2 2GN The Sunday Times May 29, 2022
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FIND US ON
the North Sea oil and gas giants. The Bet-
ting & Gaming Council warned last week
that a flat-rate levy on betting firms would
tip about a third of Britain’s brick-and-
mortar casinos into loss and threaten
nearly 3,000 jobs.
Ministers hope to reach agreement
with Premier League football clubs in the
next fortnight to remove the names of
gambling companies from their shirts.
Nearly half the clubs, such as West Ham
and Newcastle, are sponsored by gam-
bling companies.
Carolyn Harris, the Labour MP who
chairs the all-party parliamentary group
for gambling-related harm, described the
development as “disappointing”.
“If this goes ahead it will be a missed
opportunity to take the brave steps
required to tackle gambling-related
harm, which blights the lives of so many
people in this country,” she said.
Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative
MP and a member of the all-party group,
said: “I will go to war with the govern-
ment on this. The evidence is clear about
the damage problem gambling can cause.
I will not compromise on the levy.”
A Public Health England (PHE) studyin September found an estimated 409
suicides are linked to gambling in
England every year.
In February, a coroner said a 24-year-
old teacher with a gambling addiction
who killed himself was failed by “woe-
fully inadequate” warnings and treat-
ments. Jack Ritchie’s disorder “spiralled
out of control” and made
him feel suicidal. His family said he was
the victim of “predatory” gambling
companies.
The UK is one of the world’s biggest
gambling markets, with profits of
£14.2 billion in 2020. PHE estimated that
problem gambling causes an economic
burden of £1.27 billion a year.
Among other measures expected to be
included in the white paper, which has
yet to be agreed by No 10, are plans for
affordability checks — similar to the
credit checks on those applying for a
mortgage — to be carried out if it is shown
people are losing thousands of pounds.
The DCMS said: “We are undertaking
the most comprehensive review of gam-
bling laws in 15 years to ensure they are fit
for the digital age. We will be publishing a
white paper ... in the coming weeks.”5, 16, 24, 34, 44, 57
Bonus 20SATURDAY
MAY 28
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Lucky Stars 3, 5FRIDAY
MAY 27ONE WORLD
Davos got it wrong:
the globalisation of
trade has become
too entrenched
to be undone by
war in Ukraine
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The culture
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the licence fee
scrapped. What
next for the BBC?THE NEW MONACO?
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help of generous tax breaks for expatsBUSINESS
TRAVEL
7.45am Chief foreign correspondent for
The Sunday Times, Christina Lamb
10.05am Robin Walker, the minister
for school standards12.15pm The general secretary of the
PCS Union, which represents civil
servants, Mark Serwotka
2.05pm Frank DeAngelis, who wasprincipal of Columbine High School at
the time of the 1999 shooting
4.45pm Member of the Ukrainian
parliament Kira RudykMinisters are expected to water down
plans for a crackdown on betting giants
after opposition from the gambling
industry.
The Department for Culture Media
and Sport (DCMS) will next month pub-
lish a review of 17-year-old gambling legis-
lation that was expected to include the
introduction of a “polluter pays” manda-
tory levy on betting firms to fund addic-
tion and research.
Premier League clubs were also
expected to be forced to remove gam-
bling sponsors from the front of football
shirts as part of the biggest shake-up of
advertising since tobacco promotion was
outlawed.
However, both proposals are under-
stood to have been watered down as the
government prepares to publish its white
paper. According to sources familiar with
the discussions, No 10 is likely to block
the introduction of a compulsory levy in
favour of greater voluntary contributions
amid fears of imposing further taxes on
the industry. It comes after last week’s
U-turn on introducing a windfall tax onCaroline Wheeler Political Editor2, 21, 25, 34, 37
Bonus 1SATURDAY
MAY 28HOME
IMOGEN TEW AND
GABRIEL POGRUND
Imogen Tew, our Senior Money
Reporter, has been named Young
Journalist of the Year by the
Wincott Foundation, and has
also won the financial and
consumer affairs category at
the MHP Mischief #30toWatchYoung Journalist awards.
Gabriel Pogrund, our Whitehall
Editor, has been shortlisted
for the Paul Foot award for
investigative journalism.
The winner will be announced
on June 14.Police chiefs are at war over a race to lead
the National Crime Agency that has
become embroiled in cronyism claims.
Neil Basu, the country’s most senior
non-white officer, has demanded an
explanation from the government over
why he was overlooked for the role of
director-general after making it through
to the last two candidates.
Basu broke his silence to say he was
“disappointed” to miss out on the
£223,000-a-year job a week after The
Sunday Times revealed that Boris John-
son wanted to shoehorn in Lord Hogan-
Howe, his supporter and the former Scot-
land Yard chief who oversaw the
disastrous VIP child sex abuse inquiry.
Hogan-Howe also issued a statement
defending his record and, in what
sounded like a job pitch, saying that he
was proud of what he achieved as Metro-
politan Police commissioner.
In an apparent dig at Basu, a serving
assistant commissioner at the Met, he
said: “I also led a more diverse police ser-
vice, with one in three recruits from
minority backgrounds by 2017 ... Under
my leadership, the capital became a safer
place under an effective, modernising
force which inspired high confidence in
the public.”
Hogan-Howe had made it through to
the final four but his failure to reach the
last two is believed to have prompted
No 10 to intervene. Applications havereopened. Hogan-Howe, 64, refused to
deny he would run for a second time.
Basu, 53, former head of UK counter-
terrorism policing, said: “I am disap-
pointed in the way the process has con-
cluded and will not be applying again. I
will be seeking an explanation from the
Home Office.” Basu is understood to be
consulting lawyers and has served notice
on the Home Office that he intends to
lodge a formal complaint. Privately, he is
thought to be furious. His supporters sus-
pect he is being penalised for some of his
outspoken views on race.
He has previously suggested that the
prime minister would be barred from
joining the police because of his past
remarks describing black people as “pic-
caninnies” and comparing veiled Muslim
women to “letterboxes”.
If his candidacy had succeeded, Basu
would have become the first person of
Asian heritage — his father is Indian, his
mother is Welsh — to lead a UK law
enforcement organisation.
The top job at the NCA, Britain’s equiv-
alent of the FBI, became vacant last
October when Dame Lynne Owens
stepped down to focus on treatment for
breast cancer.
Hogan-Howe, who presided over the
Operation Midland inquiry that led to dis-tinguished figures being falsely accused of
paedophilia, is believed to have been
encouraged to apply by No 10 officials act-
ing at the behest of Johnson. The two men
worked together when the prime minister
was mayor of London.
He did not make it through to the final
round of interviews with Priti Patel, the
home secretary. The last two candidates
were Basu and Graeme Biggar, acting
head of the NCA. Both names were
knocked back by No 10.
In a lengthy defence of his time as Met
commissioner from 2011 to 2017 Hogan-
Howe said: “I took the helm at a time of
turmoil for the organisation after the
London riots and a high-profile public
inquiry and criminal investigation into
phone hacking. I am proud of what I
achieved in the post.”
He added: “Operation Midland had
some significant failings, for which I have
apologised personally to all those who
were so badly affected. Our failure to see
through the deception of the alleged vic-
tim Carl Beech caused deep hurt and suf-
fering. But it was my own concerns that
prompted an internal review of this
investigation, and it was I who took the
decision to appoint Sir Richard Henri-
ques QC to get to the facts of the case.
Despite his criticism ... he found no sys-
temic failings in the Metropolitan Police
in investigating historic sexual crimes.”
Henriques listed 43 failings involving
Operation Midland.
Asked if he planned to rule himself out
of the NCA race, Hogan-Howe said: “Out
of respect to the process and to the candi-
dates, I have no comment to make.”
Downing Street sources said the PM
has no formal role in the process. The
Home Office said: “A fair and open
recruitment campaign is under way to
make the best possible appointment.”Dominic Lawson, page 22Police top brass in
bitter ‘cronyism’ row
Two of Britain’s most
senior officers have
clashed in their bids to
head a crime agency —
and dragged in No 10
Dipesh Gadher
Home Affairs CorrespondentI am disappointed
in the way that
the process has
concluded
Gray ‘leant
on’ before
parties
report
of his senior staff apparently
interfered in an investigation
he had claimed was
independent and leant on
her.”
According to sources who
saw the Gray report before it
was published, an earlier
draft gave more details of a
leaving party involving a
karaoke machine provided by
Helen MacNamara, then head
of the Cabinet Office’s
propriety and ethics team. It
contained emails showing
that staff had been warned
that it could break the rules.
Another key passage to be
altered concerned the alleged
“Abba night” party in the
prime minister’s flat above
Downing Street on November
13, 2020. An earlier draft of
the report referred to music
being played.
According to two sources,
Stephen Barclay, Johnson’s
chief of staff, tweaked it on
the eve of the report’s
publication — a claim denied
by Downing Street.They failed to collar the
Big dog, pages 6-
Rod Liddle, page 14
Camilla Long, page 25→Continued from page 1Macron calls for
Ukraine truce
The leaders of France and
Germany yesterday urged the
Russian president Vladimir
Putin to free 2,
Ukrainians who defended the
Azovstal steel plant in the
devastated port city of
Mariupol who are still being
detained by Russian forces,
the Elysée Palace said.
In a joint phone call lasting
80 minutes, Emmanuel
Macron and Olaf Scholz also
encouraged the Kremlin
leader to hold “direct serious
negotiations” with
Volodymyr Zelensky, the
Ukrainian president, to find a
diplomatic solution to the
conflict, and said Russia
should agree to an immediate
ceasefire and withdraw its
forces from Ukraine.
Russia said this month that
the Ukrainian fighters had
surrendered after making a
last stand in Mariupol, where
they had held out for weeks
in bunkers and tunnels
beneath the vast steelworks.
Putin, meanwhile, said he
was ready to look for ways to
ship grain stuck in Ukraine’s
Black Sea ports, which is
blamed for causing a global
shortage of wheat and grain,
but only provided the West
lifted its blockade on Russian
agricultural exports.Peter Conradi Paris The Kremlin said Putin had
also told Macron and Scholz
that continuing western arms
supplies to Ukraine was
“dangerous” and had warned
“of the risks of further
destabilisation of the
situation and aggravation of
the humanitarian crisis”.
The intervention by Scholz
and Macron comes ahead of
an EU summit tomorrow
expected to reveal
differences between its
members over their response
to the crisis. Viktor Orban,
the Hungarian leader, is
blocking attempts to impose
an oil embargo on Russia.
Commentators wary of the
West pressuring Kyiv to
concede land to Moscow and
strike a deal with Putin
criticised the two European
leaders for making the call.
“Appeasement is a corrupted
policy of compromise, made
erroneous by mistaking a
policy of imperialism for a
policy of the status quo,”
tweeted Jack Saryusz-Wolski,
a Polish member of the
European parliament,
quoting the German political
scientist Hans Morgenthau
writing in 1948.
@Peter_ConradiWe’ll know when the world
betrays us, Andrey Kurkov,
page 17Pepper
sprayed at
Liverpool
supporters
tweeted fans, urging them
not to “rush the gates” as they
came close to the ground.
But by then there were
already reports of pepper
spray being used on
supporters who had been
queuing for several hours.
A reported 50,
Liverpool fans had travelled
to Paris for the match. Most
did not have tickets and had
been encouraged to watch
the match in a fan zone set up
some way away from the
stadium. Some 6,800 police
and gendarmes were on duty.
Liverpool fans said the
trouble had been fuelled by
hundred of young residents
who taunted police and
forced the gate to be closed,
but claimed it had been
exacerbated by heavy-
handed French police who
had used tear gas to disperse
the crowd.
Gary Lineker, commenting
on the match for the BBC,
tweeted that he was “finding
it impossible to get in... this
appears very dangerous.
Absolute carnage.”
@Peter_ConradiReports, Sport→Continued from page 1Betting curbs watered down
after industry’s pressure
Banca do Antfer
Telegram: https://t.me/bancadoantfer
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