Johnson’s first day as prime minister
Boris Johnson will make his first cabinet appointments today as he formally succeeds Theresa May as prime minister. Johnson, who defeated Jeremy Hunt by a landslide margin in the Conservative leadership election, will enter No 10 after May holds her final Prime Minister’s Questions and travels to Buckingham Palace to tender her resignation to the Queen. After being invited to form a government, Johnson will deliver a speech outside Downing Street around 4pm. He is expected to appoint a record number of ethnic minority cabinet ministers, including Sajid Javid as chancellor, and to increase the number of women attending cabinet as full members. Other Conservative MPs set to be promoted include former international development secretary Priti Patel, employment minister Alok Sharma, Rishi Sunak, Oliver Dowden, Tracey Crouch and Robert Jenrick. Johnson yesterday appointed Mark Spencer as chief whip.
Fears for Sunderland as Nissan plans 10,000 job cuts
The carmaker Nissan plans to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide as it contends with a fall in profits to a near-decade low. The planned total, from global workforce of 139,000, is more than double the figure of 4,800 announced in May. A majority of the cuts are expected to fall outside of the company’s native Japan, raising fears of job losses at Nissan’s UK operation in Sunderland. The carmaker has previously announced that it will not be building its new X-Trail model at the plant. The job cuts are due to be announced after Nissan publishes its first-quarter earnings on Thursday.
Trump hails Johnson as “Britain Trump”
Donald Trump has lavished praise on Boris Johnson, describing the new prime minister as “Britain Trump” during a speech in Washington. “We have a really good man who’s going to be the prime minister of the UK now,” the US president told an audience of teenagers. “He’s tough and he’s smart. They’re saying, ‘Britain Trump’. They call him ‘Britain Trump’ and people are saying that’s a good thing.” In spite of a YouGov poll showing that 67 per cent of the British public have a negative impression of Trump, he insisted: “They like me over there. That’s what they wanted. That’s what they need.” Trump also praised Nigel Farage, remarking of the Brexit Party leader: “He did a great job, and I know he’s going to work well with Boris, they are going to do some tremendous things.”
China orders US to withdraw “black hands” from Hong Kong
China has blamed violent unrest in Hong Kong on the US, warning the country to “withdraw their black hands”. Hua Chunying, a foreign affairs spokeswoman, said: “We can see that US officials are behind such incidents. Can US officials honestly tell the world what role they played and what are their aims?” She added: “We advise the US to withdraw their black hands. The US should know one thing, that Hong Kong is China’s Hong Kong and we do not allow any foreign interference.” On Sunday, protesters targeted Beijing’s representative office in Hong Kong, defacing China’s national emblem with black paint.
Farage floats electoral pact with Johnson
Nigel Farage has said he is open to an electoral pact with Boris Johnson’s Conservatives if the new prime minister is intent on taking the UK out of the EU by 31 October. The Brexit Party leader wrote in the Daily Telegraph: “If he is able to convince us, then together we would electorally smash the Labour Party, he would assume a big working majority, and he would go down as one of the great leaders in British history.” Farage said the “inescapable truth” was that Johnson would be forced to hold an autumn general election in order to overcome parliamentary opposition to a no-deal Brexit.
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