UK PM May to be told to quit by top Conservative: Sunday Times - Reuters

FILE PHOTO - British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after a news conference following an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

LONDON (Reuters) - A top member of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party will tell her in the coming week that she must step down by the end of June or her lawmakers will try again to depose her, the Sunday Times reported, without citing sources.

May survived a vote of no confidence in December and although party rules mean lawmakers cannot challenge her again until a year has passed, lawmaker Graham Brady will tell her the rules will be changed unless she quits, the newspaper said.

Brady, who chairs the Conservative Party’s influential 1922 Committee of backbench lawmakers, will tell her that 70 percent of her members of parliament want her to resign over her handling of Brexit, the Sunday Times said.

Britain was originally due to leave the European Union on March 29, but that deadline was pushed back to April 12 and then again to Oct. 31 as May failed to break an impasse in parliament on the terms of Brexit.

Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Daniel Wallis

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-may/uk-pm-may-to-be-told-to-quit-by-top-conservative-sunday-times-idUSKCN1RW0NI

2019-04-20 21:50:00Z
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UK weather: Easter weekend set for record temperatures - BBC News

The Met Office has confirmed Saturday as the hottest day of the year, with 25.5C recorded in Gosport, Hampshire.

And the UK is set for record-breaking temperatures over the rest of the Easter weekend, forecasters have said.

Temperatures are expected to climb to 26C on Easter Sunday and 27C on Monday, though north-west Scotland could be clipped by outbursts of rain.

The record temperature for Easter Sunday in the UK is 25.3C reached in Solent, Hampshire in April 2011.

The Solent also lays claim to the hottest Easter Monday with 24C recorded, also in 2011.

Met Office forecaster Helen Roberts said the Solent's records were the "ones to keep an eye on and could be broken".

The UK's warmest Easter temperature was 29.4C, recorded at London's Camden Square on Holy Saturday in 1949.

Asda, Sainsbury's and Waitrose supermarkets said they expected soaring sales of sausages, burgers, ice lollies and ice cream.

Sainsbury's told the BBC it expected sales of rose wine to jump by 40% compared to last week, fake tan to climb by 300% and sun cream by 800%.

Argos customers have been preparing for the hot weather, with sales of one air conditioning unit up 367% week-on-week.

Asda is expecting high sales of Easter eggs and legs of lamb to be joined by a jump in sales of barbecue food - including a run on potato salad.

Meanwhile a spokesman for Waitrose said the supermarket was expecting sales of kebabs and steaks to rise by 150% week-on-week, and burgers by 170%.

This year, Easter falls on the latest date since 2011, meanng that warm weather is far more likely that those years when Easter is marked in March. It won't be this late again until 2030.

The earliest Easter Sunday can be is 22 March and the latest it can fall is 25 April, depending on when there's a full moon in spring.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47996418

2019-04-20 15:49:21Z
CBMiJGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay00Nzk5NjQxONIBKGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy9hbXAvdWstNDc5OTY0MTg

UK weather: Easter weekend set for record temperatures - BBC News

The Met Office has confirmed Saturday as the hottest day of the year, with 25.5C recorded in Gosport, Hampshire.

And the UK is set for record-breaking temperatures over the rest of the Easter weekend, forecasters have said.

Temperatures are expected to climb to 26C on Easter Sunday and 27C on Monday, though north-west Scotland could be clipped by outbursts of rain.

The record temperature for Easter Sunday in the UK is 25.3C reached in Solent, Hampshire in April 2011.

The Solent also lays claim to the hottest Easter Monday with 24C recorded, also in 2011.

Met Office forecaster Helen Roberts said the Solent's records were the "ones to keep an eye on and could be broken".

The UK's warmest Easter temperature was 29.4C, recorded at London's Camden Square on Holy Saturday in 1949.

Asda, Sainsbury's and Waitrose supermarkets said they expected soaring sales of sausages, burgers, ice lollies and ice cream.

Sainsbury's told the BBC it expected sales of rose wine to jump by 40% compared to last week, fake tan to climb by 300% and sun cream by 800%.

Argos customers have been preparing for the hot weather, with sales of one air conditioning unit up 367% week-on-week.

• Easter travel 2019: Where to avoid on roads and rail
• Rail line to be closed between Bristol and Newport over Easter

Asda is expecting high sales of Easter eggs and legs of lamb to be joined by a jump in sales of barbecue food - including a run on potato salad.

Meanwhile a spokesman for Waitrose said the supermarket was expecting sales of kebabs and steaks to rise by 150% week-on-week, and burgers by 170%.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47996418

2019-04-20 15:45:00Z
CBMiJGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay00Nzk5NjQxONIBKGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy9hbXAvdWstNDc5OTY0MTg

UK weather: Easter weekend set for record temperatures - BBC News

The UK is set for record-breaking temperatures over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, forecasters have said.

Supermarkets stocked up on barbecue meats and sun cream, as the Met Office said Saturday would be "glorious".

Temperatures are expected to climb to 26C on Easter Sunday and 27C on Monday, though north-west Scotland could be clipped by outbursts of rain.

The record temperature for Easter Sunday in the UK is 25.3C reached in Solent, Hampshire in April 2011.

The Solent also lays claim to the hottest Easter Monday with 24C recorded, also in 2011.

Met Office forecaster Helen Roberts said the Solent's records were the "ones to keep an eye on and could be broken".

The UK's warmest Easter temperature was 29.4C, recorded at London's Camden Square on Holy Saturday in 1949.

Asda, Sainsbury's and Waitrose supermarkets said they expected soaring sales of sausages, burgers, ice lollies and ice cream.

Sainsbury's told the BBC it expected sales of rose wine to jump by 40% compared to last week, fake tan to climb by 300% and sun cream by 800%.

Argos customers have been preparing for the hot weather, with sales of one air conditioning unit up 367% week-on-week.

• Easter travel 2019: Where to avoid on roads and rail
• Rail line to be closed between Bristol and Newport over Easter

Asda is expecting high sales of Easter eggs and legs of lamb to be joined by a jump in sales of barbecue food - including a run on potato salad.

Meanwhile a spokesman for Waitrose said the supermarket was expecting sales of kebabs and steaks to rise by 150% week-on-week, and burgers by 170%.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47996418

2019-04-20 11:28:57Z
52780271137320

'We know what she is like, don't rise to her bait' - Britain ready for Yulia Putintseva test in Fed Cup - The Telegraph

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'We know what she is like, don't rise to her bait' - Britain ready for Yulia Putintseva test in Fed Cup  The Telegraph

Great Britain's Fed Cup ties have delivered no end of drama in the last couple of years, including Ilie Nastase's toxic intervention in Constanta and Johanna ...

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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2019/04/19/know-like-dont-rise-bait-britain-ready-yulia-putintseva-test/

2019-04-19 14:30:00Z
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Are You a Very English Butler? The U.K. Government Needs You - The New York Times

LONDON — Of the current vacancies in the British government’s hundreds of job listings for policy and strategy advisers, one stands out. Wanted: two butlers.

Duties include delivering “the highest quality V.I.P. hospitality for all government departments and ministers” and managing the government’s wine cellar.

Maximum annual salary: 30,000 pounds (not quite $40,000).

Only British nationals need apply, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which advertised the roles.

It may seem somewhat anachronistic that butlers are still being hired, especially in an age when digital assistants such as Alexa and Siri are available to relieve the burden of household duties like buying groceries or switching off the lights.

But the status symbol has endured in Britain, a country that cherishes tradition and heritage.

Grant Harrold, former royal butler to Prince Charles and a co-founder of The Royal School of Butlers, explained that the government’s job description was broadly in line with the requirements of a 21st-century butler.

“If you watch ‘Downton Abbey,’ we like to think a butler wears a white tie, stands behind tables and chairs, looking the part,” Mr. Harrold said, referring to the hit television series. “The reality of a modern-day butler is that it is evolving into this hospitality role.”

But he wondered whether the government had knowingly played on British stereotypes in naming the role.

“The government is not asking for ‘house managers,’ but ‘butlers’ because it is a very British thing,” he said. “The government is saying: ‘We want to have our own British butler.’ It is a bit of a show.”

According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the hub of Britain’s diplomacy and international relations, limiting applicants to British citizens follows the rules of the department as a whole. The position’s responsibilities include managing stock and items worth as much as £3 million, as well as ensuring the smooth running of food and drink service for events with as many as 350 guests.

Staying true to the intended role of a butler (the word is derived from an Old French term for “bottle bearer”), good knowledge of “fine wines” and food service is listed as a minimum requirement for the job, since the butlers must also take care of the government’s wine cellar.

Malcolm Rifkind, the British foreign secretary from 1995 to 1997, said that having a staff to supervise the government’s hospitality program was nothing out of the ordinary.

“There is not a single country in the world that would not offer that type of hospitality,” Mr. Rifkind said. He added that most national governments would employ someone to oversee events held for foreign dignitaries — though not all would officially be called butlers.

“It is perfectly normal to have a luncheon or dinner for visiting foreign minister or heads of state,” he said.

He explained that for such a formal occasion, wine would be served by hospitality workers. “You do not use diplomats to do that; it is not in their training,” Mr. Rifkind said. “It would be a waste of diplomats’ skills.”

Nestled among the business-jargon-filled job titles on the Civil Service website, the ad for “government butlers” is distinctive. The role is not new, and there are currently three government butlers on payroll.

Applicants are required to work odd hours and complete physically demanding tasks, but the maximum salary offered is only marginally better than the median annual income for a full-time worker in Britain: £29,574.

Mr. Harrold, the former royal butler, said that the salary offered by the government was average for a butler working in Britain and that the position offered other benefits.

“The people you look after and the reputation and experience you get from doing that is priceless,” he said.

If prospective applicants were deterred by the Foreign Office’s remuneration, they would not be the first.

Britain’s diplomatic service found itself at the bottom of the pile regarding pay packages in an annual government staff survey of 98 organizations: Only one in 10 of the department’s London-based employees said they felt positive about their pay, the office admitted to a parliamentary committee last year.

The Foreign Office said that 70 percent of employees who left jobs there had cited poor pay as the main reason for their departure.

The department has also been criticized for wasteful spending, when it emerged last month that it had spent almost $16 million to buy a full-floor penthouse apartment for one of its diplomats in New York. A spokesman for the Foreign Office defended the decision.

Though the need for a butler is somewhat rare, the government is not the only agency hiring for the old-fashioned role.

A job vacancy for a trainee butler appeared in January on the Royal Household website, where positions working for the British royal family are posted, offering a salary of £19,935 a year, plus benefits.

One of the perks: The position is based in Buckingham Palace, the official headquarters of the British monarchy, and is a live-in role.

The Foreign Office butlers are expected to find their own housing.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/world/europe/uk-government-butler.html

2019-04-19 13:44:54Z
CAIiEKhTdGKVDAxnUcUh8TaTQKMqFwgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzwwt4QY

Are You a Very English Butler? The U.K. Government Needs You - The New York Times

LONDON — Of the current vacancies in the British government’s hundreds of job listings for policy and strategy advisers, one stands out. Wanted: two butlers.

Duties include delivering “the highest quality V.I.P. hospitality for all government departments and ministers” and managing the government’s wine cellar.

Maximum annual salary: 30,000 pounds (not quite $40,000).

Only British nationals need apply, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which advertised the roles.

It may seem somewhat anachronistic that butlers are still being hired, especially in an age when digital assistants such as Alexa and Siri are available to relieve the burden of household duties like buying groceries or switching off the lights.

But the status symbol has endured in Britain, a country that cherishes tradition and heritage.

Grant Harrold, former royal butler to Prince Charles and a co-founder of The Royal School of Butlers, explained that the government’s job description was broadly in line with the requirements of a 21st-century butler.

“If you watch ‘Downton Abbey,’ we like to think a butler wears a white tie, stands behind tables and chairs, looking the part,” Mr. Harrold said, referring to the hit television series. “The reality of a modern-day butler is that it is evolving into this hospitality role.”

But he wondered whether the government had knowingly played on British stereotypes in naming the role.

“The government is not asking for ‘house managers,’ but ‘butlers’ because it is a very British thing,” he said. “The government is saying: ‘We want to have our own British butler.’ It is a bit of a show.”

According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the hub of Britain’s diplomacy and international relations, limiting applicants to British citizens follows the rules of the department as a whole. The position’s responsibilities include managing stock and items worth as much as £3 million, as well as ensuring the smooth running of food and drink service for events with as many as 350 guests.

Staying true to the intended role of a butler (the word is derived from an Old French term for “bottle bearer”), good knowledge of “fine wines” and food service is listed as a minimum requirement for the job, since the butlers must also take care of the government’s wine cellar.

Malcolm Rifkind, the British foreign secretary from 1995 to 1997, said that having a staff to supervise the government’s hospitality program was nothing out of the ordinary.

“There is not a single country in the world that would not offer that type of hospitality,” Mr. Rifkind said. He added that most national governments would employ someone to oversee events held for foreign dignitaries — though not all would officially be called butlers.

“It is perfectly normal to have a luncheon or dinner for visiting foreign minister or heads of state,” he said.

He explained that for such a formal occasion, wine would be served by hospitality workers. “You do not use diplomats to do that; it is not in their training,” Mr. Rifkind said. “It would be a waste of diplomats’ skills.”

Nestled among the business-jargon-filled job titles on the Civil Service website, the ad for “government butlers” is distinctive. The role is not new, and there are currently three government butlers on payroll.

Applicants are required to work odd hours and complete physically demanding tasks, but the maximum salary offered is only marginally better than the median annual income for a full-time worker in Britain: £29,574.

Mr. Harrold, the former royal butler, said that the salary offered by the government was average for a butler working in Britain and that the position offered other benefits.

“The people you look after and the reputation and experience you get from doing that is priceless,” he said.

If prospective applicants were deterred by the Foreign Office’s remuneration, they would not be the first.

Britain’s diplomatic service found itself at the bottom of the pile regarding pay packages in an annual government staff survey of 98 organizations: Only one in 10 of the department’s London-based employees said they felt positive about their pay, the office admitted to a parliamentary committee last year.

The Foreign Office said that 70 percent of employees who left jobs there had cited poor pay as the main reason for their departure.

The department has also been criticized for wasteful spending, when it emerged last month that it had spent almost $16 million to buy a full-floor penthouse apartment for one of its diplomats in New York. A spokesman for the Foreign Office defended the decision.

Though the need for a butler is somewhat rare, the government is not the only agency hiring for the old-fashioned role.

A job vacancy for a trainee butler appeared in January on the Royal Household website, where positions working for the British royal family are posted, offering a salary of £19,935 a year, plus benefits.

One of the perks: The position is based in Buckingham Palace, the official headquarters of the British monarchy, and is a live-in role.

The Foreign Office butlers are expected to find their own housing.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/world/europe/uk-government-butler.html

2019-04-19 13:42:19Z
CAIiEKhTdGKVDAxnUcUh8TaTQKMqFwgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzww5oEY