6 2GM Tuesday October 20 2020 | the times
News
A man armed with a knife carried out a
racist attack on a firm of lawyers that he
blamed for assisting migrants, the Old
Bailey was told.
Cavan Medlock planned to take a
solicitor hostage and display flags of
Nazi Germany and the US confederacy
in the firm’s office window to inspire
others, the court was told.
Mr Medlock allegedly attacked the
offices of Duncan Lewis solicitors,
which has been involved in a series of
high-profile immigration cases, days
after Priti Patel, the home secretary,
claimed that “activist lawyers” wereKnifeman ‘attacked law firm that had helped migrants’
David Brown
frustrating the removal of failed asylum
seekers.
Mr Medlock, 28, from Harrow,
northwest London, is charged with a
racially or religiously aggravated attack
on Sheroy Zaq, a solicitor who he is said
to have placed at fear of unlawful
violence at the firm’s office in Harrow.
He faces five charges, including
threatening to kill Toufique Hossain, a
director of the firm; using a “large
knife” to threaten Ravindran Tharma-
langram; causing racially aggravated
alarm, harassment or distress; battery
and causing fear of unlawful violence.
The alleged attack took place on Sep-
tember 7.Adam Harbinson, for the prosecu-
tion, told the court that after his arrest
Mr Medlock allegedly told the police
that he planned to “take a member of
staff hostage and place the flags in the
window so that like-minded people
would take action”.
Mr Medlock, who appeared by video
link from Wormwood Scrubs prison,
has yet to enter pleas to the charges.
Mr Justice Sweeney remanded him
in custody and set a trial date of April 1,
adjourning the case until Friday.
After the alleged attack Duncan Le-
wis Solicitors wrote to the Law Society
asking it to contact the home secretary
and the lord chancellor to “ensure thatpublic attacks on the legal profession
are prevented from this point forth”.
It added: “The position as it stands is
untenable, dangerous, and cannot be
allowed to persist.”
6 More than 50 migrants, including a
young girl, arrived across the Channel
in Dover yesterday amid reports that
trafficking gangs were using French
fishing boats. The Sun reported that
gangs were taking migrants to sea on
the boats with inflated dinghies on
board, leaving them at sea in the din-
ghies and turning back. Dan O’Maho-
ney, who is in charge of stopping the
people smugglers, said: “These cross-
ings are facilitated by callous criminals.”Downing Street and the EU
moved a step closer to resum-
ing formal Brexit talks yester-
day after Brussels made a con-
cession to try to break the four-
day impasse.
Michel Barnier told his
counterpart, Lord Frost, in a
phone call that the EU was will-
ing to “intensify talks in
London this week, on all sub-
jects and based on legal texts”.
Brussels’ refusal to begin
work on a joint legal text of a
deal before all areas had been
agreed in principle had been
one of two sticking points that
led Boris Johnson to call off the
negotiations on Friday.
Mr Barnier is understood,
however, to have given no indic-
ation that the EU is prepared to
cede to the prime minister’s
other demand: that the EU
accept that it will have to make
concessions to get a deal, partic-
ularly on fishing rights.
“There is no point in resum-
ing talks and going round and
round in circles again,” a gov-
ernment source said. “We need
to know that they too are pre-
pared to make the concessions
needed for a deal.”
Lord Frost and Mr Barnier are
expected to talk again in the
next two days.
In a sign that progress may be
possible, Maros Sefcovic, deputy vice-
president of the European Commis-
sion, suggested that Brussels accepted
that any deal “has to be a fair agreement
for both sides”. He was echoing com-
ments made by Angela Merkel, the
German chancellor, at the weekend in
which she said the EU was “ready to
compromise” and that fishing rights
needed to be on the table.
Downing Street said that despite a
“constructive discussion”, Brussels still
needed to move further.
Speaking in the Commons, Michael
Gove, the Cabinet Office minister,
praised the “constructive tone and
pragmatic spirit” demonstrated by Mr
Sefcovic and his team in talks on
Northern Ireland.
Mr Gove, who is in charge of no-deal
Brexit preparations, initially told MPs
that the EU had “refused to negotiate
seriously” in recent weeks. As he was at
the dispatch box the EU statement was
released and Mr Gove struck an emol-
lient tone, claiming that Mr Barnier’s
comment was a “reflection of the
strength and resolution” that Mr John-
son had shown.
An EU diplomatic source said that
Mr Barnier had made the public con-
cession to get talks back on track after
a hiccup many European governments
regard as an overreaction. “We do not
have the luxury of letting this drag on,”
the source said.
Rachel Reeves, the shadow Cabinet
Office minister, said Labour expected
the prime minister to broker an
arrangement to enable Britain to trade
freely with the EU. “They can call it no
deal, they can call it an Australia deal,
they can call it a Narnia deal as far as
I’m concerned, but let’s be honest about
what that means and let’s be honest
about how damaging it is for the
country.”
After a Tory MP shouted “it’s not
damaging”, Ms Reeves said: “Ten per
cent tariffs on British cars exported to
the EU, that is damage. Forty per cent
tariffs on lamb being exported to the
EU, that is damage. And if any member
wants to tell British industry and tell
British farming that that is not damag-
ing, be my guest. But it’s not the truth.”
Quentin Letts
Brussels translators meet
their nemesis (a Scots Nat)
S
imultaneous translators at
Brussels monitor Commons
debates closely when
ministers discuss the EU.
Top saucissons in the
commission like an instant report of
every nuance. What is the latest
from perfidious Albion? Phrases,
even individual words, are weighed
for political poundage. Years of
experience go into this art. The
most brilliant analysts are recruited.
But these experts — impeccably
serious souls — may have popped a
few synapses yesterday when
Michael Gove was being questioned
by Pete Wishart of the Scots Nats.
Mr Gove was giving MPs anupdate on negotiations for our
future trading relationship with the
EU. He began by saying that the
Europeans had been impossible and
the talks had been pretty much
abandoned. Mr Wishart was
beaming in his question from
Perthshire. His hair was a little
askew. Was that a post-prandial
gleam to one of his eyes? Surely not.
It was only Monday, for heaven’s
sake. But Pete, who over the years
has mislaid a few of his teeth, was
certainly swaying. He jinked
towards and then away from the
camera, a boxer bobbing and
weaving. You know the thing: fisting
of the chest to increase courage,
nodding at one’s opponent, neck-
tweaking, sniffing and exhaling
exaggeratedly. Ah, Brexit. Nothing
quite so reliably sends them loopy.
Perth’s finest proceeded firmly, in
approximately one gabbled breath,
to tell the chancellor of the Duchyof Lancaster (Comrade Gove) that
he did not esteem the government’s
handling of negotiations. It had
been, cried the Europhile Mr
Wishart, like the dance of the seven
veils, and “now we are down to its
Brexit underwear”. We would be
leaving the EU “on Mongolian
terms”. Mr Gove and his fellow
ministers were “clown shoe-
wearing goalpost shifters”. He
should “ga awa an bile his heid!”, so
he should. All this was pipped out of
the side of Mr Wishart’s mouth at
high velocity, while bouncing on the
balls of his wee gym shoes, flashing
his snaggled gnashers at the Zoom
video camera.
Ga awa an bile his heid: the
language laboratories of les grandes
écoles may be good but they are
possibly not quite that elastic. And
bear in mind that these things had
to be translated instantly. Even an
English native might have struggled
to understand what Mr Wishart had
just yapped. Whatever they pay
those interpreters at the
Berlaymont, it may not be enough.
Mr Gove, as ever, was serene in
the face of obloquy. If politics ever
lets him down he should consider a
career as a postman, for it seems
unlikely any guard dog, even the
sharpest-fanged Patterdale, could
frighten him. After a brief literaryanalysis of Mr Wishart’s attack,
regretting its mixed metaphors, he
told the SNP member to dive into
the “sea of opportunity” that lay
before us once we have left the EU.
On Mongolia, he was only sorry that
Mr Wishart looked down on that
great nation. “We value our
friendship with the people of Ulan
Bator,” said Gove.
His statement to the House was
almost immediately old potatoes.
While he was on his feet, word was
breaking that Michel Barnier, the
EU negotiator, had signalled
readiness to intensify talks on all
subjects, based on legal texts. Mr
Gove responded with hesitancy but
he welcomed this Stop Press news. It
did rather make a nonsense of his
earlier melodramatic claim that the
negotiations were dead, but I don’t
suppose many people believed that in
the first place.
Rachel Reeves, for Labour,
expressed surprise that on the Brexit
negotiations Boris Johnson seemed
to have such problems meeting his
deadlines. She plainly never knew
Boris when he was a journalist.
The only other thing I need to tell
you is that Tobias Ellwood (C,
Bournemouth East) was wearing the
most wonderfully electric blue socks,
as bright as that kingfisher I
mentioned the other day.Political Sketch
EU shift raises prospect of fresh talks
Oliver Wright Policy Editor,
Bruno Waterfield, Eleni Courea
Michael Gove and Maros Sefcovic
in talks on Northern Ireland, left.
Mr Gove’s speech to MPs led to this
reaction from Theresa MayM
in
M
rJESSICA TAYLOR/UK PARLIAMENT