Tributes paid to 'Thatcher's bravest and strongest lieutenant'

Sunak gets new banking job - will donate earnings

Just over a year after getting sacked from Number 10 by the British public, Rishi Sunak has confirmed his first major business appointment.

He has been made a senior adviser at investment bank Goldman Sachs, returning to his former employer after 21 years, having worked there between 2001 and 2004.

But advice from the post-ministerial watchdog ACOBA shows Sunak was told he had to wait a year from leaving office before he could start the job.

Advice sent around two months ago told the ex-PM he had to wait 12 months from 5 July 2024 due to try to mitigate the risks to the government from the role. He was approached about the job after standing down as Tory leader late last year, the advice states.

ACOBA has also highlighted that Sunak removed the limit for bankers bonuses - and Goldman Sachs was the first bank to take advantage of this.

However, it's advice to the PM said his dealings with the company were "limited" while in office and there is "no suggestion any decisions were made or actions were taken in office in expectation of this role".

Donating his salary

Sunak has said he will donate his earnings to The Richmond Project, a foundation he and his wife set up to try and tackle numeracy problems.

Other conditions put on Sunak include him not lobbying the government until at least 5 July 2026, and neither should he provide advice based on the work he did in government.

He has also been warned against advising on things that happened while he was in government that have not been made public, and also not to advise foreign sovereign wealth funds on investments.

Sunak is set to advise leaders across the firm and provide "insights on the macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape".

The bank's chairman and chief executive, David Solomon, said: "I am excited to welcome Rishi back to Goldman Sachs in his new capacity as a senior adviser."

Government rejects resident doctors' demands for bigger pay rise

As we reported earlier, resident doctors have voted to strike once again over pay.

The BMA is calling on the health secretary to "find a credible path to pay restoration", which would be a pay rise of 29.2%.

In response, a Downing Street spokesperson told journalists: "The NHS is finally moving in the right direction for the first time in 15 years, so it's disappointing that the BMA is threatening to undermine that progress with strikes.

"We aren’t going reopen negotiations on pay."

They added: "Resident doctors have received the highest pay award across the public sector for two years in a row, and we've been clear that we can't be more generous than we already have this year."

Health Secretary Wes Streeting wrote in a post on X: "Decisions I have taken mean that resident doctors have had a 28.9% pay increase covering the last three years.

"These are not grounds for strike action. And most BMA resident doctors didn't vote to strike."

Although 90% of those who participated in the BMA ballot voted in favour of strike action, the turnout was down at 55%.

Tories call on Streeting to 'face down union pressure' - as resident doctors vote to strike

We've just had a statement from the Conservative Party in response to the news that resident doctors have voted to strike once again.

Shadow health secretary Edward Argar said in a statement: "We warned Labour that caving in to union demands for above-inflation pay rises without conditions would set a dangerous precedent and that the unions would simply come back for more.

"That warning has sadly become true with today's strike vote. We are now staring down the barrel of a summer of strikes."

He called on Health Secretary Wes Streeting to "face down union pressure and deliver an affordable settlement that is fair to both workers and, crucially, to taxpayers, and fix this problem"

Labour has "failed to act" and "it is patients who will now pay the price", he added.

Health secretary to meet BMA co-chairs after strike vote

The health secretary will meet with the co-chairs of the BMA after resident doctors (previously junior doctors) voted in favour of strike action once again, Sky News understands.

The union is calling on Wes Streeting to "find a credible path to pay restoration", which would be a pay rise of 29.2%.

90% of those who voted in the BMA's ballot chose strike action. The turnout was 55%.

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "While most resident doctors in the BMA did not vote to strike, it is disappointing that the BMA is continuing to threaten strike action after a pay rise of 28.9% over the last three years.

"The secretary of state has been clear that he wants to work constructively with all unions, including the BMA, to improve working conditions for NHS staff and avoid strike action, which can be hugely disruptive for patients."

At least 13 postmasters may have taken their own lives, Post Office inquiry finds

At least 13 postmasters may have taken their own lives after being accused of wrongdoing based on evidence from the Horizon IT system that the Post Office and developers Fujitsu knew could be false, the public inquiry has found.

A further 59 people told the inquiry they considered ending their lives, 10 of whom tried on at least one occasion, while other postmasters and family members recount suffering from alcoholism and mental health disorders including anorexia and depression, family breakup, divorce, bankruptcy and personal abuse.

Writing in the first volume of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry report, chairman Sir Wyn Williams concludes that this enormous personal toll came despite senior employees at the Post Office knowing the Horizon IT system could produce accounts "which were illusory rather than real" even before it was rolled out to branches.

"I am satisfied from the evidence that I have heard that a number of senior, and not so senior, employees of the Post Office knew or, at the very least, should have known that Legacy Horizon was capable of error… Yet, for all practical purposes, throughout the lifetime of Legacy Horizon, the Post Office maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate."

The first volume of the report focuses on what Sir Wyn calls the "disastrous" impact of false accusations made against at least 1,000 postmasters, and the various redress schemes the Post Office and government has established since miscarriages of justice were identified and proven.

Recommendations regarding the conduct of senior management of the Post Office, Fujitsu and ministers will come in a subsequent report, but Sir Wyn is clear that unjust and flawed prosecutions were knowingly pursued.

The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is drawing to a conclusion, with the first part of the final report set to be published today.

It is due out at 12pm, and it focuses on the human impact of the scandal and compensation for victims.

After the publication, we're expecting the report to be laid before parliament and we'll also hear from chair of the inquiry Sir Wyn Williams, who will make a statement at around 12.30pm.

French president arrives for state visit

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, landed in the UK just a few minutes ago for the first day of their state visit.

The French leader was greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales, and are now being driven to Windsor for lunch with the King and Queen.

French president Emmanuel Macron has landed at RAF Northolt for the first of his three-day state visit.

He is being greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales, before being driven to Windsor for lunch with the King and Queen.

Resident doctors vote to go on strike

Resident doctors (previously junior doctors) have voted to take strike action over pay once again, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced.

The union says its members should get a pay rise of 29.2% in order for pay to be restored to 2010 levels.

90% of those who voted in the BMA's ballot chose strike action. The turnout was 55%.

The BMA described this as a "resounding majority", adding: "The government can now be under no illusion as to the strength of feeling on the issue."

To its members, the union said: "You've had enough of being undervalued. You don't want to have to wait 12 years for your pay to be restored. And you're prepared to strike again to deliver that message to government."

Strike action is not being called immediately, but the union says it will be if Health Secretary Wes Streeting does not "find a credible path to pay restoration".

Norman Tebbit obituary: The Thatcher loyalist and IRA bombing survivor

Lord Tebbit of Chingford was one of Margaret Thatcher's staunchest "true blue" political allies and the survivor of an IRA bombing in 1984.

Tributes have been paid to the former Tory minister - following his death at the age of 94 - as a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s, entering the cabinet as employment secretary and leaving six years later as Conservative Party chairman.

He would forever be associated with the "on yer bike" catchphrase, as well as controversially having claimed a large proportion of Britain's Asian population failed to pass the "cricket test".

Norman Beresford Tebbit was born in Ponders End, a working-class suburb of north London, on 29 March 1931 to Leonard and Edith Tebbit.

In 1942, he joined Edmonton County Grammar School before leaving at the age of 16 to work for the Financial Times, a job that would foment the anti-trade union politics he became known for when he joined parliament decades later, aged 39.

Before entering Westminster, Lord Tebbit trained as a pilot with the RAF - at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a jet. He had a hunch, however, that it was a career in frontline politics that would define his life.

As a working-class boy from north London - and not a "knight from the shires" he thought composed so much of the Conservative Party - he rose up the ranks to serve in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet.

-SKY NEWS