News about Theresa May

Sergei Skripal, 71, and his daughter Yulia, 39, narrowly survived an assassination attempt in March 2018, when Russian agents allegedly sprayed the military-grade nerve agent Novichok on the front door of their home in 2018. Both were discovered unconscious on a bench in Salisbury city center after the attack. Police officer Nick Bailey also became critically ill after searching their house. Four months later, 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess, a mother of three, tragically died after being given the discarded perfume bottle containing the nerve agent by her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley and unknowingly spraying it on her wrist

ANDREW PIERCE: Even by the murky standards of Tory leadership contests, yesterday's result was astonishing. Yet again, the Tory parliamentary party lived up to its ­reputation as the most duplicitous ­electorate in Britain. The well-liked James ­Cleverly, the most experienced candidate as a former foreign secretary, home secretary and Tory chairman, was runaway favourite to make it into the last two. Prior to his assured speech at last week's Tory conference in Birmingham, he was joint third alongside Tom ­Tugendhat in the race. By Tuesday's ballot, that speech had helped catapult him into a commanding lead. The question marks over his judgement in opening ­negotiations with the Mauritian government as foreign secretary on the handover of the Chagos Islands, had ­seemingly not dented his ­leadership chances.

As the ­Government puts the ­finishing touches to its planned raid on non-doms and other financially ­fortunate individuals, the nation's wealthy are ­preparing to flee. According to new analysis by the Adam Smith Institute, the share of the population who are millionaires (like Pimlico Plumbers' Charlie Mullins, above) is expected to plunge by 20 per cent over the course of this Parliament. Where are they off to? Germany, France and Italy. In some cases, America.

To Boris Johnson's ­suggestion last week that Britain should hold a ­referendum on our membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, I suspect many would invoke the words of an exasperated Brenda from Bristol, when told that Theresa May had called a general election in 2017: 'You're joking! Not another one!' Or in this case, not another referendum on 'Europe'. For while the issue of the jurisdiction of the court in Strasbourg was the focus of furious debate among the four remaining candidates for the ­leadership of the Conservative Party at last week's conference, it will seem of marginal interest to the mass of voters, ­compared to their everyday concerns around the cost of living, housing and the health service.

During his record-breaking 14 years as chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 committee, Graham Brady endured some bruising encounters with prime ministers. But one PM proved to be more difficult than any of the others. Brady, who worked with David Cameron , Theresa May , Boris Johnson , Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak , reveals in his new book Kingmaker that the most tricky of the five was May. Brady, a Brexiteer, recalls that he was so appalled by the terms of May's proposed deal for ­exiting the EU in January 2019, he went to see her privately in No 10 to tell her it would not get through Parliament. 'She looked at me as if I was mad,' says Brady, who stood down at the election after 27 years as an MP.

Day by day the pressure was building. As a new PM in 2019, I had no majority; I had no proper democratic mandate; I was unable to win a single vote in Parliament; and it was obvious that I was clinging ever more tenuously to the rain-slicked window sill of office. The Tory Party had hired me to get Brexit done and it was now only three short months until we were meant to leave, on October 31, 2019. If we failed yet again, if we delayed again - then I would look ridiculous, nothing but Theresa May in a blond wig - and I would be swept aside in a torrent of public indignation.

Reem Alsalem, the UN's special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, says young women risk being put on a 'fast track' to irreversible gender transition. The new Labour government revealed in its King's Speech in July this year proposals for a Conversion Practices Bill, which would block action to 'change, ''cure" or suppress' someone's sexuality or gender ID. The reforms, to be overseen by equalities minister Annaliese Dodds, have been backed by campaigners as helping people to freely 'explore their sexual orientation and gender identity'. But critics including Ms Alsalem have raised concerns that lesbian and autistic girls could be encouraged too soon into unsuitable surgery. She told the Sunday Telegraph: 'By putting them on that high-speed train, you may inadvertently subject them to the conversion therapy you are trying to ban.'

The freebie row engulfing Sir Keir Starmer deepened tonight as it was revealed that he shared lavish football hospitality with a powerful lobbyist who backed the hated breakaway Super League. The Prime Minister and his embattled chief of staff Sue Gray enjoyed a corporate box at Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday, just hours after fresh 'Wardrobegate' allegations emerged about clothes Sir Keir and his wife had taken from Labour donor Lord Alli (pictured bottom right). Tickets were funded by Spurs, one of the six clubs which mounted the 2021 attempt to leave the Premier League - a plan that was abandoned following a furious reaction from fans. And sitting next to Ms Gray - who is facing open revolt in No 10 over her management style - was Katie Perrior (circled and pictured top right), the founder and chair of iNHouse Communications, which worked on the attempt to form the Super League. Other clients include tech giants such as Google , who have been criticised for their legal tax avoidance.

Scientists reveal the true origin of the Covid pandemic, silencing the theory that it was leaked from a laboratory.The major international study published today in Cell, insists that the virus did spread from a 'wet market' in Wuhan, China, and they have identified the animals behind the transmission to humans.The research found that the genetic sequence of Covid was likely to be present at the market from 2019 at stalls that sold live animals.'This adds another layer to the accumulating evidence that all points to the same scenario: that infected animals were introduced into the market in mid- to late November 2019, which sparked the pandemic,' says author of the study Kristian Andersen from Scripps Research.

DVLA records show that between January and the end of May, 38% of all dangerous driving 'DD40' endorsements were issued to 17 to 25-year-olds. IAM Roadsmart said the alarming figures are yet more evidence of the need for a graduated driving licensing system in Britain to impose restrictions that would 'foster better decision making' among young, impressionable motorists.

Flora Coleman doesn't yet have a picture of her four children together. Her camera roll is full of snaps of baby Marina, who's one month old with her two-year-old brother: messy laughter-filled playtimes, bubbles in the bath, podgy cheeks pressed together as they snuggle on the sofa. But Marina hasn't been introduced to her older twin brothers. Flora was waiting until the time was right. And this weekend, the whole family will set off from their London home to north Norfolk to see them, a special pilgrimage they've been making for the past four years. For there, amid autumn leaves in a well-tended country churchyard in Amner on the Sandringham estate, also home to the Prince and Princess of Wales , lie the graves of Teddy and Rafe.

As summer fades, you see them on telephone wires, birds of a feather preparing for the autumn journey. Quarrelsome blackcaps head for Iberia and the Manx shearwater girds its wings for the haul to South America. And each September that oddest of specimens, the politics warbler, enters a first-class railway carriage and flutters off to some four-star hotel for the nutrition-rich wetlands of the party conferences. Every year it happens, regular as the tock of a grandfather clock. Parliament adjourns, as it did last Thursday, and for three weeks our political class ups sticks to a provincial destination for some all-expenses-paid nesting.

To say that we will soon be able to 'prevent diabetes in all its forms in my lifetime', is a bold statement. Especially so since it is made by Professor Chantal Mathieu, a diabetologist. Given that the UK is in the grip of a diabetes crisis, with more than five million people living with the dangerous blood sugar condition, a figure which is set to rise even further, it may even sound like wishful thinking. But Prof Mathieu knows what she's talking about. She's President of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes - also known as EASD - an annual conference attended by thousands of world-leading researchers.

London-based investment firm Si Advisors is nearing a deal to buy the Ivy Collection, which runs dozens of sites across the UK, Sky News has reported. The Ivy has been at the centre of London's social scene for the past 100 years and has seen hundreds of stars including Andrew Lloyd Webber (bottom right) through its doors. Mr Caring (left) owns a controlling stake in the company, which runs the original Ivy in West London, its spin-off chain restaurants and Ivy Asia sites, alongside Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar. The pair put the business up for auction at the start of the year, with the Sunday Times first reporting they had set a £1 billion valuation.

The Grenfell inquiry concluded today - finally - after hundreds of days of evidential sessions, tens of thousands of exhibits, and a cost to the public purse likely totalling up to £1 billion. And the lengthy probe - launched in the immediate aftermath of the disaster in June 2017 by then-Prime Minister Theresa May - highlighted a series of missed opportunities involving the state, construction firms, and industry bodies. Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick criticised the 'dishonest' manufacturers responsible for Grenfell's exterior renovation a year before the fire, the 'serious deficiencies' in building standards that allowed combustible material to be used in cladding on the side of the 24-storey tower, and the 'indifference' to fire safety displayed by Grenfell's owner, the local council. He surmised that the 'path to disaster' was set in train by 'decades of failure' in the state and corporate sector.

Sue Gray is reportedly keen to make Daniel Gieve principal private secretary to Sir Keir Starmer, a role second only in constitutional importance to that of the Cabinet Secretary. She is said to favour Mr Gieve because she worked with him when she was at the Cabinet Office, The Times reported. However, some within Downing Street are said to have questioned whether he is the best choice and suspect she wants to impose her favoured candidate. There are understood to be concerns within No 10 about her choice because of Mr Gieve's links to senior Conservatives .

The Government may be about to wage a war on wealth by raising taxes on capital gains and inheritance but Labour seems relaxed about fat cat pay in Britain's boardrooms. As unions flex their wage-bargaining muscles, top pay continues to rise and the gap widens between the earnings of chief executives and their workers. That growing gulf - 431 times in the case of Tesco - was described in 2017 by then Prime Minister Theresa May as 'damaging the social fabric of our country'.

The biggest rebellion against fat cat pay came at medical devices company Smith & Nephew where almost a half of shareholders voted against plans to give chief executive Deepak Nath a huge pay rise. Texas-based Nath, who earns £3.8million, could get up to £9.3million this year if he hits all his targets. Education company Pearson was put on the 'list of shame' for companies where more than one in five investors protest against bosses' pay for the second year in a row. It is the only FTSE 100 company to achieve this dubious distinction.

A ban on zombie knives and machetes is set to come into effect in England and Wales next month. A nationwide surrender scheme will be running at police stations across England and Wales from August 26 until September 23. People who hand over their potentially dangerous knives before the ban comes into force on September 24 will not face any repercussions. Zombie knives have long been a controversial subject when it comes to the problem of knife crime in the UK.

EXCLUSIVE: Terrified Laura Sugden, 33, played dead after being shot by a lunatic neighbour who murdered her boyfriend in their own home in Duffield, East Yorks, in 2018. Laura told how nightmares of the brutal attack this week came flooding back after the horrific murders of BBC star John Hunt's family in Bushey, Herts. She said she was 'sick to the stomach' upon learning of the killings of John's wife Carol, 61, and their two daughters Hannah and Louise, 25 and 28. She told MailOnline: 'Had the last government acted sooner and changed the law, then perhaps we could have avoided lives being lost to crossbows.'

The German TV show, which is broadcast on RTL+ and is based on a book series, has sent viewers on X wild with its bizarre concept. The series follows a now-retired ex-chancellor who is bored with her life after stepping away from mainstream politics. After the body of an aristocrat is discovered locked in the cellar of a nearby castle, it awakens an urge within Merkel to begin investigating crime; and according to the trailer, leads to a series of near-misses. After a clip of the series was posted on X, formerly Twitter, viewers went wild for the show and said it could be 'the greatest TV show ever written'.

Sir Keir Starmer's party achieved almost two-thirds of Westminster's 650 seats, despite barely winning one in three votes across the UK. It meant they secured a majority rivaling that achieved by Tony Blair in 1997. To put Labour's 'super meh-jority' into context, even Jeremy Corbyn bagged a bigger share of Britain's popular vote when Theresa May defeated him in 2017. It means Sir Keir's party has benefited from the most skewed result in modern political history, all thanks to the catastrophic decline in Conservative support that saw the Blue Wall crumble and cost a record number of serving Cabinet ministers their job. Rishi Sunak's party slumped to just 121 seats following the July 4 count, signalling their worst ever result.

No10 chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith, who is known as 'the Treasury Travolta' due to his love of a leather jacket, will enter the upper house among a slew of Tory big-hitters quitting the Commons. The Dissolution Honours list, announced less than an hour before polls closed in the General Election, also includes former PM Theresa May and Tory backbench leader Sir Graham Brady. More controversially there is also a peerage for Chris Grayling, a former minister nicknamed 'failing Grayling' by his critics after holding several senior roles. For Labour, there is also a peerage for Harriet Harman, the long-serving former party deputy leader, who led Parliamentary efforts to censure Boris Johnson over Partygate.

A 1960 Democratic Party US Presidential election poster famously used the slogan 'Would YOU buy a used car from this man?' with a photo of Nixon. Britons are now being asked the same question ahead of the general election. The survey has found with Prime Minister candidates they would trust to sell them a second-hand motor - and which they certainly wouldn't.