The Conservative Party has announced a reshuffle as former ministers who remain as MPs after Labour’s election victory make the transition into becoming the shadow cabinet.
Lord Cameron has resigned as foreign secretary, being replaced by his deputy Andrew Mitchell in the shadow role.
And, despite clinging on to a seat in last week’s vote, Richard Holden has quit as Tory party chairman.
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Richard Parker has pulled off a surprise victory in the West Midlands mayoral election.
The Labour candidate unseated Andy Street, winning by just 1,508 votes, to end the Tory’s seven-year term.
Here’s what you need to know about the relatively unknown politician.
Originally from Bristol, Mr Parker’s father was a dock worker and his mother a school secretary.
He left school aged 16 and went straight to work at a local port authority before getting an economics degree.
Mr Parker went to work for PwC in 1989, where he gained his accountancy qualifications and went on to become a partner, managing the accountancy firm’s relationship with the Labour Party.
Mr Parker also worked with council leaders to set up the West Midlands Combined Authority in 2016 before leaving to set up his own company RP Strategy.
The firm works with small and medium-sized companies and social enterprises on initiatives such as green investment, housing and the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Image: Liam Bryne with Richard Parker. Pic: Liam Byrne/X
Read more: Conservative Andy Street suffers shock loss Tories suffer worst election results in years
He has been a Labour Party member for 35 years and was selected as the candidate for West Midlands mayor over Birmingham City councillor Nicky Brennan In April 2023.
In his manifesto, Mr Parker, 60, tells of his “ordinary working-class background” and writes: “I’ve never been a politician before, but I’m not prepared to sit on the sidelines any more. I’ll do politics differently. Things must change.”
His election promises include a plan to create 150,000 jobs and training opportunities across the West Midlands, revitalise high streets and tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
He has lived in the West Midlands since 1985 and spent his working life there. His wife works as a lawyer and his son works in manufacturing in the Black Country.
A Birmingham Mail profile of the new mayor says Mr Parker is a Bristol City fan who calls trip-hop band Massive Attack “friends”.
He also told the paper he likes cooking, watching live bands, going to the theatre and meeting friends for a pint or a coffee.
The Conservative Party chair has called Reform UK leader Richard Tice a “threatening bully” after the latter warned he could embarrass another senior Tory.
The row between the two parties comes in the wake of a devastating poll for the government, which showed the Conservatives risk falling below 100 seats in parliament after the next election.
But the same analysis of 15,000 voters found that, if Reform were to stand aside, the Conservatives would get closer to 150 seats.
Reform UK, in its previous iteration as the Brexit Party, did not compete in seats the Tories already held at the 2019 election – as then prime minister Boris Johnson sought a mandate to “get Brexit done”.
But today’s row makes the chances of a similar pact at the next election look vanishingly small.
The row erupted after Conservative deputy chair Jonathan Gullis criticised Mr Tice and the selection of Reform candidates in the Mail On Sunday.
Mr Tice then posted on social media: “With a special Easter message to Tory MP Jonathan Gullis: Given the multiple bits of embarrassing personal information we have on you, I suggest you pipe down on your attacks against me.”
In response, Richard Holden, who is chair of the Conservative Party, posted: “What a threatening bully Richard Tice is exposing himself to be.
“Silly man.”
Mark Jenkinson, a government whip, said Mr Tice was “not just a political weathervane, but also a thin-skinned bully – who knew?”.
Read more: Who are Reform and what do they stand for? Conservatives facing ‘extinction event’ – Farage A vote for Reform UK is a vote for Labour – Holden
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1:27
Reform UK leader threatens more defections
Mr Gullis’s criticism came in an article which claimed Reform – of which Nigel Farage is director – had chosen candidates for the Commons who include a convicted animal abuser and a fortune-teller who sold spells for £200 on the OnlyFans website.
The MP told the Mail On Sunday: “Reform says its candidates have been vetted and given that all of this information was in the public domain, we can only assume this cast of characters passed Mr Tice’s muster.
“We are clearly not just talking about a ‘few rotten eggs’ here. If you are promoting candidates banned from looking after dogs, how can you honestly say they are capable of looking after the interests of their constituents?”
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The stand-off between the two parties reached new levels when one of Mr Gullis’s predecessors as deputy chair, Lee Anderson, defected from the Conservatives to Reform.
There have been reports that Reform is courting more Tories – including Mr Gullis – although he has denied it.
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Bob Seely, the Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight, told The Sun On Sunday that Reform “tried to tempt” him weeks before Mr Anderson’s defection.
But he said he knew “a duff deal when I see it” – branding Reform a “rag tag group with no hope of governing or leading”.
Former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman has been banned from all sport for four years for violating anti-doping rules.
UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) said he had 30 sachets of a testosterone gel delivered to the National Cycling Centre in Manchester in May 2011 and lied about it.
The watchdog said the National Anti-Doping Panel decision to ban him was made in July.
Freeman was in his role at British Cycling and what was Team Sky when Bradley Wiggins became Britain’s first Tour de France champion in 2012, a time when British cycling soared to the top of the cycling world.
The Testogel Freeman ordered is prescription-only medication and banned under anti-doping rules as it contains testosterone.
Freeman told UKAD he ordered the gel for a “non-rider” member of British Cycling staff, but refused to name them due to patient confidentiality.
He said he had asked them several times to waive their confidentiality but they refused. However, UKAD said this was false, as was his claim the gel had been returned to the supplier.
In 2021, Freeman was also struck off the medical register after a tribunal ruled he knew or believed the gel was intended for a rider to improve their performance.
A controversial cartoon of outgoing BBC chairman Richard Sharp has been taken down by a national newspaper after being widely condemned as antisemitic.
In the face of a fierce backlash, The Guardian has apologised and removed Martin Rowson’s drawing posted on its website as it “did not meet our editorial standards”.
Also apologising, Mr Rowson said through “carelessness and thoughtlessness I screwed up pretty badly”.
Critics argued the depiction of Mr Sharp, who is Jewish, would not have looked out of place in Nazi-era propaganda sheets.
Image: There has been condemnation of the ‘deeply depressing’ caricature. Pic: Guardian
The row comes after Mr Sharp resigned from the top BBC job on Friday after being found to have broken the rules by failing to disclose he played a role in getting the then prime minister Boris Johnson an £800,000 loan guarantee.
The cartoon showed a heavily-featured Mr Sharp departing with a box marked Goldman Sachs, the investment bank where he used to work, containing a squid and what appears to be a puppet of Rishi Sunak.
The Jewish “puppet master”, secretly controlling the economic and political world order, has been a long-standing narrative and antisemitic trope used by conspiracy theorists.
Next to Mr Sharp, sitting on a pile of dung is a naked Mr Johnson, shouting to him: “Cheer up matey. I put you down for a peerage in my resignation honours list.”
Author Dave Rich, who has written on antisemitism, wrote on Twitter the cartoon “falls squarely into an antisemitic tradition of depicting Jews with outsized, grotesque features, often in conjunction with money and power”.
He pointed out such caricatures had been used by both the Nazis and in the Soviet Union.
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4:08
Richard Sharp’s resignation in full
Highlighting the symbolism within the cartoon, on the squid, Mr Rich said: “Yes, Sharp worked for Goldman Sachs, which was famously described in @RollingStone as ‘a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money'”.
But he added: “The problem is that a squid or octopus is also a common antisemitic motif, used to depict a supposed Jewish conspiracy with its tentacles wrapped around whatever parts of society the Jews supposedly control. Especially money. Are those gold coins in the box with Sharp’s squid?”
He added: “Is it possible that a cartoonist as experienced as @MartinRowson is unaware of these common antisemitic traditions (plus whoever else at the Guardian saw it)?
“Or perhaps this just another case of assumptions about Jews, money and power that are so familiar, people don’t notice them.”
He went on: “The physical characteristics given to Sharp in the cartoon – the nose, lips etc – are racial characteristics. Antisemitism can be racism. Just in case anyone was still unsure about that.”
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0:21
Johnson has nothing to say on Sharp
Read more: Analysis: Damage to the BBC has already been done Diane Abbott suspended as Labour MP after suggesting Jews don’t face racism
Former Labour MP Ian Austin, who quit the party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership over antisemitism and now sits in the Lords, wrote on Twitter: “What an utterly revolting cartoon, full of disgusting antisemitic imagery.
“It looks like something from a far-right Nazi publication but is in fact in @guardian and they should be ashamed of themselves.”
Fellow former Labour MP John Mann, who is also now a peer, said: “Haven’t bought this paper for many years. This is why.
“My parents who bought it every day would be so saddened and angry with those who own and edit it. A paper that chooses not to sort itself out.”
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1:48
Richard Sharp scandal explained
Stephen Pollard, editor-at-large of the Jewish Chronicle, tweeted: “It takes a lot to shock me. And I am well aware of the Guardian’s and especially Rowson’s form. But I still find it genuinely shocking that not a single person looked at this and said, no, we can’t run this. To me that’s the real issue.”
‘Antisemitism should be relentlessly challenged’
Tory former cabinet minister Sajid Javid also wrote on Twitter: “Disappointed to see these tropes in today’s Guardian.
“Disturbing theme – or at best, lessons not learned?”
He linked to a previous Guardian cartoon by Steve Bell 2020, which drew accusations of racism, after depicting then home secretary Priti Patel, who is of Hindu heritage, as a huge bull with horns and a ring through her nose.
Former Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith said: “The depiction of Richard Sharp in @guardian is deeply depressing.
“Antisemitism should be relentlessly challenged, day in day out. Lots to write about re the report this week, but why this?”
Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore branded it a “repellent explicitly racist cartoon”.
Responding to criticism, The Guardian said in a statement: “We understand the concerns that have been raised.
“This cartoon does not meet our editorial standards, and we have decided to remove it from our website.
“The Guardian apologises to Mr Sharp, to the Jewish community and to anyone offended.”
‘Things go horribly wrong’
Mr Rowson apologised on Twitter. He said: “Through carelessness and thoughtlessness I screwed up pretty badly with a Graun toon today & many people are understandably very upset.
“I genuinely apologise, unconditionally.”
In a longer statement on his website, he added: “Sometimes, like in this case, in the mad rush to cram as much in as possible in the five or so hours available to me to produce the artwork by deadline, things go horribly wrong.”
He continued: “I know Richard Sharp is Jewish; actually, while we’re collecting networks of croneyism, I was at school with him, though I doubt he remembers me.
“His Jewishness never crossed my mind as I drew him as it’s wholly irrelevant to the story or his actions, and it played no conscious role in how I twisted his features according to the standard cartooning playbook.
“Likewise, the cute squid and the little Rishi were no more than that, a cartoon squid and a short Prime Minister, it never occurring to me that some might see them as puppets of Sharp, this being another notorious antisemitic trope.”
A one-legged British organised crime boss has been arrested in Thailand after five years on the run.
Richard Wakeling, 55, from Brentwood, Essex, tried to import £8m of liquid amphetamine into the UK in April 2016.
He fled in 2018 before his trial was due to begin and was sentenced to 11 years in his absence at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Wakeling, who has a prosthetic lower right leg, was placed on the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) “most wanted” list.
Appeals were later issued for information to help trace him.
Officers from the Royal Thai Police arrested the fugitive at a Bangkok garage on Friday where he had been collecting his car after repairs, the NCA said.
Wakeling, who had been living in the beachside town of Hua Hin, was in possession of a passport for another identity.
He remains in custody and extradition proceedings are under way.
Image: Richard Wakeling has a prosthetic lower right leg
‘Strong relationships’ helped catch fugitive
David Coyle, NCA regional manager for Thailand, said Wakeling’s capture was “another example of an offender being caught” by the agency working “relentlessly” with international partners.
Mr Coyle said: “The NCA has worked relentlessly to trace Wakeling and ensure he returns to the UK to serve his prison sentence.
“I thank the prosecutors of the Attorney General’s office, the Royal Thai Police and the Commissioner of the Central Investigations Bureau for their extensive work helping us identify and arrest Wakeling.
“With our partners at home and abroad we are committed to doing everything possible to find those who have fled justice in the UK.
“This is another example of an offender being caught because of the NCA’s global reach and strong relationships with international partners.”
Fugitive had links to multiple countries
Jacque Beer, NCA regional head of investigations, said the public response to appeals for information had helped to track down the fugitive.
He said: “Wakeling’s arrest was the culmination of the NCA conducting inquiries around the world to capture him.
“Wakeling had links to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Canada, Spain and Thailand.
“We pursued these connections and worked with partners from all those countries to help build the intelligence picture around him.
“We have been supported by the public who responded to the media and Crimewatch appeals to provide intelligence, all of which has ultimately led to his capture.”
The NCA issued an appeal for help finding Wakeling in 2019 and released CCTV footage of him before he fled.
Read more UK news Police van set on fire in ‘violent scenes’ outside hotel housing asylum seekers Two killed and another injured in separate stabbing incidents in London
Image: Richard Wakeling was arrested in Thailand. Pic: NCA
He drove a white Audi Q3 from his home in Juniper Court on Beech Avenue, Brentwood, on 5 January 2018, towards Berkshire before catching a bus from Heathrow to Glasgow, and then taking a ferry from Stranraer to Belfast.
A week later, his car, which he had left in Iver, near Slough, was driven back to his home address.
The NCA launched an investigation into Wakeling’s organised crime group after Border Force stopped a truck loaded with plastic drums full of drugs from boarding a Channel Tunnel train on 9 April 2016.
The importation, which was set up by Wakeling, involved a driver transporting furniture from Italy, and stopping in Ternat, Belgium, en route to collect the drugs.
Wakeling had been in contact with drug suppliers in the Netherlands, and liaised with two other UK offenders to arrange the journey, the NCA said.
Officers believe the crime group had organised at least six other importations before the 2016 seizure.
Boris Johnson was reportedly told to stop asking Richard Sharp for “advice” about his “personal financial matters” just days before he was announced as the new BBC chairman.
Mr Johnson, who was prime minister at the time, was warned by officials to stop discussing his financial arrangements with Mr Sharp on 22 December 2020, according to The Sunday Times.
Mr Sharp was due to be announced as BBC chair on 6 January 2021.
The former banker has been facing calls to stand down as BBC chairman after it emerged that in late 2020 he had introduced Sam Blyth to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to discuss whether Mr Blyth, a distant cousin of Mr Johnson whom Mr Sharp has known for more than 40 years, could act as a guarantor for a loan facility for the prime minister.
Mr Sharp previously said that he will remain in place, with the BBC chairman due to be grilled by MPs on the controversy next month.
A spokesperson for the former prime minister said Mr Sharp has “never given any financial advice to Boris Johnson, nor has Mr Johnson sought any financial advice from him”.
They added: “Neither Mr Johnson nor anyone acting on his behalf was ever aware that Sam Blyth was being considered for any role at the British Council, nor did Mr Johnson have any discussions with Sam Blyth or anyone else about any such role.
“Neither Mr Johnson nor anyone acting on his behalf spoke to anyone in the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) regarding Mr Blyth for any public appointment.”
The spokesperson said that “throughout this process, as the material The Sunday Times has obtained demonstrates, Mr Johnson followed advice and took the necessary steps to ensure probity. All declarations were made properly”.
Timeline
November 2020: According to the Sunday Times the loan guarantee was first suggested by Canadian millionaire Sam Blyth during a dinner with Richard Sharp.
Early December 2020: In early December, Richard Sharp put Sam Blyth in contact with the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case.
Late 2020: Before the end of the year, Richard Sharp and Sam Blyth met with Boris Johnson for dinner at his country residence, Chequers. They insist the prime minister’s finances were not discussed.
January 2021: At the start of January, the government announced Richard Sharp as the preferred candidate to be BBC chairman.
The newspaper, citing a leaked Cabinet Office memo, said advice was issued by top civil servant Mr Case after Mr Johnson and Mr Sharp sought out advice on accepting the £800,000 loan from Mr Blyth.
Mr Johnson reportedly secured the loan in February 2021.
The paper quotes advice issued by Mr Case, which stated: “Given the imminent announcement of Richard Sharp as the new BBC chair, it is important that you no longer ask his advice about your personal financial matters.”
Public appointments commissioner William Shawcross has already said that he plans to investigate Mr Sharp’s appointment as BBC chairman, following the first set of reports last week.
Read more: BBC chairman Richard Sharp confident he was ‘appointed on merit’ after Boris Johnson loan row
Chairman of the BBC – What is the role?
The Chairman of the BBC is the head of the BBC board – on a salary of £160,000.
They are responsible for maintaining the independence of the BBC while overseeing the functioning of the corporation to fulfill its mission.
The chairman is also in charge of the process for appointing the director-general and can dismiss the person in this role. They also act as the corporation’s most senior representative to Parliament and the government, including the devolved administrations.
Speaking to Sky News yesterday, Roger Mosey, a former head of TV news at the BBC, said it was a job with “two directions”.
He said while it is “the most important role for the accountability of the BBC to the public”, it is not one which is involved in the BBC’s journalism.
But Mr Mosey pointed out that it is not uncommon for the chair to be a political appointment and that this is “nothing new”.
Mr Sharp told BBC News last week he was “comfortable” with the way the process had been carried out.
The paper also reports that Mr Blyth had appeared on a Foreign Office list of four recommended candidates during the search for the chief executive of the British Council, with his family ties to Mr Johnson not revealed to senior figures at the council.
Mr Blyth told the paper he ruled himself out on 7 December 2020 and did not formally apply.
“I believe my name may have been suggested by civil servants who were trying to identify potential candidates at the search stage of the appointment process,” he said.
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0:39
Johnson: Loan claims ‘complete nonsense’
Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain called on the government to publish Mr Johnson’s internal register of interests.
She said: “How can Johnson claim that Richard Sharp knew nothing of his personal finances when he was explicitly told by officials to stop asking for his financial advice?
“The public are sick of these endless lies and Conservative cover-ups. This government must come clean and publish all relevant documents, including Boris Johnson’s internal register of interests, so we can get to the bottom of this.”
Mr Sharp said last week that “having had a discussion with the cabinet secretary about avoiding conflict, and the perception of conflict, I felt comfortable and I still feel there was no conflict because at that stage what I was seeking to do was ensure that the process was followed exactly by the book, and that the process hadn’t started, of any kind, in terms of any support that Sam (Blyth) was going to provide to the prime minister”.
“I had clarified and agreed with the cabinet secretary, both of us had the judgment that I’d avoided a conflict or a perception of conflict.”
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “We do not comment on leaks.”
Richard Sharp has said there was “no conflict of interest” over his role in helping Boris Johnson secure a loan before being appointed BBC chairman.
He said he is confident he was given the job “on merit” after an investigation was launched into his hiring.
The BBC is also reporting that Mr Sharp has no plans to stand down despite scrutiny of his appointment.
Politics live: Tory party turning on Zahawi
The former banker has confirmed he introduced his close friend Sam Blyth to cabinet secretary Simon Case in late 2020, to discuss whether Mr Blyth could act as a guarantor for a loan facility for Mr Johnson.
The talks took place while Mr Johnson was still prime minister, and while Mr Sharp was in the process of applying to be BBC chair.
In an interview with the broadcaster today, Mr Sharp said that a decision was made by Mr Case that there was no conflict of interest, nor the perception of one.
He said: “Having had a discussion with the cabinet secretary about avoiding a conflict – and the perception of conflict – I felt comfortable and I still feel there was no conflict because at that stage what I was seeking to do was to ensure the process was followed exactly by the book, and that the process hadn’t started, of any kind, in terms of any support that Sam [Blyth] was going to provide to the prime minister.”
Mr Blyth is a multimillionaire Canadian businessman and distant relative of Mr Johnson.
The Sunday Times reported he ended up being a guarantor of a loan of £800,000 to the former PM, who oversaw Mr Sharp’s appointment.
Timeline
November 2020: According to the Sunday Times the loan guarantee was first suggested by Canadian millionaire Sam Blyth during a dinner with Richard Sharp.
Early December 2020: In early December, Richard Sharp put Sam Blyth in contact with the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case.
Late 2020: Before the end of the year, Richard Sharp and Sam Blyth met with Boris Johnson for dinner at his country residence, Chequers. They insist the prime minister’s finances were not discussed.
January 2021: At the start of January, the government announced Richard Sharp as the preferred candidate to be BBC chairman.
Asked if he thought he had misled a parliamentary committee or the advisory panel which picked him, Mr Sharp said: “No, I don’t.”
He added: “I had clarified and agreed with the cabinet secretary, both of us had the judgment that I’d avoided a conflict or a perception of conflict.”
Pressed on whether the row was an issue at a time when the BBC is making efforts to be impartial and highlight transparency, Mr Sharp told his own news channel: “Well look I see attacks on the BBC all the time, from the media, and for example social media, and they attack our impartiality.
“And I think the governance we put in place is extremely strong on impartiality and I’ll be talking about it later today, precisely because we should be judged by our output. “
The BBC is reviewing any conflict of interests related to Mr Sharp’s role while William Shawcross, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, has opened an investigation into the competition which led to his appointment.
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1:12
Johnson says Richard Sharp ‘knows nothing’ about his finances
Labour has also reported Mr Johnson to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, saying the former prime minister’s financial affairs are “dragging the Conservative Party deeper into yet another quagmire of sleaze”.
On Monday, Mr Johnson told Sky News that Mr Sharp “knows absolutely nothing about my personal finances – I can tell you that for 100% ding-dang sure”.
Rishi Sunak, who is under pressure over Tory Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs, has sought to distance himself from the controversy, saying saying Mr Sharp’s appointment was made by “one of my predecessors”.
