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Prime Minister Liz Truss, apologises for making mistakes

Prime Minister Liz Truss, desperately trying to save her job in an exclusive interviewee early this evening ( 17 October 2022)  she tells BBC Chris Mason, she was determined to lead the conservative Party to the next election in  2024; and she said she was sorry for thousands of British people having to see their mortgage payments go up. She admits to making mistake.  

“ I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry, for the mistakes that have been made. I wanted to act but to help people with their energy bills to deal with the issue of high taxes, but we went too far and too fast. ” Said Liz Truss in response to Masons’ questions on who was to blame for this mess? “  I’ve acknowledged that. I put in place a new chancellor with a new strategy to restore economic stability. And now what I’m focused on is delivering for the public, whether that’s delivering on our energy price guarantee and we’ve made sure people are only paying a typical household £2500  but also delivering on the promise of growth, making sure we’re delivering on the roads, the broadband, the mobile phone signal, all of those things which is going to help our economies succeed.”

 Challenged by Mason that her very vision for Britain was dead, she said that she was

focused on delivering on energy supplies, on delivering new roads, new opportunities across our country. “We have to make sure though, that we have economic stability, and that has to be my priority as prime minister. I’ve acted in the national interest. I remain committed to the vision, but we will have to deliver that in a different way. And that’s what I’m determined to do. With the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt.”

 On her  ‘belittling of Treasury orthodoxy’ she said “…. we have to, of course, make sure we have economic stability as a country, and it was my responsibility as prime minister to take the tough decision and make sure we delivered that. We also need higher longer term growth and that’s vitally important to fund our national health service, to make sure families are able to succeed, to make sure we’re able to afford a great education system. .” However,  she  admits to getting a few thigs wrong  “But I recognise that we did act too fast, and that’s why I’ve adjusted what we’re doing and I do think it is the mark of an honest politician who does say, yes, I’ve made a mistake. I’ve addressed that mistake. And now we need to deliver for people, you known what we’ve said we’ll deliver.”

Mason  asked whether she still believed what she believed before, in what she said  ‘in those hustings’,  ‘ the kind of conservative philosophy, even though it didn’t work?’

She said she still believed  in a high growth low tax economy.  “What I recognise though is we do face very difficult circumstances at the moment. We’ve got rising interest rates across the world. We’ve got the war in Ukraine, perpetrated by Putin and what we had to do, and what I had to take the decision as prime minister to do, is make sure we acted to protect economic stability. Now, I do believe we need to get things in Britain moving faster, to help grow our economy. I want to get on with the road projects, the infrastructure we need the new energy supplies we need because we become far too dependent on global energy prices. But I recognise we did act too far and too fast and I’ve made the necessary adjustments to that.”

Was Rishi Sunak right all along, then?, Mason asked .

 “We had a very robust leadership campaign this summer where we debated ideas, we debated philosophy.” Truss said.

 Was Sunak proven right?

 “ I’m committed to a low tax high growth economy, but I have to reflect the real issues we face and my responsibility as prime minister is making sure that we have economic stability, that we protect people’s jobs. We’ve got the lowest unemployment since 1974. And we get through this very difficult winter. What I have delivered is we’ve already reversed the National Insurance increase which is important for families. We’ve also delivered on the energy price guarantee. Yes, Chris. I couldn’t deliver everything I wanted, “ she said .

But Mason challenged her on ditching everything.  

“ I delivered the energy price guarantee and the National Insurance and we will continue to work to deliver economic growth for our country. This week we’re introducing new legislation to make sure that we have smooth running rail services and that commuters can get into work and we were dealing with militant unions. So we will continue to deliver our agenda. “ was her reply .

Chris Mason  then asked : ‘

You talk about the energy package and that’s been the crutch if you like that you’ve leant on in the last couple of weeks when you faced difficult questions, proudly saying that it was bigger and bolder than Labour’s and yet that shrivelled as well, that hasn’t survived contact with the new chancellor?’

“this winter families will be protected, they won’t be paying the up to £6000 bills that they were facing. Now a typical household will pay no more than £2500 and we are putting that protection. ”

 On long term reassurance to families, Truss said  “ I can can reassure people off is that the most vulnerable will be protected into next winter. We’re looking at exactly how we can do that. And being in government is always about a balance or being able to make those decisions but I also have to think about and the chancellor has to think about economic stability. So we will make sure those households who are struggling, do have that support into next winter. We’ll be saying more about that in due course. Families will be protected this winter from those very very high bills. And as I’ve said, given the worsening conditions, we do have to make sure that we maintain economic stability that that has to be a priority.”

 And on massive increases in mortgage payments?

Well, look, I understand it is very difficult for families across the country.

and the fact is we are facing, face a difficult economic situation internationally where interest rates are rising, as well as pressure here in Britain.”

 Ditching that her policies made it worse,  Truss said “ what we’ve been through over the last few years is a very low interest rate world and that is changing and that is changing across the globe.”  And the same went for bills, Mason asked. That got her to apologise

“Well, first of all I have said sorry for the fact that we did act too far. We went too far and too fast… The reason I did that was to make sure that we were dealing with the immediate issue of the energy crisis. And we did help people with their energy bills. Now interest rates are a matter for the Bank of England. They are rising internationally. We will do what we can to help families, I’m particularly focused on helping the most vulnerable families. But we are in a difficult situation as a country and this difficult situation is being faced around the world. And we’ve had to adjust our policies as a consequence Chris.”

Mason  :  ‘ what do you say to people who say that you are now a prime minister in name only, that you’ve had to junk almost your entire plan, the very thing that you were elected upon you and you now have a chancellor who is executing a plan that’s a million miles away from your own and you have acknowledged that what you’ve had to pause, what you’ve had to stop is still what you really believe. You’re now leading a government that’s executing an agenda that you don’t even believe in.’

Truss  “ Well, I appointed the chancellor because I knew that we had to pursue these policies. I knew that we had to act to protect economic stability, and that’s why I appointed Jeremy Hunt. I’d been working very closely with the chancellor over the last few days to make sure that we have the right package in place, but it would have been completely irresponsible for me not to act in the national interest in the way where I have. I am somebody who’s honest. I’ve said that mistakes were made. But I’ve also acted to address that to make sure the country is in a strong position. And that’s what I will continue to do as prime minister.”

Chris Mason  ‘ Can you convince our listener and viewer that you have credibility still as Prime Minister because a reasonable minded observer might wonder from here on in, whether they can believe what you’re saying because so much of what you’ve said in your early weeks in office has been binned?’

Truss “ I’ve been absolutely honest about what I want to achieve for this country. I want us to be a country that has higher growth, where people can benefit from more opportunities across the country. I’ve also been honest that we’re facing a very difficult economic situation. So we’ve had to change our ways of achieving that and it will take longer. I mean we did go too far and too fast. But we are delivering, you know, we’re delivering on energy prices for people this winter. We’re delivering on minimum services on railways, we’re delivering on our speeded up road projects, we’re delivering on reversing national insurance. So yes, I have been honest with the public about what we’ve needed to change because of the circumstances. But I am completely committed to delivering for this country, and that’s why I’m in the job. That’s why I get up each morning, Chris is because I want this country to be a better place where everybody has opportunities and everyone can succeed, that’s what motivates me.”

Chris Mason ‘ People will say look, we all change our minds, all Prime Minister’s change their minds, but this is a wave of U-turns, unprecedented in scale and speed. Do you feel humiliated?’

Truss “ I feel first of all, that I did make mistakes and I’ve been upfront and honest about that. But what I’m spending my time thinking about Chris is about how we deal with the situation and how we deliver for the public. That’s what motivates me and that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. I care deeply about this country. I care deeply about our success. Because I know what that success means for people it means the difference between having a job and not having a job, it means the difference between being able to feed your family or not being able to feed your family, and that’s that’s what motivates me and what I’m doing. Yes, it hasn’t been perfect. It’s been a difficult time and I think we did an interview before I got the job and I said it was going to be tough because of the circumstances we’re facing as a country. I was expecting it to be tough, and it has been tough. I think it’s fair to say. “

Chris Mason : ‘ Let me read you some of what your own MPs have told me about what’s been going on – ‘it’s checkmate were stuffed’. ‘It’s dire. They’ve taken no responsibility for hiking mortgage rates’. ‘We’re all done for.’ These are your own colleagues. What do you say to them because they’re convinced that as a result of your actions, they and your party are going to lose?’

Truss “ What I say to them is that we should be focusing on the people of the United Kingdom and how we deliver for them. We were elected on the Conservative manifesto in 2019 to level up our country, to provide more opportunities, to deliver for our public services. That’s what I’m focused on doing. And I don’t think people want to hear about internal discussions in the Conservative Party. I think people recognise that we are facing a very serious situation internationally, that there are serious economic headwinds, and they want a government and a Conservative Party that deals with that.”

Chris Mason ‘

Tell me about the sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng. You were longstanding friends from the same if you like wing of the Conservative Party, finally being able to deliver your vision of conservatism and he’s out the door in weeks. What impact did that have having to fire him?’

Truss “ Look, it was a it was a very tough decision. It was painful and Kwasi is a friend of mine, but I’ve been put in this job. I was elected by Conservative party members I was elected to deliver for this country and ultimately I have to make those decisions about what the right thing to do was, and I have made the right decision. It was right that we changed policy. It’s right, that we have a new chancellor. And now what I’m determined to do is make sure that works.”

Chris Mason ‘

Are you sticking around because you want to stick around or because you’ve waiting for your party to find a successor?’

Liz Truss “ I’m sticking around because I was elected to deliver for this country. And that is what I am determined to do. And he next general election; Well look, yeah, (laughs) I’m not focused on internal debates within the Conservative Party. The important thing is that I’ve been elected to this position to deliver for the country. We are facing very tough times. We simply cannot afford to spend our time talking about the Conservative Party, rather than what we need to deliver. That is my message to my colleagues. What I’m worried about is delivering for the people of Britain.”

Chris Mason ‘ You must have had moments in the last few weeks given the scale the swirl of noise that you felt, we’ve all felt at Westminster, amongst your own colleagues, the deep sense of unrest, the deep sense of concern that because of your decisions, the fear among so many Conservative MPs is your party’s going to lose and lose big time in the next general election. And they blame you for that.’

 Truss  “  Well my message to my colleagues is yes, I completely acknowledge that there have been mistakes. I have acted swiftly to fix those mistakes. I’ve been honest about what those mistakes were. And what we now need to do is move forward and deliver for the country because that’s ultimately, that’s ultimately what people care about. People care about us delivering and that’s what we as elected politicians need to focus on. I will stay in the job to deliver for the national interest

Ending the Eviction Ban for Rent Arrears is a Crisis of the Government own making

The latest report from Joseph Rowntree Foundation after a large-scale survey reveals that around 400,000 renting households have either been served an eviction notice or have been told they may be evicted, when the eviction (for rent arrears) ends Monday 1 June, is disturbing, but this is not the full picture especially with mostly leftwing-liberal media demonising landlords .
But the picture is far from what you read in the Guardian or hear on the BBC. It is a complex picture. The majority of landlords are small investors, heavily mortgaged., and the gross income from the property is not much higher than the average income before the British taxpayer starts paying tax, while more than half of landlords’ investment is actually their pension . The crisis if of the treasury and the local authorities making and could have been avoided had they paid the rent directly to the landlords and deducted from the tenants’ benefits.

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INVESTMENTS TO BOLSTER VACCINE MANUFACTURING CAPACITY

UK Government and Valneva confirm multi-million-pound up-front investment in Livingston manufacturing facility, following agreement to secure 60 million coronavirus vaccine doses. The Valneva’s site in Livingston will manufacture the vaccine, supporting the jobs of more than 100 highly-skilled scientists and technicians. The  Latest deal follows a number of agreements to procure millions of doses of vaccines, ensuring the greatest possible chance of securing access to a safe and effective vaccine.

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Egypt’s Mubarak left a mixed legacy, mostly negative.

Hosny Mubarak who was fourth president of Egypt for thirty years left a mixed legacy. He opened the door for changing the personality cult of a president and improved economy; regionally he played a major role in 1990 in building Egypt lead regional coalition forces to liberate Kuwait and was one of several architects who helped the Palestinians and Israelis to reach a peace agreement in 1993.

Interviewing President Mubarak, Qubbah Palace, Cairo 1988. But he was responsible for wide corruption and ending 160 years of modernity paving the way for the islamisation of Egypt and ending secular liberalism. I met him several times and this is my personal view as a historian .

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HM Government in Full- Update

This is Boris Johnson’s full cabinet as on 31 July 2019, there are a few minor posts to fill , but is a strong ethnic and faith mix cabinet, and most important key posts are given to Thatcherite free-market economy and strong pro breast and for national independence from Brussels.

Cabinet First meeting, 23 July 2019 – PA photo

Key posts went to MPs like Sajid Javid at No 11 as Chancellor of the Exchequer , Dominic Raab MP at the Foreign and Commonwealth office; Priti Patel as Home Secretary and Liz Truss MP, who believes in free international trade and free market at Department of international Trade. In Addition, Vote leave activist Andrea Leadsom MP at the helm of Business and Industrial Strategy, while Boris’s old vote leave campaign comrade Michael Gove MP, is in the Cabinet Office as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, cracking the whip over the heads of the civil services to push for Brexit against sir Humphreys’s brakes-slamming on the Whihtehall machine that want to delay Brexit former.
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Parliament’s Acting as a “Shadow Government,” says Tony Blair

Brexit, There is no Third way , says Tony Blair, as he was handed an egg by a Tory Mp, saying, he wouldn’t throw it at him. Blair’s speech in full.

 Former Prime Minister and Labour Leader  the Rt Hon Tony Blair made a dramatic intervention today criticising the way the Tory Government lead by Theresa may conducted the the negotiations with the EU which  was not ” handled very well”, as he said adding it became 2 half in-half out.” .Mr Blair wanted his message, that  parliament was operating as a “shadow government by frustrating Theresa May over her Brexit deal and asserting control over the Government,” would accurately reach the entire nation, he gave a copy of a speech he made today at the Parliamentary Press Gallery monthly lunch, at which he was a guest speaker, to 200 Westminster reporters, MPs, Lords and influential media guests.  The former Prime Minister  backed MPs, arguing there was as much leadership on the backbenches as the frontbenches. He also suggested the Prime Minister  would be better off pulling the Commons vote on her Brexit deal on Tuesday 11 December, as she remains on course for near-certain defeat.

Just before the Westminster crowd sat to Lunch, their was a light hearted touch by Conservative MP for Beckenham, Colonel Bob Stewart who  told the former labour leader, who sent British troops on 12 intervention, the most controversial of them  was the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ” I wont be throwing this at you,” presenting him with an egg inscribed with ” to Tony with Love” .

Mr Blair He said  Prime Minster may  had tried to square the circle of Brexit, with a deal that was “pain-less” but “point-full” – but lamented that there was no “acceptable third way” on the issue.

He  argued that voters will feel betrayed by the deal put forward by the Prime Minister, and that a second referendum would be the only option if parliament ends up deadlocked.

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Attorney General Legal Advice confirms: UK Locked in Backstop

After Attempts to hide the legal advice over the EU Brexit agreement, the government suffered two defeats, and was forced at the end to publish it. 

Attorney General  Geoffrey Cox defending himself in the commons

Below is the attorney general advice in full.

The  government was forced to release this morning  ( Wed 5 December 2018) after being defeated in the House of Commons last night .

The government first tried to table an amendment to the six opposition parties motion, referring the matter to the privileges committee, which would have taken months to reach conclusion regarding the ministers contempt of parliament. Then the government was defeated in the second vote of contempt of parliament.

The tellers confirm the government defeat in last night’s vote

The leader of the house then gave in . The The Attorney General’s Brexit legal advice  was then  published in full today. It warns the United Kingdom could be left in “protracted and repeated rounds of negotiations” over the Irish backstop. The Attorney General  found that the protocol setting out the terms of the backstop “does not provide for a mechanism that is likely to enable the UK lawfully to exit the UK-wide customs union without a subsequent agreement”. Despite assurances from both London and Brussels that it is intended to be temporary – the protocol would “endure indefinitely” under international law until another agreement takes its place. The advice noted “In the absence of a right of termination, there is a legal risk that the United Kingdom might become subject to protracted and repeating rounds of negotiations.” “This risk must be weighed against the political and economic imperative on both sides to reach an agreement that constitutes a politically stable and permanent basis for their future relationship.” he concluded “This is a political decision for the Government.”

Here is the legal advice in full:

Rt Hon Geoffrey Cox QC MP Attorney General; Attorney General’s Office; W1A 2AA Continue reading

Prime Minister: Russian Military Service Units planned Salisbury Novichok Attack

In strong Statement to  the House of Commons, Prime Minister Theresa May said there was strong material and TV footage evidence linking two officers with the GRU  ( The Russian Military Intelligence) with the Salisbury Poison attack. Traces of the poison was found in their hotel rooms, and CCTV footage showed them in the area.

The UK issued a European arrests warrant and will ask the Interpol to also issue international arrest warrant  against the two suspects who were named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.  

The United States Ambassador to UK, Woody Johnson,  said his country stands with Britain in holding Russia accountable for its ” act of aggression ” on British soil.

Read The Prime Minister Statement to the House of Commons in ful

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The late Scribe of Cairo, remembered on his 12th Anniversary

On the 12th  anniversary of the Nobel Laureate “Scribe of Cairo” death – his obituary revisited, first penned as obituary on 30 August 2006 

The death on 29 August 2006  of Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz generated a quarrel between historians, literary critics and Egyptians on one side, and Arab journalists on the other. It was a re-run of the 1988 controversy, when Mafouz won the world’s most prestigious award–the Nobel Prize for literature–to the outrage of Arab nationalists who had condemned the author for his support of the late President Anwar Sadat’s peace initiative with Israel.

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How the Bicycle Helps Foreign Leaders Remember Boris’s Full Name?

The Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta forgot Boris Johnson’s name, during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Theresa May, Then remembered it by the bicycle image saying ” the bicycle guy ” ; let us hope in future he remember’s Jeremy Hunt’s name and doesn’t say .. the  Today Programme c*** guy  !!!

Answering a question about  his country’s long and historic relation with UK, the Kenyan leader wanted to express gratitude by recalling a British gift of fleet of ambulance delivered during a visit to Kenya last year by the then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

But President Kenyatta forgot the full name of Mr Johnson by, saying ” when last year the former foreign secretary…Boris….Boris… ah… Boris Johnson…. the bicycle guy ” ….

It was, to the amusement of hacks, a  highlight moment during a  press conference  marked by long-winded questions from local journalists …One Question lasted a full three minutes.

It seems that Mr Kenyatta was given training on memory management by specialists who train intelligence agents and spies. The trick is to visualise information you need to recall from your brain storage. So associate a person, a name or a place with an image, like Churchill’s  cigar, or Lady Thatcher’s handbag; or with sound, a music, a meal or even a big event.  And then in future you can recall the image, or other events or sounds  and it will then process the memory recall of the fill information or event.

Boris’ on a bicycle mage, it seems, was the visual tag which president Kenyatta put on the information related to the former foreign secretary and stored in his brain.

The Question many ask today, was , if Boris’ bicycle has now been the visual memory-file tag used by foreign leaders to remember him in years to come.. what  is the tag to be added to his successor for foreigners to remember?
Say in two years time or so, or may be less .. what Image, sound, big event information  would the forgetful Kenyan leader might associate with  Jeremy Hunt to remember  his full name  ? Let us hope he doesn’t then recall the famous Today Programme featuring Mr Hunt’s interview with James Naughtie ?

** Thanks to RT TV for the press conference clip