and it seems that Sunak doesn’t want the backlash from the Tory right if he were to go ahead with the ban. MPs raised their...

The Conservative party’s biggest donor told colleagues that looking at Diane Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women” and said the MP “should be shot”, the Guardian can reveal. Frank Hester, who has given £10m to the Tories in the past year, said in the meeting that he did not hate all black women. But he said that seeing Abbott, who is Britain’s longest-serving black MP, on TV meant “you just want to hate all black women because she’s there”. He also called all his “foreign” workers together to defend himself against online claims that he had made...

To the authentically British backdrop of drizzle, a distant heckler and the piccolo patter of a Downing Street tree sparrow, Rishi Sunak confronted the 'poison' of Islamist and far-Right extremism. It needed saying and it needed saying well. Our Prime Minister did that. Arc-lit by TV cameras as Friday afternoon slipped into evening, a deadly serious Sunak said: 'This situation has gone on long enough. Our great achievement in building the world's most successful multi-ethnic, multi-faith democracy is being deliberately undermined. There are forces here at home trying to tear us apart. We must not allow that to happen.' 'Forces...

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allegations from his interview with Tucker Carlson. During the interview posted to X on Thursday night, Putin claimed that Johnson “dissuaded” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from coming to an agreement with Russia and avoiding a war entirely. According to Putin, an agreement had already been outlined in a document.“He put his signature and then he himself said, ‘We were ready to sign it, and the war would have been over long ago. However, Prime Minister Johnson came to talk us [Ukraine] out of it, and we’ve missed that...

Britain’s former Prime Minister, now returned to frontline politics as the nation’s top diplomat, is again talking about recognising a Palestinian state despite Israel rejecting the idea, but this time adding the condition it would have to be without Hamas. The United Kingdom would recognise a Palestinian state, but only once Gaza is no longer controlled by Hamas, Britain’s Foreign Minister Lord David Cameron said in Lebanon on Thursday. Per a Guardian report on the remarks Britain legitimising a Palestinian state could come even before the end of futuretalks between Israel and “Palestinian leaders”. No moves could be made until...

The British Conservative Party is facing an “extinction event” with a comprehensive poll predicting a defeat on the scale of the loss to Tony Blair’s Labour in 1997 on the backs of growing anger over failures to control migration and the rise of the Nigel Farage-founded Reform UK. A YouGov survey of 14,000 people released in The Telegraph newspaper on Sunday found that the Conservatives will win just 169 seats in the House of Commons, a decline of 196 from the last general election in 2019. This would outpace the seismic defeat of the party in 1997 when Sir John...

The Conservative (Tory) Party appears to have surrendered the one true vote-winning card they have always held up their sleeve, the ability to sell British voters the idea they will cut their taxes, with polling clearly showing the Tories are now clearly thought of as the high tax party. Voters, asked by a pollster which political party out of the United Kingdom’s two establishment legacy parties they more associated with high taxation, opted in a considerable plurality for the Conservative Party, it is claimed.

The United Kingdom's so called ‘Conservative Party’ have today announced that they intend to impose abortion on the people of Northern Ireland, despite the majority of people there opposing it. The British government's so called ‘Secretary of State for Northern Ireland’ Chris Heaton Harris told the North's real rulers in Westminster: “As Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, I am required under section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 (“the NIEF Act”) to ensure that the recommendations in paragraphs 85 and 86 of the 2018 Report of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against...

Another Conservative government minister has been sacked from his role in the government for allegedly groping a man, as the party continues to be plagued by sexual misconduct scandals. Conor Burns MP, a minister at the Department for International Trade, was fired from his government post by Prime Ministry Liz Truss on Friday over allegations of “serious misconduct” during the annual Conservative Party conference in Birmingham this week.

Liz Truss, the U.K.'s new prime minister, billed herself to the public as that, but the mess she's made of the British economy, which includes a cave-in on a proposed tax cut, is pretty much the opposite of What Thatcher Would Do. According to Fox News:The U.K. is canceling plans to impose a major tax cut for the nation's top tax bracket following widespread frustration and market chaos, U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss announced Monday.Truss' plan had called for eliminating the U.K.'s highest tax bracket, resulting in major cut for citizens making more than $168,000 annually. Truss and her government...

LONDON — The British government has dropped plans to cut income tax for top earners, part of a package of unfunded cuts that sparked turmoil on financial markets and sent the pound to record lows. Treasury chief Kwasi Kwarteng said Monday that he will not scrap the top 45% rate of income tax paid on earnings above 150,000 pounds ($167,000) a year. “We get it, and we have listened,” he said in a statement. The U-turn comes as more lawmakers from the governing Conservative Party turn on government tax plans announced 10 days ago. It also comes hours after the...

The new British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Tuesday selected a cabinet where, for the first time, a white man will not hold one of the country's four most important ministerial positions. Truss appointed Kwasi Kwarteng – whose parents came from Ghana in the 1960s – as Britain's first Black finance minister while James Cleverly is the first Black foreign minister. Cleverly, whose mother hails from Sierra Leone and whose father is white, has in the past spoken about being bullied as a mixed-race child and has said the party needs to do more to attract Black voters. Suella Braverman,...

Conservative Party interim leader Candice Bergen demanded an end to trucker-led “Freedom Convoy” protests blockading international borders on Thursday, urging anti-mandate demonstrations to end. Her statement in the House of Commons appeared to be a dramatic shift from her initial support for the protests, which have lasted nearly two weeks in the national capital, Ottawa, but have begun to dispute Canada-U.S. supply chains through blockades along Canada’s southern border. Ambassador Bridge, the largest American-Canadian crossing, has come to an ongoing standstill this week as hundreds of trucks park themselves on and around it, inhibiting international traffic.

A planned £12bn rise in National Insurance from April is "the right plan" and "must go ahead", Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have said. In an article in the Sunday Times, the PM and chancellor said the rise - which applies to employees and employers - will help clear the NHS backlog. Despite opposition, including from some Tory MPs, they say it is "progressive" because higher earners pay more. With inflation rising sharply, there had been calls to scrap the tax rise. Under the plans, employees, employers and the self-employed will all pay 1.25p more in the pound for National...

Carrie Johnson will give an LGBT rights speech at the Conservative Party conference next week, it has been revealed. The prime minister’s wife, 33, has been named guest of honor at the party’s Pride reception in Manchester. Mrs. Johnson, who is currently pregnant with her second child, is “a longstanding ally”, according to Elena Bunbury, chairwoman of the LGBT+ Conservatives. She told The Times: “Carrie has always been a good sport to LGBT+ Conservatives. She even judged our virtual lip-sync last conference. We’re thrilled she’ll be joining us in person this year in Manchester.” The LGBT+ event will be held...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell world leaders at the United Nations that humanity has to “grow up” and tackle climate change, saying humans must stop trashing the planet like a teenager on a bender. Johnson is due to host a major United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland in six weeks’ time. He is using a trip to the U.N. General Assembly in New York to press governments for tougher emissions-cutting targets and more money to help poor countries clean up their economies. In a speech to the General Assembly on Wednesday, he’ll say...

Support for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative party has slipped behind the opposition Labour party to its lowest level since the 2019 national election, a poll showed, after announcing a tax rise to fund health and social care. The poll, conducted by YouGov for the Times newspaper, showed support for the Conservatives slump five points to 33%, with Labour up one point to 35%, ahead of Johnson's party for the first time since January. Johnson set out plans on Tuesday to raise taxes on workers, employers and some investors to try to fix a health and social care funding...

LONDON (AP) — Restaurants, ride-hailing apps and food delivery services are backing Britain’s COVID-19 vaccination drive, offering discounts and even free slices of pizza to persuade young people to roll up their sleeves and get the shot. The program, announced Sunday by the Department of Health and Social Care, is designed to boost the vaccination rate among adults under 30 as Britain races to inoculate as many people as possible before colder weather arrives. While more than 90% of adults in Britain have received at least one dose of vaccine, the rate for people between the ages of 18 and...

The Prime Minister is facing his biggest backbench rebellion to date over his plan to introduce compulsory vaccine passports from September. Conservative backbenchers were left outraged when Mr Johnson confirmed last night his intention to make Covid vaccines necessary for entry to nightclubs. The announcement caught MPs off guard, with the plans sprung on the public unexpectedly. Ministers had previously ruled out introducing any form of passporting for domestic events but U-turned last week saying proof of two jabs, a negative test, or natural antibodies was recommended for large, indoor gatherings. Yesterday Mr Johnson went further by saying proof of...

Britain should introduce the world’s first tax on sugary and salty food, a report recommends today. The “snack tax” could add £3.4 billion a year to families’ shopping bills, with a 60p Mars bar costing 9p more. With 56 million people currently living in England, it means £60 per year will be added to each person’s food bill on average — £240 for a family of four. The money should be used to pay for GPs to prescribe fruit, vegetables and cookery classes on the NHS to help prevent obesity and ill health, the Government-commissioned review says. The radical proposals...