Jeremy Hunt

New PM Rishi Sunak Pledges To Fix Britain’s Many Problems

He warned that difficult decisions lay ahead as he looks to cut public spending and fix the “mistakes” that were made by Liz Truss during her short and chaotic tenure in Downing Street.

London: Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday he was not daunted by the scale of the challenge as he became Britain’s third prime minister in two months, pledging to lead the country through an economic crisis and rebuild trust in politics.

The 42-year-old former hedge fund boss, who has only been in elected politics for seven years, has been tasked with bringing an end to the political infighting and radical changes in policy that have horrified investors and alarmed international allies.

He warned that difficult decisions lay ahead as he looks to cut public spending and fix the “mistakes” that were made by Liz Truss during her short and chaotic tenure in Downing Street, just as the country slides into a recession.

“I fully appreciate how hard things are,” he said outside the prime minister’s residence at Downing Street where he shunned the normal tradition of standing beside his family and cheering political supporters.

“I understand too that I have work to do to restore trust, after all that has happened. All I can say is that I am not daunted. I know the high office I have accepted and I hope to live up to its demands.”

Sunak, one of the richest men in parliament, is expected to slash spending to plug an estimated 40 billion pound ($45 billion) hole in the public finances created by an economic slowdown, higher borrowing costs and an energy support scheme.

With his party’s popularity in freefall, he will face growing calls for an election if he ditches too many of the promises that helped elect the Conservative Party in 2019, when then leader Boris Johnson pledged to invest heavily.

Economists and investors have welcomed Sunak’s appointment – Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said the adults had taken charge again – but they warn he has few options to fix the country’s finances when millions are battling a cost of living crunch.

Sunak, who ran the Treasury during the COVID-19 pandemic, promised to put economic stability and confidence at the heart of the agenda. “This will mean difficult decisions to come,” he said, shortly after he accepted King Charles’s request to form a government.

Sunak also vowed to put the public’s needs above politics, in recognition of the growing anger at Britain’s political class and the ideological battles that have raged ever since the historic 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

Workers heading towards London’s financial district said Sunak appeared to be the best of a bad bunch and while some wanted an election now others hoped he would stay until the next scheduled election, due by January 2025.

“I think he was competent, and that’s really what we should hope for at the moment,” said management consultant, James Eastbook, 43.

Financial turmoil

Britain’s youngest prime minister for more than 200 years and its first leader of colour, Sunak replaced Truss who resigned after 44 days following a “mini-budget” that sparked turmoil in financial markets.

He will now need to review all spending, including on politically sensitive areas such as health, education, defence, welfare and pensions.

As he made his first speech as prime minister, to the hundreds of journalists gathered in Downing Street, he struck a more sober tone than those of his predecessors, Truss and Johnson.

He paid tribute to Truss and said her plan to reignite economic growth had not been wrong, but he said mistakes were made: “And I have been elected as leader of my party and your prime minister, in part to fix them.”

As Truss left office, applauded by colleagues and staff, she struck a defiant tone and failed to apologise for the market turmoil that accompanied her seven weeks as prime minister, when the pound collapsed and borrowing and mortgage rates jumped.

Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss gives her statement outside Number 10 Downing Street, London, Britain October 20, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Toby Melville

Sunak will now start forming his cabinet, with some Conservative lawmakers hoping he will include politicians from all wings of the party.

He is expected to retain Jeremy Hunt as finance minister after he helped calm volatile bond markets by ripping up most of Truss’s economic programme.

Investors will also want to know if Sunak still plans to publish a new budget alongside borrowing and growth forecasts on October 31, which would help inform the Bank of England’s interest rate decision on November 3.

Political machinations

Sunak, a Goldman Sachs analyst who only entered parliament in 2015, also faces a battle to keep the different factions of his warring party on side.

He was blamed by many Conservatives when he quit as finance minister in July, triggering a wider rebellion that brought down Johnson. Others have questioned how a multi-millionaire can lead the country when millions of people are struggling with surging food and energy bills.

“I think this decision sinks us as a party for the next election,” one Conservative lawmaker told Reuters.

Historian and political biographer Anthony Seldon said Sunak would also be constrained by the mistakes of his predecessor.

“There is no leeway on him being anything other than extraordinarily conservative and cautious,” he told Reuters.

Many politicians and officials abroad, having watched as a country once seen as a pillar of economic and political stability descended into brutal infighting, welcomed Sunak’s appointment.

Sunak, a Hindu, also becomes Britain’s first prime minister of Indian origin.

US President Joe Biden described it as a “groundbreaking milestone”, while leaders from India and elsewhere welcomed the news. Sunak’s billionaire father-in-law, N.R. Narayana Murthy, said he would serve the United Kingdom well. “We are proud of him and we wish him success,” the founder of software giant Infosys said in a statement.

Rishi Sunak to Become Britain’s Next PM After Months of Political Turbulence

He defeated centrist Penny Mordaunt as she failed to get enough backing from the Conservative Party lawmakers to enter the ballot, while his rival Boris Johnson withdrew saying he could no longer unite the party.

London: Rishi Sunak will become Britain’s next prime minister after he won the race to lead the Conservative Party, leaving him with the task of steering a deeply divided country through an economic downturn set to leave millions of people poorer.

Sunak, one of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster and set to be the country’s first leader of colour, will be asked to form a government by King Charles, replacing Liz Truss, the outgoing leader who only lasted 44 days in the job before she resigned.

He defeated centrist politician Penny Mordaunt, who failed to get enough backing from lawmakers to enter the ballot, while his rival, the former prime minister Boris Johnson, withdrew from the contest saying he could no longer unite the party.

“This decision is a historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party,” Mordaunt said in a statement as she withdrew from the race just minutes before the winner was due to be announced. “Rishi has my full support.”

The pound and British government bond prices jumped briefly on news of Mordaunt’s withdrawal but soon returned to their previous levels. According to an ITV reporter, the king was returning to London and could accept Truss’s resignation either later on Monday or on Tuesday.

File photo. British Prime Minister Liz Truss arrives at Westminster Abbey on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth. Photo: Reuters

Sunak, the 42-year-old former finance minister, becomes Britain’s third prime minister in less than two months, tasked with restoring stability to a country reeling from years of political and economic turmoil.

The multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss will be expected to launch deep spending cuts to try to rebuild Britain’s fiscal reputation, just as the country slides into a recession, dragged down by the surging cost of energy and food.

He will also inherit a political party that has fractured along ideological lines, a challenge that damaged the fortunes of several former Conservative leaders.

Perma-Crisis

Britain has been locked in a state of perma-crisis ever since it voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, unleashing a battle at Westminster over the future of the country that remains unresolved to this today.

Johnson, the face of the Brexit vote, led his party to a landslide victory in 2019, only to be driven out of office less than three years later after a series of scandals. His successor Truss lasted just over six weeks before she quit over an economic policy that trashed the country’s economic credibility.

Economists have questioned whether Sunak can tackle the country’s finances while holding the party’s multiple warring factions together.

Finance minister Jeremy Hunt – the fourth person in that role in four months – is due to present a budget on October 31 to plug a black hole in the public finances that is expected to have ballooned to up to 40 billion pounds.

Sunak came to national attention when, aged 39, he became finance minister under Johnson just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit Britain, developing the successful furlough scheme.

The former Goldman Sachs analyst will be the United Kingdom’s first prime minister of Indian origin.

His family migrated to Britain in the 1960s, a period when many people from Britain’s former colonies moved to the country to help it rebuild after the Second World War.

After graduating from Oxford University, he went to Stanford University where he met his wife Akshata Murthy, whose father is Indian billionaire N.R. Narayana Murthy, founder of outsourcing giant Infosys Ltd.

(Reuters)

Watch | I Have No Doubt Rishi Sunak Is the Best Person To Be UK’s PM: Former Tory Minister

Andrew Mitchell describes Sunak as “a safe helmsman” during this time of serious crisis that the UK is facing, adding that his preference for the Indian-origin leader is likely to be shared by a majority of party MPs.

Andrew Mitchell, one of Britain’s leading Conservative MPs, has forcefully if not passionately endorsed Rishi Sunak as the best person to be elected the new leader of the Conservative Party and, therefore, automatically, the next prime minister of the United Kingdom. The former secretary of state for international development says: “There is no doubt Rishi Sunak is the best person … he is the right choice”. He describes Sunak as “a safe helmsman” during this time of serious crisis, adding “my preference for Rishi Sunak is likely to be shared by a majority of (Conservative) MPs.”

In an 18-minute interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, Mitchell accepted that there is “the feeling abroad” that Sunak’s resignation is responsible for precipitating Boris Johnson’s fall and it’s true that a section of the Conservative Party, loyal to Johnson, does not want the Indian-origin MP as party leader and prime minister for that reason. However, Mitchell said this is “very unfair”.

Mitchell, who has been a Conservative MP for over 30 years and continues as one, said he believes that his fellow Conservative MPs will now look for a leader who can lead the Party from the centre, adding that Sunak is the best to front what he called “a compassionate, one-nation Conservative Party”. The former chief whip of the Conservative Party believes that the majority of party MPs will come around to this view.

Mitchell added that in the face of the economic crisis Britain faces, the best combination would be Rishi Sunak as finance minister and Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Although Sunak has not as yet thrown his hat into the ring, Mitchell, who has been speaking to the former, said he is “quite confident Sunak will stand”.

Mitchell said that Sunak was both the best choice as Conservative leader and prime minister to handle the present crisis but also to give the Conservative Party its best chance of winning its fifth consecutive national election at the end of 2024.

Speaking about Liz Truss’s prime ministership, Mitchell said she was “not the right choice”. He added she was “ill-equipped to handle the issues and problems” Britain faces. He said during her prime ministership “ideology came up against reality and reality won”.

Although Mitchell refused to call Truss a disaster, he did say that her prime ministership was “a very considerable setback” for the Conservative Party. He added this “massively affects our reputation”. He said it was “hugely damaging”.

Speaking about reports that Johnson might stand and seek a second term as prime minister, Mitchell said this was “very unlikely”. Describing Johnson as “brilliantly charismatic and amusing”, Mitchell said: “It would be quite a stretch for a leader to return with his record of a large number of resignations” when he was prime minister.

For a well-informed and reliable view of how the Conservative Party may respond to Liz Truss’s prime ministership, watch the full interview.

UK’s New Finance Minister Reverses All of Prime Minister Liz Truss’ Tax Cuts

Jeremy Hunt’s emergency financial statement is an attempt to reassure the markets about the country’s fiscal sustainability and calm the shockwaves of his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget last month.

London: Britain’s new chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt on Monday reversed almost all of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s tax cuts announced in the mini-budget last month and scaled back the expensive energy bills support in an emergency fiscal statement to reassure the jittery financial markets.

Hunt’s emergency financial statement is an attempt to reassure the markets about the country’s fiscal sustainability and calm the shockwaves of his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget last month. Hunt said a 1 pence cut to income tax will be delayed “indefinitely” until the UK’s finances improve, instead of being introduced in April 2023 as announced by his predecessor.

The government’s energy price guarantee will only be universal until April next year and not for two years as originally planned.

“The government has today decided to make further changes to the mini-budget, and to reduce unhelpful speculation about what they are, we’ve decided to announce these ahead of the medium-term fiscal plan, which happens in two weeks,” Hunt said in a statement.

He announced a reversal of almost all of the tax measures set out in Kwarteng’s so-called Growth Plan that had not been legislated for in Parliament yet.

With the 1p cut cancelled, the basic rate of income tax will remain at 20% indefinitely, worth around GBP 6 billion a year.

The 1.25 percentage points increase in dividend tax, which took effect in April this year, will now not be cut, valued at around GBP 1 billion a year.

Further reversals include cancelling a new VAT-free shopping scheme for non-UK visitors to Great Britain and freezing of alcohol duty rates from February 2023 for a year will also not go ahead.

On the energy price guarantee that helps households and businesses with soaring electricity bills, Hunt said the objective of limiting it to six months is to design a new approach that will cost the taxpayer significantly less than planned, whilst ensuring enough support for those in need.

Any support for businesses will be targeted to those most affected and the new approach will better incentivise energy efficiency. The most important objective for our country right now is stability, said Hunt.

After meetings with Prime Minister Liz Truss at her Chequers country retreat and the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, on Sunday, the new finance minister who took over at the UK Treasury on Friday decided to fast-track some of the measures before a detailed Medium-Term Fiscal Plan as scheduled for October 31.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss attends a news conference in London, Britain, October 14, 2022. Photo: Daniel Leal/Pool via Reuters

It was widely expected that more of the so-called Trussonomics of unfunded tax cuts would be ditched in Monday’s statement after the Bank of England’s emergency long-term government bond-buying measures come to an end.

It will be followed up by a statement in the House of Commons on Monday evening.

The UK Treasury had confirmed that the Governor of the Bank of England and the Head of the UK’s Debt Management Office have been briefed on these new plans, which seem to already have a positive impact on the markets as the Pound Sterling rebounded against the US Dollar.

The bond markets also suggested an easing of recent pressures, given additional concerns in some quarters after the Bank of England concluded its emergency gilt market support on Friday.

The central bank issued its own statement ahead of financial markets opening after the weekend to say that its operations, aimed at helping pension funds battling higher collateral demands, had enabled a “significant increase in the resilience of the sector”.

The markets saw unprecedented turmoil after former Chancellor Kwarteng’s tax-cutting mini-budget, partly due to the lack of an OBR forecast of how these would be funded.

Meanwhile, Truss continues to face her own turmoil after sacking good friend Kwarteng after just 38 days on the job with at least three of her backbench Conservative MPs calling for a change in leadership.

Tory MPs Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen and Jamie Wallis have publicly stated they believe she should resign, while Opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on Truss to face Parliament and accused her of being “in office but not in power”.

While Hunt has insisted the Prime Minister is still in charge, there is a widespread view that the new finance minister is now the de facto leader as he unpicks the bulk of the economic policies Truss had campaigned on during the leadership contest with former Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

(PTI)

Boris Johnson’s Brexit Team: Expected Appointments

Johnson, a figurehead for the campaign to leave the EU in 2016, is expected to appoint a cabinet team “showcasing all the talents within the party that truly reflects modern Britain”.

London: Britain’s incoming prime minister, Boris Johnson, starts appointing his government team on Wednesday, after weeks of planning and of jockeying among Conservative hopefuls looking for top jobs in his new cabinet.

Johnson, a figurehead for the campaign to leave the EU in 2016, is expected to appoint a cabinet team “showcasing all the talents within the party that truly reflects modern Britain”, according to a source close to the new leader.

He is also expected to increase the number of women attending cabinet meetings and to appoint a record number of ethnic minority politicians, his team has said.

Also read: Prime Minister Boris Johnson: The Jester Takes the Throne

The appointments will offer a glimpse into Johnson’s plans for governing Britain after his “do or die” pledge to leave the EU on October 31, with or without a deal.

Appointments so far

Dominic Cummings – senior adviser: Cummings masterminded the official Vote Leave campaign in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum and is lauded by some Brexit campaigners for his successful strategy to convince voters to back leaving the EU in the face of a much better-financed Remain campaign.

At the time of the referendum, a fellow campaigner said Cummings uses “Soviet propaganda techniques”.

He will act as a senior adviser to Johnson, an appointment which risks a backlash from some lawmakers who dislike his brusque manner and seeming disregard for parliament.

Andrew Griffith – business adviser: Griffith worked his way up through Sky under Rupert Murdoch’s ownership, becoming chief financial officer in 2008 and helping create Europe’s biggest pay-TV group.

A former parliamentary candidate for the Conservatives, Griffith lent Johnson his Westminster townhouse as a base to plot his first steps towards the premiership. He will be tasked with repairing relations with the corporate sector ahead of Brexit.

One colleague who worked with Griffith at Sky said he had an incredible intellect and an ability to “make stuff happen”.

Mark Spencer – Chief Whip: A little-known Conservative lawmaker, Spencer will be Johnson’s chief enforcer in parliament. This will be a crucial role given the Conservatives’ lack of majority in the House of Commons and the deep divisions among the party’s lawmakers over the right way forward on Brexit.

Also read: UK Newspapers Conflicted Over Crowning of Boris Johnson as PM

Spencer, who became a Member of Parliament (MP) in 2010 after working for his family’s farm business, is well-liked by his colleagues and his appointment was praised by lawmakers from across the party’s factions.

Expected appointments

Priti Patel: Patel campaigned to leave the EU and has been an outspoken critic of outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May’s approach to Brexit. She voted against May’s Brexit deal on each occasion it was put before parliament.

Johnson’s team have said she is due to be given a senior ministerial job, with media reporting she is tipped to be interior minister.

Patel’s appointment would mark a political comeback after she was forced to resign as International Development minister in November 2017 over undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials that breached diplomatic protocol.

Born to Indian parents, Patel launched an appeal to “Save the British Curry” during the referendum campaign which argued that a post-Brexit immigration system would be fairer to those from outside the EU and ease a shortage of chefs for Indian restaurants in Britain.

Alok Sharma: Sharma is a junior minister in the Department of Work and Pensions and previously worked under Johnson in the foreign office. An accountant by training, he worked in banking for 16 years before entering parliament.

As housing minister, he handled the aftermath of a fire in Grenfell Tower, a social housing block in west London, on June 2017 which killed 71 people, and was heckled by survivors at a televised meeting at which he offered them temporary rather than permanent homes in the local area.

(Reuters)

China Criticises Britain for ‘Shameless’ Comments on Hong Kong

The comments followed remarks by British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, warning of consequences if China neglected commitments to allow freedoms to Hong Kong not enjoyed in mainland China.

Beijing: China on Wednesday denounced British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt as “shameless”, saying it had made a diplomatic complaint to London after he warned of consequences if China neglected commitments made when it took back Hong Kong in 1997.

China has stepped up a war of words with Hong Kong’s former colonial ruler following mass protests there against a now-suspended bill that would allow extradition to mainland China.

“To say that the freedoms of Hong Kong residents are something Britain strived for is simply shameless,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a news briefing.

“I would like to ask Mr Hunt, during the British colonial era in Hong Kong, was there any democracy to speak of? Hong Kongers didn’t even have the right to protest.”

Only after Hong Kong’s return to China did its people got an “unprecedented” guarantee about democracy and freedom, he said.

Also read: China Condemns Hong Kong Protests as ‘Undisguised Challenge’ to Its Rule

Britain’s responsibilities to Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration have ended, and Hong Kong is purely an internal matter for China, Geng added, repeating earlier remarks.

The comments followed remarks by Hunt to Reuters on Monday, condemning violence on both sides and warning of consequences if China neglected commitments to allow freedoms to Hong Kong not enjoyed in mainland China, including the right to protest.

Late on Monday, hundreds of protesters in the former British colony had besieged, and broken into, the legislature after a demonstration marking the anniversary of return to Chinese rule.

China called the violence an “undisguised challenge” to the “one country, two systems” model under which Hong Kong has been ruled for 22 years.

The turbulence in Hong Kong was triggered by an extradition bill opponents will undermine Hong Kong’s much-cherished rule of law and give Beijing powers to prosecute activists in mainland courts, which are controlled by the Communist Party.

Also read: Hong Kong Activists Continue to Oppose Extradition Bill

Hunt, who is seeking to become Britain’s next prime minister, has made no attempt to correct his mistakes in talking about Hong Kong and has “continued to wag his tongue too freely” on the issue, Geng said.

Had Britain’s parliament been surrounded and attacked, would authorities have stood by and done nothing, he asked.

“Does he think that the British police’s handling of the August 2011 riots in London was repression?” Geng asked, referring to rioting in London that year.

“We hope that Britain, especially Mr Hunt, does not overestimate its abilities and wantonly interfere in Hong Kong matters. This is destined to be futile,” he said.

China has lodged “stern representations” with Britain both in Beijing and London about Hunt’s remarks, he added.

The two countries had been seeking to reset ties after a row over the disputed South China Sea last year, with Chinese vice premier Hu Chunhua visiting London last month to oversee the start of a link between its stock exchange and that of Shanghai.

Confrontation and lawlessness in Hong Kong could damage its reputation as an international business hub and seriously hurt its economy, China’s top newspaper, the People’s Daily, said in an editorial.

“It will not only serve no purpose but will also severely hinder economic and social development,” the ruling Communist Party’s official paper said, denouncing what it called artificially created division and opposition.

Hong Kong, facing pressure from changes in the world economy and intensifying competition, could not “bear turbulence and internal friction”, it added.

Also read: China and US Agree To Restart Trade Talks

China has blamed Western countries, particularly the US and Hong Kong’s former colonial master Britain, for offering succour to the protests.

In an editorial, the official China Daily, an English-language newspaper Beijing often uses to send its message to the world, condemned “outside agitations”.

“What has also been notable is the hypocrisy of some Western governments – the US and the UK most prominently – which have called for a stop to the violence, as if they have had nothing to do with it,” the paper said.

“But, looking back at the whole protest saga, they have been deeply involved in fuelling it since its inception.”

(Reuters)

Ukraine: Exit Polls Show Comedian Zelenskiy Set to Become President

Zelenskiy, who plays President in a popular TV show, has promised to end the war in the eastern Donbass region and to root out corruption amid widespread dismay over rising prices and sliding living standards.

Kiev: Ukraine entered uncharted political waters on Sunday after exit polls showed a comedian with no political experience and few detailed policies had easily won enough votes to become the next president of a country at war.

The apparent landslide victory of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, is a bitter blow for incumbent Petro Poroshenko who tried to rally Ukrainians around the flag by casting himself as a bulwark against Russian aggression and a champion of Ukrainian identity.

Two national exit polls showed Zelenskiy had won 73% of the votes with Poroshenko winning just 25%. Early voting data suggested that the polls were accurate.

Zelenskiy, who plays a fictitious president in a popular TV series, is now poised to take over the leadership of a country on the frontline of the West’s standoff with Russia following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and support for a pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

Declaring victory at his campaign headquarters to emotional supporters, Zelenskiy promised he would not let the Ukrainian people down.

“I’m not yet officially the president, but as a citizen of Ukraine, I can say to all countries in the post-Soviet Union look at us. Anything is possible!”

European Council President Donald Tusk congratulated Zelenskiy, as did French President Emmanuel Macron and British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt.

Zelenskiy, whose victory fits a pattern of anti-establishment figures unseating incumbents in Europe and further afield, has promised to end the war in the eastern Donbass region and to root out corruption amid widespread dismay over rising prices and sliding living standards.

But he has been coy about exactly how he plans to achieve all that and investors want reassurances that he will accelerate reforms needed to attract foreign investment and keep the country in an International Monetary Fund programme.

“Since there is complete uncertainty about the economic policy of the person who will become president, we simply don’t know what is going to happen and that worries the financial community,” said Serhiy Fursa, an investment banker at Dragon Capital in Kiev.

“We need to see what the first decisions are, the first appointments. We probably won’t understand how big these risks are earlier than June. Perhaps nothing will change.”

West watching closely

The United States, the European Union and Russia will be closely watching Zelenskiy‘s foreign policy pronouncements to see if and how he might try to end the war against pro-Russian separatists that has killed some 13,000 people.

Zelenskiy said on Sunday he planned to continue European-backed talks with Russia on a so far largely unimplemented peace deal and would try to free Ukrainians imprisoned in Russia, which is holding 24 Ukrainian sailors among others.

Viktor Medvedchuk, the Kremlin’s closest ally in Ukraine, last week outlined ways in which Ukraine and Russia could mend ties, though Zelenskiy has given no indication of being open to the prospect.

Also Read: Comedian Who Played President on TV Might Actually Become Ukraine’s President

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine now had a chance to “reset” and unite its people.

An emotional Poroshenko conceded defeat to his supporters, some of whom were crying.

Although he said he accepted the loss, he said he would not leave politics and that Zelenskiy would face strong opposition, a reminder that Zelenskiy will have to work with a sometimes volatile parliament before it is re-elected in October.

Zelenskiy has pledged to keep Ukraine on a pro-Western course, but has sounded less emphatic than Poroshenko about possible plans for the country of 42 million people to one day join the European Union and NATO.

Poroshenko said on social media he thought Zelenskiy‘s win would spark celebrations in the Kremlin.

“They believe that with a new inexperienced Ukrainian president, Ukraine could be quickly returned to Russia’s orbit of influence,” he wrote.

Critics accuse Zelenskiy of having an unhealthily close working relationship with a powerful oligarch called Ihor Kolomoisky, whose TV channel broadcasts his comedy shows.

Zelenskiy has rejected those accusations.

One of the most important and early tests of that promise will be the fate of PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest lender, which was nationalised in 2016.

The government wrested PrivatBank from Kolomoisky as part of a banking system clean-up backed by the IMF, which supports Ukraine with a $3.9 billion loan programme.

But its fate hangs in the balance after a Kiev court ruled days before the election that the change of PrivatBank’s ownership was illegal, delighting Kolomoisky but rocking the central bank which said it would appeal.

Zelenskiy has repeatedly denied he would seek to hand PrivatBank back to Kolomoisky if elected or help the businessman win compensation for the ownership change.

The IMF will be watching closely too to see if Zelenskiy will allow gas prices to rise to market levels, an IMF demand but a politically sensitive issue and one Zelenskiy has been vague about.

Zelenskiy gave few new policy details on Sunday, but said he wanted a new general prosecutor to replace incumbent Yuriy Lutsenko, and spoke of wanting new generals to work in the army.

His unorthodox campaign traded on the character he plays in the TV show, a scrupulously honest schoolteacher who becomes president by accident after an expletive-ridden rant about corruption goes viral.

Zelenskiy has promised to fight corruption, a message that has resonated with Ukrainians fed up with the status quo in a country that is one of Europe’s poorest nearly three decades after breaking away from the Soviet Union.

(Reuters)

Stories Behind the Story: Maria Ressa and Why Journalists Need Protection

The arrest of a high-profile journalist in the Philippines has been rightly condemned. But the abuses she has been reporting continue daily.

There has rightly been plenty of condemnation for the arrest of journalist Maria Ressa in the Philippines on February 13. Her news organisation, Rappler – which has been critical of the government – has been targeted and maligned for at least a year by an authoritarian but sensitive regime up to its neck in human rights violations.

While Ressa’s arrest (and overnight detention) and the harassment of Rappler staff are deplorable, they are also sadly predictable. The time to worry about media suppression was a year ago, as I warned on this platform. The Philippines’ steady descent into despotism under president Rodrigo Duterte means the world’s focus needs to be on those being killed – and who don’t garner the same amount of column inches of solidarity.

Understandably, nothing rallies the press like an attack on one of their own, especially a feted international star such as Ressa. Vociferous solidarity and protection is of course needed – especially when even such high-profile figures are attacked. But we need to take stock of what happens during these cycles of outrage – and question just how productive they are.

Also read: Philippines Arrests Journalist and Duterte Critic Maria Ressa for Libel

Duterte’s supporters wasted no time in condemning the criticisms. Duterte is winning a culture war against anything even remotely cast as “Western liberalism” – and the media’s attempts to defend Ressa were quickly drowned out by hardline pro-Duterte trolls. The media’s protests risk being confined to echo chambers populated by those who don’t need any convincing that journalists require protection.

Media influence

Research shows that newspaper opinion columns and editorials still have “a lasting effect on people’s views regardless of their political affiliation or their initial stance on an issue”. Which is, of course, why both authoritarian and liberal politicians alike combat their influence in their own way. But in the Philippines in 2019, this cycle needs to be broken so that the media can find some political power in the country as the fourth estate.

Solidarity alone is not enough to reform as formidable and murderous a regime as Duterte’s. Solidarity is a zero-sum game in 21st-century life. Our capacity for clicktivism is now more global and inclusive, but diluted exactly because of the breadth and depth of the countless issues appearing in our news feeds.

Journalists are under fire globally – as I have written about previously. But it is their stories that are most important. As Ressa herself said:

Press freedom is not just about journalists, right? It’s not just about us, it’s not just about me, it’s not just about Rappler. Press freedom is … the foundation of every single right of every single Filipino to the truth, so that we can hold the powerful to account.

Stories behind the story

On January 30, peace advocate Randy Malayao was assassinated on a public bus. In November 2018, Benjamin Ramos, a human rights lawyer who was helping a client free of charge, was killed by a motorcycle assassin, one of dozens in his profession killed since Duterte was elected. Farmers and indigenous rights workers are also being killed without accountability. The scale of this political violence is difficult to comprehend and yet you will struggle to read about any of it outside of the Philippines. Concentrated international pressure is desperately needed.

The UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt made his first meaningful comment regarding the Philippines to say he was “deeply concerned” about Ressa’s detention in a tweet referencing an editorial in The Guardian condemning her treatment. But without further action, this feels like too little, too late.

“Weaponising the law”, as Ressa claims, is not uncommon in democracies where the primary tool of the state is the rule of law. More acutely, Duterte is brazenly and somewhat successfully politicising the rule of law. Rappler’s supporters – and those who side with the country’s few brave opposition figures – are trapped in a parallel discourse from Duterte’s supporters and the two sides talk past one another rather than to one another. This leaves many ordinary Filipinos lost in a political no man’s land, isolated from and ignored by both camps.

Add to this the militarisation of Filipino society – at first through the murderous “war on drugs” and continued through the application of martial law in the south of the country – and it is a toxic mix. Violence is this regime’s default language, making the world numb with its drip feed of daily death and destruction. By doing away with his critics and platforms of dissent, Duterte is shaping the nation in his own horrific image.

What now?

Duterte appreciates Rappler’s power more than most. It brought Filipino politics “online” and modernised political coverage, amplifying it through social media. Duterte supporters ran away with this premise towards the end of the election and have never looked back. Duterte has no apprehension in making Ressa into an emblem for the “liberal elite” – his brand of politics needs antagonists. Ressa, a powerful and confident woman, internationally minded, represents all his enemies – notably the vice president, Leni Robredo, who has denounced Ressa’s arrest, and senator Leila de Lima, who has been jail for almost two years on trumped-up charges.

Duterte has politicised every element of Filipino life and is now cashing in, laying the ground for an even more authoritarian future. One which may well have his daughter Sara – or one of his various acolytes – as the next president. We must seek better protection for journalists around the world – that should go without saying. But we must also listen to and, crucially, act on the stories that journalists such as Ressa are telling.

Tom Smith, Principal Lecturer in International Relations, University of Portsmouth

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Saudi Arabia Warns Against Sanctions Over Khashoggi Case, Says it Will Retaliate

“The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdom’s economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy,” a Saudi Arabian official said

Dubai/Washington: Saudi Arabia on Sunday warned against threats to punish it over last week’s disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as European leaders piled on pressure and two more US executives scrapped plans to attend a Saudi investor conference.

Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist critical of Riyadh’s policies, disappeared on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed. Saudis denied that.

US President Donald Trump has threatened “severe punishment” if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, though he said Washington would be “punishing” itself if it halted military sales to Riyadh.

“The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted an unnamed official as saying.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington later tweeted what it called a clarification, thanking countries including the US “for refraining from jumping to conclusions” over the case.

In a sign Saudi king Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud may seek a diplomatic solution to the incident, he stressed the strength of Saudi-Turkish ties in a telephone call with President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, the Saudi press agency said late on Sunday.

The king thanked Erdogan for welcoming a Saudi proposal to form a joint working group to discuss Khashoggi’s disappearance and said no one could undermine their relationship.

A TV journalist reports outside the Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 13, 2018. Credit: Reuters/Murad Sezer

Europe seeks credible investigation

Europe’s largest economies – Britain, France and Germany – said on Sunday they were treating the case with “the utmost seriousness”.

“There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and – if relevant – to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account,” the countries said in a joint statement.

“We encourage joint Saudi-Turkish efforts in that regard, and expect the Saudi Government to provide a complete and detailed response. We have conveyed this message directly to the Saudi authorities.”

The statement, by Britain’s Jeremy Hunt, France’s Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany’s Heiko Maas, made no mention of potential actions the countries might take. Hunt later said that if Saudi Arabia were proven to be guilty, “we would have to think about the appropriate way to react in that situation.”

Oil price warning

In a column published just after the SPA statement, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channel’s general manager Turki Aldakhil warned that imposing sanctions on the world’s largest oil exporter could spark global economic disaster.

“It would lead to Saudi Arabia‘s failure to commit to producing 7.5 million barrels. If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure,” he wrote.

Investor concern is growing that Khashoggi’s disappearance could add to a sense that Saudi policy has become more unpredictable under Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has also presided over a rise in tensions between with several countries.

A Gulf banker said the Khashoggi case, combined with other events, had become a significant factor for some potential investors.

“It’s cumulative – the Yemen war, the dispute with Qatar, the tensions with Canada and Germany, the arrests of women activists. They add up to an impression of impulsive policy-making, and that worries investors,” the banker said.

Foreign capital is key to Saudi plans for economic diversification and job creation.

But in response to Khashoggi’s disappearance, media organisations and a growing number of executives have pulled out of a Riyadh investment conference scheduled for next week, dubbed “Davos in the Desert.”

On Sunday, JP Morgan Chase & Co said chief executive Jamie Dimon has canceled plans to attend the Saudi investor conference later this month. Ford Motor Co. said chairman Bill Ford has canceled his trip to the Middle East, which included an appearance at the Saudi investment conference.

JP Morgan Chase and Ford did not comment on whether the decision was related to concerns about the disappearance of Khashoggi.

US treasury secretary Steve Munchin still plans to attend the conference, but that could change, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, said on ABC’s “This Week”.

Human rights activists and friends of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi hold his pictures during a protest outside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 8, 2018. Credit: Reuters/Murad Sezer

Washington reacts

US senators called for reactions ranging from boycotting an upcoming economic summit in Riyadh to ending support for Saudi military operations in Yemen.

“If they lured this man into that consulate, they went medieval on him, and he was killed and he was chopped up and they sent a death crew down there to kill him and do all of this, that would be an outrage,” Florida senator Marco Rubio told CNN’s State of the Union.

“Just because they are an ally in an important mission, which is containing Iranian expansion in the region, cannot allow us to overlook or walk away from that.”

Fellow Republican, Arizona senator Jeff Flake, appearing on “This Week”, called for “severe action” which he said would affect arms sales and involvement in Yemen.

The Saudi stock market fell as much as 7% in early trade on Sunday, one of the first signs of economic pain Riyadh could suffer over the affair. By close, it had recovered some losses, ending down 3.5% and losing $16.5 billion of market value.

Senators have triggered a provision of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act requiring the president to determine whether a foreign person is responsible for a gross human rights violation. The act has in the past imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials.

Anti-Saudi sentiment in the US Congress could conceivably raise pressure to pass the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, which would end sovereign immunity shielding OPEC members from US legal action.

Accessing consulate

The crisis has polarised Saudis, with some blaming the nation’s enemies and others concerned about the direction the country is heading under prince Mohammed.

Prince Khaled al-Faisal, a senior member of Saudi Arabia‘s ruling family and senior advisor to King Salman, has met Erdogan to discuss Khashoggi’s disappearance, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters without providing details.

A Turkish official told Reuters on Sunday that the Saudis had said they would allow the consulate to be searched, and that this would happen by the end of the weekend, though he conceded to “flexibility on this date.”

“But Turkey is determined on the subject of entering the consulate and carrying out a criminal inspection. There is no alternative to carrying out this inspection. Time is important in terms of evidence,” the official said.

(Reuters)

‘Is that it?’ No New Start for Theresa May With UK Leadership Reshuffle

A much-anticipated reshuffle of May’s cabinet did little more than demonstrate the prime minister’s weakness.

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May leads her first cabinet meeting of the new year following a reshuffle at 10 Downing Street, London January 9, 2018. Credit: Reuters/Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool

London: It was meant to be a fresh start to put a year of gaffes, scandals and an ill-judged election behind Britain’s Theresa May, but so far it only seems to have made matters worse.

A much-anticipated reshuffle of her cabinet did little more than demonstrate the prime minister’s weakness, with the only high-profile moves, derailed when one minister quit rather than take a new job and another talked May out of changing his role.

Add in a mistaken tweet over one early appointment and May, again, looks unable to stamp her authority on her government at the start of a year when she begins possibly the hardest part of Brexit negotiations in which she wants to secure a future trading relationship with the EU.

The 61-year-old leader gets a second chance on Tuesday to try to meet the expectations of a Conservative Party keen to turn the tide of flagging support while the main opposition Labour Party is enjoying record membership.

With the top jobs set on Monday, she plans to use Tuesday to promote younger figures to more junior jobs, with more opportunities for women and members of ethnic minorities. But Monday’sstart already brought scathing headlines.

“Night of the blunt stiletto,” the Daily Telegraph said as several British newspapers judged that May had failed to draw a line under her travails of 2017. Some Conservative lawmakers agreed, suggesting the moves were a reshuffle in name only, leaving little changed.

“Is that it?” Conservative lawmaker Nicholas Soames said on Twitter. “I don’t mean to be rude or to be seen to be disloyal but there needs to be a major improvement to the reshuffle tomorrow.”

May did find some support in the Conservative ranks, with some saying she was setting the ground for more fundamental change after Britain leaves the EU next year.

By promoting younger, black and women lawmakers to junior roles in government, she hopes to rid the party of its reputation of being “pale, stale and male”.

But by playing very much to her own party rather than the country, some critics said May risks losing the chance to revitalise what her aides call her “reform agenda”, already hampered by Brexit, a scandal over sexual harassment and struggling public services.

Accident-prone

Monday’s reshuffle was blown off course when health secretary Jeremy Hunt convinced May at a lengthy meeting not to move him to a different job. Newspapers said he refused to accept a new post, although a source close to May denied that, and said Hunt simply persuaded her.

Then education minister Justine Greening refused to take a job at the pensions department and quit instead.

“Social mobility matters to me and our country more than my ministerial career. I’ll continue to do everything I can to create a country that has equality of opportunity for young people,” she tweeted.

Losing the only lesbian minister in the cabinet threatens what May hoped to be the narrative of her reshuffle: that she was ushering in a new, more diverse team to counter accusations that the Conservative Party is out of touch.

The resignation of the newly appointed board member of a new universities watchdog over sexist tweets did little to help distance May from scandals over sexual harassment last year that brought down two ministers.

More than 200,000 people had signed a petition calling on Toby Young, author of the satirical memoir How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, to be sacked from the Office for Students for a history of derogatory comments about women. He quit on Tuesday, two days after May said he should be allowed to stay.

Aides had long said Monday’s moves were less important that those planned for Tuesday when May is expected to promote lawmakers to junior positions in preparation of a wider reshuffle after Brexit.

“Today I expect the rest of the picture to show that it’s more about preparing the ground for a post-Brexit reshuffle at a senior level,” Crispin Blunt, a Conservative lawmaker, told Reuters.

(Reuters)