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Patrick Mercer MP resigned the Conservative whip after being filmed in discussion with a fake Fijian firm that paid him £4,000 to ask parliamentary questions; he was in fact being investigated by BBC’s Panorama and the Daily Telegraph. Lord Cunningham and Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate were suspended by the Labour party after the Sunday Times filmed them discussing lobbying terms, and Lord Laird resigned the Ulster Unionist whip over the same matter. All the parliamentarians deny wrongdoing. Mike Hancock MP resigned the Liberal Democrat whip while he defends a civil case in which a woman constituent is alleging sexual assault. Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, said that Labour, if elected, would impose a means test to the annual winter fuel allowance to old people, denying it to anyone paying higher-rate tax rates. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were joined by 2,000 people in Westminster Abbey to mark the 60th anniversary of her coronation.
IGas, a shale gas exploration company, estimated that the amount of such gas in their part of the north-west is between five and 57 times the annual British consumption. Manufacturing grew a little faster in May, as measured by the Purchasing Managers’ Index. The European Commission told Britain to ease the access of EU citizens to British welfare benefits and to remove the proviso for recipients to have a right to reside in the UK. The Commission also told Spain not to deny EU citizens free hospital treatment if in possession of an EU health insurance card. Waiting times at A&E departments are the worst for nine years, with 6 per cent waiting more than four hours, according to the King’s Fund think tank.
After being released from hospital, first Michael Adebowale and then Michael Adebolajo were charged with the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby at Woolwich on 22 May. Adebolajo told the court to call him Mujahid Abu Hamza. The House of Lords gave the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill a second reading. The Archbishop of Canterbury said the bill embodied confusion: ‘Marriage is abolished, redefined and recreated, being different and unequal for different categories.’ José Mourinho returned as manager of Chelsea, which he left in 2007. Oliver Bernard, the poet, died, aged 87. JD Wetherspoon is to open a motorway pub on the M40 at Beaconsfield.
Abroad
In Syria, pro-government forces took control of the strategic town of Qusair. The civil war became in danger of spilling over into Lebanon. The nerve agent sarin had been used ‘several times’ in Syria, according to Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister. Turkey saw days of anti-government street protests and police response, including hundreds of arrests, in Istanbul and dozens of other cities. ‘Those who make news and call these events the Turkish Spring do not know Turkey,’ said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister. Egyptian politicians, not realising their remarks were being broadcast live on television, suggested that the building of a dam on the Blue Nile by Ethiopia could be countered by sending special forces to destroy it or by using jet fighters to frighten the Ethiopians. Prince Fahd al-Saud was reported to have spent £12.8 million on a three-day break at Disneyland in France to celebrate passing his degree.
Unemployment in the eurozone rose a little in April to 12.2 per cent, with Greece recording youth unemployment of 62.5 per cent, Spain 56.4 per cent, but Germany only 7.5 per cent. The International Monetary Fund called on France to reduce labour costs and to halt tax rises. Andorra is to introduce income tax for the first time. Brussels recommended that Latvia should adopt the euro. Holland considered abandoning its new high-speed train service from Amsterdam to Brussels in the face of ‘severe mechanical deficiencies’ in the trains. Thousands in Germany and the Czech Republic had to flee floods; tigers in Prague zoo were moved to higher ground.
At least 119 people died at a chicken-processing plant at Dehui in Jilin province in China. The court martial of Bradley Manning, on charges relating to the release of secret documents to WikiLeaks, began at Fort Meade, Maryland. Michael Douglas, the film actor, discussing his throat cancer, was quoted by the Guardian as saying: ‘This particular cancer is caused by human papillomavirus, which actually comes about from cunnilingus.’ But a spokesman later said that this was not the cause in Mr Douglas’s own case. Coca-Cola opened a bottling plant in Burma for the first time in 60 years. CSH
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