10 **^ Wednesday 7 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
McDonnell: Labour would not block indyref 2
By Harry Yorke and Simon Johnson
JOHN MCDONNELL has said a Labour
government would not stand in the
way of a second independence referen-
dum in Scotland, in comments that ap-
peared to directly undermine the
party’s Scottish leader.
The shadow chancellor last night
risked a major internal rift after claim-
ing that a second poll would be “for the
Scottish Parliament and the Scottish
people to decide”.
While Richard Leonard, the Scottish
Labour leader, recently claimed that
the party would turn down a
request for another referendum, Mr
McDonnell said “we would not block
something like that”.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe
Festival, he said that Nicola Sturgeon,
the Scottish First Minister, had made
clear that she intended to push for a
poll “by late next year or the beginning
of 2021”.
He added: “The Scottish Parliament
will come to a considered view on that
and they will submit that to the
Government and the English Parlia-
ment itself.
“If the Scottish people decide they
want a referendum, that’s for them. We
would let the Scottish people decide.
That’s democracy.”
Only in March, Mr Leonard said that
a Labour government would reject any
request for Parliament to grant a “Sec-
tion 30 order” that would give Holy-
rood the power to hold another vote.
He told the BBC Sunday Politics pro-
gramme at the time: “What we said in
the manifesto at the 2017 election wasthat there is no case for – and we would
not support – a second independence
referendum.”
Mr McDonnell’s explosive interven-
tion is likely to anger Labour MPs in
Scottish seats, many of whom are
fiercely opposed to another independ-
ence poll.
Last night, one MP described Mr Mc-
Donnell as a “f------ imbecile”, telling
the PoliticsHome website that he had
“just given our opponents all the am-
munition they need”.
It will also fuel claims by the Con-
servatives that Labour is inching closer
to striking an electoral pact with the
SNP, should the next election result in a
hung Parliament.
The prospect of a Labour-SNP pact
was repeatedly used by David Cameron
during the 2015 election campaign, andwas considered partly responsible for
Ed Miliband’s bruising defeat.
It came as Nicola Sturgeon last night
indicated that her party could be
prepared to strike a deal with Jeremy
Corbyn, stating that she was open to an
alliance in order to “lock the Tories out
of government”.
Speaking to The Guardian, Ms Stur-
geon said that while she did not intend
to enter into a “formal coalition”, the
SNP “would always want to be part of a
progressive alternative to a Tory gov-
ernment”.
Setting out her terms, she added it
would not be a “blank-cheque sce-
nario”, with Mr Corbyn required to
adopt a “very firm anti-Brexit position”.
“It would not be my intention, to go
into a formal coalition. I said that in
2015 and 2017 – that’s not a new thing,”she continued. “But some kind of
progressive alliance that could lock the
Tories out of government ...
“We would look to do what was right
for Scotland.”
Last night, James Cleverly, the Con-
servative Party chairman, told The
Daily Telegraph: “This Sturgeon-Cor-
byn alliance would be a nightmare
prospect for Britain.
“From refusing to respect the refer-
endum result to huge tax hikes and
measures that would wreck our econ-
omy, Labour and the SNP in cahoots
would hammer working people across
the country.
“It’s clear only the Conservatives
can be trusted to deliver Brexit while
keeping our economy strong so we can
deliver better public services and
lower taxes.”News
Aspiring writer
wins £10,
a month for life
Life-saver’s tough
choice over which
brother to save
Duchess asked US
police for side exit
from baby shower
Queen is victim of
fake sympathy note
after US shootings
A 24-year-old Amazon worker is
celebrating after becoming the first to
win the National Lottery’s prize of
£10,000 a month for the next 30 years.
The prize will total £3.6 million, and
Dean Weymes, from Peterborough,
has already quit working for the tech
giant to focus on his ambition of
becoming a scriptwriter.
He won the top prize while playing
the Set For Life game for the first time
on the National Lottery website. He
said he “could not believe” it when he
matched all numbers and a Life Ball.
He said: “I have always wanted to
fulfil my dream to become a
scriptwriter and this allows me the
freedom to do it. I didn’t give it a
second thought. I quit so I can begin to
work on the job I have always wanted.”
Mr Weymes, who worked in
transport at Amazon, added: “I studied
screenwriting at university, as this has
always been a passion – but I have
never been able to do anything.”
He says at the top of his bucket list is
a hot-air balloon ride and a tandem sky
dive. “I cannot actually believe that I
am really going to be able to do these
things – and do them right now. I am
now worry-free for the rest of my life.” A former lifeguard has described
how he was forced to choose which of
two brothers to save from drowning as
he watched them struggling in a lake.
Yanek Kowal managed to save the
life of Ayxzel Galeon, 18, when he saw
him in trouble at a popular beauty spot
in the Lake District.
But Ayxzel’s elder brother, Bryxzel,
21, drowned after using his last
strength to push his sibling towards
the surface.
Mr Kowal said he feared he would
drown too as the struggling Ayxzel
grabbed him and pulled him down too.
He said: “One sank very quickly, ‘a
silent casualty’. I could not get to him
in time. The other man was starting to
go under. I had to make the most
difficult decision in my life. I decided
to save the one just submerging.”
The brothers are believed to have
been celebrating Bryxzel’s graduation
from Leicester University with other
relatives when they swam out to a
pontoon at Howtown Bay, Ullswater.
Vincent Galeon, their uncle, said it
was “the most terrible tragedy”. The Duchess of Sussex instructed
US police to help her leave her baby
shower hotel through a side exit to
change the “optics” of the trip,
according to official documents.
The Duchess, who made worldwide
headlines with the lavish affair at The
Mark, one of New York’s most high
profile hotels, told officers she wanted
to avoid the “potential impression that
she was enjoying the media attention”,
it has been claimed.
A report of the incident, which
refers to the visit as a “notionally
private trip”, was last night published
by MailOnline after documents were
obtained via a freedom of information
request to the state department.
The baby shower was criticised by
some at the time, after the Duchess
took a tour through celebrity hotspots
and welcomed famous friends through
the front door of the hotel.
Amal Clooney, Serena Williams and
CBS anchor Gayle King were among
those at the $500,000 (£411,000)
celebration. Buckingham Palace does
not comment on security issues. The Queen became the unlikely
victim of “fake news” yesterday after a
message purporting to be from her
communications office expressing
condolences over the weekend’s mass
shootings in Texas and Ohio was
shared online.
The falsified letter, which mimicked
the legitimate paperwork that is
regularly issued by Buckingham
Palace, included the royal coat of arms
and was signed “Elizabeth R”.
It was shared by a number of
reputable social media users,
including royal writers, before being
confirmed as a fake.
While the message was harmless,
relaying that “during this tragic time, I
express my deepest sympathy to all
Americans”, it will raise concerns
about the rapid sharing of false
information online.
The style of the letter was copied
from official communications and
condolence letters regularly posted on
the real Royal family Twitter account
and shared by its four million
followers.PETERBOROUGH TELEGRAPH / SWNSDuchess friend
wins fraction
of £900,
earnings claim
By Victoria WardA CLOSE friend of the Duchess of York
has been accused by a judge of trying
to disguise his lavish lifestyle in a failed
bid to win almost £1 million in damages
from Essex Police.
Manuel Fernandez, 52, had sued the
force for loss of earnings, claiming that
“serious” failings preceding his sister’s
murder had derailed his career.
But Alper Riza QC awarded the busi-
nessman, who has been romantically
linked to the Duchess, only a fraction of
the £900,000 damages claim, declar-
ing him an unreliable witness.
He said Mr Fernandez gave “confus-
ing evidence” about whether he was in
or out of work when he purchased a
new Aston Martin.
The judge said Mr Fernandez was
fully aware the “very expensive” car
was “evidence of a lifestyle he sought
to suppress”. He added: “I cannot ac-
cept the evidence of his friends that he
is trustworthy in preference to what I
was able to observe myself.”
Mr Riza also noted: “His claim for
pecuniary loss of well over half a mil-
lion pounds is unusually high for a hu-man rights claim. The judge, sitting at
Central London County Court, disa-
greed that Mr Fernandez had been
made redundant by technology firm
FICO due to underperformance follow-
ing a two-year “prolonged depressive
reaction” to his sister’s murder, rather
than because of the firm’s “perceived
need”.
He said his subsequent launch of
Vvoosh, a lifestyle start-up, was an
“ambitious” venture that “shed light”
on his confidence during that time.
Mr Fernandez argued that his life fell
apart when his sister, Maria Stubbings,
50, was strangled with a dog lead by
her former boyfriend at her Chelms-
ford home in 2008.
Marc Chivers, who had killed an-
other girlfriend in a similar manner in
Germany, was jailed for life.
An inquest in 2014 found police
blunders contributed to her death.
Mr Riza ordered Essex Police to pay
Mr Fernandez £20,000 for the emo-
tional impact of the murder, ruling out
any award for loss of earnings.
Mr Fernandez is rumoured to have
dated the Duchess between 2014 and
2017, although she has always insisted
they were “just friends”.Dean Weymes celebrating his £10,000-a-month-for-life lottery win yesterday£20,
The sum awarded to a murder victim’s
brother who sued police for
Gold rush A rare McLaren F1, inset, built to Le Mans specifications, is set to break the world record price for a £900,000 over loss of earnings
British-made car at Sotheby’s and is expected to fetch £19 million. One reason for that may be the engine bay,
above, lined with 16g of pure gold (to dissipate the heat generated by the 6.1 litre V12 engine).RMSOTHEBYS/BNPSРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS