LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday denied breaching the UK government’s ministerial code of conduct, as he bids to head off a growing Conservative revolt over the “Partygate” scandal.
Former Conservative leader William Hague said Johnson could face a no-confidence vote among his own MPs as soon as next week, following numerous lockdown-breaching parties held in Downing Street.
Johnson became the first serving UK prime minister found to have broken the law while in office when he was fined by police for attending a birthday party in June 2020.
Although he has apologized, he has repeatedly refused to resign, and doubled down on his defense in a letter to his independent adviser on ministerial interests, Christopher Geidt.
Lord Geidt issued an annual report laying out the need for Johnson to explain why he had not breached the ministerial code, in light of the police fine.
Under previous governments, violations of the code were considered a resigning offense, but Johnson has already stood by others in his ministerial team found to have been in breach.
Responding to Geidt, Johnson said “I did not breach the code.”
There was “no intent to break the law,” he said, insisting he had been “fully accountable” to parliament “and rightly apologized for the mistake.”
However, dozens of Tory MPs have now publicly criticized their embattled leader over the parties under his watch, which happened when the government was ordering the public to respect Covid lockdowns.
If 54 of them write a letter of no confidence in Johnson to a powerful backbench committee of Tory MPs, that will trigger a vote of all 359 Conservatives lawmakers on whether he should continue as leader and thereby prime minister.
Nearly 30 MPs are publicly known to have submitted such a letter but the process is shrouded in secrecy and the real tally is impossible to gauge.
Parliament is not sitting this week and with four days of celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee beginning on Thursday, any announcement about a possible vote would not come until next week at the earliest.
The latest heavyweight Tories to express doubts about Johnson include former attorney general Jeremy Wright, who on Monday urged him to resign, and ex-cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom.
Hague said the intervention of Leadsom — a prominent “Brexiteer” who campaigned alongside Johnson in Britain’s 2016 EU referendum — had lit a “slow fuse” on a no-confidence vote.
“The fuse is getting closer to the dynamite here and it’s speeding up,” Hague told Times Radio, adding it was “just another indication the Conservative Party is moving faster toward a vote.”
Support for Johnson among Conservatives has ebbed further away following last week’s publication of an internal inquiry.
The probe by senior civil servant Sue Gray found that he presided over a culture of parties that ran late into the night and even featured a drunken fight among staff.
Johnson secured an 80-seat majority at the last general election in December 2019, on a promise to take the UK out of the European Union.
But despite that, an increasing number of Tory MPs have come forward to say they do not believe the party can win the next election, which is due by 2024, under his leadership.
Opinion polls have shown deep public disapproval over the scandal, with large majorities of people saying Johnson knowingly lied about “Partygate” and that he should resign.
The Tories have suffered several electoral setbacks during his tenure, including losing traditionally safe seats to the Liberal Democrats in by-elections and hundreds of councillors in local elections in early May.
The party is also predicted to lose two more by-elections in June, in southwest and northern England.
UK’s PM launches new ‘Partygate’ defense as rebels mobilize
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UK’s PM launches new ‘Partygate’ defense as rebels mobilize
- Former Conservative leader William Hague said Johnson could face a no-confidence vote among his own MPs as soon as next week
- Although he has apologised, the PM has repeatedly refused to resign
Taiwan to hold recall election for lawmakers that could reshape parliament
While Lai Ching-te won the presidency last year, his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its parliamentary majority, leaving the Kuomintang (KMT) and the much smaller Taiwan People’s Party with the most seats.
The KMT and the TPP have passed a series of measures, including swingeing budget cuts, angering the DPP, though the campaigns to gather enough signatures for the recalls were led by civic groups.
The opposition has 62 of parliament’s 113 seats and the DPP holds the remaining 51. The recall votes for 24 KMT lawmakers will take place on July 26, the election commission said.
The DPP has given full support for the recalls, releasing a video this week calling on people to vote yes and “oppose the communists” — a direct reference to China and what the party says is the opposition’s dangerous cosying up to Beijing.
The KMT has vowed to fight what it calls a “malicious recall” that comes so soon after the last parliamentary election in January 2024.
“The KMT calls on the people of Taiwan to oppose the green communists and fight against dictatorship, and vote ‘no’,” the party said in a statement after the recall vote was announced, referring to the DPP’s party colors.
The KMT says its engagement with China, which views separately-governed Taiwan as its own territory, is needed to keep channels of communication open and reduce tensions.
China has rejected multiple offers of talks from Lai, branding him a “separatist,” and has increased military pressure against the island.
Recall campaigns against DPP lawmakers failed to gather enough valid signatures.
For the recalls to be successful, the number of votes approving the measure must be more than those opposing it, and also exceed one-quarter of the number of registered voters in the constituency, so turnout will be important.
If the recall votes are successful, there will be by-elections later this year to select new lawmakers.
Taiwan’s next parliamentary and presidential elections are not scheduled until early 2028.
Belgium announces border checks in migration clampdown
- A spokesperson for the Belgian Immigration Office said it was difficult to give figures for illegal immigration at the moment without the systematic border checks
BRUSSELS: Belgium will introduce border checks on people coming into the country to clamp down on illegal migration, the government said, in another limit on free movement across Europe’s Schengen zone.
The restrictions in the country that borders the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg and Germany will start this summer, a spokesperson for the junior minister for migration, Anneleen Van Bossuyt, said on Friday.
“Time for entry controls. Belgium must not be a magnet for those stopped elsewhere. Our message is clear: Belgium will no longer tolerate illegal migration and asylum shopping,” Van Bossuyt wrote on X.
The announcement follows similar moves by the Netherlands and Germany, part of a broader crackdown on migration across the continent, even as numbers of arrivals on many major routes have shown signs of falling.
“The checks will be carried out in a targeted manner on major access roads such as motorway car parks, on bus traffic ... on certain trains ... and on intra-Schengen flights from countries with high migration pressure, such as Greece and Italy,” a Belgian government statement said late on Thursday.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever, in office since February, has said curbing migration is a key priority for his right-leaning government.
Belgium is part of the open-border Schengen area which guarantees free travel between its 29 member states. Under article 23 of the Schengen Borders Code, members can temporarily reinstate border checks in response to security or migration pressures.
A spokesperson for the Belgian Immigration Office said it was difficult to give figures for illegal immigration at the moment without the systematic border checks.
Belgium, one of the world’s richest countries, received 39,615 asylum applications in 2024, 11.6 percent more than in 2023, numbers from the Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers show.
The country had the capacity to take in 35,600 applicants in 2024, according to the figures, leaving many arrivals without proper accommodation.
Iran-Israel war could have ‘harmful’ migration impact on Europe, Erdogan warns
ISTANBUL: The Iran-Israel air war could spark a surge in migration that could harm Europe and the region, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Friday.
Israel, saying Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, launched a massive wave of strikes a week ago, triggering an immediate retaliation.
“The spiral of violence triggered by Israel’s attacks could harm the region and Europe in terms of migration and the possibility of nuclear leakage,” his office quoted him as saying in a phone conversation with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Erdogan said the solution to the nuclear disagreements with Iran was “through negotiations.” He said the violence had “raised the threat to regional security to the highest level” and Turkiye was “making efforts to end the conflict.”
Despite the escalating confrontation, a Turkish defense ministry source said Thursday there had been “no increase” in numbers crossing from Iran.
The Turkish authorities have not released any figures.
AFP correspondents at the main Kapikoy border crossing near the eastern Turkish city of Van reported seeing several hundred people crossing in both directions, with a customs official saying the numbers were “nothing unusual.”
During a visit to the frontier on Wednesday, Defense Minister Yasar Guler said “security measures at our borders have been increased.”
Armed men in western Niger kill 34 soldiers and wound 14, authorities say
DAKAR: Armed men killed 34 soldiers and wounded 14 others in western Niger near the tri-state border with Mali and Burkina Faso, the defense ministry said.
The attack was carred out around 9 a.m. Thursday in Banibangou by attackers using eight vehicles and more than 200 motorbikes, the ministry said in a statement.
The government said its forces killed dozens of attackers it called “terrorists,” adding that search operations by land and air were being conduted to find additional assailants.
Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group.
Following military coups in the three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance. The three countries have vowed to strengthen their cooperation by establishing a new security alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States.
But the security situation in the Sahel, a vast region on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, has significantly worsened since the juntas took power, analysts say, with a record number of attacks and civilians killed by Islamic militants and government forces.
Thai PM meets army commander in attempt to defuse political crisis
- PM Paetongtarn visited troops in northeast Thailand on Friday to patch things up with Lt. Gen. Boonsin Padklang after she was caught disparaging him as an “opponent” during the call with Hun Sen
BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra held make-up talks on Friday with an army commander she criticized in a leaked phone call as she struggled to defuse a crisis threatening to topple her government.
The daughter of controversial billionaire ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra and in office for less than a year, Paetongtarn is facing calls to quit or announce an election as anger flares over the call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen.
Her main coalition partner, the conservative Bhumjaithai party, pulled out on Wednesday, saying she had insulted the country and the army and leaving her government on the point of collapse.
She suffered another blow on Friday as reports emerged that another coalition partner was threatening to quit unless she stepped down as prime minister.
The crisis has sent the Thai stock market plunging to a five-year low and comes as the kingdom struggles to fire up its sluggish economy, with US President Donald Trump’s threatened trade tariffs looming.
Paetongtarn, 38, visited troops in northeast Thailand on Friday to patch things up with Lt. Gen. Boonsin Padklang after she was caught disparaging him as an “opponent” during the call with Hun Sen.
Boonsin commands Thai forces along the border with Cambodia, where a long-running dispute flared into deadly clashes last month, and Paetongtarn’s criticism of him drew accusations of disloyalty from right-wing nationalist critics.
Paetongtarn said after their meeting that the matter was settled.
“It went very well. I’ve spoken to the commander and there’s no longer any issue,” she told reporters.
For his part, Boonsin said “everything is normal.”
The meeting with Boonsin followed a public apology from Paetongtarn — at a news conference flanked by military and police chiefs — on Thursday as pressure on her mounted.
Paetongtarn was criticized as being weak and deferential in the call with Hun Sen, a veteran politician known as a wily operator, but her comments about the army commander were potentially the most damaging to her.
Thailand’s armed forces have long played a powerful role in the kingdom’s politics and politicians are usually careful not to antagonize them.
The apology and apparent reconciliation with the army commander may not be enough to save Paetongtarn’s premiership.
The departure of Bhumjaithai has left the government’s coalition with a razor-thin majority in parliament and losing another partner would likely see it collapse.
There was a glimmer of good news for Paetongtarn on Friday morning as the conservative Democrat Party pledged to stay in the coalition.
However, Public broadcaster ThaiPBS reported that the United Thai Nation (UTN) party, which has 36 seats and is now the biggest party in the coalition after Pheu Thai, is considering quitting.
The broadcaster said UTN was going to issue an ultimatum to Paetongtarn: either she quits as premier or they withdraw, bringing down the government.
There are also suggestions of a split within UTN, but the government’s majority is now so small that it could be fatal even if only half the party’s MPs leave.
Paetongtarn may also be facing the prospect of street protests, as political activists involved in huge demonstrations that helped sink previous leaders linked to her family called for her to go.
The activists have called for a rally in central Bangkok on Saturday and another on June 28, although it remains to be seen whether Paetongtarn will survive that long.
She took office in August last year at the head of an uneasy alliance between Pheu Thai and a group of conservative, pro-military parties whose members have spent much of the past 20 years battling against her father.
Thaksin, twice elected PM, was thrown out in a military coup in 2006 and the bitter tussle between the conservative, royalist establishment and the political movement he founded has dominated Thai politics throughout that time.
Hun Sen, Cambodia’s longtime ruler who stepped down in 2023 and had close ties with Thaksin, said on Friday that the row over the leaked call had “shattered” more than “30 years of heartfelt bonds between our two families.”
