Effigy of speaker John Bercow to go up in flames to celebrate bonfire night October 30, 2019 An 11-metre effigy of outgoing Commons speaker John Bercow holding the heads of Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn will go up in flames on Saturday to celebrate bonfire night. Bercow – alongside the prime minister and Labour leader – was today unveiled as this year’s Guy for the Edenbridge Bonfire Society, which has poked fun [...]
Boris Johnson pays backhanded tribute to speaker John Bercow October 30, 2019 Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid outgoing speaker John Bercow a backhanded compliment today when he compared him to lauded physicist Stephen Hawking. Johnson said Bercow has had the “longest retirement since Frank Sinatra” after the speaker announced on 9 September he would step down from the role. Read more: Brexit Party shows its election hand [...]
PMQs: Corbyn hammers Johnson over NHS as election campaign looms October 30, 2019 Jeremy Corbyn kick-started his 2019 election campaign this afternoon, hammering the Prime Minister over the NHS in all of his questions during PMQs. The Labour leader claimed Boris Johnson’s “sell-out” Brexit deal would see NHS money “going into private profit”. He argued a Channel 4 Dispatches investigation, broadcast this week, showed the health service had [...]
Audit watchdog calls for better risk forecasts to improve public trust in business October 30, 2019 The audit watchdog today called for firms to provide more information on strategic risks to help improve public trust in business. High-profile failures like travel agent Thomas Cook and outsourcer Carillion have led to fingers pointed at companies and their auditors with questions raised over why risks were not set out in the company’s accounts. [...]
General election 2019: Liberal Democrats stand aside for Dominic Grieve October 30, 2019 The Liberal Democrats will not stand a candidate against former Conservative Dominic Grieve, as part of pro-Remain push to block Brexiters in the election campaign. The MP, who has represented Beaconsfield since 1997, was sacked last month alongside 20 others, for having voted against the government, effectively preventing a no-deal Brexit. Yesterday 10 of the [...]
Volkswagen profits soar in third quarter despite industry malaise October 30, 2019 Volkswagen has powered ahead of the gloom engulfing the global car industry, with rising summer profits driven by sport utility vehicle (SUV) sales. Despite this, the German giant warned that the global car market would “contract faster than previously anticipated in many regions of the world”. Read more: Volkswagen and Ford strengthen ties by teaming [...]
Business administrations soar 20 per cent October 30, 2019 Business administrations in England and Wales jumped 20 per cent in the third quarter, rising to the highest level for more than five years. In the third quarter the number of companies entering administration rose to 484 from 403 in the previous quarter. Company insolvencies rose 0.4 per cent on the previous quarter to 4,355 [...]
Twitter pulls all political advertising as voters support regulation October 30, 2019 Twitter tonight announced that all paid-for political advertising would be banned from its platform from 22 November in a move that will pile pressure on Facebook to do the same. Writing on the platform, founder Jack Dorsey wrote: “A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach [...]
Financial Times owner Nikkei loses $29m in apparent fraud October 30, 2019 Nikkei, the Japanese media giant behind the Financial Times, has lost roughly $29m (£22.5m) in an apparent wire transfer fraud. In a statement issued today, the company said an employee of its US subsidiary had transferred the funds after receiving “fraudulent instructions by a malicious third party who purported to be a management executive of [...]
Q&A: What is behind Fiat Chrysler’s proposed mega-merger with Peugeot? October 30, 2019 After Fiat Chrysler’s (FCA) deal with Renault fell apart over the summer, chairman John Elkann has wasted no time in finding a new suitor – Peugeot-owner PSA. The two European automakers are in talks over a potential tie-up that could create a £36bn giant, in a move which highlights how urgently car makers are looking [...]