The Guardian - 06.09.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:2 Edition Date:190906 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 5/9/2019 21:04 cYanmaGentaYellowbla

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News and Sport

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fake culture war

Lynsey Hanley

Page 1

 Why scientists should

embrace rebellion

Claire Wordley and

Charlie Gardner

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Education

Latest Sats results show

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between girls and boys

Page 5

UK drill

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OFB hope to change that

Page 6

The Ashes

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double century and turns

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Page 52

Lynne Ramsay

The director is back with a

study of the photographer

Brigitte Lacombe

Page 8

Weather

Page 44

Cartoon

Journal, page 5

Cryptic crossword

Back of Journal

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NEWSPAPERS

SUPPORT

RECYCLING

The recycled paper content of UK newspapers

in 2017 was 64.6%^

y weekday

It is understood that Jo Johnson

told the prime minister of his deci-

sion to quit in a tense phone call on

Wednesday night. Downing Street

acknowledged the diffi culties of the

familial dilemma in a statement,

thanking the younger brother for his

time as a minister.

“The prime minister would like to

thank Jo Johnson for his service. He

has been a brilliant, talented minister

and a fantastic MP,” a No 10 spokes-

man said.

“The PM, as both a politician and

brother, understands this will not have

been an easy matter for Jo. The con-

stituents of Orpington could not have

asked for a better representative.”

Speaking to the Sun, Jo Johnson

said his argument with his brother was

over Brexit alone. “What is so clearly in

the national interest is everything the

government is doing in its strong, one-

n ation domestic-policy agenda: more

police on the streets, more doctors and

nurses in our hospitals, a welcoming

face to scientists and international stu-

dents,” he said.

“That’s exactly what a Conserva-

tive prime minister should be doing

and what Boris does so well.”

Johnson’s spokeswoman, when

asked if the prime minister believed

he was acting in the national interest,

said: “The prime minister is work-

ing incredibly hard to deliver what

the people voted for.” Asked again if

that was in the national interest, the

spokeswoman said: “Yes.”

Several MPs who lost the Conserva-

tive whip on Tuesday night praised Jo

Johnson’s move, mentioning his brav-

ery. The former justice secretary David

Gauke said: “Lots of MPs have had to

wrestle with confl icting loyalties in

recent weeks. None more so than Jo.

This is a big loss to parliament, the gov-

ernment and the Conservative party.”

The former digital minister Margot

Dan Sabbagh

Defence and security editor

Britain and other European nations

that are refusing to repatriate Islamic

State fi ghters and put them on trial

in their country of origin are creat-

ing a risk to regional security, the US

defence secretary warned at the start

of his visit to London.

Mark Esper said there were about

2,000 foreign fi ghters, many from

Europe, held in north-east Syria, but

asking the Kurdish-led Syrian Demo-

cratic Forces to keep them in makeshift

jails was an increasing risk to the frag-

ile security of the region.

“It’s an untenable situation,” Esper

said in a briefi ng on the fi rst day of a

two-day visit to London. “How long

can this last? Our view has been they

should repatriated and dealt with

appropriately ... otherwise that’s a

risk to the region.”

About 250 to 300 foreign fi ghters

who are still in Syria are estimated to

have come from the UK, but Britain is

increasingly unwilling to allow any to

return and stand trial after Isis’s defeat

in Syria and Iraq.

Several have been stripped of their

British citizenship , such as Jack Letts ,

who was raised in Oxfordshire to Brit-

ish and Canadian parents.

Esper, who is due to meet the British

defence secretary, Ben Wallace, today,

said he was relaying a message from

the US administration. “We are ask-

ing a lot of the folks that are holding

them, the Kurds,” he added.

Two of the most notorious Isis fi ght-

ers still being held in north -east Syria,

the Londoners El Shafee Elsheikh and

Alexanda Kotey, are subject of an legal

battle as to where they will be put on

trial for murdering western hostages

in Syria.

Wallace, in his previous role as secu-

rity minister, had said in 2018 that it

was not possible to try them under UK

law, and that they instead had to be

sent to the US. However, Washington

is refusing to assure Britain they would

not face the death penalty.

Elsheikh’s’s mother, however, has

brought a case to the supreme court

asking that they be put on trial in the

UK. Her lawyers argued in front of

Britain’s highest court that there was

enough evidence to bring them to the

UK for trial.

Esper is due to give a speech in Lon-

don on Friday where he is expected

to warn that “the rules based order

is increasingly under challenge from

Russia and China”.

When asked if the UK needed to be

more assertive on China, Esper said

“we all need to be more robust on

China”. He said he was in Hong Kong

at the time of the 1997 handover from

the UK to China, adding: “Look at

what is happening today, does that

look like they are living up to their

agreements?”

James said to Jo Johnson: “If I thought

my decision had been diffi cult, it was

nothing compared to yours. I am

utterly humbled by your action and

statement today.”

Nick Boles, a former Conserva-

tive and now independent MP, said

Jo Johnson’s departure showed the

lengths to which his brother was will-

ing to go. “Boris Johnson is willing to

sacrifi ce anyone and anything on the

altar of his ego and ambition. His lust

for power consumes everyone who

stands in his way,” he tweeted.

The move comes amid mounting

tension between Downing Street and

MPs over the treatment of Conserva-

tives who lost the whip. Damian Green,

the former deputy prime minister who

chairs the One Nation group of mod-

erate Conservatives, wrote to Boris

Johnson overnight on behalf of the

group asking him to reconsider remov-

ing the whip. “I’m afraid it does look

as though somebody has decided that

the moderate, progressive wing of the

Conservative party is not wanted on

voyage,’” Green told the BBC.

The Guardian understands several

cabinet ministers, including Michael

Gove, Amber Rudd and Matt Hancock,

asked the prime minister at a cabinet

meeting on Wednesday if there was

a possibility of reprieve for their for-

mer colleagues but were told that it

was impossible.

The cabinet ministers’ interven-

tion, fi rst reported by the Sun, came

as other Conservatives reiterated

demands that Brexiter MPs should

receive the same treatment should

they vote down any new withdrawal

agreement, including from the former

defence minister Tobias Ellwood.

Johnson will seek to trigger an elec-

tion again on Monday, daring Labour

not to back the motion after the no-

deal bill has become law but it is

unclear how he will proceed beyond

that – given that he has sworn not to

abide by the law that says he must ask

the EU to extend the Brexit deadline.

The leader of the Commons, Jacob

Rees-Mogg, said the government

would seek to bring the same motion

back and that parliament would not be

prorogued until the bill had received

royal assent.

Downing Street will resubmit the

same motion, which needs a two-

thirds majority under the Fixed-term

Parliaments Act (FTPA). Should the

motion pass, parliament is expected

to be prorogued on Monday but

should it fail, Johnson has the option

of attempting another route and keep-

ing parliament going until Thursday

• the deadline for prorogation.
  The Commons Speaker, John Ber-
  cow, objected to the same motion
  being put forward twice when Theresa
  May attempted to submit her Brexit
  deal on multiple occasions, but No 10
  believes it will be permitted because of
  the no-deal bill receiving royal assent


• a material change of circumstances.
  Should the plan fail, Johnson will be
  faced with the diffi cult dilemma of try-
  ing to force an election using a diff erent
  route that needs only a simple major-
  ity: either a one-line bill to amend the
  FTPA or calling a no- confi dence vote
  in his own government.
  A Downing Street source reiterated
  that the prime minister would not go
  to Brussels to request an extension
  beyond the October deadline.
  “It will never, ever, ever happen ; we
  will never do it and so eventually we
  will get an election,” the source said.
  “Watch Labour’s polling drop off a cliff
  when the country sees what they are
  trying to do.”

Politics Pages 6-13 

Journal Martin Kettle Page 3 

US warns Britain over refusal

to repatriate Isis fi ghters

▲ Margot James, who lost the Tory

whip, praised Jo Johnson’s actions

 Continued from page 1

Jo Johnson cites

national interest as

he quits cabinet

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