LONDON — Four out of ten Conservative Party members want limits placed on the number of Muslim people entering the UK, according to a new poll which finds widespread Islamophobia in the party.

The YouGov poll of Conservative Party members, for the anti-racist campaign group Hope Not Hate, found that 40% of members wanted limits on the number of people of the Islamic faith entering the country, as opposed to just 5% who want to see fewer Christians or Jewish people.

The poll also found that:

* 43% of Conservative Party members "would prefer to not have the country led by a Muslim"
* 45% believe that "there are areas in Britain in which non-Muslims are not able to enter,"
* 67% believe that "there are areas in Britain that operate under Sharia law."
* 39% believe that "Islamist terrorists reflect a widespread hostility to Britain amongst the Muslim community."

https://www.businessinsider.com/poll-muslim-islamophobia-among-conservative-party-members-boris-johnson-leadership-2019-6?r=US&IR=T

Police were called to the home of Boris Johnson and his partner, Carrie Symonds, in the early hours of Friday morning after neighbours heard a loud altercation involving screaming, shouting and banging.

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[A] neighbour said they recorded the altercation from inside their flat out of concern for Symonds. On the recording, heard by the Guardian, Johnson can be heard refusing to leave the flat and telling Symonds to “get off my fucking laptop” before there is a loud crashing noise.

Symonds is heard saying Johnson had ruined a sofa with red wine: “You just don’t care for anything because you’re spoilt. You have no care for money or anything.”

The neighbour said: “There was a smashing sound of what sounded like plates. There was a couple of very loud screams that I’m certain were Carrie and she was shouting to ‘get out’ a lot. She was saying ‘get out of my flat’ and he was saying no. And then there was silence after the screaming. My partner, who was in bed half asleep, had heard a loud bang and the house shook.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/21/police-called-to-loud-altercation-at-boris-johnsons-home

The Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, has said that the UK would be hit automatically by tariffs on exports to the EU in a no-deal Brexit, rejecting a claim made by Boris Johnson that this could be avoided.

Tory leadership candidate Johnson said this week that tariffs would not necessarily have to be paid if the UK left the EU without a deal because the UK could rely on article 24 of the general agreement on tariffs and trade (Gatt).

Some Brexit supporters have claimed that the Gatt, a treaty under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO), would allow a “standstill” in which tariffs are avoided, even in the absence of any agreement on trade.

Many trade experts say this is not the case without agreement from both sides. Carney cited the head of the WTO and Liam Fox, the minister for international trade who backed the Vote Leave campaign in 2016, to contradict Johnson.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/21/brexit-mark-carney-dismisses-boris-johnson-trade-claim-on-no-deal

A Conservative MP has lost his seat after an expenses scandal, triggering a byelection that will provide a tricky test for the next prime minister.

A recall petition was set up after Chris Davies, the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, was convicted of submitting fake expenses documents. He was ousted from the House of Commons after 19% of registered voters in his constituency signed a petition to remove him.

A total of 10,005 people signed, well above the 10% threshold needed for a recall. The result, confirmed on Friday by the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, means a byelection will be called, which Davies could stand in.

The seat was held by the Liberal Democrats from 1997 until 2015, when Davies won it. He increased his majority in 2017.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/21/petition-to-recall-convicted-tory-mp-chris-davies-succeeds

Video has emerged of a Conservative MP manhandling a climate change protester who interrupted Philip Hammond‘s Mansion House speech.

Mark Field can be seen standing up from his chair and grabbing the woman as she walks past him, before pinning her against a pillar and marching her away.

As the pair passes the camera the MP is seen gripping the woman’s neck tightly.

None of the Greenpeace-affiliated protesters were arrested over the disruption to Mr Hammond’s address, City of London Police said.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mark-field-video-climate-change-protester-female-mansion-house-greenpeace-a8968241.html

BBC Newsnight ✔
@BBCNewsnight

Footage shows foreign office minister Mark Field MP removing a protestor from the Mansion House dinner earlier this evening.

“It looks to be a very difficult situation for everyone concerned,” says @AlistairBurtUK #newsnight | @KirstyWark

Paul Brand ✔
@PaulBrandITV

In this longer version of the video, you can see the woman apparently posing no immediate threat as she passes behind Mark Field. He marches her out of the room by her neck. I wasn’t there, so I can’t say she didn’t pose a risk, but it looks heavy handed.

Ian Fraser ✔
@Ian_Fraser

This is the moment climate change protestors disrupted "Spreadsheet" Phil Hammond's Mansion House speech (just before Mark Field MP appeared to assault one of them)

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Statehood is again on the agenda in Edinburgh as Brexit raises uncomfortable questions about the very union that defines the U.K. The political divide underscored by the Brexit vote was only reinforced by last month’s elections for the European Parliament. As candidates to become the next British prime minister vow to pull out of the EU on Oct. 31 with or without a deal, Scots are confronted with a stark choice: Should they stick with the English and their version of nationalism, or roll the independence dice again?

Nowhere illustrates the dilemma better than the capital. A compact city of some half a million people, Edinburgh was decisive in swaying a previous referendum against independence in 2014. That vote was agreed to by then-Prime Minister David Cameron in a bid to quell separatist sentiment for a generation or more. Two years later, 74% of Edinburgh voters opposed Brexit, the highest margin for “Remain” of any U.K. city. That preference for the status quo looks increasingly untenable for a place with such long-standing European connections and a financial-services industry that stands to suffer post-Brexit.

The north-south divide is visible in the words “second referendum.” In England they signal a rerun of the Brexit vote; in Scotland the meaning is to take another shot at breaking away from the rest of the U.K. The Scottish government, run by the pro-independence Scottish National Party for the past 12 years, reckons it’s just a matter of time before its U.K. counterpart in London has no choice but to sanction another vote. A spokesman for the administration in Edinburgh says the U.K. policy of blocking a repeat of the 2014 referendum will simply prove to be democratically unsustainable.

“There’s a definite shift in independence support,” says Simon Pia, a former communications director for the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament who was involved in the campaign for a “No” vote in 2014. Now a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University, he’s since switched to the “Yes” camp, largely as a result of what he sees as a growing political and cultural gulf between Scotland and its southern neighbor. While English politics is divided along Brexit lines, the parties in Scotland cleave along pro- or anti-independence lines. Pia says his students now are overwhelmingly for independence, but not necessarily pro-SNP. To them, moving from a devolved Scottish administration to independence is a natural progression, one likely to be accelerated by the election of a pro-Brexit Conservative leader like Boris Johnson, who is yet “more of an alienation” to Scots.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-18/britain-s-next-prime-minister-has-probably-already-lost-scotland

Alex Andreou ✔
@sturdyAlex

This clip of @AndyMcDonaldMP nailing John Humphrys on his Trump apologia, has brightened up my morning. It’s usually not the interviewee’s job to challenge the interviewer on blatantly false statements, but this is where we are now, it seems.

The Labour Party has seen off a challenge from the Brexit Party and held on to its seat in the Peterborough by-election.

Nigel Farage's candidate Mike Greene had been tipped to win the contest, but union activist Lisa Forbes managed to retain the seat for Labour.

Paul Bristow for the Conservatives came in third place.

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A total of 15 candidates stood in the by-election, including Beki Selleck for the Lib Dems, and John Whitby for UKIP.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48532869