Actor Stephen Fry and journalist James Naughtie were among those who gave speeches arguing for the admission of women, it has been reported.
The Guardian had previously published what it said was the club's membership list, claiming the King, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden and Sir Richard Moore, the head of MI6, were all members.
Image:A man enters the Garrick Club, a private member's club in London. Pic: Reuters
Cabinet Secretary Simon Case - the head of the civil service - quit the club in March just one day after being questioned by MPs about his involvement in the institution.
More from UK
In April, a High Court judge was removed from overseeing a case involving an alleged rape victim because of his membership of the club.
Sir Jonathan Cohen was due to hear a family court case involving a dispute between a mother and father over their son's care, with the woman accusing the man of domestic abuse and controlling and coercive behaviour.
Advertisement
She applied for Sir Jonathan to step back from her case, claiming she felt the case would be "prejudiced" due to his membership.
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
A different High Court judge decided that Sir Jonathan should not hear the case because of his association with the Garrick Club, adding that the father in the case was also a "regular visitor".
The Guardian has reported that several High Court judges and dozens of barristers are members of the Garrick Club.
Sky News has contacted the Garrick Club for comment.
To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
By Michael Race & Katy Austin
BBC News
A "nationwide issue" which caused huge delays at passport e-gates has been resolved, the Home Office has said.
Airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Manchester all confirmed a Border Force problem was causing delays with arrivals late on Tuesday.
Pictures and videos on social media showed long queues.
One passenger told the BBC he spent longer queuing for passport control than he did on his flight from Lisbon.
E-gates are automated gates that use facial recognition to check a person's identity and allow them to enter the country without talking to a Border Force officer.
There are more than 270 of them in place at 15 air and rail ports in the UK, according to the government's website, which also says they are supposed to "enable quicker travel into the UK".
Due to their outage, staff were left manually processing passengers instead.
The Home Office, which oversees Border Force, said in a statement early on Wednesday: "eGates at UK airports came back online shortly after midnight."
A spokesperson for the Home Office said the problems were caused by a "system network issue" and were first reported around 19:50BST, meaning the issues persisted for more than four hours.
They added that "at no point was border security compromised, and there is no indication of malicious cyber activity".
They extended apologies to "travellers caught up in disruption" and thanked "partners, including airlines for their co-operation and support" during the outage.
However, the problem did not appear to not just be affecting the e-gates themselves, as Belfast International Airport, which does not have them, said the Border Force "systems" had been impacted.
By Wednesday morning, most flights at airports across the UK were shown to be departing and arriving on time.
Hristo Totochev
Steven Brownrigg, who arrived on a flight into Manchester Airport, told the BBC there were "several flights in quick succession, which meant a lot of passengers" queueing for passport control.
"I was in the queue for around 90 minutes. Priority was given to families with small children and vulnerable passengers, and staff were handing out bottled water to everyone," he said.
"Generally, most were frustrated but accepted the situation, but a few people were unhappy and questioned staff."
'Totally blank'
A passenger at Heathrow described border officials rushing to manually process passport holders.
"All the e-gates were totally blank and there was just a lot of chaotic scenes," said Sam Morter, 32, who was returning after a holiday in Sri Lanka.
He said he made it through the airport after about 90 minutes.
Samira, who had arrived from Spain, said people were distressed and "everyone was arguing", while Julian, who had flown in from Lisbon, said: "I've spent longer in the terminal than I did in the air."
Dennis Marsh was among the first people affected, and said he saw the e-gates go from green to red.
"It wasn't just e-gates mind you. All manual checking procedures failed too," he said.
"We were given water and were so lucky being right at the front.
"We waited about 40 minutes, so not too bad but thousands were arriving behind us."
Manchester Airport said any excess charges for people who are late to leave car parks as a result of the problems would also be waived.
Separately, in August last year, around 2,000 flights at airports across the UK were cancelled when the National Air Traffic Services system for automatically processing flight plans failed, leaving passengers stranded.
State involvement cannot be ruled out in a hack of an armed forces payroll system, the defence secretary has said.
Grant Shapps told MPs the government had reason to believe the hack "was the suspected work of a malign actor" - and the BBC understands that ministers suspect China was responsible.
The system used by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) includes names and bank details of armed forces personnel.
China described the suggestion as a "fabricated and malicious slander".
Labour's shadow defence secretary John Healey has alleged that the external contractor in charge of the hacked system was Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL).
The payroll system holds "personal HMRC-style information" for current regular, reservist and former members of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force over a period of several years. In a very small number of cases, the data may include personal addresses.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, while stopping short of naming the country responsible, said a "malign actor" had compromised the payroll system.
Downing Street said it was reviewing the security of the unnamed contractor's operations.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr Shapps criticised the contractor-operated system, saying there was "evidence of failings" by them and that it was totally separate to the core MoD network.
Mr Shapps apologised to the servicemen and women affected by the data breach and detailed an eight-point plan which included a specialist support helpline.
He told MPs the incident was "further proof that the UK is facing rising and evolving threats".
"For reasons of national security, we can't release further details of the suspected cyber-activity behind this incident", Mr Shapps said.
"However, I can confirm to the House that we do have indications that this was the suspected work of a malign actor and we cannot rule out state involvement."
The government became aware of the data breach in recent days, and has not found evidence hackers removed data but is continuing to investigate.
Sources have told BBC News the investigation into who was behind the breach, which will be seen as embarrassing for the MoD, is at an early stage.
It can take months, sometimes years, to gather enough evidence to publicly accuse - so China is unlikely to be officially named today.
However, that does seem to be where suspicions are pointing towards, especially in light of Beijing's track record of targeting these kind of data sets.
When pressed on why the government is not naming China as responsible, the prime minister pointed to "very robust" government policy that means the UK can protect itself against the risk from China, and that defence spending had increased.
Service people affected by the hack will receive further information from the government about the breach and will be told any concerns are more about fraud risks rather than personal safety.
In an email sent to people affected on Tuesday, personnel were told they were confident May salaries will not be affected, but there may be slight delays to payments of routine expenses.
In response to the breach, Conservative MPs have raised concerns about the threat from China.
'Serious questions'
Tobias Ellwood, former chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, told BBC Radio's 4 Today programme: "Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel's bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced."
He pointed to China previously trying to gain information from ex-RAF pilots.
Iain Duncan Smith said the government must admit China poses a threat to the UK.
"No more pretence, China is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states," he said.
Meanwhile, Labour's Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey said there were "serious questions" for Mr Shapps and "any such hostile action is utterly unacceptable".
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in the UK said it strongly opposed the suggestion China was responsible and it had no need to "meddle in the internal affairs of the UK".
"We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop spreading false information, stop fabricating so-called China threat narratives, and stop their anti-China political farce," a spokesman said.
Last year, the government published an updated version of its long-term defence strategy which said the use of "commercial spyware, ransomware and offensive cyber capabilities by state and non-state actors has proliferated".
In March, the government publicly accused China of being behind an August 2021 hack targeting the details of millions of voters held by the Electoral Commission.
In December 2023, the National Cyber Security Centre said Russian intelligence was behind a "malicious cyber activity attempting to interfere in UK politics and democratic processes".
Public institutions and private firms have also been targeted by hackers demanding ransoms.
The Metropolitan Police said it is not involved in any investigation at this stage.
Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.
The government suspects China was behind the hack of an armed forces payroll system, the BBC understands.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will not identify a specific culprit when he addresses MPs today, but is expected to warn of the dangers posed by cyber espionage from hostile states.
The system used by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) includes names and bank details of armed forces personnel.
China said it "opposes all forms of cyber attacks".
In a very small number of cases, the data may include personal addresses.
The system, holding "personal HMRC-style information" for current and former members of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force over a period of several years, was managed by an external contractor.
The government became aware of the data breach in recent days, and has not found evidence hackers removed data from the system but is acting as if they did.
Cabinet minister Mel Stride told Sky News the government takes cybersecurity "extremely seriously" and acted "very swiftly".
Sources have told BBC News the investigation into who was behind the breach, which will be seen as embarrassing for the MoD, is at an early stage.
It can take months, sometimes years, to gather enough evidence to publicly accuse so China is unlikely to be officially named today.
However, that does seem to be where suspicions are pointing towards, especially in light of Beijing's track record of targeting these kind of data sets.
Service people affected by the hack will receive further information from the government about the breach and will be told any concerns are more about fraud risks rather than personal safety.
In response to the breach, Conservative MPs have raised concerns about the threat from China.
'Serious questions'
Tobias Ellwood, former chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, told BBC Radio's 4 Today programme: "Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel's bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced."
Iain Duncan Smith said the government must admit China poses a threat to the UK.
"No more pretence, China is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states," he said.
Meanwhile, Labour's Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey said there were "serious questions" for Mr Shapps and "any such hostile action is utterly unacceptable".
Asked about the hacking accusations at a press conference, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian: "The remarks of these UK politicians are absurd.
"China opposes all forms of cyber attacks, and the use of this issue to smear and vilify other countries."
Last year, the government published an updated version of its long-term defence strategy which said the use of "commercial spyware, ransomware and offensive cyber capabilities by state and non-state actors has proliferated".
In December 2023, the National Cyber Security Centre said Russian intelligence was behind a "malicious cyber activity attempting to interfere in UK politics and democratic processes".
Public institutions and private firms have also been targeted by hackers demanding ransoms.
The Metropolitan Police said it is not involved in any investigation at this stage.
Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.
A fake police officer tried to pull over a lone woman driver on the M1, but police have said there will be no investigation and the man will not be spoken to face to face. The woman says a man drove close to her on the motorway in Leicestershire and waved what looked like a warrant card, motioning for her to stop.
But she did not pull over, fearing a repeat of the Wayne Couzens attack on Sarah Everard. The woman told the BBC that when she came off the motorway she called police and gave the man's car registration number.
It has now emerged he was not an officer, but had worked for the police. Explaining what happened, the woman said the driver came up to her at speed, then pulled across and waved what looked like an official police card - with a royal crest.
She said: “Immediately, I thought he’s a policeman. I’m speeding, I should pull over. He leaned over holding the steering wheel with one hand. He was driving alongside me all the time, shouting to pull over. He was really angry. I felt really stressed.
“He’s looking at me, not the road ahead and the window wasn’t open on my side, but it was on his passenger side and he’s waving the badge that I can clearly see is a black wallet with a police crest badge stuck on the outside.
"I immediately thought of Wayne Couzens and David Carrick. I was genuinely frightened. I was shaking. I was gripping the steering wheel.”
The driver pulled off the motorway, and the woman reported him - but by then she was in the Derbyshire force area. She was told he was a Northamptonshire police officer and the incident was passed to Northamptonshire.
The force established the man had worked in a civilian role with the force for a contractor months earlier. The complaint was then passed to Leicestershire police as the incident happened in their area.
All CCTV had by then been deleted and it was not logged until an allegation of impersonating a police officer until five months after the incident. This was almost at the end of the six-month limit for prosecuting such an offence.
Because Leicestershire Police ran out of time the man was not spoken to.
In a statement, it told BBC News: “Leicestershire police takes any report of impersonation of a police officer extremely seriously. However, on this occasion our response did fall below the expected standard.”
The Professional Standards Department of Northamptonshire Police also apologised in a letter. It said: “Ultimately you have been given a poor service throughout the life of this investigation.
"You were left feeling distressed following a male’s actions and this should have been investigated as a crime from the outset. Unfortunately, early misinformation that this male was a police officer with Northamptonshire Police led to this becoming a complaint investigation as opposed to a criminal investigation.”
In the letter, the force promised to speak to the man. It contacted him a month later and, in a pre-arranged phone call, the man denied the allegations. Officers did not visit his home.
This was now twelve months after the incident.
Northamptonshire Police has also revealed there was no record of the man returning his ID card when he stopped working for the contractor.
It says that while the card would have had a Northamptonshire Police crest, it would have been stamped with the words “not a warrant card” and would not have been in a small black wallet. It added that practices for returning cards have now been tightened.
The woman said: “I feel really let down. I still feel sick, panicky and scared. I would say he was a fake policeman who wanted to do me harm.”
High visitor numbers are turning one of Britain's most scenic lakes green, researchers say.
A report funded by the UK space agency suggests a link between peak tourist periods and algal blooming at Windermere in the Lake District.
Algal blooming is caused by warm temperatures and nutrients, and can make the water green and toxic.
Campaigners are linking the blooms to discharges of sewage, which although mostly treated, are nutrient-rich.
United Utilities, the local water company, insists its wastewater plants can cope with peak tourist periods.
Windermere is England's largest lake and one of the country's most popular natural attractions.
But in recent years, the normally clear water has been turning green due to algal blooming, particularly during the summer. Blooming is the rapid growth of algae and can lead to reduced oxygen levels in the water, killing fish and aquatic life.
Richard Flemmings from the environmental data company Map Impact, has been trying to work out why. He wanted to study whether the blooms are just the inevitable consequence of climate change and hotter, drier summers, or whether human discharges are also playing a role.
Both treated and untreated sewage discharges contain heightened levels of the key blooming nutrient phosphorus, from both human excrement and detergents.
"There is a significant correlation between visitor numbers and chlorophyll content," Mr Flemmings says.
Chlorophyll is the compound present in plants that gives them their green colour and so an indicator of algal concentration. With funding from the UK space agency, Map Impact used infrared analysis of satellite images to measure chlorophyll levels over the last five years in Lake Windermere.
Satellite images from August 2022 show the green blooming of Windermere (Image processed by Map Impact from ESA sensing data)
What makes Map Impact's work interesting is that it combined the chlorophyll analysis with mobile phone data.
This allowed it to estimate the number of people in the Windermere catchment area at any given time. This can vary widely from just 40,000 to 50,000 people when it's just residents, or up to 300,000 when you add tourists on a busy summer weekend.
"So what you see is typically you get a high spike in the number of people and then three to five days later you get a spike in chlorophyll in the lake," said Mr Flemmings.
Heat is one of the main drivers of algal blooming and though hot summer days are also likely to boost visitor numbers, Mr Flemmings says it has been possible to separate out the two factors.
"What we know is that algal blooms are in part caused by an increase in nitrates in the water and one of the contributors to nitrates is phosphorus which can come from human waste," he says.
The Environment Agency has done research suggesting that more than half of the phosphorus in Windermere comes from sewage. That includes sewage from overflows, United Utilities works, private sewage treatment facilities and septic tanks.
In November 2023, just 3% of the water samples collected from the lake's shoreline met minimum standards under UK legislation.
Campaigner Matt Staniek of Save Windermere looks at an outfall of treated effluent on the River Brathay
Matt Staniek from the Save Windermere campaign, says treated sewage from places like the Langdale Wastewater Treatment Plant are part of the problem. It has a permit to emit more than 1m litres a day of treated effluent into the River Brathay, which feeds into Windermere. There are other similar outflows around the catchment area, and while the wastewater treatment plants can remove some of the phosphorus, some of it is also flows out into the river.
"In the press there's a lot about untreated sewage," Mr Staniek says. "But in relation to Windermere and the ecological damage that's being inflicted upon our lake, the treated sewage is as much of a problem," he said.
The flow of treated effluent into the River Brathay which then flows into Windermere
Mr Staniek believes that when there are higher numbers of visitors, more treated sewage contributes to the algal blooming. He wants to see all sewage discharges diverted away from the Lake.
"Studies from all over the world demonstrate the exact same issues we're facing with Windermere," he said. "There is one solution that protects the lake forever, and that is to stop putting sewage in it."
United Utilities, the local water company, has carried out a feasibility study for what it calls a "discharge free" solution. But the miles of new sewage network that would be needed come with a hefty price tag.
The company denied its treated effluent might be behind the blooming.
"Our wastewater treatment works are sized to treat the sewage from maximum population numbers at peak times, and use the highest treatment standards including phosphorus removal and UV treatment to kill bacteria," a United Utilities spokesperson said.
Hotel owner Barney Cunliffe says the answer is more capacity to treat sewage
So what's going to give?
Barney Cunliffe runs the Michelin starred Gilpin Hotel near the lake and has joined with others in the hospitality industry to raise money for the Save Windermere campaign.
Mr Cunliffe says he's worried that if nothing changes there might be what he calls "a catastrophic event" on the horizon - a massive algal bloom that effectively kills the lake and deals a serious blow to tourism and the local economy. But he's adamant that the solution is better sewage treatment, not limits on tourist numbers.
"We can't be told you've got to stop growing because our waste isn't being treated properly," he says.
"We paid for that waste to be treated. We deserve to have that infrastructure in place to enable us to grow sustainably," he said.
The Chinese state has hacked the Ministry of Defence, Sky News understands.
MPs will be told today of a massive data breach involving the MoD, targeting service personnel.
The government will not name the country involved, but Sky News understands this to be China.
The Chinese state is to be accused of two or three attempts at hacking MoD employees - including personnel.
The cyberattack was on a payroll system with current service personnel and some veterans. It is largely names and bank details that have been exposed.
All salaries will be paid this month.
Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP and former soldier, told Sky News that China "was probably looking at the financially vulnerable with a view that they may be coerced in exchange for cash".
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will make a statement to the Commons today, with the BBC reporting he will set out a "multi-point plan" which will include action to protect affected service men and women.
The MoD hopes serving personnel will not be concerned about their safety. They will be provided with advice and support.
Advertisement
The contractor system is not connected to the main MoD computer systems and has been taken down with a review launched.
Image:Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is expected to make a statement tomorrow. Pic: House of Commons
The MoD has been working at speed over the last 72 hours to understand the scale of the hack after it was discovered in recent days.
It is understood investigations have not so far shown any data has been taken.
This could raise questions about whether other countries with challenging relationships with China will want to share sensitive intelligence with the UK.
This comes fewer than two months after China's "state-affiliated actors" have been blamed by the government for two "malicious" cyberattack campaigns in the UK.
Government minister Mel Stride told Sky News on Tuesday morning China is "an epoch-defining challenge" and "our eyes are wide open" - quoting the Integrated Review of the UK's national security and international policy completed in 2021.
He would not confirm if China is the country that hacked the MoD but said the UK needs to "get the balance right" when it comes to Beijing.
Mr Stride added: "By balance, I mean protecting our security. At the same time, I recognise and, of course, China is a very important economic player globally and, of course, big global challenges like climate change need to have China at the table, if we are to resolve those as well."
Making a speech in the Commons in March, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden revealed the two previous incidents involved an attack on the Electoral Commission - responsible for overseeing elections and political finance - in 2021, and targeted attacks against China-sceptic MPs.
Labour's shadow defence secretary John Healey said there are "so many serious questions for the defence secretary on this, especially from Forces personnel whose details were targeted".
He added: "Any such hostile action is utterly unacceptable.
"Parliament will expect a full Commons statement tomorrow."
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a Conservative MP and former soldier who has been sanctioned by China, told Sky News: "This is yet another example of why the UK government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that.
"No more pretence, it is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states."
Mr Ellwood said: "We are learning the hard way how art warfare is rapidly changing as technology advances.
"Defending the digital terrain is now just as important as the physical - this is another reminder why we need to invest more in defence and security.
"Targeting the MoD's payroll and bank details was probably looking at the financially vulnerable with a view that they may be coerced in exchange for cash.
"And if this type of cyberattack is taking place here in the UK we can assume other nato countries will be targeted too."
Image:China's president Xi Jinping is currently on a tour of Europe. Pic: Reuters
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
