Sex Scandal And Defection Hit Tory Conference

The Conservatives have been dealt a devastating double blow after a minister quit over a sex scandal and another party MP announced he was defecting to UKIP.

Cabinet Office minister Brooks Newmark resigned after reportedly sending explicit pictures of himself online to an undercover tabloid newspaper reporter.

His announcement came just hours after Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless declared he was joining UKIP leader Nigel Farage's "people's army".

Meanwhile, an opinion poll in the Sunday Mirror and Independent on Sunday suggests Mr Farage is more popular than Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mr Reckless is the second Conservative to defect to UKIP within a month, joining Clacton MP Douglas Carswell.

Mr Reckless and Mr Farage got further acquainted in a pub on Sunday

Speaking on the BBC's The Andrew Marr show on Sunday, the PM said it was "counterproductive and senseless".

Mr Reckless was forced to cut short a visit to his constituency by his new party leader on Sunday after local Conservatives angry at his defection turned up and he received hostile questions from members of the public.

It comes as the Conservative Party's conference got under way in Birmingham.

It was opened by party chairman Grant Shapps, who said voters, activists and donors had been "betrayed" by Mr Reckless.

The UKIP leader could not contain his delight at the Tory MP's defection

He said he had "lied, lied, and lied again".

The setbacks overshadowed the announcement of plans for a new squeeze on benefits to fund millions of new apprenticeships.

According to the Sunday Mirror, Mr Newmark allegedly exchanged explicit pictures over the internet with a female reporter posing as a Tory PR worker.

The 56-year-old married father of five tendered his resignation after learning that the newspaper was about to publish details of their exchanges.

Samantha Cameron and the PM arrive in Birmingham for the conference

He said on Sunday: "I have been a complete fool. I have no one to blame but myself. I have hurt those I care about most. I am so, so sorry. But I just need time with my family."

Downing Street said that Reading East MP Rob Wilson had been appointed the new Civil Society Minister.

Mr Reckless received an ecstatic reception from UKIP activists at their party conference in Doncaster after he declared he was leaving the Tories.

He accused the leadership of failing to keep its promises on Europe, the economy and immigration.

"People feel ignored, taken for granted, over-taxed, over-regulated, ripped off and lied to," he declared.

He dismissed the PM's promise of an in/out EU referendum as a "device" designed to deliver the "pre-ordained" result in favour of Britain's continued membership.

Brooks Newmark resigned over claims he sent explicit photos

There was deep anger in the Conservative ranks at Mr Reckless' move, with a party spokesman denouncing the defection as "completely illogical".

Mr Reckless' constituency party chairman, Andrew Mackness, said that he was "astonished and disgusted" at the decision, and said he had been given assurances by Mr Reckless that he would not defect.

Like Mr Carswell, Mr Reckless said that he would be standing down as an MP in order to fight the seat as a UKIP candidate in a by-election.

Although he took the Kent constituency with a majority of almost 10,000 at the last general election, he may face a tough battle to return to Westminster.

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RAF Helps Search For Missing Teen Alice Gross

The RAF has been helping in the search for missing teenager Alice Gross, Scotland Yard has confirmed.

Along with more than a dozen police forces across the country, the air force has provided support with "aerial analysis" - which allows officers on the ground to focus their efforts to find the 14-year-old, who disappeared five weeks ago.

Runners taking part in a half-marathon in Ealing, west London, have worn yellow ribbons to raise awareness of Alice's disappearance.

Ribbons have also been tied to trees and fences along the route, which runs close to where Alice was last seen.

Runners wore yellow ribbons to raise awareness of Alice's disappearance

Kelvin Walker, race director for the event, told Sky News: "We thought it would be a really good idea to give some runners bows to run around the course.

"The course is now covered in ribbons and it's quite an emotional sight to see, so we're just really happy to be involved in helping them."

The schoolgirl, from Hanwell, west London, disappeared on 28 August. She was filmed on CCTV walking along the towpath of the Grand Union Canal towards Hanwell at 4.26pm, but has not been seen since.

The 14-year-old disappeared five weeks ago

On Saturday, police revealed that footage from 300 CCTV cameras is now being analysed, taken from a six-square-mile radius.

Officers will continue to search scrubland along the towpath near the canal.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "This continues to be a massive investigation.

Police will continue a search of scrubland near the Grand Union Canal

"A range of officers and staff from across the Met are taking part in the ever-expanding search for Alice."

Police received 150 phone calls after staging a reconstruction of the teenager's last known movements.

Convicted murderer Arnis Zalkalns, the prime suspect in her disappearance, who has also vanished, was filmed cycling the same route behind the teenager.

But police stress the Latvian, who was also accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl in 2009, was just "one line of inquiry".

A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for anyone who has information that leads police to find Alice.

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TV Actress Bellingham May Have Months To Live

Lynda Bellingham, the actress best known for playing a mum in the Oxo TV adverts, plans to end life-extending chemotherapy treatment, allowing her to die.

The 66-year-old star, who has colon cancer that has spread to her lungs and liver, says she wants to spend one more Christmas with her family before she passes away.

She is set to stop having chemo around November and believes she may lose her life by the end of January.

In her new autobiography, Bellingham, who was diagnosed in July last year, said how she revealed her plans to doctors.

In excerpts printed in a newspaper, she said: "August 13, 2014. Yesterday was the glorious 12th - a day for us to remember because it is also the day I decided when I will die. I am very dramatic aren't I?

"I know it is not ultimately my decision, but it is my last vestige of control to sit in front of the oncologist and say when I would like to stop having chemo and let the natural way do its thing.

"I sat down with (husband) Michael and Professor Stebbing and announced: 'The time has come to cease and desist.

"'I would love to make one more Christmas, if possible, but I want to stop taking chemo around November in order to pass away by the end of January'."

Earlier this year, the regular Loose Women panellist, whose sister Barbara died from lung cancer, picked up an OBE from Buckingham Palace, recognition for a career has spanned 40 years.

Highlights included TV series All Creatures Great And Small, competing in Strictly Come Dancing and starring in the touring stage production of Calendar Girls.

Her starring role as the mother in a squabbling family in the long-running Oxo TV adverts was first screened in the 1980s.

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'Nothing Token' About Britain's Iraq Mission

Britain's Role In Anti-IS Mission Explained

Updated: 4:37pm UK, Saturday 27 September 2014

Codenamed Operation Shader, the British military action now under way sees UK warplanes swap their surveillance role in Iraq for combat missions.

There are six Tornado GR4s based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, and on missions they will be armed with Paveway and Brimstone missiles capable of hitting moving targets.

Having carried out reconnaissance missions over Iraq for the last six weeks, the pilots know the terrain well.

The combat operation is directed out of Qatar from the Al Udeid airbase - shared by both the British and US.

The man heading the RAF mission is Air commodore Al Gillespie, but it is the US directing the growing coalition air operation in Iraq, which also includes Australia, Denmark, and France.

Former RAF navigator John Nichol, who flew in the 1991 Gulf War, told Sky News: "The Americans will be telling each different nation what the target list is, where to patrol, what sort of weapons might be needed, and then they will be launched into the air."

While the Tornado aircraft is 40 years old, Mr Nichol said: "It's been hugely updated. The big updates are the weapons systems.

"When I was flying it was very much what I would call 'dumb bombs'. The weapons that this GR4 deploys are all precision-guided, very, very accurate munitions."

While the planes are capable of flying quicker than the speed of sound, on patrol the planes would travel at around 300-400mph to conserve fuel.

The Tornados fly in pairs and take around two hours to reach northern Iraq from Cyprus.

The two-man crews can be on board for up to eight hours in the cramped cockpits.

The on-board technology allows them to operate at low level, day or night and in poor weather.

During the recent reconnaissance missions the jets often refuelled in mid-air by connecting to fuel lines from an RAF Voyager plane - like "trying to refuel your car on the motorway at night, at 600mph, when the petrol station is doing 600mph", according to Mr Nichol.

The crews are highly skilled and normally very experienced, who have flown many times over Iraq in previous deployments.

Mr Nichol said: "These are young men and women. They are trained to do a job. They want to do the job.

"I compare it to a firefighter. You never want to see anyone's house burning down but its your job to put those flames out and that's what they are getting a chance to do.

"Some of them are battle-hardened veterans, but you have the younger members there as well.

"There's an excitement about what you are going to go and do but a reality and a knowledge of what the cost could be as well."

In the absence of IS command and control centres, he believed  the air crews would be looking at the ground in "real time" for targets.

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Teenager Arrested After Elderly Woman Raped

By Emma Birchley, East Of England Correspondent

A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of raping an elderly woman in her home.

The 17-year-old, from Ipswich, was taken into custody shortly before 3pm on Sunday in the seaside town of Felixstowe and is currently being questioned.

The woman called police in the early hours of the morning reporting that she had been sexually assaulted by a man who had broken into her home.

She was taken to Ipswich Hospital to be treated for a number of injuries and is now being comforted by her family.

Crime scene investigators have been working at the scene in the Walton area of Felixstowe.

Police say they will speak to the woman about her ordeal on Monday.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Suffolk Police on 101.

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Sex Scandal And Defection Hit Tory Conference

UKIP Defections: PM Did Too Little, Too Late

Updated: 10:09pm UK, Saturday 27 September 2014

By Anushka Asthana, Political Correspondent

During the 2010 election, I travelled to Rochester and Strood in Kent, where I met the Tory candidate Mark Reckless.

One thing that struck me as I watched him take to the doorsteps, was the number of constituents raising the issue of immigration.

One awkward incident involved an elderly man ranting about why he supported the far-right National Front. Mr Reckless backed off, embarrassed.

He certainly didn't share those extreme views. But it was clear then that he was a politician who was worried about immigration and angry about Europe.

I remember another conversation with Mr Reckless last year in the Commons.

Tory backbenchers were nervous about immigration, he told me. They felt David Cameron hadn't done enough, and the looming prospect of transitional controls lifted on Bulgarians and Romanians was of particular concern. 

Things could get tetchy in January 2015, he said.

Mr Cameron knew about these misgivings among his MPs and tried to act on them.

Late last year he unveiled a toughening up in the rhetoric on immigration – bringing in new rules to crack down on the access that new EU migrants would get to benefits. Then came the pledge of an EU referendum.

The hope was to appease the concerns of people like Mr Reckless, and you might have thought it was working.

After all, following the defection to UKIP of Douglas Carswell many asked the MP if he would be next. He insisted not.

When I texted Tracey Crouch, a neighbouring MP in Kent, about his decision to leave the Tories, she replied: "Nothing I can say right now would be becoming of a lady. I'm so angry. He looked me in the eye and promised he wasn't going to defect."

Others pointed out that he was openly supportive of the Conservatives as recently as yesterday.

Then he tweeted: "Good to lead coach for Team2015 campaigning in Birmingham Northfield on Sunday + will be followed by our Clacton action next Thursday."

That is why Tory sources say they are "surprised". Other MPs told me they felt "let down", "frustrated" and "fed up".

"Another battle when we should be fighting Labour," said one.

Others argued that although he had behaved irresponsibly, giving a leg-up to Ed Miliband, that a number of backbenchers were angry with the party's position on Europe.

They believe that Mr Cameron hasn't done enough to prove he can loosen Britain's ties to the EU. They want to see the issue addressed at his conference speech this week.

The problem for men like Mr Reckless is they don't share the Prime Minister's views on Europe.

Mr Cameron wants to reform the UK's relationship with the continent and then – ideally – campaign for us to stay IN.

And that is the sticking point with Mr Reckless.

The former Tory MP was clear today that he believes in an independent Britain, and wants to follow the Scotland Yes campaign with what he said was a positive, patriotic message for voters.

He wants OUT – and UKIP is the only party that is fully with him.

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RAF Helps Search For Missing Teen Alice Gross

The RAF has been helping in the search for missing teenager Alice Gross, Scotland Yard has confirmed.

Along with more than a dozen police forces across the country, the air force has provided support with "aerial analysis" - which allows officers on the ground to focus their efforts to find the 14-year-old, who disappeared five weeks ago.

Runners taking part in a half-marathon in Ealing, west London, have worn yellow ribbons to raise awareness of Alice's disappearance.

Ribbons have also been tied to trees and fences along the route, which runs close to where Alice was last seen.

Runners wore yellow ribbons to raise awareness of Alice's disappearance

Kelvin Walker, race director for the event, told Sky News: "We thought it would be a really good idea to give some runners bows to run around the course.

"The course is now covered in ribbons and it's quite an emotional sight to see, so we're just really happy to be involved in helping them."

The schoolgirl, from Hanwell, west London, disappeared on 28 August. She was filmed on CCTV walking along the towpath of the Grand Union Canal towards Hanwell at 4.26pm, but has not been seen since.

The 14-year-old disappeared five weeks ago

On Saturday, police revealed that footage from 300 CCTV cameras is now being analysed, taken from a six-square-mile radius.

Officers will continue to search scrubland along the towpath near the canal.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "This continues to be a massive investigation.

Police will continue a search of scrubland near the Grand Union Canal

"A range of officers and staff from across the Met are taking part in the ever-expanding search for Alice."

Police received 150 phone calls after staging a reconstruction of the teenager's last known movements.

Convicted murderer Arnis Zalkalns, the prime suspect in her disappearance, who has also vanished, was filmed cycling the same route behind the teenager.

But police stress the Latvian, who was also accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl in 2009, was just "one line of inquiry".

A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for anyone who has information that leads police to find Alice.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

TV Actress Bellingham May Have Months To Live

Lynda Bellingham, the actress best known for playing a mum in the Oxo TV adverts, plans to end life-extending chemotherapy treatment, allowing her to die.

The 66-year-old star, who has colon cancer that has spread to her lungs and liver, says she wants to spend one more Christmas with her family before she passes away.

She is set to stop having chemo around November and believes she may lose her life by the end of January.

In her new autobiography, Bellingham, who was diagnosed in July last year, said how she revealed her plans to doctors.

In excerpts printed in a newspaper, she said: "August 13, 2014. Yesterday was the glorious 12th - a day for us to remember because it is also the day I decided when I will die. I am very dramatic aren't I?

"I know it is not ultimately my decision, but it is my last vestige of control to sit in front of the oncologist and say when I would like to stop having chemo and let the natural way do its thing.

"I sat down with (husband) Michael and Professor Stebbing and announced: 'The time has come to cease and desist.

"'I would love to make one more Christmas, if possible, but I want to stop taking chemo around November in order to pass away by the end of January'."

Earlier this year, the regular Loose Women panellist, whose sister Barbara died from lung cancer, picked up an OBE from Buckingham Palace, recognition for a career has spanned 40 years.

Highlights included TV series All Creatures Great And Small, competing in Strictly Come Dancing and starring in the touring stage production of Calendar Girls.

Her starring role as the mother in a squabbling family in the long-running Oxo TV adverts was first screened in the 1980s.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hunt For Attacker After Elderly Woman Raped

By Emma Birchley, East Of England Correspondent

An elderly woman is in a stable condition in hospital after being raped in her flat in the early hours of the morning.

The woman called police just after 2am on Sunday reporting she had been sexually assaulted by a man who had broken into her home in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Officers and paramedics arrived shortly after and the alleged victim was taken to Ipswich Hospital where she was treated for a number of injuries.

Senior investigating officer, Detective Superintendent Simon Parkes, said: "We're still trying to identify the sequence of events that led up to this rape.

"We will be speaking to this lady once she has left hospital in order to obtain a description of her attacker."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Suffolk Police on 101.

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'Nothing Token' About Britain's Iraq Mission

Britain's Role In Anti-IS Mission Explained

Updated: 4:37pm UK, Saturday 27 September 2014

Codenamed Operation Shader, the British military action now under way sees UK warplanes swap their surveillance role in Iraq for combat missions.

There are six Tornado GR4s based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, and on missions they will be armed with Paveway and Brimstone missiles capable of hitting moving targets.

Having carried out reconnaissance missions over Iraq for the last six weeks, the pilots know the terrain well.

The combat operation is directed out of Qatar from the Al Udeid airbase - shared by both the British and US.

The man heading the RAF mission is Air commodore Al Gillespie, but it is the US directing the growing coalition air operation in Iraq, which also includes Australia, Denmark, and France.

Former RAF navigator John Nichol, who flew in the 1991 Gulf War, told Sky News: "The Americans will be telling each different nation what the target list is, where to patrol, what sort of weapons might be needed, and then they will be launched into the air."

While the Tornado aircraft is 40 years old, Mr Nichol said: "It's been hugely updated. The big updates are the weapons systems.

"When I was flying it was very much what I would call 'dumb bombs'. The weapons that this GR4 deploys are all precision-guided, very, very accurate munitions."

While the planes are capable of flying quicker than the speed of sound, on patrol the planes would travel at around 300-400mph to conserve fuel.

The Tornados fly in pairs and take around two hours to reach northern Iraq from Cyprus.

The two-man crews can be on board for up to eight hours in the cramped cockpits.

The on-board technology allows them to operate at low level, day or night and in poor weather.

During the recent reconnaissance missions the jets often refuelled in mid-air by connecting to fuel lines from an RAF Voyager plane - like "trying to refuel your car on the motorway at night, at 600mph, when the petrol station is doing 600mph", according to Mr Nichol.

The crews are highly skilled and normally very experienced, who have flown many times over Iraq in previous deployments.

Mr Nichol said: "These are young men and women. They are trained to do a job. They want to do the job.

"I compare it to a firefighter. You never want to see anyone's house burning down but its your job to put those flames out and that's what they are getting a chance to do.

"Some of them are battle-hardened veterans, but you have the younger members there as well.

"There's an excitement about what you are going to go and do but a reality and a knowledge of what the cost could be as well."

In the absence of IS command and control centres, he believed  the air crews would be looking at the ground in "real time" for targets.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More