Category: news

Lord Prescott is one of several figures calling for a judicial review

The man who oversaw the police inquiry into phone hacking allegations has dismissed Lord Prescott’s calls for it to be reviewed as a “rant”.

Former Met Police chief Andy Hayman told LBC radio a judicial review could “end up being a waste of public money” and find nothing new.

But former deputy PM Lord Prescott said Mr Hayman’s comments were “remarkable”.

The Labour peer says police did not provide him with material related to him uncovered during its 2006 inquiry.

Lord Prescott is the latest in a series of people, who include former Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Brian Paddick, to say they will ask for a judicial review of the way police handled the investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World.

The investigation led to the conviction of the newspaper’s royal editor Clive Goodman, and private detective Glenn Mulcaire.

But police have been criticised for saying there was insufficient evidence to pursue allegations a host of public figures were targeted.

Lord Prescott announced earlier he would seek a judicial review of the inquiry, claiming police had failed to carry out an effective investigation and would not supply him with all information concerning him found in Glenn Mulcaire’s office.

But Mr Hayman, a former assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, told LBC Radio: “We have to get real over this. This is just another episode of Lord Prescott’s rants.

“You know, he’s nothing special, he was on a list, along with lots of other celebrities and well-known people, held by a journalist – and that’s no different to a contact list that’s being held by any other journalist, come to that.”

He said he would eat his words if he was proved wrong but added: “My understanding is, there is absolutely no evidence from that initial investigation of his phone being hacked, so why he thinks he is anything special, I do not know.

“I don’t believe that a judicial review will reveal anything more than what has already been reviewed by my successor, also by the Crown Prosecution Service and by other bodies.

“It could actually end up being a waste of public money.”

Lord Prescott’s office said the application for a judicial review centred on the police’s failure to hand over a document with his name on when requested – not about whether his own phone had been hacked.

The peer says police found a piece of paper with his name on it at Glenn Mulcaire’s office, alongside “two self-billing tax invoices for £250 each from News International Supply Company Ltd”. On Friday he said he would apply for a judicial review of the police’s handling of the case because the Metropolitan Police had refused to supply him with all the information related to him they had gathered.

Responding to Mr Hayman’s comments, he said: “I find it quite remarkable that the man responsible for the original investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World should accuse me of ‘ranting’.'”

He said Mr Mulcaire’s office had been searched, and the two invoices with his name on found in 2006 – but he only found out about it in 2009 when contacted by the Guardian.

“It took a further five months before the police confirmed the existence of the invoices and the paper.

“This is not ranting. This is a desire to uncover why the Metropolitan Police failed to notify the thousands of people targeted by Mulcaire and the News of the World, why they failed to follow the evidence and why they fundamentally failed to do their job.”

He also said Mr Hayman had worked for News International – which owns the News of the World – after leaving the force.

Earlier this month Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates told MPs that of the 91 to 120 people who might have been targeted, only 10 to 12 cases could be proven and those people had been contacted.

He also warned MPs it was a “dangerous assumption” to believe individuals named on the list were victims of eavesdropping.

Scotland Yard declined to comment on Lord Prescott’s application for a judicial review.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Mr Clegg said he expected a rough ride from conference delegates

Liberal Democrat activists are “gripped by fear of the unknown” about the coalition government as they gather in Liverpool for their annual conference, leader Nick Clegg has said.

The deputy PM said he expected a rough ride from delegates over the government’s planned spending cuts.

But he urged them not to give in to “anxiety” and see the “wider picture”.

He said he feared the cuts issue was in danger of masking all the coalition’s early achievements.

The Lib Dem leader said five months into their power sharing deal with the Conservatives – and weeks away from a massive public spending review – party members had clearly reached the “most anxious psychological point”.

“This plainly ain’t easy. We are at the point where all the achievements of this government and the measures it is taking are obliterated by the fear of cuts.

“David Cameron and I have talked to each other about it. We accept with a bit of a shrug of the shoulders we are in that phase where everybody is worried and the wider picture about what the government is doing is not being seen.”

But he went on: “As people start seeing it is a plan that makes sense and will work, we will restore economic growth and confidence will grow.”

Mr Clegg risked the wrath of his party’s grassroots on Thursday with a strongly-worded article in The Times in which he defended cuts to the welfare budget and stressed the need for wholesale reform of the system.

Norman Baker: “The Liberal Democrats are doing very well in elections”

But he has also been at pains to stake out a distinctive position on the renewal of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons – always an emotive issue at Lib Dem gatherings.

In contrast to Mr Cameron, who is committed to maintaining a constantly deployable system, he has suggested a cheaper alternative might be the way forward.

In his Standard interview, he hit out at “the idea that you need to replace Trident like-for-like so that you can flatten Moscow or Vladivostok at the touch of a button, for which it was designed at the height of the Cold War, at any minute, any day”.

An emergency debate is expected to be held at the Lib Dem conference demanding that Trident be axed entirely.

Mr Clegg will seek to get off on the right foot with delegates on Saturday evening with a rally to launch the Yes to AV campaign, ahead of next May’s expected referendum.

And there are no debates scheduled explicitly about the issue of spending cuts – but the party leadership could face flak during a debate over the Conservative-conceived policy of “free” schools.

Lib Dem minister Norman Baker blamed the media for stirring up divisions in the coalition, saying many newspapers had already written headlines about splits at the party conference, when most members recognised the need for cuts.

“The Lib Dem membership by and large… recognises is the economic situation we are in, the need to take corrective action,” he told BBC Two’s Daily Politics.

He added: “What I have seen is, for the first time in decades, we have actually implemented a whole range of Lib Dem policies in government and many Lib Dems up and down the country are saying ‘hooray’.”

Mr Baker hit back at reports of a collapse in support for the party, triggered by poll ratings as low as 12%, saying it was gaining members and winning council seats and media stories about splits were “completely out of line with reality”.

Although some councillors have defected to Labour, he said the party had had a “net gain” of councillors since the coalition came to power and thousands of people had joined the party.

However it emerged on Friday that another Lib Dem councillor had defected to Labour in Sheffield, blaming the “savage cuts” of the coalition.

And Lib Dem MP Tim Farron, who is standing for party president, warned the party’s “distinctive message has often got buried, what we stand for has got blurred and our ability to campaign is blunted” – although he also said the Lib Dems had got “a huge amount out of being in government”.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Five men have been arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London in relation to a potential threat to the Pope.

The arrests were made at 0545 BST at addresses in London after counter-terrorism officers received intelligence of a potential threat.

The five men have been taken to a central London police station.

Officers are continuing searches at premises connected to the raids.

In a statement from Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police said that the five men had been arrested in an operation launched by officers from the force’s Counter-Terrorism Command.

The five were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The five men are 26, 27, 36, 40 and 50 years old. They were arrested in an armed operation at business premises where searches are continuing.

Residential premises in north and east London are also being searched. Officers have not found any hazardous items.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

US aerospace giant Boeing has announced a contract worth $3.7bn (£2.4bn) to sell 50 of its 737 planes to state-owned Russian Technologies.

The aircraft will be used by Russian airline Aeroflot, which signed a partnership agreement with Russian Technologies earlier this year.

The Russian company has also reserved the right to order 35 more planes.

Boeing said the supervisory board of Russian Technologies would review the contract in October.

“Russian Technologies’ choice of Boeing’s planes is yet another important step in our long-term co-operation,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Jim Albaugh.

Mr Albaugh and Russian Technologies chief Sergei Chemezov signed the contract during an investors’ forum in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Liberal Democrat peer Richard Livsey was a strong supporter of agriculture

Tributes have been paid to Liberal Democrat peer and former Welsh party leader Richard Livsey who has died aged 75.

The former MP played a leading role in the Yes campaign in the assembly referendum in 1997.

He was MP for Brecon and Radnorshire for 11 years and Welsh party leader for eight years.

Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams said he would be remembered as a champion for rural communities.

Ms Williams, the Brecon and Radnorshire AM, said Lord Livsey had inspired her to join the party as a teenager and had acted as her political mentor.

She said he was “a man of immense honour and decency who was loved and respected by his constituents, colleagues and by politicians of all parties.”

“He will be remembered particularly as a champion for the rural communities in which he lived and an expert on agriculture, which he worked in all his professional life.

“As Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, he was a passionate advocate for Welsh devolution.

“His role in achieving a ‘Yes’ vote in the 1997 referendum establishing the National Assembly for Wales will be long remembered,” she said.

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones, the deputy first minister, also paid tribute, describing Lord Livsey as a “very good colleague and hard-working MP”.

“His interest and support for agriculture and our rural communities was formidable, ” said Mr Jones.

“Richard’s commitment to devolution in Wales was also enormous. I recall how thrilled he was to have been a part of the successful referendum campaign in 1997.

“He played a major part in that campaign, and this important contribution will live on to future generations in Wales.”

Lord Livsey leaves a wife, two sons, and a daughter.

Brought up in Talgarth, Breconshire, he entered Parliament in a by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire in 1985 and held the seat by just 56 votes in the 1987 general election.

He became Welsh Liberal Democrat leader in 1988 but lost his seat by 130 votes in the 1992 election.

He was re-elected five years later becoming Liberal Democrat Shadow Welsh Secretary. He became a peer after standing down as an MP in 2001.

Lord Livsey played a leading role in the Yes campaign in the Welsh assembly referendum in 1997 and took to the stage alongside then Welsh Secretary Ron Davies and the other campaign leaders as the narrow result in favour of devolution was announced.

He had a close connection with the Brecon and Radnor area all his life, as Trustee of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales and chairman of the Brecon Jazz Festival.

Lord Livsey was also a member of Talgarth Male Choir and appeared with them at the Royal Albert Hall last year for a Welsh Association of Male Voice Choirs concert.

The peer helped found the Welsh Agricultural College in Aberystwyth and was a senior lecturer in Farm Management from 1971 to 1985.

President of the Farmers’ Union of Wales, Gareth Vaughan, said Lord Livsey was a “good friend” to agriculture in the Lords.

“When we had an issue it was very easy to pick up the phone to Lord Livsey,” he said.

“It is so important for us to have people in authority who understand the ways of the countryside. That is not the case in many quarters, but that certainly couldn’t be said of Lord Livsey, who was well versed in the ways of the agricultural industry.

“Apart from that, he was a very, very popular man and politician, and not just with his own party but across the political spectrum.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Theresa Riggi has been charged with the murder of the three children

A woman who is accused of murdering her three children has been remanded in custody after an assessment order was revoked.

Twins Austin and Luke Riggi, eight, and their sister Cecilia, five, were found dead in Edinburgh on 4 August, after moving from Skene, Aberdeenshire.

Theresa Riggi, 46, was later charged with murder.

Mrs Riggi, who has been in hospital since, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for a review of the order.

No further dates for the case have yet been set.

The children were found in a flat in Edinburgh’s Slateford Road.

California-born Mrs Riggi was found badly hurt and has been receiving hospital treatment.

She faced the murder charges at a special hearing in private at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on 24 August.

The court made an assessment order detaining Mrs Riggi in hospital.

A funeral service for the three children was held last month in Aberdeen.

Their father Pasquale Riggi had earlier described them as a “beautiful blessing”.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A Sri Lankan military court convicts former army chief Sarath Fonseka for corruption, his lawyer says.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

About 70,000 people attended Mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow on the first day of the state visit

Catholic education, relations with the Church of England and the role of faith in the UK are set to be major themes of the second day of the Pope’s UK visit.

He flew into London for the next leg of his state visit late on Thursday.