TROJAN SCHOOLS ’TRIED TO COVER UP’
Schools investigated by officials looking into an alleged takeover plot by hard-line Muslims attempted to cover up their activities, according to damning findings revealed today.
David Cameron has ordered a “robust response” to the situation in Birmingham after investigations suggested some of the schools had attempted to fool inspectors by putting on “hastily arranged shows of cultural inclusivity”, including in one case a religious education lesson on Christianity.
Education watchdog Ofsted could step up its use of unannounced visits as a result of the findings and will also maintain a regular presence in the Birmingham schools involved, reporting directly to the Prime Minister and Education Secretary Michael Gove, who has been at the centre of a political storm over his handling of the so-called Trojan Horse plot.
CARE HOME REVIEW FINDINGS PUBLISHED
A Serious Case Review (SCR) will be published today after five elderly people died after suffering neglect at a scandal-hit care home riddled with “institutionalised abuse”.
A press conference this afternoon at County Hall, Chichester, West Sussex, will highlight the findings at the now-defunct Orchid View, labelled “Britain’s worst care home”.
Following a five-week inquest last October, West Sussex coroner Penelope Schofield heavily criticised the quality of care at the Southern Cross-run home in Copthorne.
GUNMEN IN DEADLY ATTACK ON AIRPORT
Gunmen disguised as police guards attacked a terminal at Pakistan’s busiest airport with machine guns and a rocket launcher, killing at least 13 people as explosions echoed into the night.
Meanwhile a separate suicide bombing in the country’s south west killed 23 Shiite pilgrims returning from Iran.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, named after the founder of Pakistan, nor the suicide bombing in Baluchistan province.
SNOOKER PLAYER FACES FRAUD CHARGE
Top snooker player Stephen Lee will appear in court today charged with fraud.
The 39-year-old, of Birch Gardens, Trowbridge, Wiltshire is due before magistrates in Swindon, accused of fraud by false representation.
The allegation against Lee, who was once ranked at number five in the world, centres around the sale of a snooker cue.
PM AND MERKEL TO HOLD EU TALKS
The Prime Minister will travel to Sweden today for talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel and other European counterparts about the future of the EU as he continues efforts to block Jean-Claude Juncker from taking a key Brussels job.
Foreign Secretary William Hague has insisted there are other “talented candidates” for the presidency of the European Commission and stressed the need for the senior roles in Brussels to be filled by people who recognised it could not be “business as usual” in the EU.
Former prime minister of Luxembourg Mr Juncker is regarded in London as an arch-federalist and opponent of reform, and Mr Hague indicated that a failure to get the “right people” into senior European roles would damage Tory hopes of renegotiating the UK’s relationship with the 28-member bloc.
PACKED PROGRAMME AS DUKE TURNS 93
The Duke of Edinburgh turns 93 tomorrow and shows no signs of slowing down amid a packed programme of engagements.
Philip has a busy run of events coming up this week despite having just returned from a high profile three day state visit to France to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
This evening, he is set to join the Queen at a reception at Buckingham Palace to recognise the UK’s innovative technology sector.
GMB URGES 250,000 NEW HOMES TARGET
A leading union will today call for 250,000 new houses to be built every year and for 30,000 empty homes to be brought into use to tackle the UK’s housing “crisis”.
The GMB believes workers are being priced out of buying or renting a house because of rising costs.
Housing is the biggest issue on the agenda of the union’s annual conference in Nottingham, where delegates will today demand action.
PATIENTS ’HIT BY SURGERY SHUTDOWNS’
Many doctors’ surgeries are closing for extended periods during the week, making it harder for patients to get an appointment with their family GP, it was reported.
The Daily Mail said more than one in four surgeries were closing their doors for one afternoon a week, while others had lunch breaks lasting up to four and a half hours.
Patients’ groups criticised the revelation as a “ridiculous situation”. Joyce Robins, co-director of Patient Concern, said: “Woe betide you if you get sick on a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon.”
NO MORE CUTS, WARNS ARMY’S SUPREMO
The head of the Army has said he believes most of the cutbacks to its numbers are “now behind us”, but warned against further restructuring after the next general election.
General Sir Peter Wall said the Army struggled to recruit during the coalition’s swingeing defence cuts, but he is confident its new model “will endure”.
His comments came after a former head of the Royal Navy said government cuts to the fleet had gone too far and were a “national disgrace”.
CLEGG TARGETS RICH FOR DEFICIT CUT
The Liberal Democrats will commit to “significantly” reducing the national debt as a percentage of GDP every year from 2018/19 and only borrow to invest in projects to boost growth, Nick Clegg will announce today.
The two rules will form a key part of the economic strategy in the Lib Dem manifesto for the 2015 election as Mr Clegg attempts to distance his party from Tory future tax and spending plans which he claims would mean “austerity for ever”.
Mr Clegg has committed to George Osborne’s timetable to eliminating the structural deficit by 2017/18, but he will insist that the Lib Dem would do it in a way which would see the rich pay a greater share.
;
