The UK should never seek a “special relationship” with the EU, Lord Frost has insisted in response to demands from the chairman of the Commons business committee.
Darren Jones, the Labour MP for Bristol North West, urged ministers to reset relations with Brussels and claimed the Government “may aspire to a special relationship” with the in an article for the Times.
But Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister who quit Boris Johnson’s Cabinet at the end of last year, said there were “unfortunately many misunderstandings” in Mr Jones’s comment piece.
“The biggest is that Government policy under Boris Johnson is to seek a ‘special relationship’ with the EU,” he wrote. “That was never the policy. Nor should it be.
“Our policy was, and I believe still is, one of a ‘friendly relationship between sovereign equals’. That is the correct policy for a country like ours with global interests. So it is entirely reasonable for both sides to treat each other as close neighbours but as third countries.”
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02:00 PM
Watch live: Liz Truss gives speech in Ukraine
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02:00 PM
Three in five Tory voters would not go elsewhere
Three in five Britons who currently consider themselves likely Conservative voters would not take their vote elsewhere, according to new research.
Among those surveyed earlier this week by Redfield and Wilton Strategies, 60 per cent said they could not see themselves voting for any other political party in the next few years.
A further 11 per cent did not know if they would vote for another party, while 10 per cent could see themselves voting Labour and seven per cent for the Liberal Democrats.
A further six per cent said they would consider voting for Reform UK.
01:52 PM
Ukraine picture still ‘very grim’, says Boris Johnson
The picture in the Russian-Ukrainian crisis “is continuing to be very grim”, Boris Johnson said as he told Britons: “I wish I could give everybody better news about this”.
Mr Johnson described the shelling of a kindergarten earlier today as “a false flag operation” designed to discredit Ukraine and create a “spurious provocation” for Russia to invade.
“We fear very much that that is the kind of thing we will see more of over the next few days,” the Prime Minister said in comments made to reporters on a visit to a Royal Air Force base at Waddington in Lincolnshire.
“What we are doing is making that we do everything to strengthen the package of sanctions that will follow immediately should there be a Russian invasion.”
01:42 PM
EU says it stands ready if Russia ‘weaponises’ gas supplies
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has insisted the bloc can cope if Russia decides to “weaponise” gas supplies amid tensions over Ukraine.
Ms Von der Leyen said “a number” of countries were ready to step up shipments of gas to Europe and it was now on the “safe side” for keeping households and businesses supplied this winter.
Speaking in the European Parliament amid ongoing concern that Russia is set to invade Ukraine, Ms Von der Leyen added the EU needed to “diversify our energy sources, to get rid of the dependency of Russian gas”.
The EU gets about two-fifths of its gas from Russia, which has been accused of worsening a global shortage of the product by restricting extra spot market supplies to Europe.#
Rachel Millard has this report
01:33 PM
Coming up: Truss to address media in Ukraine
The Foreign Secretary will speak at a news conference at 2pm after landing in Ukraine.
Liz Truss has said she is “very concerned” about reports of 7,000 additional Russian troops joining those amassed on the Ukraine border.
01:12 PM
More on the three Met officers charged over alleged messages
Three Met officers have been charged after allegedly sharing racist and misogynistic messages on social media, writes Martin Evans.
The officers, two of whom are still serving, were colleagues of Wayne Couzens, who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021.
Detectives investigating the case discovered the allegedly grossly offensive material in a WhatsApp group stored on one of Couzens’ old phones.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched an investigation and sent a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) earlier this month. The CPS has now authorised charges against the three who will appear in court next month.
12:59 PM
Two serving Met officers charged over ‘grossly offensive’ WhatsApps
Two serving Met officers and one former officer have been charged with sending grossly offensive WhatsApp messages following an investigation by the IOPC in connection with Wayne Couzens, writes Martin Evans, our Crime Correspondent.
More to follow
12:46 PM
Duke of York seems to contradict what he told me, says Emily Maitlis
Emily Maitlis has suggested that the Duke of York’s statement within his out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre contradicts answers he gave in their Newsnight interview.
Prince Andrew invited the BBC journalist to Buckingham Palace in 2019 to deny Ms Giuffre’s claims that he had sex with her in a London townhouse.
Maitlis, writing for the BBC website last night, described how Prince Andrew told her prior to the interview he “wanted to get across his innocence”.
Maitlis asked: “At the heart of the settlement is the biggest question of all: why is a prince who told me he had ‘no recollection of ever meeting this lady’ now paying her what we understand to be upwards of £10 million?”
12:31 PM
Con Coughlin: Vladimir Putin hasn’t humiliated the West
Only in the fantasy world that is Vladimir Putin’s Russia could the Kremlin seriously believe that the military stand-off over Ukraine has resulted in a humiliating defeat for the West, writes Con Coughlin.
Putin has deliberately provoked the Ukraine crisis with the aim of forcing the West to make painful concessions, such as denying Kyiv the opportunity to join Nato or withdrawing its military hardware from Eastern and central Europe.
Yet, while the willingness of some Western leaders to maintain a firm line has, at times, been open to question, one of the more refreshing outcomes of the crisis is that the Western alliance has held firm.
While French President Emmanuel Macron has shown an alarming willingness to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz seems willing to rule out any future possibility of Ukraine joining Nato, the bottom line remains that, to date, no meaningful concessions have been made to Putin on either issue.
Con Coughlin: Putin’s chances of tangible gains are now remote
12:22 PM
Liz Truss ‘very concerned’ about extra Russian troop reports
Liz Truss said she is “very concerned” about reports that an extra 7,000 Russian troops have now massed on the Ukrainian border.
The Foreign Secretary repeated calls for Russia to withdraw its troops as she stressed there was “still time” for diplomacy and de-escalation.
“Very concerned about reports today of increased Russian aggression: over 7,000 extra troops near the Ukraine border and an attack by pro-Russian troops on a kindergarten in Ukraine,” she wrote.
“Reports of alleged abnormal military activity by Ukraine in Donbas are a blatant attempt by the Russian government to fabricate pretexts for invasion.
“This is straight out of the Kremlin playbook. The United Kingdom will continue to call out Russia’s disinformation campaign.”
12:09 PM
UK faces generation of ‘acute competition’ with Russia
The UK faces a generation of “acute competition” with Russia, the armed forces minister said as he warned that all aspects of UK-Russia relations are “up for review”.
James Heappey warned the Ministry of Defence must “prepare for the worst” and there are no signs that Russia is withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border despite recent claims from the Kremlin.
“[Clearly] the worst case is that they cross the border and we end up with a major armed conflict,” Mr Heappey told the Today programme.
“But in many ways as challenging is for this threat to remain in place with all of the impact that has on their internal security, their internal politics, their economy.
“As we enter into what could be a generation or longer of quite acute competition with Russia, all of the things that have become normal in Anglo-Russian relations in the last 30 years will be up for review and that’s what the Home Secretary and her team are looking at at the moment.”
11:48 AM
‘Society can’t afford the dangerous decadence of wokeness’
The Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom in Washington DC is where British Tories go to let their hair down ideologically, writes the historian Andrew Roberts. It occupies an entire floor of the Heritage Foundation, America’s largest conservative think tank, and its director, Nile Gardiner, was one of Lady Thatcher’s favourite public intellectuals.
It is a place where British conservatives can speak directly to like-minded people, both in the US and around the world.
It was instructive, therefore, that Oliver Dowden, the Tory party chairman, chose the opportunity of a speech to the centre to make some important and hard-hitting points about the dangers that woke ideology poses.
For it is an argument that matters as much to America and the wider world as it does to the United Kingdom. The virulent response to the speech from the political Left has been almost equally as instructive.
Andrew Roberts: Government must act on Dowden’s hard-hitting truths
11:30 AM
Scrapping golden visas an ‘overreaction’, says sanction expert
Plans to scrap ‘golden visas’ as a response to the Russia-Ukraine crisis are a “blunt instrument”, a leading barrister who specialises in corporate and financial crime has said.
Jonathan Fisher QC of Bright Line Law, warned the measure would make “no distinction at all” between clean and dirty money.
“I would argue that it’s an overreaction,” he said. “We must remember that many countries have investment visa arrangements to attract capital.
“The UK should be much more concerned with checking sources of funds and satisfying UK authorities that money is clean. The approach taken by the UK government will be significant, yes, but it is a blunderbuss approach that will affect honest investors wanting to come to the UK for decent and honest reasons.”
Kyra Motley, of the Boodle Hatfield private wealth law firm, said the new measures could be “counterproductive” as the British economy looks to recover from the pandemic.
11:17 AM
Boris Johnson’s plan to end free Covid tests a ‘mistake’, says Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer has said the government’s plan to end free Covid tests is a “mistake” and will make the pandemic worse, as he opened a new policy divide between Labour and ministers over the pandemic.
The Opposition leader backed calls from experts for lateral flow and PCR tests to remain free in Britain, as Boris Johnson prepares to set out the government’s “learning to live with Covid” strategy next week.
The Telegraph understands that Mr Johnson is likely to announce that free tests will end eventually, but they could continue until the spring, with officials expecting coronavirus cases to decline as the weather improves.
NHS staff, care home workers and teachers could be exempt from the crackdown, despite concerns from the Treasury about the ongoing cost of the policy.
Tony Diver, our Political Correspondent, has the story
11:09 AM
Kindergarten shelled by ‘pro-Russian troops’ raising fear of false flag attack
Multiple shelling incidents have been recorded along the line of contact between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said.
The separatists accused Ukrainian forces of conducting the mortar attacks, while Kyiv in turn accused the rebels of using artillery, hitting a kindergarten. No casualties have been reported.
“Despite the fact that our positions were fired on with prohibited weapons, including 122 mm artillery, Ukrainian troops did not open fire in response,” a duty press officer of the Ukrainian Join Forces Operation said.
Responding to the alleged incident, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned the “situation near the borders of Russia can ignite at any moment.”
Marcus Parekh and Genevieve Holl-Allen have the latest
10:55 AM
Liz Truss: Russia must pull back, or there will be trouble in the pipeline
Today Liz Truss will fly out to eastern Europe – where, in a piece for today’s Telegraph, she says the spectre of Russian aggression has loomed for too long.
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Russia has invaded two sovereign states while also waging a vigorous campaign to destabilise other democratic neighbours.
Our friends such as Ukraine and Poland have lived in the constant shadow of such threatening behaviour for generations. That is why we must be unyielding in defence of self-determination and sovereignty.
Now is the time to stand up for the right of nations to choose their own security arrangements. Those in and around the Kremlin must be in no doubt that the free world will not look the other way while they mass more than 100,000 battle-ready troops along Ukraine’s borders.
Our concerted push for serious diplomacy, coupled with the threat of severe sanctions on a level not seen before, is critical. The Ukrainian people’s resolute readiness to defend their country has made it clear that any conflict would inevitably become a painful and fraught quagmire.
Liz Truss: Russia must step back from the brink
10:39 AM
Lord Frost: We should never seek ‘special relationship’ with EU
The UK should never seek a “special relationship” with the EU, Lord Frost has said in response to demands from a Labour MP.
Darren Jones claimed in an article for Red Box that while the Government “might aspire to a special relationship” there was no reason Brussels would currently agree to this, as he called for a “reset” of relations to enable collaboration on the economy and climate issues.
Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister who quit Boris Johnson’s Cabinet at the end of last year, responded by arguing there were “unfortunately many misunderstandings” in Mr Jones’s piece.
“The biggest is that Government policy under Boris Johnson is to seek a ‘special relationship’ with the EU,” he wrote. “That was never the policy. Nor should it be.
“Our policy was, and I believe still is, one of a ‘friendly relationship between sovereign equals’. That is the correct policy for a country like ours with global interests. So it is entirely reasonable for both sides to treat each other as close neighbours but as third countries.”
10:30 AM
Boris Johnson makes time for Australia
The Prime Minister spoke to Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, last night to discuss “new measures to boost bilateral cooperation”.
It comes amid reports in the Mail today that Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, has hired Alexander Downer – a former Australian foreign minister – to carry out a review of the UK Border Force.
“The UK and Australia are the closest of friends and historic allies,” Mr Johnson wrote.
“Scott Morrison and I agreed to strengthen the partnership between our nations, making it fit for the next century and grounded in our shared priorities on security, democracy and trade.”
10:24 AM
Sadiq Khan: Dame Cressida ‘didn’t understand scale’ of reform needed
Dame Cressida Dick “didn’t understand the scale of the change required” in the Metropolitan Police, Sadiq Khan has told LBC.
The Mayor denied reports he issued an ultimatum to Dame Cressida to sack the Charing Cross officers or to be sacked, adding: “The plans in [her] letter weren’t enough, then before we could meet last Thursday the Commissioner resigned.”
Mr Khan insisted he was “more than happy” to speak to the chairman of the Police Federation, which withdrew its support for Mr Khan’s leadership on Monday.
While there were “thousands of dedicated, decent police officers”, Mr Khan maintained: “You should be really upset, angry [and] disgusted by a culture in the words of the IOPC that is not isolated.
“I think if you talk about ‘wrong ‘uns’, or a few ‘rotten apples’, you don’t understand what the IOPC highlighted. The current leadership clearly doesn’t have a plan to address the cultural issues. You acknowledge there is a serious issue, you plan to address the serious issue and three you implement the plan.”
10:00 AM
No-fly zone ‘would help to protect Ukraine’
A no-fly zone would help to protect Ukraine from a Russian invasion, the Conservative chairman of the Commons defence committee has said.
Tobias Ellwood claimed the West is “not doing enough” to help Ukraine at its “moment of need”.
“Initially a no-fly zone would be very helpful indeed,” he told Sky News. “That’s something I hope can be explored at the Munich security conference.”
He had previously called for British troops to be sent into Ukraine, but now says “that option has departed”.
09:50 AM
Russia ‘building bridges and field hospitals’ near Ukraine border
More Russian troops are moving towards the Ukrainian border, according to armed forces minister James Heappey – who believes that a conflict remains imminent.
“More troops are moving closer to the Ukrainian border, bridges are being built, field hospitals being constructed,” he told Sky News.
“And all of that is, I think, quite worrying. It goes to underline the imminence of this if not the inevitability.”
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09:39 AM
Hundreds of Post Office scandal victims yet to have wrongful convictions quashed
More than 500 postmasters are yet to come forward to have their convictions overturned and the Government should set up an independent body to support them, a group of MPs has said.
In a report published today, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee said the Post Office IT scandal had created “inherent mistrust” among many of those who were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting between 2000 and 2012.
More than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were convicted after the Post Office blamed them for shortfalls that were actually the result of a faulty IT system. However, only 72 have had their convictions quashed. Of those, 66 have applied for interim compensation payments of £100,000.
MPs said that the Government should urgently establish an independent body, which could act as “a trusted first point of contact” for those wrongly convicted. It comes after an inquiry into the scandal heard that victims were reluctant to come forward because they were afraid of the Post Office.
Gurpreet Narwan, our Consumer Affairs Editor, has more
09:28 AM
Britons didn’t know what they were doing by voting Brexit, says European Parliament
UK voters did not understand what they were voting for when they backed Brexit in 2016, the European Parliament said.
In a report on the Article 50 process, which allows members to leave, MEPs suggested they could have swung the vote for Remain if they had campaigned and warned the “often misled” British voters of the risks of leaving.
But a UK government source told The Telegraph: “Being lectured on transparency by the European Parliament shows just how little many in the EU have learnt from Brexit.
“Rather than continue to patronise the British people over a legitimate decision they took to take back control from Brussels, they should focus their efforts in areas where the UK and EU can work together.”
MEPs demanded that the European Commission bring forward legislation to allow European political parties to finance future referendum campaigns on EU treaties, and claimed Brussels had been victorious in tough Brexit negotiations.
James Crisp has the full story
09:15 AM
Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday, scoffs Kremlin
Russian officials wasted little time mocking the West for incorrectly predicting that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine would begin yesterday.
“I’d like to ask if US and British sources of disinformation … could publish the schedule of our upcoming invasions for the year. I’d like to plan my holidays,” Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, wrote on social media.
Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s ambassador to the European Union, accused Westerners of “slander” for alleging an invasion was afoot and insisted in an interview with German daily newspaper Welt: “Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday.”
The statement seemed more flippant than historically significant. World War I started on a Tuesday and World War II started in Europe on a Friday, but Europe’s history of war over centuries includes conflicts that kicked off throughout the week.
Report: Vladimir Putin leaves the West guessing
08:55 AM
Question of Churchill legacy ‘sticks in my craw’, says armed forces minister
James Heappey said the question ‘Winston Churchill: Hero or War Criminal?’ – as used in a lesson plan for secondary school students in 2020 – “sticks in my craw”.
The armed forces minister was asked by Times Radio about the question, which appeared on the website of a global education company, in light of new guidance to schools (see 8.32am) which seeks to clamp down on politics in the classroom.
“It sticks in my craw but maybe I’m overly patriotic and I think there is no harm at all in, as part of your study of history, to ask yourselves provocative questions as a vehicle for seeing both sides of the argument,” he said.
“I think one of the things that is missing in schools and in society more generally now is a willingness to consider something that is uncomfortable and have the intellectual curiosity to want to see the argument from the other side.
“If it’s a provocative question to encourage people to explore both sides of the argument and think beyond what is the widely held view… that’s surely a good thing. If it’s a vehicle for revisionism and to try to promote the idea that Churchill was something other than what we regard him as, I’m uncomfortable with that because that’s a political agenda.”
08:45 AM
Angela Rayner ‘quite hardline’ on law and order
Angela Rayner insisted that she is “quite hardline” on law and order, telling a live podcast recording: “Shoot your terrorists and ask questions second.”
Asked by the BBC in 2015 if he would be happy to order police to shoot to kill on Britain’s streets after the Bataclan terror attacks, Sir Keir Starmer’s predecessor Jeremy Corbyn said: “I’m not happy with a shoot-to-kill policy in general”, adding that it can be “quite dangerous” and “counter-productive”.
Mr Corbyn said there were “various degrees of doing things as we know… surely you have to work to prevent these things from happening, that’s got to be the priority”.
But insisting she was not “soft left” on everything, Ms Rayner told Matt Forde’s Political Party podcast: “On certain things I’m not, because on things like law and order I am quite hardline. I’m like, shoot your terrorists and ask questions second, if I’m honest. Sorry – that’s the most controversial thing I’ve ever said! But on the economy I’m really radical.
“On law and order, I think if you are being terrorised by the local thug, then yeah I want a copper to come and sort them out. You should be hardline on things like that. You can’t pigeonhole me.
“I said that to Jeremy. Don’t ever put me in that position because you won’t like me. We’re on a different page on things like that, but that’s the beauty of the Labour Party for me.”
08:43 AM
Explore Britain’s £3billion war machine
HMS Queen Elizabeth, the UK’s biggest-ever warship, is our main conventional strategic deterrent.
The new carrier and fleet flagship, together with eight escorts (destroyers, frigates, supply ships and a submarine) comprise Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) – the most powerful naval force to leave the UK in a generation.
HMS Queen Elizabeth, a chunk of British sovereign territory, is part warship, part floating embassy.
As the embodiment of ‘Global Britain’, her charge is to deliver “power projection” on behalf of the nation: on the one hand that means hard-edged, lethal warfare; on the other it’s about soft, political persuasion through deterrence, as well as overt support for allies around the world.
Our interactive graphic takes you on a tour as Chris Terrill explains life on board
08:32 AM
Don’t promote Black Lives Matter, schools told
Teachers have been forbidden from promoting Black Lives Matter to children as part of a crackdown on politics in the classroom.
Schools must ensure that any “contentious and disputed” historic periods such as the British Empire and imperialism are taught in a “balanced” manner, according to guidance published by the Department for Education (DfE).
It is the first time in a generation that ministers have addressed the issue of impartiality in education and comes amid mounting concern in Whitehall about the politicisation of lessons.
Ministers fear Left-wing lobby groups have been hijacking the syllabus and stirring up tensions in schools. Last year, The Telegraph revealed that the teaching of “white privilege” is rife in schools despite warnings that it is unlawful.
Camilla Turner, our Education Editor, has the story
08:24 AM
UK faces ‘generation or longer’ of competition with Russia
The UK faces at least a generation of “acute competition” with Russia, the armed forces minister said this morning.
Noting changes that were made to the ‘golden visa’ scheme in 2015 and 2019, James Heappey said there were “absolutely” plans to toughen the scheme after it emerged last night that Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is likely to cancel it as soon as next week.
“As we enter into what could be a generation or longer of quite acute competition with Russia, all of the things that have become normal in Anglo-Russian relations in the last 30 years will be up for review,” Mr Heappey said.
“That’s what the Home Secretary and her team are looking at at the moment.”
08:17 AM
Tens of thousands could die in Ukraine war, warns defence minister
The armed forces minister warned “tens of thousands” of people could die if Russia were to press ahead with an invasion of Ukraine and trigger a land war in Europe.
“If you’re going to deploy that number of troops with all of the military hardware, with all of the key combat enablers… that’s an incredibly expensive way of getting the West’s attention or just winding us up,” Mr Heappey told the Today programme.
“My fear is that’s not what’s happened but if it is that’s great because the alternative is a major conflict in Europe in which tens of thousands of people could die.”
Mr Heappey stressed diplomacy is “key” in ongoing efforts to de-escalate the crisis, but expressed his fear the situation is “still heading in the wrong direction”.
08:12 AM
Good morning
All aspects of UK-Russia relations are “up for review”, the armed forces minister warns this morning ahead of a planned crackdown on so-called ‘golden visas’.
Here is the front page of your Daily Telegraph:
