Published: 07 July 2022
Location: London, UK
By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight
Boris Johnson suffered a further spate of ministerial resignations yesterday and fired his Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove after he reportedly threatened to quit if the Prime Minister refused to resign. The Minister for Children and Families, Will Quince, resigned after saying he had no choice, given he had defended Boris Johnson in the media against allegations he knew about complaints made about former chief whip Chris Pincher, a defence he since realised was untrue. Robin Walker left his position of Minister for School Standards in the Education department. Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, left saying he had “a complete lack of confidence” in Johnson’s leadership. Housing Minister Stewart Andrew also quit, as did Solicitor General Alex Chalk. Jo Churchill resigned as a Defra minister and Justice Minister Victoria Atkins went. At around 2.30 yesterday afternoon, five ministers resigned jointly: Kemi Badenoch, Equalities; Neil O’Brien, Local Government; Alex Burghart, Education; Lee Rowley, BEIS and Julia Lopez, DCMS. Later in the day, Mike Freer, resigned as Trade and Equalities Minister, and late last night Health Minister Ed Argar resigned as did the Welsh Secretary of State and Cabinet Minister Simon Hart. Laura Trott, a protégé of David Cameron, resigned from her post of Private Parliamentary Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Transport, along with 14 other PPSs including Felicity Buchan (BEIS); and Virginia Crosby (Wales) and Danny Kruger (Local Government). Theo Clarke, Trade envoy to Kenya, also resigned yesterday. Meanwhile, numerous Conservative MPs lined up to say they had lost confidence in the Prime Minister, among them heavyweights Priti Patel, the Home Secretary and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. Media reports say a delegation of senior MPs went to Downing Street yesterday. His new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps; Northern Ireland Secretary and Cabinet Minister Brandon Lewis – who has now resigned this morning - and Simon Hart are all said to have asked Johnson to step down. Attorney General Suella Braverman has not resigned her position but called for the PM to resign in a live broadcast interview with Robert Peston late last night, also announcing she would stand in a leadership contest if one were forthcoming. Also this morning - at the time of writing - George Freeman has resigned as Science Minister; Damian Hinds has resigned as Securities Minister; and Helen Whateley has resigned from her post as Exchequer Secretary.
As the resignations came in, the pound declined 1.4%, a drop that came on the back of an earlier fall against the US dollar, meaning a total 1.8% reduction to 1.1899, the lowest since March 2020. The pound remains the third-worst performing major currency this year, having weakened by 8% to an average of $1.2468 in the first six months of 2022, Yahoo Finance says. Viraj Patel, macro strategist at Vanda Research, spoke to Bloomberg and warned the loss of former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid “prolongs UK political uncertainty and policy impasse". However, the FTSEclimbed yesterday as Boris Johnson made it clear he does not intend to leave Number 10.
British manufacturers are opening their doors today in a UK-wide open house. The aim of Make UK's National Manufacturing Day is to encourage all age groups - from school leavers to more experienced workers - to consider careers in manufacturing.
Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill said yesterday he is prepared to vote on hiking interest rates at quicker pace if needed to tackle inflation. He made his comments in a speech at a central banking conference hosted by King's Business School.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into Amazon over concerns that the company is giving an unfair advantage to certain sellers on its marketplace – notably its own retail business - meaning Amazon's practices allegedly disadvantage third-party sellers and are therefore anti-competitive and leading to worse deals for customers. The regulator also said that for a fee, Amazon offers services to independent businesses - including storage, packaging, and delivery - and may be giving an unfair advantage to the sellers that purchase these services. The announcement follows a similar probe launched by the European Commission in May.
CMA has also launched an investigation into Microsoft's $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard and will consider whether the deal could harm competition and lead to higher prices, lower quality or reduced choice for consumers.
The Climate Change Committee, the Government's independent adviser on tackling climate change, has found the running cost of heat pumps is 10% higher than that of a gas boiler. This puts around £100 more each year on the average bill, in addition to the upfront capital cost of at least £10,000 to replace a gas boiler with a heat pump.
British housebuilders saw a slowdown in activity in June. The S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the construction sector dropped to 52.6 in June from 56.4 in May, with residential homebuilding the weakest area of construction activity for the fourth month in a row. It is the first time work on residential projects has fallen since 2020 and comes despite house prices reaching a record high. Commercial building work also “saw a considerable loss of momentum” as businesses reined in spending, S&P said.
British Airways is scrapping another 10,300 short-haul flights between August and the end of October. This latest announcement means nearly 30,000 flights will have been removed from BA's schedule between April and October this year, the BBC says. The cancellations affect London Heathrow, Gatwick and City airports.
Tesco is in another dispute with a major supplier, this time Mars, which has stopped supplying the supermarket chain with its Whiskas pet food in a row over prices. US food retailer Kraft Heinz pulled its products from sale in a similar dispute over price hikes, which Tesco says it will not pass on to customers as they are "unjustifiable”.
The French government announced the full nationalisation of energy giant EDF yesterday. The company is Britain’s fourth largest household energy supplier, and the one which is building Hinkley Point 'C', the UK's first new nuclear power station in a generation. French PM Elisabeth Borne told the parliament: "The climate emergency requires strong, radical decisions. We need to have full control of the production and our energy future. We must ensure our sovereignty faced with the consequences of the war and the colossal challenges ahead. That is why I confirm today the intention of the state to hold 100% of the capital of EDF." The French government already owned 83.9% of its capital and it had become increasingly apparent during the current crisis that ministers were dictating how it is run, Sky News says.
Sri Lanka's president says he has asked Russia's Vladimir Putin to help his cash-strapped nation import fuel, as it faces its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, the BBC reports. Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he "had a very productive" discussion with Putin, and that he had also "humbly made a request" for flights between Moscow and Colombo to resume, after the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot suspended services last month. "We unanimously agreed that strengthening bilateral relations in sectors such as tourism, trade and culture was paramount in reinforcing the friendship our two nations share," he tweeted.
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