Sabtu, 30 November 2019

Attack by Convicted Terrorist Prompts U.K. to Review Sentencing - The Wall Street Journal

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel visit the site of the London Bridge attacks with police chiefs on Saturday. Photo: simon dawson/Reuters

LONDON—The British government will review its sentencing policies after a convicted terrorist on early release from prison carried out a stabbing attack in the heart of London that left two people dead.

Police identified the attacker, who they shot dead on London Bridge on Friday, as 28-year-old Usman Khan. He had been convicted in 2012 for terrorism offenses and served time in prison for the part he played in a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange in 2010. Three people were also injured in the attack, one seriously.

Authorities said that Mr. Khan appeared to have acted alone.

Terrorism Returns to London

A man fatally stabbed two people near London Bridge on Friday before being shot dead by police officers. The incident is the latest in a series of terrorist attacks in the heart of the city.

A witness saw the attacker emerging from Fishmongers’ Hall.

City of London

Southwark Bridge

Attacker tackled by bystanders, then shot dead by armed police.

Select terrorist attacks

in Central London

London Bridge

THE REGENT’S

PARK

River Thames

Coordinated suicide attacks* (2005)

Palace of

Westminster

(2017)

HYDE

PARK

Tower of

London

N

London Bridge

(2017, 2019)

Buckingham

Palace

1 mile

River Thames

Southwark

1 km

A witness saw the attacker emerging from Fishmongers’ Hall.

City of London

Southwark

Bridge

Attacker tackled by bystanders, then shot dead by armed police.

Select terrorist attacks

in Central London

London Bridge

River

Thames

THE REGENT’S

PARK

Coordinated suicide attacks* (2005)

Palace of

Westminster

(2017)

N

HYDE

PARK

Tower of

London

London Bridge

(2017, 2019)

Buckingham

Palace

1 mile

River Thames

Southwark

1 km

A witness saw the attacker emerging from Fishmongers’ Hall.

City of London

Southwark

Bridge

Attacker tackled by bystanders, then shot dead by armed police.

Select terrorist attacks

in Central London

London Bridge

River Thames

THE REGENT’S

PARK

Coordinated suicide attacks* (2005)

Palace of

Westminster

(2017)

N

HYDE

PARK

Tower of

London

London Bridge

(2017, 2019)

Buckingham

Palace

1 mile

River Thames

Southwark

1 km

A witness saw the attacker emerging from Fishmongers’ Hall.

City of London

Attacker tackled by bystanders, then shot dead by armed police.

London

Bridge

River Thames

N

Southwark

Select terrorist attacks

in Central London

THE REGENT’S

PARK

Coordinated suicide attacks* (2005)

Palace of

Westminster

(2017)

HYDE

PARK

Tower of

London

London Bridge

(2017, 2019)

Buckingham

Palace

1 mile

River Thames

1 km

*Four coordinated suicide attacks in Central London hit three underground trains (between Aldgate and Liverpool Street; Russell Square and King’s Cross St. Pancras; and Edgware Road and Paddington stations) and a double-decker bus at Tavistock Square.

Source: Google Earth (image)

He was released from prison in December 2018 under a set of conditions that included an internet ban, a curfew and limitations on his movements and meetings. He carried a GPS tag allowing the authorities to track his whereabouts.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the scene of the attack Saturday, and criticized the early release of terrorists. “The practice of automatic early release, where you cut a sentence in half, simply isn’t working and you’ve got some very good evidence of how that isn’t working with this case,” he said. “When people are sentenced to a certain number of years in prison, they should serve every year of that sentence,” Mr. Johnson added.

Security officials said the attack reflected the difficulties of stopping less sophisticated attacks carried out by lone actors, even by people who are being monitored.

Mr. Khan was one of nine people who were imprisoned after pleading guilty to being part of a group that was plotting in 2010 to plant a pipe bomb in a toilet in the London Stock Exchange.

The group, which had been tracked by Britain’s internal security service MI5 in an operation code-named Guava, had also discussed sending letter bombs to other addresses, including to the home of Mr. Johnson, who was at the time mayor of London.

Mr. Khan admitted attending terror-attack planning meetings, fundraising for terrorism and possessing copies of the al Qaeda magazine Inspire.

Mr. Khan, who was 19 when he was arrested, was born in the U.K. to a family of immigrants from Pakistani-administered Kashmir and lived in the city of Stoke in the English Midlands.

The group behind the London Stock Exchange plot formed before Islamic State came to prominence and its turn to terrorism was instead inspired by the American-born Yemen-based cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a 2011 U.S. drone strike. The group was said by prosecutors to be carrying out the strategy used by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Mr. Khan admitted plotting to set up a terrorist training camp on land his family owned in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, but the plans weren’t considered to have advanced very far before his arrest. Before he was sentenced by a judge in 2012, he wrote a letter saying he had repented of his terrorist views.

Friday’s attack came as Britons prepare to vote for a new government in a Dec. 12 election. The campaign, which has focused on the U.K.’s planned withdrawal from the European Union, was briefly suspended after the attack as Mr. Johnson returned to London, but resumed Saturday.

The attack took place inside Fishmongers’ Hall, a building on the northwestern end of London Bridge that is used for conferences. The Metropolitan Police Force, which serves London, confirmed that the attack took place during an event hosted by Learning Together, a University of Cambridge program that aims to rehabilitate prisoners through education.

Mr. Khan stabbed several people inside the building before being pursued onto London Bridge by some of those attending the event who were trying to stop him. A British Transport Police officer in plain clothes was also among those who assailed the attacker before armed police arrived, police said Saturday. Neil Basu, the Metropolitan Police’s head of counterterrorism, said there were “some incredible acts of bravery” especially as the attacker was wearing “what looked like a very convincing explosive device that later turned out to be a hoax”. The attacker had been wearing the fake explosive vest while carrying out the stabbings inside the building, Mr. Basu said during a news conference.

Eyewitnesses and footage taken on London Bridge show Mr. Khan brandishing knives as he was fended off by members of the public. One held a fire extinguisher which he trained on the attacker, while another poked at him with a stick that was reportedly the tusk of a narwhal that was on display in the hall. Police moved off the members of the public and shot the attacker dead because he appeared to be wearing a suicide vest that turned out to be fake.

Professor Stephen Toope, vice chancellor of the University of Cambridge, said the university was in touch with the Metropolitan Police and awaiting further details of the victims. “I am devastated to learn that today’s hateful attack on London Bridge may have been targeted at staff, students and alumni attending an event organised by the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology,” he said in a statement on Twitter. “We mourn the dead and we hope for a speedy recovery for the injured. Our thoughts are with all their families and friends.”

Local media named one of those killed as Jack Merritt, a 25-year-old graduate whose work brought him to the event. Mr Basu acknowledged that the victim’s name had been published on local and social media but said he couldn’t confirm the identity before a coroner’s identification had taken place.

U.K. police shot dead a suspected terrorist wearing a hoax explosive vest. WSJ’s Alex Frangos reports from near the scene of the stabbing attack that injured several people in central London. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/Associated Press

Mr. Khan’s attendance at the event would have been cleared by authorities monitoring him, officials said.

Mr. Basu said that Mr. Khan’s release in December last year was subject to “an extensive list of conditions.”

“To the best of my knowledge, he was complying with those conditions,” he said.

Police have searched two properties in Staffordshire, where Mr. Khan was living, and Stoke-on-Trent as part of their investigation into the attack.

“We have found no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved,” Mr. Basu said.

As the election campaign resumed, the U.K.’s main opposition party questioned changes in the treatment of imprisoned terrorists and reductions in police numbers during a decadelong program of government spending cuts.

“There’ll be questions asked over the next few days about all that was done,” said Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London and a member of the Labour Party. “We can be more safe with more police and more resources.”

The London Bridge attacker was first sentenced in 2012 to an indefinite prison sentence under a program known as Imprisonment for Public Protection, under which people could be imprisoned for longer than their mandated terms if they were deemed to pose a danger to the public after their release.

In 2013, his indefinite sentence was overturned on appeal with the appeal judges saying Mr. Khan’s plans to set up a terrorist camp didn’t constitute an immediate public threat. A 16-year sentence was imposed, meaning he was eligible for release in December 2018 having served half his sentence, including time on remand, since his arrest in December 2010. Britain’s Criminal Justice Act states that half a sentence needs to be spent in jail with the other half under supervision but in the community.

The Conservative-led government in 2012 ended the IPP program, though that decision didn’t affect those who had already been sentenced under its provisions.

Security Minister Brandon Lewis said the government would look again at that 2012 decision.

“We do have to look again at the sentencing system,” he said. “We will have to move very swiftly.”

Although no new sentences were imposed under IPPs after their abolition, around 2,400 people were still in jail under that legislation at the end of March 2019.

The U.K.’s Ministry of Justice said Mr. Khan was one of 51 inmates with terror links let out of jail in the 12 months to the end of March 2019. Officials say a steady stream of offenders who were sentenced for their roles in a wave of terrorist plots of a decade or more ago are being released into the community now, who, along with fighters returning from Syria, pose headaches for the security services.

The U.K. has suffered a wave of terrorism-related attacks in recent years. In June 2017, London Bridge and the surrounding area were the scene of a bloody rampage by three knife-wielding men, who plowed a van into pedestrians and stabbed people in nearby bars and restaurants. All three were shot dead by police. Eight people were killed and dozens hospitalized in an assault that interrupted campaigning for a national election.

British security services in November lowered their assessment of the risk of a major terrorist attack to “substantial,” the third rung on a five-point scale. That hasn’t so far been changed, reflecting the initial assessment that the attacker was acting alone on Friday.

Write to Paul Hannon at paul.hannon@wsj.com and Stephen Fidler at stephen.fidler@wsj.com

Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndzai5jb20vYXJ0aWNsZXMvYXR0YWNrLWJ5LWNvbnZpY3RlZC10ZXJyb3Jpc3QtcHJvbXB0cy11LWstdG8tcmV2aWV3LXNlbnRlbmNpbmctMTE1NzUxMjgxMjnSAQA?oc=5

2019-11-30 17:16:00Z
52780452317702

Attack by Convicted Terrorist Prompts U.K. to Review Sentencing - The Wall Street Journal

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel visit the site of the London Bridge attacks with police chiefs on Saturday. Photo: simon dawson/Reuters

LONDON—The British government will review its sentencing policies after a convicted terrorist on early release from prison carried out a stabbing attack in the heart of London that left two people dead.

Police identified the attacker, who they shot dead on London Bridge on Friday, as 28-year-old Usman Khan. He had been convicted in 2012 for terrorism offenses and served time in prison for the part he played in a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange in 2010. Three people were also injured in the attack, one seriously.

Authorities said that Mr. Khan appeared to have acted alone.

Terrorism Returns to London

A man fatally stabbed two people near London Bridge on Friday before being shot dead by police officers. The incident is the latest in a series of terrorist attacks in the heart of the city.

A witness saw the attacker emerging from Fishmongers’ Hall.

City of London

Southwark Bridge

Attacker tackled by bystanders, then shot dead by armed police.

Select terrorist attacks

in Central London

London Bridge

THE REGENT’S

PARK

River Thames

Coordinated suicide attacks* (2005)

Palace of

Westminster

(2017)

HYDE

PARK

Tower of

London

N

London Bridge

(2017, 2019)

Buckingham

Palace

1 mile

River Thames

Southwark

1 km

A witness saw the attacker emerging from Fishmongers’ Hall.

City of London

Southwark

Bridge

Attacker tackled by bystanders, then shot dead by armed police.

Select terrorist attacks

in Central London

London Bridge

River

Thames

THE REGENT’S

PARK

Coordinated suicide attacks* (2005)

Palace of

Westminster

(2017)

N

HYDE

PARK

Tower of

London

London Bridge

(2017, 2019)

Buckingham

Palace

1 mile

River Thames

Southwark

1 km

A witness saw the attacker emerging from Fishmongers’ Hall.

City of London

Southwark

Bridge

Attacker tackled by bystanders, then shot dead by armed police.

Select terrorist attacks

in Central London

London Bridge

River Thames

THE REGENT’S

PARK

Coordinated suicide attacks* (2005)

Palace of

Westminster

(2017)

N

HYDE

PARK

Tower of

London

London Bridge

(2017, 2019)

Buckingham

Palace

1 mile

River Thames

Southwark

1 km

A witness saw the attacker emerging from Fishmongers’ Hall.

City of London

Attacker tackled by bystanders, then shot dead by armed police.

London

Bridge

River Thames

N

Southwark

Select terrorist attacks

in Central London

THE REGENT’S

PARK

Coordinated suicide attacks* (2005)

Palace of

Westminster

(2017)

HYDE

PARK

Tower of

London

London Bridge

(2017, 2019)

Buckingham

Palace

1 mile

River Thames

1 km

*Four coordinated suicide attacks in Central London hit three underground trains (between Aldgate and Liverpool Street; Russell Square and King’s Cross St. Pancras; and Edgware Road and Paddington stations) and a double-decker bus at Tavistock Square.

Source: Google Earth (image)

He was released from prison in December 2018 under a set of conditions that limited his movements and other activities, including an electronic tag allowing the authorities to track his whereabouts.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the scene of the attack Saturday, and criticized the early release of terrorists. “The practice of automatic early release, where you cut a sentence in half, simply isn’t working and you’ve got some very good evidence of how that isn’t working with this case,” he said. “When people are sentenced to a certain number of years in prison, they should serve every year of that sentence,” Mr. Johnson added.

Security officials said the attack reflected the difficulties of stopping less sophisticated attacks carried out by lone actors, even by people who are being monitored.

Mr. Khan was one of nine people who were imprisoned after pleading guilty to being part of a group that was plotting in 2010 to plant a pipe bomb in a toilet in the London Stock Exchange.

The group, which had been tracked by Britain’s internal security service MI5 in an operation code-named Guava, had also discussed sending letter bombs to other addresses, including to the home of Mr. Johnson, who was at the time mayor of London.

Mr. Khan admitted attending terror-attack planning meetings, fundraising for terrorism and possessing copies of the al Qaeda magazine Inspire.

Mr. Khan, who was 19 when he was arrested, was born in the U.K. to a family of immigrants from Pakistani-administered Kashmir and lived in the city of Stoke in the English Midlands.

The group behind the London Stock Exchange plot formed before Islamic State came to prominence and its turn to terrorism was instead inspired by the American-born Yemen-based cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a 2011 U.S. drone strike. The group was said by prosecutors to be carrying out the strategy used by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Mr. Khan admitted plotting to set up a terrorist training camp on land his family owned in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, but the plans weren’t considered to have advanced very far before his arrest. Before he was sentenced by a judge in 2012, he wrote a letter saying he had repented of his terrorist views.

Friday’s attack came as Britons prepare to vote for a new government in a Dec. 12 election. The campaign, which has focused on the U.K.’s planned withdrawal from the European Union, was briefly suspended after the attack as Mr. Johnson returned to London, but resumed Saturday.

The attack took place inside Fishmongers’ Hall, a building on the northwestern end of London Bridge that is used for conferences. The Metropolitan Police Force, which serves London, confirmed that the attack was related to an event hosted by Learning Together, a University of Cambridge program that aims to rehabilitate prisoners through education.

Eyewitnesses and footage taken at the scene show Mr. Khan brandishing knives as he was fended off by members of the public. One held a fire extinguisher which he trained on the attacker, while another poked at him with a stick that was reportedly the tusk of a narwhal that was on display in the hall. Police moved off the members of the public and shot the attacker dead because he appeared to be wearing a suicide vest that turned out to be fake.

Professor Stephen Toope, vice chancellor of the University of Cambridge, said the university was in touch with the Metropolitan Police and awaiting further details of the victims. “I am devastated to learn that today’s hateful attack on London Bridge may have been targeted at staff, students and alumni attending an event organised by the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology,” he said in a statement on Twitter. “We mourn the dead and we hope for a speedy recovery for the injured. Our thoughts are with all their families and friends.”

Mr. Khan’s attendance at the event would have been cleared by authorities monitoring him, officials said.

U.K. police shot dead a suspected terrorist wearing a hoax explosive vest. WSJ’s Alex Frangos reports from near the scene of the stabbing attack that injured several people in central London. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/Associated Press

As the election campaign resumed, the U.K.’s main opposition party questioned changes in the treatment of imprisoned terrorists and reductions in police numbers during a decadelong program of government spending cuts.

“There’ll be questions asked over the next few days about all that was done,” said Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London and a member of the Labour Party. “We can be more safe with more police and more resources.”

Friday’s attacker was first sentenced in 2012 to an indefinite prison sentence under a program known as Imprisonment for Public Protection, under which people could be imprisoned for longer than their mandated terms if they were deemed to pose a danger to the public after their release. In 2013, his indefinite sentence was overturned on appeal with the appeal judges saying Mr. Khan’s plans to set up a terrorist camp didn’t constitute an immediate public threat. A 16-year sentence was imposed, meaning he was eligible for release in December 2018 having served half his sentence, including time on remand, since his arrest in December 2010. Britain’s Criminal Justice Act states that half a sentence needs to be spent in jail with the other half under supervision but in the community.

The Conservative-led government in 2012 ended the IPP program, though that decision didn’t affect those who had already been sentenced under its provisions.

Security Minister Brandon Lewis said the government would look again at that 2012 decision.

“We do have to look again at the sentencing system,” he said. “We will have to move very swiftly.”

Although no new sentences were imposed under IPPs after their abolition, around 2,400 people were still in jail under that legislation at the end of March 2019.

The U.K.’s Ministry of Justice said Mr. Khan was one of 51 inmates with terror links let out of jail in the 12 months to the end of March 2019. Officials say a steady stream of offenders who were sentenced for their roles in a wave of terrorist plots of a decade or more ago are being released into the community now, who, along with fighters returning from Syria, pose headaches for the security services.

The U.K. has suffered a wave of terrorism-related attacks in recent years. In June 2017, London Bridge and the surrounding area were the scene of a bloody rampage by three knife-wielding men, who plowed a van into pedestrians and stabbed people in nearby bars and restaurants. All three were shot dead by police. Eight people were killed and dozens hospitalized in an assault that interrupted campaigning for a national election.

British security services in November lowered their assessment of the risk of a major terrorist attack to “substantial,” the third rung on a five-point scale. That hasn’t so far been changed, reflecting the initial assessment that the attacker was acting alone on Friday.

Write to Paul Hannon at paul.hannon@wsj.com and Stephen Fidler at stephen.fidler@wsj.com

Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndzai5jb20vYXJ0aWNsZXMvYXR0YWNrLWJ5LWNvbnZpY3RlZC10ZXJyb3Jpc3QtcHJvbXB0cy11LWstdG8tcmV2aWV3LXNlbnRlbmNpbmctMTE1NzUxMjgxMjnSAQA?oc=5

2019-11-30 15:35:00Z
52780452317702

Jumat, 29 November 2019

U.K.'s Johnson replaced by ice block in TV debate, Conservatives cry foul - NBCNews.com

LONDON — British broadcaster Channel 4 represented Prime Minister Boris Johnson with a block of melting ice in a prime-time election debate on the environment on Thursday, prompting his Conservative Party to complain this broke impartiality rules.

The commercially funded public-service broadcaster invited leaders of all Britain's main political parties to take part in the debate before Dec. 12's election, but both Johnson and the leader of the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage, declined to attend.

The Conservative Party offered former environment minister Michael Gove as a substitute, but the broadcaster said the debate was only intended for party leaders, and that the other political parties would not agree to change the terms.

Sept. 4, 201901:02

Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.

"This effectively seeks to deprive the Conservative Party of any representation and attendance," the Conservatives wrote in a letter of complaint to broadcast regulator Ofcom.

British television broadcasters are required to be politically impartial, and face extra balance requirements during election periods. Ofcom can fine broadcasters that do not comply, and as a last resort can cancel a broadcaster's license.

The Conservatives said Thursday's disagreement was "part of a wider pattern of bias by Channel 4 in recent months."

The broadcaster's head of news and current affairs, Dorothy Byrne, described Johnson as "a known liar" in a major industry speech in August.

On Thursday, the editor of Channel 4's main news program, Ben de Pear, likened the Conservatives' approach to the media to that of President Donald Trump.

Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly said Britain's election was parliamentary, not presidential, making it unreasonable for Channel 4 to require Johnson's appearance as a condition of the Conservatives taking part in the debate.

"Put your leader Boris Johnson alongside the other leaders and stop playing games. Don't refuse and then threaten our license — it's a slippery slope," de Pear said in reply.

News website Buzzfeed quoted an unnamed Conservative Party source as saying the party would call for a review into Channel 4's operating license, which is due for renewal in 2024, if Johnson returns to power after Dec. 12's election.

Channel 4 is not the only broadcaster to struggle to book Johnson, whose Conservative Party is leading the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls and keen to avoid any gaffes.

Johnson has so far declined to take part in a half-hour sit-down with BBC interviewer Andrew Neil, who gave tough scrutiny to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm5iY25ld3MuY29tL25ld3Mvd29ybGQvdS1rLXMtam9obnNvbi1yZXBsYWNlZC1pY2UtYmxvY2stdHYtZGViYXRlLWNvbnNlcnZhdGl2ZXMtbjEwOTMyMTHSASxodHRwczovL3d3dy5uYmNuZXdzLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FtcC9uY25hMTA5MzIxMQ?oc=5

2019-11-29 12:11:00Z
52780452183956

UK PM Johnson implores Trump: please avoid the election - AOL

LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was best if U.S. President Donald Trump did not get involved in Britain's upcoming election when he visits London for a NATO summit next week.

"What we don't do traditionally as loving allies and friends, what we don't do traditionally, is get involved in each other's election campaigns," said Johnson, whose Conservative Party has a commanding lead in the polls ahead of the Dec. 12.

"The best (thing) when you have close friends and allies like the U.S. and the UK is for neither side to get involved in each other's election."

11 PHOTOS

Boris Johnson at his party's annual conference

See Gallery

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives for interviews at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, England, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019. Boris Johnson said Tuesday that his government prepared at last to make firm proposals for a new divorce deal with the European Union. Britain is due to leave the 28-nation bloc at the end of this month, and EU leaders are growing impatient with the U.K.'s failure to set out detailed plans for maintaining an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland — the key sticking point to a deal. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacts as he listens to Sajid Javid, Chancellor of the Exchequer, as he delivers his speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, England, Monday, Sept. 30, 2019. The Conservative Party is holding its annual party conference as scheduled. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson applauds as he listens to Sajid Javid, Chancellor of the Exchequer, as he delivers his speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, England, Monday, Sept. 30, 2019. The Conservative Party is holding its annual party conference as scheduled. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel walk towards the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, England, Monday, Sept. 30, 2019.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel walk towards the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, England, Monday, Sept. 30, 2019.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives a thumb up after Sajid Javid, Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered his speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, England, Monday, Sept. 30, 2019.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Delegates spend their lunch break outside at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, England, Monday, Sept. 30, 2019. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced political opposition and personal allegations Monday as he tried to fulfil his pledge to lead Britain out of the European Union in just over a month. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson enters the hall to do morning interviews at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester. (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 01: Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives for the third day of the Conservative Party Conference at Manchester Central on October 1, 2019 in Manchester, England. Despite Parliament voting against a government motion to award a recess, Conservative Party Conference still goes ahead. Parliament will continue with its business for the duration. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen outside the venue for the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester, Britain October 1, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen outside the venue for the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester, Britain October 1, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

HIDE CAPTION

SHOW CAPTION

of

SEE ALL

BACK TO SLIDE

Trump has already waded into the election, saying in October left-wing opposition leader Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, would be "so bad" for Britain and that Johnson should do a pact with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage.

Corbyn has used Trump's praise of Johnson as one of his focal messages to attack the Conservatives in his campaign, saying they would sell off parts of the much-loved state-run National Health Service to the U.S. businesses after Brexit if they win the election. 

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFvbC5jb20vYXJ0aWNsZS9uZXdzLzIwMTkvMTEvMjkvdWstcG0tam9obnNvbi1pbXBsb3Jlcy10cnVtcC1wbGVhc2UtYXZvaWQtdGhlLWVsZWN0aW9uLzIzODcwNDA4L9IBAA?oc=5

2019-11-29 11:01:01Z
52780452129722

Ice Sculpture Steals Show at U.K. Climate Debate That Boris Johnson Skips - The New York Times

Five leaders of British political parties called for dramatic action to confront climate change in a televised debate on Thursday, just two weeks before the country’s general election.

A melting ice sculpture stole the show.

The sculpture stood in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the leader of the Conservatives and the figure who seems to loom over all of British politics. His absence fueled criticism that he has sought to avoid both the public and tough questions from the press during the election campaign.

The ice sculpture infuriated Conservatives, some of whom accused the host network, Channel 4, of partisan bias.

Mr. Johnson did send an emissary in his stead: Michael Gove, a cabinet member who formerly served as the environment minister, but Channel 4 said the debate was for party leaders only.

Nigel Farage, the leader of the right-wing Brexit Party, also declined to participate. Channel 4 erected an ice sculpture for each of the two missing candidates, flanking the five politicians who attended. The channel said the ice sculptures — one marked “Conservatives” the other “Brexit Party” — “represent the emergency on planet Earth.”

Before the debate, the opposition Labour Party had accused Mr. Johnson, who leads in the polls ahead of the Dec. 12 election, of being afraid to face the press. Mr. Johnson and the BBC have yet to confirm that the prime minister will sit down for an interview with Andrew Neil, who grilled the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, this week.

Conservatives threatened to review Channel 4’s broadcasting license after the election, according to BuzzFeed News and The Guardian.

Channel 4’s editor, Ben de Pear, referred to the license threat on Twitter, writing: “Put your leader Boris Johnson alongside the other leaders and stop playing games.” He added, “All the parties complain about us, but they’re here.”

Mr. Gove blamed the other party leaders for refusing him entry onstage, saying they “wouldn’t accept a Conservative voice.” He added: “I think that’s a denial of debate. I think that’s a denial of democracy.” He later answered questions from the public on Facebook.

Mr. Johnson did not explain his absence. In a video that Mr. Gove tweeted of himself arriving at Channel 4, he said that Mr. Johnson could not attend “at the moment.” Asked if the prime minister was “otherwise committed,” Mr. Gove replied, “indeed.”

At the debate itself, Mr. Corbyn and the leaders of the Green Party, the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, or the Party of Wales, argued over courses of action Britain could take to combat climate change. Among the topics discussed: insulating and retrofitting homes; moving to solar and wind energy; planting millions of trees; eating less meat; and saving British wildlife like the hedgehog.

Though the leaders emphasized different priorities, all agreed on the urgency of addressing climate change and outlined ambitious proposals, like “a green industrial revolution,” promised by Mr. Corbyn. In June, the Conservative government of Mr. Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, vowed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero by 2050.

The other issue that has loomed over the election, Brexit, also made a brief appearance. Jo Swinson, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, called Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union “a climate crime,” saying, “it’s morally wrong to give up our seat at the table.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiTGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm55dGltZXMuY29tLzIwMTkvMTEvMjgvd29ybGQvZXVyb3BlL2ljZS1zY3VscHR1cmUtdWstZGViYXRlLmh0bWzSAVBodHRwczovL3d3dy5ueXRpbWVzLmNvbS8yMDE5LzExLzI4L3dvcmxkL2V1cm9wZS9pY2Utc2N1bHB0dXJlLXVrLWRlYmF0ZS5hbXAuaHRtbA?oc=5

2019-11-28 23:40:00Z
52780447943009