Briefsfromshittu

Thursday, July 7, 2016

May And Leadsom Fight For PM Job As Gove Out

Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom will battle it out to become the next Conservative leader and first woman Prime Minister for 26 years.

It comes after the second round of voting among Tory MPs saw Home Secretary Mrs May pick up 199 votes, with Energy Minister Mrs Leadsom receiving 84.

Justice Secretary Mr Gove was eliminated from the contest after he only managed the support of 46 MPs.

Pro-EU Mrs May and pro-Brexit Mrs Leadsom will now go head-to-head in a ballot of around 125,000 Conservative members across the country in the next few weeks.

Mrs May and Mrs Leadsom were first and second in the MPs' leadership vote

It means that by 9 September, Britain will have its first female PM since Margaret Thatcher, who left No 10 in 1990.

It is clear Mrs May has a big advantage among Tories at Westminster and has more ministerial experience than her rival.

But it is thought 60% of the party membership voted to leave the European Union last month.

Mrs Leadsom played a high-profile role in the campaign for Britain to quit the EU.

And she is likely to attract votes from eurosceptic activists who want a "Brexit Prime Minister" to oversee withdrawal negotiations with EU chiefs.

Sky's Senior Political Correspondent Beth Rigby said: "Andrea Leadsom is extremely popular among grassroots.

"They tend to be Brexiteers, they tend to be more right wing.

"There are certain issues that will go down well with them that she has voted on, for example abstaining on gay marriage.

"Theresa May got 60% of support from MPs so we know among the parliamentary party that she is the favourite.

"But there is a fear among Mrs May's supporters and her camp that among the grassroots it could be Andrea Leadsom that begins to take the lead."

Although Mrs May signed up to the Remain side, she maintained a low profile during the referendum campaign.

And she tried to neutralise the issue as she launched her leadership bid by saying she would not seek to overturn the result, declaring: "Brexit is Brexit."

Mrs May will also know that in both previous Tory ballots under the current system, grassroots Conservatives rejected the MPs' choice.

During those ballots in 2001 and 2005, members opted for Iain Duncan Smith and David Cameron over Ken Clarke and David Davis.

After winning the most votes from parliamentary colleagues, Mrs May said the UK needs "strong, proven" leadership to handle Brexit negotiations and unite the country.

She said: "I am delighted to have won so much support from my colleagues.

"This vote shows that the Conservative Party can come together - and under my leadership it will.

"We need strong, proven leadership to negotiate the best deal for Britain as we leave the European Union, to unite our party and our country, and to make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few but for every one of us."

Mr Gove said: "I'm naturally disappointed that I haven't been able to make it through to the final round of this leadership contest."

But he added: "Whoever the next Prime Minister of this country will be, it will be a female Prime Minister and a female Prime Minister who has formidable skills and I know whichever one of the two wins they will lead this country well."

Anti-EU campaigner and ex-London mayor Boris Johnson, who is backing Mrs Leadsom, said: "She is now well placed to win and replace the absurd gloom in some quarters with a positive, confident and optimistic approach, not just to Europe, but to government all round."

Earlier in the day, Mrs Leadsom pitched herself as the "prosperity not austerity" candidate.

She told her supporters she was the voice of optimism and would "banish pessimism" in the wake of the Brexit vote.

She also promised to listen to the thousands of people who felt they had been ignored by the country's leadership.

Leadsom: I Would Clamp Down On Putin As PM

Tory leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom has claimed she would tell Vladimir Putin to "abide by international law" if she becomes Prime Minister.

When asked how she would deal with a diplomatic incident involving the Russian president, Mrs Leadsom asserted that she would take a hard stance.

The Energy Minister told Sky News Political Editor Faisal Islam: "My overall approach to Putin would be to absolutely tell him he needs to abide by international law.

"What we have seen is a gradual encroachment with some really quite brutal activities that we need to try to get under control."

Mrs Leadsom added that if she wins the Tory leadership contest she would work to "make sure that all leaders stay within international law".

She said: "At home we need to be working very hard to ensure we have got the diplomatic contacts and the ability to rein in those people who just want to do their own thing and expand their own activities outside of international law."

Mrs Leadsom came second behind Theresa May in the second round of voting among Tory MPs.

Both now go forward to a ballot of Conservative party members to decide which of them will become the UK's second female Prime Minister.

In a speech earlier, Mrs Leadsom pitched herself as the "prosperity not austerity" candidate in the race to become the next Prime Minister.

She told supporters she was the voice of optimism and would "banish pessimism" in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Mrs Leadsom also promised to listen to the thousands of people who felt they had been ignored by the country's leadership.

The Tory leadership candidate has indicated that if elected she would look to repeal the fox hunting ban.

In an interview with ITV she also admitted that she "did not like" the gay marriage law passed in 2013 because of "very clear hurt caused to many Christians".

Search For Wild Cat Missing On Dartmoor

A police helicopter has been deployed to help search for a lynx that has gone missing from a zoo on Dartmoor.

Officers were told at 10.20am on Thursday that the wild cat had escaped its enclosure.

The two-year-old male, called Flaviu, is thought to have left Dartmoor Zoological Park following a search of the grounds by 30 staff and volunteers.

Zoo operations manager George Hyde told reporters the lynx is "about the size of a small labrador".

He said the zoo was prepared for such situations and that the risk to the public was "very, very low".

The Carpathian lynx is a new addition at the zoo, and was settled into its enclosure at 7.30pm on Wednesday.

Keepers discovered it had gone at 10am on Thursday.

"The house into which he was released has successfully held Lynx for eight years, however he managed to escape by chewing through a board in the wall of the house," a zoo spokesman said.

Flaviu was fed before he went missing.

"We're quite fortunate because we're in a very rural location so in that respect the likelihood of the lynx coming into contact with people is very slim," Mr Hyde said.

"If he did, he would look to get away from those people rather than attack.

"He is a wild animal, he's captive bred, which means that he's never hunted and he's never killed for food.

"The likelihood is that he'll be very scared, he'll be very anxious.

"He'll be much more likely to stay away from people and to stay hidden."

Humane traps containing various types of meat have been set up.

As well as assisting with the search, police have visited two local schools to offer advice.

Officers have also made house calls to talk to residents.

The National Police Air Service helicopter has been helping in a search of the zoological park's boundaries.

Anyone who makes a sighting is asked to call 999.

The Carpathian lynx is described as a solitary and secretive animal whose natural habitat is forests in Europe and Siberia.

Its main prey is deer, hares, rabbits, rodents and grouse.

It is critically endangered in some areas, but has "bounced back from extinction", according to WWF.

Livestream Shows Aftermath Of Police Shooting

A woman has filmed the aftermath of a fatal police shooting in Minnesota, which left her boyfriend dying and soaked in blood as their daughter sat in the back of the car.

Philando Castile, 32, had been pulled over for a broken brake light and was shot several times in the arm as he tried to retrieve documents for a traffic officer.

His girlfriend, Lavish Reynolds, began broadcasting live video on Facebook.

Lavish Reynolds broadcast the aftermath of the police shooting on Facebook Live

By the time the video had ended, Ms Reynolds did not know what condition her boyfriend was in following the shooting - and she was being comforted by her daughter.

In the powerful footage, she told the camera that her boyfriend was licensed to carry a firearm, and had notified the policeman he was armed before beginning to reach for his driving licence and wallet.

The officer appeared distressed in the video, swore repeatedly, and continued to aim his gun through the car window at the injured man as he screamed: "I told him not to reach for it! I told him not to reach for it!"

Philando Castile was shot in front of his girlfriend and their daughter. Pic: Facebook

However, Ms Reynolds replied: "You told him to get his ID sir, his driver's licence."

She then said: "Please officer, don't tell me you just did this to him. You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his driving licence and registration, sir."

Ms Reynolds was later handcuffed, but her phone continued to broadcast live video as it was left lying on the ground.

She is heard telling someone that the officer had started shooting for no reason, and says: "He doesn't deserve this. Please. He's a good man, he works for public school.

"He had no records or anything. He'd never been in jail, anything. He's not a gang member, anything."

However, a Minnesota police department spokesman confirmed Mr Castile's death in the early hours of Thursday morning.

A crowd of protesters gathered at the scene of the shooting in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St Paul, chanting: "We will stand our ground. We will not move."

The police officer who shot Mr Castile has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.

A day earlier, a father-of-five was fatally shot by police officers in Louisiana - adding to concerns about excessive force used by police against mostly black victims.