Thursday Briefing: Second Jobs Campaign May Affect Few MPs |

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Top news: External action limit goes to Standards Committee

Good morning, I’m Warren Murray working away at my only paid job.

Fewer than 10 MPs are likely to be affected by Boris Johnson’s proposed changes to the rules on keeping second jobs within “reasonable limits,” an analysis of the register of interests indicates. On Wednesday, lawmakers voted in favour, 297 to none. Final details are being worked out by the Inter-Party Committee on Standards. But an analysis of what is known indicates that the impact on 99 MPs with second jobs may be very limited. Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan suggested that the changes could mean limiting outside paid work to, say, less than 20 hours a week. That would cover only Jeffrey Cox, and in theory allow him to cut his hours and keep his main offshore BVI job, worth £400,000 a year for 40 hours a month. Many MPs are paid high salaries for a few hours, so you will also be out of reach of the proposed changes.

Sir Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative Committee of Representatives, faced questions worth more than £800 an hour from a company run by a voter amid a lack of clarity about the nature of the business. Brady announced that he was receiving £10,000 a year for 12 hours of work for Snowshill Allied Holdings, which is run by Michael Goldstone and which Companies House described as providing “management consulting activities”. Brady said Goldstone was a “close personal friend” who paid him for advice. “He has retained me to occasionally advise on marketing and communications for Snowshill Holdings over the past few years, initially in connection with the Aquarium Software, an activity that Snowshill Holdings is no longer interested in…I have always been careful to state any interests and follow the text of and the spirit of the rules in the Code of Conduct.”

Goldstone told the Guardian he paid Brady for informal advice because of their friendship and deemed the price fair. He said Brady never brought him any business or interfered politically on his behalf and never would. Brady called an emergency meeting of the Conservative Party members’ committee on Wednesday to discuss plans to eliminate second jobs.

‘Government Shower’ – Today the government is set to announce its long-awaited integrated plan for railways. Reports have indicated that it has relinquished its commitment to the eastern part of HS2 to Leeds and may not fully proceed with Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), which will pass through Bradford. Bradford is Britain’s seventh largest city, but according to an analysis of national rail travel data, it is the most connected major city in the United Kingdom.

Jane Ayers: “It would never happen.” Photo: Christopher Tommond/The Guardian

Activists argue that NPR will boost the Bradford area’s economy by £30 billion over 10 years, create 27,000 jobs and cut 44,000 daily car trips between the city and Leeds. But local politicians are preparing for bad news. “It would never happen,” said retired yoga teacher Jane Ayers, as she walked out of the railway station parking lot. “It’s just a game the government shower plays all the time.”

Masks work well – wearing a mask is the single most effective public health measure in treating Covid, reducing infection by 53%, the first global study of its kind to show. The virus continues to kill thousands of people daily, as well as infecting 50 million people worldwide every 90 days due to the highly contagious delta variant. Writing in the British Medical Journal, the researchers reported their findings that wearing masks, social distancing and hand washing are all effective in curbing cases, with masks being the most effective. The researchers say more work is needed to assess other measures – including quarantine and isolation, blanket closures, and closing borders, schools and workplaces – because reconciling data from different studies is difficult. Ongoing public health measures remain important because vaccines, while safe and effective, do not provide 100% protection and most countries have not vaccinated everyone.

Murdoch to Trump: Going forward – Rupert Murdoch said Donald Trump should stop focusing “on the past” in a rare public rebuke of the former US president. Addressing News Corp’s annual meeting, Murdoch said: “The current American political debate runs deep, whether around education, welfare or economic opportunity. It is critical that conservatives play an active and powerful role in this debate, but that will not happen if President Trump remains focused on the past. It is the past, and the country is now in a contest to determine the future.” Murdoch made some public comments about Trump, whose presidency has been defended by most of the top commentators on Fox News. According to biographer Michael Wolff, Murdoch privately called Trump a “silly idiot.”

New HIV control injections – HIV treatment will be given in Britain by injection every two months. Trials of the antiretroviral drug cabotegravir with rilpivirine have shown that it works as effectively as the daily tablets currently in use. HIV attacks the immune system and is still not curable, but researchers have found that patients who undergo the new treatment can reach a point where virus particles in their blood are too low to be detected or passed between people. The treatment is the first long-acting injectable treatment for adults with HIV.

The UK’s leading vet has suggested they ‘really care’ – potential pet owners should blow the whistle of dodgy sellers. After the Covid pandemic fueled a boom in pet ownership, research from the Kennel Club has suggested that one in four of all pandemic puppy owners may have purchased from a puppy farm. “If they are a good breeder they will ask you as many questions as you should ask them because they should really care about the house your puppies or kittens are going to,” said Christine Middlemies, UK Chief Veterinarian. .

‘Petfished’: Government campaign warns of unscrupulous pet keepers – video

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has released a video to warn potential pet owners about unscrupulous sellers. Her campaign urges potential owners to, among other things, visit their prospective pet at home with its mother, verify that the animals are at least eight weeks old before allowing them to be taken away, and look up the breeders’ name and phone number online to ensure they aren’t selling too much the animals.

Today in the Focus podcast: Humanity on the line

How the humanitarian crisis that began on the borders of Poland and Belarus has become the latest front in the battle between President Lukashenko and the European Union.

Today at FocusHumanity is on the line

Sorry, your browser doesn’t support audio – but you can download and listen here https://audio.guim.co.uk/2020/05/05-61553-gnl.fw.200505.jf.ch7DW.mp3

Lunchtime reading: ‘The annoying arrogance was part of the fun’

As the TV series Get Back recasts the Fab Four’s final days in a more positive light, former Beatle Paul McCartney recalls the responses to the historic party held above the streets of London.

The Beatles on the roof of the Apple Building, January 30, 1969. Photo: Ethan A. Russell/Apple Corps Limited Sport

The president of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has expressed growing concern about Peng Shuai’s well-being after a message surfaced in state media as being from the Chinese player – but it is widely suspected to be true. Tom Harrison faces the prospect of a county rebellion and possible calls for his resignation amid growing anger over the England and Wales Cricket Board’s handling of the racism scandal in Yorkshire. The BBC has postponed the return of Tuffers and Vaughan Cricket on Radio 5 Live amid ongoing turmoil in the company about how best to deal with allegations of racism against expert summary Michael Vaughan.

Former England cricketer Ebony Rainford Brent has been subjected to horrific abuse in the form of a racist hate letter, telling her to “leave our country”. Rassie Erasmus’ reputation is shattered after World Rugby threw the book at a South African rugby manager for his outburst during the Lions Tour and found him guilty of making threats to a referee. Online investigators this week turned their attention to an unusual new case: the mystery of the Manchester City Decentralized Financial Trade Analysis Partnership. Amateur investigators have been scouring the internet to find the digital footprint of a company called 3Key, which was announced last week by City as its new official regional partner.

a job

Most Asian stocks fell after Wall Street stock indices fell. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index is up 0.2% in early trade. Recent government data shows that the coronavirus pandemic continues to hurt the Japanese economy. One reason is a supply crunch in chips and other parts needed to produce cars, the mainstay of the world’s third-largest economy. This morning in London, FTSE futures trading appears to be flat to less than a few pips. The pound is worth $1,348 and €1.191 at the time of writing.

leaves

Our print version of the Guardian leads today with “a welfare cap that could expose poorer homeowners to ‘catastrophic’ costs.” The move would save the government hundreds of millions of pounds but leave many poorer pensioners forced to sell their homes as they face paying the same amount for welfare The elderly are as well as the rich.Boris Johnson has been warned that MPs in the so-called red wall may revolt when changes are brought to a vote.On the front, too: the Pacific Northwest floods that cut off Vancouver and plunged the Canadian province of British Columbia into a state of emergency.

“Someone blew me up” – David Perry said, according to the Mirror, after being stunned alive from his exploding taxi in Liverpool. ‘The £2,000 cost of living shock’ – Daily Mail, whose editor has just been ousted, says this is what Britons are facing with “high inflation, high tax and high interest rates”. “The prime minister is under siege on his part,” says the first of the corruption saga. “Boris – it was a“ car accident” when corrupted – this is Express.

The Telegraph and The Times pick up the topic of “car crashed” on their front as well, while the main story of the latter is “migrants held in Albania” – the Ministry of Interior is said to be seeking a deal with Albania to house people while their asylum claims are being processed. The thinking is that it might deter people from crossing the canal in small boats. The metro has “InCELLate Britain” where Insulate Britain protesters are sent to prison for Christmas. “Amazon stops taking Visa credit cards as battle over fees rages” – This is the front page of the Financial Times on this story.

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