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Rishi Sunak on Monday turned on his predecessor Boris Johnson, claiming that the former prime minister had asked him to interfere and wave a long list of his allies through to the House of Lords. Sunak said Johnson asked him to reverse the decision by the House of Lords appointment committee (Holac) to block some

Good morning (from Paris: bad trains mean I am still out of the UK this morning). Quite a momentous weekend, huh? Boris Johnson has quit parliament. Nicola Sturgeon has been arrested and subsequently released without charge pending further investigation by Police Scotland. The big picture of all this is simple, I think: Keir Starmer is

European stocks rose at the open on Monday as investors prepared for a week of central bank meetings in the US and Europe and crucial economic data likely to be influential in signalling the direction of interest rates. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 rose 0.3 per cent while France’s Cac 40 added 0.5 per cent and

As he prepared to tee off at the historic Old Course in St Andrews, the Scottish town known as the “home of golf”, Dominic Clemons was still digesting the shock tie-up that has handed Saudi Arabia enormous sway over the future of the professional game. “I feel sorry for the guys who were loyal,” said

I thought we were done with masks. But no. New Yorkers were wearing them again last week, at least those of us who dared to go out on the street, as the city was blanketed with thick plumes of smoke from Canadian wildfires that have been burning for more than a month. School and outdoor

It is common for senior creditors of a distressed company to object when a cheque is about to be mailed out to parties ranking lower in the priority of payouts. Those junior claims are likely soon to be worthless and it is argued that the cash out the door really should stay within the company,

If there was much sense of satisfaction at CBI headquarters last week, it could be shortlived.  The business lobby group won a vote on its recovery plans following the harassment scandal that sent big-name members fleeing. But new boss Rain Newton-Smith faces a mauling at a parliamentary hearing this week. And although some members, notably

Lex Greensill and four former Credit Suisse bankers have been named as suspects in a Swiss criminal case that is due to be formally opened this month, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The case being brought by the Zurich public prosecutor — which follows a two-year investigation by Swiss police, including raids

A defiant Donald Trump will once again be in the spotlight when he appears at a federal court in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, making him the first former US president to face federal criminal charges as he campaigns for another White House run. Trump over the weekend made his first public appearance since being indicted

EU funds managed by Odey Asset Management are discussing restrictions on investors’ withdrawals as part of emergency measures to contain the fallout of sexual misconduct allegations against the hedge fund manager’s founder. It comes as the firm announced a series of management changes to funds run by Crispin Odey ahead of the market opening on

Andreessen Horowitz has chosen London for its first office outside the US, betting that the UK government will create a more hospitable climate for blockchain start-ups amid a crypto crackdown by the American financial regulator. The Silicon Valley venture capital firm — which has about $35bn in assets under management and was an early backer

UBS is to impose tight restrictions on Credit Suisse bankers including a ban on new clients from high-risk countries and on complex financial products as it prepares to take over its ailing rival as early as Monday. UBS executives have drawn up a list of nearly two dozen “red lines” that prohibit Credit Suisse staff

Rishi Sunak had hoped to move beyond the psychodrama of the Boris Johnson premiership and put the brakes on the political roller-coaster of the past few years. It was wishful thinking. This week will see the most damning criticism in living memory by Parliament of a former prime minister with Johnson set to be admonished

For former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, the crisis that engulfed her Scottish National party after she stepped down in March was already beyond her “worst nightmares”. On Sunday, the nightmare got a whole lot worse. Sturgeon’s arrest by police investigating SNP finances is a hammer blow not only to the reputation of one of

The women who said they were assaulted or harassed by Crispin Odey in several incidents over a 25-year period have denounced efforts by his firm’s partners to distance themselves from the scandal-hit financier. In the wake of a Financial Times investigation detailing decades of abuse inflicted by Odey on female staff and acquaintances, the partners

Police have arrested Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s former first minister, as part of an investigation into the finances of the governing Scottish National party. The arrest on Sunday marks a major escalation in a police probe that has plunged the pro-independence SNP into an unprecedented crisis. Sturgeon, who formally resigned as party leader and first minister

As a result of a series of narrow, short-sighted and overly theoretical decisions, the UK has ended up with a pensions system that is incapable of generating the supply of long-term risk capital on which development depends or of providing the population as a whole (not just a few favoured groups) with adequate and secure

Will US inflation continue to slow? US inflation is expected to have slowed meaningfully again in May after only a marginal easing in April, offering the Federal Reserve a strong justification for pausing interest rate increases in June. The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday will release its latest US consumer price index report, which

The Couture wind farm in Poitou-Charentes, south-west France, is in limbo. Despite having planning permission, construction of the 33.3 megawatt wind farm, which could power 30,000 houses, is on hold. The problem: gridlock on the grid. The project’s developer BayWa RE says the wind farm is facing an eight-year wait before it can obtain a

Technology writers fell over themselves to praise the “extraordinary”, “powerful” and “magical” virtual reality headset that Apple unveiled last week. But some also admitted to feeling “oddly lonely” and perplexed after wearing the $3,499 goggles, which can apparently transform the experience of watching a home video or a movie. “This isn’t something I’ll do with

In mid-May, mainstream Japanese television stations broadcast a one-minute apology from Julie Fujishima. Four sentences. Four bows. And a formidable absence of anything resembling regret, reflection or responsibility. It was a terse, but rather necessary, response to claims of nearly 60 years of open-secret sexual abuse and paedophilia allegations surrounding her late uncle, Johnny Kitagawa