Skip to main content

British PM Theresa May’s key adviser quits over Brexit

One of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s key advisers, Lord Andrew Adonis, has announced he is quitting his role, describing Brexit as a “populist and nationalist spasm”. Adonis, who was appointed as her infrastructure adviser in 2015, said May was “pursuing a course fraught with danger” over the UK’s EU departure, the BBC reported.

Lord Andrew Adonis, later insisted it had been his decision to leave, as his “differences with the government had become too great”. (Photo: Reuters)

The one-time Secretary of State in Tony Blair’s Labour government resigned as chair of the National Infrastructure Commission. He was already a high-profile campaigner against Brexit. A government source said: “He’s been moving closer towards the exit door with each new onslaught he makes against Brexit. He’s now walked through the door before he was pushed.”

Adonis later insisted it had been his decision to leave, as his “differences with the government had become too great”. In his letter to 10 Downing Street, Adonis, who would now sit in the unelected House of Lords, told May: “The European Union Withdrawal Bill is the worst legislation of my lifetime.
“It arrives soon in the House of Lords and I feel duty-bound to oppose it relentlessly from the Labour benches.” He told May her government “is hurtling towards the EU’s emergency exit with no credible plan for the future of British trade and European cooperation”.
He also claimed that Brexit was causing a nervous breakdown across Whitehall, Xinhua news agency reported. He said: “If Brexit happens, taking us back into Europe will become the mission of our children’s generation, who will marvel at your acts of destruction.”
There was no immediate official response from 10, Downing Street. Leading Brexiteer, Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith said the departure of Adonis was “long overdue”.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Venezuela seeks Interpol red alert for ex-oil czar Rafael Ramirez

Venezuela’s representative to the United Nations Rafael Ramirez poses for a photograph at the United Nations in Manhattan, New York, US. (Source: REUTERS/File Photo) Venezuelan authorities said on Thursday they were seeking an Interpol red alert for ex-oil czar Rafael Ramirez on corruption charges, heightening tensions between the former political heavyweight and the country’s socialist government. Ramirez, who headed the powerful oil ministry and state energy firm PDVSA for a decade, is a longtime rival of President Nicolas Maduro who has become more critical of his handling of the economy, now in its fourth year of recession. State prosecutor Tarek Saab said in a press conference that Venezuela was seeking the arrest of Ramirez for corruption tied to the period when he was commanding the world’s largest crude reserves. “No crying, citizen Ramirez … You have been pointed out by all, including by national public opinion, as one of the main embezzlers and culprits of the …...
Post a Comment
Read more

Beijing’s struggle against pollution will be tough, take time: Mayor

Beijing’s battle against air pollution will take time and be very tough to win despite recent improvements, the acting mayor of China’s capital said on Wednesday. The city has been fighting to clean its notoriously smoggy air through steps such as pushing households and factories to switch away from coal to cleaner fuels like natural gas. “Further improvement in air quality (will be) extremely difficult,” acting mayor of Beijing, Chen Jining, said in a statement released during the city’s congress meeting. The central government’s intense focus on air quality means many local officials’ careers are linked to the success of efforts to tackle smog, making it unusual to speak candidly about the challenges of meeting tough targets. Beijing has chalked up a short-term success by cutting the annual average level of breathable particulate matter (PM 2.5) to 58 micrograms per cubic metre in 2017, beating a target set by the State Council in 2012. However, the city is still some way f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Vietnam jails former oil execs in high-profile graft case

Trinh Xuan Thanh, center, is led to a court room by police in Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, January 22, 2018. (Source: AP/PTI) A former oil executive was sentenced to life in prison and a former high-ranking Vietnamese government official received a lengthy prison term Monday at the end of a major corruption trial. The 22 defendants in the case were mostly current or former executives at PetroVietnam and were convicted of mismanagement, embezzlement or both in their tenures at the state energy giant. Former PetroVietnam chairman Dinh La Thang, the first Politburo member to be jailed in decades, was sentenced to 13 years in jail by the People’s Court in the capital Hanoi. He was accused of deliberate economic mismanagement that cost the state millions. Trinh Xuan Thanh, an ex-chairman of PetroVietnam’s construction arm, was given life imprisonment for embezzlement. Thanh was also convicted of economic management. Germany accused Vietnam agents of snatching him from a Berlin park l...
Post a Comment
Read more