9 Apr 2021
Condolences have poured in from around the world following news of the passing of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and the consort of Queen Elizabeth II.
World War Two veteran Prince Philip, born Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark on the island of Corfu on June 10th, 1921, died on Friday, two months before marking his 100th birthday.
Very sad to see the death of Prince Philip. He was a great man in both war and peace. All of our thoughts are with our magnificent Queen.
Brexit leader Nigel Farage wrote of the news on April 9th: “Very sad to see the death of Prince Philip. He was a great man in both war and peace. All of our thoughts are with our magnificent Queen.”
Peter Ainsworth, Tory whip who served in the Shadow Cabinet and was passionate about the environment – obituary
Described as ‘a Technicolor human being’, he was Campaigning Politician of the Year in 1993 and championed English classical music
Peter Ainsworth at the 2000 Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth
Credit: Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock
Peter Ainsworth, who has died suddenly aged 64, was Conservative MP for East Surrey from 1992 to 2010, a government whip under John Major, and shadow secretary for culture and later the environment under William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and David Cameron.
Yet he made as great a contribution to public life after leaving the Commons, as chairman of the Big Lottery Fund, the Churches Conservation Trust, the Elgar Foundation and the Heritage Alliance.
Dame Cheryl Gillan, Welsh Secretary under David Cameron and staunch opponent of HS2 – obituary
She campaigned to protect the Chilterns against HS2 and housing development and in 2019 announced Boris Johnson s Tory leadership victory
5 April 2021 • 4:16pm
Cheryl Gillan with her dog Tizzy after he was voted Westminster Dog of the Year in 1996
Credit: Brian Smith
Dame Cheryl Gillan, who has died aged 68, was a combative Conservative MP who was Welsh Secretary in David Cameron’s Coalition, but made a greater impact campaigning against the HS2 high-speed railway being driven through her Chesham & Amersham constituency.
She was a forceful personality in the Commons, seen by some as overbearing and often rebuked by the Chair for raising bogus points of order. She was also the first woman to turn out for the Lords & Commons cricket team, having been a useful all-rounder at Cheltenham Ladies’ College.
5 Apr 2021 at 17:12
I was and am proud to call Cheryl Gillan a friend. I was so sad to learn this afternoon that she had died. She had been in poor health for some time and had been devastated by the death of her beloved husband Jack Leeming at the age of 91 in 2019. She was absolutely devoted to him and cared for him lovingly in his latter years. They were a real team. He might have been older than her but they were so well matched.
I first met Cheryl in the mid 1980s when she interviewed me to be a member of the Bow Group, back in the days when it was highly respected. They didn t accept any old rif-raff! Then after she was elected we met occasionally, but it was in 2005 that our friendship blossomed. She was on David Davis s Shadow Home Affairs team and a key supporter of his in the leadership contest. She was what one call a real trooper. There were a few big egos in that team and she would delight in puncturing them. She was happy to accept any task for the team no matter how
15 Mar 2021
The European Union is launching legal action against the United Kingdom over its efforts to protect trade between the British mainland and Northern Ireland, vindicating critics of Boris Johnson’s deals with the bloc who said they ensured Brexit was by no means “done”.
The terms Prime Minister Johnson agreed with the bloc on Northern Ireland were particularly onerous, with Northern Ireland, or Ulster, being left within the regulatory domain of the EU, and a partial customs border between the British province and England, Scotland, and Wales being imposed.
A so-called “grace period” before these conditions were imposed on Northern Ireland fully was permitted until the end of March, but the British government is now extending this until October unilaterally as Northern Irish people and businesses face shortages and other difficulties, compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.