Sunak and Javid: values and conscience forced us to resign
Values and conscience left two senior cabinet ministers with no alternative but to resign, in protest at prime minister Boris Johnson’s lack of strong leadership in the wake of a number of government scandals.
Rishi Sunak quit as chancellor of the exchequer last night, tweeting: “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.”
His decision quickly followed that of health secretary Sajid Javid, who made the announcement via Twitter that he could “no longer continue in good conscience”.
Earlier, Johnson said “it was a mistake” to appoint Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip after it emerged that he had forgotten about being told of previous allegations of “inappropriate” behaviour. Pincher resigned last week after an alleged drunken incident at the Carlton Club in Piccadilly.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for an early election and ridiculed the two resigning ministers for being Johnson’s “cheerleaders throughout this sorry saga”. He added that they had “known all along who this prime minister is” and it was clear that the government was collapsing “after all the sleaze, the scandals and the failure”.
The Guardian report here.
Religion has become ‘collateral damage’ in Putin’s war on Ukraine
Ukraine is “the frontline of freedom of belief”, the UK foreign secretary Liz Truss told an international conference in London yesterday.
Speaking at the two-day the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Ms Truss condemned Vladimir Putin’s claim he is waging a holy war and said religion was “proving to be collateral damage” from his aggression. She added that “freedom to believe, to pray and commit acts of worship, or indeed not to believe” had been a fundamental freedom “since the dawn of time”.
Read Lianne Kolirin’s report for the Religion Media Centre here
Exclusively Christian-focused RE in Northern Ireland schools unlawful, judge rules
A father and daughter have won their High Court appeal that exclusively Christian-focused religious education taught in Northern Ireland’s primary schools breaches human rights. Mr Justice Colton supported claims by lawyers representing the seven-year-old that the sole focus on Christianity in RE, to the exclusion of other faiths, “violates education entitlements protected by the European Convention on Human Rights”, the Irish News reports. The Department of Education insisted the system was “flexible and lawful” and that schools had scope to add lessons to the statutory syllabus, but Mr Justice Colton called for “a reappraisal of the core curriculum and the provision by schools of [collective worship]”.
Cash for churches to explore age of science
Ten churches and three theological colleges in England are to share a £125,000 grant to encourage them to explore connections between science and faith. The project, Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science, aims to spark discussions and research into the two subjects, Premier Christian News reports. Project co-director Professor the Rev David Wilkinson said the money would be spent on exploring imaginative demonstrations of how science is at the heart of Christian faith, recognising it as a gift from God and supporting the vocation of scientists.
Pope: I don’t have cancer
The Pope has appeared to quash rumours that he is thinking of resigning through ill health, hinting he will visit Ukraine and Russia, in an attempt to bring both sides of the war together.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Pope Francis, 85, also condemned abortion, in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision to overrule Roe v Wade, but failed to condemn those who supported terminations. Catholic commentators were shocked when Pope Francis allowed US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who supports abortion rights, to take communion during a papal mass. The Catholic Herald reports that the Pope was slowly returning to improved mobility in his knee, thanks to laser and magnet therapy. He denied rumours that he has cancer, saying it was “court gossip”.
Restore our flights, say Sikh and Indian families
Bosses at Birmingham Airport have promised to do all they can to increase the number of flights to Amritsar in northern India, to allow easier access for the city’s Sikh and Punjabi families and business leaders. There is even talk of allowing a new airline to operate the route. Twelve MPs from the region had written to the airport to call for “lost flights” to be reinstated, the Birmingham Mail says. The reduction of flights from six a week to one, the MPs said, “was affecting families and businesses across the region, which is home to 130,000 strong Sikh and Punjabi diaspora”.
Wales celebrates Jewish heritage
A former synagogue in Merthyr Tydfil will be developed as a Welsh Jewish Heritage Centre, with the help of a £400,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The Foundation for Jewish Heritage successfully applied for the money to cover the cost of drawing up detailed plans. The Welsh government has provided £107,000 from its Transforming Towns Programme. Report here
