Portrait of the Week – 3 May 2018

Home

The prospect of Brexit in name only hovered on the horizon as the government contemplated an association agreement with the EU, which Jacob Rees-Mogg dismissed as ‘second-tier EU membership’. The cabinet’s Brexit sub-committee considered two ways of coping with the Irish problem: either a customs partnership with the EU, in which Britain would collect tariffs at the Irish border on behalf of the EU, or a combination of technology and trusted trader schemes to avoid a hard border. Peers voted 335 to 244 for an amendment, introduced by the Conservative Viscount Hailsham, to the EU Withdrawal Bill which would enable MPs to send ministers back to renegotiate with Brussels if parliament rejected the Brexit deal presented to it. A plague of European oak processionary moths, with hairy bodies that cause rashes and breathing difficulties, struck west London and as far afield as Slough.

Amber Rudd resigned as Home Secretary for giving unreliable answers about the existence of targets to deport illegal immigrants. Her successor, Sajid Javid, was photographed seeming to stand in the ‘power stance’ pioneered by George Osborne and Theresa May. Mr Javid was replaced at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government by James Brokenshire. Elections were held in more than 100 English local authorities and all 32 London boroughs, as well as for mayor of Tower Hamlets: a position sought by an Aspire party candidate, supported by the debarred Lutfur Rahman. Alfie Evans, a 23-month-old boy with a degenerative brain condition, whose parents were forbidden by the courts from taking him for care in Italy, died five days after artificial ventilation was withdrawn.

Sainsbury’s planned to merge with Asda, with Walmart taking 42 per cent of the new company. Sainsbury’s shares rose 15 per cent; Mike Coupe, Sainsbury’s chief executive, was caught on video singing ‘We’re in the Money’ before taking a sip of Caffè Nero coffee.