UK 'ill-equipped' for Brexit talks and should tell EU 'sod off' over the divorce bill, - Independent

UK 'ill-equipped' for Brexit talks and should tell EU 'sod off' over the divorce bill, says Priti Patel

Prominent Brexiteer says Government should take a tougher stance with Brussels over its financial obligations

Lizzy Buchan Political Correspondent

Britain is “ill-equipped” for Brexit talks and needs to take a tougher line with Brussels by telling EU leaders to “sod off” over the divorce bill, a former Cabinet minister has said.

Ex-International Defence Secretary Priti Patel, who was forced to resign earlier this month, launched an attack on the Government for failing to set out its Brexit vision and not boasting of the economic opportunities that leaving the European Union offers.

The prominent Brexiteer said the negotiations were “not [in] an ideal state at all”, in an intervention days before Theresa May travels to Brussels to persuade the EU to move onto the new phase of talks covering trade and transition.

May forces Patel to quit over secret Israeli meetings

In extraordinary scenes, thousands of people tracked Ms Patel’s flight online as she was summoned back from Nairobi for a confrontation with Theresa May after it emerged she had held secret meetings with senior Israeli officials without informing Downing Street.

The Witham MP made it clear that she would be outspoken about Brexit from the backbenches in her resignation letter to the Prime Minister.

Speaking at an event in London organised by The Spectator magazine, Ms Patel said: “The Government has been ill-equipped in terms of preparations for the negotiations... It’s not an ideal state at all.”

She went on: “We should have had conviction and clarity in terms of our end state and destination and presented that and been pretty forthright about it as well,

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“My views on money are pretty clear, I don’t like spending money so I would have told the EU in particular to sod off with their excessive financial demands.”

Ms May was leading in “very challenging circumstances” and was “struggling now with a difficult set of cards post the election”, Ms Patel said.

But she said: “One of the failings is we have not set out that vision, what is that vision of Britain going to look like post-Brexit?

“What are the economic opportunities for the City of London and for many other businesses and sectors in terms of leading out in the world and potentially trading with countries we have simply not been engaged with for not just years but for decades.

“And also reflecting that the world is changing, the labour market is changing.”

It comes as a deepening row over the Irish border threatened to derail Brexit talks, as the Republic signalled it would veto moves to trade talks without further guarantees against a “hard border” on the island of Ireland.

EU leaders refuse to move onto the next phase until key issues have been agreed, including citizens rights, the Irish border and the so-called “divorce bill”.

Facebook to hand over details of Russian-backed Brexit posts - Guardian

Facebook to hand over details of Russian-backed Brexit posts

Commons media watchdog to receive information on Russian-backed activity on social network within next few weeks

Facebook

Facebook handed over similar information in the US showing that during the presidential campaign about 123 million people were reached by false news generated by a troll factory.

Rowena Mason Deputy political editor

Tuesday 28 November 2017

Facebook has agreed to hand over information showing the reach of Russian-backed postings during the Brexit referendum by early December, according to the House of Commons media watchdog.

Damian Collins, the chair of parliament’s culture, media and sport committee, said he believed the figures would give the UK a better idea of whether Russia tried to influence the vote on leaving the EU.

Facebook handed over similar information in the US showing that during the presidential campaign about 123 million people were reached by false news generated by a single troll factory, the Internet Research Agency, in St Petersburg.

Collins, who has demanded the information from both Facebook and Twitter, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was concerned by the “systematic distribution of false news by particularly Russian-backed organisations”.

He said the UK and US knew only about the operation of one agency in St Petersburg but there would “probably be others and we may find other countries doing it too”.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have identified 419 accounts operating from the Internet Research Agency (IRA) attempting to influence UK politics out of 2,752 accounts suspended by Twitter in the US. Those accounts tweeted about Brexit a total of 3,468 times – mostly after the referendum had taken place.

Asked about whether he had suspicions the EU referendum was influenced by Russia, Collins said: “I think we have a right to know what was going on. Some of the activity took place directly before the referendum and certainly during the campaign. That’s why I wrote to Mark Zuckerberg asking for Facebook to give us the information about Russian-backed activity on their platform.

“They have given similar information to the US senate. For our parliamentary inquiry, I want that information too. I have had a response from Facebook which the select committee will be publishing today which says they will give us that information in the second week of December. I hope then we will have a better chance to understand the scale of Russian-backed operations during the referendum.”

Collins has asked senior representatives of Twitter and Facebook to give evidence to his committee’s inquiry on the reach of fake news at the British embassy in Washington in February.

Theresa May has accused Russia of meddling in elections and planting fake stories, criticising its attempts to “weaponise information” in order to sow discord in the west. But she has stopped short of saying Russia had an impact on the UK’s EU referendum or other elections.

Russian-backed organisations are known to have bought adverts on Facebook and generated campaign content before Donald Trump won last year’s US presidential election. Authorities in France and Germany have also said their elections were targeted.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry: A royal shake-up - BBC News

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry: A royal shake-up

By Daniela Relph

Royal correspondent

Related TopicsWedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle and Prince HarryImage copyrightREUTERS

This is no ordinary royal engagement.

Meghan Markle brings something different to the British Royal Family.

She is American, divorced, an actress and mixed race.

She is also a campaigner with a variety of humanitarian interests and won't want her marriage to limit her ability to speak out and support various causes - particularly those of gender equality.

As an advocate for UN Women, Ms Markle has worked on helping young girls reach their leadership potential. When she was first approached about working with the United Nations the Suits star insisted on undertaking a period of "work experience" first.

Couple to marry next spring

The prince and the actress

Who is Meghan Markle?

Prince Harry profile

In her own time she shadowed Elizabeth Nyamayaro, a senior advisor at UN Women. Elizabeth was impressed by the intelligence, commitment and curiosity of the actress.

The pair have since worked together closely on a number of UN missions and Elizabeth has no doubt that her friend and colleague will thrive in her new royal role.

"Her ability to listen, her passion for other people, wanting to create social change with that level of platform can only be a positive thing. She'll be fine, she'll be great in fact."

Meghan Markle giving a speechImage copyrightREUTERS

Image caption

Ms Markle addressed gender issues at the One Young World forum in Canada

But the media coverage of the relationship in its early days unsettled sections of the British press and its readers.

Prince Harry even took the unprecedented step of issuing a public statement asking for privacy and describing some of the coverage as having "racial undertones".

Much was made of his fiancée's upbringing in Los Angeles, with the area described as gang-infested and a place riddled with racial tension.

However, Ms Markle actually grew up in a very middle class neighbourhood of Los Angeles and attended a private Catholic school.

But in many ways she is an outsider.

Prince Harry isn't following a traditional path - he's not marrying the daughter of a grand aristocratic family.

His wife-to-be now has to negotiate her way through the British aristocracy, in a similar vein to her future sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge.

It is an experience American nutritionist and author Julie Montagu knows well, as the future Countess of Sandwich.

Born and brought up in Illinois, she married the son of the Earl of Sandwich and is now Viscountess Hinchingbrooke.

She splits her time between London and the family estate, Mapperton, in Dorset.

"Even now I still get things wrong," she told me. "The British upper classes have their own way of doing things. But as an American I bring my optimism, positivity and work ethic into the mix which I believe is hugely important."

Ms Markle is joining a family and entering a world unlike anything she has previously experienced. Yes it brings with it great privilege. But it also means a lack of privacy and the acceptance of a public life. As an actress she may find herself well equipped to deal with the scrutiny ahead.

Lawsuit challenges Trump's choice for consumer financial bureau - CBS News

November 26, 2017, 10:11 PM

Lawsuit challenges Trump's choice for consumer financial bureau

President Trump's appointment of his budget director as interim director of a consumer financial protection agency championed by Democrats was challenged in a lawsuit filed in federal court Sunday night.

Leandra English, the federal official elevated to the position of interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by its outgoing director, filed the suit against Mr. Trump and his choice, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney.

The suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asked for a declaratory judgment and a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaney from taking over the bureau.

English cited the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She said that as deputy director, she became the acting director under the law and argued that the federal law the White House contends supports Mr. Trump's appointment of Mulvaney doesn't apply when another statute designates a successor.

English was chief of staff to bureau director Richard Cordray when he named her deputy director as he prepared to resign last Friday. Cordray was appointed to the position by President Barack Obama and has been long criticized by congressional Republicans as overzealous.

The White House, with the support of an opinion issued Saturday by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, maintained that the president has the power to appoint an acting director. Steven A. Engel, newly confirmed head of the office, wrote that, while the deputy director may serve as acting director under the statute, the president still has authority under the Vacancies Reform Act.

Mr. Trump promised to bring the agency "back to life" in tweets Saturday afternoon, criticizing Cordray's leadership.

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, has been a total disaster as run by the previous Administrations pick. Financial Institutions have been devastated and unable to properly serve the public. We will bring it back to life!

8:48 AM - Nov 26, 2017

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

Check out the recent Editorial in the Wall Street Journal @WSJ about what a complete disaster the @CFPB has been under its leader from previous Administration, who just quit!

9:00 AM - Nov 26, 2017

A new director must be confirmed by the Senate. Earlier Sunday, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking GOP leader, pledged swift action whenever Mr. Trump nominates a successor to Cordray. Meanwhile, Thune said he expected that Mulvaney "will be on the job and he'll be calling the shots over there," but acknowledged the issue could end up in court.

Beyond the fight over who's in charge is the future direction of the bureau, created after the 2008 financial crisis and given a broad mandate as a watchdog for consumers when they deal with banks and credit card, student loan and mortgage companies, as well as debt collectors and payday lenders.

"All Americans should be deeply concerned about the White House's cynical decision to flout the law and attempt to put the ringleader of its dangerous, anti-consumer protection policies in charge," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said in a statement issued before the lawsuit was filed.

Taking aim at Mulvaney, she said the public deserves "a champion that protects them from predatory bankers and lenders, not the leadership of a Wall Street pawn who denigrates consumer protection as a 'sick, sad joke.'"

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer joined Pelosi in arguing that English was the rightful acting director. He accused Mr. Trump of ignoring the law "in order to put a fox in charge of a hen house."

Thune said he hoped eventually to see "reforms to that agency, which has essentially very little accountability to the Congress or anybody else." Another Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said he thinks Mr. Trump was on "good ground" to pick Mulvaney for the job and hopes Mulvaney "will ride herd on these folks."

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said putting Mulvaney in charge was part of an effort to destroy the bureau.

"Wall Street hates it like the devil hates holy water," Durbin said. "And they're trying to put an end to it with ... Mulvaney stepping into Cordray's spot. But the statute is specific, it's clear, and it says that the deputy shall take over."

Thune appeared on "Fox News Sunday" while Durbin and Graham spoke on CNN's "State of the Union."

John Conyers: Veteran congressman gives up post amid harassment inquiry - BBC News

John Conyers: Veteran congressman gives up post amid harassment inquiry

26 November 2017

Mr Conyers says he looks forward to "vindicating" himself

The longest-serving member of the US Congress says he is stepping aside as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee while sexual harassment allegations are investigated.

John Conyers again denied the accusations, but said he was stepping down to clear his name.

A staff member alleges she was fired for refusing to "succumb to sexual advances" from the Michigan Democrat.

A prominent civil rights leader, Mr Conyers first joined Congress in 1965.

The House Ethics Committee has launched an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and age discrimination involving staff.

On Sunday, Mr Conyers, who is 88, tweeted that he would like to remain as ranking member on the judiciary committee, but that he could not "in good conscience" allow the charges to "undermine" House colleagues.

It was reported on Tuesday that he had paid $27,000 (£20,000) in 2015 in exchange for the confidentiality of a former staff member who alleged she was fired for rejecting sexual advances.

He was also accused of repeatedly making sexual advances and inappropriately touching other female employees, according to signed legal documents seen by Buzzfeed.

Mr Conyers said that many of the allegations "were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger".

John Conyers, Jr.

@RepJohnConyers

Replying to @RepJohnConyers

I deny these allegations, many of which were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger. I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family before the House Committee on Ethics.

4:34 AM - Nov 27, 2017

The files have not been independently verified by BBC News.

The leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said it was imperative that Mr Conyers received "due process".

Ms Pelosi called him "an icon" who had advanced women's causes.

However she tweeted, in reference to Mr Conyers: "Zero tolerance means consequences... No matter how great an individual's legacy, it is not a license for harassment."

Mr Conyers is the last member of Congress to have been in office under President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s.

Republican house speaker Paul Ryan has called the allegations "extremely troubling".

He recently announced that all lawmakers and staff members must undergo anti-sexual harassment training.

Deposed Catalan leader brands the EU 'a club of decadent countries controlled by a small few' as he calls for region's own Brexit - Daily Mail

Deposed Catalan leader brands the EU 'a club of decadent countries controlled by a small few' as he calls for region's own Brexit

The politician attacked the EU as outdated in an interview with Israeli TV

He claimed the EU was a 'club of decadent and obsolescent countries'

Spain is seeking the deposed Catalan leader's extradition from Belgium

By Gerard Couzens For The Mailonline

PUBLISHED: 19:24 AEDT, 27 November 2017 | UPDATED:

Deposed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has branded the EU a 'club of decadent countries' and said a British-style 'Catexit' might be the solution.

The pro-independence politician attacked the organisation as outdated in an interview for Israeli TV after his failed attempts to get European backing for his cause from his hideaway in Brussels.

He claimed the EU was a 'club of decadent and obsolescent countries controlled by a small few and closely linked to increasingly debatable economic interests.'

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont gives a press conference to lanuch his campaign for the Catalan regional elections, in Oostkamp near Brugge, Belgium +2

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont gives a press conference to lanuch his campaign for the Catalan regional elections, in Oostkamp near Brugge, Belgium

Arguing Catalonia should turn the tables on EU chiefs who have warned there would be in place in Europe for the region if it breaks away from the rest of Spain, he added 'They're constantly telling us we're going to be left out of the European Union but the ones who should take that decision are the citizens of Catalonia.

'Lets see what the people of Catalonia say. Perhaps there are not many people who want to form part of this EU…so insensitive to the abuse of human rights, of the democratic right of a part of its territory only because a post-Franco right wants it to be that way.

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His comments, made during an interview for a programme on Israeli state broadcaster Kan called Zman Emet, were previewed in Catalan daily La Vanguardia.

The interview took place in Brussels where Puigdemont has been holed up since fleeing Spain following the Catalan Parliament's unilateral declaration of independence at the end of October.

The pro-independence politician attacked the organisation as outdated in an interview for Israeli TV after his failed attempts to get European backing for his cause from his hideaway in Brussels

The pro-independence politician attacked the organisation as outdated in an interview for Israeli TV after his failed attempts to get European backing for his cause from his hideaway in Brussels

The declaration led to the Spanish government imposing direct rule over Catalonia. Puigdemont's former government ministers were subsequently remanded in jail pending an ongoing judicial investigation.

Spain is seeking the deposed Catalan leader's extradition from Belgium after state prosecutors said they wanted him charged with rebellion or sedition.

The dad-of-two, married to Romanian actress-turned journalist Marcela Topor, faces a 30 year prison sentence if convicted of rebellion.

Puigdemont admitted in the interview he feared for his safety and claimed his family had received death threats.

Despite his attack on the EU, he told interviewer Henrique Cymerman he wanted to 'work to change' the institution.

Puigdemont's comments took many in Spain and Catalonia by surprise.

Carlos Campuzano, the spokesman for the deposed Catalan leader's party PDECat in the Spanish Parliament, insisted today/yesterday (MON) a Brexit-style referendum was not on its agenda.

He said: 'The EU has been key in members' economic and social prosperity. There's no future without Europe.'

Albert Rivera, leader of the pro-union Ciudadanos party, said Puigdemont's comments outed him as a Catalan version of French National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

'Now we understand everything,' he said.

'Now his populist and nationalist mask has fallen. All populism is the same, they want to destroy the EU. Nationalism and populism are two sides of the same coin.'

Richard Branson accused of sexual harassment - Fox News

Richard Branson accused of sexual harassment

Fox News

Billionaire Richard Branson is the latest high-profile person to be accused of sexual harassment following a party on his Necker Island in 2010.

After posting about the alleged incident on her Facebook, Antonia Jenae shared a story with The Sun in which she claims Branson stuck his head between her breasts and “motorboated” them by blowing and making an engine noise. At the time, Jenae was a backup singer for Joss Stone. After a concert, the group was invited by Branson back to his island where the alleged incident took place.

“He went ‘brrrrrr’ and just walked away. It was surreal, totally out of the blue. Joss and I were like, ‘What the hell was that?!’ Everyone was wondering why I wasn’t angry because I’m usually a firebrand. But I was just too shocked.”

She also claims that Branson tried to get her to show him her breasts and to walk around topless. The next day, she was invited on a plane back to the U.S. with Branson and his wife.

A spokesperson for Branson told the outlet that members of Joss Stone’s band were invited for a party in 2010, no one seemed upset afterwards.

“Richard has no recollection of this matter. Neither do his family and friends who were with him at the time. There would never have been any intention to offend or make anyone feel uncomfortable. Richard apologises if anyone felt that way,” the spokesperson said.